In 1992, IRA bombs in Omagh kills 7 and injures more, the Queen commemorates her Ruby Jubilee, the Duke and Duchess of York (Andy & Fergie) separate, the Conservative party are re-elected for the fourth consecutive term, the IRA detonate two bombs in central London killing 3 people, the first female Speaker of the House of Commons is elected- Betty Boothroyd, the Olympics takes place in Barcelona, two IRA bombs explode in London, but no one is injured, the government closes a third of all mines, the IRA force a taxi driver to drive to Downing Street where they detonate a bomb- again no one is hurt, the Church of England vote to allow women to become priests, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle causing over £50 million worth of damage, another IRA bomb is detonated in Manchester city centre causing millions of pounds of damage and injuring 65 people, Prince Charles and Diana separate, 4 people are injured by an IRA bomb on Oxford St, London, Euro Disney opens in France, rioting breaks out across Los Angeles following the acquittal of four white police officers accused of beating Rodney King, Mike Tyson is convicted of rape and the Maastricht Treaty is signed founding the European Union…
Thefilms Reservoir Dogs and Basic Instinct are released and I turn sweet sixteen.
I loved 1992. In 1992 I did my GCSEs, left school and started at Henley College where I did my A-Levels, met Stephen and went to my first ever Glastonbury festival (the first of muddy many). At Glastonbury, I saw Shakespear’s Sister, Blur, Joan Armatrading, Primal Scream (you can read about how that went here) and PJ Harvey (and many, many others). I ended 1992 by attending a Blur gig and gate crashing their afterparty in a recording studio. 1992 marked the start of my regular and slightly obsessive attendance of gigs around London. Brixton Academy, the Town & Country club (later the Forum) and the Astoria were all regular haunts of mine. Here, in no particular order are my favourite songs from 1992.
1.People Everyday by Arrested Development
2. Hit by the Sugarcubes (this will not be the only time Queen Bjork features in these playlists)
3. Finally by CeCe Peniston
4. End of the Road by Boyz II Men (Mate, I loved a bit of Boyz II Men back in the day and I’m here all day, everyday for the Barry White-esq sexy talk bit in the middle of this song).
5. Motorcycle Emptiness by Manic Street Preachers
6. Friday I’m in Love by the Cure
Robert Smith’s 1992 hair game was strong
7. Pretend We’re Dead by L7 (thought I’d add the video of L7’s infamous 1992 appearance on the brilliant/awful The Word. Anyone around my age and from the UK will remember watching this programme half-cut on a Friday after the pubs closed)
8. Stay by Shakespear’s Sister
9. Creep by Radiohead
Aah look at baby Radiohead
10. Winter by Tori Amos
My favourite song from this lot is Tori Amos. That song is just stunning and I still have to stop what I’m doing and just listen whenever I hear it now. Sooooooo, which one of these gems is your favourite? Please someone say Boyz II Men…
See you next week for 1993!
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Becoming a grandfather is fairly easy, one just needs to have a child and for that child to also have a child. Lots of men become grandfathers, but becoming one is not the achievement that a man should be recognised for. No, being a good grandfather, is what a man should be commended on.
What qualifies a man as a good grandfather? Sure, being able to turn a blind eye when your grandchild has pilfered yet another Fox’s Glacier Mint from your tin that you kept hidden away, is definitely an essential quality, but making your grandchild feel your unconditional love is, as the kids say these days, “the one.”
So let me tell you about my maternal grandfather. He was the only grandfather that I ever knew and luckily for me, he did an astounding job at it.
My grandad (as I called him) was born and brought up in Berkshire (a British county just west of London). One of five brothers, he left school and became a milkman in Reading.
He always looked back on his time as a milkman with great fondness as he stopped and chatted with each family on his round as he delivered their milk. Grandad would also stop and have a quick game of football with the kids out on the street and would be offered numerous cups of tea on his way round all the houses. It was a sociable job for my grandad and he was a very sociable person.
Eventually though, he changed career and became a farmer. He was given a lovely house to live in with a huge garden as part of his wage and this became the family home that my mother was brought up in and I spent so much time growing up in.
The Tractor Driver
Now, I have numerous favourite memories of my grandad, but his job as a farmer leads me to my first one. Do you have any idea how cool it was as a kid to have a grandad that drove a tractor? Unless, he was a spaceman it basically could not have been cooler. When my brother and I stayed with my grandparents over the summer holidays, every day at the same time my grandad purposely drove past the front of the house. My brother and I would excitedly run down the garden path waving and shouting at him as he casually chugged past in his huge tractor, waving and grinning back at us. It was truly the highlight of the day. My grandad, the tractor driver.
