Tuesday 31 January 2012

The lack of snow this year has made me tetchy. Last year I had several inches of snow and this year so far all I have seen is a flurry.


Even the news is getting tetchy as it reports that Europe is gripped by the cold. The news is practically begging for a snow drift to come to the UK. Then we can have news about how the country has stopped because of the snow rather than what the banks have done now. But the weather refuses to play along.

Last night the weather predicted for Lincoln to have some snow overnight and then some more in the morning. So we went to sleep in the hope that the next day would be a winter wonderland. Whenever we woke up in the night we hovered by the window to see if it had snowed, saw nothing and then hid our disappointment.

When the morning came there was still nothing apart from a bleak, grey sky. However, on the walk to work there was an attempt at snow mixed with sleet which was enough to keep me happy for the time being.

Although I am not expecting anything on the scale of the snowmageddon from last year's winter but something would be nice especially because it is so cold. I would like something in return for my shivering.

Monday 30 January 2012

Elvis Duck

This is Elvis Duck, he was a Christmas present and he also lights up when in contact with water, what a guy!

Sunday 29 January 2012

Til the shine comes off

This week I have my house inspection. The only real difference you feel from owning your home to renting your home is when some parental figures comes in to tell you that you need to vacuum and clothes aren't stored on the floor.


Just in case I fail the inspection I have been scrubbing the house from top to bottom, I mean they might stop taking my money as payment if they know that sometimes there are blotches of toothpaste in my sink.

But this comes to a funny point of the human condition is a funny old thing. When we first moved into our house we tidied up after ourselves as we went along, washed the plates on the same day that they were made dirty. About two months later it became less appealing when there was television to be watched and we could walk round the house as long as we made paths through the dirty plates.

But why does this always happen with everything we have?

Its like when you start school again. You have a genuine enthusiasm for your course and shiny new stationary but about two weeks later those feelings have gone. Until you are tested and you have to learn everything you have only been partially paying attention to, but because you care you do it and you do it well.

So even though sometimes I feel like I could do anything, within the law, and no one would care if it was good or bad. So random little tests, like a house inspection, make you want to show off what you can do best. Just sometimes the tests can be more interesting or dramatic than an inspection.

Photo: rudenoon via Flickr

Friday 27 January 2012

Chocolate fondant cakes

The book made these cakes look a lot more appetising than I made them. However, it is cake so it was still all good. The recipe came from the Cupcakes and Muffins book

Put 4 tablespoons of butter, 55g of sugar, 1 egg, 85g of self raising flour and 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder in a bowl and mix together until smooth.

Set out all the cupcakes cases into the cupcake tray, the recipe says about 8 but I made 10 with the mixture.

Spoon half the mixture into the cases then put in a square of chocolate into each cupcake case. Then fill the cases with the rest of the cake mixture. Then put in the preheated oven at gas mark five for 20 minutes. 

Although the cakes were a good idea, the fondant chocolate sets in about 10 minutes but it is still nice. My biggest problem was the cake mixture wasn't that nice, too buttery. So my verdict is still out until I make them again but with a better cake mix.

Thursday 26 January 2012

No one wins anymore

I still haven't read a book yet this year. This is very bad of me and does need to be rectified. It doesn't help that  on top of that there is no decent television to watch at all at the moment. So instead here is an idea sort of related to television.

It is hard to think of a time when television isn't filled with quiz shows. They come in all varieties. The family quiz shows, the genuinely testing quiz shows and the ironic ones that are loosely based on a quiz show format.



And it seemed that no matter how poor you were on the show then you would be given something small like a pen set, a gimmicky product or even a paperweight. Nowadays you can get to the final of the show and still go home empty handed. Even comfortable, cosy BBC quiz Pointless requires you to beat all the other contestants and then face a final challenge before you even get a sniff at a prize.

The worst examples of this is Channel 4's Million Pound Drop where you face seven questions that you can rationally answer if you have some sense and can get to the last question with a decent amount of money for it to all come down to luck as you guess at the end.

