Winter Reads...

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel- 3 stars ***

This was another book in a set that I got for my birthday, and I was quite surprised to learn that apparently it is well-known, as one of my teachers told me. It is about a woman called Alison, who is a fortune teller of sorts, who travels around performing in shows accompanied by her put-upon assistant Collette. It is basically a very long character study, following Alison as she discovers details about her past, some of which are pretty harrowing. There are some great characters in this piece, that she meets along the way, and as readers we are given every possible detail about them, so you really get a sense of what drives them. Obviously in such a bizarre setting, there are a lot of unique personalities, including many that are spirit guides, which were really interesting to hear about.

I really enjoyed the style of the novel, as it mocked the seriousness of itself in parts, and had a believable voice behind it. I particularly liked Hilary Mantel's description of 'The Other Side':

'Spirit world...is a garden...litter-free like an old-fashioned park, with a bandstand in a heat haze in the distance. Here the dead sit in rows on benches, families together, on gravelled paths between weed-less beds, where heat- sozzled flowers bob their heads, heavy with the scent of eau de Cologne: their petals crawling with furry, intelligent, stingless bees... They eat picnics with silver forks; purely for pleasure, because they never feel hunger, nor gain weight. No wind blows there, only a gentle breeze, the temperature being controlled at a moderate 71F.'

I enjoyed this book overall, although it didn't really feel like there was a main plot-line to it, which made some bits drag a bit as they didn't appear to have much point. I would be interested to read another book by the same author, to see if this is a theme that runs throughout her other work. One thing to be commended is her success in dealing with such a fragile subject as death and the afterlife, as she somehow managed to make parts comical, despite having quite grim topics at their core:

'There are unlicensed workings and laboratories underground, mutants breeding in the tunnels; there are cannibal moo-cows and toxic bunnikins, and behind the drawn curtains of hospital wards there are bugs that eat the flesh.'

It gave the book a slightly dark and twisted feel, that I thoroughly enjoyed, as it was so refreshing and different to anything else that I have read recently.

It's Christmasssss!

In Yorkshire!

So this is my final Christmas piece- promise! As ours was so unconventional (see previous post) we had to keep up the trend and have another Christmas Day, this time on the 27th. We travelled early morning to Leven where my

grandparents live; which is a village near Beverley in Hull. As usual, their house looked very festive, decked in lights with ornaments throughout the rooms, so no corner seemed un-Christmassy.

My Auntie and Uncle had travelled from Lancashire with my two cousins aged 8 and 5, which I was looking forward to, as Christmas is so much better when there are children around; they get so much more involved and are enthusiastic about everything. We only opened a few presents before dinner was served- prawn cocktail followed by a chicken roast dinner and Christmas pudding, exactly what is expected of a true Christmas Day. I was drinking a very nice 1998 château moumont rose wine, which I hope makes me sound very sophisticated, as it is the only instance in which I have seemed so!

After dinner, my other Auntie and Uncle who live close to my grandparents came with my other two cousins who are also young (4 and 6) and we opened

the rest of our presents. We each only had a few, but as usual the kids had mountains. The pile of wrapping paper left at the end was very impressive. So ensued a couple of hours of them playing with new toys, until Lucy and Cara left for home, and Hannah and Adam were sent to bed, a lot later than usual! We all collapsed onto various sofas and chairs with books to read, or fixed our eyes on the television (personally I had a nap). We left at about 11pm, stuffed, tired and stored up with Christmas cheer. Definately the last time I will recount a Christmas Day for at least 361 days!

Weekly Update!

Merry Christmas!

So, this week held the last few days before the big C- Christmas. I know I've been harping on about it on here for the last couple of weeks, but I just love this time of year. With finishing uni on 18th December as well, it means I had to do all the festivities with uni friends before then, so I've been in the seasonal mindset for at least the last three weeks.

This week, apart from wrapping presents and adding more and more decorations to our already

overfilled house, I had a lovely night with my friends (see previous post) and a visit from my boyfriend to exchange our presents. Mine were brilliant, but I was really annoyed as one of my gifts for him didn't arrive in time due to the snow delaying the post. The following day we went for a wander around Denzell Gardens, a park near my house. It looked gorgeous in the snow, even though it was very cold! The pond was completely frozen solid, and there were footprints on it from where people had walked across it. That evening we did the annual viewing of A Muppets Christmas Carol, accompanied by roasted chestnuts and Miniature Heroes, I never get bored of

seeing it!

