We didn't do too well in the rugby - England beat us :/ It was a good game, though. There was a moment when it looked like we might pull it back but then England scored again and it was pretty much all over.



It was double the fun (or should that be triple if you include the Welsh squad?) because both Prince William and Harry attended the match. Wills supported Wales - as Prince of Wales it is his duty to love us ;D - while Harry supported England.



Next week we face Scotland. Daddy's invited us over to watch that match at home, and he's promised us Cawl (veggie version for me, obviously) at half-time :D Which, let's be honest, is the only way to watch Welsh rugby!

Labels: crushes fads and obsessions

I watched a programme about Welsh Rugby in the Noughties last night. It was funny how many of the games I remember. Funny because let's face it I don't watch rugby for the skillful play; I watch it for the cute guys in shorts ;) I was eagerly awaiting the Gavin Henson Pick-Up Tackle but they didn't show it!

Now, whether you're a rugby fan or not - how amazing is this tackle?



The Six Nations start on Saturday and I cannot wait. It's really making me long for rugby games on cold Saturday afternoons ;)

Labels: crushes fads and obsessions

You know I love the Princes. Last time I swooned over Wills, this time it's Harry. On an official trip to Barbados he did a little dance on stage at a benefit show to raise money for Haiti.



[I hardly ever click on videos people post but this is literally eighteen seconds of adorableness ;D]

Labels: crushes fads and obsessions

I've just watched the second in the series of The Bible: A History. And it's proven to me just how uneducated I am on the Christian religion.

I was raised to believe whatever I wanted to believe. Religion was not discussed in my house very often. I went to schools that always prayed during assembly and taught us the main favourite stories from the Bible (stories I have since found out are not actually lifted word-for-word from the Bible ;D). I would say my parents leaned more towards atheism. My father doesn't believe, my mother was raised to believe - neither of them are overtly religious.

My finding of religion - of God, rather - came when I was nearing my twenty-first birthday. It came completely out of the blue. I was a bitter person at the time, angry and sad a lot of the time and full of woe - as we all are at that age, I think ;) I was of the belief that religion caused war and upset and played very little part in my day-to-day life. I had been raised to always treat others as I wished to be treated (something I wish more people were taught) and that had done me fine without my needing a deity to worship.

But while I was away dog-sitting in February 2004 I watched Dogma and, as funny as it sounds, it opened my eyes to religion in a way I had never experienced. It wasn't just this archaic thing that caused war and had no reference to my life. I picked up the Bible (the people I was dog-sitting for had a copy in the house) and started to read and I was filled up in a way I can't really explain. It sounds corny and I am fully aware that I end up sounding like a religious freak but... God's love really did fill my entire being. After that moment I was changed. It was that quick, that instant. I don't believe it was an accident. I believe God guided me to that film, which in turn guided me to His words. But that's not what this post is about.

The programme I watched tonight discussed Abraham and how he features in three central religions. I didn't know that. I knew his story from my reading of the Bible but, as I've already explained, I was not taught anything about the history of my religion.

I will have been a Christian (in that I believe fully in and have a relationship with the Christian God) for six years next month. Tonight I was reminded how short a relationship that is and how much more I have to learn. I don't particularly want to get bogged down by Man's interpretation of God's words but to learn it (no matter how frustrating it can often be) is something I think would probably benefit me.

Labels: God and religion

Through our relationship Ray has introduced me to many TV shows. I'd watched a few of them on and off but was never able to fully appreciate them because I am pretty useless at remembering when TV shows are on ;)

Red Dwarf, of course - Chris Barrie <3 But my second favourite has to be Black Books. It just incorporates everything I find funny - cute, angry, drunk Irish man who constantly berates in a very homo-erotic way a long-haired, dopey-looking guy with a name like Manny! Throw in the absolutely hilarious drunk, man-obsessed Fran and I am in heaven. It's just one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. We have watched the three series back-to-back too many times to remember and yet I still burst out laughing at certain points.

There's one quote that we both love and I found out that there's quite a few people out there who like it, too. There's even T-shirts! With the next bit of spare money I'm totally getting this for Ray...



I think British TV needs to throw out some new comedies like "Red Dwarf" and "Black Books". I miss having a TV show to follow religiously now that "Gavin & Stacey" has finished. At the moment the two comedies I am enjoying are The Big Bang Theory and Glee but I need more! ;)

Labels: crushes fads and obsessions

My mind is being completely taken up with Tudor history in preperation for the new book I'm writing, which is going really well. It leaves little time for much other thought.

I've given up trying to work out what's going on with the US Health Care Bill. I think as a non-American living in a country that has free health care and free prescriptions for everyone I just can't get my head round what the problem is. [Thanks to AM who tried to explain ;)] Then there's the Inquiry into the Iraq War where I can't be the only one who thinks the truth is that we went to war so that Bush wouldn't go in alone and completely dominate the country and eventually claim ownership of it. Unless you really believe Tony Blair is a war-hungry man (you've got to kind of laugh at that image) then really money and power are the only two options left in government decisions. The UK didn't get any money out of it, we didn't get any power, but perhaps our presence held back someone else gaining it. I'm not saying getting rid of Sadam was a bad thing, and of course that is a justifiable reason for going to war but I'm not naive enough to think that that's why the politicians really did it.

Uh, politics is just giving me a headache at the moment. Perhaps submerging myself in the Tudor politics by day and then having to listen to the modern version of it by night is not a good recipe for a quiet life ;) But, as frustrating as it all is, it's still completely fascinating. The struggle for power and money and allies all wrapped up in lies and back-stabbing - it's better than fiction! As long as you remember there's a million other things going on beneath what you're being told then you don't get hurt ;)

Labels: i am a writer, politics rant

I made my first Moussaka last year. I went out for food, tried a veggie-moussaka and really enjoyed it and thought if I substituted the aubergine for courgette I'd like it even more.

I haven't actually cooked anything from scratch since before Christmas. I just got bored of cooking. But I've got the bug back again. So last night I attempted my veggie-moussaka.

Only I'd forgotten the recipe.

I'm not sure if the web-page I got the recipe from has gone down but no matter how much googling I did I couldn't find the exact recipe I'd made it from last year. Add to that that I couldn't even remember what had been in my moussaka I was suddenly a bit lost. I had to admit defeat and just make it with Quorn-mince.

Forgetting the recipe was the best thing to have happened because it's so much nicer when you use mince :) Being a vegetarian, when I go out restaurants always want to give me a veggie equivalent to a meat meal only they just add more and more vegetables instead of using a meat-substitute like Quorn. So the moussaka's I'd eaten - and made - had had no mince in them at all. But from now on they will ;) The only fail I had was when I tried to make the white sauce and it just turned into porridge! Ha! I've been able to make it every other time so I guess I'm just out of practise.



Okay, so it doesn't photograph well but it tasted lovely ;)

I'm donning my chef's hat again tonight. I think I'm going to make home-made potatoe wedges because I found a lovely pot of herbs in the cupboard that will taste lovely sprinkled over the top. Sounds like an easy one so I hope I should succeed ;)

Labels: crushes fads and obsessions