Remember, Remember The 5th November

So hello again my lovely bloggers; this will be the last who hear from me in a few days I promise. But seeing how it is fireworks night, bonfire night, Guy Fawkes night’s. Whatever you call it last night. I thought that I would put a post-up. But first the answer to the quote in last night’s blog is… “Mistletoe and wine” by Cliff Richards in 1988. now this should have been posted last night but I didn't get round to writing it all so I finished it tonight instead.

Anyway before we get into how my night went I thought we could have a little history on what bonfire night is for the UK. In 1605 a man called Guy Fawkes tried to blow the Houses of Parliament up with gun powder. However whilst he was guarding the gun powder under parliament he was found and arrested for treason and later hung, drawn and quartered… Anyway 100s of years late Guy Fawkes became a celebratory occasion and how do we celebrate this night? by setting of little sticks filled with gun powder that explodes in an array of colours in the night sky, also towns which put on firework displays often have bonfires which is probably how it sometimes gets called “bonfire night” and sometimes towns may create a Guy Fawkes effigy which they burn on a bonfire, I'm not really sure why… probably something to do with Fawkes’ death. Nevertheless that will probably do for our history lesson.

So my cheer squad at uni had arrange to meet at a pub near to where I live which is a 20 minute walk from the park where the fireworks display was being held. So due to having never actually gone to the pub before I googled it and it said it was a 20 minute walk away. So as we were meeting at half 6, I set off at 10 past so that I would arrive at about half past however I didn’t calculate how fast I walk… so instead of taking 20 minutes it only took 10, meaning that I was 10 minutes early. I had a look inside to see if anyone else was early but when I couldn’t see anyone I went and sat outside in hopes that someone would turn up… however the girl who had arrange the evening was late due to work and another girl was driving so she had to find somewhere to park and walk to the pub. So I was sat like a ninny sat for about half an hour on my own. However when the girls did turn up we sat for a while whilst we waited for any others to turn up, yet fireworks started to go off and they were very loud making us scream.

Now whenever I watch firework I don’t like the noise of them so I often stand with earphones in otherwise I become very jumpy. However last night was the first time since I can even think of where I stood without earphones it and to be honest the fireworks weren't as loud as I thought they were going to be. Although I don’t like the ones which when they go up they produce that screaming sound… now they are just horrible. Anyway after watching the half hour firework display, myself and the 2 girls from the squad made our way back to the pub where we met up with another 2 girls from the squad. When we were back at the pub, we were all ID when going back into the pub however when the guy looked at my ID he stared at it for a little while, looked at me and then back to my ID for a while before smiling and handing me it back… After having a drink with the girls (diet coke) I left to make my way back home.

My attempt at an artistic photo

For those of you who celebrate firework night leave a comment below to say how your night went and what it means to your country? So instead of ending this post the normal way I'm going to end it with a this rhyme which is often said regarding bonfire night “Remember, remember the fifth of November, Gun powder, treason and plot. I see no reason, why gun powder treason should ever be forgot”

Until next time!! x

It Is Now Acceptable!!

Hello my lovely, lovely bloggers. Now I know I only blogged a few days ago but we are now in the Christmas season or at least I am. So I thought I would do a post on how it is now acceptable to listen to Christmas songs. But first of all the answer to the quote from the last post is… “The Rocky Horror Picture Show!” and it is said by “Magenta” which is who I went as for Halloween… before we start on Christmas, did you all have a good Halloween? What did you all dress up as? Anyway bring on the Christmas spirit!!

Now it is often viewed that once Halloween has past we are now in the run up to Christmas. I know there are still various holidays to go such as: Bonfire night, Thanks Giving, Hanukah and many others around the world. However once Halloween has passed it is viewed that it is now acceptable to listen to Christmas songs. Most shops (department stores) in the UK will start playing Christmas songs with in the next few weeks if they haven’t already started. Back home there is a few garden centres within about a 15 miles (if that) radius of where I live which started decorating the shop and putting Christmas decorations on sale since late September/early October.

I walked into a garden centre when I was at home to sort out my Christmas job and I had to walk through all the Christmas decorations and I felt like a kid in a candy shop! As much as my family loves to spend time walking round garden centres looking at plants and garden-y stuff, I love being in them at Christmas purely because they are decorated to look like a winter wonderland with all the Christmas trees, baubles, fairy lights, Christmas ornaments and everything Christmas-y.