On Friday it was Christmas Eve. I worked in the morning, and then chilled out

in the afternoon, watching a few bits on television. At 5pm, I went to my local church's Christingle service, which was lovely. We sang carols, listened to a few passages and then all collected Christingles from a box at the front, which were then lit and blessed. I am not a regular church goer, but it really got me ready for Christmas Day, and as it is quite a child-friendly service, there were so many adorable kids, there was even a baby in a Santa outfit!

Yesterday was the big day; for most people. As my dad works

shifts he unfortunately worked the night of Christmas Eve so was in bed for Christmas morning. Knowing this in advance, I offered to work as I'd get triple pay, and we decided to have our family Christmas on Boxing Day instead. So after work, my Christmas was spent watching TV and eating some yummy food- eggs benedict for lunch, and my mum made Hunter's Chicken with roasted vegetables and potatoes for tea.

So for all of us, while most people woke up hungover, and surrounded by wrapping paper this morning, we prettified ourselves and did the traditional separating of the presents into piles ready to start unwrapping. It took us nearly three hours, but I got some

amazing presents, including a double butterfly charm for my Pandora bracelet, and my much awaited olive green handmade corset, as well as lots of other bits and bobs. This was all followed by a fabulous goose roast dinner, and copious amounts of Bucks Fizz, chocolate and wine-mmm. Another 'Christmas Day' gone, another tomorrow at my Grandparents house in Yorkshire!

Seasonal Socialising

Christmas Feasting!

Last night was the first time in about two years that my seven friends from home and I had all been free to do something (shocking!) As we all go to separate unis we have differing holidays, and as well as that when we're home we have family and boyfriends to see, and a few of us have jobs as well. It's often like fighting a losing battle trying to organise things to suit everyone.

So with it being such a momentous occasion, as well as it being near Christmas, we decided to have a festive feast, and luckily one of my friends offered up her house for us to invade bearing goodies. We each chose something that we could take along, and basically sat around a big coffee table with it all spread out, having a natter and indulging in lots of yummy nibbles!

I took some home-made mini roast potatoes, that I decided to make after I saw a recipe on one of the many cookery shows on at this time of year. You just use normal new potatoes (the type you would use for potato salad) and cut slices in them about 5mm apart that go halfway through the potato. Then you place them all into a roasting tin and douse in olive oil, rolling them around in it until they are fully covered. The next bit depends on personal taste. I chose to sprinkle

rosemary and rock salt over them, but you could use chilli or garlic flakes, pepper or another herb of your choice. You could even experiment with different combinations and flavours. Once you have seasoned them, then you put them in the oven at a high heat (about 220 degrees) for thirty minutes or until they have gone brown on the outside, and are fluffy and soft in the centre. Because of the slits in the potatoes, when they cook they open up like fans for a more quirky look. As it was a buffet style meal we were having, I placed them all in a red bowl (very Christmassy!) and suck cocktail sticks in them so that they were more like 'finger food'. They are not difficult, but the little bit of extra effort really makes them look more special, and they were received very well!

As well as my mini potatoes, we also had pate and crackers, pigs in blankets, stuffing balls, pretzels, nuts, crisps and dips, goujons, spring rolls, chocolate fingers, mince pies, yule log, chocolate covered strawberries and amazing mini fish fillets with a splodge of mushy peas and a chip on top to create little fish and chip bites! Of course, it didn't all get eaten, but we did a very convincing job of trying! We watched Toy Story 3 afterwards, and I had a couple of glasses of tasty rose wine as I wasn't driving for a change.

Not only was it lovely to see everyone together again, but it was a great chance for a good ol' chinwag to catch up on each other's lives. With this being the last year of university for some of us, I'm sure in the future it will only become worse to try finding time when we are all available, so I certainly made the most of it- and the food!

Novel In Progress...

Q - Part 6

It was a completely spontaneous act, when I’d spoken to the other customer like that. Me, who never did more than take orders and utter the odd hello to the regulars, had actually instigated a situation that could have lost me my job. I couldn’t afford to rent my flat if I became unemployed, and if my boss had seen my customer service that afternoon? Well, I’m just glad he didn’t. It made me realise how protective I felt of Cleo, to go to such lengths just to stop someone touching her. I knew it was a major overreaction, but when I saw the look on her face as he got closer and closer, I just couldn’t stop myself.

