Me again!

Hello Readers, most of whom probably stumble upon my blog by accident! I've been talking about starting up my blog again for a while now and as my friend Jess has recently updated hers I thought it time I bit the bullet. As many of my friends will know I do actually write all the time, however much of it I deem unblogworthy and so it never leaves the pages of my notebook. Yep, I still do writing with a pen and paper! 

Anyway, since my last post I have started a 'be a grown-up' initiative which has seen me get a new job and move away from home. All very exciting! But that's enough about me. The main reason I came on here is that it's Father's Day next weekend and I've suddenly come over all sentimental and wanted to write about my dad. Aww/puke. Fortunately, he doesn't know I've got a blog so probably won't ever see this.

So, here we go...

Yesterday, I finally got round to going to the Museum of London for the penultimate day of the Dickens and London exhibition with one of my sisters. Our love of Dickens unquestionably stems from our dad who even on my lastest visit home got me to read an extract from his tattered copy of 'Sketches by Boz' for no apparent reason.

Just to prove I went.

Growing up I often heard my mum say 'you're just like your father', mostly after having said something sarcastic and to be honest at the time this really annoyed me. But now I'm able to see the truth in it and am actually quite proud of it, as my dad is one of the only men, if not the only man, I've ever really been able to rely on and look up to. (At the age of 23 I don't think this is really something I should be too worried about, however, if I am still saying this in twenty years time I think it might be cause for concern!) Of course, he has faults (again, many of which I might have inherited) but overall he really is the most decent of men: caring, funny, generous and intelligent.

Me and my parents at Graduation.

As children we tend to think our parents know everything and although over time we find out this isn't strictly true, there isn't much my dad doesn't know. Because of him I know lots of useless facts which have come in handy in pub quizzes from time to time. I think our parents shape the people we become and I know that for better or for worse my dad has hugely influenced the person I am today. Because now, as a semi-grown up, I see in myself snippets of him and (maybe let's not tell him this) it's not too bad! 

Right, that's probably enough sentimentality for a while. Hopefully, it won't be another 6 months before I next write. 

Magic and Macaroons

On the phone to my friend last night I was told to update my blog. So Janine, this is for you.

I blame the latest lapse in posts to the fact that after spending an entire day staring at a computer screen I don't tend to want to do the same when I get home. Lately I can go 2-3 days without turning my laptop on, which is actually quite refreshing! Today though, I had the day off work, which was pretty exciting. The only thing about having a day off in the week is that everyone else still has to go to work, so I needed to find things to occupy myself. I decided that I would spend the first part of the day watching a bit of daytime tv whilst I thought about what to do with the rest of my day. Naturally, as it was the morning, I watched This Morning. On the programme today was a woman you could deem as ‘morbidly obese’ telling Eamonn and Ruth how she spends her evenings sitting on her bed eating cakes whilst on webcam. Not only that, but men can watch her doing this as the way she eats cakes is so ‘sexy’ that some men see it as a kind of porn... All very strange and just the kind of thing I watch This Morning for.

After all the excitement of This Morning I decided I would do some baking. Only after I had watched Neighbours, of course. I was distraught upon watching Neighbours to discover that Susan and Karl have split up, again. I’m hoping they’ll be back together by the next time I watch it because if Susan and Karl can’t make it then what hope is there for the rest of us?!

Anyway, I ended up baking some macaroons whilst listening to Magic. (Will anyone ever find out who the third Magic's Mystery Voice belongs to?!) As the photos show my macaroons aren't quite as pretty and delicate as the ones that can be found pretty much any where else, (even France) but I'm pretty proud of my first attempt. Though I don't think I'll be signing up for The Great British Bake Off any time soon...

I wonder if the This Morning cake eating woman also enjoys macaroons...

I was also baking until 11.30 last night trying to make a 'congratulations' cake for my sister. However, it went a bit wrong and all I ended up with was an apricot sponge and icing all over my arms. I’m beginning to think that when I have a house of my own I will be one of those people who always has something baking on the off-chance that someone will pop in. By 'one of those people' I mean a grandma. 

Icing sugar on my skirt, just to prove I made them myself. 

I'll post again soon and hopefully about something a little less bake-y and a little more interesting! 

