whenever I go on linkedin I just want to post ādoes anyone want a hug?ā. Thatās all anyone really needs probably. Iām not a doctor. some people probably need more, but not the people posting to Linkedin.
Iād be such a shoe girlie if my feet werenāt such an odd shape. Too long, too narrow.
Last week, with my talent acquisition partner, I was fighting with a spreadsheet and our recruiting software, miserably trying to open a job role for the T W E N T Y F I V E i need to hire and my TA partner stopped me and said āI really love your nail varnish!ā and then we both did a big laugh and she said āah, i feel like we needed thatā and we went back into the spreadsheet mines.
I cried in front of wee man this evening after a particularly trying argument with the other one. He said āthis is the first time Iāve seen you cry mamā which is weird because that is exactly what he said two weeks ago, the last time I cried in front of him.
Lachie generously gave me four pairs of trousers he no longer wears for me to ādo something withā because he has worn through various parts of them (most commonly the arse?). There were two pairs of grey chinos that, once Iād mended all the holes, yielded more than enough fabric for a pair of pull on trousers for my little guy and he is thrilled to have a new pair of trousers and thinks itās really funny that they were made out of his dadās old pairs.
Tomorrow he gets to take a teddy in to school and heās hoping to take the 2 metre sock snake I made him by sewing all of his skanky toddler-hood socks together into a long tube and then stuffing it with even more skanky old socks.
Good photons this week as the rising sun drenches the train platform for the 7:30 train.
]]>Week 422: Licking the pebbles2026-10-04T00:00:00+00:002026-10-04T00:00:00+00:00https://alicebartlett.co.uk/blog/weaknotes-422
My silly hyper-mobile hips hurt. I should stop sitting cross legged in my office chair at my home desk but itās so hard to concentrate if Iām not in the shape of a pretzel. I donāt do it at the office because I wear shoes in the office and I do have some decorum but at home itās irresistible.
This weekend my younger brother came to visit with his family. Weāre twins of course, but he is two minutes younger and one thing every oldest twin needs you to know is that they are the oldest. His daughter is 3 and a big fave with my kids. We went to the open market for Tonyās pizza by the slice and AF beer from the bottle shop. Then we went to the library and the photo booth place, and finally the beach to run at the sea. It was very pleasant for October, t-shirt and ice cream weather.
Chaz likes salty food so much I caught him licking the pebbles on the beach.
The warm weather did mean that I didnāt get to see my niece and daughter in their matching petite knit marseille sweaters, but Iām sure Iāll get my moment.
At my local park run there are some bollards, and when people run through them in a crowd, they put their hands in the air and some yell āBOLLARDS!ā. They also have bright pink bollard toppers that sit over the top of them.
None of this helped me on Saturday when, while looking back at someone on the side of the path I ran squarely into one. It was extremely painful and, I assume, also very dorky. I was saying hello to someone and I was also thinking āthere are some bollards coming up iād better -ā. Anyway. As I yelled immediately, āIām OK!ā but I did need to get the special peas out of the freezer.
I hadnāt realised how often the kids sort of throw themselves into my crotch.
At swimming lessons I have to sit really close to the edge of the pool. Closer than anybody else. And if everybody else had to sit that close it would be quite difficult for the instructors. Anyway as a result, this week I learnt that the important part of breast stroke legs - aka ābend star snapā - is the snap part not the star part. Not interesting but it is true.
Eight years ago, for my firstbornās first birthday, instead of a normal present, we bought her a plank on the Crystal Palace bridge (to be built) engraved with her name. The donation was to fund the renovation of the dinosaurs and the building of a new bridge to help with maintenance. In the time since that happened, I have heard absolutely nothing about this project from the people to whom I donated. Some days I even wondered if it had been a very convincing scam. We have also moved away from London. A few years ago, a bridge was built, but it didnāt have any planks at all, and there was definitely no tribute to any donors nearby.
This weekend we went to Crystal Palace to see the dinosaurs on the way to a friendās 40th. Much to my delight, there is now a very lovely plaque with my now eight year oldās name on it, along with about 5 other people and a then lot of clubs and companies š
Anyway - all of this is yet more proof that doing nothing is a good idea.
Please can nobody tell my son - who LOVES dinosaurs - that his sister has her name on the fence of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. Many thanks.
