Silent Sunday

Back To Work

As you will be aware, if you have read my earlier posts, I have recently had three months off work.  This week I went back to work with a little bit of a heavy heart.  I had enjoyed my three months of freedom and having time for myself which I do not normally have.  Having gone back to work however I am absolutely loving it. It is challenging, fun and interesting. Meeting new people, facing new issues and stimulating my mind has all made me feel extremely good about myself.  I love the fact that I have a great job.  I feel I contribute to the world and I am not dependent on anybody else to support me financially.  It feels good!

Mother's Day

Ok, so here's the thing, when it comes to Mothers, it is fair to say that mine is not the best.  She has been an alcoholic for as long as I can remember and alcohol has always been her number one priority.  I have come to terms with the fact that, after many years of trying, I cannot change that as she has no desire to want to.

Aside from this fact she makes no effort with me.  The last time she visited me was 10 years ago when I first moved into my house, if I want to see her then I have to visit her. If I don't visit her often enough she bitches about me to other family members. If I confront her about this then she just denies it and is always nice to my face. When I got married, she did not come to my wedding as it was abroad and said she would not fly. Only a year later however she got married abroad and I was not even invited (nobody was).  I could go on (and on) but that really is deviating from the point. 

So, Mother's Day is fast approaching. I always have the dilemma of what to do, I never feel the cards which say how wonderful Mothers are would be appropriate so I always try to get her one which is very bland and simply says "Happy Mother's Day". I do always wonder however whether her being my Mother should be celebrated at all or whether, irrespective of her failings, I should make more effort for her on Mother's day because when all is said and done she is my Mother?

Spring

Don't you just love spring?  A little bit of sunshine at this time of year really gives me the feeling that winter is almost over and spring is heading our way. Evenings start to feel a little bit longer when it is still light after I get home from work and the whole thing just makes me feel a little happier. 

I know it is all psychological but I really do feel that the weather/seasons change your mood.

Garden Leave

For the past two and a half months I have been on "garden leave".  So, for those of yo unfamiliar with this, essentially I have handed in my notice at work and rather than require me to work they will pay me my usual salary to stay at home (and away from clients!).

This commenced on 13th December, in plenty of time for me to prepare for Christmas. Everybody I speak to appears to be concerned that this time will be boring.  Not so.  I have an extremely busy job and have worked from being 16 years old (in school holidays).  When I take annual leave from work I go on holiday, I simply never have time to just relax and be at home and this three months has been good for my soul.  I have had the time to relax, be with friends, go on additional holidays, be a wife, decorate, sort and craft.  I cannot believe that in a couple of weeks it will all be over and I will be back at work, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time to just be me.

Baby on the way

My niece was due to give birth to her first baby on 13th February 2013 and today she is in labour.  Her waters broke at 1pm yesterday and she has been having contractions since before that. She lives around 25 miles from the hospital so yesterday evening she (along with her partner and mum) presented herself at my house as I am only about 5 miles from the hospital.  The hospital had sent her away and told her to return once her contractions are a consistent 5 minutes apart or 24 hours after her waters have broken.

As a result of this turn of events I spent the evening timing contractions, taking temperature and trying the make the mummy to be as comfortable as possible.  She is being really brave just breathing deeply with each painful contraction and making no fuss.  I am very proud of her and can't wait to welcome my new great-niece into the world.

Back to Blogging

So it has been an awful long time since I last took to my blog.  It is one of those things that I never seem to get around to doing.  I always promise myself that I will make more effort and love it when I do it but time slips away!

I have lots of things going on this year so maybe I could try and find the time to share them with the world.

