I’ve been putting off writing my final remarks on being a Delegate for UN Women, that’s because there are a few things left for me to do.
Firstly, I have to complete a ‘Contribution Form’, which is something I will be doing this weekend – I have to review my notes, re-watch recordings and actually formulate what I am going to write – I’m not entirely sure what it entails yet as you complete each section independently, completing one to move onto the next. Which I will admit, doesn’t help my Neurodiverse brain as it’s difficult to plan without seeing the sections!
Secondly, I was approached by a fellow UN Women’s Delegate online to take part in writing an article for the British Computer Society’s (BCS) IT NOW publication, as I am a Professional Member of BCS – I also was asked to take part in something else, but that’s not UN Women related and a topic of conversation for another post.
But, thirdly, and the focus that I am going to spend energy on instead, is the in-person event, which this morning was when I found out my application to attend had been accepted!
Considering there were 2500 delegates, 1000 of them applied to the in-person event but only 650 spaces to take part (this includes in-person and virtually, so I believe there’s even less spaces to get an in-person space in London!), I’m really glad I was able to make the cut – I’m off to London!
As I have mentioned in my blog post ‘UN Womens’ Delegate – Week 1′ (see more links at the bottom of this post), the main priority theme is:
“Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.”
This event in London is about ‘taking action for gender equality in digital spaces, innovation, education and technology’. One Goal: Build solutions to bridge the digital gender divide. The information pack that I received gave the following stats:
89% of tech CEOs are men;
nearly 200 million women worldwide don’t own mobile phones, and boys are 1.8 times more likely to own a smartphone than girls;
almost 40% of women worldwide have experienced online violence, and 80% have witnessed it;
only 0.5% of girls want to become tech professionals;
excluding women from the digital world has lost $1 trillion from global GDP over the past decade – and the digital gender gap is increasing. The economic impact will rise to $1.5 trillion lost by 2025 without action now.
The event has five focus areas. Of which, I had to pick only one to contribute to. These five focus areas are:
1.Plugging into the grid
How putting technology in the hands of the world’s most marginalised women can give them connectivity into society that enables them to survive and thrive. Providing access to technology for older women, disabled women, and the world’s poorest.
2. Innovators of the future
From the toys children are given to the videogames they play, young people’s lives are shaped through digital tools from their earliest years, including their engagement with STEM. A look at the dark side of stereotyping, and the way sin which technology can be designed to create a more equal future for the next generations
3. Who learns from who?
With the rise of AI and smart tech, we are teaching algorithms based on human databases that are full of biases. How can we ensure that the decision-markers, the designers, and the data they draw from are representative to avoid magnifying existing problems?
4. Under attack in virtual worlds
We are going to spend increasing amount of time immersing ourselves in virtual spaces. Yet digital spaces are unsafe for women in may ways – not only replicating violence offline, but creating new opportunities for abuse from cyberflashing to deep fake pornography. From social media to the metaverse, we’ll be looking at how we can build safe, inclusive spaces before it’s too late
5. Serving women or surveilling women?
As we store more and more of our lives online, and institutions are able to access our data to serve us with increasingly personalised and relevant offers, how do we protect privacy for those who are most vulnerable to exploitation – both by the private second, and by the state?
If you haven’t already guessed by now, by the title of this post, I have picked the last one; Serving women or surveilling women. Although, I will admit all of them are interesting, especially the 4th one; Under attack in virtual worlds, as I have been a victim of online abuse, and the 3rd Who learns from who? is extremely interesting to me but is a new-found interest, so I felt I wouldn’t have been able to contribute much to the conversation.
“Alice!” my startlingly beautiful, long blonde haired friend gasped in shock. Her gorgeous blue eyes twinkled at me, her mouth slightly ajar in surprised after I told her the train-wreck of an interivew I had yesterday. “You did what?”
“I know! After all that, I told the woman outside to fuck off too,” I said, before burying my face in my hands and groaned.
