Unnaturally Red » driving http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk I've accidently moved to Ireland, crap. Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:23:24 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Holiday Time! http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk/2011/10/02/holiday-time/ http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk/2011/10/02/holiday-time/#comments Sun, 02 Oct 2011 16:07:58 +0000 Quinny http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk/?p=276 Hello from Yorkshire, England! The last few days of the holiday are passing me by. We have had glorious weather for our stay here, the hottest week on record for the end of September and the start of October. However, I am now a little sick of waking up with a headache and a stuffy face and my silent prayers have been answered with rain. Hurrah!

We have gone to the Dales and to Hawes for cheese, wandered around York City and visited the Minster again, toddled off to Castle Howard and spent time wandering around in the sunshine and today we went on a boat trip on the Ouse. The main purpose of the trip back to Yorkshire was for my Dad’s 60th Birthday which was a complete success. Mum’s Birthday was the day before and we celebrated them both at the same time in the restaurant Plunkets and surprised them both with some cakes made by my best friend’s Mum! They were amazing cakes but the one that I had taken the picture of was Dad’s amazing cake depicting The Van.

It’s coming up to the end of our holiday here and tomorrow we leave fairly early in the morning or a slow jaunt across the country to North Wales where we will potter around until our ferry at 2130. Premium tickets will come in handy on this particular crossing as I’d imagine there will be a few young families on the evening ferry. The Stena Plus lounge will be a bastion of calm.

We will be staying with Claire and David before heading back down south on Tuesday morning to pick up a very special delivery.

Oh, by the way, I bought a new car.

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]]> http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk/2011/10/02/holiday-time/feed/ 0 En Garde! http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk/2011/05/17/en-garde/ http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk/2011/05/17/en-garde/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 13:21:56 +0000 Quinny http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk/?p=221 It;s a blitz of an update this week! If I had a todo list for the past few weeks it would look both awesome and complete.

First thing crossed off was a holiday – Jonathan and I are off to Edinburgh in June for four nights as both a break and a celebration of being together one year. It’s a milestone for us, but a drop in the ocean for people like my parents. Looking forward to going back and flying over on another “chocks away!” plane like last time!

In relation to that point I also bought himself a present in celebration of “hey, we survived a year!”. Now I don’t buy him many gifts (not nearly half as many as he buys me) but when I do it’s always something that multiple people hate me for. He is now the proud owner of a single handed Marshall broadsword. Forged and tempered high-carbon steel blade (he’ll get a Damascus blade later on) which we have discovered will cut its way through most materials quite happily. It is a beautiful and very practical blade, especially compared to the sword he had perviously that not only broke at the shoulders of the tang but didn’t even have a fuller to allow for easy removal from a torso. Pssssht.

Next on the list was to get writing. But this has been on the todo list since the beginning of time. This has been resolved with a weekly deadline I have willingly acquired from Wildflower magazine! I have a weekly column there as well as other bits that I’ll be doing in addition to that in the future. As well as that my awesome friend of awesome is also writing reviews there too! A nice balance of opinion and advice which is always fun to read. Scarlet Speaks – check it out!

Lastly we went to the farm last weekend and we found some kittens! Kit-Kat had three little grey ones and they were about three weeks old at that point I think. I went to check on them as many times as I could. I was a very happy chappy, Kit-Kat wasn’t bothered by us at all and came and said hello while we petted the little ones.

Other than that the world is still turning, people are still doing the things they do and I’m getting massive Top Gear withdrawals after popping over to a car show at the weekend. I maintain that even with all the bells and whistles on Ferrari’s and Mercedes’ the Group B rally cars are still the best feats of engineering out there. And fucking insane to boot. I also got turned upside down in a 3ltr Audi A4. Funtimes had by all!

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]]> http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk/2011/05/17/en-garde/feed/ 2 The things I love! http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk/2011/03/30/the-things-i-love/ http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk/2011/03/30/the-things-i-love/#comments Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:30:16 +0000 Quinny http://www.unnaturally-red.co.uk/?p=199 I feel the need to talk about the things that I love. There are few pleasures in the would and even fewer that I truly love so I would like to share them with you all today. There are the obvious ones which are my family and my best friends and my boyfriend. Then my cat back in the UK. But those are all givens.

I love Ribena. You would not believe how much I love Ribena. It is quite frankly the best juice drink and concentrate out there, with no exceptions. It’s rich, full of flavour and sweet without rotting your teeth. The concentrate is good with hot and cold water and lemonade but I have heard that they’re making fizzy Ribena too so I must get my hands on it! I really do not like any other squash because they all lose their flavour when watered down and can be a bit disgusting at the best of times. And it’s always good to know that something I love is also good for me!

I love Yorkshire Tea. Tea in all it’s forms (except the poncy, hippy, lets-shove-compost-from-the-garden-into-a-tea-bag stuff) is amazing. My type of tea is something called tea-mashed-two. Now sometimes I have sugar and sometimes I have sweeteners, but it depends. I love my tea in mugs and not cups and Hob Nobs are the best biscuits for dipping. And then only enough milk so the spoon can stand up. Milk goes in after and not before the hot water, and there is no such thing as a milky tea but only tea flavoured hot milk. Just so you know. Remember; milk and two sugars!

I love cars and driving. I can’t really pin point what part of these two I really love. The driving could be linked to my love of going fast and the sensation of controlling power. And the cars because they are such a feat of engineering. That it’s a concept that has been whittled down, and down again to this perfect harmony of moving parts, science and engineering. Automobiles have gone from literally an engine on a platform with four wheels up to beautifully crafted machines.

I love peace and quiet. I really do hold a strong dislike of crowds and people. I’m certainly not allergic to them, I do go out to gigs, the theatre, cinema, pubs and clubs. People in large groups aren’t always an issue, just obnoxious people in large groups are a problem. I’m sure I have been one of those people at some point in my life as well! I think the love of peace and quiet boils down to me being able to control my environment. When I am alone I can do what I want, I’m not beholden to the people around me, I don’t have to entertain because if I want to stare at a wall then I will. I love being with people that I can sit in silence with, people that I can sit down and play computer games with or read a book quietly with. Going out is good because it means I can always come home to peace and quiet if I need to. I am an Englishman and I need my castle.

I love a good book. My imagination is still going strong. It does not die with childhood but keeps going. Being able to write stories is only a very small part of it. Being able to see shapes in clouds again, is only part of it. Getting lost in a book, lapping up the pages and understanding and empathizing with the characters is part of it. I love losing myself in a world, taking my time and really savoring a well written book. There doesn’t seem to be any point in speed reading something unless its an educational text (yes, I’m looking at you Wuthering Heights).

I love traveling. I love going somewhere new and seeing things that other people haven’t seen. I love traveling with people too because we then have something to share, the experience and the adventure. It really comes down to the adventure aspect of the traveling, even from a young age I have loved the journey more than the destination. I love flying for the kick of speed you get when the plane takes off. I love driving and controlling the car on mind-blowing roads. I love walking and climbing, I love horse riding and one day I will take a proper journey by ship that isn’t a cross-channel ferry.

I love lying in the warmth of a sunbeam. I love stroking cats (but not ones that claw your face off…). I love hearing an amazing piece of music on full volume on a stunning set of speakers. I love watching action films. I love cheesy potato skins. I love daydreaming. I love knowing I have nothing to do. I love making people happy. I love creating. I love giving gifts. I love having my head scratched.

There is probably a lot more small things I love but these will do for now!

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