Autumn

Autumn is one of my favourite seasons (second only to Spring). It might be the season of perpetual drizzle, grey mornings and the 'do I need to wear a coat?' dilemma, but it is also the season of knitted jumper wearing, good television programmes and the excuse to stay in and watch said programmes! 

Without wanting to sound like Pollyanna, here are some of the things that are currently bringing a smile to my face this Autumn:

• Having a newly qualified hairdresser sister – hello, free haircuts for life;
• Finally seeing a genuine famous person on the tube – it doesn’t matter if he’s now in Holby City, he was once in Harry Potter, Lost in Austen AND Spooks!;
• Long phone calls with faraway friends;
• Photographing everything, you can never have enough photos of Tower Bridge;
• Writing - I’m not very good at sleeping so instead I write, doesn't really solve the being tired problem though...;
• Typewriters;
• Being greeted most mornings with ‘hello baby’ from a drunken old Irish man in Stockwell;
• ‘One Day’, ‘Jane Eyre’, ‘The Help’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ all being turned into films;
• Making grand travelling plans that will most likely never happen;
•           Detecting - I like to think of myself as filling the void between Nancy Drew and Miss Marple. I am yet to unearth any major crimes but just give it time...;
• The ‘Instagram’ app - good for making photos look pretty and cheaper than buying film for Polaroid cameras;
• And, this poem by Kitkat Pecson:  "I think of you in the in-between spaces. In the pause before the next heartbeat. In the clench of my chest before I exhale. In the swell of courage before I say hello. And perhaps one day, our lives will occupy one space. Touched shoulders. Clasped hands. Shared secrets."

'Instagram' magic.

Trains and Tribulations

Yet another lapse in posts. No excuse other than that I've not had much to write about. Even this is scraping the barrel. 

I've recently started an internship in London, which involves around 3 hours of commuting a day. This is probably a lot less than many people but having spent my 3 years in Reading having to walk for no more than 15 minutes to get to lectures it has come as quite a shock to the system! I seem to spend much of these three hours thinking about how tired I am, reading the Metro, avoiding awkward eye-contact with other passengers, watching as they scramble for seats and marvelling at how much of a rush they all seem to be in. These suited and booted, briefcase wielding fellow commuters walk faster than I can run, and yet it seems so effortless. I have yet to master this art, with my morning power walk to the station tending to leave me looking far less cool and with a massive stitch. It's my aim, in time, to get from the train to the tube in 4 minutes flat, with not a hair out of place and still possessing the ability to breathe.

One of the sights to be seen on public transport.

The downsides of using public transport are well documented but it is excellent for people watching, a luxury you don't get if you're driving. So far in the past week I've seen various lookalikes, including Matthew Kelly, my dissertation supervisor and Don Gilet. Another of my favourite activities is guessing people's professions: today I saw a Youth Worker (grown man wearing a back to front baseball cap) and Mancini's right-hand man (a fairly large man wearing a MCFC jacket). Both of which I feel are almost certainly correct. I'm hoping one day I see an actual celebrity or at least something interesting but in the meantime I'll stick to entertaining myself with these pointless activities. Or, maybe I'll actually remember my book in future!

Probably recommended by Richard and/or Judy.

London's Burning

Warning: the following post is my attempt at being an actual journalist. Feel free to stop reading now!

In Croydon, the mayhem of Monday night has been replaced by a strange silence. People are gathering by police cordons looking on at the rubble that were once buildings. The normally bustling streets are now empty of cars and shoppers, instead occupied by police and road sweepers, debris still littering the pavements. At Reeves Corner, the scene of the fire whose image has become synonymous with the riots, forensic officers are hard at work and behind the cordons cameras from the country’s media stand in a line.

Smoke could be seen from our road. 

The source of all the smoke.

On the tram home from my little excursion one passenger regaled the rest of the carriage with stories of looting, including how she saw a boy run down the street with a flat screen TV under each arm, bump into a lamppost and fall over, smashing the TVs. Karma?! But this sharing of stories shows that most people here, decent people, cannot understand the mindless criminality that took place in our town on Monday night. Obviously Croydon has a reputation for being a bit stabby and both my dad and I remarked earlier that day that it wouldn’t be long before Croydon got in on the act. However, I don't think anyone could have predicted that it would be to such a great extent. All a bit scary, really! Anyway, the clean up of Croydon has now begun, but it'll take a long time for the damage to be repaired. I'm hoping that the repairs miraculously turn the town into a place of beauty. Doubtful. So, instead I'll be trying to persuade my parents to move, preferably to Dorset where they can set up a little tea room - an idea inspired by a recent visit to the area with friends. 

