Buckingham Live

This afternoon was the live broadcast for this week's Buckingham News. Buckingham News being, The University of Buckingham's bulletin, which they do each week on a Friday at 5pm.

Watching the bulletin go live, was a thrilling experience. whilst everyone was silent, all you could hear in the background was the anchor's voice, and what was being read of the Qstarter. This experience enforced my appreciation towards those who participate in live broadcasts. I have also decided that I would love to learn how to use the tricastor and the Q starter.

The broadcast ran incredibly smoothly as did everything else. Hopefully in the next term I will get to learn these pieces of technology.

Please watch our University's bulletin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlEA1fcArs0

NYC weather breaking into England

Days like today remind me of why I like England. The sun is out and beaming on my face, whilst there is a nice little breeze coming through the air. I am the type of girl who likes her heat and sunbathing, however I am one for winter as well. When I say winter though, I mean the nice days in winter, for instance today. I am not one for rain and gale force winds.

Days like today remind me of my trip to New York. New York’s weather was very cold, but the sun was beaming down. Even though the tall buildings would get in the way of it, once you were in the spotlight it was like your own personal heater.

New York was a fantastic place to go and visit. Once I stepped out of the airport I instantly felt like I was stepping into a film set. There were tonnes of yellow taxis. All the people were so friendly and some of the buildings were spectacular. It seemed to have mixed the old with modern.

I went in January, when all the Christmas decorations were still up. It was stunning, not only were there particular areas that had decorations up, but buildings were lit up with Christmas lighting, creating such a magical place. 

A place I would definitely recommend visiting is Times Square. It was truly a magnificent part of New York. With so many shops in the area, it was completely lit up with lots of different coloured lighting. TV screens were all around you advertising many products. Also everywhere you looked, there were people dressed in costumes: Minnie Mouse, Elmo, Cinderella, Batman and so many other characters. Street performers were set up as well, either doing magic tricks, dancing or just entertaining the audience.

The highlight of this trip for me was going up the Empire State building. It really did complete my experience. I went up it alone at midnight and I didn't come down until about 1 in the morning as I was so mesmerised by the city. This trip was definitely an experience I will never forget.

Back into Ballroom

After going to ballroom classes once a week for four years, having a year’s break was actually quite difficult. I didn’t realise how much I enjoyed it until I suddenly had to give it up.

I had to give it up due to going to Nottingham Trent University, as there were no ballroom dance classes there. However, moving to the University of Buckingham, I have been able to find a ballroom class called Dance. Tonight was my first lesson and it really was so enjoyable. I was unbelievably nervous as I had decided to go to a later class, which was more advanced.

Once I got there, I realised I was going to be the only youngster as many couples were late thirties early forties.

When the class started I watched to see what steps people knew. I knew, by just watching for a couple of minutes that I knew I was going to be able to cope. The steps here were quite basic, which was good as I hadn't been dancing for ages. However, I did start to get a bit bored, but I was very glad that I had come to try out the lessons. We did the samba and the quickstep.

After this lesson I decided to stay onto the advanced class, and I am so proud of myself for doing so. I ended up being the teacher’s assistant for most of it. Even though I didn’t know the steps I was picking them up fast and really enjoying every moment of it. It was terrifying dancing in front of the class but quite exhilarating at the same time.

I am extremely glad I decided to start ballroom again, it’s always a good to have a hobby you feel quite confident in.

British Cuisine

Britain is well known for its unfussy and simple cuisine food. After a long stressful day, British food is always a good hearty meal for comfort.

Starting your day off with a full English breakfast is the way forward for a good day. Even though it is calories upon calories, its always good to treat yourself now and then with sausages, tomatoes, egg, bacon, beans, and some tempting toast.

This country has always been well known for its fish ‘n’ chips. Battered cod with deliciously cooked chips, smothered in salt and vinegar and wrapped in paper, is always needed when visiting a beach for the day.

