The weather and the rich list – how depressing!

Okay so I know that April is supposed to be the month of showers, but really! Since April started has the rain stopped? In this past week alone it feels like every day has been the same; constant downpours, intermittent drizzle, and dark and depressing skies overhead. Each morning, the weather manages to give you the doldrums before you’ve even had a chance to get your cup of morning coffee! I’d hazard a guess that we’ve been having weather so glum that it could even make the most upbeat of people (i.e. Pollyanna) want to say bah hum bug!

Although, as truly rubbish as the weather has been, I’m sure I’m not the only one that finds it slightly amusing that in March we were all being told that there would have to be water bans because we’d had so little rain throughout the year.

I wonder if Thames Water, or perhaps all those that love their gardens dearly, have been doing rain dances like the Native Americans used to. If so, I do wonder if they could stop now!!! Surely we’ve had sufficient rain for one month, and I’m sure we can expect some more later in the year – probably about the time that Wimbledon starts I would hazard a guess!

On top of a week’s worth of horrific British weather, added to which the weather reports are advising of more rain next week and possible flooding, today they announced the rich list! I find this has put me in an even worse mood than I was in before, and even if you try to avoid seeing it I can still guarantee that it gets talked about on some news report or radio station. So unfortunately it’s about as hard to avoid as the constant rain of the month!

Yet, the subject of the rich list did start me wondering about the idea of luck! Now the word luck seems to create a lot of controversy among different people. Many people who are deeply religious for example do not believe in luck, or if they do they believe that it is a blessing from God. Others however, believe that luck is all part of fate, and the notion that certain people are just destined to be lucky, or wealthy (and on the rich list), or famous, or beautiful etc.

Now regardless as to the origins and people’s belief about the word, and regardless as to whether luck really exists or not. I find that can’t help feeling at times that the only kind of luck you ever get is bad luck. I also tend to find that my luck is weather related.

I can guarantee the day that I’m not running late, I haven’t just blow dried and straightened my hair, and it isn’t p***ing it down with the rain, well then that’s the day that I walk outside just as the bus that I want arrives. However, the day that I am running late, I have just straightened my hair, and it’s bucketing down (also usually a Monday), well then that’s the day that I walk outside just as the bus that I want is pulling away!

I understand that some will say this is just coincidence, or perhaps sods law! Yet you’ve got to wonder if they aren’t all one in the same thing! Coincidence, chance, sods law, probability (oops – I can now hear mathematicians around the world going crazy), luck, fate, etc.

According to Roman mythology, Fortuna was the goddess of fortune and was the personification of luck. Yet she was also said to be the goddess of fate.

Now fate, luck, however you wish to look at it, suggests in some way that we are all dependent on some kind of higher force making opportunities for us. Yet in a strange sort of a way some I believe may find this comforting, except what if your lot in life is not to be fortunate or lucky!

There are also those who want to believe that we make our own luck in life. Yet I’m not entirely sure I buy this notion either, and I refer back to the rich list to which this year Cheryl Cole features on it!!

To me, it seems that some people are just lucky in life (granted Cheryl Cole may not have felt all that lucky when the papers where covered with stories of Ashley Cole’s infidelity and her being kicked of the US X-factor), but some would say she’s also had a lot of luck to become a household name in the first place!

Yet to be fair it’s not just Cheryl Cole, its lots of people. And this started me wondering if the advent of reality television has made it easier to find your good fortune, or make your own luck!

In the past decade our TV’s are filled with reality TV programmes, and the everyday people that go onto these shows seem to go on to fame and fortune! It’s also no longer just about talent as you have the likes of TOWIE and Made in Chelsea, which are really just fly on the wall documentary’s. Yet they have certainly sky-rocketed their casts into the public eye, but was that luck, good fortune, or were they all destined to earn easy money and become household names?

Who knows, but I reckon it would still be nice to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Be the child of someone in the top ten of the rich list, that way you don’t ever need luck, or chance, or good fortune etc. You’ve got mummy or daddy’s Visa or MasterCard at hand instead!

And just for all those thinking that money doesn’t always make you happy, I bet those on this year’s rich list would disagree!

www.nataschaholloway.co.uk

The folly of men – are they nuts or just naïve?

This week I came across two stories that made me laugh, but also made me question the sense of men – in a humorous rather than a judgmental way!

The first story was actually a review on Amazon that has been doing the rounds on e-mail, and facebook, and for very good reason. It’s hilarious.