Technology

My husband spends an awful lot of time abroad with work (65 days in the first 6 months of this year), which leaves me missing him desperately.  In the last two weeks whilst he has been away we have discovered the joys of video calling via FaceTime on the iPhone 4.  It is fantastic.  Provided that you both have a wireless internet connection (and an iPhone 4!) you can video call each other for free.  This has completely changed the experience of my husband being away for me.  It now means that if I have bought something new I can show him, he can talk to the dogs (sad I know) and it feels like we are properly staying in touch rather than just having a fraught telephone call whilst I am busy rushing around.  I feel like a teenager sneaking home at lunch to get my half an hour video call to chat to my husband over the wireless internet.  I was even able to chat to him whilst I had a Starbucks one lunchtime using their wireless internet. Isn't technology just fantastic!

Fuji FinePix F80 EXR - Review

So, I have now had the time to have a play with my new digital camera and here are my brief thoughts. 

It has a lot of automatic settings which, whilst they are a good gimic, are a waste of time in my opinion.  If you venture in the manual settings you can get much better results.  I am not keen on the method of zooming i.e. there is a wheel around the shutter button which you push from left to right and I don't like it.  That being said however a 10x optical zoom on a small digital camera is impressive.

When venturing into the manual settings it does take some really good pictures and I have to say that for the bargain price of £99 (from Fuji's refurbished online shop) I am suitably impressed.  I would definitely recommend it.  Here are some of my results from my first outing:

My gorgeous little boy, otherwise known as "Trouble":

My beautiful (and well behaved) little girl:

They love nothing more than playing on the field:

Photography

Hi All

Long time no posting.  As you may had gathered if you have read any of my earlier posts, I am a keen photographer.  I have today purchased a new compact digital camera.  I have a DSLR which I use if I am going to events but quite often when I am out and about, maybe just walking the dogs or driving somewhere, I see something which I feel would make a good photograph.  I am therefore going to carry this camera with me to keep a record of any moments of inspiration which I may see in my day to day life.  As I go along I will try to share some of my favourites with you.  I am by no means a professional but I have learnt a few things along the way, which again I may share as I go along.

If any of you are interested, my new puchase is a Fuji FinePix F80EXR.

Wish me luck :-)

My Birthday Treat

It was my birthday last month and as a treat my husband bought me these shoes. I am absolutely in love.  I know that this is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a pair of shoes but I work really hard and all the money I have I have earnt so I do not feel any guilt about this whatsoever.

Lots of people have said that they would never spend such a vast amount of money on a pair of shoes but each to their own I say!

Music

I absolutely love music.  If I could only take one inanimate object to a desert island with me it would undoubtedly be my ipod.  If I had to choose tomorrow between only ever being able to watch tv, read books or listen to music again, I would choose music.

I think music invokes thought and emotions and also affects my mood like nothing else can.

I am especially giddy this year as I am going to see many live gigs which I know will be amazing including Kings of Leon in Hyde Park, Foo Fighters (supported by Biffy Clyro!) and I am also going to Leeds festival (despite the fact that my best friend told me last year that I was too old for festivals).

They have just announced the line up for Leeds festival and I am very excited about it.  Last year I went to Leeds festival for the day as an introduction and this year I will be there for the whole weekend for my first proper festival experience. I am a bit scared and am not prepared to rough it in a tent yet (having seen people's tents on fire as we left last year!) so I have booked a PodPad - exciting! After the event I shall give you a full report!

What does everybody think about music??

Valentines Day

So it is soon to be Valentines Day, the day to declare your love to the subject of your desires. 

Well not for me! I have instructed my husband not to waste any money on Valentines Day this year. So am I total miser - you decide!  I just feel that Valentines Day is commercial clap trap designed by card company's to make a killing.  If you want to buy flowers they are twice the price or if you want to go for a meal (if you can even get a table) everywhere is packed out with an expensive Valentines menu on offer.  It is not that I have no romance but I would far rather my husband sent me a card to tell me he loves me just because the urge takes him, not because society tells him he should.  If a bunch of flowers happen to land on my desk for no reason other than to remind me how much he loves me that feels so much more genuine.

So what are your thoughts - is my romance dead or am I right to take a stand against commercialised love?

I love Chocolate

After reading a magazine article my niece recently told me about possibly the best website ever and I feel I have a duty to share this with you all. www.choccywoccydoodah.com has the most amazing looking creations on there EVER – fact.

