So much to do, so little money!

Well, here we are, November the 17th, 5 weeks and 3 days until christmas and I have bought a total of 2 christmas presents! I just don't know what to get anyone this year, and I spent most of my money on a school trip last week, trains to London are soooo expensive, and that's with a 16-25 railcard discount!
And it's not just christmas, there's so many books i'd like for my history coursework and my EPQ, but I can't get them from any libraries and it's just so expensive to buy them all, plus, I'm still hoping to go to Australia with BOLD EARTH this summer before going to university, that's certainly going to set me back a bit!
I have used Swagbucks for a while now and bought my dad's christmas presents using an amazon giftcard I earned last year, unfortunately I forgot about the site until recently and am now aiming to get another 800SB in time to get some presents! It'd be great if you guys would sign up using my referral link: swagbucks.com/refer/Jodz
Swagbucks is a site where you conduct searches (like google - it uses goggle results), complete surveys, polls, watch videos, play games etc. to gain points "Swagbucks", these points can then be redeemed for items, only giftcards in the UK but there's a wide selection, and I think other items as well as giftcards can be redeemed in the USA. It's a great way of getting Xmas presents and no doubt i'll be using it to partially fund my university life!

Now, before anyone starts saying "get a job", I spent the whole of year 12 looking for a job, and when it looked like I had one, the job was given to an incompetent girl in the year below me, obviously because they were cheaper to employ, but I was a bit miffed.
Anyway, I've been working hard with my business this year and I can't really do that and have a job as I use my weekends for it.
Also, I struggled a lot with school last year, and this year I'm barely keeping above the water in biology, I don't want to compromise my university place for a bit of extra cash, especially now that I've heard back from all 5 choices in the space of 4 weeks (record time!).

Anyway, moving away from money, I've been considering going geocaching with a friend sometime soon, we had a brilliant adventure once just going into town, and I think geocaching would be even more fun! I've only done it once with explorers, and we never found anything (Well, it was pitch black at 10pm) so I'd love to have another go!
I think i'll see what my homework's like next week and maybe go next saturday, it looks so much fun!

A typical geocache full of swaps

Anyway, I've been homework-ing all day and now i'm finally done, I'm going to have some quality Primeval time, and then Doctor who at 7:30!

Alons-y!

Starfish Crafts

Well, I've finally got my website up and running (it's a work in progress though so is a little bare!)

http://www.hazart.co.uk/jody.html

Facebook page is also up and running: https://www.facebook.com/starfishcraft

and I set up my twitter page today: https://twitter.com/StarfishCrafts

I'll post some examples of my work here, and if you like what you see - head over to one of the links above!

Pendant necklaces - £4 each

Pendant necklaces - £4 each

Friendship bracelets - £2 each

Pendant necklaces - £4 each

Beaded bracelets - £4 each

Personalised bracelets - £3 each

Earrings - £3 a pair

Earrings - £3 a pair

Starfish crafts at Braintree jewellery village

If you're in the area, why not come along?

NEW! clip on earrings - £2.50 a pair

Caged stone necklaces - £4 each

ANDREW LEE POTTS!!!!

Warning: This post may contain a little fangirling....

Ok, so, a while back I mentioned that I was putting together an outfit to dress up as Abby from Primeval, and my friend was going as Connor.
Well, yesterday was the day, I got up at 05:30 (after oversleeping) And got my stuff together, I then attached some elastic to a dinosaur so I could keep it on my shoulder, in true Abby style.

I left the house at 06:50 with my Dad and we picked up my friend, Stephen we then headed to the ExCel centre in London, with me navigating, We got there pretty easily and much sooner than I'd anticipated, we parked up and were told we were in the wrong car park (oops!) but we didn't have to go far to get to the right one and there were very few cars at this time (07:45) so it was easy to park.
Then I headed to the entrance with my friend and my Dad headed for Stratford for the day.
We got through the ticket hall in about 2 minutes, which was amazing, but also meant we had about an hour to kill before Comic con actually opened. I connected to the free wifi and posted our arrival on facebook, after scrolling through other people's posts I found that some of my friends were already there so I took out my phone to text Ellie and ask where they were, It was at this moment that she phoned to ask me the same thing! We waited outside Costa Coffee while they came to meet us, then we headed back to where they had come from and found a place to sit and wait.

