Friday Links: On a Saturday….

Posted on November 6, 2018 by nicdempsey

I am late getting this up, it has been a week. Ma says I’m to apologise for my lateness, because she likes to read links on Friday! At least one person is reading it!

Run: Why the public marriage proposal at the New York City Marathon is the absolute worst of the trend

How to make Christmas cake. This is not how I do it see here for what I make but if you were thinking about it now’s the time..

Rigging the vote: how the American right is on the way to permanent minority rule. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture.

Britain has never looked so foolish in the world’s eyes. This isn’t pretty either but he’s so right…

Fellow evangelicals: stop falling for Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. I’m not an evangelical but it is un-Christian. I find that people that spend a lot of time prattling on about being Christian can often be the ones who spend the least time showing Christianity in their actions..

‘The NHS is paying me buttons. I can’t cope’

They shall not pasty: why British soldiers are banned from Greggs

Outrageous! Did we defeat Hitler only to surrender our basic freedom to eat baked goods? Hitler was largely defeated by the Soviet Union, a totalitarian police state where baked goods were often hard to come by.

Democrats Are So, So Bad at This

‘Miserable staff don’t make money’: the firms that have switched to a four-day week

Winter blues? A practical guide to getting more light in your life

Why are we surprised that therapy has its downsides?. I didn’t expect that therapy would make me happy, I expected that it would help me cope with my unhappiness. My naturally stoic nature at work there.

David Cameron, get back in your hut. You’ve done enough damage

 

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Monday Miscellany: I feel terrible

Posted on November 5, 2018 by nicdempsey

It is not a happy Monday. I woke up this morning with a temperature. To go with it headache, shivering, nausea and throwing up.

I throw this type of fever fairly regularly, wake up in the middle of the night cold and shivering, throw on some more clothes and go back to sleep, wake up fine. In fact that’s what happened on Saturday night. No idea why and it’s not malaria or anything horrible just my body’s defence mechanism.

But today I feel pants, and ill but it is Monday, I’m still on probation until the end of December. So I’m writing this from the train. If I still feel awful by lunchtime then I’ll go home, but I need to show up.

The weekend was lovely, to be honest Ma and I were worried about the little one but he was lovely. Mad as a box of frogs but delightful. The big nephew was good too!

We went for a walk in the woods and although children are hard work, these two aren’t that much work. J pretty much puts himself to bed!

This week I’m going to work and sleep so I’m recovered enough to be at a 6th birthday party and the Grace 25th anniversary service.

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Friday Links: Budgets and Pumpkins

Posted on November 2, 2018 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday!

Jeremy Hunt says top diplomatic jobs open to non-civil servants Well if Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt can be Foreign Secretary, it stands to reason that any monkey could be a diplomat. It makes my very cross because I know that they don’t just arse about..

‘Remember you will die’ – and 11 other tips for a better death. I think this is a pretty good guide. I haven’t made a will but if I die tomorrow, I have life insurance through work that goes to Ma. She knows well enough what to do in terms of how to settle finances etc and arrange a funeral, (and as a funeral is for the living, she can play any music she wants!). The only thing I do probably need to do is set up a document for all the passwords of various things online so she can get them sorted. Also we’ve been talking about Power of Attorney for her and I should probably set one up in case! When she dies, all of that goes to Ben, Lu and the boys! I’m a simple creature!

A use for leftover pumpkins?

No more snooze button: a complete guide to waking up feeling fantastic

The Waldensians: What one small town’s celebration of immigration tells us about how white Americans think about history.Well yes…

Why struggling companies promote women: the glass cliff, explained

America Isn’t the ‘Only Country’ With Birthright Citizenship. No American exceptionalism on this one. It amuses me though that Trump and his ilk are keen to overturn the 14th Amendment but are still claiming that the 2nd Amendment must remain untouched.

Schools don’t need ‘little extras’, Philip Hammond. They need proper funding

I live among the neo-Nazis in eastern Germany. And it’s terrifying

Couples being denied IVF on NHS over man’s age or weight. Children are not a right, infertility is not a disease. The age and health of a potential parent should be taken into account when deciding whether to progress with treatment. I do understand the pain of not having children when you desperately want them, but it’s not a disease, it’s not a right. It is unfair that rich people can have children way past the age of their natural fertility – Janet Jackson, Elton John et al. And there is a conversation to be had about that but the NHS is overburdened and no-one is going to die if they don’t have children. Harsh but fair, I think you’ll find.

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What I’ve Read – October 2018

Posted on November 1, 2018 by nicdempsey

 

 

 

I’m getting to this on time this month!

Cherish Hard – Nalini Singh

I’ve had this for ages and just didn’t get around to reading it. It’s fairly typical Singh, lots of stuff that cannot change until of course it does. Lots of bad parenting redeemed by love and effort…

The Fifth Season – N.K. Jemsin

I loved this, I’m so going to read the next two. It was so clever the way the language hints at the state of the world and you assume things based on the world you know and then you realise it was a bad assumption. Jemsin managed to make her world both foreign and completely familiar…

The Very First Damned Thing: A Chronicle of St Mary’s Story – Jodi Taylor

When a Child is Born: A Chronicle of St Mary’s Story – Jodi Taylor

We covered my love of these books last month. Still love them.

