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Review: Milly Johnson – It’s Raining Men
It’s been some time since I last read a Milly Johnson book, but I recently started following her on Twitter and I found out that her latest book came out on the 1st August (with a launch at Meadowhall which I really wish I could have gone to). I’d usually wait and go out to buy it in paperback, but this weekend the kindle version was discounted to 99p on Amazon, so I decided to buy it there and then and cracked on with reading it.I had to seriously slow myself down to stop from staying up until 3am and reading the entire thing in one go. The storyline of the book initially seemed to be quite predictable, three best friends all having relationship problems go on holiday and meet three brothers, all differently charming (well sort of, in a way), and lo and behold, they all fall in love and live happily ever after.
But I forgot that this was Milly Johnson I was reading, and she’s definitely not predictable. Every chapter had a new surprise waiting for you, which is partly the reason I couldn’t stop reading. And the strange character of Raine, who is not quite the lovely old lady that you initially think, created a lovely fairytale element to the story which was unbelievable at first but then brought everything together perfectly.
I was shocked when at (what I thought was) the end, Lara, Clare and May all leave Ren Dullem and it seems like everything you wished would happen has been left behind. But then I turned the page (or rather, pressed the screen), and there were 3 more chapters left!
The town of Ren Dullem (Reine de la Mer) sounded like the perfect place to go on holiday, a lovely Yorkshire seaside town, if a little strange, with hardly any women and shunning anyone from the ‘outside world’. And the house they stayed in with the hidden underwater lagoon sounded like perfection. If only it was real, I would be staying there like a shot!
I have to say, the end of the book was everything I hoped it would be, although not what I imagined would actually happen. I think the book would make a perfect film, and I really hope that there will be a sequel!! Time to dig out my old Milly Johnson books for a re-read!
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A-Rod or A-Roid?
Well I know that there are going to be a lot of posts about this over the next few days (and I have already read a fair few myself), but it’s been a while since I last wrote a baseball post and I can’t stop thinking about this one.Last night, the long investigation was finally over and the news came out that A-Rod and 12 other players have been suspended for their links with the now-defunct Biogenesis clinic.
The list of players suspended for 50 games includes:
- Nelson Cruz (Texas Rangers)
- Jhonny Peralta (Detroit Tigers)
- Jesus Montero (Seattle Mariners)
- Everth Cabrera (San Diego Padres)
- Francisco Cervelli (New York Yankees)
- Antonio Bastardo (Philadelphia Phillies)
- Jordany Valdespin (New York Mets)
- Fernando Martinez (Minor League)
- Jordan Norberto (Minor League)
- Fautino de los Santos (Minor League)
- Cesar Puello (Minor League)
- Sergio Escalona (Minor League)
There were three other players implicated (Bartolo Colon, Yasmani Grandal and Melky Cabrera), but they have already been suspended for taking PEDs and were considered to have served their punishment.
A-Rod, rather than a 50 game suspension, received a 211 game suspension, which takes him through to the end of the 2014 season, although he is now appealing the decision meaning he can play in the meantime. He was suspended for longer than the others due to “attempting to cover up his violations of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner’s investigation”.
Now I don’t know about you, but if I was being paid $29 million a year, and I had already admitted to taking steroids in the past (leading to the nickname A-Roid), I would try my damnedest to stay clean and not risk being caught again. A-Rod now says that he is “fighting for his life”, but what he is actually fighting for now is money and reputation. And unfortunately, even if his suspension is overturned, I think he has lost his reputation for good. There’s only so many times that you can be linked to steroids before people start to believe that it must be true.
The most baffling thing to me though, is that he is a 14 time All-Star and 3 time MVP award winner. He obviously started his career well; the contract he signed after the 2000 season made him the highest paid player in sports history – a 10-year deal worth $252 million. In 1998 , when he was just 23 and in his 3rd full major league season, he was selected as Players Choice AL Player of the Year, won his 2nd Silver Slugger Award and finished in the top 10 in the MVP voting. If you’re that good, why risk it all by doing something that would jeopardise your whole career. And then if you admit it once, DON’T DO IT AGAIN! You cannot claim to be “fighting for your life”, if the situation is entirely of your own making.
I’m usually a firm believer in ‘innocent until proven guilty’, but I was burned by this with Ryan Braun, defending him to the hilt only for him to come out a year later and admit that actually, he did take steroids and he tried to cover it up. On a side note, I believe that the 65 game suspension that Braun received this year should have been doubled because of the way that he appealed the decision last year and blamed it on a poor Fed-Ex guy who was just doing his job.
A-Rod appeared in his first game back from injury last night, against my team the Chicago White Sox. And was promptly met with boos and chants of ‘PED’ and ‘Steroids’ during every at bat. And I think that until his appeal is over, he can expect that every time. People have lost faith with players linked to steroids and don’t want to go back to the position that baseball was in during the 90s when it seemed that pretty much every player that was beating records and doing well was juicing to get there.
