Existentialism Raw Lecture Notes

The following are my raw notes from the lecture about Existentialism. We have not had a seminar about it so there will be no seminar notes to follow, but I will write a much more detailed post about existentialism in the second semester.

Kirkegaard:

• Contempary of Nietzche
• Hated existence, but suicide would be a sin
• Believed that life was futile/pointless
• Thought that you may as well believe in something, he chose Christianity
• Leap of faith

Phenomenology:

• Subjective perception of everything
• Nothing is intrinsic
• All you can say is that you are here at the moment - probably
• Husserl's Duck/Rabbit is an example of subjectification:

• The Duck/Rabbit image shows that the problem with perception is intention
• You have to choose which animal you want to see
• Choosing is fundamental of human existence.

Heidegger:

• Student of Husserl
• Thought western civilisation was not sustainable
• Thought we need to go back to nature and away from technology
• Constantly looking towards the future
• The past = guilt and shame
• The present = dread of the future (similar to Freud and Kirkegaard)
• The future = unknown
• Dassein = being
• Each of us has a dassein to deal with the dread of the future/distract us
• The fact that we are here now is pure luck = thrown-ness

Jean-Paul Satre:

• Student of Heidegger
• Took from Heidegger the ideas of being and dread
• Hell is other people - wrote a play called No Exit based on this belief
• Thought you should live in good faith by being brutally honest about everything.

Existential dilema = to what extent do you collaborate with something you find morally repugnant?

Totalitarianism Notes

Totalitarianism is when there is a leader of a mass who is an absolute dictator. A characteristic of a totalitarian regime is that the dictator rules by fear, and that through that fear any sense of individualism is lost.

Hannah Arendt, a German American, Jewish, political theorist believed that totalitarianism is worse than other forms of oppression because 'the means are more drastic'. In her book, The Origins of Totalitarianism', Arendt explained how totalitarianism seeks to destroy all social, legal and political traditions. She highlights the importance of a 'mass' in a totalitarian regime and argues that ideas of the individual is the only defence against such a regime.

An example of a totalitarian regime was that of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Hitler ruled by fear, and even "good" individuals, when ruled by fear, can be persuaded to think that anything is true; for example thinking that Jewish people were an inferior species. Arendt suggests that under a totalitarian regime, all sense of human morality, guilt and empathy are lost. This could be used as a reason to explain how the Nazis were capable of performing such cruel, immoral acts.

An important part of totalitarianism is that the mass has an overwhelming willingness to obey authority. It seems that people are willing to do things they never thought they would be capable of if they think it is for a worthy purpose, or they believe that the responsibility for their actions is not their own, but rather belongs to the authority giving them the orders.

An example of this is the experiment of Stanely Milgram in 1961. Milgram designed an experiment to try and understand how decent people, when blindly obeying rules, such as the Nazis, were capable of performing cruel acts on other individuals.

His experiment was to take an individual and lead them to believe that they are taking part in an experiment about memory. The individual, given the role of "teacher", was told to ask another individual, the "student", memory questions, and administer an electric shock to the "student" if they gave an incorrect answer. The "teacher" was separated from the room so that they could not see each other. The "teacher" was led to believe that the "student" was receiving electric shocks, when in fact the "student" was simply an actor and was not suffering at all. The role of the "scientist" conducting the experiment was also played by an actor, and portayed the role of the authoritative figure to the "teacher".

The "teacher" was told to administer shocks up to 450 volts, a shock that would be lethal to the "student". Before the experiment started, Milgram predicted that none of the "teachers" would go as far as to administer the lethal shock, and that if anyone did it would only be because they are mentally unstable.

The results of the experiment shocked (unintentional pun) the nation. Milgram found that over two thirds of the "teachers" administered the lethal 450 volts when instructed to do so by the "scientist", and all 40 participants administered up to 300 volts. Many showed concern for the well being of the "student", but after encouragement from the "scientist" that it was "essential" that they continue the experiment, they obeyed orders over their own moral compass.

