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I went to my Grandpa Geoff's funeral on Wednesday. He died of pneumonia a couple of weeks ago. It's very sad but not a surprise; he's had Parkinson's for years, and when he struggled to get over a bout of pneumonia at Christmas, we had a feeling that he wouldn't have long left.

At funerals you always get to learn about the sides of people you never knew when they were alive. I found out that Geoff joined the RAF in the Second World War and went to Norfolk to work as a mechanic on the planes. He was also married three times over the course of his life, and so had a long, extended family that I've only just met.

Personally, I didn't know Geoff until the early 1990s. Technically he was my step-grandpa; he and my nan married when I was about 9 years old and I was one of their bridesmaids. I didn't know what to make of him at first, this strange, new man in my family, but he became my grandpa over the years. I knew him as a very laid-back, quiet sort of a person who never really let anything get him riled up. But as my aunt said, he did have a humorous side, and every now and then, when something amused him, he'd give you a secret, cheeky smile with a twinkle in his eye, as if you were sharing the joke just between the two of you.

Goodbye, Grandpa Geoff. I'll miss you. But I doubt you were very happy or comfortable near the end when your illness got worse so perhaps this was for the best.

Ink came to visit last week, which was a perfect excuse to gad about an Olympic-flavoured London.

We had lots of fun, which apparently means lots of photos on my part. Be warned for a very image-heavy post ahead!

Contents
1. Sherlock
2. Olympics
3. Touristing
4. Modern art
5. Brighton
6. Food
7. AOB

***

1. Sherlock

First there was the obligatory Sherlock sightseeing.

THE LEDGE

St Bart's

Baker Street station

Speedy's. (OMG flat 221B is to let :O)

***

2. Olympics

It was impossible to go around London last week without bumping into the Olympics. We also watched the Olympic Closing Ceremony on Sunday, which was comfortingly mediocre. (Thank God. After the Opening Ceremony, the super-efficient public-transport, and the Team GB medal successes, I was starting to worry that I'd secretly been teleported to a different country.)

Men's marathon swimming in the Serpentine. (There are swimmers in this photo somewhere, I'm sure.)

Men's marathon running by the Museum of London. (There are definitely runners in this photo.)

A view of the Olympic Park from the massive new Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford.

***

3. Touristing

Mandatory photographs of London landmarks were taken.

Apparently it is my aim on this blog to post photographs of the Shard Building from every conceivable angle. I'm sorry, guys (but not sorry enough to stop). The Shard is just so new and thrusting; I love it.

St Paul's Cathedral

Guildhall Wenlock

Sir Wenlock

Olympic flags at Guildhall

Monument Wenlock

The Monument

Tower Bridge, as seen from the Monument.

The Gherkin, as seen from the Monument.

St Paul's, as seen from the Monument.

Tower Bridge, as seen from London Bridge.

Inside the British Museum

Lions in Trafalgar Square

Nelson's hat has got an Olympic torch on it!

***

4. Modern art

Just south of the British Museum, we came across an exhibition by Mr Brainwash. I hadn't heard of the guy before, but apparently he featured in the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop and may or may not be a practical joke played on the world by Banksy.

***

5. Brighton

Last Saturday, we went on a day-trip to Brighton. I've never been to Brighton before, but I was quite taken by how old-school and cheesy it is. Also, the weather was lovely and the train fare was only £10 each for a return! (Even cheaper if, like Ink, you won the £10 back on a slot-machine on the pier. Take that grumpy man on the slot-machine next to us who refused to believe we were over 18. OMG I'm nearing 30 but that still felt like an insult D:)

I introduced Ink to the wonders of a British pebbly beach. Sand? Warm seas? What're those?

It was a bit windy.

Merry-go-round

The pier is so old-school.

Helter-skelter

Random lion

Seagulls swarmed above the pier because there were fish and chips and ice-creams going on up there.

A gorgeous bandstand.

A statue of, um, something.

They also had a live-screen on the beach showing the Olympics. We watched Mo Farah win his second gold and the atmosphere was wonderful.

***

6. Food

A cream tea outside St Paul's.

Ink was determined to try all the British food she could get in the few days she was here. British things we ate included:
- Scotch eggs
- Chunky chips in a pub
- Crumpets
- Cornish pasties
- A pork pie
- Party rings
- English muffins
- Sandwiches with butter on the bread (I seriously had no idea that American's didn't do this. Butter/margarine is as integral to a sandwich as the bread! You guys are crazy.)
- McCoy's crisps
- Jellied eels (I didn't partake of these because I can't get over how revolting they sound.)
- 99s
- A steak and kidney pie
- Fish and chips (They were really mediocre ones. Sorry, Ink.)
- Beans on toast (With Worcestershire Sauce, yum yum.)
- Toad in the hole
- Strawberries and cream
- Rock (From Brighton!)
- Flapjacks (Note to Americans: these are not pancakes.)
- Custard creams
- Chocolate buttons
- Poached eggs on crumpets (Not traditional, but I stole the idea from Eppa because they're so tasty.)
- An Indian takeaway
- A sausage roll

***

7. AOB

We came across this poor little guy in South Kensington.