That evening, on my way home from work, I was still thinking about the way Cleo had smiled meekly at me after the whole confrontation. I felt like it had sparked something in her, as though I was finally knocking through the wall that she had up around her. I was anxious for the following day, to see if she would say something about what had happened; or if she would just slip back into the nonchalance that I was becoming so used to.

When I entered my flat, I noticed the red light blinking on the answering machine and pressed play as I kicked off my shoes.

“Hey mate, it’s Woodsy here, I’m up near yours for a conference on Thursday, wanna grab a pint? It’ll be during the day ‘cos they’re evening things, but you must be the manager of that coffee place by now, so you can sort it, yeh? Give us a bell anyway.”

It was unexpected, but I didn’t get my hopes up as I knew I probably wouldn’t get the time off. The only problem with going to university with a load of people who now work for themselves is that they all think I can cancel everything at a moment’s notice. I decided to give Nancy a call anyway to check. I dialled her number, and asked her husband to put her on.

Nights Out...

Manchester's German Market

Today I went to the Christmas Market in Manchester with my family. I love going each year, as it really hypes up my Christmas mood, and it's such a gorgeous atmosphere to be surrounded by

this close to the big day.

After spending quite a while finding parking (the disadvantage of coming this late on in the shopping frenzy) we found a spot near the Opera House, which wasn't too far of a walk. It also meant that we got to walk past some of the smaller sections down side streets, that would normally get missed off on our route around. Brazennose Street was one of these, that had a world themed market, complete with falafel stand, English vintage shop and standard German beer and gluhwein stall.

We then headed to the French market on King Street, which is new for this year. We stopped at a bar and I had a cafe chocolat (the best mocha I've ever had!), while my mum had a Bailey's hot chocolate, sister had a normal hot chocolate, and my dad stuck with a beer as usual. Some of the food stalls there smelt delicious, and I was very tempted to indulge in the chicken provençal, but after my drink I was so full that I decided to wait for a while.

The main European market in Exchange Square behind the Town Hall was our

next stop, which is amazing! It has everything from stalls selling ornaments made out of driftwood, to Dutch waffle houses and kiosks selling hand knitted Christmas jumpers. I particularly like browsing the stand that makes presents such as coasters and clocks out of old records, as it always looks nice and colourful, and I'd love something like that as a random stocking filler.

We stopped for some food next; my mum and I opted for a spicy Bratwurst, while my dad got a hog roast sandwich. The stand next to where we got our Bratwursts from was selling all its stock off for £1, so we got some huge cinnamon cookies and 2 waffles sandwiched together with almond cream, I can't wait to sample them. We also bought some chestnuts from a nearby stall to roast whilst we watch A Muppet's Christmas Carol- it's been a yearly family tradition since we were tiny!

By this point our extremities were beginning

to lose feeling, so we began the walk back to the car. Our final stop was for another beer for dad, and there was a brass band playing next to us which was lovely and wintery. We also passed a Dutch doughnut stand, where we managed to sweet talk the assistant into giving us fifteen for £10 instead of ten! We chose four chocolate, four custard, three cherry, three apple and one raisin for me.

Although we got home at 6:30pm, it felt like it was nearly time for bed as I'd worked a shift in the morning starting at 7am. I had a Christmas blend coffee and enjoyed two of the doughnuts we had bought- Christmas is a time for overeating after all!

Weekly Update!

Final nights of Term 1!

Because I'm going to the Christmas Market tomorrow and want to write about it afterwards, I thought I'd do my weekly view today instead. As it was the last week of first term, it was filled with frantic essay writing, nicely balanced amongst some lovely celebrating to mark the start of the festive period (even though I've had my tree up for two weeks and eaten two Christmas dinners already!).

Monday was the night LUFS headed out for a Christmas themed end of year social, and despite only a few people making it due to looming deadlines, we had a great time. We pre-drank at my house amid seasonal tunes, and then headed to our sponsors, Mint, for a few cheeky cocktails, and some free shots to use up some vouchers that have been adorning my fridge since Freshers Week. We then tottered down to Elements 'club', which I particularly enjoyed as I haven't been all term and love the place.

