Category Blog

Summer speaking.

Just in case you’d like to listen to some life stories while lazing in the sun with something long and cool, here are two links to recent interviews I did with RNIB Connect radio: Part 1:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ6rXY6x0a0&t=9s Listen from: 1minute…

Summer here yet?

It may be only today but I’ve got a great new and incredibly simple lemon cordial to share:. 1 lemon. 60g honey (or granulated sugar). 1 mug of boiling water. Using a potato peeler, peel skin off lemon and place…

PIP! PIP! Hurrah!

Yes, you too can comment on changes to the Personal Independence Payments benefit for us with disabilities and health conditions. Don’t forget that we make up about 1-in-5 and, when you add family, friends, carers and more, the proposed changes…

Just Vote!

Whatever your politics, tomorrow is the chance to have your say. I’m one of the lucky ones: the postal vote went off last week but some others have been scrambling for theirs.   The alternative is to pitch up in person…

Beaten by two spring onions.

Last year I fell down the stairs and fractured a vertebra.  Three weeks in hospital and more weeks in a special bed at home, it is proving a very long haul to recover.  I’m trying to do all the right…

Damp all over.

Water spray is a great alternative to smoke for controlling honey bees. Yesterday, we were extracting over 20 kg of honey from the wax honeycomb frames  from three of the sous-chef’s hives. Sticky work: removing the cappings from the honeycomb;…

Slept on it.

I confess that I was incandescent yesterday hearing that proposed tax reductions would be funded by removing benefits from many disabled people.   But I took a bit of time to mull it over and realise it was just appalling presentation.…

Wheat-free dessert.

My latest cooking experiment: pear and cardamom almondine courtesy of Sarah (another with the patience and understanding of a beekeeper’s wife).   I was testing out with the amazingly complex Thermomix that has been languishing on the worksurface until friend, Joan,…

So much talent.

At a charity conference last week.   What a mass of talent in the room: a former rugby player and singer, a defence specialist, a company law consultant, a member of a benefits tribunal, a tax specialist.   And those were only…

PIP: a bit of a rant!

Policy-makers want to reduce the costs of this benefit which supports people with disabilities. Firstly, PIP has nothing to do with work.  It doesn’t matter if those getting the benefit are working or not.  PIP is about the extra costs…

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