Pikachu, what's happened to you, man?

A couple of days ago, I received a parcel of birthday presents through the post from Mariya. Thank you! <3

So many lovely things, including some cute Japanese stationery and two pretty necklaces (I'm wearing the apple one right now :D)

Mother's little book of home-baked treats is a cookbook for cakes and other baked desserts. Everything inside it looks really gorgeous. (I wonder why people keep buying me cooking stuff recently? Hahaha.)

I am excited like you wouldn't believe to try and cook something out of this book. Pictures, of course, will be forthcoming when I do :D

Time for more photos of things I've been cooking recently.

On a previous post, Nick astutely pointed out that nearly all of my recipe links come from the same website. Sorry for the lack of variety! I seem to have developed a bit of website loyalty along the way, because I like the large selection of recipes that the Tesco website has. The last thing I want to do is endorse a big company like Tesco though, so I did consider not putting up the links to the recipes. But, I am also using these posts as an aide-memoire of sorts, and it's handy for me to have links to the recipes in case I ever want to cook them again.

So, the links will remain, but they come with a polite notice: there are plenty of other supermarkets out there. Use whichever is most convenient for you. Tesco doesn't need your money.

Onwards!

Warm zucchini and eggplant salad
With the combination of chilli and mustard, this salad was far hotter than I would have liked. The mix of flavours was quite odd too. I wasn't a fan.

Caesar salad with roasted tomatoes
I normally find Caesar salads a bit rich, but this one was actually really nice and not too rich at all.

Cherry poppy seed cake
As you can tell from the picture, I had a little bit of trouble getting this one out of the cake tin! This is pretty much all due to my own incompetence and inexperience when it comes to baking, but I can only learn from my mistakes. The cake itself, while fully cooked, could have done with a little longer in the oven; it was too anaemic and moist to the point of being soggy. The taste was nice though!

Salmon Niçoise with sun-dried tomato dressing
Very tasty. I have come to the conclusion that sun-dried tomatoes can really make a salad dressing sing.

Bengali split pea curry
This has a very mild sort of taste. That may not be how it's meant to taste though, because I swapped out most of the ingredients for approximate things that I already had in my store-cupboard.

Table of Contents

1. Olympics
2. Henry V
3. Birthday shenanigans
4. THE WALL
5. AOB (aka I'm going to talk about the Olympics some more)

***

1. Olympics

IT'S HERE!!!

Oh wait. That's the wrong song. I mean this one. I don't normally like a rap, but I do like this song. It was nice to see the Arctic Monkeys too.

So. Would you believe that I've never seen an Olympic Opening ceremony before? At least not since I can remember anyway. Normally they're on in the middle of the night and things related to sport really don't get me going so I tend to forget to watch them. But, seeing as I live in London, I thought I should probably put some effort in and turn the TV on this time.

It was very enjoyable for the most part. I'm surprised that this country was able to put on a show that was so well done. Haha. And I also discovered that I'm a massive hypocrite because things that are overtly patriotic make me feel kinda uncomfortable, and yet I actually shed tears during the opening ceremony. (I'm a loser, apparently.) Continuing on my hypocritical line, I like the fact that the ceremony wasn't completely 'woo, we're amazing' but also had a note of 'God, we've been bastards for centuries, haven't we?' Yes. Yes we have.

Other highlights included the Queen jumping out of a helicopter with James Bond. In fact, I can hear a helicopter above me now. She must be circling.

I also thought the fireworks were pretty fantastic. Normally I find fireworks a bit of a let down, but these were rather impressive. And. I HEARD THEM FROM MY FLAT. Guys, I heard the fireworks! I don't live anywhere near the Olympic Park but I heard them as a low distant rumbling. I wasn't expecting that at all. It was quite eerie.

The other good thing about the Olympic opening ceremony was that I was able to check my emails, browse the abstracts of some academic papers, shop for ink cartridges online, tidy the fridge and play some online games while it was going on. God, the parade of Olympic teams lasted for a looong time. Good for getting stuff done.

As for actual sport, I've been trying to watch some today, but it's mostly been on the TV in the background while I've not been paying attention at all. If watching the Olympics was an Olympic sport, I don't think I'd be winning any medals any time soon.

***

2. Henry V

I watched the last part of The Hollow Crown trilogy quadrilogy 4ilogy those four shows.

Henry V
(aka Let's have another war with France. You know. For shits and giggles.)

I enjoyed this one more than both parts of Henry IV. But it was still mostly about some boring fighting. And it had none of the style and razzmatazz of Richard II. (The BBC kinda shot themselves in the foot by showing the best adaptation first, I think, because the other three would have been fine if there hadn't been Richard II to compare them to.)

