How Sez Sees It

I do these every so often and they are quite fun for me to figure out what the hell is going on in my life, even if they are not so fun for you to read. Helps me get my random thoughts in order. 1. In a week and a half I will be married! That is a terrifying prospect. I know I keep mentioning it but it will be so weird to go from a Critcher to a Harding in the space of a 15 minute ceremony. I actually can't wait for it to be honest but it will be strange after being a Critcher for nearly 30 years! 2. My knee is clearly not as bad as I thought it was. You may recall that I had a weird injury the other week (everything in my life is weird at the moment). I was sat at work and someone asked me to help them with something on the printer and when I stood up my knee trapped some cartilage. I have not felt pain like that probably ever, even when I tripped over a box working for Sainsbury's years ago and landed on both of my knees. The result was that, four weeks before the wedding...

"What is in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Thanks Juliet. A name cane mean many things to many people. The literal meaning of my given name, Sarah, is 'princess'. It has it's routes in Christianity (and Judaism and Islam) as the wife of Abraham, the father of the three religions. My surname is old Saxon English and roughly translates as 'one who lives near a cross'. The first churches were effectively fields with a cross in them so that people knew where to meet before buildings were put up. The land was likely owned by the 'Critcher' who would maintain the cross and ensure there was a good place to meet for religious ceremonies. There are many places around the world that give emphasis to the meaning of names. The Japanese really think about the names they give their children and a name like Hajime would mean new beginning. If we believe Haruma Miura's tale (he's a hot and talented Japanese actor) who said ...

The Great British Bake Off (or Bake Off as it is commonly known) is a national treasure. Every week on a Wednesday night the nation sits down and watches a group of amateur bakers creating weird and wonderful baked goods in an attempt to stay in the competition and become overall baking champion at the end of the series. The timing is perfect, just when people are sitting down to a cuppa and a slice of cake at 8pm. Not only that, the show has been on the BBC since it has begun and it seems so British to have that pairing. This week the nation was rocked by the news that the show had been sold to Channel 4 because the production company, Love Productions, was asking too much money for it. The show is enormously popular with around 15 million viewers watching last year's final and an average of 10 million per episode this series. The popularity is also down to the presenters, comedians Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins alongside judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry (national treasure in...

The dodgy knee This is the sort of thing you say to someone before a performance or before they get married or something. It is not meant to be taken literally. I have not broken my leg. I have done something to my knee though. Not sure what. I was sat at work, minding my own business, when a colleague needed some help with the photocopier. I am blaming the photocopier for this injury because we have a hate/hate relationship...there's previous. Anyway, I got up to help my colleague and felt my knee crunch and a pain shot through the joint. The next thing I know I can't put any weight on it and it keeps crunching and hurting. I spent the whole weekend like it in absolute agony. I went to finalise details at the wedding reception venue and had to go careful on the stairs and in the car park. Then walking back to my car at the end my knee went again and I was in agony again. I went to my local town and got a bandage to sort it out. On the Saturday night I was going out w...

1. My legs ache when I climb a hill. I went up a hill I have walked up loads of times before and somehow my legs have been in pain ever since. I was trying to drive home and my legs were spasming and since then they ache like crazy. I walk up a hill every day to get to work so this is really weird. This happened four days ago and I immediately pulled both calf muscles. I have been a right state ever since. 2. I am prone to getting sick when I have time off from work. In the past I have had flu when I have had extended periods of time off and this time I had one day off. What happens? I have a 24 hour stomach bug. Great! Yay for me! I am not sure why this happens every time I take annual leave but it does. 3. I can make a variety of lemon drizzle cakes. Which is a skill of course. They are really nice when made with real lemon by the way. 4. Weddings are easier to plan than I thought. Which is nice. Everything just seems to be falling into place. I am happy about this because the ...