The thickest snow in years! London weather

I wrote this blog on the snow day this is my point of view!

London’s weather today made history, the most snow in 18 years thats what the news kept saying. I was ment to go back to university in Lincoln but became trapped at home in London.


The weather was amazing and very pretty, I watched the news telling how all the schools are closed and no buses, severe delays on bus, trains and airport closes. I would say London was at a Stand still, listening to the radio they informed me that the buses are still not running and west endof london the main tourist and high street shopping area was empty.
Listening to all the news and seeing how deep the snow was, made it almost surreal. i had no choice but to stay at home in London and miss lectures, there was no way to get back and if there was it would of taken hours more than it should.

I have had a great day taking pictures and having snow fights, which I’m guessing that most of London did. I can only sit and wait for the snow to clear which by the looks of it may take days. London is an amazing place and I’m sure we will get things running again.

FEJS conference in Lincoln

The conference began on the 2nd of March 2009 n Lincoln; my contribution to the conference was being a volunteer. My job was to guide the European students around Lincoln, wake them up in the mornings and make sure they go to the right workshops and lectures. Looking at the time table it seemed a little daunting because the days started early and ended late, but I was optimistic and looking forward to meeting students from around Europe.

The first day I started by making sure all the students went to the right rooms and was down in time for dinner. This seemed quite easy and the day ended nicely with dinner and presentations from the students representing their European Countries. What was particularly funny about the presentations was that quite a few countries sang their traditional drinking songs.

The next day began with an early start 8am at the Holiday Inn Express, I was given a list and had to knock the hotel doors to wake the student up in time for jam packed schedule. We had breakfast and continued the day with interesting talks and the beginning of workshops. The workshop I chose to participate in was the Blogging workshop.

This workshop consisted of setting up a Word press blog and being informed about other blogs and what their purposes are. I then discovered that none of the European counties had a blog except the students in Lincoln. The students seemed very happy and enthusiastic about the start of their first blog. We also set up a Twitter account for a way to keep in contact with everyone and get in contact with the world of media as well of everyone else connected.

The rest of the conference was followed by a tour of Lincoln, showing others what I fell in love with when choosing my university has been great. The Cathedral was amazing and much appreciated by the Italian Students that me and the other volunteers guided. The event entailed dinner in the Tower Bar again followed by painting the Lincoln town red, going to clubs.

The last day for me was short because I had to get a train home for the Easter holidays; I did my early morning door knocking and guided some FEJS to the campus to continue the rest of the workshops and talks. At lunch time I left to catch my train, at this time I felt sad because I made some good friends, met people from around Europe, learn a lot and made new friends among the volunteers because they came from different universities.

If a women is drunk is she to blame?

Reading through The National student I came across a controversial article in the national student last week. I stopped at this article because there have been a vast amount of opinions and angles to interpret the article.

The main headline is “Asking for it?” and the introduction talks about women being responsible for rape if the woman is drunk. My personal opinion is that woman doesn’t ask to be raped, you could ask anyone and they would be completely against it.
But the influence of alcohol does make them vulnerable, women are aware of the effects of alcohol. It is constantly being advertised on all forms of media and just going out on a Saturday or Friday night could open your eyes to the effects of alcohol.

If women don’t clearly say “No” it doesn’t make them responsible it doesn’t make them responsible for being raped. They could be so intoxicated that they panic and not know what to do, or they could be too weak to defend themselves. But on the other hand, I do believe women do have an idea of what’s happening and what they are doing when they are drunk.

A survey was used to back up the article, it was carried out by a opinion panel research and its purpose was to show students thoughts about rape. One of the facts that stood out for me was that 44% of students said that if women didn’t clearly say no then she would be responsible if becoming a rape victim.

I would say women wearing revealing clothing and getting drunk do not ask to be raped. Women that do those things may want attention and there’s a wide range of reasons to act the way they do. People in the world today try to find solutions for the action of rape or who to blame it on. I would say it’s the rapist to blame and that’s why they get prosecuted for their actions.

Gun crime

Gun crime is a factor in life today that everyone has an opinion on; the media report this on a daily basis creating a moral panic. People start to believe that the streets are very unsafe and gun crime is higher than the figures show.

I hear different solutions to tackling gun crime and crime in general but I believe the most used solution is the fear tactic getting people to be very aware of gun crime and watch their children. Flooding parents with information about the current figures of gun crime and putting a one sided view that youths are the ones with the gun and kill.

In actual fact anyone could use a gun and kill so we shouldn't be fearful of our children because they can be brought up to know not to kill but fear everyone in general because it’s the society that moulds and shapes the people.

