Bursting at the Seams

    The last couple of days I've been recovering from total over indulgence and I take some satisfaction from knowing that I'm not alone. I had lost weight over the last few weeks, however the jeans are pinching my waist once more. I'm so bloated if I was pricked with a pin I'd probably reach the moon with no help from NASA.

    What hasn't helped is that I've been in couch potato mode, not good after turkey and mince pies. But, what has been great is that I've had time to enjoy some great books and watch fantastic old movies such as, White Christmas, Wonderful Life and The Bishop's Wife. All feel good films that make me reach for the Kleenex box every time.

    Next time I blog it will be 2015, before then I'm sure I'll break out the tissues again. ALL the BEST.

The Cruel Sea

 

    The oceans that surround us are a beauty to behold, they nurture life, however they also conceal secrets of the past, revealing them with more than a little reluctance.

    We use descriptives of these vast expanses of water in the same way we do that of human emotion's and behaviour. Calm, serene, angry, and  tranquil, are all adjectives that can be applied to both. Another which is commonly used is, cruel.

    Ten years ago the sea was particularly cruel, when the Indian Ocean tsunami, engulfed areas of Indonesia and Asia, today lots of us will take a minute from our festive schedule's to think about the lives that ended, or changed that day.

As the Sun Sets

 

    Education is something I feel passionate about, because I believe it can cure many ills in this world. Therefore to see another school being targeted by extremists in the last week, I find heartbreaking.

    I'm talking about the 141 fatalities, 132 children and 9 teachers that were massacred in an army school, in Peshawar, Pakistan; a place where parents sent their children to be educated, safely.

    Back in April this year we were faced with the sickening event in Chibok, Nigeria when 276 female students were kidnapped from their school and in places such as Syria, Afghanistan, schools are continually targeted.

    As the sun sets on this year, we can only pray that governments will find a way to stop this and that children can be educated without their parents having to worry as to whether they will ever see them again, after dropping them off at school.

Stocking Filler

    Earlier this year my mother passed away and I know when I meet up with the rest of my family on the 25th of December our memories of her will come flooding back. Our Christmas's were always special, even if there were no iPads, laptops, or designer clothes waiting for us when we got up.

   Our Christmas stockings overflowed with fruit, candy, all inexpensive items but nevertheless gifts left by Santa. Amongst my small bundle of wrapped gifts left below the tree, there were always books, pens, pencils and a blank journal, everything a budding writer desired.

    The gift of a blank journal continued each year until her last Christmas and the blank pages are now ready for another year of muse.

Baby it's Cold Outside

        My blog hasn't been updated over the last week, as I've been recovering from a bout of flu. My little  grey cells have been in a permanent state of slush, however I'm now feeling miles better and I'll see you Friday if not before.

A Patriotic Day

Fishing Creels on the harbour

    Even when I'm not in Scotland on St Andrews Day, November 30th, I celebrate the fact that I'm Scottish and I know there are many all over the world who do exactly the same.

Archway built in medieval times 

 
    Today, I've included photographs of the place in Scotland that bears our patron's name, the medieval town of St Andrews.

St Andrews Cathedral

    Of course I can't mention the town without mentioning it's university, the place Prince William and Kate first met.

University of St Andrews

Postcard From My BackYard

    The blog post today is a postcard from my backyard. These are the views I see when I go out of the back door of my apartment in the Canaries.

    It's something I wanted to share with you, because it's worth sharing.

Ready to get Reading for 'Book Week'

 

    It's 'Book Week' in Scotland this week, 24th - 30th November and to celebrate over the last few days I've been adding new titles to my eReader, as well dropping by a local bookstore to purchase a couple of paperbacks.

    

    I've chosen a mixed bunch of titles in both non-fiction an fiction and going along with the Scottish theme I've included a few Scottish authors, such as Val Mcdermid and Ian Rankin to my list of buys.

    The eReader is with me most of the time and if I have a few minutes to spare I'll read a couple of pages, in bed, on the train, plane, or in the park . However the paperbacks I like to keep for those long cold nights, when I'm cuddled up in a comfy chair in front of the fire. Heaven!

    So my glasses have been cleaned and my Kindle is charged, because this is one Scot that's on her mark, ready to get reading for, 'Book Week.'

Ignorance is Bliss?

    Earlier this week I was discussing school work with my teenage niece and she was telling me that she had chosen to write an essay on, racism, for English class.  She had done some research and had compiled a list of books and movies she hoped would provide her with a better understanding of this discrimination, before she finally puts pen to paper.