It's been jolly nice to watch some Shakespeare each weekend though. I wouldn't complain if the BBC wanted to do it again.

***

3. Birthday shenanigans

IT'S HERE!!!

No wait. Wrong song again. I mean this one :D I think there's supposed to be an age where you start hating birthdays because it reminds you of how old you are (I turned 28 this week). Idk. I still enjoy getting older. ONE MORE YEAR UNDER MY BELT! Obviously, I haven't reached the birthday-hating age yet.

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! Have a look at my selection of cards.

Shout outs to Nick for sending me a card of a cat dressed as Eminem (top left) and to Linda for sending me a card that's about as 2012 as you can get - a Keep Calm and Carry On, Cath Kidston style, Jubilympic card from Moonpig (top right).

The card I'm going to feature this year though (sorry Nick and Lin) comes from Steve and Heather. Because it was handmade with superb skill and a loving attention to detail.

Thanks, guys. I'm glad you remember that my birthday is in 'approximately July'. Just like I'll be excited to go to your wedding in approximately March :D

In addition to all that, my parents gave me some jolly lovely presents. Here, take a look.

Cooking things. To fuel my current cooking-spree.

Cute things. Including a cat handbag and (I didn't even know this existed before this week) Hello Kitty pasta.

Books! I've read so much good American literature this past year, so I'm really excited to be able to read Huckleberry Finn too. The London book, I thought might be a bit twee, but is actually really interesting. I particularly liked the bit that explained how Westminster Abbey, when it was first built, was situated on an island in a marsh in the middle of nowhere.

***

4. THE WALL

Speaking of historical London, my parents came to visit for my birthday and we went on a walk around London's old defensive wall. I've been wanting to do this walk for years!

It wasn't an easy walk though. Half of the plaques along the route that are supposed to guide you have now disappeared. And the remains of the wall itself only exist in a few places, which are normally hidden and out of the way.

That said, it's fascinating to walk the length of the wall and imagine London how it used to be. (The wall was first built by the Romans and then modified extensively during the middle ages.) It's almost hard to believe that, once upon a time, the entirety of London took up such a small space. Also hard to imagine a time when the world was so dangerous that you had to build a massive wall to protect you from whoever's outside the city.

So, yes. I enjoyed the walk a lot, and it was especially fun to find all the quiet, hidden spots and gardens in the City that you can walk past daily without ever realising they're there.

Looking towards the Tower of London.

Emperor Trajan, chilling by the wall.

To find this part, you had to walk through a hotel car park to get to a small courtyard.

We found some Olympic mascots too. These are marking a special Olympic walk around London, that we just happened to bisect when we were on ours. This mascot is Cockney Wenlock, near Aldgate.

Bishopsgate Wenlock, near, well, Bishopsgate.

In a small garden that used to be a churchyard before the church was demolished, but is now just a green space behind an office block.

A church that's still standing. This one is literally two minutes' walk from the last photo. The concentration of churches within the City is astonishing. Goes to show how many people used to live there.

***

5. AOB (aka I'm going to talk about the Olympics some more)

A little bit of ribbon came with my birthday presents. It's making me feel very Jubilympic so I thought I might practice my 'Go Team GB!' face.

But, guys. If you really want to get into the Olympic spirit. If you really want to feel it. What you need to do is the following:

Once - just once! - per day.
a) Hum this tune.
b) While doing something in slow motion.

It doesn't have to be running. You could be eating breakfast in slow motion. You could be plugging your phone in to charge - in slow motion. You could be taking a dump - in slow motion.

Come on, guys! I know you can do it! This is what the Olympics is all about!

Table of Contents
1. Olympics
2. Damien Hirst exhibition
3. Music at St Paul's Cathedral
4. Gone with the Wind
5. The Hollow Crown (aka Shakespeare on the telly)
6. AOB

***

1. Olympics

Shitttt guysssss. The Olympics start like next week! DDDDDD:

This is all good and really exciting, of course. I got quite giddy when I saw the Olympic rings up on Tower Bridge.

How awesome is that?

But, God, every single day we're bombarded with messages saying 'London is going to get more busy than you can even imagine. Don't bother trying to take public transport. No, don't. Seriously. What? You've got to get to work anyway? You're mad. It won't work. Honestly. You are actually mad.'

Every day my commute to and from work gets slightly more busy. Who knows what's going to happen once the games start, but something tells me it's not going to be pretty.

My commuting options for the Olympics are as follows:
- Chance it on the tube like normal. (Hahaha D:)
- Start work at 6am and so miss the crowds. (Hahaha. No.)
- Walk it at 2hrs each way. (Hahahaha. Oh God.)

Hmmm. Sounds fine.

In other Olympic news, I hope you're watching Twenty Twelve the spoof comedy about the 'Olympic Deliverance Team'. It is hilarious and also scarily realistic.
We are where we are with this and that's never a good place to be.

