general feel of rome

On arrival it was somewhat cold and instead of the seeing the sights of rome we rested for a few hours (our flight was early in the morning and nearly all of us were tired). Once we were all up we decided to see the Spanish steps which most English tourists never see and focus mostly on the colosseum and the forum but from the bottom of the steps it is a truely amazing sight because of its scale and the amount of people sitting on them. Another thing about rome is how many street vendors there are which you would never see in London at all, most are selling fake vutton handbags and the sort. Compared to french breakfasts (often croissants and coffee) italian breakfast food is generally made to be eaten cold such as various cheeses, bread and pastries and in this case there was also warmed boiled eggs which went fairly well with the other dishes.

the 39 Steps and Super 8 review

a few days a go I went to and evening show of the 39 Steps, a comedy based of the plot of a Alfred Hitchcock book and I also know that the book was turned into a film.
First of all I think that it was a fantastic play and would recommend it to anyone who is about 14 years and over. What I really enjoyed is that they were very clever of how they applied their actors of which there were about four with two of them changing their roles from time to time. I also quite like that the sketches were very clever which meant that they could nearly always make you laugh. overall I would give this play a ten out of ten because of all the reasons above.
Super 8 was a action film based of the events of camera recording (the main character and their friends are making a movie for some sort of film festival). The story begins when a train is derailed and thousands of white cubes are scattered everywhere what they are used for is explained at the end. The film itself is directed by J.J Abrams rights an interesting spin on the story E.T as it practically follows the basic plot of the movie even to the point where Steven Spielberg is the producer for the film. What I also like is that the main piece of evidence that helps the film get its point across is that the most important piece of evidence is on a roll of film in a camera which is only revealed at the end. Furthermore it is also leaves you hanging in suspence which is mostly through the rustling of leaves and the crackling of gravel. One flaw i can find is that it took a bit to long to get to the important part of the plot and this buildup was a bit dull to watch. Overall I give this film nine out of ten because of the buildup to the main part of the plot.

Buildup to the summer holidays

I am now thankfully on my summer holiday which is mentioned above in the title. Like most people I haven't done much so far, but hopefully I will have more of a portfolio by the end. I have also been given a book to read over the summer which would not be a surprise if you are doing your English GCSE or have done it, this book of course is Mice of Men which is a popular GCSE book often chosen by most schools and if you have done your GCSEs then you would've done it as well. Before our summer holidays started we actually went to Thorpe Park, One of the rides I went on was Colossus which is the world's first 10 loop rollercoaster and like most of them goes very quickly indeed. Another thing is that a lot of teachers have left the school which is quite surprisng because they didn't seem to be leaving and then it just happened. I am sorry for not posting for a long time and will hopefully be posting on a daily basis.

Trip to France

I have not posted in a long time as I have forgotten but now hear is my overview of France. We were stayin in auntibe A town near nice which you can get to by train, overall It was really nice. On the first day we went to the beach and afterwards went along the cape d'auntibe which is a large spit of land with many large houses we then headed back to the place we were staying in. On the next day we travelled toNice where we had a sort of chickpea pancake called Socca along with some mussels with a sauce that seemed to be made from cheese and saffron we than had some rather nice Sorbet of which they had a wide selection of flavours I chose Pineapple which had a very strong taste of Pineapple indeed. On our final day we went to the sea the picasso museum in Auntibe which had some of picasso work and a bit of other artists work as well We then went back to a the place we were staying and stayed their a couple of hour before we went back to the airport. However when we got to the airport there was only a snack bar and not having had dinner we had to grab a bite to eat before setiting of everything was very expensive even two baguettes and pot of Pringles cost nearly 30 quid which was a bit of a rip off from what we got apart from that there isn't much else to say.

Bathroom trouble

At the moment we are having are bathroom done; firstly the slate tiles did not arrive so in the end dad just bought some but unfortunately the shower tray is more of a problem as you can not simply buy one from your nearest DIY shop or Homebase and are still waiting for it to arrive and it is thankfully arriving tomorrow so we can get the Bathroom finished and start using it soon as possible. We had buy another shower tray because the other one we had and had come with all the bathroom fittings had chipped in transit and the chip was rather large so I'm told which meant of course buying another one. We are also going to the South of France and I will be posting through out.

Source Code review

On Saturday I went to see Source code; an interesting mix of inception and action film. Surprisingly it uses very few sets as there are about four altogether and was made by the same director who made moon also used few sets. The whole of the film seems to be set on a 8 minute loop which gives the film a tense atmosphere throughout and still manages to be at some point witty as well which is a hard thing to pull of as the two usually don't mix. By the end of the film you feel in a good mood as it has a proper ending not just a cliffhanger. You get a feeling that the director had fun while making Source Code and put a lot of thought in to the plot and knew how to make the audience feel tense which is interesting as he has only made to films that I know of and has already got the knack of keeping the audience watching. Overall I give Source Code 10 out of ten which is purely down how it made you feel throughout and at the end of the film.