The review is on the product Veet for men, and the “loose cannon” as he describes himself was just fool enough to ignore the warning labels on the product and apply the cream to his private areas! The consequences of his action were pretty predictable, and whilst I’m sure he regrets his decision I feel fairly certain that all the readers of his review don’t. I also reckon that all the other men out their contemplating the same course of action don’t either, and I bet they’ll now think twice before doing the same thing!

Honestly though, men! It’s not like there weren’t warnings that the product was not suitable for that area, and also you’ve got to wonder why he felt the need to remove all the hair in that general area! Additionally it’s got to be said that this guy didn’t just not read the warning, but he also ignored the general advice given on the back of these sorts of creams that suggest that you test a sample area first.

Regardless of his reasoning or lack of caution, his review has made for excellent amusement for many a bored office worker this week and is to be saluted.

Yet just when you think that the folly of men couldn’t be exemplified any better than this, you come across another example of the age old classic. A man writing something on e-mail, or attaching something to an e-mail that he shouldn’t, and then sending it to probably one of the only few people that shouldn’t be privy to it.

This week’s folly was made by a 28 year old Manhattan resident, who had been keeping a spreadsheet on the twelve women that he’d been dating.  Aside from the obvious first thought, which is why would you do this? The next thought is always why would you attach it onto any e-mail, least of all onto one to a woman who features on the spreadsheet!

His logic is that he’s busy, and twelve women’s attributes and weaknesses are a lot to remember. He could surely just be more ruthless in his dating, and therefore save himself the hassle of having to try to remember twelve different women and all the things that he liked and disliked about each one. Or he could just maybe given the women a better chance of having anything more than just a one or two date “thing” with him.

Yet you’ve got to sort of admire his organisational skills, and I think that it would be hilarious in a competency based interview if he used this as an example of a time when he was able to organise efficiently and deal with competing demands on his time!

Both men have clearly been a little senseless, and as a woman I’ve found both stories brilliant in terms of comedy value. Yet I wonder? Was Loose Cannon nuts or just desperate to be bald, and was Mr Spreadsheet insensitive and stupid or just a little naïve and careless?

I think both can be put down to the folly of men, and you’ve got to wonder how men have managed to rule both the world and the boardroom for so long! Yet I do wonder if they rule the boardroom at the headquarters of Veet? A part of me can’t help imagining a room full of women, laughing and knowing that there would be men out there that would ignore the warnings and apply the cream to their....!

www.nataschaholloway.co.uk

Forget oh what a night in late December back in ’63, and think oh what a week in early April 2012!

Granted this week’s blog title might not be the zippiest that I’ve ever come up with, and it’s certainly not going to win any awards, but quite frankly I’m feeling in a little bit of a daze! This week has to have been one of the most bizarre weeks that I’ve experienced in a very long time, and I’m not even talking personal experiences here. There was the storm on twitter on beauty – I’ll get to that in a second, and then there the man in the Thames ruining the Boat race!!

Okay, so firstly this week’s bizarreness began with Samantha Brick! Now I have to preface my next run of thoughts on this, by saying that that I’m not entirely sure if I’ve missed the intention behind this headline story. Was her initial article a spoof, and if so did the editors at the Daily Mail forget to run it on 1^st April?? Also, did they forget that spoofs are supposed to be in some way amusing?? Brick’s article was more bemusing than amusing!

Also, the thing I’ve struggled with since the story was published and the uproar began, was the fact that I’m not sure if I care. Yet I can’t decide if this just makes me simply apathetic, or I’m just very cynical! You just know that she’s coining in it in and she’ll have got a book deal out of this, which is a travesty in both senses. Not that she’ll care because she’ll be minted, and as they say all publicity is good publicity. Added to the fact that all her publicity right now is also coming to her free!!  

However, now that I’ve forced myself to come down from my cynical / apathetic post, I would just like to point out though that I had a few issues with the whole Brick article and Brick rebuttal. None of my issues though are to do with whether she’s beautiful (which I just don’t care about as it’s totally subjective), or whether women hate her for this (which I can only think is a sweeping generalisation as I doubt she’s done polls on this).

One of my issues was that I didn’t like the fact that as a woman, I was given a collective voice. I’m not against this at times when it comes to women’s issues for example, but in an article that lacks any credence or gravitas I mostly found it irritating. I can’t agree with my mates on what take away to order, or which film to watch at the cinema. The notion therefore that we’d see one woman and have the exact same opinion defies belief. Although I think it’s likely that we might’ve all inferred that she seems to come across as conceited and Narcissus – esque! (Yes that’s not a word – but Narcissus was the beautiful boy who drowned in his own reflection!) Yet I feel I may have reached this conclusion without ever seeing her photo, and just reading her article.

