The word is a very exciting place

When you work in retail, December is particularly brutal. No matter how hard you work, how many hours you do, how nice you are to people, it is just never enough. I was working 50 hours a week, and it was just a drop in the ocean. When it's that busy at work, time away from work becomes even more precious than normal. But you're so exhausted, you just don't want to do anything, you just want to sleep and recover. I did try to make sure work didn't take over my life through the whole of December, but it was a challenge. But I did take some time to do some baking and trying out some new recipe's. Otherwise I would have lived off pot noodles and rustlers burgers all month, which to be honest, I would have been quite happy with! Here's my raspberry cheesecake (ignore the spring onions, they were for something else, not a garnish for the cheesecake!) This was one of the best roast dinners ever. I had boiled the gammon in apple cider with lashings of maple syrup, befo...

 We had a lovely day out visiting Glastonbury, and in particular the ruined abbey. I don't know what it is, but there is something so magical about exploring a ruined abbey. Especially if you're the only ones there, and it feels like you are just discovering it for the first time. Glastonbury abbey is one of the most famous ruined abbey's in England, not just because of its proximity to the festival grounds. The abbey itself was established in the 700's, and after a destructive fire it became one of the wealthiest and most notable abbey's in England. However, with the suppression of the monasteries by Henry the eighth and years of being robbed of it's stone for local building projects, the abbey is now a shadow of its former glory. But let me tell you, it has a wonderful atmosphere there. It's also widely believed (but never proven) to be where King Arthur was buried. But it's worth having a good look around when you're there, and don't forget to...

Hello and welcome back to part two of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018. I know I'm a little late, but its always better to be late than never! In the previous post, I reacted to the 20 songs taking part, and in this post, I will discussing the results, as well as sharing with you my votes. So far, the hosting has consisted of shouting, and that will unfortunately continue as we head to the main stage where our hosts are ready to announce the voting is about to open. Except it was a bit of let down. There was no fireworks, not confetti nothing. It was a very mundane way to start the voting process. We have our fist recap of the evening, and hopefully that helps you decide what you liked and didn't like. And then we head to the green room with ZENA chatting to the contestants from Italy. Fun fact, Marco wants to become a dermatologist, and is given his first medical overalls. We also discover that Fidan from Azerbaijan plays a lot chess. Riveting information. Now, we get t...

Good evening, and welcome back to another Eurovision review! This post is taking us back to the 2018 Junior Eurovision contest. Many of you may be aware of it, some of you not. It's basically a children's version of the main contest. While its definitely not as camp as the main contest, it's seen a spring board to an appearance in the main contest, with several former JESC contestants taking part in the main contest, albeit with varying levels of success. The contest is hosted in Minsk, Belarus, a county which has had considerably more success in the youth contest than in the main contest.  We start with the traditional flag parade, accompanied by a multitude of shiny objects and dancers in shiny costumes, while the contest song Light up is sung. You May recognise one of the singers, her name is ZENA, she is not only hosting the contest, but will also represent Belarus in the 2019 main contest. Also, most interestingly, two countries are debuting this year, Wales and Kazakh...

 November was a quiet month in terms of doing things, we had a quick weekend away in Paris, but that was about it. The Christmas rush had began at work, and so I was working 4/5 12 hours nightshifts each week trying to keep up with moving, filling and keeping a very busy shop in order. It was exhausting. But the nice thing about working nights is you would get left alone to do the job, and that I loved the most. I spent a whole 12 hours nightshift moving women's handbags and accessories. Just me, my speaker and the worlds largest selection of berets (I wish I was joking about that) No matter how many I put out, more seemed to appear from the stockroom, the the point where I began to wonder if I was just hallucinating berets due to being tired. But alas, no, they were truly there, and no matter how hard I worked to put them all out, there always seemed to be another box of them. I also discovered a new drinking place in Southampton, The Witches Brew in Shirley. It's run by a lov...

When in you're in need of a holiday, I would always advise you to take the opportunity to go on holiday! Its a no brainer isn't it? Get away from the grind for a bit, explore somewhere new or familiar, and loose yourself for a weekend. And thats exactly what we did! We caught the Eurostar, which is fantastic. Before you know it, you're  arriving in Gare Du Nord in Paris, and you're  ready to begin exploring. I took it as a great chance to see some more of Paris that I'd missed last time, as (surprise surprise) I'd ran out of time. There really is so much to see and do in Paris, they say you could visit for a thousand days and still not get to see everything. We started our tip by visiting Madeline Cathedral, a beautifully bold and classical styled building that I'd not known about before. Inside was charming with long view through the building and stunning ceiling designs. Then, as any true traveller would, I stood on the edge of the traffic light island to ...

October was coming to an end, and with Halloween fast approaching, we made sure to get ready for it. I love Halloween, its so much more fun and less stressful than Christmas. I say lets get rid of Christmas and just have Halloween. It would enrich all of our lives. We decided to go for a day out, first of all by walking along the beach at Eastbourne. We played some arcade games and the 2 penny sliders, and came away both poorer and with dirty fingers from the coins.  We then headed up to Michelham Priory, a charming little place, with supposedly England's longest medieval moat. Its a nice place, retaining its history as a Priory, which was then converted to a country house, to now, where it has been restored to show off some of its former glory. You can see in these pictures some of the original walls, arches and windows. The picture just above shows some of the archways you would have crossed through into the cloister. The Priory is situated in some beautiful gardens, with separat...

 On a brisk and cool, yet surprisingly light October day we decided to head to the Weald and Downland museum. Its one of these fantastic open air museums (Some of you may be more familiar with the terms Ethnographic or living villages). It's a museum where buildings of importance as saved, taken apart bit by bit, then re-assembled here at the museum. Many of these buildings were saved from demolition in their original sites, and the Weal and Downland museum has buildings that are hundreds of years old, with all different purposes and from different areas in the South of England. Entry tickets cost £17.50, although there is a small discount if you pre-book through the website: https://www.wealddown.co.uk Don't worry, there is plenty of feathered friends to meet and feed when you're there! British TV viewers may recognise this barn, as the one from the show The Repair Shop, in which people bring along old broken possessions and a team of experts restore them. It's my nan...