Britain’s battered Yorkshire puddings used for toad in the hole or a wholehearted roast is never a miss. Yorkshire puddings can also be used as a sweet treat, leave them to cool down and cover the inside with jam. A perfect desert.  

Britain is also well known for its sweat treats, such as apple pie, scone jam and cream afternoon tea or a good bowl of bread and butter pudding with custard

Many chefs take the beautiful British cuisine and place their own individual twist onto it. Dominic Teague from Onealdwych hotel in London took the traditional afternoon tea and took it to a creative level. This season he has based it on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory;http://www.onealdwych.com/food-drink/afternoon-tea pastries included cinnamon swirl brioche and a topping of candy floss.   

Heston Blumenthal is a world-famous chef who has always thought outside of the box and created wacky and witty food. He created a series of episodes, Fantastical Food, taking iconic British food and either expanding it to ginormous sizes or taking something simple, as bacon and egg, and changing it into a fun, exciting dish, such as ice cream.  

So if you’re up for a good hearty meal, British food is the way forward.

Being Chased

On my walk back from the media labs at Chandos building I had a very peculiar and terrifying encounter. It’s piercing eyes and overpowering, muscular body intimidated me. It edged towards me, its wide feet slowly taking one step closer at a time. Then it let out a shrieking noise that could have been heard from a mile away, stretching its neck up so that it could empower itself. At this point it started to charge towards me, moving every body part so that it made itself look bigger. Its neck bent forward so that the tip of its forehead was aimed at me.

Out of nowhere it stopped charging. It was suddenly being chased away. Its body became hunched over and every limb was drawn back into its body and was hidden away.  It turned away from looking at me and ran away. What was chasing it away were 3 small figures. Much smaller than itself. They came out of the shadow. These three small figures were all very similar, especially in their height and body shapes. They all disappeared into the shadows behind rows of cars.

Can you guess what it was that chased after me? – It was a goose.

Can you now guess what the three figures were? – They were ducks.

Yes. This is actually true, I was chased by a goose and three little ducks came out and chased it away. It’s amazing what the little things can do. 

Swan made from an Apple

When having an apple left over, which you don't particularly want to eat, what do you do with it? Yes you can make a swan out of it. I did

.

Take the apple and split it in half diagonally. 

Take the half with the bottom of the apple and carefully cut out a section from one side. 

Do the same on the other side, but leave a small section in the middle.

Try not to cut your hand. 

With the piece that you have sliced out, slice a similar piece out as many times as you can. 

Do the same on the other side. 

Stack them to make wings. 

A slice needs to be taken out of the other other half of the apple.

From this piece shape a swans head from it.

Use the pips from the apple to be the eyes. squish them into the swans head then push them in properly with the side of the knife. 

Take a slice out of the middle section from earlier and place the swan's head in it. 

You have your swan.

My Bro

My brother, Adam, and I never got on at a young age. We always fought and never played nicely together, especially when the TV or computers were involved. 

Over the past few years we have become very close and get on so well. Especially when a few drinks are involved, mainly him. Deep meaningful conversations came out as we sat and chatted about our parents, life in general and what we actually wanted to do with our lives. 

Adam has always had a very creative eye and a passion for media, so when he came home and said he was going to create a photography business I wasn’t fully surprised. He named his company Blue Gorilla Pictures.  Even though his website took ages for him to set up, it reflects his personality perfectly.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Gorilla-Pictures/131566740199620?fref=ts

I have always admired his work, and how his Photoshop skills were self-taught. I especially love his black and white photos, the lighting and angles are always captured so beautifully.  

He has now traveled off to the land down under. As he has been visiting many places in Australia his photos have been very exciting to look at. 

Even though he is on the other side of the world we are still in contact on most days. If he decides to live out there I am going to have to get over my fear of flying.

Sounds in the Sky

Firstly I would just like to apologise for my lack of blogging yesterday. The University decided to turn off the internet and not really warn anyone. Unfortunately this lasted from 6pm until 6am, so my plan to write my blog in the evening was not going to happen.