Christmas is my favourite time of the year! Or as my friend calls is “hat season” and she is right, I love that once we are in the Christmas season I can pair any of my outfits with the 3 woollen hats that I have. I love all the Christmas lights which are put up around town both in Liverpool and at home. I love that there is always the chance that it will snow!! That has got to be one of my favourite things about Christmas. The snow. Even though I am 19 years old the second I see snow falling I revert back to being a little child, I want to be out in the snow building a snowman… I will be making an Olaf this year if it snows. Last year we didn’t get much snow in Liverpool except maybe one or two snow falls but it had rained previous so the ground was too wet for the snow to settle and it didn’t snow much when I was at home either instead it just became pretty ice-y and slippery.

Ice skating… I love going ice skating. Once the Christmas market starts in Liverpool towards the end of this month they will be putting an ice-rink in the city centre. I didn’t get to go last year however my friend/house mate and I will be going this year. Here is a fact about myself, I have better balance on a thin blade on ice than I do on my own two feet on solid ground… how strange is that… however I have no balance what so ever on my own two feet on slippery ice, I have ended up with some very large bruises due to falling over on some ice over the years... I also lost my phone one year due to slipping over on the ice whilst trying to get to the bus stop.... luckily I used my friends phone to call my mum and she sent my brother down to have a look to see if he could still find it... he did!!

Anyway this post was suppose to be about Christmas sons however I went off on a bit of a tangent so I will pull it back around to Christmas songs. Everyone has their favourite Christmas song or even just one that makes them extremely happy because it reminds them of a fun time or because it's just so catchy, that they find themselves singing to it days after they first hear it again. If I had to pick one I would ay my absolute favourite Christmas song is "Fairy-tale of New York" purely because it's the only Christmas song which i have heard where the two artists (The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl) start insulting each other half way through. It's brilliant!!

But there is also the old songs which remind you of your childhood. One of which is "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". I remember first hearing this song at about the age of 6 or 7 years old and I found it so hilarious that I spent the next few days listening to it on repeat... To this day I can still sing it word for word after not hearing it for a good few years! Last year being the first year I had heard it in about 6 years or so. I remember showing the song to my flatmate and her looking at me as though I had just started randomly started to speak fluent in another language. shortly after, she stopped looking at me like that and started questioning what songs I listen to... 

Another song which I love is "12 Days of Christmas" now this is an old Christmas carol which has been sung in many formats however my favourite version of it has to be by "The Spinners" because when it gets to the line "6 swans are swimming" someone in the background of the song shouts out "back stroke", in reference to have the swans are swimming. Not only do I love this but in a sense it was a good idea to make the song funny! So I think this is enough for this post otherwise we would be here for ages with me going on and on about Christmas. 

Due to it being bonfire night tomorrow for the UK, I will be putting another blog up, hopefully tomorrow night, which may include pictures of how my night goes because as much as I love the pretty colours which come out of fireworks I hate the noise which they produce because I am a naturally jumpy person and any load noises e.g. fireworks make me jump! I'm like a small kitten basically. Anyway on to this post's quote “Love and laughter and joy ever after, ours for the taking just follow the master” so we're having a little change this week, instead of it being a quote from a film or a show it’s a line for a song. Now I want you to tell me the title of the song and who sings it and if you want to show your Christmas song knowledge see if you can take a guess at what year it was released and we will see who is the closest to the actual year tomorrow night!!  

Until next time!! x 

Home Time!!

Hello my lovely bloggers. So the quote from the last post is from "Supernatural" and is said by Dean Winchester. So I apologise in advance but this post is kind of a rant. If you wish to read then feel free if not then that is also fine with me.

This weekend I came home from university because I needed to sort out some paperwork and things for my Christmas job. I came home on the train; I have done this once before however it was the first time I did it on my own so it was going to be a fun journey to start with... Before I even got to the train station I was already panicking in case I missed my train due to trying to ensure my friend was seen by our doctors as she wasn’t very well. Thankfully she was seen and I didn’t miss my train. Now when I booked my train tickets I reserved my seat so that I could ensure I would have a seat for the journey however when I had gotten on the train there was two women sat near my reserved seat with a dog... The dog was sat in my seat. I politely told her that I think it was my reserved seat but due to the fact that the reservation ticket was not in the back of the chair she looked at me and point blank told me "I'm not moving" no sorry or "oh were only on for *however many* stops" nothing like that... just "I'm not moving... there’s not seat reservation, I’m not moving"... 

