Category: Journal
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The dress, Oliver Sacks, and more writing from Elizabeth
The results of the poll in my last post are, at this point in time, 42.3% for blue, 42.3% for white, and 15.3% for other. In my family, I see blue, both my kids see blue, and Ben sees white. It’s quite funny because the kids are now concerned about Ben’s eye-sight and have been…
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In praise of cycling and a dress colour
It must be about time I posted another photo of Busby so here he is, with precious cargo: I cycle to and from school everyday and I love it. My only complaint is that it has become too easy and the distance to school too short. I’m stronger than I was when we first arrived and…
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My reckless childhood
Modern parents, like me, have a tendency to wrap their kids in cotton wool. We do it because …
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Women and the Islamic State
As a woman living in the 21st Century, I have enjoyed the freedom to study, to work, and to express my thoughts without fear of punishment, and so I am completely dumbfounded as to why three teenage girls would voluntarily fly to Syria to join the Islamic State. What could they possibly be thinking? According to the…
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Snowdrops in my garden and the Christchurch earthquake
The days are getting noticeably longer again. It seems to change very quickly from light to dark as winter sets in and then from dark to light again as winter draws to a close. Last November, the days grew shorter surprisingly quickly. You could see the difference from one day to the next. Now, in…
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How English should be written
Elizabeth’s teacher must have suggested to the class that they make a card for their mothers for “Valemtine’s” (as Elizabeth pronounces it) Day because she worked very hard yesterday afternoon and this morning creating a card for me. Here’s the result: It says: “Deyr Mum we luv yoo we are gowing to get a flowa…
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Jane Austen and Gretna Green
I hate my wedding photos. More specifically, I hate me in the photos. Everyone else looks terrific and the photos themselves are wonderful. It’s just me. I was 7 months pregnant when Ben and I got married and I was fat. I put on 17kg during my pregnancy with Daniel which is rather a lot. I also…
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Leaf insects and other things
Ben is outraged that I’ve taken possession of two and a half chests of drawers for my clothes and left him with only half a chest of drawers. On the surface of it this might seem unfair but Ben wears the same outfit everyday so he really doesn’t need more than half a chest of…
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The piano and I
I played the piano today for the first time since before the Christchurch earthquakes. After February 22nd 2011, we sold our piano because it was an earthquake hazard and Elizabeth was only 18 months at the time and easily squashed and killed by heavy items of furniture toppling over during aftershocks. We haven’t had one…
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What to buy a mathematician for Christmas
Men are hard to buy presents for. Mathematicians are even harder. All they really need is a pencil and some paper … and maybe a rubbish bin (unlike economists who don’t use the rubbish bin). Which reminds me of a joke: What do mathematicians do when they’re constipated? They work it out with a pencil. I…
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A NIN is not just for Christmas, it’s for life
Shortly after we arrived in the UK back in early October, I sent away for a National Insurance Number (NIN). I already have one as I worked here over 15 years ago but I couldn’t remember what it was so I had to fill in a “I’ve lost my NIN form” and send it away. They…
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Angels, Christmas Trees, and Opshopping
Elizabeth said to me today, “I know what angels look like”. To which I replied, “How do you know what angels look like?”. Elizabeth: “Because Mr MacDonald (not his real name) put one up on the white screen”. Then I asked her what they look like and she said, “An orange clown”. The kids have…
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Breasts are multifunction devices
I made the mistake yesterday of following the #breastfeeding hashtag on Twitter. Most of it was good reading but there were a few comments from people who objected to breastfeeding. I have never met anyone personally who claims to be offended by breastfeeding so this was new for me and quite astonishing. These people think their…
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Is breastfeeding offensive?
I’ve written a bit recently about how sometimes I just want to tell someone to “get over it” when they claim to be offended by something. Breastfeeding is a great example of this. Apparently a flashy London hotel has asked a breastfeeding mother to put a napkin over her baby’s head while breastfeeding. This has sparked…
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A deliberate deception
I have a confession to make. It was the school fair recently and we were asked to contribute some home baking to sell. I bought a lemon cake from Marks & Spencer, took it out of its packaging and then wrapped it up in cling film to make it look like I’d made it. Then…
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NatWest: tearing marriages apart
Ok, I’m not being serious with my title. I just want to make this clear that I’m exaggerating slightly here. Quite a bit actually. But I am pissed off with Natwest and so this is going to be a bit of a rant. A little while ago I wrote about the problem I had trying…
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Snow!
No, it isn’t snowing in Aberdeen. Not yet anyway but hopefully it will soon. However it is snowing on my blog because I’ve just switched on the snow effect which is available for all WordPress.com blogs over the Christmas period. Go to Settings > General in your Dashboard and scroll down to Snow if you…
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Vegetarian haggis: Take 2
Another week, another vegetarian haggis to sample. This one is made by Macsween and was bought from Sainsburys. I liked this one even more than the last one. It was delicious. Not too dry, not mushy, just perfect and with a lovely texture and flavour. It was also very filling. I got the ingredients off…
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