The landlord of this pub was on Sky News and now has an appreciation society on Facebook. I think he's the man in blue.

In other news, today, when not pretending to be a journalist, I made a cheesecake! The recipe told me to put 900g of cream cheese in it, but that much cheese scared me so I made up my own recipe. Fortunately, it turned out nicely (surprisingly) and went down well at the weekly Buckley family dinner!

Slice of cheesecake - in case it wasn't already clear...

Hopefully my next post won't be quite as riot-y!

Careers, Crafts and Cakes!

This week I had my first interview for a proper grown-up job. Unfortunately the interview was different from what I had expected, lasting an hour and consisting of psychoanalysis tests and a numerical and verbal reasoning test. Seeing as I often do word games for fun it shouldn’t have been too difficult, however, it was. I think it’s probably safe to say that the job hunt continues. So, to save myself from spiralling out of control and into a pit of drinking, gambling and unsuitable men, which is apparently what happens to the unemployed (see Jeremy Kyle), I have been keeping myself busy with baking and making stuff in the hope that I stumble across something that I’m actually good at and can make a career out of. I've not yet found what that thing is but I'm confident it's only a matter of time...

Wall hangings: easily mistaken for the works of a 10 year old.

Luckily July is quite a big one for family birthdays so the cakes I've been making haven't been a complete waste. They have also prompted my sister to ask me to make her wedding cake. It's quite a compliment but I'm thinking that as it gets closer to the time she'll change her mind.

 An attempt at some manly looking blue cakes.

Anyway, fingers crossed I find a job soon because at this rate it won't be long till I'm obese.

Graduation

Since my last post I have moved home, decorated my room, embraced the daytime t.v watching lifestyle of an unemployed person and, most recently, graduated! If I’m honest graduation wasn’t really something I’d ever thought about until recently, which was maybe a bit stupid seeing as it was the whole point of going to University. Anyway, I can honestly say that Wednesday was one of the top 10 days of my life so far, at least. In the run up to the day I decided that in order to avoid nerves I’d treat it as though I was going to somebody’s wedding, which worked surprisingly well. All in all it was a lovely day and it was really nice to see friends again and to have all my family together, as I realised that the only time the 6 of us go out together nowadays tends to be for weddings and funerals...

Definitely adding Painter/Decorator Extraordinaire to my CV.

Even though the day marked the end of my formal education, I realised that the day was an education in itself. 

Things I learnt from Graduation Day:

• Throwing a mortarboard in the air is more fun than you’d imagine;
• My sisters are massive stalkers shown by their impressive knowledge of who everyone was without ever having met them;
• My sisters are shorter than they look in photos (according to one Mr Low);
• It is possible to get through a day without falling over or hurting myself in some way (I recently had a spate of kitchen related injuries, including potato peeler-ing my nail...);
• Not everyone appreciates being serenaded with ‘Lady in Red’;
• Along with ‘proud-parents’ there is such a thing as a ‘proud-friend’, i.e: me watching my friends go up and shake hands with the important looking man;
• Always take a younger sibling around to act as your own personal photographer - who needs Mario Testino?!
• Some of my lecturers still have no idea who I am;
• Smiling all day results in an achy jaw;
• With about 10 cameras taking photos at once it’s hard to decide where to look and somehow I never manage to look at the right one;
•  I’m never going to become a Doctor or Professor, purely because the outfit is ridiculous;
• There’s something about a middle-aged man wandering around in the rain that reminds me of Heathcliff wandering the moors;
• Applying for a job in Rochester based purely on the hope of meeting a Mr Rochester figure (minus the disfigurement) is not the best idea;
• Everything is much more exciting when you look like you’ve just stepped out of Hogwarts;
• And, It’s o.k to like Jim from The Apprentice again!

Out in force for Graduation.