My thoughts on May

Hello internet if your still there, 

It has been at least 6 months since I last sat down and wrote a blog, there is no reason for this apart from the fact I could never really find a rhythm with it, now however that this is my place on the internet where I can write what I feel like. 

So this year there will be a general election which for me is a very interesting thing, I have discovered an in depth interest in politics over the past year and with this interest I have started to become more involved in politics. However this is where I come to my main issue, I seem to be one of the only people in my group of friends and indeed close family. Young and old who are taking an interest in politics. At such a defining time in this countries history surely people can see that they need to let go of the prejudice they hold against politicians and their sometimes back dated approach to life.  Which is true the democratic government we are governed by is back dated but so are my grandparents and they still make some valid points. 

I have listened to people like Russell Brand instructing people not to vote. I'm not sure if he's read Lord of The Flies or Animal Farm but a society without a firm government does not work. Whilst I agree certain changes should be made I don't think it needs to be started again, the Unitied Kingdom is an island that has thousands of years of history, that has taught a million different lessons.  

Anyway back to 2015, I think it's vital that people vote. Parties shouldn't be campaigning for certain groups of people to vote, they should be calling for GROUPS OF PEOPLE to vote. 

So if you take anything from a moaning 19 year old going on 50 then please please confided voting and voting for the right reasons.

Thanks for reading :) 

Sam 

Live music, Real stories

Hello Lovely internet folk, 

So again I find myself blog-less, well for past two weeks I have anyway. but you lucky lot will have two by the end of the week. 

I recently went to see one of my favorite sing a song writers Martyn Joseph, if you haven't heard of him then youtube, spotify, itunes. His music spans 32 year career, but don't let that put you off he is very much in the now and extremely good. The reason I like his music so much is because it really speaks to the male mind, which leads to the title of this blog. The songs I was listening to last night were really stories, stories of love; stories of pain and stories of war. Honestly I erge you to go and see Martyn at a gig it will change your perspective on a lot of things. 

I hope you enjoyed this new style blog, 

Thank you for reading, have an amazing week :) 

Sam x

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Just getting it out there

Hello lovely internet people,

My apologies for not blogging for a while, I've been in Leeds and Manchester, just felt like I haven't stopped!! But now I have a spare half an hour I'll write some thoughts that have been on my mind. 

Now to blog or not to blog, I know I have a small audience that read some of my blogs and that's great but does it really effect your lives or are you making it part of your weekly routine? I highly doubt it. And rather selfishly I will admit that this has been playing in my mind, honestly I have about 10 blogs written and ready to go but I just don't know if there interesting. 

I'm the same with college work I finish assignments and then I'm terrified there boring and will fail, I will wait for the deadline so I don't melt down waiting with worry. 

So what do I do about this? Honestly I have no idea 

Thanks for reading, have an amazing week:) 

Sam x

Remember you can you can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blog posts and you can also like my Facebook page. 

I went to see Katie!

Hello lovely interment people! 

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I've been on holiday and didn't really have anything interesting to write about. But this weekend I have spent with Katie, who if you don't know is my girlfriend who is studying in Leeds. Nearly two months has past since I last saw her so it was actually quite weird too see each other. Well I found anyway. But once I saw her I was instantly happy! It's hard not seeing your bestfriend. 

The weekend involved lots of fun! We went out on the Friday night and I think you'll agree Katie did an amazing job on the face paint! 

Saturday night was date night! If you don't do date night with your girlfriend or boyfriend why not? It's so much fun to get dressed up and go to a nice restraunt. We went to zizzi's which was really nice and I'd recommend it, just be patient because service was a bit slow..

The weekend ended with a quick bite to eat at browns, which is a brilliant bar/restraunt in Leeds I had a really nice feasar salad and a pint of cider. 

It's just a shame we had to say goodbye.. But hey things aren't easy to have the things you really want:) 

Thanks for reading, have an amazing week. 

Sam x 

A generation of change

Hello Internet, 

As I said last week I've found a direction for this blog and I'm going try and stick to that occasionally going back to the less serious and the bike stuff every so often. This blog will be a place for opinions and thoughts to be expressed and challenged. 