This woman looked like she could have knocked me out in one punch... I'm 5 foot 2 and couldn't imitate a fly if I tried… and I didn’t want to risk it so I chose to sit in another seat. However I was still sat near the seat I should have been in so I could hear the women still saying “I'm not moving”. Thankfully the person whose seat I had sat in wasn’t due to get on at York which is the station that I was getting off at. Once she stopped saying she wasn’t moving a member of the train staff went round and placed the seat reservations in the back of the seat… and she still didn’t say any form of sorry. At this point I was already frustrated and annoyed. But anyway the train started and we were off. 20 – 30 minutes later we pulled up to the next station and she got off… the women and the dog got off… I was now past frustrated and at the point of bouncing (note: I use the term bouncing to refer to being mad) she made this fuss about not moving and she was on the train for one stop…

Anyway after this fiasco I began to calm down and started to enjoy my train journey and 2 hours later I was due to get off and change trains so that I could get my train home. Now this sounds so simple and in theory it is however when you factor in delays and trains being late and how long you actually have to change trains before it pulls away it becomes less easy. I got to Leeds and it turns out that the person whose seat I had sat in wasn’t getting on at York but got on at Leeds, the station before I needed to be off. But due to the fact that somebody else was now in my seat and the train had gotten somewhat full at Leeds I was unable to move. We eventually set off from Leeds and made away to York. However it was announced over the tannoy that we had left Leeds City station 5 minutes late… I should have pulled into York station at 20:06 and been on the platform ready for my 20:16 train. However due to my train leaving 5 minutes late from the previous station I didn’t arrive at York until 20:11… this left me 5 minutes to change trains at a station I had never been to before. 

When I got to York station I could see the platform I needed but I didn’t know how to get to it and what made it worse was the fact there was a train already on the platform… I got off my train as fast as I could, quickly spoke to someone to see where I needed to be and then ran up a set of stairs, across a bridge and down more stairs as fast as I could with a heavy suitcase but as I was a few steps away from the bottom the train started pulling away… I have never known as much fear as I experienced the moment the train moved.

Thankfully when I did get onto the platform it was announced over the tannoy that the next train… my actually train… was 2 minutes late. I cannot explain the level of joy which washed over me the moment I heard that. I'm not sure whether there had been an event on or something in York but there was a group of people stood on the platform who had clearly been drinking since, probably, lunch time… they were drunk and extremely loud.

My next train pulled up and this time it was my train. Once on I was able to find my seat and this time I actually got to sit in it but the group of drunken people sat around me… I had 40 minutes until I was to get off the train. In an attempt to block them out I placed my earphones in so that I could listen to music but even though my music was on the loudest setting possible I could still hear them… yep, they were that loud. Due to my train being late coming in, I was also late arriving at home. My train should have gotten to my home station at 20:57 but due to the lateness I arrived at 21:05. Yet this was not the end of my journey from hell… I stood at the doors waiting to get off and they didn’t open so I pressed the button and the still did open… by now I was panicking so I tried again and pressed the button, this time the doors opened and I pretty much jumped off the train.

Now if that had been the end to my manic night I would have been so happy however due to it being Halloween I was also going out with friends, so once I got dropped off at home, I sorted the things I needed for my costume, hopped into my car and drove over to my friend’s boyfriend’s house. Once at his house, I got my stuff, locked my car and knocked on his door. I was let in by his brother and found my friends in the front room. Once I was quickly dressed, I sorted my friends make up out and then my own before she sorted my hair and with that I was finally ready and that was the end to my manic night and I was finally able to go out and have fun with my friends…

So that’s it basically although I have to do the whole thing to go back to uni on Sunday but hopefully it won’t be as stressful as I have 20 minutes to ensure I am on the right train back from York…. This week’s quote is “you’re lucky, he’s lucky, I’m lucky, we’re all lucky!!” you know the rules my lovely bloggers who said it and where’s it from?

Until next time x