Hannah Louise Swift

I once grew a parsnip, a solitary parsnip, his name was Dave. I ate Dave.

Dave’s old house

Dave’s leaves

Dave

Dave and his mates

A few weeks back now, I went to Leeds to meet with a client, the journey back was some what disastrous, but more on that another time. Before heading home I met with some of the funniest and most awesome people in Affiliate Marketing. Ray and Dom. We headed to the famous German Markets in the centre of Leeds where I was forced ( ) to drink beer. I then repaid the favour with a few shots… Then Ray went off for a wee while and came back clasping 3 mugs with straws in them. What was inside was to be a most pleasant thing – Hot mulled wine, ameretto and lashings of cream on top. It was melt in the mouth, absolutely delicious stuff. In fact I may have drank more than just mine. I HATE mulled wine usually as I’m not a fan of nutmeg or cinnamon – but this was just divine! I would totally recommend drinking this to anyone who reads. I even managed to swipe a cup too – which is my new brew mug! I wanted to just plain steal it, but apparently Ray had put a £2.50 deposit on the cup. Bless him, he let me keep it! Thanks Ray!

A wee while ago now, I purchased a bathmat (yes, a bathmat) it’s one of the mundane things you do when you start getting older. Bathmats, bleach and sink unblocker – it’s a wild world of adulthood. Sometimes it’s all too much and I have to sit down with a warm cup of cocoa.
Anyways, I got a letter through the post a couple of weeks ago warning me of my recent purchase. Apparently Tesco are recalling the said bathmats as they have identified a potential safety issue -

the mat may slip under certain conditions

well – bugger me! That bathmat came out of the bath quicker than I don’t know what. I am taking said ‘weapon’ back to Tesco for a full refund of £3 and shall be spending that on a nice bag of cabbage and some poligrip.

I was recently inspired by someone (if you are reading, you know who you are) to pursue some old hobbies that had died with University, life and growing up to a certain extent. So as part of the new regime, and as part of recapturing my youth I have divulging in some extra curricular activities. Here are the experiences I have had so far…

1. Musical Theatre
As some of you may know, I am a massive fan musical theatre, Les Mis being my absolute fave in the world! I used to even sing, although years of late nights and alcohol has put an end to that. So I did some research and went off in search of a local musical theatre group. I found a group who to be fair are quite away from my home, but I still went along to see what it was all about – http://www.soundsmusicaltheatrecompany.co.uk/ – having not sung for many years I was quite nervous. I went along just as they had finished one show, and were fresh and ready to start another. In some senses the perfect time, in others less so. I’m going to be brutally honest about my experiences that night, as it’s the only way to be. I mean no harm, and these are just my thoughts. I was greeted in the car park by a friendly girl of whom I cannot recall her name, and she showed a nervous, lost looking me the way to the church hall for the rehearsal. She was very chatty and welcoming. When I got inside I was greeted by the lady I had called to arrange my visit and was ushered to a seat. Right on the front row. Slap bang in the middle. In front of the musical director. GREAT! I was placed next to an older lady who seemed to be very dedicated to the art, I think she said she had been a member for some 40 years. I was then informed that to hire the music/script it was a £15 deposit there and then. I sat without any music/script until the kind lady next to me fetched one for me. So I thank her for that.
Without any warming up of the vocal chords (which in my case was dully needed) we got straight into the songs and the script, and although I skipped the first go at reading some lines, I felt braver and went for it the next time. My accent needed some work, but for a first go, it wasn’t too bad! After a while we took a break, and once again I was left to my own devices, so there I sat, alone as the rest of the group chatted to each other, making little if no effort with me. There were some break time jollies such as a lottery, which wasn’t explained to me. After the rehearsal, I was invited to the pub for a drink with a few of the younger members, but to be honest, I just wanted to go home. I’m not sure if my experience was a one off, and I think I would try them out again, but first impressions were not great. Sorry to say.

2. Drama
After my experience above I decided my next attempt at extra curricular activities would not be alone. So I did some more research and was recommended http://www.westerncollegeplayers.com/. I contacted Joe and found him very welcoming, explaining everything I needed to know and he even offered to meet us beforehand to talk to us again. Who is this ‘us’ you ask? Young Terri from next door of course. We headed out this evening to the depths of Plymouth, a journey which should have taken little more than 10 minutes ended up taking nearly 40. But that was due to 2 people having no idea where they were going and getting some terrible directions. We finally arrived and were greeted by a very friendly Joe who showed us inside, and even got us some seats. We were then made to feel welcome as people came to say hello, and we then got to introduce ourselves in front of the group. We then watched them perform the second half of their current production – The Diary Of Anne Frank, which with only a few weeks left before the performances, was truly fab! I will most certainly be telling everyone to go and see it. During the break everyone came to say hello to Terri and I and made us feel really part of the group. They even gave us the sales pitch on staying in and joining the fun, with promises of Hi Di Hi next year – erm! HELLO!!! Again afterwards more people came to say hello and how nice it was to meet us, I can’t speak for Terri, but I really felt welcome there. There were no pretentious drama people, just friendly faces who love to act/perform/stage/direct/costumes etc etc. I’ll certainly be going back, time allowing!

I will confess, there are a 3 and 4 to this, but both deserve blog posts alone, and both need more details confirming. Watch this space for more exciting times ahead in the life of the Swift!

Peace out and all that jazz xxx

Having hit my mid 20′s (the grand old age of 25) I decided it was about time I left my student days behind and started living like an ‘adult’ – I also realised to help with the dodgy knees, I need to lose some weight. So here comes the new regime!

Up at 7.30 for a shower and breakfast (of the porridge variety)

Make lunch, go to work, eat salad, come home, house work, decent tea, bed early!

Rock and F-in Roll Baby Yeah!

So it lasted well for a week, then I got hit with a tummy bug, I’m now back on the regime and it seems to be paying off. I’m knackered all the time, hungry and miserable, but I do seem to have lost a pound or two. (can you sense the sarcasm)

I have to say, breaking a life long habit of sleeping in and getting ready for work in under 5 minutes is hard (My record is 3 mins from getting out of bed to getting in the car) – It’s about time I grew up though… NOT!