Monthly Musings: Janurary

A lot of my blogs that I read do this thing off a monthly wrap up of what they done every month. I thought this might be a good thing. A) keeps me posting on my blog and actual find an excuse to post something. B) keeps my friends and family updated of what I do. (and I can remember what I did each month and actual remember taking photos.) Two good things that can't be bad, huh?

I am hoping to do a reflection of what happened each month and a few extra things.

Here is the first installment of Becca Monthly Musings!

January 1st all you hear, is 'What is your New Year's resolutions?' Now I do take part in this but only for me. Then all of this is like a new year new me. Well if we think about this everyday's a new day to you. Therefore if you did not take part in the New Year's Resolution you still got tomorrow or even next month you do not have to wait for next year.

On News Years Day we had a roast dinner and we had Christmas crackers. Finally I had a hat that actual stayed on my head I even managed to sleep with it on. Do no ask me how as I have no idea. Dad and I visited my Grandparents in Fleet and had a lovely cake and coffee. Thank goodness we were able to do this as many people were affected with the flood. We had rain we had floods but not a bad flood that came in our house more the river overflowed apart from that we were not affected. Such a shame we had the floods at Christmas such a bad timing but there again there is never a good time for having a flood. Is there?

I managed to cycle to college without any problems this month. I haven't been on my bike since last year in the rain and I wanted to cycle back in September then it got dark at the time I had no bike lights. My determination for getting back on my bike was the train always cancelled especially in the rain. Funny isn't? A time when you do not want trains to be late they are late. And cycling is such good fun. I nearly bumped in the Lamppost that would of hurt but I am glad to say I didn't. Otherwise I would once again be called 'bushy Lamppost.' O.K. you now might be asking why is Rebekah calling herself 'bushy Lamppost' to the matter of fact I was walking with two good friends at the time and I was texting my Mom and managed to walk into  bush and a Lamppost. Hence the nickname of 'Bushy Lamppost' now that doesn't mean you can to call me 'bushy Lamppost.'

I had lunch out with my Grandparents twice and I once again forget to take photos well I  only had an of Monthly Musings a couple of days ago when I phoned my Grandparents up in Newcastle and they asked me "What have you been up to?" My normal answer of course, I replied back saying nothing much just doing assignments. I tell you what, I can get a  gold medal for writing useless information in my assignments. Poor lectures it must take a whole two cups of coffee to mark my assignment

This month I went swimming with one of my close friends. She also had a hard time for getting hold of me. I was still up when she Skyped, Phoned and text messaged me. I was very tired and totally forget about swimming even though it was Friday that we thought about swimming. My friend came round to pick me up to go swimming such a good time too as my breakfast and coffee and was ready all I had to do to was get up and out of my bed. I tell you what I can used to this, having my breakfast cooked for me and coffee made. Such a wonderful thing in life. Simple things make you simile.

Swimming was such good fun, firstly we swimmed in the training pool then decided to challenge us and put ourselves in the competition pool we tried to swim the middle lane. Gosh what a shock it is so deep Tia got a shock about how deep it was. Luckily a young lady told us there is a slow lane so off we went to find the slow lane. As you take it was s-l-o-w back to the middle lane. Oh and it was lap around the lane such good fun but very tiring. Then off to our comfort zone in the training pool. Thank goodness I am not swimming to lose weight otherwise I will put all the weight that I just loosed with 1 and 30 minutes swimming session by having a blueberry muffin. Well at the end of that, I had one fruit of a day. Cakes with fruit and vegetables does count your five a day. Right?

It's been a month where Dad and I said emorous 'YES' to cycle 30 miles for charity for British Heart foundation. We have about 4 months to train, I am alright as I commute to college which is around 6 miles so that would add up to 12 miles each day never minding going to the library on some evenings. I tell you what this month has been packed full with exercise I would not be surprised if I go the Olympics. Can you really see me in the Olympics?

