insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
-
Piling on the pounds
I’ve put on a kilogram of weight over the past couple of months. I would like to say it’s extra muscle from doing Joe Wicks’s PE class every day – after all, muscle weighs more than fat – but I think that’s wishful thinking. Perhaps I just need to accept that I’m nearly 45 and…
-
Union Street is closed to cars | Pics by the River Dee
The Aberdeen City Council was awarded a £1.76million grant to widen pavements, install temporary bike lanes, and build one-way walking systems – all to create space for social distancing during the pandemic. I cycled into the city centre this morning and they’ve already closed part of Union Street to cars and buses (the part between…
-
I got Zoom-bombed
I had heard of this phenomenon, where an unwelcome guest joins a Zoom meeting with the sole purpose of causing disruption, but I was never particularly concerned because I knew I could just kick the person out. However, what I didn’t anticipate was that there might be more than one unwelcome guest. Here’s what happened.…
-
State schooling in Scotland, more on the DC situation, and long-term changes after lockdown
There’s an article in The Sunday Times about Scotland’s “failed lack of leadership” for state school pupils during the lockdown. This echos my own thoughts and I have wondered why there hasn’t been more criticism about this. The lack of education of state school pupils during lockdown is appalling and I really don’t think they…
-
Haircuts, avocados, allotments, scones, and buying undies
I gave Daniel a haircut today. His hair was annoying him and he’s been asking for a haircut for several weeks. I don’t think he’s going to be a grungy musician when he grows up. Here’s the before and after photo. Many months ago I ate an avocado and decided to grow a plant from…
-
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but in defence of Dominic Cummings …
It pains me to say this but I have some sympathy for Dominic Cummings right now. It has emerged today that he travelled from London to Durham sometime in March when his wife was showing symptoms of coronavirus so that his 4-year-old child could be near extended family for support. People are now calling for…
-
Who is responsible for the UK’s testing strategy?
The virologist and director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Peter Piot, gives a good interview in this podcast about his experience of catching COVID-19. He first began feeling unwell in mid-March but couldn’t get a test. For reasons unknown to all of us the government was rationing testing at the early…
-
Chocolate almond cake recipe
I’ve had a request for my chocolate cake recipe. This is what I make with the almond pulp which is leftover from making almond milk. You can use any flour in this recipe. I have used so many different types over the past couple of months because the shops have run out of regular wheat…
-
Doing nothing
I’m not very good at doing nothing. All my life I’ve dashed around in a frantic state of constant busy-ness. Work fills the weekdays, kid stuff the evenings, and weekends we ferry kids around to activities or go exploring in the highlands. Since the start of the lockdown, our weekends have changed and I’ve been…
-
Eating weeds
When everyone was panic-buying in March I saw some stinging nettle springing up in our backyard and decided to leave it there rather than weed it out. Stinging nettle is a highly nutritious food. It has anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties as well as being high in calcium and iron. How do you eat it…
-
The Highland Fling
Elizabeth started taking Highland Dance classes about 2.5 years ago and I posted a little video of her prancing about our lounge room at that time. I found it on my blog – Going Native – recently and showed her. She was mortified by what she saw her younger self doing – “What on earth…
-
Ramblings on cycling, the pandemic, and climate change
I had such a busy week this week that I haven’t had the chance to write since last weekend. It has been mostly work-related busy but also some cycling advocacy busy-ness too. We at the Aberdeen Cycle Forum published a list of ten suggestions for the city council to implement for social distancing. So far…
-
A walk in the cemetery and frustration with the council
We’re allowed to go out for exercise more than once per day now provided we maintain social distancing. We often don’t go out at all because we do Joe Wicks’ PE class daily and we also have the trampoline but it’s nice to explore a bit on the weekend. The weather was very strange today.…
-
The Dirty Vegan and a momentous announcement from the government today
I found a new vegan cookbook today. When I first went vegan they were hard to find but they started breeding a few years ago and now you can find them everywhere. This particular one appealed to me because the author does not exactly fill the weedy hippie vegan stereotype. Indeed, there’s nothing sexier than…
-
Two years at Award Force and the dandelion war
It has been more than two years since I started with Award Force and a year since I became a product manager. I love my job, my role, the company, and all my colleagues. I am so fortunate in all respects and am particularly grateful to have a full-time job at a time when so…
-
There’s nothing like a good root
We ordered takeaway from Roots Catering this evening and I got to try the Beyond Meat burger patty for the first time. For those who don’t know, Beyond Meat is a US-based food technology company that makes meat-like food products from plants. You can buy the Beyond Meat burger from Tesco but I’d never tried…
-
The future of meat
Eating animals poses a major global health risk and the costs are enormous and they’re not borne only by the meat-eaters themselves nor by the animals but by everybody on the planet whether they eat meat or not. I say this because we’ve seen this over and over again that epidemics and pandemics have come…
-
Colours of spring
Everyone should have a trampoline. They’re wonderful things for every age. I like that I can get cardiovascular exercise similar to running but without the same impact on my joints. Ben took these great photos today. The colours in the background are so nice. In spring when the leaves first open they’re a light almost…
-
Tollohill Wood by bike
The one thing I find myself missing during this time of lockdown is long country walks up hills, past lochs, and through castles. I miss our weekends away and Sunday adventures. Last week on one of his bike rides, Ben discovered Tollohill Wood, a woodland only 2 miles from home. I never knew this place…
-
A walk around Aberdeen harbour to Torry battery
We dragged the children out of the house against their will and walked to Torry Battery today, an artillery battery that was used as a defensible barracks for Aberdeen from 1860. It is now a ruin but a nice place to spot birds and dolphins in Aberdeen harbour. I think the kids are enjoying quarantine…
rachel.blog 