Happiness & Joy Archives - Page 44 of 64 - Antony Simpson is an Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.

Book Review: Bonkers: My Life in Laughs by Jennifer Saunders

Saturday 15 February 2014 / Antony Simpson / 2 Comments

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Bonkers: My Life in Laughs is Jennifer Saunders’ fabulous autobiography.

Saunders takes us through her childhood as an RAF child to the present day. She shares her obsession with animals (mostly horses, but also dogs & chickens), aimless career and her family life.

Career wise she is completely honest (almost too honest) and gives the impression that she was dragged along for the ride, especially in the early days. She admits that she’s a procrastinator and easily distracted from any form of work (well play that she calls work ha ha).

In Bonkers Saunders often goes off on enjoyable tangents, telling stories and even the occasional mini-rant. For the record, I completely agree with everything she said in her mini-rants.

Saunders light, warm and engaging writers voice made Bonkers a captivating read that I finished a few days after starting. It had the average glossy photo pages, but a few more would have been welcome.

There are some great stories, some of which are told in this interview with Clare Balding (who Saunders completely blames for Bonkers):

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Any fan of Saunders or her work (French & Saunders, Ab Fab, Jam & Jerusalem, Radio) will love Bonkers: My Life in Laughs by Jennifer Saunders which is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

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My Yearly Review

Saturday 28 December 2013 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutesWelcome to my yearly review. 2013 has been a great year; both for me and my creative writing. There’s so much to tell you about my writing that I’ve given My Awesome Year in Words it’s own post on my Writer Website. Here I shall focus on my personal life.

In January I did Something Uncomfortable, which was attending Alex’s Chinese lantern memorial. It was something I had always avoided, and became part of my New Experiences for 2013.

In February I went to a friend’s 50th birthday party and one of my nephew’s 18th birthday party. I undertook my February Photo Challenge.

March came along and I was on TV – Live To The Nation! Although an exciting, uncomfortable and anxiety ridden experience, it was also one of great learning. Educating me in the world of the media. And unbeknown to me at the time, it wasn’t going to be my last excursion into the media world this year. Oh and I got an iPhone 5.

My Birthday Presents - Happy Birthday Cake — My Birthday Presents – Happy Birthday Cake

I did so much in May. I had a great Bank Holiday Weekend. I celebrated my twenty seventh birthday by seeing friends and family; they got me some fab Birthday Presents. I got an extra special birthday present off the wonderful Writer Mel Bossa. I had a Cumbria Adventure. I enjoyed this Get Lucky Cover, as well as the original song by Daft Punk.

In June, Steve came to live with me. We went watching The Rocky Horror Show. It’s a night out that I’ll remember for a very long time. I remembered Something I Forgot Along The Way.

Outside Rivington Castle - Covered In Greenery — Outside Rivington Castle – Covered In Greenery

July was filled with good times. I bought A Flashy New Car – Olly, The Citroen DS3. I attended Pagan Con for the first time and discovered Posh Coffee: The Flavour Collection from Douwe Egberts. I had some time off work and had an adventure in Rivington (see Rivington Adventure: Lever Castle and Rivington Adventure: Ruins & The Picni). I even witnessed A Sensational Sunset.

In August my iMac Hard drive failed and I took it to the Apple Store for repair. Steve and I went watching Up4aMeet? – An Evening of Naked, Gay, Laugh-Out-Loud Comedy. I started reading the Gone Series.

In September I watched Despicable Me 2 and Percy Jackson – Sea of Monsters at the cinemas. I started Reading for Pleasure.

In October Steve and I went watching Wicked at Manchester Palace Theatre. I had a bug, got offered a job which I initially accepted and then later declined. My contract at work got made permanent. I got interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live.

I started regular Reiki treatments at Halsa Healing. Jayne and I went to Castlerigg Stone Circle for Samhain.

My cousin and I saw Stephen Lynch in Manchester in November. I donated to two Homelessness charities.

My Christmas Presents — Presents People Bought Me

In December I bought an iPad, went to Manchester Christmas Market and spent Christmas with family and friends.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Christmas – Over Too Quickly

Thursday 26 December 2013 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Christmas Presents Wrapped — The Presents for Others Wrapped

Christmas snuck up on me this year. Like a cat stalking it’s prey it pounced on me, causing a mad panic to get everything ready in time.

For starters Christmas cards didn’t get written or sent due to a bout of illness. The fibre optic tree was a last minute purchase and while most of the presents were ordered online, I had to dash out to the shops for a few people I’d forgotten about.

I was still wrapping the presents on the week of Christmas. Food wise, I had to go shopping with Steve for our Christmas dinner and arrange what time I had to be at mums for their christmas dinner. The prep. felt completely chaotic and stressful this year.

But Christmas Day came and it was all worth it. It was a wonderful day, starting in the late morning at mum’s watching my two year old nephew open his presents with his dad (Neil – my brother). Seeing and spending precious time with my family is always my favourite part of the day.

Then it was home for my first Christmas dinner with Steve and an exchange of presents. A quick nap followed before heading back to my mums.

Back at my mums, I had my second Christmas dinner with mum and her partner (Ian). Mum and Ian had opened their presents off me earlier and seemed pleased. I opened my presents from them, before heading back home to spend the night reading. Time seemed to speed up and the day flew by; it was over far too quickly for me.

I got lots of great presents this year:

The theme of my presents seemed to be: minions (yay!), chocolate (double-yay!), smellies (tripple-yay!) and stories in the form of books & DVD’s (quadruple-yay!).

Hope you had a great Christmas!

Antony

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Getting Into The Festive Spirit: Manchester Christmas Market

Wednesday 4 December 2013 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Manchester Christmas Market Singing Tree

It’s become a tradition that once a year, around this time, I go to the Manchester Christmas Market for a mooch around and a Bailey’s latte.

At the weekend, my friend and I completed this tradition together. Considering it was the end of November, it was relatively warm and the sun shone brightly – at times blinding our vision.

We arrived about midday and it wasn’t overly crowded (top left photo).

We started at the stalls straight outside of Manchester Victoria Train Station and began to make our way towards St. Ann’s Square and the City Hall Square. Along the way we saw a singing Christmas Tree (top right photo).

The stalls either sold food or gifts. The food choices were very varied from delicacies to more mainstream dishes. Generally most of the food stalls smelt devine.

The gift stalls had some lovely trinkets, some unique and original products (that would make perfect presents for Christmas), but also some over-priced tat.

Manchester Christmas Market Bailey's Coffee

Midway through the markets my friend and I managed to get seats at a coffee stall (above: left hand column), where we were able to enjoy our drinks. I had the Bailey’s latte as always (above: right hand column) while my friend had his Bailey’s white coffee. As we drank we talked, about many different things including: Christmas, our plans for 2014 and tablets (the Kindle & the iPad Air).

As the afternoon got later, going into early evening, the markets got busier and busier. I had expected that it would get quieter as it got later, but I was wrong. It felt like we were sardines (below: left & right). We had a great time, but maybe next year I’ll avoids the crowds by going midweek.

Manchester Christmas Market Giant Santa / Town Hall

Blog soon,

Antony

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