    Following our talk, I started to think about how subjects such as this would just be brushed under the carpet, if authors did not have the freedom to express themselves.

    However, there are countries where creativity is being stifled because of censorship and fear of recrimination; lack of core factors are inaccessible not only to children, but  to the adult population. One sided views continue to breed contempt, hatred and bigotry. Just as it did back in the 16th century for the likes of ill-fated George Wishart. Who said, ignorance is bliss?

 

 

Unleash the Book Within

    Looking through some old photographs I retrieved from the attic the other day, the words, "we've all got a book in us," popped into my head. I don't know how often I've heard, or read these words and I'm not even sure if they were used as words of encouragement.

    However, I'm going to use them as encouragement to all budding writers, because we all have ideas floating around in our heads and I want to tell you that putting pen to paper isn't the hard part. It's about having the confidence to start, form the plot, the characters, choosing location and era. It's important to develop the skills to create something we can be proud of and is an ongoing process.

    This for me is where the old photographs come in handy. Each of the pictures have a story to tell, even if I wasn't there, or wasn't the photographer. The people, the places, the buildings I use as prompts to write 50 word,  fictional pieces. Exercise my mind.

    Yes, I know we don't all have old photo albums, but there will be an aunt, grandmother, or neighbour who isn't into the digital age and is eager to share what's hidden away in a drawer. Not knowing the stories behind the people or, places adds to potential creativity.

    Go on see if you can unleash that book you have inside you. (I would also like to add that I wasn't around when these photographs were taken.)

   
 
 

Clearing the Clutter

 

    A number of years ago I discovered meditation and I use it as a tool to help me focus when writing. In particular when my creativity has decided to take a holiday without me.

 
    I don't do the sitting cross-legged on the floor reciting a mantra and if you do I'm certainly not knocking that. It's just not my thing and we have to do what works for us as individuals.

    For me, sitting in a comfy chair is much better than the floor, of course that maybe because once I get down on the floor I find it near impossible to get up. Back to me sitting on the comfy chair; I then close my eyes and envisage places that I've visited in the past that have brought me pleasure.

    I find that really does the trick and if you haven't tried meditation I highly recommend it for clearing writers block. I've included a few places that I like to revisit in my minds-eye when I want to clear out the clutter in my mind.



   

Ready to Rock 'n' Roll

   This week I've been making preparations to start a new novel. The idea isn't one that I've had floating around in my head for too long, probably only 3-4 weeks.

    However, everything about the plot and characters just feels right, so I'm going for it. A rough synopsis and outline I've written by hand  in a favourite notebook of mine, as this is something I like to do initially. Now all I have to do is a little more research and I'll be ready to rock 'n' roll.

   Wish me luck!!

P.S. No blog Monday as I will be winging my way back to Scotland.

Amongst Other Things

    Someone recently asked me why the content of my blog posts aren't about devil slaying and other fantastical beings all of the time. I explained that this is my official author site and it's my book that features the devil slaying part.

      There are occasions when I'm not sure if, you, my blog reader will find what I've written in my posts, interesting, amusing, or they may just bore you silly. However,  you will know if you drop by on a regular basis, that I write a fairly mixed bag and that's because  I want you, to know the author, Christina Rowell. Of course I want you to read my book, but not all blog readers read books and I'm also aware that not everyone is turned on by devil slaying.

    Therefore, that's where the , amongst other things, comes in. So if you're reading this I hope you enjoy the posts as much as I like writing them, because I just love to write.

   

   

   

All Saints Eve

The doorbell rings.

Is it a trick, or is it a treat?

Open the door.

A cloud of flour I might meet.

Costumes worn, lanterns lit.

There's no need to be frightened,

 no need to be scared.

Because it's time to remember our dead.

On this Eve of All Saints Day.

Fateful Meetings

     I don't particularly like travelling alone and if the flight is delayed, hanging around in the departure lounge on your own can be a real pain in the butt.

    So last week with Hurricane Gonzalez approaching the UK, it was inevitable that my flight to Tenerife would be just that.

    Fortunately it was only for a couple of hours, but nevertheless my plans on arrival in the Canaries had been disrupted. I was no longer going to be picked up at the airport and I was now unable to meet up with friends as anticipated, I was feeling slightly disgruntled to say the least.

    When I finally boarded flight I decided to get into a more positive frame of mind, after all I was now at least on the plane. I had been allocated an aisle seat and it wasn't too long before my two travel companions, for the next five hours anyway,  arrived to take their seats beside me.

