Home is where the Hannan is...

It's been a little while since my last blog, my world is continuing to spin crazy fast and time is sweeping by without so much as a tea break! But here I am, back again, when I should really be doing work to tell you about another of my favourites...

When I was a smaller Hannan I was quite dependent on Megatron and Optimus Dad and had to live in their house so they could help me grow and protect me from baddies. Ja Ja lived there too because she's my sister, and we grew up in a lovely home in Lancashire which iss called The Mother Ship. I have many memories of The Mother Ship and so, when it was time to leave for uni and then when I moved down to Surrey, I felt quite sad that I wouldn't be living there any more.

I live quite a long way from The Mother Ship, and every so often I visit. This is my all time favourite. Ever. Going home is the best.

My Mum always makes her home all cosy and special and welcoming and when we arrive I can see the warmth eminating from the house, it almost glows. The fire is always on in the living room (even in summer sometimes, it's bizzarre!) Mum taught me a valuable lesson about lighting throughout my upbringing and as a result I have an obsession with lamps and NEVER have the 'big light' on. When I go round my friends houses I tend to go around turning lamps on and big lights off.

Being a northern Hannan I love a good cup of tea. And up North is definitely the place to get a good cup of tea. No limescale in our water, no sir-ee! And everyone who steps into The Mother Ship has a cup of tea put in front of them whether or not they asked for one. Everyone except my sister's boyfriend, Brother Bear. He doesn't care for tea. Nor coffee. So because of this 'abnormality' my Mum had a mini meltdown and bought a hot drink called 'Spiced Berry Cordial'. I'm not sure Brother Bear likes Spiced Berry Cordial but he gets it every time he visits, because one must always have a hot drink in front of one.

I like doing projects with me ol' Mum, like the time I knitted The Boy a jumper which I thought would be a great money-saving idea and in fact ended up costing me eighty quid and took me 6 months to complete...and also require Mum to be there to pick up dropped stitches, add stitches on, take them away etc.

Another great factor of The Mother Ship is the wonderful meals I get to gobble. My favourite is my Mum's veggie lasagne but The Boy ADORES her Cottage pie. When Ja Ja and I were younger we would be handed a plate of cottage pie and would gobble it down before you could say hot potato. Then Mum would come in, all chill, and say "Here's the cabbage..." and we would look in dismay at the part of the meal we'd forgotten. We always had to eat that cabbage on its own as we had finished the cottage pie in our haste. Ahhhh the foolishness of youth.

The Boy and I just got home from a wonderful Christmas at The Mother Ship and had the best time ever. It was the first Christmas we were all together, Mum, Dad, my sister and her boyfriend, me and The Boy. We pulled crackers, wore those happy hats, ate turkey and played games and had a merry old Christmas. The Boy got a fondue kit from Father Christmas which he has used for every meal since Boxing Day. I got a delicious turquoise gilet with a furry hood and I love it.

One day you may be lucky enough to visit Preston and if you do, look up The Mother Ship and you can be sure there will be a roaring fire awaiting you, a delicious shepherds pie and a hot cup of tea (or Spiced Berry Cordial if you're really lucky)

Love Hannan

xxxxxxxxxxx
P.S. Happy New Year!

Nature vs Man (An actually rather serious post)

I've been thinking about Titanic quite a lot recently. (The film and the actual real life sad situation) It makes me feel sad because of how many people died but also because I think one of these days all the Hollywood films about robots taking over the world, will come true. We are always building bigger, digging deeper, spending more and more, flying higher (I'm talking about you, Felix Baumgartner, jumping out of Outer Space, I ask you!) and just trying to be the biggest Mothers on the planet. But really, mountains will always dwarf ships, seas will always drown reservoirs, outer space will always swallow up rocket ships, and the sun will always melt robots down to molten iron.

 I wrote a poem about the Titanic and nature's response to the tragedy. It's a bit serious actually, for once. Check me out Ma, I'm growing up!