I have been desperately thinking of events to justify one of these cakes. It is only 3 months to my birthday so I figure I NEED one for that... right! I am not sure that I could justify the solid chocolate skull to go with it though and since I am so in love with that I am going to have to keep patiently waiting until Halloween!!!

Revisit to Blogging

I have not blogged for a while as my interest in it seems to have faded away.  Today however as part of my job I spent the afternoon with a graphic design agency and have been inspired.  So I have decided to start making more of an effort with my  blogging and come up come up with some interesting thoughts for you all to contemplate.

I have lots of interesting things coming up this year and I am going to share my journey with you so expect scuba diving, tattoos, UK holidays, a new baby (not mine), house hunting and lots of gigs (including my first proper festival experience!).

Assuming of course I remember to include you all on my journey....

Fathers Day

Snaffles Mummy has inspired me to write a tribute to my father for fathers day.

My parents separated when I was 14 years old, much to my devastation.  They had a turbulent and violent marriage that quite honestly made memories of my childhood into nightmares. I remember waking many a Christmas eve to parents screaming and arguing and then not speaking to each other on Christmas day.  Christmas to me as a child symbolised drink fuelled arguments and misery.  So after 24 years of marriage they made their final separation when I was 14 after yet another of my mother's affairs with another man.  My parents had separated a number of times whilst I was a child I knew that one day they would do so for the final time.  I always assumed that when it happened my mother and I (my sisters are 6 and 7 years older than me) would stick together.  In fact when it finally happened my Dad was devastated and being an opinionated teenager with strong morals I decided that I was not prepared to leave my distraught father on his own to go and live with my Mum and her new boyfriend.  I now know that this was the best decision I ever made.


Looking after a teenage girl is difficult for anybody and up until my Mum left my Dad had never exactly been "hands on" when it came to childcare!  That being said he rose to the challenge.

My Dad has always been honest with me, given me advice whether I thought I needed it or not, guided me when I needed it but gave me the freedom to grow.  He did not always deal with things in the most conventional way (punching my first boyfriend in the face in front of me because he was 12 years older than me - I was 14 - do the maths!!! - taught me a valuable lesson) but he always had my best interests at heart.  He left me a note when I went into do my first GCSE exam, which I still have to this day, it said "To do your best and fail would still be to do your best and I will am proud of you whatever the result" (ok so I have improved the spelling!).  Then being the first person in my family to go to University he supported me throughout and prevented me from quitting when I had already made my mind up to do so.  I am now a qualified solicitor and owe the thanks for that to him.

My Dad gave me the greatest gift any  father could ever give a child - he believed in me.  Dad - you're the best!

Kx

Sharks are Friends not Food!

Ok, so bear with me please, I love sharks and think they are very misunderstood and magnificent fish. One of the most memorable moments of my life was swimming in the pacific ocean and seeing a school of 100+ hammerheads swimming all around me. I have had many an argument before now with people who are afraid of sharks, think I am crazy to dive with them near me or even worse think it is acceptable to eat them.

It seems to me that in any film portraying a shark they are always the monsters that eat people. I even witnessed my friends little boy recently pretending he was a shark (with Jaws theme tune and all) and saying he was going to eat me – he is 3 years old! Due to this the sympathy, and as a consequence protection, of this endangered species is seriously lacking.

Let me give some specific examples of injustices:

1. Sharks kill people, I accept that. Usually around 2 people per year. The number of people who drown each year however is in excess of 3,000. When I go diving with sharks my friends get very nervous about this and wonder if I have lost my mind. At no point however do they express their concern about the risk of me drowning.

Elephants kill around 50 people per year. When I tell people that I got married in Sri lanka and my wedding transport was an elephant I get the response of “wow” or “how cool” not omg, how dangerous - are you mad!

Over a million people each year are killed in road traffic collisions yet I do not know a single person who considers it too dangerous to travel in a vehicle.

