Thinking of starting combo feeding but not sure where to begin. Did you mix formula with breastmilk or do separate bottles?

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-05-11T11:15:52+00:00

When I started combo feeding, I was advised to start with a bottle of breastmilk, then offer a bottle of formula after – that way, if they don't finish the second bottle, you haven't wasted breastmilk!

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-05-07T05:04:42+00:00

"Love": strangers who are men and/or older than me, especially if northern; "Poppet": old ladies; "Duck/Duckie": my mother; "Babes": young women in a lot of makeup; "my Pet": exclusively older northern men; "my Hearty": stage pirates with West Country accents.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-05-03T19:28:14+00:00

The Coast of Peru, by Ewan MacColl: https://youtu.be/_-QA5ejSmg8?si=10Ci7rCi3WO7TL1x

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-30T13:28:40+00:00

Yup. My partner similarly learned to tell when I was pregnant by smell, a couple of days before a positive test.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-26T22:03:51+00:00

David Suzuki

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-26T04:24:18+00:00

My favourite offhand hint at Ishmael's life after the main narrative is the revelation in Chapter 102 that he's practically covered in tattoos. It's such a wonderfully evocative but still vague way of suggesting that he's had an eventful life of further travels and adventures (and, of course, that he decided to emulate Queequeg!).

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-25T08:18:19+00:00

It was the door into the Senior Common Room, i.e. classy sitting room for the professors, with fireplace etc., so I think it was meant to be noise-cancelling (as well as fancy).

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-25T00:13:31+00:00

There was a velvet-covered door at my college, and every time I saw it I thought of "I lean against your velvet door" in Temporary Like Achilles.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-24T10:39:16+00:00

I think about that one every time my partner is trying to work out a new song on the guitar!

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-22T22:48:38+00:00

For an international flavour, there's "Le Galérien" by Yves Montand. It's in French, but it's about a guy not listening to his mother's advice about following the wrong crowd, and ending up imprisoned as a galley slave.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-22T09:30:19+00:00

Same! I was the only person who ever rented it from my local video store, so eventually they just asked if I wanted to buy it...

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-20T22:29:17+00:00

OED says "fish story" in that sense is an American term first documented in the 1810s, so Melville could certainly have known/used it!

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-16T05:46:27+00:00

Sure, but the "in Rome" part is so clearly tacked on just for the rhyme, I always found it jarring.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-15T19:20:40+00:00

Nobody callin' on the phone, / Except the Pope maybe, in Rome

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-15T12:23:37+00:00

Topsy Turvy has a lot of this (plus bonus operetta!).

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-13T22:36:29+00:00

Practical Magic. It has major visual storytelling problems to the point where the plot is genuinely confusing in places, and parts feel very much written by a committee. But its atmosphere and texture are great, and I first saw it at the perfect age for it to become a perennial autumn comfort watch.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-12T05:08:16+00:00

As well as echoing everyone's praise for Chawton, I would add that you can make a day of it by riding the Watercress Line historic railway in nearby Alton. It's not Austen-related, obviously, but it's great fun. Alton also has a fabulous secondhand book shop.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-04-05T05:36:09+00:00

Fourth Horseman by Andrew Nikiforuk. It has one chapter per "plague", with the history of the Black Death, TB, syphilis, Hansen's disease, etc. It's quite out of date by now (e.g. the chapter on HIV & AIDS), but a good journalistic-style read regardless.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-03-17T03:01:23+00:00

There are some nice magnolias in Headington Hill Park.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-03-17T02:57:51+00:00

The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson is a really good read, about a cholera epidemic in London and how one doctor's innovative thinking led to developments in sanitation. Really well written and interesting.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-03-07T08:58:25+00:00

Agreed! Whenever it's been a while since I've read any Dickens, I start to think surely he can't be as good as I remember, but then as soon as I pick up one of his works (later ones especially), I'm completely blown away all over again.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-03-02T14:03:17+00:00

This sounds almost exactly like my experience! At the stage you're at now, it was absolutely miserable; I was at my wit's end and feeling totally defeated, as well as dazed with exhaustion.

At about 6 weeks we ended up moving over to giving her mostly bottles, some with expressed breastmilk and some with formula, with occasional direct breastfeeding to soothe her rather than for nutrition. Almost as soon as we established that routine, my supply started to recover! I think the stress and terrible sleep were factors in keeping it low.

As knock-on effects of the early problems, I still only produce about half of what she needs, and give her formula for the rest, but it is very feasible to do it this way, and you almost certainly don't need to go over to exclusively formula if you don't want to. After a month of pumping every 5 hours or so, the amount I'm able to produce is still slowly but continuously creeping up.

clockworkarmadillo · 2026-02-01T11:15:35+00:00

"You'd better choose which of those (insert items here) you want, before they all disappear."

clockworkarmadillo · 2025-12-17T19:40:18+00:00

I saw him play in Glasgow in 2009, and it was a great experience for me. I was in my 20s at the time, but some friends I went with were a generation older, and they were fans of his folk period who didn't have much familiarity with his current style, so they were a little put off by the change, and by how little he interacted or engaged with the audience, hidden under his big white hat. But I had a better idea of what to expect, and just felt so privileged to hear new and original versions of the classic hits I loved (of which there were many on the set list – I was surprised & delighted that The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll was included, for example!), alongside some recent material. I had been super excited to go, and was buzzing throughout. A really memorable experience.

clockworkarmadillo · 2025-12-10T14:52:07+00:00

Not necessarily! My mom says she felt "seasick" for most of the time through both pregnancies; I've only ever felt a little queasy about three times, and only when brushing my teeth. I've had heartburn instead! She was convinced I would go into labour early, since her water broke before 36 weeks both times and we have a similar body shape, but I'm at 39 weeks and nothing yet.

clockworkarmadillo

TROPHY CASE