Pots of gold

Hi, Yay for Fridays! The magic of what might be as the weekend stretches out before us. Mind you, the above is no less, even if you’ve been a work dodger, like me, and had most of the week off. 😉 But, it’s half-term and I think I can safely say, everyone at Jones Towers was in bed of a break. Certainly Child 2.0 (exams + school), the Ever Lovely Mrs J (difficult to be that awesome day in, day out), and Muggins here…. who just needed a break to recharge. Past Behaviours As it was half-term, Mrs J and I have been balancing child care, looking after the hounds, and Life Stuff – so far, so typically working parents. […]

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Circles, stones, rings, and things

Hi, Hello blog, my old friend. I’ve come to waffle on again… and with apologies to Paul Simon. 🙂 I’ve been gifted with a Friday off and I think I needed it. Not for any great dramas, but the five day week seems too much at this point in life. Introspective Today I had my second appointment with the counsellor and it really helped. We spoke about anxiety, load metaphors (we’ll come back to that in a mo), briefly the past, and the hidden impact of being genderfluid. So, load metaphors? Load as in emotional heavy lifting. Some folk might say they’ve got a full plate, they’re snowed under, etc. I’ve heard some use the spoons metaphor of certain activities […]

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The Escape Zone

Hi, With Christmas comes holidays and with holidays, time off for enjoying your hobbies and interests. Oh, and if you’re a duffer like me, maybe an afternoon nap. Get in. 🙂 Minor Blog News For unknown reasons, the side panel for Previously on YATGB… had done a runner, but that should now be back. I’ve also added it to the Blogs page, seeing as that seems a popular stop off point for you. Attention team: geekery approaching I’m going to talk about a gaming – or gayming, if you want to mix the LGBTQ+ into the digital mix. That and some old school 80s pen & paper RPG stuff. If this is not your bag, that’s cool too. BTW, bonus […]

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If you don’t say…

Hi, How’s things with you? Shall we start with some personal stuff and then I’ll get the soapbox out? 😉 I mean, well, habits, yo 😁 Home stuff I’m grateful this week for mild weather. Not having to worry about when it’s okay to take the hounds out, or when it comes to sleep. That frustration of being too hot to sleep at night and then too hot in the day not to start nodding off. I, for one, do not welcome our new Lizard Overlords 😉 I’m also now part-time. The Ever Lovely Mrs J and I had an end of week day out on my day off. A stroll with the dogs, no clocks to watch, and nowhere […]

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Pressing the backspace key

Hi, I’m having issues at the mo around writing. The ideas come quickly enough and yet I feel I’m self censoring. Just the other day I started a reply to someone and I stopped. Not because it was mean, unkind, or dodgy: but simply, if I don’t say this, does it matter? Sharper tongued readers may be asking that about the whole blog…. and they’d not be wrong! 😁 I felt urged to comment – perhaps even satirically – around recent rulings (see here: The Good Law Project and PinkNews here) – but again, why? Those reading this are likely to trans or allies, and in ‘preaching to the choir’ is anything likely to change? I could spend that energy […]

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Home

Hi, I moved to Nottingham around thirty years ago. It’s a beautifully vibrant city that’s filled with people from different backgrounds, ages, cultures, genders, and sexualities. With two large universities, new folk arrive to keep us old hands on our toes. It’s not quite proper North, but it ain’t Southern in outlook either. It’s a true melting pot both as a city and as a county. We have one of the most affluent boroughs in the UK (Rushcliffe) and some of the poorest (Mansfield district). Economic history has not always been kind to good folk of Nottingham. But, we soldier on…. and usually with a wry smile and a knowing look. So it is that the news of people being […]

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