I wish that A-Rod had just accepted his suspension like a man and then decided whether he wanted to come back after or not. But he’s 38 now, meaning that he would be 40 by the time his suspension was over, and although he’d still have 3 years left on his contract with the Yankees, the chances of him getting regular playing time against the younger players would be greatly diminished. But by appealing now, it means that
whenif he does get suspended, he’ll have gone out on a playing streak rather than going out on the injury list.I wish him all the best, but for the sake of the game, I hope he will change his mind and take it like a man.
What do you think? Should we give him the benefit of the doubt until his appeal is over, or have you already made up your mind too? Let me know in the comments…
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Recipe: Sticky Five Spice Gammon
It’s been a long time since I did any cooking, but since I finished work an hour early on Friday, I thought I might as well try out one of my food pins from Pinterest.
The original recipe that I found on Pinterest had egg noodles, but we had none in the house so I used rice instead. I forgot to take pictures though, so the picture is from the original website. The recipe also stated that the sauce should turn into a glaze. I think I used a larger orange than the original recipe so I had a lot more liquid. If this happens to you, mix some cornstarch with hot water and add to the pan at the end of step 4. Cook for 5 more minutes or until the sauce thickens.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 45 minutesIngredients
- 4 Medium gammon steaks (cut into bite sized pieces)
- 2 teaspoons five spice powder
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 red chillies (deseeded and finely sliced)
- 1 Medium orange (zest and juice)
- 1 tablespoon clear (runny) honey
- 100ml chicken stock (I used an oxo cube made up with 100ml water)
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 1 Medium red pepper (sliced)
- 2 Medium onions (diced)
- 300g long grain rice
Nutritional Information
Calories: 629
Carbs: 67g
Fat: 22g
Protein: 43g
Sugar: 13g
Salt: 1,398mgDirections
- Add oil to a large frying pan and heat.
- Fry onions and peppers until soft.
- Sprinkle five spice powder over gammon and add gammon to pan with onions and peppers. Fry for around 2-3 minutes.
- Add the soy sauce, honey, chillies, orange zest and juice and stock and simmer for 4-5 minutes until the sauce is thickened.
- Serve with the rice cooked according to packet instructions.
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Waddington Airshow 2013
It’s taken a while for me to get these pictures processed and uploaded, but I’m finally done! I love going to Waddington and this year was Cameron’s first proper air show, after we introduced him to Sunderland last year. It was so much fun, although very warm! That was good though, because the sky was so clear that it was full displays all round. Perfect! And I even managed to avoid sunburn this time. Result!
Next year I’ll definitely be hiring out a super-zoom lens for my camera to get some better pictures, but here’s the best of what I got.
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Review: Miranda Hart – Is It Just Me?
Anyone who knows me will know that Miranda is my favourite comedian. I can’t watch her show without laughing hysterically, and it doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it, it’s still the same. So it was kind of surprising that I waited so long after this book came out to actually read it. I had it on my Christmas list last year, but when no-one bought me it, I didn’t fancy paying hardback prices and so I waited til it came out in paperback before I ran out and merrily handed over my money.As I expected, I wasn’t disappointed. The book was a conversation between Miranda and her teenage self, with a comic but realistic outlook on all things life – weddings, birthdays, technology etc. I’m so glad that I read this book in the privacy of my own home, as if I’d read this book in public (i.e. on the bus), I would have had many strange looks for my constant bursts of laughter.
The book was written in the same style as her tv show and her previous radio show, so I couldn’t help but read the books in her voice and imagine her in all these hilarious situations (such fun!). This was brilliant though, it just made the book funnier! There was a sense of comradery through the book, being adressed as ‘My dear reader chum’ makes it all seem very personal and pulls you in in such a way that I almost read the book in one sitting, I had to keep forcing myself to put the book down so I didn’t race through it.
If you like Miranda’s tv show, you’ll absolutely love this book. And if you don’t, well what’s wrong with you?!
Highly recommended.
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ZSL Whipsnade Zoo
After the Friday evening trip to the Harry Potter Studios, we decided to go to Whipsnade Zoo on the Saturday. We didn’t realise quite how hot it was going to be – 33 degrees! We were very warm and very tired after all the walking. Which there was lots of. It was more like a safari park that you can walk around than a traditional zoo because all the enclosures were so big. You could pay extra to take your car in so you can drive between them, which I kind of wish we had done so we could have sat with the air conditioning for a while. After we’d been there for 7 hours, I was really not in the mood for the 3 and a half hour drive home!
But apart from the almost unbearable heat, I really enjoyed the zoo. Because of the size of the enclosures and the fact that the animals had more space to roam around, I think it’s my favourite zoo I’ve been to. And even though it was so hot, most of the animals were still out in the sun, even though I expected a lot of them to be inside alseep. I also had my first ever Sea Lion show. I was so impressed, they’re so clever. The funniest part was the seal that had been trained to pick up a hose from under the water and spray the audience with it, very smart! I didn’t get any pictures of that though because we were right on the edge of the ‘splash zone’ and I didn’t want to risk getting my camera wet.
