Just a Taste

Fifteen years have past, Since I saw you last. Your twinkle, your smile, Was I in denial?  The demon destroyed you, Nowhere to run to. The poison, destruction, Too late to save you. I hoped, I prayed, If only you stayed, To see what I've made. This is my life, Through trouble and strife. Served a big plateful,  But surprisingly grateful, The good, the bad, I remain so glad. For health and happiness,  I taste no bitterness. Success is the key, Just like you taught me. Thank you äiti, For all you instilled. Look at me now, The dreams I've fulfilled. See what you've paved, It is I that's been saved.

Many young Brits tend to flee the nest at the tender age of eighteen to begin a new chapter at University. This new found freedom can be a shock to the system for many reasons. Mainly because their pile of dirty laundry stops magically working its way into the washing machine and back onto their hangers within a day... But once the penny drops, the liberty of being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want is a glorious realisation. However, after three years of late nights, greasy takeaways, and rarely washed bed linen; the reality for most is the post-University debt forces people back under their parent’s roof. Now don’t get me wrong, being catered for and having hot meals put on the table on a daily basis is the easy life. But when your mother starts hassling you to tidy your room then the cracks begin to show. But for most, there is no choice but to grin and bear your parent’s rules in order to save, save, save. Affordable housing is a hot topic within the political ag

Do ever get those disturbed, flu-filled nights sleeps that make you question your sanity? The ones that submerge you into a realm stuck between that of a horror film and sweaty dark place? Phew, I thought I was the only one. And what a way to wake up at 2am by pouncing up onto my bed in a state of wide eyed panic thinking I was meant to be at work. After I stopped hyperventilating, the penny dropped and I realised the wanky-winter flu had crept up on me and taken its toll. Ill. I am ill. And everyone is going to know about it. In this state, I think it's fair to say that most people want a level of sympathy and obviously think that whatever they have is death knocking at the door. When is reality, it's nothing a few days of tea, toast and plenty of rest can't fix. I still haven't quite worked out what the worst thing about being stuck at home surrounded by a pile of snotty tissues is. Is it a) the vom-inducing daytime tele, b) the downer to having just four chan

R allying across country in the comfort of my car is a given. The effortless motion of pressing a button, waiting for the beep and jumping on in is second nature to me; as it is to most Brits. And we all get to that stage when we start to get bored of our shiny four wheeled toy and decide it’s about time for an upgrade. The biggest decision to be made though, is how much are we willing to spend. Whether we want to splash out on the latest, most popular vehicle or settle for a used one instead. A massive percentage of people will choose the latter option for the simple reason that: a) it’s cheaper, and b) cars depreciate in value very quickly making them a poor investment buy. Yet buying a car is not too dissimilar to playing Russian Roulette. But instead of laying your life on the line, you’re laying the contents of your back-pocket. The element of chance is always present as you can never be sure that ‘what you see is what you get’. And this is exactly what a good friend o

...is what I need now (according to the Foo Fighters). But now that 2010 is drawing to an end this is exactly what is on the forefront of people's minds. Instantly most will probably dwell on the fact they haven't ticked everything off their never-ending bucket list, and the things they have done will probably consist of, errrr, joining the gym and then realising this will be the first thing to go back on the list because they quit after one month... This guilt coincides with the post Christmas blues (I don't always talk about Christmas, promise) as people struggle to zip up their favourite glad-rags that they planned to paint the town red with on NYE. The fact that we, as a human race, feel the need to purge for our sins and promise to ourselves that we endeavour to do better in the new year, poses the question in my mind: Are we our own worst enemy? Unless you're some sordid serial killer whose spent the past year on a major rampage, I'm sure most of us ha

Now that over-commercial Christmas is done and dusted for another year, we’re already being encouraged to reach for the cream eggs in replace of the Christmas cake. We haven’t even had the chance to drown our sorrows/celebrate to the sound of Auld lang syne before we’re planning the next religious holiday.  But how many of us can hand on heart, shout from the roof tops, say that they're an avid Christian? I would argue a small minority. And more importantly, the onus placed on spending a phenomenal amount of money on pointless crap makes me want to tear my hair out. Is there a reason why we don’t go crazy over every Jewish and Muslim holiday as well? Except for the obvious reason that history hasn’t told us too.  But given how multi-cultural we are these days, it doesn’t surprise me if we go down that route just to comply with ‘human rights’. Another Act that gets my goat. Don’t get me wrong, I’m the last person to turn down any excuse to party, but I do try and draw the lin