Category:

Macedonia

Makedonium is 50 today!

By Nick Nasev

August 2, 2024

min read

One of the world's most distinct monuments, the Ilinden Monument, otherwise known as Makedonium (and during the 2020-22 pandemic as "Covid") was opened 50 years ago today in Krushevo, Macedonia!

Hi, zdravo, bok, zdravei, g'day! I’m Nick Nasev, an Aussie of Balkan background living in the UK. I’ve been a translator and editor for 20+ years. If you have an interest in languages and all things Balkan, Eastern European, Australian and beyond, along with a dash of corny and irony, then stick with me as I rant about my experiences and stories.

Your text deserves to be taken seriously; have it translated and edited with confidence.

info@nicknasev.com

Contact me with the details of your text at info@nicknasev.com

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November 7, 2024

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What's the name of this famous Australian natural landmark?

One of Australia's most visited tourist sites has two official names, but Aussies almost exclusively use one of them. Do you know which one?

November 4, 2024

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Australians... easy-going and laid-back?

Australians like to see themselves as "easy-going" and "laid-back". But are they really?

November 1, 2024

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Australian English: one for the Petrolheads!

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October 29, 2024

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Australia and trick-or-treating... a minefield

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October 23, 2024

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Can the "world's most accurate translator" do Australian English?

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October 20, 2024

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Why are there so many Turkish words in Balkan languages?

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October 17, 2024

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False Friend Friday! Time for some Latin-based words

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October 15, 2024

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The time US military officials used a computer to predict the outcome of the Vietnam War...

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October 14, 2024

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"Merci" is how you say "thank you" in which language?

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October 6, 2024

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Trileche, the not-so-traditional Balkan dish

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September 29, 2024

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International Translation Day and the Dragomans

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September 15, 2024

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15 years cancer-free!!!

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September 11, 2024

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Australian English: is it email and/or e-mail?

Welcome to confusion with "email" in Australia. It's generational...

September 6, 2024

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"Can you identify the text here?"

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September 1, 2024

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Australian English: scull/skull, stinker, flow-on effect, rock up, slippery dip...

Here's the latest round up of some uniquely Aussie words to add to your vocabulary...

August 21, 2024

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Meyk lov - not vor

Why you shouldn't trust automated translation on LinkedIn or anywhere else. And are the Macedonians being targeted?

August 5, 2024

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Australian English, Olympics edition: "Boomers croak in medal tilt"

Do you get what is being said here? Unless you're Australian, it's not what you think...

August 3, 2024

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Jumping Jai Taurima, Australian Olympic Legend...

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July 31, 2024

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Australian (Olympics) English: battered sav, hello boys, crazy date, flat bags, goose...

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July 30, 2024

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25 years since the death of Bulgarian chalga star Rumyana

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November 7, 2024

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What's the name of this famous Australian natural landmark?

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November 4, 2024

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Australians... easy-going and laid-back?

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November 1, 2024

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Australian English: one for the Petrolheads!

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October 29, 2024

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Australia and trick-or-treating... a minefield

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September 11, 2024

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Australian English: is it email and/or e-mail?

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September 1, 2024

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Australian English: scull/skull, stinker, flow-on effect, rock up, slippery dip...

Here's the latest round up of some uniquely Aussie words to add to your vocabulary...

August 3, 2024

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Jumping Jai Taurima, Australian Olympic Legend...

Because of, or despite, his very unconventional but trés Aussie approach to training, he won silver at the 2000 Olympics. You won't believe how...

July 31, 2024

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Australian (Olympics) English: battered sav, hello boys, crazy date, flat bags, goose...

How a comedy routine during the 2000 Sydney Olympics provided Australia with its own, very naughty, gymnastics lexicon!

July 28, 2024

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Why are Aussies so good at swimming?

To get away from the sharks! Nah, it's more than that.

July 25, 2024

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The [enter place name] Olympics are going to be a disaster...

Or perhaps not. It wouldn't be an Olympics if there wasn't impending doom. But how has it actually turned out?

July 4, 2024

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Who's gonna win: Sunderland or Newcastle? Fancy a Democracy Sausage? Or take a ride on the "Bulgarian Train"

Vote-count competitions between rival cities? How a mundane sausage in generic white bread is the epitome of mass democratic participation in Australia. And why a Bulgarian train is not a train. The weird world of election traditions.

