Act Two: Watershed

Two posts in a day? 

For one of our modules, we have to complete a 10 page script which could potentially be made into a film - how amazing would that be? This is along with a treatment (story synopsis, tag/log line and character profiles) 

The other seminar, we had to produce a scene which involved dialogue and I chose to write a part of my screenplay where it would be the watershed - the end of act two and moving into act three. It's basically about a prosecuting lawyer, Andrew - who has been set the task to prosecute his ex-wife - Jennifer. He later realises that the defendant lawyer is his best friend, Paul so he aims to discover why Paul is working so hard to cover up Jennifer's case - and this is the scene that Andrew hears what actually happened. 

INT - COURTHOUSE SIDE ROOM - DAY

PAUL and JENNIFER rush quickly into the side room and slam the door to, but not fully shut. ANDREW follows quietly behind them and inches the door slightly ajar so he can hear their conversation. He pulls out his tape recorder from his jean back pocket and proceeds to press play.

PAUL

Jen, will ya fuckin' listen to me for once
in your pathetic life!?

JENNIFER

Don't talk to me like I'm a kid, Paul. You're

fine arent'cha? You're the big cheese lawyer

pretendin' to the court! Are you on trial,
Paul? No, I am. 

PAUL

I'm not losing my job over some stupid

and unsatisfactory one night stand. I'm

saving my own skin.

Silence fills the room and ANDREW inches the door more open so he could see both PAUL and JENNIFER. PAUL is pacing the room in a panic and JENNIFER is sat on an office chair with her head in her hands.

JENNIFER

You weren't saying that, Paul when we were 

sleeping together behind Andrew's back. You 

weren't saying that when I told you that I was

pregnant, and Paul, you weren't saying

that when you smashed my boyfriends

skull in, were you? So don't fuckin' tell

me it was a pointless one night stand. I'm having

your fucking child.

PAUL

That shit is not my child, and did you stop me, Jen?

Did you? You loved every second of watching

me kill that bastard. Did you intervene? Cry out 'Stop'?

No. So take a fucking look in the mirror, love. 

ANDREW watches as PAUL sits down on a chair and pulls out his mobile whilst JENNIFER is sat in tears, holding her baby bump. ANDREW's phone begins to ring and they both look to see where the noise came from - JENNIFER jumps out of the chair and rushes toward the door to close it, but ANDREW has already fled down the corridor - holding the evidence that will incriminate his best friend. 

Jobs, jobs, jobs

I feel like I'm going to blow away to Oz and join Dorothy and friends. I'm also surprised that my wheelie bins haven't been blown half way down the street (they've just fallen over)

I'm writing this after just completing a piece of coursework of, 'a graduate reflective report' - talking about two of your career options. Now, it's at this time of the year where all graduate positions are coming out and you really have to think about... what do you actually want to do?

Now within careers week - our adviser told us to just think about the next few years, the job you may get isn't necessarily the one that you'll stay in for the rest of your life - there's options, opportunities.

Being an upcoming graduate of English and Creative Writing - there's so many different job opportunities (obviously not the science/engineering based ones - unless you're a proofreader/marketing team etc) but positions usually want someone with excellent communication skills, creative energy and great team working skills with signs of leadership - all of this with no select degree!

You really do have to look. I'm looking into going for marketing or merchandising/buying - and all of these take any degree subjects - you just have to have the skills that they're looking for. I applied for merchandising and buying the other day and had to thoroughly research what the difference is between off-price merchandising/buying compared to full-price retailing. Now, obviously this isn't the subject I have taken, but as long as you're willing to put in the time and effort to research the company - you'll be fine.

It will all pay off in the end (hopefully)

Third Year of University (It's hell)

I have previously written about what I expected from third year at university and what other third years had said about it. Now as I'm finally mid-way through my first semester of final year, I can safely tell you that the rumors are true.

Dissertation preparation is a go-ahead with meetings with advisers, references are being written down in academic log-books and books are being attacked with sticky notes. It's the last, huge part of university so I have to take as much time to prepare for actually writing my 10,000 word dissertation. There's not only the main body of the dissertation, it's the literature review preparation and coursework - you have to compare your selected topic with other academics that have written about similar pieces of academia.

Stress.

Even further on top of this is existing coursework from different modules. My current modules for first semester are; Corpus Stylistics (stress), screenwriting, skills modules, and my dissertation help advantage. Now, the most stressful of these is corpus stylistics - the up and coming linguistic devices to examine large quantities of text and compare with others. It's scientific in a way, bringing English and some science in with one, to make language seem a bit more interesting.

