How Sez Sees It

Today I woke up as I normally do and went on to Facebook on my phone. There I had a total shock. One of the men who shaped my childhood entertainment had passed away and the cause was (at time of writing) 'apparent suicide'. This man was the comic and actor, Robin Williams . It transpires that he had been suffering many demons through his life, including issues with sobriety and depression. This sadly shows that depression is a hidden illness and that anyone, regardless of who they are or what they do, can be struck by it. Robin Williams was one of the first people I remember on TV who could make me laugh. When I was a child there were endless repeats at the weekends and some evenings (even during the working week I recall) of the 70's show Mork and Mindy. Williams played Mork, an alien who came to Earth in an egg shaped spacecraft to observe human life. I loved this show and as a young child it was one of the few things that would keep me quiet and stop me from pretend...

Nearly a year ago there was a lot of discussion around bands charging for meet and greets. I even vlogged about it at the time: Recently the idea of how much bands charge for things has crept up again on a variety of social networking sites. The biggest issue seems to have been around the limited reprinting of Laurence Beveridge's ( Fearless Vampire Killers ) book, Ruple and Evelyn. There was some...discussion (we will say this for want of a better word) around the costing of the book which is up for sale for £9.99 (plus P&P) from their website. Comments were made that this was too expensive for people to buy and that the band were essentially ripping off their fans who would have little money themselves. Other comments were made about the band stemming from this thread, but I don't feel they have a place here and I don't want to open all of that up again! The reality is that bands have to make money. They cannot afford to do anything for nothing. Yes, they will ...

"How dare they assume I would use my phone as a phone!" I roared in the office a moment ago (or several depending on when you read this...) Over the last two days I have had 20 phone calls (and counting) from a variety of numbers, but all the same company. They never state who they are, but they say they are calling from O2 to offer me an upgrade. This might be ok...if I was due to upgrade! As it is I did this a couple of months ago. Anyone that knows me will remember that my old mobile handset was playing up so I upgraded to the excellent Samsung Galaxy S5 a couple of months before I was due to upgrade. I was even happy to pay a little extra in order to do this at the time. I just wanted a working phone and that is what I got (and more, it is a good handset...but enough about that). Then, two days ago as stated, I started getting the annoying calls. They never seem to stay ringing long enough for me to pick up and speak to anyone and they never seem to leave a voice m...

This morning a colleague of mine told me of some people on Facebook who were saying that breastfeeding in public is wrong, dirty and distracting. Basically they didn't want to see it while they were in a restaurant. Every woman in my office (there are only women in my office), whether they had children or not, agreed that this was an insane view and that breastfeeding in public is normal, natural and absolutely right! Personally I have no baby yet, but when I do I want the option to be able to breastfeed in public. Here's a few key points why: You can't chain mothers up at home. They would go crazy if they were stuck in the house with a little baby all the time. They need to get out and interact with the world. Baby has to go too for obvious reasons, but when baby needs feeding, baby needs feeding.  This is a natural thing that has been happening since mammals evolved. We are not the only species to do this. Also, it is highly likely that those complaining were breas...

As I approach my 30's I already seem to have a problem with memories of past triumph. I am not sure why this is exactly, but when I look back at things that I excelled at in the past I notice signs that things in the future are not all that swell. The most obvious things for me are stupid things such as not being able to drink as much as I once could. This, it turns out is a blessing. I would not say that the ability to drink excessively is exactly a triumph of one's youth, but it is a sign that my capacity for excess in any sense is dwindling already. When I look back at highlights of my life I find myself longing for those times again. A year ago I found myself looking back to the summer of 2003. This was the year I left school and received my GCSE results. I remember participating in my exams with almost photographic clarity and then the memories of taking a portable radio outside to sit in the baking sun in the mornings and dashing back inside to watch Wimbledon (the fi...

I am engaged and before I get going I want you all to know that I am very happy. I do love my fiancé very much and I can’t wait for the day that we stand there in front of everyone and make a declaration of our love. There are some things that have made me question the institution of marriage and in fact any relationship. This may be the slight feminist in me talking or just personal experience and even from things I have seen around me. I just don’t feel comfortable with certain aspects of relationships. Let us take marriage as an example first of all. There is still an expectation in the western world that the woman will take the man’s name. I do know of a case where this was the other way round as the surname of the bride was rare and so the man took this name in order to keep it going. This is very unusual and generally speaking it is the woman who takes the man’s name. This convention is a hangover from the idea that marriage is a change of ownership from one man (father)...

Nearly a year ago I had food poisoning and learned some lessons. Mum is always right! When Mum tells you not to eat seafood soup DO NOT EAT SEAFOOD SOUP! Take 2 or more pakets of 'anti-diarrhoea' tablets. You and your partner will both need them and six tablets will not be enough. Rich tea biscuits will become your friend. They keep your energy up and you can keep them down. Just leave the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door and stay asleep. Sip water. You're ill because you're purging. Water keeps you hydrated and helps flush it out. The whole thing is less painful when you have tennis to watch You will still feel queezy and be unable to eat full meals or certain things for about six months. When you remember the food poisoning your body's muscle memory and brain memory automatically makes you feel ill. So yeah, basically food poisoning is awful!