By some miracle, we had chosen to sit directly in front of the door that was to let us into comic con, so when opening time came, we were the first in!
We wandered round for a bit and played Mario on the Wii U, then we went to see Tomska, got hugs and photos and then went to his panel at 11:30. We came out at 12:00 to be greeted with a HUGE increase in numbers, all the general entry people had finally arrived and now the centre was heaving.
At this point we went in search of toilets as we had half an hour before Project Library which one of my friends wanted to see. Little did we know that the queue for the womens was 20 minutes long, while men had no queue at all!

After the (very long) toilet break, we headed back towards project library, but I decided to wander round with Emma and Stephen as the Andrew Lee Potts photoshoot was at 13:15, and the project library talk started at 12:30 and ended at 13:15.
We decided to get my tickets for the photoshoot and the signing and then explore, as we were next to the photo area.
After exploring many of the stalls (but by no means all), we headed for the photo area. As I was the only one having a photo, the others left me to wait while they went to explore some more. I was waiting quite a long time as the Lost Girls shoot had overrun, this meant that the By any means shoot couldn't start queuing until 13:25. But queue we did, first were the people who wanted photos with all the actors in one photo, there were about 10 people in this line. Next was the queue for Andrew Lee Potts, which was by far the longest, it had to form an "L" Shape of about 40 people, Next was the line for Shelley Conn - 2 people, Warren Brown - 5 people and Elliot Knight had noone! I felt so bad, If only I'd had more money I'd have had a photo with each of them, but at 20 quid a pop, that was never gonna happen.

Anyway, I queued up in the Andrew Lee Potts line, excited and nervous at the same time, I had no idea what to say to him, or even if I'd have time to say anything.
We went through the curtain in groups of about 10, I was in the second group.  In we went, put our bags down, and waited our turn, I barely had time to fix my dinosaur in place before it was my turn, so, up I went, heart racing, and on my way Andrew said "And who's this then?" With a knowing grin on his face, I replied with a grin and a "Rex", next thing I knew, Andrew had his arm round me and I had about 3 nanoseconds to prepare for the photo. I was terrified that I'd have a terrible expression because I really can't smile on cue, I had no need to worry though, because I was so happy to have my arm round Andrew that I was naturally grinning like the Cheshire cat anyway.

After the photo, I collected my bags and stepped out of the booth, just as my partener in crime was heading towards me, that was some pretty epic timing there, Stephen!
We then went in search of the By any means panel, but after 20 minutes, we still couldn't find it and had to give up the search, I was pretty depressed for a while and we continued to explore ExCel and three buddies left to head home, leaving just me and the Connor Look alike.

At 15:15, another friend phoned me to see if we were nearby, we weren't, we were at the opposite end of the centre, and by now, the only mode of transport was shuffling, and the signing was at 15:30, so we decided to pass on the meet up and headed over towards the signing area.
I was a little disheartened that there was already quite a bit of a queue, but this was soon overshadowed by excitement, and the queue got much longer behind us!
The signing didn't actually begin until 15:50, and we shuffled closer and closer to Andrew and I got more and more excited. I made Stephen go in front so he could take a photo on my phone (being the genius I am, I forgot to take my camera!). When we got close, we chatted to Warren Brown while we waited, seeing as Andrew seemed to be getting all the attention, he told us they wouldn't know if there would be a second series for a couple of weeks and I was surprised by the strength of his accent.
Our time came though, and up we went to Andrew, we picked the photo's we wanted signing and Stephen handed his over with a post-it note with his name on, Andrew signed it while Stephen joked that Elliot was having such an easy time that he'd run off.
I handed Stephen my phone and Andrew my photo, which he promptly signed.

I then asked if I could have a photo with him holding a sign I'd made for a friend that couldn't be there, he said "sure" and got up, took the sign and put his arm round me for the second time that day. :D
This is what ensued:

Me: "Could I have a photo with you, please? And could you hold this sign for a friend, she couldn't come."
Andrew: "Sure, how come she couldn't come?"
Me: "She's in Reading"
Andrew: "What's she doing in Reading?"
             "Oh, you don't want that on there there anymore, here, I'll take it off for you."
              *Takes off the post-it and puts it on his desk*
Me: "Thanks, she's looking round the University. Oh no, my dinosaur has fallen off my       shoulder!"
                      *Sound of camera shot*
Andrew: "Aww no! Here, let me put him back for you."
Me: *Giggling* "Thanks, Stephen, do you need to take another?"
Andrew: "There you go." *Smiles*
              *Sound of camera shot*
Me: "Thank you! By the way, my friend Charlotte said she loves you!"
Andrew: "Well, thaank yooou Chaarrlottteee!"