***

2. Damien Hirst exhibition

The other week, Claire came to visit and we went to an exhibition of some of Damien Hirst's artwork at Tate Modern.

I'm never fully sold on modern art, especially if it involves half an animal in formaldehyde, but I actually enjoyed this exhibition more than I thought I would.

Yes, there were the bits of animals, which were interesting and disgusting in turns.

But there were other parts that I really quite liked. Walking through a room full of live butterflies was magical. It's a bit sad to see the dead butterflies next door, but, God, the artwork made with them was beautiful. (This butterfly picture was actually sold as wallpaper. I kinda really wanted it, but it cost £250 per roll ;_;)

Also, I learnt that Damien Hirst was the director of the music video for Country House by Blur. Well I never!

***

3. Music at St Paul's Cathedral

The next morning, Claire and I toddled down to St Paul's Cathedral. Normally it costs about £15 to look around, but if you go to a service there you can get in for free (minus what you put in the collection plate).

So, even though I'm not religious in the slightest, I found myself sitting in a church service on a Sunday morning. It was hardly a chore though. The service we went to was one of the sung eucharists that they're putting on in the summer. From what I gather, a sung eucharist is like a normal mass, but all the prayers and things are sung rather than said.

So there we were, sitting almost directly under the dome, and listening to the St Paul's Catherdral choir, backed by the City of London Sinfonia, singing Haydn. For free.

It was breathtaking.

(If you ignore the irrational fear I get whenever I'm in a church, which is that someone will realise I'm just in there for the free music, and not for the God stuff, and shout out 'NONBELIEVER D:' in front of the whole congregation. Luckily, no one noticed this time. Phew.)

***

4. Gone with the Wind

Guess what book I've just finished reading!

If you guessed Gone with the Wind (aka 1011 pages of UST, plus something about a war), you'd be correct.

Now, here's where I confess my ignorance. I've never seen the film. I barely knew what it was about. I didn't even know it was based on a book! Shocking, I know.

Well, I still haven't seen the film, but now I've read the book I've realised why both it and the film are so popular. It's a really good story. Yes the writing does stray a little onto the purple side sometimes and, yes, it is also racist in places, but given that it was written nearly 80 years ago, it's (unfortunately) not that surprising.

I honestly wasn't expecting to enjoy the book as much as I did, but it was written really well. The backdrop of Georgia and the American Civil War are described in loving detail; you really feel like you're there when you're reading it. The plot is long, winding, shockingly feminist, and quite satisfying. And the characters, well, they might just be the best part of the whole thing. None of the characters are particularly likeable, but they are all fleshed-out and rounded enough to feel real and make you care about what happens to them.

So, yes. Very well written and enjoyable to read. I was pleasantly surprised.

Since I've finished it, I've started reading the Gormenghast trilogy instead. Very different but no less enjoyable. I'll make sure to ramble about them here when I'm done.

***

5. The Hollow Crown (aka Shakespeare on the telly)

Has anyone else been watching this? It's really nice to see something made for TV that's had so much money thrown at it. If this is what a Cultural Olympiad entails, can we have the Olympics next year as well, please?

I've now seen three of the four plays that they're putting on:

Richard II
(aka King Richard makes a bloody song and dance about everything but wears some gorgeous outfits while doing it)

Henry IV - Parts 1 and 2
(aka Everyone's a dick and Falstaff drinks a lot)

I have to say, Richard II has been my favourite of the three so far. It was just captivating to watch and it looked wonderful too (heavy-handed religious symbolism aside).

Henry IV, on the other hand, only really became interesting in the last half of the second part (if by interesting you mean absolutely heartbreaking). The rest of it was mostly about some boring fighting and, seriously, everyone is a dick in this play. Not that the characters were very likeable in Richard II either, but I cared what happened to them more.

Part of me wonders if this is the plays themselves or the fact that the direction was far more aesthetically pleasing in Richard II. That said, I love the contrast between the two kings and their two courts in the two shows; one is bright and garishly opulent while the other is dark, cold and weary. And it was interesting to see how the show suddenly became lighter and more colourful once Henry V took the crown.

So, who knows what Henry V will be like? I shall wait and see.

***

6. AOB

I've been listening to this playlist recently :D

Hi! I've been busy these past few weeks visiting people and watching Shakespeare on the telly. And I'm going to tell you all about it. At some point.

For now, more food pictures!

Broccoli and courgette quiche
Ahahaha. Bwahahaha. Haha. Ha. You may be able to tell from the photo that this didn't turn out very well. This is mostly because I haven't made pastry in four years (I think my flour was four years old too); it's safe to say that I'm a little rusty. Aside from the pastry disaster, the filling was far too rich and the broccoli managed to be both undercooked and burnt at the same time! Hands down, this is the most horrible thing I've made so far. Well done me.

