Eleanor

I used to edit books, mostly for Faber & Faber, but I've been disabled by Long Covid since 2022. Housebound and mostly horizontal. Being kept sane by cricket and family, not necessarily in that order. Permanently foggy brain and low battery, so if I disappear mid-conversation, it probably wasn't something you said.

She/her. SW England. Profile: middle-aged white woman lying down, being photobombed by a cat.

Public Key

npub1q6qjrz5jwf986klxc90yk0ta37ylq0mest7rc0mxm06ra076vtlq27ervm

NIP-05 Address

eleanorrees_at_mas.to@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsqdqfp32f8yjnat0nvzhjt847clz0s8auc9lpu8andhap7hldx9lsprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntqy28wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hspsav9v

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

relay.damus.io

nostr-pub.wellorder.net

Author Public Key

npub1q6qjrz5jwf986klxc90yk0ta37ylq0mest7rc0mxm06ra076vtlq27ervm

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Last Notes

2026-09-21 12:34:25 UTC

Early in the summer I found an old packet of sunflower seeds. Planted the least dried-up-looking twelve. Seven of those germinated. Six of those didn't make it to flowering. Here's the one that got there. (Not sure why it prefers to face the white wall rather than the sun behind it, but as long as it's happy...)
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/117/309/047/229/542/991/original/45991c0b4ec7f657.jpeg
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/117/309/047/294/600/814/original/093c93bab12b4323.jpeg

2026-08-20 10:47:00 UTC

Gmail has moved the 'Get a Google AI Plan' button to the same spot on the screen where 'Sign out' used to be. Possibly just a tiny indicator that not as many people as they'd hoped for are choosing to get a Google AI Plan.

2026-08-13 08:45:17 UTC

Saw 14 meteors last night - beautiful. The kid even put his phone down and watched with me for a while.

2026-06-19 07:37:43 UTC

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Youngest's last day of school. End of an era that's been quite a rollercoaster.

2026-03-02 13:58:29 UTC

Had one of those moments in the hospital when I was resting on my rollator in the foyer. Two women came and stood in front of me and started discussing the rollator's features and why it might be good for someone they knew... at no point acknowledging me or even making eye contact. It's funny how you become furniture in these situations.

2026-01-01 20:51:11 UTC

An email arrives from LinkedIn offering to tell me how to deal with unsolicited career advice. *stare*

2025-11-29 19:15:13 UTC

Rosencrantz: Do you think Death could possibly be a boat?
Guildenstern: No, no, no... Death is *not*. Death isn't. Take my meaning? Death is the ultimate negative. Not-being. You can't not be on a boat.
Rosencrantz: I've frequently not been on boats.
Guildenstern: No, no... What you've been is not on boats.
#TomStoppard

2025-11-15 19:18:03 UTC

Own up, whoever's out there asking companies to put even more love and passion into creating new prawn cracker flavours.
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/115/555/318/798/468/701/original/53eeb1f8df4fdd00.jpeg

2025-11-12 10:50:41 UTC

There's a recruitment and retention crisis in English state schools. One reason for this may be that education policymakers seem to have the fundamental goal of constantly subjecting teachers and children to absolute bullshit.
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/115/536/335/073/554/749/original/3ba12fdcc5062da3.png

2025-10-23 18:52:18 UTC

I can't believe this jumper made it through the design and manufacturing process without anyone saying, "I don't know, it just looks a bit... murdery?"
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/115/424/982/525/023/955/original/1d0e1748a9fe369f.png

2025-10-19 13:06:43 UTC

Husband showed me how his new iphone has selected photos from when the kids were little and animated them to make fake videos.
We agreed this needs to be killed with fire ASAP.

2025-10-18 16:39:50 UTC

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Could they lay on extra incense to disguise the smell?

2025-09-13 09:47:29 UTC

Here's the link if you want to email the BBC and suggest that perhaps they might stop giving quite so much uncritical fawning publicity to a fascist and his fans.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints

2025-08-12 21:12:40 UTC

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Just one here so far, but a good one.

2025-08-04 08:26:14 UTC

Today it's the fiftieth anniversary of the first streak at Lord's, performed by a man named Michael Angelow.
#cricket
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/114/969/526/450/933/489/original/90ff4b5629b27126.png

2025-05-28 15:22:56 UTC

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His teammate W. G. Grace found it very funny, apparently. "Couldn't get you out, had to set you on fire!"
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/five-famous-people-and-one-cat-you-didn-t-know-have-espncricinfo-profiles-1221664
Cricinfo says of Conan Doyle: "Although never a famous cricketer, he could hit hard and bowl slows with a puzzling flight", which seems appropriate.

2025-05-28 15:10:25 UTC

Happy anniversary of Arthur Conan Doyle getting his leg set on fire during a #cricket match in 1903.
(He was hit on the thigh while batting and the box of matches in his pocket ignited with the impact.)