What I can say for any second years that will be making the transition next September, is read. Make academic journals (write down all of the references you want to use and reference them ready to go straight into your essay/dissertation) Get ahead of the game, ahead of your coursework so then you can focus more of your time on writing a well-structured essay and you never know, higher marks! Everything you do now is going to that final degree classification, make everything count - don't be lazy!

When you come out of university - of course you want to have a job! This is where my university is excellent in helping you out. We have a select career two weeks where we focus on CV writing, cover letter writing and putting you in psychometric test centers (most graduate jobs ask for you to complete one - revise it! There's logistical test, numeracy and literacy testing - me and maths don't mix, hence why I do English, so revise!) Also, putting you in group interview situations and to give miniature presentations, which again - is what you'll have to do in a real graduate test center. Make sure you work on your communication techniques, your presentation techniques - you need to get over the fear of presenting in front of people.

I'm looking for graduate jobs/schemes at the moment, and it is extremely time consuming. Each job you apply for, you have to cater and change you CV/cover letter to their requirements and needs for the select position. It shows when you haven't put much time and effort into your application - research the company! Now, for my video interview that I had - I revised questions that would likely appear and research within that along with writing down the key points. When these questions came up, I was able to look at my already planned out answers which was a huge help.

All I can say is be organised. Be prepared for non-stop work for your final year, of course make time for a social life - it's not nice being a recluse all of the time! But get it done, get it done before the time limit so there's less stress, Yet, enjoy it! Enjoy your final year as much as possible.

Egypt - Sharm el Sheikh

Coming back from my Egyptian holiday, I realised that I hadn't actually wrote about it yet! It's been three weeks now since I returned back to the UK and completely forgot to make a blog, so here goes!

Our flight was scheduled for half one, UK time and would arrive in Sharm at around nine pm, their time (only one hour ahead). My hand luggage miraculously fit onto the plane and there were no delays - brilliant! (I say my hand luggage miraculously fit, as it was about the size of a normal suitcase... just with books in it, shh.) After five and a half hours on the flight, we finally made it to Egypt - after indulging in some plane food... mixed boxes of Mediterranean snacks. 38 degrees hit you smack bang in the face when you stepped off the plane onto the shuttle bus. After getting our passports checked, we waited for our luggage - which took about half an hour as they seemed to have forgotten about out plane! Then, moving onto the other shuttle bus to take us to our hotel - The Aurora Oriental Resort.

On arrival, the staff were all extremely friendly, taking our bags, helping us check in and take you to your room. They informed us that they loved the British people... but hated some nationalities! Unpacking our suitcases for the 10 nights ahead - we received a ground floor room with an outside seating area, comfy queen sized bed and a very spacious room! As it was around ten pm and we had only just arrived - we decided to explore some of the grounds.

It was around 500m to the beach, but all of the grounds to get to this area were all gorgeous green gardens. Not what I was expecting when we started walking! It was so quiet and peaceful with benches scattered around, along with bridges (good photo op) to make the place feel special. Coming back inside - we decided to make the most of our all inclusive wristband and order a few cocktails! Now, in Egypt (along with most European countries and probably African too) they don't measure how much alcohol they put into the glass, so most of the time - I was slightly tipsy from one vodka and coke!

In the morning, we set out early to put our towels down and get some breakfast - little did we know that our phones had set two hours forward and not one. So going down at 8am when it was actually 7am (no wonder it was so quiet). We found this out when we went to meet our rep at 10am... it was actually 9am at this point - but we figured it out and booked some excursion with our rep, who was in fact lovely and not pushy in the slightest. An glass bottomed boat had been booked along with a desert safari!

Most of the days were spent lying by the pool where we managed to grab the same spot every day because it was so quiet! Crossword, word searches and reading were done by the plenty - along with hundreds of dips into the pool and sunbathing going on. Before lunch, the pool bar opened for drinks and pastries/ice cream if you got peckish in the late morning as lunch wasn't until 1pm. Lunch was either served at the pool bar - hamburgers, hot dogs, salads etc... and then inside where they did a wider selection which was varied everyday - always lovely, along with the waiters.

