D of E, birthdays and Lio and Jacky

 Hello, my dear blog readers!

 I have just completed my final Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition! It was an amazing experience. I was in a lovely group of four, and we became very close over the four days of walking and camping.

 We were in the Lake District and we saw some beautiful scenery, stunning views, quaint little towns and all sorts of wildlife and livestock, including llamas!

 It was such a challenge, and I felt such a sense of achievement when we had got through the four days - never had I been so pleased to see the Keswick Pencil Museum (our finishing point)!

 It was very hard work, but so enjoyable, especially in the evenings on the campsites when we would sit around as a group eating, chatting and getting to know one another.

 It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I almost wish I could do it all over again! Hopefully I can do more camping expeditions in the future.

 This week has been a week of birthdays for me - about seven people I know have had birthdays in the last three days. If you're reading this and it's been your birthday recently, or it will be soon, then I wish you a very happy birthday! I hope you have a wonderful year ahead of you, full of joy and love and happiness ♥

 Now that I have finished my D of E expeditions, I feel as though the summer holidays have started for me, and I can now relax and enjoy myself for the next few weeks! I will try to update this blog as often as possible.

 I've been listening to some French 80s music, and one of my favourites has to be Tétéou by Lio and Jacky.

 This was one of many brilliant French 80s songs I discovered through the Platine 45 compilation CD which my brother and I have been listening to for years.

 Jacky was the presenter of the 80s French music show Platine 45, which gives its name to the CD. Lio was a huge star of French 80s music - I am a fan of hers, and will probably do a full post about her soon. 

 The unlikely pair teamed up for this bit of 80s madness, which I just love - the dancing especially! The video was supposedly filmed in someone's loft! I just love this song and video. It defines what 80s music was all about.

 Au revoir pour le moment

 Thanks for reading

 Liz x

 If you enjoyed this post I recommend: Bonjour!, ♥ Martika ♥, Eurovision 2012 Countdown: The "Divine" France, Sign of the Times, ♥ I've Been in Love Before ♥ and Zumba and Stooshe.

Song: Tétéou - Lio and Jacky - Sometime in the 80s! Can't find the actual year anywhere.

Mountains and memories: Nanci Griffith and Tina Turner

 Hello!

 I am very sorry that I haven't blogged for a while, but I was away on a Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition at the weekend, and since then I have been completely exhausted.

 However, I had an amazing time! I was very homesick at first, as I often am on these things, but I soon got used to being away from home and I began to really appreciate the sheer beauty of some of the places we visited.

 We were up in the Lake District and we saw mountains, tarns, waterfalls, many sheep, some cows and all sorts of wildlife from rabbits and deer (I didn't personally see the deer, but other people in my group did) to swallows and spiders. 

 It was a brilliant and unforgettable experience. Not least because I was part of a wonderful group - we all really got to know each other over the weekend and became good friends. There are four of us, and we all worked together to achieve what we wanted to achieve. I will be doing another expedition next week with the same group, and I am really looking forward to it ♥ ☺

 A song which kept coming back into my head was These Days In An Open Book by Nanci Griffith.

 When I have more time and am less tired I will definitely do a long blog post all about this woman because I think she is amazing ♥ 

 I was brought up listening to her music because my parents are fans, and I came to really love her myself. It was my dream to see her live in concert, and that dream came true in March this year when I got to go and see her perform at Salford Quays as a treat for my eighteenth birthday. 

Needless to say, I was very, very happy. She was phenomenal. She sung as beautifully as ever, and she told little stories to introduce all of the songs. Some of these stories I hadn't heard before, and they really helped me to understand the songs better.

 I find These Days In An Open Book so upbeat and positive and this particular performance which I have embedded is brilliant; she just seems so happy and you can tell the song and its lyrics mean so much to her and she takes so much pleasure in singing them.

 Another song which stuck in my head over the weekend was We Don't Need Another Hero by Tina Turner. I can't really find a decent video to embed, but there are various versions on YouTube. I like it; not enormously, but I do like it. 

 I had listened to a lot of Eighties songs including this one on the way up to the Lake District; including many that I like more than this one. However, for some reason this song really stuck in my head when we were climbing one of the mountains and it was drizzling and I kept having to spur myself on to keep going, and I felt like crying out, "Is this all or nothing?!" like she shouts in the song. Silly, I know, but I couldn't get that bit out of my head!

 Anyway, we had an amazing time ☺ And all the long, hard climbs were worth the effort for the views we got from the top, and for the sense of achievement at the end ♥

 Today I went to see the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester with a group from my college. It was enjoyable, but not as good as As You Like It, which I saw at the Royal Exchange last year. 

 However, the Royal Exchange is a unique and fantastic theatre; it is theatre "in the round"; the performance space is round and everyone sits in circles watching the action unfold in the middle, which gives it a more three-dimensional feel, I think. 