My point is there is absolutely no logic to the fear people have of sharks this is simply something which has been instilled in people by the media.

Sharks are wild predators which need to be respected but that respect does not need to be in the form of fear to the point of hysteria.


2. My second angry rant – eating sharks. Whilst humans are quick to point to sharks as the angry “mankiller” there appears to me to be insufficient outrage in respect of how many sharks are killed by humans each year. It is estimated (MCS) that for every fatal shark attack, 10 million sharks are killed by humans.

Many shark species are classified as endangered and more are being added to the list on a constant stream. I cannot see why it would be acceptable to hunt any creature to the point of extinction.

Furthermore shark finning is a barbaric and outrageous practice which should simply not be condoned. On many occasions a shark is caught, the fin is removed while it is alive and then it is thrown back into the water to either starve to death, be eaten alive by other fish, or drown. Many people think of this happening in far away places but I live in Lincoln, England and there is a Chinese restaurant near me which serves shark fin soup!!! This enrages me. Going back to my earlier analogy about elephants, do you think it would be accepted if a local Indian restaurant decided to serve elephant meat? Do you think it would be accepted any more if it became known (for example) that the general practice was that the elephant had the leg chopped off for the meat while it was alive and was then left to starve to death? I doubt it very much. Would the practice of finning even be ignored if the fins came from cute dolphins….


Finally my thanks and Plea:

Thank you so much for reading my post, which I have no doubt you will realise I feel passionately about. Please think twice before spending your hard earned money in any establishment which condones the practice of shark finning and encourage your friends to do the same. Finally please do not pass on your irrational shark fear to your children so we can hope that the next generation can be far enough removed from Jaws to make the difference we haven’t.

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

I first read Time Traveler's Wife when it was revealed as one of Richard and Judy's book club in 2005 and after questioning the impossibility of time travel and getting my head around that I instantly fell in love with it and it became my favourite book (at that time). So when Audrey Niffenegger released Her Fearful Symmetry last year I could not wait to read it. My lovely friend L got the book fro Christmas and after reading it gave it straight to me to read. After reading the first 2 pages and deciding that the plotline had a degree of predictability to it (I could already see it coming) I put it down and despite picking it up on a number of occasions it took me until April to sit down on holiday and read it. I was not smitten by it at any point but did not want to give up on it given my love for her previous book so I persevered.

I felt that throughout that book that it was far fetched and predictable. Books do not have to be realistic (falling in love with 109 year old vampire who would like nothing more than to drain your blood is totally acceptable) don't get me wrong but I felt that there was no logic to the actions taken by some of the characters and it seemed clear to end in disaster. The love story side of the tale was very sad with no real saving grace of happiness or deep rooted feeling and at no point was I gripped to read more.

Sorry but it is a 3 out of 10 from me!

Book Reviews

I love reading (see earlier blog) and I am extremely opinionated ( I know you would never know!) so I thought as part of my blog I might review some of the books I read. So here goes for my first review (sorry to start on a negative note)...

Summer

Everybody has a favourite season of the year and mine is officially summer – why I hear you ask?

1. Flip flops – like most girls I LOVE shoes and I am sure my husband would say I have far too many (but clearly the truth is I do not have enough!). Of all the shoes however for daywear flip flops are my favourite and I love to wear them as soon as there is a slight hint of warmth in the air until I am forced by cold toes to put them away again.

2. Camping – if you need me to say more then please read this. There is no better feeling than sitting outside in the fresh air drinking a glass of wine and putting the world to rights. Then for hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows before bed and being woken up to the bright sunshine and sound of cows mooing. Bliss!

3. Barbeques – I love a good barbeque. A chance to get together with friends and sit outside. If combined with camping (see above) all the better!

4. Long days – I never have enough time to do the things I want to do. In summer when I get home from work it is still daylight for a good few hours and this makes the days seem so much longer with so much more time to do the fun things (like laying in the hammock in my garden reading a book).

Ah long live the warm weather….