Things you should probably talk about before you move in together… Money (bills, food shop, date nights): Are you sharing a bank account or are you using an app (Splitwise is fab!) to balance costs? Expectations/standards of what constitutes ‘clean’ and ‘tidy’. It’s much more stressful for a tidy person to live with a messy…
Two cups, not one.
If someone told me a year ago that the guy I nearly cancelled on would move into my home in October 2019, I wouldn’t have believed them. At the end of a spree of bad dates, I wasn’t sure whether he wanted to see me again and he’s since told me he couldn’t work out…
16 Ways to Make Your Hospital Stay a Little More Manageable
Over 28 years, I’ve had more than my fair share of hospital visits, both as an outpatient and an inpatient and admitted to NHS hospitals and private hospitals. With each operation, I’ve worked out a few tricks to help hospital feel less like a clinical institution and more like a homestay. I hope you find…
The nephrostomy fitting.
Image from Nursing Times. Lying on my stomach with my hands above my head, I wasn’t worried. (Nine people in the room seemed more than necessary for a conscious kidney procedure, but I was introduced to all the focused, smiling faces.) The consultant said there’d be no pain, only when the local anaesthetic was injected…
I didn’t know about fishing.
And it’s the end of Frankfurt Book Fair. Less than a year in the publishing industry and my CEO has taken me to London Book Fair and now FBF. The walking, the talking, the showcasing the smiling; it’s exhausting but an experience. Each day culminates in drinks meetings and invariably a bath. And then there…
Polycystic Ovaries and Fertility
On deciding to write about PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), I’ve discovered it’s Polycystic Awareness Month! And as it comes to the end of the month, it’s a good opportunity to write about my experiences of PCOS. Until a few years ago, I didn’t know I had PCOS. At the age of 25, I had my…
15 guys you will have dated by the time you’re 30.
I’m going to be that awful person. I’m just going to say it and hope my single friends don’t hate me for it (because I would have hated me last year): WHAT A RELIEF I’M NOT STILL SINGLE. Nine months in a happy relationship has meant I’ve often forgotten what a minefield it is being…
Porn
For a while, I’ve wanted to write about porn. In March, I tackled the hairy subject of pubic hair and promised to blog about porn. So, here goes: Photo by Charles 🇵🇭 on Unsplash Porn is such a tricky subject to discuss. Not only because for so many people it’s an awkward topic to talk about, but also…
60 years.
In the space of 20 minutes I saw 60 years. I lived through two marriages – two divorces, and then, strangely, our break up. Slipping in and out of consciousness, the present seemed out of reach. Grasping onto it for three minutes only for the inevitable slip, slip, slip away to wash over me. Fear…
The builder.
Friday, 4pm rolls around. The drilling and radio stop. Today, new problems have been found, and the client is ready to flop. Finishing his fourth cup of coffee of the day, the builder talks of the weekend (to her dismay). “I’m not allowed ou’ on my own,” the builder says to the client. “the…