An Ox with a Missing Digit
My next favourite memory of my grandad was his missing finger. You see my grandad was a tough man. A gentle softie one minute, making children giggle and joyfully playing with kittens, and a hardy man who wouldn’t be defeated easily the next. He lost his finger in a chainsaw accident and he was left with a kind of useless lump where his finger should’ve been. As a child, I was fascinated by it. It never freaked me out or disturbed me. After all, it was just my grandad’s missing finger. He didn’t let a little thing like a missing finger get in his way. He carried on farming, doing DIY, gardening and driving like a missing finger was as inconvenient as a mere paper cut.
My grandad also survived a broken hip, a heart attack, a triple bypass, bronchitis, a car accident and lived into his nineties. When he had a health check in the last year of his life, the doctor said that, amazingly, his internal organs were in perfect working order. He could see him living on for years to come.
Once, when my family all ate the same meal together and every single member of the family, bar one, came down with bad food poisoning the next day, can you guess which sole member wasn’t affected? As if eating undercooked chicken would derail a sturdy man like my grandad. The man was built like an ox.
Don’t Mouse Around
My next memory explores somewhat, how my grandad was not a man to be messed with. One day, my brother and I were playing in my grandparents’ garden. Their garden was surrounded by the fields that my grandad farmed on, so as you can imagine their garden would sometimes have some unwanted visitors. On this occasion, a cute little field mouse appeared. His little beady eyes looked at my brother and I as he scuttered around the garden, his little tail waving about behind him. My brother and I were quite excited by this discovery of a field mouse. We ran inside shouting at the tops of our voices, “GRANNY, GRANDAD, THERE’S A LITTLE MOUSE IN THE GARDEN.”
Unfortunately, for this cute little mouse, it was the part of the garden near the kitchen. “Right,” my grandad said, “he won’t be there for much longer.” And with that my grandad reached for his shotgun and went marching outside like a man on a mission. I don’t remember hearing the shot, but I know it happened. I think I somehow blocked that bit out. But, I learnt not to mention to my grandad if we ever saw any other unwanted guests in the garden again.
A Gentle Man
That said, he was a gentle man. He loved children. I think he preferred the company of children to adults sometimes. At my paternal grandmother’s funeral, he spent the whole of the wake keeping all the children entertained and making them laugh so all the adults could relax. I remember being in awe of him. At this point in my life, he was my only grandparent. I was so proud that this man who had a natural gift with children was my grandfather. I realised at this moment that seemingly one of my grandad’s favourite things to do was to make children laugh, which he did with such ease.
Despite the incident with the field mouse, he loved animals, too. Animals seemed to gravitate towards him. Our unsociable cat would curl up next to my grandad as soon as he arrived at our house and sat down. He then wouldn’t move until my grandad left. Most dogs would instantly become his best friends too. And he also knew how to talk to horses. He was at one with animals and always seemed to take great joy in their company. This is something I am so grateful to have inherited from him.
Can I also just mention the time we were playing boules in my parents’ garden? After the game, I caught my grandad (who I have already mentioned liked playing football in his youth), flawlessly chipping one of the heavy boules over his shoulder. I should also probably mention that he was well into his eighties at that point.
For the last ten years or so of his life he suffered from Alzheimer’s (the cruelest possible disease that can seriously go fuck itself). What was even crueller was my grandad’s tenacious longevity. By the time he died, he didn’t know who anyone was. I imagine he probably didn’t even know who he was.
Before he went into a care home, I visited him in the family home one last time with my mother. He was quite ill at this point, but he still vaguely knew who I was. As my mother went into the kitchen to make some tea, he had a moment of clarity.
“In life, Hayley, you have to remember two things,” he started. “Always do the right thing and don’t pay any mind to what people think of you. If you always do those two things, you’ll do all right in life.” He then went back to being silent and just staring. I was astounded, but it was and probably will always be the best piece of advice I have ever been given.
As we left my grandad’s house that night it was dark, but my mum pointed across the fields. She was showing me the line of planes all queuing up to land at Heathrow. The whole time I had been regularly visiting this house over all those years, I had never noticed the constant queue of planes waiting to land.
