20 things ...

... about me. I've been tagged by Birdy so here are twenty random facts about me. Some of which you may already know, some may be new and surprising (yeah, like I'm that interesting!? heehee)

So here goes:

1. I love fantasy - it started with Narnia and The Shire and now it encompasses places nearby and galaxies far, far away.

2. I am a secular humanist, although I recognise my morals and choices are often influenced by my anglican upbringing. I agree with this statement on the British Humanist Association website, 'Humanism is the belief that we can live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs. Humanists make sense of the world using reason, experience and shared human values. We seek to make the best of the one life we have by creating meaning and purpose for ourselves. We take responsibility for our actions and work with others for the common good.'

3. Cross stitch is a favourite relaxation hobby. I enjoy looking for new patterns but because of this I have about eight kits in various stages of completion and a further half dozen or so that require framing.

4. I swim like a brick ... downwards.

5. I am a pacifist and look forward to world-wide disarmament (well, a girl can dream, can't she?). Like it is suggested in Star Trek First Contact, I think it may take a mind-blowing event on a global scale - such as the discovery of extra terrestrial life or the brink of world war three (lets hope not) - for human kind to put aside their petty differences to finally realise that we are one species with the same basic needs, hopes and dreams.

6. My favourite colour is purple.

7. In seeming contrast to number 5, I own a sword. In my defence, it is a decorative piece - an accurate (and sharp!) replica of Sting, Frodo's weapon from the Lord of the Rings. As a child, I found Sting's bad guy early warning system fascinating. It is also a strong reminder of one of the themes of the story that individuals can make a difference.

8. I live in London. It's smelly, noisy and overcrowded. I have a love/hate relationship with it.

9. I don't like Big Brother and other such reality TV programmes. Might I suggest the amusing and thought provoking Dead Famous by Ben Elton which takes reality TV to a new extreme.

10. I feel much more comfortable wearing trousers than skirts.

11. I love dragons. From Smaug in the Hobbit to the Draco Nobilis in Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. They fascinate me - beautiful, powerful, deadly, magical. Need I say more?

12. I enjoy watching Charmed.

13. Apart from the very occassional black and white one, I always dream in technicolour. I have also experienced deja vu in a dream which was quite an interesting experience.

14. I have a small tattoo and am seriously considering getting another smaller one.

15. I hate marmite, hot milk and curry (not all together clearly ... though I'm sure that would be pretty disgusting also).

16. I am an only child.

17. My heart throbs du jour are: Christian Bale (yummy in Batman Begins), Orlando Bloom (preferraby with some sort of longish hair), Johnny Depp (fantastic in Pirates, rather creepy in Chocolate Factory), James Marsters (the deliciously bad Spike from Buffy) and Keanu Reeves .... oh, and my Hubby, of course! ;o)

18. If I try to bake a cake, the result is something you could build houses with.

19. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is awesome and I think everyone should go to a live performance at least once.

20. Finally, a seasonal fact - I love watching the many firework displays over London (from the excellent vantage point of my living room window) but I really, really wish they didn't have to be so loud!

Well, in time honoured fashion, I now pass the challenge to produce twenty random facts about themselves to:
Sarah, Dan, Zinnia and Paul.

Happy Journeys

Lest we forget

It's that time of year again - I've started to notice the red poppies appearing on newscasters and politicians.

As ever, I will be wearing a white poppy instead of a red one. As I said in last years's post, I know I owe my freedom to many men and women that fought for that freedom but I choose to honour them in my own way.

To my mind, the events surrounding Remembrance Day are full of pomp and ceremony - marching bands, flags and medals. Instead Remembrance Day should be about:

educating the next generation about the futility and stupidity of war;

encouraging politicians to realise that it's not good enough to just think about their four years in office;

foreign policies that reach into the next ten, twenty, fifty years allowing the analysis of where future wars might occur so preventative action can be taken in good time.

