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sarah-blue-eyes · 3 years

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2020 In Review

Hoo boy, here we go.

[Ok just before I begin. I had this queued to post in the first month of January but it doesn’t seem like that ever happened haha. Better late than never I suppose!]

So I am a nostalgic bitch, and since 2011, have loved to make memory boxes for each year, where I put trinkets and memories into a shoebox. This year I have continued that tradition, but I have also kept track of my happy memories throughout 2020 in my planner. This was done with the intention for me to upload a year-in-review sort of thing in hopes that maybe like, 3 people max on this god-forsaken site will read it. This sort of reminiscence was inspired by my friend @a-lbeit, who has done these for a few years now and me, as a slut for nostalgia, was encouraged to do the same back in January (I think? What even is my memory at this point?)

2020, as it has been for many, was a very shit year, and I am no different. I would safely say that this year has undeniably been the worst I have lived through. But I am here. I am present. And I have made it through some of the darkest times to face 2021 with a new sense of hopefulness. Keeping track of my happier memories has been something that has truly got me through this clusterfuck of a year, so I am glad that I can finally go through them all again and share them with you.

Read it, or don’t, I don’t give a shit what you do with your time, but if you do, I hope that you aren’t bored to tears. And I hope to keep myself accountable to continue to do this for years to come.

Buckle up, grab a hot drink and a snack and get comfy, because this is a JOURNEY.

January:

· Kicked the new year off with hosting a 1920’s themed party with some of my closest friends at my family home at the beach. Had fun with drunk SingStar, playing What Do You Meme, creating a playlist with everyone’s top 3 songs of the decade (it was a bangin’ playlist I must say), and just overall drinking too much and having a riotous time

· I remember going to the beach New Year’s Day (as is tradition in Australia) and playing ultimate frisbee in the shallows and completing a crossword puzzle on the sand (I am a 75-year-old woman, it is just a fact of life)

· I also had my friend Kirsten from South Australia stay with me for the New Year’s period and it was lovely to have a guest over! I haven’t spoken to her much this year, she sort of fell off the face of the planet, but I hope she is doing ok.

· Went town to Torquay (a beach town in Victoria) for the 6th time for Beach Mission, which is essentially a holiday program for kids in preschool-year 9 where we run activities for them. It’s a Christian-based program but the aim isn’t to convert the kids or anything like that, it’s more to show God’s love to them through our actions and how we as Christians live our lives. It’s also a convenient way for parents to dish their kids off for a few hours too haha. This was my final year of being a part of this program, and I am so pleased to have made so many memories and (hopefully) impacted many children’s lives during my time there

· I remember going on a late-night beach walk with my boyfriend Josh, talking about what the year had in store for us. We were just sitting on the beach, as you do, and I saw a shooting star. I can’t remember what I wished for (if anything) but in that moment, life was a dream.

· The week after beach mission I started at my new internship! It was for a place called KidsCo, who run school holiday programs at workplaces, so parents don’t need to take time off work to look after them. I helped with client relations and a lot of behind-the scenes stuff. I really loved it there

· On the very first day of my internship I remember there was torrential rain, and the train home was delayed by like, an hour or so lol

· One of the best parts about interning at KidsCo was that they were the official child-minding service for the Australian Open. I make an effort to go each year, but I was lucky enough to get free ground-entry for me and a guest for the duration of the event. I went quite a few times and got to take my mum and Josh along as well.

· Saw my only concert of the year, The Veronicas, at the Australian Open. When I say the moment the violin riff at the start of Untouched absolutely went the fuck off is an understatement. Grade 5 me would have cried (and 23 year old me did a little bit too tbh.) Yet another of one of my “all-time-favourite-songs” that I’ve had the pleasure of hearing live. (I also went through the year feeling sad that this was the first time in 11 years I hadn’t gone to a concert, but this one certainly fell through the cracks)

· Started planning my trip to the UK to see my twin sister, and best friend, Jess

· Went away to Rye for the Australia Day weekend #changethedate. An excellent time with excellent mates, and went to the beach pretty much every day and got mindlessly sloshed every night

· Listened to the Triple J Hottest 100. I think 4 of my picks made it in, which was pretty good

· Continued my job as the office manager/events coordinator at my church

February:

Basketball started back after the summer break for my two different teams, The Vikings and The Wildcats (honestly such a highlight of this year with how the rest of it ended up going)

As a team-bonding activity at KidsCo we hired a boat for a few hours and I got more drunk that I had been for a while. It was a very fun time jetting down the Yarra, waving drunkedly at the people jogging by

For Valentine’s day Josh and I had an indoor picnic with our favourite food! The weather was shit for Feb, hence the indoor nature of the picnic

Saw Shrek the Musical with two of my closest pals, Bec and Katie (I honestly forgot that this happened in 2020 hahaha) but it was ICONIC

Had a Jackbox night with The Boys

Had my cousin Amy from England over for dinner! I hadn’t seen her in 5 or 6 years, so it was so lovely to connect again like no time had passed at all

Went to Healesville Sanctuary, a lovely conservation park which focuses on preserving and educating its visitors about Australian animals, with Amy

Went to mini-golf for a friend’s birthday on the leap day. He technically celebrated his 6th birthday which was excellent

Saw Cody Ko and Noel Miller live with Bec and Katie

Finished working at the church office to make room for the potential job opportunity at KidsCo

March:

Ahhh March, you shitstorm of a month. This is where everything started going downhill.