It would be a small moment to many, but to me it was significant. My grandad, ill and now so small, was coming towards the end of his life. I stood at my grandad’s home, somewhere I’d spent so much of childhood, and, close by, something so much bigger was happening every day, all day. The juxtaposition was discernible. The eeriness was that they weren’t so close that you could hear them. No, it was the silence of this magnificent operation occurring in suspension that for some reason made me even sadder to leave my grandad there that night. My grandad’s life was winding down whilst the world still turned. I think I knew somehow it was the last time I’d be in that family home.
Saying Goodbye
Which leads me onto the last time I saw him. I was visiting him in the residential care home that he now lived in. Before we got there my mum warned me that he was quite poorly now, that he just wasn’t himself and that I shouldn’t be alarmed by how he was. Apparently, nobody could ever get much of a response from him. As I walked into his room, I had prepared myself for the worst. However, upon entering he looked up at me and smiled. He had no idea who I was, but seemed to be pleased to see me nonetheless.
We took him out for a walk in his wheelchair. After spending a bit of time with him we dropped him off in the music room where a music class was about to start. “Oh,” he said to me. “Are you going? Give us a hug then.” We hugged for a long time.
As I started to walk off, I looked back at him and saw that he was waving and grinning at me, just like how he did when he used to drive past the family home in his tractor when I was a child. For a very brief moment, I saw my old grandad again. He was still waving and grinning at me. As we walked to the car, my mum said she couldn’t believe how bright he’d seemed and how she hadn’t seen him like that for a long time. I knew then I wouldn’t see him again. I almost didn’t want to see him again as I wanted that to be my lasting memory of him. And it was.
A Grandad’s Grandest Legacy
At my brother’s wedding, some ten years before my grandad died and before the Alzheimer’s had really kicked in, I was saying goodbye to my grandad at the end of the evening. He gave me such a long squeeze. As we broke away he had the biggest grin on his face and his eyes were almost full of tears. They weren’t sad tears. I knew they were happy tears of pride. Without saying a single word, I knew how much my grandad loved me. Words are meaningless most of the time. It’s the actions of a person and the way a person looks at you that gives meaning. I always felt nothing but love and warmth from my grandad.
In short, my grandad was everything a grandad should be: loving, warm, and so much fun.
He left behind three children, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. He may have felt like the lucky one, but in fact it was us that were the lucky ones.
The photo at the top of the page is of my Grandad in 2010 with my daughter. She is the youngest of his great-grandchildren and as he died in 2013, this meant he got to meet all of his great-grandchildren. You can also see the lump that was once a finger in the photo too.
This post was originally posted on the You Are Awesome website on 28th September 2017.
In 1991, 27 people die in gale-force winds across the UK, a train crash at Cannon Street, London injures over 500 people and kills one, the Gulf War begins, the PIRA (provisional IRA) attacked 10 Downing Street and blew all the windows in of the cabinet room during a session at the War Cabinet, the IRA detonates bombs at both Paddington and Victoria stations, John McCarthy a British journalist who had been held captive for 5 years in Lebanon is free, rioting breaks out across the country, business tycoon Robert Maxwell is found dead, two IRA bombers die in St. Albans when a bomb detonates prematurely, Terry Waite a British hostage held for 4 and a half years is freed, Freddie Mercury announces he has AIDS and sadly dies the next day, USSR is dissolved and many countries gain independence, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated, apartheid is dismantled in South Africa, Slovenia and Croatia declare independence from Yugoslavia, police are captured on video beating Rodney King, the internet is now made available for commercial use and the films Boyz in the Hood, Thelma and Louise and Silence of the Lambsare released. I turn 15 years old.
From here on in, watch me delve into the British alternative music scene, but never fear there will always be plenty of pop and American tunes thrown into the mix too. So, here in no particular order, are my top ten tunes from 1991.
1. There’s No Other Way by Blur
2. Gett Off by Prince
3. I Touch Myself by The Divinyls
Clearly playing a particularly tricky game of Twister
4. The Size of a Cow by the Wonder Stuff
5. Dress by PJ Harvey
6. Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana
7. Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack
8. The Whole of the Moon by the Waterboys (originally released in 1985, it was only when it was re-issued in 1991 that it became a big hit)
9. Sit Down by James (I had to include this. My first ever gig was James at the Oxford Apollo in 1991)
10. Losing My Religion by REM
REM are a close second, but it’s the lads- Nirvana that are a clear winner this week.
So, gang…….which is your favourite?
