Happy birthday

I've had a wonderful couple of days (I like extending my birthday for as long as possible - it started on Friday with drinks) and received some lovely presents and good wishes. I'm a very lucky girl. Also, this delightful sight was in place of a traditional cake;




Most importantly this post marks my return from a lengthy hiatus, the reason for which is unimportant. All that matters is that I'm back with big ideas and plenty of motivation. Hurrah!

National Poetry Day

It would be terribly remiss me of me to not take advantage of the opportunity to introduce you to my favourite poem;




Whate'er is born of mortal birth
Must be consumed with the earth,
To rise from generation free:
Then what have I to do with thee?

The sexes sprung from shame and pride,
Blowed in the morn, in evening died;
But mercy changed death into sleep;
The sexes rose to work and weep.

Thou, mother of my mortal part,
With cruelty didst mould my heart,
And with false self-deceiving tears
Didst blind my nostrils, eyes, and ears,

Didst close my tongue in senseless clay,
And me to mortal life betray.
The death of Jesus set me free:
Then what have I to do with thee?

Enough is enough

I've made a decision. I'm going to Weight Watchers. I joined a few years ago and had a reasonable amount of success, which I can hopefully repeat this time around. I have the motivation of some too-tight clothes hanging in the wardrobe but I'm going to "borrow" an idea from Shoestring Alley by putting aside £10 for each lb I lose. By my (admittedly terrible) maths, that could add up to at least £280. Gosh.

Wish me luck!

A new investment

I know, I know... I'm not meant to be buying things but when it's a pair of shoes as classic but stylish as this, I think we can make an exception;



I've always been a little wary of almond-toe shoes for fear they look too clog-like, but these are a reasonably subtle point so hopefully won't date too quickly. The rest of the shoe is completely classic and, by golly, are they comfy.

What's that? How much? Crikey, is that the time? I really must dash...


(Ornate by Dune £80, also available in suede and patent leather. Yum.)

Gimme gimme gimme

My conclusion today is that society is greedy. I don't know if it's always been that way, I'm only 31 years old and Homo Sapiens has been around considerably longer than that. I also don't know if it'll ever change, but frankly I doubt it. Why am I saying this? Well, aside from the ever-present assault on our benefits system, there have been 2 things that have caught my eye this week.

Number 1: the introduction of the Times paywall and the furore about it. God forbid people should have to pay for news. Y'know.... as people have been doing for years and years without quibbling. Now The Times is my favourite paper. It's expensive (£1 during the week, £1.50 on Saturday and a staggering £2 on Sunday) but it's informative, un-sensationalist (if that's a word) and the sports page are excellent. I like the personal finance section on a Saturday as, so far at least, I've not seen any glaring errors or ommissions. And the Sunday Times helpfully doubles as a doorstop. So have I paid for it? Yes of course I have, because I enjoy it and I don't expect to be given a quality service for nothing.

Number 2: This article on the Beeb saying that 59% of people surveyed for the ONS Social Trends Survey think that the Government's responsibility to ensure that pensioners have enough money to live on. WHY? Why is it not the individual's responsibility to build up a decent pension pot during their working life? The same survey found that 31% of pensioners rely on State pension benefits. Some of these pensioners may have good reason, but the lack of personal accountability bothers me. Is it laziness? Arrogance? I remember when I was 20 and out of work for 3 months, I signed on and my mother was furious with me - "No one in the family has ever claimed anything from the Government" she yelled. I can't remember exactly what I was awarded for those 3 months but suffice to say that, as a higher rate taxpayer now I've more than repaid what I "borrowed" to see me through a tricky patch. And surely that's what it should be? A safety net for when best intentions fail or fall short. I've nothing against the State pension at all and I think it should continue to be paid to all pensioners regardless and shouldn't be means-tested. But people need to be responsible for their own wellbeing as well. Look on the State pension as a bit of a bonus. A bit of extra spending money perhaps. Not a god-given right that gives you immunity from providing for yourself.

I've ranted, haven't I? I really do find it quite infuriating though. Grrrr.

Best. Interview. Ever.

My favourite journalist interviewing one of my favourite performers... Caitlin Moran parties with Lady Gaga. Lucky mare.

Catching up

Holidays are great but for some reason whenever I leave the country I completely fail to keep up to date with developments. A bit careless considering that when I left England for Germany last week the whole leadership of the country was in question. I should perhaps have learnt my lesson when I went to Cyprus in September 2008 and returned home to find out that Lehman Brothers had been placed into administration and RBS were in a little spot of bother.

So now I'm back and I understand that we have this historic coalition government. David Cameron is PM with Nick Clegg as his deputy. I'm actually rather excited by this development. I'm all for new experiences so having 2 parties in control sounds like it could be quite interesting. I'm also excited because I've had a quick read through the Coalition Manifesto and it all seems to be incredibly promising. I realise that making these promises and keeping them are two very different things, but we're allowed to be optimistic. Cameron and Clegg strike me as men who are keen to do well, and in order to do well they will need to achieve what they have promised. If the Lib Dems do well, they could earn more support from the electorate, possibly to the extent that they would be a serious contender for a majority government in the future. I wonder if perhaps the Conservatives failing to achieve a majority this time around has put the willies up Cameron, so to speak, so he'll be working his socks off to increase the Tories' lead in future. Either way, I think the country will be the one to benefit, and that's never a bad thing.