This is it:

Since Eden, man has tried his best

To put nature to the test

Our arrogance and vanity

Has blinkered us, so we can't see

That nature was, is and will be

The victor of eternity

 

And still we try and try again

To prove ourselves as Big Strong Men

"We've got the tools! We've got the braun!"

Industrialism has been born

 

Britain became Great overnight

and taught the world from its great heights

how to use Nature's resources

to replace hard work and horses

 

The Big Men said "Let's build a ship!

We'll build it huge and build it quick!"

But as we know, that fateful night

Nature won an epic fight

 

"Unsinkable" the mammoth boat

It's only given order; "Float",

Sank into the icy sea

And nature claimed it's steel trophy

 

"Let that be a lesson" Nature said

"Don't let your arrogance cloud your head

Never again try and take me on"

Maybe one day we'll learn our lesson.

 

 

The End.

Love Hannan :)

 

 

Remember Remember the 5th of November...

Remember Remember the 5th November,

Fireworks, apples and gloves. 

So this is why, the lights in the sky

Have become one of my favourite loves...

Last week was Bonfire Night, one of my favourite nights of the year. Unfortunately I had a puking condition that meant I couldn't leave the house so I missed it. But no worry everyone, I sure made up for it the following Friday at the Bonfire that happens at work each year. More about that later...

BANG! WHEEE! WHIZZ! SHCREEEEEE!

When I was a teeny weeny Hannan, I hated loud things, and things that gave me a fright, and so Bonfire Night was a nightmare for me. I remember going to Lancaster Firework show for a few years in a row and sitting on Optimus Dad's shoulders with my fingers crammed in my ears, trying to enjoy the pretty colours. I'd look around at people so I could see what their faces looked like and then I could copy their delight, thus fooling my family who would look at me and say "Nyawwww, look at Hannan having a wonderful time!" Not so much....

As I grew a bit more grown up I began to enjoy Fireworks a bit more, even going as far as genuinely smiling when they whizzed up into the sky, but still with fingers crammed firmly into ears. I'd partake in a toffee apple, a bit of that black toffee and maybe a hot dog but constantly on guard for the tell tale 'phut' sound of a banger being let off or the 'wheeeeeeee' just before the explosion.

Once at a small Bonfire party in my friend's garden, one of the fireworks fell over just after it had been lit and shot towards us all! My Dad, the incredible Optimus Dad, stepped on the firework and trapped it onto the ground so that it exploded UNDER HIS FOOT! What a hero! And even better, it turned out, was that it was a perfectly timed accident! He just happened to put his foot down on a firework as it exploded, thus saving us all. Hurray!

Fireworks do freak me out though. I don't like the idea that they're sitting there, waiting in that box, their tummies filled up with explosives. I know not if they realise their fate whilst they sit smiling in the shops, looking so pretty, and (now don't laugh) I almost feel bad for them as they shoot up with their long bums on fire and explode in the sky whilst people below admire their executions with 'ooooh's and 'ahhhhhhh's. A bit sick if you ask me.

I got over this on Friday though, and had a wonderful time. I had a tasty hot dog and held hands with The Boy as we watched the beautiful display of explosions. He kept warning me that he saw an episode of '999' once where a child got a firework in the eye, and so whenever anything touched his face, like a leaf, or my hair, or the wind, we had to deal with "Oh, OH, a FIREWORK has gone into my EYE!" The romantic exerience was also slightly marred by The Boy's less than animated commentary of the entire show.

[Imagine the following said in a low, droning, monotone voice because he was cold and tired]

"Yeah I like them ones...they're blue so I like them...And that one was quite good but it wasn't blue. Those one's make a noise. Those one's are big aren't they, that one was blue...I liked it. I like the ones that crackle...although they're not blue. I can see blue best of all..."

And so on. However, despite the cold, and the commentary, and the lack of toffee apples (grrrr) and the constant reassurance that "No fireworks have gone in your eye, The Boy...." I had a great night and there was no one else I'd rather have spent the evening with than him.

(And I didn't put my fingers in my ear once...!)

Hope you all had a safe and happy Bonfire Night and remember, NEVER play with gunpowder. Or you'll end up like Guy Fawkes.

Love Hannan xoxo