Paper Poppy Appeal

For the last couple of weeks now, I've noticed nearly everyone walking down the high street wearing variations of a little single poppy flower. I figured it couldn't just be coincidence and looked it up. It turns out that late-October to mid-November is an annual Poppy Appeal where The Royal British Legion charity distributes approximately 40 million paper poppies for a donation of one pound each.

This charity is one of the most popular and celebrated charities in all of England. The proceeds from the paper poppies provides financial, social and emotional support for the millions of veterans and still active persons of the British Armed Forces, as well as their dependents.

Poppy Appeal lasts until Remembrance Sunday, which is the second Sunday of November, the closest Sunday to November 11. This date is significant as it is Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War. Historically, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the armistice was signed between the Allies of WWI and Germany for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front.

The "face" of the charity seems to be a faceless Poppy Man, a figure of a man made up of poppies held together by some invisible force. I find the Poppy Man really neat! I hope I find one hanging around in Bournemouth somewhere.



Check out this article for info on "Pimped-out Poppies".
♡ -Kristen

Death Metal Halloween

Halloween isn't as big of a deal in England as it is in the USA. Here, fancy dress (costume) is viewed as an American addition to Halloween that I sadly didn't see many people venture into. I saw a handful of kiddie trick-or-treaters dressed up, but not the hoards of sexy slutty cop outfits and outrages get-ups I've come accustomed to living in the USA.

Days leading up to my favorite holiday several people even warned me not to expect much. Fortunately, however, in a dark dingy back room of a local pub, a Halloween-worthy death metal concert was found! I'm not usually a fan of the deep growling vocals, but mixed with a few rowdy hardcore metal fans, a slippery floor, some cider and good company, my first and only English Halloween was a success!




^^^ 3 of the 4 people dress up at the pub. I was a skeleton. That's a bone on my sleeve.

^^^This is a video of the second band that preformed that night. Oddly enough, the singer, Tom, is actually a bmxer that went with Ashley on his last trip to Iceland. And Tom happens to be a vegetarian. I find death metal and especially his creepy singing voice a little odd for a veggie man.

♡ - Kristen

Ghosts & Witches & Creatures of Bournemouth

With Halloween right around the corner, I thought it'd be suiting to post on some of the spooky things reported in Bournemouth over the years.

Phantom of the Opera

The Pavilion theater located downtown is rumored to be haunted by a young woman wearing a bonnet. The ghost, known as Emily, is said to be the spirit of an young actress who collapsed and died on stage at the Pavilion in the 1930s. Supposedly a staff member was chased up a corridor in the theater by Emily, while others report seeing objects thrown around and hearing ominous footsteps on the empty stage.

Ashley and I have sat on the steps of the Pavilion many times at night and now, to be honest, I'm a little freaked out about going back.

New Forest Witches Coven

Allegedly, a group of witches formed a coven deep in the nearby New Forest during the 1930s and 40s. These witches were Neopagan, worshiping the Horned God (pictured above) as well as the Mother Goddess. The New Forest witch coven, in particular, can be partially accredited for the creation of Gardnerian Wicca, a form of modern witchcraft popularized by British occultist Gerald Gardner.

Apparently, Gardner, who is sometimes referred to as the "Father of Wicca" was initiated into the New Forest coven, which he deemed as one of the few surviving covens of the ancient, pre-Christian Witch-Cult religion. The coven performed numerous rituals, which were performed naked and included chants and spells. Once they even held a ritual called the Operation Cone of Power in order to stop Hitler from crossing the sea to England during the second World War.

Today, the New Forest, particularly the village of Burley, still entices visitors with tales of witches and such. There even seems to be a witchcraft store in town. I'm making plans to go visit soon and check it out for myself.

Unidentifiable Beast Caught on CCTV



This video was taken by a CCTV on a Bournemouth motorway about three years ago. It's probably some crazy wild dog or something, but it's still creepy.

♡ - Kristen

Magpie Superstitions

Magpies are lovely fairly large birds, a relative of the crow, which can be frequently spotted anywhere in England. The first time I spotted one, I had been walking with Ashley.