Even more humiliatingly was the final of the sister show The Bank Job. All week contestants tried to out-quiz everyone else to get their place in the final. As more contestants got shoved to the side it led to two people negotiating if they should split the final sum of money between them or just take it all. Funnily enough the finalists said to one another that they wanted to do the good thing and share the money but then chose the box saying they wanted the money all to themselves. As the finalists were awkwardly standing next to one another making the final shots of the series, you could see the contestants who hadn't managed to strive to the end get a share of the money that the finalists had pretty much thrown away.

So essentially like the contestants themselves, quiz shows have become quite selfish. It isn't so much about rewarding contestants that do well, it is showing them off as entertainment and if you can embarrass them in the process that would be great too.

I mean on University Challenge you might feel ashamed but Jeremy Paxman pouring scorn on your answers is hardly likely to get you laughed at down the street. Whereas losing £1million on one question because you wrongly thought that Jedward was a fruit could.

Photo: Channel 4

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Lego graduation


My Mum got me a very late graduation present. By very late I mean I graduated from university in September. But it doesn't matter because it is awesome.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Jobs a good'un

Well there is never any good news it seems. The latest figures show that 2.68 million people are now jobless. And that figure could be higher based on my own experience of the job seekers system.


It is daunting news when you are trying to find a job, no matter what age. Trying to get a job is hard enough without have to think of the pressure that you are just a number and worrying if you don't get this job then when will the next vacancy come around.

So to help guide people through this horrible part of life there are all sorts of people handing out advice. A quick browse of the internet reveals how to write a CV, a covering letter and what to do in the actual interview. All this is helpful advice and the more that people know about it the better.

However, there is a small group of people who have seen this as an opportunity to get out some joyless and patronising television shows. My particular favourite was Up For Hire, a BBC Three show that was supposed to help conquer mass youth unemployment by giving out four jobs. Undeniable helpful.

It also adopted a wonderful tone telling young people they had only themselves to blame because all they had to their name was a degree and a Facebook page filled with drunken photos. Why should they be deserving of a job?

ITV2 have jumped on board and decided that this a wonderful format too. They are due to show The Exclusives, which is being called The Apprentice for journalists. Again it seems to be working on the premise that 1.04 million people will be solved by one television show giving away one job. In this case the lucky person will get a 12 month contract with Bauer Media and get a chance to work on titles like Heat, Kerrang and Empire.

So I have decided that these shows telling people how to find a job are just like property shows. Most people on these shows aren't experts in these fields. So instead of being helpful they just end up being annoying, repetitive and patronising.

So the people out there doing good - keep doing it. If you are thinking of making a programme where thousands of applicants fight it out on a crappy, digital channel for just the one job, then stop right there and forget you ever had the idea.


Photo: jacobchristensen via Flickr

Monday 23 January 2012

Sunday 22 January 2012

I heard it on the radio

Despite studying radio for the past three years it is a medium I rarely listened to, until recently.

First of all it started with my boyfriend making us listen to Radio 4 comedy shows. To begin with this experiment did not go well. We had started with I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue which I have listened to several times and it is still a show that somehow goes completely over my head.

Thankfully not all was lost as I found a love for shows like Just a Minute, Another Case of Milton Jones and Museum of Everything and many more. It's silly really seeing as they all involved comedians that I already liked and found funny but had missed half their life's work just because it was on the radio.



Then I listened to Chris Moyles for 52 hours. Well most of it. When Moyles and Comedy Dave decided to do the longest show ever as part of Red Nose Day it was initially interesting to see how long the duo would last on air before sleep deprivation started to get them better of them. Although Moyles can be a bit annoying he has the rest of the team around him to counteract that. Plus of late I have developed a fondness for Car Park Catchphrase and hearing Roy Walker say silly things.

