MrsDoyle

I use WhatsApp on my computer, in a web browser, but you do have to activate it from your phone via a q code.

Orbital, by Samantha Harvey. It’s just won the Booker prize so I thought I’d check it out. It’s set on the space station, and is basically the astronauts on board thinking. I can’t believe how beautiful it is, how gripping.

For the first few minutes I thought this was someone explaining frostbite using rubber models/makeup on their fingers. Very, very interesting and informative, as well as slightly horrifying. I can’t imagine talking so calmly and positively about losing some of my fingers.

At my brother’s house for dinner, yum, chicken casserole. Six-y-o niece: “It’s not a chicken, it’s a rooster. It bit daddy, and daddy cut its head off.” Still delicious.

Ah. Maybe work up a few phrases explaining your situation ahead of the trip?

Be open, humble, friendly, listen more than you talk. Try and learn a bit about the country you’re in, not to have opinions about it, but to better understand the people you meet. Happy travels!

That really sucks, I hope you’re over it soon.

The Russian government cracks down really hard on anyone daring to protest against the war. You can be jailed for even calling it a war - it’s a “special military operation”.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-war_protests_in_Russia_(2022–present)

Beekeeping, rowing, swimming, knitting, photography, gardening. I also do quite a bit of tech stuff, and some sewing and baking. None of it is for income, though I have been paid for a few photos.

Beekeeping is far and away the most absorbing and interesting hobby I’ve ever had. Where I live there are very active local associations that support learning and hold social events. The national association organises courses at all levels. A government department sends out bee inspectors to check for disease; great support and another learning opportunity.

If you want to, you can make good money from selling honey. It’s a lot of hard work, but really enjoyable.

I once had a passenger criticise me for indicating a turn when there were no others cars around. She said it showed I was driving without thinking, automatically signalling when it wasn’t needed. I think I said something like “fuck you” or maybe “I’ll drop you off here then if you don’t like my driving”. I’m signalling my intentions to the universe! Behold my blinking lights, for I am voyaging leftwards!

Hardly anyone in the UK can say “sixth”. They pronounce it “sick”. Some people can’t even say “six”, that becomes “sick” as well. I judge them for it - lazy!

Genius.

I’m right with you on “magic clean hand socks”. In the canteen at my last job the staff would make sandwiches wearing gloves and then take money from customers and ring it up on the till - still wearing the same gloves. Cash is the filthiest thing you could touch in this situation, but they’d go and make the next sandwich after handling it. Yuck.

Sadly they moved away, and let the flat to concrete-shod students.

Cold baked beans straight from the tin, eaten with a spoon. I’m grinning thinking of my dinner guests’ faces as they contemplate their tins.

Lived downstairs from a couple who were in a chamber orchestra - he was cello, she was violin. They apologised, but I LOVED my morning recital, even if it was only part of the full score.

God, me too. I thought I was too dumb to “get it”.

My father had a terrific sense of humour and would deliberately mispronounce certain words to wind up his fancy-pants daughters. “Patio” became “pay-tio”, that kind of thing. But one word in particular has entered the family lexicon: “gnome”, pronounced “ganOmee”. Not meaning a garden ornament, but a young man of dubious moral/intellectual qualities. Our boyfriends were almost always declared gnomes.

Watching porn at work

Edit: Only took me three edits to get there!

Edit: Four, if you count that one.

Imagine a cup of coffee being all you look forward to.