Olivia and I were sat in a café round the corner to where she worked. I decided to meet up with her before her shift started and I had explained what had happened with the interview from start to end in surprising vivid detail. Well, leaving out a few details; like the handsome man that was behind the table. That was something Olivia would have wanted to know more about rather than the interview itself. She had a bit of an obsession with men.
I liked Olivia, she was the closest thing I had to a best friend. She was originally my roommate for a few months after I moved to the city. She had a small spare room for rent, and luckily she had it up for quite cheap too. We hit it off quite quickly, which I was extremely surprised about. She was a beautiful blonde girl, only a year younger than I was, and was extremely outgoing. I was the complete opposite, but she was surprisingly easy to get along with. Our little arrangement only lasted a few months though, I had found out she was actually renting the apartment herself and wasn’t actually allowed to rent out the other bedroom. The landlord had kicked us both out and we had to go our separate ways. But our strange friendship lasted.
“That’s amazing! At least you fucked it up in style!” she giggle hysterically.
“It’s useless! I’m never going to get a job in a hotel! Maybe I am better off going back to care?”
“Don’t be silly, there are still loads of hotels out there, or maybe you’re better off starting somewhere smaller? Like a hostel or something?” she said, touching my hand in sympathy. “Just don’t yell at the interview panel and tell people to fuck off!” she suddenly smiled.
I groaned again. I realised after having a good long think about what I had done—the whole Miss/Mrs mistake—there was still chance to salvage the interview; just laugh it off as an administration error. But no, instead I decided to yell at people and storm out like a spoilt brat.
Plus, to make matters worse; I really wanted that particular job. Yeah, the role was just entry level, probably only filing and paper pushing. But the company was supposed to be a really good company to work for. I heard rumours that people who started at the company would be well looked after and they really helped you progress. I had dreams of going far in the company. I needed to go far in the company. I needed to prove myself. It was also a social enterprise too, so it helps the community, something that had caught my attention in particular. Global Elite, the company was called. That hotel was just one of two in London, and one of, probably lots around the world. I had done a bit of research, hoping my knowledge of the company and its history might have won me some brownie points. Not that I even got that far.
Olivia open her mouth—probably about to comfort me in her usual sarcastic way—but closed it when my mobile phone rang loudly next to me. I stared at the caller ID but I didn’t recognise the number. It wasn’t a saved contact, so I didn’t rush to answer it. Besides, I had a feeling I knew who it was.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” Olivia asked, her well-manicured eyebrow rose at my curiously.
“No, it’s probably Simon,” I replied, still staring at the mobile as it danced and sang at me.
“I thought you like Simon?”
Simon was my ex. Well, he was and he wasn’t. We didn’t officially break up. I just walked out on him a while back and stopped talking to him. I guess that consitutes as an ex. We weren’t together for long anyway. Either way I didn’t tell Olivia the whole story. In fact, I didn’t really tell her anything. She didn’t even know I had stopped seeing him. She didn’t exactly ask.
“I did.”
She watched me silently for a few seconds as if trying to digest a hidden meaning in those two words. “Then what’s the problem?”
I sighed. “I’ve stopped seeing him,” I explained, and Olivia’s eyebrows rose together this time. “He came across… desperate,” I continued, when Olivia didn’t say anything.
Olivia burst out laughing. “Maybe he was just horny and wanted to get in your knickers?”
I gave her a look, which was supposed to be a don’t-be-so-gross look, but she clearly read it wrong. I hated the word ‘horny’ and Olivia knew it.
“Wait!” She gasped. “Did you two—”
“No!” I snapped. “I didn’t sleep with him!”
I had told Olivia that I wanted to wait, at least until I knew that he and I would go far in a relationship. Plus, I was a little shy in that department. Unlike Olivia, I wasn’t so confident. But I guess it was a while since I last spoke to Olivia about Simon. Knowing Olivia, she probably thought I did sleep with him and that was why I dumped him.