This is why this whole new experience has been great for when I am at work. Although I work in a newsroom for most of the day it is quiet as we focus on writing. Although this should be helpful I find it really awkward, always have. For every exam I have revised for and essay I have written I needed to have some sort of background noise. Even when I am going to sleep there needs to be some sound there otherwise it all just feels too eerie.

So I started listening to the radio at work. It is great getting to pick and choose throughout the day. At the moment I have a regime of Moyles and then Radio 2, which has charmed its way into my life because of the music it plays. Each day I get amazed when it plays a song I love - the other day Steve Wright started his show with a double bill of The Monkees - not joking one of my favourite bands ever.

Also I like to hear what morbidly depressing topics Jeremy Vine can conjure up each day. Once he genuinely discussed people seeing their family members commit suicide in front of them.

But Radio 4 has also earned a special place in my heart - I should listen to The Today Programme really but I am far more interested in Woman's Hour. Before Christmas they tried out cooking along on air which became a bit innuendo filled, as my friend Tim Johns pointed out.

Slightly shocked by this from Woman"s Hour today (mp3)

I was also obsessed with comedy shows Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off - if you ever get the chance to listen to the episode the Festival of Yumsk do. I had to work hard to suppress my laughter when that episode was in fear of sounding like a lunatic in the office.

And so I started to find my own radio shows that I could tell my boyfriend about to listen to. And along the way I have learnt more about radio as well. When even semi-serious documentaries on Radio 4 can use songs like Banana Phone to illustrate their point then frankly you can do whatever you want.

  Photo: Philedmonds via Flickr

Saturday 21 January 2012

Sound: wind power

It was bloody windy today and I tried to get a decent recording of the sound of the wind when I was walking round town - instead I think I just recorded people's conversations - which can be fun too.

Wind power (mp3)

Friday 20 January 2012

Chocolate chip cookies

Cookies can be a hard thing to make but these ones came out like the ones that you get from the shops. The recipe I used came from my Mum, I don't know where she got it from though. They are seriously good, honestly. Sort of cakey and squidgey and found that if you have them with ice cream it is like that desert from Pizza Hut.


I do recommend that when you are eating them you forget just how much butter goes in there though.

So you will need 200g of margarine, 200g of sugar, one egg, 225g of self raising flour, two tablespoons of cocoa powder and a packet of chocolate chips.

So mix the butter and sugar together in a bowl until fluffy, then mix in the egg but make sure it remains fluffy. Then fold in the flour, cocoa powder and the chocolate chips.

Get a baking tray and drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking sheets, space them out quite a bit because they will get quite a bit bigger. Then simply bake for 10-12 minutes in the oven at gas mark four. Remove them from the oven whilst they are still soft so be careful when removing them from the baking tray and leave to cool until they become firm.


Thursday 19 January 2012

Too many cooks?

So I haven't had a chance to even pick up a book this year yet - getting adjusted to doing the 9-5 work regime has taken longer than expected. And television wise there isn't much that is decent on at the moment so I am currently watching the whole of Gilmore Girls from series one to series seven.


Although there are a number of cookery shows on at the moment which I have always enjoyed watching since I was young. Now I am also watching them in the hope of finding some inspiration - which has happened with Channel 4's new series The Fabulous Baker Brothers. Although it is obviously a half hearted attempt to get men interested in cookery shows it has appealed more to women who like the idea of two men attractive men interested in cooking and would happily cook for women.

Recipe wise the two brothers have their own interests - Tom is a baker and Henry is a butcher so show off their tried and tested recipes. So I am more interested in Tom's recipes who whips up loaves of breads, pizza bases and other floury treats at the drop of the hat. His recipes are also quite easy to follow, which I have done with some success.

The two brothers are clearly passionate about what they do and then someone decided that this would be a good television show. So sometimes their 'brotherly love' does come across as awkward flirting - which raises a lot of questions.

The complete opposite of this show is How to cook like Heston - which doesn't have awkward flirting or easy to follow recipes.