Back onto what I wanted to discuss yesterday. I visited Stowe National Trust where I was told I was going to be stargazing for the evening. Even though I do not have a passion for astronomy I was still very interested. Mainly to learn about how the stars are positioned and the stories that they tell. Basically that is what I expected when I was asked to go. However, this was not the case.

The evening was called ‘Sounds of the Night Sky’ meaning, in a basic definition, we would be listening to the sounds of the stars. Not really what I expected but I didn’t want to turn around at that point.

We were guided on unflatten surfaces that had jam jars with tea lights around the outskirts. Our main source of lighting was a tiny key chain torch, which wasn’t very substantial, but did do the job. We were led up to the top of a field; actually we were led half way and then left to our own devices to make it to the top. When we got there 5 different pieces of machinery were placed in a circle to capture the sounds of the stars movements. There didn’t seem to be anyone to explain what actually was happening, which was quite disappointing.

After standing around for about an hour and a half, my hands had turned a very dark tomato colour and were extremely numb. That was the time to head back. It was supposed to last for 3 and a half hour but that really wasn’t going to happen when it was that cold.

Overall it was an interesting evening but definitely needed some more tour guides to explain actually what was happening.

Lack of Communication from Doctors

About a week ago I had a blood test done to check if a previous infection had disappeared.

I was suddenly shocked when I received a phone call from the Doctors saying that I needed to come in as something wasn't quite right from my results. I'm just going to point out here that I am registered at the doctors in Andover and I am currently at The University of Buckingham. The travel for this is about one and a half hours, not the shortest journey. Also I am a busy student, so trying to arrange coming back to Andover is very difficult. 

However I organised it for today and I went in. Worried silly, trying to figure out what could be wrong. Diabetes, anemic, less amount of red blood cells, too many white blood cells, many possibilities flying through my head. 

So, I get called into my Doctor, unbelievably nervous, and what does he say, "Why are you here?". So I replied with "Well I was told to come in to get my results back from my blood test". He replied " Oh you didn't need to come in, you just had an inflammation of the kidneys but that was to do with your cold". For goodness sake! Why can't Doctor's quickly read through results of patients to check if it is needed for them to come in or not. I drove for one and a half hours to be told that I was absolutely fine. Why couldn't I be told this over the phone? Will they ever sort a system out?

The Bunnies Take Over

Okay well this really just isn’t fair. In England we are stuck with pigeons that swarm around you when you feed them, however, in a Japanese island you are swarmed by bunny rabbits. Why can’t English pigeons be changed for bunny rabbits?

This Japanese 2.5 mile wide island is called Okunoshima, Rabbit Island, where basically wild bunnies took over the island. I know, sounds like a film plot, but no it is real.

This piece of land was used to manufacture poisonous gases. It was not an island to be visited and many of the workers were forced to keep it a secret. Nonetheless the bunnies made there way in and took over.

The LEGO Movie

‘Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you’re part of a team’. These song lyrics have been embedded into my brain from watching The Lego Movie. With a simple plot line of a builder who is enrolled to become the ‘special one’ and save many galaxies from the evil LEGO villain, Lord Business. Of course it ended happily.

Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, Elizabeth Banks and Chris Pratt are only a few of the well known actors that participated in this film. Just these actors alone illustrate the comedy element, that did pay off. The characters fast pace talking was a comedy element in itself. It connoted a sense of excitement and enthusiasm from the protagonist, Chris Pratt, who was the voice of Emmet.

*SPOILER ALERT* An unexpected twist was included in the story. The animated film suddenly became real life. A father and a son and the LEGO cities, that were included in the animation, were suddenly brought into the real world. It must have taken the set designers weeks or even months to create the entire landscape of the LEGO movie from LEGO pieces, it is a sight to see, absolutely fantastic.

The graphics for this film were indescribable. It has been in production since 2008. The effort and computer generation effects for the film are not to go unmissed.

Definitely a must see film.  

The trailer: 

Clip of the Song, 'Everything is Awesome' :

Our Time of Climate Change

A continuous pattern of weather articles are dominating each news website at the moment such as, BBC News, Channel 4 News and ITV News.