Olivia just held her hands up in defence. “Can’t blame me for asking, he is fairly attractive. I would. Even if it was just for a quick shag.”
“Olivia!” I gasped in shock at my friend. Although I wasn’t sure why I was still so shocked, she was always like this. But Olivia was a young, beautiful blonde woman, and she always had men after her. I was just lucky that I met Simon on my own and not when I was with her. I had visions of him going off with her instead. “You know I’m not like that!”
She shrugged. “Nothing wrong with it.”
“The guy wanted a serious relationship, not just a quick shag,” I said, lowering my voice slightly so the couple on the table next to us wouldn’t hear me. Which was pointless, they had clearly overheard Oliva. She was so embarrassing sometimes.
“I know, I know!” She nodded. “But you should at least consider it, you never know, you might enjoy it!” She winked.
But I ignored her, my mobile rang again.
“Hey, if it is Simon, wouldn’t it come up on your phone as Simon’s number?” she asked, pointing at the phone.
“No, I deleted it,” I said.
“You deleted his number from your phone?” she asked, her eyebrows rose again.
“I know, it was a mistake. I forgot I did it and he tried ringing me. I accidentally answered it, not realising it was him, until I heard his voice wheezing down the earpiece—”
“Wheezing?” Olivia asked, looking confused.
I shrugged. “Sounded like he was wheezing, maybe he’s asthmatic?”
“Or he was—”
“Don’t!” I said, stopping her saying something crude that I really didn’t want to hear. I knew she was about to say something crude, it was the look on her face that gave it away. She just laughed. “The point is, I ended up having to block his number in the end because he kept rining and kept for—” I stopped. I had Simon’s number blocked. He couldn’t ring me! I looked at the mobile which was still ringing.
“What?” Olivia asked, clearly not getting why I stopped.
“I have Simon’s number blocked!” I said. “He can’t ring me!”
“Then answer it!” she said quickly. “It might be another hunky desperate man wanting a shag!”
I ignored her and picked my phone up from the table, but just before I was about to answer it, it stopped ringing. I groaned.
“Well, I guess he’s got fed up and found someone else!” Olivia chimed, and took a sip of her coffee.
I ignored her and continued to look at my phone. I was quietly trying to decide what to do. Maybe if I sat and waited for a bit, the caller would ring me back, or maybe leave a voicemail. I liked the idea of someone leaving me a voicemail, if they gave me a hint of who they were, I could decide whether I wanted to ring back.
But after a few minutes ticked by on my phone, no one rang back and no voicemail was left. So instead I decided to ring the number back. Olivia’s attention was on something else—or shall I say, someone else.
“Hello, this is Daniel’s phone. Jason speaking,” someone with a rather lovely deep voice said on the other end of the phone. I didn’t recognise any of the names; I didn’t know a Daniel or a Jason, nor did I recognise the voice.
“Err, hi, I just got a miss call on this number?”
“Ah, yes. Dan did look a little flustered while trying to ring you. Let me find him,” the deep male voice said. I said a qiuck thank you but I got interrupted when I heard the same deep male voice yell in the background; “Oi, you cunt, you have one of your bimbos on the phone asking for you!”
My face dropped and I hung up quickly. Clearly not someone I wanted to know anyway. I silently hoped neither of them rang me again. Annoyingly, Olivia hadn’t even noticed what had happened.
~~~
Don’t forget to like, reblog, share, comment and/or follow! I also recently had my hair cut off for charity! Read about it here!
For those of you who know, it was recently my 31st birthday!
I remember for a friend’s birthday one year, in true Alex tradition, we had the discussion of where birthday cakes came from (although I cannot remember the details), and wondering over other birthday traditions.
Since my birthday was recently and I was deliberating options of a blog post, I thought it fitting to talk about where the celebration of birthdays came from
So I did a little bit of research.
Birthday celebrations isn’t Christian!
… In fact, the Church considered celebrating birthdays evil!