In the evening, we would usually arrive at 'our' sofa at about half five as the sun goes down at around half four. We would sit with our cocktails and watch the world go by! Most nights there was either a violinist or a guitarist that would be situated next to our sofa and they were both extremely skilled in what they do. Going down for dinner, it would be around half eight as we wanted to let the initial 'arrive on time at 7pmers' eat and leave so there wouldn't be a queue for each counter. There was a wide selection every night - outside there were various BBQ'ed meats and fish and inside there were various breads, salads, soups, pastas, curry, side dishes - something that would fit everyone's tastes. One night we did actually venture out to Hard Rock Cafe which was £20 for boys, £14 for girls (sexist I know) but it was for all inclusive drinks and we had an awesome time! Met some lovely people, danced to some good songs and drank with an amazing atmosphere. I regretted it highly in the morning... and most of the day after.

After dinner (continuing the cocktails) the animation team would usually put on a show, so there was a karaoke night (in which we denied to enter many times as we made friends with some of the animation team). Other nights they would be dancing and putting on a show in the amphitheater or there was a cultural night also, different each night which was entertaining.

Our first excursion was the glass bottomed boat... which was incredibly hot! There were so many different fish and coral to see with the sea being so blue! There was a guy on board who would inform us of the various fish names and the certain types of coral. One coral - a fan coral (looks like a fan) could give you third degree burns if you touched it! That's one good defense mechanism. For the way back we were able to sit at the top deck of the boat with a soft drink. The views were amazing and it was so much nicer to be able to sit outside in the shade with the breeze from the boat.

Our second excursion was a desert safari. First of all, we all got a quad bike (made sure we could handle them properly) and then rode to our first destination of the camel ride. We were on the quads for a good half an hour and my thumb hurt from pressing down the accelerator, but it was good fun and went quite quickly over the sand! Of course, mine decided to break down when everyone slowed down for some bumps so then I was stuck at the back. Along the way there were some spectacular views of the mountains in the desert and the sun was going down which made it look even more beautiful. Parking our quads in a line, we made our way over to a Bedouin tent to sit in and wait for our camel ride. Mine was no hassle, but my boyfriends camel really did not want to move and was grunting and making strange noises for the whole 15 minute ride. The camel owners even stopped us all and took our phones to take pictures of us - which of course we tipped for. After, we got back on our quads and rode around to the actual Bedouin tents for the show and food they were putting on for us. Firstly, we stargazed and saw the moon and Saturn in the high-tech telescopes which was quite cool - Saturn look like a polo with the inside still in it! Secondly, we sat in our designated section in the area and watched the show of African dancing, traditional dance and fire show in which I got pulled up onto the stage to dance with them all. The food was lovely afterward, even going up for seconds! Finishing the show, we hopped back onto our quads and rode back to the camp (in the pitch black) so our headlights were on and you had to try not to lose people as you would probably get lost straight away! It was exciting heading back in the dark and everyone was riding much quicker so it was much more exhilarating.

We visited the beach twice - the sand was a bit stony and of course hot if you didn't have your flip flops on! But there were plenty of sunbeds with palm shelters and you got given towels with your towel cards. The sea was like bath water, along with hundreds of fish that swam next to you and one tried to nibble my boyfriends toes! Plus standing on a flat fish... which wasn't a nice feeling. It was crystal clear and you could walk for ages with it just staying mid thigh height. We figured out also that there was a pool bar where you could have lunch, and they did the most amazing Greek salad with the feta just melting in your mouth - top verdict from me!

The plane back was sleep time. My huge hand luggage got accepted free of charge to be taken on as normal luggage... which was incredibly handy. So we got a huge slice of pizza and made our way back to the UK - boo, hiss.

I had the most lovely time and I would love to go back again, holiday blues have kicked in already!

Manchester and Blackpool

The weekend just passed, a few of us travelled up North to Manchester and then along to Blackpool. The reasoning behind this? A drunken ticket booking for Fall Out Boy.

Before traveling... of course you have to buy lot's of sweets for the car (it's a three hour drive, it's allowed) even though hardly any of it was eaten! We eventually reached our destination of the Travelodge which is right next to the Manchester Arena (handy). Checking in, and getting ready - we walked to the Arndale shopping centre for food. Having to be quick before the concert, we decided on Nandos... looking to the left - there stood Professor Green who were supporting Fall Out Boy that night... not that I recognised him straight away, but the others did.

We arrived at Manchester arena for half six and the acts began at half seven(ish) - Matt and Kim, Professor Green and another band that I can't remember the name of (good aren't I) supported. Eating my chocolate fondue with strawberries and marshmallows - Fall Out Boy came on and rocked the stage for an hour and a half. It's the same with every concert - your throat feels like it has razors in it after the show ends... and you're half deaf at the same time. Some people were getting into it, with the head bouncing and dance moves... let's not forget the mosh pits that were happening in the standing section! I wouldn't survive in that area. Finishing at eleven, we headed back to the hotel and had a few drinks in the bar along with cheesy pizza and garlic bread.

