New Year's Resolutions

It’s been a long while since I found the time, energy or inspiration to write on this website, and the flag is still detached from the White House.

I wish I could say I’d been doing something with high levels of excitement to take me away from writing here, but that would simply be inaccurate: I’ve been working for university with varying rates of success, and working for money with similar; I’ve been trying to lead a somewhat productive life, taking advantage of every suitable scheme thrown at me by Exeter, dancing at home, socialising in both and travelling between them, and somewhere in the midst of all this I lost the ideas and, frankly, all waking hours in which I would write.

However, amongst all this, one thing which jumped out at me as something upon which I could expand and also appropriate to the season was New Year’s resolutions. 

Weight in the UK

It has been an awful long time since I updated here. I have found myself inundated with things to do, and this has been pushed to the bottom of the pile.


But for my return to the site, I've gone for a large topic which often dominates my life. Don't be surprised if you learn one or two things about me you didn't know before.

Cutting the BBC.

I love the BBC, and I'm a self-confessed Doctor Who obsessive. So when I first heard that they were axeing Doctor Who Confidential, and then I read about the other multitude of cuts, I was mightily disappointed.

Sarah Palin and the State of the GOP

Yesterday evening (at least in the UK) Sarah Palin announced she was not entering the race for the White House next year. 


First things first, I can't say I mind this. Any chance of Sarah Palin getting the presidency would not be pleasing. However, it does lead me to wonder, now that a figure particularly well-known to all has ruled herself out (and it wasn't a big shock, as not many voters indicated they would support her should she run), who is left to lead the Republicans in their campaign against Obama?

What a difference a year can make.

A year ago yesterday (to the date), I moved to university.


(It is because of said university that I am so late in updating; I have just moved back.)


At the time, I thought I was a confident being, and knew the world, and would handle it all really very well. I was incorrect. Now that sentence and the title of this blog post combined would lead you to suspect I believe that to be true of myself now, but that isn't right either.

Why Jaguar Land Rover has really pleased me today.

And it isn't just that I adore Jaguar cars, and particularly new ones, or come from Wolverhampton. The news of job creation should be enough to make anybody happy, and rightly it has, when today Jaguar Land Rover announced a new car plant in my home town.

After the company's previous cuts, the £335 million investment in the area does not simply mean "Fantastic, there are 750 new jobs in Wolverhampton, so 750 people can get off the dole", it really does mean something more positive in many other respects. 

Facebook vs. Twitter

With a new design comes a new article, and one which will divide people, as I ask, "Which is really better: Facebook or Twitter?"

Normally I like to post articles not rambles,

but I'm currently working on a better design for this blog, and it's taking me an age to decide what I like and get the images right, so I thought I'd update a little differently and save my next article for when the design revamp is done.


My Entertainment Media Show tickets came today - my photoshoot tickets with Alex Kingston and David Tennant - and I had a little bit of a geek session.

This will be my first convention, and I can't say I've ever liked the idea of going to one before. I'm not really into cosplay or anything like that, so I'll be dressed normally and playing it cool. ;)

A tax rate too far?

For the first time (on this blog), I'm going to get a little controversial. Hear me out; debate with me if you wish!


In a time of public spending cuts affecting our health service (I recently went to a private hospital for the first time in my memory because of an NHS wait to figure out the cause of some deafness), our social services and our entire public sector, the discussion of the abolition of the fifty-pence tax rate is frankly enough to [finally] drive me crazy.

Driving

Finally settled back in Wolverhampton after a few days in my student house down in Exeter (where internet was only possible with my mother's dongle - don't laugh - so was therefore limited) and now I can update properly.


I considered bringing up this driving thing before I went down to the South West because of a few incidents when I was driving to my dance classes. But it was my motorway experience to and from Exeter that really concreted this topic in my mind. So here goes with a train of thought (except about cars) that may ring bells with some of you.

The north/south divide. A take from the middle.

Every Northerner knows that the Southerners have all the money, and Southerner knows that The North and its inhabitants are covered in coal and dirt for twenty-four hours of every day. Right?

And if you're from the South, you're obviously from London and the surrounding area, and if you're from the North, then there's only one accent you can possibly have, and that's "northern". Correct? 

Not only are you rich and a Londoner, but if you're southern, you're a snob, and the North... Well, what can I say? It's just grey and rainy up there.

When it comes to stereotypes, Every one of you northerners and southerners has it easy. And here's why...

"If you're not going at maximum speed, then you're not going at all."

As a result of the travelling I have undertaken around the United Kingdom and Spain in the past year or eighteen months, I have come to some conclusions about the manner in which people, in general, commute, particularly in London and other efficiently-run cities and countries.

I tend to travel with one, small, cabin-sized suitcase, and have developed a particular style in which to walk with it, especially when concerning tubes, Underground stations, escalators, travelators and, perhaps most frustratingly, other people. You see, there is a way in which one should conduct oneself when you have luggage, and it is a way that only a few people appear to have mastered.

Let's Kill Hitler - a[nother] spoiler-free review

Steven Moffat, without doubt on my part, has once again written a blinder.

Yes, I was one of the lucky few members of the public – thanks to a thoughtful person on Twitter – to bag myself a ticket to the BFI press screening on the 15^th August (so rather late on the bandwagon with this preview!) and there was no way I could bring myself to confine my experience to myself and a few of my rather over-excited friends. Rather than rush to the internet with this, I’ve taken my time over it to remember as much as I can, and to give you something new to read in the final few days' wait before Saturday. That, and I’ve been working and literally travelling the length of the country (from London to Newcastle and back to Wolverhampton)!

Trains

British trains are what I might call daft.


If you are not British, or are British but poor at geography, I refer you at this point to a map of the United Kingdom.

Welcome

This blog will tend to feature developments of thoughts I carry around in the world, which are numerous and varied, and possibly quite bizarre.

I’ll update as frequently as I can, which will hopefully be very often, if not daily, and if this blog achieves even half of what I really would like it to achieve, then it will make me rather happy.

In the meantime, if you’d like to find out more about me and where I’m coming from, then please click the About Me tab. It isn’t a big-headed paragraph, I promise!