Walking Thoughts

 I’m not impressed by SHEA water EUSR training. I’ve logged on as required at 8:15 and at 8:23 I’m still staring at a screen with cameras switched off including Clive the trainer. At the same time, there’s a slide up saying that we need our cameras on and no training has started. Otherwise it’s been a lovely day so lovely warm clear sunny day and starting training at 8:15.  means a lovely lie in And a lazy breakfast. Given the training is delivered by zoom so no travel is required by anybody it could easily have started much earlier. It could at least have started on time. Now that I’m in full attendance present and alert, it’s now provided me of a slide that suggest it needs a passport under driving license but also to not walk around. If I’m to get a driving license and a passport, I will need to walk to go get them.

  Nothing to report here it’s just a rainy Tuesday. I’m just your standard single working mother operating  a one-woman private client service infrastructure held together with caffeine, spreadsheets. I am drawn forwards by the sheer force of love, and driven from behind by the repulsive force of the past.  Before work each morning, I ran the one woman band that is a small but committed organisation providing Hospitality taxi and support services to a teenage client sitting 2GCSE exams today, while also managing Type 1 diabetes, which is frankly a full-time job before you even add quadratic equations. So before 8am I had already: checked blood sugars, monitored an overnight hypo, updated the diabetes team, chased a prescription, made breakfast, made sandwiches, located school equipment that was “definitely in my room yesterday,” Then — in a plot twist no one sees coming — I go to my actual full-time professional job. But also with love. Because I can’t take the diabetes a...

 I feel that when trauma happens early in life it establishes a pattern that maybe set apart from apparently everyone you’re never quite the same as everyone else.  I’m not saying that you’re not all there aren’t people out there Who would understand. It just feels that way. There’s a fight that starts At first I was fighting the men off. It was just before after my 11th birthday. On a break from primary school, such as the May half term, Or the summer term that followed. My parents were at work. One man broken through a little window. He was of stunted growth. He let the other men in. There were six in total. At first the ring leader pinned me down in my bedroom and kissed me. He looked really pleased and turned to the others and said, ‘look she’s doing it’. As an adult was pleased with what I was doing, I was confused. I was being pinned down and I was frightened, but apparently I was doing something to please a grown-up. They then took me into my parents bedroom. They pinne...

As someone who has returned to more traditional vegetarian foods after reducing plant-based meat alternatives, I found this paper on mycotoxins in UK meat substitutes and plant-based beverages particularly thought-provoking. I was struck by the headline finding that detectable mycotoxins were present, and fascinated by the possibile implications of chronic low-level co-exposure from highly processed composite foods. I am keen on selecting vegan alternatives. As the meat-free landscape changed in supermarkets, at first I was thrilled. Then I began to experience unexplained abdominal pain, with standard clinical investigations returning negative for an internal cause. Yet I’ve noticed a significant improvement after removing the newer plant-based meat alternatives from my diet. Of course that does not establish causation, and there are many possible explanations. But studies like this are a useful reminder that food systems are biochemically complex, and that “plant-based” and “healthy” ...

  Today I found myself reflecting on something quietly important about engineering delivery. I was reviewing a colleague’s scope for nutrient removal. One of those vital but often unsung areas of environmental investment that protects rivers from eutrophication and helps safeguard ecosystems, biodiversity and water quality for future generations. We discussed carbon reduction. We discussed treatment process options. We discussed how a concept evolves into something that can actually be procured, constructed and ultimately operated reliably in the real world. And it struck me that there are really two distinct forms of process engineering at play in capital delivery. There is process engineering for treatment design: The science. The chemistry. The hydraulics. The biological understanding. The art of creating a treatment solution that achieves environmental compliance and protects receiving watercourses. But there is also process engineering for procurement and construction: Transla...

  Seven months into my new role, and no two days look the same. It’s been a full and varied week already. And it’s only Tuesday.  Today took me out to a WRC, boots on, brain switched fully into process mode, exploring an innovative treatment technology with the potential to shape the future capital schemes I deliver and protect the environment. That site visit  was sandwiched between working from home in the morning To a Teams meeting Working remotely in the afternoon. My seven months to date has been a period defined by momentum and collaboration. I’ve had the privilege of receiving feedback from a multidisciplinary team spanning operations, science, and asset planning. One comment stayed with me: that the depth of knowledge demonstrated on the site and the different technologies were clearly appreciated, and every question was met with clarity and depth. That balance  of technical rigour without losing the audience is something I’ve worked hard to refine. But none ...