The next morning, we had a quick shop around Manchester for the boys - Jack Wills and Hollister and a bagel nash for breakfast (they are bagel heaven) along with some perfume hunting for us girls. Shoving the bags into the boot, we made our way up to Blackpool.

When we reached the promenade it was full of illumination traffic... and we still hadn't booked an overnight hotel. Parking up for an hour and a half, we walked along the promenade to South Pier and had a stroll across the beach (writing our names in the sand, stereotypical but cute) Now, as we hadn't booked a hotel initially... we had come to the time where we had to book one unless we wanted to sleep in the car! Not ideal. So, we booked a hotel that looked like a castle - being four star, we thought it would be up to standard... it really wasn't.

Checking in and heading to our room, you could tell that the place needed a bit of a pick me up - floorboards squeaking and paint coming off the walls. Our room was right next to the staircase so we could hear anyone that came up or down them! The room was tired, needed a paint, a new carpet, new furniture... a new everything! So it was a good job we would only be in the room for sleeping. Our 'sea view' consisted of scaffolding in front of it too! I guess four star hotels are different by the coast... maybe. Everyone else seemed to like it though.

The other problem with this last minute hotel, was that it was two miles from Blackpool's centre. There was a long walk ahead, but we made it eventually and booked tickets to see the Blackpool tower circus... which was amazing. There were a few times that I had a near heart attack from people almost falling off tight ropes whilst skipping or up in the air on a circular contraption almost falling 30ft to the floor. All in all though, amazing and we all enjoyed the experience.

As soon as we exited the tower there were people dressed in white outfits and playing the drums - being illuminated by them and held a drum show on the promenade. Their faces were pretty scary though when they came up to you! Heading along the promenade, we bought some fish and chips and started our long walk back to the hotel - but this time, the illuminations were alight so it was pretty. We even were able to walk through the 'walk through' illuminations and got some pictures posing with certain characters.

The Sunday - we checked out early (thank god) and parked along the promenade, had a McDonalds breakfast and headed off into the centre for the day. We spent some two p's in Coral Island (a huge slot machine place) spent some pennies on South pier on a darts game and then ate a steak burger on the beach.

I'm glad that we had such nice weather as it's horrible when it rains the whole time. Growing up in this place... it was nice to return and have a touristy day and a half in a place I loved with the people I love.

Ullesthorpe Court - Spa day and afternoon tea

Every once in a while, it's nice to do something relaxing and different for a change. So, three of us decided to book a 'leisure day' at Ullesthorpe Court, in the East Midlands (UK) whilst the boys went off to play paintball.

We were greeted by friendly staff who showed us to a seat and fetched an elderflower spritzer for each of us. The presentation was lovely - jam jar drinks, pink straw, slice of lemon and then mint to decorate - served on a wooden plate. I'd never had an elderflower drink before, but I came to the conclusion that I did in fact like it (took a few sips to figure that one out) After we finished these, we headed upstairs to the changing rooms.

As it was quite a small leisure centre, there was only one small room to change in and two showers, but luckily there weren't many other people around. Opening our designated lockers, we were met with a white robe, slippers, bottled water, two towels and a complimentary sample of face cream. Nice touch.

Heading down stairs and into the pool, we found that there wasn't many places to sit - it was still the morning and people who stayed in the hotel could use the facilities up until a certain time (kids everywhere) so, we hung our robes up and stayed either in the Jacuzzi, steam room or sauna - not complaining about that! After everyone left, it was bliss. Extremely quiet with no screaming children in the pool (they weren't allowed in the other areas) so after lunch, we sat and read our magazines/books to relax some more.

For lunch, as it was busy at the time, we were seated on a table outside. The waiters look after you so much more if you were paying for the leisure day and not just coming from the hotel - which was nice. I ordered the bacon and cheese panini, chips and a side of garlic bread - it came with crisps and a salad, also. To make matters better, we only got charged for the panini and not the sides and drink! Winner.

As we sat reading our books after lunch, I got called up to have my back massage. The woman was lovely and had such a calming, soft voice. It was my first experience in receiving a professional back massage and I loved it (would happily have them every week) The music was playing gently in the background and she began to start the procedure. First, it was a back scrub which was then wiped off to be covered in oil to massage. After, there was a back mask (face mask basically, for your back) which was wiped off with a hot towel. But whilst it was on, she gave a heavenly scalp massage - which turned my hair into a mane! I loved it.

