Reconnecting #28: Old friends?

In 2008 my family took our last ‘family holiday together’ before me and my sisters moved out. 10 days after my graduation we flew out to Australia and went to Melbourne, then stayed with our family friends Karen, Rob, Tom and Emma in Sydney and finished in Queenstown, New Zealand. I think it was while in Sydney or New Zealand we started watching a talk show called Rove and on this show were a couple of guys called Hamish and Andy.

                                                    The Harrold sisters in Sydney in 2008

When we got back to the UK, my sister Lisa found out some more about Hamish and Andy and discovered they had their own drive time radio show, and that you could listen to podcasts of it. So back in 2008 we started listening and loved it. It felt like we were listening to a couple of mates having a laugh. It got to the point where we talked about them so often, that my dad had a question about Australia, Lisa and I didn’t know the answer and he asked us to ask Hamish and Andy as he thought they were our friends!

Over the years they've had some really funny moments; getting the bucket to spin on the top of a KFC and discovering and getting Frank Stallone to perform a concert for them were particular highlights. I want to hang out with them at the Melbourne Cup, and forget the Oscars Vanity Fair Party, the only party I want to go to was the Logie Spit Roast Party. And who could forget the brilliant game of random John, where they would phone a random number and hope the person that answered would be called John. It went on for weeks!

Now like some friendships, mine with Hamish and Andy didn’t last. Life got busy and soon I got too behind on the podcasts to catch up. So it was just over a year ago I stopped listening. Yes there have been listeners that would have epic catch up sessions to claw their way back to present day, but I wasn’t one of them. So when my friend Coops who is also a fan (and has even spoken to them) suggested I start listening again, I did just that.

And like catching up with good old friends it was like no time had passed. Yes times have changed. Hamish is now married and has a baby. Andy has a girlfriend after being single since his split with an aussie supermodel. The banter was still there; the phone ins were still funny. The launch party where they relaunched their show was great; they got listeners to launch things and one guy wanted to launch a new grey jacket he bought. And Hamish and Andy’s mum’s interviewed the guys from Magic Mike which was really funny.

So now I’ll be going back to sitting on the train or in the car listening and trying my best to disguise my laughs as coughs once more. It’s good to have Hamish and Andy in my life once more, who knows maybe I’ll call in so I can say long time listener, first time caller!

New recipes #20-26: Food gathering

On Sunday I had a little food gathering for friends and family. It was to act as a little trade off as well. I made nice food and in return I got some unusual food to try or a new phrase for my challenge.

I aimed to cook 10 recipes as I had quite a few people set to attend but ended up making 6. This was a blessing in disguise as 3 people couldn’t make it on the day and 2 others who said they were going to come never showed. Even so I still have a lot of food left over which I’m sure my work colleagues will appreciate, and means I don’t have to go food shopping for quite a while.

I started preparing food on the Thursday as I had a busy weekend ahead and the first thing I made was chicken liver and orange pate. The pate was made with chicken livers which I got from Morrisons for a very high price of 19p! It was pretty straight forward to make which I was surprised about and smelt and tasted like pate. Although before freezing it I did think it looked like dog poo. Even so it still tasted great on French bread.

I was still making slight tweaks in what I was going to make the night before and I was wondering what I could make with ingredients I already had. From the granola bars I had quite a few different seeds left and with them I raspberry jam and a luxury nut and seed loaf. The jam was surprisingly easy to make. It wasn’t proper jam like my mum made with the long cooking process, but it tasted and looked just like jam and was extra healthy as it had Chia seeds in it.

I got inspiration from my favourite band Lady Antebellum in the form of Devilled Eggs. I found out about these through one of their webisodes as Charles from the band would impersonate his crazy aunt bella. She would go on about her devilled eggs and how they were amazing. I googled the recipe and thought I’d give them a try. I hadn’t tried them before either and boy did they have a bit of a kick. 

