What I wasn't expecting were the visions. Hildegard and I would have so much more to talk about now.
Category: aging
Intimations of mortality
This 'retiring academic' identity is all very well, and most of the time it feels right. In a year which saw the publication of my first 'trade book', Immaculate Forms, and some really enjoyable opportunities to promote it by podcasts and radio programmes, I was starting to forget about the less pleasant aspects of ageing.… Continue reading Intimations of mortality
Bluebell season
I like spring. Well, I like autumn too, but spring has the flowers! First the white ones - snowdrops. Than the yellow ones - daffodils and primroses. Than the blue ones. As a child, I remember ‘going bluebelling’. We did it every year, with my Gran. This was before the Wildlife and Countryside Act of… Continue reading Bluebell season
How to reverse pre-diabetes
As the title suggests, this is going to read like a smug post. In fact, I feel more relieved than smug, and I offer it here in case it encourages others. As regular readers know, back in the summer I had blood tests which by chance revealed that I was pre-diabetic. My GP advised me… Continue reading How to reverse pre-diabetes
Sugar, sugar…
Sugar cubes: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / “Würfelzucker -- 2018 -- 3582” / CC BY-SA 4.0 When you reach the age of 60, the UK NHS offers you some exciting experiences - or at least that was the case before the pandemic. There's a one-off general health check, which wasn't very encouraging about my body weight, but at that point I didn't… Continue reading Sugar, sugar…
Shedding stuff
How do you get rid of someone's belongings in a way that's appropriate and respectful (and even helpful!)?
The end of the road
I've been thinking about writing this post for a while because, as someone who - as I said when I started this blog - only knows what she thinks when she starts writing, I need to process my mother's death. I could do that on my own and with friends but, as I have already… Continue reading The end of the road
Having a fall: what’s right and what’s wrong in the NHS
Some people fall over: others have a fall. There's an important difference. When you're young, you fall over, and you get up. Nobody makes much of a fuss. Life resumes immediately after a few moments of interruption. When you're older, however, you have a fall. This can be devastating. My father had a fall, broke… Continue reading Having a fall: what’s right and what’s wrong in the NHS
Happy World Menopause Day?
Not all women have the menopause
Caring: when it all gets worse
Back in 2016, I mused here on the difficulties of being a carer for an elderly relative, especially when something unusual happens. Then, it was a planned surgical procedure: last week, it was an entirely unplanned disaster scenario, when my mother somehow fell in her own flat on the day before her 90th birthday party… Continue reading Caring: when it all gets worse
The retiring academic 