You never hear Alexa’s alarm going off on telly programmes do you. But fictional characters must need alarms sometimes. It would add realism to dramas.

Fancy some pick n mix kids

Hello friends, The post hospital drama despondency is upon me, I ache from the gym & I’m feeling frightened & overwhelmed by the future. I saw a neighbour yesterday because my tumble dryer is broken & he in late 80s held my hand & cried while we talked about how my son won’t make old bones.

I just read Jane Goodall has died. Always an inspiration to me. A beautiful light she cast.

Anyone else go through phases where they cannot drink enough ice cold milk? I’m really into milk again, but then I learned today I have low vitamin D (despite taking supplements) so it could be related I guess.

My son is home! Look at the hospital booty! Now only 15 regular meds spread over 20 doses a day! No, it’s not a complicated pain in the arse to manage this & administer, day after day at all!! I am prepared for the apocalypse though. Comprehensive pharmacopoeia of treatments.

On instagram just now I thought The Trussel Trust social media team had lost their collective mind - open the image for the horror

It's International Coffee Day. A moment to put our caffeine-based differences aside and unite against our common enemy: soup.

My sister’s soon to be very EX (she’s just sorting somewhere to live when she leaves) is an abusive bully. She’s treading carefully to avoid aggravating him but today he said casually, “I thought i was strapped for cash but actually have enough to buy an Audi 4x4 when you leave.”

Names of people I would throw caution to the wind for. Percival. Mephistopheles. Hidalgo. Cartwright. Esmerelda. Rupinder. Clover. Let the fantasy saga commence.

I made a financially themed joke earlier and was pleased with myself. The feller gave it a laughing emoji, so I’m probably a comedian.

Why go to war on people when all that energy could be spent figuring out how to stop biscuits being so bad for us.

Hello fiends. I looked into buying a realistic full size mouse costume earlier, because I fancy making silly films about mice but the good costumes were way expensive.

One of the ward staff just came by to let me know she overheard the Matron say “isn’t she lovely?” About me

Hi friends, I want to tell you all a cautionary history about ‘Pauline’. In the autumn of 2013 my 5 year old son was extremely poorly with cardiomyopathy. Our control of his condition was pharmaceutical, & my god did we lose control. It was a time I needed a lot of peer support from other Mums

Do you ever see a positivity meme so disgusting that you immediately wish you could control alt delete the universe?

I’ve been listening to an audiobook (sci-fi end of world stuff) that means for the first time in months, I AM GRIPPED. The narrator is a huge part of how much I’m enjoying it.

Sister’s birthday imminently. This is her parcel. There are individually wrapped cutenesses inside. I love making gift boxes, it’s such a joy.

Another day here. I think I have angina. Might do a cartoon about a high cholesterol alcoholic ex professional dancer mouse called Angina Ballerina. It’s my daughter’s 19th birthday & I have negotiated to take my son home for a few hours & to return to the ward for more IV meds later.

More than most UK born citizens ever did. As always the plan is to give the shit jobs to the people who are valued the least.

Do you think you would like me in real life?

I feel this exhaustion in my bones. I've been erroneously accused of "loitering" in the building I *work* in. One incident happened after I won an award and my face was on the big TV screens around the building. And people wonder why I choose to WFH when I'm not teaching or meeting with students 🙃

Who here knows about Oliver McGowan & the mandatory training that his Mother pioneered?

Another hospital day. No time for more than practical romance, too, with a brief visit from @grovedigger.bsky.social who fixed our toilet, washed his hands & made me dinner, before we both conked out, exhausted. Had stern words on the ward today as son’s learning disability was mismanaged. Not ok.

Kiddo is cranky as hell, but painting and painting and painting, and telling me to clear off he wants to be alone. Ward round done, I know what I need to know, I’m going to go freak out somewhere for a while. Maybe buy some nail polish.