Willingness to obey authority is not something that I have ever personally been able to understand; and while Milgram's findings horrified me, they did not surprise me given history, and society as a whole.

Diary of a Winchester Lady: The Awkward Moment When...

If you are reading this it means that you know how to use the internet – which means that it would be impossible for you not to know about Facebook. In fact with over 800 million active Facebook users, it is extremely likely that even if you don’t use the internet you will still have heard of Facebook before.

Facebook has revolutionised the way that people share their photos, their friends, their thoughts and essentially their entire lives. The recent trend on Facebook is to share your awkward moments with your friends and family by starting your status update with ‘the awkward moment when’.

Some popular examples of this craze are:

The awkward moment when you try to use your curser to shoo a fly off your screen

The awkward moment when it's quiet in class and your stomach decides to make that dying whale sound

The awkward moment when vodka robs you of your dignity

So when did it become cool to tell everyone our most embarrassing moments? I would argue that it is because by the time you are old enough to be a committed facebook user, we have reached the point in our lives where our desire to be funny over rules our fears of being laughed at.

I remember moments from my childhood that I thought were so embarrassing at the time that I wanted the ground to swallow me up. And now I have much more embarrassing moments yet for some reason I am happy to share these with my Facebook world because I know that they will make people laugh.

I think that the evolution of Facebook has meant that we are much more comfortable, or at least virtually comfortable, with expressing ourselves and sharing our experiences. In my experience, this is because even though you know the people who are making comments or ‘liking’ your status, you cannot actually see them so there is a sense of detachment to them; and the illusion that the people that you are sharing embarrassing moments with are not actual people.

Facebook has become an essential part in socialisation, particularly amongst younger generations, and I believe that this is because it allows us to socialise without actually interacting with another individual. You don’t have to pretend to look interested; you don’t have to reply instantly and if you forget something about a person of what they have just said you can easily read over past conversations.

I think that adapting to socialising in this way is incredibly dangerous because it makes you more accustomed to communicating virtually, which in turn makes it more difficult to communicate with friends or strangers in reality. I know this to be true because I have found it happen in my own life. I am more than happy to e-mail anyone, anywhere in the world at any time of day if I think they will be able to help me with something. However, I would never make numerous phone calls or visits to speak to the very same people who I happily e-mail. It would be incredibly for me to say that the reason for this is because e-mail is quicker and more easily accessible – but this would be a lie.

The truth is that I am no longer entirely comfortable starting conversations with strangers in reality. I would much rather communicate through a computer screen where I don’t actually have to see the other person, and I know that they cannot see me.

Similarly, it is easy for me to type out what my problem is because I am not imaging who will be reading this – all I have access to are the words on my own screen and my own thoughts about them.

If I were to update my status now it would probably be:

The awkward moment when you realise you will go to extreme lengths to avoid talking to people in reality instead of virtually.

It seems to me that the addition of those four words to a status gives us the confidence to share our embarrassing moments, secrets and fears with the world. Or perhaps sharing our awkward moments simply allow us to make fun of ourselves before others have the opportunity to make fun of us.

Critical Reflection: BUS Disease

I wanted to write a piece about about how people behave on the bus this week but did not want my column to simply be me complaining. For this reason, I started thinking about other ways I could complain in a less direct manner. I eventually chose to write the piece as if annoying, inconsiderate people on the bus were suffering from a medical condition. I thought that this would be more interesting to read, and hope that the final piece turned out to be humorous.

In order to write this piece as a warning of a medical condition I researched some pre-existing material about different medical conditions so that I could see the style in which they are written. It was after reading some of these that I decided that rather than just describing the one 'sufferer', I needed to describe the 'symptoms' of the disease. The symptoms I chose to describe were ones which are common complaints of people travelling on the bus, for example people talking loudly on their phones, or taking up too much room.

