Catching Balloons

It’s 2003, at two-thirty on a Wednesday afternoon in a Church of England Primary School in West Burnley, Lancashire, and roughly sixty pupils about the age of ten make their way to the school hall, bare footed and each wearing expressions of extreme embarrassment and torture. They wait outside in the corridor, neatly in a two-by-two line, until their teachers call them inside, expecting them to sit in single file within the two lines along the edge of the floor. The pupils of Padiham Green are here for their weekly lesson in Country Dancing.  

To this day I have no idea why my school forced us to endure this torment. They never explained it to us. They never asked us whether we wanted to participate in this excruciating activity. We just had to suffer it. Personally, I think it was part of a Ying-Yang aspect to being the oldest in the school. In my school, as you moved through the years, there was an anticipation and excitement for Year Five and Six because it meant you were able to go to PGL - an adventure weekend where you can canoe, horse-ride, abseil, shoot, quad-bike, and generally just enjoy being parent-free. In fact, it was a myth at PGL that the letters meant “Parents Get Lost”. They didn’t. Nonetheless the entire school was so eager to reach the top two years to have this magical weekend, that I feel the teachers needed a Yang to its Ying. So they invented Country Dancing lessons.

Unfortunately having teachers who were all reaching retirement age, it would seem they forgot that they were forcing a group of children into a socially difficult situation when all were about to enter into the horrible stage of puberty. Some, like me, had already entered it! Therefore, forcing said children to hold hands, to dance together, to be in some ways intimate with each other, seems completely ridiculous and evil to me. I don’t think they thought things through properly either. Maybe they just thought it was funny to watch the pain in the young chubby girl’s eyes as she was last to be picked to dance. In a school full of strong female teachers, we still conformed to the sexist male-dominated tradition of the girls being chosen by the boys. However, one afternoon I remember clearly the teachers decided to ‘mix it up a bit’ and allowed us girls to chose a male partner. This, shockingly, made for even more embarrassment. I couldn’t chose my crush, could I? Everyone would know that I thought he was cute! The boys were snapped up quickly by their female friends, but thankfully I was sitting closest to my good reliable friend Corey, and so I plonked myself next to him giving him no chance to object. Thanks Corey! Another girl didn’t have the same luck as me, and eventually there was only one boy left. He was a year older than us and he was not happy about being partnered with a younger girl. I’m sure he wouldn’t object now! He had anger issues though and was often putting a dent in a wall about something.

Now, I can understand the teachers were attempting to create a Jane Austen style ball or country dance but my memories of these lessons were more of a heaped mess of grumpy, embarrassed children skipping in circles whilst barely touching their partner in case everybody thought they were too ‘in’ to each other and too ‘in’ to the dancing. All I can remember of the dancing was skipping around my classmates as we all tried not to catch each others’ eyes, full well knowing how stupid we looked. We knew when we turned it was likely we would walk head first into one another. We anticipated that we would leave the hall with a few bruises. I think once there was even a bloody nose. None of us were going to ever be professional dancers. None of us wanted to be professional Country Dancers that was for sure. Do they even have professional Country Dancers?

At work today it was Bring Lewis' Driving License to Work Day!!!! This is how we spent our day together:

We arrived at work at about 11:45 and headed down the alley to get to the offices.

Here, Lewis' Driving License rang the doorbell and waited. It took a while for them to answer because they were all upstairs. However, Judith came and she also gave us the key to get in next time!

We popped on our lanyard and grabbed our radio and headed up to the Huntroyd Room to begin our day stewarding together! Excited!

I told Lewis' Driving License to read up about the Huntroyd Room so he could talk to the visitors. He was a little nervous.

We checked our appearance and touched up our make-up in the old mirror before any visitors arrived. Lewis' Driving License wanted to look his best!

Lewis' Driving License decided to watch the visitors from the overmantle.

We went to sit outside to enjoy our lunch because it was such a sunny day!

I wanted to read my book but Lewis' Driving License kept distracting me! Grrr.

Lewis' Driving License got a little bored after dinner and so decided to play Hide and Seek. Can you spot him?

Lewis' Driving License disappeared for a while, and I found him trying out the bath in the Dressing Room.

He also decided that he had to try out the beds in the rooms! But I didn't let him try the four-poster in the Huntroyd Room since it's so delicate!

We then posed together in the mirror since we thought we were looking good today!

During our break Lewis' Driving License sat in front of the fan to cool down. He hogged it so much I didn't get much of a chance to cool myself!

Lewis' Driving License couldn't resist sitting of the swivelling piano stool. Such a child!

This is Lewis' Driving License looking really smug after we managed to free 2 butterflies which had flown into the Huntroyd Room. We managed it without breaking anything!

