April 2024 Favourites

Hey there, hope you’re all doing well. I’m good, although like all disabled people in the UK I feel great unease over the government’s proposed changes to our benefits. My PIP review still hasn’t been dealt with after 9 months as it is. I’m not going to rant about it here though – I’ve posted a brief thread and shared several other posts on my Twitter/X page if you want a wider sense of people’s reactions. But please do read the proposals and respond to the consultation if you can (by 22nd July), as it’s vitally important to have our voices heard at this early stage. Same goes for the separate consultation about fit notes (until 8th July) too.

But anyway, on to much nicer things, and there’s plenty that I’ve enjoyed during this past month, including a couple of exhibitions, a West End musical, a theatre workshop, stand-up gigs and other comedy shows. One of the exhibitions was a press invite for my journalist friend Emily, and I’m due to be paid for the workshop I took part in, but nothing is sponsored to be featured here and all opinions are my own as usual.

So let’s crack on with this month’s post and video, and I hope you enjoy!

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March 2024 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you had a nice Easter! And welcome to my latest roundup, which is an ‘out and about’ special, because I’ve had a very eventful month, with a couple of theatre shows, a couple of stand-up comedy gigs and a couple of tasty free meals that I want to talk about. I paid for the theatre and comedy shows myself, while the meals were free PR invites for my friend Emily to review, but all opinions are my own regardless. So I hope you enjoy this month’s post and video!

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January & February 2024 Favourites

Welcome to my first Favourites post and video for this year! As I had a very busy Christmas that lasted until mid-January, it made sense to combine the latter half of that month with February for this roundup.

Recent weeks have been quite relaxed compared to the festive period, as hoped and expected, but there’s still quite a variety of bits and pieces to mention. These include an audio described gallery tour, a free meal, a special scenic view of the city, an important new audio play, things I’ve been watching that have been recommended by friends, and other entertainment I’ve enjoyed. Some of these items are PR-related, as indicated when appropriate, but all opinions are my own regardless. So I hope you enjoy!

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The Dream Team – One Year As A Support Worker

It’s been just over a year since I became a support worker for my friend Emily Davison, aka Fashioneyesta, to assist with her new role as a trainee journalist with Newsquest, primarily on the News Shopper site as well as their other south London titles. So I thought I’d give an update in this post and video on how it’s going, and an insight into the work I’m doing. I’m not sponsored to mention any of the products and services that I talk about here, all opinions are my own as usual, and I hope you enjoy!

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Christmas 2023 Favourites – Part 2

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great Christmas, and that you have a prosperous year ahead as well.

This is the second, bumper part of my festive Favourites, as the first part covered the month of November, where I had a free Christmas meal, explored a trail of snowmen sculptures and saw some of London’s displays, among other activities.

Since then, in December and early January, I’ve met friends in both London and Devon, seen four incredible theatre shows, explored a museum I hadn’t been to before, had some lovely meals in restaurants, ate far too much food at home, celebrated the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, watched lots of comedies on TV, and enjoyed some music as well.

So once again, as with every Christmas, this is a bumper post and video. One of the meals was a free PR invite for my journalist friend Emily to review, but as usual I’m not sponsored or affiliated to write anything here, and all opinions are my own. I hope you enjoy!

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Christmas In Devon

It seems hard to believe that it’s well over a year already since I was made redundant from my previous job in Torquay, and that the first anniversary of my new job in London is just a month away. But I still keep in contact with my former colleagues and friends down in the Westcountry, and last week I popped down there to see some of them again for a Christmas catch-up. So I thought I’d do a little write-up about it, as I have some festive photos and video clips to share as well.

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Christmas 2023 Favourites – Part 1

Seasons greetings, I hope your preparations for Christmas are going well, November always feels a little bit festive, but for me it was even more so than normal this year, because I’ve already explored a variety of London’s displays, seen a bunch of snowmen on a sculpture trail, and had a free Christmas dinner courtesy of a PR invite. On top of that I’ve also seen a couple of theatre shows, while at home I’ve been enjoying some more TV and music as always.

Consequently it makes sense to treat this as a festive Favourites post and video, and spread the joy over 2 months. It’s not too early as far as I’m concerned. So with the usual disclaimer that all opinions are my own, including for the free food, let’s crack on with it, and I hope you enjoy!

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October 2023 Favourites

Hello again, and welcome to my latest little roundup, at a time when I know that things are far from cheerful news-wise. The war in Israel and Gaza is horrific to say the least, and like everyone else I can only pray for peace and express my solidarity with the innocent civilians affected on all sides, just as I do for the ongoing Ukraine conflict. Then there’s the Covid Inquiry, stormy weather and other stuff. But on the plus side, the plans to close railway ticket offices have just been scrapped (for now at least), which I had a little rant about in my July post, so well done to everyone who campaigned against it.

So as always I hope my posts are a pleasant distraction from things like that. And for me this has been a pretty relaxing month really. I didn’t go to any theatre shows this time, but I did revisit a couple of my favourite museums, explored a couple of sculpture trails, and had a nice Halloween tour with my friend and colleague Emily. Plus I got my Covid booster, had a few other nice walks, and went to a retirement party (all the best Pauline if you’re reading this!), but I don’t need to write about those little bits here.

So let’s crack on with this month’s post and video, in which nothing is sponsored or gifted as usual, and I hope you enjoy!

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September 2023 Favourites

Hey there! Following my very busy birthday month – and thank you again to everyone who sent good wishes for my 40th – September has unsurprisingly and deliberately been much quieter and more relaxed.

I did see an amazing theatre show and had a lovely afternoon tea though, which I’ll be talking about here, but otherwise my outings were either for health appointments or general walks. And at home I’ve been watching a few things on TV and working as usual.

So there isn’t a huge amount to cover in this month’s post and video, but I hope you enjoy what I do have to offer!

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40th Birthday Favourites

Here we go, the big four-o,
These two score years have not gone slow!
Amazing how the time has flown,
And since my youth how much I’ve grown.
I had to celebrate, you know,
With food and drink and West End shows.
So with my friends and on my own,
I’ve really marked this milestone.

There’s stand-up stars who made me laugh,
Musicals well-choreographed,
Eating blind and on a cruise,
A 9-course feast and rounds of booze,
A major rock star’s prized possessions,
Art displayed with cool projections.
An action film with audio description,
And shows I’ve seen on television.

Come see how I’ve spent my time,
I promise it’s not all in rhyme.
Here’s why I’m feeling all aglow,
Enjoy this post and video!

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