Category Archives: Me

A Long December

Last winter seemed to go on for ages. At least, way back at the end of January I remember desperately longing for summer. And then I was made redundant, which hadn’t been on my bingo card for 2024. Some good … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Christmas, Crowded House, Don't try this at home, employment, Happy New Year, Me, novel, rain | Comments Off on A Long December

It’s Only Natural

My daughter got married a couple of weeks ago. Read that again. The Elder Pawn got married. It was one of those glorious days we often get at the end of September, with the sun low in the sky and … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in 15MinutePost, Fun, kilts, Me, offspring, Pawns, swords, Wedding | Comments Off on It’s Only Natural

Reasons to be cheerful

It’s one of those typical mid-September days with the sun shining and the temperature promising to push the low-20s by the afternoon. And I’ve got the day off. We seem to have had a whirlwind summer that was gone before … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in cardiology, careers, clients, hens, job, Me, Rhea | Comments Off on Reasons to be cheerful

This song has no title

Jenny has mentioned the non-existent summer. It’s certainly been ‘variable’, with autumnal mornings and more than an inch of rain in 12 hours one day last week. I haven’t quite kept to my commitment to blog ‘about once a week … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in hens, Italy, Joshua, Me, offspring, weather, wibbling, wine | Comments Off on This song has no title

Our House

It’s not just the wrens. This is Shorty. Shorty is a year-old robin, one of the expanding family that lives in the shaggy old laurel tree out the front, and together with his (or her—difficult to tell with robins) parents/sibs, … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in bird, birds, Gardening, Me, robin, Shorty | Comments Off on Our House

Paperback Writer

I made a list. I’m doing quite well with it—ticked off more than half, and others are ‘in progress’. I’m not going to finish it before I start work again, but I’ve given myself permission not to get through everything, … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in 15MinutePost, Lablit, Literature, Me | Comments Off on Paperback Writer

Higher

This is a cross-post of something I wrote on LinkedIn. One of the most fun projects I’ve been involved in was the series of global Annual Brand Meetings we ran for a client. In partnership with the client we would … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in client, Me, Powerpoint, War stories, work | Comments Off on Higher

Sweet home Alabama [2]

It never ends. There’s always something to do, whether it’s laying turf, repairing hoses, or pulling up the wild onions. I’m taking advantage of the unexpected time off to fix things around the house and garden. In the best traditions … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Birthday, grapes, Me, offspring, Pawns, personal, pizza, Science-less Sunday, Spring, wild onions, wine | Comments Off on Sweet home Alabama [2]

On postnatal depression

I’m going to file this under “Better late than never”, cross-indexed to “No shit, Sherlock”. Discussion of mental health has over the last several years become less taboo than it was.  It doesn’t seem that long ago (it was 14 … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in depression, fatherhood, Me, personal, science | Comments Off on On postnatal depression

On fraud, redux

One of the worst things about the pandemic is that it reminded me that once upon a time I was really rather good at RT-PCR. And that reminded me of when I spent 8 months in Sydney trying to replicate … Continue reading

Posted in covid19, Ethics, figure 5B, fraud, Grauniad, Ill-considered rants, J Cell Biol, Lab ratting, Me, PCR, send to Ireland for processing, Sydney, War stories, znf265, zranb2 | Comments Off on On fraud, redux