Forgive me if this is inaccurate, as I am by no means well versed when it comes to the bible. But I happened across an interesting article [1].
In the bible there are a few mentions of celebrating birthdays. In the book of Genesis, the Old Testament, the first mention was of a Pharaoh, the Egyptian king. It is said that God told Joseph in a dream, that the Pharaoh’s butler and baker would lose his life. Three days later, on the Pharaoh’s own birthday party, the Pharaoh hanged his baker at the party.
The second account, this time in the New Testament, Herod the tetrarch made a promise at his birthday party which he did not want to keep, this resulted John the Baptist loosing his life.
The third and final account is found in the book of Job. Job’s seven sons “went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with them”. During the birthday party of Job’s oldest son, God allowed Satan to kill all ten of Job’s children with a tornado.
The article then continues to discuss that Job spent his time cursing his birth, the author says “his words make plain that there is nothing good about the day of a man’s birth”.
What is interesting is that these were interpreted by the writer in the article from the bible, s/he continued to explain “the central lesson of each of these accounts” and that those familiar with the accounts “ignore Job’s comments”.
Of course, this is just a single article, writen by a single human person on a website, a clearly religious and devote Christian and is just his/her interpretation of what is in the bible.
In fact, another website [2] explains that there is no hint that it was wrong for the Pharaoh or Herod to celebrate their birthdays, not does Scripture discourage Christians from celebrating birthdays.
But it is said that birthday’s weren’t celebrated by Christians until the 4th century. This was because birthdays were tied to “pagan” gods, and due to the belif that humans were born with “original sin”. [3]
Of course, it’s possible Christians changed their minds about celebration and began celebrating the birth of Jesus (hello, Christmas!) and let’s not even get into the idea that the Church may have done this to cover up the Pagan celebration of Saturnalia.
So, when did celebrating a birthday first start?
Actually, I’ve technically already answered that question.
The first mention of a celebration of a birthday was in the bible! The Pharaoh’s birthday! Around 3,000 B.C.E (before common era).
But, it’s interesting to note here, that this birthday was not the birth of a man, but birth of a god. In Egypt, when a man was made Pharaoh, it was believed that he was reborn a god. And of course, what is more important than a man’s birthday but a god’s birthday? It’s therefore possible this reference to the Pharaoh’s birthday was actually his coronation.
Where did birthday cake come from?
Celebrating birthdays with cake was first found in Germany in the 15th century. Typically single layer cakes and typically for first birthdays, called Kinderfesten.
The birthday cake would have a candle for each year they’d been alive, and an extra one (usually in the centre of the cake) to symbolize the hope of living for at least one more year. A wish would also be made upon blowing the candles out.
Using candles on cakes, however, didn’t begin in Germany, this tradition dates back to ancient Greece, where they represented the goddess of the moon, the hunt and chastity; Artemis. The round cakes were a symbol of the moon with the candles a symbol of light.
The first birthday gift
Much like the first birthday celebration, the tradition of gift giving on a birthday is hard to trace back, and there are a few theories on where it originated from.
Of course, us humans have been avid gift givers for many many years, you could probably go back as far as the cavemen! But since there was no calendar back then, you couldn’t say this was for birthdays!
One theory is that the first birthday gift exchanges were seen in the first century AD with the Romans, “showering the emperor with gifts”.
Another theory is that birthday gift giving originated in Europe (although I’m unsure what time period). People believed evil spirits haunt a person on their birthday, and the way to ward them off was to present them with gifts (gifts were symbolic tools).
And of course, many Christians believed birthday gift giving began with Jesus Christ, the three wise men offering frankincense, gold and myrrh to Jesus when he was born (which can also be linked to celebrating and gift-giving at Christmas!)
Birthday Traditions across the globe
One thing that has interested me, as I know many people across the globe, including my brother’s girlfriend who is Thai, is that birthday celebrations are different in many different countries.
My brother’s girlfriend, for example, doesn’t typically receive gifts for her birthday (although she got a little something from Scotland from myself and my parents!) but she does celebrate the day.