Me in my running gear

This is the month where I started running three times a week, in the cold in the wet. I learned that running is good fun and my running shoes and coat are not waterproof the hard way.

This month I had an opportunity to do Placement and it was at Eagle house school. Such a wonderful school and  thanks for having me. What a great pleasure to work at a school never a day is the same and children are so entertaining. On one occasion I had a child who is new ish to the nursery and decided to call all the teachers Miss Cuckoo you shouldn't really laugh but you do. Something that is really cute is when children do not like to do something they make a really silly face hopefully the wind won't change direction otherwise they will end up having that silly face.

Here is the one off the internet

This was the month where my parents and I had a day out to London to watch Peter Pan goes wrong in the Apollo Theatre. And yes it was a play that is meant to go wrong and it certainly did go wrong right from the start never mind the play actually starting. It definitely got people the giggles. It was between a play and a pantomime. My favourite bit of the play was when the Captain Hook was trying open the medicine and the poison it got the audience to join in by saying 'use your other hand' or 'use your legs' then Captain Hook replied back 'I got dignity' than another member of audience said 'use your teeth.' You can imagine what happens here right. Yep you guessed that person had to come to the stage and use his/her teeth to open it but nope they used thier hands. Who can blame them when the bottle might contain poison. Here is a clip, must watch. 

M & M store has star wars theme

Even though I watched Star Wars the force awakens last year back in December with my Grandma. I had to put this photo here. And I took this photo in London. Here is a joke to all my readers who are into star wars. And no my friends this is not a joke you have heard before. Drum roll please!!!!!!!!!!  Luke walks into the Mos Eisley cantina, cradling a slab of dirt in his arms. “What’ll it be?” asks the barman. “A pint for me, and one for the road.” This joke might be lonely it is on here is another joke so it has company. Luke and Obi-Wan walk into a Chinese restaurant. Ten minutes into the meal, Luke’s still having trouble with the chopsticks, dropping food everywhere. Obi-Wan finally snaps, “Use the forks, Luke.”

Quotes

I remember my Dad asking me "What have you got tomorrow?" Meaning lecturers 

Me: I got Dementia.

Dad: You better see the doctor.

Yes I really did had Dementia lecture though not Dementia. Where did I misplace my glasses? Oh wait there are on my head! What was that?

Recipe of the month: Mircowave syrup cake in a mug

Many of us have succumbed to the lure of the mid-afternoon microwave cake. There is something satisfyingly indulgent about piling spoonfuls of sugar and flour into a mug, then watching a steaming, sweet-smelling perfectly risen cup come out of the microwave five minutes later.

My recipe serve one unless you really want to share a spoon with your family or friends. Me nope a whole cup just for me. 

1 slice of butter, (I put two teaspoons of butter in a ramekin and put it in the microwave)
1 egg
2 tablespoons of sugar
4 tablespoon of flour
Heapful of golden syrup (no one is watching you)
Dash of milk

In a mug: melt the the butter in the microwave for 30 to 40 seconds (800 watts). Just be careful if the butter splash in the microwave you can always wipe it off. 

Put the flour, sugar, egg and milk and golden syrup and the butter in the mug. Give it  good mix and the aim here is to keep everything in the mug and no make a mess. Though if you don't like mess then you could always add the ingredients one by one then mix it together.

Pop the mug in the microwave for a minute if you like it gooey if not then put the cake mixture in the microwave for one minute 20 seconds and (again 800 watts)  

Best off all serve with a cup of coffee and enjoy. 

Overall this month been packed with exercising and famous people dying. We had David Bowie and the actor Alan Rickman who played professor Snape. My two favourite people in the celebrity world are no longer with us. Was it a coincidence that both of them died aged 69?

The Letter

In my lecturer for Public health we had to write a letter to the Guardian editor about Beveridge and the Evils of Society and the  relevance of it today. I wish I could present this has an entry for a competition but hey, I am proud of it anyway. 

