Mark Trost's open call for the ten best things on earth seems like a great opportunity to think pleasant thoughts.  It's tough to narrow it down to a top ten and I'm not putting them in any particular order here.   I can't honestly say that these are definitive but here… Read full post »

I walked into the hall after paying my admission fee and signing a waiver which basically said that if I was crazy enough to volunteer for what was to come it was nobody’s fault but mine.  I was unconcerned, having already overcome my biggest health risk in putting on my gym… Read full post »

Seems like I've been away for ages although I've tried to keep in touch with some of the people I enjoy reading on OS while on vacation in the States.   Still, I've only managed a few.   My intention is to catch up but is that ever really possible?  Maybe… Read full post »

Months after booking it, a trip home is imminent.  We go on Tuesday.  We're all getting excited making lists of foods we're going to eat, things we're going to do when we touch down on Carolina soil.

Never mind that we must catch a 3:35am train to Manchester Airport.  This… Read full post »

Ever lose a couple of pounds without even trying?  No, me neither, at least not often but strangely that has happened recently.  Don't hate me, mistaking me for one of those people with the metabolism of a hummingbird living on chocolate cake and french fries but never meeting a molecule of… Read full post »

My husband suggested that I ought to be more like Nellie, our dog.  It was after a few beers and of course he wasn't serious, no, no, no, only joking.  After he said it the back-pedalling was something to behold and part of me enjoyed watching the flailing and the deserved… Read full post »

And so the madness begins.  We're talking soccer here, or football, as the world beyond the US knows it, the beautiful game.  The World Cup starts in South Africa in a few weeks time and for me, kicks off in earnest when the USA plays England on June 12th.

In our… Read full post »

I was listening to the radio the other day when I heard the DJ pose this question:  Are you a radiator or a drain?

We know the types even if we don't usually think about them in those terms.  Radiators are easy to spot.  They can be outgoing and charismatic or… Read full post »

Once upon a time all televisions had black and white pictures and green convex screens set in oversized cabinets, like baby elephants in the living room.  Remember the "warm up" period when you turned them on, the choice of two or three channels broadcasting during banker's hours compared to tod… Read full post »

Now that I'm forty-nine and holding, I find that I like a good ponder now and then.  It is strangely liberating that pointless ideas are now free to pop into the mind space formerly occupied by things like romance or social life.  Hmmm...maybe those are issues to ponder some other day.… Read full post »

I have lived in the UK for over twenty years and though I have adapted well enough there are still things I miss from home.  It goes without saying that I miss my family and friends and for them there is no replacement.  But for most other things, alternatives can be… Read full post »

It's gray, it's cold, it's February.  When I woke up this morning, inexplicably an hour before the alarm was due to go off, after running through some nagging kid worries, all I could think was "Blah."  I feel like a blown tire.  By this time winter has just about finished me… Read full post »

If it is true that we are judged by the company we keep, then we need to take a closer look at those who we, as a nation, call friend.  Are we willing to overlook the most monstrous acts just to maintain our way of life, to get our fix of… Read full post »

I'm nearly fifty years old.  Ouch, that is hard to write.  Anyway, you would think all my life experience would start to show itself with a little wisdom but it doesn't.  The truth is I don't know anything.  Mostly, I've got questions.

Once you learn to ride a bike, so they… Read full post »

Today former Prime Minister Tony Blair, a man I used to admire, testified before a commission investigating the events in the run-up to the Iraq war. 

Protesters demonstrated outside, many of them calling for Blair's arrest for leading Britain into an illegal war.  Such an arrest seems unl… Read full post »

Today France votes on whether to ban the burka from being worn in public places.  Should any self-respecting free republic make wearing a particular garment a criminal act?

Personally, I am not comfortable with the burka.  It is a common sight in parts of Britain these days… Read full post »

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The Open Salon stands accused of breaching the laws of physics, in particular those related to time.  Is the OS operating in some parallel universe which manages to wrong-foot the rea… Read full post »

                                                                                &nb… Read full post »

                                                 &nb… Read full post »

I came across this picture in the December 27 Sunday Times and, though I've seen variations of it before, it gave me pause over my coffee.

Has any other sitting president ever been subjected to so many intensely personal attacks?  I won't address here, the resonance between the image of… Read full post »

Saturday night a group of us were in the pub. The bar owner told us in passing that the Kaiser Chiefs were upstairs in the restaurant at a table for twenty-six, having a Christmas party.  At first he didn't know who they were because they had used an unfamiliar name to… Read full post »

I've been thinking about the healthcare debate and how disappointing that "reform" is turning out to be.  The debate about a public option, now dead and buried, inspired me to think about how nationalized medicine has affected my life.  Twenty years ago I moved to the UK where I married a… Read full post »

There is a celebrity called Sarah Palin.  She understands you and me because she is you and me, only famous.  She's an ordinary, hard-working hockey Mom.  Oh and she's good looking, because that's a pre-requisite for celebrity.  And you know what else?  She really cares about… Read full post »