Reflections of a resting Scottish Green Party activist

A silhouette of a hand placing a vote into a ballot box

This day four years ago, I’d been up since 6am. I’d spent an hour driving round Edinburgh to put A-Boards up outside polling stations, before standing outside Barclay Church all day with my rosette on – chatting to a young Tory and smiling at voters in the hope it might persuade them to vote Green. When the polls closed I grabbed some dinner with DorkyDad, and we headed out to Ingliston for a long and depressing night at the Lothian count.

Today, I’ve been up since 6am. I spent an hour making breakfast, playing with trucks and reading books to DorkySon, before toddling up the road to go and vote.  When the polls close I will probably be tucked up in bed, although if DorkySon wakes up at 2am and shouts for me to tuck Peter Rabbit’s toes back in, like he did last night, I may well have a sneaky peek on my iPad to see what results are in. Continue reading →

Oooh pretty – my first photography post!

Since I’m selling this as a photography blog, at least in part, I thought that it was time I actually got my head around how to include photos in my posts… So here goes.

This is really just a trial run, rather than an attempt to win any awards, but if you like what you see then you can see more of my photos on Flickr.

I’ve loved some of the street art I’ve seen popping up around Edinburgh over the last few months – here are some recent favourites.

Collage of Edinburgh street art Continue reading →

The Rise of Slacktivism

Computer screen showing Facebook login page

This post could also be called ‘Why I don’t like the like button (but I use it anyway…)’

It has been quite a weekend. The video showing Barack Obama’s awesome humiliation of Donald Trump at the White House correspondents dinner has 30,000 YouTube likes. So far, Osama Bin Laden is dead has 25,000 Facebook likes, although I’m sure that number will rise exponentially over the next day or two. And the big winner is Pippa Middleton, whose Ass Appreciation Society, also on Facebook, has nearly 130,000 likes.

There are many problems with the like button, the main one being that it makes us all (and I include myself in this) lazy. Like doesn’t always just mean like, and it doesn’t really take a lot longer to type, “I read that article too, and I completely agree with it!” or “What a great photo – you look lovely”.

I remember when I used to write letters to distant friends – real letters than needed to be put in an envelope and posted. Then we stopped writing and started emailing. Then we stopped emailing and started writing on each other’s walls. Now there are people who I communicate with entirely through likes – they like my status update, I like their engagement announcement – but there is very little two-way conversation to remind each other what we actually, erm, liked about each other in the first place. Continue reading →

An Easy and Delicious Red Lentil Quiche Recipe

A girl holding up two eggs with the slogan 'An easy and delicious Red lentil quiche recipe'

Adam and Alasdair – two lovely fellas who have started a food blog called 101 Ways To Cook Mushrooms – have posted my good friend April’s red lentil quiche recipe today. It’s super delicious, and very easy to make, even if you’re as unwilling a cook as I am… I’d recommend it for picnics, along with a side helping of potato salad and some chilled white wine.

It’s the only recipe I’ve ever asked a friend for, after eating it at April’s house about fifteen years ago. I’ve no idea where she originally got it from, and until now the only copy I’ve had has been hand-written in pencil on a very dog-eared and stained piece of A4 paper, so I’m thrilled to be finally typing it out. Continue reading →

Should you let your children swear?

A person's hand with the middle finger raised silhouetted against the sky and ocean

There has been a link to a book called Go the F*ck To Sleep circulating among my mummy friends recently. Sample verse:

The cats nestle close to their kittens now.


The lambs have laid down with the sheep.


You’re cozy and warm in your bed, my dear


Please go the f*ck to sleep.

Then a couple of days ago, there was an article over at Offbeat Mama about whether it’s okay to swear in front of your children… and also whether it’s okay for your children to swear in front of you.

There were, as with most parenting debates, people with strong views at each end of the spectrum, as well a few folk who seemed to have really over-thought the whole thing. One woman didn’t allow any swearing from her kids until the age of twelve, but then allowed her children to add one new curse word to their vocabulary each year between the ages 12 and 18 – starting with crap, moving onto hell and so on… I presume that on the joyous day when they each turned 18, her wee darlings received a card saying ‘Happy Birthday C*nt!’ Continue reading →