Then I headed out and back home with Stephen. Nedless to say, I dreamed of Andrew last night :P

Rex being replace - I genuinely LOVE this photo, even if I look really awkward >.<

The second photo, after Rex was put in his place by Andrew - must have thought it was Connor and obeyed orders :P

Just a quick update

Hello all,

This will only be a short post as I need to do a practice run of my Sally Ragdoll makeup ready for school tomorrow - every year, sixth form have to dress up for haloween and this year we happen to be doing the deed on the 23rd of October, as we are not at school on Friday, I originally had the idea of going as Alice in Wonderland but decided I couldn't turn my favourite ever story into a halloween costume, I have loved the nightmare before christmas my whole life and decided I can kinda mix up some clothes and do some fairly simple makeup to be Sally!

On the university front...UCAS IS DONE AND DUSTED!
I sent my application to school on thursday evening, and school tried to send it off on Friday but UCAS was down, so it was sent first thing on Monday morning.
All I can do now is wait, hope for offers and work my socks off!


Better go - Makeup time!

Alons-y!

Are we protecting our children too much?

Personally, I'd say yes, unequivocally yes.

I was 13 before my parents let me go to the park without an adult, I lived NEXT TO the park.
When I spent weekends with my nan however, I'd go out with my friends from the age of about 10/11 and we spent months building ourselves a brilliant den. It was in the trees and on a really steep, dusty slope so we all kept slipping and got scratched to pieces from the brambles. It was this that led to me and my 13 year old friend having the idea of digging out a flat path so we wouldn't slide down, so off we hopped, climbed out of the den, onto the garages and then jumped off the garage roof, ran to get a spade and a broom then clambered back and made the path.The act of getting injured, helped us to develop problem solving skills so we could prevent ourselves getting hurt later on.

I've noticed a similar "nanny state" while helping out at cubs, every week we have a couple of parents help on a rotation basis. This week we went for a walk and there was one helper and one leader in charge of each 6 (I was in charge of blue six with a parent helper), I noticed however, that that helper I was with kept straying from the six to go and check on her son, she was a CLASSIC example of a helicopter parent, and was technically leaving a child in charge of 6 other children, completely disregarding their safety and having no trust in the leaders in charge of her son's six.
The boy in question happens to be mildly autistic, however, I was completely unaware of this until this week because it is impossible to tell at meetings without his mother tailing him, it was not until this week that he displayed social withdrawal from the rest of the group, and I fully believe that this was because his mother was holding him back, she was causing a problem rather than preventing one, which she was obviously trying to do. This boy is fascinated by fire, as became apparent when we had a campfire later in the evening, but he observed the line drawn on the ground that cubs were not allowed to cross and sat contently on his log, that is until his mother came along and started telling him to stand further back because he could get hurt, this poor boy could not understand why he had to stand further back than everyone else, it wasn't fair and he thought his mother was punishing him for something. If his mother had not been there, there would have been no problems and everyone would have gone home happy, but instead this boy went home upset because his mother hadn't allowed him to toast his own marshmallow, because she did not trust that he understood when his hand was too hot.

This is NOT what scouting is about - clingy

This is - Independence

Another issue is all these adverts for "antibacterial products" that kill 99.9% of all bacteria - surely this will just result in useless immunity and therefore, in later life, death could result from something as simple as the common cold because the immune system just can't produce antibodies to fight infection because it's never been exposed to infection before, in essence, trying to protect children from getting ill could lead to premature death, and it would be the fault of the parents.
This is pretty basic biology, so why are we falling for the claims that we will be healthier if we use antibacterial soap, we're quite clearly going to be exceptionally UNhealthy.

"Fight germs, Stay healthy" Really...?!

"A baby must be exposed to germs during its first year in order to develop the antibodies needed to fight infection later in life" - Dr. Levy, who has long been active with the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA), spoke of an Italian study that found that exposure to bacteria is essential for development of an infant’s immune system. (http://www.naturalchildmagazine.com/news/case_against_antibacterial_soap.htm)


And here's and excellent post about knives and scouting: http://www.100yearknives.com/scout-knives/kids-love-knives/

Hello all

Hello all,
It's been a while, I've been trying to get ahead at school this year to improve my predicted grades for UCAS.
I thought I'd give you guys a couple more daily routine thingamy bobs - one for Wednesday's, as i dont usually go home till 10pm and one for Saturday's.

So Wednesday, I'll use today but I'll also add a bit in that usually happens but didn't today.