Gather the Daughters – Jennie Melamed

This was horrible. You start of thinking this is one thing and realise that it’s something much, much worse. You could at the beginning make the case for a society warped by terrible things, but then realise that the terrible things are the community, that the community, mostly women and girls are suffering were designed, by men for their very twisted benefit. Worth reading but horrible and not for readers without a strong stomach..

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – Jenny Han

P.S. I Still Love You – Jenny Han

Always and Forever: Lara Jean – Jenny Han

I saw the Netflix movie and then read all the books, lovely, I love Lara Jean because she’s great but also completely self centred in a teenage way…

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Allotment Adventures: Pumpkin Walk

Posted on October 31, 2018 by nicdempsey

Not much gardening this week…

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TuesdayMonthly Goals – October/November 2018

Posted on October 30, 2018 by nicdempsey

September was great, my holiday was just what I needed, although as they often are, far too short but I feel better for the break and it was just in time to give me enough mental energy to gear up for autumn. It’s really hard to remember what else I did in September, it was a pretty quiet month. Here’s how I did with my specific goals.

Bedtime, Wake up time and Golden HourThe goal was to really knuckle down and into a sleep and wake up routine. Having a 10pm bedtime and getting up at 6am or within that time on the weekend. Honestly, apart from when I was on holiday, I’ve rocked this. I switched on the wake up lamp and have done really well. I don’t much enjoy it but there is a feeling of satisfaction when I do it because I don’t like it but I am prioritising this because it is important, it’s like taking a yucky medicine.

Walking

Walk to and from the station every work day. 30 min lunchtime walk when I’m in the office. The walk to and from the station has been easy, because I have to get to the station so I walk, but the lunchtime one was trickier to make myself do, I would say that I did it 50% of the month and I’ve done it every day I’ve been in the office since I came back from holiday.

Yoga

I’ll like to do something everyday while I’m on holiday (and maybe get Ma to do with me as she’s given up Pilates) and at least three times a week during the month. I failed to do any yoga while away and only managed this 3 times in the whole month.

Tone

Squats (20), sit ups (10), press ups (10). It’s pathetically little but I want to hit it every other day. I managed this every day before my holiday and not at all after.

Home

HouseworkA weekly clean of the kitchen, hall and bathroom (including hoovering and mopping). Ironing, nothing that needs ironing hanging around more than a day. It was going so well but then I came back from holiday and the house was overwhelmed with tomatoes and squash and I was overwhelmed. I got it back into shape last week but as a goal it works

ProjectsDefrost the freezer/clear out the fridge. Clean the oven. No I did not do these things, I really need to do them.

Book de-clutter

I’m going to Barter Books so time to get rid of my excess books, so I can trade them in for more books. Of course this is the one that I did, I got £18 for the old books and brought 4 ‘new’ ones back and paid for Ma’s ‘Life of Samuel Johnson’ with my profits.

Allotment

We didn’t do much with this list in September.

New things

  • Make a patio next to the shed
  • Buy sand,
  • Buy pavers
  • Level ground
  • Path next to shed
  • Woodchip
  • Borders
  • Pavers

Maintenance/planning

  • Paint the shed
  • Plant autumn bulbs
  • Sow
  • pak choi

Defrost the freezer/clear out the fridge. Clean the oven. No I did not do these things, I really need to do them.

Book de-clutter

I’m going to Barter Books so time to get rid of my excess books, so I can trade them in for more books. Of course this is the one that I did, I got £18 for the old books and brought 4 ‘new’ ones back and paid for Ma’s ‘Life of Samuel Johnson’ with my profits.

Allotment

We didn’t do much with this list in September.

New things

  • Make a patio next to the shed
  • Buy sand,
  • Buy pavers
  • Level ground
  • Path next to shed
  • Woodchip
  • Borders
  • Pavers

Maintenance/planning

  • Paint the shed
  • Plant autumn bulbs
  • Sow
  • pak choi
  • mustard
  • land cress
  • black radish
  • parsley
  • Get the lavender into the ground or bigger terracotta pots. Almost done, two more plants to rehome
  • Sort out the canes and get rid of the weak broken ones
  • Manure the rhubarb
  • Manure and cover the beds we aren’t going to use over winter

Other 

Meal Planning and Food budget & Birthday/Christmas prep

I just wanted to get myself a bit more organised. With both of these things, and I think I am. I need to plan a bit more to handle the birthday/Christmas onslaught but I’m getting there.

My plans for October month are all the things I didn’t get done it September. Keeping simple here…

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Monday Miscellany: Pumpkins and minor disasters

Posted on October 29, 2018 by nicdempsey

Happy Monday!

