A couple of days ago, someone wrote a letter to the Guardian talking about how bad Marie Stopes was. At the time I wondered idly, I wonder what oursin would say about this?

On today's Guardian letters page, I found out.

A virtual high-five to oursin!

Two late but heartfelt 'joyeux anniversaires' to lemur_catta and kirbyfest.

And late but heartfelt condolences to all the Chicago people (se_parsons, kellychenault, katnp) whose houses were flooded - that's insane!

We came back from Paris on the Eurostar yesterday, only to find out that we had narrowly missed a fire in the Channel Tunnel that has left thousands of passengers stranded. Our train left Paris at noon British time, so we must have gone through the tunnel at about 1pm, and the fire broke out shortly before 2. Ours must have been one of the last ( Read more... )

I am getting into a deliriously happy 'OMG we are going to Paris!' frame of mind. I'm not bringing any work with me, I swear. It's only 4 nights; surely I can stave off my superego for that long. (My normal procedure is to drag tons of research-related books and notes along with me on holiday, and never look at them the whole time ( Read more... )

We are about to go to Paris for 5 days. I can't quite believe we got our act together to book a holiday. We kept talking about Cassis in the south of France (our favorite destination), but knew we couldn't really afford it this year, and then we thought of just going somewhere on the English coast, but the weather has been so depressing that ( Read more... )

Via oursin1. Comment on this post and ask for a letter ( Read more... )

Tonight Gershwin (one of our American cats) brought in a mouse, and it was alive and scurrying around the front room, and ... I just grabbed it. It immediately sank its teeth into my thumb. I then managed to detach my thumb and set the mouse free in the neighbor's garden. Unfortunately I can't remember whether I had a tetanus booster when I was ( Read more... )

OK, I knew Sarah Palin was a member of the religious right, but now I've found out her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock, I REALLY know she's a member of the religious right. Because I grew up in the religious right, and illicit sex and teenage pregnancy and adultery and divorce and remarriage did abound. Whereas once I got out into ( Read more... )

Sorting out fraudulent bank card charges in Chicago when you are living overseas is NOT FUN. 5 weeks after a Chicago police officer promised to send me a copy of the police report (so that I can send it back to my bank in Chicago), the report still isn't here. And every time I call to ask about it, they tell me something different. I had a ( Read more... )

I am so bloggy lately, I don't know what's come over me. It won't last, I assure you ( Read more... )