If you’re single, and it crosses your mind to worry that you might die alone and be eaten by Alsatians before anyone finds your decrepit corpse, à la Bridget Jones, remember this … HALF of all your ‘smug married’* friends will die single, too. (Phrase borrowed from Bridget.) And that’s not because of the divorce rate. You and your dear spouse are unlikely to die … Continue reading Thought for the day
I’ve decided to write for an hour a day for the next 30 days and see where it takes me! Enjoy! Yesterday I went to Brighton to meet some friends. I’d seen the city before, but not for a couple of years, so was happy to go back. The sumptuous unusual Pavilion and the fantastic sunset over the pebble beach are music to my Jane … Continue reading Writing Challenge Day #1
(It works slightly better in an American accent.) The other day my Medium ‘Daily Digest’ delivered me a post about leisure, featuring this quote from monk David Steindl-Rast: Leisure is the virtue of those who give time to whatever it is that takes time I’ve talked before (here and here) about leisure time making up a precious tiny proportion of most people’s lives; employers buy the use … Continue reading carpe dem diems: seize your leisure
If you’ve ever been told that you’ve internalised the patriarchy, that your feminism isn’t up to the mark because you don’t take specific account of ethnic minority women, that you can’t talk about abortion because you’re a man, that you should probably not even talk in a public place because as a cis white straight man your very words, dripping with the lard of privilege, … Continue reading Politics of oppression
‘I want so much more than they’ve got planned’ – quoth Belle as she almost skipped off into the book-filled sunset before, erm, being imprisoned for like no reason at all and then marrying her gaoler. This won’t be news to many people, but having recently re-watched Beauty and the Beast, the colossal sexism of the thing has only just struck me. Commonly discussed issues … Continue reading Beauty and the beastly patriarchy
When we wake in the morning, what is our first thought? It’s Monday, and we’re late, so we spring up, the to-do list already firmly in our minds before we hit the shower. But there is already much here that should surprise us. The fact that we have emerged from a state of consciousness that is pretty much as good as being dead for all … Continue reading Grateful for gratuity
While super skinny may be the name of the catwalk game, we must remember that standards of beauty are as varied as a piece of string is long – or in other words, pretty meaningless. Remember the irrelevant imperfections the Plastics moaned about in Mean Girls? ‘My hairline is so weird!‘, ‘My pores are huge!‘, ‘My nail beds suck!‘ Whatever your grievance with your poor … Continue reading Still worthy of art
in my write mind 