I had a look at the home office website and they gave me information about gun crime including a list of things they are doing to solve the ongoing gun crime rate. The solutions included a minimum five year sentence for those convicted of having a firearm. People need to have legal authority to imitate a firearm or posses an air gun in public, prohibit certain air weapons that can convert easily to fire live ammunition and finally increased the age limit for possession of air rifles to 17.

Will the gun crime issue be stopped or will the public continue to live in fear of their lives at the mercy of a gun?

Lincoln to London trains

Currently attending the University of Lincoln every student travels to their home city or town occasionally, I came from South London and having to travel from Lincoln to London can be a long process.

I have to go to Lincoln train station 10 minutes walk from my accommodation that’s the easy part. Getting on a train and going to either Newark North Gate or Peterborough is about an hour and can be a hassle because the train isn’t very big so getting your luggage and finding a seat can be a nightmare depending on what time in the day. Once arrived at either station getting to the next platform on time and finding the reserved on the national express train can be the second part to the nightmare. But once on the train its smooth sailing back to London, the change of trains is starting to become a thing of the past.

A new direct train is currently running at 7:08am from Lincoln to London, there are no changes and it’s an East Midlands train. The leaflet describes the service as uninterrupted, unbroken and undisturbed sounds good to me. The other benefit is there won’t be a problem with trying to get a seat because Lincoln is the starting point of the service. Don’t think ill being using the service anytime soon because it’s seven in the morning but when it regulates eventually I’ll definitely be using it.

Facebook is taking over!

What happened to can I have your number and I’ll call you, forms of keeping in contact have changed. People would prefer your full name to search you on Facebook then your number to talk in person. It has become a new craze in order to keep informed about the new events or club themes you have to join the Facebook group. To see the photos from last night’s outing you would have to go on Facebook and comment instead of developing the photo and showing people in person. Technology has changed the way we communicate; I could sit on Facebook all day literally and talk to a large amount of people about anything.

I could see people’s life history through pictures of their childhood, school days and university life. You can search for anyone by using their first and surname; if their profile is not private then click away! The tagging option I believe is a great tool but can be dangerous people could be caught doing something they should not be, parents can see what their children has got up to. On the other hand you can find people in the picture you got tagged in and get their names; it’s an easy link to the pictures you wanted to see.

People lives are now on Facebook it’s a way of keeping up-to-date with the latest gossip, they now have an instant messenger encourage people to stay on Facebook longer. What makes it scary is some people’s lives revolve around Facebook changing their status every five minutes and constantly online, will things ever change?

Cinema's today

Cinema’s today have changed compared to the past, for example the prices have risen and the atmosphere or the idea behind going to the cinema has changed. Back in the past cinema going for me was a big event on a Saturday because school was all week and church was on a Sunday. Everyone got excited when news films came out and wanted to watch it in the cinema before anywhere else like DVD or TV. The prices were reasonable and everyone seemed excited about the whole cinema experience.

Today is a different story because watching a film in the cinema would only happen if we have the money and if someone else tells us that it’s worth watching in cinema. I won’t risk going to watch a badly done film because it cost money. The surround sound and the huge scene is what draw people to going to the cinema.

But now people seem to prefer downloading and watching films in the comfort of their home with a computer screen or buy a surround sound system and a big flat scene television with popcorn from the local shop. The popcorn was the traditional food to eat or hot dogs both with the fresh cinema taste, in contrast with today people believe cheaper is better and settle for the DVD with cheap snacks. The atmosphere for cinema going has changed will it ever be the same?

To many false fire alarms!!

When we all started as a Fresher the whole university experience seemed daunting. Everything was new and the thought of not living in the comfortable of your home with your parents and siblings was scary. We had the introduction week this personally helped me to settle in because I was kept busy and they tried to scare us the fire alarm showing horrible pictures of a cooker burnt to a crisp. I believed the health and safety lecture was very useful because they predicted what students would do to try and prevent the alarm going off for example covering the alarm with a sock. The predictions were based on the previous students and were accurate, but some students still push the limit and set the alarms constantly. I gathered from The Linc that since we started university on the 15th of September there have been 38 false calls from the Courts fire alarms and only 3 of these are genuine fires.

In court 17 where I live are very good at not setting the alarm off because the only time I remember was the alarm practice, set off purposely to see if it worked and to ensure we know the system. Unfortunately this was at 5 in the morning which didn’t work well when most people have a 9am lecture. When the alarm is raised Lincolnshire Fire and rescue service are quick to respond but the real issue with responding to all false calls caused mostly by the courts in my opinion, is that those who need the assistance are unable to get the full service because they are assisting us.

I found out from The Linc that each call costs the taxpayer £430 per hour for every fully crewed fire engine that comes to the scene. That might explain why the wardens and the fire engine crew don’t look happy being called to a false fire alarm especially when the reason are as petty as the shower door left open, people smoking when they shouldn’t be or hair spray.