Letter to Amol from Rebekah about the relevance of Beveridge five evils of the society

London,

15th January 2016

Dear Amol,

I am writing to you about Beveridge Report that was written in 1942 and the relevance it today. Beveridge wrote a report about identifying the five evils of society which are; want ignorance, squalor, idleness and disease.

Today, the society in the UK are far more educated, informed and enabled to choose and challenge. This was not the case in 1942 as people where allowed to leave school at the age of 15 now it is compulsory to still in education till you are the age of 18.

Even today we still have want, not a want that is about being selfish and greedy but about poverty that people have a little money to live on. In 1946 we had the National Insurance Act this was provided so people who are sick, unemployed, retired, widow and maternity can have supported help to carry on their life with benefits. However, this Act did not go far enough as the benefit as was restricted to those citizens who made 156 weekly contributions. We still have this Act this today and we also have many Food Banks running in the UK this is to support people who cannot afford food and they go to a Food Bank with a red voucher this allows them to have enough food for three days. Also many Food Banks provide cooking lessons which show people how to cook a healthy meal with the food they have been given.

Secondly ignorance, Beveridge made it compulsory to for children to stay at school at the age of 15 because too many children left school at 14 without any qualifications and went into low paid jobs.  Now it is compulsory to stay in school at the age of the 18 this also includes doing an apprenticeship for those people who want to gain money while studying and working. Also Beveridge invented a test for child to have at the age of 11 this is called the 11+ this determines which school they go to whether it is all state school or grammar school. We still have 11+ it is changed the name to SATS (Standard Assessment Test) these tests are given at the end of year 2 and year 6 there are show a child progress compared to other children born in the same month. There are three test that a child in year 6 have to do there are English, Maths and used to test science though the government has changed this in year 2009.

Thirdly squalor many people lived in overcrowded slums and there was a shortage of good houses. To deal the slum area and overcrowded the government concentrated on the building for the working class after the war because of this the government decided to build 200,000 houses a year. A decade on nothing has changed much we still have overcrowded houses though I must point out it is not because of English people as we tend to have two parents and one child if the parents have not got a divorced. The reason why we have overcrowded house is because of Migrants that are fleeing in this country. Though it is very common for people to live in an extended family where the child parents and child grandparents live under one roof this may not be the desired choice. Reason why this could be is because the house prices are expensive. The government now are aiming to build 240,000 in 2016. This target may not be met because of planning permission. In addition, lack of land and building on flood plains is not an option especially because of what happened in December 2015 with the trenchful rain and the river banks bursts and at nowhere to go as people are building on flood plains this is what caused majority of the houses to flood.

Fourthly, idleness was brought in because of the war brought unemployment that means the country was very prone to poverty. After the war, there seemed to be work for everyone as Britain rebuilds itself. The Labour Government somehow in 1946 reduced the unemployment to 2.5% despite the huge post war problems such as shortages of raw materials and massive debts. The way the government must keep fully employment was through nationalisation. Back to the present the official UK unemployment rate is well below the EU average ad the employment rate is almost at a historic high, idleness might not be seen as a major concern. Nevertheless, the figures disguise a serious problem under-employment. 8.2 million people, more than one in four of all workers are employed part-time, 2.7 million employment contracts are ‘zero-hours’ guaranteeing no actual pay, and 4.5 million people describe themselves as self-employed with self-employment accounting for 60% of jobs growth. With a record 4.2 million people working from home, these are growing concerns about social isolation and the loss of the ‘social glue’ of the workplace. Loneliness is recognized, as a key welfare issue with almost 5 million people saying televisions is their main form of company.

