Category: Journal

A gaudy shirt and feminism

Rachel M35 Comments

Ok, I promise not to write about this topic again after this post but I have to get this off my chest one more time. I got some thought-provoking comments on my last post about the gaudy shirt worn by scientist Matt Taylor on international television. Thank you. I appreciate all the comments. I even changed… Continue reading A gaudy shirt and feminism

The Rosetta shirt

Rachel M47 Comments

I can't resist writing a post about "shirtstorm", the drama about the Rosetta guy and his shirt with cartoons of scantily-clad women. Humans have just landed a robot on a comet! This is an incredible achievement and yet everyone is so obsessed with someone's choice of clothing that we have failed to appreciate the significance of what has just happened. So… Continue reading The Rosetta shirt

Sexism, carnivorous plants, and cycling

Rachel M18 Comments

I sometimes have problems spotting the more subtle forms of sexism. I'm not sure if this is because I'm a woman and I just don't notice, or if it's for some other reason. Fortunately I'm married to a feminist so I'm unlikely to be taken advantage of for being so naive about this. What constitutes… Continue reading Sexism, carnivorous plants, and cycling

And the diagnosis is …

Rachel M15 Comments

An ocular migraine. This is just as I thought but a nice relief nonetheless. And the cure is ....... menopause 🙂 Apparently an ancestor of mine had a baby at the age of 50 and in a time before fertility treatment was available so I'll probably just have to be patient with this. I went… Continue reading And the diagnosis is …

I’m still alive!

Rachel M16 Comments

Thanks for all the lovely comments on my post yesterday and the emails, tweets, and text messages. I'm completely fine today. I was just over-reacting which is not so unusual for me. I'm pretty sure the vision loss was migraine-related. I was just confused because it was unlike any kind of vision impairment I've had before… Continue reading I’m still alive!

Welcome to the NHS and banking in Britain

Rachel M24 Comments

A strange thing happened to me this morning: very suddenly a grey cloud descended halfway into my vision on one eye. I could still see below this grey cloud but from about halfway across my vision and up, I couldn't see anything. After about a minute, it vanished as quickly as it appeared. There was… Continue reading Welcome to the NHS and banking in Britain

Butt plugs, deadly nightshade, and hookers

Rachel M20 Comments

Apparently a large, green, blow-up Christmas tree in the centre of Paris is outrageous and humiliating if you're of a right-wing political persuasion. The sculpture, which was part of an exhibition of modern art, was vandalised by right-wing protestors. Why? Because it looks like a butt plug. I have to confess that I didn't even know what a butt plug… Continue reading Butt plugs, deadly nightshade, and hookers

The Fly

Rachel M20 Comments

My children were fighting over dead flies yesterday. They came charging into my office arguing over why Elizabeth should have three dead flies and Daniel only one. I looked at them in disbelief and with more than a little exasperation said, "Children, you're fighting over dead flies!!!". Daniel immediately realised the absurdity of the situation and… Continue reading The Fly

An apology and Scottish independence

Rachel M25 Comments

I retweeted a tweet earlier that I thought was funny but was criticised for tweeting foul language. I actually regret retweeting that tweet now (and have removed it from my feed), not so much because of the language - I do have a bit of a foul mouth - but because I can see that some might find… Continue reading An apology and Scottish independence

Scotland, here we come!

Rachel M20 Comments

A couple of weeks ago we sent off our visa applications for the UK. They had to be sent to Manilla for processing along with all our passports, including old ones, and original birth certificates for the kids, and our marriage certificate. We also had to have fingerprints and mug shots taken. The applications themselves took… Continue reading Scotland, here we come!

An Australian family history

Rachel M6 Comments

Inspired by AndThen's recent post about his family history, I thought I'd write a bit about my own. My family history is quite colourful. My great-great-great-great-grandfather was some kind of representative for Germany in a trade dispute in Cape Town, South Africa. His name was Maximilian Thalwitzer and he was born in Germany but later emigrated to Cape Town. The… Continue reading An Australian family history

Princess teeth

Rachel M9 Comments

Elizabeth had her operation today. She was scheduled for 7am this morning so we left home at 6:30am thinking that we'd miss the Auckland traffic but no, the traffic was already thick. A journey which would normally only take about 15 minutes, took 35 minutes. Elizabeth was in good spirits and quite excited about the whole thing. She knew what… Continue reading Princess teeth

Cockroaches, visas, and the Copenhagen wheel

Rachel M7 Comments

I've discovered there's something called the Madagascan Hissing cockroach. These are big mother-fuckers and there's absolutely no way I'll be letting Elizabeth adopt one of these as a pet. Fortunately they're not found in New Zealand. We've begun the UK visa application process. There's an online form that needs to be filled. At the top of… Continue reading Cockroaches, visas, and the Copenhagen wheel