The first thing of note that happened this month was me injuring my ankle at basketball, which had me out of action for a few weeks. It was especially bad because I was nearing the end of my internship and was hoping to do my best work so that I would be chosen to stay on as an employee, but had to take a week or so off to rest my ankle. My ankle would continue to be tender and sore for most of the rest of the year

Went away for the Labour Day long weekend with the family

Finished up my internship at KidsCo. Honestly was lead to believe that I would be staying on as an employee and felt sort of betrayed after all the work I did for them, but whatever

Had a party at Bec’s house to listen to Triple J’s Hottest 100 of the Decade. One of my favourite songs was number 1 which was a pleasant surprise

Went down to the holiday house for a few days just to have so me time and sort myself out

Animal Crossing New Horizons came out haha. Honestly was one of the highlights of this year though. I stayed up until midnight so I could download it as soon as it was available because that’s the sort of person I am

Mum’s birthday dinner with Dani, one of my best friends, and her girlfriend Amy

Went for a hike at Sugarloaf Reservoir with Josh and got spooked by a mob of kangaroos

April:

My mental health started really taking a downward spiral this month for multiple reasons which I won’t get into here, but this is more a note to my past self to say that it will all be ok I guess? Idk I just felt like this needed to be here

Did my ankle badly again on Good Friday

Watched the Overwatch League live with my friends and just memed in the livechat lmao

WARNING - this is a bit TMI but I am going to share anyway since it was a big part of this year, and if you are reading this you are either a stranger or a good friend so I really don’t care lmao: This month I also started to get bad pains in my uterus, like, not period pains but deep, stabbing pains. This continued on for the next few weeks without me doing anything about it, except for increasingly getting stressed about it, although I will talk a bit more about this later.

Josh and I celebrated our 6th year together which was ~wholesome~

Called my friend Ashley from the US and just caught up. It was nice to see her face again. She is a good egg. I haven’t talked to her since but I really hope she’s ok.

May:

Watched Star Wars with Josh and his family for “May the 4th”

Started a volunteer job at Kivuli, a non-for-prophet that is based in Kenya, and started helping out with their website and social media stuff

Zoom movie time with my friends, we watched How To Train Your Dragon I think? Athough everyone was talking over the movie so I didn’t really get anything out of it

Played Scattergories (one of my favourite games) with Bec and Jess on zoom and just wrote really stupid and funny answers and I remember this being just what I needed

Went for a long walk with mum and one of her friends and her daughter on a track we don’t usually go on, which was a nice change of scenery

Went down to the holiday house for the first time in forever since restrictions were eased, at least for a little while lol, with the fam

Went to Portsea for a walk along the beach with Bec and her husband Trevor

Did an online trivia night that night with a big bunch of friends

Had a doctor’s appointment to see what was goin’ on down there. Honestly freaked that it could be something REALLY bad. Got booked in to have an ultrasound the next week, so at least I’d be finding out what was wrong soon.

The day after I got my results was the 21st of May, the day my mum and I were meant to be flying out to the UK to see my sister and her boyfriend. It was already hard enough a month or so before when I had to cancel my flight, but this day was so SO difficult. I can’t remember the last time I cried so hard. I am so blessed to have a boyfriend like Josh though. He was by my side the whole day, and held me as I cried. Oh man I am crying as I write this now, it was such a hard time but I know I will see my sister again.

And then the day after THAT whole ordeal was my birthday, which was meant to be spent in London with Jess but it turned out to be the first birthday we’ve had apart. This day was also hard, but made better by being with loved ones and having dinner at my grandma and grandpa’s house. Grandma’s roast potatoes make everything better.

Went to Geelong to see the other side of my family, it was so good to see my nan again. I love her very much.

Went to the Briars with Bec and went on a lovely nature walk and saw a lot of little wallabies and even an emu

Had an ultrasound and my pain turned out to be a 10cm wide cyst!!! So fun!!!!! Thank the heavens it wasn’t a child. I was so relieved. It is still in my body so that’s cute tho.

June:

Applied for a bunch of jobs, and even got a few interviews! Still no job.