Typical birthday here in the UK
Here in the UK – at least from my own experience – children are given gifts of toys, books, chocolates, sweets, sometimes clothes and other foods as birthday presents. They might have a day out to celebrate their birthdays or a birthday party at home or at a venue with family and/or friends.
As we get older, not much changes, although many people aren’t so bothered about celebrating lavishingly. Usually the 16th, 18ths, 21st are big birthdays. Including any new decades such as 30th, 40th, etc.
Smashing cakes and sweet sixteens in the US
In the United States, it’s similar to the UK, although they do a few things differently. One such difference is the sweet sixteen birthday party, originally a party to celebrate a girl’s coming of age. Although sometimes a young boy can celebrate. These birthday parties can range from the smaller quieter ones to the large one with DJs, make-up, expensive gowns and ballrooms.
Smashing cakes is also a typically US tradition, where extra cakes are baked specifically for children to destroy.
Candy filled Pinata in Mexico
Another common one is hitting a pinata (usually a colourful horse shape made out of papier-mache) filled with candy and small toys. Originating from Mexico, the birthday boy or girl hit the pinata blindfolded with a stick. I’ve seen this celebrated in the US at times too.
A country-celebrated birthday in Vietnam
In Vietnam, they do things very differently. Rather than each individual celebrating their birthday on the day they were born, the country has a day called ‘Tet’. This day allows the country to celebrate their birthday on one day, regardless of their actual birth date, they add one year to their age. Children typically get a red envelope containing “lucky money” (li xi) by their parents on the morning of Tet. What’s more, Tet is also Vietnam’s New Year.
Strange scare and pie in Switzerland
I certainly wouldn’t want to visit Switzerland for my birthday, as parents will hire an evil looking clown to scare the birthday boy or girl. After a day of stalking and tormenting, sometimes for a few days, the clown will put a pie in their faces. Supposedly all this is meant to bring health and happiness!
Reverse gift giving and bad luck in Russia
In Russia, rather than the birthday boy or girl getting gifts, it’s a tradition that they instead are the ones to give the gifts. It’s also seen as bad luck to celebrate their birthday before the birth date, it’s thought that you are most weakened and vulnerable on the eve of your birthday.
Long noodles in China
A chinese tradition for a birthday person is to eat a plate of long noodles, they are meant to symbolize longevity; the more you are able to slurp into your mouth before biting the longer you are thought to live.
There are many others, from ambushing celebrators with butter on their noses in Canada, to upside-down birthday bumps in Ireland. Each country certainly celebrates differently!
I know I have a few places I’d like to go to on my birthday now (and a particular day, in the case of Vietnam) and at least the one place to avoid (Sorry Switzerland!)
The Queen has two birthdays!
Her Majest Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland (and other commonwealth realms), has two birthdays!
One birthday, April the 21st, is the Queens real birthday, usually celebrated by a series of gun salutes around London (Hyde Park, Windsor Great Park and the Tower of London!) but other than this, it is mostly celebrated privately.
Her other birthday, her “official birthday”, usually the first Saturday in June, is also on ‘Trooping the Colour’, this is a large birthday celebration, where the Queen and other members of the Royal Family parade through London on horseback and carriages. The display closes with a fly-past organised by the RAF, watched from the Buckingham Palace balcony.
It’s not just Queen Elizabeth II either, it’s a tradition by many British monarchs, originally started by King George II in 1748, who had the misfortune of being born in November (I feel you King George!). Rather than having his subjects risk getting ill, he combined his birthday celebration with the Trooping the Colour.
How did I celebrate my birthday?
This year I celebrated my birthday with my mother in Edinburgh.