It feels like we are supposed to see what Heston is like behind the mad recipe ideas and that sometimes he likes to just kick back and have scrambled egg sometimes too. But that isn't the case - he likes to get out pneumatic drills to ground his own cocoa beans or blowtorching food. This is something that obviously everyone can do.

The strange thing is I do like the show but I would never be inclined to make any of his recipes - like the potted plant Tiramisu - but just to see how 'normal' Heston's life is. I mean does he think that everyone has the time, the money or the inclination to copy his mad recipes?

Tuesday 17 January 2012

High street closing down bingo

Barratts, La Senza, Peacocks - BINGO.

Yes the fun new game to play during the news is high street closing down bingo. And frankly it is quite a depressing game. Every time I hear that another shop has gone into administration then I think about the great empty hole that will create in shopping centres or high streets.



None of the shops that have announced that they are closing down are ones that I regularly visit, which is the whole problem really. The worrying thing is that it seems no shop can really hide from this economic downturn. Even Tesco made a loss over the Christmas period and that is Tesco.

And then what will replace those shops when they are gone? Those really naff boards about how your town is doing really well and here are all the things it has to offer?

One situation that I am quite angry about is in my home town of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, is getting rid of all its independent retailers in the Cloisters underground market. It has seen better times - when the games shop closed it did mark the beginning of the end - but it is a lovely place. Instead it the retailers have been told to move out to allow the place to become a store room for the clothes shop H&M. The actual shop floor will be where La Senza is currently (so a good space not going to waste) but also the local bowling alley is being closed down to help create this huge sounding clothes shop.

Aylesbury has changed many times, but the biggest change for me has been when Woolworths closed down. I imagine most people felt this when Woolworths was the first shop to close down way back in 2008/2009. I still miss the shop even though it does still exist online but the idea of buying pic 'n' mix from the internet is not as appealing.

Speaking of which this leads nicely onto one of my favourite ever videos of one of old university tutors doing a piece about the last every bag of Woolworths pic 'n' mix being sold for £14,500.

Photo: osde8info via Flickr

Duck picture: Ducky

This is the duck my Mum gave me as gift for going to university. He is called Ducky.


Sunday 15 January 2012

The Reichenbach Fail


Well I have just finished watching the series finale of Sherlock series two. And now I am about to become very angry.

Not at the adaptation, it was brilliant, or at Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Why would I? They are a genius combination.

No, it is just the usual rant at people.



In the run up to this week’s episode people were worried that this would be the end of Sherlock. Would there be a series three?

And then when Sherlock did fall to his death people went to Twitter (sorry to go all Daily Mail sourcing here) to complain that “how dare Sherlock do this?” and “MOFFFFFAAATTTTT”.

The very same people then seemed genuinely shocked that Sherlock wasn’t dead after all.

Goodness me, what a shocker? Not to age myself by several years but for the love of God, read a book. As with all characters there are a few things that everyone should know. So Sherlock has Watson, Baker Street, the hat, Mrs Hudson, Lestrade, Moriarty and dying but then inexplicably coming back to life.

The last laugh of it all was made by Moffat who tweeted straight after the show: “Yes of course there’s going to be a third series – it was commissioned at the same time as the second. Gotcha.”

And also all the people trying to figure out how in the original series of books there is no reason. You just have to go with something every now and again.

Photo: BBC

Saturday 14 January 2012

Sound: an army of ants

The other day I making a risotto and I decided that the boiling rice sounded like an army of ants, others have said it sounds like a crowd of people clapping. Those not willing to play along says it sounds like rice boiling. It is still a funny sound though.

Army of ants (mp3)

Friday 13 January 2012

Chocolate cake

I made chocolate cake, a bit simpler than last week's custard creams but who cares? Cake is tasty.



To make chocolate cake you just make normal cake and add in a few tablespoons of cocoa powder. But this recipe I used is from the Good Food recipe book - Cupcakes and Muffins. It is a cupcake recipe but just put it in a tin instead of cupcakes cases and it still works.