The absolute highlight of this month, and maybe even the whole year, was going away to Lake’s Entrance and Yarram with mum, dad and Josh. It was so good to go to the country, I love country towns so much and the wildlife and nature is so beautiful in the eastern part of Victoria. If you ever get the opportunity I recommend going there!

We ate so much nice food and just relaxed. It wasn’t a perfect replacement for not going to Europe, but it was something at least.

Did more work for Kivuli which kept me busy

Went to Bec’s house to bake a cake. She came out to me as bi this day too, and the cake was coloured like the bisexual flag!

Started a short course through the university I went to in Facebook for Business. It was a great way to build up my skills.

Played Animal Crossing with Dani’s little sister, Tami, a very wholesome time

Looked after Josh’s dog Jed while his family went away for the weekend (also went into the start of July) and was honestly the greatest time

July:

Halfway through the year. Thank fuck.

Had another job interview

Went on lots of walks

Was just generally cold

Did a lot of cleaning

Painted the downstairs rooms at church, which took a few days and a lot of back pain, but it’s cool to think that I was able to contribute my energy and time to something while I was not feeling good at all

The restrictions were tightened again, meaning that I couldn’t go further than 5kms away from my house, except to see Josh, so this was a really lonely time for me.

Really got into Masterchef with mum this season. They had all returning contestants from other seasons so that was really fun to watch.

Got and assembled a new couch upstairs that I can say I actually own myself. I absolutely love it.

More walks, despite the cold

This was a very uneventful month, but that’s ok!

August:

Had a call with the hospital I’ll be having my cyst surgery with. It was good to know that things would be started. I had to have a blood test and a second ultrasound then put on the waiting list for surgery. Still no sign on when that will be happening though 6 months later. Just so lucky to live in Australia where all of these appointments are free.

Went for a really nice long walk with Josh. Got shat on by a bird.

Did lots of stuff around the house, just tidying and watering the plants and sorting through my wardrobe to purge all the clothes I grew out of

Had an online Switch games night with some friends which was fun. We played Smash Bros. and Mario Kart and just had a great time!

Ok this sounds super lame but my favourite podcast, The Jenna & Julien Podcast, finished forever which came as a surprise and was just really sad. I really hope it comes back one day.

Did my tax return lmao

Baked rice puff/marshmallow bar things

Made an ASOS order to fill my happiness with material things. Did get some cute clothes and lingerie tho 😉

More games with Bec and Jess, we played Golf With Your Friends this time

Had a cocktail night with Josh, where we just made a bunch of fun cocktails and got drunk. I can’t wait to live with him so we can do this all the time.

Lots of Kivuli work, as we are planning for our 10th anniversary fundraising event

September:

Baked cookies, which was something I did a lot at the start of lockdown but sort of drifted away from. I absolutely love to bake.

Started working for Media-Wize, a small PR company that was started by someone I know at church.

Started playing Among Us at the start of the month

So many Among Us nights omg, just call me queen impostor please

Did my induction for Media-Wize

Got n e r v o u s because I kept getting things wrong in my new job. I always seem to fuck up the good things and opportunities that I get

Did a livestream reading of The Great Gatsby on my friend’s Twitch stream. It was really fun and something I had never done before. I voiced Tom Buchannan, which was interesting but cool to sort of get into the character. I hope to do something like this soon.

I burnt my hair while cooking dinner and had to give myself a haircut lmao. It was the first time since 2018 that I had cut it so it was a long time coming anyway.

So much Media-Wize work. It felt good to finally be getting paid to do a job

Got locked out of my bathroom so I had to climb up the laundry chute to unlock it from the inside, all because a fly outsmarted me (it’s a long story… and honestly best told by speaking it)

October:

Had the Kivuli 10th anniversary livestream. Lots of work went into it and it was so much fun! It’s incredible that a non-for-profit that has benefitted so many children and families is still going strong. Such a blessing to see.

Dad’s birthday, and we had a picnic with grandma and grandpa and saw them for the first time since lockdown was somewhat lifted

Walked to Beasley’s nursery with Josh and got a coffee. This was the first proper, not McCafe coffee I had had in months and it was SO good

Played Animal Crossing with Dani

More Among Us, a theme for the last few months of 2020

Watched the AFL Grand Final. Wasn’t super exciting this year tbh, especially since we couldn’t have a BBQ or party or anything, but hopefully next year will be different

Nearly moved out of home with a friend of a friend, but since I didn’t have a job, didn’t think it would be a wise decision. Would’ve been nice though

Did some more Media-Wize work. I haven’t been given anything to do since this time though, so I don’t know what’s going on with that? They really be ghosting me tho.