6:15 - 6:50 get up, eat, dressed etc.
6:50-8 - do homework/ surf the net.
8-8:20 - dad drives me to school.
8:20-8:45 - chill in study room/ work
8:45-9 - form
9-10 - wrote questionnaire and planned psychology answer for tomorrows assessment
10-11 - watch sea of souls & read history chapter 2
11-11:20 - break
11:20-1:20 - double history lesson
1:20-2 - lunch
2-2:25 - form/ assembly on open evening
2:25-3:25 - EPQ lesson - found some great websites
3:24-3:45 - walked back to nans
3:45-5 - made biology notes
5- 6 - was cool and watched Lizzie McGuire and my parents are aliens & had dinner.
6-7:45 (usually go to help out at cubs but it wasn't on tonight due to splash night at the weekend) dad picked me up and I did a lil bit of homework, at 7:45 we left for explorers.
8:15-10 - explorers, tonight was problem solving activities with the main aim of escaping prison (hence the activity name 'jailbreak) and winning chocolate. My team didn't win, but we did solve most of the problems. Dad picked me up at 10.
10:30 - 11 watched frasier and went to bed.






Typical Saturday (not this week as I'm working, I had Friday off school so I'll use that as an example):

9-9:30 - get up,dressed, eat
9:30- 10 - finish off homework - most is usually done by Friday evenings.
10-10:30 - type up history mind map we made in class.
10:30-11 - rewrite notes neatly from Friday.
11-11:15 - biology reading ahead notes
11:15-11:30 - psychology reading ahead notes
11:30-12 - history reading ahead notes
12-12:30 - EPQ research
12:30-1 - history coursework (the exam board found a potential problem with my proposal regarding balance, but I came up with a cunning plan, emailed my teacher and it's all sorted!)
1-5 - jewellery making
5-6 - surf net
6-6:30 - dinner
6:30-7 - shower
7-10:30 - tv


I'm sure that was thrilling reading, so I'll think of something else to write about :')

Actually, while I was "working" at the weekend (trying to sell my jewellery at a shopping village we hire a display stand from), I actually made £13 on saturday, and £8 on Sunday - 3 bracelets and 3 necklaces - that's the first time I've sold anything while I've been there! Pretty chuffed - that's enough for one fresher's event next year, now for the money to live on and Bob's your uncle!
I was also approached by a woman who has recently opened up a handcrafted jewellery village and is very eager for me to be the final seller, the footfall should be much larger there so hopefully I'll make at least a small profit (it's £5 a week for the space) and I'm going to try and get my website finished and then utilize social media and I might be pushing my products on here as well haha, I'll upload a few examples now actually, I have a lot more stock however, and some cool new stuff I haven't photographed yet. I also make keyrings that i'll be happy to upload if you wish. If you're interested in anything, or are looking for for something specific that I may be able to produce, comment below or email me at j.l-smith@outlook.com - i'll be happy to answer any questions or hear of any ideas/inspiration you internetters may be able to offer me!

Just a fraction of the earring collection

A small number of the necklaces

Personalised braceletes

I went to Liverpool's open day the other day - that was one loooong drive, and I was totally in love, the first accomodation I saw was brilliant, brand new, and so cheap! Then we wandered round the campus which I loved, then went to the subject talk, with no more than 4 others, the lecturer made me even more excited, I REALLY hope I get in! I should get my predicted grades soon so I really hope they're high enough and not based on AS results (my 2nd papers for each exam dragged my grades down cause I was sooo I'll, I don't know how I even passed, pretty sure I was writing gobbledygook.) I KNOW I could get straight A's if I worked as hard as I am now, although that may not be possible as the year progresses, but I do know I can get the offer grades, of only my teachers can see that too!

I'm off now to get sorted for school.

Alonz-y!

Daily routines

Hello all, well, I promised I'd give you a rundown of how I manage my workload and my free time, so I'll write down how I organised my day today.