Bacon, bean and herb salad
The beans and mozzarella were a little bland, but the bacon and the sundried tomatoes added a really nice oomph to balance it out.

Haddock kedgeree
I dislike prawns so I left them out of this recipe. I have to say, I'm not a big fan of smoked fish either, so I found this dish a little smoked-fishy for my liking. It was still really tasty though. I ate it for dinner (blasphemy!) but you I can easily see how eating it for breakfast would really set you up for the day.

New potato salad with green beans
This salad is supposed to be made with broad beans, but I couldn't find any in the supermarket so I improvised instead. You might be able to tell from the photo that this contains a lot of mayonnaise. And, as with all things that contain a lot of mayonnaise (plus bacon) it was really nice. The white wine vinegar and lemon juice meant that the mayonnaise didn't get too rich either.

Beef and cucumber salad
This one looked nicer than it tasted! I think it's down to my own preferences than the recipe though; I found it a little too hot, too sweet, too minty and too peanut-y for my own tastes. This may have something to do with the fact that I didn't add any fish sauce because I couldn't find any. That said, when I made it a second time, I altered the amounts of mint, salt and peanuts, and chopped the chilli a little more finely, and it came out a lot nicer and really quite refreshing.

This cooking game is so much fun :D Things just keep coming out really tasty; it makes me feel all kinds of accomplished.

Normandy pot-roast chicken with apples
This is kinda like a stew, so it's not the prettiest dish but OMG it was seriously seriously tasty. I made it without the cider, so I thought it might lack a little depth and be bland, but it really wasn't. The apples added a slight sweetness, which was set off by the saltiness of the stock and the bacon and oh God. It was good. The meat fell right off the bones too.

Gluten free chocolate fudge brownies
I made these to take into work to celebrate the fact that I've been there for a whole year now. One of my colleagues can't eat gluten, which is why I chose a gluten-free recipe. The texture on these turned out really nice; crunchy on the outside and super soft on the inside. They're really chocolatey too, which isn't surprising, given how much chocolate went into them. My colleagues all seemed to like them and, well, I do too.

Jacket potatoes with Eastern minty yoghurt
Very simple, this one. I don't have a barbecue and I'm lazy, so I did my potato in the microwave. If you do have a barbecue though, I reckon these would go really nicely with a lamb kebab or two.

I told you I had things to talk about other than food. Here they are.

Contents
1. :(
2. :)
3. u_u

***

1. :(

Sad news, guys. My parents' cat, Chloe, died on Monday. It would have been her birthday two days ago. She would have been 18 years old.

That was the last of my parents' pets to go. We got Chloe when I was 10 years old. 10 years old! I've known that cat for far longer than I've not known that cat. I can't say that she was the friendliest cat in the world, but she was family, and it's all a bit sad.

It's for the best though. I went to visit my parents last weekend and you could tell she was really ill. I think it was some sort of bowel cancer in the end. My parents were going to put her to sleep on Monday, but she passed away just before they were about to leave for the vets :(

Bye bye, Chloe. I'll miss you. But at least you're not suffering any more.

***

2. :)

In better news, apparently I have a new pet now. It's made of wood and has travelled all the way from Argentina in a package sent by Mariya on her holidays.

How adorable! It's a coati. Apparently their natural diet is crisps. How funny; that's my natural diet too!

***

3. u_u

The other weekend, I braved an early-morning train to Oxford and went to Blenheim Palace with Susan and Emma.

I've been there before, but only to the gardens (because the weather was so nice that we didn't make it into the house). This time the weather was a bit more miserable so we took in the house as well as the gardens. And how unusual it is to find a stately home that's still owned by the same family that built it, nearly 400 years ago.

We made the most of our entrance fee and spent six hours in the place. (We may or may not have hummed the Downton Abbey theme tune while we were walking around.)

Hello. At some point I'll give you a post full of news and serious stuff.

But for now, have a quick post full of food instead :D

It started with cake baking during the Jubilee, and since then I've had fun playing a game I like to call 'cooking from actual recipes'. Normally, I have a few things that I cook on a regular basis and the rest of the stuff I kinda half-arse and make up depending on how I feel. Using recipes is fun because the food is all new and exciting and I am the type of person that actually finds following an orderly set of tasks to be quite thrilling. Rock and roll, guys. Rock and roll.

Onwards, gratuitous pictures of food!

Summer Berry Sponge
I wanted to bake a Jubilee cake, but I find some cake recipes difficult to stomach because I'm not keen on buttercream. Luckily, I found this nice cake that had a filling and topping made from a mixture of cream cheese, natural yoghurt, maple syrup and vanilla instead. It came out tangy and sweet, and rather patriotic.

Asparagus and Camembert Tarts
Really really tasty, this recipe. I think I have a thing for camembert, because the melted camembert on this tart was to die for.

Salmon and Rice Salad
This was nice, but I found the salmon a little rich. I have a feeling I may have added too much olive oil to my dressing by mistake.