The nut and seed loaf tasted good, but it did need a sauce or gravy which I didn’t have time to make. It recommended a cranberry and apple sauce but I couldn’t find any cranberries. But it was still pretty filling.

I also made 2 desserts and I seem to be back in my pudding stride after some landslides earlier in the challenge. I made a passion fruit trifle which was a simple recipe using brioche slices as the base. The reason why I made a trifle was that I felt that all the dishes I was making were a little brown. So I asked one of my friends what I should make for dessert that had a bit of colour, and passion fruit was the answer. It was another easy recipe to make and there weren’t any complaints. 

The last thing I made on the day was Banoffee Pie. Now I have an eventful history with Banoffee pie, as when I was growing up if there was free food around I would make the most of it. One Boxing Day we went to my auntie’s and there was a lot of great food. So I stuffed myself and when I got home was subsequently sick, and the last thing I ate was you guessed it Banoffee pie. I’ve never had it since. But I did make it for the challenge and it went down a storm. My friend Penny called me the queen of Banoffee and quite a few people went back for seconds!

I was planning to make Biryani on the Sunday but I decided to make it the day after and I loved it. The rice was very fragrant and it the meat and sauce wasn’t too spicy but was full of flavour. It’s a dish I’ll definitely make again and again.

New books #27-28: Different view point

I had a pretty busy weekend, but somehow still found time to read a couple of books! The first book I read I managed to read on the train while going to and from Hampton Court Palace. I read War Horse by Michael Morpurgo which is the famous book about a horse’s view of the Second World War and the friendship he has with his original owner’s son. Throughout the book they are separated but neither of them forgets their bond. The book is now a play and was made into a film a few years ago. I saw the film when it came out with Bobby and Lord Studman and I remembered how I was the youngest in the audience by a good 30 years.

The book was okay; it was easy to read but took me quite a bit of time to get used to reading a story from a view point of a horse.

The second book I read was called The Yellow Wall-Paper. It’s part of a series of short books Penguin had released to celebrate its 80th birthday. They released 80 books, all at 80p each! I originally bought a few for Matt when I was seeing him as he always wanted to read, but because he was very busy with work he never had the time. I didn't buy all 80 but I bought him around half a dozen or so and was going to give him a couple every few weeks, but we didn't make it that far, so I’m left with some very random books.

The Yellow Wall-Paper is by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the three stories in the book were originally published in 1892, 1893 and 1911. So by far this was the oldest book I’d read in the challenge! To be honest I didn't think much of the stories. I couldn't connect with the female lead character and this maybe due to there not being much description at the start. I also felt like the stories didn't have much happen in them either, so I finished the book asking myself what it was all about.

New book #26: A day’s commute

For a few years I did the Hitchin to London commute and to be honest I didn’t really mind it. What I did mind was the very high cost, but I think it’s because of my dad’s great interest in trains I quite like train journeys on the whole. It’s a great place to people watch and catch up on reading from my permanent seat of the luggage rack.

I used to have a habit of talking to strangers on trains on long distance journeys, but not short ones and the book One Moment, One Morning explores an everyday commute. One day on a normal commute a man collapses but as a result it changes the lives of 3 people.

The book was a straight forward read and I like how it got into the action straight away rather than build up with lots of description. The characters were well formed and the whole situation was really believable. And to top it off one of the characters was from Hitchin, I kid you not!

New Food #28: A fry up delicacy

At the weekend my family and I went to The Hermitage with my Grandad aka Lord Studman to celebrate his 90^th birthday. He’d never had breakfast out before and between us we managed to have nearly everything off the menu.

I went for a full English, which included black pudding. I’ve had plenty of cooked breakfasts, but never had black pudding. So what did it taste like? Well in small forkfuls it doesn’t taste too bad, a bit like stuffing you get with roast potatoes. But if you go for a big mouthful like I did towards the end, it starts to turn on you.

So if it’s on my plate in the future, I’ll remember to eat it in small amounts.