June 30, 2024

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Accadacca at 50!

One of the world's biggest ever rock bands has turned 50!

June 30, 2024

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Pets on public transport: yes or no? 👍👎

Australians adore pets... but not on public transport. How come?

June 21, 2024

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Australian English: "We're de factos!"

Many Australians are in "de facto relationships". What are these and how do they differ from marriage?

May 23, 2024

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Burger King vs Hungry Jacks. Is there a difference?

Is Burger King the drama? How come there's no Burger King in Australia but you can still get a Whopper? A story of how a technicality turned an alternative brand into a part of local Australian identity, and how that was almost usurped.

May 22, 2024

min read

Poor Gina...

The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Australia's richest woman, mining magnate Gina Rinehart got more than what she bargained for when she wanted a portrait of her taken down. And how does wine figure into this too?

April 6, 2024

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ABBA can thank Australia for the music!

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August 31, 2023

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Australian etiquette: the Outback Driving Wave

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June 26, 2023

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Homonyms maketh the sentence…

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June 1, 2023

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Happy 50th anniversary to the Adelaide Festival Centre!

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May 25, 2023

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Tina Turner… Major Australian Cultural Contributor!

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May 11, 2023

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How come Australia is at Eurovision? It’s actually a perfect marketing opportunity…

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April 24, 2023

min read

Vale Barry Humphries!

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April 11, 2023

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April 7, 2023

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March 28, 2023

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Hand gestures, i.e. the time when George Bush Senior figuratively told the Aussies where to go…

Have you unwittingly done a hand gesture that meant something completely different in another country? Here’s a true story…

March 8, 2023

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November 19, 2024

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November 7, 2024

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What's the name of this famous Australian natural landmark?

One of Australia's most visited tourist sites has two official names, but Aussies almost exclusively use one of them. Do you know which one?

November 1, 2024

min read

Australian English: one for the Petrolheads!

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October 23, 2024

min read

Can the "world's most accurate translator" do Australian English?

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September 11, 2024

min read

Australian English: is it email and/or e-mail?

Welcome to confusion with "email" in Australia. It's generational...

September 1, 2024

min read

Australian English: scull/skull, stinker, flow-on effect, rock up, slippery dip...

Here's the latest round up of some uniquely Aussie words to add to your vocabulary...

August 5, 2024

min read

Australian English, Olympics edition: "Boomers croak in medal tilt"

Do you get what is being said here? Unless you're Australian, it's not what you think...

July 31, 2024

min read

Australian (Olympics) English: battered sav, hello boys, crazy date, flat bags, goose...

How a comedy routine during the 2000 Sydney Olympics provided Australia with its own, very naughty, gymnastics lexicon!

July 28, 2024

min read

Why are Aussies so good at swimming?

To get away from the sharks! Nah, it's more than that.

June 21, 2024

min read

Australian English: "We're de factos!"

Many Australians are in "de facto relationships". What are these and how do they differ from marriage?

May 23, 2024

min read

Burger King vs Hungry Jacks. Is there a difference?

May 22, 2024

min read

Poor Gina...

August 31, 2023

min read

Australian etiquette: the Outback Driving Wave

It’s all about being friendly when driving out in “woop woop” (the middle of nowhere) 🤗

August 14, 2023

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Three everyday words that exist in Australian English only!

Ask what’s most unique about Australian English 🪃, the answers usually are our accent and slang✔️. However, there are also a number of uniquely Australian English words in regular use, even in formal situations, that Australians are surprised to find are not used everywhere else in the English-speaking world (OK, sometimes also in New Zealand🥝, […]

June 30, 2023

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Watch out, here comes the Aussie version of The Office…

Are you a fan of the cult TV comedy show The Office?🕺And which version: the UK one 🇬🇧? The US one 🇺🇸? The French one 🇫🇷? The Indian one 🇮🇳 or any of the other 13 variants made? 📣 News in is that an Australian 🇦🇺 version of The Office will be hitting our screens […]

May 29, 2023

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What’s a “bank holiday”? Do Aussies say that too?

