Desert Island Discs

Hi everyone! Hope you’re not all melting in this heatwave. I am at the office in central London currently, trying to find an alternative route home NOT via the underground… Although, it’s only 2 stops, so it might be fine…

Sorry, now to the point… I am a little bit in love with the Desert Island Discs programme, which I have been listening to on the BBC Sounds app. Both of my grandparents have done one and I thought it would be fun to have a go at finding out what tracks, book and luxury item you would all pick for your desert island stint. I have mine. Wanna hear what they are? Alright, here goes…

My 8 Tracks:

I’m Not In Love by 10CC – This song reminds me of my mum and grandma who shared a love for it when it first came out back in the 70s. When I hear it, I am reminded of a beautiful moment when we were all in a pub in Wales and it started to play on the jukebox. My mum and grandma hugged together and sang along to it. I’ll always remember how it made them feel and how it brought them together as mother and daughter.
Wrapped Around Your Finger by The Police – This song takes me back to being a child, growing up near Southampton, and makes me feel reminiscent and innocent… before the adult crap set in!! Plus it reminds me of my Dad which is always a good thing because he is awesome.
I Feel For You by Chaka Khan (But actually written by the wonderful late Prince) – I have a list of songs which immediately take me back to my childhood when I hear them. This is at the top of that list. I love everything about this song and I love to try and hit the high notes when I sing along!
Making Plans For Nigel by XTC – This is such a strong song. I love it. I never skip it or get tired of hearing it. We used to listen to XTC when we were kids (Are you sensing a theme here with my choices?) and this song was always a standout for me.
Licence To Kill by Gladys Knight – The best Bond theme song ever produced, very closely followed by Goldfinger by the incomparable Shirley Bassey. It’s dramatic, beautifully written and Gladys Knight sings it so passionately. I love singing this one, too, and have been known to mime along to it on a late-night walk home from the station, gestures and all!
Drift Away by Dobie Gray – My wonderful man sang this song at my mum’s birthday party last year, and it was amazing. He smashed it. My dad was accompanying him on bass and my brother on the drums. It was a really emotional moment for me to see my family join together on the stage like that – Three of my five favourite men (The other two being my little male creations).
He Lives In You by Lebo M – Better known as the opening theme tune to Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride! There is nothing I don’t like about this song. Lebo M is an incredible writer and artist, and it made me so happy to hear this song, sung in Zulu, on the new Lion King film soundtrack. You can also hear it in the stage show of The Lion King. I always turn this one up when it comes on, and the boys love it, too.
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen – Because, well, you know. I think everyone will have this song on their list… It appeals to such a range of music lovers! It reminds me of my family at my cousin’s wedding singing it all together, doing the voices and laughing our way through the song. Freddie Mercury is one of my all-time favourite vocalists – I love the drama, the passion and the power of his voice. Other favourites are Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones (I’m not Welsh, I promise!) for the same reasons.

If I had to choose one, I’d choose…

Probably Bohemian Rhapsody because I could sing and headbang to it all alone on the island and nobody can laugh at me!

Along with the bible and the Complete Works of Shakespeare (which I’d love to have anyway), my book choice would be:

If there was such a thing, I’d have the Complete Works of Harlan Coben! But, in lieu of that, I would probably take a massive encyclopedia with illustrations. I love learning facts, so this would be perfect for desert island reading!

And, finally, my luxury item would be:

Nivea Pearly Shine pink lip balm. I never go anywhere without it. Especially if it’s a warm climate.

Now over to you guys! Post your choices in the comments and have fun!

NSG xxx

What has NSG been up to this week?

Parenting

Hello followers! How are you all? I hope you’re having a good week, whether it is raining, windy, sunny, or all of the above.

It has been an interesting week in NSG Towers. Khaya turned a magnificent FOUR on Monday, and we took a rather brilliant trip to Hamley’s on Regent Street in order for him to choose his birthday present. We also promised Nathi an ‘unbirthday present’, which is a tradition in my family. Here are some of the highlights:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We have also been busy seeing family, and making Baba Bear feel comfortable in his London home after being away for over a year.

Mama has been on a bit of a fundraising jolly, having raised over and above my goal for Ovacome through my birthday fundraiser. We now have an active family fundraiser for Comic Relief through JustGiving, which went live this evening. The boys took part in a cake sale at their nursery today, and we will all be tuning in to the Comic Relief live show on BBC1 tomorrow evening.

I was also very moved by the awful Ethiopian Airways plane crash this week. It was, quite frankly, way too close to home. Not only have we used that airline, and possibly that very aircraft, in the past, but my partner told me that he could have been on that flight if he’d decided to stay in Ethiopia a little longer for a work launch. He said that he would have flown any route to get him back to the UK that didn’t cost the earth, which very well may have included flying from Addis Ababa to Nairobi for a connecting flight. I can’t imagine what the families of those poor victims are going through right now. My thoughts are with them.

I have ordered more merchandise for my company, just for me, and have been working on a business plan to find out what I can do next. What kind of journey will this venture take me on? I never saw myself as someone who would need to know anything about business, but perhaps this is what I was meant to do after all.

I am currently halfway through my amazing Start Writing Fiction course, which I signed up for through FutureLearn. It is free, and it is run by the Open University. I am really enjoying it, and am getting lots of interesting and useful guidance for my fiction writing. And, did I mention, IT’S FREE! I urge you to go to their site and see if there is a course for you. I bet there will be. Here you go: https://www.futurelearn.com/.

And now, we are gearing up for our friends at Two Gents’ production of The Importance of Being Earnest at Tara Arts Theatre in Earlsfield, SW18, which closes on Saturday night. If you’re local and fancy a night out, please book your tickets here. It’s a two-hander, both females, and should be a very interesting and entertaining night of theatre!

