Tuesday 30 December 2014

Christmas Day 2014

Hello everyone out there!

As Christmas has now come and gone (how did that happen so quickly!?) I thought I'd write a post about what I did for Christmas alongside a few photographs that I took on Christmas day.
 My mum woke my sister and I up around 9:30 am on Christmas morning , who knows when we finally would have gotten up had no one woken us. 

The beach on Christmas morning
As a family, we spent a couple of hours that morning opening presents that we each had received. I received some really wonderful presents that I shall truly treasure- thank-you to all my lovely friends and family who kindly gave me a gift! 
 After eating breakfast we got dressed and my Dad, sister and I went out for a walk along the beach to enjoy the fresh air. It was a cold and crisp morning so my much loved companion; my hot water bottle (which is like a magnet to me in the winter months) came along too! The heat from it helps to ease my knee pain when we're out and about, particularly in the winter months.

 We arrived back home where my mum was preparing our Christmas dinner. This year we all had decided that rather than having a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, that instead we'd have a buffet with a range of different foods so that everyone could help ourselves to whatever they pleased. At Christmas we often feel that sitting down to a big three course dinner in the afternoon isn't the best of ideas as we usually feel quite full-particularly when you munch your way through some chocolates in the morning! 

The buffet
 There was a bunch of foods such as: chicken pakora, rice, sausage rolls, a selection of meats, potatoes, breadsticks, vegetables and dips, garlic bread and lots more-there's too many to list! And for dessert there was homemade chocolate cheesecake.
 My Grandparents arrived in the afternoon and we exchanged gifts with them before tucking into our lovely buffet-our Christmas dinner. We then spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out watching films on the television. It's lovely to be able to sit down, relax and not need to rush around like you do on any other day of the year. It felt like complete and utter bliss!

Oh Christmas Tree....
 
 Our Christmas day came to an end with us calling my lovely Aunty who lives in New Zealand to have a catch up with her. I'm so grateful that there are such things as telephones and the internet; without that it would be extremely difficult to keep in touch. I miss both my aunt and my cousin dearly and wish that we all could spend Christmas together....maybe one day!

 As I bring this post to an end I want to say that I hope that you all had a special Christmas this year! I send you all my best wishes for 2015 and hope that it will be good one for each and everyone of you!

Lots of Love,
Robyn x
 

Thursday 25 December 2014

Preparing for Christmas Festivities


I can't quite believe how quickly this month has flown by! It feels like not so long ago we were enjoying the sunshine in the midst of summer and all of a sudden Christmas has arrived. During the couple of weeks I have been pretty busy preparing for the festivities so with that in mind I thought I'd share with you all what I've been up to.
Just over a week ago we visited our local theatre to see this year's Christmas pantomime which they have chosen to do a production of "Beauty and The Beast". I'm unsure whether pantomimes are performed worldwide or just here in the UK. For anyone who has not heard of a pantomime; here is a brief explanation. Basically, it is a re-enactment of a classic fairy-tale such as Cinderella or Jack and The Beanstalk the plot is usually filled with popular songs and jokes relevant to today's society. A pantomime also involves a lot of audience participation so being an audience member means you never know what to expect.
A few years ago our town's little theatre was closed due to the lack of funding to renovate and maintain the building. It was devastating to see the theatre close, it was the heart of the town and was sorely missed by each and everyone of us. Fortunately, enough money was raised to begin some of the much needed renovations and the theatre was eventually reopened to the public in December 2012! Everyone was delighted to see it open again and has been well supported by theatregoers ever since.
The pantomime is always held during the months of December-January and is most definitely the highlight of the year in the theatre's programme. I personally, had never seen "Beauty and the Beast" as a pantomime before and thoroughly enjoyed the show. The hilarious cast had every member of the audience in heaps of laughter-it was certainly a great start to the festive season!

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Last Monday my lovely friend and I visited our local Sainsbury's store to wrap Christmas presents for charity. We'd visited the week before and made a start on the wrapping. However, we soon realised that we wouldn't be able to work our way through the entire three trolleys full of gifts. We decided that we both would come in a second day to complete our duties as Santa's elves! So we did just that.
The gifts are donated to a range of different charities who give these gifts to people (children in particular) who would wake up to nothing on Christmas morning. I find it really devastating that unfortunately there are people out there who have nothing but it's so lovely to think that these gifts that are given to them will put a big smile on their faces.
My friend and I both enjoy wrapping presents so we had a good old time working our way through the gifts. It was a good way to improve on my present wrapping skills-although I think I still have a long way to go before I perfect that skill! There is of course no forgetting that it was also nice to have a good old chat whilst in the process of doing so!

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Over the week I've also enjoyed some Christmas festivities such as baking red velvet cupcakes to give to friends who visited us at different stages last week. I confess that I somehow managed to cover myself (and the kitchen) in icing sugar-yet again! It's all part of the fun of it though! 
Apart from that Mum and I have enjoyed working our way through a selection of Christmas movies that were aired on television throughout the past few weeks. In my opinion we recon that the best ones are televised on Channel 5, they're proper feel good movies. Definitely worth checking them out if you have a few hours to spare and since it's Christmas you can't forget a mince pie or in my case a slice of chocolate yule log-mmmm!

