Category: life

life, paris

Paris is burning

ramblingmads

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Tonight terrible things have happened in Paris, a city I love, the land of my ancestors.

Gunmen opened fire across the city including the Bataclan nightclub where people were attending a gig. This is the latest act of mass violence in the last few years in France.

I can’t tell you why this happened or how to stop it. But we have to love furiously, we have to stand together and say no more. Because if we don’t evil does, evil that sits in the hearts and minds and pushes people apart.

So hold your loved ones tight and hold on to the community around you, stand up and say ‘no more’.

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blogging, life, upcoming

All quiet on the blog front

ramblingmads

Sorry it’s been a bit sparse in terms of posts recently, I’m busy trying to find a new job and have been at a host of interviews, with more to come this week. Fingers crossed I get something soon so I can do my Christmas shopping and get back to blogging more regularly.

There are a few posts to come over the next week or so, keep an eye out.

If you want to see what I’m up to in between posts, Instagram is my current favourite social media hangout.

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baking, life, tv

Great British Bake Off

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Can we just talk a minute about how fabulous Nadiya from GBBO is?

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From her incredible bakes (soda pop cake) to her wonderfully expressive face, Nadiya is just marvellous. And she won. The only woman in the final, where she made a wedding cake (her own in fact, as she didn’t have one on the big day), she was funny (chocolate souffles are worse than childbirth) and sweet (that star baker phone call home to her hubby).

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Nadiya, giving good 'brow

She is also a British Muslim woman wearing a hijab, before the watershed, not playing the wife of a terrorist (note to writers, this trope is tired and boring, come up with new material), nor was she silent or unable to speak English (in fact she’s probably bilingual).

The media are of course on the hunt for terrible things to say about her, her husband, family and why she won. This is just, quite frankly, disgusting behaviour. Nadiya seems like a sweet person, who loves her husband and her kids, practices her faith publicly, and is also funny, an excellent baker and made Mary Berry cry (and almost me too).

We should be celebrating her success, why shouldn’t she win? In the multiethnic, multifaith society we live in, I’m proud that Nadiya won, she’s got every right, she is British after all and that’s what the show’s called The Great BRITISH Bake Off, not The Great White Men Only Bake Off (they were well represented throughout as in life).

As ridiculous as it might sound – it does show, in a somewhat silly way (through the medium of cake) what Britain is – a place where anyone can achieve, regardless of what the media says, despite the things that could set us apart from one another.

So, well done Nadiya, oh and can I have the recipe for your lemon cake please.

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adventures, challenges, charity, exercise, life

Walk4 round up

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My feet are throbbing and I am knackered so here’s a photo round up of the walk4 Refuge. Apologies for the less than stellar photos, the sun was in my eyes and my phone was struggling.

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A quick pep talk at the beginning in sunny Wapping
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St Katherine's Marina
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Ancient and Modern London
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Giant pink balloons on the North Bank
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A church tower
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Bridge over fairly calm waters
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A glimpse of St Paul's
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Old Man Thames
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Shakespeare's Globe
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A river view
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Art boat
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Bridges
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National Theatre, South Bank
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MI6 building
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Wahaca, South Bank, yum
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South Bank Undercroft Skate Park
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Street music
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London Eye
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Houses of Parliament
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A dragon guarding The City of London
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HMS Belfast
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Coming back to the Tower
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Tower Bridge
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Last bridge of the day
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The modern city viewed from the ancient
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Gherkin meets Tower
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Medal time

The day was really good, approximately 300 people, men, women, children, dogs, took part. Every £60 raised is a night in a safe place. An incredibly vital cause, rounded off with lemonade, goodie bags and winning in the champagne raffle.

There were lots of other charity walks taking place as well, for Cancer Research, Diabetes, MS, and a very cool dapper gentleman’s vintage motorbike ride for breast cancer – they looked amazing.

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Shame all the roadworks got in the way, but I’m sure you’ll find better photos out there.

Great to see so many people raising funds for the causes they care about.

You still have time to sponsor me, while I recover from my blisters and aches.

ramblingmads

family, life

A little love story…

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My grandparents celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary recently and on Sunday the entire family went out to lunch with them. It was postponed from the beginning of the month as my poor Grandad had shingles, but he’s all better now.

We gathered at the rather posh Oatlands Park Hotel in Surrey, not far from my mum’s hometown. Amusingly the ‘children’ now outnumbered the ‘adults’ at the table as both of my cousins and I brought our partners along.

Their story is sweet but also rather sad.

My Nan had a fairly tragic childhood and although it had a happy ending, her life was full of loss. She married her childhood sweetheart, Bill, at 18 and had two daughters (my mum and auntie). Bill died at 30 from Non-Hodgkins’ Lymphoma, leaving her a widow with two small children to support.

Meanwhile in Yorkshire, a young man lost his wife to cancer and decided to head out to ‘The Smoke’ to find work and start over.

My Nan was mainly raised by The Aunts, and it was Auntie Doll (a pretty kickass woman in her own right) who introduced her niece to the young man whose accent was so strong, she thought he was Scottish!