On Wednesday I went to Greaves Park pub with Theatre Group for my third and final Christmas dinner (until the real thing anyway!). I had prawn and crayfish cocktail followed by salmon and boiled potatoes, and finished with chocolate torte and ice cream. The food was absolutely gorgeous, though it

was a shame that the service was rather slow, as it marred the evening somewhat. After we had eaten it was announced that there was a quiz on that night, so we stayed and had a go. Our team romped to a magnificent win, and the look on some of the elderly patrons' faces when they announced that 'Santa's Bulging Sack' had won, was priceless! We won a £20 voucher, but as it ran out before we came back in January, we bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate our victory. Hurrah!

On Friday I was pretty knackered after spending all Thursday staring at my laptop doing my essay, so just packed ready to go home, then chilled out in front of the TV. Today my dad arrived at half 11, which was pretty good considering the snow, and we drove home in time for a buttered bagel

and mince pie for lunch, yum! This afternoon/ evening I went to my friend's Christmas party, which was a lovely way to see everyone back from university, as well as an opportunity to dress up and indulge in a few nibbles, and plenty of Quality Street!

Novel In Progress...

Q - Part 5

I think the day that things started to change was probably when she told me her name. She always sat at the table looking out into the side alley, but some guy I hadn’t seen before sat there instead, so she went to sit by the fire exit. I had just let slip that I knew her name already, but she didn’t ask me why I’d been peering into her bag, she just wandered off without saying anything else.

It got to about half past three, and a couple more people came in. The guy sat at Cleo’s usual table stood, rolled up his paper and put his sunglasses on. He had to pass Cleo to get out, and I saw her kick her bag further under the table to avoid his path. As he got closer to her, I could see her edging towards the wall.

“Excuse me.” He was only two metres away from me.

“Yeah?”

“You just bumped into that girl there.” I gestured towards Cleo, her gaze fixed on the floor. She was twisting her hands in her lap.

“I what? Oh, sorry, it’s a pretty narrow gap between the tables in here isn’t it?” He took off his sunglasses.

“It’s no excuse for rudeness.” I didn’t know where my words were coming from, and I could feel my face becoming hot and my hands starting to tingle.

“Rudeness? The girl’s not even bothered, are you darlin’?” Cleo continued to look at the floor. “Sorry, but I haven’t got time for this.” He pushed past me and out of the door.

Once he had left, she moved her head to stare at the wall. She seemed completely shocked, her eyes even bigger than usual, but then she looked at me and gave a shy smile. Her teeth were really straight, like someone had set them out with a ruler. I went back behind the counter, wiped some crumbs onto the floor and then bent down to sweep them. I heard the bell tinkle, and when I stood up, she had already gone. A big group of school girls had just come in, so I moved swiftly to clear Cleo’s table so there was more space. Her cup was completely empty.

Weekly Update!

Cocktails, Cupcakes and Christmas!

This week, rather than do my essay like I intended, I seemed to fill my time with lots of other things, which was of course much more sociable and pleasant!

On Monday my only seminar of the day was cancelled due to the snow, so I finally got a much needed lie in which was awesome. The rest of the day and Tuesday were spent gymming, and doing minimal amounts of work; and on Tuesday evening I watched Dirty Pretty Things, which I really enjoyed, despite being slightly apprehensive when I read the summary.

Wednesday was a lovely sociable day, starting with a cup of tea and a cupcake with my friend Charlotte at Yummy Cupcake Company. I love the place, and on a Wednesday you get any tea and cupcake for £2, bargain! I chose a white chocolate and raspberry one, with

English Breakfast tea (but of course!) and we had a good ol' chinwag. I also bought the last of my Christmas presents for people, so I can now relax at home, whilst everyone else has to brave the chaotic crowds. On Wednesday evening my two friends cooked tea for me to return the favour of when I cooked for us all a while back. We had a tomato and chicken pasta bake, and then sneakily ate cake that had been left out in their flat, shh! My friend Katie also made us mixed berry daiquiris using the cocktail recipe book I got her as a birthday present, they were delicious, and contained very generous measures of rum!

On Thursday I went to Merchants for a Christmas meal, and Friday I saw the play Daughters Of Heaven at the Dukes (see previous posts). Saturday was an unofficial Christmas Day for me and my old flatmates, as I made a massive duck and chicken roast for all seven of us, complete with broccoli, parsnips, sprouts, roasties, mash, green beans, carrots, squash, stuffing and pigs in blankets, followed (much later on!) with homemade mince pies and Christmas pudding- yum!

