Beautiful Blogger Award

Today I received a Beautiful Blogger Award from my fabulous friend http://sutleress.blogspot.co.uk/. Her words were extremely kind and touching, although I think she is being over generous to call me "wonderful". I just try to be me! If people like that then I am on a winner. However thank you for the compliment and award!






To continue this on as required here are 7 facts about me that I haven't already covered in my previous blogs:

1. I find it difficult, sometimes even impossible to accept a compliment. I have a low opinion of myself and can't understand or see what other people see in me. This can be from friends, work colleagues and guys. I can even find myself questioning why they are saying it or what is the reason behind it, what are they up too? I know that some of my friends find this very irritating! Sorry!

2. I love Doctor Who (since it returned with the Ninth Doctor). I also love Supernatural, Bones, Torchwood, Alcatraz and Being Human. Basically if it is high concept and is either a bit sci-fi or supernatural I will watch it and love it!

3. I hate dusting. I find hoovering quite therapeutic, but I HATE dusting. It is so boring and sets off my allergies. I also find it doesn't last very long after you have done it anyway!

4. I would love to do a PhD after I have completed my Masters if I could find the funding and felt clever enough to actually do it!

5. I am allergic to tomatoes and cucumbers. Even the smell of a cucumber being cut up makes me what to be sick, while a single drop of tomato juice can set of my allergies.

6. I was once offered a job at the British Museum, but I turned it down because it was too far to travel every day and most of my pay would be spent on paying for travel. Some days I kick myself for doing that!

7. I passed my driving test three years ago last Saturday! I love driving and I love my little Peugeot 206 or Milo as he is also known!

Wow! That was amazingly difficult to do! Trying to think of what facts to write was soooo hard!

Okay, now my 7 nominations for this award:

1.http://sutleress.blogspot.co.uk/ This is my fabulous friend who nominated me, and has already been a winner of this Award. However I want to nominate her as she truly is a beautiful person, with a beautiful soul. Life throws a lot at her, but she always finds the strength to get through it and always has time for other people. She is quite simply my best friend.

2.http://seamstress-waffle.blogspot.co.uk/ This is my friend's Mum and also my surrogate Mummy! LOL! She is a great friend and very supportive. Something I am not very use to! Thank you Mummy Mo!

3. http://curiositything.blogspot.co.uk/ This is another good friend and the coolest 18 year old I know! Her writing is superb and always interesting. She is off to Uni in September so I won't get to see her as often, but I hope she will find time to stay in touch!

4.http://curiousobject.blogspot.co.uk/ This is a friend of a relatives blog. I have never met them but their blog is fascinating as she showcases some of the more weird and wonderful and often kitsch items of social history.

5. http://www.lucyworsley.com/blog This is the official blog of Dr. Lucy Worsley who you may know from programmes such as "If Walls Could Talk" and "Harlots, Housewives and Heroines". She is a great historian and has had an amazing Museum career. She is currently the Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces. She is a real inspiration to me and I am a huge fan of her work!

6. http://brightontoyandmodelmuseum.blogspot.co.uk/ This is the blog for Brighton Toy and Model Museum. I know its not technically a person, but this was where I had my first paid Museum job and my first Curator post so its a very special place for me. I was only 23 and they believed in me. Its fab to see all what they are up to now in their blog.

7. http://thecraftguide.blogspot.co.uk/ Okay so this is a bit of an own goal, but Crafty Claires blog is also very special to me and hopefully over the next few months will be updated more regularly and also announce the launch of the new Crafty Claires The Craft Guides website!

This is what to do now:

Put down seven facts about yourself,

You link to the blog of the person who nominated you,

You link to seven bloggers who you think deserve the award,

You let those bloggers know they have been nominated.

 Simple as that. I look forward to reading your facts xx

Dissertation Chapter One draft - feedback!

This week I got the feedback for the draft of my first chapter. I was really unhappy with the draft I had submitted as I felt I had lost my voice and become bogged down in academic theory and lost a lot of the fascinating primary evidence I had gathered. I had been concerned about being too narrative as it is suppose to be an academic study at a Masters level and not simply a "History of the Bexhill War Memorial"!

You can imagine my surprise when the feedback was returned with a fairly decent grade and positive comments! My mentor believes I have uncovered "historical gold dust" in my research of the local war memorial and has suggested some very interesting routes I could take my study down. She has also recommended more reading and more theories to have a second closer look at. To be honest I am actually thrilled with the feedback as I can now sort of see where my study could lead, instead of just having a general "this is fascinating, I am interested in this subject" approach!! It does now mean even more work to do and more books to plough through, but that really isn't a chore, particularly with the current sunny warm weather. I can take a drink and some books and a notebook and go and sit on the beach, or if I don't want to stray too far from home I could drag a chair onto the balcony and sit out there listening to the waves lapping at the near by shore while I read. Either way extra reading could be quite enjoyable!!

While revamping Chapter One, I am also continuing to work on Chapter Two. I still have primary research to do for this chapter which includes looking at more local newspapers and ideally hearing back from the Mass Observation archives at the University of Sussex to go and have a look at their collections relating to Armistice Day from 1937 - 1939. I still feel as though I have so much to do and with the final deadline of October a mere 4 months away I am a little concerned! I keep telling myself it will all come together in the end, it would just be more helpful if I actually believed that as well.

To add to my workload I also have new projects at the Museum starting in the next week which I will have to find time for, as well as continuing to look for paid work and doing my craft stuff. Not to mention my big birthday celebrations that will be coming up in the next two months.
I suppose I should get back to my reading then.....

TTFN

9 Years Ago Today

Nine years ago today was one of the most saddest days of my life. Only I didn't know it was until the following day. Today is the ninth anniversary of the sad passing of my Aunt Gina. She had finally lost her short battle with lung cancer. She was only 43 years young. It was the day before my final exams at university for my undergraduate degree. I knew something was up as my Dad had not called me the night before to wish me luck with my exams like he always did. I now know it was because he was dealing with his own grief and the immediate loss of his sister. The following day I did my exams and when I got home I was still surprised not to have received a call from my Dad. I rung my Mum to tell her how I had got on and noticed she sounded a bit odd, but didn't dwell on it. I also complained that Dad hadn't phoned me and I had tried ringing him with no answer. I now know my Mum had already been told the dreadful news and had been asked by my Dad not to tell me while I was on my own. As soon as I hung up she phoned my Dad to tell him I was trying to get hold of him. He immediately jumped in his car and headed for Brighton to come and tell me the news I had been hoping never to here.

I was lucky to be very close to my Aunt Gina. My family are not known to be the closest or the most emotional of families. However I saw Gina and her husband Uncle Boy regularly every other weekend as they lived near to my Dad. At one point we all shared a house and then after that we lived three doors away from each other for years. She was very important in my life and I could talk to her about anything. She could be very silly and had a unique singing voice! She also gave the best hugs.

When I was 16 she gave me my first job working as the secretary in the factory where she was the manager. It was only for the summer holidays but it was great fun. The best bit was going to work together in the morning and coming home together at the end of the day. We would also have lunch together sometimes, sitting out on the grass enjoying the sun. They would have young boys work for them in the summer in the factory shifting boxes and helping pack deliveries. Gina would always give me a run down of who she had taken on and their vital statistics just encase I was interested! I went back for two more summers while doing my A'Levels although not as secretary but as a packer. When the orders were running slow she would come out of the office and help on the packing floor singing at the top of her voice. Her rendition of The Sound of Music and the "aaarrraaahh" bit was something very special! She also loved to sing-along to "The Female of the Species" by Space.

I miss her very much all the time. She was always very supportive and took a great interest in my life. I find it very sad that she didn't get to see me graduate from University or get my postgraduate or even pass my driving test. It saddens me that she will also not see me pass my Masters or any other achievements in my life. She helped me pack my stuff when I went off to uni and helped me move in and then out of my first house at university. She even helped me paint my bedroom at the first house a lovely purple with pink border (if looked wicked!). Every birthday she would be there to celebrate. Even when she was going through chemo and radiotherapy she still insisted on coming out for a meal for my 20th Birthday. I had not expected her to come so it was a lovely surprise and meant the world to me. I know that she loved me as much as I loved her and that makes me very happy and blessed.

When she died I believe she took a little bit of us with her. My Dad has never been quite the same since that day and I know he finds it very hard and difficult to accept. In fact I don't think we will ever accept it. She was a wonderful kind person. She had a big heart and had a joy for life. I don't think I will ever understand why she had to suffer with lung cancer or why she had to leave us. I cannot put into words how much I wish she was still here. Just to be able to talk to her and get one of her hugs would be amazing but sadly impossible. So on this very sad day while remembering how awful this day was and all that it changed, I will also remember how wonderful she was and how honoured I am to have at least had 21 years of her in my life. I miss her very much but I will always remember her.

Gina Morley 10th July 1960 - 15th May 2003