Middle-aged, Free and Single

Life after Lockdown – The Tutor

With tutoring still not happening, our tutor is using his creative skills to great effect with other projects. You can read his original ‘Life under Lockdown’ post here. All Day to Fill – by Howard Carlisle What to do today? At first, when we heard the words of Boris – we all need to stay…

Life after Lockdown – The Funeral Celebrant

Still not something we like to think about – but we really should. The Thanatologist’s previous post (‘The Memory Lives Forever’) is here. Less Can be More – by the Thanatologist When I wrote my last guest post for this blog, I was feeling very sad. I had just delivered several funerals that felt bleak,…

Life after Lockdown – The Holiday Part 6

The first of my lovely Guest Bloggers – the long-awaited Holiday Update!! You can read the start of the story here. What We Did AFTER Our Holiday – by 67 and Stopped Counting I am writing this from my lounge in lovely West Yorkshire because – we are home!! We were “stuck” in Mallorca for…

Where do you draw your line?

Have you got your hair appointment booked? Will you be out (‘Out out’) on Saturday night? Are you looking forward to going for a coffee? Is it really over, are we really getting back to normal, starting tomorrow? Or are we all just being sacrificed on the altar of economic expediency? It’s obvious that companies…

The Second Half

Well, that’s the first half of 2020 over with. It’s been a hell of a year so far. It’s kind of taken me by surprise, that we’re so far through the year. I think it’s because I feel everything has been in some sort of suspended animation since the start of Lockdown. I surprised myself…

The Worst of Both Worlds

The gym I go to had to close due to the pandemic. But it was OK, because I was doing so much walking (6 – 8 miles a day) and lifting (25kg sacks of cement, concrete, sand) at work that I was getting fitter and stronger by the day. I must have been getting through…

Hayfever

I was told, aged 11, that I would grow out of it. Here I am, aged 59 ½, sniffling and snuffling with the best of them. To be fair, it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be – I used to be a mess of itchiness (the eyes! the throat!), sneezes and sniffles…

Another To Do List

Another week off work. This, of course, was the week I should have been in Naples. Never mind. This is now the week in which I’m ticking off yet more of my to do list. The plan goes like this – Go for a proper long walk – nope, not yet. If it’s going to…

Still Owning the Space

A year ago I wrote about ‘Owning the Space’. Time for a recap about how that’s going. The garage had always been my husband’s space, and once he’d moved out it was very empty. It still is very empty!! I finally managed to paint the floor – first of all I couldn’t because the MG…

Visiting the Family (Tree)

I have 12,700 relatives, all over the world – Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, as well as England and Scotland (so basically, come to think of it, just the post-colonial white English-speaking world). Have you ever thought about researching your own tree? It’s fascinating – I’ve uncovered mystery, heart break, and skeletons in the…

Naples – The Holiday That Didn’t Happen

Tomorrow I should have been packing to go on my holiday to Naples. Ah well. Ain’t gonna happen. I’m not the only person whose holiday plans have been thwarted. Maybe next year. Maybe. But the thing is, this trip to Naples was symbolic for me. It was going to have been my first holiday on…