So all you need is 8 tablespoons of butter and then mix it with 150 grams of sugar. I like using a brown sugar because it makes the cake have a fudge taste to it.

Then beat in two eggs. Then add 100 grams of plain flour and a teaspoon of baking powder. Fold these dry ingredients into the mixture.

Then the recipe says to add two tablespoons of cocoa powder but I added an extra half a tablespoon to make it more chocolatey.

Put in a greased cake tin and put in the oven for about 30 minutes at gas mark 3. Then you have yummy cake.

Thursday 12 January 2012

What has sport got to do with cake?

Television now has Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood back on it as The Great Sport Relief is on - so all is right in the world.

The show has been shoehorned in to Sport Relief this year which isn't as awkward as it could have been. All the features are about various baking charities or initiatives that have helped people out. This is much better than the usual parts in charity shows where they make people cry about how their life has changed - which instead of being touching is the moment you decide to get a cup of tea.



The celebrity version works nicely - everyone respects the show, I mean one of the contestants is from Radio 4 so you shouldn't really expect a riot. The contestants mostly just want Mary Berry's approval ... and let's be honest isn't that what we all want?

Along with the usual fun of watching people craft cakes the celebrity version has finally revealed that the contestants have weaknesses.

One round involves a technical bake where you are to follow the instructions to make either a Mary Berry or Paul Hollywood recipe. Most times people follow these instructions rather well aside from maybe decorating it differently or making the cake bigger than it was supposed to be.

But no all four celebrities managed to make a disaster of the banana loaf and then serve it up the creator of it. Thankfully Mary Berry took it all in her stride.

There is one slightly distracting factor though. Ever since normal Bake Off became known for a random cutaway with a squirrel that had huge genitals whenever there is a cutaway to a squirrel you get the instinct to shout squirrel and look at its nethers. 

Photo: BBC

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Scottish independence?

So we have finally got to the point where Scottish people are going to vote on independence. Not bad going seeing as it is seen as the SNP's only real policy and they have been in power in the Scottish parliament since 2007. But finally they will ask people their opinion on independence in 2014.




On the matter of independence I do think it would be ridiculous for Scotland to be separate - it is so small, and there are some parts of the country really suffering so it is not a time to leave. Plus it does get quite a sweet deal out of being devolved - a chance to have a say on Scottish matters and British matters and still get more affordable university tuition fees.

No, the thing I am amazed by is the amount people do not understand a country that is only a few hours away.

Listening to radio phone ins and conversations with friends it is also remarkable that people in England have never even thought about daring to cross the border in case they catch a lurgie or might start getting a taste for Irn Bru.

Being half Scottish I have been going up to Scotland twice a year all my life to see relatives, but by being in a different country they aren't aliens.

Some Scottish people do still have issues about the English repressing them 700 years, Alex Salmond being one of them, but I think it is a case that Scotland and England have never really tried to understand one another and are now more like awkward siblings.

I mean people like Wales now - it gives us Doctor Who and other great dramas but still people only see that the only thing that Scotland can offer is Irn Bru.

Photo: Rev Stan via Flickr.

Monday 9 January 2012

Duck post: David Bowie as a duck

Today's duck is David Bowie, to add to the celebrations of the real David Bowie's 65th birthday yesterday.


Sunday 8 January 2012

I want to be able Ctrl + F in real life

Whenever I am researching articles for work I use the Ctrl+F function. The minute you realise that a computer likes to help you and prevent you from having to read 126 pages in order to find one sentence, you are incredibly grateful

I have now realised that this is a principal that I want to use in real life.



Let me explain. This week I came back to Lincoln after spending Christmas at home with my family. I crammed everything into my bag and managed to position everything so the bag closed and everything.

Then five minutes before I was due to leave the panic started to sink in.

Is my phone charger in the bag?

Remove everything from bag to find that the phone charger was in a side pocket. Manage to cram everything back in. Sign of relief, everything is fine.

Wait. Did I remember to pack those library books?