After all of us received the procedure, it was time to get changed and ready for our afternoon tea. So, we paid - the day should have been £39.95, but with lunch was £45 each. Bargain! We were lead into the hotels dining area and greeted with a tier of sandwiches, cakes and scones with strawberry jam - and of course, two huge mugs of tea! Unfortunately, we couldn't finish it all, but there was such a huge variety to choose from and well worth the money.

I would highly recommend visiting here again, just not when the kids are off school making it noisy in the mornings.

Circumstance (Story Opening #1)

I like doing story openings so;



Sunrise. The dawn of a new day sickened me; life, in general - sickened me. I did not want to see the outside world, let alone the happiness that radiated from it. The happiness that dismissed me from its grasp, to be shadowed by continuous storm clouds.

Newspapers covered my windows, planks of wood were dotted in areas where the sun was most radiant. The walls and floor were the same. Highlighted rings around faces and stories were the focus of my miserable existence. I had to find the man... or woman, that did this to my son.

My son murdered when he was five. My wife left me after the trial, blamed me;
'You should have done more' Her cry whimpered.
I couldn't have done more. There was no physical, possible way I could have.

Not when the circumstances were out of my control. I was completely and utterly hopeless.

What I expect from third year at university.

Okay, so the last two years at university has flown by, now I'm moving into my third and final year. Scary stuff. Before getting into university, they said that it would fly by... and it has. But, this blog post is about what I expect from my final year.

Walking around the campus or meeting people on nights out from third year, they tell you that it's hell. Piles of coursework and don't forget the dissertation (or portfolios). I'm used to the coursework and I'm now planning my dissertation, but you then realise that this is the last chance to get some good marks. Personally, I'm aiming for my 2:1 and that would make me over the moon, it seemed like in first year I got my top marks... but that year doesn't count. So, this year - I'm going to try my best and more to achieve my best possible grade.

Now, I'm not going to inform you what my dissertation title is - it's still a working progress (plus, I don't want anyone to steal it) (ha) but, I think I'm going to be very interested in it. It mainly studies stylistics (I do English by the way) and the classic book of Grimms Fairytales that I'm really excited to read and start analysing it. Yes, this is a last minute change to my other title - it still involved stylistics, but I'll enjoy this more.

As it's the final year, you want to make it a memorable one. Meaning, I hope there'll be time to go out and socialise. Of course there is always the house parties once in a while, so I think they'll make a come back... especially when all coursework and exams are over and we're free! (until you start to worry about no one hiring you) (argh)

The subjects I'll be taking for my final year are; voices of the American West - for my literature module and stylistics for my language module. Alongside these are the dissertation module and the dissertation advantage (extra module for credits) to help you write the actual thing. Then, there are my creative writing modules which are screenwriting and scripts. All, I'm really excited for!

What I've learn from second and first year is:
Coffee.

London 5th August

For many of you that are viewing this in countries other than the UK... you may think that us British go to London a lot, if we don't live there. In a matter of fact, I had only visited London three times before this recent visit - all from 18-20. Last time, we saw all of the touristy sites - Buckingham Palace, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus etc (all on foot, no tube involved) but, this time - we wanted to make it a relaxed, fun day.

Hopping onto the train at Birmingham New Street in the 9am hours, it's always a hassle thinking whether or not you're going to get a seat. We were lucky this time, but there were many people standing (school holidays) (completely forgot about that) meaning... London was going to bustlingly busy.

Arriving at Euston station and doing the quick march over to the ticket machine and gate, we made our way down to Madame Tussauds. I hadn't been here in a while, so I thought it would be quite fun to visit for a few hours. But, no. The queue was about a couple of hours long - so that put an end to that idea. Plus, the Kelloggs 'buy one adult get one free' vouchers supposedly didn't work in August, so I'm rather glad we moved along to get the tube to the museums, instead of paying £66.

Okay, so the real reason I wanted to go to London was to visit the national history museum. But could we get in? No. The queue, again, was ridiculous - so we made our way to the science museum, which was a walk in, no fuss museum. Personally, it wasn't my thing. There were too many interactive boards and computers which felt like I was involved in a science lesson at school. For kids, though - it would be amazing for them to learn all various things and to see planes, cars, engines etc.

Feeling like we were not going to do anything we actually wanted to do in London, we caught the tube down to Westminster and walked (very slowly) across the bridge... avoiding people taking photos of Big Ben in the centre of the footpath. The cars also avoiding people stood in the middle of the road, thinking that they were models. There was London Dungeons to see and Sea Life as an extra thing. So, before that - we found some food at a quaint little Italian restaurant.