Later tonight I'm off to do a Christmas themed pub quiz, so hopefully our team will win something to keep up the festive cheer, before I hit my essay and dissertation hard in the final week of term!

Winter Performances...

Daughters Of Heaven

Last night I ventured to The Dukes Theatre in Lancaster to see the University Theatre Group's version of 'Daughters of Heaven', directed by third year student Jacqueline Baker. It is a play that was written in 1991 by Michaelanne Forster, and is based upon the true story of the Parker-Hulme murder that took place in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1954.

The main plot of the play revolves around two young girls; Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme. The girls develop a close friendship that grows into obsession as they engross themselves in fiction, creating make-believe worlds and their own religion. They call each other by the names Deborah (Juliet) and Gina (Pauline) and write elaborate stories, with dreams of running away together to America to become famous. Although it is never confirmed, their relationship hints that the pair may be lesbians, which at the time was a serious offence that was seen as a form of mental illness.

When it becomes apparent that their relationship is beginning to have an unhealthy effect on their lives, Pauline's mother Honora Rieper (Louise Turner) tries to prevent them from seeing each other, so the girls plot to murder her. Following a walk in the park, the pair bludgeon her to death by hitting her forty two times with a brick concealed inside a stocking.

The two girls that played Juliet and Pauline, politics student Leigh Coghill and first year theatre studies student Jade Beaty, were cast perfectly, as their on stage chemistry was brilliant. Undeterred by the potentially awkward kissing scenes, the pair showed a devotion to each other that made it entirely believable that they would go to such lengths to be together. Beaty is tiny, which not only made it easy to imagine her as an impressionable young girl, but also created a sense of surprise when she was so horribly nasty to her mother and finally killed her, as at first glance she looked too innocent to be capable of such malice. Coghill portrayed a girl so used to getting her own way that she had no problem making Pauline practically worship her, and even after being imprisoned, she continued to believe with complete conviction that they had done nothing wrong.

Providing a commentary on the whole play was Holly Francis who played Bridget O'Malley. She showed the situation from an insider's perspective as the Hulme's housekeeper, as well as giving the audience an idea of what it appeared like from the outside by divulging the gossip and rumours circulating the area. This gave a good three dimensional effect to the piece, as the audience had the opportunity to forge their own opinions using her evidence. Francis played the

part very well, treading the fine line between a likeable mother figure and bossy head of the household with great control. At the end of the play, O'Malley tricked the girls into believing that they no longer wanted anything to do with each other, ensuring that they remained separated upon their release from prison.

Having seen a fair few LUTG productions in the past, I have to say that I was very impressed with this piece. Tackling such taboo subject topics as murder, adultery and homosexuality was an ambitious task to approach on stage, one which I felt was performed with credibility and focus. There wasn't a weak link in the cast, as all evoked emotion from their performances (I felt especially sorry when Mrs Rieper was murdered, as Louise Turner played her as such a lovely woman) and together they retold a chilling tale that is almost too horrible to imagine really happened; but which was wonderful to watch.

New Tastes...

Merchants, Lancaster

Last night a group of the LUFS girls went to The Merchants in Lancaster for our first Christmas meal as

a society- woo! We agreed on a formal dress code (everyone loves gett

ing dressed up) and so at 7pm I tottered out of the house

dolled up and ready

to devour a lovely three course dinner.

As there were seventeen of us, we had been given a full bay to ourselves, and with Merchants being based inside a historic wine cellar, it was the perfect place for a Christmas meal. All the stonework looked gorgeous bathed in twinkly lights, and the table was dressed beautifully with crackers and candles, providing the perfect festive atmosphere.

I am always greedy at Christmas time and so had pre-ordered the three course meal for £19.50. For my starter I chose parsnip and pancetta soup served with fresh bread. It was nice, although I couldn't taste the pancetta very much which was slightly disappointing as I love i

t; and thought it would compliment the parsnip flavour really well. The ho

me-made granary bread more than made up for it though as it was s

o soft and I got two chunky slices!

