working at Edinburgh Fringe: exhaustion, vivacity and gin.

I can't say I have much of an excuse for not posting for a good... 6 months. However I have been inspired and also finally blessed with the free time to write a little blog around the experience of my latest job opportunity... 1 month bar work at the busy Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

  I'll start off with a solid truth I learned about the people of Edinburgh that I probably should have already known, but my do they love their Gin! I worked in popup bars for a company called C Venues which ran several venues throughout Edinburgh hosting many many shows. I can safely say that from the massive stock arrival at the beginning of the festival, around one third of the gin was consumed on the first night.. Every second order or more was definitely a G&T.  Safe to say from then on management never skimped out on the gin orders! 

    Working the festival was partly a favour for my flatmate, as she was given the wonderful opportunity to manage a few of these bars in order to gain experience for her Business honours degree and I previously had (some) bar experience. Watching all the stress and work she was under I would say she has gained some valuable skills and did a great job in such a fast paced and stressful environment which is constantly about people pleasing and keeping everything at peace. Big respect to the girl, who at only 20 like myself, survived the whole month! I also know working there, some staff were a handful to say the least, so well done for keeping your cool... Although I like to believe me providing pizza some nights helped...


     Experience with myself ranged from the good, bad and the ugly. First few nights I honestly had a ball! Yeah, shift patterns were ugly, you would start at 6/7pm and finish around 5/6am and on top of that was my 1 hour commute which almost undoubtedly ended up with me falling asleep on a morning train. The first few nights I quickly realised the main bar turned basically into a club and I kind of enjoyed working in a mobbed bar where I could have a little dance behind the bar and no one would bat an eyelid. A lot of my colleagues were similar age to me to so I made some great friends.  
    Of course there were a few downsides, drunk people are often impatient when it comes to drinks. However take this good or bad, but if you're rude to me, Im sure as hell not gonna serve you next, even if you HAVE been there for ages :) it was also a popup bar so occasionally a certain kinda drink does run out, get over it, theres nothing I can do. Perhaps the worst night of all was my last night where I was working a bar alone when one guy was so plastered I refused him service, he got so aggressively angry towards me and threatened me with violence and religious slurs. Worst part was that it was only 9pm and way to early for security to be on. I think in a way I found a bit of confidence in myself that night as I would normally shy away but I found the courage to throw him out. Woohoo?

    But enough of the bad, like I said there were great perks! I can now say i've got some pretty high up bar experience for future reference. I also met most of the actors throughout the course of the month and got some pretty awesome stories and advice, everyone was so interesting and electic!
     Dare I mention the discounted drink and free shows as a staff member, which in expensive life of Edinburgh Fringe is a godsend. 
     I only wish I had more time off to experience the festival. I think next year I will visit it instead and get a better day out of it. Although now I'll know to be nice to my bartender and remember they're probably working long shifts on minimum wage too - and that a nice customer with some friendly and interesting chat is what makes it all worth it.

However I am now excited to be settling down with a new and quieter cafe job in Stirling at the end of the week.

Until next time
xxxx 

drinking wine in edinburgh doesnt always mean class (a Johnson Hen-Do)

    First off, I'll start off with a heartfelt apology. Although I know only a couple of you read my blog at the moment, I'm sorry for being MIA .. but without sounding cliché, the last couple of months have been super busy! University, having a small part-time job, dancing and generally socialising took over a little. I also discovered Gossip Girl, need I explain more? 

     I have decided to write a little fun post about an amazing weekend I had at the end of January. Finally! It was my big sisters hen-do, with all 4 of my sisters and a couple of her mates hitting the big city of Edinburgh. After a small shift in the office I could not wait to hop on the train and join the rest in our rented apartment, have an excuse to wear a "Hen Do" sash and get our wine on. Also.. let's just appreciate how lovely the place was (considering how little we paid and the perfect location).
 

