For Christmas I treated my to The Enemy by Charlie Higson. It tells the story of a world were all adults have become sick and turned in to stupid crazed children-eating monsters. The disease effecting the adults doesn’t effect children under fourteen. You are quickly absorbed in to this world and meet two groups of children living on the outskirts of London. The first group lives in Waitrose and the second in Morrisons.

You soon discover that when the children go in to the streets scavenging for food that it is unsafe, filled with diseased and disgusting adults looking hungrily at them. There is real fear of danger amongst the children as they are being picked off one by one, weakest first.

As the many children characters are introduced each with their own attributes, skills and personalities you begin to care for them. One night outside of the Waitrose a lone child is being attacked by the adults. The Waitrose group rescue him and he tells them and the Morrison group of a place of safety: Buckingham Palace. The adults start off slow moving, unorganised and stupid meaning the children who are more intelligent and faster moving have the advantage. Although don’t let this fool you as if -or should I say when they get hold of the children they are much stronger and brutal. Some characters discover this for themselves as they meet a bloody end. As you continue to read the story you see the adults starting to get more organised and efficient and one seems to stand out. Is it possible these monsters have a leader?

You join the children as they head out with their destination set for Buckingham Palace. But will they make it? And will it really be safe? And if it is safe – will it what the children expect? The book becomes a page-turner that you are unable to put down as you follow the many twists, turns and surprises. At one point, I simply couldn’t put it down. I finished the 407 page book in two days.

As you finally reach the end you are left with questions as you discover that this book is the first in a series of books. You can buy The Enemy by Charlie Higson on Amazon.

Hope you enjoyed the review,

Antony

Three years ago today I ended up in hospital and was diagnosed with Diabetes, Type 1 insulin dependant. Here is my story (taken from an old version of my website):

Tuesday 30th January 2007

At the weekend mum had sent me a text message to see if I would come and take a look at my sisters laptop that wouldn’t load up. I am the technical support for anything computer related, although can’t always fix the problem. I had felt ill for about two weeks feeling tired and drinking more than I normally would. I told my mum that I would nip down on Tuesday as I had a “study” day from Uni where I am studying to become a Children’s Nurse.

Whilst at mums I was needed a drink every 5 minuets feeling desperately thirsty – like I was in a desert and had not drank for a week. Mum noticed the amount I was drinking and urinating as said that I urgently needed to get it checked it out. I said I would if it continued for a few days.

Dean (step dad) and Mum drove me home as buses are irregular by the time I had got the laptop working. I knew that the local Walk-In-Centre closed in an hour and it was only a 5 minuet walk away, so I decided to go and get it checked out. I thought they would just test me and say that there was nothing wrong. I even said to the nurse that there was probably nothing wrong, but that I just wanted to be checked to be on the safe side.

The Nurse tested my BM which was 22 mmol/l, and told me I needed to go to Accident and Emergency (A&E). I was reluctant to do so as A&E is some distance away from me and because of the disruption to my life it would cause. The Nurse informed me that if my BM was 26 mmol/l I would be in a coma. She insisted I call my mum to take me to A&E, which I did. While mum headed back to pick me up I packed an over night bag (as advised by the Nurse) and rang Uni to let them know.

The day before Kate and I had been to the cinemas and afterwards this desperate thirst had driven me to take the hour walk (there and back) to ASDA to get as much fluids to drink as possible including a 6 pint milk jug and several litres of fruit juices. Thinking back, if I hadn’t decided on a whim to go and get myself checked out I would have gone home and drank those fruit juices, which would of put me in to a coma. I believe I’m very lucky, however my mum believes “it was meant to be.”

Once at A & E:

I am seen by a young, kind looking SHO broke the news that I was likely to have Type 1 Diabetes and that If it was I would need life long insulin. I will always remember his face. He brought me some written information about diabetes. My reaction was a desire for him to be wrong, for it not to be true. I do not want to be a diabetic. However being a student nurse, I knew that it was likely that it was.

I was seen by a Registrar and started on Intravenous Insulin on a Sliding Scale. This caused me to go hypo. My BM was 2 mmol/l, 0 mmol/l and I would have been dead. It felt like I was dieing, like my life was being drained out of me and there was nothing I could do. It started with stomach ache and the shakes and progressed to me going clammy and not being able to move. Thankfully the nurse discontinued the Intravenous Insulin and went to get me a cup of tea with a sugar.

I was moved to a ward at about 02:30am and greeted by a male nurse (just nice to see a fellow male nurse). As you can imagine I didn’t sleep one bit with the noises and unfamiliarity of the environment. The nurse had to come in every 2 hours to do my BM and I was constantly up at the toilet what seemed like every 5 minuets.

