Welsh singer and broadcaster Cerys Matthews, 49, chats kid chaos, juggling work and detoxing from the internet
The former Catatonia star is much happier spending time at home with her family after many years of touring
MORNINGS can be a bit hectic. I get up at 6am, go downstairs, make a coffee and put on the radio.
Then I start getting my children (Glenys 14, Johnny, 12, and Red, eight), up for school.
After breakfast they’ll be out the door by 7.20am. Now that they’re older it’s not like herding cats any more, though some mornings can still be crazy.
It works best when my husband (music producer and musician Steve Abbott, 58) or I do it alone and the other stays out the way because we don’t have a very big house.
There’s only room for one of us in the kitchen.
I love it once the house is empty. Steve leaves for work at 8am and when I shut the door and hear silence, it’s a great feeling. That’s when I can get my guitar out and play for an hour or so.
I’ll usually tidy up for an hour as the place will be a tip, then I get set to work myself.
Most of my time is spent pulling together my three radio shows, and in the afternoon I’ll have a couple of interviews for the festival I founded.
Juggling a lot of projects has become the norm, but I am starting to think about what it would feel like to cut back a bit and take a breath.
I try to detox from the internet. It gives us so much information and enhances our lives, but it’s very easy to let it take up too many hours. We have to actually enjoy the time we have in the present.
I look at my children and realise the time has flown by. Taking a break from the online world every day is hard, but it’s really important.
Chaos returns when the kids get home. I do the school run at 4.30pm and then it’s back to family life with demands for food, PE kits thrown everywhere and homework needing to be done.
The kids don’t pay any attention to my work – to them I’m just a normal mum who lounges around in pyjamas and provides meals. Maybe when they’re adults they’ll start thinking about who their parents are and our history. Nowadays when people recognise me or Steve they find it funny.
Cooking relaxes me. If I’ve got a night off I’ll light the fire outside, set up a tripod with a cauldron on top and make all sorts of food. It’s a good way to slow down after a hectic day.
Recently I’ve been trying to cut down on packaged and pre-made foods, as well as give up meat.
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Bedtime is another task. If things are particularly frenzied I’ll play classical music to calm the household down. Once the kids are all tucked up, Steve and I sit down and watch TV with red wine before going to bed ourselves.
I try to read in bed, but usually I go straight to sleep. I’ve spent most of my life touring, so I don’t want to go out a lot any more.
It’s nice to take some time to pause. I think when I’m in my 60s I’ll reverse back, get the guitar out and start travelling again!
- Cerys founded The Good Life Experience festival, which takes place in Flintshire September 14-16 ().