When the White Poppy was originally launched in 1933 by the Co-operative Women's Guild it was as 'a Pledge to Peace that war must not happen again'. Many of the women in the guild who 'were mothers, sisters and widows and sweethearts of men killed in the First World War began to feel with the rising domestic and international tensions that the ‘war to end all wars’, in which their men had died, would be followed by an even worse war. The white poppy was born out of this fear. But more than that the people who wore it did so as a commitment to peace and to insist that those in power should resist war; that conflicts should be resolved without violence and with justice.'

Since the launch of the White Poppy there have been over 300 wars world wide and over 100 million people have died (this is a very conservative estimate). Lest we forget?! How can we forget when the number is growing on an almost daily basis? Whilst western Europe is enjoying a period of relative peace, many parts of the world resemble those black and white pictures that we all saw in our history lessons at school - buildings being bombed, people running and hiding in fear of their lives, prisoners of war being held (and killed), teenaged men and women in control of killing machines ...

I will wear my White Poppy in the coming days to say with my one small voice that war is a crime against humanity and I renounce it.


[Quotations and data taken from the Peace Pledge Union website.]

Nation of Tea Drinkers?

We are a house of tea drinkers. I guess I have to confess to being a tea snob. I'd only ever bought Twinings tea so that is what I continued to buy when Hubby and I moved in together. Twinings English Breakfast has been his "cup of tea", if you will pardon the expression, ever since.

Recently I discovered caffeine free Dragonfly redbush teas. I found cutting down on the vaste amounts of caffeine I used to consume has helped my IBS. I did cold turkey and was sadly resigned to having one or two cups a tea a week. De-caff teas are, quite frankly, not nice and herbal teas all smell delicious but taste (in my opinion) like scented pond water.

Then I saw these clean and bright packages sitting on the shelf in Waitrose and I saw the words 'naturally caffeine free'. First, I tried the Earl Grey (with real Bergamot oil) and now I also drink the Breakfast and Vanilla (with real Madagascan Vanilla). And now I prefer them over 'normal' tea.

Anyway, I digress. Today, I bought some of the new Twinings EveryDay Tea for Hubby to try (verdict pending). The original reason for this post before I started to ramble was a "Did you know" section printed on the inside of the box:

"In 1706 Thomas Twining set up as a tea merchant in London at 216 The Strand. Twinings has traded continuously from this address ever since.

Even in times of crisis Twinings has never failed to serve its customers. During the Blitz sales were briefly interrupted when a bomb knocked out part of the building. However, within a few hours a table was set up in the doorway and tea sales carried on as normal."

Now, that's what I call dedicated!

Cup of tea anyone?

Paperless Billing

Whilst looking for tree dedications for a christmas present (which I found here and here, if you're interested) I found out that BT will purchase a native sapling on behalf of the Woodland Trust for each residential customer who signs up for paper-less billing.

I've no idea why BT aren't advertising this more as I'm sure many people would sign up for this. Perhaps that's why they're not pushing it more! :o)

As I have all our household bills on Direct Debit or Standing Order, all the utility/household bills that we receive are for information only. As such, they're pointless bits of paper that I just glance at and file away. I already have paperless billing with British Gas (www.house.co.uk) for my gas and electricity bills. I get an e-mail to let me know when there is a new bill to view online.

So, I've now signed up for BT paperless billing too. Go, take a look - do your bit.

Happy Journeys

NaNoWriMo Update

Yes, I know November hasn't started yet but the terms of NaNoWriMo allow participants to start planning, etc before the start of November.

I've been trying to put some structure to my vague idea and I'm coming up against some interesting obstacles. An element of the storyline involves my protagonist interacting with a romance novel.

I think my attitude to romantic liasons in books has been molded by my choice of literature. As you will no doubt have guessed from the title of this blog, I read Tolkien. Tolkien, due to the society and time in which he was writing, populated his stories almost solely with men and tended to only have the comrades in arms sort of friendship not proper relationships. Modern fantasy writers clearly treat the sexes with more equality, have strong female characters and can therefore have properly developed relationships. Even then they are usually only included to move the characters and story forward, they are a means to an end not the end itself. Like real life, relationships aren't the be all and end all. They are only a part of our lives, an immensely important part but a part never the less. And I choose books that reflect this.