Today (Monday), 29 May 2023 is a “bank holiday” in the United Kingdom, our third this month! 📆Now this term “bank holiday” often confuses many people not from the UK or Ireland. Does this mean that it’s a holiday for banks only? 🧐

April 11, 2023

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Eshays and Adlays: Australia’s answer to London’s Roadmen

Eshays and Adlays: the latest bunch of Pig-Latin-speaking, Nike-wearing young bogans (vilified poor working-class people) to cause massive moral panic in Australia 🇦🇺

April 7, 2023

min read

Move over Easter Bunny 🐇 … make way for the Easter Bilby! 🪃

Bunnies are considered cute and loveable… except in Australia 🇦🇺, where they’re a major scourge🤬.

March 28, 2023

min read

Hand gestures, i.e. the time when George Bush Senior figuratively told the Aussies where to go…

Have you unwittingly done a hand gesture that meant something completely different in another country? Here’s a true story…

March 10, 2023

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Calisthenics: body strength training or a performance art for girls?

💪🏼 Calisthenics (US English) or Callisthenics (UK English), one the biggest crazes in fitness worldwide, is a form of strength training using bodyweight exercises and minimal equipment…

January 24, 2023

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Seachange, Treechange, E-change

Something Australian (but no way uniquely) today…Do you fancy an escape from the rat race and going for a seachange 🌊, treechange 🌳 or e-change 💻?

October 23, 2024

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Can the "world's most accurate translator" do Australian English?

Does DeepL live up to its claim of being "the world's most accurate translator" when it comes to Aussie English? Get ready for some zingers!

October 20, 2024

min read

Why are there so many Turkish words in Balkan languages?

Let's see how Turkish has influenced the languages of the Balkans and further afield. Bujrum!

October 17, 2024

min read

False Friend Friday! Time for some Latin-based words

Where the translation gets undone because just because a word looks the same in another language, it doesn't necessarily means the same.

August 25, 2023

min read

Луд купон, the “crazy coupon” Bulgarian party

So who’s having a “crazy coupon” this weekend? 🎉 Wait!✋ A crazy coupon?🎟️😲 What’s that?

August 22, 2023

min read

Oldtajmer, evergrin, rekorder, golman… the world of Balkan pseudo-anglicisms

Did you hear about the man who collects “old-timers”? 👴🏽 Or that Frank Sinatra has many “evergreens”? 🌲

June 26, 2023

min read

Homonyms maketh the sentence…

How do you say in Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin or Serbian this: “Up there, the mountains burn worse”?👉 Gore gore gore gore.

March 29, 2023

min read

Naš jezik at Munich Airport

I’m about to fly off to Australia transiting through Munich Airport 🇩🇪 … so I’m preparing myself to be ready to speak in “naš jezik” (“our language”).

March 22, 2023

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Ramadan or Ramazan?

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts today ☪️

October 20, 2024

min read

Why are there so many Turkish words in Balkan languages?

Let's see how Turkish has influenced the languages of the Balkans and further afield. Bujrum!

October 6, 2024

min read

Trileche, the not-so-traditional Balkan dish

How thanks to the Albanians, a Latin American cake conquered the Balkans.

September 6, 2024

min read

"Can you identify the text here?"

Did you know that people regularly contact me to identify text they can't decipher. That's what happens when I know a number of languages.

July 30, 2024

min read

25 years since the death of Bulgarian chalga star Rumyana

How the life and death of a popular chalga singer embodied the nature of post-Communist Bulgaria

July 4, 2024

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Who's gonna win: Sunderland or Newcastle? Fancy a Democracy Sausage? Or take a ride on the "Bulgarian Train"

August 25, 2023

min read

Луд купон, the “crazy coupon” Bulgarian party

So who’s having a “crazy coupon” this weekend? 🎉 Wait!✋ A crazy coupon?🎟️😲 What’s that?

August 22, 2023

min read

Oldtajmer, evergrin, rekorder, golman… the world of Balkan pseudo-anglicisms

Did you hear about the man who collects “old-timers”? 👴🏽 Or that Frank Sinatra has many “evergreens”? 🌲

March 22, 2023

min read

Ramadan or Ramazan?

