My So-Called Life
the random and not-so-random musings of a twenty-something history geek
My So-Called Lifethe random and not-so-random musings of a twenty-something history geek |
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| About Lizzie: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Lizzie is a fully qualified history teacher having finished her course at Canterbury Christ Church University. She's also a geek who was secretary of the University of Kent Computing Society during her three year BA at the University of Kent. She is very much in love with her shiny Husband, though she is sad that he doesn't glow bloo :( More about her on her website: http://carina.org.uk |
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| Jun. 3rd, 2009 @ 11:17 pm Euro and KCC elections, leaflets specifically. | |||
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This post has been brought on by two things. First, it's the Euro and County Council elections (at least for us in Kent) tomorrow (possibly today, depending on when I finish writing this). Second, we finally received a leaflet from Labour today and I really don't think they're even trying to contest this election. I was shocked by the poor quality and decided to share. Then I figured that I may as well document all the political bumf that Ben and I have had through the letter box during this process. Some were addressed to me, some were addressed to Ben. Interestingly, apart from the Greens, it was different letters/leaflets addressed to each of us (if they were addressed at all), rather than any overlap. Click on pictures to embiggen throughout.  An artfully arranged display of all our leaflets. I'll start with the shoddy leaflet that kicked all this off, which is the last one we have received. This one is courtesy of Labour. I'm not a Labour supporter, so I admit this might be rather biased of me, but this is possibly the worst political leaflet I have ever seen. Acres of blank space, poor grammar and spelling, and clearly has not been proof read before being printed off. Which is sad because I can only assume it's been/being passed around the district, and it's really not a good advert for the Labour Party. Read it and you'll see what I mean. ( Labour leaflet ) The Conservatives have tried hardest, sending round several leaflets, and the only party to send someone to Canvass us. I should mention that neither Ben nor I are currently registered with any political party, so that can't be the reason we have quite so many Conservative mailshots. I can only assume that they're trying this hard with everyone. ( This was the most recent. ) ( Ben had a 'personal' letter from the KCC candidate. ) ( Another Conservative leaflet. Can't remember when this one arrived. ) This last one is a copy of the main Conservative KCC leaflet. This one was hand delivered by the canvasser. We have two copies of this as one was in with the letter that Ben got, shown further up. The problem we had with this is that it reads like a particularly poor CV. On the upside, there was little wasted space and it did appear to have been spell checked/proof read before it was printed. On the downside, it does lie, as did the Canvasser about the John Simmonds (the Cons Candidate for Canterbury West, which is our ward) being "The Local Choice". The Canvasser told me that the candidate lived "just round the corner". This is untrue. John Simmonds lives in Whitstable, which is not "just round the corner". According to google maps it is actually 5.7 miles away from my address to his. I suppose it could be a very large corner... In fact, I believe the Canvasser was referring to the Conservative candidate for the Canterbury South-West Ward (Maureen Robinson), who does live "just round the corner" in Oaks Park (I believe). While Whiststable may be "local", it's not local in the sense the canvasser, and I believe the leaflet, were aiming at. Not impressed. Also not impressed with myself - I only remembered the questions I wanted to ask the canvasser (pot holes, Iceland[as in banks, not supermarkets]) after I closed the door, and I wasn't about to go chasing after him! ( Conservative leaflet for KCC. ) The Green Party sent us two leaflets, one addressed to each of us. Unfortunately they were both identical and both came through the post. Have to wonder about the Carbon Footprint of that. ( Green Party leaflet ) We also got a leaflet from the "No2EU" party, who appear to be endorsed only by Bob Crow of RMT Union fame. ( No2EU ) We have also received the now infamous BNP leaflet. Not sure what we'll do with it yet. Possibly shred it and then set it on fire. Ben pointed out it looked rather like a kebab menu, which is funny because it's true. I don't know where to start on the ways in which this hate filled nasty little piece of racist propaganda annoys and frustrates me, so I shan't even try. I only picture it for completeness and posterity. I hope in years to come I can look back and laugh on the fact that people ever considered voting for these cretins, especially on the basis of this. I just hope they don't win a significant share of the vote, especially a share significant enough to win a seat. ( BNP ) Given my political sympathies swing towards the Lib Dems, perhaps naturally as they were the party supported by my parents while I was growing up (I delivered my fair share of Focuses, did several shifts of telling at several elections at my local polling station, had an action room in our living room during a general election - tables and tables of addresses! - and even attended a Count as Lib Dem representative - all while I was 18 or younger) I am disappointed by the efforts of the local party. No Canvassing, at least, not round my block of flats. Only one leaflet about only one of the two elections. Given they say on their leaflet that "only the Lib Dems can beat the Conservatives here" I don't feel like they really tried at all. One leaflet specifically about the election, and then only about the Europeans, nothing at all about KCC. A Lib Dem publication was the first one we got during this cycle, I seem to remember anyway, but it was a regular quarterly Focus, nothing really to do with