Saturday 14 April 2012

Notes from the Editor





It’s safe to say that a lot has happened in the past 29 years; world events have forever changed the landscape that we live in, dearest family members close to me have passed away and I’ve been lucky enough to travel to some of the most beautiful and interesting countries on the planet.



Building sandcastles in the Bahamas


I watched the Berlin wall being knocked down on television, the Gulf war, the Challenger space shuttle explode into pieces, the IRA bombs in England and Ireland, two planes smash into the World Trade Centre, along with a third into the Pentagon and a fourth crash in Pennsylvania and suicide bombers on public transport in London. The devastating might of Mother Nature, with events like Hurricane Katrina, the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 and the earthquake in Haiti. I think 9/11 had the most substantial affect on me: I wasn't in Manhattan at the time and I didn't know anybody who was involved. I was at work when I learned of the news; I still lived at home at the time but Mum and Dad were in Bali. They said they had been sat at the beach bar when footage of the events were being shown live on the news. Holidaymakers quickly realised that it wasn't a film being played, it was real life, and rushing to their rooms to contact loved ones. It was an act so incomprehensible that I struggle to believe it happened even today. I forever have nightmares after watching documentaries about the day, so many poor souls lost their lives and for what exactly? So many families without their loved ones. The most tragic of tragedies, one that will constantly resonate with me.

Friday 13 April 2012

Notes from the Editor





Birthdays can be tricky things. I’ve had 29 of them so far during my existence, each of them different and much-celebrated. But as of yet, none of them have been so daunting and have been met with so much dread than my upcoming birthday. The birthday I will have to deal with when it arrives on Monday 16th April. My 30th birthday.

Okay, so it’s not 40, or 50, or 60, but to me turning 30 and opening the decade of birthdays which are ‘the thirties’ is a potentially gruesome life event. A milestone if you like. The age of 30 suggests to me consistency, maturity and well, growing old. The thirties usually signal marriage, babies, mortgage and, even more depressingly, more funerals to go to. No wonder Rachel Green on the television show Friends was so reluctant to celebrate her 30th. I now share her pain.