mostly david ephgrave

As an only child, I have bleak memories of extracating the board game Mouse Trap from the top shelf, setting it up, triggering the final chain of events and then packing it away again; happy National Siblings Day everyone. I don’t know why I'd always get two-or-more-player games for birthdays and Christmas, when my parents had no interest in playing them. I had friends, of course - I didn’t spend my formative years locked in a cupboard; that came later - but they didn’t visit often enough to warrant me owning so many; if only my mum and dad hadn't bought them, they could have eliminated the whole “Will you play them with me?” question and the awkward “No, I don’t fancy it” response. I guess that's was why I was so interested in magic and music as a kid, as you didn’t need other people there for you to explore it. I spent much of my childhood learning tricks or listening to records while playing along on the piano and guitar, as they wer...

I think the concept of National Siblings Day is clutching at straws.  This could be because I haven’t got a brother or sister. “Ich bin ein Einzelkind”, as my German doppelgänger would say. While I have no siblings, I can imagine what it would be like. I’d cherish it, despite the frequent frustration it would bring. Either way, I wouldn’t need to tell the world about it. I wouldn’t need a public holiday or a Twitter trend to express it. Our mutual respect could be kept between ourselves. (...assuming we were of similar mindset.) Siblings aren't an endangered species. We don’t need to fight for their rights. Before you know it, there'll be an In-laws Day. Scrap that, there already is: Do we have to turn everything outward? You’re no better a relation for showing your relationship off. Life isn’t a press release; it’s what happens behind closed doors that counts (unless you’re feral). I blame Facebook. It’s turned life into a competition – and on...