insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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Pavement cycling
David Hembrow is an Englishman who lives in the Netherlands and writes a blog called A view from the cyclepath. He also has a You Tube channel about cycling infrastructure. He’s very good at making observations about people, transport, and infrastructure and drawing conclusions from what he sees. This video is a very good one…
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Online schooling
The kids started back at their online school yesterday. Everything went very well and I think they even enjoyed it. They were both ready to go back. Elizabeth started labelling all her notebooks last week and transcribed her French dictionary into the new book. The school gives them a nice structure to the day as…
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Spuds
I’ve never been a huge fan of potatoes but it’s funny how when you start growing something yourself it takes on a new value. Potatoes are so easy to grow, they’re not affected by slugs, or pigeons, and they don’t need any special netting. All you do is bung them in the ground in spring…
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Cycling infrastructure benefits everyone
The Aberdeen City Council has really been getting a hammering from residents in Aberdeen about the installation of a segregated bike path at the beach. I can see what an uphill battle it is for cycling here. Some of the comments I’ve seen are extraordinary. One woman wrote: okay well I’ll carry on as normal…
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Aberdeen beach cycle path
About a month ago the Aberdeen city council announced plans for a bike path at the beach. This is being developed from part of their spaces for people funding which is money they received to help pedestrians navigate in a world with a novel virus flying around. I was interviewed for the story when it…
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Some photos and switching country in the Google store
The avocado tree on our kitchen windowsill is getter rather large. It’s going to reach the ceiling soon. We’ve noticed in the past week or so that the trees are showing the first signs of autumn. The next two photos were taken in Duthie Park. One of the courgettes at my allotment got a bit…
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Samsung S10+ phone
Last month the home button on my iPhone SE stopped working. It’s just over 4 years old now. If you have an iPhone you’ll know it’s impossible to use without a functioning home button. Fortunately I discovered you can install an assisstive touch app which will let you access the home screen without using the…
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Cronyism
I’m beginning to think there’s a bit of cronyism in the Boris Johnson government. The inexplicable appointment of Tony Abbott as trade advisor is not the first suspect announcement. In May of this year, Dido Harding was put in charge of the government’s new track, test, and trace programme. Tracking and tracing is an important…
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The end is near!
Oh dear. The world really is conspiring against me. I woke this morning to the news that Boris Johnson has hired Tony Abbott as a Brexit trade advisor. This is grim news indeed. The only good thing to come out of the last Australian election was the news that Tony Abbott lost his seat in…
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Swimming in the Dee
I’ve been a bit grumpy this past week because sometimes it feels like the world is conspiring against me. Earlier in the year I planted lots of sweet pea seeds. Only one of them germinated and when it had grown to about 10cm tall I planted it at the base of the tree on the…
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Privacy versus lockdown
There is a new outbreak at a chicken processing plant in Perthshire. It’s disappointing that we use the euphamism “chicken processing plant” rather than slaughterhouse which is what it is. Outbreaks in slaughterhouses have been quite common and it’s not yet clear why. It could be the cold temperatures or the conditions people have to…
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Test and trace needs to be better
Aberdeen is going into its third week of lockdown now. Nicola Sturgeon announced today that although cases have fallen here there are still too many to lift the restrictions. According to local papers the city council does not support the continued lockdown. I feel some sympathy for the city council and my view is the…
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Bees in the artichoke
Another Sunday of weeding at the plot has come and gone. It’s amazing how much the plot changes from winter to summer. This was the plot back in April. Here it is today. The artichoke has started flowering and it’s beautiful. I counted 5 bees in the flower head. Something was decimating my kale (deer…
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Vegan burgers, walking the cat, and swimming in the Dee
The past few weeks I’ve been able to order groceries online again after several months without and I’ve switched over to Tesco because their vegan range is wonderful. One item we love is the katsu curry burger – even Daniel loves it and he’s never been keen on vegan burgers. This one consists of sweet…
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Lake Polmuir
There’s lots of news today. We got woken by a massive thunderstorm this morning with torrential rain. The rain was so heavy that many streets in Aberdeen and Stonehaven flooded. This is Polmuir Road in Aberdeen at around 8:30am this morning. The water has subsided now. A train derailed in Aberdeenshire this morning killing three…
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Crochet, cat, and toasters
The top I started crocheting a couple of weeks ago I had to abandon because I ran out of yellow yarn and couldn’t find any in the same colour anywhere. I think they must have stopped making it. It was one I had in my stash for a little while so it’s not surprising. I…
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Aberdeen back in lockdown
Another lockdown has been imposed on Aberdeen today after a local outbreak starting at The Hawthorn Bar on Holburn Street. This is actually very close to us but none of us have been there or indeed gone to any pubs for quite some time. There’s a rumour circulating, and I’m unsure of the veracity of…
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Cat photos
Victoria fell in the toilet the other day. We heard a splash and she emerged from the bathroom licking wet paws. She’s very interested in the toilet for some reason. She’s very comfortable around all of us now and rolls over to let us pat her tummy. Here she is with Elizabeth. Helping Ben with…
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A hill walk at last and testing the hydrogen car
We haven’t been out for a walk in the hills since February. Not since our night to remember at the Fife Arms in Braemar. When we drove out into the country to collect our new kitten a couple of weeks ago that was the first time we’d been inside a car since March. I honestly…
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Crochet, cat, courses, and hair cuts
I’ve spent most of my Sunday crocheting. I didn’t get to the allotment this weekend which means it’s going to be full of weeds next weekend. I find it hard to stay on top of the weeds at this time of year. But here’s what I did with my crochet hook. It will eventually become…
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