To get an idea of what I would need to write, I checked out a couple of Mills and Boon from my local library (with great reluctance!). Apologies to anyone who reads and enjoys this sort of book :o). I really don't like reading romance novels. I think I was put off for life by having to read Wuthering Heights for my A-Level Literature course! Anyway, I have managed to get to about page twenty and I have thrown up my hands in defeat.

I can't do it. I simply cannot read through all the simpering, heaving, sighing, quivering sultriness.

I have decided that my protagonist will just have to read some chick lit instead. Much more achievable (hopefully). Off to check out Bridget Jones's Diary and see if I get on any better with that. Enjoyed the movie so hopefully the book will be just as good, if not better.

On the positive side, I'm getting a nice structure built, with the help of some nifty freeware writing software.

Happy Journeys.

Christmas Shopping

According to Christmas.com (yes, you read that correctly) there are 69 days until Christmas!

I'm not sure whether I should be proud or ashamed to admit that I have bought my first Christmas present. I saw something that would be perfect for my Mum so, instead of leaving it, forgetting what it was and then later panicking, I bought it. So now I've started to work out what to get the rest of the family. I have a list of fair trade, eco and charity gifts which might be useful for those awkward people who already have everything. I like the idea of sponsoring a donkey or providing emergency medical equipment.

Thankfully, my nephews are easy this year - they're into Star Wars ... what a chore it will be shopping for their presents! hehe The only negative aspect of Christmastime is the commercialisation. Christmas has become to symbolise over-eating, over-spending. Presents are judged by their monetary value not the sentiment. Our families agree to cap spending at a reasonable amount and try instead to find unusual or funny gifts instead.

I have to admin, my weakness is decorations. Recently I went to a garden centre with my parents and they had a large section given over to Christmas decorations. There were the usual gaudy cheap things but there were many coloured themed displays of some really gorgeous decorations. A lot of the decorations had a scandanavian feel to them being wooden or ceramic. Lots of stylised snowmen and Father Christmas. Whilst October is a little early, I thoroughly enjoyed looking through them all and would have spent a fotune if we had a big house to put them in (at present I have more than enough decorations for our flat).

In the past I used to celebrate Christmas as a religious festival (although as a child, there is more emphasis on the presents and food!) but now I simply enjoy looking forward to the celebrations that will cheer an otherwise dark and cold time of year. I love making our home beautiful and welcoming. I have great fun making hand-made Christmas cards. Seeing the face of someone opening a present that I have chosen and realising that they like it is great. Most of all, I get really excited about cooking Christmas dinner - it's not always perfect but usually mostly edible.

So, if you observe mid-winter celebrations, I hope that you enjoy choosing presents for your loved ones, find a moment or two to write a note in your cards, and don't get carried away by the hype.

Happy Journeys

From Ashes to Star Dust

Space date set for Scotty's ashes. James Doohan's remains and a disk containing tributes will be launched into space in December.

I believe there is no soul or eternal spirit left after death so the tributes addressed personally to Jimmy seem a little odd to me. A lot of what happens after a death (unless you happen to strongly believe in an after life, of course) is for those left behind.

That said, I do think this is something that will provide comfort to his family, friends and fans. From her letter to his fans, his wife clearly understands how much her husband has touched many lives.

For non-trekkies/trekkers this will perhaps be very strange to understand but it does seem right that we will be able to look up at the stars and know that one of the many twinkling satellites orbiting the earth contain the remains of the man that brought us Scotty.

One to beam up.

NaNoWriMo

I have an announcement to make, sort of ...

I like to write. You might have guessed, me being a blogger n'all. I have a few ongoing Works in Progress but it's very easy to get bogged down in research, planning and back story. I also have a tendancy to make major changes half way through which results in a massive re-write or, worse, get fed up when I get to a difficult bit.

Well, dear reader, I am (I think!) going to take up the challenge of NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month in full. The aim is to write 50,000 words between 12:01am on 1st November and 11:59pm on 31st November. Quantity not Quality is the key.

I've got a few ideas on the back burner that I could use so I may be taking the mad plunge. I won't be blogging my writing but I will post ocassional updates (if I manage to overcome my well developed procrastination skills.

Happy Journeys.