With weather in Southern England so bad severe flood warnings are set everywhere, especially places near the Thames River as it threatens to rise further. The emergency services have already been brought in to places such as Surrey to aid those in need of help.

This sudden rainfall just shows that Britain is also a country in need of aid. Many people have been evacuated from their houses, many farms have been lost. People are living without any source of power or ways to get to their town to collect food and other supplies.

The photos on these websites are shocking. With many people walking around knee deep or waist deep in water is dreadful. Cars left abandoned as they have been flooded. Houses surrounded by water and fields lost. Why has this happened this year? And how has it happened?

I drove down to Exeter from Buckinghamshire on Friday evening and it was currently one of the worst drives I have ever gone through. The journey was 3 and a half hours. Driving through torrential rain forced me to drive around 40mph in a 60 just because I could not see the road properly. I could see the cars in front of me dramatically moving from side to side as a gust of wind hit them, taking over their direction.

I had Heart radio on to keep myself up to date with any possible accidents that could affect my journey.  For a while the radio station were giving reports of traffic and incidents every 15 minutes. The weather had blown down a wall of bricks, covering the road, trees were covering roads and unfortunately many accidents were happening. Fortunately my journey did not consist of much traffic at all and no incidents. I was very lucky.

After these horrific days the weather still likes to show us just how nice it can be. Today’s glorious sun has come out with a background of clear blue sky and a few patches of cloud. Fingers crossed that this weather holds up and repairs can be made for those in need of it.

News websites to keep up to date with weather reports: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ 

http://news.sky.com/

http://www.itv.com/news/uk/

http://www.channel4.com/news/

Pretty Dandy

The Pretty Dandy flea market,  http://www.prettydandy.co.uk/ , in October was an experience to remember. Setting up the visual merchandising and decorations for the room took a lot of time and commitment, but in the end everything pulled through to make a colourful and elaborating room. The beautiful paper flowers and gigantic balloons, filled with circle confetti, attracted not only the youngsters but the adults as well. Many market stalls turned up selling stunning objects and Christmas gifts.

Low production films were shown on a loop in the basement along with the film sets that were used. These showed the directors' time and effort towards making each individual segment of the set and how they used it in their film. Along with these film sets, workshops were held for those who wished to expand their creativity.

This flea market was run by Rebecca Morris Knight and her partner. Their flea market was a wonderful way to bring people together and to make others aware of the products. Good advertising and word of mouth for any small business.

Volunteer at Killerton House

Before coming to Buckingham University I volunteered a lot at Killerton House in Exeter https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/killerton/ , (National Trust). This was mainly over the Christmas period.

Walking into Killerton house sent people into a Christmas paradise wonderland. With numerous amounts of fairy lights and handmade decorations the colours in the house were spectacular. A trail was made around the house based on the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, ‘A Christmas Carol’. Children were to walk around finding illustrations of Scrooge and many other objects based from the story.

A Christmas tree was found in every room with homemade decorations, each with a colour trend. Purple and silver, red and gold, blue and red. A couple of carts were set up around the house, one being a presents corner and another showing off Christmas chocolates and candy canes. The creative and vintage look of the stair decorations created a feel of festive wonderland. Twigs taken from the gardens and then spray painted with silver, decorated with lights and white foam to represent snow generated a utopian festive feeling.

Volunteering for this day I was placed in the ‘Objects of Desire’ exhibition upstairs. I was positioned to answer any questions and to encourage visitors to write their new year’s resolution on a tag and place it onto a bare Christmas tree.

Being at Killerton House in Exeter during the Christmas period was truly magical. A man came riding in his vintage golf cart and old fashioned green outfit. With holly on his head and bells ringing to silence the chattering of excitable children was the entrance of Father Christmas. Queues of children and parents waited to visit Santa. His presence created a huge Christmas feel towards the house, even with the vibrant decorations and twinkling lights everywhere. I’m already excited to see what next year’s theme will be.