It’s time for my first scam awareness post of the new year, pointing out another con I’ve received that promises to give you lots of money that you didn’t know you were entitled to.
There are a lot of variations of this scam – where someone, completely out of the blue and completely unknown to you, is offering to transfer a huge sum of money into your bank account, either for safekeeping or because it’s some kind of reward. They’re always fake.
But this one particularly caught by eye because it tries to sound official by mentioning the International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations (UN) and the US Secret Service. But it’s clearly fake. However, there must be people falling for these things if the scammers feel it’s worth sending out. So it’s still worth taking a look to break it down a bit for those who find it useful.
Welcome to my epic Christmas Favourites post for this year! I hope you’ve all had a lovely festive season, or found some support, solace, comfort and company if you needed it. And if you were working over the holidays, especially if you’re in the emergency services and other essential jobs, you have my utmost admiration and respect.
Also a very big thank you to everyone who has supported my blog and my adventures over what has been an incredible second year in London for me. It’s been full of even more amazing surprises and adventures than the first year. Raising £920 from my charity abseil for nystagmus research and giving a speech to primary school children about growing up with sight loss were my 2 biggest and most surprising achievements this year without a doubt. But there’s been so much more going on as well, as you can see from all of my Favourites posts for the past 12 months.
I really do feel like I’ve settled into London properly now. I’ll always want to experiment with new things and meet new people, that’s one of the many great things that living in such a wonderful city enables you to do. But the foundations I laid by doing that in 2017 definitely enabled me to have more confidence in 2018, so I had a much better idea of the things I enjoyed doing most, I was less shy around people, and I made more friends on an individual level beyond just going to social groups.
And my blogging has also gone well this year. It’s only ever been a hobby on the side really, so I’m delighted that people are taking an interest. And my efforts have already been far more rewarding than I could ever have anticipated, with all the wonderful opportunities and feedback I’ve received, and the friends I’ve made along the way. I’m getting far more success and satisfaction from this than I’d ever expected. So again, many thanks to everyone for your support. It’s greatly appreciated that you find my posts interesting, entertaining and inspiring.
So with all that in mind, I’m very much looking forward to seeing what 2019 brings, and I hope you’ll stick with me for it!
But first we need to wrap up 2018, and there’s a lot to tell you about, including theatre shows, light displays, walks, food, clothing, TV & radio shows, online entertainment, music and more. So I hope you enjoy this bumper post and video about my yuletide adventures!
This post is in response to the Bedroom Tag that I’ve been nominated to do by Amanda Gene – thanks Amanda! There isn’t a lot I can say about my bedtime routine particularly, but it’s not something I’ve written about on here before, so I hope you enjoy reading my answers.
Traditionally Christmas lasts for 12 days, and to some extent that remained true for my mother and I, as last weekend we did take our decorations and tree down and packed it all away, as it was a convenient time to do it.
However, the festivities didn’t actually conclude until a few days later, because we took the opportunity to see A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic on Tuesday. We had actually booked to go in January last year, but sadly had to miss it due to illness. So this time around, as soon as I became aware of the date for the audio described performance, I booked it again well in advance, crossing my fingers tightly that we wouldn’t get ill this time. And thankfully, touch wood, we seem to have escaped any colds so far this winter, which is a relief!
So we did finally get to see it, and had a touch tour and audio description as well. The play had been getting rave reviews everywhere, so we were really hoping that it would be worth the wait. And it absolutely was!
So I wanted to tell you a bit about it, without spoiling anything in case you want to see it (and you should!). If you can’t get to the last few dates this year, do look out in case in returns to The Old Vic again next Christmas.
As usual, all opinions are my own here. This post isn’t sponsored or endorsed by anybody connected with the theatre or the show, and my mother and I paid to see it out of our own money. I just wanted to share my experience, so I hope you enjoy reading about it!