The Wild North

Hello! Back from a small unintentional blog hiatus - life just somehow got rather busy! But this is my week off, and to start it (and March) off right I made a trip to visit my best friend Aisha in Manchester at the weekend.

Sadly on my one full day there it was pretty gloomy, but thankfully it didn't rain until the evening. I could definitely tell that Manchester is a city in a whole different league to tiny Guildford; all the buildings were so tall and the roads were so wide, and it was a lot more multicultural too. I've never seen  an Armenian Church before!

We sensibly spent the day on indoor activities, such as visiting Manchester Museum, where I had  the biggest latte of my life with hazelnut AND amaretto syrups, all for the bargain price of £2.60!

Of course, there was the usual fare of dinosaurs, mummies, and beautiful Roman and Egyptian artefacts ...

...but also some really interesting animal exhibits, both stuffed and real (!)...

This is the yellow-banded poison dart frog, or 'bumblebee frog'! There were apparently a number of different coloured poisonous frogs hanging around, but we only managed to spot a couple.

After the museum we made a quick stop at The Trafford Centre, Manchester's amazing shopping centre which is like a mini town itself; sadly we only got to spend an hour there because it was Sunday, but I did manage to buy 100ml of tasty peach liqueur from Vom Fass, where you can choose the bottle you want your drink to go in as well as the drink itself! As well as alcoholic drinks you can buy things like balsamic vinegar and oils, and everything looked pretty amazing.

To top off a great weekend, I arrived home to this amazing rainbow:

The photo doesn't do it justice - it was probably the biggest rainbow I've ever seen!

Lacock Abbey

As I walked home across pavements that had been turned into small rivers, while the wind tried to make an impromptu balaclava of my hair, my thoughts turned longingly to the glorious summer of 2013 (which I really hope can be recreated this year)...

In June 2013 my mum and I visited the lovely village of Lacock in Wiltshire and its great house, Lacock Abbey, a National Trust property. Lacock Abbey is a country house made up of an interesting jumble of architectural styles, built on the foundations of a nunnery! You can definitely sense its medieval past while wandering around the cloisters.

Lacock Abbey was also where bits of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were filmed, so of course that made me even more excited to visit!

It only got better when I found out  this place was the home of William Henry Fox Talbot, who created the first photo negative in 1839...can I move in please?

This place was so beautiful and the weather was so perfect that choosing which photos to share was incredibly hard. I was planning to do a second post on the village of Lacock, but I might have to do a third one on the inside of the house itself as well, there were so many interesting things!

War Books Wishlist

Is it weird to want enough books centred on World War I to be able to devote an entire wishlist to it? This isn't even all of them! I've always been fascinated by the first half of the 20th century, especially World Wars I and II; so much so that my best friend from secondary school used to say that all I read was war books! I don't know exactly why I find that era so interesting - I think it's a combination of the radical change the wars brought about (especially for women) and the romantic idea of a different, more earnest time with simpler lives and (sometimes misguided) unquestioning patriotism. Doing a WWI literature module for English Lit A Level only fuelled this little obsession, and so considering 2014 is the centenary of the beginning of the First World War I thought sharing some books on the topic would be appropriate!

The Eye In The Door and The Ghost Road are the sequels to one I read for my English Lit A Level, Regeneration, a book I would definitely recommend to anyone! It's about a group of soldiers in 1918 at Craiglockhart War Hospital and their army psychiatrist, and it's a really fascinating exploration of the damage of war on the psyche. I've heard that the rest of the trilogy is equally good, so maybe I'll finally get around to reading it this year...

Wake - Five Days in November, 1920: As the body of the Unknown Soldier makes its way home from the fields of Northern France, three women are dealing with loss in their own way: Hettie, who dances for sixpence a waltz at the Hammersmith Palais; Evelyn, who toils at a job in the pensions office, and Ada, a housewife who is beset by visions of her dead son. One day a young man comes to her door. He carries with him a wartime mystery that will bind these women together and will both mend and tear their hearts. A portrait of three intertwining lives caught at the faultline between empire and modernity, Wake captures the beginnings of a new era, and the day the mood of the nation changed for ever.

The Lie - Set during and just after the First World War, The Lie is an enthralling, heart-wrenching novel of love, memory and devastating loss by one of the UK's most acclaimed storytellers. Cornwall, 1920, early spring. A young man stands on a headland, looking out to sea. He is back from the war, homeless and without family. Behind him lie the mud, barbed-wire entanglements and terror of the trenches. Behind him is also the most intense relationship of his life. Daniel has survived, but the horror and passion of the past seem more real than the quiet fields around him. He is about to step into the unknown. But will he ever be able to escape the terrible, unforeseen consequences of a lie?

Public Schools and The Great War - The book examines the impact which the Great War had on the Public Schools and the sacrificial contribution made to the victory which came in 1918. The war consumed about a fifth of all the public schoolboys who fought, while the survivors were scarred by the loss of so many friends. Based largely on source material from school archives and histories, it moves from the naive excitement of the summer of 1914 to the many moving stories that emerge from the carnage of the Western Front. It looks at school life in those war years, boys with their futures on hold and the prospect of death always very close, Headmasters and staff devastated by the loss of so many young lives.

So those are my top five books I'd like to read to commemorate the centenary; anyone out there got any other recommendations?

Guildford Farmers' Market

Today me and my boyfriend Michael had the day off work and so (after a glorious lie-in) we went to the Guildford Farmers' Market, which runs on the first Tuesday of every month, 10:30am-3:30pm.

Thankfully it was a rather nice day, if a bit windy!

We had to fuel up first at Muffin Break (fast becoming an obligatory stop during any trip into town) with lattes and an orange choc chip muffin for me (above) and a mixed berry one for him. I was a bit dubious at first as oranges aren't my favourite fruit, but I like trying a new flavour every time I go - and actually I think this was possibly my favourite one yet!

We had a wander up the high street looking at everything before making any purchases, and being tempted by these 'Cajun Fries' (sweet potato fries with Cajun seasoning) and garlic mayonnaise from one of the stalls. They were certainly worth buying, even though I was still full from the muffin - sweet potato fries are delicious anyway, but these ones in particular were beyond wonderful! I normally don't like my sweet potato fries with mayonnaise, but the garlic complimented the Cajun seasoning perfectly.

Top Row: Wright's Original 'Very Cherry', Bookham & Harrison Farms Ltd Rigoletti, Anila's Spicy Apply Chutney

Bottom Row: Anila's Sweet Mango Chutney, Twineham Grange Full-flavoured Hard Cheese, Harvey's Poultry Farm's Turkey, Garlic & Chilli Sausages, Nut Knowle Farm's Wealden Goat's Cheese

And this is what we ended up buying! We tried everything except the pasta and sausages before purchasing; I'm very excited to try the sausages and more of the goat's cheese. Our entire fridge now smells enticingly of the wonderful garlic and chilli combination of the sausages and the goat's cheese had a lovely strong flavour that I think will go well with the pasta. My favourite purchase would have to be the Very Cherry though; it tasted wonderfully fruity and of real cherries, not the artificial flavouring you so often get with commercial cherry drinks, and the makers recommend it paired with Amaretto or Champagne, both drinks I also love!

All in all I would definitely recommend Guildford Farmers' Market for tasty treats that are a bit off the beaten track; so get down there next time if you can!

The Old Contemptibles

So, since I haven't actually got out my camera in an embarrassingly long time (which will hopefully change tomorrow or at least in the near future...) and England is a dark, rainy and uninspiring land at the moment, I thought I'd start re-kicking off my blog with some flashback posts. These photos were taken when me and the boyfriend went to Birmingham on a lovely April day in 2013 to meet up with some friends who all did Classics/Ancient History based degrees at around the same time I did at Warwick.

We wandered into the epic shopping centre that is the Bullring and had lunch at Pizza Express, and then wandered back out into the sunny city centre.

Some fun was had as we decided what to do next...

John came to the rescue with his knowledge of Birmingham. (Gained through attending Birmingham College of Law for two years! Impressive.) So we ended up at a lovely pub very near the centre called The Old Contemptibles.

It had Aspall cider on tap, was really cosy and well-decorated - what more could you ask for? The name is based on the fact that survivors of World War I later called themselves "The Old Contemptibles" because it was thought that Emperor Wilhelm II referred to the English forces as a "contemptible little army", although actually there's no evidence for this...but it makes a good story!

They had a lot of ales as well, but sadly I am decidedly not a beer drinker!

All in all it was a really wonderful day, and hopefully we can repeat it this year!

Spring 2014: Pastels

So apparently pastels are in again for SS'14 - I don't know who decides these things but I'm not complaining! I love pastel shades and the more there are in the shops, the happier I am - well, sort of, seeing as my budget doesn't stretch to everything I'd love to buy! Here's a list of my top ten pastel buys for this year's sunny spring days (*frantically touches wood*).

1. Topshop - Lipstick in Petal 2. Schuh - Yellow Converse  3. Oasis - Cable Cotton Jumper 4. Accessorize - Oval Rose Bracelet 5. Miss Selfridge - Collarless Neon Zip Coat 6. Cambridge Satchel Company - Peach Pink 13" Satchel 7. Clarks - White Leather Brogues 8. Topshop - Suede Backed Tote Bag 

9. Accessorize - Pink Owl Studs 10. Oasis - Stripe Shirt

I know ten isn't really a pastel shade but I couldn't resist...

Humans of New York

I'm back! For good this time; I'm New Year's resolution-ing that blogging is going to be a regular thing. I missed it like crazy but was a bit nervous to get back on the bandwagon and put out my thoughts and pictures for all to see. Here we go though!

I'm going to start by recommending a blog I just discovered - Humans of New York. If you like things like PostSecret or The Sartorialist, this will be right up your alley. It combines striking, often beautiful photographs of the denizens of New York city with small samples of their thoughts and lives. Some of the snapshots of people's lives are searingly honest and poignant, like this one:

"I was engaged eight years ago, but my fiancee died in Iraq. After that, I promised myself that I’d never be that dependent on someone again. So after I met my husband, I fought marriage for the longest time. But we got married in September. And even though I was rebelling against it, and I always saw it as a meaningless formality, I’ve been surprised. There’s a comfort in knowing that you’re sworn to someone else."

Some make you think, and maybe strike a chord:

"I’m working on my PhD in English, with a focus on poetry."
“So how would you define a good poem?”
“It’s a good poem if I’m a different person when I’m finished reading it.”

And some are just plain funny:

"If you have a beard, it takes longer for people to notice that you don’t have any teeth."

It's so interesting and so addictive that I spent an hour on it earlier without realising - I could barely tear myself away to write this post! Can't wait to buy the book!

All images belong to Brandon Stanton, the genius behind the blog, and the words both belong to him and these glorious people.