On dates I still love a little bit of chivalry — but it goes too far when the restaurant servers decide that my male dining partner should get the bill. The assumption that the man should pay in the restaurant is archaic. The waiters don’t know what our relationship is and any assumption is just ...
Meh, the night bus. It isn’t ideal, but with the price of trains nowadays and the hellish standing-up-from-Edinburgh-to-Manchester situation I encountered last time I donated the best part of one hundred pounds to Virgin Trains (that’s for another fume), I decided to give it a go. Not bad. There was a smell, but that also happens ...
I had all sorts of things to prepare before a job interview this week. I’m sure you can relate. I had to update my portfolio, brush up on the work lingo no one really uses outside interviews, memorize the company’s website and absolutely everything the interviewers have done or will do in the duration of ...
Apparently it’s not done for women to wear their engagement rings to interviews. Personally I think it’s a good policy for women of a certain age to leave their wedding bands at home, because the assumption will either be that you already have kids or that you’ll get hired and then immediately run off and ...
Recently I went to a concert with a (male) friend. He was a friend of the band, and we were in a city he’d lived in for years. That seems simple enough, doesn’t it? As the crowd thickened and I was introduced to more people, I became aware of sideways glances and inquisitive stares. I ...
This year I don’t have a resolution. I have a non-resolution. My New Year’s Resolution is to not have a resolution to lose weight, diet, or drop a pant size. I see it every year — women vowing to lose belly fat, to stop eating chocolate, to detox diet. And companies notice it, too, and they ...
Being single around the holidays opens people up to an interrogation about their sex life from bothersome relatives. There is also pressure at office parties, potluck dinners, and New Year’s Eve parties. But alone no longer translates into lonely. People are slower to pair off than ever before because, quite honestly, being single is fun! ...
And then there was the Christmas of ’05, when I decided to make my Christmas cards by hand. All seventy of them. This involved a sprig of pine which I considered to be festive, a can of silver spray nonsense that will outlive the cockroaches in my first apartment, and a fistful of glitter pens. ...
Tampons. You use them, right? So do I. I try to keep a variety in stock, for emergencies. But occasionally I’m caught short and need to pop out for a box. And that, dear reader, is what a boyfriend is for. Here is a thing which has recently come to my attention. SOME MEN DON’T ...
Here in the modern world, it’s nice to maintain healthy, adult relationships with people we’ve slept with. Whether it’s a colleague you had a not-so-secret-but-not-terminal fling with, or an ex who became a friend, or someone you once drunkenly intercoursed with at your friend Sally’s birthday party in Bangkok. Because we’re all sensible, forward thinking ...
Want a cheap, fun date? Stay home with a cheesy romance movie, popcorn, and a bottle of wine. You...
On dates I still love a little bit of chivalry — but it goes too far when the restaurant...
There has been an upswing in royal fever on both sides of the Atlantic since last April. When Kate...
Dear Madame X, I know you say that it’s not good to fake your orgasms, but what if you...
It is one of the oldest institutions in the world. Most humans are actively engaged in it as I...
Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon, and left one unexpended effort...
Usually getting fired is a bad thing. But, somehow, this woman is happy about it. Can you imagine...
My attention was drawn this week to an article on the resurgence of the market for men’s underwear. It...