Japan earthquake

As you know japan is in crisis, as it has to deal with whole towns being swept away and the Fukoshima power plant. In some cases it was less severe as in Tokyo buildings just swayed thanks to rubber piles beneath the buildings and the fact that some are nailed together so that earthquakes don't make them collapse. However on the other end of the scale whole towns have been reduced to rubble due to the tsunami and not the earthquake. Fukoshima however is rumoured to be wrapped in concrete wall to stop radiation leaking from the reactors. Like when the first nuclear fallout some people may not be able to return to their homes because radiation lasts along time.

close to holidays

Holidays are surprisingly close. Not counting this week we have only 1 week and 3 days left of the easter term, They have come faster then expected as the weeks seem to have flown by. And a few days ago it finally felt like spring as it was actually warm for most of the day which is a welcome relief from what is declared spring but doesn't really feel like at first but eventually warms up and is warm.

Bahrain trouble

Bahrain istself is in a similar problem as is libya rebels don' like the govenment but it is not in civil war stage where Nato has to interfere sadly many people have been killed due to arab troops moving across the border. It was also going to be the first race of the Formula 1 season but now that is going to be held elsewhere. What is going on in the region near the top bit of Africa, because of the portests in Eygpt which more or less peaceful and shere numbers brought the government down the governments of Libya and Bahrain just won't give up and I think that they are slowly being brought down by the rebels, it could g either way in North Africa and Bahrain.

libya and Japan

I think at the moment the world is going a bit mad. Libya for example is in a undeclared civil war and Japan has just had a earthquake. With Libya I think that the rebels and quaddafi should try to reach a agreement because civilians are getting killed out there and they aren't connected to the rebels or the government which means they are just getting killed pointlessly. I think that the no fly zone is necessary but is a bit unreasonable at the same time and I can understand that it will stop quaddafi boming civilians which is bad and I think that the allied forces should only get read of important targets such as major fuel depos as then Libyan troops can not refuel their tanks and planes.

Birthday

It was my birthday the sunday before last and I had a rather good time, for presentsI got a new phone which was all I really wanted and in the afternoon we had a nice meal laura however was doing volunteer work at her riding school until four'o'clock and couldn't come well at least she was doing what she enjoyed doing overall I am quite happy with it. Exams are also in June and I have to use a laptop which means I have to imporve my touchtyping as I can not do so, hopefully I will be able to pass my exams and enter year ten.

Weekly views and post news

Overall I think that this week has been rather good because it has been relaxing for me anyway because Laura and Alice have had to do a Ballet show and have been practicing for a good few months before the show. We are also surprisingly close to the easter holidays. From today I will be posting on sunday and maybe Saturday because I have a lot of homework during the week and will also be posting more frequently during the holidays.

trip into London with cousins

Yesterday we went to the center of London with our cousins, we first went to the Imperial war muesum which despite going there a good few times I still found the muesum interesting to go to and far easier to get into as the Natural history muesum as there is not a queue going down the steps and out the gates. An interesting exhibit of the muesum is the section on the cold war as it shows what could have sparked the cold war if it had gotten hot and also showed a public information film from the time. Afterwards we went to Belgos, I had Mussels done in medditerranean style and was oddly enough grilled with cheese which was surprisingly nice as the cheese somehow went very well with the mussels which I thought was a very interesting combination of flavours.

Amsterdam trip concluded

Our trip to Amsterdam was better than last time and it was still expensive as it took 15 euros on the tram even for a short journey, but we ddn't spend as much money at the resturant we spent a lot but but we got a satisfying meal which was worth it we then walked on a dyke which was incredilbly windy thankfully we went into Marken a village on a spit of land which was very traditional to old Dutch houses but was not exactly the same as there were a few modern houses had been built but it was overall cosy and relaxing. The day afterwards we went to see some early Picasso that was oddly in the Van Gogh Muesum and saw a bit of Vincent Van Gogh we then walked back to the house, overall I think that I had a rather nice time.

Amsterdam trip soon

We are leaving for Amsterdam tomorrow while the dog stays with a family friend, sadly the forcast for Amsterdam is cold but hopefully we will be spending most of the time indoors and might go on tour boat which is a very nice experience and highly recommend as it helps you see the sights of the city from a differant angle. We also hope we can find some cheaper places to eat as the only place we went to eat at was expensive. I will be posting during my time in Amsterdam. Thankfully the flight is later in the day so we don't have to get up early in the morning.

GCSE exams soon

It is now getting very close to my exams which aren't the watered down types in year 7 and 8 but a full blown GCSE exam which is very important as it determines that if I have go year 10 or not. On a better note Half term is a three days away and by the looks of things I won't be getting lots of homework which is good from my point of view. I am also enjoying my new school as it is the just the right size for me and it only has a a bit over hundred pupils which means everybody knows some one from a differant year in some way.

Tom IIlich lunch

Yesterday we went to Tom Illich A resturant recommended by the michlen star and overall I thought it was very nice as they serve little like most expensive resturants but the dishs themselves were very good. I had braised pig cheeks with string beans which taste lovely when well cooked and especially with mashed potatoes. I then had Beef Kettyle (Kettyle was the name of the farm it came from ) Which was very nice because it was just the right size along with the garnishs such as the marrow bone from the beef itself. For dessert I had dark choclate fondant with pastachio ice cream which went really well together because the fondant was hot and the ice cream was of course cold which was a nice contrast. overall I had a really nice time.

half term soon

It is near the half term which is a week away which is good for all of the people in my class including myself.
We are going to Amsterdam to see friends. We have been once before and it was very expensive, and we walked nearly everywhere. We took a river tour boat which was the only place we didn't walk. This time I hope we don't have to walk everywhere and that we see some of the better known landmarks, apart from the fact that most of Holland is below sea level and that the sun shines sometimes at least and isn't always grey like in England.