    Once up in the air it wasn't long before we got chatting and for one reason, or another we were all three females travelling on our own. As we chatted we found we had many things in common and the hours just disappearedand in fact I was kind of sorry to say goodbye.

    I very much believe that chance meetings like this are fate and although I'm not sure why we were meant to meet, I'm very glad we did.

   

Truly, Madly, Deeply

 

    Everyone I know has married for love, even if it turned out to be a temporary state.   Therefore it's very difficult for me to comprehend that there still are women today being married to men only because of a generous dowry that her family are promising the grooms.

    The word, dowry, makes me think of the film, Quiet Man, starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, where the refusal of the bride's brother to give a dowry causes an angry reaction from the bride, because she believes it's her entitlement. The film itself is what I would call today, a Romcom, the plot is light-hearted and demonstrates why the custom belongs in the past.

    However, this antiquated practise does still exist in the UK amongst certain communities, as I know it does in other parts of the world and it has been highlighted recently that women are being subjected to violence and even death at the hand of their, husbands and in-laws, because the money promise has not come to fruition.

    Is that all  life is worth? A bag full of money and a couple of silver candlesticks. What about just being truly, madly, deeply In love?

 

 

   

Crossing My Fingers

 

    I'm off to the Canary Islands again in the next couple of days and tomorrow I've got a packed schedule. Therefore, I thought I would publish my blog a day early, otherwise I probably wouldn't have updated until Saturday. I'm hoping that makes sense.

    Since coming back to Scotland, I've managed to get my land line and broadband in Tenerife all fixed out. So I'm crossing my fingers, toes and anything else I can cross, in the hope that the problems I've had in the past, either publishing my blog or, accessing Twitter will remain there.
    I'm off to pack now and I'll see you Monday. XXXX 

 

 

 

The Blogosphere

 

   
    It's now over two years since I started blogging and it's very much a part of my writing life. Not only do I enjoy composing my own posts, I love reading blogs written by my fellow writers.

   Whether we want to promote our business's, share our innermost secrets, muses, opinions, or give advice on a specialist subject, we know the blog is a valuable tool.

   Without reading the advice of other writers, editors, publishers and readers, I'm not sure if I would have ever plucked up the courage to blog, tweet, or have submitted my novel for publication. I can't remember the first one I read, however I do know that a whole new world opened up to me; as I'm sure has to many.

   The blog itself celebrated its twentieth birthday last week, the first ever which was called, Davenet, was written by the developer of blogging software, David Winer and he still blogs to this day. I'm not sure if I'll still be blogging in twenty years time, but I will continue to read the wonderful assortment that's out there in the blogosphere.

 
 



   

From Little Acorns a Mighty Oak Grows

 

   I can remember when I was at school there were several subjects that I used to question the relevance of being taught in class. Not being a particularly outspoken kid, I never did let my views be known, therefore my disinterest caused me to switch off.

    One such subject was music and being tone deaf never endeared me to the singing side of things, or encouraged me to learn how to play a musical instrument. However, it was only once I had left school that the penny dropped that I finally realised music wasn't only about singing and playing in the school orchestra.

    There's much more to it, the thing that caught my attention was realising opera, classical and contemporary pieces, as well as pop all have a story to tell. The composer/song writer is using their creativity to tell that story, or maybe get a message across, in the same way an author does.

    BBC learning and BBC Performing Groups has launched a programme called '10 Pieces' which they hope will help primary school children appreciate what classical music has to offer them, encouraging them to express themselves creatively, through music, dance and digital art.

   I think this initiative is a great idea and anything that cultivates creativity amongst children can only benefit us all as a society.

Time Travels

   

    Skyscanner  has consulted with a team of experts to look at the future of travel in 10 years time; the results of which you can read for yourself skyscanner2024.com .

    On first reading the report I found some of the predictions rather far fetched, however with technology changing at a fast pace, maybe they're not.

    For example, using interactive software, an expert believes that we'll be able to summons a 'digital travel buddy' to help us choose our vacation, book the tickets etc, basically all the stuff we hate doing. Our virtual 'buddy' will take away all the hassles that we face when trying to book the perfect getaway. He will even arrange for us to try before we buy, with the help of 3D sensors.

    As someone who can be fairly anxious when I arrive at an airport, I would most certainly welcome a member of the airport staff helping me through the whole airport experience. Even the predicted  hologram making sure that I board the aircraft with relative ease, most certainly would suffice.