Applied for JobSeeker so I would at least be getting a little income

New Jackbox came out, and had a games night with The Boys playing all the new games

Voted in the local election

Went to Westerfold’s Park with Josh for a lovely long walk

Played lots of The Sims 4 (but tbh I have been doing this all year)

November:

This month things sort of started to turn around, as Covid wasn’t hitting my state hardly at all, so I was actually able to see family and friends again!

Went to my old primary school with Dani and played basketball and just shot around and talked. She also came over for dinner. It was so nice, and she is a true friend.

Had a picnic at the park at the top of the street with my dad’s side of the family, all together at last

Melbourne Cup Day, not that I really care but it’s nice to get a day off. Went on a day trip to the Dandenong mountain range. It was so, so nice and bought some lovely little things from local shops, went for a bushwalk and had a bakery lunch

Went to the park to throw the frisbee and kick the footy around with Josh and his friends, although they are my friends too tbh

Had a picnic with a group of friends that I hadn’t seen since January, so it was so, so good to catch up with them and have a delicious BBQ dinner

My favourite online comedy group, Aunty Donna’s Netflix series came out! Had a virtual watch party with a few friends and binge watched it all in one go

Had lunch with grandma. This used to be a weekly occurrence but for obvious reasons was put off for this year. I absolutely adore her and every lunch we spend together is so precious to me

Went to Kyneton with some of the family as another day trip

Christmas shopping time again. So weird to be at the shops and feel sort of normal? I went 4 different times in the span of a week and a half haha

Josh’s birthday! We went to this maze place with has a bunch of big mazes and other fun activities. It was such a perfect day. Then we had dinner with his family.

Got a letter from the IRS saying that I needed to provide them with proof of identity, so that was fun trying to sort that out. We love the outdated US tax system <3

Went to a bridal shower for my friend Katie

Went for another hike with Josh to the mountains

Drove down to Geelong for a friend’s wedding and stayed at my nan’s house

Had a pub dinner and Jackbox night while down in Geelong with The Boys

A good friend of mine was leaving to live in Japan for two years, so I went to her house one last time to say goodbye and chill in her pool and just hang out

God why is it so hard to get a job?

December:

Omg we have made it to December. It truly is a miracle with how this year went tbh. And if you have read this far, thank you but also, how little of a life do you have?

Went to my friend Katie’s wedding. Sort of surreal to go to a wedding during a pandemic but it was fun and I got to see a lot of friends I hadn’t seen in a while

Enjoyed the hot weather and went to the beach a number of times with a variety of friends

Went Christmas shopping, and just shopping in general since it was safe to and shops had finally opened again

Got a job at a talent agency where you get gigs as a paid extra in TV shows and movies, which was pretty cool! I even had a professional photoshoot to get headshots done, something that I had never done before. Glad that I could get some pictures to use on LinkedIn though haha. Still haven’t been cast in anything but here’s hoping.

Had dinner and drinks with Josh, Bec and Trev in the city for the first time since it reopened. God I love Melbourne so much. It is just so magical on balmy summer nights. This was such a special evening, and was so good just to be in the city again

Had a lovely day with Dani, starting with breakfast and then going on a hike before the weather got too hot. We went to Sherbrooke Forest, a place I hadn’t been before, and it was incredibly beautiful

Had a number of job interviews this month too, none of which got back to me which was annoying :/

Now it was heading into the time where every weekend is packed with Christmas do’s so I’ll just collate them in this point. Lots of drinks were consumed and many delicious roast dinners

Had our annual Christmas Carol’s service at church. It was a blessing to be back in the building for the first time since March, and to be able to do something I love (singing) with some of my best friends was the best

Christmas eve I went to my grandma and grandpa’s house (on dad’s side) to help them set up for Christmas lunch. Spending time together just the three of us is so special, and I am so glad I was able to come over and just chat and be in their loving presence. Then that night I went to our 11pm church service to bring in Christmas day. It was a great service and was great to see our kick-ass minister give a sermon face-to-face.

Ok here we go, Christmas was a doozy, let’s go. So Christmas lunch was, as I said, with my dad’s side of the family, which is always a great time. Cracking open crackers and fighting over who’ll get the bottle opener or nail clippers is always a highlight haha. But we had the fucking best roast potatoes I swear. I need to know what my grandma puts into them because I could genuinely eat 20 of them and still have space. Then the rest of the afternoon was spent in a food coma until I went to Josh’s house to spend dinner with his family. Another delicious meal and great banter was what I needed, although I can safely say that I put on at least 5 additional kilos after that day.

The next day the fam and I headed to Geelong to see my mum’s side of the family. Was a great drive down and I listened to all of The Avalanches new album which had just released. Easily the greatest album of the yeah hands-down. So we spent lunch there and absolutely stuffed ourselves with more food. Three Christmas meals really took a toll on me, but I am just blessed as it is to have a loving family and food on the table.

