Flaming Nora

After 30-odd years of working full-time, I have finally escaped and I am now a volunteer. After a period of ill-health I finally left a well-paid but badly-suited line of work. I was damn good in my job but my heart was never in it. Never. There were highlights and good points, of course. I have made some wonderful friends from my time working closely with them in an office environment. And I am proud to have supported and worked closely with some of the UK's most high-profile academic and medical Professors.  But now, I no longer have to suffer sitting out the 9-5 under migraine-inducing flourescent lighting, trying to rise above petty office management politics, being line-managed by much younger, less experienced staff to within an inch of my life as I tried to support those I worked for. I could go on but there's no point. I'm out of it now. If you've ever worked in an office then you'll know what I mean. As a volunteer, I can choose what I do. And I...

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here . T his week on Corrie, the music died. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

My fruit bowl shames me. It never has much, if any, fruit in it. That's not because I don't eat fruit, I do, but I tend to buy it and eat it rather than keep it in the house, if that makes sense. The fruit bowl therefore acts more like a drawer in a cupboard, full of stuff we need, or at least like to keep, at hand.  But still, the shame is there and so I've decided to share the shame of my fruit bowl with the internet and list its current inventory. 1 x Resident Access Permit for the Sunderland Air show this weekend. 1 x notepad on which I wrote this list 1 pair of binoculars 1 banana - hey, fruit! 1 apple - hey, fruit! 2 pairs of sunglasses 1 packet of spinach beet seeds 3 tubes of suncreen - two for body, one for face 1 Coronation Street eraser in the shape of the Rovers Return 1 small plastic bottle of anti-bacterial handwash (dumped in there after we returned from a festival) 1 packet Ibuprofen (for migraine) 1 glass and crystal ladybird on a leaf 1 pew...

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here . This week on Corrie, Deirdre Barlow's funeral took place and Coronation Street excelled itself with a wonderful send-off. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

To Durham yesterday for the 131st annual Durham Miners' Gala.  More relevant than ever. So many bands and banners that it took over 5 hours for them all to march into the field.  A helluva day! You can view all my pics on flickr. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

Very proud and very honoured to have written the official ITV Coronation Street book all about Deirdre Barlow.  It's called Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street   ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

I originally wrote this blog post on the 4th anniversary of the London bombings in 2009 when I worked in London.  It's worth reposting. On my way to work this morning, I walked through Russell Square Park just like I’ve done for almost every working day of the seven years I’ve lived in London. But this morning I took a different route through the park to stand by the oak tree planted as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the London bombings, four years ago to the day.  I know how lucky I was that day. I know. I was one of thousands of Piccadilly line commuters who, if we’d left the house a couple of minutes earlier / later / hadn't stopped to buy a paper, could have been on the tube train which exploded between King's Cross and Russell Square tube stations. When I did eventually reach central London that mornin g, I then walked to work past Tavistock Square where the b omb on the bus exploded later that morning. I heard it from my office. The memor...