An EARTHQUAKE I will never forget

Well, there I was only 2 hours ago, editing my blog as it happens when I get startled out of my wits by the house shaking violently. The walls were moving, the floor was trembling under my feet, the windows were rattling and everything on my desk that wasn't pinned down wobbled. The noise was as if a truck was driving right past the house in the middle of the night. It all only lasted for about 5-10 seconds but it was weird because I didn't know what caused it and there was no wind outside which at first I thought might have been the culprit. I was so confused and so was my boyfriend who was also with me at the time. We thought perhaps something was either wrong with the house (perhaps a bit of a panic thought but I thought the house was collapsing!) or there had been an incident nearby like a small gas explosion or something that we may have been feeling tremors from. We went round checking the house for damage or any clues and after establishing everything seemed fine we went outside. No one else was in the street but some lights were on and there were some distant car alarms. I decided to go back inside and put the news on and to my relief, Sky News confirmed that it wasn't just us that had felt the tremors and that the tremor measured 4.7 on the richter scale and had been felt across England. As soon as I saw that, I was excited by the fact that I had been awake at the time to experience the dramatic tremor. Now that I am calm I feel like I will remember the tremor forever because at the time, it was quite impressive!

p.s I'm adding this sentence in a day later, because reports now agree that the tremor measured 5.2 on the richter scale! Still nothing compared to countries that suffer damaging earthquakes though and I do feel sorry for them. To England it's exciting to have a tremor as it was not dangerous.

The ''I love morons'' watch

This particular feature of my blog is not intended to be cruel or bitchy (well not too much anyway,hehe)This is going to be an ongoing feature in my blog. Basically what the ''I love morons'' watch means is I will be updating my blog with facts about the STUPID beyond belief people I have had either the fortune/misfortune of working with in the past, depending on what way you look at it. To this day, all these silly souls have managed to evade winning a Darwin award and I'm still puzzled as to how they avoided this achievement. Most of the people watching for now will be things from the past, as currently I am unemployed as I need the time off to get some volunteer work done at primary schools so that I am prepared to do my teaching course. Seriously though, I just find morons hilarious!! They both wind me up and crack me up inside. Now don't get me wrong, a lot of people I work with are really lovely, but some are just plain thick, there is just no getting around it. So, I will start this first ''I love morons'' watch with genuine quotes from various people (of the moronic kind) that I have either overheard or had said to me. Of course though, I am not going to name and shame as that would be unfair so the quotes will be anonymous I'm afraid. Some of the quotes are by the same person though and if they were, you can identify them by their unique moron number if it repeats. Quotes are in green. Enjoy!


''Hee hee hee, I've got wind.'' moron 1, female. This person often said this one again, and again, and again....Glad I wasn't sat too close.

''This work is challenging'' Now this quote was again by moron 1, she said this about basic admin work that a monkey could do.

''I know for a fact that people only speak French in the Channel Islands'' moron 2, female

''Have you tried outside Staples?'' This quote doesn't make sense at first I know, but when you put it in context it does. This quote was said by moron 3, male. One of my favourite moron's it has to be said. He was someone similar to a manager. He was in fact talking about a car park outside Staples. The day he said this I was 15mins late for work in the morning because the city parking spaces often fill up way before 9am and this particular day, the lack of spaces was made worse by several car parks being closed off, not sure for what reason but they were closed. I had to spend a total of half an hour driving around looking for an available space that morning. Hence why I was late for work. The Staples car park was directly outside my at the time place of work. So no moron 3, I never thought in a million years of checking for spaces right outside work! Of course I did check, moron 3, because that is the first place I looked you moron.

''We must remain vigilant... ...fraudulent manor'' This genius, whom we shall call moron 4, wrote this in an email that she sent out to the team. This lady was of a manager type position and could not spell or write professionally to save her life. I believe what she in fact meant was 'fraudulent manner' and not a fake house. She also severely failed to remain vigilant.

''You need to be more vigilant'' Her favourite phrase. Oh the irony, need I say more. moron 4.

