Category Archives: parents

No one else asked me

Posted on 17 March, 2015 by roughseasinthemed

My mother was a deputy matron at 19 at the local nursery school. It was during the war, ie 1940s. The local nursery was so local that it was literally at the bottom of the garden of her parents’ home. … Continue reading →

Posted in family, feminism, life, Longreads, love, parents, WPlongform | 68 Comments

Relatively fine

Posted on 9 December, 2013 by roughseasinthemed

Browsing around WordPress, as you do, when you want to find a distraction from things that really need doing, I came upon a gem. It’s not that easy to find, but they have some commenting guidelines. Mmmm, just what Cloudy … Continue reading →

Posted in blogging, childhood, family, life, parents, thoughts, wordpress, WPlongform | 14 Comments

On getting married – the big day?

Posted on 2 June, 2013 by roughseasinthemed

Does a severe economic recession inspire people to save money or to recklessly spend it, to have a good time in spite of the financial problems? The average cost of a UK wedding is around £22,000. Over at The Cotton … Continue reading →

Posted in family, feminism, life, love, parents, thoughts, WPlongform | Tagged , , | 46 Comments

Sink or swim

Posted on 28 March, 2013 by roughseasinthemed

My mother never learned to swim. When she visited us in Spain, we took her for a walk around the beach, she was in her late 70s, a leisurely walk of around an hour, but she was quite capable of … Continue reading →

Posted in childhood, health, life, musings, parents, thoughts | Tagged , , , | 30 Comments

Lost

Posted on 22 December, 2012 by roughseasinthemed

There were times when I thought we almost understood each other. Something special something together shared laughter love sorrows trust life. Until one day it stopped.

Posted in childhood, death, dogs, family, friendships, life, love, parents, poetry, thoughts | 12 Comments

On being sick

Posted on 2 December, 2012 by roughseasinthemed

Everyone knows that having a cold is nothing at all, and you should just grin and bear it. I know that, because that was how I was brought up. While I was despatched off to school, snuffling, coughing, spewing phlegm … Continue reading →

Posted in childhood, health, life, parents, thoughts | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Bacon

Posted on 24 November, 2012 by roughseasinthemed

I can never understand what it is about bacon. It is the one thing that vegetarians are always asked – ‘Don’t you miss bacon?’ And as for Americans, they seem to be obsessed with the stuff. People on forums declare … Continue reading →

Posted in breakfast, childhood, food, life, musings, parents, thoughts, vegetarian, writing | Tagged | 31 Comments

God

Posted on 17 October, 2012 by roughseasinthemed

I don’t believe in God. Never have, doubt I ever will. I did go to sleep as a child, saying ‘Gentle Jesus meek and mild, look upon this little child blah blah, and god bless mummy and daddy and Good … Continue reading →

Posted in blogging, cancer, death, family, life, musings, parents, thoughts | Tagged , | 33 Comments

Consumerism (2) – holidays and travel

Posted on 21 March, 2012 by roughseasinthemed

Holidays. The two weeks in the year that we all work towards. Or three, or four, depending on how blessed you are in your job. It always confused me why people seemed to accept slaving away for 50 weeks to … Continue reading →

Posted in consumerism, death, environment, environmentalism, europe, family, holidays, home, life, musings, parents, spain, travel, work | Tagged , , , , , | 28 Comments

Why I didn’t publish a comment

Posted on 1 March, 2012 by roughseasinthemed

Luckily, I have found something to rant about today, so we are all happy. Health warning alert appears later. Some time ago, on one of my other many blogs, I posted a pic of me – link here. I wrote … Continue reading →

Posted in blogging, childhood, family, feminism, life, parents, writing | 18 Comments

Paleo, paleo ….

Posted on 21 February, 2012 by roughseasinthemed

When I first read about the paleo diet I was puzzled. In the extreme. I’d never heard of it of course. Why would I in my sheltered vegetable patch? I read these absolutely glowing evangelical reviews. This, apparently, was the … Continue reading →

Posted in animal rights, blogging, childhood, dogs, family, feminism, food, health, life, parents, shopping, vegetarian | Tagged , , , | 38 Comments

So why are you vegetarian?

Posted on 17 February, 2012 by roughseasinthemed

It always happens. The one that kills the conversation. There you are chatting away happily about nothing in particular and it suddenly comes up. Maybe you have refused the prawn vol-au-vent (yes I know I’m showing my age with that … Continue reading →

Posted in animal rights, blogging, food, health, life, parents, vegetarian, vegetarianism | Tagged , , , | 27 Comments

Work – the early years

Posted on 26 April, 2011 by roughseasinthemed

I thought I would break up the health posts and write about that classic four letter word – WORK. It may sound surprising but I came from a very emancipated Yorkshire family when it came to women working. Women cooking, … Continue reading →

Posted in family, life, parents, work | 1 Comment

Meals in (laws)

Posted on 16 April, 2011 by roughseasinthemed

Before I resume the doom and gloom series of posts, which clearly, I am not too good at posting regularly, here is one inspired by a couple of friends. They wrote about visiting the MIL and being fed. Or not … Continue reading →

Posted in family, food, in-laws, life, parents, vegetarianism | 5 Comments

My father

Posted on 10 April, 2011 by roughseasinthemed

I thought I would redress the balance given my post about my unloveable MiL. No, I am not going to write nice things about her. Don’t be silly. I said on the funerals post that she organised a good one, … Continue reading →

Posted in family, feminism, life, parents | 7 Comments

Upbringing

Posted on 22 April, 2009 by roughseasinthemed

Subtitled: How not to bring up your daughters. When I was a little girl, two particular trite sayings were dinned into my pretty little head. I say that with some irony, as I was never told I was pretty, or … Continue reading →

Posted in feminism, parents | 1 Comment

Why get married?

Posted on 21 March, 2009 by roughseasinthemed

I have written enough about names – it’s time to write about getting married. And the truth is I have no idea why I got married. So that’s easy isn’t it? I was having a casual chat in a pub … Continue reading →

Posted in feminism, life, parents | 4 Comments

Joan Baez

Posted on 21 February, 2009 by roughseasinthemed

My father introduced me to Joan Baez. My father, the radical trade union representative in his youth, who didn’t like the politics of Joan Baez when he was older. He hated her singing ‘We shall overcome’ but couldn’t resist the … Continue reading →

Posted in death, life, music, parents | 9 Comments

Daddy’s Little Princess

Posted on 3 May, 2008 by roughseasinthemed

We’ve all been there. Or at least, I’m guessing all us women have. Daddy’s Little Princess. And Daddy’s Little Girl. The one who is a Little Girl until she is in her late teens, her twenties and even her thirties. … Continue reading →

Posted in feminism, life, parents | 3 Comments

You don’t come from round here

Posted on 2 March, 2008 by roughseasinthemed

I was brought up to be inherently racist. Black – or coloured people (as I think they were called at the time, and most of them were from the Indian sub-continent) – were dirty. So said my dad. One day … Continue reading →

Posted in life, parents, politics, spain | 8 Comments