Things I love Thursday

Hello reader, how’s your week going? Mine is unbelievably long but enough of that because I am here to discuss loveable things…

The thought of spending the weekend with a whole group of my favourite people, chocolate, my parents (they’ve gone above and beyond this week), photos of my baby niece grinning from ear to ear after her first spoonful of baby rice, making it home just before it rains, stereomood (a site which plays music according to the mood you choose)

I hope that your week has been full of loveable things reader.

This tweet from Simon Pegg just about made my day it is also possibly the most sensible thing anyone has said regarding the matter, which says a lot:


‘Seriously though, where are the Eastern Europeans "flocking in" from? My guess would be Europe, possibly East.’

It's hard being a cowboy in Rochdale, but it’s a hell of a lot harder being Gordon Brown.

There’s an old military saying that you should never discuss politics or religion with friends, especially if you want to keep them. I would quite like to keep you, dear reader, but this news story from my hometown prompted me to share my two penneth
Having been heard on microphone calling Gillian Duffy a "bigoted woman", Gordon Brown returned to her house to apologise claiming ‘I understood the concerns she was bringing to me, and I had simply misunderstood some of the words she'd used.’
That has to be the best bit of political jargon I’ve heard in weeks.
To be fair to Gordon Brown, a lot of people from Rochdale are bigots*, some because life experiences have left them bitter (but at the wrong people). However having watched the video of what was said and reading the transcripts Mrs Duffy doesn’t seem to be one of them. Aside from a brief comment about Eastern Europeans ‘flocking’ in she mostly seems concerned with the deficit and his policies, for example:
I used to be a dyed in the wool supporter but now I’m almost ashamed to say it… But how are you going to get us out of all this debt, Gordon …We had it drummed in when I was a child with mine … it was education, health service and looking after the people who are vulnerable.

Labour must be getting nostalgic for when all they had to worry about was being snubbed by a cartoon pig




*as a Rochdalian lass born and mostly bred, although now escaped, I reserve both the right to say this and the right to get offended if someone else says it.

Thoughtful Tuesday

'If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.'
- Thomas Edison

Things I love Thursday

Original idea-gala darling although I stole it from go placidly

The friend I copied this post idea from- she rocks- go follow her, SUNSHINE and spring weather, this, blossoming trees lining the streets (my neighbour opposite has a beautiful specimen and every morning when I groggily come down for breakfast I see it and can’t help but smile), helping out with a children’s club at short notice and being bowled over at how funny/adorable/exuberant they are, Andy Hamilton's comedy on my television box (himself as a guest on HIGNFY then as writer/director/producer on Outnumbered)

What have you been loving this week reader?

Thoughtful Tuesday

'Only the gentle are ever really strong '
— James Dean

A few years ago I spent some time living in Japan. Like many gaijin before me I fell in love with the culture and left with a few quirky habits. One such wonderful discovery was Japanese cuisine.There is an old Japanese saying that ‘You eat with your eyes’. The idea that food should be just as beautiful to look at as it is to taste. One such example of this is the Obento. I have often been amazed by the effort and creativity put into preparing elaborate bento boxes. I know that the traditional Obento is often negatively associated with ideological and gendered meanings but I love the concept of a healthy, homemade (or at least mostly homemade) meal that is packed into a compact, portable box so that it appears delicious and appetizing several hours later.

Now I confess reader, that despite best intentions, in my day to day life this is something that often gets overlooked due to time constraints or laziness. Today I was feeling a bit nostalgic and as I had a bit of time on my hands decided to inject a bit of art into my lunch…

My humble homage-

Firstly sandwich Nb although not pictured here I did eat the rest of the packet of crisps


followed by Fruit and finished up with this cute little fellow who was a present from a lovely friend

Thoughtful Tuesdays

I once read ‘Thoughts have great power; they are like seeds you plant in your mind.’
Thoughtful Tuesdays are something I started over on my livejournal, consequently I apologies to those of you who will read these twice, but it feels right to share them here too. In the course of my life I have come across a great number of wonderful, inspirational quotations that have caused me to stop and reflect. However I have also discovered that when an intriguing idea floats into my head, it generally needs to be pinned down for posterity, or else it is likely to be washed away by, say, my next craving for chocolate biscuits so I decided to devote a weekly post to sharing a quote that has inspired me. I hope reader the quotes I share give you food for thought as they do me.
Right reader, without much further ado, today’s thought:

‘Armageddon is not around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the future.’ - Michael Palin

Hello and welcome to, this, my first foray into open and public blogging. I have previously kept paper journals and a livejournal before. This is concurrently different and the same, but I have been convinced by some very good friends to be bold, please be patient with me as I take my initial tentative steps.