This entire blog seems to be taken up with health updates of late , genuinely feel like I'm falling to bits here. As regular readers may know I've had a few (major) bouts of psoriasis the last few years which my doctor reckons is stress related (which kinda makes sense), the last of which flared up round about the time I was sorting out Cassidy's college and Social Work situation meaning I've spent the last 10 or so months with about 70% of my body covered in what looks like dragon scales that bleed when I move. Which is absolutely brilliant when coupled with that pesky Autistic body dysmorphia that a fair few of us have. Add to that the psoriasis actually went into my ears which had left me almost completely deaf at points which being a sensory seeker (I like loud noise and colours, sue me) has been an utter nightmare. It basically feels like being trapped in a body that bleeds when you move and with a head that feels like a padded box. Sensory deprivation at it...

  "Autistic folk don't like change."  My haircut at 15, my haircut in my 50s.  

A quick update for anyone who's been following my mad medical escapades on this blog of late (probably no-one but thems the breaks). Way back in June I posted about how after going to see about light therapy for that pesky psoriasis I was instead offered what sounded like a choice 'tween gamma rays and Dr. Abraham Erskine's super soldier serum before battling constant phone calls trying to persuade me to quickly choose between the two which obviously didn't freak me out at all. No sir. The full sorry tale is here if you're interested.      Anyway after going to see my GP in a wee bit of a panic clutching all the handouts I'd been given I felt a bit better when they were as surprised as I was seeing as they'd actually asked for light therapy to begin with so told me not to worry and just tell them that's what I wanted/was expecting. So when the long awaited (and dreaded) phone consultation came along I pointed this out only to be told that they assumed I...

  It's been 8 years since 2 drunken photoshops I hastily bunged together became more popular than anything I've ever actually drawn.... says it all really.

   To lighten the mood around here and to celebrate the release of Superman (and in a fortnight the Fantastic Four which will hopefully herald a fun four colour renaissance) I present a selection of mixes (of a comic book nature obviously) from our legendary Glasgow-based pre-club The Man With No Suitcase from back in the day for your ear-based pleasure to download here . You lucky people!     

Well I never had former Masterchef host (and most popular art piece on my Redbubble shop, no really) Gregg Wallace down as the person to chuck Autistics under the bus for the sake of his career on my 2025 'Tism bingo card but there you go. And how did we get to this heady point?  Well, way back in late 2024 a series of allegations of inappropriate behaviour (dating back to at least 2012) were made against the former jolly greengrocer by a number of female contestants . His original defence was, um interesting to say the least:  Which as you can imagine went down well with 51% of the population, luckily tho' when that didn't work he at least he listened to this bit of advice from his 'friends':     Realising that the accusations weren't going to go away Gregg doubled down in November '24 and got those same 'friends' to announce that his inability to keep his penis in his trousers was due to him being Autistic. And even better, according to them, he wa...

  Me after finishing my follow on phone hospital appointment today....  

It's slightly annoying to find out that myself (and my kids) appear to be have been doing Autism wrong all these years...maybe the struggling to fit in and make sense of the world in general has gotten in the way of the 'real' misogynist/predatory Autism that all the celebs have.   Seriously tho' it's hard enough being Autistic without every slightly famous Tom, Dick or Gregg jumping on the bandwagon and blaming their every dodgy indiscretion on the all encompassing 'Tism.  Put it this way you can be Autistic and be an utter shitebag around women but 'the Autism' has f#ck all to do with it. It means you're actually just a shitebag. And that concludes my TED Talk. Thanks for listening.      

In another example of caring, sharing Britain, dead-eyed debutante and 'journalist' and ex- researcher for Lord Peter Lilley - Annabel Denham has written a fantastically empathic piece for The Telegraph re: Special Educational Needs.    Aside from it's ill-informed and rambling nature (too much red before bed?) it ends with quite possibly THE greatest comment ever on the plight of SEN kids and the parents fighting for support:   "It’s almost enough to make you long for the country to get the shocking dose of reality that Ukrainians or Israelis are experiencing. Our state has become a soft touch paying out for every sad story."   Beautiful.      Sorry I actually meant fuck off.   "Y’know, the thing about Annabel Denham, she’s got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes. When she comes after ya, she doesn’t seem to be livin’ until she bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white, and then – aww, then you hear that terrible high-...

The Entertainer was one of the stores reviewed in the original Autism Friendly Glasgow posts way back in the dark and distant days of this blog and to be honest it's a shop we've visited ever since but whereas last time we looked at the Buchanan Galleries store (still a favourite with Cass) this time we're talking about the one in the St. Enoch Centre. So you'd better pay attention as there may be questions later. You see, much like HMV , The Entertainer has become one of our regular, daily haunts since the girls started college so we've gone from weekend visits to 3 times a week for the last few years and, like HMV, is just one of those stores that is utterly fantastic and an absolute pleasure to visit. The staff are genuinely interested in talking to the girls and are happy to chat with them on subjects ranging from toys to college to Embeth's obsession with obscure film and TV characters, plus they know what the girls (and myself!) collect so are always read...