    Once we reach our destination there will be no more problems communicating with the locals, implants similar to contact lenses will resolve our verbal translations. Something I definitely can relate to, over the last few weeks.

    Yes, there are parts that read like the plot of an H.G. Wells novel, but 120 years ago we could never have envisaged travelling to the moon, computers, skype, or mobile phones.

   
    There was something though, that I was disappointed not to be covered in the report and that was that there was no mention of my new found friend packing my suitcase for me before I go. Do you think he's going to shirk out of doing the dirty laundry on my return too?

   

Remember

 

Robert Burns country

 
    The theme of this year's 'National Poetry Day,' which was yesterday,was remember.So here's my personal tribute; please note I know I'm not a poet laureate.

REMEMBER

I recognised you the minute I saw you.

You know my face, but you just can't place.

The mention of the commemoration,

and you spontaneously recall.

We chatted, we laughed, we reminisce.

Oh, how good it is to think back.

That was then, this is now.

A time we are unlikely to forget.

Seeing Red

    Whether I'm in a shopping mall, supermarket, restaurant, or airport I always pay particular attention to where the toilets are located. Why? Because you never know when nature will call and having been a Girl Guide in the past, I like to be prepared for all eventualities.

    Now, I've visited some horrible ones, some palatial ones and some I don't have the words to describe. But, no matter where I've 'spent my penny,' I've had privacy and I've felt under no threat to my personal safety whilst I was going about my business.

    However, this isn't the case for many of the female population of India; the young girls and women harvesting the produce that we find in our supermarkets have to find a private spot to defecate and urinate in the fields where they work.

    The problem isn't that they have to go out in the open, the problem is that they cannot go safely. Girls as young as eight years old working in the fields are being gang raped and murdered while slipping off to have a private moment. In this developing country as a whole, a rape takes place every twenty-two minutes.

    One of the country's governors said ,“Even God cannot prevent rapes.” No, God can't protect the female population from rapists, therefore there has to be human intervention. That's where the government has to please take control, using its laws and education system.

    Unfortunately, the government only seems to seeing red when they've been bragging this week about their space programme being the first Asian one to have entered Martian orbit and not that its female population faces violation on a day to day basis.   

It's in the Small Print

   

   
    In the next few days, I'll be returning home to Scotland for a few weeks and I'm hoping that I can resolve the technology problems I'm having here, there.

    One of my problems that I'm facing here, is that I don't have regular access to the Internet. Result; I haven't managed to do as much work as I would have liked and publishing my blog has been nothing short of a nightmare.

    The posts that have been published are courtesy of the free WiFi at the local tennis club and my other work is kept safely in a spiral bound pad, courtesy of my hand and a pen. No virus scanner required.

    However from October onwards, the club becomes a hive of activity when the 'Swallows', as the locals call the retirees who come here to enjoy the warm winter sunshine, arrive for normally a six months stay.

   
    The active sixty pluses take to the courts and there will not be a table to be had at the club; therefore no WiFi. Refusing to become a roving bar fly, I've been searching for an Internet provider in order that I can have it installed in my apartment.

    Now armed with the important price lists and broadband speeds, I will try to decipher the small print and pick a suitable company to do business with before my return.

    Whether that's realistic, I don't know but I do love the world of fantasy.
 

 

The Peoples Decision

   

   
    One of the things I hadn't really taken into consideration for my trip away, was the important vote taking place in Scotland yesterday. If I hadn't made my plans so spur of the moment I could have organised a postal vote, but I didn't.

    I'm proud to be Scottish, however to have voted for Scotland to become an independent country, I would have been voting with my heart rather than my head.

    To leave the United Kingdom, would have opened a real can of worms and how our new country was going to function independently hadn't as far as I could see, been thought through.

    I did feel guilty not being able to cast my vote because that's the freedom we have when we live in a democracy. Therefore, when I awoke this morning I gave a sigh of relief, because thankfully 85% of the population went to the polls and today Scotland is still part of the United Kingdom.

With a Little help from my Friends

    I can speak enough of the language spoken here, Spanish, to get by on a day to day basis. However over the last few weeks, I've been shopping for furniture for the apartment and I'm afraid home study courses and regular vacations here hasn't equipped me with the vocabulary needed to do lots of the things that I take for granted back in Scotland.

    Purchasing everyday items that make up a home is an entirely new ball game. It hasn't taken me long to find out that the wrong pronunciation can make the difference from ordering the wrong sofa to making an inappropriate proposition to the handsome sales-assistant.