Writing 29 pages of a screenplay per month #5: Big Screen Legends

The latest screenplay I’ve been writing is a 6 part light hearted series called Hea-Van which is about Platinum Heaven, the next step up from normal heaven.

The last time I did some writing on it I had written episode 1 and half of episode 2. Now I’ve completed all of episode 2 and episode 3. Each episode is 20 minutes in length and a minute on screen is one page. Episode 2 explores another area of Platinum Heaven called S.A.O. which is Signs and Opportunities. This is where people in the land can go in front of a panel to create a sign or an opportunity for a loved one back on earth to make their life. The panel I created for the episode consisted of John Lennon, Elizabeth Taylor and Amelia Earhart.

The problem I’ve started to have with some elements of the series is I have ideas for this new land, but once they are down on paper they don’t last as long as I think they should, so that’s proved a challenge.

Also sometimes when you write, even if you have everything planned out in your mind what you want to happen, it go in a different direction. Which is what happened in episode 2. I put Heath Ledger in the first half of the episode to play off one of the main characters, and I created a good rapport with him and the other character that I did a second longer scene later in that episode. I've already got ideas as to how Heath Ledger can feature in the series finale.

The third episode was all about reunions and big arrivals. For this episode I focused on the arrival of Robin Williams and how people would react. I focused on the friendships that would be reformed. John Belushi and Christopher Reeve were best friends of Robin Williams, and Belushi passed away in the 80’s and Reeve over ten years ago. So it was interesting to think about how it would be to have a reunion with someone I hadn’t seen in over 10 years or even longer.

For a couple of characters which I’ll discuss in further detail in another blog post I had to create a very emotional reunion, so out came the sad music and I found one song that got me in the right sad mood. So I had to play this one song which was the Glee version of Pure Imagination on a loop until the scene was written and yes you've guessed it, it was stuck in my head for the rest of the next day! 

New book #23-25: Recommendations

Over the challenge my friends and family have given me many recommendations and the last few books I’ve read have been recommendations.

Love, Nina was recommended by Charlotte and it was a girl called Nina who was a nanny in London during the 80s. The book is letters she used to send her sister during this time about her adventures working. It’s a popular book and upon finishing it, it was announced that they were making it into a TV series. I liked the format of the book and found some of it amusing but I didn’t find it laugh out loud funny like others had.

I also read Miranda Hart’s book Is It Just Me? which was recommended by Charlotte and my sister Lisa. This book was funnier and I liked how Miranda talked directly to the reader all of the time and then went off and talked about random things from time to time.

Lisa also lent me Looking for Alaska which is by John Green who wrote Fault in Our Stars. I’d read that book and seen the film and liked both, however Looking for Alaska I just couldn't get into. I couldn’t connect with the characters and I think it also might have been a case of me being too old to read the book as I think the target audience is probably teenagers.

New Phrases #22-23: International events

At work I try to find a funny news story every day for me and my colleague Austin to talk over as it’s a way of breaking up the day. Yesterday however Austin randomly said to me on the subject of funny stories that it’s international talk like a pirate day at the weekend. And would you believe it google confirmed this was true!

There’s a whole website dedicated to the day and yes you’ve guessed it there were some pirate phrases to learn! I opted for a pirate phrase in German so ‘death and evil’ is Tod und Teufel in German.

With the rugby world cup starting yesterday, and New Zealand always having a big impact I learnt what welcome is in New Zealand is from my mate Tom who is living there at the moment. It’s ‘Haeri Mae’

So Happy talk like a pirate day!!! Arrrgghh!

New People: What I have learnt from people that I’ve met

Looking back over the people that I’ve met during the challenge, two words come to mind: randomness and opportunity. Usually I’ll add in the end of the category blog posts what the best part of the category was, but I don’t think you can do that with people.

Going on holidays always provides an opportunity to meet new people and going to Rome and the Brecon Beacons did just that. I met people from all walks of life with great stories to tell.

Other people I’ve met I admired from afar, like Mary Berry and Freddie Flintoff and even though there wasn’t much of an opportunity to say much I’m glad I met them.

