rachel.blog

insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman

  • Bicycle helmet legislation and Hövding

    Wearing a bicycle helmet is not compulsory in the UK or anywhere else in Europe and I don’t wear one when I go cycling. I am also vehemently opposed to compulsory helmet legislation. Why? Because it reduces cycling rates which in turn makes cycling more dangerous for those left. It also affects the health of the population…

  • Bicycles, birds, and mathematicians

    We’ve just returned from a very enjoyable departmental party at Ben’s work. The pure maths department is very small so it was a small and friendly gathering. There were some other kids there and they paired up with our kids and spent the time tearing about the place and burning off energy. We cycled there and home…

  • Daylight, UbbLE, and FIFA

    It’s light when I fall asleep and light when I wake up now. The other night I woke up at 3:30am to use the bathroom and it was light! Sunrise is officially not until about 4:20am but the first light here is at about 3:15am. Surprisingly it hasn’t affected my sleep at all. I thought…

  • Raffles, prizes, spies, and things

    It was the school fair recently and Elizabeth won two raffle prizes. She’s always winning things. Once she’s old enough to bet on the Melbourne Cup I’m copying her bets. The first prize was an enormous basket of toys, games, and things for the garden. The second prize was a £25 voucher for a restaurant…

  • Cycling the Deeside cycleway in the rain

    We went for another ride this afternoon along the Deeside cycleway. It was raining all morning and so I had to force a somewhat reluctant husband to join me. The kids were warm and dry in Busby so they didn’t mind. It didn’t rain very much in the end and the sun even came out…

  • Absurd hypocrisy on the dinner table

    Earlier this week hosts of a Danish radio station killed a bunny rabbit on air and then later cooked and ate it. It generated a huge backlash for the station including calls for a boycott. I wonder how many of those who complained eat other animals? Why is it acceptable to kill, cook, and eat a young…

  • On positive thinking

    I’ve never been a fan of positive thinking. I prefer honesty even when it hurts or reveals the things we’d rather not know. Expressing a range of different emotions is what being human is all about. There’s a place for happiness, sadness, grief, anger, fear, love, concern, and worry and I don’t think it’s wise…

  • The age of science denial

    A commenter on the …andThenTheresPhysics blog has shared a terrific excerpt from a 100-year-old science book by Huxley and Gregory he found in his attic. It’s about the greenhouse effect and how we knew way back then that adding CO2 to the atmosphere would increase the surface temperature on earth. The atmosphere surrounding the earth…

  • A mathematician’s clock and the joy in suffering (just a little bit)

    Visitors to our house are always impressed with Ben’s clock so I thought I’d share a pic: His sister bought it for him. After our terrific bicycle ride on Saturday I was thinking about what it is that’s so good about cycling from one place to another. There’s all the obvious things like the “fun”…

  • Isn’t it time for us to reject slavery in all forms?

    I’ve just watched a great TED talk given by Steven Wise, an American lawyer and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project. The organisation is fighting for basic legal rights for nonhuman animals – things like the right to life and liberty. In 2013 they brought legal action against the State of New York on behalf of four chimpanzees…

  • Deeside Way

    We’ve just been out for a cycle ride on Deeside Way. This is the old train line which used to ferry Queen Victoria and entourage out to Balmoral Castle every summer. It was closed in the 60s and has recently been converted into a cycling/walking path. The pathway goes all the way out to Ballater,…

  • Family, WooCommerce, and women in the workplace

    It has been almost a week since I wrote a post! This is unlike me. Usually I’m bursting at the seams with things to say. Lots of things have happened this week too but for some reason I just haven’t felt like writing. Dad left last Monday which was sad. We all enjoyed having him…

  • Craigievar Castle

    We booked another Co-Wheels car today. I think I’ve got the system all figured out and have tried a few different cars now including electric, petrol, and hybrid. Most of the problems I had in the beginning were down to user error, I’m embarrassed to say. We drove out to Craigievar Castle, about 30 miles…

  • Glen Garioch and Tolquhon Castle

    We have had another terrific day today. I almost feel a bit bad that I have so many terrific days and I hope that I’m not rubbing it in too much by writing about them on my blog all the time. There’s something so fun about writing about my experiences. It’s kind of a way…

  • A rant about human rights and trying to see a doctor

    It must be time for a rant. I haven’t had one for a while and things build up. Apparently the recently re-elected conservative government in the UK has plans to scrap the Human Rights Act. Why would they want to do that? It’s sort of like saying, “Let’s scrap the right to vote for women.…

  • More photos from the Shetland Islands

    Dad came with us to the Shetland Islands and took much nicer photos of the puffins than I did so I thought I’d share his photos as they’re really terrific. He also took some nice ones of Shetland Ponies: And some of the beach: Seals (that’s Lerwick in the background): A photo of Scalloway: And…

  • The Shetland Islands

    I’m not quite sure how to begin this post. I’ve just had a fantastic adventure in the Shetland Islands and saw and did so many wonderful things so this is probably going to be a long post. On Friday evening we boarded a ferry, the MV Hjaltland, for the Shetland Islands. The Shetland Islands are at…

  • Bikes vs cars

    One of my blogging friends posted a great collection of photographs of cargo bikes in Amsterdam especially for me. There are some very cool cargo bikes there. I’m sure everyone is well aware of my love for cargo bikes and in particular, my very own Busby: We’re about to head away for an adventure but I…

  • Dunnottar Castle

    I took Dad to Dunnottar Castle today. I booked the electric car again which I had no problems starting but we couldn’t get the plug out of the charging station. I phoned Co-wheels and they weren’t sure either so they said I could just leave it there and that’s what we did. I have been…

  • An election, rtfm, and other matters

    There’s a general election tomorrow in case anyone hadn’t noticed and somewhat surprisingly, I am allowed to vote. This is because I’m a Commonwealth citizen. Some people are not very happy about this. A friend of mine here is Dutch and although he has lived in the UK for 17 years, he is not allowed…