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts today ☪️

March 8, 2023

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International Women’s Day (IWD). A day of campaigning ♀ … or a day to buy flowers 💐

🪃 In Australia, IWD is a day of campaigning and awareness, elements that are much closer to the day’s original purpose of bringing mainstream attention to issues affecting women.

March 6, 2023

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Hugging and cheek-kissing in southeast Europe. The does and don’ts

Do you know what to do with hugging and cheek-kissing in southeast Europe? Do you know which countries kiss twice and others three times?

February 1, 2023

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Out today! Elixir, In the Valley at the End of Time

The latest book that I played a part in its fruition (no, I’m not in it this time), by my dear friend, the award-winning writer Kapka Kassabova, is now available for purchase.

September 6, 2024

min read

"Can you identify the text here?"

Did you know that people regularly contact me to identify text they can't decipher. That's what happens when I know a number of languages.

August 23, 2023

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Five common myths about raising bilingual children

Surprising as it may be, I was once a child, but one who happened to grow up in a multilingual environment but dominated by English.

October 23, 2024

min read

Can the "world's most accurate translator" do Australian English?

Does DeepL live up to its claim of being "the world's most accurate translator" when it comes to Aussie English? Get ready for some zingers!

October 15, 2024

min read

The time US military officials used a computer to predict the outcome of the Vietnam War...

A cautionary tale about how human behaviour overrides data

September 29, 2024

min read

International Translation Day and the Dragomans

How the Ottoman Empire granted its translators and interpreters, the Dragomans, with respect and status.

August 21, 2024

min read

Meyk lov - not vor

Why you shouldn't trust automated translation on LinkedIn or anywhere else. And are the Macedonians being targeted?

June 26, 2023

min read

Any place, any time…

👍The best thing about being a freelance translator is being able to work at any place at any time. 👎The worst thing about being a freelancer translator is being able to work at any place at any time.

April 26, 2023

min read

English language translation tips: use of long forms of country names

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November 19, 2024

min read

Indian and Australian English... the links between them

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October 15, 2024

min read

The time US military officials used a computer to predict the outcome of the Vietnam War...

A cautionary tale about how human behaviour overrides data

October 14, 2024

min read

"Merci" is how you say "thank you" in which language?

It may come as a surprise but it's not just in French...

September 6, 2024

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"Can you identify the text here?"

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October 23, 2023

min read

You know that time when Madonna was interviewed by a Hungarian tabloid? Or when translation goes hilariously bad…

We all know how some translations can be so bad that they’re unintentionally hilarious, like the viral examples from Engrish.com...

September 14, 2023

min read

Working in IT? What do you call yourself? An IT-ian, a Hitechist…?

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August 28, 2023

min read

Watch out for the killer squirrels! It’s “silly season”… or is that “cucumber season”?

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August 26, 2023

min read

Tina Turner… Australian cultural icon!

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August 24, 2023

min read

You do Montenegrin and Bosnian, right?

Two more language directions have been added to my Institute of Translation and Interpreting profile

August 23, 2023

min read

Generic or specific? The issue stopping the free-trade agreement between the EU and Australia

Would you believe that the names of all these famous products are the cause for the deadlock in the free-trade agreement negotiations between the EU 🇪🇺 and Australia 🇦🇺. How come?

August 21, 2023

min read

Smoker’s remorse… or how false friends can be deeply expressive

🟰 Words that look the same or similar in two languages but have two, at times radically, different meanings are called “false friends”.

June 22, 2023

min read

So what are Fantales?

They are chocolate-covered chewy caramels 🍬 that were often so hard to bite into that they kept many dentists in business 🦷. Nothing particularly unique so far, you might think.

May 30, 2023

min read

The personal touch

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April 12, 2023

min read

“You can find the Doonas in Manchester”

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September 15, 2024

min read

15 years cancer-free!!!

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June 14, 2024

min read

It's Men's Health Week... and I'm 15 years cancer-free!!!

The story of how I found out by chance that I no longer had cancer

February 3, 2023

min read

Cancer and gallows humour: Thank you for the flowers 💐; I hope they die before I do! 😏

WARNING: potentially triggering material. Very, very dark humour about cancer ahead. 4 February is World Cancer Day and… erm… conveniently, the day after is the anniversary (15 years now) of being given the oh so exciting news that I had testicular cancer…