The Marmite cereal bar...

On a very unusual day, where public transport didn't seem to get on with me and stopped me from getting where I wanted to go, a Marmite cereal bar salesman approached me with a hopeful grin. He was gripping a bunch of cereal bars...Marmite cereal bars! I was so bewildered and starving that I agreed to whatever he asked me. As long as I got some food down me, I didn't mind what I did. After filling out what seemed like an endless form and signing it, I thought I could go and get myself a cup of coffee to end the non-eventful day, but he directed me into a photo booth. They expected me to take a bite out of the bar and on a screen where my face would appear, the camera would catch my expression as to whether I loved it or hated it. Surely enough I sat on the unstable stool, wondering to myself why I on earth I agreed to all of this and after "1...2...3...Marmite!" there was a snapshot of my expression that read, why am I here??

The bar was neither to be loved nor hated. It was interesting and I was hungry, I was given four more bars to occupy my rumbling stomach and the taste grew on me. But, it has much more work to do if it expects me to love it. I don't know whether this bar has that love/hate relationship. It's an inbetweener.

A strip of pain

Purederm Deep cleansing nose strips are a form of torture that has been dipped into a bowl full of another form of torture. It’s as if a troubled man, with no knowledge of how to slowly peel off the strip got a knife and started to shred your nose little bit by bit. The pain is ridiculous and right at this moment I have not yet made my mind up as to whether it was worth it. I feel as though my nose is going to bleed any moment now and I am holding a tissue where the blood could possibly drip. I’ve done waxing, I’ve sat and stared at chocolate that I couldn’t touch, I’ve left a shop where the sale items are as cheap as Primark and as good quality as Jack Wills, but this has by far been the most painful experience. Whoever says that labour is the world’s most painful experience has obviously never bought deep cleansing nose strips. If your blackheads are thousands of bullets shot into your nose that reoccur every day and can be seen by the blind, then buy them. But, if you have speckled black dots that you could join up, but that aren’t tormenting you, give it a miss and simply exfoliate.

Glorious, glorious, rain

The delightful rain picked up today, it came pouring down like a flood from the heavens, drowning every dry nook and cranny. I was out among the shops...picking up a few sale items that would have been left all on their own if I hadn't picked them up and gave them a good home...when I bounced out into the downfall. Normally, I guess you would think Oh no and for a few minutes I did...but then I found refuge under a shelter and smiled at how refreshing the outdoors was. The high street was thinning out, people were running, and it was quite entertaining to watch how almost a stampede collected in the centre. I just stood and watched the world go by, wondering why people were out in the town, where they were heading next and whether they too found the most amazing sale in Republic.

The air speaks of Spring

As I walked out of my house today the air was dry and outside appeared very different. The sweet smell of freshly cut grass spiralled around in the air and everywhere was very quiet. The sun was in hiding, but there were not really any clouds; there was no rain either. It felt ghostly, but friendly at the same time and even though everywhere seemed dead, it felt alive. Spring has definitely clung onto us now and is tightening its grip around us. I don't think any more snow will be chasing us now.

It's raining cats and dogs!

Someone said to me today, '...oh it's just one of those things...', after a pause for thought, the question crept up on me, 'one of what things?'

We use these phrases in every day language, because we've learnt them...but have we ever really questioned them?

'It's raining cats and dogs' - Apparently, in tornado's, the debris that gets sucked up and spun around wildly, including cats and dogs, fires right back down onto land when the tornado dies down. Therefore, as the cats and dogs seem to be falling from the sky, it looks as though it is raining cats and dogs!

What is real beauty?

The sunshine has been beating down amongst the breezy wind, painting smiles on people's faces and a summer glow beams all around. For the first time in a while I went for a casual walk in the country side with only a t-shirt on....obviously I was carrying my coat...just incase, but the beauty that shone out to me was magnificent. The green velvety hills were lush, the brook was glittering and the tree's looked alive. It was gorgeous, and it was real beauty.

I wondered about all of the things that people would call 'beautiful'. Celebrities, fashion, diamonds, all of those material possessions are seen as beautiful and I'd be lying if I said I didn't think they were either. But, the natural things that are free....grass, trees, water, sunshine, mountains, flowers....they really do perk you up, they make me grin exactly like the Cheshire cat!...I have to remind myself most of the time that I really do look silly and I'm on my own so I just look mad.

I found out that the word 'beauty' from Latin, means 'to be happy' and just from that I can see how nature really does mean beauty because nature is a mood changer. Do you notice how when it rains you may feel a bit down? (I, on the contrary love the rain, but it still changes my mood-just to a more positive one) When the clouds clothe us in a robe of boredom and depression, that is fairly noticeable, isn't it? The snow just gets everybody excited and pushes us right back to our playful childhood...if it doesn't, something is wrong.

Beauty is out there in the world we live in, it means something deeper than what's just on the surface and it is a free gift to us. So, let's notice the real beauty of this world and just enjoy it!

Marrying...a ship.

