• Favourites,  Lifestyle

    COVID-19 and ME (in the UK, 2020)

    A blog post about the hell of the last year (2020)

    The last year has been hell for everyone.because of COVID-19. The blight of the whole world. “The modern plague”, “the death flu”, etc..

    For those who are unaware of COVID-19 – it is a virus/infection that is airborne and can be transmitted by human to human connection in close contact. It started in China and 100s of thousands of people have got it, and over 50,000 have died from it. Many more have infected people with it. The official stats are still going up and it has spread worldwide. It is a deadly virus

    COVID-19 spread around the world and got eventually to the UK. As a UK citizen, I was worried anyway, but not until mid-year 2020, did my local area feel the worst of the pandemic.

    The UK had been on/off for over 4 months under “Lockdown” which meant we could not do every day things such as meeting friends and family, going to work, the pub or even meet in large groups in public.

    My area realised it got dangerous in the UK when we had to start wearing medical face masks in public – shopping, walking the dog, etc. It also affected other events such as Live TV, festivals and events being cancelled. Also filming for tv shows changed dramatically, with something called “social distancing” – This was a preventative measure to stop the spread of COVID-19.

    Recently, around September (roughly) “Lockdown” ended, things looked brighter and then BOOM. In October, again, Lockdown was reinforced in certain parts of the UK – the most highly infected areas. The number infected and dying were up for the first time in months.

    This time, the general public could still go about normal jobs but up-until this day (October 2020) we, the UK citizens, are still frightened of catching this deadly virus. It is the modern pandemic and we are not out of the woods yet.

    We, The UK (and the world) are hoping the worst of it is over and it will start to ease off by New Year or in the year of 2021. But WHO Knows? It may never go completely.

    Please give me your stories of COVID-19 in the comments.

    UPDATE: “The Covid death toll across the UK has surpassed 60,000 for the first time, hitting 61,116, according to analysis of official data. The total number of deaths registered by the three statistical agencies across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland now stands at 59,927” (read on The Guardian.online)
  • Favourites,  REVIEWS

    [REVIEW] “His Dark Materials” – My Favourite show of 2019.

    As you can imagine by the title this is going to be a review of my favourite TV series this year. I can’t describe how good this show is from the scenery, the actors, and the script. It was perfect. BBC TV show details: view here.

    The actors were perfect in their roles,

    Not only did we see lyra’s spirit and determination shine through with the young actress playing her. Her speech sounded exactly as how I read it all those years ago when it was first released in paperback.

    Mrs Coulter’s actress showed her hardness being crushed, her under-lying meanness and how vulnerable she was underneath her hard exterior. I can’t explain enough how amazing her outfits were and how put-together they looked. Also top marks for making her the fashionista of the series. I hope the catwalk outfits carry on throughout the next series (if there is one?)

    I must admit that the rest of the cast were superb in their acting too.

    One that really stood out to me was Billy Costa’s Mum, You really felt for her right from the first episode, when he disappeared, right up until when he was might have been found. I don’t want to spoil what happens but it was very emotional viewing. I shed a few tears watching his mum show the agony of loosing a child.

    The next thing I want to gush about is the way in which the Daemons have been created for the scenes with them in. I would have thought it would be hard to create them, however the CGI effects, and puppets did well in showing how the spirit animals following their real-life actors. The voice actors used for the Daemon’s suited the characters and really came to life. They all looked so life-like to the point where I started to wonder whether they were using real animals (they weren’t).

    I would say how good the storyline and script is however as many are aware this series is actually based on a set of 3 books that were adapted for the TV. I read the books so long ago that I had forgotten most of the storyline, but watching His Dark Materials reminded me how I still love reading stories like that and also how incredible the books really were to read, let alone this spectacular tv series.

    To sum up my review,

    I must give the cast and others behind the whole series a 5-star rating. Although there are some parts which may possibly scare young children, I recommend it as a show for all ages over the age of 10. It is interesting, funny, slightly darker than you think but, is still inspiring to watch and follow Lyra on her journey throughout the series. I am hoping that His Dark Materials will be continued for a second series to continue on with the storyline and a final third part too.

    I hope you see this review and decide to try this series on BBC IPlayer before it disappears. It is a great series that will make you laugh, cry and make you want to spur the characters on to the next episode. I believe there are only 6 episodes, which are one hour long each, in the series… but they are totally worth binge-watching.

    *It is a brilliant show that kept me on the edge of my seat;
    with me not knowing what would happen next!*
  • Books,  Favourites

    Why I cancelled my readathon last year // Why it’s back!

    As you might have noticed by my pinned current tweet on my Twitter, I have advertised my month-long readathon, that I created September last year.

    I came up with the idea while trying to think of a book series I would like to read, along side a children’s series. “The Chronicles of Narnia” does both.

    I decided that over the space of a month it is plenty of time to read the short 7 book series and it will get people reading again as it is a simple level to start back up reading.

    Sadly no one was able to join in or promote my readathon, so I shelved it for the year. But as it’s been a whole year already, I thought I would try and bring it back this year. Hopefully a few if not a lot of people will be interested in trying it this year.

    Not only will it give my blog more publicity. It will also encourage new and old readers. ????

    I hope you join me this year and I look forward to us all completing the NarnAThon challenge by 30th September.