See you next week for 1992!
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***Please be aware this is a book club discussion, so there is the possibility that my review or the comments left by others will contain spoilers***
Hold Back the Stars
by
Katie Khan
Synopsis
Imagine that you only have 90 minutes of life left and you’re spending that time with the love of your life. Oh and minor detail, you’re floating in space in space suits. Hold Back the Stars is a love story set in an utopian future and sees two lovers deliberating over the ultimate sacrifice.
My Review
This book is an excellent debut from author Katie Khan. The story line is incredibly original and I enjoyed that it was set in the future. I thought it was refreshing that Khan wrote the future as utopian rather than dystopian, but like all societies through history it was not perfect.
I found the technical talk specifically in the first third of the book made me lose my interest at times. It sometimes got a bit too heavy or continued for too long for me personally. So, I would at times find my mind wandering and not realise what I’d just read. However, the book picks up after the initial section and I found myself gripped for the rest of the book.
I thought the non-linear timeline where the book alternated from Carys and Max in space to scenes in the past, but on earth worked really well. It was an excellent way to see how their relationship grew.
Reading about the loss of Carys and Max’s baby was very difficult, but I thought it was sensitively written about. Their reflection on their baby was very moving. I loved this quote about the afterlife:
“The afterlife is what we leave in others”
I also enjoyed their analysis of what utopia truly is, whilst they were floating in space:
“In Greek, Utopia means ‘no place’….a perfect place isn’t a political state or a philosophical movement. It’s this, it’s us”
Hold Back the Stars is a very visual book and it makes sense that the author herself works in the film industry. I found myself imagining the book being turned into a film as I read it and my research tells me that it is indeed going to be film (produced by the same people that produce Stranger Things and Arrival and directed by the director of Riverdale).
Whilst, at first I was slightly confused about how the author was continuing the story in the final section, it eventually made sense. The end scene was incredibly moving and possibly one of the most beautiful and stunning endings for a book that I have ever read.
Often, I don’t like to see the film version of a book that I’ve read, but because of the spectacular visions that you imagine whilst reading this book, I cannot wait to see the film.
This is a very promising debut and I would be very interested to read another novel by the same author.
Questions to Consider
1. In Hold Back the Stars, the author uses dual time lines to tell the story of Max and Carys’s journey to space. In what ways does this enhance the story? Which time line did you feel more connected to?
2. Carys and Max had radically different upbringings from each other. How do their philosophies differ on utopian ideals?
3. In Europia, the individual is prized above all else, yet there is a particular irony in a utopian society valuing individualism. In what ways does Carys see that, and how is Max blinded to it?
4. According to the Couples Rule, romantic couples are not allowed to form until an individual reaches thirty-five. How could this rule benefit our own society? How might it hurt it? How would the rule affect your own life?
5. Max says, “We show our true colors facing the end” (p. 75). Do you agree? Why or why not?
6. As part of a Founding Family, what kind of pressures was Max feeling during his relationship with Carys? Do you think he was justified in feeling the way he did in the beginning?
7. How does the author use details to highlight themes or plot points in each time line? For example, the origin of the crumpled daisy in Carys’s ear does not become evident until after the two time lines converge.
8. Max’s parents essentially excommunicate him after he reveals his relationship with Carys. Can you think of parallel examples in our own society of this kind of familial rejection?
9. Which “ending” seems the most realistic to you? What kind of choice would you have made in the same scenario?
10. How did Carys and Max each cope without the other? What did their coping mechanisms communicate about their personalities?
11. Hold Back the Stars confronts the idea of choice—or lack thereof—and the question of whether true freedom can exist in a utopian society. In what ways were Carys and Max free? How did their concept of freedom change throughout the story?
12. Neither Carys nor Max can live without the other in their respective “endings.” Do you think it’s possible that, for some people, time cannot heal certain wounds?
13. How do you interpret the last chapter of Hold Back the Stars in light of the alternating perspectives of Carys and Max?
14. What were the best examples of strong relationships in Hold Back the Stars? What made them strong? How did Europia foster—or hinder—forming relationships?
15. What do you think it means to do something for the “greater good”? Can a utopian society exist without its citizens striving for a common “greater” cause?
March’s book is Slade House by David Mitchell. I’ll be starting the conversation for this on Tuesday 3rd April.
A list of all the books we’ll be reading for the first half of 2018 can be found here
I’ve finally sorted out my Goodreads page, so as a few people have asked, you can view it here
Here’s my annual collection of favourite outfits from this year’s Oscars.
