Monthly Archives: April 2018

How to Work Out What You Want in Your Love Life

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In our fast-paced modern world, it’s all too easy for our romantic relationships to be shelved in favour of our careers, our hobbies, and our ambitions, yet there comes a time in most people’s lives where we don’t want to be alone anymore. We want all of the things that we’ve worked for and earned, and we want something else too: that cherry on the top that we call contentment.

On the most basic level, what we wish for is someone who will make us happy. We desire a person that will be the missing piece of our puzzle, making everything better and more beautiful just by being there. Someone who will support us, give us succor, and be as proud of our successes as they are of their own.

Finding that someone is the hard part, of course, which is why we’ve written this article. Helping you to identify exactly what it is that you want and need from a potential partner might just allow you to find that special someone who will give you everything you ever dreamed of…

Think about what made you happy in the past

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Source: Max Pixel

Although lots of us find it hard to pin down what our perfect partner looks like on paper, we often have a better idea of what we want than we realise. One of the best and easiest ways to gain some much-needed clarity is by having a good, long think about what it is that’s made us happiest in the past. Which prior relationships made you the most contented, and what was it about that special someone that made you feel that way? Once you know that, you know what you ought to be looking for in another, whether it’s a hobby in common or just a shared love of cuddling.

Ask yourself why previous relationships didn’t work

In the same way that we can learn from our successes, we can learn from our failures too. Relationships tend to end for a reason, so it’s usually a good idea to avoid dating those who have certain things in common with past partners. Did long distance just not work for you? Then use the search criteria on sites like Badoo to refine your results and find someone closer to home. Struggled to balance professional success with spending enough time with your partner? Then look for someone who has similar priorities when it comes to balancing their career with their commitment to you. Be brutally honest about the mistakes made by both parties and it will be much easier to avoid repeating them in the future.

Make a list

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Source: Max Pixel

We also recommend that you make a list of the qualities you want from a partner. It’s okay to be entirely open with yourself here so, if not liking dogs is a no-no for you, include ‘dog lover’ amongst your criteria. No matter how insignificant or silly your desires might seem, if they’re important to you, they’re going to have an impact on the success of any future relationships, so pop them beside a bullet point. Age, personality traits, and even preferred physical characteristics are all worth noting and should help to make you much more self-aware and successful the next time you try your hand at dating.

What are you waiting for? Work out what you want today and get ready to go for it!

 

The Ancient Celts Second Edition Book Review

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Fierce warriors and skilled craftsmen, the Celts were famous throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World. They were the archetypal barbarians from the north and were feared by both Greeks and Romans. For two and a half thousand years they have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet their origins have remained a mystery and even today are the subject of heated debate among historians and archaeologists.

Barry Cunliffe’s classic study of the ancient Celtic world was first published in 1997. Since then huge advances have taken place in our knowledge: new finds, new ways of using DNA records to understand Celtic origins, new ideas about the proto-urban nature of early chieftains’ strongholds, All these developments are part of this fully updated , and completely redesigned edition.

Cunliffe explores the archaeological reality of these bold warriors and skilled craftsmen of barbarian Europe who inspired fear in both the Greeks and the Romans. He investigates the texts of the classical writers and contrasts their view of the Celts with current archaeological findings. Tracing the emergence of chiefdoms and the fifth- to third-century migrations as far as Bosnia and the Czech Republic, he assesses the disparity between the traditional story and the most recent historical and
archaeological evidence on the Celts.

Other aspects of Celtic identity such as the cultural diversity of the tribes, their social and religious systems, art, language and law, are also examined. From the picture that emerges, we are – crucially – able to distinguish between the original Celts, and those tribes which were ‘Celtized’, giving us an invaluable insight into the true identity of this ancient people.

This book is an excellent and thorough look into the lives of the ancient Celts. It is both accessible and well-researched. Recommended. 

The Ancient Celts is available here. 

 

Review: Present Laughter, Chichester Festival Theatre

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Present Laughter
By Noël Coward

Chichester Festival Theatre
Tickets: 01243 781312 www.cft.org.uk

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Actor Garry Essendine’s clique is a tightly-knitted motley crew. From the wife he has never got around to divorcing to his feisty PA, also in the mix is a brace of  philandering producers, an eccentric hobbling housekeeper and a valet with a penchant for strippers. Enter a love-struck ingenue, a bored wife hell-bent on seduction and an intense young writer and the stage is set for chaos.

