Badass Superstar
Back in July this year I was on holiday with my mum at my parents’ villa in Alicante. I awoke before dawn, as is my habit these days, and lay there in my bed, listening to the sounds of the countryside: a dog barking; cicadas […]
Back in July this year I was on holiday with my mum at my parents’ villa in Alicante. I awoke before dawn, as is my habit these days, and lay there in my bed, listening to the sounds of the countryside: a dog barking; cicadas […]
Grant Melton Photography I was recently approached by the Metro, a popular newspaper distributed across London and the home counties, to write an opinion piece on being labelled ‘infertile’ and how that label has affected me and my sense of self-worth. It is not easy […]
“You never know true love until you have a child.” The woman glanced back over at me, peering up through heavy-lidded eyes, drugged in an oxytocin fug. Her blissful state as she gently rocked her tightly-swaddled newborn back and forth in her lap was at […]
You know when you’re walking down the street and you catch sight of a battered plimsoll wedged in a tree…or some other random piece of clothing residing somewhere it shouldn’t? If you’re anything like me, you’ll glance at it curiously, wondering for a moment what […]
Once upon a time there was a woman. We’ll call her Little Miss Organised. The woman had a life plan, and was happily ticking things off her wish list in the order they appeared: study hard, pass exams, get a job, meet a man, fall […]
For those women who, like myself, are childless not by choice (CNBC), Mother’s Day brings a mixture of feelings: love and appreciation for our own mothers (and mothers everywhere), and sadness that we will never experience motherhood ourselves. If you are a mum, I hope […]
“We have your bloods back from the lab, Mrs…er…Walsh,” said the consultant at St Bart’s Hospital, London, looking up from his stack of papers and pushing his varifocals back up on the bridge of his nose. “The results are…extremely high.” I beamed. “Oh great!” I’d […]
I love to travel. Sometimes I even love to travel alone. I’ve backpacked solo around Thailand, no problem. I’m a grown-ass woman after all: big enough, savvy enough…yep, and ugly enough to take care of myself. Sure, there were moments of loneliness; occasions where […]
‘Tis this time of year, as the clocks go back, the nights draw in and Halloween looms, that the vivid imaginations of Earth-dwellers all over this wondrous planet of ours begin to conjure up images of witchcraft and wizardry; supernatural goings-on. For this blog, therefore, […]
Okay, so I'd rather I was on the cover of a magazine as the glamorous cover star rather than a sad caption alongside an image of me beaming away in my wedding dress, oblivious to the tough times ahead, but there it is. If someone […]
When you think of a minority group, who do you think of? Those who are discriminated against because of their ethnicity, disability, religion or sexual orientation? So not me, then: a straight, white, working-class, able-bodied woman? If you see me walking down the street, dressed […]
The dress was pure, unadulterated glamour: little silk flowers intricately hand-sewn onto an hourglass corseted bodice, embellished with hundreds of twinkling Swarovski crystals. My mega-watt smile as I turned slowly this way and that in the mirror to admire it was almost as dazzling; I […]
Yesterday, I was out and about with my partner Andy at Croydon Food Festival, when a message popped into my Facebook messenger inbox. Followed by another. Then another. All were from women who, like me, had suffered the agony of failed fertility treatment. They were […]
I was contacted recently to ask if I’d be willing to share my story in Closer Magazine, on the topic of failed IVF and the potentially disastrous effect it can have on a marriage. Whilst it is a painful and highly personal topic, I immediately […]
Recently, thanks to the mind-boggling magic of social media, a talented photographer called Denise Felkin came onto my radar. She was searching for childless women for a piece she’s working on: a photographic compilation of Non-Mums entitled Mum’s Not The Word. Incidentally, I was searching for women […]
Ageing raver: I love the glitz and glamour of clubbing almost as much as the music itself Those Bird’s Eye Viewers who have the dubious pleasure of being acquainted with me in real life will know that I love to party – the whole process of pondering which outfit to wear […]
G’Day Birds Eye Viewers!How are you all on this dull February morning?Now, those of you who know me personally and not just via the blog will already know that I’m something of a motormouth. I have a tendency towards being pretty full on: turbo-charged and as […]
My second blog, Mummy Mission, was a short-lived infertility blog; the blog may have been short, but the journey was looooooong (7 years to be exact)…….. […]
There are two halves to most women’s lives, clearly divided: BC (Before Children) and AD (After Delivery). As was the case with Jesus (should you be religiously inclined), welcoming a child into your life causes time to start all over again. Such is the significance. […]