Photo by Will Oliveira on Pexels.com One of the things that TEP and I discuss frequently is consent. TEP is incredibly passionate about consent. He is one of the few men I know who could probably write a whole thesis on his ideas about consent, supported by examples from his real-world observations and reading.  If he could concentrate on one thing for long enough… As I dig through the incredibly messy and disorganised files of old stuff I have written, newer stuff I have written, re-writes of old stuff that have been edited to (re?)-publish etc I came across a version of this article. I don’t think it is any of the catalogues I currently have available. Apologies if you have read this [...]

The ex-policeman has been sharing his thoughts and experiences over at Journey of a Swingle Guy. He entered the lifestyle as a newly divorced single man and has had many enriching experiences. Which has led him to start publishing on a platform like this. Over the course of our friendship we have ihad many conversations about the place and attitudes of men in the lifestyle both coupled and single. Of late our conversations have included discussions about the level of effort that some men seem to think is appropriate when they are either trying to get into or participate in the lifestyle. As I have indicated in an earlier post on a similar topic (this may have triggered a blog post conversation, sorrynotsorry!) [...]

As I type I am sitting in the lobby of a San Francisco hotel waiting for my ride to the airport. I have been in The United States for a total of twenty five days. It has been a journey that we made up as we went along. In doing so we have visited four states, two major cities (and a number of minor ones), five national parks and a number of national forests / state parks. It is going to take me some time to process everything I have seen. When I left home I thought I would have time to write and had vague plans of working on a longer series. For some reason as I sank into cruise boat life [...]

The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth. On 2 April Mr Jones and I boarded a cruise ship with about 2500 of our closest friends. We were bound for San Francisco via Fiji, Tahiti and Hawaii. Over the next 22 days we did what people on a cruise ship do best; eat, watch entertainment, play silly games, eat, sleep, sunbathe and just to be sure we weren’t hungry, eat some more. It took a few days for us to change mindsets from the incredibly busy couple of weeks leading up to this journey. But we got there in the end. Life in a cruise boat is like stepping into an alternate universe. Being disconnected from the internet and regular routines and [...]

One week and 420 out of 1736 squats done! My knees are protesting but at the suggestion of The Unicorn I did my squats with a leg band yesterday. Doing exercise like that with a restrictive band around your thighs makes the target muscles work harder and puts less strain on the joints. Not that you guys are interested in exercise mechanics! Side note comment to Kdaddy’s comment earlier in the week. Squatting with a straight back is harder for women because their centre of gravity is different. Not that you guys are interested in exercise mechanics! What is important is that I am now targeting the butt more effectively. Let me know what you think of today’s pic. My plan is to [...]

It is a wet start to Friday of Week 6. Many things are flitting through my head as I eat my beans on toast and contemplate the weekend ahead. At the top of the list is my timetable. At school it is week B. Which means my Friday is full of double lessons with no planning time. Friday of week A, by contrast, features a double planning session after lunch. The holy grail so to speak. The uptick of this is that I will only have one more Friday B in this contract. A few things have settled in my brain this week. Now that I am over the hump of the term I am looking at the few short weeks in which [...]

This set of TMI questions was posted on 1 March in 2016. I hope you enjoy the re-hash 1. Tell us your top 3 flaws and shortcomings. Hypercritical of myself, forever saying sorry, very bad at not telling people what their Christmas present is. 2. Who do you look up to the most:– Professionally?– Sexually? I have a couple of “Teacher Heroes” who I was privileged to work with when I was a beginning teacher. They supported and encouraged me and modelled how to be an awesome teacher. Sexually I can’t think of one person in particular. I usually admire women who don’t let the opinion of others shape who they are. I can think of a few, and I am glad they [...]

The Australian National Breast Cancer Association is a not-for-profit that raises funds for research into this disease. In Australia, the pink branding is widely recognised and there are many corporate sponsors. But there are grass-roots movements as well. This year The Unicorn and I are participating in the “Squat Challenge” A month-long challenge that involves doing 56 squats every day. As an added challenge, one of our pole fitness instructors has suggested that we do 9 squat jumps for the 9 people who die from this cancer in Australia every day. Yesterday being March 1 we started. I am proud that my current total is 90 (yesterday and half of today’s quota). I am not sure if I will be doing 9 squat [...]

Last week I felt like I was on top of it. I wrote some posts and started reworking a story. Life was happening for me. I even suggested to Mr Jones that we should take Velella out for the weekend. Last week was dazzling, and I was ready to enjoy some time on the water. When I stepped on board, it felt as if it had been months since I had been there. That tentative familiarity I had started to build was gone. I was back to trying to remember where things are kept and reminding Mr Jones to put his shit away. The weekend was one of those magical times when the weather gods smiled on us. We had some amazing sailing, [...]

Photo by Photos by ERRN on Pexels.com This set of questions was originally posted in 2016 on TMI Tuesday 1. How many people do you really trust? It may sound cynical, but not that many. Possibly none. At least, none that I trust totally without question. Some of that is on me. Some of that is on the human race.2. What are you excited for? On 2 April, I am boarding a cruise ship headed for San Francisco, I am excited to spend 22 days being pampered and focussing on nothing but writing and exercise, followed by another 21 days exploring great National Parks of California and beyond. 3. Have you had sex today? It is 6.30am. Sadly, no. I gave Mr Jones [...]