So, I hope everyone has a great weekend, and please donate anything you can to our Comic Relief fundraiser over on JustGiving. It all goes to the people who need it the most and, as much as I believe that this shouldn’t be how the world is in 2019, every little will help. Thank you, and goodnight.

NSG xxx

PS. I learned a little lesson in reblogging today, and how not to do it. I reposted a lovely post that I had enjoyed by another blogger on WordPress, but hadn’t made it clear enough that it wasn’t my own post… Needless to say, I had a concerned friend contact me by text about it, so immediately took it down again. Huge apologies to the blogger who wrote the original post – I am still learning!

World Book Day

Parenting

I am a book lover, so is my partner. Therefore my children had no choice but to be book lovers themselves! We frequent the marvellous local libraries in our borough and we have a lot of books that we read over and over again. I wanted to use this opportunity to show you all our top five favourites (in alphabetical order, links to purchasing sites when you click on the titles)…

1. BURGLAR BILL by Janet & Allan Ahlberg

One of our favourite books, namely because Mama loves doing the voices of Burglar Bill and Burglar Betty (Got to love a glottal stop, or seventeen!). And we love ‘Boglaboll’. Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s books were really popular when I was a child, and they always seem to get it right. Their stories are timeless, and this is one of the classics for sure.

2. CHARLIE & B by Helen Webster

This book is very special to us. It was written by the mum of a very dear friend, who lives in Johannesburg. It is set in Swaziland, where my partner grew up and where Nathi was born. It reminds us of the wonderful landscape of the country and features some indiginous creatures like porcupines and caracals. It’s funny and gorgeous, and the illustrations by Jess Jardim-Wedenpohl really capture the beauty of Swaziland… and dogs!

3. THE GRUFFALO by Julia Donaldson

Julia Donaldson never gets it wrong. Her stories are so easy to read, so entertaining and imaginative. The Gruffalo will be on many of your top-five lists, I’m sure. It’s a wonderful story with a very brave and courageous, and slightly cocky, protagonist!

4. POO BUM by Stephanie Blake

I think this is my favourite children’s book ever. When I first read it, I howled with laughter. Originally written in French, with the title ‘Caca Boudin’ (which is wonderful, isn’t it), the book follows a young rabbit who can only say ‘Poo Bum’. So, when a wolf wants to eat him, he replies ‘Poo Bum’. He is then subsequently eaten by the wolf, who then becomes poorly and calls the doctor. I won’t spoil the last part of the story because you need to find out for yourselves, but I urge you to find a copy of this book asap.

5. THE TIGER WHO CAME TO TEA by Judith Kerr

A childhood classic for generations and generations. I love this story because the family just seem to be OK about a tiger coming to tea. I admit I have never really understood the underlying message of the story… Is Sophie telling her daddy a story (which would seem plausible given the language of the writing)? Was it a story to cover up the fact that Sophie and her mum had a massive feast and ate everything in the house? Or is it simply a girl’s idea of what it would be like if a tiger did come to tea? Any suggestions welcome, and I’m sorry if I seem dense!

So, these are our top five. What are yours? Do you have any books that you read over and over again, to the point that you don’t actually need to physically read them anymore? I often read ‘Poo Bum’ to Khaya when we didn’t have the book, and I remembered it word-for-word. I also remember being in Cape Town with my partner’s cast mates and asking them all to take turns to read it in their own way. It was very entertaining! I think my partner reads it best. His wolf voice is perfect.

Happy World Book Day to you all, and I hope you have all had fun, not stress, getting your kids ready for the celebrations at school! Let’s all keep our libraries going by regularly visiting and borrowing books. Kindles are great, but you can’t beat a proper book, especially for children.

NSG xxx

Not So Pancake Day

Parenting

Just to be different/edgy/quirky, Pancake Day in the NSG household will be on Ash Wednesday. Mainly because neither of the boys finished their dinner last night, so I wasn’t going to give in and feed them sugar instead, despite their demands and tantrums! Sometimes it is so hard to mention these things to kids, as it completely affects their ability to do anything in the moment once they know something really exciting will happen soon. And, of course, they’re going to prefer a delicious chocolate-filled pancake rather than the (actually-rather-delicious) pie and mash that I made for their dinner.

I make pancakes quite often, thanks to an amazing recipe that I was given a while ago when cereal or porridge just wasn’t cutting it with my firstborn at breakfast time. Here is a link to the recipe I was given: 2-ingredient banana pancakes. In this recipe, they recommend many different options, and I have played around with different additions for ages. I think I have got it down now, and we love to eat them with plain Greek yoghurt and fresh blueberries or strawberries. Here is what I mix together for the pancake batter:

Bananas – Make sure they’re ripe to overripe.
Eggs (large) – Use one egg for every banana you use
Porridge oats (A sprinkle to thicken the batter a bit)
Milk (To thin it out again!) – You just need a splash or two
Cinnamon (Because everything should have cinnamon in it) – A pinch or two, depending on your taste
Raisins – Enough so that each pancake has about 5 or 6 raisins in it

Use a little butter for frying, and keep them small. I usually do about two or three in the pan at the same time. Serve them with the yoghurt and berries, and enjoy! Perhaps this may help one of you when your child refuses to eat their breakfast. If these don’t work, there is a wonderful website with many ideas for new and exciting meals for kids called My Lovely Little Lunchbox. Take a look for yourself.

Wishing everyone a Happy Ash Wednesday, and good luck if you’re giving something up for Lent this year.

NSG xxx