On beneficial baths

Mostly written last night. This morning it was warm and sunny and I cycled to work in a T-shirt and skirt. Yesterday and most of last week that was no problem. Today however… When I looked out of the window at 5 this evening it was raining. The weather forecast I should ideally have looked […]

On sleeping through seminars

It seems as soon as I enter a lecture theatre I fall asleep.. At the very latest when they turn on the beamer and start talking. It’s not quite full on sleeping, just dozing off and waking up a few seconds later when my head jolts back up, but it’s frustrating to be completely incapable […]

On sleeping in my car

Okay, so it was nothing like a Roxette song, but it was an adventure. There’s not much more freeing than packing your stuff into the back of your own car and driving into the sunset. And there’s not much more grown up than realising when you are really really tired and should stop to sleep […]

On driving across Berlin with a fridge

While it wasn’t nearly as cool as hitchhiking round Ireland with one’s miniature fridge, I’d argue that driving accross Berlin during rush hour with a nearly-full-sized fridge on the folded down back seats of your car is slightly more nerve wracking, especially if it’s dark, drizzling, and the rear windscreen wiper doesn’t clean the top […]

On beach parties

Originally, we wanted to spend the day on the beach. We packed a picnic and a bottle of water, swimwear and a couple of towels, and off we went. We got there just after high tide, and the dryest sand was damp. Damp sand never stopped us before so we sat down and ‘set up […]

On being wet, cold and bad tempered

It rained on the way to the train station. Really hard. Hailed too. I understand that it has to rain sometimes. I know the ground is rock hard. I know the farmers have been practically begging for rain for weeks. That’s all good and logical. I’m all for happy farmers. However. Why can’t it rain […]

On rain at lunchtime

The canteen at work is designed for people to go in, sit down, eat and leave again. It’s not designed for everyone to sit around talking once they’ve finished eating. Today it rained. Very very hard. It started raining at midday, just after I’d got to a table and sat down. The people who had […]