For main I wa

s supposed

to

be having goose, but a couple of days before I was informed that they were no longer serving it, so I opted for the roast beef instead- and I'm so glad I did! I really enjoy beef, but don't have it very often as I'm quite picky about it, but it was s

erved perfectly for my liking, and the roast and boiled p

otatoes

that came with it were delicious. It also came with broccoli and a huge Yorkshire pudding on top, however it was a little overdone in my opinion, as I prefer them slightly stodgy rather than fully crisp.

For dessert, rather than going straight for the Christmas pudding as I normally wo

uld,

I

decided to get something a little lighter so as not to have to roll home! I went for the

p

anettone, served with fresh mascarpone. It seemed to bridge the gap between a dessert and a c

heeseboard really well, as the Italian cake was soft and sweet, yet the vanilla mascarpone added a sub

tle savoury flavour.

I shared a bott

le of re

d wine with one of the other girls, which seemed to complim

ent my menu

choices. Considering

a glass was £4.50, a bottle was reaso

nably priced at £9.90, so it was definitely worth going for the larger

option!

Once we had all finished (and had given ourselves so

me time to

rest!) we all left Merchants after a thoroughly festive evening, and it confirmed that I am definitely now in the spirit for

Christmas!

Weekly Update!

Snowy Frolicking and Aftershow Antics

The start of this week was a rather

nervewracking one, as Monday and Tuesday held much awaited performances of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. After a swift post show drink on Monday, I met up with my boyfriend and his friends to have a play in the snow (despite being 20...) up by Lancaster Castle. The snow filled views across the skyline were amazing in the dark, and once we had got sufficiently snow covered, we traipsed home to dry off.

After Tuesday's final performance, we headed back to my house for the aftershow party, which we were all well up for! We somehow managed to cram about forty people into the downstairs of my house, order £70 worth of takeaway, get insanely drunk, and piss off the neighbours (whoops!) but everyone

appeared to have a good night. I didn't get to bed until 7.15am though, so Wednesday was a complete write-off! Thursday was spent doing yoga, and buying my last few Christmas presents, topped off with a lovely cappuccino at The Water Witch, which was nice and cosy while it was snowing outside.

Friday was my friend's 21st, so after a few drinks at her house on campus we all headed to the Sugarhouse. As the play was performed there, I

was on the guest list (ooh er!) so had free entry and queue jump. As it was the night when all the college JCR (like the uni council) results were announced we expected it to be heaving and so arrived early (half past ten on the dot) only to be left outside until nearly quarter to eleven. It was freezing, and even started snowing as we waited, so I wish we'd left it a bit later and actually used the queue jump! It was a brilliant night though, and I saw lots of friendly faces, which is always a bonus.

Days Out...

The Clothes Show!

Today, along with twenty two other LUFS members and their friends, I ventured to the Birmingham NEC for The Clothes Show Live. We travelled by coach, as trains were far to complicated/expensive (and in weather like this, very unpredictable!) and arrived after two and a half hours ready to shop to our heart's content.

My mum, sister and a few family friends were all there already having travelled from Manchester, so I met up with them to go around the stalls briefly before the show. I didn't get chance to buy anything before we went to queue up, but I'm glad we left when we did as it took us quite a while to all filter into our seats.

The show was themed on different film genres, which I thought was a brilliant way of getting lots of diverse styles onto the catwalk. After an introduction by Gok Wan, and musical performances by Sun

day Girl and boyband Injusti5e (which involved a hilarious wardrobe malfunction when one guy's pants fell down!) the show began with 'Action'. Using green strobe lighting, a 'Mission Impossible' effect was created, with a male dancer attempting to steal a diamond from one end of the catwalk. He was then 'chased' by a squadron of people dressed in baggy army pants and white vest tops, who then became intermingled with models strutting in military themed outfits: embellished khaki jackets and furry hats. The dancing was perfectly timed and it created a good opening sequence, as it had all the members of the audience on the edges of their seats.

Next up was a 'High School Musical' themed section; cue cheerleaders, jocks, geek chic and America at its biggest and best. I particularly enjoyed a rather garish star spangled banner cloak, and some of the 'geek's'- complete with green tartan trousers à la Outkast, white brogues and braces. After this came the 'Western' section, which involved some pretty risqué thrusting in cowboy costumes! After the initial dancers had disappeared though, there were some awesome outfits, including a woman wearing a two foot high feather headdress that was gorgeous (even if you couldn't wear it on a Saturday night...) and I really liked the floral patterned long skirts that were featured despite it being Winter, using dark backgrounds and more autumnal colours rather than Summer's brights.

