When I was briefly unemployed a few weeks ago I set myself a daily schedule. I was expecting to be jobless for a while, so I didn’t want to revert to a lesser hominoid state- hairy, dirtier and smellier. I still had to get up every morning to get all the kids off to school, and I was trying to save on day care costs so I kept my small three year old Marr with me. He’s got a lot of energy so we went for a walk late every morning which ended in a nearby park, so he could climb and swing and get in touch with his lesser hominoid. (how is it fair that he reverts to a thin agile monkey thing and i revert to a hairy chubby baboon thing?)

Anyway, continuing the theme of lesser hominoids- as we were heading off on our walkie, we pass by what my kids call “the creepy house”. It’s not really all that creepy- the driveway is all smashed concrete with a huge oil stain, the lawn is half dead and half wild, the paint is peeling and there are big piles of junk and trash everywhere....