insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
-
Daniel just metres from the Duchess
The Duchess of Cambridge was in Aberdeen today helping at a café that employs people who were previously homeless and also donates the profits to good causes. Daniel walked past the café while she was there and saw a lot of cameras and commotion out the front. He didn’t know what was going on so…
-
The best diet
For about a month I tried skipping breakfast in order to lose a couple of kilos so I could zip up one of my favourite dresses again. I lost one kilo after about three weeks and nothing much happened after that except that I found myself starving all morning and sniffing marmite from the jar.…
-
Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper
I’ve stopped skipping breakfast. I’ve decided it’s not a very good way to lose weight and apparently there’s evidence to back this up. All calories are not equal – it depends what time of day they’re eaten. The same calories eaten in the morning are less fattening than exactly the same calories eaten in the…
-
On Donald Trump and the acquittal
The news from America that Republicans voted almost overwhelmingly to acquit Donald Trump, although expected, is frightening for us all. It’s sending the message that it’s ok to use your power as a president to try to rig an election. This is the sort of news I’d expect to come out of Mexica or Kenya…
-
A weekend at the Barley Bothy
We’ve just had a lovely weekend at the Barley Bothy: a little hut on a strawberry and sheep farm near Huntly. You can watch the making of the hut on Channel 4’s Amazing Spaces, (series 4, episode 4). We like staying in interesting places because that’s all part of the holiday experience and the Barley…
-
We have a teenager in the house
Daniel turned 13 this week. They say it gets hard again when kids become teenagers. We’ve been enjoying the golden years with both kids between the ages of 6 and 13. They’re reasonably independent in this age bracket and all the sleepless nights and nappy changing is behind you. You’re also still a big influence…
-
Elizabeth’s application form
Elizabeth has applied to be on a Scratch game creator team at school. She completed the application form all by herself. We never even saw it until she’d filled it in and she’s done a terrific job for a 10-year-old. I’d hire her! Filling in forms is not easy to do but it’s an important…
-
Insect dog food
Sustainability in dog food is becoming a thing. The dogs we look after always come with their own food which their owners provide but I feel a bit depressed giving regular dog food to dogs. We know how unsustainable livestock farming is and we’re already consuming beyond our resources just to satisfy our meat-heavy diet…
-
Creag Choinnich revisited
We took our Aussie visitor to Braemar for a walk up Creag Coinnich today. Creag Coinnich is a wonderful little hill walk as it’s not long but you are rewarded at the top with magnificent views that significantly outweigh the effort required to get up there. It’s only 3/4 of a mile and takes about…
-
I finally got my husband to wear a skirt
It’s Burns Night tonight which is an annual celebration of the Scottish poet, Robert Burns. I think it’s traditionally called a Burns Supper but we’ve never been to one before so we were not 100% sure what’s meant to happen. However, we have an Australian visitor joining us for the weekend so we did some…
-
The 16:8 diet and inhaling marmite
I have been on the 16/8 diet for a few weeks now. This diet lets you eat whatever you want for 8 hours in the day. For the rest of the 16 hours you can’t eat anything. You can choose when the 8 hours fall and mine are typically from 11am – 7pm. Essentially I’m…
-
Serving drinks on a train
I had a funny dream last night that I was on a train and Prince Charles was on it serving drinks. He served me a sparkling water and I didn’t know whether to bow or curtsy or say “his majesty” or what. It was all very awkward. Perhaps this was prompted by Meghan and Harry’s…
-
Who will help you when the house is on fire?
There’s a lot of misinformation spreading on social media about the Australian bushfires. One is that the Green party is to blame for preventing backburning and hazard reduction. This is false. You can read their policy on backburning here. The Australian Greens support hazard reduction burns and backburning to reduce the impact of bushfires when guided by the…
-
Climate change is like getting into debt
Climate change is like borrowing money and getting into debt. Consider this: you borrow a large sum of money and the interest rate goes up every year. You do not make any repayments on the loan and instead borrow more each year. Pretty soon the amount owing is huge and growing because a) the interest…
-
Lunch at the Queen’s house
Last time we visited Loch Muick it was so windy we had to shout at one another to talk. We haven’t been back until today. We checked the weather forecast first to be sure we wouldn’t face another gale but I’m beginning to suspect Loch Muick and wind are two words that always go together…
-
2019 Australia’s hottest and driest year
These graphs from the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology show how hot and dry Australia has become. Ironically, they were reported by an American newspaper – The New York Times. The only Australian news source to report the record-breaking heat and drought was The ABC. I cannot find another Australian report of it. Please…
-
A tragic end to 2019 for Australia
I feel wretched for the millions of human and non-human animals who are suffering through the bushfire crisis in Australia right now. My social media feeds have been filled for weeks with apocalyptic images of smoke and fire, devastated landscapes, suffering wildlife, destroyed homes, and the charcoaled bodies of Australian animals. I have never seen…
-
Goodbye tens, hello twenties
It’s the end of a decade today, depending on how you count. Ben tells me the twenties don’t officially begin until 2021 but he’s a mathematician and mathematicians start counting from one. Whereas my background is computer science and in computer science, we begin counting from zero, so I’m going with the twenties beginning tomorrow.…
-
Hand-knitted jumpers
I’ve spent the past few days crocheting while binge-watching Downton Abbey. It has been a wonderfully enjoyable way to spend the holidays. I finished this skirt for Elizabeth. Yesterday we went for a bike ride to the charity shop and I picked up two hand-knitted jumpers for £10 each. They are beautiful and someone put…
-
Christmas 2019
I always like to write about what we did for Christmas each year because it creates a record of it for the future. Can you remember where you were for Christmas in 2016? Who were you with? What did you eat? It’s amazing how quickly we forget. For Christmas 2019 we were at our home…
rachel.blog 