Category Archives: Feminism

The last week in April: 100 midwives and a 50th birthday

Posted on May 21, 2013 by fortewinks

My Birthday Cakes by Giorgia Maria Last month I fell in love. I fell in love with Midwives and with Edinburgh. The combination contrived a fitting warm-up act to my birthday celebrations. To be specific, that birthday celebration. Edinburgh is … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Family, Feminism, Friends, Life and romance, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged 3Thirty, 50th birthday, April, birth, Bollinger, cakes, Catching Babies, celebration, Comedy, dancing, David Eyre, drugs, female health, Forte Medical, Fringe, Giorgia McAllister, Graham Farnworth, Heart in the Womb, hygiene, Luis Forte, MaMa, Mothers to be, oestrogen, Paella, patisserie, Peezy msu, Roxburghe, Scotch, silversmith | 1 Comment

Does my bum look big in this?

Posted on April 13, 2013 by fortewinks

Preparing for a party some years ago, my Girls then aged 4 and 6 sat on on the bed to watch me dress and make-up. After applying the final glittering touches I twisted and turned in front of the mirror, … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, Health, Uncategorized | Tagged abdominals, abs, Angelina Jolie, anorexia, Body, body con, boobs, bottom, celebrity, crunches, dysmorphia, Embarrasing Bodies, facial exercises, genitals, Geoff Capes, heat magazine, overweight, penis, Sit-up (exercise), sit-ups, Spanx, thin | Leave a comment

Tales from the traveling (female) business executive

Posted on January 15, 2013 by fortewinks

George Melly where are you now? Photograph by Colin Bell About four years ago, my company took part in a healthcare event in Harrogate. I secured a nice little deal at the deliciously luxe Hotel du Vin and after a … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Feminism, Food and wine, Travel | Tagged business executive, De Vere. travel. business travel, dining alone, Forte Medical, Giovanna Forte, Hotel du Vin, hotels, Manchester hotels, The Mitre hotel manchester, Virgin Trains, working women, York hotels | Leave a comment

For the love of a good man (or few)

Posted on December 30, 2012 by fortewinks

Men. Don’tcha love’em? I do. In fact, I very do. Why? Well, as my year-end blog housekeeping took me on a walk of posts passim, I noticed that I have mentioned the Beta Boys on a number of occasions. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Feminism, Friends, Life and romance, Uncategorized | Tagged Attention, attraction, attractive, Beta Boys, brain, brains, chemistry, Clavicle, collar bone, collarbone, Eric Morecambe, expressive, eyelids, friends, humour, men, Morecambe and Wise, New Year, nostrils, Physical attractiveness, sex, sexism, sexuality, sexy | Leave a comment

That was a week, that was

Posted on May 20, 2012 by fortewinks

Seven days in the middle of May: a more varied, demanding, entertaining week I can hardly remember and although it threatens to belie description, I’ll try. My efforts are necessary if only because, as a failed diary keeper this blog … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Entertaining, Family, Feminism, Food and wine, Friends, Life and romance, Uncategorized | Tagged Articulate Communication, David Eyre, Dragon Rouge, Entertainment, Eyre Brothers, Forte Medical, Girlfriends, Good Food, Hanway Street, Old Fire Station, Peezy, Prosecco, Smith + Village | 2 Comments

Beauty: a work in progress

Posted on May 7, 2012 by fortewinks

My birthday fell due last week, and as all birthdays do, it fell, took place and passed. But this nonentity of a birthday, ostensibly a nothing year, arrived on an ill-wind, one that ruffled my middleageing feathers in most unexpected … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, Friends, Health, Life and romance, Uncategorized | Tagged beauty, Birthday, Brunswick Centre, Chantecaille, Erica Jong, fifty, forty-nine, Francesco Picardi, hair, hairdresser, happy, lipstick, Mac, make-up, mascara, Middleage, Pink Lady, Space.NK, Vespa | 6 Comments

Twenty clever women (and two men in the kitchen)

Posted on November 12, 2011 by fortewinks

In May this year, I realised that I did not see enough of my female friends. Whilst the Boys are pretty easy to find barside, the Girls are more difficult to pin down. My girl friends are a fabulous lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertaining, Feminism, Food and wine, Friends, Life and romance | Tagged Alessandra Scherillo, Amelia Troubridge, Clever women, Dinner, Entertaining, Entrepreneur, Gladstone Gardens, Laura Quick, Man-About-Town, Michela Gisotti, Philippa Stockley, Satwinder Sehmi, Street Children Photography, Surface to Air Architects, The Nelson's Head, Trayler and Trayler, Trolley Books, Urban Species, Urban Stories, Women | 4 Comments

Sexual equality? Aliens would not be impressed

Posted on May 18, 2011 by fortewinks

Never one to marginalise myself on the basis of gender I’m perplexed by the number of women in their thirties and forties who comment that their lot in the world is all the harder because of their sex; equality and … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Feminism | Tagged Feminism, forte, Gender, Gender equality, giovanna, Giovanna Forte, good parenting, Nicola Horlick, working mother, Working mothers | 2 Comments

Oestrogen: mid-life elixir is

Posted on April 18, 2011 by fortewinks

I am forty-eight and I am smiling. I have a spring in my step, a twinkle in my eye, focus in my day. I’m in control; I have a new drug of choice. If you’re a woman hurtling inexorably towards … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Feminism, Health, London | Tagged gynaecologist, hormone levels, menopause, mid-life, middle age, mood swings, oestrogen, sexual health, Studd, Uncategorized | 3 Comments