August 2024 round-up

August was definitely better than the last couple of months: we put our things into storage and headed to Portugal, while the “new” house was being redecorated. There were a few niggles with the move into the new house, but most boxes are now empty, and life is slowly returning to normal. Research The main … Continue reading August 2024 round-up

June 2024 round-up

June was hard. We need to move houses (yes, again!), and spent a lot of time trying to find and, then, secure, a new place to move into. But, unfortunately, that fell through at the end of the month. So we are back to square one… except with a lot more stress. I also picked … Continue reading June 2024 round-up

May 2024 round-up

I kicked off the month with May Day celebrations in Oxford. It’s something that I have been wanting to do since moving to Oxford, but never managed to, for one thing or another. But with the youngest now 16 and the opportunity to join the celebrations from St Hilda’s College’s new tower (courtesy of the eldest), … Continue reading May 2024 round-up

April 2024 round-up

A busy month, which included a lot of fun moments. I had a lovely time at the talk with Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry. The tickets for the talk were a lovely Mother’s Day present from the-child-formerly-known-as-the-teen. I also accompanied the kiddo to golf, and had a walk around backstage at a theatre, … Continue reading April 2024 round-up

March 2024 round-up

March had its fair share of highs and lows, as you can see below. In particular, I was reminded that, even after all of these years, I still manage to grossly underestimate how long it takes me to develop a paper and to prepare a talk. Alas, at least there were no illnesses or major … Continue reading March 2024 round-up

[Miscellany] IWD 2024: Women spies, Barbie v Oscars, and online gender harassment

In honour of International Women’s Day 2024, I thought I would share with you the links to three really interesting stories about women. 1 The secret lives of MI6’s women spies A FT Weekend podcast episode about what it’s like for women to work in espionage. It discusses how difficult it is to be taken … Continue reading [Miscellany] IWD 2024: Women spies, Barbie v Oscars, and online gender harassment

February 2024 round-up

February is one of my favourite months of the year: the days are visibly getting lighter, the flowers are coming through, and… it’s my birthday. What’s not to like? This month’s productivity was a bit disrupted due to health issues in the family, and technical problems. Still, I managed to tick off various items from … Continue reading February 2024 round-up

January 2024 round-up

I hope your 2024 got off to a great start. Mine was very much a month in two halves: the first had a lot of momentum and I got many things ticket off from my to do list vs. the second, where things started to stall and I failed to make significant progress on a … Continue reading January 2024 round-up

December 2023 round-up

In December, I spent a lot of money and ate a lot of sugar. I was elated with some friends’ news, and really sad with another friend’s loss. I spent time with people that make my life better, and time with myself to reflect on the past year and set some goals for the next one. … Continue reading December 2023 round-up

Musical diary 2023

Another year is coming to a close and, so, I am revisiting my 2023 soundtrack: i.e., the songs and tracks that marked various moments of the past year. Some moments are small, like a car journey or movies watched. Tracks 3 and 19 remind of several journeys with the kiddo; and track 6 of a … Continue reading Musical diary 2023