Shake It Baby

An item most of us will have had at the beginning of our lives is the baby rattle. There isn't much that an infant can do to amuse themselves but, once they've got a grip, the baby rattle is the perfect solution to entertaining a tiny baby. They are claimed to help a child develop their hand eye coordination as well as stimulating their senses.

Those Golden,Olden Days

With vintage seeing a massive surge in popularity, the things we remember from our childhood  are often, these days, thought of as iconic.

As a youngster, trips to my grandparents house in the 1970s, would be a mixture of boredom and fascination.

The boredom came from having  such old fashioned things about, forcing me to watch my cartoons on some old black and white set and waiting an inordinate amount of time for my tea, which was prepared on a wood fired stove.

Happy Hours, Happy Days

Something that  always seems to  transport me to some imagined tropical island, is a nice girly cocktail.

I say girly , but I know plenty of men who are no stranger to the pina colada either.

In recent years, the cocktail has seen a resurgence in popularity and nowadays you would be hard pressed to even find a pub that doesn't offer up some kind of a cocktail list. This, to my mind, is not necessarily a good thing because there is an art to making a good cocktail. Sticking an umbrella into a glass does not make it a cocktail.

The cocktail industry is a serious business now and there are whole trade shows dedicated to the art of all things spiritual (do you see what I did there). According to market research, the UK alcohol industry is worth £38 billion annually. That means a whole lotta shakin’ going on.

Feeling Festive?

Well, we are now halfway through the festival season here in the UK. For once, for the most part, even the weather has been in our favour.

At Glastonbury, earlier this summer, the sun shone and just made the whole thing that little bit better.

With so many festivals now taking place each year here in the UK, there truly is something for everyone.

CLAIM TO FAME….THROUGH A NAME

Sometimes I find myself wondering where particular words find their origin.

Now, I don't mean whether they are Latin based or Germanic etc, but my interest is in how things come to have the name they are given.

Having had my curiosity piqued, I decided to do a little research myself.

So, I present to you now, a little list of words you may not have considered were actually named after people. Who knew?