Ok, so I've heard that humans can marry their pets because most humans are attracted to their pets more than any human in their lives. That took me a few months to get over...but I learnt to deal with the fact that it was something that people who actually live on the same earth as me choose to do. However, from the widely read magazine, Closer, there was an article that sent me into an even deeper state of shock, I felt completely drowned by bewilderment. Apparently, a human being has married a ship. This person suffers from 'objectum sexuality', but even this hasn't made me think 'Ohhhh! It's fine then'. No, having sex with a ship, having a relationship with a ship is very beyond what I would consider as normal...maybe that is wrong...maybe people do accept marriages in this context and I am living in a cave, sheltered from reality. I just don't know.

The brilliance of phatic communication

Today I laughed to myself at the phatic communication that we use so often; where you see someone in your gaze that you know but that you don't know well enough to get into a big conversation, and so the few words that blur into one are spoken.

A: Hi you all right?

B: Yeah thanks, are you?

A: Yeah.....

That's the end of your meeting, and it's rare to even answer back to 'are you?'....after the 'Hi you all right?' part, that's usually that and the gaze is broken and you carry on walking away. Like myself, maybe you think to yourself, was she/he really asking me how I was or not? and think whoops! for walking away to quickly.

The phrase, 'Hi, you all right?' has now blurred into one greeting and has lost the questioning tone to it. The meaning of asking how people are I think has weakened, because I have noticed that whenever somebody asks me how I am and really means it, their tone is direct and deepens and this changes to when it's just small talk.

Another big one for phatic communication is weather! Every time I have small talk with someone, the weather comes up no matter what.

'It's freezing today...isn't it colder than yesterday?'

'I can't believe it's raining, I didn't even think to bring my umbrella.'

'How nice is this sunshine! Although, I doubt it will last.'

The thing that really tickles me is that I talk about the weather with everyone, no matter how close I am with them, and I can't help myself. It seems to be an automatic conversation that has to be used at least once in a day. British weather is fun, it changes all the time and it gives us something to talk about when we're in a hole and can't dig ourselves out.

Phatic communication has won me over!

The colours of traffic lights

I was cruising along on the bus this afternoon, staring at the many road signs and obstacles that passed by when I found myself hooked onto the traffic lights. I wondered to myself- as I do so often - why traffic lights feature the specific colours: Red, Amber and Green. We all know what they mean, red for 'stop', amber for 'get set' and green for 'go'. But have we had too much time to think about it and question, why these colours have these meanings? It may seem obvious for the colour red as it connotes danger, and perhaps even the end of a life, it is something where you would simply 'stop' because there is danger. However, I gave the colour amber more thought, because i couldn't understand what image/message it conveys. I was given the question about what colour is amber... is it orange or yellow? This twigged off more brain energy...the bit that I had left...amber hasn't made up its mind as to whether it's orange or yellow and so it is neither 'stop' nor 'go' but something in between. Finally, the colour green links to nutrition, health and growth and therefore this promotes the idea of the start of something, leading on to the word 'go'.

This is what I have decided makes up the colours for traffic lights, whether it's right or wrong, maybe another day I will find out.

Funny Bone... it just isn't funny!

I was sitting in my seminar the other day twiddling my thumbs, wondering when I could gallop back home for a cup of coffee that I regrettably missed that morning when the person sitting next to me clumsily hit her funny bone. Through her unmistakable look of pain plastered on her face, she cried, 'why is it called you funny bone? It's just not funny!' That put my brain into work mode, wondering why is it called the funny bone. From that moment on, my mind was completely elsewhere, coffee actually skipped a chapter behind this one - for once.

I went and did some research on this as I couldn't rest...or work...until I found out. Apparently...

It has been said that 'funny bone' may be a pun on the medical name of the bone on the upper arm, called the 'humerus'. If coffee hasn't been in your system today, I will go on. As 'humerus' sounds a bit like 'humorous', there is a link with the word 'funny'! Makes a lot of sense I suppose.

Another source has disagreed because the meaning of 'funny' also extends to 'strange' and not just 'humorous', therefore, that strange sensation reflects on the name, 'funny bone'. This also is plausible, but if this was the real explanation, why then wasn't it called the 'strange bone'?

One last source told me that when you hit your funny bone, you must laugh so that the pain and uncomfortable tingle that travels through your arm is more or so washed away because the laughing takes your mind off it. I don't think I can comment on this. Maybe laughing does help take away the pain...for maybe a second... but as for that being the reason why it's called a funny bone, I disagree quite monumentally.

However, opinions are opinions. I personally would go for the first explanation, but obviously others would seem to disagree with me. If there are any more reasons for the label of 'funny bone', I would love to hear them, especially one even more extravagant than the last one I found!

Life of a day dreamer

I find myself sat amongst a crowd of people, whether in a lecture, a tea room, Starbucks or on a bus, and thoughts that could really not be categorised into any topic ramble through my mind. Thoughts that have no relevance to the present but that pop up in a random fashion or that are sparked off by a nearby conversation - not that I eavesdrop - but sometimes it has to be done! Questions, statements that I turn into questions and words that I mull over appear in a flash and use up most of the space that I have in my brain. I decided to write a blog about all those things that everyone secretly thinks about but never talks much about, things that stretch your attention away from those important daily rituals. My thoughts consist of so many different and obscure things but that I'm hoping...others think about too...or at least who visit the thoughts for a second. This will be my account of the life of a day dreamer...in my shoes and in others who roam around me who talk just a little bit too loud - it's as if they want me to over hear their conversation!