Incapable of so much as breathing without turning it into a full-on performance, Garry is played by Rufus Hound. An exhausting role that makes light and shade a tall order, all credit to Hound for stamina and for (mostly) achieving the gear changes.

The cast meld with easy fluidity and the physical comedy is especially well choreographed and executed.Tracy-Ann Oberman as the long-suffering assistant Monica is excellent – a one-woman masterclass in comic timing – and Katherine Kingsley as not-quite-ex-wife Liz is also superb. Exuding elegance and as sharp as a whip, she stage manages proceedings with an air of being thoroughly entertained by the  ensuing drama and nonsense.

But while there are plenty of examples of Coward’s wit and his brilliance for turning a phrase, the humour is too often laboured and repetitive – self-indulgent, even. There is a lack of sophistication and Sean Foley’s production would benefit from dialing down the panto slapstick in favour of greater subtlety.

That said, for undemanding entertainment and sheer glamour (Alice Power’s gorgeous set is a scene-stealer in its own right) Present Laughter slips down as easily as an iced G&T, complete with the bonus of a musical finale.

Until 12 May

Vicky Edwards

Italian Cuisine: The Ultimate Food for Your Brain and Palate

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Source: Pixabay

Italian cuisine is well-loved by people all over the world. Ask anyone what their favourite food is and you would likely hear them say some or all of these–pasta, pizza, tiramisu, and gelato–all of which originated in Italy. Italian food is usually very simple, consisting of very few ingredients but are cooked with love and passion, and served among family and friends, Italy being known for its strong family culture.

While cheese would probably be one of the main reasons why Italian food is such a crowd pleaser (who can resist cheese?), one of the many reasons why people should eat more of this Mediterranean cuisine is the fact that Italian food is actually good for your brain. Much of the basic ingredients that are present in Italian dishes are good for your overall health and can reduce the risk of heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, and other critical illnesses but, in particular, Italian food helps maintain healthy brain cells as we age, preventing cognitive impairment and memory loss.

Olive Oil 

Olive oil is rich in brain-protective antioxidants. Our brain uses about 20% of your total oxygen intake, which makes it vulnerable to oxidation caused by free radicals. In simple terms, our brain is like a cut apple that turns brown when oxidation occurs. Olive oil contains over 30 phenolic compounds that are powerful antioxidants that offset this effect on our brain. It is also rich in vitamins E and K, which have been proven to be good for brain health. Vitamin E helps maintain good memory and prevent mental decline as we age, while vitamin K helps keep the brain sharp and boosts brain processing speed. Vitamin K is also proven to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: Pixabay

Fresh Tomatoes

What Italian dish doesn’t have tomatoes? Very few, actually. All-time Italian favourites like spaghetti, pizza, calzone, and insalata caprese all have this fresh ingredient that is packed with potent antioxidants called carotenoids, such as lycopene and beta-carotene, that are proven to help protect brain cells from free radicals. Tomatoes are said to also help prevent dementia. Aside from its antioxidant powers, lycopene also regulates genes that cause inflammation and brain growth, helping to prevent cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.

Truffles

Another great source of vitamin K is truffles, which are often included as basic ingredients in spaghetti and risotto. Aside from functioning as brain booster, truffles are said to be effective in preventing dementia and alleviating depression. They are also said to contain a certain “bliss molecule”, which positively affects one’s mood, appetite, and memory. Truffles are also a good source of protein, which is a key nutrient in brain optimization, which is why people recovering from a brain injury are required to eat protein-rich foods.

Thanks to Italian cuisine, eating food that’s both delicious and good for our brain is possible. Every item on an Italian restaurant menu is always a great choice, so the next time you want to eat out or order food for delivery, order Italian!

 

Perfect For Summer: The Thumbs Up Roller Wheel | Fun For Children

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fun for kids, roller wheel, rolling wheelFrost loves this roly-poly wheel that is perfect for summer. This inflatable kid-sized Roller Wheel has been designed with roly-poly fun in mind! It’s the perfect size for youngsters to climb through or roll around in and is suitable for use both indoors and out.
Complete with a collection of colourful balls inside that jiggle and bounce around as the wheel rotates, this interactive toy really captures kids’ imaginations. What’s more, because it’s made from durable inflatable plastic, it’s suitable for use both indoors and out – just be sure to use it on the grass if you’re outside to avoid any potential punctures.
As well as being brilliant fun, the Roller Wheel also helps children sharpen skills like coordination, cooperative play, physical strength, visual and auditory stimulation and more. Plus, because it comes with pump that makes inflating it easy, you won’t get out of puff before the playing begins!