Starting with the tomato and basil soup, with crusty bread and the main being a meat, cheesy lasagne - it was a lovely meal. We hadn't eaten all morning, so I was ready to eat whatever! Oliver had the Caesar salad to start (lot's of the dressing on which makes lettuce taste so much better) and then a hot pizza for his main. For lunch, this all came to around £25, including drinks - so I think that was a good price!

Making a move, we ventured to the dungeons to see what the queue was like - low and behold... there wasn't one! You walk in, go to the counter and they give you tickets for the next available show time, 16:45. We had two hours to kill, so we made our way into Sea Life.

There was a small queue for this and it wasn't too busy inside. What's the point in going to see some fish and sharks if there's crowds of people in the way? I always like Sea Life, my favourite being the turtles and penguins. Yes, they have penguins at this one - it made my day! It took around an hour to get through and we bought our picture at the end, which is a must on touristy days to places like this.

Another hour to kill, we walked down to Canary Wharf and watched the buskers do all sorts of things. One was playing 'Let it Go' continuously on his electric recorder, one was doing some sort of magic trick and the other was doing some magic tricks. Time goes rather quickly when you're sat watching the world go by.

The time had come to return to the London Dungeons. I had been told that it was really good, and they were right! I was expecting more actors to jump out at you and a few time we had to go into the rooms first, but it was extremely well acted and a good show! Some bits made me jump, there's special effects in the chairs and sounds, then the actors - no matter how many times they had to repeat the same thing for each show - kept it fresh and exciting. Of course, we bought the photos at the end. They were too funny not to keep! You have one taken when you arrive, one person on the stocks, the other holding an axe and then you have one at the end on a ride that drops, drop dead. Our faces were hilarious and everyone else's looked shocked.

It was around 6 when we exited and it was time to start heading back and search for food. We made our way, on foot (as there was a tube strike) up to Regent Street to look in Hollister and then found Garfunkels restaurant. Realising the time when we sat down, we did have to rush our food and there was no time for pudding! But what we did have was some good grub. I had the ham and pineapple pizza - it came with proper ham in huge chunks and the pineapple was so fresh, along with a glass of rose. Oliver had half a chicken with BBQ sauce and onion rings/fries and a cider. I would highly recommend, the staff were ever so friendly, greeting us with 'here is a nice romantic table for to, look - it even has a candle.'

We had to speed walk back to St Pancreas in 45 minutes and we made it! We even managed to get a seat on the train. Walking around London is always so tiring but it was an amazing day and I can't wait to go back nearer Christmas time for Hyde Park!

The Malmaison, Birmingham

For your anniversary, you want to stay somewhere nice, relaxed and somewhat romantic. We found just that place at the Malmaison hotel in Birmingham. There's many of this hotel scattered around the country, but from where we wanted to get the train to London the following morning, this location was perfect - just a five minute walk to Birmingham New Street station.

The hotel was reasonably priced for the room that you will be accommodating - we paid £85 for the night to stay in the 'Mal Club' room, which included; a queen sized bed, mini bar, snacks and goodies, your own dressing gown, sky on the television and a huge bathroom. Make sure you check the prices regularly as after we booked, the price rocketed to £175 for the night... for the same room.

Entering the building, it's extremely well kept and looks high end. The staff greeting us were friendly and accommodating, which is what any customer service should be like - greeted with a smile. After getting directions to our room on the fifth floor, we made our way there.

The room was excellent, spacious and inviting. Seeing a queen sized bed was great - realising you can both starfish all night without bothering the other! It was comfortable, not like some beds that are lumpy or you can feel the springs digging in, along with a super soft blanket (I now would like one) The décor was classy and different, which is what drew me to this hotel room - as it's not like any others that I've seen before. There was (fake) wooden panels up the walls, along with a grey and black patterned carpet and lights that were unique and gave a lovely atmosphere. Of course, no room is complete without a television to have as background noise... or in this case - to watch forty minutes of live cricket as it came with sky sports - a good one for all of you men. Be careful when you walk in and see this stash of goodies on the side, as our room didn't have a price list - I googled and found out before anything was consumed. Each item is around £3 a pop, including 'proper corn', fancy crisps, nuts and various chocolate or breakfast bars. This is the same for the mini-bar which contained some vodka cranberry cans,
a small bottle of champagne, beer, water and coke. Again, reasonably priced with the cans of coke at £2 (which is what you'd expect from a hotel mini-bar. Believe it or not, there was a dolce gusto coffee machine which was free to use and sadly I didn't get to test it out - so I'll stick with my tassimo machine. The thing I found amusing about the bathroom, is that there were toilet roll holders on both sides - perfect for any left or right handers! There was freebie shower gel, along with shampoo and conditioner which smelt divine. For all of you that like/need to iron, there was an iron, along with a separate kettle and coffee/tea bags for those that didn't want to use the dolce gusto machine... and a complimentary biscuit. Towels were provided (which is always useful) along with a heated towel rail for those that want to keep the warmth after a shower or bath. Don't forget the dressing gowns!