Best Dressed Women
Jennifer Lawrence
Lupita Nyong’o
Oscar nominated Meryl Streep
Oscar nominated Greta Gerwig
Oscar nominee Mary J Blige
Oscar award winner (for best supporting female actor) Allison Janney. I think Allison looks absolutely stunning and it’s her outfit that is probably my favourite this year.
This dress might divide opinion, but I absolutely love this colour on Viola Davis. I think she looks glorious.
Oscar award nominee Sally Hawkins
Dame Helen Mirren
Whilst I’m not convinced by the shoes, I love the rest of Oscar nominee Dee Rees’s outfit. She was one of several women to go against convention and wear a suit rather than a dress.
Special mention for Rita Moreno who wore the same dress she wore when she won an Oscar back in 1962.
Best Dressed Males
British Oscar nominee Daniel Kaluuya
Armie Hammer
Oscar winner James Ivory
Best dressed couple
Mahershala Ali and Amathus Sami-Karim
Cutest Kid
Maisie Sly from the Oscar winning Best Short film The Silent Child
The What-the-Fuck-is-Going-On-Here Award
Haley Bennett. Great name, terrible dress.
That’s it folks! See you again same time, same place next year.
And don’t forget to tell me, which one outfit is your favourite outfit…
OK brace yourself, the news doesn’t really get any better during this year. In 1990, hurricane force winds kill over 50 people in the UK, the IRA bomb Leicester city injuring 3 people, Princess Eugenie is born, riots opposing the Poll Tax take place across London, four soldiers are killed by an IRA bomb in County Down, riots take place in Strangeway prison which then prompts riots to take place in other prisons across the UK, an army recruit is shot dead and two others are injured by an IRA gunman in Staffordshire, an IRA bomb explodes at the base of the London Stock Exchange building, an IRA car bomb kills a British MP, British hostages in Iraq are paraded on TV, the whole of the UK enters a recession, Margaret Thatcher announces her resignation as Leader of the Conservative party and therefore as Prime Minister- she was the longest serving Prime Minister of the 20th Century, John Major becomes Prime Minister, Channel Tunnel workers from the UK and France meet establishing land connection between the UK and mainland Europe for the first time in 8,000 years, Roald Dahl dies at 74, Tim Berners-Lee publishes his proposal for the World Wide Web, the demolition of the Berlin Wall officially begins and East & West Germany are reunited, a stampede of religious pilgrims in Mecca leaves 1,400people dead, a fire in an illegal social club in New York kills 87 people, an earthquake in the Philippines kills over 1,600 people, Twin Peaks premiers on TV and Nelson Mandela is released from prison (see something good DID happen in 1990). The films Ghost, Misery, Home AloneandGoodfellas are released. I turn 14 years old.
Oh and also, in case you’re all wondering, this is what I looked like in 1990 and I think we can all agree that I was quite the catch:
Can anybody tell me why I couldn’t get a boyfriend in 1990?
So this week, I give you not one, but two female British rappers (yep Brits can rap, a post on British rap is literally brewing as you read this post). Also, our George makes another appearance (as does Madge and our Kylie). The nineties are here and they’re looking mighty fine.
1. Doin’ the Do by Betty Boo
2. Step Back in Time by Kylie Minogue
3. Dub Be Good To Me by Beats International
4. Vogue by Madonna
5. Freedom ’90 by George Michael
6. It’s A Shame (My Sister) by Monie Love
7. Loaded by Primal Scream
8. There She Goes by The La’s
9. Hold On by Wilson Philips
10. Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O’Connor
So, whilst Madge and Beats International are very close runners up, it’s Battersea’s finest Monie Love that is my absolute favourite. I can still do the whole rap word perfectly (this may come as a surprise to you, but despite all of my many, MANY talents- I can’t actually rap). So, pray tell me, which is your 1990 favourite?
See you next week for 1991!
Just Another Blog From a Woman has been nominated for an award. If you enjoy my blog and you have a spare few seconds, would you mind voting for me HERE It’s very simple and there’s no need to register or provide an email address, just vote for Just Another Blog From a Woman under the Best Pal category. Thank you SO much.