Starbucks Devil

I admit that I am totally addicted to Starbucks. I know that it is a global chain company that wipes out all the smaller cafes and I know how ridiculously expensive the drinks are (believe me I know I spend a small fortune on the drinks there!) but I just seem to have no will power. One of my friends tuts and disapproves every time I go in to Starbucks because she hates them for taking over smaller businesses and being everywhere you go, which I understand. I mostly blame the whipped cream...yummy! I shouldn't even be eating any fatty things because I have familial hypercholesterolaemia which is a fancy name for hereditary-caused high cholesterol. I am supposed to be extra careful with what I eat because I have very high cholesterol for my age, but I just enjoy my food too much. My Mum has the condition too and she deals with it perfectly, she has so much will power! I'm trying to be good though. However, Starbucks is my one major downfall as I just can't get enough of their Iced Cafe Mocha (with whip of course) and I have 1-2 a week. It used to be 4-5 times a week so I've managed to cut down a little. Ha! The Java chip chocolate frappucino is delicious too. The only good thing about drinking Starbucks is that it replaces chocolate. I love chocolate and didn't think there was anything I could like more, but Iced Cafe Mocha's are scrumptious, so I've been eating less chocolate. I need a restraining order put on me though as it is simply disgraceful of me to be so addicted to Starbucks. Help!

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

Three of my favourite books that I have ever read are the His Dark Materials trilogy by the genius that is Philip Pullman. I am proud of the fact that I became a fan of his before his books were recognised for the talent they represent, because my Mum used to work as a librarian and would get to review books for a magazine. Therefore, they would send a large bundle of various new books for her to read and review and then her articles were published. Buried amongst one such bundle was Northern Lights. I have always been into fantasy adventure books and she insisted that I read Northern Lights which she had told me was fantastic. So I opened the first page and began to read...I literally could not put the book down and was glued to it ALL day and night until I had finished. Ever since, I have been a huge fan of Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy. I wrote Pullman a letter (I seem to remember I wrote it in big green felt-tip pen words, as I was only a little nipper when I wrote it!)He kindly wrote back in person and I have treasured that letter. I had asked him what other books he could recommend that were similar to his and he replied something along the lines of he didn't actually read fantasy books himself which surprised me! I went to see a theatre performance of His Dark Materials at The National Theatre years later in London and that was a real masterpiece I thought. Wonderful puppetry techniques were enlisted to portray the animals and the actors were thoroughly convincing. In my third year at university I even managed to persuade my tutor to let me write my dissertation on His Dark Materials because there was so much that I wanted to say about it, even though my degree didn't strictly relate as it was in Illustration. I received a First for my dissertation which I think was mainly to do with the fact that I find it much easier to write about things that I am passionate about. Attached below is a small extract from my dissertation:



The portrayal of the Church in His Dark Materials is quite a challenging one. Examining this should be helpful to the task of understanding any messages that the trilogy may have been attempting to put forward about contemporary culture.

For the people of Lyra's world, government is very different than our own. Religion is all powerful and is represented by the Magisterium: a collection of religious colleges, councils and bodies that regulate the actions of people and deal with heretics, keeping a close eye on the scientists of Lyra's world, to make sure they do not do anything the Church would not be comfortable with.

The Church of Lyra's world is recognizably based on the Christianity of the real world; the use of the story of Adam and Eve is one example. It becomes clear that Pullman’s text portrays a disapproving opinion of certain aspects of religion. At its most controversial, Pullman directly attacks the church of Lyra’s world, which is also deliberately impinging on some of the worst characteristics of real Christianity. One example is the condemning words of one of the witches;

“It’s tried to suppress and control every natural impulse. And when it can’t control them it cuts them out. That is what the Church does and every Church is the same, control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling.”

Neither such explicit reference to a religious institution nor such negative and absolute judgment has been seen before in children’s fantasy literature. If this rather accusing statement was not protected by quotation marks, it seems likely that the text could be interpreted as extreme propaganda by some people. The direct insults are given through the speech of characters, rather than the narrator, but the cumulative effect, from the mouths of the more morally sound characters, like the witches and the scientific researcher, Dr. Malone, is determinative in shaping the ideology of the text.

Another such example of clear disapproval of the Church comes from the quote;

“The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake. That’s all.”

The blatant objections to the unpleasant facets of the Church in Pullman’s writing imply a relation to Christianity today. This quote demonstrates Pullman’s intention to highlight how it is possible that people throughout history, right up to the present day, have been, and are being, continuingly hoodwinked by what he sees as a falsity. By calling it powerful, he is probably indicating that religion has the power to do great harm, because he sees it as misguiding many people, so that they are left following the path of something similar to a lie. He is surely attempting to make the reader think about the potential corruption there is to be seen in religion. This can be seen as a good point about the trilogy. Whether religious or not, perhaps we should all, as a society, be open to all viewpoints and we should not turn a blind eye to something just because it is in opposition of what we believe. When we have a strong belief in something, then by studying possible flaws in what we believe in, even though we still may not be swayed by hearing other viewpoints, at least we will have acknowledged their existence and have given consideration to other views. Open-mindedness is surely a good thing.