One of the most difficult things for this piece was trying to get a picture to go with it. I knew that I would need a picture of a bus that did not show the registration, any adverts, or any individuals. In the end I managed to get pictures of the buses in the station with very few people around, and made sure that neither the license plate or the people in the image would be clear enough to be recognisable. I also took a picture from inside the bus of some empty seats as this was directly relevant to the piece as I had described one of
the 'symptoms' as being an inability to pick a seat on the bus.

I am really pleased with the finished piece, and think that is has been one of my favourite columns so far.

Diary of a Winchester Lady: BUS Disease

WARNING – This is a warning message to all members of the public, of a serious condition that affects all genders, ages and races. Brain Becomes Useless Syndrome, also known as BUS Disease, affects one in every three bus passengers. It is not yet clear what causes this bizarre phenomenon, and currently there is no known cure.

Symptoms include:

·    Memory Loss – most commonly forgetting where you are travelling to or when you need to get off the bus.

·    Disorientation – sufferers will find it nearly impossible to choose a seat on the vehicle.

·    Speech problems – you will talk unnecessarily loud to your friend or on the phone, you will be unable to perceive how annoying this is to other passengers.

·    Loss of spacial awareness – sufferers will find it impossible to judge how much room they are taking up in relation to the limited space available.

It is important to note that these symptoms only start once the sufferer steps onto a bus and only last for the duration of their journey.

The following case study is of a real person with BUS Disease and highlights the seriousness of the disease and how it can cause you to completely lose your mind.

Case Study: Mr Limp

In the case of Mr Limp the symptom of disorientation is particularly prevalent. Mr Limp was travelling with his wife when I witnessed his BUS Disease flare up on the bus last week.

Mr Limp entered the bus and sat down slowly in the seats provided for disable people and buggies. As Mr Limp was using crutches, this seemed to be the ideal seat for him to choose as it provided the necessary leg room and easy access needed by disabled people. However, this seat choice only seemed rational to someone who does not personally suffer from BUS Disease, and clearly Mr Limp felt that he had made the wrong decision.

He began to fidget continually and scanned the bus for a different available seat. He then glanced at where I was sitting, and asked if I would move so that he could have my seat. At first I was incredibly confused by this because I had minimal leg room and had found it difficult getting to the seat in the first place. However as I do not suffer from BUS Disease, it would have been impossible for me to try and rationalise the man’s decision, so I obediently moved to another seat.

Mr Limp then proceeded to hobble down the narrow walkway on the bus, which was not wide for him to use his crutches so he had to support himself by holding onto the backs of chairs on his way through. He then made three attempts to sit down before finally finding a way to pull his legs into the tiny gap between the edge of his seat and the back of the seat in front.

To my amazement, his wife followed him and asked him to move towards the window more so that she would have enough room to sit down – despite the fact that the seat on the other side of the aisle was free. By the time they were both settled, the man’s knees were pressed against the back of the seat in front of him, and his wife was sat with her back to him and her legs in the aisle with the crutches balanced on the chair on the other side of the aisle.

You may be wondering why on earth the man had made the decision to squeeze himself into a gap that provided only a miniscule amount of leg room in comparison to the seat he had first chosen. One can only assume that this was because he has a severe case of BUS Disease, and actually had no control over his actions. It is more than likely that he stepped off the bus and instantly questioned the stupid decision he had made.

It is worth noting that in this situation, the wife should not have allowed this behaviour to continue. One of the only ways to treat BUS Disease is to travel with someone who is not a sufferer, who can make you aware of your odd behaviour.

As a species we are incredibly successful. We have built skyscrapers and aeroplanes. We have decoded the human genome and can transplant organs from one person to another. We can build robots and can even predict the weather. We can do amazing, incredible things, and yet for some reason the vast majority of us seem to lose our minds when using the bus.

I believe that together we can find a cure for this phenomenon, but until then it is better to simply ignore sufferers.