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Finally, my week finished off with a visit to the theatre (in Glasgow this time) to see Saturday Night Fever the Musical. Saturday Night Fever was absolutely brilliant! You can't help but dancing in your seat and tapping your feet to those catchy tunes. You just can't help but love the Bee Gees' music!
 I must admit whilst at any show I like to pay attention to the smaller details as strange as that may sound. I've had a couple of backstage tours in theatres which was so interesting as I had the opportunity to see what happens behind the scenes. I have such a fascination with the sets, the costumes, the orchestra etc. It's so interesting to learn about everything that goes into putting on these popular productions. I don't think I realised how much hard work and effort goes on behind the scenes to put on the flawless performances that we see on the stage.
The music was great too! In this particular production rather than having an actual orchestra members of the cast played the live music which was wonderful to watch. There was a keyboard player and drummer who played in an orchestra like tradition. But the rest of the music was performed by the cast on stage which in my opinion was an excellent idea. As I am currently learning to play bass guitar, I spent a lot of time during the show focusing on the bass players to see the techniques they use whilst playing as I pick up on the techniques that they use helping me to improve on my playing.  

This will probably be my final post prior to Christmas so with that in mind I wish each and everyone of you out there a Very Merry Christmas!

Lots of Love, Peace and Best Wishes,
Robyn x


Tuesday 2 December 2014

Meeting James Bowen & Bob the Cat!

A few days ago I was very fortunate to meet one of my favourite authors James Bowen and his gorgeous ginger tom cat Bob. I first heard about them whilst watching the British Animal Honours in early 2013, their story was incredible and I almost immediately purchased a copy of their book "A Street Cat Named Bob". From the very first page I was hooked - I couldn't put the book down! Before long a sequel "The World According to Bob" was released, which I enjoyed just as much as I had with the first. Recently, a new book in the series "A Gift from Bob" was released.
The series of books tells the story of James' life as a recovering drug addict, busker and big issue seller. One day James returns home to his flat in London and finds a little tom cat sitting outside a neighbour's door, the cat appeared to have an abscess on his leg. Realising that the cat had no home, James took the little cat in and nursed him back to health. Ever since Bob and James have been inseparable. Their bond is a special one; it is truly amazing to read their heart warming and inspiring story about their journey together over the years since they first met in 2007.
Having spent so much time in London over the years I could visage everywhere that James mentions in the book. My mum remembers walking through Covent Garden a few years ago and noticing James and Bob in the distance. Unfortunately, we didn't get the opportunity to speak to them as I had just had surgery and wasn't feeling so good- I think we were in a rush to get back to the hotel or hospital so that I could rest. But as you could probably imagine; it was so lovely to finally meet them both at their signing in Glasgow.
We arrived just over an hour before the signing was due to begin - we had previously heard that their signings are extremely busy and the Glasgow one was definitely no exception! Fortunately, we had arrived early enough to avoid queuing outside in cold winter's day that it had turned out to be. There apparently was a long line of people spanning right up the street all waiting to meet James and Bob. The queue inside was also quite long and had a few twist and turns throughout the store. Waiting in the queue was however, a pleasant experience, we met and chatted with some of the loveliest people. I always enjoy attending events such as signings and concerts as I've met some really nice people over the years.
The Waterstones' staff were extremely helpful and kept everyone up to date with everything that was happening. The staff even had a big box of Cadbury's heroes which was passed round the queue to keep everyone going as they waited. A big issue seller was also invited into the store to sell copies of the magazine to those who were waiting. It was lovely to see the such tremendous support towards the seller. The big issue vendor was such a nice man and it was wonderful to hear his enthusiasm and excitement towards how far James and Bob have come over the years.
An announcement was made by staff that people with mobility issues (such as wheelchair users like myself), children and elderly people would be able to stand at the side near the signing table so that we could be taken first to have our books signed. I am so grateful that this happened as it made things so much easier for me. Of course I would have been more than happy to wait in the queue however, this helped avoid extra pain/exhaustion that I could have potentially experienced due to waiting in a long queue. Sometimes the smallest of things can be a challenge but I must commend how well this was organised!
James arrived at half past 12 with Bob perched on his shoulders, just like I had seen in videos of them on both YouTube and television. They got setup at the table, had a few photographs taken and made sure Bob was comfortable sitting in his chair. Then I was called up to the table to have my books signed!
It was such an exciting moment for me-I'd been hoping that they would soon visit Scotland and at last they were here!
 Bob has to be one of the most gorgeous cats I've ever seen, he has big green eye that inquisitively watched as he took in his new surroundings. He was wearing one of his scarfs that people they'd met over years had kindly knitted for him. In this instance the scarf he was wearing had white and purple stripes and I'm pretty sure it had 'Bob' knitted on it too.
James kindly signed my copy of his new book "A Gift From Bob". He even printed Bob's paw print on the book (as you can see in the picture above) using a stamp-how cool was that?!
The queue being so busy meant that time was limited meeting each person, so it was a pretty quick in and back out again. However, it was definitely worth it and was so wonderful to see so many people turn up to the signing! I'm delighted I got to meet them both and hope that James and Bob come back up to Scotland for future signings!