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I'm here on the beach in Suffolk instead of in London because it's half-term in England -- an extra week's holiday three times a year that makes up for the fact that kids don't get off school until halfway through July.  My daughter (11) is here on sufferance, because if you go and buy an idyllic shack on a beach where your kid can play outside surrounded by nature all day, she'll only hate you for dragging her away from London where she can get on a bus and go to Starbucks with her friends.

Parenting is hell.

Never mind.  In my continual pursuit of my own private second childhood, I had a riding lesson yesterday.