I was sat in a talk the other day about how different generations have changed rapidly. It got me thinking that actually it isn't a generational change its a age change, Katie's youngest cousin can probably utilise an I-pad better than me. What does this mean then? That we will be alienated by technology like generations before us? No I don't think so, yes we may not be as fast with future tech whatever that means, but were thepopulation familiar with the steam engine or electricty when the Victorians brought it out? No they were as amazed as we are when a new iPhone comes out or when a car can park itself. 

The power of our social media, and I say our because we own it without the public the servers would be dead and it wouldn't exsist, anyway I'm rambling. Look at Hong Kong and the protests there, the government couldn't control the population because they were using there phones to organise themselves, so what do the government do? They shut down the internet out a tight lock on it? Why because they don't understand how to use it properly it scared them! And trust be told I'm scared if the power of internet. There are people in YouTube that have millions of subscribers if one of those celebrities came out with some ideologies then it could seriously impact power. When in this talk I brought up the opinion that the internet is a lawless society because it is.. How many people do you know that been caught downloading music? People commit internet fraud all of the time.. But the worst one is cyber bullying yes the person can be caught and punished but it's the principle of hiding before your 15 inche HD screen. I'm not suggesting that there is strict laws to be placed on the internet like China, but I am saying we as a society should seriously respect the power that's in our pockets. 

Thanks for reading, have an amazing week :) 

Sam x 

Remember you can you can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blog posts and you can also like my Facebook page. 

Am I a feminist?

Hello internet, 

You should all realise this blog is a place where I can express my thoughts and feelings. 

So as you can guess from the title I'm going to explore gender equality a bit. Now I'm not going to be light hearted about this because it's not a light hearted subject. Now I come from a white middle class background, I can't help that blame the parents. But that doesn't make me stuck in my ways, I'm always open to new things and new ideas. Some you may know I want to study sociology and politics for that very reason. 

Recently there has been a lot of stigma towards women online, what with the apple cloud hack. Which both scared me and got me thinking, we as a culture enjoy sex. We do there's not a day goes by without two famous people in a sex scene on our TVs. Or certain tablid magazines proclaiming the latest sex scandal. It scared me because non of us are really safe from the internet, the richest women in Hollywood have been exposed. Now hmm do I feel sorry for these actresses? Yes I do it's a horrible thing and those pictures were meant to be private and between two people that trusted each other but then the other side of me says why did they take them? They knew the risk of them getting leaked... And then I realised that they were convinced by a man, a man who hasn't been named and shamed like these poor women. So I asked myself this question am I a feminist? Or more am I allowed to be a feminist? 

I studied GCSE history I know about the suffragettes and sufferegists, the awareness they raised is outstanding. Without there commitment we wouldn't be anywhere near gender equality today. I watched Emma Watsons speech about heforshe and I 100% agree with what she said. And I realised I'm not a feminist or a feminist allie, what I am is a equalitist (made up word I think). I believe we should all be equal, I'm an 18 year old male and I take care of myself. I pluck my eyebrows so I don't look like I have a mono brow, I moisturise my hands and arms because they get dry, I shave my face and I shower with flowery smelling body washes. I've even been known to exfoliate. Does this make me lesser a man? No it makes me comfertable. Trust me I can be aggressive competive arrogant idiot if I wish to be, however I tried it and I hated myself for it. I wish we had a society where the highest death rate for males wasn't suicide. However I can see why those statitics exsist, I'm greeted with comments on the way I have my hair or the clothes I wear from females.. But if that judgmental back I would be sexist. That's not a equal world. For equality to work everyone should be equal. Haha when you write it it sounds so simple. 

There is one thing though... Feminists aren't a bunch of scary women burning bras and chaining themselves to fences, they are mothers and entrepreneurs. There your neighbours, husbands, sons, police women. Notice I included men in there because like me there is men out there that believe the same as me, everyone should be equal. Now I'm straight, I like women. But not just as an image on a computer screen, I like women for conversation and fun and to work with. Yeah I like boobs who doesn't? But saying that isn't sexist it's realist, men and women are attracted to each other it's a fact of life. 

