Thank you Cuddles in Bed

Bereavement - Things Fall Apart

Everything breaks and all kinds of ordinary things disappear just when we need them.  

Not Making Assumptions

From Southeast Wisconsin
Transit Systems

On my way to a job interview the other day I saw an elderly whitehaired lady get on the bus.

Bereavement

Suddenly the Good Fella's mum was gone - like a candle in the wind.  

Darn it

This is one of my favourite cardigans, a pale green cashmere from a twin set I bought when I got my first Fellowship.  I always wanted to wear a twin set and pearls while giving my lecture on Queer Theory! 

 

The Sexual Politics of the Construction Industry (and a bit about immigration)

Is sexual harassment just a bit of fun?  I think the experts on this question are probably construction workers.  

Taking it out on the socks

It's been a stressful time, necessitating measures beyond the hanging out of laundry.  

Bicycle Ethnography Along the Taff Trail

Walter Benjamin used strolling through the city of Paris as the means by which to understand the night life of its streets.  In this sunnier account I'm reflecting on a bike ride I did one day down through the Valleys of South Wales and a sort of canine observation exercise which unfolded naturally before me as I cycled along.  The anthropologist Bourdieu in his Distinction describes how social class is expressed in a myriad of small cultural choices and I'm sure he would have regarded the kind of dog we like to have around as part of this habitus.  

The Two Worlds of Charlie F - review

The Two Worlds of Charlie F, produced by Bravo 22 Company is an extraordinary piece of work;  for a number of reasons.  

When the Chips are Down: An Ethnography of the Potato

I have an extensive cultural understanding of rice.  I know how to distinguish between Basmati, Arborio, Thai Fragrant and pudding rice. 

A Lost Generation

 I graduated in the Thatcher years, the 1980s, into high unemployment and a sense of shame as people working in car factories and mines were pushed out by glittering city bankers.  

Horseradish flourishes

On the left a healthy vibrant horseradish plant, which established itself by accident through the bottom of the pot.  It grows happily in some gravel by the back door in spite of attempts to dig it out and eat it. 

Tuna pasta sweetcorn recipe

This is possibly the quickest easiest supper to make in the whole world.  

A (Bit of a) Day in the Life of the Mum

A couple of weeks ago while netbooking busily in my home- café, I met a mum with a baby who grumbled to me that her partner had suggested she was just slobbing about the house all day while he worked hard at that manly kind of bringing home the bacon stuff.  In fact, I can't quite believe this, but he might even have said it while she was obliged to sit on the sofa breast-feeding.  

The Princess Diaries 2 review

Lace wedding dresses and women's rights, that's my kind of Saturday teatime movie!

Civilising the Piglet

 

“What’s going on now?” grumbles the Good Fella emerging bleary-eyed into what has become a regular screaming row going on between myself and the Piglet – although not normally at 7.20 am.

Zen and the advanced art of hanging out the laundry



This sculpture is by Lynn Waters

In this blogpost, I am going to consider some more advanced aspects of the important Zen meditative practice:  hanging out the laundry.   

The Loss of Immummity

Until recently I had immummity.  Immummity is the opposite of man flu.