Sunday 26 February 2017

Book review: Giovanna Fletcher, Happy Mum Happy Baby






I don’t have a kid(wouldn’t that be a big surprise if I did), I won’t be having anytime soon(though I want them, tons of them) but I bought this book purely cos I bloody love the Fletchers.
My mate Nicky is a huge McFly fan and I got into Tom and then Gi that way and more so after that wedding speech. I watched all their vlogs and whilst they both did Vlogmas last year I especially appreciated them. I detest winter and have SAD, and knowing I had some cute Fletcher fun to watch daily helped me be a little less morose. The pair of them never fail to make me laugh.
What I love about the Fletchers is that they’re so normal but just the absolute loveliest couple with the cutest family. They’re as the cool people say ‘couple/family goals’. I basically want to be Gi when I’m older, a successful author with a wonderful other half and a gorgeous family.
The thing I think I value most about Gi though is just how nice she is. In my life, I don’t care if people think I’m weird or annoying as long as they think I’m nice. Kindness goes a long way and it’s so encouraging to see it promoted by Gi and her brood so much.
Happy Mum, Happy Baby is an account of Giovanna’s adventures of motherhood. With the basic premise that there is no right or wrong way to parent but to do what’s right for you and your child. It’s an extremely honest account and is very TMI but I think that’s what makes it such an enjoyable read.
By putting every detail in the book and holding nothing back, you really feel like you’re getting to know Gi and what it has been truly like for her having children. I gobbled it up in a day because it’s just so easy to read, plus it’s chock full of the cutest pictures of Buzz and Buddy and the Fletcher fam.
I’d recommend this for anybody who has kids, anybody wanting them or just anyone who loves watching the Fletchers on YouTube and the other various social medias as much as I do. Happy Mum, Happy Mum is as lovely and as real a read as Giovanna is herself.

Rating: Five stars  

Thursday 23 February 2017

Do you not get bored?

So here’s the thing, I love Take That. More than pretty much everything besides books. I first got into them in 2006 when I was on a forum for another fandom and a few people were talking about going to their tour. They were going three times, I wondered and asked them why they would go three times. Oh I had no idea.
Fast forward eleven years, I’m still friends with these people, none of them see Take That anymore and I have seen them live 28 times. 30 including tv shows. I’ve met all of Take That, I even met one of them on a bench. And now I get asked the questions that I asked all those years ago. ‘Why do you go so often? Do you not get bored? Do you not have better things to do with your money?’ People are baffled by it.
Thing is people who aren’t in fandoms don’t understand them. They don’t get that it isn’t just a band. It’s the friends you’ve made, the memories you’ve had, the long hard slog of life that they’ve helped you through. I don’t know one singular person in any fandom who doesn’t have it to thank for at least one close friend in their life.
About 90% of my friends I know off the internet, or I’ve met them in a queue or at a barrier. I have the internet and fandom to thank for my whole life. I have Take That to thank for some of the best days of my existence.
I don’t spend my money on much. I live in London so rent is a lot and I need to eat obviously. But aside from that and books, there’s not a lot. I don’t smoke, I rarely drink, I don’t gamble, I don’t go clubbing. My friends are nerds, we spend our time in museums and bookshops and cafes, an occasional pub. My social life is relatively cheap. Except for the tours.
For those who don’t know anything about Take That shows, they don’t just stand there and sing. They put on a show, a full on lights and fire and water and throw the entire kitchen sink and three truck loads of ticker tape at it type show. They’ve had flying cars and inflatable elephants and a huge robot named Om.
Not every show is the same. The boys aren’t machines who can press rewind and repeat the night before. They make jokes and talk to us and have jokes with each other. The little in-jokes and tiny moments that build as the tour goes on is part of what makes it so special.
You go to one show and you feel dazed by the end of it. You forget half of it. You feel lit up inside, as if by magic. Their shows are magic. They’re happiness. They’re standing at that barrier surrounded by your friends, with your favourite band right in front of you. Your band are singing, they keep grinning at each other and at you, and you sing those songs so loud and you dance and you jump and you have the best time. You watch the spectacle, you laugh and sing and scream and before you know it, it’s like you’ve clicked your fingers and the show is over. And you want to go again.
There is stuff you can hardly believe, aerialists and never ending bubbles, waterfalls and fire. But then there is the simplicity, the bits that mean the most to any fans, the band banter, the cheeky smiles and grins, 60,000 people all doing the Never Forget claps at the same time.
Take away the show, the entire event and you’d still have the most awe-inspiring bit, the bit which everyone loves the most. They don’t need spectacle, Take That, it’s not about that, it’s about the basic, pure, raw feeling. That bit which sings in your heart more than anything else. That makes you ache for more, that makes you love it so much.
So people made think we’re crazy for sitting in queues for hours on end, for going over and over again, for spending so much money and time on them and their tours. But once you’re on that barrier, none of it matters. Everything else fades away, during those two hours, you’re transported to another world, and you don’t want to be anywhere else.
Why would you only go once? Why experience joy like that just one time when you could do it over and over again? Why wouldn’t I spend my money on the thing I love doing most? Take That can take all my money and time, I give it to them gladly and I know I’m not the only one. And knowing you’re not the only one may be the best bit of it all.

Friday 17 February 2017

Intros






Who: Laura, 26, writer, reader, Hufflepuff, vegetarian, bi, Virgo, INFJ, Thatter.
Where: My beloved London
Why: I'm slightly mad at myself lately for how little I've been writing. I feel a bit like I'm lying when I constantly tell people I'm a writer and yet have not written properly in months. So a blog.
What: Book reviews(reading is something I have not neglected), ramblings on authors and series and general books things. Also general life happenings regarding Take That, life, friendship etc.
When: That I have yet to figure out. Whenever I can fit it in around work.

So ta-da welcome to a blog which I really need to figure out how to design properly! I promise it'll get better than this.