My parents bought a night stay in a hotel for myself and my mother, so on the Friday we travelled into Edinburgh (I actually had a job interview that day in Edinburgh, killing two birds with one stone, as they say) had a lovely meal in a Thai restaurant in the city in the evening, went back to the hotel for a drink in the bar and had something for desert (not many options in a Thai restaurant!). The next day my mother and I were up, went for breakfast, did a little bit of shopping along Princes Street, walked up to the castle along the Royal Mile, back down and found a pub called “The World’s End” and had “The World’s End” bitter, before heading to Marks and Spencers for something for dinner (and to-go lunch) before heading to Waverly station to get the train home.
All photos Copyrighted to Alex Damion.
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Finley stared into the darkness of the van, trying to concentrate on the noises she could hear. She listened to the hum of the engine, the tires rolling along the tarmac, the occasional squeak from the van’s suspension, the traffic noise outside which she unfortunately couldn’t see and the sound of the pedestrian crossings after the van had come to a stop at a set of lights. It was an attempt to ground herself, to overcome her fears and to slow her beating heart, but it wasn’t really working. There might have been noises outside, even the occasional noise inside from one of her colleagues giving a cough, but they were unsettling her even more. The silence inside the van was eating away at the inside of her head, the world outside was going about its daily business not knowing the potential storm that may eventually hit them.
She had started to consider the option of bolting for the van door to her right, deciding that she wasn’t cut out for the job after all. But she had a feeling Director General Ryan wouldn’t even let her get that far. She wouldn’t put it past him shooting her right in the face to contain her.
“As you may already be aware by now,” started Captain Stroud, his accent a deep Scottish from within the dark confined space of the van. “This is not a drill.”
Finley could feel the ripple of silent panic within the metal cage. The van had come to a stop, possibly at a set of traffic lights, she wasn’t sure. She was glad for Captain Stroud to break the silence but was also dreading what would come.
“This is a Code 139,” he continued. Someone let out a small gasp somewhere in the van, she wasn’t sure who it was, and neither would Captain Stroud and the Director General, but she knew they wouldn’t be happy.
“This is indeed the real thing!” beamed a voice next to her; the Director General had started to take over, a hint of annoyance in his voice. “This is…” he paused as the van lurched forwards again, a rather unfortunate time to move. “This is what you are trained to do!” If it was even humanly possible for it get even more nervously silent in the van, it had. “We are headed to a site of a possible Code 139. We do not know how many we may face or what type. But this is why we have drills! Remember the Rules!”
There was silence in the van again, the silence that Finley now welcomed more than the Director General speaking.
“Is that clear!?” The Director General made Finley and the man sat next to her jump.
“Yes, sir!” everyone spoke in unison.
“Just like every Code 139 drill, the mission is to secure the site,” continued Director General Ryan. “The road has been cordoned off by police, both civilians and the police have been told it’s a gas leak. No one except us are allowed in or out. The shops and flats above have been evacuated. It is my responsibility and my responsibility alone to close it, you all will sweep the area. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir!” everyone said with a little more confidence.
Finley wasn’t sure what she was expecting after that little speech, words of encouragement maybe, but the sudden silence afterwards felt even worse than before. She resisted the urge to speak out or hum to fill the silence. She instead went over the Rules in her head and mentally recalling every item that was on her person.
***
A black unmarked van stopped outside an old building. A building that appeared to have been boarded up and unused for years. The sign that ran the length of the front door read ‘Rose Garden Sanatorium’.
The group hidden inside filed out of the back of the van one by one. Director General Duncan Ryan was first out of the van, who looked up at the building while waiting for his team, followed by his Captain. Each of them dug into their utility pouches to dig out a small air-tight plastic box, took out a pair of two specially designed ear-plugs and put them in their ears.
The front of the Sanatorium sported a very Victorian style front; with its large front arched door and large arched windows boarded up, the exterior mainly a red mason brick, the window frames painted white, parts of them were falling apart due to the years of neglect, ivy climbed up the side of the building, right next to where there was a black mesh fence that hid the back garden from the street and snaked its way up until it hit the moss covered slate tiled roof.