 I hope you enjoyed this blog and maybe have been inspired to try a Duke of Edinburgh's Award, or go to a quirky theatre... or maybe just sit back and listen to some amazing music ☺

 Anyway, thanks for reading ♥

 Liz x

 If you enjoyed this post I recommend: My songs of the summer: Part 2, D of E and the Cranberries, D of E, birthdays and Lio and Jacky, Ireland, the Olympics, Snowdonia and Nanci Griffith and Amazing news and the Kennedys ♥.

Songs: These Days In An Open Book - Nanci Griffith - 1993 (from the album Flyer)

We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) - Tina Turner - 1985

Zumba and Stooshe

 Hello!

 Today I thought I would share a current song that I really like: Black Heart by the British girl group Stooshe.

 I discovered this song at zumba, where at the minute we are using it as the song we do our cool-down and stretches to after the main zumba session. I've discovered some brilliant music through zumba, and this is no exception.

 At first I thought it must be a really old song; from the sixties or seventies. It certainly has that "old-school" vibe about it, and I just really love the whole song. It is quite unconventional; the way the tune is quite upbeat but the lyrics tell a very bleak story. Their voices are really good, especially the girl who sings first in the song.

 Stooshe's songs tend to be somewhat loud and pop-y, and this is so different... it must have been a bit of a risk releasing it. However, the risk seems to have paid off because they got to number four on the UK Singles Chart, which surprised me because there is usually so much rubbish at the top of the charts (and here still is) but somehow this lovely little song made it up there. People must appreciate its individuality and the way it harks back to the Sixties, both in the song and the video.

 I was a bit disappointed to find out that they didn't write the song; I like it when singers write their own material. But the fact that this song got written at all is something I am very happy about, and I think Stooshe are just the right band to do justice to it, so I'm glad that it was they who recorded it.

 I hope you enjoy this song too.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

 If you enjoyed this post I recommend: I am in love with this song : ), Probably my all-time favourite song!, One of my other favourite songs!, Hope and Céline Dion and The best of British!.

Song: Black Heart - Stooshe - 2012

♥ I've Been In Love Before ♥

 Bonjour!

 Today is the 4th of July which for some people will mean fireworks and celebrations, so I hope that if it concerns you, you are enjoying this special day. For me, however, this date is important for another, more personal reason: it was the 4th of July last year when I first posted my finished Montpellier trip film on YouTube. Here it is:

 We went on this college trip in March/April 2011 and I really loved it. It opened my eyes to the culture of the south of France, where I had never been before.

 I really got the chance to practise my French, and I could feel it improving more and more during the nine days we spent in Montpellier and Carcassonne. And I really enjoyed making the film of the trip - it was hard work but was truly a labour of love. I am so happy with the final result.

 I had such a good time in Languedoc-Roussillon (the region of France we visited) that I went on the trip again this year, and again I had a lovely time. And again, I am making a film so that we can look back and remember the great times we spent together in such an amazing place.

 I'm really pleased with the way this year's film is coming along, and hopefully it will be up on YouTube soon.

 A song I have been listening to a lot recently is I've Been In Love Before by Cutting Crew.

 As well as being incredibly beautiful, this song brings back lots of memories for me: I remember around the first time I started listening to it was on a lovely family holiday in London, and I remember driving down leafy green lanes listening to this in the car. 

 It also brings back memories of another enjoyable trip I went on around the same time; a school trip to Belgium. I remember listening to this on my MP3 player in the coach and being moaned at for having my music too loud! I love this song ♥

 I hope you enjoy it too.

 Thanks for reading, 

 Liz x

Song: I've Been In Love Before - Cutting Crew - 1986/7

Sign of the Times

 Hello!

 Today was a lovely day for me personally - I went to college just to sort a few things out and I ended up helping film a project for Winstanley TV, my college's TV station.

 It was really brilliant; I love being part of Winstanley TV; filming, editing and producing programmes and films. And today's project was based in the languages department of college, and I love languages - I study French and Spanish and they are what I hope to study further in the future.

 So, today was a nice day for me ♥

 I want to talk about a song which I saw on TOTP2 a while back, and which I often find drifting into my head. It is Sign of the Times by the Belle Stars, a British female pop group from the 80s.

 It is a little bit generic 80s, but I can't help loving it - the beat is good and I love the lead singer Jennie Matthias - she gets so in to the song and you believe what she is singing because she sounds so sincere, as if she means every word. 

 The woman doing the talky bits I do find a bit scary, and she reminds me of the monologue bit in Human by the Human League. The talking is my favourite bit of Human but my least favourite bit of Sign of the Times! But I do appreciate that it adds to the song.

 I hope you're having a nice day too ♥

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Song: Sign of the Times - The Belle Stars - 1983

Pictures of You

 ¡Hola!

