Fran Macilvey's Blog, page 12

Cooking in fantasy land

Cooking in Fantasy Land

I can’t be the only jobbing cook who finds these weekday early evening cookery programmes increasingly irksome, surely? I have nothing against Fanny Craddock, Delia Smith, Nigella Lawson, Mary Berry and Nadiya Hussein. I admire them hugely. But I find the “it’s what sells” soft focus of early evening cooking as entertainment, and featuring a solitary female anchor, increasingly questionable. Cooking in fantasy land?

Two of the reasons I find the preparation and cook...

Personal Update

Personal Update

So much has been happening – and not a lot of it to do with work – that I feel now is a good time to remind myself of what my priorities are.

I’ve had my PIP assessment at home, which went well. Whatever happens next, I feel that I was listened to and heard, and that the assessor was fair and kind. More than that, none of us can expect. And, as it turns out, she was quite able to accept that problems can be difficult to understand, let alone talk about. It’s not as if I’...

Ableism and me

Ableism and me

Thanks to Emma Crees, Writer in a Wheelchair for giving me, over the years, occasion to think about ableism and me.

And in all honesty, I haven’t, much, except in relation to the obvious political footballs: austerity, poverty, dearth of ambition. But, in much the same way as our current social expectation is geared towards masculinity – football all weekend, failing which rugby, tennis, golf, or beach volleyball – for the women – and that contradiction, the blonde, female...

I am over fifty

I am over fifty so… it’s all but over for me, is it?

Everywhere I look, in my daily newspaper, in magazines, leaflets and booklets that tumble through my letterbox, on bus adverts and these annoyingly persistent on-line ads that announce, “Over fifties’ health plan / life insurance / home equity release scheme/ travel insurance / no medicals/ Tenfor Ladies Always Discreet pads for the active “mature” lady”… I am reminded that I had better think of slowing down. I am over fifty so…?

Honest...

I got the date for my PIP assessment

I got the date for my PIP assessment.

I got the date for my PIP assessment, today Wednesday the 14th of August.

If this had kicked off last year, I would have said, “That’s my Summer holiday thoroughly ruined”, but there is some stubborn-ness in me that refuses to give anyone that satisfaction. Just because I have to do this now, when we are supposed to be outside and tanning ourselves, having barbeques and swimming in the lake, does not mean I will descend into a worry fest. Why should I...

Points of departure

Points of departure

Following my previous post, I have also cause to reflect, again, that a memoir cannot cover every aspect of a life. Not only would our attempt to cover “everything” make of a memoir an encyclopaedia, but naturally, the scrutiny of a memoir covers certain periods, and stops at certain natural points. Beyond these points of departure, our lives can change, and flourish beyond recognition.

In my memoir, for example, I reflect on every young girl’s dreams of being included...

Memoir writers and privacy

Memoir writers and privacy

Here’s a new idea that I saw voiced on a FB thread recently. That it is rich – and I paraphrase – for a memoir writer to complain about breaches of privacy.

The imposition on online users of various extra security rules and requirements, for example, being asked to supply our phone number for extra security, or told we “must” download our banking app onto our mobile phone, seems to be becoming more widespread. These extra security measures sound harmless enough...

Passing the buck

Passing the buck

I was speaking recently to a friend, whose wife has a long-term, incurable condition, and whose original lifetime award for DLA has recently been reassessed. The outcome of her claim is that she has received a two-year award for PIP. Which means, she keeps her car meantime, and can keep working, as long as she is able. It also means that in two years, she will have to re-apply, and start jumping through a fresh set of hoops.

In two years’ time, we are supposing that a pack...

Applying for PIP

Applying for PIP

“Pip” is the working title of my third novel. it is also the TLA for “Personal Independence Payment”, a benefit which replaces DLA which is now being discontinued.

And so, finally, two days before the Summer holidays begin, the notification from the DWP arrived informing me that my DLA award is being reviewed, and so now I need to think about applying for PIP. I don’t have to apply, of course. I could draw a veil over my private difficulties, hand back my motor vehicle and...

Having an impairment

Having an impairment

I hear from readers quite often, writing to me and talking about having read Trapped. Typically a message will begin, “Hi, I’m Andrea, I’m 27 and I have cp. I read your book and…”

Which makes me wonder. Some readers want to write, and ask for advice about that. And I would say, if the first thing you identify about yourself is that you have CP – or any kind of impairment – then yes, you do need to write, if only to get that narrative out of your system.

For decades,...