 

  • Inflatable Roller Wheel is designed for kids to climb through or roll around in
  • Suitable for use both indoors and out
  • Holds up to 80 pounds (approx 5 stone 7pounds / 36kg)
  • 39 inch inner diameter
  • Do not use on or near public roads
  • Do not use on or near to water

The Thumbs Up Roller Wheel Costs £33.18 from Amazon.co.uk

TAKE FOUR WRITERS: RECOVERING, COMPLETING, REVIEWING, CHARTING

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ANGELA PETCH… RECOVERING

I spent time with my characters on their bench by the sea and they told me the rest of their stories. I’ve 95% finished the first draft of “Mavis and Dot” and very soon the editing slog will start. Beta-readers and illustrator are on board and deadlines are in place with blog tours and an author week arranged for mid-November. I’ve also booked a December 1st launch in Worthing (the location for my book) and contacted Cancer Research for support – (I am donating profits to this organisation, so fingers-crossed I make some.

In the midst of all this planning, I ended up in hospital with a warning. My memory disappeared for a few hours; a stroke or tumour was suspected. However, a brain scan revealed all was well (some would disagree!) I need to slow down. My writing is for fun – anything else is a bonus.

“If you listen to your body when it whispers, you won’t have to hear it scream.”

 

JACKIE BALDWIN… COMPLETING

Hello. This month I finished my line edit and answered all those squirmy plot questions. Things are starting to gather momentum now. I’ve been told that my cover reveal will be happening on the Killer Reads page at 8pm on Sunday 29th April which is exciting! I’ve had a few days off as I wait for the copy-edit to arrive. Once that is finished the book will be in its final form.

Tasting freedom, I’ve been gallivanting in the Lake District and up visiting The Kelpies near Falkirk.

I’ve also started planning my blog tour with Love Books Group. It will start on 15th June when the book is released and last two weeks. I’ll need to prepare guest posts and Q/A’s for that. The day after it ends I’m off to a Greek island to stitch my shredded nerves together with my long suffering husband.


CLAIRE DYER… REVIEWING

So, after the launch and after the blog tour come the reviews!

I’ve long thought that writing is an odd thing to do. You spend a year or two writing a novel, editing it, rewriting it, editing it again, doing copy edits, checking covers, planning the PR and then there’s one glorious day when you hold the book in your hand and think, ‘Crikey, it’s a real thing and it’s going to go out into the world and (hopefully) be read by others.’ It’s a bit like hoping people will like your kids when they leave home and strike out on their own.

And, as much as we don’t like people passing judgement on our children, authors do need reviews of their books. I always do them for novels I’ve enjoyed and it’s a wonderful way to support authors and their publishers. Doing shout-outs on Twitter, popping up a 5* on Amazon and/or Goodreads is a lovely way to show support for the writing community. And, if I didn’t enjoy a book so much, I tend to keep quiet. Not because I don’t believe in freedom of speech, because I do, but because I don’t think giving a negative review is helpful. Reading tastes are so subjective, after all.

I would, however, like to thank all the lovely people who’ve left reviews of ‘The Last Day’ and who’ve messaged me privately to say they’ve enjoyed reading it. These are, naturally, the judgements I do like!

 

LUCY COLEMAN… CHARTING

It’s been a month of celebrating and being grateful for reader power. Amazon is only one of the online market places but it’s a useful measure. An eye-catching cover and a tantalising book blurb are essential, but reviews are a major influencer.

A reader apologised to me recently for the fact that she only writes very short reviews. Always five stars and a simple statement of appreciation. I wish I could have jumped through the monitor to hug her, because EVERY positive review is a blessing.

This month ‘The French Adventure’ soared up the charts and peaked at a dizzying #81 in the overall Amazon UK Kindle chart. Having passed that top 100 magical number before, I always wonder ‘Will the readers take me there again?’

As a reader, never underestimate YOUR power – your voice counts, so let your favourite authors know that and they will keep on writing.

At last, a taste of summer: a wine review by Michael Rowan

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Image courtesy of Michael Rowan

When it comes to wine I have to confess to being something of a traditionalist, reds from autumn to the end of winter and whites for spring and summer. This year the winter has seemed endless, until somewhat unexpectedly, we enjoyed the hottest day in April for some 70 years.

Such hot days call for the crisp green notes that are to be found in a glass of Sauvignon blanc, because what else speaks more of summer than freshly cut grass, Asparagus, Gooseberries and crisp green apples?

With this in mind I did not need any further encouragement to try three Sauvignon Blancs from Villa Maria.

