Middle-aged, Free and Single

A Supernumerary at Sea

A couple of posts ago (My Forever Home) I mentioned that I’d spent a bit of time living on a ship (four ships over a three year period, to be precise) – and I promised a post about it. Back in 1980 in Sheffield, I married my first husband. Sheffield is an unlikely place to…

Water Waste – what a waste

I’m on a water meter. I had it put in when I first moved into the house, because economically it made sense – as a rough rule of thumb, if there are fewer people in the house than there are bedrooms, they’re worth it. Well, this is a 4-bedroom house, and at the time there…

My Forever Home

It’s 6 years and 2 months exactly since I moved in to this house. It’s my 18th house (not counting ships – I really will have to do a post about the ships!). It’s my third forever home. It’s a big house, I suppose – a basement, ground floor, first floor and attic, with 4…

Not Counting My Chickens

I’ve started my new job, and the lodger has signed the contract!! Things are definitely heading in the right direction. No actual money has changed hands yet (apart from the deposit from the lodger, which isn’t mine to spend anyway), but I think it’s time for a review of how I’m Husbanding my Resources. It’s…

25 ways to keep cool

Yesterday was hot. Today is going to be hotter. So, gleaned from a bit of time spent in the tropics, and in Australia, I hope these ideas will help you get through the next few days and nights. It’s hot. It’s very hot. Just accept it. Kicking against it or getting cross about it will…

Space Plague and Chocolate Truffles

These last two days I’ve been working at the Bradford Science Festival. I was assigned to help http://smashfestuk.com/ in their Space Plague tent. An immersive experience, where families help to diagnose and treat an outbreak of Space Plague and in the process do a bit of differential diagnosis, epidemiology, and chemistry, have fun with lasers…

Job #25

I like being busy. And for far too long I’ve not been busy enough. That all changed on Wednesday. Since I woke up on Wednesday morning I’ve Hoovered, dusted and mopped the attic (in case a potential new lodger wanted to come and have a look), hoovered, dusted and mopped the first floor and the…

Gold status – tick

I go to the gym. I posted about it here a while ago. Yesterday I achieved GOLD status. GOLD!!!! It works like this – after a month you get Iron status (well, you don’t just get it, you have to work for it, obviously). After two months at Iron status you get Bronze. After 4…

We Should Get Out More – 8 tips for going solo

I don’t generally give advice on this blog – much more often it’s a case of me showing you where things have gone awry for me and letting you draw your own conclusions. Remember this? Getting There. And this? Technical Difficulties But something I know a lot about is going places on my own. I…

Walking back to happiness

I was going to write a post about happiness to follow on from ‘It’s OK to be Happy’ – but the words just won’t come out right. It’s late, and I don’t want to give in and not post something tomorrow morning. I’ve not missed a deadline yet! But I need to do a bit…

The New Girl

I started a new job on Tuesday. It’s my 25th job – always the new girl. I’ve moved around a lot, and sometimes I’ve held down more than one job at a time. But still – 25. Over the 44 years that I’ve been working for money, that averages out at 1 year 9 months…