Crushed New Potatoes
Roast potatoes are always lovely and these are no exception. They were so crunchy! Everyone knows that the crunchy bits on roast potatoes are the best bits.

The amount of bunting and union jacks on the streets has grown to fever pitch this week. In case you hadn't heard, this is because there's a jubilee going on.

It is quite exciting though. It's only the second British royal diamond jubilee in the history of ever. I think that says something quite good about life-expectancy rates right now :D

Despite my recent grouching, I've gotten swept up in it as much as anyone. Today, I went to see the Queen's boat pageant along the Thames. Luckily, a friend of a friend of a friend has a flat in Vauxhall with a garden that backs right onto the river. We went there for a barbecue and had a great view of the proceedings (with the added bonus of some jolly lovely food and being able to go inside when the weather turned).

Have some photos:

So many people along the river. And there's Battersea Power Station in the background (my all-time favourite power station).

Onlookers watching the Queen go past.

Photos and flags and jubilant crowds.

Of course, then it had to pour down with rain. Seriously, the weather couldn't have been any worse than it was today, because it was freezing cold as well as wet. Obviously the powers that be decided that the gorgeous, warm, sunny weather we've been having recently just wasn't British enough for the jubilee. Thank goodness for that. I'd hate to have nice weather on a bank holiday; it'd be so unpatriotic!

So, you know how yesterday I was ranting about The Great British Story? I watched the end of the first episode and it is still a combination of interesting and nauseating.

But! Have you seen the website? They've got a page of videos explaining how to start looking for history in the places around you. If you ignore the 'woo Britain' tone in the background, these videos are really quite motivating. (If you can't view the videos, the resources page has a downloadable fact sheet that explains similar stuff.)

While some of the stuff they talk about in the videos is very Britain-centric, the general idea behind them can be applied anywhere. The 'What is History' and 'Putting it all Together' videos are particularly good. The basic concept behind them is this: history isn't just about long dead kings, boring dates and fighting. History is everywhere and can be read in anything and it's all fascinating. Stop and take the time to think about things; wonder why things are the way they are and what they were like before. Why do things have the names they do? Why are roads in those locations? Who lived here before and what sort of people were they?

Some of you are probably familiar with the history of the things around you, and some of you might not have considered it before. If you want a starting point, try on some of these questions for size.

Your house
- When was your house built?
- Who built it?
- Why did they build it there?
- Who was the first person to live in it and what did they do?
- If the building has a name, who named it and why did they choose that name?
- If the building has a number, has it always had that number?
- What was on that plot of land before the building was there?

Your street
- Why does your street have that name?
- When was the street first laid out?
- Why is the street in that location and what was there before it?
- What sort of people lived in your street?
- Has the street grown more or less affluent as the years have gone by?

Your village/town/city
- How old is it?
- Who founded it?
- Why did they found it?
- What does its name mean?
- What were the main trades in the area and how have they changed?
- What are most of the buildings made of and why?
- How has the geography of the area shaped the place?
- Has it increased or decreased in size over the years and by how much?

Your workplace/school
- When was your company/school founded?
- Who started it and why?
- Why does it have that name and has it had previous names in the past?
- How old is the building you work/study in?
- Has the building always been used by your company/school?
- Who built the building and why?
- What was it like for people who used to work/study there?
- What sort of people were they and what did they wear?

Your family
- What does your surname mean?
- Where is your family from?
- Have they moved from another place and why?
- Were your ancestors like you?
- What did your grandparents do?
- How different were their lives when they were your age?

The answers to some of these questions can be found by a google search or by talking to people. For others you might need to dig up reference books from the library or even the original documents themselves. For some, you might just want to try using your imagination.

It may not be possible to answer all the questions, and not all the answers will be pleasant. But, for everyone, the information you discover will be unique and will tell you a lot about why things are the way they are now. I think there's something very exciting about that.

And, of course, once you start looking and questioning, it's hard to stop.

In case you're interested, I've answered some of the above questions for myself. Click 'read more' for the answers.

Full story »

So, I wasn't certain before, but there's no denying it now. Summer has arrived!

Woo! This end of May weather feels like August! It's warm but it's also breezy so it's not too hot. And my flatmate has finally turned off our central heating so I'm not boiling in the flat!

Oh, it's lovely. I seriously picked the right week to take off work. But my brain is so confused with this nice weather. I feel like I should be on holiday or something.

Things I want to be doing right now include:
- Eating chips on the beach with a wooden fork.
- Walking through some fields to look at some Roman ruins.
- Sitting and reading in the garden.
- Relaxing in the beer garden of an old country pub.

Unfortunately, I live nowhere near any beaches, fields, gardens or country pubs :(

But there are some summery things to do in London. Yesterday I went to Kensington Gardens with Deborah and one of her friends and we sat eating ice-cream and people-watching in the sun. Plus, I walked a long way in my new sandals and didn't get any blisters. Score!

