Never mentioned, in my agitato post on Monday, that the day had begun with turning on my phone to discover a text telling me I had a voicemail as of first thing from my sister -
- this in fact turned out to be a blip by her phone and there was no family crisis.
Phew.
***
The solution I thought I had attained to logging in to old workplace email ( Read more... )

Icon of my youth and several decades of adulthood, Katharine Whitehorn has died aged 93, having had Alzheimers for some years (I think I read a piece a few years ago by her son about deciding to put her in full-time nursing care).
I devoured her columns as they came out in The Observer, and in later years have accumulated what I think is the ( Read more... )

I'm sure WisCOnline is a great thing, and I hope people enjoy it, and I did actually pony up for a supporting membership, because I support it -
But.
It's not an accumulation of things that have become personal traditions over the years, even if one or two of them were things I was already thinking of altering this year because some things do not ( Read more... )

I.e. Cross-posting to Livejournal seems to be happening, at least, last night's post on this journal, and this morning's on the other, seem to have gone through.
And I spent some time over the past couple of days manually cross-posting the missing entries on both. I shall be very annoyed if they do, eventually, automatically x-post, after that faff ( Read more... )

It's rather an Eeyore-ish time of year for me anyway, and this week I have been in rather lowered spirits, between sleeping not terribly well, and (relevant to that) having bad days for the neck and shoulder problems, and the horrible weather (as a result of which my daily walk is curtailed for reasons of mud), and partner having a cold, and a mild ( Read more... )

In a fortnight or so's time I am going to be in Cambridge (UK, I add for the benefit of my transatlantic readers) attending a conference at which I am not actually presenting but to which I have been invited as, I suppose, A Grand Old Person In The Field who may usefully contribute to the general discussions. (Or at least An Old Person In The Field ( Read more... )

At least, that's how it seemed.
There was the flu jab accomplished (arm soreness gradually receding).
I not only finally rang the dental practice for an appointment for my overdue checkup, they managed to fit me in - with a new dentist, the former one having departed - this very week. (No work needed - yay!)
Organised jaunt to Scotland - I am ( Read more... )

Had a very agreeable lunch with a younger historian who is working on the history of STIs.
Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks - I think we both enjoyed ourselves.
Even if this is an area where, like so many others, we wonder what, if any, lessons have been learnt from history as questions which one thought had been answered are asked again and ( Read more... )

Can a friendship app, a digital neighbourhood noticeboard or Facebook really help me discover a new bestie?
Well, I'd think probably not, but what do I know, also I am a cynic that thinks that those cuddly friends groups that are always hanging out together and organising parties for one another are a sitcom/romcom trope and probably very seldom to ( Read more... )

At last laws relating to access to abortion and same-sex marriage applicable to other parts of UK may now also apply to Northern Ireland.
***
Even if I've been thinking that some things just come around regularly, like the discovery that O, women have been writing science fiction for A Very Long Time, and in considerable numbers, which I feel I ( Read more... )