6:25 - 6:45 - get up, make lunch, eat breakfast
6:45-7:30 - chill, begin blog, surf the web
7:30-8 - get dressed, pack school bag, watch news
8-8:20 - dad drives me to school on his way to work
8:20-8:45 - do further reading or find news relating to my courses.
8:45-9 - form time
9-10 - Biology lesson
10-11 - Biology lesson
11-11:20 - BREAK - eat cereal bar, bought a bacon roll in the canteen
11.20-12.20 - Free - Did biology homework in the library
12:20-1:20 - Free - Watched sea of souls on my iPod
1:20-2 - LUNCH - ate lunch, discussed halloween costumes
2-2:25 - Form time - worked on my personal statement
2:25-3:25 - Free - finished off biology homework and finished off sea of souls
3:25-3:45 - Walked to bus stop
4-4:30 - Bus journey home
4:30-4:40 - nipped into Tesco to buy some stuff for my Dad's birthday
4:40-4:50 - walked home
4:50-4:55 - Unpacked school bag
4:55-5:05 - wrapped Dad's presents
5:05 - 5:15 - Did psychology homework (Plan for a question)
5:15-5:30 - read chapter of biology textbook
5:30 - 6 - read chapter of history textbook
6-6:30 - entered competitions and used swagbucks
6:30 - 6:53 - Finished a bracelet comission
6:53 - 7:10 - Dinner
7:10-7:20 - washing up
7:20-7:30 - shower
7:30-8 - read today's biology notes
8-8:30 - my parents are aliens
8:30-9 - read today's biology notes
9-10 - Doc Martin
10-11-Frasier
11 - BED!!

That was today, I'll do a separate post for weekends as there are some variations, but for now, goodnight!

Year 13 update

Hello all,

You may remember that towards the end of August I was preparing for heading back to school after the summer holidays, to begin by final year of school, I thought i'd update you on how the last week has gone.

School began on wednesday 4th September for years 7,12 and 13, with the rest of the school coming back on the Thursday.
This was  to give the newbies a chance to settle into high school and sixth form, Year 13 had to go in as we were running the induction day with the year 12s and we are encouraged to make friends cross both year groups, rather than only in our own.

The induction day consisted of making balloon chairs, spiders web and other team building activities.

My teams balloon chair

After the activities we had an assembly and got to go home at 3pm.

In the 5 days since however, I have had lessons each day, although I do have many more frees now as I have dropped geography this year, so I will only be doing Biology, Psychology and History this year.

On top of the extra study time, my dad is currently planning my own little study so that I can utilise my study time at home more effectivley as my room at the moment is too small for me to be organised.

When it is finally completed, I will upload some before and after pictures.

For now however, it is getting late and I have some bracelet commisions to complete before the day is out so I should get a shower and do them before I settle down in front of the TV. 

I will be posting an in-depth daily routine one of these days to show you how I organise my school work, as well as having that all important "me time", and maybe it will help one of you guys!

Alons-y!

Psychology - Turning to crime - Upbringing

TURNING TO CRIME

UPBRINGING

LO: How might someone's upbringing cause them to turn to crime?

Disrupted families

-Farrington et al.

    -> Cambridge study in delinquent development.

Aims:

-Document the start, duration and end of offending behaviour, from childhood to adulthood in families.

-To investigate influence of life events.

      -> Risk & protective factors

      -> Intergenerational transmission of offending and antisocial behaviour.

      -> Influence of family background.

--> Longitudinal study with many male participants.

      - Latest data gathered from interviews and criminal records at age 48.

--> Range of risk factors found including family and poverty.

Learning from others

-Sutherland

  - Theory of differential association (the way people react with different people).

  - Intended as a comprehensive explanation of criminal and some non-criminal behaviour.

  - 9 principles that may make someeone more likely to turn to crime.

Poverty and disadvantaged neighbourhoods

-Wikstrom

    - The Peterborough youth study

--> According to government figures:

       -The most disadvantaged 5% are 100x more likely to have multiple problems than          the most advantaged 50%

        *Conduct disorders

        *Police contact

        *Cannabis use

        *Mood disorders

        *Alcohol abuse

  -Cross-sectional

  -Very large sample

  - Interviews identified a number of risk factors of living in poverty that may cause             someone to turn to crime, including:

     *Family social position (class)

     * Social situation (e.g. truancy)

     *Lifestyle

       

ATP

LO: What is ATP?

Adenosine Triphosphate

• It is the ENERGY CURRENCY of the cell. 
• ATP is hydrolysed when a cell needs energy. ATP -> ADP + Pi + ENERGY

         -reversible reaction

        ADP + Pi + ENERGY -> ATP

• ATP is a small molecule - it produces energy in "small packets"

          -> A single molecule may be enough to supply the energy needs of a single chemical reacion.

• Constantly being used and recycled by every living cell.
• Soluble within the cell and so can easily be transported from site of energy release to where it is needed.

Summer is nearly over!