Remove everything from bag to find that you had taken the library books out in the first flurry of throwing stuff out of my bag in a hurry. Put everything back, sigh, you have packed everything.

No, wait my keys?

And so on.

What would solve this tricky little problem? Being able to open the bag and just press Ctrl+F to be able to type and search easily for the item that you think you have forgotten. No throwing all your neatly packed goods out of the bag onto the floor and then having to cram them back in.

I mean there would need to be some sort of technological advancement to make people half computer and half human, which could cause some problems and some anxieties. But that's only a small problem.

Saturday 7 January 2012

Punk duck sings

I have already introduced my punk rubber duck and so my sound post for this week is Punk duck singing the Sex Pistols.


Friday 6 January 2012

Making custard creams

For my birthday and Christmas I was given a few recipe cook books and I was particularly looking forward to making custard creams the most.





















Although making custard creams may be a bit pointless as they can cost a grand total of 39p from Tesco, I went ahead with it anyway.

The recipe was from a book called Cookie Magic by Kate Shirazi, given to me by my friend Emma. It was quite a simple recipe to follow - it involves making biscuit dough and a custard butter icing. You do need the patience though to cut the rectangles and bake them - I accidentally burnt a batch.

It makes around 20 biscuits so it really isn't an alternative to buying these biscuits from the shops but it is still good fun and they are tasty.

If you want to make them yourself here is the recipe.

Put 175g of flour, 3 tablespoons of custard powder, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 3 tablespoons of icing sugar in a bowl.

Mix in 60g of butter and 60g of white fat in with the dry ingredients until it looks like breadcrumbs.

In another bowl mix 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of milk. Then pour this in with the other ingredients. Mix all this together until it makes a dough. I found it came out quite sticky so put in some more flour until it looked more like dough rather than a cake mix.

Then wrap this dough in cling film and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.

After waiting roll it out until it is quite thin and cut small rectangles out, put them in a preheated oven at gas mark 5 or 190 Celsius. Leave them in there for about 10 minutes or until they look done.

Leave them to cool and make the cream bit of the biscuit which is 50g of butter, 1 tablespoon of custard powder and 100g of icing sugar, and add a few drops of water if needed.

Then sandwich together two biscuits with the custard cream filling.

Thursday 5 January 2012

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Over the Christmas holidays I read as much as I could before I was thrust back into the hectic world of work.

I had wanted to read much more than I did in the end, but there is only so much you can absorb in 10 days. I also did want to talk to my friends and family over Christmas too.

One of the books I was most looking forward to reading was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. And although it was very good, it was lot more rapey than I thought it would be.



Although I have heard a lot about the book, most recently because of the Hollywood film with Daniel Craig hitting the cinemas, I didn't really know what to expect.

Being a journalist I found the beginning quite interesting as publisher Mikael Blomkvist was being tried in court for libel for saying bad things about a millionaire and not quite having the evidence to back it up.

After stepping down from his job he ends up playing detective in a small village trying to find out the mystery behind a missing girl.

The story and the mystery of the crime is really good, but all the sex for no meaning and then the descriptions of the rape of the girl with the dragon tattoo, or Lisbeth Salander, did help for the reader to get an understand of why she is like how she is. But when you are sitting there counting down to the New Year surrounded by family reading about her rape was weird.

That may be my own fault for choosing to read the book. But I also read the latest Dexter book surrounded by my family and every page is practically a description of dismemberment and hacking bodies apart but it just didn't sit right with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Overall very good - but might wait a while to read the next two books.

Photo: tantillus via Flickr

Wednesday 4 January 2012

221b Baker Street


Advertising for the new Sherlock film in Baker Street underground station. They did it for the last film as well.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

The very long countdown begins

So this is my first newsy blog - I was tempted to write about the horrendous weather at the moment which buggered up my train journey no end today. However, I had already decided upon the American elections.

Although academically me and politics never got along (I did the subject at A level and wasn't fond of the teacher) I always have a nerdish excitement about elections.