    Here is my original post: NarnAThon #Readathon

    Happy Reading!

  • Blogging,  Favourites

    2 YEARS OF BLOGGING ????

    Well that second year came round quickly didn’t it. When I first signed up to WordPress two years ago, I thought this blog would just be a part time thing that I created for fun and to join in the conversation about books.

    One year on, I became self hosted (dot.com) thanks to my fabulous friend in IT. I started to take this blog very seriously. Towards the end of the half of the 1st year I was scheduling posts, months in advance. It went well & lots of people engaged with posts.

    Over the beginning over the beginning of this year I took a step back due to other commitments and not over working myself, I started a psychology course that took a lot of my time and also started my old hobby of fiction writing again, As well as continuing my italian lessons and volunteering at the library too, most of which which I have also explained already on other pages on my blog.

    Anyway back on topic, by January this year I thought of closing this blog but took another look at what I’d created and decided it was too good to throw in the bin.

    I realised I now know how to add widgets, website design, newsletters and menus – all thanks to learning; so I could make this site the best quality that it can be.

    I made the decision against my friends advice to change the theme of the website and looking back it was the best thing I’ve done. I know I don’t post as regularly as others and maybe I’m not cut out to be a book or lifestyle blogger, but I have put my heart and soul into designing and maintaining this small piece of the internet.

    Am I proud of this blog? Damn right, I am!

    Danielle

    Previous titles,
      (2017) Danielle’s Book Reviews.
      (2018) Welshie Books & Thoughts.
      (2019-…) W Books n Thoughts.
  • Favourites,  The Library

    Library Volunteering: 1 YEAR ON.

    As you might be able to tell from the title I have now been a library volunteer locally for over a year and what a year its been. I have had my ups and downs but overall helping out has been a good experience & I aim to carry on for another year…

    Meeting new people

    In a library, it is impossible to go a shift without seeing and greeting new people. They are either regular members of the library or new-comers. Sometimes you bump into people you know outside the library and start a conversation and get distracted. I love chatting to members about books and how their life is going.

    Reading new authors:

    Being in a library you see lots of books being checked in and out, you start out a conversation with the member; get to asking “whats your favourite author or series?” and create a list of of new books or old favourites, then you go and read the synopsis and see if its something you would like to read yourself. I have found lots of new book series and authors this way.

    Getting involved in the Book Community & creating this Blog:

    Because of my volunteering, I got the confidence to create this blog and run it 100% myself, with technical help from my good friend Matthew. This blog has become an outlet for all my library wonderings and get the word out about libraries closing. The library also inspired me as a blogger as I write reviews for books I read and I also now get requests from publishers and authors who would like honest reviews online which makes me feel proud.

    Do you use your local library? Has your library closed down?
    Do you prefer to own books rather than borrow?
    Tell me WHY in the comments below.

  • Blogging,  Favourites

    ONE YEAR OF BLOGGING, IN 2018.

    This post is a celebration of blogging for a whole year. Am I proud? Yes. Will I continue? Yes. Do I think I can improve? Definitely. Will you join me reading my blog? I hope so!

    As this year has flown by so quickly, I want to look back on what I’ve learned this year blogging. Then do a brief description of what My Blog was, is & My new goals.

    WHAT I HAVE LEARNED:

    This year has been an eye-opening experience into the world of blogging. Although I have tried before in my teens it wasn’t until I fully dived into the community of books and blogs I didn’t have a clue it even existed. Blogging may look easy but it takes a lot of work, effort and sometimes creativeness to pull it off.

    It is a competitive world but most bloggers all pull together and help one another. I feel I have been neglecting this blog recently due to a thing called “Life” and I’m hoping to jump back into it soon. I noticed that some bloggers are more successful than others but others are a more interesting read. Just because they are popular right now doesn’t make the blog superior – blog popularity quickly changes.

    Just because your blog isn’t “popular”, doesn’t mean you haven’t put in the same amount of work into content!

    My blog personally has tried a few things and failed but that’s okay because you need to think outside the box and try – sometimes it works & sometimes it doesn’t.

    WHAT MY BLOG STARTED AS: This blog started out as a hobby as I enjoyed reading I wanted to share it with the world. While first starting out in the blogging world I had no clue what I was doing and had to change a lot of my posts. Most of my first few posts were obviously book reviews. This is my first blog post HERE.

    WHAT IT CURRENTLY IS: My blog has recently become self-hosted (post about it HERE). I am looking into different topics to add to posts as I don’t believe I am doing my best by writing book reviews. I believe I need to create more posts with more passion for what I am writing. This means right now I am coming up with a few different posts and seeing which ones work best with readers.

    WHAT I WANT FOR THE NEXT YEAR: In the next year, I hope to get more daily views and continue posting good quality posts. I don’t know which direction my blog is going yet as it is an on-going process. I want to increase activity and start writing more posts. I would love this little space on the internet to become my full-time career maybe a few years down the line. I think if I put enough effort into creating content I could create an income from this blog one day.

    WHAT do I want TO ADD TO MY BLOG?: I am going to start adding a huge variety of different topical posts on my blog, which I hope will become popular!

    What are your blogging achievements? Will you be continuing following my blog?
    What are your favourite posts on my blog? What can I do to upgrade my blog?
    LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS.