Four Quick Fire-Firsts and my Movember Mo...

This week I have mostly been contemplating the fact that this Friday would be Nathan’s 21st birthday. I know I have a lot to say, but I’m not sure that I feel like writing it at this very minute.

I also know I have a tendency to waffle when it comes to writing (who am I kidding, and speaking too). And we have something of a first backlog on our hands here. So, I give you four firsts, each described in less than 50 words…

Give away a book with an inspirational quote written inside

Ali Smith's Boy Meets Girl on its way to Norwich

Left a book that uses Blind Date’s Cilla Black as a metaphor for interchangeability of gender roles on a train to Norwich. The quote came from Dr Suess. No idea whether anybody picked it up, but I like to believe it’s making someone happy!


Spend a day somewhere new in the UK 

The (blurry) pier of Brighton lit up at night

Took Glenn to Brighton for his birthday (completely selfless act). Loved the independent shops in the Lanes, loved the free deckchair use on the pier, loved the pebbled beach and the bars’ laid-back atmosphere. Did not love the pressure to buy an engagement ring or the price of cockles.


Try a new sport 

Perhaps looking the other way would
have helped with my technique....

Went to a driving range (the waffle potential here about whether this counts as a sport is endless - good job I am limited). Provided quite a few comic moments for my fellow golfers but was surprisingly good by the end (i.e. the ball actually left the floor). Top Golf fun is highly recommended…. 

My high score of.... 42!

Eat sushi off of a conveyor belt

Overpriced novelty, but I still love sushi. That is all you need to know.

If you’re looking for any other details, you will just have to ask!



Now, onto a first in the making…

I thought November would be a good time to start learning how to knit and to complete my first of knitting something; Christmas gifts are usually cheaper homemade. So I downloaded a few books for knitting for dummies onto my Kindle, including one called Manly Knits. Inside, I found this little gem of a knitting pattern…

Now, November is also a good time to grow a moustache and take part in a campaign to raise awareness of issues that affect men. While I would struggle to take part in Movember in the traditional way (do not even jokingly suggest otherwise, please), I thought I would hijack the Movember campaign as part of my efforts to raise awareness of another issue that affects thousands of men (and their families and friends) every single month.

So far, I have just about learnt to cast on, knit, purl and bind off. I will keep you all updated on my Movember Mo as it starts coming along… 

A few firsts I snuck in while your backs were all turned...

I was going to start this post with the phrase "I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last updated my blog." But, actually, I can. When I read back on diaries I tried to keep in the past almost every other entry starts with "I can't believe it's so long since I last wrote in here...". So, in an unofficial first, this time I will believe. But not writing does not mean I have not been completing my firsts. In the next few days, I will update you on all the things I've been too busy getting on with to actually write about...

Start a Career

Ok, so the prep work has been going on for years now (along with a bit of reckless travelling and occasional binge drinking) but within the last month I have finally landed myself a job that I believe I want to continue working within for the rest of my working career. Maybe not this exact job forever, but within this line of work, with this kind of company.

The only result when you search 'Career Woman'
on Wiki Commons...  a charicature by Honoré Daumier... nice.

And I kind of landed into it by accident (well, let’s say by making my own luck.) 

Cook dinner for my family for one whole week

As you may have noticed, the Hat has been made somewhat redundant for the past few weeks, as opportunities for firsts keep creeping up on me.

Getting ready to move for a new job has meant a couple of other ideas that were already in the Hat have become necessary (or at least much easier) to complete before their time of being picked out.

For example, I don’t think my family would have appreciated me cooking for them quite so much if they had to wait for me to drive the 60-odd miles to Ipswich every night after work before I even turned on the oven. Obviously, I would have had no problem at all with this, but, you know, I’m just selfless, always thinking of others, and we can’t all be like that.

So last week I dusted off my cook books and decided it was time I earned my keep. 

Hard at work

10 things I learnt from this year's major sporting event.

Just in case you missed it, London hosted some sporting event this summer that was apparently a pretty big deal. Thank you, Government, taxpayers and private sector investors for spending billions to give me the opportunity to complete a first of attending a major sporting event. 

Something to do with this?

Those who know me are unlikely to describe me as sporty. And, as for watching it, I rarely see the point. I get bored before the half time whistle blows on any football match (why can’t they just decide the whole thing on penalties and do away with the other 90-odd minutes?).

But I really got into the Olympic and Paralympic games. And it didn’t even take much effort (on my part. Probably not so true of the athletes). So I was very glad that boyfriend Glenn talked me into buying tickets for the last evening of events of London 2012.

So, in an attempt to be succinct, and not to gush and waffle on about how brilliant it all was, here is my list of 10 things I have personally learnt from London 2012.

1. I can feel patriotic at times. Despite all my past ramblings on how patriotism is based on a completely arbitrary factor of the country you are born in, sometimes I do feel proud to live in this country. And it was not just seeing the success of the athletes that made me feel a twinge. But the Best of British soundtrack to the opening ceremony almost bought a tear to my eye. (See around 1hr 4mins and 30 secs for the start of the medley) 

2. The Paralympics classification system is not as complicated as it first seems. Especially when you have a mum who can explain it all to you. 

3. I really want to get fit. Watching the athletes achieve amazing feats with their super fit bodies was truly inspirational (and not quite as pervy on my part as that makes it sound). I am more envious of Jennifer Ennis’ washboard stomach than of any ridiculous fashion advert model such as this one from Kookai. (However, possessing the desire to get fit and actually making an effort to do it are two very different states of mind. I don’t think my lunchtime Zumba session is quite enough to turn me into an Olympic standard athlete.) 

4. I am terrible at doing ‘The Bolt’ (thought I would put this up here before you did, Glenn). 

There was a second attempt, but, to be honest, it wasn't much better!
 

5. Events on a national scale encourage a sense of camaraderie and get people in London to actually talk to each other. Even on the tube. The one resounding memory I will take from going to watch the Paralympic was the general atmosphere and sense of cheeriness. A few weeks after the games and this kind of talk already seems twee and ridiculous. But, for a few brief weeks Brits dropped their natural cynicism and it was actually like that. 

6. Boris dances in exactly the way you would imagine him to. 

7. Some moments can be draw droppingly amazing to watch, such as this, and this. 

8. That most national anthems sound pretty much the same. But it’s a shame Italy didn’t win more gold medals because theirs is much more jaunty. 

9. Ministers who attend national sporting events give the general population a unique opportunity to tell them exactly how they feel about their policies. 

10. I can get wrapped up in and enjoy sporting events. Obviously, when you’re sitting in a stadium with 80,000 other people who are all cheering along the athletes just a few hundred metres in front of you it is easy to get taken in by it all. But long before I actually made it to the Olympic Park I found myself screaming at the athletes on screen and jumping up and down when Team GB won gold. Something I have never really found myself doing in the past.

All for me

So, in conclusion, I’m pretty sure the Olympic Games were held in London especially for my benefit (well, and maybe for the benefit of other people like me. People who aren’t really that into sport, but have been inspired to take a little bit more of an interest in it by the general brilliance of the Games. And people who like striking up random conversations on the tube without being branded a psycho).

Visit a new country

What springs to mind when you think of Amsterdam? Coffee shops and cannabis? The red light district? Or perhaps tulips and canals? For me, the one thing that jumps out as the defining feature of the trip there is the people.

I could tell you all about sitting on a beach with Darth Vader, an astronaut and the Dutch Prime Minister (actual reality, not any drug induced hallucinations).* But obviously I know you would much rather me ramble on about how nice people are.

Get out the way fellow tourists! I <3 amsterdam.
Thanks to my personal photographer Chloe for the pics

World Suicide Prevention Day

From The CALMzone 

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. I have been out all day but I didn't want to let it pass without a mention on here. 

Suicide always seems to me like such a difficult thing to try and prevent. There is rarely only one cause. But the International Association for Suicide Prevention is doing all it can to try and help us to better understand what can be done to stop it from happening.

Ultimately, there is only ever one person who can really prevent a suicide and that is the person considering it. But, if this is you, you can get help from others. You may be the one making that final decision, but there are many people around you who want to help. Call the Samaritans. Go and tell your family. Visit the doctor. Talk to a friend. Get medication or get your current medication reviewed. Ask to switch counsellors. Speak to CALM. Everybody has down times but you do not have to live with suicidal thoughts and the best solution does not involve acting on them. There is a way. There is always a way. 

***UPDATE***
According to this site, it is actually World Suicide Prevent Week. And after reading stories of some people on Twitter who have attempted suicide, I thought it would be good to share some on here - evidence that, even if things seem bad, it can and will get better. 

Reasons to Go On Living
Spun Out
Huffington Post
Waking Up Alive

+ lots more on Twitter

Harry Potter and the girls who never grew up

Flying on a broomstick…

Ok, I admit, this one was not on the original list but this is definitely a first for me. And while it is not technically flying, it’s as pretty close as you are ever going to get to it – there’s wind machines and everything. 

If I'm going to embarrass myself by writing about it, I may as well go all
out and give you pictorial evidence. And, yes, I was very excited to wear the gown. 

I should probably warn you that I might suddenly switch to gushing teenage nerd girl mode while I tell you about my time at The Making of Harry Potter tour at the WB Studios near Watford. But please don’t turn away so quickly. I can assure you that this is not just a place for 25-year-old children who love HP but for film buff ‘kids’ of any age.