the election. It was also in need of a proof read as at the very least the URL at the bottom of page two was wrong - "www.cantlibdem" is no URL at all. What I'm trying to say, badly, is that I'm disappointed in the Lib Dem campaign, at least in my ward. I want to vote for them, but I feel like they've done nothing to deserve it. They've certainly not actually tried to get my vote. I hoped for more. ( Focus ) We got this leaflet, which is the Lib Dem Euro specific one, only very recently - possibly the last week or so? ( Euro specific Lib Dem leaflet ) I know campaigning in a Tory stronghold (Canterbury constituency has elected only Conservative MPs since 1874, the longest any current UK constituency has remained under the control of one party [source=wikipedia]), but really, if you don't make the effort (and I apply this to Labour, much as I dislike them atm, as much as I do to the Liberal Democrats) then they'll never be beaten here. Most elections here (Canterbury) seem to have a depressing enevitability about them. Purely on the basis of who sends out the most stuff and is the most visible (including on the doorstep), it is the Conservatives who are the most visible. Anyway, I should go to bed. I'm getting up early to vote! ETA: the election is today as I finish writing. It's gone 1am! |
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| Dec. 24th, 2008 @ 06:58 pm More on Woolworths, and builders who really should spell check before having signs made up | |||
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Went in to Woolworths again the other day, had the feeling of the vultures circling, as Ben so excellently put it. He took a proper camera so I can share the sense of emptiness there.  The worst thing about our trip to town though, was this little gem that we saw at the building site in the middle of the high street - for those who know Canterbury, it's where Boots used to be (opposite LloydsTSB). It's a proper sign printed on aluminium and clearly cost more than some guy scribbling on some cardboard or something. Which leads me to wonder why during the process of producing the sign and displaying it, no one involved noticed.  All pictures in this post from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} benc.ETA: Have some more gratuitous gerbil pictures to finish with :D |
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| Dec. 22nd, 2008 @ 09:06 pm The state of Woolworths (and Hot Cross Buns in December?!) | |||
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Hiding out here: CT2
Disclaimer: All pictures in this post taken with crappy phone camera. Apologies for the crappiness.Mostly feeling:  sadNow Playing: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: S5 E1 Buffy vs Dracula To begin - why on earth is Sainsbury's stocking Hot Cross Buns in December? Before Christmas even?! There are still four months till Easter and it makes my brain hurt to have shop products commemorating His death before we've even celebrated His birth yet.  Today I was in town and (finally) applied for a Cathedral Precincts Pass (we live within four miles of the Bell Harry Tower so we're entitled to one giving us free entry). Other Canterbury-ites who are interested can download the form here. ( You're eligible if... ) It might be worth your while applying if you are eligible :) Free Stuff ++ . Also, Canterbury residents cards don't work for getting in for free at the Cathedral. While I was in town I also made a visit to Woolworths for the first time since the closing down was announced and it was very sad :( There wasn't a lot left and none of it was really stuff I wanted to buy. I guess the latter is the reason why they're now defunct. They've even started selling off the fixtures and fittings. That really is quite gutting to see. Can't work out why it is, but it is.  Got home to the news that the list of final closures has been published (list here) and Canterbury is going in the first wave - on the 27th December. Can't help feeling how crappy it is for those (soon to be un)employed by Woolworths. Also of interest to me were that Croydon's is going on 30th December and Coulsdon's is closing on 2nd January. More gapes in the high streets :( It's really all rather sad. More disturbing to me was that Woolworths has the below signs plastered everywhere. It was quiet (and almost cleared out) when I went, but what kind of chaos must have reigned for these to have to be put up? This is why I'm losing what little faith I had in humanity :(  |
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| Dec. 10th, 2008 @ 12:13 pm Picture post (using crappy camera-phone pictures) | |||
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A bit of an update entry here, using crappy phone camera pictures to show a little of what I've been up to :) Firstly, due to a deal between mum and Pete I was the agent delivering 43 beers to Pete (and buying said beer), leading to a rather odd looking collection of goods when I made the purchase - 43 beers and a packet of naan bread for our dinner that evening. I'm fairly sure that the collection would have looked a whole lot less odd if it hadn't been for the naan bread.  The clunking of that lot in the car sounded quite dreadful as I accelerated, braked, turned corners... Luckily nothing broke :)  In other news, the Christmas Market is now in town! There's a stall that sells cool keyrings and 3D wooden puzzels. I've got some pictures of the keyrings, but not the puzzels :( Also, not the full spectrum of keyrings - there are lizards and frogs, and elephants, and giraffes and all sorts, all made from natural rubber :)   There's a stall with mulled wine and hot chocolate (regular hot chocolate and hot chocolate with rum or amaretto).  There's also a stall selling all kinds of Wurst, cooked over a barbeque. This stall is ben's favourite! :D  Finally, I took this picture of a very funny card: ( NSFW! ) Carols at the Cathedral tonight. I'm really looking forward to it :D It always feels like Christmas is really on its way when we have them. It also really enthralls the history part of me, as we stand in the Nave of the Cathedral with all the lights off, holding lit candles and singing carols, because I feel a real connection to the past - 100 years ago, 400 years ago, 1000 (or so) years ago there would have been people there doing much the same thing. It's hard to articulate, but it feels amazing. |