The next section was possibly my favourite- 'Romance'. It began with an amazing ballet dance where the man had huge bell sleeves, a trend i still hope will return! After the ballet dance they played 'Prince Charming' by Adam and the Ants (tune!) and in trotted male and female models in stunning baroque style outfits; bussels, beauty spots and satin trains galore! They somehow managed to ballroom dance to it, while I ogled the fabulous fairytale-esque puffball skirts, lace, brocade jackets and elaborate gold jewellery- oh to live during the 16th century!

In as far a contrast as you can get, the next section was 'Sci-Fi' and began with a man rolling in inside a huge lit up hamster ball. The outfits featured were all about structure- latex, metal, immensely high heels and emphasising the body's shape by trapping it inside cages and headgear. Next up was 'Rocky Gangsters' which seemed a little bit random compared with everything else, but it did showcase some very handsome suits and beautiful dresses on the gangster's molls.

The other catwalk that I am tempted to call my favourite was the penultimate 'Horror' themed one. The star of this walk was a very buff man who donned leather trousers and a pair of stag antlers on his head! There was a Freddy Krueger lookalike, complete with scissor fingers, and a whole lot of corseted gothic beauties draped in black lace, PVC and fur; which looked all the more amazing bathed in eerie red light. The final section was simply called 'It's a Wrap!' and was a good way of getting all the glittery, Oscar worthy dresses out onto the stage for a superb grand finale.

After the show I attacked the shops. The positive of being with my mum meant I saw a lot of things that then found themselves onto my Christmas list, so I am definitely looking forward to unwrapping some of

my finds. Now safely hidden away in my mum's wardrobe is an All Saints style cream coloured shirt with irregular buttons that looks very chic when on, a black full size umbrella that is hung with lace and ribbons, and a chain strap shoulder bag with antique gold hearts all over it. Perhaps the thing I am most excited for though is my new corset (eee!). It is olive green with black strips over the bones and a black ribbon tie at the top, as well as black rope to tie the back. It was a snip at £40 (they normally retail for upwards of £100) and the stall I got it from was very professional looking, with rail upon rail of different styles and colours, and the woman who sold it to me took great care in lacing me up, until my waist was tiny!

This was my second trip to The Clothes Show, and I won't be hesitating to return again next year. The shows both times have been incredible, and the stalls save you so much money on not just designer items, but even everyday dresses and vest tops. I got a Beetlejuice inspired striped jacket for just a fiver, and a lovely floral chiffon dress for £15- a steal on Topshop prices. I also like having a nosey at what other visitors are wearing for new style ideas, as everyone always makes such an effort with their outfits, with some really quirky results!

Novel In Progress...

Q - Part 4

“I actually wanted a mocha today.” Cleo flashed a smile. The barista looked awkward, and she became embarrassed, as though it was inappropriate of her to joke with him. Despite coming in at least three times a week for the past month, she was suddenly hugely aware that she still didn’t know anything about him, not even a name. Perhaps she was reading too much into him. Just because the café wasn’t busy when she was there, didn’t mean it was quiet all the time. He probably had lots of customers who knew him by name and chatted to him about his plans for the weekend, and what he thought of the latest film release. But every time she looked at him, she knew this wouldn’t be the case. The few times she had watched him interact with other customers, it was always very methodical and rigid; there was no warmth behind his actions.

The first time she had come into the café she had caught him looking at her with a strange expression. It gave her a bizarre feeling, one which had made her persistent in returning every day, in the hope that something would trigger a proper conversation between them, and she could decipher his intentions.

“I was only joking; the same as usual is fine, I was just…” her cheeks tinged pink. “I know I’m pretty boring to have the same thing every time. It’s just easier, I guess”

“You can’t like it that much, you never drink it all.” He seemed to regret speaking once he had finished.

She stifled a laugh, “I know. I’m not a huge coffee drinker,” she stopped, suddenly aware that she may have given her habit away, and he could find it strange. “It’s just I really like this place, and it’s the cheapest thing you do. I’m Cleo, by the way.”

“Yeah, I saw it on your notebook.” He suddenly began rearranging plates on the counter. Flattered at his attention, and unable to think of a response, Cleo waited for him to drop the change into her purse, picked up her coffee and walked back towards her replacement table.