So... our first night it was just my sisters and I. A few glasses of wine they said, a civilised dinner out they said. OH HOW WRONG WERE WE? Amy-Beth, (figures, she's the wild one) had secretly ordered a buff butler to come and entertain us and last minute he decides to bring along his friend. So.. two buff butlers. Not only were they pleasing on the eye, wow they knew how to get us drunk. 7 bottles of wine, prosecco, strange drinking games, spin the bottle and about 50 shots later we were all 10 times more drunk than anticipated and knew a lot more intimate details about each other than probably needed.
     Bear in mind, we had reservations at a fancy restaurant/cocktail bar which we were far too drunk for. We made it anyway, although not much was eaten, we were in no way classy and possessions were lost. I won't say much more, but inevitably the night ended with me waking up with a mouth like the Sahara desert spooning my sister in our underwear. Great first night!!

The next day we dragged ourselves out of our pits and cured all with a fry-up from a cafe on the Royal Mile and headed to a Spa. No spa experience complete without a fluffy robe and unlimited use of the pool, sauna and jacuzzi. Treatments were a given, I chose a hot stone massage which worked wonders on my back pain and could have honestly sent me to sleep. 
   At around 4 we all got dressed to head to the adjacent restaurant for champagne afternoon tea... who knew the Johnson's (and friends) could be classy?! Macaroons, scones, chocolate fondue and fruit. mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

   Saturday night then proceeded with dressing to the nine (because its Edinburgh and we can) and headed out to Vodka Revolution where we had a booth booked with yet more prosecco, cocktail and shooters. I definitely recommend Vodka Revs, the cocktails are amazing.. I can say this with confidence.. I had many. Sweet Shop, Daiquiri and Peanut Butter Martinis were a few of the favourite. As for the night, music on point with the classics, banter on point, company also on point. And the chippy on the way home (class gone downhill?) hit all the right spots.

   It was so sad to go home on the Sunday and know I had Uni on the Monday. It was without a doubt one of the best, funniest and memorable weekend I've ever had. So much could not be mentioned here alone. I cannot wait for the Wedding in less than two weeks now. I may post some pictures about that too, because its, you know, the main event...

I hope you had a fabulous weekend Jenni! I love you lots and lots and neverrrr stops

(it's a family known quote of mine haha)

Until next time 

xxxx

finally, some sense

    Is this real? Some news articles in the beginning of 2015 concerning the causes of cancer may be showing a glimmer of sense. I recently saw on the news, and also read on the Guardian website that “most types of cancer are down to bad luck rather than lifestyle or genes” Well hallelujah, a journalist finally said something sensible rather than vigorously researching a definitive cause and exploiting some small piece of evidence into a direct correlation. The Daily Mail for example over the years have come up with a laughable amount of trivial things that can “cause cancer” from biscuits, cereal and being pregnant to being left handed and giving blowjobs. Yes, really. If you don’t believe me and have a few minutes to spare, check out this link, there are so many more.           http://www.anorak.co.uk/288298/scare-stories/the-daily-mails-list-of-things-that-give-you-cancer-from-a-to-z.html/

    Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand that an unhealthy lifestyle WILL have an effect on our health and well being, but it is not the sole cause of cancer. The article quite rightly read that “random mutations that occur in DNA when cells divide are largely responsible for two thirds of adult cancers”, in other words, unfortunate, but completely random formations of cancerous tissues. It follows to say that the remaining third are a result of environmental factors and inherited genes, also factors that can’t really be helped.

  The point in this blog post really is just to express my happiness for a genuine piece of news that recognises that cancer really is down to awful and horrible luck. While unhealthy habits like overeating and smoking certainly do not help and will essentially speed up the process, it acknowledges a combination of factors. Factors which are largely not the fault of the individual. This theory has already been applied to mental health illness, so why only just to this?!

   I write this for the few people that may be affected by all the bias in the news over the last decade or so. Telling of how “we can avoid cancer” and how to eat, behave and live our lives. I know from my own experience when I was younger, my mum was diagnosed with a kidney cancer. Something I am almost sure did not come about because of her choice of lifestyle but rather these “bad luck” genes. Even after a full recovery however, I have noticed over the years she has been affected by the mass media that is plastered all over papers and media platforms that x or y can be the cause. There is no reason to be affected by it, and we shouldn't have to be.

    By all means, please live a healthy lifestyle, not too much fat and try not to smoke. But also, live your life through rose tinted glasses, there is no need to stress! (I’m sure The Daily Mail says that causes cancer too ha ha)

For the full article, read here - http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/01/two-thirds-cancer-cases-caused-bad-luck-lifestyle-genes

Until next time

xxxx