Other historical interests

I mentioned previously that I find the Egyptians extraordinary. There are other time periods and perhaps in particular, architecture and fashion styles that captivate my imagination and I feel that they are also worth presenting very briefly. Firstly, I admire the oriental styles of Japan and China. I find it difficult to describe exactly what it is I like about the style but I suppose in short, it is the fashion they have had over the ages. Take for example, the intricate and delicate floral patterns and scenic illustrations incorporated into the clothes and the elegant eye make-up. It is not solely the fashion that I respect, as even through their landscape and architectural design such as in water gardens and pagodas comes a unique and stunning style. Moving on, in no logical order, but in a random stream of thoughts.....Indian fashion. There is just something beautiful about saris and to be honest, some of the time I find myself desperately wanting to wear such colourful, decorative garments. There is nothing really to stop me doing so and although I should not be affected by what people might say, I do not know if I would be met with disapproval or strange looks. Saris are not really adopted into Western fashion which to me is a shame. I also like women's fashion in Britain down the centuries. Some of the layered dresses and feminine tailoring were wonderful and again, perhaps it is odd but I really would like to try wearing one or two of those dresses. The fashion styles are partly why I like period costume dramas like Pride & Prejudice so much and why I like old houses that are now often owned by The National Trust. Whenever I visit a listed building I always try and imagine what life would have been like in those days and what people would have been wearing. Sometimes I even imagine, just for a second, that it is my own grand mansion that I am walking through. I wish! Sweeping right back through time again we come to a medieval world and my interest for castles, knights, variations in timber beamed buildings (perhaps the reason I like Stratford-Upon-Avon so much) and even Robin Hood. Here I would like to say A Knights Tale is one of my favourite medieval films and rest in peace Heath. Then there are also the perfectly crafted calligraphy and illustrations often made by the dedicated monks of the time. As I have started to write down the similar things I appreciate in our world, I find an even longer list begin to form in my mind and when I think about it, my blog could in theory be taken over by them alone! So for now, I had better stop before I get carried away.

All things Egyptian

I am quite fascinated by all things Egyptian: from the pyramids, statues and other artifacts to curses, pharaohs and multiple Gods. To me, it seems that the Egyptians led an almost magical life in that they believed in various deities such as Ra, the God of the Sun (see left image). Egyptians thought that he sailed across the sky each day in a boat, while carrying the sun on his head. He would then pass through the underworld in the night to reappear the next day. There seemed to be a God to serve every purpose; some Gods and Goddesses took part in creation, some controlled floods, some watched over people and protected them while others cared for people in the afterlife. There were even local Gods that connected themselves to towns or minor Gods that represented plants or animals. Like most religions, the Egyptians worshipped their Gods and thought that to keep the Gods content meant that their own lives could continue without threat. When people think of Egypt I expect that pyramids often come to mind first. I personally find it incredible that a civilization that lived nearly two thousand years ago could build such magnificent and colossal structures. Then again, their history did span over a period of an astounding three thousand years, so I guess they had a lot of time to develop their building processes! There just seems to be no architecture existing today that is as imaginative and frankly AWESOME as the pyramids were and still are. One last thing I will add about the Egyptians is their style of jewellery and use of colour in their art and their art in general such as wall paintings and hieroglyphics. Quite simply, I love all of it. I bring a touch of the egyptian style into my life to reflect my interest in the Egyptians but also because I love their use of colour and in particular blue and gold. I can often be seen wearing a small, egyptian Ankh necklace that my sister and her husband bought for me. I also have an egyptian cat necklace (see below) and a cat statue (see above right) given to me by my boyfriend's parents. I wear quite a lot of dangly gold and blue earrings and some of the clothes in my wardrobe are blue and brown (gold clothes might look a little garish in this day and age). On occasion, I even put my warpaint on in a typical egyptian eyeliner way. I define my eyes with black liquid eyeliner and then flick the outer ends of the lines upwards or in an extended straight line. So there you have it...a small insight into my appreciation of the egyptians.

Introducing something black and furry

Meet my dog Sky. NOTHING is more important to me than Sky, she is my number one person in my life and so naturally, I find myself mentioning her first above anything else. Sky lives in France now because my parents had a crazy idea that England is grey and rainy and thought it might be more relaxing and sunny in France. As it turns out, of course, they were right and it is probably one of the best ideas they have had. I would be lying if I said I didn't miss having parents around but I know that they are happy so that makes it all worth it. You might have guessed already that obviously I miss no one more than Sky. In that way I may never forgive them for moving because now I miss giving Sky tummy rubs, watching her steal food from the kitchen, listening to her dreaming and snoring, stroking her velvet ears and watching her naughty but adorable personality. Oh and one more thing that I miss.....living rent free at the parents house!