The next day dad, Josh and I headed to the beach to spend that weird time between Christmas and New Year’s. To get there we took the ferry that goes from Queenscliff to Portsea, which is always a fun time, since we don’t often go from one side of the bay to the other (if you don’t know the geography of Victoria I apologise lmao). Mum didn’t come with us as she had some symptoms of Covid, so went home to isolate and get tested. Thankfully she tested negative and she joined us the next day.

Once I got back home I had to prepare the house for my friend Jono who was visiting for new years from SA. Many last-minute chores and cleaning was done haha.

New Years Eve! Went to pick up Jono and my other friend Sarah from the airport and dropped Sarah off at her accommodation and ended up staying there with Jono for a while as this was where the New Year’s party was going to be. Although, in true Victorian fashion, our premier announced that there was going to be a limit of 15 visitors at any house from 5pm that night. Excellent. We love a last-minute change of plans. So we had lunch and spent the afternoon at my friend’s house before heading to a local park to chuck the frisbee and kick the footy around. We also had our second annual NYE trivia competition, which my team lost by 1 point!! Dang I get so competitive, but we will win next year, I can feel it. The new year came through uneventfully, we were in the middle of a game of Scattergories or something like that when someone changed the channel on the TV to see the Sydney fireworks across the screen and like, 4 second left of the countdown. I gave Josh a bog ol’ smooch and gave my friends a big hug. We had done it. 2020 was defeated.

Conclusion (damn this really be an essay tho)

This year was undeniably the hardest year I had ever been through. Going through unemployment for the majority of the year and having no sense of purpose hit me hard but I am entering 2021 with the hope and willingness to get on track with my career. And I think I will be successful. A lot of truly awful things happened around the world this year as well, with the devastating bushfires at the start of the year, the powerful BLM protests, Coronavirus absolutely destroying lives and many, many other global events but through it all, here we are. I hope you all keep well this year and that your 2021 is infinitely better than your 2020.

Song of the Year: Tangerine – Glass Animals

Album of the Year: We Will Always Love You – The Avalanches (I CANNOT stress this enough, but you absolutely must listen to this album!)

TV Show of the Year: The Mandalorian - Season 2

Movie of the Year: Bombshell (the only movie I saw at the cinemas so didn’t have much to go with)

Memory of the Year: Going away with my family and just enjoying time away with each other

Thank you for reading this, if you’ve made it this far, you’re a real one <3

#me #2020 #2020inreview #nostalgia #anactualnovel #iapologise

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sussex-nature-lover · 3 years

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Friday 22nd January 2021

Musings from under the duvet

Today’s Photos which are not my own are sourced via Twitter

If you were at all interested in my sojourn in Anglo Saxon history and the Sutton Hoo find, behold, there’s more. I won’t go into it but you can find all the information Here from Staffordshire. If you weren’t as fascinated as I am, let’s move on.

We didn’t have such an early a start as the Test Match Special team, who were on air from 04.15 but we were awake early enough and listening to the cricket from Galle again. The commentary team are all in different locations - Salford, The Oval (London) and their own homes. First comment of note, apart from the three early wickets, was a fox seen wandering right across the ground at The Oval

You can’t make them out all that well here but the grass is also covered with gulls and starlings.

Looking out at our own frosty garden we have absolutely loads of Rooks with some Crows and Jackdaws - they’re the noisy neighbours from the woods. I think I said before we’re in for a busy Spring with constant cries of rate my baby again. It’s a few years now and I think their community is going from strength to strength. Roll on leaves on those trees please.

An altogether different bird has flown here via the Royal Mail. I’m not totally sure what it is? some kind of Swallow I imagine, so it’s come early. Lovely though.

Thank you Ms NW tE x

I have to say it’s very pleasant lying in bed warm and snug, with a mug of hot tea, listening to the cricket, reading and looking out of the window. My it’s been a cold and very frosty start to the day and there was a very strange cloud this morning too. I’d better consult the book and see what that’s all about. It’s also notable that we haven’t needed a bedside lamp on today either, so that’s a pleasant change.

I was actually reading up on some recipes, aubergine (egg plant) recipes to be precise. I’ll be making this soon. But looking around lead my mind to wondering why I dislike coriander (cilantro) so much? I’ve read up on it before as I absolutely hate and detest the flavour so much that my mouth is actually shrivelling and I’m recoiling at the very thought. Crow can tolerate it, but isn’t particularly keen. Now the odd thing is, for me, it’s only raw coriander that brings about this extreme reaction. When the herb’s cooked into a dish it’s not quite so bad, when it’s used as the dried seeds or ground spice, which I use frequently in Indian dishes, then I’m ok with it - as a garnish, undetected in a salad or salsa it completely ruins my food. Usually I’m quite a fan of leafy green herbs.