Well, this is an unusual post for me. Whilst, I’ve never written a beauty based post before (and this will probably be the only one I do write), I am in fact a tad obsessed with beauty products, specifically skincare products. However, after giving up my career, I have had to scale back on how much I spend on beauty products. So after several years of trial and error and my unhealthy obsession with finding the best cheap beauty products available, here’s a list of all the best affordable buys out there. I strongly believe you can find beauty products cheaply that are as effective as a more expensive product. Did you know the beauty industry deems anything under £25 as budget? I’m more of an under £10 kind of gal, but as everyone’s idea of “budget” varies, I’ve done three categories for each section, products £10 or under, products £20 or under and one pricier treat (because we all deserve a treat sometimes). Apart from a couple examples, I’ve still tried to make the pricier treats fairly affordable. All products can be bought in the UK and some can be bought in the USA too. For information, my skin type is normal to dry.
BEST CLEANSERS (I find hot cloth cleansing is the most effective way of getting your skin sparkling clean. Hot cloth cleansing is where you apply the cleansing product on dry skin and wash off with a face cloth- as hot as your skin can stand. Most of the below products come with cloths or you can just use any ole flannel, which is actually my preference)
£10 or under:
Superdrug Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser (£4.99)
Superdrug Naturally Radiant Hot Cloth Cleanser (£5.99)
Superfacialist Rose Hydrate Cleanser (£7.99)
No.7 Hot Cloth Cleanser (Usually £10, but with the £5 voucher you often receive in store, this is only £5 and lasts forever)
Superdrug Simply Pure Hydrating Night serum (£3.99)
£20 or under:
Body Shop Vitamin E Overnight serum-in-oil (£16.99)
Pricer treat:
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronised Recovery Comlex II (£53- yeah I know)
DAY CREAM WITH SPF
£10 or under:
Simple Regeneration Day Cream Age Resisting SPF15 (£5.99)
Superdrug Naturally Radiant Brightening Day Cream SPF15 (£5.99)
£20 or under:
Body Shop Vitamin C SPF30 (£13)
Superdrug Optimum PhytoDeluxe Day Cream SPF15 (£14.99)
Anew Reversalist Complete SPF25 (£16)
Olay Total Effect SPF15 (£16.99)
Pricer Treat:
Clarins Hydra Quench SPF15 (£34)
DAY CREAM WITHOUT SPF
£10 or under:
The Ordinary Natural Moisturising Factors + HA (£4.90)
£20 or under:
Body Shop Vitamin E Moisturiser (£13)
Face Theory Regenerating Moisturiser (£13.99)
Pricier treat:
Clinique Dramatically Different Lotion £30
NIGHT CREAM
£10 or under:
Superdrug Naturally Radiant Renewing Night Cream (£5.99)
My Trusty Sunflower Oil (£7.99)
Superfacialist Rose Peaceful Skin (£9.99)
£20 or under:
M&S Formula Night Cream
Body Shop Vitamin E (£13)
Weleda Wild Rose Night Cream (£15)
Anew Reversalist Renewal Night Cream (£16)
Anew Reversalist Infinite Effects Night Treatment (£19.95)
Pricier treat:
M&S Formula Absolute Ultimate Sleep Cream (£22)
EYE GEL/CREAM (at night I just use my night cream around my eyes and it’s absolutely fine. I do like to use a gel in the mornings though)
Boots Essentials Eye Gel
£10 or under:
Boots Essentials Cucumber Gel (£1.52)
Body Shop Elderflower Cooling Gel (£7)
Pricer treat:
Clinique All About Eyes (£27)
EXFOLIATING TONER (forget normal toners, they’re the biggest waste of time and money. Just splash your face with cold water instead and use an exfoliating toner twice a week or so before serum)
Origins Original Skin Retexturing Rose Clay Mask (£23)
BODY MOISTURISER
£10 or under:
Garnier Hydralock Moisturing Milk (£5.65)
Neutrogena Deep Moisturing Lotion (£7.65)
Yes to Carrots C Smooth Body Moisturing Lotion (£8)
Body Shop Almond Milk & Honey (£8.50)
No £20 or pricier treat suggestions for body lotions as the ones above are superior to any more expensive ones that I have ever tried.
HAND CREAM
Balance Me Hand Cream
£10 or under:
Dr Organic Bioactive Skincare Manuka Honey (£5.69)
L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream (£8)
£20 or under:
Liz Earle Hand Repair (£10.50)
Balance Me Super Moisturising Hand Cream (£14.50)
Pricier treat:
Aromatherapy Rose Hand Cream (£23)
LIP BALM
£10 or under:
Vaseline Lip Therapy (£1.99)
Vaseline Limited Edition Lip Therapy
Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm (£2.99)
£20 or under:
Lanolips 101 Ointment (£10.99)
Clinique Super Balm (£12)
Clarins Hydra Quench Moisture Lip Balm (£19)
No pricier treat. I think £19 for a lip balm is pricey enough.