People can make a good evening out great, they can add entertainment value when you least expect it, like Darren who I met on the tube who loudly asked me out. And meeting Louise and Punita at Davina McCall's empowerment evening meant that it was nice to share a new experience with like minded people.

I’ve met people who are the keys to my friends’ happiness, like Ayden is to Humaira and Rob is to Laura. And then sometimes you meet people who become one of the keys to your own happiness and for 6 months this was Matt.

Over the challenge I had in my mind that I was going to meet due to some opportunities I created, but they fell through. Not all plans work out. I thought I would meet Bradley Cooper after seeing Elephant Man (thinking it would be easy like meeting Jake Gyllenhaal in New York) and I was due to meet a Bath rugby player as well, but that didn’t materialise.

Until very recently I thought that a guy I met a few weeks ago would be the perfect happy ending for the people part of the challenge. But after three dates and the first lasting from 8pm-2am and both of us not wanting it to end, he met someone who blew him away even more. Yes it was only three dates, so no time at all really, but sometimes you just have a feeling something is different. And for me that rarely happens, I try not to get excited too quickly (unless it's to do with Australian Masterchef.) I am after all the person who would only get excited about a holiday when I’m sitting on the plane ready for take-off.

There have been great highs and unexpected lows during the time I’ve been doing the challenge. Meeting new people have distracted me from the bruises in life I’ve got and help me back together again and become stronger. Jane Fonda, the main inspiration for this challenge said in her master class about studying muscles, that they can tear but they build back stronger. So I guess meeting people this past year has helped me build up muscle.

While I’m talking about meeting new people I thought I’d share one of my favourite quotes; ‘People are in your life for a reason, season or life time.’ And at the end of this part of the challenge this quote couldn’t be truer.

New Comedians #16-20: TV favourites and recommendations

After a non stop week of physical work on the National Trust holiday I wanted to have a chilled out week, so thought it was great opportunity to watch some comedians.

Rob Brydon was first up and I’ve seen him in Gavin and Stacey and the odd interview, but not much else. His stand up was pretty good and about everyday things which people could relate to. Like Dara O’Briain what impressed me was his ability to remember audience members names at the end of the show. I also liked how at the start he saw two empty seats near the front and got two members of the audience who were in the balcony to come on down and take them.

John Cleese was another person who again I’d heard of, but apart from Will & Grace I hadn’t really seen him in anything. I know it’s shameful I haven’t seen Fawlty Towers or Monty Python. His stand up was based on the fact that he had to do it to fund his divorce. The stand up material was different to others that I’ve watched as rather then getting the audience involved it was more a history of his life, which was really interesting. Although it would have been good to see some interaction with the audience to give it some uniqueness, otherwise he’s doing the exact same thing every night. Not that he needs any advice from me!

The next two comedians were recommendations from a guy I met recently. And although we only saw each other three times, he seemed to get my sense of humour spot on. He recommended I watch Kevin Hart’s Laugh at My Pain stand up show and it was one of the funniest stand up shows I’ve ever seen. I was laughing non stop. I’d seen Kevin Hart in the challenge already thanks to seeing the Wedding Ringer film, but his stand up is so far the only stand up I could quote to you days after seeing it. So if you’ve seen it, if I say; ‘stay in your lane’ pineapple’ and ‘alright, alright, alright’ you’ll know what I’m going on about.

The second comedian I was recommended was a guy called Bill Burr. I watched his show called You People are all the Same. It wasn’t as funny as Kevin Hart but Bill had one of those voices that make anything sound funny which is always a winner for me. He reminded me a lot of an actor called Charlie Day who has one of those types of voices.

Then I watched Sean Lock’s stand up DVD which was lent to me by Matt. And to be honest I didn’t find it funny at all. There wasn’t much interaction with the audience and there wasn’t anything original, I felt like I had heard it all before. I think Sean Lock maybe one of those comedians that work well on a panel show as there are other people to work off, but maybe not on his own. Although saying that the audience at the show he was doing found him hysterical so it might be he doesn’t match my sense of humour.

