The IT Crowd

Why I like working with geeks:
1. There is always someone to talk to on Twitter.
2. They make you realise that Microserfs was not fiction.
3. They never say things like: ‘We can get on with our project because management are more interested in other things.’ They do say: ‘The eye of Sauron is turned elsewhere.’

Most of the time I feel about 46. Sometimes I feel 16.

Most of the time I feel about 46. Sometimes I feel 16. And that's not a good thing.

I decided recently, and deliberately, that I felt 46. I thought I ought to choose something - because I don't feel my real age, which has a 5 in front of it - so I chose something realistic. I think I can actually get away with this one, for a while at least.

Save our libraries

It was Save Our Libraries Day on Saturday so I dutifully went down to mine to try to save it. No-one seemed to notice. The librarians were more interested in showing me how to use the DIY checkout than thanking me for my solidarity. There were not people queuing to take out their books. The shelves were not bare.

I knew there would not be any well-known authors doing sit-ins, because my library is not one marked for closure (although there are 20 in my county that are, which is 20 too many). But I romantically hoped there might be some empty shelves, or some sense of occasion.

Book review: The stranger in the mirror

I remember the first time I heard a friend describe herself as 'a middle-aged woman'. I was shocked. She's a year younger than me.

A few years later, at the age of 50-something and officially menopausal, I can't deny it any more. So I could not resist buying a book called The Stranger in the Mirror: A Memoir of Middle Age.