    Thankfully, I have friends here of many nationalities and their help has been invaluable. Many are incomers to the islands, but having settled here a long time ago they now have a way with the local lingo.

    As they say, practise makes perfect, and one of my Canarian friends has agreed with me that from now on it's best that he no longer speaks English to me. So I'm sure his eyebrows will be raised more than once or, twice in the very near future.

Meeting my Room-mate

   
    After working for two to three hours yesterday morning, I was gutted when my screen went blank. I have no idea as to what happened, but when I got my tablet back up and running, I had lost all my work, including my blog post.

    Steam coming out of my ears, I decided that I needed a little chillax time and I headed for the sea-shore. The sea is around a ten minute walk from my apartment and on my way there I met my friend Margaret, to whom I quickly told about my trials and tribulations of the day so far.

    My chat with her did make me feel a little calmer, however I knew that as far as the work I had lost to the unknown, it would be impossible to replace. So, on returning to my apartment it was going to be back to the drawing board.

    But, first things first when I returned I had to open all the shutters and windows and let the air circulate as the place now felt like an oven. The last room I went into was my bedroom, I glanced around to see if the small gecko who had been cohabiting with me the last couple of days was around, but he is rather elusive and when he decides that I'm too close for comfort he retreats behind the wardrobe. Not seeing him anywhere I assumed that he was back in his corner.

    However, I must have caught him unawares and when I pulled the cord of the shutter my little amigo fell from nowhere and fell straight onto my head. Bouncing onto the top of a cabinet, dropping feet first onto the tiled floor below, he scurried back to his squat.

    Being concerned for his well-being my worries of the day were suddenly alleviated. Whether I can reproduce all of my lost work I have no idea, but at least meeting my room-mate made my problems seem trivial.

The Rest of their Lives

    Since arriving here in Tenerife, each morning when the sun starts to rise over the mountain that I can see from my apartment I slip on my walking shoes.

    At eight o'clock in the morning normally the only people walking around are those trying to get there daily dose of exercise just as I'm doing, or workers setting off to their jobs.

     The climate here compared to that back in Scotland encourages you to get out and about early and late in the day, both being the cooler times.

    This morning however was a little different and that was because it's time for the kids to go back to school following their long summer break. The bus stops that are dotted along my habitual route were heaving with children and parents. Some chatted, some laughed and when the Canarians are excited they are very, very noisy, no matter what age they are.

    The over-sized school bags on the backs of the smaller children and the look of trepidation on the faces of the adults that accompanied them, made it obvious as to which of the youngsters were embarking on their first ever school day.

    For them their world was about to change and what they learn from this day forward will hopefully help prepare them further for the rest of their lives.

Money for Nothing, Books are Free

    The sky is an azure blue and the clouds that are around today, resemble white candyfloss. It's one of those days that makes you thank God for being alive.

    My friend Margaret called me last night and I arranged to meet up with her this morning to visit the local market.

    We met up close by to her home and the walk from her house to the market was blistering hot, with only a few palm trees here and there for shelter.

    There are a mixed assortment of stalls, selling anything and everything from bric-a-brac, garden-hoses to brassieres. The one that I make a beeline for, is the one that is every inch a mini bookstore.

    The shelves are stacked high with hardbacks and paperbacks in English, French, German and Spanish. Some of them have seen better days, and are now bound together with sticky tape. Dog-eared pages with remnants of sun-tan oil smears on the pages, make me wonder as to whether surgical gloves would be better worn by any purchaser when reading.

    The stallholder informs me that I can buy two books for one euro, a bargain, a steal. Yes, a bargain for the reader, a profit for the vendor and the steal is that the author will receive no money, or recognition for their hard work. Because, these stalls are giving our books away for free.

   

Things That Go Bump In the Night

   

   
    Having never lived in an apartment before, I'm finding living in such close confines with complete strangers takes a little getting use to. The coughs from the guy through the wall first thing in the morning makes me want to tell him when I see him, to call for an appointment with the doctor.

    The late hours that the teenager with the pink hair two floors above keeps, I know must be worrying her parents and the dog that belongs to one of the apartments on the landing above, has the annoying habit of starting to bark just when I've managed to drop off to sleep.

    But, what do my neighbours think of their new foreign neighbour? Maybe they describe me as the woman who is constantly perspiring when they meet her. Because the thirty plus degrees outside temperature, is also something that I'm having to get use to.