New Places and Activities: What have I learnt and what was the best

Going through the list of new places and experiences I’ve noticed there were no theme and a great deal of variety.

In terms of new places I’ve been to this past year, I wanted to go to the Gold Coast to see my friend Jasmine, but my finances took a turn. In fact the only place abroad I went to was Rome for a long weekend. I did however see more of the UK then I thought, with trips to; Bath, Stone Henge, Salisbury, Abergavenny and Whitney. All of which were very different. There were a couple of places I went to which I thought should be on the list, but after checking with my parents and friends it turned out I’d already been to them years ago.

Some of the experiences I had no idea what to expect going in; my first new activity in Chessboxing were completely random, but one turned out to be one of the best nights and one of the highlights of this part of the challenge. The same goes for the edible horror farm and seeing Cool Runnings on an ice rink.

The pole photo shoot, taking part in a parade and a festival tested the nerves but the end result was worth it.

Some of the new experiences were quite small and not as big as I predicted doing. Originally ice climbing, circus skills and going on Europe’s longest zip wire were going to be part of the challenge, but life changes and the people I had planned to do these activities with didn’t follow through. Instead making something from Pinterest and jump starting my car were part of my challenge.

The best experiences in the challenge were ones I experienced with people. Taking my dad to a rugby match was particularly special as he hadn’t been to Wembley Stadium before and the last time he went to a rugby match was in the sixties. I loved making brunch for my friends as there’s nothing better than people enjoying food I’ve cooked.

Thanks to meeting Matt, and him being obsessed with rugby, the sport is now on my radar. I went to the Rugby 7s festival which was a great present for my friend Ro (as she loves rugby players) and we had a really fun weekend.

I have no plans in stopping doing unusual activities that have no rhyme or reason. In fact I already have an idea for a series of activities to do next year! 

New Phrase #20-21: It’s all relative

My Auntie Benita is great with languages. She’s from Chile and came over to the UK when she married my Uncle Chris when I was around 3. She is not only fluent in Spanish and English but she has also learnt welsh since living in Lampeter in Wales. It wouldn’t surprise me if she knows more languages!

I remember I went to stay with my Auntie Benita and Uncle Chris when I was around 8 for a week when they lived in Coventry. We went to a festival and I remember Auntie Benita taught me the Taiwanese for Velcro was chick chicci!

She taught me two phrases in welsh and spanish, so for the challenge I’ve picked one of the phrases in each language. The spanish for very good is ‘Muy bien’ and the welsh for I like learning new things is; ‘Dw I’n hoffi dysgu pethau newydd’

Considering I’ve been to Wales twice this summer it was about time I learnt some welsh! 

New Phrases #10-19 and New Food #27: After a hard day’s work

The people in my National Trust holiday were from a range of nationalities; Mel was German, Ulrich was Italian, and Jill was a New Zealander. And a few members of the group were really enthusiastic about my 29 challenge and wanted to contribute to it.

We regularly went to the pub after a day of working and one evening I asked a few members of the group for some phrases. So over a couple of drinks I managed to get 10.

Earlier in the day Ed who was 18 knew the German for ‘My submarine is full of eels’. Ed’s German was pretty good but he wanted Mel who is German to double check. So the first German phrase of the challenge is; ‘Hein unterseeboot ist voller Aale.’

Mel gave me two phrases; Giib ihm den kleinen Finger und er nimmt die ganze Hand, which means; give him your small finger and he will take the whole hand. And if you ever wanted to know how to say my mum fell down the steps with some potatoes in Swabian, it’s; Mai Muadar isch mit de Grombiara die Schtiaga nagahaglt.’

