Typecast

This year has been a funny one. It seemed to go from New Year, to Lockdown, then Uncertainty, Confusion and soon it’ll be Christmas. You probably still feel like it’s March, but Christmas is much closer than we’d like to think, and it's perhaps time to start thinking about it. Every year, when we sit down and write gift lists for our families and friends, there’s typically one person that we just don’t know what to buy. It’s often the same person, and it’s almost certainly a man .  Photo by  Jonathan Meyer  on Unsplash Perhaps it’s that men want less, or that they buy themselves the things that they want, without waiting for someone to gift them. But it doesn’t make it easier on the person doing their present shopping on Christmas eve, with no idea of what they are looking for.  But, even with these hard to shop for guys, there are a few things that generally you can’t go wrong with. Apologies in advance if you do buy one, and it is wrong. But the odds are good....

I haven't written about my running for a while because, well, there's been nothing much to talk about.  The "mixing of households" and the "rule of 6" has provided confusing guidelines for running in groups but I've been getting out on some socially distanced trail runs on Sunday mornings. Normally drop a couple of pictures on my Insta-brag, but this one was one that I really felt more people should know about.  The Tolkien Trail 10k is a race that I looked at last year but it clashed with another event.  The route takes in the Pendle countryside and leans heavily on the fact that JRR Tolkien regularly stayed in a guest house in the grounds belonging to Stonyhurst College during the time he was writing Lord Of The Rings.  So when looking up a route for this week I found the " true Tolkien Trail " map with a full set of directions and sights to look out for with additional information. Map downloaded, weather check done, meeting point arranged.....

When I went for my initial interview / introductory meeting at Ribble FM, I met the Studio Manager, Lee Roe. As we got chatting, we discovered that we were both licenced amateur radio operators and he knew my husband! I'm still not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing... anyway...  Lee is the Station Manager at Ribble FM in Clitheroe and always been involved in music from working at Ames Records when he was 14 to DJ'ing, being in a band playing in pubs, and clubs and even a host/DJ in a cruise ship nightclub.  He tells me that music takes him everywhere, fixes many things and keeps him sane.   Lee is a very social person, loves being around people and having a giggle.  He has been a single dad for 21 years, is a self-confessed complete and utter lazy bastard foodie who cooks every day and loves making food for people to enjoy.  Music + Food = Life.  So now, it's over to Lee...  ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨ Tiger Feet - Mud This was the first 45' single I e...

There aren't many photos of me when my children were younger because I was always the one behind the camera, snapping those precious moments to look back on years down the line.  Film was expensive, developing another cost, and photos were taken the commemorate special occasions.  Now we have a camera on our mobile phone, almost everything we do can be captured for posterity and there are many more photos of me now that the 'selfie' has become popular.  There's a knack to taking the perfect selfie though.  Here are some tips that I'm sure even Kim Kardashian uses... • Have fun with your selfie.  Here's one I took last year where I tried to cram every single member of our running club into the one photo at the start line of the Manchester Half Marathon and another where I shouted " BRIDGE SELFIE " and my running gang just lined up perfectly.  • Angles are your friend.  Take pictures from many different angles until you find the one that is most flatteri...

  Since January, I have been presenting the Saturday morning lunch time show at Ribble FM - a community radio station in the Ribble Valley (in Lancashire).  I thought it would be a great idea to get to know a few of my fellow presenters by asking them to participate in Soundtrack To My Life.   The first victim presenter is Mark Blackman - a.k.a. "Blackers".  He wakes up the local area each day as host of the Ribble FM weekday Breakfast Show and looks after music and presentation at the station (his knowledge of popular music is astounding and it was fascinating to listen to him when he co-hosted the show with me as part his 12-hour presenting marathon for Ribble FM's 4th Birthday). Mark knew he wanted to be a DJ or presenter as early as being three years old!  He set up a mobile disco at the age of 13 with his friend Gary and honed his craft with local gigs and residencies until he left university in 2006 to pursue a full time career in radio, working at ...

You may or may not know that I love to crochet , knit and cross-stitch  but it's been a while since I completed any large project so when I saw that Aldi had brought out a "Creative Crafting" range I got quite excited.  Their complete project boxes were the perfect way to get back into what used to be my favourite hobby.  It's been available to order online or pick up in store from 20th September and I have been trying out the 'make your own bear' crochet kit and the 'hearts' 3D cross-stitch kit which are both available to buy for £3.99. The great thing about these kits is that the come complete with all materials and even the stuffing to finish off your project.  I'm in the middle of both projects so keep an eye on my Instagram to see the finished results.  I have a couple of recommendations for the kits that I tried though: The crochet bear kit is NOT for beginners as you have to work in 'rounds' and increase/decrease stitches as you g...

What can you do when you have just six hours in Amsterdam?  This was a plan we had to make recently as we booked a National Holidays mini-cruise to Amsterdam  but I've since found great deals on the Voyage Privé website.   We had no idea what to expect as we've only really been on caravan or holiday camp style holidays in the UK and package holidays abroad.  But the price was absolutely affordable (£99 each in July - yes, for the whole 3-day trip) and I'd booked it as part of a birthday present for my husband. I've included info about this at the end of this blog post  (this isn't a review - I hate having to say that but as a blogger... y'know) .  Because I knew we had such a limited amount of time in the city, I planned a few things to do and allowed time to wander round and soak up the atmosphere.  What I hadn't banked on was a freak, European-wide heatwave with temperatures reaching 36°C/99°F. Canal Boat Tour For our canal boa...