SHOWER GEL
£10 or under:
Palmolive Naturals (£1.00)
Dove Silk Body Wash (£2.55)
Yes How to Carrots Nourishing Body Wash (£4.99)
Body Shop Almond Milk & Honey (£5)
Soaper Duper Vanilla Shea or Passion Fruit (£6.50)
Mandala Spa Shower Cream Balti Santi (£7)
£20 or under:
Clarins Tonic Bath & Shower Concentrate (£20)
No pricier treat for shower gels as I just cannot justify spending a lot of money on a shower gel.
BUBBLE BATH
£10 or under:
Radox Original (£1.99)
Waitress Ginger & Clementine (£1.99)
Good Things Manuka Honey (£3.49)
Body Shop Wild Aragon Oil (£8)
£20 or under:
Body Shop Almond Milk & Honey (£12)
Pricier treat:
Mio Liquid Yoga Restorative Bath Soak (£26)
Budget beauty tip:When your products start to feel empty, get your scissors out and cut that baby open. You’ll be surprised how much more product is there dwindling at the bottom of the bottle/tube. I never throw away a beauty product that feels empty without cutting it in half first. You’ll save plenty of pennies doing this.
1989 was a pretty horrific year, Boeing 737 crashes into the M1 killing 44 people, a fatwa (order to kill) is placed on author Salman Rushdie following the publication of his book the Satanic Verses, the IRA bomb army barracks in Shropshire injuring 50 soldiers, Sheffield dock workers go on strike, a pleasure cruiser collides with a barge on the River Thames killing 51 people, Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips separate, the IRA bomb the Royal Marine School of Music in Kent killing 11 people, the Church of England vote to allow the ordination of women, the House of Commons is televised for the first time, George Bush Snr becomes president of the United States, the Berlin Wall comes down, Margaret Thatcher along with George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev hail the end of the Cold War, thousands of students occupy Tiananmen Square protesting for democracy- several hundreds or thousands (final figure never confirmed) are shot dead by the Chinese army and 96 football fans are killed and 766 injured in a crush at the FA cup semi-finals between Nottingham Forrest and Liverpool at Hillsborough stadium.
When Harry Met Sally and Glory were released. I celebrated entering my teenage years (I very much doubt my parents celebrated this though).
Mate, this post was originally going to be a top 15 tunes as I simply couldn’t decide on a final top 10, but at the last minute I decided to be ruthless and have somehow narrowed it down to 10 (sorry Martika but you had to go in the end). So, here in no particular order, is my most tricky year to decide on so far- 1989…
1.Back to Life (However Do You Want Me) by Soul II Soul
2. Ride on Time by Black Box
So this was the Italian model that Black Box pretended was their singer when in fact it was British soul singer Heather Small’s vocals on their records. It was kind of a Milli Vanilli/Phoebe Buffay move.
3. Baby I Don’t Care by Transvision Vamp
4. Poison by Alice Cooper
5. The Best by Tina Turner
6. Sowing the Seeds of Love by Tears for Fears
7. Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses (ok so the below video is not from 1989. Nor is it obviously, Guns N’ Roses, but I just wanted an excuse to play a clip from one of my favourite ever comedy films Step Brothers…“you don’t even look good while you’re singing”).
8. Like a Prayer by Madonna
9. Eternal Flame by the Bangles
10. This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush
Hands down, my favourite year so far, but my favourite of the lot is still an easy choice this week. My second favourite song ever, Like a Prayer wins (my very favourite was in year 1979). So, which one is your favourite from these 1989 songs? And reading the news sections, aren’t you starting to get the feeling that it’s always been a bit rubbish and that it really isn’t just our present times?
Guess what gang? I’ve invented a new board game. It’s called (just in case you didn’t discern this from the title of this post) The School Run Game. Yes, it’s a board game based on getting your little darlings to school on time. The game will come with little mum or dad shaped counters that will smack of existential angst. There’ll also be a dice that you throw to see what fate you and the light of your life will meet during the school run. Now until the game gets the final approval from Hasbro*, I’m sharing below all the fun you can come across during the The School Run Game. With a handy dice, a pen and paper and some dried up raisins for counters you could probably play the game at home right now. Enjoy!