Well, it's that time of year again, You can't walk into a shop without being bombarded with "BACK TO SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER!" banners, I feel like saying "Oh yes, thanks for reminding me, I've only begun a new school year for the last 13 years of my life, I'd completely forgotten that it began in september." And its not like parents are likely to forget when school starts either, chances are they've been marking off the days on the calendar, just willing the brats to be spending their days at school rather than either pestering them, or bleeding them dry with childcare.
Anyway, rant over.
It's almost time for school, I've got myself organised this time, I've read ahead, split my specifications into sections, organised my folders and started writing out keywords, in a nutshell - I AM PREPARED for the horror that is year 13.

I'd better change the subject before I explode with excitement (that was a joke), I've just finished my annual Primeval marathon - Woop!
I do it every summer, during the year I might watch the odd episode but I only watch them in order during the summer holidays, it's become a sort of tradition.

Anyway, this time I thought I might go to London Comic Con in October, and I decided to go as Abby (I admire her feisty, no-nonsense character), Naturally, I asked around for someone to come as Connor, I found my man, I tried to get a whole team together but everyone else is busy on that day unfortunately.
Oh well, the two of us are gonna have some fun, I've got a skirt already, not the one I'd hoped for, but it only cost me £2 and it goes with another Abby outfit.

This is the outfit I was hoping for

This is probably what I'm going for now

I'll also be making an anomaly detector for connor, and rex for me, then I'll customise a gun or two to make EMDs. :)

That's my bargain skirt, I have leggings but I'll need to get my hands on a purple hoodie, a scarf and the boots.
I'll keep the blog updated with any additions to mine or "Connor's" outfits, and hopefully I'll do a post on the event itself.

I'm signing off now to do some sketches for my EPQ.
Alons-y!

Update

Morning all!
It's just occurred to me that it's GCSE results day today (ok, I was watching the news), so I'll take this opportunity to say good luck to everyone getting them.

On the topic of results, I thought I'd give you an update on my AS results and compare them to my GCSEs (and if your starting them in September, motivate you to work your socks off).

GCSEs:
History - A*
Biology - A
Chemistry - A
Physics - A
Statistics - A
Geography - A
English Language - A
English Literature - B
Maths - B
Humanities - B

Now, I was pretty happy with those results and was confident for year 12, and remained confident until around February, when I realised I wasn't retaining the info as well as I had at GCSE.
This led to me revising non-stop from just before Easter up to exams, and this took its toll on me.
You need to go over your notes, and perhaps condense them, EVERY DAY (I know you might have planned to do that, but the chances are, you won't.) Because, if something happens during the exam period, such as falling ill, that can drastically affect your results, and special consideration won't make up for what you've lost, you need to have as much information as possible in your long term memory by reading your notes throughout the year.

These were my overall results:
History - C (from an A* remember, I was confident in these exams.)
Biology - C
Geography - C
Psychology - B

And a breakdown of papers: to show the difference between when I was healthy, and when I was ill.

PAPER 1 - HEALTHY
Biology - B.
Geography - B.
History - B.
Psychology - A.

PAPER 2 - ILL
Biology - D
Geography - D
History - C
Psychology C

So basically, work hard! :D

Alons-y!

Lochearnhead Scout camp 27th July - 7th August 2013

Well, I'm finally home from a fantastic trip to Scotland with the scouts. It's taken a while to get this up as after getting back from Scotland, I was off to Wales and since then I've been doing all my homework and getting my folders organised for school. I can't believe year 13 starts in just 14 days! I've hardly had a chance to sit down (except to write this)!

DAY 1 - 27th July

I arrived at the station at 8:20am with my luggage ready for a brilliant summer camp, I placed my luggage onto the trailer that the coach was towing and then climbed onto the coach (a double decker) and found a seat upstairs near the front.

We finally set off at about 8:45, at this point I only knew 2 people on the trip and I watched the Hitchikers guide to The Galaxy on my ipod.

I also read my book and listened to music, we stopped twice along the way, once at the M6 toll services and then again at Carlisle services.

Stirling Castle

We finally arrived at Lochearnhead at around 5:30pm where the scouts unloaded the trailer and carried all the bags up to the station. 

We were then assigned our cabins and went to get settled in before dinner at 18:30.

After dinner we were told what each clan would be doing the next day, I happened to be going on a 3 day hike so I had to pack my rucksack after dinner in preparation.

Then we sorted out who would be sleeping on which bunk before eventually going to bed.