Critical Reflection: Fashion Knows No Gender

For this piece, Katie Rowles had asked me to write a fashion piece. Fashion is not something that I know much about or am particularly interest in, so I wanted to find an angle for piece that would be interesting for other people who are not really interested in fashion to read as well. I got the idea for this piece after seeing an article on The Independent Online about how transgender model, Andrej Pejic, had been voted into FHMs top 100 sexist women in the world. Until I read this article, transgender modelling was something I did not know much about at all, so I thought it would be interesting to research and inform other people about. 

Finding the background information about transgender modelling, and in particular Pejic and Lea T was not particularly difficult as they have both been featured heavily in the media and the fashion industry. The most difficult thing about this piece was trying to get permission to use pictures of either Pejic or T.

I got in contact with both of their agencies around the world, and the publications their images were featured in from Italian Vogue to The Daily Mail but had absolutely no luck. The best offer I had was that I would be given permission to use the image at the cost of $91 Australian Dollars for every day it was up on line. It became apparent that it was not going to be possible to get permission to use images of either model, and I needed to start thinking outside the box.

I decided to post a status on Facebook asking if anyone knew any transgender models that I would be able to get in touch with to try and attain an image to go with my piece. My efforts paid off and as it turned out that the girl who lives next door to me had a family friend, called Alex Ramsey, who is a transgender model. I contacted Ramsey and explained the situation. He was extremely helpful and gave me permission to pick a photograph off his website to use to go with my piece, as long as I included his name and profession.

He had hundreds of pictures, and I knew I wanted to find one where he looked as feminine as possible. I also needed to choose a photo that would be appropriate to appear with the article, as some of his images were quite risqué. In the end I chose an image of Ramsey dressed as a school girl, and even though he has no hair in the image, his make up, outfit and bone structure made him look like a woman:

Fashion Knows No Gender

It is no secret that the fashion world has been at the centre of continual controversy and debate over the years concerning topics such as the use of fur or promoting images of size zero women. But when model, Andrej Pejic, was voted 98^th in FHMs top 100 sexiest women in the world 2011, a whole new side to the fashion world was publicised; the world of transgender modelling.

Transgender modelling is not a recent addition to the fashion world, dating back to the 1950s, but the story of 19 year old Andrej Pejic brought it to the forefront of public debate and scrutiny.

FHM apologised for any offence caused by the androgynous male appearing in the list. Not only did they apologise, they also described Pejic as a ‘thing’ and warned readers to ‘pass the sick bucket’ at the thought of Pejic’s dream to be a Victoria Secrets’ model, and guaranteed readers that this would never happen again. It is understandable that FHM apologised for any offence caused, but their criticism of Pejic caused as much controversy as the story itself.

Like other transgender models, Pejic has had a high profile career, modelling for the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier and Marc Jacobs, and has appeared in both French and Italian Vogues. When questioned on his reaction to the controversy surrounding his career and his place in the fashion world, Pejic replied "It's a very liberal industry. You can be yourself. Just not overweight."

We live in a world where equal rights, whether it is between different races, genders, religions or ages, are at the forefront of all areas of life – surely fashion should be no exception to this? If anything, surely transgender modelling is essential in an industry where bringing something unique to the table is everything.  Or has our tolerance and awareness of equal rights stepped too far over a boundary into the ridiculous? Should we celebrate Pejic’s achievement of being voted one of the sexiest women in the world, or should we be questioning the world we live in, in which we are no longer able to easily differentiate between genders?

Pejic was not the only androgynous model to cause a stir in the fashion world this year. Model Lea T appeared on the cover of Love magazine’s androgynous issue this year kissing Kate Moss, with Moss styled as a man and Lea T as a woman.  Below the image were the simple, yet powerful words ‘This Is Hardcore.’ And it certainly was.

Lea T was the face of Givenchy in late 2010, has appeared on the cover of many fashion publications including French Vogue and Italian Vanity Fair, featured on the Oprah Wincfrey Show, and it currently number 42 in the Top 50 Models Women List by models.com. T has been welcomed by the fashion world, but as her fame rocketed, her family relationships became increasingly strained. In a world whereshe is adored and accepted by many as the world's first transexual supermodel, her own family has rejected her.