So off I went again on another internet search

“It may surprise you to learn that those who dislike cilantro tend to have a gene that detects the aldehyde part of cilantro as a soapy smell and taste,” Dr. Vyas says.

Aldehydes are organic materials that possess a distinct chemical structure. The pairing of a carbon atom with an oxygen atom leaves room for two more bonds. If one of those bonds is with a hydrogen atom it’s called an aldehyde. If neither of the bonds is with hydrogen, it becomes a ketone.

The difference may be small at the molecular level, but has large implications at the olfactory (smell) level. It’s suspected that a dislike for cilantro is largely driven by the smell (and smell is directly linked to how we taste.)

“Think back to grade school science lab and formaldehyde and you can see why some people have such a negative reaction to aldehydes,” she says.

I’d looked up why I dislike the herb before, especially after finding out there are whole websites and an International Day (February) devoted to these feelings. I began to speculate whether I could eat it if I held my nose? but that article goes on...

On the flip side, one of the most famous perfumes ever invented uses synthetic aldehydes in high volumes. Chanel No. 5, a very distinct and popular perfume, contains a number of synthetic aldehydes to deliberately gear up your olfactory system.

Blame it on your genes — and your surroundings

Some people possess a gene that makes them super-sensitive to the aldehyde component found in cilantro and other foods and products. One study noted a very specific genetic link near the olfactory center of DNA in about 10% of those with cilantro aversion.

What’s even more interesting, according to the study, women are more likely to detect a soapy taste and dislike cilantro. And African-Americans, Latinos, East Asians and South Asians are significantly less likely to detect a soapy taste when compared with Europeans. Source

See I find that really strange because I’ve worn Chanel No 5 perfume for years and love it.

Chanel No 5:

A highly complex blend of aldehydes and florals - including rose, ylang-ylang, jasmine, lily of the valley and iris - layered over a warm, woody base of vetiver, sandalwood, vanilla, amber and patchouli

Coriander is just one food that may drastically differ in taste depending on your genetic make-up. What we taste when we eat broccoli for example, can also be determined by the receptors we were born with.

‘Somebody may have a great aversion to broccoli because they have the bitter taste receptors that are responsive to a specific compound in broccoli. Whereas other people don’t have that receptor variant and, therefore, don’t experience the bitterness from broccoli,’ explains Prof. Keast.

Strange again, my sense of taste favours Umami, bitter and sour, I like salty too, but not too fond of sweet. The very smell of broccoli makes me heave and gulp, so I don’t doubt that olfactory senses play a large part in the dislike, but the explanation about coriander isn’t stacking up for me.

Anyway, the upshot of all that is that any dish which calls for raw coriander has flat leaf parsley substituted and I can’t see that changing. The topic was a bit of a diversion though and topical given that a loss of smell and taste are symptoms of the Covid-19 virus. Crow thinks I’m the in-house sniffer dog whereas his senses aren’t particularly well developed and indeed his late father lost both of those senses through illness and it did prove both unpleasant and potentially dangerous at times.

As a change away from my culinary and sensory investigations I saw our old stamping ground on Twitter. Like so many others, the Reserve has had to close due to the weather.

Burton Mere I had a little browse of their website and the photo on that link made me smile. I also saw they’re featured in Nature’s Home magazine.

Going back to the photo (which you’ll have to click through to see) it reminded me how little we’ve seen of squirrels in the garden these past few months. At one time there were about eight who were the absolute scourge of our bird seed and feeders. The same goes for rabbits, who are also mainly sticking close to the woods at the bottom of the garden, although there were some up by the house after dusk the other night.

spot the odd one out

Throw-back photos from the garden

Butler (above) and The Twins (below)

I kind of miss watching them, but it’s very much a case of be careful what you wish for.

What Did I Learn Yesterday?

Ever sung the words “ I see a little silhouetto of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango? “

Well I knew that the fandango is a dance but I always assumed a scaramouche was some form of devil figure, but no, well, kind of (as per the skirmisher) the proper definition is

Scaramouche or Scaramouch (from Italian scaramuccia, literally "little skirmisher") is a stock clown character of the 16th-century commedia dell'arte (comic theatrical arts of Italian literature)

Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen

#naturephotography clouds birds squirrels rabbits wildlife senses taste smell coriander cilantro

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thisdaynews · 4 years

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Australian Open: Sofia Kenin beats Ashleigh Barty to make final

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/australian-open-sofia-kenin-beats-ashleigh-barty-to-make-final/

Australian Open: Sofia Kenin beats Ashleigh Barty to make final

Sofia Kenin, who won three WTA Tour titles last year, will rise into the world’s top 10 next week

2020 Australian Open Venue:Melbourne ParkDates:20 January to 2 February Coverage:Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and online; Live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website and app; Watch highlights on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

Sofia Kenin reached her first Grand Slam final by beating a nervous top seed Ashleigh Barty in straight sets in the Australian Open semi-finals.