Other things I did with Deborah included going to this bar. It's a very cool place. The decor is very retro and they played old-school jazz the whole time. Add to that the bunting on the street outside and it felt like you'd stepped straight back into the late-40s early-50s. The cocktails were cool too; they all came with fun extras, like bottles of pills to empty into the drink or exploding balloons. The one downside is that this place has no idea what to do with people that don't drink. I asked the guy serving us if they sold any non-alcoholic drinks and he looked at me as if I was mad. Not good, guys.

Speaking of bunting, it really is everywhere. It's almost impossible not to buy things that have union jacks printed on them. Even the haribo is patriotic! It's fun and quite retro to get swept up into this jubilympic madness. But, that said, there is something about excess patriotism that makes me feel a little nauseous.

For example, I started watching The Great British Story yesterday. It looks like it will be interesting and I really do like Michael Wood because he's so enthusiastic. Ugh, but the tone of the show was a little grating. No please, do tell me more about how British history is the bestest in the whole world and how we are special and amazing and... ick. Don't get me wrong, I find British history fascinating because I happen to be British myself, but I wouldn't class it as super-special and the best history in all the world. Seriously, take any people from anywhere in the world and their history will be just as fascinating! All history is interesting because all history is about people and people are inherently interesting. The British are not God's gift to the world, and it is precisely that sort of thinking that has made some of our history so unsavoury.

So, Michael Wood, I like you. I do. But can we tone down the patriotism a little? In fact, that goes to the whole country. We're not all in the BNP. Restrain yourselves.

Moving on...

Do you remember how I said I went shopping earlier in the week? Every year I seem to go shopping as soon as the nice weather appears and I buy loads of summer clothes that I then hardly ever wear because the weather quickly turns horrible and stays that way until winter :( Every year! You'd think I'd learn.

Ah well, it's still sunny at the moment, so it's still fine. Here are a couple of the outfits I got (all from New Look and H&M because their stuff is so cheap!)

Summer dress!

I like to call this one 'I AM NOT A LIBRARIAN'. (I love that cardigan. It's got rabbits on it!)

Lots of girly, flouncy stuff this time around. I honestly need to stop reading so many blogs dedicated to various girly Japanese fashions D:

Alright guys, that's it for today. I've got to go cook a pie.

Hi!

This is a quick post, to get me to blog things.

Contents:
1. My week
2. A plug
3. Some food
4. A game

***

1. My week

My week has been interesting in a few ways:
- I've had the last few days off work. It was great at the beginning but now I'm getting a bit bored. Whoops.
- I ordered a free Graze box because my Mum had a voucher. I haven't eaten anything from my box yet, but I did try a few things from my Mum's and they are tasty. A bit overpriced for a handful of snacks though. If you're in the UK and fancy a free trial box, let me know and I'll send you a code to use on the website (which may or may not work, since I cancelled my account after I got my free box because I am cheap like that.)
- I went shopping today and bought loads of clothes. Expect tedious photographs of outfits later.
- It's really hot. And we still have the heating on in the flat. Dear flatmate in charge of the heating: sort it out please!
- Oxford Street looks like someone's pissed bunting and union jacks all over it. It's almost like there's a massive national celebration coming up or something. No idea what that could be. Anyone? Maybe the Queen has opened a mug factory and that's why the shops are selling loads with her face on?

***

2. A plug

Check out Mariya on Pinterest! She posts some very pretty things.

I'm still not quite sure what pinterest is for. It is definitely pretty though. Given the speed with which I normally make social media accounts, I'll probably join pinterest in five years' time or so.

***

3. Some food

So I went to visit some friends and apparently, all I did was take photos of food.

First I went to see Theresa and Colin and their new baby person, Rosie! Rosie is very cute and she enjoyed the present I gave her (or rather, she enjoyed the carrier bag I'd brought it in), but I pretty much feel about babies the same way I feel about pinterest. They're new and confusing and a bit scary and I'm not quite sure what they're for, even though other people seem to like them. I always tend to find kids a bit more cute when they're old enough to talk to you. The good thing about babies though is that you can just stare at them and they'll stare right back. Take that adult eye-contact social conventions!

So, while I was visiting Rosie and her folks, Theresa and I went out to the cinema. And Theresa was very glad to actually go out and do something that didn't involve a screaming child for a while. We went to Cinema City in Norwich, which Theresa described as a more 'adult' cinema. Then she explained that by 'adult' she meant 'a bit more sophisticated than your normal Odeon' not, you know. Which is good really, because the film we saw only had one sex scene, so if this had been the other type of adult cinema, I would have wanted my money back!

Anyway, the important thing is that this cinema is in a fantastic building! Parts of it date back to the 14th century. Not normal cinema fare at all! Also we had dinner there, in a lovely wood-panelled room, and the bread came in a tiny bread tin. It was adorable. And tasty.

