Parenting in Sussex: Meeting TV's Stephen Mulhern on a day off from the kids
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Bang slap into the middle of January and life has returned to regular scheduled programming.
There’s school, there’s work, there are clubs, there’s homework, there’s washing and cleaning… it’s almost like Christmas never happened. I’d barely believe it had was it not for my expanded waistline and the never-ending mountain of treats we’re STILL consuming in my house (see last week’s column for more of that).
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Hide AdBut among the mundanity of getting back into the rhythm of family life a little treat was had.


My mum had kindly said she’d take my sister and me to the ballet at the Royal Opera House, and it was booked in for last week. While it was absolutely freezing on the day we visited, having something special booked in right after Christmas is a great way to deal with the January blues. And even better, the cold weather coupled with the post-Christmas slump meant London was as dead as I’d ever seen it.
Taking the tube was almost civilised and it felt like we had Covent Garden practically to ourselves – a very sharp contrast to my visit there a month earlier, when I’d politely describe it as festive mayhem!
After a stroll around the shops and some lunch, we got to the opera house early to have a look around. And it was there that I spotted a familiar face.
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Hide AdSat in the café was TV presenter Stephen Mulhern. He’s an absolute favourite in our household – my husband, children and I love his shows, my daughter has his Max Magic books and we even saw him live on stage when we were invited to visit Butlin’s a couple of years ago.
It presented me with a bit of a dilemma. Dare I interrupt him to tell him what big fans my family are? Is it okay to do that to a celebrity? I really wasn’t sure I was brave enough to get over my embarrassment to do it or whether it was ok to gatecrash his day. After weighing it up I decided my children would be terribly disappointed if I didn’t.
The (sadly horrible of me) picture you see here is the result of me taking a chance and going up to say hi. Thankfully, Stephen was very nice as I wittered on about what big fans we were. And it was worth it for the WhatsApp chat with my husband afterwards in which he and my children were completely taken by surprise by the unexpected picture.
A few minutes later my mum also spotted Álvaro Morte, star of Money Heist and West End play Barcelona, so we were in very good company that day.
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Hide AdThe ballet was incredible, too, so all-in-all a lovely day out.
MORE COLUMNS: Parenting in Sussex: January back to school fun, waiting for snow and trying not to eat constantly
By contrast, the weekend was pretty run-of-the-mill. A playdate, shopping for school trousers and general house admin were worked around catching up on The Traitors (arguably one of the best shows on TV) and playing some games with the kids.
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Hide AdThis time of the year is generally not the most popular. And lord knows I’ve gone on about how much I love summer enough to prove I’m not a fan of cold weather. But there’s something about the slower pace of life that’s quite appealing after the full-on nature of Christmas.
So if you need me this month, you’ll mostly find me on the sofa hoovering up those bloomin’ festive leftovers. After Eight, anyone?!
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