Valencia, Spain

Hello guys; I’m sorry that it’s been a while, but to be honest sometimes life is made to lived outside of routine. At the end of the month of May, I spent a week in Spain, more specifically in Valencia. The last time that I visited was fourteen years ago, so it was surprising how much of the main sights that I remembered from that previous visit, although that said, it was nice to have a proper camera to capture the memories on. One of things that I loved about where we stayed was that it was in a village rather than a town; a lovely way to see the area without feeling like a stereotypical tourist. There was a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and rural countryside, which I enjoyed attempting to capture whilst on a walk every day, morning and evening. It was definitely better using my DLSR than my iPhone, simply because the colour range, depth of field and general tools made the image look as close to the view as possible, whereas my iPhone only managed to capture the overall details rather than the full details. Alongside visits to the beach, the town, local shopping centres and wandering the streets, one of my favourite sights that I visited during this trip was the Collegiate Basilica of Gandía. I read, slept and ate a whole lot during the week break and I have no regrets, even though I feel heavier than ever, oops. 

I said in a blog post right at the start of this year that I wanted to travel more, which I do feel as though I’m managing to meet that life target, having explore two countries this year so far and looking to end of this year and beginning of next year, there are three more countries ready to explore in my plans. Spain is a country that I wasn’t desperate to visit, as I have visited before, but having now revisited, I can say that for sure I would like to explore the country further; there’s something lovely about the people, the food, the sights and the lifestyle in general that appeals to me. I enjoyed exploring the streets, the markets, the central squares and seeing little independent shops and cafés at every corner, but ultimately I loved the slower pace, the chilled atmosphere. My favourite pastime was watching the sun set over the mountains, which I spent literally days attempting to capture correctly on my camera; there was something so calming about sitting and watching. I have a habit of trying to do too much of everything, such as work, blogging, reading, etc and so it was nice to slow myself down and simply appreciate life. I didn’t do as many of the tourist-like things that I generally wold when exploring as I was travelling with an older (and physically disabled) person, but actually I didn’t mind too much. It was nice to slow down and enjoy company the world rather than tick off a list. I’ve definitely caught the travel bug now. Until my next trip!

Snippets of Life: August

Hello again guys; I actually can't believe that we're saying goodbye to summer and hello to autumn already! August is always a busy month for me as it seems like everyone in my family has their birthday during August, so it has been pretty busy... During August I did a lot of things and actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would after a difficult start to the month.Over the summer months I really love the longer nights; it's such a lovely thing to be able to stay out late and watch the sun set at around 9pm; as you'll know if you've been reading my blog for a while, one of my favourite things to do is go for a river walk and watch the sun set for the night. I've been trying to enjoy every moment of life during this month and so I've been spending a lot of time with friends and family; for Piotr's birthday we spent the night in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire which was lovely, eating some good food and enjoying having the time to not do a lot of things, just having company and a nice view of the urban countryside. If I'm honest, August has been a very indulgent month; I've ate and drank whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and I can feel the extra pounds, but whatever. Happiness should always be the ultimate goal. The images below are some of the photographs that I've loved looking back on and thinking that this month was great. Now to look to September and keeping that positive outlook on life that I've been feeling recently!

The Harry Potter Tag

Favourite book?

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has always been my absolute favourite; I read it when I was very young and I have so many regrets about giving my first editions to my cousins when I was a teenager. I've had to repurchase the whole series. I loved this book because it felt like Harry and his friends suddenly learnt a lot more about Harry's past and the introductions of Sirius and Lupin were great too as they became such strong characters throughout the series. 

Least favourite book?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. That was a hard one as I do love each book, but if I'm honest I want a fan of the Goblet of Fire either, but Chamber of Secrets was the weaker of the two for me; I understand that this book carried a lot of hidden secrets for later on in the book, for example Harry speaking Parseltongue and Riddle's Diary but overall it's not one that stands out for me.

Favourite movie?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (I'm going to cheat and say both parts!) because by that point, the special effects were incredible, as well as the acting. It seems bizarre to think how much the main characters had grown compared to the first film. The main reason why I loved these films the most is that they really pulled at the heartstrings; there was so much to celebrate whilst so much to cry for, but it was great to see the final duel. My favourite part is probably the part where Dumbledore and Harry are reunited, or Snape's goodbye.

