People with cancer do not “lose the battle”

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Female hands holding a peach rose, with text the cancer "battle"

Last night, as we settled into bed, we saw the terribly sad news that a friend of ours had passed away. Chris had cancer. He died because of cancer.

But cancer did not beat Chris, and he didn’t lose the battle.

Sure, it’s only terminology, just words. But for the people left behind, experiencing the death and pain and emptiness, it’s important. At least it was to me, when my Dad died. I hate that anyone might think my Dad “lost”. That he didn’t fight hard enough, or long enough.

I feel the same now, talking about Chris.

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GIG REVIEW: The Lovely Eggs in Birmingham

The Lovely Eggs on stage with text "GIG REVIEW: The Lovely Eggs"

I hadn’t even heard of The Lovely Eggs before about March this year. As with pretty much all of my musical discoveries, I was introduced to them by the husband. Not in a “he controls what I listen to” kind of way. Just that I’m not that musically minded and don’t actively choose to listen to stuff.

This is Eggland

Anyway, The Lovely Eggs. With tunes like “Dickhead” and “Would You Fuck!” on their latest album – This is Eggland – they’re probably not the most singalong family friendly band, but they are bloody great! A husband and wife duo, they make a hell of a lot of noise for just two people. Last time they played in Birmingham earlier this year, we didn’t go because it was a mid week gig. This time around, last week, was also mid week. But with me not yet rejoining the realms of employment and a few more months of listening to the album under our belts, we decided to head along.

It was a great decision! They’re every bit as good live as listening to the record, and they like to have a chat and banter with the audience in between songs too. Singer Holly veers between venomous vitriol and fairy tale sing-songyness in her delivery. Her Northern accent shines through and adds to the anthemic vine of songs like “I Shouldn’t Have Said That”, while “Wiggy Giggy” has a mind bending psychedelic repetitiveness that has been stuck in my head ever since.

Their don’t give a fuck attitude shines through and you can tell they’re doing it their way, and for the love of the music. They’re not in it for the adoration or pretention, and they actively don’t do fake encores to please the crowd.

How would I describe The Lovely Eggs? A bit punky, a bit alternative, a bit indie, very real and a lot of fun!

 

5 top tips for successful job hunting

Job hunting: Table and chair with laptop, mouse and a pair of glasses

I’ve been planning to share my job hunting tips for a while, but as I was still sans job it seemed ridiculous to be doling out advice!

The good news for me for the husband is that, 2.5 months since the end of my previous job, I now have a new one. All together now, hurrah! The timing is fantastic, because my redundancy payout is looking less healthy than it did, and with the colder weather coming I was dreading our heating bill with me being at home all day.

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Let’s talk about tourists

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We’re all tourists in some shape or form. If you’ve ever visited anywhere outside of where you live, with the intention of seeing a place or an attraction, then you’re a tourist. I know this information hurts hardened travellers – you know, people who have given up their homes and jobs to spend their life savings on a round the world trip; living on dried noodles and sleeping in mud huts with holes in the roof* But it’s true.

Whether it’s a day trip, a week in an all inclusive hotel or living nomadically from country to country, we’re all tourists.

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5 top tips for dealing with job loss

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Cup of coffeee, notebook and pen on wooden desk. Text: "dealing with job loss"

If you lose your job it’s easy to panic.

Then think “why me?”

Then go into mental freefall about how you’ll end up eating dust and wearing rags for the rest of your life.

(just me?)

But job loss is rarely the end of the world. As a great believer in fate (it means I don’t have to take responsibility for myself), there are ways to approach the situation that will hopefully help you to deal with it and feel much more positive.

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First (Greece) impressions don’t always count

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If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram (if not, why not?!) you’ll know I’ve recently returned from a 10 day trip to Greece.

This was split into two parts; 3 nights in Athens on mainland Greece, and 7 nights on the island of Santorini. It had been in the planning, technically, for 13 years; the Santorini part, at least, since we first got together. I included it on a travel bucket list a couple of years back. The Athens part was an add on – a “makes sense to do it while we’re in the area”, if you will. .

Oh, and it was also our 10th wedding anniversary trip. No pressure then!

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3 days in Dubrovnik

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As I gear up for my next holiday, I realised I haven’t blogged about my last trip, to Dubrovnik. It’s not like I haven’t had time or anything. The trip was 2 months ago and I’ve been off work for 5 weeks now <<sore point>>. But I didn’t so I’m going to correct that fact and tell you about it now.

I’m not sure when and why going to Dubrovnik became one of my travel priorities. It was definitely already right up there back in April 2016 when I wrote a list of places I wanted to visit. The architecture, city walls and coastal location made it a really appealing city break. Dubrovnik is small enough to get around in a few days. That said, there’s enough to do and see to fill the time and feel the city. Of course, later we started watching Game of Thrones, some of which is filmed in Dubrovnik, and my interest was piqued.

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