The week after that, I went out for a meal with my ex-colleagues from my old job. It was nice to see them all again, but the best part was when Chris ordered a 500g beef burger.

Here it is, hidden by chips. And, good God, it was huge in the flesh. 500g, guys. That's half a kilo of beef!

What was more astonishing was that Chris ate it all in the time it took us to eat our normal-people meals. Then he got free desert and almost managed to eat all of that too. He got a round of applause at the end of it.

***

4. A game

I am really really really late on this one. But I have just finished playing Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

I think it's a superb game. Everything about it is very well done. It looks like it's had a lot of money thrown at it (which explains why it's so expensive).

The puzzles were challenging and fun. And the music and character design were gorgeous. The best bits, though, were the animations throughout the game. They were an actual joy to watch. The only bad parts were the accents!

If you want to know more about the game, why not watch this handy summary (warning: may not contain actual in-game footage).

I spent this weekend at my cousin Jack's wedding. We didn't go to the actual ceremony, which was a very small affair, but we were invited to the large family dinner and dancing the day afterwards.

The most exciting part of the whole thing was the wedding cake. Here's a photo of it:

OMG. Look at it! That's no ordinary cake! It's cheese! It's cheese in the shape of a cake! (I want to call it a cheesecake! But it's not made of cheesecake! It's just made of cheese! Cake-shaped cheese!)

I think I may be very uncultured here, but I've never seen anything like it before :O

Now, I do like me some cheeses. Unfortunately, I don't like blue cheese, and the blue cheeses in this cake were so strong that all the other cheeses got tainted by it. Even the brie :(

That doesn't matter though. Look at it! Go on!

***

Janine enjoys historical things

In other news: I tend to consume historical-type stuff on a very frequent basis. Here are a couple of my recent favourites.

Meet the Romans with Mary Beard
Right. First I come clean.

The thing is: Roman stuff bores me. My parents go crazy over it but I've never managed to muster up the interest.

I think I have realised why. All the Roman stuff you come across here in the UK is either small country villas, military barracks, or if you're lucky, a bath house. And once you've seen one, it almost feels like you've seen it all. Oh look, underfloor heating. Woo :| Half of a mosiac :| :| This random lump in the grass used to be a temple :| :| :|

The UK was very much an outpost and you get the feeling that things were slightly cobbled together by the Romano-British people trying to live it up all posh like the Romans while actually living somewhere very far away and widely unimportant.

But! This show by Mary Beard! It's not about your everyday British Romans at all. It's about Rome! And not just about politics either but about the everyday lives of normal Roman people, living in the hustle and bustle of the largest city in the world (and there were a million people in that city, guys. That's huge for its time.)

Turns out, Romans in Rome are bloody exciting! The picture she paints is not of an orderly city but of a massive, rambling place that's filthy and noisy and alive, growing almost organically, and far closer to a shambolic medieval city than to the wide, spacious, clean cities of today.

I've got one more episode left to watch. I'm going to watch it with this expression :DDDD

And then I'm going to wish I can go back to Rome on holiday at some point because it is so pretty and so old and the ice-cream is so good.

The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
I didn't mean to read this book, guys. I didn't plan it. What happened was that sneaky Amazon sent me one of those 'You bought this and other people that bought this also bought this other thing, and we thought that if you liked that then you might like this other thing go on buy it go on go on' emails. I fell for it like a kipper. The title looked interesting, so I clicked through to the Amazon page, and then I read the extensive preview chapter, and then I realised that I wouldn't be able to live without this book in my life so I bought the ebook immediately and consumed it over the course of one weekend.

What's good about this book is exactly what's good about the Roman programme I've just talked about, only better. It's about everyday life in medieval England and what it would be like to live there. But not only that; it's written in a very vivid way. The author goes out of his way to describe things with a level of detail that is normally only reserved for fiction. You end up almost feeling like you're there.

From where to stay and what to wear and where to go and what to eat, this book pretends that you are going to visit medieval England and basically tells you what to expect when you arrive.

Let me give you an excerpt:

"It is the cathedral which you will see first. As you journey along the road you come to a break in the trees and there it is, massive and magnificent, cresting the hilltop in the morning sun. Despite the wooden scaffolding at its west end, the long 80ft high, pointed lead roof, with its flying buttresses and colossal towers, is simply the wonder of the region. It is hundreds of times bigger than every other building around it, and dwarfs the stone walls which surround the city. The hundreds of houses appear tiny, all at chaotic angles, and of different shades and hues, as if they were so many stones at the bottom of a stream flowing around the great boulder of the cathedral. The thirty churches - though their low stumpy towers stand out from the mass of roofs - seem humble by comparison."

For a weekend, I was almost there.

If you like history and you like medieval stuff, then go check out the preview pages on Amazon. Go on go on go on. It's fascinating.

The same author has written a similar book about Elizabethan England, which I will doubtless read at some point, but I know less about medieval stuff so I decided to pick up this one first :D