Kew

Last year’s trip for TSM’s birthday was a disaster as we had to cut our visit short when I got heat exhaustion (largely my own fault). This year was much better although we have still to do the treetop walk which is closed at the moment due to Covid. I was surprised how many families were acting as if social distancing was not a thing; young children were roaming free and far too close to strangers. And (old man’s gripe coming) why do people  use buggies to create road blocks? You have a relatively narrow path so they park it across and stop to talk to their mates or call the office. No sense of what is going on around them ... end of rant.

It was a good trip. Check out the extra.

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Quite a bit of time was spent today trying to sort out accommodation for The Dizzle who is about to do three months in London as part of the training for his new job. Exciting times for him, but we’ll miss him. 

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Finished reading "The Man They Wanted Me To Be - toxic masculinity and a crisis of our own making” by Jared Yates Sexton. Really powerful book, part autobiography and part explanation of the rise of Trump and the alt right. "Patriarchal masculinity is built into the structure of society, there is no such thing as opting out. It lies dormant in every man, regardless of his acceptance or denial. It permeates everything, reverberating through our language and tainting our power structure; it plagues our every action and thought. Because it is presented as a reality from our nascent beginnings, it continually colours our perception regardless of how we might fight against its influence."

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Day 1 proper of the new medication regime. You have to dose every four hours. Very tricky, thank god for smart phones and alarm settings...