Our cabin

Starfishing

DAY 2 - 28th July

Got up early today to finish packing for the hike and then went to flag break at 8:55 before breakfast at 08:00. After breakfast I collected my lunch for the 3 days and then we had to collect our rations, we finally piled onto the minibus at about 09:15, once dropped off, we set off in search of our camping ground, we found it at around 17:00, there were 3 clans on the hike and each clan had to find a different spot to pitch the tents, after pitching our tents and sorting out the problem with numbers (we ended up with 3 girls in a 2-man tent which was tight) we cooked our dinner, I had curried rice.

After dinner we sat around chatting for a while before climbing into bed for what was a rather uncomfortable night.

Dinner!

The view from our pitch

DAY 3 - 29th July

Set off around 09:00 today to climb Beinn Challuim, it was tough, but we made it by 14:00 and got back to the tents around 17:00, by this point it was pouring with rain and we couldn't cook so dinner comprised of half a packet of chorizo, fridge raiders and some cereal bars, then we went to sleep.

Almost at the top

DAY 4 - 30th July

The rain had made the river to high to cross so we couldn't climb the second mountain, instead we hiked along the hills to a nearby town where the minibus picked us up and took us back to the station.

On arrival, we fought with the younger scouts for the showers (Well, we hadn't had one for days) before flag down and having a lovely hot meal for dinner.

We went to bed somewhat early, although the scouts on the bunk above had an argument about sleeping arrangements that didn't cease until around 23:30.

Halfway to the town

DAY 5 - 31st July

Got up at 07:30, flag break at 7:55, brekkie at 08:00.

By 09:00 My clan (MacNeil) and MacPherson were grouped around the mountain bikes. We hopped onto the minibus to get to our starting point and then cycled along the old railway line for about 7 miles before leaving the line for the remaining 8 miles, here it began to get quite hilly with some steep climbs and a VERY scary, VERY steep zigzag trail, brakes were on the whole way down!

The fate of one explorer after mountain biking

We got back to the station around 15:00 where we showered, had cake and then went to flag down at 18:35 and dinner at 18:30.

DAY 6 - 1st August

Today was sailing and the weather was DISGUSTING! Unfortunately I was ill in the morning so had to watch everyone else, after an hour though I started to feel better so decided to get in on the action after lunch. However, everyone came off the boats for lunch shivering, they were absolutely freezing, so we bailed out and got the minibus back to the station at 12:30. As we were back so early, I decided to sort out all my stuff seeing as we were off to Meggernie the next day. Once that was done we played cards for a bit, then I went and sat on the windowseat (under the heater), this didn't turn out well as I fell asleep and then fell on the floor, landing on my hip (which hurt for the next 7 days). 

After what seemed an eternity, it was time for flag down and dinner, it was VERY welcome!

Playing with Daisy (The dog)

 

DAY 7- 2nd August

KAYAKING! So, today was kayaking, it was sooo much fun, and the best part...despite how AWFUL I was (couldn't go more than three strokes without spinning), I didn't capsise, not even down the rapids and into the swirly water, I was so proud of myself! :D

It was warm and sunny today so we dried off quite well before heading back to the station for showers and food.

At 8pm, 34 Explorers and scout patrol leaders piled onto the minibuses to go to Meggernie outdoor centre, our home for the next 4 days. It was an hours journey and my minibus managed to get a puncture, but because the track was so uneven, we couldn't change the tyre so had to drive on it and change it when we got there!

On the plus side, the tents were already up (the first group had put them up on the 27th July), and ours was an 8-man with 5 girls in. However, we also had a bit of a leak, we managed though.

DAY 8 - 3rd August

Canoeing, but 2 of us were ill today, so we chilled in a hotel for the day (it was actually extremely boring and we were asleep most of the time).

We had a bat walk in the evening, which was fun.

DAY 9 - 4th August

Began with archery, where I came soooo close to bursting the balloon I was supposed to, I missed by millimetres! Then we went onto frisbee golf, grass sledging and finally traversing. 

Despite the mix of activities, it was a nice and relaxing day, and we didn't have to go off site.

We had a campfire in the evening and had a blast.

Missing the balloon

DAY 10 -5th August

Today we built a swing, cooked on open fires and did some orienteering, another relaxing day, but enjoyable nonetheless.

DAY 11 - 6th August

Back to Lochearnhead today, took the tents down and packed up Meggernie (and made friends with some of the Danish scouts) and got to Lochearnhead around 2. 

As there were no cabins available, all of us that had just come from Meggernie had to sleep in one big mess tent, it was chaos finding a spot!