The 21-year-old American, seeded 14th, won 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 in sweltering conditions at Melbourne Park.

Australian Barty, aiming to become the first home woman to reach the final in 40 years, failed to convert two set points in each set.

Kenin will meet Simona Halep or Garbine Muguruza in Saturday’s final.

Follow Halep v Muguruza live

Britain’s Salisbury & partner Ram reach men’s doubles final

The Florida-raised player, who was born in Russia before moving to the United States as a baby, dropped her racquet on the floor and cupped her face with both hands when Barty hit a return long.

“I’m speechless. I can’t believe it. I’ve dreamed of this since I was five years old. I’ve worked so hard to get here,” she said.

Kenin is the first American to reach the Australian Open final, outside of the Williams sisters, since Lindsay Davenport in 2005.

She was a child prodigy in the States, having featured in numerous television appearances and played alongside the big names when she was young.

Now she has fulfilled that promise by reaching her first Grand Slam final.

Possessing a feisty nature and a tremendous will-to-win, she showed all of her qualities to overcome Barty on an expectant Rod Laver Arena.

Australia’s wait continues

Ashleigh Barty won the French Open title last year

Barty insisted she was not being swept away by growing public excitement as she aimed to follow Wendy Turnbull in 1980 by reaching the Melbourne final, and ultimately become the nation’s first champion here – either male or female – since Chris O’Neil in 1978.

Yet she looked edgy in the crucial moments throughout the match.

Barty’s service game – where she won 20 of her 24 service points before coming under pressure for the first time at 5-5 – kept her out of serious trouble.

That was until the first-set tie-break when tightness crept in again, missing two set points, before Kenin cracked two winners in a row to swing momentum back in her favour.

With a set point on serve, the American took it when Barty swung at a second serve and lumped it into the net.

Barty started to play more freely in the second, breaking early for a 2-1 lead, and finally started to cause problems for Kenin with her backhand slice.

But she got tight again in the crucial moments, unable to take two more set points when serving for the second at 5-4.

Anguished cries from the passionate home support on Laver greeted a drive forehand volley into the net on the second.

From that point she struggled to recover.

Barty did save the first match point with a whipping cross-court forehand winner that ended a 17-shot rally but succumbed to the second as Kenin won in one hour and 45 minutes.

Live scores, schedule and results

Alerts: Get tennis news sent to your phone

Extreme heat arrives in Melbourne

Melbourne is known for its variable weather and, after poor air quality caused by the devastating bushfires and torrential rain earlier in the tournament, it was the turn of scorching heat to potentially cause problems.

Temperatures touched 40C for the first time during the fortnight, meaning the Australian Open’s extreme heat policy came into force.

Their scale reached 4.0 just before the players came on court, triggering an extended break between the second and third sets – if it had gone that far.

Both players are well accustomed to playing in sweaty conditions, Barty hailing from Queensland and Kenin growing up in Florida.

Neither looked adversely affected by the temperatures and humidity, although sensibly used ice towels at the changeovers.

The heat scale rocketed up to 4.9 during the match, just falling short of the 5.0 required to stop the match and close the court’s roof.

Play was suspended on the outside courts in the wheelchair and junior competitions where the threshold for stopping play is lower.

Rows of empty seats in the sun-soaked parts of Laver started to appear as the match wore on, while fans outside opted to watch the big screen from shaded areas under trees rather than the available deckchairs.

#Barty #final

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hotel-massage-london · 7 years

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I Got A Happy Ending Massage And It Saved My Marriage

How Happy Ending Massages Actually Saved My Marriage

We have been recently asking masseuses customers to give us some honest feedback on the industry and what they think about tantric massage practice and the elusive “happy ending massage” that many people see as a seedy industry. Not surprisingly (to us) there are loads of really positive stories out there.

After a while we got an email from, well lets just call him “Bob” explaining that finding happy endings actually helped to save his rocky marriage….. take a read….

My wife and I have been married for 24 years. We live in London, have three beautiful children, great jobs and have managed to build a comfortable, stable life for our family. Of course we have had some speed bumps along the way, but who hasn’t? I have fallen out of love with her and then dived back into it more times than I can remember, but no matter what, we have always found our way back to one another.

We love each other- unconditionally and irrevocably. That I don’t doubt. But the last six months have proved to be the biggest test of all. Despite all the fights, the temporary break-ups and the ‘I fu***ng hate you!, sex has never been in short supply. It’s been the burning candle in our relationship, the one constant thing that has kept our love so vibrant and alive. But regrettably, that was not the case a couple of months ago; far from it in fact.