I mean my last day at university I got drunk and watched the local election and AV referendum votes.

And I am in luck as the US elections begin in Iowa today and then finish on the 6th November.

Today voters in Iowa start to choose who will be the Republican candidate to run against Barack Obama.

At the moment there are six contenders and after today's results this number will become smaller as candidates start to realise they have no chance.

Most of the time the winner is obvious, but I still find something enjoyable about it.

Even if America does take the best part of a year to come to a conclusion.

Granted I haven't paid too much attention to the candidates so far - although I think everyone is aware of Herman Cain, who suspended his campaign for president in December 2011 after a number of allegations about sexual harassment.

America has also managed to avoid having Sarah Palin for president who decided not to run for the position back in October 2011.

One way to get up to speed is with Google's election trends site. I get annoyed when sites think that the data is enough to give readers the full story - but by integrating the results, trends and daily news articles including the issues important to American voters, it is gives amazing background filling in the gaps.


The results from the first state in this long procession of an election are due in about 1am here, and if I didn't have to start work again after the Christmas holidays tomorrow I would be staying up.

Anyway as it runs almost across the whole year I am bound to bring it up again here sometime.

Photo: Flickr via mrsdkrebs

Monday 2 January 2012

Sunday 1 January 2012

Starting a new year

Last year was my first attempt at a one a day blog. It was a photography blog to encourage me to take more photos. It worked and I gained, I like to think, respect for my pictures of Sackboys.
Sackboy pretending to be the Doctor
I lasted until October which was when two of my grandparents died and although I had found it fun to take pictures of my everyday life, pictures of funerals didn't seem to fit into that well. So I stopped.

But for 2012 I am taking up the task of a daily blog again, but seeing as I am no longer a student focusing on my dissertation I am free to do whatever I want so I have made this as complicated as I can. Each day will be a different task.
  • Sunday - a blog, about anything I want. More than likely a rant.
  • Monday - picture of a duck, I have a growing collection of rubber ducks and I was told a blog with pictures of ducks would be popular.
  • Tuesday - a newsy rant - linking to a story I have found interesting or has annoyed me.
  • Wednesday - a picture
  • Thursday - review, either a book review or television show review
  • Friday - what I food I made, plus recipe
  • Saturday - and I haven't really thought this through but a sound, I did radio at university and haven't managed to find something to allow me to mess around with editing and sounds yet so I shall think of something creative to do.
It should be fun and hopefully I can do it for the year. 

So to start of 2012 with a blog.

2011 was a bit of an up and down year for me. As I have said two grandparents died in one month, plus there was a lot of other family issues happening. Regardless me, and my family, have got through it.

But reflecting on nicer things I became the editor of my student newspaper The Linc, which was a brilliant experience. I had two print issues that I was in charge of and I was extremely proud of them.

I also graduated from university.

Me in my gown outside Lincoln Cathedral. Photo: Emma Dearsley
It was a great three years of my life, but in a way was glad to get it over with and just start the real world.

I got a part-time internship at The Lincolnite and my second day at work involved an encounter with Jeremy Clarkson and James May from Top Gear.

Unfortunately the real world did lead to unemployment and fun dealings with the Job Centre. But it also led to me and my boyfriend living together in our lovely little house.

I filled my summer by starting up a television review site, called TV Talk Blog, with my friend Emma. I began driving lessons passing my theory test in September.

I also decided to teach myself some cheap skill which is when the baking began. Since the summer I have made gingerbread, a French apple tart, scones and a variety of cupcakes. Most recently I made an unconventional Christmas cake which was chocolate cake covered in white chocolate buttercream.

Eventually a full time job came along in October, but the baking hasn't stopped as I was given many recipe books for my birthday and Christmas and I am going to show my weekly treats off here.

With any luck 2012 should be a good year, my boyfriend will graduate from university and, although we have nothing planned, it feels exciting that come the summer we will be able to do anything we fancy.

So one blog down, just 365 to go. And good luck to you if you are starting a one a day blog as well.