    Apartment living is all about live and let live, I've found out in the last week. The only thing that I'm not so keen on, is the occasional bump in the night of which has no reasonable explanation.

Wash Day Blues

    I told you in Monday's blog, as to how I was temporarily moving my home base to the Canary Islands and I want to shout out, 'I've arrived.'

    Not that it will make any difference to the folks around here, but I'm ecstatic. However moving home can be a little stressful and relocating to a different country does have its little drawbacks.

    Especially, when it seems that your brain has decided to catch a later flight. Yeah, I'm running on dumb mode at present. First day here I managed to cut my fingers three times making dinner, thankfully I had packed the plasters. Then disaster struck when I put a dark blue towel in the wash with a white bath sheet, result turquoise bath sheet.

    Oh, and there's my new iron which has the shortest flex in the world and it keeps flying out of the electric socket when I try to smooth my rumpled clothes. Laundry days I can see are going to be a challenge.

    Hopefully, my brain will arrive in the next few days and I will feel back to normal, not that I'm saying that I will ever fall into the normal bracket. That would be a little far fetched.

    Okay, next challenge before  my brain arrives I'm going to have to find free WiFi somewhere so I can publish this post. I better splash on some suntan oil.

 

A Bit of a Change

    I'm kind of excited because over the next few weeks I'm setting off on an adventure. I'm not going to some place which is unfamiliar to me, but to move into my own apartment in the place I love holidaying the most.

    While I won't be taking up permanent residence in the Canary islands, I will now be spending more and more time there. I've told you all before as to how Tenerife is my 'Fantasy Island' and I'm looking forward to starting a new project and hopefully blogging about living, rather than holidaying in a different country.

    Of course there are some things that I will dearly miss when I go away. There is one important person that I definitely will miss, and I certainly I will miss the little guy below.

   For us all it will be a bit of a change, for sure.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

 

    For over a week I've been visiting a close family member in hospital everyday and placed at the doors of the elevator was a massive sign that stated the hospital's pledge to its patients.

    It contained the words, caring, compassion, respect, dignity, kindness, humanity, individuality and concluded that everyone matters.

    At first I payed little, or no attention to this collection of words; but as the condition of my relative deteriorated, the words that I read each day became more significant. Writers use words to demonstrate the depth of the thoughts, actions and feelings of their characters in a fictional piece.

    However, being a seriously ill patient in hospital is not a work of fiction, words written in a pledge need to be carried out. Sadly, the staff's actions never did speak louder than the words.

 

 

You're Amazeballs

    If you read original versions of books by William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and other greats; I'm sure we all come across words that are pretty alien to our everyday lives. It may also be that we have to search out the actual meaning.

    The English language and other languages are continuing to develop, all influenced by the multicultural society that we now live in and our use of social media.

    Because of this the Oxford Dictionary has added some new words to their listings, in recognition of words that are now being used on a regular basis by English speakers.

    Some people I'm sure will be holding there hands up in horror, when they read through the new additions. However, if the users of words such as clickbait, amazeballs, bingewatch, neckbeard, sideboob, cray are used in the correct context and the user knows the true definition; I certainly don't know what the fuss is about. After all, YOLO.

Drawing the Line

    There has been lots of debate recently about the over sexualisation of teenage girls. We can't stop talking about how distasteful some of us find the raunchy antics of celebrities and the advertisements for teenager's clothing ranges.

    Yes, we know that sex sells, always has and probably always will. Even if we go back 60, or 70 years in the movies, young female starlets were cast in the lead role not on account of their wonderful acting skills, but because of their sex appeal.

   Without a doubt, due to the Internet and other media outlets it's now out there for all to see, therefore making it a very difficult thing to police. Yes, some girls may try to emulate their idol, or wear their skirt as short as the model's in the advertisement, for them it's part of growing up.

    However, it is our duty as adults to protect our girls and boys whenever possible. Providing both with a good sex and relationship education I believe is critical in helping them distinguish the difference between right and wrong. Ultimately, the teenagers themselves are the only ones that can draw the line that should not be crossed.

   

Super Luna

    As the moon cosies up to Earth on Sunday, 10th August; should we brace ourselves for a natural disaster such as an earthquake, and volcanic eruption? Or, with all the man-made disasters that are going on in this crazy world should we just enjoy the beauty of her lighting up our night sky?

    I'm hoping that the clouds won't come along and spoil the sight of the perigee moon, because I'm depending on its light whilst I'm keeping a look out for vampires, werewolves and any roaming deities that may want to gatecrash the party.