So here ‘s what you most likely came for, my pictures:
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Harry Potter Studio Tour – Leavesden Studios
Last Friday was my best friend Abi’s birthday, so we arranged a trip down to London for me, her and her sister Hannah. We decided to go to the Harry Potter Studio tour, and it was simply amazing! It’s at the actual studios where Harry Potter was filmed and has loads of original props, sets and costumes to look at. I was enthralled with how cool it all was, walking around the sets that they actually used for the films. I’ve just bought the film boxset from Amazon so I can watch them all again, and I want to re-read the books again too. Abi and Hannah had both been before so knew what to expect, but every corner we turned just brought more surprises for me, especially the corner round to the huge replica of Hogwarts which they used to film the external scenes (like with the dragon). It’s huge and so intricately detailed that it took 40 days to assemble.
Here’s a selection of the 360 pictures that I took as we were walking round! This weekend has also involved a trip to Whipsnade Zoo and Waddington Airshow, so there’s plenty more pictures to come!
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The Deep and Bridlington
Today we decided to go to The Deep in Hull. I went when it was first opened, and Cameron hadn’t been for about 7 years, so we thought it would be quite interesting. There were lots of kids running around, but most of them were interested in looking in the tanks and not so bothered about reading all the information, which was better for us! I learnt lots of things, for example the Clown fish (i.e. Nemo) actually lives inside a poisonous coral, but secretes slime so that the coral doesn’t even realise it is there. Makes it pretty hard to find Nemo!
After we’d finished at The Deep, the weather was really nice, so we decided to drive up to Bridlington (well Cameron did, I may or may not have fallen asleep). When we got to Brid, it was 24 degrees and gloriously sunny! Perfect sunday weather!
It was quite hard to get good pictures through the glass, especially with the slow shutter speed of my phone, but I tried my best!
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First look at Leeds First Direct Arena
While we were on holiday in Skipton, Cameron spotted a tweet from Leeds First Direct Arena advertising their open day – 2,500 tickets released for free to help them test some of their functions before the arena has its official opening very soon. We jumped straight on my laptop to order ourselves a couple, and today was the big day.
Having decided that even with only 2,500 people going, Woodhouse Lane car park would be packed, we took the train into Leeds and walked up from the station. That turned out to be a good idea, since there was an open day at Leeds University happening this morning too, and we heard that the car parks were rammed full.
We arrived at the arena about 40 minutes early, full of excitement, especially when the concourse started getting busier and they turned on the lights on the outside of the building. When we were all let in, we were allowed to wander around a bit before making our way to our seats. On the way, we stopped off to check out the facilities. Very clean (obviously), and large cubicles, but the only disappointment was the hand dryers – comparable to being breathed on by an old lady. But Cameron has since seen a tweet to say new hand dryers are on order, hopefully they’ve gone for a good old Dyson Airblade.
We were in block 105, the lowest of the available tiered seating (although there are more seats that can be pulled down below), and bang slap in the middle. Because there were only 2,500 of us, there were plenty of seats to choose from. Surprisingly, there was a fair amount of leg room, even enough for 6’5″ Cameron, who usually finds his knees pushed against the seat in front. The seats were also very comfy, much more padding than the ones at Sheffield Motorpoint, so you didn’t get ‘numb bum’ after 10 minutes.
After a quick introduction, we then moved onto some acoustic tests; booing, cheering and clapping on demand so they could get a feel for the sound. There was a video tour around the arena, and then we moved on to the two bands lucky enough to win a Facebook competition to perform at the open day. The band that came first were called The Scandal, although I have to say I preferred the second place band, The Puppeteers.
In between the two bands, they needed to test out the toilet systems, so wanted us to do a ‘grand flush’. Everyone was told to go to the toilet and then when instructed, all flush at the same time. I ended up in a toilet block with about 10 cubicles in it, but we must have been tucked out of the way, because we didn’t get any kind of instruction to flush, and we were stood there like lemons until someone’s husband phoned her up to see where she was. Good job we didn’t actually need the loo though, since they had no toilet roll dispensers installed in those cubicles yet.
The final test was actually a pretty good way of getting us all out of the arena, and it was a test of their emergency systems. A voice came over the tannoy saying something along the lines of ‘There has been an incident, please evacuate the arena’. It all worked very well though, and it was exciting to be one of the first to go inside the arena.
Having said that, we were looking at who we wanted to to see, and our two preferred favourites were Miranda Hart and Cirque de Soleil. But having seen the price, I think we might hold off on that for now., see if we can find any offers for cheap tickets nearer the time.
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Holiday Day 5 – The Caravan
Well today was the last full day of our holiday and the day that Julie and David came back up. They were due to arrive just after 7pm, so we were cooking a two course meal for them. In the morning, we went down to Skipton and walked around the market, then did our shopping at Morrisons. After cleaning the caravan for a few hours and then cleaning the car, we were just in time for Julie and David to arrive. Since we didn’t go out today, there weren’t any nice pictures to show you, but I took a few pictures of the caravan where we were staying.
Louise Douglas
(I've got no) Shelf Control…
Louise Douglas 