Glossary
BM (Blood Measure) is a measurement of gluecose (sugar) levels in the blood. Before eating it should be 4-7 mmol/l. Two hours after eating it should be below 9 mmol/l.
Hypo / Hypoglycaemia is low glucose (sugar) in the blood, on a BM anything below 4 mmol/l is classed as Hypoglycaemia.
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas which allows cells in the body to absorb the glucose.
Intravenous a route of giving drugs/fluids straight in to the vein.
SHO (Senior House Officer) is a middle grade doctor.
Sliding Scale is when a drug is started on a dose and depending upon your bodies reaction the drug is increased or decreased. E.g. if your BM had gone from 14 mmol/l to 20 mmol/l the insulin would be increased.
Registrar is high grade doctor.

I remember when I finally got discharged from hospital, I went home and started running a bath. While the bath was running, I sat on the floor with my knees up to my chest and cried. It was the first time I was really able to express how I felt about my diagnosis. I am of course three years on much more tolerant of my diabetes. So why share the story?

I felt alone when I was diagnosed and that there was no psychological support. So I guess I’ve shared the story to let others who are newly diagnosed this message:

You are not alone. Others have experienced how you currently feel. It gets better with time. You adjust and adapt.

Take care,

Antony

The other night I had the evening planned. ASDA was delivering the larger-than-normal food shop that I had ordered online. The plan was to chillax – wait for the food order, have tea, a bath, do some reading and then an early night. I had previously used Tesco, who had been reliable and friendly. But I thought I’d give ASDA a try.

After two hours of ringing up ASDA’s 0845 helpline to find out where my food was and if/when it would be delivered – still no sign. Eventually I got a call at ten forty to say they had tried to deliver but I wasn’t in. It was quickly established that they had gone to the completely wrong building. In the end, I ended up going to the store (at about ten fifty) to pick up my own food. I made clear that they were not to charge me for delivery as I had picked it up. I explained the inconvenience that it had caused and that I would not be using the service again in future. What was the response? A £10 gift card.

So if your ever having your shopping delivered Don’t bother with ASDA, instead use Tesco.

Rant finished,

Antony

I wanted to echo my friend Mike blog post entitled Boring!

It’s January and works busy. Not much going on apart from plenty reading and watching my Christmas presents (see Haven’t we done well, this year?). I have no doubt that the up and coming next few months have some adventures in store for me (just a feeling I get), so keep checking back for updates. In the mean time I will be writing some more review posts.

Blog soon,

Antony

I recently came across Susan Boulet’s Goddesses Knowledge Cards, I instantly loved them. The artwork was beautiful and on the back of each of the goddess card’s was information about that particular goddess. The artwork was inspirational, so I went in search of other artwork Susan has done and found Animal Spirits Knowledge Cards.

So impressed with this artist’s work that I wanted to know more. So I did some research:

Susan Seddon Boulet, a San Francisco Bay Area artist whose work is widely known, died at her home in Oakland on Monday, April 28, after a long struggle with cancer. She was 55.

Susan Boulet was born in Brazil of English parents who had emigrated there from South Africa. Her early childhood was spent on a large cattle ranch which allowed her great freedom and where she first developed the love of fairy tales and fantasy that would later be revealed in her paintings. She was educated in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janiero, and later in Switzerland. It was here that she began her training as an artist. She came to the United States in 1967, but always retained a great love for the land and people of Brazil.

Susan Boulet’s art has had a profound influence on many people. She was a prolific artist whose themes ranged from portrayals of medieval figures and fantasy characters in her early work to goddesses and shaman figures in more recent images. Working principally in oil pastel, inks and occasionally pencil, she developed a distinctive personal style characterized by the use of color applied in layers from which dream-like forms emerged. Susan Boulet drew her inspiration from a wide variety of sources: mythology and poetry, Jungian psychology and worldwide spiritual traditions, as well as a deep love of animals and the natural world. Underlying her work is a spiritual quality and a universality which strikes a chord in people from many walks of life. Her paintings have been widely reproduced and are held in collections around the world. Published works include Shaman: The Paintings of Susan Seddon Boulet (1989), and The Goddess Paintings (1994), both published by Pomegranate Artbooks in Rohnert Park.

The inspiration that people drew from Susan Boulet’s work was often heightened by their meeting her in person. She loved to be present when her paintings were shown and those who met her, however briefly, were invariably touched by her empathy, gentleness, modesty and charm. Her ability to listen and make personal connections won her innumerable admirers. Indeed, one of her greatest challenges was to balance her artist’s need for solitude with her love of friends. At a recent gathering in her honor a large number of people paid tribute to her generosity, sense of humor and the profound influence her art had exerted upon their lives. Susan Seddon Boulet was married to Larry Boulet who died in 1980. She is survived by a son, Eric, and a brother, Patrick Seddon, of Oakland, California, and her step-mother, Naide Seddon, and a brother, Ernani Seddon, of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
(from: http://www.well.com/~davidu/boulet.html, Last Accessed: 14th November 2009)

I was saddened to read that she has passed away, such a talent gone off this physical plane. I was also disapointed that I was unable to find Gods Knowledge cards and couldn’t create some now that she had passed away.

I loved both of the packs of cards and knew that two of my pagan friends would too. So I bought them for Simon and JL for Yule.

If you want to view more of the truly beautiful and inspirational artwork by Susan Boulet you can google image search her name or click here.

In love and light,

Antony