Hanging By A Thread

I'm a little bit excited tonight! As you know, pre-baby45 I did a fair bit of climbing - it's one of the things I miss most since he arrived. Husbando is a total climbing fanatic however and owns many books on the subject, including Mark Reeves' `How To Climb Harder`.

Tonight on twitter I spotted that Mark is actually in London on May 12th giving a lecture on The History + Technology of Climbing. Tickets are £10 and the talk commences at 7pm. As he normally spends most of his time in Snowdonia this is a real one off opportunity to hear one of the world leading experts in climbing and mountaineering speak.

Want to know more? Well here in Mark's own words is the background to how he came to write Hanging by a Thread - the book that forms the basis for this talk..... 

In Which You Learn Useless Stuff About Me

I've changed a little in the 5 years since I started this blog.  I've gotten married, moved jobs 4 times, been made redundant twice, gotten pregnant, had a baby, moved out of London, completed Nanowrimo once and had several lengthy blog hiatuses. Here's me in 2009, 2011, 2012 + 2014!

I've done a couple of "about me" posts (here and here), but thought it was time for a new one - and a game of blog tag! I've tagged some bloggers that I love in this post. I challenge them to answer these questions too and, if they feel like it, do a picture collage covering the time they've been blogging. So here goes:

See You On A Dark Night - Lyric Day

#WhyIDidntReport has been trending on Twitter and cropping up on my newsfeed. I've been shocked and saddened by the experiences I've seen tweeted. 

I don't know why I'm so shocked though, after my own (minor) sexual assault 7 years ago, so many female friends came forward to tell me of their own experiences, many of whom didn't report it - or even tell anyone. 

I've just started listening to Grimes (real name, Claire Boucher) and her particular brand of what has been described as "ABBA meets Aphex Twin" electro-y sort of music (and also as "witch-house" which I love!), but when I heard her song Oblivion, I just couldn't get the lyric "see you on a dark night" out of my head. Because, well, I got attacked on a "dark night". 

Parenting Venn Diagram

I think this says it all at the moment. Feel free to share!

Back soon with a proper post, promise - on being a so-called "mummy" blogger :)

Thank you and goodnight,

Stupidgirl has left the building

Four Ways To Help UK Flood Victims

Hi All,

If, like me, you want to help all those affected by the floods and storms in the UK this year (and last), here are all the links I've found that help you donate, volunteer and support those in need. 

**VOLUNTEER with www.floodvolunteers.co.uk**
Have you got time, supplies, skills, housing or literally anything else to offer?
Sign up with www.floodvolunteers.co.uk and offer what you can. 
Those in need can search the site and reach out to you for what they want. 

**DONATE FUNDS**
Devon Community Foundation Flood Fund 
Somerset Emergency Flood Appeal Relief Fund 
38 Degrees UK Flood Relief Fund
Flood of Love Fund 
Red Cross
Flood Wings - Somerset

**OFFER HOUSING/BEDS with www.airbnb.co.uk/disaster/ukflood**
Can you offer a room or beds for those in need?
Sign up with AirBnB fto offer the space and all service fees are waived for those affected by the disaster and checking in between Feb 11 2014 + Mar 11 2014. 

**HELP FARMERS with www.camgrain.co.uk/help-flooded-farmers**
Are you or do you know a farmer able to donate a tonne crops, silage, wheat etc? 
Click the link above to find out how to help fellow farmers whose livelihoods are threatened by the floods.

Hope that helps - if you find more links that you think should be listed above, please comment below or tweet @stupidgirl45

Stay safe folks,

Stupidgirl45