MrsDoyle

I’m going with beekeeping as my “field” because it’s my main hobby now I’m retired. So. Many. Misconceptions. The Bee Movie was not a documentary, people! The mating process for honeybees is horrifying and you don’t want to know. Male bees have one job, and then they die. If they don’t do that job, they still die; their sisters kick them out at the end of summer. Plus, I was talking to someone the other day who didn’t realise we let the bees just roam around.

Sometimes it’s couched as “team player”. Some jobs I had it absolutely mattered who you were friends with.

One Thing After Another.

Written by LG Lazarus, lol.

Look for volunteer opportunities. In my town I found a litter-picking group that met once a week. Then through members of that group I joined another one that maintains flower beds and planters around the town. Then joined an effort to rehabilitate an environment project on a nearby farm, and ended up in the beekeeping team. Another group I was in for a few years organises gentle walks for elderly folks. I learned a huge amount from all these things, and none of it cost me anything but time.

Stage one: Effortful noise when rising from a low chair/sofa

Stage two: Inability to rise from a low chair/sofa. Beanbag? Nooooo….

My own turning point was finding myself unable to get out of the bath by just standing up. It was comic but also terrifying. I eventually worked out I could lever myself up with my arms. Phew.

Thunderpants. Made for thunderbums. https://www.thunderpants.co.nz/

https://www.thunderpants.co.nz/ Available in UK and US!

The slogan for the “full-back” knickers I wear is “They won’t go up your bum.” And they don’t! (Insanely comfy, jaunty colours, sturdy. Expensive but worth it.)

TOO LATE.

The story had a bit of a happy ending - I paired the yarn and needles with a “learn to knit” book, and donated it to a raffle a club I belong to was holding. The winner of the kit was thrilled!

Yeah. I knitted gorgeous socks and scarves in hand-dyed merino for some good friends. Come Christmas they obviously thought, oh MrsDoyle likes knitting, let’s get her something knitting related! A selection of the cheapest, nastiest acrylic in hideous colours and some needles. Oooooh. Thank you so much.

Oh yes. Yes. I went to the Edinburgh Yarn Festival a few years back. I live nearby, but met people there who’d come from all over - Europe, Japan, the US. All three days sold out. The yarns were so beautiful! And oh so expensive. But you were there in person, fan-girling with you favourite dyers and pattern designers! Spend spend spend. The nearest cash machine ran dry. Such an expensive hobby. But I can’t stop.

UK as well, fascists have been spouting bullshit here for decades.

I grew up in NZ - we used to spray fake snow on the windows at Christmas and send cards with winter scenes, reindeer, robins, all that. On the day we’d have a big meal topped off with plum pudding. Bloody ridiculous.

I had an ex boyfriend I’d stayed in touch with phone me to say he was now a Christian and part of his new-found faith was contacting people he’d treated badly in the past and apologising. So, he realised now that he had not been a good friend, and he was very sorry for any hurt he’d caused me. I accepted the apology and we chatted a bit.

A few weeks later he called again, this time to ask me to sign an affidavit affirming that he was a good person and had been a good friend to me. This was to support his effort to gain custody of a baby, who may or may not have been his, from his most recent ex, along with her two sons, who definitely weren’t. I said absolutely NOT and told him why. He hung up, and I haven’t heard from him since. Such a great friend, lol.

Same in Dunedin!

Some of the churches where I live have a big banner outside that says, “Try praying”. It strikes me as comically desperate. Imagine a car dealership with a “Try driving” banner, a restaurant with “Try eating”.

I was searching for a fix for some MS bullshit and clicked on a link that had a good answer… and lo and behold, Reddit. “Came for the cats, stayed for the empathy.” Yes, they still have that on the banner. Lol!!

I deleted my account during the “strike”, and this was my first time back. I couldn’t upvote the poster, and for a second that made me sad.

My father, a union organiser: “You can love the company all you like, but the company will never love you back.”

Stood me in good stead down the years.