insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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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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Running club, trees on Union Street, a royal vintage wedding dress
Someone at work started a running club challenge last week and since I’ve been running every day anyway I decided to sign up. I’m chuffed to say I’ve been at the top of the work leaderboard both weeks so far without doing anything different. I started running during lockdown and have just continued doing it.…
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Absolutely enormous pants
Do you remember that scene in Bridget Jones’s Diary where Renée Zelleweger and Hugh Grant hook up and Grant discovers the “absolutely enormous pants”? I’ve just bought myself The Jones Briefs from Davy J and they are absolutely enormous pants. Davy J is a British manufacturer of swim wear, making sustainable and long-lasting items from…
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Be cautious, COVID app, wild swimming, and distance education
The lockdown has mostly ended here insofar as much as it can end. Things won’t return to normal until there’s a vaccine but shops are allowed to open and people can go for holidays. Nevertheless our life hasn’t really changed. I’m still working from home. Ben is still working from home. The kids just finished…
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Pets and toilet training
Cats are so easy. They come fully toilet-trained, don’t need to be taken for walks, don’t bark, and don’t require entertaining. It has been a long time since I had a cat and after 14 years of my dogs, Freud and Zeki, I had forgotten what is was like. I got Freud and Zeki as…
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Her favourite human
It’s so nice to have a companion animal around the house again. Little Victoria has settled into her new environment so well. She’s formed a particular attachment to Daniel for some reason and often sits on his lap when he’s in class. The online school doesn’t break up until the end of this week so…
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Meet Victoria
We got a kitten. Her name is Victoria and she’s 11 weeks old. She came from a village in Aberdeenshire after her mother had an affair with the neighbourhood tom. We had planned to get an adult cat from a shelter but this is quite difficult it turns out. We put in five applications including…
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A bird feeder and 50% off eating out
The bird feeder in our backyard fell apart so we replaced it with one of those feeders that sticks to the outside of your window. They’re made in the UK by Meripac. I stuck it on the window yesterday and within hours there were birds there. Here’s a picture of it with three birds (the…
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Tartan face masks
Nicola Sturgeon has been wearing a tartan facemask which I thought was very nice. I’m not sure where she got hers but I found a shop selling them online (ScotClans) and ordered some for us. They’re made in Scotland come with a PM 2.5 filter. You can have them made with any tartan you like.…
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