We had a traditional dinner with someone on the bagpipes and then we all had some haggis (I personally quite liked it).

To round off the last night, each clan had to perform in a talent show, which was highly enjoyable.

DAY 12 -7th August

Up at 6am today to get everything packed away, so we could be on the coach by 9, then it was a simple 11 hour journey home (there were a few accidents on the roads), filled with music, sleeping, and a vague sadness that it was all over.

I made friends with one of the scouts though and found out he'll be starting my school in September, so I'll have to look out for him and be an unofficial buddy. :)

A morning of reflection

Hello all.

For some reason I spent this morning feeling a little reminiscent. So much so that I wound up making some collages that I will now share with you. If, by any chance, you actually happen to follow my little blog (I thank you greatly), I thought you might like to get a little picture of my life from before I entered the world of blogging.
The pictures have a range of 1997 right up to 2013, although I am lacking quite a few years as both my PC and my external hard drive died a while back and I lost most of my pictures, I am slowly rebuilding the catalogue from Facebook though - thank god I have such a tendency to upload pictures from trips!
Anyway, here's the collage named "Then & Now"



























In the first picture I'm sitting with my cousin, I lived with my aunt for a while after my mothers death so my dad could work without having to fork out for child are, and to give him a chance to grieve without me being a pain, I kid, I was actually very good as a baby, Dad says I barely cried, just sat quietly and as a toddler I never threw tantrums, just looked at books or played on my own, maybe being an only child I just didn't develop that arguing streak haha!

The second picture is my nursery picture, taken when I was 3 (everyone in my psychology class estimated my age to be 9...either they were VERY baby faced at 9, or I was very mature at 3....) after a trip to Disneyland Florida - I'm wearing a mickey mouse top. :)

The 3rd picture was taken at the end of year 2, aged 7, before making our way to year 3, in the scariest part of the school - JUNIOR SCHOOL!! (at this point, my primary school was a JMI school, we later changed to a primary.)

And finally the 4th picture, taken in my friends garden just before going to our year 11 prom, it was an end of an era, and a very enjoyable evening.




I said my primary school used to be a JMI (Junior mixed Infants), well here are some pictures from the day we changed to primary. A few months earlier us pupils had taken a vote on whether we should be called community or primary, it was fairly unanimous that we should be primary.

On the day everyone had either a green or yellow balloon (school colours), the head teacher called stansted airport to tell them there'd be quite a few balloons in the flight path that day, and we let them go in the ceremony. Then the 2 oldest and youngest pupils (unfortunately i was in year 5 so a year too young for this honour) cut the ribbon to declare us officially open. Then we all received bookmarks and had cake.


This next picture is a combination from my years at secondary school:

In the first picture I have a pair of penguin feet sticking out of my blouse while in RM (resistant materials), my friend found it so amusing that a picture had to be taken - just look at my enthusiasm!
The second picture is a whole group photo from the last day of year 9, how we've shrunk since then!
Then we have my friend, surrounded by books, on a day of maths a geography revision.
And finally, all dressed up for the year 11 prom. :)


This collaboration is from a variety of school trips, the first is me with my best buddy on arrival at mount Vesuvius in Italy in year 9, next we have the rewards trip in year 10 - a trip to the Doctor Who experience in Olympia, London. The next two are from year 12, the first to New York in February and the following to Birmingham for Geography in Novemeber.

And now for the final collaboration, a selection of my favourite moments.

We have a trip to Center Parcs with my (ex) boyfriend in 2011, it was lovely to have a family holiday, without my own family haha! Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but our holidays have only once in 17 years been an actual holiday, rather than work.

Then we have the olympics, for which we scored tickets to (and the paralympics), followed by seeing Michael Mcintyre live, although I had a very painful neck at the time, so had to sit on the end of the row and lean out sideways to see him!

Then we have my 17th birthday at the Natural History museum with 2 of my friends and my new (ex) boyfriend, I do love dinosaurs y'see...
And finally, two of my buddies on the weekend camp nearly three weeks ago, it was a brilliant weekend. No doubt i'll have a lot more happy camping memories when I get back from the summer camp to Lochearnhead in Scotland. :)



I said I liked to read, well, here's the proof - I was an early reader, apparently!

Or maybe I just wondered what was on TV

Strangely enough, I still have this book lying around somewhere!

Well, that's all for now, I broke up from school for the summer today and I'm going to make the most of it by getting on with my holiday work outside before I go to Scotland, knowing my luck, it'll snow while I'm there haha!

Alons-y!