It was love at first sight, and then he met her little daughters and a family was formed. My mum and auntie were bridesmaids and got a new dad.

They are still very much in love and Grandad is one of my favourite people on the planet. He has taken such good care of my little Nanny. She hasn’t been very well in the last few years and he has done everything he can to keep her well.

Here’s to many more family get togethers and love.

ramblingmads

life

Things I’ve learnt since I was 18

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Updating my CV this week as I start job hunting in earnest I looked at the list of exams I took as a teenager and thought about how much has changed since then.

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Why do the things I learnt at school, learnt to pass a standardized test that tells you nothing about me now, matter so much to employers. I have 12 GCSEs, 3 A Levels, a Bachelor’s Degree and a Masters. But employers always seem to ask about those things 16 year old me did, not the 29 year old me now.

Teenagers are by nature idiots. They can’t help it, the risk assessing part of your brain doesn’t develop till your 20s, so you do unbelievably stupid things. I know I did. Then you grow up.

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The things we knew at 16 or 18, the exams we passed (or didn’t) have such a major impact on our futures, but should we really be relying on teenagers to make those decisions. I picked an A Level subject I ended up hating, and dropped one I was passionate about, because it looked better, now I know I should have followed my passion.

Who on earth decided 18 year olds are the best people to decide their futures? I almost failed my A Levels, teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown as I was (boy, was that a fun way to spend my summer), but the things I’ve learnt since then, surely they should matter more.

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Me at 18, i don't recognise this girl anymore

I don’t mean just academically, I have learnt how to be a person, hold responsibility, the difference between Direct Debits and standing orders (go me!) as well as plenty of other things.

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As my twenties come to an end, and more of my friends get married, have kids, buy houses, have we cracked adulthood? Doesn’t that matter more than who we were at 18?

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films, life, movie night

The Princess Bride aka the best film ever

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I love films, the whole popcorn, blanket, curling up on the sofa routine of movie night. But by far, The Princess Bride, adapted by William Goldman from his own novel, directed by Rob Reiner, starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Andre the Giant, Peter Falk, and so many other big names (including Billy Crystal – only identifiable by his voice).

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It was made in the ’80s (all the best things were – like me!) but retains its unique charm and humour.

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Hadley Freeman wrote about how brilliant this film is in her book celebrating 80s movies, Life Moves Pretty Fast (well worth a read), and Cary Elwes (who played the hero Westley) wrote a wonderful memoir, As You Wish, about making it (I got it last Christmas).

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It is eminently quotable – my favourites include “inconceivable”, “don’t bother me with trifles”, “I’m not a witch, I’m your wife” and the wonderful speech Inigo Montoya  rehearses for the moment he meets his nemesis, the six-fingered man.

Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.

It has every thing, love, death, revenge, heroes, villains, sword fights, a princess, pirates, and a real-life giant, former wrestler, Andre the Giant.

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So, put the popcorn on, add marshmallows to your hot chocolate, pile the blankets on the sofa and watch this film – it has something for the whole family, even if you don’t like stories with kissing.

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books, life

Go Set a a Watchman

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Now, unless you live in a cave, you will have seen that sequel to the marvellous To Kill a Mockingbird has just been published. Originally written before TKAM, Go Set a Watchman sees Scout as an adult returning to her home town and her heroic father Atticus Finch.

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Harper Lee apparently didn’t want this story published but is now elderly and frail and no one seems to be able to definitively state whether she’s agreed to it now. Her sister used to be her lawyer and handle all the press and publishers, but a new lawyer has recently been appointed and is causing quite a stir in the book world.

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Every child at some point reads Lee’s only previously published novel, and I’m sure I can’t be the only one to have caught the film, featuring Gregory Peck’s defining performance as Atticus, on a wet Saturday afternoon. It has had a huge impact, and is beloved all over the world.

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Between the spoilers, leaked pages, rumours, gossip and hype, it’s hard to know whether or not to read it. I’ve ordered a copy but am still apprehensive. If the author refused to publish for so long, should we be reading it? If the rumours about Atticus are true, will that noble man in Mockingbird be destroyed?

It’s a conundrum and one I fear will have no easy resolution. Some of my friends have already read it, and the feedback has been mixed. My friend Jack said I really should read it, even if only for academic purposes. But part of me, the part that loves TKAM and doesn’t want to spoil it, is really resistant.

Have any of you read it? What did you think?

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life

Birthday Wishes

ramblingmads

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Today is my birthday. I’m 29. I’m not where I thought I would be when I got to this point, but as my mum likes to remind me

make God laugh, tell Him your

plans.

Now I’m just trying to stay well, to look after my fragile mental health, find a job that doesn’t make me cry and work towards paying off all my debts (financial and otherwise).

Today I’m going out for Sunday lunch with my parents, sister and partner. I decided to have a quiet birthday, no crazy up late party, no huge blowout.

Happy Birthday to me. My wish is…

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