Ulrich was an Italian liver doctor who has lived in the UK for the past 11 years. The phrases he gave are very random and in different languages. Some are insulting and some make no sense at all. So here are the phrases he gave me. (Apologies if some of the spelling is incorrect, Ulrich’s handwriting was a typical doctors one):

‘I hau din & Watschm owe, dass den fur vienzelm Tag den Schaskl waggelt.’ This is Viennese for I am going to give you a slap to make your skull tremble for 14 days.

‘Ti strepps una gamba e bi piglio & cdci mel culo.’ This is Italian for I rip a leg off you and then kick you in the bum with it.

‘Des is a fenche Henn’ is south Tyrolean for that is a fit bird!

Not sure if some women would use this phrase as a rule for life but; ‘Si an magin sspientesque nuit nescio, homines mon sunt’ is Latin for ‘I don’t know if they are great and wise, men they are not.’

‘να μου πείτε o μούσα του ανθρώπου και ο οποίος είχε πολύ ρίχνονται γύρω και πολύ προκλήθηκε αφού κατέστρεψαν την ιερή πόλη της Τροίας’ is ancient Greek for ; ‘Tell me, o Muse, of the man and who was much thrown around, and much suffered, often he destroyed the holy city of Troy.’

‘Sant’ Peri, Sant Peri, fil de put a quin non se alavi’ is Cetalan for Saint Hilery, Saint Hilery, son of a bitch whoever doesn’t drink up.

Lastly Rob another member of the group who is a hospital inspector and along with me were the DD’s which stood for the designated drivers with dazzling personalities gave me this French phrase; Honi soit qui mal y pense, which means ‘evil to him who thinks evil.’

Mel and I also tried pork scratchings. During the trip the others got Mel to try different British things. We both agree though that pork scratchings is not a delicacy we want to try again, they smelt like dog food and didn’t taste too great either. 

So all in all a very productive educational session at the pub!

New Activity #29: Stone Pitching

During the National Trust working holiday our group was working on an area of the footpath to prevent further loss of soil and vegetation. To do this we simply dug ditches but the technique we used called Stone Pitching. The National Trust information board near where we were working said: ‘We also use a technique called Stone Pitching. This is an ancient technique that predates the Romans, the path line is dug out and stones are embedded upright, the gaps are filled with small stone and soil.’

The process was in two parts, the first was digging the ditch and we used pick axes for this. It’s not as easy as it looks as I said previously the group leader broke his finger doing this on the first day. But once you get a rhythm it’s quite straight forward, but like any physical work it can be demanding. After we dug our section of ditch, we then had to find stone to fit on the side nearest the footpath, which would stop the erosion. There was a slope so we had to make sure the stones were put in a gradual rise. The stones had to be hit with a mallet so they were solid.

We then needed bigger stones for the ditch part and this was like doing a jigsaw puzzle as all the stones were different sizes. And once we did all that work we then had to cover our work with earth so it looked like it had been there all along!

To finish it off a couple of days later we did some landscaping and I did some turfing which meant digging up some turf squares  and then making them secure by hitting them with a sledgehammer. For some reason I found this part quite satisfying.

The whole process was really interesting and I didn’t have any awareness before of footpath erosion and how you can prevent it. So this part of the trip was very educational.

New People #24-35: National Trust Working Holiday

This past week I have been on a National Trust Working Holiday in the Brecon Beacons. There were 10 of us in total and 2 group leaders. The group was a great mixture of people, a wide range of ages, nationalities and backgrounds.

So what is a national trust working holiday? I’ll briefly state what it is here in this post as I’ll go into itfurther in a few days’ time. The working holiday gives a group of volunteers a chance to work on an area of National Trust land and work to improve it.

From Sunday to Friday we spent nearly every day at the Brecon Beacons working on digging ditches and drains. Starting at around 10am and finishing around 3.30. Our group leaders were Di and Peter and on the first day Peter managed to break his finger! They had been on several working holidays before and have done a variety of activities, so they were a great fountain of knowledge.

