Blog
72. Ode to the beach
I bloody love the beach, I do. I love the way the wind troubles my hair. (A too-short bob in summer is a bad choice, what I wouldn't give for a ponytail!) The constant watering of my left eye. Those little pimples I get after days of sweating under factor 50 sun...
71. Obsessive (gluten-free and dairy-free) almond and plum cake
I’ve been on a gluten-free bender for a couple of months now. Not, like, religiously or anything. If I go out to a pizza restaurant, I’m going to eat the pizza, not some lame salad. But, on the whole, I’ve cut down on wheat (mainly bread, pasta and beer). I feel...
70. Gardening and the art of compromise
Last year was our first summer growing veg; our first summer with a garden of our own. It’s brilliant when you eat your first home-grown courgette (not so much when eating your two-hundredth home-grown courgette). But, man, gardening is a lot of hard work. Weeds...
69. Three good things
Some things that have made me happy lately... Wardrobes. For 18 months I’ve been sharing one of those cheap clothes racks with Rob (you know, the things that very organised people take to car boot sales to hang their wares on). Some time ago we gave up putting...
68. House renovation update – in pictures
In the lounge... Moving onto the kitchen and pantry... Elsewhere in the house... My office. Getting there on bricking in the staircase....
67. Three reasons why I should not have children
I’ve never really seen myself having kids. I just don’t feel the urge. And I’m okay with that. But not everyone understands - sometimes I feel like I need a proper grown-up reason, something better than ‘I just don’t really fancy it’. So, I’ve decided to...
66. [I’m not very good at this sort of thing so insert your chosen motivational phrase here]
Almost four years ago Rob and I sat in a pub in Southsea. It was a Sunday and we both had a bad case of the Sunday blues. I was commuting to London at the time - spending 4-5 hours a day travelling. (It doesn’t matter how much you like your job, that sort of...
65. If you don’t like cats, you may want to skip this one
One of our cats, Moona (the mother cat), has been missing since the end of August. We choose to believe she’s gone to live elsewhere in the village rather than departed for cat heaven. To be honest, the kittens have grown up to be quite a handful, so I don’t really...
64. малко по малко (little by little)
The lovely young Dimana has been giving us Bulgarian lessons for about a year now. That sounds a long time doesn’t it? Surely we must be fluent by now?! Erm, well, no. In the beginning it was rather sporadic and we pretty much cried off lessons all winter. (What?...
63. The one where my parents come to stay, I am reunited with my beloved sofa, and we all embark on an epic road trip back to the UK
I start with a confession. These events actually took place at the end of August but I’ve been too traumatised to write about it until now. And busy. I’m a busy, busy, traumatised individual. So don’t give me a hard time about neglecting the blog, okay? I...
62. Holidays, driving and Speedos
Being all European and stuff, we can actually drive to lovely holiday destinations now. So last week we trundled off in Uma the Puma for trip to Greece - one night in Thessaloniki and five nights on the lovely island of Thassos. I’ve been to quite a few Greek...
61. A tale of two vegetable patches: Part two
A little while ago I wrote a post comparing our (first ever) veg patch with our (very experienced 64-year-old) neighbour’s veg patch. Needless to say, the comparison wasn’t kind. Svilen’s veg patch is glorious - regimentally organised rows bursting with huge fruits...