 Today I got a lot of work done on one of the video projects I have going, which is good. I've also been to zumba, which was very enjoyable as always, although somewhat tiring! But I do love it.

 I have been listening a lot to Pictures of You by The Cure.

 I discovered this song the other day when I was listening to A Letter To Elise on YouTube and someone said on the comments that it sounded like Pictures of You. I had been meaning to listen to the latter anyway as it tended to come up on the related videos section on YouTube and I was keen to see what it sounded like.

 I listened and decided it sounds a little bit like A Letter To Elise, but not a great deal, and it is by all means a song completely in its own right. I have definitely heard it before, probably on one of our old family car cassette tapes which are full of Cure songs. However, I had sort of forgotten about this song until I rediscovered it the other day. And I'm glad I did rediscover it!

 It is very beautiful, as are a lot of Cure songs such as A Letter To Elise which I mentioned in a previous blog post. The musicality is brilliant; the pacing flawless. The full version of the song has a very long intro (during which, be warned, there is some flashing, psychedelic imagery in the video), and normally I don't like long, self-indulgent intros, but this one is actually gorgeous and adds so much to the song. It lifts the song from being a very nice song to almost a work of art; a story with a prologue, beginning, middle and end. And the video is bizarre but I like it!

 I have to go now because it is raining very, very heavily and we may end up with lightning in which case I will have to turn off the computer. So, I will sign off now.

 Happy Monday! I hope that whoever you are, wherever you are, you're having a nice day ♥

 Liz x

Song: Pictures of You - The Cure - 1990

D of E and the Cranberries

 Hello! 

 Well, today is the first of July, and I have had a very busy day training for my Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition which I will be going on this month. In training we learnt first aid, navigation techniques and how to pack a rucksack properly - although I did remember the rucksack bit from the last expedition I went on!

 I've been on many Duke of Edinburgh's Award (D of E) expeditions - I have achieved the Silver Award and am now working towards my Gold Award. For readers overseas who may not be familiar with this award, it involves doing, on a regular basis across a period of time: voluntary work, a sport or physical activity and a skill. 

 We also have to go on a series of camping expeditions in places like the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales (both very beautiful parts of the world). For the Gold Award we also have to go on a residential course in which we do some sort of volunteering. 

 I really enjoy working towards my D of E, because I get to learn new skills and I have made lots of great friends in the process. And if I achieve my Gold Award it will be presented to me at one of the royal Palaces by either the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip, the Queen's husband) or the Earl of Wessex (Prince Edward, the Queen's youngest son). Which would be absolutely amazing!

 There are many songs which I associate with D of E expeditions for various reasons; usually because I hear them on the minibus on the way there and they become stuck in my head for the whole trip! But sometimes, they are just songs that felt particularly relevant and which I just keep playing again and again in my head to keep me going on the harder days when it rains on us or I'm homesick or everyone's exhausted.

 Days like that can be so hard. But for every moment when you think you are going to give up, there is a moment of magic; reaching the top of a mountain and gazing down at the view below; seeing the sun break through the clouds after the rain; seeing gorgeous baby lambs frolicking; chatting and laughing as a group; wandering through long, waving grass with the wind in your hair; those moments that make it all worthwhile and make you say to yourself; "I am so happy I chose to do this."

 One D of E song for me was Linger by the Cranberries. 

I feel I should tell you that although the full video is worth watching properly when you have time; if you are in a rush you can skip to about thirty five seconds in, which is when the song actually begins.

 I had known this song before, but was reminded of it when it came on the radio in the minibus before what was, if I remember rightly, my very first Silver expedition to the Yorkshire Dales. I love this song - it was on a cassette tape that my family used to play in our car (yes, along with the Cure, for those who read my last blog entry!) when my brother and I were younger.

 The song on the cassette was a live version and Dolores O'Riordan did a lot of working the crowd, shouting, "I wanna hear you!" and whatnot towards the end of the song; something that always amused my brother and me.

 Hearing the song again on the minibus on the way to D of E put a smile on my face, and I was chuffed that I could remember it as it had been ages since I'd last heard it.

 It is a beautiful song, and Dolores O'Riordan has a unique and very lovely voice. This song is also quite unique, I think - unique and haunting and a pleasure to listen to. It is nearly twenty years old; something I cannot believe. It has not lost any of its beauty - I believe that it will always be perfect and precious and quite simply a stunning song.

 I will probably end up writing more about D of E songs over this month - as well as just about songs I love generally. For those of you who don't know, I have challenged myself to blog every day that it is possible to (ie whenever I am at home with Internet access) in July. 

 It will keep the blog full of new content for you to read, and will also be writing practice for me - I love writing and would love to be a full-time writer or author one day in the future.

 Thanks for reading,

 Have a great July,

 Liz x

Song: Linger - The Cranberries - 1993