At park run this week I recognised the woman scanning my barcode as a local legend. Sheās in the W60 category and has recently run at a 100% age graded pace (ie world record speed for her age and gender). I said hello and in a very uncool way told her she was a big deal. She said that she was injured and had lost her confidence a bit so it was really nice to hear that. Anyway - be uncool and nice to people!
The grapes did not come in this year. I assume they did not bother because of the extreme drought. The skyomish tomatoes are on the vine but have not yet ripened. I got 1.5 squashes from the three squash plants I planted. I did get some cherry tomatoes butā¦ just a couple of handfuls. Ah well, the peas were good this year.
Next year Iāll grow the toms outside.
At the beginning of the week I felt frumpy, grumpy and dumpy but actually it was just hormones as always.
]]>Week 418: Bodily fluids in the wood room2026-09-06T00:00:00+00:002026-09-06T00:00:00+00:00https://alicebartlett.co.uk/blog/weaknotes-418
I learnt a new word this week - adrenache. Itās where your eight year oldās adrenal glands kick into action and things get a little crazy! āøA little loco in the casa you knowā½ This happened in April and I remember it very distinctly although I didnāt realise that was what was going on.
The new and improved Muller family came to visit and nobody got any bodily fluids (or solids!) in the Wood Room. The wood room is our nice(r) living room but we do have some rules about what our kids are allowed to do in there that do not apply to guests but this was confusing for our children.
I gave baby Muller - or āMuller Liteā as I like to think of her - a Little Cotton Rabbit and some animal toys from t-lab which have a very nice tactile feel to them.
In other good making news someone stopped me at the Open Market in Brighton to ask me where Eās jumper was from (I had knitted it) and then asked if she could take a photo of it. E agreed to the photo and I also wrote down the pattern name (Petite Knit Marseille Junior)
A week in France. Same place as last year. This year we were joined by one of Lachieās brothers and his girlf. Absolutely lovely to be able to spend time with some extra family members.
Chaz, getting naked: āIām just getting into my party clothes mum, youāre born wearing your party clothesā [he is misremembering the phrase ābirthday suitā].
I absolutely ripped through āYesteryearā by Caro Claire Burke.
I also knit up the empty corpse of a Little Cotton Rabbit ready for stuffing and sending when I get home.
I was hoping the tomatoes would rally now the heat is over but they are still just really bad! Next year I will plant them outside. Despite again trying my best with the squashes I have gotten about 1.5 this year, again the drought.
E has returned from her grandparentās with a 1980s commonwealth games scotland team kit hoodie which was originally her granās from when she ran cross-country for scotland.
Though Brittany is not that far away I did get some new-to-me continental exclusive birds on the bird app: The tawny owl and the middle spotted woodpecker. The place we were camping in was full of owls, you could hear them every night.
We went to a butterfly house and I saw the most beautiful and perfect butterfly Iāve ever seen. The purple swallowtail.
We also stopped by Franceās largest wooden church in the pretty french town fo Honfleur. I would have liked to spend more time there but 50% of my party did not agree that this was interesting or worthy of their time.
Big August energy as I methodically pick my way through the days until we leave for France.
I didnāt go as mad for the eclipse as all you other space-nerds but I did enjoy the crescent shadows and the eerie light.
Iām doing a lot of interviewing at the moment at work and I need everyone to know that, for better or worse, 2 months after Iāve interviewed someone there is a 80% chance I will not recall them at all. I just do not retain faces or names. So if youāre thinking āAlice interviewed me once and didnāt give me the job and now itās weirdā - no it isnāt because chances are I donāt remember. Unless youāre the SEO expert sent by a recruitment agency who turned out to be an expert in optimising search engines. The way in which we gradually realised - oh this is the opposite of what weāre looking for - one of the funniest interviews Iāve ever been in.
Still no rain. I had thought we had a hosepipe ban in Brighton but then I looked it up and it turns out Iāve been judiciously schlepping water about in the watering can for no reason.
Using the hosepipe still felt like it ought to be illegal.
The pond has lost about 30cm of water through evaporation and it can only be refilled through rain water because tap water has too much other stuff in it and the pondlife will not be happy.
While the kids were away I banged out an Atelier Brunette Le Top in some red linen I got from Vinted. Le Top is very nice, a bit complicated and the instructions werenāt the best, meaning I did have to do some un-picking.
Hereās a photo of me in a lift wearing my new top.