Finally, disease many people suffered from poor health because they could not afford medical treatment. In 1946 the National Health Service Act was passed and this was the first time that every British citizen could receive medical, dental and optical services free of charge this also includes GPs and Hospitals. These benefits where free at point of use, no patient being asked to pay for any treatment. Beveridge said, ‘often causes that want and brings many other troubles in its train.’ That remains the case, but the focus in 2014 is less on episodic disease and more on the 15 million people in England along who are living with long-term health condition such as diabetes, arthritis and depression. Together they are said to account for 70% of total NHS spending.

Yours sincerely,                                                                                                        

Rebekah L Elsdon

I wonder if there is such a thing called called a smart drug

We all been there haven't we.

Have you heard of smart drugs before?

No! Me either, until my lecturer for English was going to look for an article for one our read and response coursework. I thought I would tell you my opinion about this drug. Plus I have not been blogging for ages. I am not good at this, been busy with assignments. I know not very good excuse. That is what a student life's, assignments and more assignments oh and drinking never ending coffee and eating far too much chocolate. 

Smart drug! They are drug and make you smart is what you maybe thinking well I know I was thinking that when my lecturer first mentioned it to me. So here is me thinking why do we need to take this drug when our brain contains 90ish billion neurons it is the complex known object in the universe.  Interesting fact one in five academics have used smart drugs according to Nature Survey 2010. 

You maybe thinking why would a student want to take this so-called smart drugs? It is to believe that having this drug makes you think and concentrate more. Now I am always thinking when I do not want to be like going to bed get such a great idea either for blogging or even for college. Concentration sounds such a great benefit especially if you are like me you tend to procrastinate mine is not based on Technology otherwise I would install an app on my laptop for me to stop that. Mine is by colouring in or even reading such a good book. 

The world's first smart drug was Modafinil and the effects were 'low risk' only if it is taken in short term O.K. this is to good to be true there is always effects on every drug even medical ones. Dig deeper in my internet research and found them, the side effects can include; insomnia, headaches, and potentially dangerous skin rashes and there is a lack of long-term data. 

I am not going to try this drug but looked online for someone who did and shared their story on the internet. I found that while taking drug it can lead to a boost of working hours and actually lead to not procrastinating but the drugs to seemed to kick in when you do not want them like 8;00pm when you just want sleep or read a good book or even watch TV and also this person had to endure lots of headaches. This drug is definitely not for me, I like to sleep when I can and read books. But stopping procrastinating sounds good. Not the other things outweigh this one and only benefit so I would not be taking this drug. Instead I will find a way to tackle this problem of mine. 

I know a lot of students maybe even me on a few occasions stay awake all night just to do an assignment. No way am I telling you to do your assignments on the night it is due in. But smart drugs to make you awake but is that what coffee does? 

Drinking  huge amounts of caffeine consumption gives you the same benefits as taking smart drug but the only real difference is that we know we the effects of caffeine. 

So I conclude with this we use coffee to stay awake, good food and nutrition to stay healthy and alert. But if there was a drug that made you smarter, helped you learn, and made you more focused, would you take it? My answer is simply NO! More detailed answer to that question is no, because you are not showing integrity and if you do take this smart drug would you have to carry on taking this drug for the rest of your life just to carry on the benefits. So what is you answer to that question? Pop it downstairs in the comment bit. 

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Long awaited post about Christmas 2015

That is if you can remember that long back with the lovely roast dinner, presents under the Christmas tree or even in stockings. When you wake up, you smell coffee being made for you. Oh what a lovely day.

I totally forget to take any photos with my family opening presents or even ask them to take a photo of me. So I am sorry this post is going to be all writing and maybe a few odd images from Google. Good old Google.

As you remember my post titled Christmas Scribbles, you would know I am not very excited about Christmas.

You imagine Christmas as chidren waking up early rushing downstairs and get Mom and Dad out of bed. To the matter of fact it is the other way around. Yep that is right! Mom and Dad got me up to go downstairs to open presents.

Did you have a tame Christmas? Oh just me then.