I got on well with everyone and was probably closest to Mel as she was one of the first people I spoke to. She was 20 and from Germany and was training to be a teacher. In Germany it takes 6 years to do this! She was great fun and in the last couple of evenings we ended up going for late night walks before bed to help big meals go down. Louise was also great fun and we cooked together the first evening. We made a fish pie which had the best roux sauce ever!

We all had different senses of humour which was good, Ulrich was a real joker and already knew another member of the group in Rob, Ed had a warped sense of humour which was entertaining and Malcolm’s was quite dry. Paul came out of his shell towards the end of the week and Jill had a very strong sense of self.

Our ranger for the work was a guy called Rob (different Rob to the one already mentioned) and he was very knowledgeable and funny. He ended up calling me Ross most of the time so I jokingly called him Bob. Huw who also worked with the trust was good fun. He was 27 and always wanted to work in the outdoors. He thought he’d get a job with the National Trust when he was much older so he was really pleased he got a job now, and he’d only been with the trust a couple of months.

There were regular trips to the pub after work which was a great way to wind down. We were really lucky with the weather and it only rained on the Friday evening, so we didn’t get wet while working. I even got sunburnt on the first day!

The week was hard work but fun and the group of people made it a memorable holiday.

New Food #24-26: My local

A couple of months ago a gelato shop called Fabios opened two doors down from where I live. On the first day people were queuing down the street and I even wrote the shop a welcome to the neighbourhood card (in the hope of free gelato, but they didn’t reply.) I went there during the week and they have a variety of flavours on offer and including one called experimental. You can try before you buy and the guy serving said if I like salted caramel (which I do) I’d like the ice cream. So I tried it and I did.

I then went for a scoop of it and it was really creamy ice cream. I decided to find out once I finished what the flavour was. This is because a couple of years ago I had non-alcoholic mojito and I liked it until somebody said there was in mint in it which I didn’t realise and hate, and then drinking it afterwards I couldn’t stand it. So I thought if I was told the flavour halfway through I might not like it after hearing what it was.

It turns out it was actually olive oil flavour! And it was very smooth and creamy. So if it was on sale again I’d definitely have more.

Other new foods I have eaten recently have been veal, which to be honest wasn't the most memorable meat, it was a bit of a nothing taste. And I also tried coleslaw. You may think that I would've eaten coleslaw by now, but I hate salad and pride myself on being the body that salad didn't make. But eating it with a Nandos a few weeks ago it didn't taste to bad. But I wouldn't go out of my way to have it again.

New Albums: What was the best and what did I learn?

Starting the music part of the challenge I knew listening to new albums was a chance for me to be open minded and looking through the list of albums I listened to I wasn’t wrong.

It’s quite a diverse list of albums; from iconic artists and albums, to country, rock, dance, musicals film and Chas and Dave! Normally I wouldn’t have listened to this much variety normally.

People have asked me what my top albums were from the challenge and they were:

·Girl Talk- All Day

·Age of the Understatement- Last Shadow Puppets

·Led Zeppelin- Mothership

·Lionel Ritchie- Definitive Collection

·Parov Stellar

Girl Talk was my favourite very early on, it was a recommendation from my friend Coops and I had no idea what to expect. But it was an album full of mashups and I love mashups so it suited my tastes perfectly. Apparently there’s another album which I need to listen to.

The top 5 is quite eclectic; the Last Shadow Puppets album felt like I was listening to a film soundtrack, the production on it was amazing. With Lionel and Led Zeppelin, you forget with both how many songs they’ve done that you recognise. And Parov Stellar was completely random and was a fusion of European jazz and dance that made you feel like you were on holiday. Not many songs can take you to another place.

The main thing I learnt from the album part of the challenge wasn’t about the music and more about my friends. A large proportion of the albums were recommendations from friends near and far. These albums sometimes marked memorable moments in their life, or inspired them in a new way, or revealed a side to them I didn’t know about them before. So I feel I know these friends a lot better. 

When it comes to albums I will be even more open minded after the challenge….but I doubt I’d want to listen to Chas and Dave again!