As we arrived later on (around 8pm) check in is usually 3pm and check out, 12pm - or if you stay in the Mal Club room or any higher, it's 1pm. So, we wanted some food and didn't really want to move. Plus we presumed most of the people in the bar or restaurant would be in suits. We weren't dressed for that! Room service it was, we ordered; Thai chicken lollipops (£8.5), battered king prawns, calamari and courgette (£8), a selection of bread with oil/balsamic vinegar (£3.5), hand cut pommes frites (£4) and onion rings (£4) and they were all beautiful. My favourite was the Thai lollipops, the sauce the chicken was coated in was to die for. I can well and truly say that I was ready to pop afterwards.

All in all, I would definitely stay in The Malmaison hotel again and make full use of the free facilities, such as the gym and spa. But of course, keep checking the prices so you're not met with a £175 per night bill instead of what we paid of £85.

Highly recommend.

French France

I haven't blogged for a while again! So, I thought I'd write about my recent holiday to France.

When you think about France, you think about the stereotypical things about it - the same with people who stereotype England with tea and posh speaking citizens. Garlic, stripy t-shirts, croissants... baguettes. I know all too well about baguettes and I don't want to see one for a while! Most breakfasts, lunches and dinners including a baguette or bread of some sort. I must have put on a stone with all of the carbs! I'm going to see if it makes a difference by not eating it for a while.

Apart from the 14 hour car journey and the 4 hour ferry journey, the rest was a good holiday! I hate the travelling part, you just want to arrive at your destination already. The weather was lovely every day - which is what you would expect from the south of France. It would sometimes start cloudy, but after that - the blue skies and sunshine would appear, blasting heat. The highest it got up to was around 35 degrees, I don't know how I'm going to survive when I travel to Egypt in September!

We travelled to the beach for a few days, which was around a five minute drive from the campsite that we stayed at, Le Tedey. The waves were perfect for boogie boarders and surfers - of course, you can tell the ones that surfed... the stereotypical surfer. The only problem with the ocean, was that it was freezing cold. As it's on the Atlantic coast, I guess you would expect that - but I had a shock when I dipped my toes in for the first time! Eventually, I managed to go all of the way in and turned into an ice cube.

Le Tedey was situated on a lake. This was perfect if you didn't want to go in the car that day and the water was a lovely temperature to dip into. There were many windsurfing and sailing across, along with the occasional jet skier. We ventured onto a catamaran across the lake to an island where we had a small, but appetising lunch on the beach. The French man tried very hard to speak English, I felt quite sorry for him! An activity that we also went onto was a pedalo, we were allowed an hour out on the lake and I could tell that I really needed to do some more leg work as they ached the next day. Of course, all positives have downsides - the downside for the lake beach was the amount of pine needles all of the way along, which stuck into your feet.

What I am surprised about and jealous that England don't do the same selection of Carte D'or ice cream as France do! I know it's French, but the variety was huge! My liking was toward the salted caramel, crème brulee and mint. Having this most days, I'm still not bored of ice cream. I am going to miss my daily orangina though. Oh, and the weather - getting back into the UK... it's raining, as per.

Let's see how long it takes for my tan to fade.

Start of the Costa Diaries

Haven't posted on here for a while! But, I've started a journal that I've kept with me throughout day to day life... And when I'm bored, or there's something interesting to write about - I write.
So, because I've been working quite a few days a week, I've been costa a fair few times so I thought I'd start this thing called the 'something diaries' so wherever I have sat and wrote, it can contribute toward that... Like the 'costa diaries', something silly like that.