So last week was weird. I felt sniffly and like I was coming down with cold but I didn’t and on Thursday had a coffee and wardrobe disaster. My skirt split all the way up the back AND I got coffee spilled on me by a tripping commuter, she was mortified, I worked from home that day. On Friday, I went to see my friend Jane, who is also my hairdresser. As my hair was washed ready for cutting and the power went out all over the neighbourhood. Jane trimmed my fringe, by torch light because her firefighter husband won’t have candles in the house. We drank prosecco instead and went home.On Saturday, it was the pumpkin walk and I spent what felt like hours, pouring mulled wine. The people of Ealing are thirsty!On Sunday, I had a quiet day at home, doing the usual, some housework, some food prep and lots of lounging around with a book…

This week, the mornings will be easier, I won’t be leaving the house at ‘nighttime’ for a bit, but the evenings will be harder. It’s a pretty low key week and at the weekend, I’ll be at my brother’s looking after the nephews while Ben and Lu get some much deserved adult time. I’m really not sure that J is going to forgive us!

What are your plans for the week?

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Sunday Music: Can’t Play Dead

Posted on October 28, 2018 by nicdempsey

Yesterday, I spent most of the day with a spider on my head, dishing up to mulled wine to visitors for the allotment Halloween Pumpkin Walk. So something Halloween-ish felt like is was in order. This felt right.

It’s The Heavy, who I’ve been taken with for quite a while…

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Friday Links: Civility

Posted on October 26, 2018 by nicdempsey

Trump’s words have consequences, and he can no longer deny it

We’re in a new era of slum landlords and tenant squalor. Lammy was part of a Labour government that did nothing to reform housing over 13 years, it can’t all be blamed on the Tories..a lot of it can but not all…

 Who will protect tenants from rogue landlords? Certainly not the Tories.

Is gratitude the secret of happiness? I spent a month finding out. This was interesting, I do this largely because it helps me focus. Especially in winter, keeping my brain from being too negative is helpful. It doesn’t mean that I’m happy all the time, or things are easy but it does help me focus on the things I can do. I do agree that if you are in really dire straits then this is tricky, but gratitude is helpful for me because I do have things to be thankful for, even when my life generally is difficult.

 

At 63, I Threw Away My Prized Portrait of Robert E. Lee. This is worth reading, because how does one person deal with the conflicting narratives of the history of his country?

World’s oldest intact shipwreck discovered in Black Sea

David Cameron led us to this calamity. Yet he stays quiet and hides in his hut

A politician who bumped into Cameron said he thinks the referendum result must be respected, but that Britain should protect living standards by going for the softest Brexit imaginable and staying in the single market. This is a compromise well to the “left” of Theresa May and Corbyn’s plans and is worth discussing. Whatever his critics say, David Cameron is a former PM. He not only has the right to offer his solution but a duty. If he is to earn the right to a hearing, however, he must first find not only self-knowledge and courage, but an un-English seriousness of purpose he has evaded all his life.

Can’t sleep? Perhaps you’re overtired

Rising Early Is Clearly a Good Idea. But Stop Pretending We Need to Do It Perfectly or Only for Productivity. Monday to Fridays, I’m currently rocking a 6am wake up time, which means after the 6am news, so about 6.10am and I’m out of the house around 7am. (I can make this go faster though, last week, I got up at 5.44am and was out of the house at 6.15am to get the train to Southampton) I’m generally at my desk about 8.25am. I like getting in early, we hotdesk and this way I get a desk. I like the time to look at my day and work out what my ‘people’ are doing and make sure that they have everything they need. I started this back in August because I knew that I’d have to bed the habit in before it got dark. It is habit. Left to myself, I would get up about 30 minutes to an hour past sunrise, which is 7:38 at the moment. In the summer, I have the occasional 5.30am get out of bed but mostly, before 6am is a step too far! There is no virtue in this, I do it because it makes my day go better but I don’t enjoy it. Recently, it’s been easier, I think it’s middle-age..

 

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Monday Miscellany: Teambuilding, Cocktails and Aunty Duty

Posted on October 22, 2018 by nicdempsey

Happy Monday!

After last week, which involved a very early morning for a trip to Southampton, a cocktail making class and having the nephews on Saturday night. Which was much easier than you’d imagine but involved more cooking than I thought it would, I’m ready for a peaceful week!

I seem to have caught the office cold but so far it’s really not that bad, I’m just quite tired, last night’s bedtime was 8:30pm, I’m pretty sure the eldest nephew can be up longer than that!

It is half term this week so trains are quieter which is nice, when you are feeling sub par not being able to sit down is a special kind of hell!

Plans for this week are work and rest for today through Thursday. Friday night is haircut which, as I missed the last one, my hair really needs!

At the weekend, we are going to be on the allotment site, After a spot of Halloween decorating, for the pumpkin walk, I’ll be slinging mulled wine and Ma will be manning the cake stall all afternoon!

I’m hoping I’ll have vanquished this sniffle and be fighting for for it!

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