You bark at child until they have their coat on (never done up), shoes on (probably on wrong feet) and hopefully with their school bag. Excellent start (go forward one place)
You leave the house at 8:40am and it’s perfectly dry. Torrential downpour commences at 8:41am & continues until 9:10am when it suddenly becomes perfectly dry and sunny again. (Swear under breath)
See a parent ahead that you can’t be bothered to have a conversation with. You walk really slowly so that you don’t catch up with them (go back one place)
Look behind you and see lots of parents you know well enough to have a conversation with, but notice that they’re all walking really slowly and probably won’t catch up with you (Cry inside)
It’s winter, you’re in the UK, it’s icy, you slip and land on your arse. You sit and cry and seriously consider commando crawling all the way to school (miss a turn)
Your child slips on ice and lands on their arse. You yank them back up, tell them they’re fine and march on regardless. You ain’t going to be late for school again and a little slip on the ice isn’t going to delay you (go forward one space)
A little shit A small child whizzes past you on their scooter, whacking your hand as they do so (which fucking kills) and then they suddenly stop in front of you, causing you to suddenly stop in your tracks and you put your left knee out (go back two places)**
You arrive at the school gates and conveniently there’s an impromptu game of football taking place RIGHT BY THE GATES. The football naturally whacks you on your head, knocks your glasses off and you yell at no one in particular (go back one place)
Inside the school gates, you see a member of the PTA looking hopefully in your direction. You pull a speedy, dodging move that the best rugby players in the word would be in admiration of (go forward two places)
You see your favourite school mum and literally skip towards them for a gossip pleasant chat (go forward three places)
Your child falls and lands in a muddy puddle. The twat. (miss a turn)
Your child has an argument with another child and no one can understand what it’s about. And nobody ever does…(go back one place)
You get caught up in a horde of active wear mums about to go on a group run (go back two places)
Whilst waiting for the school to open, you get stuck with the playground bore describing in minute detail their plans for the day (Cry inside again)
You forgot your child’s pack lunch, you absolute bellend (go back to the start)
Your child for absolutely no explicable reason decides that they don’t want to go to school today and they start crying. Between you and the teacher pushing them into the classroom, you managed it. You’re heartbroken, beaten up, traumatised, but you got your child to school on time whilst keeping them alive. Congratulations. You win.
*Hasbro are actually yet to learn of my brilliant idea
**Feel free to read my further thoughts on fucking scooters here
The first Red Nose Day with Lenny Henry, Jonathan Ross and Griff Rhys Jones
In 1988, the first Red Nose Day occurs, a concert takes place at Wembley Stadium in honour of Nelson Mandela, three gay rights activists invade the BBC studios during the BBC news, new licensing allows British pubs to stay open all day, Princess Beatrice is born, the Olympics take place in Seoul, South Korea, Edwina Currie claims that all British eggs have salmonella, 35 people are killed in the Clapham Junction train crash, Pan Am flight 103 explodes over the town of Lockerbie killing all 259 people on board the flight and 11 people on the ground, several British soldiers are murdered by the IRA, Benazir Bhutto becomes Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first ever female leader of a Muslim country and the film Big was released. Oh and I turn 12 years old.
This week for only the second time, the same artist features twice. Also, you have no idea how hard I had to resist adding our George again this week (with Father Figure), but I figured you might be getting sick of him by now and he is reappearing again in a couple weeks. So, on we go with 1988…
1)I Should Be So Lucky by Kylie Minogue
2) Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry
3) The Only Way is Up by Yazz
4) Crash by the Primitives
5) Orange Crush by R.E.M.
6) China Doll by Julian Cope
7) Twist in My Sobriety by Tanita Tikaram
8) A Little Respect by Erasure
9) Fast Car by Tracy Chapman
10) Especially For You by Kylie & Jason
I can almost smell the 90s from here, it’s fast approaching gang. Now then, Kylie comes a very, very, very, very, VERY close second, but Erasure is my absolute favourite this week. It is one of my all time favourites after all. Please let me know which is your favourite below.
Talk About Pop Music have also done a brilliant extended playlist from 1988 and you can check it out here See you next week for our final week from the 80s- 1989
![[Photo by Sam Jones/AP Photo]](https://justanotherblogfromawoman.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/wilson-phillips.jpg?w=1000)