Yet my major problem with the articles was the simple fact that they were very poorly written. Aside from the fact that she can spell –although we shouldn’t rule out some editor involvement here, I had issues with both the perspective that she took and the credibility of the article. On This Morning she claimed that the piece that she’d started out writing / had intended to write was on the sisterhood and how we don’t band together, and then she also threw in how women don’t like her around their husbands and boyfriends.

Now – this is where I find it gets quite interesting! As I think that a writer with an ounce of skill could put together a great article on this. I think most women will accept that we do on occasion moan and b*tch about other women, but do we really impinge each other’s careers and does that mean we hate beautiful women? Well I’m sure that people who’ve done research and studies on this are well placed to tell us, yet I don’t get the feeling that Samantha Bick is one of these people. Also an ode to oneself generally isn’t going to be that reflective of a societal issue I find!

Anyway, onto bizarre story number 2! I love the boat race and watch it year in year out. This year though, like for the thousands and thousands of other spectators, boat race day was ruined. The race started and then had to be stopped due to a man being in the river! Then when it did start again there seemed to be a little bit of confusion, and then it all went horribly wrong; broken oar, easy Cambridge victory, and one of the Oxford oarsmen collapsing.

It is such a shame that the race ended this way especially as it looked set to be a nail biter, and my sympathies go out to both teams who would’ve worked for months upon months to prepare for one day and one race that was ruined by one foolish man!

It is reported that the man in the river was protesting against elitism, but quite frankly there has to have been a better way for him to have got his point across. He could have got hurt, he could have injured others, and he’s ruined what is a traditionally exciting day of sport on the British calendar. Quite frankly – shame on him!

Yet between him and Brick, what a random week it has been! Although the only highlight of the week has to be that we’ve all now got a catchy song for when we’ve lost our keys, or lost our phone!

www.nataschaholloway.co.uk

Panic and the inevitable long queues at the petrol stations!

This week in the news it has been like looking through a comic book; the adventures of politicians saying ridiculous things – or something more comic like and catchy, and not involving anyone with super powers. So I should probably re-phrase what I just said. This week in the news it’s been like flipping through the world’s worst comic book!

There has been photograph after photograph and short news clip after short news clip showing the Prime Minister – Mr Cameron, looking concerned but assuring us that all will be well in regards to the potential tanker driver strikes which may lead to petrol shortages. Mostly this week though there has been gaff after gaff made by MPs and the most stupid comment of the week must surely go to Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister.

You have to wonder why there wasn’t a memo issued to all MPs that said something along the lines of; “don’t say anything that the AA or the fire brigade are going to immediately rebut. Or that’s just plain stupid!” Obviously there wasn’t though, or else Francis Maude didn’t get it!

Surely though there are certain things that are common sense are there not? Why in your right mind would you make a comment that practically advised people to stock up on petrol and store it in their homes, garages, or cars? It doesn’t take a genius to realise the potential fire risk that this poses, and I’m not at all surprised that we saw the AA and fire brigade quickly advise against it.

Also I’d hazard a guess that if you’ve got house insurance it may not cover you (entirely at least), if your house is completely eviscerated in large part due to the five or more petrol canisters that you were storing just in case there was a strike.

It seems that with a strike looming be are all becoming potential, if not no harm intended accidental arsonists to the emergency services. Out of fear of not being able to use our cars, and on the back of nonsense being said by MPs – cough, cough, Francis Maude, we are all toting or considering toting dangerous and highly flammable substances around.

I also can’t help finding it slightly amusing when the likes of our PM tell us not to worry about petrol strikes. Firstly I wonder if politicians ever tell us when we should worry. I’m fairly certain that the Greek government is likely to still be telling its citizens not to worry, and I think we can all see that that’s definitely doing the trick!

Secondly, I can’t imagine it will be that much of a hardship for the PM or the Chancellor if there is a petrol strike – outside of opinion polls obviously. How hard can that walk from Number 10 and 11 Downing Street to Westminster be?

This is also not the first time that we’ve seen petrol strikes, and I feel sure it won’t be the last. Yet with the Easter weekend looming, and with people travelling around the country to take short breaks or to visit family and friends, I think it’s likely that people will continue to remain nervous about the likelihood of not being able to fill up their tank.

Remember though, it’s got to be safety first and never fear because the AA, RAC, Green Flag and whoever else I haven’t mentioned that you might have call out or breakdown policies with, are always here. Although if you get into your car and you see you’re on empty, it might be best not to try and chance it Jeremy Clarkson style on Top Gear to see how far you’re car will run on empty!

www.nataschahollowy.co.uk