Where T has been accepted by society but rejected by her family, Pejic has faced discrimination in society, but acceptance within his family, posing the question; will it ever be possible for a transgender model to be accepted in all walks of life?

Diary of a Winchester Lady: International Student Fashion

For those of you who don’t know, I am classed as an international student because I am from Guernsey. Guernsey is in the UK, so the fashion back home is pretty much identical to the trends here in England. I began to wonder what students from other international countries think of the fashion here and how it compares to their styles back home.

GQ UK Magazine highlights the top winter trends for men as:

·         Chinos

·         Knitted jumpers

·         Slim fit jeans

·         Leather boots

According to British Vogue, the current winter trends for women are:

·         Knee high boots

·         Tartan

·         Jumpsuits/Onsies

·         Sparkle and Shine

In the UK the images we see of American fashion are of celebrities or on programmes such as 90210 and One Tree Hill – but what are the trends for normal American students? As students settle into the fashions of winter 2011 I decided to ask some American students at the University of Winchester what they think about the winter style here and the defined must haves from British Vogue and GQ Magazine.

Joe Gallagher, 20, from New Hampshire

Joe Gallagher

“I reject fashion and subscribe to the notion that if you follow fashion you will always be behind it. So I keep it real with solid colours.”

I asked Joe what his opinions were about the four trends highlighted by GQ Magazine.

After initial confused as to what chinos are, Joe said that he has seem similar trousers in the US, but they are called Dickies. He thought that chinos with deep pockets looked cool, but that he did not think they would ever catch on in the states.

Joe seemed to have a heightened sense of distain for leather boots and vowed that he would never personally wear them, and does not think that they are a good trend for British men to follow. He always wanted to comment on the trend of Ugg Boots here in the UK, which although he understands that they are comfortable, he does not like them. According to Joe there is a trend amongst girls in America who are so dedicated to wearing Ugg Boots and Northface jumpers that the term Ugface is used to describe them. It is no secret that Ugg Boots are incredibly popular in the UK as well; I practically live in mine during the winter months, but I am extremely grateful that the term Ugface is not one that is associated with wearing the boots here in England.

Joe was extremely surprised that a man in a knitted sweater or cardigan here is considered to be fashionable: “In the United States, if I may be so bold, a man wearing a knitted jumper is assumed to be childless and living with many cats.”  He explained how, in America, sweaters and cardigans have a scholarly look and are stereotypically “accompanied with square rimmed glasses and scarves.” 

It seems that the only UK fashion trend similar to men’s fashion in New Hampshire is slim fit jeans: “Slim fit jeans are catching like wildfire back home. They used to be denoted as flamboyant and feminine with a homosexual connotation, but they’ve spread from hipster/yuppie apparel to pretty universal.’

Joe described his style as mainly wearing jeans, with ‘normal’ t-shirts and hoodies. He does not believe there is any point in following fashion trends; he prefers to “keep it real.”



Rachael Holloway, 21, from Kansas



Rachael Holloway

“I've found, on the whole, fashion is much more important to young England compared to that in America.”

Rachael explained that the fashion trends for women in the United Kingdom is very similar to the fashion in the United States, but that she has found that being fashionable is more important in everyday life here than in America: “we tend to dress up fashionably when we go out to parties, but for everyday wear it’s pretty much jeans, t-shirt and a jacket.”

She said that the trend of knee high boots here is exactly the same as in Kansas, but that using boots as a fashion statement is more varied in the UK. “American girls love knee high boots and skinny jeans… it seems that girls here [in England] are much more interested in the type of boots they have, as well as having many different pairs of really nice boots.’

As well as boots, Rachael said that Sperrys (boat shoes) are extremely popular where she is from, but that she has not seen anyone wearing them over here.

