It’s official. I’m statistically funnier than my sibling. Which makes me funnier than three entire people in this world – no mean feat. Or at least, if I read the fine print on a recent YouGov survey, I am like 46% of Youngest Sibling: ‘more likely to think they are funny’.
Which sounds to me like YouGov are trying to passive aggressively infer that we’re not as funny as we think we are. To which I say, knock knock. Who’s there? YouGov. YouGov who? You Gov me cos I’m funny. Continue reading
Four scores and eight years ago (or just eight years ago, as I don’t know what four scores are) I was nearing the end of my post-graduate course in journalism. I untacked an advert pinned to the school’s noticeboard looking for feature writers to work for the UK’s biggest press agency, based in Bristol, and took it home.
Then I invited a friend over for dinner. This friend was already a journalist and much further along her journalism career than I, for she did not stop to wang about smoking weed and achieving nothing for a few years. While we discussed my career options, I remembered the ad that was stuffed into my satchel and I pulled it out to show my friend. Continue reading
There was an incident a few years ago, for which the consumption of alcohol was largely to blame for my behaviour. It made me realise that contrary to popular belief (in my head, where all the neural pathways lead to signs that read: ‘You’re brilliant!’) I didn’t become more of a legend the more I drank. I, would you believe it, actually became less of a legend, the more I drank. Continue reading
Fasting. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. (You’re allowed tea when you fast. As long as you don’t add milk or sugar. Fun times.) But it is a thing. A thing people are doing.
It all started with a Horizon documentary about the benefits of going 5:2. I haven’t seen it yet because my attention span for documentaries is embarrassingly short. I quite enjoy them once I get going but I avoid getting going in the first place. But I’m told fasting provides such health benefits as a longer life, a healthier heart, lower cholesterol. While you give your organs a break from digestion, they can get on with other things, such as warding off cancer and other pests. Apparently. Continue reading
In which I make some Gooseberry Cordial. While getting sloshed.
Ok, so city folk have got their transport connections and 24 hour access to ice cream, but I’ve got a gooseberry bush, so there.
This time last year, my mother-in-law came in from my garden with a bowl full of gooseberries and informed me I was the, less proud, more unaware, owner of a gooseberry bush. I didn’t take much interest. What the goose are gooseberries good for? It’s not like they were strawberries or something I actually bought from shops. So I generously invited my mother-in-law to take them home with her, for she was far less likely to put them in a corner and leave them until they started to ferment. Continue reading
Is it co-incidence, or do the people I know start trends? Seriously. My husband has been talking about mindfulness for years. Now it’s the buzz word in mental wellbeing. When I was at uni, my friend Iszy championed pink wine. There was a boom in sales and now it’s everywhere. My mate Hannah said she liked kale. A few months later Beyonce was papped wearing a kale-emblazoned jumper. God, Beyonce, start your own trends! Continue reading