No Christmas parties to attend no Nativity plays to be in. I actually miss doing them. That for me summaries Christmas especially when you are counting the days to playing the Nativity and celebrating Jesus our saviour. That is the real Christmas. As you see I am very passionate about the real story of Christmas. Last Christmas I gave my heart to someone special. No! I meant to say last Christmas was the one that I was not prepared no Christmas cards for friends last minute rush for getting Christmas presents but one thing I have done right for a normal grand Christmas is eating lots of Chocolate and of course Mince Pies. I do not normally like Chocolate but a lot of our friends gave a lot of chocolate which are so tasty though you only need a few. Or one for Mom and one for Dad and the whole box for me? Hmmmm, I will let you decide on that one.

This is the one the cake that I was going to make!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Believe it or not! I was going to make a Christmas cake and upload it to this blog since I have not baked for a long time. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Annoying assignments getting in the way. Of course always this year. Though do not get your hopes ready for the amazing, fantastic Christmas cake. It might just be a special one that my Mom gets from a supermarket.  I am sure it was still taste good.

Christmas day is a very laid back day. For me it is a long I can sleep till I get a kick out of bed. Open presents and have a good breakfast. My Mom tried a fantastic recipe where you put salmon in a dish with egg and bake in the oven. Yummy!! Then it is a case of getting ready and phoning my family, our family live everywhere in the UK. Well, it sounds like it. So we do not get an opportunity to spend every single family member at Christmas. We have a social gathering with friends who is the same boat as we are in. And come back home and see who can fall asleep the fastest. Normally me!! Have a bite to eat, those chocolate look nice. One minute they are on the table next minute they are in our tummies, Then in the evening comes our roast christmas dinner. Then sleep. And that is our Christmas day all wrapped up.

How was your Merry Christmas?

Oh and Happy New Year to my readers. Not very good with this Happy New Year thing.

Hebrews 4:16

One of my the website that I read on most days post a daily devotion and today they posted this verse. (look at the picture) It got me thinking. If you are like me, when you are in a situation when you do not know the answer to something you probably reached and grabbed your smart phone and start to search Google for the answer. I must say it is really handy to have Google to search something and you have the answers to a lot of questions right at your fingertips.

Then transfer that to God. Think about Google is a like God. God knows everything and everything and so does Google. Furthermore it is just as easy to go to God to get the help you need. Anytime, it does not matter if you got signal or not. Not like Google. It does not even matter what day and time we can ask God anything and whatever time. That is cool, right? You and I are able to tap into His ability and mercy to help us in any situation that we face.

To end this post, I thought I will tell you one my jokes. How does Moses make his coffee? He brews it. I remember telling that joke to one my friends and then she came back with this "A husband and wife are fighting about who has to make coffee in the morning. The wife says "You wake up before me you should do it." The husband says "It's part of the cooking so it's your responsibility." "No." the wife says. "It's in the bible that the man makes coffee." The husband says "Prove it." The wife goes and gets the bible and sure enough there it is.."HEBREWS" 

There you go before you do go and do whatever. Remember that knowing that you can go to God in any situation to get the help you need. When you need help today decided to go to God. He is happy to help you with anything you face. 

Last Writing Wednesday poem

I am dearly sorry this is a late Wednesday poem. This week has just whizzed by without stopping. I have just noticed today is Sunday. When my folks said this morning 'Are you ready for college tomorrow?' The answer to that question is a right NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where has this holly-day gone? One moment I was waiting for the time to tick by at 2:30 so I can go home on Thursday 17th December . Gosh that went to s-l-o-w-l-y.

Anyhow this is the poem you have waited so long for.

This is really

Short poem today,

It doesn’t rhyme

Because I do not have time

To think of words,

Referring back to the title this poem makes no sense. Well I really do not have time to make poems every Wednesday when I am at college and my creativity is not that great when I am rushing to get my assignments done. I am now not going to do poems every Wednesday. Instead I will show you my poems every so often. I am not telling you a certain day to upload them on this blog. You just have to wait and see.