This Saturday: Family Bonding (The miraculous thirteenth post)

This Saturday I had a lot of fun. I went to Center Parcs with my Grandma and her brother's family (this is one of the funtimes mentioned in my blog's title). I was woken up at 7:40am and told I had twenty minutes to be ready before we left the house to go. So naturally I focused, and showered and packed in bullet time [yes that is an old matrix reference (only the first matrix film was good)]. After a decent drive we arrived at Center Parcs, and then had to park the car. Parking at Center Parcs is not easy! Getting back to your car once you have parked and been in the park all day is even harder. We spent at least half an hour trying to find our car in the dark. It didn't help that there seems to be no logic to the organization of the car park. Why does it go AE, AG, AH, and then AF?
The first thing we did when we arrived at my great uncle's chalet (and they are chalets not villas despite what Center Parcs say) was to head straight out to the pool. Shortly after chilling at the pool for a while my "sort of cousin" (it's too hard to explain how we are actually related, I'm not going to try in one blog post) and her family arrived. After hanging out with them for a while at the pool, and having general fun I headed back to the chalet. After a little bit more relaxing with family I walked to the country club with my "sort of cousin"  and her family and I was treated to a fine hot chocolate and some rather entertaining conversation. One hot chocolate and a snapped umbrella later we were in fits of giggles and again headed out towards the sports centre to meet more friends. At the sports hall I was given a choice of looking round shops with the girls, or watching football with the guys. People who know me will know I'm not a huge football fan. So, I opted to go shopping with the girls. After some more hilarious conversation I returned to the chalet; there I had dinner with my Grandma and her brother and sister in-law. It was a lovely meal of beef bourguignon pie, accompanied by a nice glass of rosé. All in all it was a lovely day filled with swimming, family bonding, laughter, fun, and any other clichés you can think of in connection with spending time at a holiday park with family.

Musics 1: Birdy (The miraculous twelfth post)

This is a music review as promised. I would like to draw everyone's attention to a musician called Birdy, who has her first album out at the moment, which is also called Birdy. She has come out of no where on to the "music scene" as they say. Considering how young she is (less than 16 when she brought her album out) she is incredibly talented. Her album consists of covers of other's songs. I'm not usually a huge fan of covers, however she has managed to make the songs her own and to put an original spin on them; this is always a good rule for a successful cover. I know putting an original spin on something is often an over used cliché, often used about artists like Mariah Carey who wouldn't know original if it.... (couldn't think of anything to finish this with that wasn't a cliché in itself). However, the fact remains her music is original. She covers the songs well and sincerely. Her musicianship is impressive, also. She manages to build atmosphere and depth merely with piano and vocals. Sometimes other instruments feature on the album versions of her songs. However, they are not particularly prominent. Something that very much impressed me was she is sincere, not only within her music, but also in the way she presents herself. She doesn't drown herself in make-up, and she dresses modestly. She presents herself as a much more mature person, and a much higher quality musician than the vast majority of pop musicians twice her age. Here is a link to my favourite one of her songs:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNzCDt2eidg&ob=av2e . If you get the chance, also listen to the original version by Bon Iver, which is brilliant.

Parties, Cocktails, and Bendy Bob (The miraculous eleventh post)

This Christmas season has drawn to a close and it has been a lovely one. There have been plenty of parties, good food, and ample opportunity to spend time with friends and family. For example two days after Christmas both my Uncle Steven and my Uncle David and their families shared Christmas dinner with us. As you can imagine it did feel a little crowded. However, everyone was in good humour and it was good to spend time with family. It was also good to spend time with my Uncle Steven's Play Station 3.
Another party of note was my friend Beth's Christmas party. After managing to secure a lift to Appleby, thanks to some great friends at church I arrived at her house and was immediately mugged by her dog. This was lovely, as I had missed being mugged by my own dogs after moving over to England. The party itself was quite a bit of fun, and mainly consisted of me being told to dance, and then people regretting telling me to dance. It was great spending time with friends, and building closer ties to friends I had not had the opportunity to spend as much time with.
On to party number two: the Green's Christmas party. While a different style of party all together from Beth's party this was also rather enjoyable. After walking in the door I was handed a cocktail and told to eat lot's of food. I did eat lots of food, and then played some dice games (I didn't do very well) and talked video-games. About half way through the party a game of trivial pursuit was began. Only half way through the game did I realize that I was playing with quite a few students from either Oxford or Cambridge University.

Bendy Bob

Finally, party three the church New Year party. I very much enjoyed this party also. One highlight was winning "The Best of British Quiz". Very rarely do I win quizzes, so being on the winning team for this quiz was rather enjoyable. Another highlight was Bendy Bob ) a very important aspect of "The Big Taboo". I clung on to Bendy Bob for most of the game, and was very loathed to hand him over to other people. My fears were well founded when someone took Bendy Bob, beat him and threw him to the ground. You know who you are! However, no permanent harm was done, and a good night was had by all.