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

Posted in Don't try this at home, Me | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

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

Posted in Me, Offspring | Tagged , , , , , | 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

Posted in Careers, Me | Tagged , , , , | 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

Posted in Me, Offspring, wibbling | Tagged , , , , | 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

Posted in Birds, Gardening, Me | Tagged , , | 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

Posted in Literature, Me | Tagged , | 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

Posted in Me, War stories, Work | Tagged , | Comments Off on Higher

Sweet home Alabama

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

Posted in Me, Offspring, Personal, Science-less Sunday | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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

Posted in Me, Personal, Science | Tagged , | 2 Comments

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 ethics, Ill-considered rants, Lab ratting, Me, War stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments