Monday 18 May 2015

I went to Birmingham, it didn't rain.

This weekend I was studying in Birmingham again, as I tend to do when I have a Saturday/Sunday study session I stayed over in the city, this time at The Ramada at The Mailbox (check me out, staying at The Mailbox!), a review of the hotel can be found here.

I was quite disappointed with The Mailbox, it seems to be 100s of overpriced eateries, acres of car park, Harvey Nichols and an Armani store.  Admittedly, there are a lot of renovations going on at the moment, so maybe another visit is called for once they are complete.

I did pop into Harvey Nicks, I say pop, it was through one of the eatery areas, down four flights of stairs, across the car park, up in a tiny lift and through a fire door, but I got there.  I had intended to go to Benefit to have my eyebrows shaped, but the one person who could do it was on a day off, so I ended up with a fairly standard threading which cost £17!

I had a nice wander around the canals.









And it didn't rain!




Thursday 14 May 2015

Things I don't understand, Part 1

This is going to be a random, but possibly lengthy, series on things that confuse me somewhat.

It will contain questions about anything and everything.

Such as...

During the winter, when there is snow and ice on the ground and it doesn't get above zero, you see (some, not all) girls out in tiny skirts and the highest of heels.  As soon as the sun comes out, so do the long maxi dresses and flat sandals.  Why not the other way around?


Why does everyone in my street get their taxi to stop outside my house between 2am and 6am and not outside their own house?

Why do I have to learn about Islamic Finance?  I live in the UK, which as far as I am aware is not under Sharia Law.  If I was going to practise in an Islamic country I would study the rules then.

Why does the supermarket checkout line I join always move the slowest?


Part 2 will follow soon.




Sunday 10 May 2015

Do we need to revamp the voting system?

You may have noticed that this week we had a General Election, there hasn't been much in the news about it.



I'm not going to get into who won, or who should have won, but I do think it is unfair how the seats in the House are allocated.

If you look at the picture below, you can see the number of votes received and the seats won.



If you do a few calculations, you can see that the Tories won 1 seat for every 34,244 votes; Labour 1 for 40,290; SNP 1 for every 25,972 votes; SDLP 1 for every 33,270 and UKIP?  1 seat for 3,881,129 votes!

The Tories received less than 3 times the number of votes that UKIP did and yet won 330 more seats.

Regardless of your political beliefs, is this fair?

I don't know what the ideal system is.  Is there even an ideal system?  

But I do think something needs to be done.

I also think that we need to stop ex-pats voting.  I don't mean people who are on short-term work contracts abroad, but if you have made a conscious decision to sell up and leave this country, why should you have a say in how it is run?

What do you think?









Saturday 2 May 2015

Storm Nail & Beauty - Coventry

Recently a new hair and beauty salon opened just round the corner from me, so I had to try it out.

I'll be honest, due to the location, and the wide variety of short lived previous ventures there (Army Surplus, Bathrooms, Pet Shop and Batch Bar) I wasn't expecting much but I couldn't have been more wrong!

Storm Hair & Beauty looks fantastic.  The decor is black and white and, thanks to at least one wall being knocked down, it looks much bigger than in previous usage.  It is really modern and it works, once you are inside you forget that you are in a suburb.

Amy & Ami, the two stylists that I have met are lovely and I have never been offered so much tea and coffee.

So much attention was paid to me, constantly being asked questions about my hair, apparently my hair is very soft, and being included in all conversations going on.  I do know when I have found a good stylist if I feel like I can fall asleep whilst I am being worked on, and today I did feel myself nodding off.  Sorry Ami!

My hair feels great and is so shiny too, even my grey hair seems less obvious, normally when I leave a hairdressers it is all I can see.

They also offer sunbed sessions, spray tans, vibro plate sessions, and nail treatments, recently they have added threading too, I will be definitely trying this next time.

It is a fantastic place, and certainly reminiscent of a city centre salon but with a local salon welcome.

As an opening offer, there is 25% off a cut & blow dry until the 31st July 2015.

If you are local, or willing to travel as there is limited parking outside and it is on a bus route (no. 5), I would definitely recommend them.






Photos courtesy of Storm's facebook page.


EDIT

Storm has now unfortunately closed (March 2016).