Rachael thinks that ‘going out wear’ is the same amongst women here and American women; “Sparkle and shine is exactly the same. Short sequined dresses, club tops, shiny jewellery, it’s all the same.”  She maintained that the difference comes in what English girls wear to lectures and for everyday activities. From what she has seen she argued that “girls here tend to wear really fancy outfits for class, whereas many American’s just wear sweats, or even pyjamas.”

Tartan, or plaid as it is known in America, is as popular as it is here but for a different reason. Rachael explained that it is popular because “it is one of the most durable materials, as well as providing warmth for the cold winters.” She said that tartan has come back as a fashion statement in the past five years, and that they wear it in the same way we would for example on shirts and skirts.

I asked Rachael if there were any parts of British fashion trends that surprised here, to which she replied: “Onesies! American youth would not be seen dead in onesies. You can buy them but they are mainly for girls. It has amazed me the obsession guys have with onesies here. Hilarious!”

After speaking to Joe and Rachael I have earned that American fashion is much more relaxed that the media portrays. I think we would do well to follow their example and not worry so much about what we look like and just wear our comfiest clothes instead of trying to keep up with the trends. 

Critical Reflection: Holiday Cheer, Henna and Happy Snapping

Normally I write my column pieces about ideas that come from experiences I have had during the week, but for this piece my experience from the week came from my idea for my column. This was the first time I have travelled to London specifically as a journalism student rather than just for fun. I have to admit that I was apprehensive about the day in London because, coming from Guernsey, I had concerns about getting lost of being mugged by everyone I met! After negotiating my way through the underground I arrived at Earl's Court and entered the show.

Initially I had thought that the best think to do would be to find the celebrities who were supposed to be at the show, because I thought that writing about the celebrities would be more interesting than just reading about my experience of going to the show. I managed to find Laurence Llewelyn Bowen and Gino D'Acampo and get pictures with them but neither of them had enough time for an interview which was disappointing. However I then decided that it would have been somewhat pointless to go the Christmas Ideal Home Show and then only write about the celebrities, because that would not really relate to the events of the day.

I then needed to think of another angle for my piece. I thought about what people go to the show for, and concluded that whilst some people are there to purchase items, the vast majority of people were there to look around at the stands but without actually purchasing anything. I wondered why this could be and then thought that one of the reasons could have been that people did not have the money to spend on 'luxury' items. I then thought about my audience, largely students, and that if they were at the show it would not be likely that they would be able to buy all the things that they wanted.

I then decided to base my angle around this idea. I decided to give myself a theoretical budget of £1000 for the day and would go around picking the things I would buy if my £1000 was real. This was actually much more difficult than I realised as the first thing I wanted to buy cost more than my total budget, and it became clear that I would need to choose more sensibly.

I thought that this would be a good angle for my piece because it would be something that my audience might be able to relate to; wanting to buy loads of things but not having a budget that allows for it.

When it came to writing my piece, my first draft was mainly about meeting Gino D'Acampo. However, this was not focusing on the angle of the piece and so I rewrote the entire piece writing towards my intended angle. I decided to include a little bit about D'Acampo because I thought that this would have been quite interesting to read alongside my imaginary shopping trip.

In the first draft of this piece I made a mistake by naming a well known supermarket but highlighted it as being a budget store in comparison to one that sells luxury items. Katie highlighted this mistake to me and explained that although I had included it as a well known reference to a budget store, it was still defamatory. I removed the name of the store from the piece, and have learnt that defaming a store is as serious as defaming an individual. There could have also been issues with accidentally defaming anyone who shopped in the store, which is something I had not considered when writing the piece.

I think that the biggest challenge with this piece was choosing an angle that would make the piece interesting before actually writing it. I think in future I need to make sure that I definitely have a chosen angle before I start writing, rather then start writing and thinking of an angle along the way.

Ideal Home Show at Christmas: Some photographs from the day

Diary of a Winchester Lady: Holiday Cheer, Henna and Happy Snapping

Santa, snow, sofas and saunas – it could only be the Ideal Home Show at Christmas.