Here, Lewis' Driving License is peeping over the second floor balcony to see how many visitors were left in the hall. It was getting towards the end of the day and we were looking forward to going home!

Hello! I’m Beth and I blog over at tinkerbellandthelostgirls.blogspot.co.uk  when Hannah asked me to write a guest post, I was super eager and jumped on the opportunity instantly.

I have decided that since Hannah is a bit of a stationary queen, I would share my notebook collection. I am not going to share with you all of my notebooks, just the ones that are currently in use and help me to organise my life. Each of my notebooks has its own purpose and pen, not a single one overlaps with each other otherwise there would be trouble!

Blogging

Blogging requires a lot of organising, and so I have 3 notebooks for this.

I use my zebra print notebook and green pen, for writing up any blog posts while not near my laptop or when I want a break from my computer screen but wish to continue blogging. I bought this notebook in Tesco earlier in the year, and I think I paid £2.50 for it.

My owl notebook is home to my vlogging ideas, I’ve recently decided to dabble in the world of YouTube and so this requires an additional notebook because it is not the same as blogging. I only recently picked this up in Wilkinsons and it’s an exercise book rather than a notebook but at £1 I just couldn’t leave it on the shelf. I use my brown pen with this notebook because I think they match perfectly.

My little pink notebook is kept in my handbag so that I have somewhere to jot down any ideas I may have while out and about, or on my lunch at work. I often find that ideas come when I have nowhere to make note of them so now I’m always prepared. The pen I use for this notebook is my One Direction pen, because I think the pair of them together sum me up quite well. I bought my notebook last summer for about £2 in Tesco.

Lists and Aims

I am planning on doing two ’52 in a year’ challenges, which means that I require two notebooks so that I can make note of what my 52 are and write mini reviews. The notes I make in these will most likely end up on my blog.

The Minnie Mouse notebook is home to my 52 books in a year challenge, I plan on coming up with a list of 25 books which I would like to read, and then I will leave the other 27 spaces blank so that I can add books as they are either recommended, or jump into my basket at the supermarket. I easily have more than enough unread books on my book case, but I feel that it would be too restricting to limit myself to those books for a year. I bought my Minnie Mouse notebook many moons ago, I have a feeling it may possibly have been from WH Smiths, and obviously it couldn’t be paired with anything other than a red pen.

My fox notebook will be used to document my 52 films in a year challenge, there are a large number of films which people tell me I must see, and so I am going to take it upon myself to watch a number of them. I also want to repurchase and watch a lot of Disney movies that I remember owning on video as a child. This notebook is from the same range as my owl notebook in Wilkinsons, again for £1.

Please let me know of any films or books that are must haves!

Church

My Butterfly notebook is used for taking down notes at church meetings, I can attend quite a number in a month and I find it much easier to have one designated place to turn to. I can leave with a number of jobs to do and so this ensures that I get them done, and it also helps when people ask what was talked about at a meeting if they missed it. I have another One Direction pen which I use with this notebook, mainly to add a little fun into the meetings. I bought this notebook from Tesco again, and I think it was half price for £1.25.

The Things I Love notebook is used for planning children’s and young people’s work that I carry out in church. I like to plan every last detail, and so rather than it just saying this is what we’ll do, it’s planned out in time intervals, to make sure that everything that needs to be done gets done within the timescale we have. I was given this as a gift from Santa in my stocking but I believe it is from Sainsbury’s, I use a gorgeous blue bird print pen with this notebook.

Organising

The Bird Print is actually a Filofax which I picked up in Paperchase a few weeks ago and is my diary rather than a notebook, but I think it’s essential to add because it keeps me organised. It helps to know where I need to be and at what time, it also means I don’t double book myself and if I do then I have time to change things. I think I paid £11.50 for this in the sale and I also picked up a pack of matching pens, I use the purple pen with this, the blue pen I mentioned above is from this set.

My purple notebook was originally bought as a blogging notebook, but I found that it wasn’t as comfortable to write in because I didn’t want to break the spine, and blogging requires a lot of writing. I am now putting it into use as a notebook helping me to organise myself in regards to degrees I would like to study come 14/15 and also which universities are available that not only offer the course I want to do but also accept the course I’m studying for 13/14. I bought this in Sainsbury’s for about £2.25 in a half price sale, and to be all matchy matchy I use a purple pen.

As you can see I own a decent number of notebooks that I put to use, I always in that if they don’t look nice then I struggle to use them, they’re just not enjoyable. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing some of the notebooks I use and also how I put them to use. If you want to see how I organise my blog in more detail then please do let me know because I may do a post about it on my own blog!

