A few weeks ago now Giles Coren's review of the Randolph appeared in The Times. It was accurately and amusingly bad, and intriguingly didn't even mention the only newsworthy event about The Randolph recently, namely the fire that broke out a few years ago. My memories of the Randolph are from occasional cream teas that... Continue Reading →
Yes, being old sucks
I read the news today, as indeed I do every day (usually without immediately thinking of Beatles lyrics). A very silly article caught my eye: a "study" by Anglia Ruskin university, about pop lyrics and ageing. It seems that old peoples' health is negatively affected by the fact that pop lyrics are overwhelmingly negative about... Continue Reading →
New Year’s Fears
It is perhaps strange that having a family should make me fearful, rather than hopeful, for the future, but having children makes everyone vulnerable. You can threaten someone's life, and they may shrug and decide that their life isn't worth much Threaten their child's life, and they will do absolutely anything. It makes every happy... Continue Reading →
Stupid, stupid mummy
Sometimes life seems sort of rainy. I tend to choose these times to write a great deal. It's a bit like eating chocolate - trying to run away from the moment you don't like. As I don't tend to fix my problems with chocolate or alcohol any more, at least I'm not fat, but it... Continue Reading →
Unreasonable irritation with the trivia of life
I was driving home from the station, and thought I should write some more pointless stuff in my entirely neglected and unread blog. Well, what I should actually be doing is submitting my expenses to my accountant, but I'm too generally irritated by life to do so. I hate standing on public transport, slowly making... Continue Reading →
Why are only women supposed to compromise?
A former manager contacted me the other day. That happens fairly frequently, and flatteringly enough, the communication is usually an offer to come and work with them in whichever company they've recently joined. This time, I wrote back explaining that as I was on maternity leave, I would not be available until next year. Quite... Continue Reading →
Human nature
I am currently reading a novel about a dystopian future in which the world has been destroyed in some sort of holocaust, and all the survivors live in a collection of huge underground bunkers near Atlanta. As with all science fiction, it is about the dynamics of human interaction in a hostile environment. I was... Continue Reading →
The rules
"We understand that mistakes happen...!" The headline on the ad is quite eye catching. Underneath it is a picture of an unattractive larger woman, with bright blonde, straw like hair, and dark roots showing through. She is sitting on the side of a bed, wearing a diamanté studded bra top. In the blurred background, a... Continue Reading →
Annoying things
This will be my last post on this blog. Due to a mixup with my Google settings, my real name is now linked to the blog, and the blog appears as the top search result. Given that my real name appears to be unique, this means that everyone I sit in a boring meeting with... Continue Reading →
A belated view of 2013’s films
Given it is the eve of the Oscars 2014, I'll have a look back at the film releases of 2013 (even if I watched almost none of the contenders), and a few small smatterings of what life was like at the time. January 2013: Jack Reacher. I watched this in the Lake District, on a... Continue Reading →
The resting writer 