As a student, it would be fair to say that I do not have unlimited funds, which is always difficult when you go somewhere with literally thousands of things you wish you could buy and the Christmas Ideal Home Show was no exception to this. To liven things up a bit I decided to give myself a theoretically £1000 to spend at the show to see how I would be able to decorate my room for Christmas on a £1000 budget.

I headed to the bedroom display that had been designed by Laurence Llewelyn Bowen for inspiration. I loved everything in the display, but with the bed alone priced at £4500 I realised I needed to be thinking less of a Laurence Christmas and more towards a limited budget Christmas.

I decided the most important purchase for Christmas would be the tree, so I set off to find some fairly priced foliage. I was amazed when I came across a display of Christmas trees with a sign that read ‘Hire your Christmas Tree Today.’ At first I was confused as to how this would possibly work, but as I read on, I learned that The Little Tree Company hires out Christmas trees for the holiday period and then collects them again and replant them. I never had heard of this before and thought it was a brilliant idea so I decided I would spend £95 of my £1000 on a planet friendly tree.

With the tree sorted, I set my sights on decorations. I found a display of Christmas trees decorated to match different themes, for example children’s Christmas and Chic Christmas. I decided I would go for the ‘Classy Christmas’ theme, after all if I was going to pretend I had £1000 to spend on decorating my room, I might as well pretend I had the class to match. The classy Christmas tree decorative set took another £50 out of my budget.

As I moved past the tree section, a stand of artificial flickering candle lights caught my eye. I love candles, so the thought of having plug in candles that would never fade was too much to resist. If I had actually been buying them, I know I would have wanted enough to go all the way around my room – 100 would probably do it. £300 gone.

No Christmas would be complete without oversized light up snowmen and Santa’s. There was a stand selling different kinds of the light up figures. I narrowed it down to the five I liked the most which would have cost £250.

With just £305 left in my imaginary bank account, I decided to treat myself to a £5 Henna tattoo, which even though I got with real money I decided that I would also deduct the £5 from the fake money as well to leave myself with an even £300.

After much deliberation I thought that the money would be best spent on a 6 foot advent calendar, which instead of chocolates provided gifts of jewellery, make up and vouchers.

Me and Gino!

As I was imaging what it would be like to open a luxury gift everyday in the run up to Christmas, a very different kind of luxury item came into view, celebrity chef Gino D’acampo. I grabbed my camera and started ‘happy snapping’ – taking as many photos as I could without any regard for how poorly they were coming out, or how annoying the flash must have been to him as he tried to continue with this phone call.

He then started heading for the exit and I knew it was now or never. He caught my eye, and flashed me a smile with his dazzling white teeth and smouldering eyes; quite honestly I thought I was going to pass out. I managed to compose myself enough to shout ‘PHOTO!’ On reflection, this must have sounded more like a military command than a hopeful request from a fan.  He glanced at his watch before deciding that he had time for one photo.

The problem was that he was one side of a barrier and I was the other side of a second barrier but true love knows no boundaries. So I climbed over the first barrier, and to my surprise he climbed over the barrier on his side so we could meet in the middle. It was at this point that I decided not to confess my love, instead choosing to believe that he must have felt the same way. Of course, as a married man, he was not able to tell me this but I knew that climbing over the barrier was his way of letting me know.

As he walked away, I collected myself and went to see how the picture had come out. To my horror, it was extremely blurred and dark and he had already left so I could not take it again. Although I will not be able to use it as a Christmas card photo to send to friends and friends, it is good enough to print out and put in my purse for ever more.

The items I had wanted to purchase as the show may have had expensive price tags, but a picture with Gino D’acampo was priceless.

 On reflection I was probably a good job that I didn’t really have £1000 to spend otherwise all I would have come home with would have been 100 fake candles, a tree with decorations, a giant advent calendar and some light up snowmen; all the ingredients of an extremely tacky Christmas. So this year for Christmas, Santa, please bring me a sense of class in preparation for Christmas next year.