Least favourite movie?

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; words cannot explain how disappointed I was with this film. This film ruined the magic of the book for me; I felt like it was really bad cut and edited to the point that it missed out a lot of key parts, particularly the background of the marauders and also the time turner storyline was very badly explained so...

Favourite quote?

I actually have a few; 'It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live', 'happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light', 'We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters most is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are' and finally 'It is our choices, Harry, that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities' are some of my favourites. I love how positive and wise these quotes are, they've stuck with me throughout my childhood and into my adulthood.

Favourite Weasley?

This is a really hard choice as the Weasley family are absolutely awesome, but in the books I'd have to say Ginny (but I disliked how the films portrayed, the actress was great but the storylines made her seem like an idiot) but overall I'd have to say Molly and Arthur are legends, in both the books and films. For a family of not a lot of money, they gave a lot in love and gave a family to an orphan without second thoughts.

Favourite female character?

It's definitely a battle between Hermione and Luna; I definitely saw a lot of myself in them both, although admittedly I was more similar to Luna growing up and I love how she is so caring. However, Hermione was the strong female heroine from the start and save Harry and Ron more than they even realised. Without Hermione the trio would have been very different, and of course lacking logic!

Favourite villain?

It's always been Bellatrix for me; she's the epitome of evil and such a great character. Completely insane and so, so terrifying! Helena Bonham Carter captured exactly what I'd imagined inside my head in the films too, she definitely brought the fear factor. Batty Crouch Jr. was a great character too, but he didn't have the skill of Bellatrix. Oh, and I almost forgot Umbridge; now she was a bitch!

Favourite male character?

I have so many it's actually a joke; Hagrid was great, as was Mr Weasley. However my favourite overall is definitely Lupin, as although he had his faults he was a fantastic role model to Harry and the others in many ways and gave a lot of time and energy into Harry, teaching him much more than a subject and magical skills. 

Favourite professor? 

This is hard; I loved McGonagall throughout the series and she was definitely the most protective of the students towards the end of the series, particularly the final few books but I've also always had a soft spot for Snape, whether it was him being an absolute bastard sand enjoying every moment of it, or when he shows his true colours when giving Harry his memories.

Is there a character you felt differently about in the movie?

As I said, I wasn't a fan of the film portrayal of Ginny compared to book Ginny; I feel like the actress was perfect but she wasn't shown as the bad ass witch she was in the later books. The other character I didn't like in the films was the young Lily Potter (mother of Harry) because she simply didn't look right with the brown eyes, although that's also true of Daniel Radcliffe but the blue blended better.

Is there a movie you preferred to the book?

Not as such, although I did enjoy the Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire films more than I enjoyed the books, but that's likely due to the excitement that came from watching them in the cinema dressed up (I was young when they were made, haha!)

If you could remake any of the Harry Potter movies which would it be?

It has to be the Prisoner of Azkaban for me, I was so disappointed by that film in comparison to the book; however I feel like that was partly my high expectations as it was my favourite book of the series.

Which house was your first gut feeling you'd be part of?

Gryffindor!

Which house were you actually sorted into on Pottermore?

I've actually been sorted twice on Pottermore, ages ago when they had quite obvious house questions and then recently when they had more difficult questions; both times I got Gryffindor so I was super excited! I also sorted myself into Thunderbird from the Ilvermony School (basically American Hogwarts ahah)

If you could own one of the three Hallows, which would it be?

This is an easy question for me, it has to be the Invisibility Cloak! I love the idea of being able to hide whenever the need arises.

Is there any aspect of the books you'd want to change?

No; I know many people weren't keen on the final chapter of the Deathly Hallows, but I actually didn't mind it.

Favourite marauder?

This is super hard as it a tough call between Sirius and Remus, but I'm going to go with Padfoot!

If you could bring one character back to life, who would it be?

I'm going to cheat a little and say Lupin and Tonks; little Teddy deserves a family upbringing.

Hallows or Horcuxes?

Hallows, always.