There are some places in the British Isles that are stunning but it takes you a moment to sit down and look around before you fully acknowledge and realise this beauty. It’s a theatrical beauty obscured by an audience’s familiarity. Haworth is one of these places, and today I went for an afternoon there with a old friend, Beth, for a bit of light shopping in the vintage shops, to eat some lunch in a delightful English tearoom, and possibly have some ice cream whilst sitting on the steps outside the church.

Historical Haworth is a single cobbled street petering on the edge of the moorland between Lancashire and Yorkshire and we decided to start at the bottom and meander upwards whilst gandering into the along the way, giving us a moment to breathe since the hill is rather steep.

In one of the first shops we went into I discovered this stunning battered and bruised piano. It looked like it really needed a hug and for someone to love it, whether it’ll ever play again or not.

Further up we then wandered into a shop which immediately caught my eye to the cuteness of what was inside. I really wanted to treat myself to one of these animal money boxes but I think they were for babies. They were only £4 but I was hoping to save my money for something vintage.

  Then in the same shop I saw this ceramic Tardis-shaped money box and I had to walk away because I really wanted to purchase it for my friend, but then decided that he has more than enough Tardis-shaped things. Plus, everyone else buys him Doctor Who related items.

However, Beth discovered these puppets and her love for them was obvious from the start. I’m surprised she didn’t end up buying one, or the finger puppets we saw later in another shop.

Finally we found a vintage clothing shop. Inside I was immediately drawn to the fake pearls, but decided I would refrain from buying more jewellery for now. Upstairs we discovered rails of vintage style fashion, including some fetching male hats which I of course had to try on. Unfortunately they didn’t fit my enormous head.

I’m really disappointed that I don’t have my own house, because I like to think these classic phones would be an asset to own.

At the top of Haworth, just opposite the Church and the infamous pub where Most Haunted visited, there is an old Apothecary which now sells stunning soaps, make up, sweets, and now clothing! I found this incredible polkadot dress that I was dying to buy, but then I saw the £100 price tag and I nearly did die.

However, I was so tempted by some fabulously frilly knickers, which were more in my price range. I love pretty knickers! So, so much! And these were very pretty knickers.  However some of them would probably be a little obvious under most of my clothes. Shocked to say this but perhaps a little too frilly for me.

But then I saw these umbrellas and I nearly had a heart attack. I’m being rather OTT in this blog post. I apologise but I really adore umbrellas, particularly this style. I own two at the moment, and I’m sure I’ll acquire more in my lifetime.

We decided to eat lunch in a café situated halfway down the cobbled road, choosing to sit outside and take advantage of the sunshine. I ordered a goat’s cheese, rocket salad, with sunblush tomatoes on a chiabatta, whilst Beth ordered the Soup of the Day. The staff were lovely, especially the chef who popped out to hand Beth a cloth when she slopped a little soup on herself.

After dinner we wandered up towards the Church where the famous sisters’ father was the Parson, and then explored the gift shop attached to the Parsonage. The shop disappointed me. When I went in there as a child there seemed to be a lot more available. I was looking forward to seeing the proper quills with dipping ink, but they didn’t have any this time. They had some cheaper versions, which just weren’t as good. However, then we decided to treat ourselves to an ice cream and had a stroll around the park at the foot of the town. It was lovely to just sit down and catch up with an old friend I haven’t seen in a good few years!

I'm sick of letting little things upset me. The slightest thing can really get me down and it's about time that I take a stand. But it's okay for me to now say that I don't want to be sad but soon I'm leaving the country and going to live, almost, all by myself in a city I've never been to. And that scares me. So, when I get to my new apartment in Italy, the first thing I want to do is create a Wall of Happy Things. I'm going to put up lots of things that make me happy and let the wall grow. For it to start though I need things to put up that first day I arrive. Here I ask my friends and everyone I care about to write something, or draw something, or even just take a stupid photo of your face, and send them to me so I will have something to look at when I'm feeling sad, or scared, or a little homesick and you will make me feel happy and will give me strength when I'm in most need.

Yours,

It took me all afternoon creating this banner for my About page on my blog. I've had this idea for ages not but never thought I'd manage to make it look good! Never did I think I'd be able to create a cartoon version of myself that I actually liked! And yet here it is and I do like it. I like it a lot. I'm actually very proud of myself.

At first I sketched out the idea and showed it to a friend. He liked it, so I went ahead. Then I scanned it, uploaded it to a Photoshop site because I don't have Photoshop on my laptop. I took my time because I really wanted to be proud of it. And here it is! I didn't want to make it too complex, just wanted it to be simple and nice. Still not too sure on the colours of the text but for now it'll work.