Also as a traditionalist, it will come as no surprise to learn that in my opinion New Zealand, Marlborough has consistently produced some of the best Sauvignon Blancs currently on the market.

Villa Maria Private bin 2017 is a beautifully crisp wine, where juicy acidity is balanced with flavours of melon, passionfruit and ruby grapefruit.

At a RRP of £11.85 this is a bit of a steal and would be perfect with grilled seasonal vegetables or perhaps a mild creamy cheese.

I then tried the Villa Maria, 2017 which is part of the cellar selection and the somewhat modest label belies a wine bursting with aromas of passionfruit, melon, nettles and fresh herbs. The palate is powerful and juicy, displaying vibrant grapefruit notes and has lively yet balanced acidity on the palate.

The RRP for this wine is £13. 85 and I would have no hesitation in taking this to a posh picnic or simply enjoying it with fish and shell fish.

Like children one really shouldn’t have favourites and I would profess to liking each of the wines equally, for their different qualities. However, if I could only take one of these to my desert island I confess that it would have to be the Villa Maria Clifford Bay Reserve 2017.

This is classic Sauvignon Blanc with powerful bouquet of blackcurrants, nettles and grapefruit. Dry and flinty with hints of melon and fresh summer herbs this is a wine to refresh the palate and would match pretty much any food that you might associate with summer.

It has a RRP of £15.95 so maybe best drunk on a desert island, sitting on a beach under blue skies and blazing sun. Best of all you wouldn’t need to share

 

 

 

JANE CABLE VISITS THE KILLING FIELDS

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“Listen – the birds are singing. I’ve missed that.”

She’s right. All through Vietnam there has been hardly any birdsong, but now we’re in Cambodia, at Choeung Ek, the most famous of the hundreds of killing fields, there is.

Perhaps we hear them because our normally ebullient group is stunned into silence as our guide explains the process into our headsets, his tone without emotion. He was a tiny child when this happened. He is only alive today because his father saw what was coming and prepared accordingly. Even so, the family barely managed to keep their heads below the parapet until it was over.

In three years, eight months and twenty days from 17th April 1975 Pol Pot’s regime killed somewhere north of 1.5 million people. No-one was safe, least of all the children of between 10 and 15 years old who were brainwashed into carrying out the killings. The regime figured they would tire of it but couldn’t afford for them to talk. After eight months or so they joined their victims in the mass graves.

At Choeung Ek no-one survived. They were very careful. The victims arrived by  truck, having been told they were being taken from prison to a new life. Shackled and blind-folded they were held in a wooden shelter and taken one at a time to the edge of the graves then hit over the back of the head. Then their throats and wrists were slit. Particularly sadistic killers would use the serrated edges of palm fronds instead of knives. All of this while music blared from speakers hanging in trees to drown out their screams. For children and babies the process was simpler – swing them by the feet and bash their brains out on a tree trunk studded with nails.

Why kill babies too? Simply because the regime believed they were born with their parents’ beliefs. And the regime wanted to restock Cambodia with only the genes of 40,000 carefully chosen party members. Everyone else would die. The population of the country at the time was around 7.5 million.

Had I been born in Cambodia I would have been one of the first to go. I wear glasses, you see. And glasses were a sign of wealth and education. Education was a dangerous commodity. Even 20,000 Cambodians studying at universities abroad were lured back to the country to be part of a brave new world then imprisoned the moment their planes touched the ground. Imprisoned and killed – the same fate as any foreigner who had the mischance to be in the country at the time.

The killing field at Choeung Ek pulls no punches. The memorial at the centre contains shelf after shelf of skulls, many gazing out through the windows over the lumpy ground. Enough graves were excavated to demonstrate the scale of the atrocity and the rest left in peace. But even so as you walk around you spot the odd bone near the path or under a tree. Some of the graves have been fenced in and to these fences are fixed hundreds of friendship bracelets. They also adorn the tree where the children were killed, as far up the trunk as a human arm can reach.

The idea is to tell people, make sure the world knows so that nothing like this can happen again. But in Cambodia children are no longer taught about it in school. Perhaps because some of those associated with old regime have returned to positions of power. What seems inconceivable to us is not to a country which is fundamentally Buddhist – you do not seek revenge, you forgive. Because punishment will be dealt with after this life and is not the preserve of mortals.

While I applaud this approach it worries me that it leaves the country vulnerable. The real safety valve is probably that Cambodia is looking to build its future in large part on tourism so needs to remain an attractive destination. Which recent history aside it most definitely is.