Officer Finley had read about this Sanatorium in old secret government files. It was a typical Sanatorium really, but with a bit of a dark history. A dark history that resulted in its early demise. Most derelict buildings gave her the creeps, but this one in particular raised the hairs on the back of her neck. Standing in front of the Rose Garden Sanatorium now, seeing it in person, she felt an unusual disgust for the old abandoned building. It might just look like an ordinary building, with an unfortunate history, but it was the current situation that made her nervous.
She looked back at her superior and noticed he was just standing outside looking like he was composing and preparing himself for what may lie on the other side.
…The Gunpowder Treason and Plot, I know of no reason, Why the Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent To blow up the King and Parli’ment. Three-score barrels of powder below, Poor old England to overthrow; By God’s providence he was catch’d With a dark lantern and burning match. Holla boys, Holla boys, let the bells ring. Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King! And what should we do with him? Burn him!
I’ll keep this blog post short, so in order to get it published on the actual day (5th of November), so unfortunately I won’t be delving too deeply into this one. The majority of this, most people will know, at least those from the UK.
In 1605, Guy Fawkes, a member of the English Roman Catholics, and a group of others, conspired to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
The reason for this ‘plot’ was because a few years ago, Queen Elizabeth I, who had recently died, wasn’t very tolerant of the Catholic religion. And it was hoped the new King; King James I, would be.
Apparently not.
So, Guy Fawkes and 12 others, proposed the ‘Gunpowder Plot’.
The plan started with renting lodging close to the Houses of Paliament, in the hope to tunnel through to the buildings. But due to the thick walls (because, of course, the River Thames was so close) this wasn’t possible.
But the men were somehow able to acquire a cellar within the Houses of Parliament and they smuggled, over time, 36 barrels of gunpowder.
The gunpowder was to be ignited by a long fuse, which would be lit by Guy Fawkes.
The plot was discovered by an anonymous letter sent to Lord Montague, a House of Lords at the time. This letter was only meant to save the Lord himself.
However, on the 5th of November, Guy Fawkes was found in the cellar, along with the 36 barrels of gunpowder and equipment to light them and arrested.
Unforutnately for Mr Fawkes, he was tortured and hanged a few years later.
Over 400 years later this little piece of history is still remembered. Many people in the UK, residents and large event organisers let off fireworks to celebrate this day.
So, I logged into my Word Press account today with the intention of writing a post, seeing as my last post was Halloween, I figured I ought to write another one!
But I logged in and realised it’s my 3 year anniversary on Word Press today! Yay!
I much apologise for the lack of posts, if you have been following me on Word Press and/or on my social media sites, you’ll know I am completing a Master’s Degree and it is extremely demanding. That, and I finally have a social life again… it’s difficult to keep up with anything writing related. Although I have promised myself to get Rose Garden Sanatorium finished this year! Might even do a bit of editing today.
So? What’s new? Other than the string of reports I have to write for this Master’s Degree, I have managed to sell a few copies of my currently published books (in e-book format on Smashwords). Both were ‘accidentally’ put up for free on Smashwords, it was supposed to be a New Year sale, but on Smashwords, they were free… although I think on the other sites Smashwords put them up for sale, they weren’t free, so I did get a bit of money from the sales. I let it run anyway, as it’s nice to get some more readers and hopefully some new reviews!
I know this is a bit of old news, so those of you who follow me on my other platforms might have already known this… but I haven’t had the chance to write a blog post until now! (University has been really challenging the past few weeks, but luckily I have three weeks off now!)
Anyway… so, about a week ago I got a message on WattPad to say I won an award!
I won Number ONE in the Earnesty Writer’s Awards (best in the Paranormal Genre!)
(This is the sticker they gave me)
I am super chuffed! They even asked me for an interview! I’m keeping my eyes open for it, but it doesn’t look like it’s been published yet! (Unless I’ve missed it, being so busy… which is more than likely!)
I’m now off to finish editing it so I can publish it in paperback! 😀
The Girl Who Whispered 