Cryosat

I was very sad to hear about the Cryosat mission failing so dramatically. It's objective was to take measurements and other data from ice in the artic.

There is still so much scepticism about global climate change, espcially from the leaders of massive industrial nations, such as the United States. While certain leaders continue to deny the extent of the problem and others prevaricate, we are just digging ourselves deeper and deeper.

I was left speechless by the statement issued by the G8 this summer (paraphrased):
We wanted an agreement that climate change is a problem, that human activity is contributing to it, and that we have to tackle it. We have to tackle it with urgency. In order to do that we have to slow down, stop and then in time reverse the rising greenhouse gas emissions. We have to put in place a pathway to a new dialogue between the G8 countries and others on how we confront and tackle this problem.

Many individuals work hard to make environmentally sound choices in their day to day lives but we need changes to be made at a global level to have any real impact. Whether or not the present predictions of global warming are entirely accurate is irrelevant, we cannot deny that they way we are treating the planet is irresponsible and unsustainable. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!

Here are some recent articles that we should all be concerned about:

Severe smogs above big cities are on the increase and these result in respiratory discomfort for many people. Ths summer there was a London smog alert advising asthmatics and those with respiratory diseases to take it easy as the quality of air was predicted to be so poor.

This article on the BBC provided some comprehensive information on glacial melting - Earth, Melting in the Heat? The worrying thing is that melting in certain areas will release Methane which is a greenhouse gas. In addition ice reflects heat from the sun and liquid water absorbs it. Less ice, more heat - ever decreasing circles ...

These two points are also covered in two recent articles:
Artic Ice disppearing quickly states, 'The Arctic climate varies naturally, but the researchers conclude that human-induced global warming is at least partially responsible. They warn the shrinkage could lead to even faster melting in coming years.'
Siberia's rapid thaw causes alarm. The article explains, 'The huge expanse of western Siberia is thawing for the first time since its formation, 11,000 years ago. The area, which is the size of France and Germany combined, could release billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.'

The changes could also impact the whole environment in many other ways that we don't fully understand. Such as, the predictable ocean currents could change which would have an impact on the eco-system which could effect the lives and livelihoods of those who 'farm' the oceans. The UK is currently warmed by one such current. If that were to change, we might find ourselves experiencing much harsher winters.

Some of these events may be cyclical to an extent as there is still much we have to learn about global weather systems but our impact on the earth's environment is undeniable.

And the worst thing in all of this?
I try to be careful about my electricity usage; I don't own a car and therefore walk or use public transport; I try to think about production mileage on products (buying British wherever possible instead of something that has been flown half way around the world).

But what does this really achieve?

It's the G8 leaders and the leaders of the 'emerging nations' that need to look to their electricity and gas usage, and to think how their industries can minimise emissions and develop alternate forms of energy.

Hmm, I feel a bit better for the rant - thanks for listening.

Eco-friendly Journeys.

Dodgeball

Hubby and I love the movie Dodgeball

If you haven't already seen it and don't object to non-cerebral hilarity, I would definately recommend it. It's completely daft (the five most important points to remember whilst playing dodgeball are dodge, dip, duck, dive and ... dodge!); has lots of physical humour (their coach has an interesting training philosophy, "if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball" ouch!); with a bit of romance thrown in.

This morning I was channel surfing whilst sipping my tea and what did I find?
Extreme Dodgeball on Challenge TV!!

I can't believe it - there is a real dodgeball league. Only in America ... :o)

Happy Journeys

BBC's Test the Nation

I've been watching the BBC's latest Test the Nation on the English Language tonight.

I was delighted to get a score of 56 out of 70. And even more delighted to learn that this score apparently puts me in the top 5% of the population! Hehe - not that I'm boasting or anything. ;o)

Feeling a bit better this weekend. Now, if I could just get rid of this bloomin' cough!

Happy Journeys

Interlude

Apologies, dear reader, for my recent absence. What with various commitments and now a stinking cold, my poor old Blog has been neglected.

Please talk amongst yourselves, normal service shall be resumed as soon as I stop resembling a sniffling, coughing, sneezing mess :o)