In the year before the actual day, my grandfather stated that he was in his ’81st year’.  He counted the days up to the turn because… you’ve lived a year by the time you’re one.  Always made sense to me 😊

As such, I’m beginning my 60th year celebrations on 29th June 2022 (really 2023, but you get my drift).

In 2008, I began the journey of fighting for human rights for people who hoard.  Despite being the second highest prevalence of mental disorder, it is still being treated as if removing the symptom of the trauma and distress is the ‘solution’.

As many of you know, I am wishing to undertake hoarding specific research.

I’ve been accepted into a Doctoral Programme at Middlesex University.  I am (struggling) moving ahead with various tasks, one of which was to submit a draft of my abstract (short version of research question, methodology, etc.) for a conference.  I (largely) do what I am told.  I did this.  It got ‘selected‘ which meant I had to design a poster and present it at that conference.

If you could have seen the other posters, (not literally but close), diagrams of the history of time and how the researcher was seeking the answer to some gripping question.  I joked with my tutors, quoting a dearly cherished friend, that I didn’t exactly ‘blend‘.  Absurdly, my poster ‘won‘ (I genuinely did not know it was a competition).

I’ve lived in the UK for 23 years.  While I feel at home, my story is different to those born and raised here.  Each year (other than Covid, of course) we travel within the UK.  I try, as well, to experience things that are uniquely British.

This year, I had to work on my actual birthday, so we took off a few days the following week and visited ParkDean Camber Sands.