Let's talk house plants

Plants are a triple threat - used to brighten up a dull room, make you feel better and clean the air around you.  I feel like they're not really spoken about enough. 

Two years ago I moved into my student accommodation with a candle and some fairy lights, hoping to pull of a Grand Designs-esque makeover on the bare room.  As you can probably guess, the room felt cold and empty.  A couple of weeks later I bought a couple of plants from a local sale and instantly the room not only looked, but felt better.  

If I'm honest, I thought the plants would die from lack of sunlight in my small room, or I would forget to water them, but if you get a plant like a cactus they need little attention and can be left when you go home for the weekend.  

My friend propagated a spider plant for me, so my current project is trying to grow it... it's not dead yet so that's a good sign.  

Also in my plant 'collection' I have a cheese plant, which I've managed to keep alive for over a year now, many, many cacti and an aloe plant. Aloe leaves can be carefully selected and cut from the main growth to help with skincare.  The gel inside of the aloe plant can be massaged into the skin and its properties help soothe burns, cuts, and dry or sore skin.  I've tried it before, and its not the nicest texture, but it did leave my skin feeling really soft.  Another function of house plants is they naturally purify the air - this is what I mean when I say you can get use from your house plants.

I'll stop rambling now but my advice: go and buy a house plant, even if it's just one.  

*A shameless plug*

Although this is a different style of blog post for me, one where I 'advertise' (if you will) my other platforms.  As you all know, I'm currently studying Journalism so it's important for me to be across all platforms.  So, myself and three of my friends have created a podcast!!

I should probably introduce it, it's called 4 Chicks in LS6 (because of our Leeds postcode), and we talk all things university related, including the strikes, accommodation, and making friends.

[From left to right in photo below] Megan, Leah, Gemma (me) and Lucy were sitting eating our £3 meal deals one day, and watched a group of freshers excitedly walk into the union probably to also collect their £3 meal deal, how all great ideas begin.

Before starting University, I felt I had little guidance about what Uni was actually like, without the frills you see on an open day.  On the 4 Chicks podcast, we make sure to speak honestly and yes our experience to guide others.  Going to University can be difficult, and this side of it is often overlooked, especially when adolescents feel pressured into further education.  Uni !! Is !! Not !! For !! Everyone !!  The main purpose for us was to just have a chat about uni, whilst having a laugh.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, you can listen to the 4 Chicks in LS6 podcast here: https://soundcloud.com/4-chicks-in-ls6

Feel free to follow us on Twitter too: https://twitter.com/4chicksinLS6

Book Review: This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay

This is my first shot at doing a book review.  In no way am I a medic, critic, or even an avid book enthusiast, however 'This is Going to Hurt' by ex-medic Adam Kay recently fell into my hands.  The only times I show remote interest in reading is for university (compulsory, so does this count?) and when I go on holiday, other than that, I pretty much have zero interest in reading.

But, even with just reading the first sentence of Adam Kay's book, I was hooked - gone was the book-hating attitude (which you can blame A-Level English Literature for).  For me, a lot of the terminology in 'This is Going to Hurt' (which I will now shorten to TIGTH) was like reading in a foreign language or morse code, however, Kay made it super easy to understand with his basic explanations and a little Asterix* every time there was a word like episiotomy or marsupialization.

What became immediately apparent to me was that this book was in equal parts heartbreaking as it was humorous.  Kay kept the diary entries light-hearted and comical, yet there is an underlying tone of defeat, which is revealed in section ten.  Section ten had me in tears.  Kay's explanation of why he quit the NHS was raw and I empathised with the pain he must have felt to leave a career, that once meant everything to him.  The love that Kay feels towards the NHS will always be there, as he reiterates, but he could not continue working in an environment which was damaging him physically, mentally and emotionally.  And honestly I applaud those who work day in, day out, in our crumbling NHS.

By reading diary entries from over a span of five years, the reader gets to grasp life in the obstetrics and gynaecology ward.  Some of the stories Kay effortlessly tells had me howling with laughter, so much so that I even got told to shut up on the train.  A particular favourite of mine has to be the story of a woman who shoved a kinder-egg containing an engagement ring into her privates (as if that would be romantic anyway) and, you can see where this is going... yes, it got stuck.  You'll be pleased to know that story is just one among many, and I'm sure that Kay has many more that were unable to be published.

All things considered, if I had to give TIGTH a score out a five, I would give it a 4.5/5 (my five is saved for a book I would re-read over and over again).  Personally, the book was super informative and it gave me a perspective of the NHS that I would struggle to find elsewhere.  The diary entries, although separate and often a span of a few days would be missing in the middle, were coherent, when it could have easily been confusing.

The ending summed up how Kay felt towards junior-doctor attacking politicians and in my opinion, more needs to be done to help and support NHS staff because they make the impossible, seem possible, and they work f**king hard.

Oh, and happy 2020!