Despite being in a seemingly good place, my wife and I hadn’t had sex in months. As a self-confessed hot blooded male with a vivacious libido, sex 3-4 times a week was a must. And luckily for me, my wife always obliged enthusiastically. However, something changed in me unexpectedly, and I still don’t know to this day what the trigger was. My sex-drive went from 10- non-existent rather drastically, and the thought of making love to my wife became a massive inconvenience for the first time in over two decades. Her voluptuous assets no longer enticed me, her seductive eyes no longer drove me crazy, her sexual prowess no longer seduced me- I no longer felt any attraction at all to the woman I loved and adored whole heartedly.

Unsurprisingly, this didn’t go unnoticed with my wife. Her attempts to arouse me went unnoticed; her vigorous efforts to seduce me were unsuccessful. Her self-esteem began to suffer, and it was all because of me. From then on, arguments started with no resolve. Our children, although adults, were unintentionally caught in the cross fire that had erupted between us, and had to sit back and watch as their indestructible unit crumbled. My wife, drowning in humiliation, became self-conscious for the first time in our relationship and fell into a deep depression. Her fire had burned out, but I was the one starving it of oxygen. My marriage and life was falling apart- something needed to change, quickly.

Like most people these days, I turned to the internet for answers. To my surprise, I was not alone. From forums, to blogs to magazine articles, accounts of men in similar situations filled my screen. The resolution of many was couples therapy- but this just didn’t seem like the right avenue for me and my wife. I hadn’t lost the spark with my wife, nor had I fallen out of love with her- the relationship with myself had broken down, that was the problem.

That’s when I came across a website advertising unfamiliar massage services in central London. I’d experienced traditional massages in the past, but nothing like what this salon was promoting. From Happy Ending, to Nuru, to Tantric to Sensual, these erotic massages seemed at first to be a very niche and taboo practice. ‘They’re just an expensive hand-job’ some people would write, or ‘prostitutes are cheaper’, other would say, but none of these people had actually experienced it for themselves. By reading personal accounts from men, women and couples, I realised that erotic massages were seriously misunderstood and has become clouded by stereotypes. Known as ‘spiritual cleansers’, a healing massage is just what I needed. I needed a mental, spiritual and physical release all rolled into one and this ticked all of the boxes; but there was one problem. I didn’t know whether to tell my wife.

Although many of you will probably disagree, I didn’t, and still don’t see this as cheating. Despite being with one woman for the majority of my life, I have always been sexually satisfied, and I’ve never had an overwhelming urge to sleep with someone else. Getting a Happy Ending Massage in London wasn’t a sexual conquest of any sort; it was an attempt to reconnect with myself in a way I felt comfortable with. I contemplated opening up to my wife, but realised it would make her feel completely inferior, when in reality; I was doing this for her. Despite feeling incredibly apprehensive about the whole thing, I knew I had to switch off my reasoning and just jump head first into it, so later that day, I booked in for a Happy Ending massage at a local erotic massage parlour. I took a longer lunch at work and drove to the salon that same week. I drew out £75 on two separate occasions not to arouse suspicion and gave it to my masseuse before the session started. I was nervous, apprehensive, scared and sad that it had come to this, but I needed it to do it- for my wife.

Before it knew it, my massage was over, and I can honestly say that it was the most emotional and powerful experience of my life. Aside from being undeniably and intensely pleasurable, it left me feeling raw with emotion. Unbeknown to me, I had been completely consumed by negative energy but hadn’t realised it till now. Maybe I was scared of growing old, or maybe I was questioning whether I’d done enough with my life, but either way, it had resonated its way into my relationship like a toxic poison.

After the session had concluded, I was left alone by my masseuse, and for good reason. I cried uncontrollably, my entire body shaking with emotion. I did not cry because I was unhappy, I cried in relief. I felt lighter, rejuvenated and free from my emotional prison for the first time in months. Although the massage itself was incredibly intimate, I connected more with myself then I did my masseuse. The ‘happy ending’ was like nothing I had ever felt before; it was most concentrated pleasure I had ever experienced. Aside from the orgasm itself, the release was exactly what I had expected; it was spiritually and mentally cleansing. I felt like me again for the first time in what felt like forever.

I returned to work shortly after with the biggest smile on my face. I counted down the minutes until I could drive home and make love to my beautiful wife. Even now, weeks later, it feels like our marriage is on ecstasy. My wife and I have had sex nearly every night since my massage, and I’ve never felt more in love or drawn to her. Despite feeling some guilt before the session, I now know it’s the best decision I ever made.

My erotic massage was everything it promised to be, and it’s safe to say I got my Happy Ending- it saved my marriage.

Bob.