Vive la Difference
In my not so humble opinion, a man is a useful addition to the household. He has (often) better earning and employment potential (still!), he is strong, he finds time for hobbies and interests (how could that be?) and as a result, sometimes learns to carry out useful tasks that perhaps some women might feel […]
Aging can be funny if you look at it the right way

I met an ex-colleague at the garden centre. It was so nice to see her. I think we chatted more than we had ever done at school. She said, ‘I love your blog.’ I replied ‘I haven’t written anything for ages. Now the children have left and the dog’s gone, nothing funny happens.’ I paused. […]
dogs, Cats and a Dawn Chorus

Although dear old Milo has departed this life, Whizz and I occasionally have the opportunity to ‘enjoy’ other people’s pets. Both my girls seem to be ‘cat people’ and by that, I don’t mean they have pointy ears and flicking tails, no, I mean that they adore cats. Horace, when small and on holiday somewhere […]
Staying young takes time

I began keeping this blog in September 2005; I had just celebrated my 50th birthday. My posts then, were punchy, funny and filled with observations from my busy life. Since retiring in 2020, I have theoretically had plenty of me-time but, needing to feel needed, I devoted much of this ‘free’ time to the organisation […]
Cat expressions

In my experience, the feelings of cats are usually ‘expressed’ from their nether regions (see what I did there?) In years gone by, I and certain members of my family-stroke-social-circle (another pun) owned pets of the feline variety. Now, I wonder what we were all thinking. There are so many reasons to keep cats safely […]
My Mum – again

As I have mentioned in the past, my mother is 93 (born 1929). Currently, her energies are directed at moving herself into residential care. This project, she is undertaking with her usual energy, and to support her in it I and my siblings have been visiting regularly. Mum loves it when I am at her […]
Can you hear me Mother?

My mother is 93 and very deaf. She has been quite deaf for years. In fact, when she was my age, she was noticeably hard of hearing. I am deeply grateful that I don’t seem to have been saddled with such an affliction. A visit to Mum is fraught with misunderstanding. A visitor might come […]
Me-bike

Whizz has a new job. It involves a short daily commute – about 10 miles – to Duckchester. Accustomed to working from home and taking daily exercise on our cross trainer (another story), he soon found this sedentary job resulted in noticable expansion of his girth. This was not good. Neither was the soaring cost […]
Dog story

Our poor old Milo quit this life on Boxing Day 2021, but our step-dog, Grabber, padded into the breach to help us through our sadness. Grabber belongs to Beamish, the man who rents one of our rooms. This little Cocker Spaniel is the dearest thing. Unlike Milo, who spent most of his days lying beside […]
Horace Memories

Story Number One Horace and two girl friends decided upon a weekend away and booked a self-contained flat on AirBnB. In the flat, they had a choice of a double or twin bedded room. Her friends were kind enough to let Horace have the double, while they shared the twin – I wouldn’t dream of […]