Every year I have a little personal sweepstake on the winner of the Great British Bakeoff. I’ve had some success (I got both Nancy and Frances) and I generally get my candidate through to at least the semis. So this year my candidate was Dan (I chose him before he won star baker the first […]

A surprise for everyone; Lucky left us a (possibly pregnant) girl, and has now returned a boy – a trans cat (I have “misgendered” him and used offensive pronouns many times today). Not only that – but he was also a full uncastrated boy! I do not understand why when I was watching him washing […]

Well for better or for worse, Lucky is now at the vet. She has been very friendly over the last week, letting me stroke her, and rubbing up against my legs, but she is still not properly tame and lashes out if scared, or if she thinks you are keeping her from her food. I […]

J has just turned 60 and we applied for his bus pass online. This is actually super cool as it gives him completely free bus travel in Scotland, plus free train travel within 10 miles, and 50% train travel elsewhere. Actually if you are dishonest and could be bothered, there is nothing to stop him […]

Ten minutes after J arrived to stay for a few days, Saphy came shooting into the house with something very large in her jaws. I immediately panicked, thinking that what she had was a squirrel. In fact, what she had was a very large wet leaf, and concealed in the leaf was a very small […]

R is away in New York this week (I bet he doesn’t go to either the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty). My day began with Lucky howling for food. She is allowed in the house during the day – but at night we are restricting her to the utility room because we […]

Fantastic views from the house and over the loch. I was suddenly reminded today of a story about an office building belonging to the company where I used to work. Although I was home based, I used to pop in there from time to time and let myself be taken out for lunch. The building […]

I asked my Mum for a slow cooker for my birthday this year. In fact, she and my brother bought me a much more impressive beast – it is in fact a multi-function cooker which slow cooks, sous vides, roasts and boils. It is also a rice cooker which has pleased R no end, because […]

I went for an out-of-band cup of coffee while R was out. Came back two minutes later, and Amber had decided that the extra caffeine would not be good for me – so she blocked access to my office chair. My poor mother has still not met Amber because she (Amber not my mum) runs […]

My birthday today. Believe it or not I am on my own until this evening because R is speaking at a security conference in Glasgow. To be fair to him, I told him I didn’t mind, and to be even more fair, he volunteered to pick people up and bring them back, which is very […]