I'm going to have a go at a continuation to this story with some glossaries of dance terms I downloaded. Thanks all who commented on parts one and two your encouragement is very helpful. Unfortunately, they don't have a term for a Smudge cat who launched herself off the floor with forepaws patting together as she tried to catch a fruit fly. It looked as if she was saying her prayers in mid-air. It was really quite amusing to watch.

I've been ill all over Christmas and still feel weak and wobbly. I am slowly recovering, and only cough about 25 times a second now. I remind you of a piece I wrote 12 years ago at this time of year, using a character from Bike which still seems to have a charm and humour, if you haven't seen it before I suggest you have a look and enjoy.

https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/41235/nativity-play.

The end of the world just got closer.

My kitchen mixer tap has been dripping for some weeks. Yesterday I tried to get the cap off and failed. I went and finished reading a novel instead. Today, with a renewed feeling of intent, I got a selection of screwdrivers and set to. I had bought some washers in the week so hoped I could do the job. I have never been good at plumbing, I'm still not, but it seems mixer taps don't have washers, they have cartridges. I watched a couple of you tube videos to see what I had to do, I then looked on Screwfix site to see how much they were. There are loads.

My daughter was in Cardiff the other day when a woman approached her and handed her a flier about the preservation of woman-only spaces, against transwomen. My daughter quickly scanned it and then gave it back to her saying, "These spaces should be open to all women, however they became so, as they are all women and they are all equal." She said she felt very angry that people should be prejudicial, it annoyed her feminism. I was very proud of her.

It seems transgender children are the easiest target for the self-righteous rightwing parties to target, so it's good to read a positive story for once. It may only be a drop in the ocean of hate that seems to exist these days, but it made me feel glad that someone is trying.Here is a link to the Guardian report:https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/29/tran...

I have recently reread this story that I last posted a new episode about eight years ago. Over the course of it I had many lovely comments but in the last one there were many asking for me to conclude it. It has some quite powerful chapters and it took me a lot of effort and energy to write, I thought I left it with a reasonable ending but accept some like everything done and dusted. There is a lot of me in the story and I don't want to spend hours and find no one reads a final chapter, plus it will take a while to write and to get in touch with the characters.

Many will remember that authors Bryony Marsh and Chris Archer gave away copies of this ebook some while ago, I read it at the time and enjoyed it. I have just re-read it and i really did enjoy it, it captures the emotions of the characters very well and I think the difficulties of young-love story , with all its complications when you include some gender complications as well, and for a change Kate, the older sister of our hero, Danny, is a real brick and very protective and supportive of her younger sibling.

Given the murder of a non-binary child in the US recently, this article was interesting. It claims the parents of other schoolkids are more trouble than the kids who are interacting with a non-binary child. And remember most opinions held by children, including prejudices, come from the parents.

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/child-non-binary-friends...

I have had two reports of bereavement in the last few days with the funeral process tomorrow taking up most of the day. As they say, one sign of old age is going to more funerals than weddings. One is my elderly neighbour, who at 97 years old could be seen as inevitable, the other a good friend and widow of an even better friend, who died some years ago. This good lady died from a stroke, which given my own experience of a similar affliction, makes it even more poignant.

I've been doing some preparatory work/ study for some surveys I'm doing and also some teaching I'm doing next week. As you probably know I have an interest in freshwater macroinvertebrates (Mayfly larvae etc) and I came across TG being used in a dictionary of entomology - it stood for tracheal gills. There will be more of those than transgender people, so should obviously spring to the ordinary person's mind (or what passes for one). I knew you'd be glad to read that.

I'd had never heard of this site before, am I the only one?

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/dec/16/transan...

An article in the Guardian - powerful stuff

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/10/argentina-dict...

She hadn't been well for few days, in fact really, I was back and forth to the vet for the last few months. Anyway, my Whizz developed heart failure which worsened over the last couple of days and she stopped eating or drinking so I couldn't get any diuretics into her. We had a lovely afternoon together and she knew something was up as she followed me around the house and sadly I took to the vet for the last time. I then brought her home and buried her in the garden, near to Bonzi's grave.

I think I might have posted this before years ago but it may be of interest how things were 50 years ago, or at least how some people coped with it. Enjoy this trip into the past.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jan/31/casa-su...