Isobel Gray 🏴‍☠️🏳️‍⚧️

I wonder if any of the MPs with concerns about the practicalities of the EHRC code will stand up in the commons and take the government to task about this?

Early morning view of the wind rippled canal from Isobel's window.

Morning. ☕

I've had 12 hours' sleep and don't feel very well. I wish I could go back to sleep but I'm too busy.

Today, on top of my boat jobs, I have to do some rather existentially threatening adulting. ✍🏻😢📃 I mean genuinely terrifying stuff just in time for Halloween. 👹

I have a wood burner. It gets very warm in my boat.

Just to stay here and stay warm. 🔥👍🏻

And watch the BMI.

4 past 6 and I’m falling asleep. 😴 💤

The trick is to use the wind.

Why it’s called winding! 🧐

Drop some blades.

Hire boat wedged in Gayton Junction.

This hire boat got wedged in Gayton Junction. They were doing alright until an impatient boater sped through and the wash took them sideways! 🫣

Cold Isobel on the towpath.

It’s big coat time again. 🥶 AND it started to get dark before 5. 🦇

I got up here in the spring ⛵️ and have enjoyed a great summer. 😎🏝️🍷 Now the tough season begins! ☃️

You must have gone past me lots of times! 😄

Ah, Rugby Boats is in Stowe Hill. I thought it was in Rugby! 😄

Thanks so much, Julie! 💜🙏🏻 My friend has just moored next door and he's got a car, so I'm alright for now!

You'll probably go past me afterwards.

I've been thinking of going through and heading back towards MK.

Didn't that used to be called corruption? 🤔

Or am I just being naively idealistic?

K.

Early morning view of the canal from Isobel's roof hatch showing the silhouettes of a line of trees going up a field under a blue sky with pink on the horizon.

Happy Sunday. ☕

It's very strange to see the world this light before 7. Ollie got me up at 3. He believed it was 4.

It's very cold. 🥶 I just put the last log in the burner. I'm not ready for the real cold weather to come and need to find a source of more fuel than I can get my hands on atm. 🔥

It's probably too late for them. The betrayal has been appalling and nasty.

If they want a future at all though, Starmer et al have got to be shifted soon, or it'll be too much to ask people to trust the wider party again the longer they let this go on.

This isn't political analysis. This is insulting people's intelligence and making a case for the laughably absurd. Do you get paid for writing this shit? ✍🏻🤪💩

Either Labour go back to the left, get rid of Starmer, McSweeney and Glasman, AND make clear they were a big aberration...

Or they are dead.

I reckon it's not far away. Got that feeling. ☃️

The coal boat isn't coming up here because of the closures, so I'm stuck with whatever wood I can gather.

It's getting hard to keep up now. The nights are getting cold. Wood doesn't last long.

View from Isobel's window showing the early morning sun hitting the reeds on the canal offside and the line of trees going up the field under a blue sky.

The sun is out now, and the damp autumn world is thawing and slowly warming up.

It feels like November, but there are still lots of leaves on the trees. When I go to the woods for firewood, I will bring an extra bag in case the rain has woken up the funnel mushrooms.

I might also go in the pub. 💃🏻🍷

Early morning view of the canal from Isobel's window showing the silhouette of canalside trees reflecting in the still water under the beginning of a sunrise in a blue sky.

Happy Friday. 🥳

It was frosty when Ollie got me up at 6. 🥶 Then my fire refused to light for several attempts. 😤 I'm only just now enjoying coffee #1. ☕

This time of year is hard work. I'd like to just enter hibernation, but I need lots of firewood now. It's amazing how quickly I go through it.

I couldn’t have done it either.

No way could I ever be in politics, having to work and engage with snakes like her.

Wouldn't surprise me if she punched a hole in the drywall plasterboard after she got off camera.

My brain read all her mannerisms there as malevolent. Like she was seething but trying not to show it.

I'm sure the blinking was discomfort for the reason you say. She's well used to bullshitting but not whilst facing a human whose life she wants to mangle.

Does excessive blinking mean lying? AI Overview    +7 Excessive blinking is not a definitive sign of lying, but it can be an indicator of stress, high cognitive load, or nervousness, which may occur when someone is lying. Some research suggests a link between rapid blinking and deception, while other studies show that liars may actually decrease their blinking rate. The key is to look for a change in a person's baseline blink rate when discussing stressful topics, not just the rate itself.  Why excessive blinking might occur Cognitive load:  Lying requires more mental effort to create and maintain a false story, which can increase blink rate.  Stress and nervousness:  The anxiety associated with being untruthful can lead to increased blinking.  A deviation from baseline:  A person's blink rate is unique to them. An increase in blinking after a stressful or "trigger" question is more significant than simply observing a fast blink rate. 

Definitely something very malevolent behind those eyes.

In all the criticisms I've heard being put to Phillipson, for months, it's all been about practicalities.

Nothing at all about what a shameful, shitty thing it is to do to people. I know she's a conscienceless psychopath, but that should be the first point put to her if this opposition is serious.

Not saying it's wrong though, are they? Just that it's rushed and difficult for them. Even using the phrase "transgender rights vs women only spaces" which is a poke in this woman's eye.

No mention of it being morally wrong, or that it shits all over human rights law. Just their own inconvenience.

So I'm making do with shit, very basic hearing aids that aren't calibrated for me, because of that wanker.

Next year, when I've got less on my plate, I'll try again. Start the process again, knowing I'll get as far as the next transphobe who knows they can mistreat me and get away with it.

Nothing subtle about the audiologist who just looked at me, snorted angrily, point blank refused to do the tests I was there for and sent me packing.

Just one of so many occasions when I really should have pursued a complaint, but like many of us, I didn't have the energy for it.