Since I have a habit of pointing out animals to him, it was no surprise that I got really excited over the bright blue-striped birdie. That's when he informed me, however, of the superstition surrounding the magpie. "If you only see one, it's bad luck and if you see two, it's good luck. But it could be the other way around."

Well, it doesn't do much good if you know a superstition all wrong. But luckily my friend Jen, who knows all the old English sayings, gladly informed me:

1 for sorrow
2 for joy
3 for a girl
4 for a boy
5 for silver
6 for gold
7 for secret never told

And if you happen to find yourself face to face with a single lone magpie, you're suppose to say, "Hi, Mr. Magpie, how's the wife and children?" in order to reverse the bad luck. (Aww, what cute little English sayings.)


♡ - Kristen

DIY Electric Meter

One really great thing about my current living situation is that I'm basically living a paperless, untraceable life. I hate putting my name on accounts. People generally don't give a shit about paying them if their asses aren't on the line. But here, there's no monthly bills or contracts I'm connected to (although I do contribute to them). And being anonymous makes me feel liberated and free in a weird sort of homeless way.

My boyfriend and roommates, fortunately, have one less bill that I thought they'd be tied down to, and that's the electric bill, because there's a handy pay-as-you-go electric meter in our flat instead.

Basically, the electric meter runs on money that is deposited on to an electronic key, like a USB drive. Whenever the money is used up, the electricity goes out, and we have to go to an offie and put more money on the key. Usually, we pitch in five pounds each and that gives us electric for a couple of weeks.

This is genius! It completely removes the chance for late fees, or any chance of screwing up your credit. And it eases the burden of paper bills each month. Plus, I had to recharge it for the first time the other day when I was home alone and I found it exciting to take it to the offie. (But I'm a weirdo and probably the only human who finds this exciting.)

Are these in the USA too??!
♡- Kristen

Royal Mail

The Royal Mail is none other than the national postal service of the United Kingdom. It pretty much runs the same as the US Postal Service (USPS), as in the mail is delivered Monday through Saturday, mail is carried on foot, by bike, van, train or plane, and there are convenient letterboxes scattered throughout cities.

The Royal Mail motto is "...with us, it's personal" and "best and most trusted". While the USPS unofficial but well known creed is a little more elaborate: "neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged, will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds. Ever."

Interestingly enough, the term "going postal" is not well-known in England. The term was coined in the US after several fatal incidents in which USPS workers killed USPS managers, co-workers, and police. Fortunately, the Royal Mail workplace doesn't have such a horrible reputation. In America, if someone becomes aggressively violent in the workplace it's common to refer to them as "going postal".

^^^Ashley in the little mini-van outside the post office.

^^^These are all my postcards I'm sending out right now.
^^^This is the extra sticker I have to put on my international mail.^^^ These letter boxes are known as pillar boxes. The initials displayed are the Latin initials of the reigning monarch at the time of its installation. In this case, E II R stands for Elizabeth II Regina. Regina is Latin for Queen.
♡ - Kristen

Underground Inspirations

Since my trip to London, I've become increasingly intrigued by the Underground. I've never used any other subway before (well, possibly in New York, sometime in the early 1990s on family vacay, but I can't remember) so it always leaves an impression on me.

This time I noticed a collection of poems in several train carriages simply known as Poems on the Underground. Once I spotted one, I began looking forward to randomly encountering another. I've come to find out that each season six poems are selected to be displayed and that this system has been going since 1986.

The poems selected mimic the tube itself, for they, like the Underground, take you into the city, or out to the country, or wherever you will.

^^^Sweet Thames Flow Softly by Ewan MacColl, is a poem I remember in particular.
^^^There is also Art on the Underground, which is a visual art showcase.
^^^ I caught wind of the freaky flick Creep, which takes place in the London Underground, and watched it the other night. It's about a woman who gets locked inside a tube station, only to discover a murdering mutant who captures its victims for torture. It kinda sucked tho, but if you're into bad horror movies you should check it out.

♡- Kristen