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| Jun. 24th, 2008 @ 03:44 pm Review: Paprika Curry House, Northgate, Canterbury | |||
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It isn't often I put reviews of places on the internet. Really I should do it more - when they impress me rather than piss me off, but anyway, here's one, and it's a place to avoid. Here's why. Went here for lunch today for their "Fusions" or Lunch special - 1 starter, 1 main dish and a bread or rice for £6, which sounded on paper like a good deal. It was even advertised in their window, the only small print being that it only applied between 12pm and 2:30pm, which wasn't a problem as we arrived very shortly after 12. We went because my friend had been the previous week, had the deal and thought it was quite nice and pretty good value. We were seated reasonably quickly (no one else was there, so the service should have been this good or better), and given the menu. My friend and I had a couple of drinks each and picked out a starter each, a main each and a naan bread each, thus qualifying for the deal. The food was ok. Not brilliant, not nearly as good as my favourite curry house (and the one I usually visit). I was rather annoyed that my Korma came with almonds sprinkled over the top, despite it not saying in the menu that the dish contained nuts, as I have an intolerance to them that makes me sick if I eat them. I have to admit I took a guess in ordering the Korma - I can eat it most places and their menu was very unclear as to which dishes had nuts and which didn't. We finished up and asked for the bill which came quickly. We were frankly shocked at the amount - in the region of £40. My companion was treating me, so he went to query the bill with one of the waiting staff, in another room next to (behind) the dining area. Such was the volume with which the conversation ended up occurring at that I heard every word that was said, and I was actually frightened by the speed with which the waiting staff member escalated from reasonable to aggressive (he became aggressive almost as soon as my friend queried the bill with him). My friend mentioned that he expected the offer to have been applied, as it had been the previous week when he had been with someone else. No one had mentioned the offer but as they'd ordered the items mentioned in it, it had been automatically applied. The member of staff said that we had had main portions, not offer portions so he wouldn't apply it retrospectively. My friend said as it was lunchtime the offer should have been mentioned when we came in and set down, especially if a separate menu applied. The staff member continued to shout and say it wasn't his job to tell us about offers, just to write down the food we ordered. Then he started to shout about how long he'd lived in the UK and made out that we were trying to take advantage of him. My friend ended up just paying the bill so we could go. As we left we could still hear the member of staff shouting about us to another member of staff. To be quite frank I found the situation frightening. I would stress to other people reading this not to go. There are nicer, cheaper and friendlier curry houses in Canterbury (I particularly recommend the Ancient Raj [reviewed on trusted places here] ). To sum up: * Despite the restaurant being empty apart from my companion and I the service was not amazing. * The menu was unclear what ingredients that people may not be able to eat was in their food. * The food was not amazing (and for the prices they charged it should have been). * The bill was astronomical, the offer not applied, and when the bill was queried the member of staff questioned got very aggressive very quickly and was still shouting about us to another member of staff when we left. * The same member of staff said it was not his job to mention offers and the onus was on us to mention it in order to get it (despite this not being the case the previous week when friend went for the lunch offer - noone mentioned it and it was just applied to the bill as a matter of course) Cross posted to Trusted Places and ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} canterbunnies. |
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| Feb. 21st, 2007 @ 08:29 am Espressions - Pictures of the finished articles! | |||
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I mentioned in this post how mum and I, and prior to that, Rah, Claire and I spent afternoons in Espression, Canterbury. Today I went to pick up the finished articles (that have been glazed and fired) from the shop and have taken pictures of them for your viewing pleasure. I also took a picture of the Vase I painted when I first went (the trip with Rah and Claire). ( The Vase ) ( Mum's flower dish ) ( My mug ) Anyway, to summarise: before and after. |
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| Feb. 15th, 2007 @ 11:05 am Espressions | |||
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Yesterday no1typo came to Canterbury and we had lunch in Burrito Bob's (excellent mexican takeaway and not nearly as busy as it should be. In case you live in Canterbury and you don't know where it is - it's next to Super Noodle on Northgate). From there we went to Espression which is just opposite Westgate Games. Basically you go there and paint pottery. Lots of different items at lots of difference prices, the price you pay for teh item is all inclusive - for the item, the paint and the varnishing/firing process. I went before with rahslowe and claire_tanner and did a vase which turned out beautifully. This time I painted a mug. Mamma painted a little flower dish. We had a drink (her coffee, me hot choc with whipped cream :D) and painted. What a lovely (and fairly cheap) way to spend 2 hours :DPictures of the unfinished articles here. In the evening we had Kudos. Nice day :) |
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thoughtful
relaxed
annoyed
pleased
creative