I have a couple of days worth of costa stories, so I may as well begin here;

I'm sat in Costa. It seems to be my usual ritual before work at the moment. Getting here half hour earlier than planned has it's perks. Vanilla latte with a banana and pecan breakfast loaf, or occasionally a white chocolate and raspberry muffin. (No this isn't an advertising for Costa) For once, it's not too busy - usually you have to fight your way to a table and I always feel bad if I sit at a four seater when it's just me. Always looking like a loner, especially when writing in this journal. Today, I thought was going to like any usually day... But no. Today is the day I decided to sneeze with a mouthful of latte in my mouth, resulting in a waterfall effect over the table. Luckily, I was behind the counter where it's out of the way.. So I'm hoping nobody saw. Still incredibly embarrassing, so thank god for napkins! What can I say? I'm smooth.
 It's the following day, same routine - yet today, I've not had any food. I always think that a barista would be a fun job to do, always on the move, always busy and always talking to customers - I like that. It's like when I work at the shop, I love the serving part and wrapping of gifts... It keeps you occupied. There's a chubby baby in here with her grandad. This is why I love people watching, you can come across some interesting and funny characters! This baby is looking at me, smiling and then puts her head down and scowls at the floor. I must look funny or something. Random stranger smiling at her, weirdo.

Final Opening; Secrets

Finally decided on my opening short paragraph after writing the first 800 words today! The short story will be called 'Secrets'

She didn’t allow herself one final look back before she stepped onto the train; Caitlin Potts knew that she would burst into tears if she did. The train was London bound, 200 miles from Manchester which was the city she grew up in, fell in love in… and found out that her mother was still alive in.

Bowling & Cocktails

I'm going to do a few posts in one from my previous week, including and Ed's Diner woman date, a curry house date, bowling and cocktail night!

So, last Tuesday - I met up with a friend for a catch up! We had a walk around Leicester's shops and then had some bacon cheese fries and milkshakes from Ed's Diner. I had strawberry and my friend had Oreo (she's allergic to strawberry so that wouldn't be good) and it was delicious. I've tried a few times making bacon cheese fries, but with proper cheese and not the plastic cheese which wad used at Ed's which I don't think I prefer! The waiter was hilarious and very chatty, a lot of the time me and my friend forgot what we were saying as he was just coming up with random conversation! Which, is nice occasionally but, not all of the time. So, to be nice - I left a tip, I would feel bad if I didn't as he tried so hard, bless him.
On the Wednesday evening, my boyfriend and I went bowling. He thinks he won, but really - I did (I didn't have the sides up at all. *cough*) I hadn't been bowling for quite a while before this session, so I was a bit rusty and seem to not be able to throw the ball in a straight line - it always veers off to the side! The first ball that Olly went to throw ended up flying backwards (something you'd see on the movies) this would be super awkward if it was a first date! But it was hilarious. Then afterwards, we ventured into the arcade with a remaining five pounds to try our luck on the grabbers and air hockey... I lost on this. I seem to like potting my own put!
Friday evening, we went to a curry house! I always have korma it seems, as I don't trust how spicy a Jalfrezi is... which, I'm glad I didn't go for, it was super spicy. But nothing beats a few poppadoms with the dips, a curry and a nan bread - along with a few vodka cokes.
Saturday evening, we decided to have a cocktail night! We drink quite a few Saturdays, but we decided to make this one more fancy, if you can with alcohol. A few friends came over to have a few with us, along with pizza. We had a whole collection of alcohol and juices to create basically any cocktail (apart from ones involving tequila) but most of them we could create. I have come to the conclusion though, that I do not like grapefruit juice.

Driving Lessons!

Well, I haven't blogged in a few weeks, so - I thought I'd do one about my most recent driving lessons. So far I have only had two (one booked for next week) and I am thoroughly enjoying it.
Being at university, I never really gave a thought to starting them in first year. Now, it's coming to the end of second year - I realise I will have to be able to drive by the end of my third year so I can get to a job that hopefully comes up! (cross fingers)
Having a lovely teacher helps as well, who also asks theory questions to push me further and really easy to talk to and ask questions - which you'd hope any driving instructor would be able to do.
My first lesson I was in a different car to my second lesson, each with different clutch bite points; which came quick to learn. I am now in a DS3! Learning the clutch and gears was easy enough - I just have to remember to take my foot off of the accelerator when changing the gears (which I found out a couple of occasions)
I was taken a long a few dual carriage ways and roundabouts, along with junctions and windy roads. Roundabouts were nerve wracking as I have to be on the ball with accelerating quickly changing the gears and also looking where I am going - but, I managed it. I also hate the fact you have to thread the wheel, I find it much easier crossing my arms over, yet, I'm going to have to remember to thread. Luckily, when I was at junctions on my second lesson - there wasn't many cars around and the same on the roundabouts! I bet it won't be like that next time.
It's exciting to be learning!