Climacteric NOUN 1 A critical period or event ‘the first major climacteric in 21st-Century poetry’ 2 Medicine The period in life when fertility and sexual are in decline (in women). ‘most women do not experience significant psychological problems at the climacteric’ 3 Botany The ripening period of certain fruits such as apples, involving increased metabolism […]
Menopause: A manifesto
It should’ve been funny, but it wasn’t. My mood and the success of my day hinged on the presence – or otherwise – of my battery-operated fan – in my bag at work. The other day it wasn’t there, it was sitting in my lovely cool kitchen at home. Damn. I could feel the sweat […]
Periods. Period. What should we call it?
It’s a terrible cringe of a word – period. If a word ever wore a tight bun and kept its books in alphabetical order, it’s a period. This is the word that goes with the twee trickles of dyed blue water poured in gleaming ad-land laboratories. Period. Flow, stop. Period. We need something better. Humanity […]
New year new snooze: Is smart sleeping even a thing and is it worth thinking about?
Remember when sleeping was just a matter of lying down and shutting your eyes? I was brilliant at it – talented. My only concern was that I wasn’t particularly good at doing it on public transport or for all that long after the sun came up. But I could do it pretty much anywhere else […]
Why middle-aged women like cardigans
Another tale from the estrogen wars For many years, the cardigan was the epitome of mediocrity. A nothing kind of a garment – neither coat nor jumper. Worn by ditherers, fence sitters and the sartorially distressed. It’s knitted camouflage, hiding any kind of sex appeal, decisiveness and, inevitably, style. Loathsome in women and utterly […]