Oh I forgot about my bout with shingles. It was a really obvious stripe of blisters and redness on my left side at my waist, I diagnosed myself with it instantly (trained as a microbiologist, not just random) and got myself to the urgent treatment centre where I got a prescription for an anti-viral. Was so unforgivingly itchy and heat sensitive. I’m terrified of it coming back.

Covid was bad - one of the earlier delta variants. Somehow managed to catch it outside in the fresh air, was barely functional for about a week.

I once got a horrid stomach bug when at uni, d&v for ages, couldn’t keep anything in. I remember watching the entire extended lord of the rings from my bed in some kind of delerium with my flatmate bringing me orange squash every so often.

I’ve been hospitalised twice. Kidney stone was unbareable pain that no amount of twisting or movement could shift. It passed in A&E when I got fluids via drip and it came out in the toilet. Second time was a gall stone, I was actually scared it was a heart attack or something as it mostly felt like my chest tightening, it wasn’t localised like the kidney stone. That got me taken to A&E in an ambulance after 111 called one for me. First time I’ve ever had proper pain medication in the form of morphine. No idea what happened to it, pain went away gradually and I got sent home with some codeine, an ultrasound later on didn’t find it.

I tried but it was a bit of a failure and needs a total redesign. Was a glasses case, my mum has this cheap amazon thing that folds flat over glasses and then can clip to bags etc. I wanted to make her a nicer one for christmas than her old worn out one.

I took measurements, designed it, cut it out etx. But I had no leather quite large enough and the bit I used was too thin and an awkward finish. And the design works for cheap fake leather reinforced with cardboard but just pure leather just isn’t rigid enough.

So yeah, back to the drawing board and I need new large leather panels.

We have just gorged on boxing day cheese. Im full of cheese and content.

Nah, we love those creamy liqueurs. We were never a big alcohol household, i dont think i ever saw them drink anything neat.

Also uk but it was baileys and a mince pie as neither of my parents liked sherry

I’m confused. Is the idea that men are animals that can’t resist animalistic instincts unless explicitly trained? Common decency to not commit assault or do anything without consent shouldn’t be something that has to be trained into people???

I literally got groped at a bar the other night for daring to wear a pretty modest dress that went mid thigh with leggings on… Creepy guy just kept making weird tiger noises, bothering me and my friend, sitting in my seat when I went to dance and then finally groping me on the arse… I wasn’t enticing him and I wasn’t wearing anything particularly ravishing with anything on display (not that it is an excuse).

Pedro Pascal

Intolerable

Probably half life 2

Ashens. Released a video the other day about microwavable burgers that I couldn’t immediately tell whether it was brand new or 10 years old.

One, was just to replace my old laptop. I didn’t buy it because it was a thinkpad (i didn’t know the following of them until later), it was just a really good deal on a used (2016) laptop in fantastic condition and it has a touchscreen and pen as it can convert into a tablet.

I use it as a general purpose laptop, comes with me when im away for work, hangs out by the sofa if I need something bigger than a phone and just gets used as a portable computer.

I had a controlled parking bay painted around my car years ago… Thankfully the council saw sense…

Coats and scarves and layers in general! So much opportunity!

We had some growing near my front gate in my childhood home and I would frequently rub a leaf and smell it on my way out of the house in the morning. When my mother moved I tried to take a cutting but it ended up dying. Its such a nostalgic and amazing smell to me but never tried it as a tea before.

I used to live with a system more like that. There was a food waste bin, a glass recycling caddy thing and some other stuff. I’d love to know if the more complicated categorisations results in more or fewer people recycling and sorting things correctly vs the all in one bin approach. Not having a provided wheelie bin is utterly wild to me though.

My council (in the UK the rules vary between coincils) just has two bins. We have a black lidded wheelie bin for general household rubbish that is collected every week and a red lidded bin for most recycleables (glass, plastic, paper cardboard) collected every two weeks but it has restrictions on things like plastic film. If you are found to break the rules (open lids, wrong items in bin) they may refuse collection and leave a note saying why it won’t be collected. For example the black lidded general waste bin stipulates that all your rubbish must be inside refuse sacks, if you just have loose rubbish they won’t collect it.

You just make sure the bin is accessible/near the road on collection day and it gets picked up. Bins get lifted and tipped into the bin lorry then they put the bins back.

You can also leave a plastic bag on the floor next to the bin for disposal of ‘small electricals’ (chargers, dead electronics etc.).

Bins are provided by the council and collection is paid by your council tax. Both bins are 140 litres but you can ask for a 240l if you have a bigger family producing more waste.

You can pay an extra charge (I think about £80 per year) for a ‘green bin’ and associated collection which is for disposal of plant waste (i.e. if you have a decent sized garden and maintain it).

And finally if you have too much rubbish or items that can’t be easily disposed of (oil, large electronic items, diy waste) you can fill your car and take it to the local ‘tip’ (normally named something like waste management centres etc.) where you can get rid of it all.

Very location specific but I enjoy dinlo

Do they sell Smarties where you are? The most similar thing to M&Ms I can think of, just slightly larger. Problem is that its European but Nestlé…

In that vein there is also Sophie Wilson who basically invented the ARM chip thats in basically every single phone.