2025-05-09 21:44:30 UTC

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https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/114/480/056/312/929/922/original/9be85694fe3e44bc.png

2024-10-19 16:12:18 UTC

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In God We Truss

2024-09-16 19:17:15 UTC

My eldest child flew the nest today. Quite literally: they're starting their first professional contract as a flying trapeze artist. It's a bit surreal but I'm delighted that they're following their dream.

2024-09-11 09:48:00 UTC

So many women will have experienced this distortion in smaller day-to-day ways, at work or just in discussions: when you point out a fact that undermines the argument a man is trying to make or the stance he's trying to take, that's "getting personal".
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/113/118/282/436/486/687/original/5312776c868e25d3.png

2024-08-24 09:01:36 UTC

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One last thing: the time I've been ill is a tick of the clock compared to the decades that people with ME have been suffering. I'm grateful for what I've learned from their hard-won experience of surviving energy-limiting illness. The way they've been systemically neglected and mistreated is a scandal of medical misconduct. I can only hope the Long Covid research that's now happening (too slow, but it is happening) brings them hope and relief too.

2024-08-23 15:36:56 UTC

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In summary: if you enjoy doing things and having a life, Long Covid is well worth avoiding.
I haven’t written all this for sympathy (although it’s appreciated). I also won’t have the energy to do much replying. I just hope perhaps it helps someone understand what their friend/relative/colleague might be dealing with, and maybe even avoid spreading one infection themselves. Even one would make a difference.
/end

2024-08-23 15:36:19 UTC

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I have no idea if or when any of this might get any better. I stay positive day to day, mainly because I'm lucky to have supportive people around me. But it is no fun being dependent, and seeing how my illness restricts their lives too. Having to let go of plan after plan and hope after hope.
It’s bad. And it’s not going away. People right now are catching Covid and it isn’t crossing their mind that they won’t be back to normal again in a few days...
7/n

2024-08-23 15:35:54 UTC

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I can’t take my kids anywhere, or do anything with them that isn’t quiet and careful. (If you remember I mentioned a family game of Monopoly recently? Someone had to roll dice and move the counter for me, because I can’t physically do that for long enough to play a game.)
I try and keep most of my day’s mental energy for the kids, because when I’m exhausted and noise is painful so I have to ask them not to talk to me, that’s the worst thing.
My nightmare is that this happens to them too.
6/n

2024-08-23 15:35:38 UTC

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I can’t watch two TV episodes in a row: the light and sound get overwhelming. I can watch cricket, but often have to mute the commentary. I have constant searing tinnitus.
I can do one or two light household jobs a day, in small stages with long rests in between. I used to love cooking. Now I can cook a few simple familiar things using prepared ingredients, on a good day. I can't follow a new recipe.
5/n

2024-08-23 15:34:17 UTC

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I constantly forget what I’m supposed to be doing, multiple times every hour, every day. I can’t drive, because I can’t remember how to control the car or what a red light means.
Reading was the most consistent joy in my life. I edited books for a living. Now I can’t read for work or pleasure: I can’t remember what I’ve read from one page to the next. Reading for more than a few minutes gives me a migraine. A huge part of my identity, gone. I can skim a bit online; it’s not the same.
4/n

2024-08-23 15:33:36 UTC

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Brain fog is like being drunk and hungover at the same time - every day, for years.
I lose words in conversation, or just zone out. On the phone I forget who I’m talking to or what we’re talking about.
I can’t leave the house without a helper, because I get exhausted and confused. The noise of a public place is painful and my brain stops being able to process language. The last time I went to a cafe was January 2022. I used to love dining out.
3/n

2024-08-23 15:33:02 UTC

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I was fit and healthy before I got Covid in 2021. It never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t be back to normal in a few days.
Now I can’t work. I can’t walk 20 yards without a rollator. Simple thoughts take effort. If I exert myself beyond a small limit I get so ill I can only lie in the dark. And I’m not the worst affected. Some people are lying in the dark all the time.
Resting isn’t restful. I ache and shake, I’m lightheaded, I can’t breathe properly. It takes a long time to fall asleep.
2/n

2024-08-23 15:31:49 UTC

Today I’ve been ill for a thousand days.
#LongCovid has taken away my independence, my social life, my job, my plans. The way I used to be able to think and to move. My identity, piece by piece.
I’m going to talk about it now. Fair warning if you want to mute.
(Please don’t reply with medical advice: I guarantee that either I’ve already tried it or there’s a good reason why I haven’t.)
1/n

2024-08-23 12:48:38 UTC

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Have you got to the muff joke yet?

2024-08-23 09:48:09 UTC

The plastic thing on the juice carton broke, so I had to teach my child the ancient magic.
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/113/010/700/539/065/801/original/8f17fcd1e2910b58.jpeg

2024-08-18 18:55:29 UTC

Just saw my first dragonfly this year. That's a morale boost.

2024-07-31 17:02:39 UTC

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Five Nights at Fedi's