My Dad said he keeps a card I painted, which reads “A golden year, dontcha think?”: when he looks at it, still on the side, he wonders what a year that isn’t golden is like, given our cumulative family fortune. I said, ‘I saw mists on the water meadows at dawn, on the way to hospital this morning’

Somehow, despite today being a massive dickhead, I have managed to submit the final part of my assignment, making me an absolute legend.

Quiet late update. Son is super poorly. His kidneys are even worse, the meds aren’t working. Fluid retention all over, including lungs, so IV frusemide it is. He’s ever so miserable & uncomfortable. If anyone fancied cheering a 17 going on 7 year old with a letter or something, now’s the time.

Hi, I was having a lovely productive day & somehow between 1:30 pm and now, became super-mum and once again brought my son to a&e. Somehow I need to finish an assignment before midday tomorrow but I had THE BIGGEST ADRENALINE rush earlier & my head has scrambled. I am scared for my son y’know.

Could tell you all about my morning but you won’t care, so I’ll just say I had a nice lunch.

I've had enough of listening. Time for action on low traffic. My letter in the Oxford Times today

Is it because paracetamol is the most widely used over the counter medicine? Could it be that it’s a move to make it prescription based? I have nothing but ideas but if something ubiquitous can be re-commodified I bet they’d do shit like this to make it happen. Drawing on my imaginary logic obvs.

Submitted 26 A3 PDFs & 2000 words of art & process work today, with another 1000 of reflective work due tomorrow, I couldn’t be happier about this degree

Faking it until I make it today. But new beret has cheered me up.

I doubt the observation is unique to me, but it's funny how it's always "women should simply fight the pain" and not "men should simply fight the flaccid penis"...

If a man named Mephistopheles approached me with the promise of adventure & eternal good times, I would 100% join his cause. Why are there so few people with such excellent names?

Not sure how my daughter and I got onto this but we have been twerking to Land of Hope & Glory, & Jerusalem, mocking rampant nationalism, before yelling at Alexa to turn this crap off. Obviously not a very effective rebellion but it was funny.

Today in AI Is Not A Good Source For Learning About The World's Most Misunderstood Body Part, meet this ChatGPT gem. Funnily enough, we're actually going to talk about how most of this is kinda sorta right (for small values of right), as a cautionary tale about generative AI.

Society and civilisation are the cause of autism. Neurodivergence is natural.

Current state of being, is that I’d rather dig a burrow & eke out a living trading berries with mice, running the night scrounge with foxes & exchanging philosophy with the tawny owl than be seen by another human being in the flesh. Am so done with social exchange currently.

I’ve had a revelation. I don’t love cake. 45 years old & I just realised that most cake is disgusting.

6:15 emergency gastrostomy changes are not ideal for the average Mum

I have been reading John Dewey “Art as Experience” & once again a message about Life reaches me: it’s the same message about authenticity & congruence that permeates my therapy work, the posthuman & new materialist philosophy I align with. Listen to your heart & don’t be an island.

Weekly update on the storybook romance I share with @grovedigger.bsky.social .. a weekend of early nights on the boat, rocked by high winds, shushed by yellowing willow trees, with the daytimes coloured by friendship, hard labour, painting & foraging, cleansed with hand made horse chestnut soap.

Frog and Toad looked into a mirror. “We look brave,” said Frog. “Yes, but are we?” asked Toad.

Could this digital whiteboard have been a document? Could this document have been an email? Could this email have been a DM? Could this DM have been the slowly fading memory of a lover's lips on yours, in an endless summer's evening in 20011... 🌄🌳🌷

Forgot to set the timer for my time-blind autistic son who is showering this morning. It was nice knowing him & nice having a hallway ceiling.

Self care is important. As the world spirals down a fascist sinkhole, grab hold of anything lovely that you can and keep that in your heart.

Saw my breath for the first time since before summer. I stood in the garden and thought “that’s the start of things then.” The hunkering & wrapping stage.

Hi everyone! I just saw this written down: “PEACE OF CAKE” & while I’m horrified, I’d definitely use it to name my cafe.