This probably won't make sense and is a definite ramble of thoughts so I'll link a YouTube video by Jack Howard below who explains it a lot better than I ever could. http://youtu.be/oJTDQPC_OAQ

Thanks for reading, have an amazing week

Sam x 

Remember you can you can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blog posts and you can also like my Facebook page. 

The cycle show

Hello wonderful internet people, 

I was lucky enough to get a free ticket to the bike show through work, so a friend and I went to see all the amazing new tech that's out there and just look at all of the gorgoues bikes, I won't bore you with details instead I'll just put in all the pictures I took from the day. And maybe there will be a blog about building a dream bike in few months time... 

Bradley Wiggins world championship bike

If your going to build a bike make titanium 

Nothing looks as good as Italian design 

Very exciting. The first full carbon bike from genesis.

Full adjustable carbon stem from look which is a brilliant design feature, hoping that trickles down to the high street soon. 

The essentials for any cyclist 

For me kinesis really stood out and there race light bike will definitely be a future investment. 

Loved the old school vibe to this colnago!!

Thanks for looking through this weeks blog. Have an amazing week

Sam x 

Remember you can you can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blog posts and you can also like my Facebook page. 

Long Sunday afternoon

Hello lovely internet, 

A few years ago I was in a very different place in life and I was clawring for nothing that would give me a sense of happiness ( you can probably guess the illness I suffer from). Anyway I discovered Blood Brothers the musical the sorry is brilliant and gripping, I've seen the show 5 times and every time I'm hooked from start to finish! We'll get back to this point later.

So this week everyone went off to uni, including Katie. As you all know Katie is my beautiful girlfriend who doubles up as my best friend too:) it's only been two days so it's a bit weird still but I can definitely say I miss her so much! 

Then my best mate Ben left aswell, he's a lad that will always be part of the family. Y'know the sort friend that doesn't need to knock to come in and they just empty out the cupboards for good? Yeah that's Ben or as my mother calls him the favourite son. 

Going back to my original point, there's a song in Blood Brothers called Sunday afternoon, which is about one the main characters feeling lonely because all his friends have moved away or not coming out. That's what it feels like at the moment for me. Feel like I'm 10 again and wanting people to come play out abs no ones around. 

Thanks for reading. Have an amazing week

Sam x

You can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blogs and you can also like my Facebook page. 

Just putting it out there

Hello lovely internet folk, 

This is going to one of those posts that has no pictures, but I've been thinking and well... We live in a right scary world don't we?

I mean if its not ISIS competing to be as vicious as the Nazi part in 1940s Germany we have America and Russia threatening to go to war.

Why can't the people in power realise that the mass majority of people want peace, its not hard. Sit down and talk like humans not like politicians. I'm sorry I've managed to hide my political views up to now, but this whole beheading of westerns really got to me. For centuries people have never got on its a fact that not everyone will get on, but do we really need to bring average people in on the global arguments between super powers?

Ok if your not following my drift, imagine having an argument with a friend at school and after the argument you go up to other kids you've never spoke to and then get them to comment on the argument, its stupid right? You just fall out with your friend until one of you decides to say sorry. 

So why can't important people in power do the same? Agree to disagree and move on. Don't start killing each other! 

Thank you for reading my rant 

I hope you have an amazing week 

Sam x 

Things I've learnt

Hello lovely internet people, 

This week I had a huge woke up call, now I won't go into details about what happened but Katie and I fell out a little bit. We both realised that we had got to comfortable and were taking each other for granted, which after nearly 4 years is understandable. However it's not fair, so we sat down and had a huge talk which meant I had to get out of my comfort zone.. I'm not perfect so I had to listen to some hard things but it's definitely made things easier for us. 

One thing I really struggle with is saying how I feel, Katie is amazingly patient with me but sometimes even she snaps and I have to be honest and say how I'm feeling, why I'm blogging about this I don't know. Perhaps you and your boyfriend/girlfriend are struggling and this might help. Just sit down and talk everything out if that person really matters they will take on board what's being said and start to make changes. 

As you all know I have a slight addiction to cycling which doesn't really help a relationship. Disappearing for 4 hours on the bike makes having a conversation hard, what I'm saying is I don't have to stop riding. Maybe I could ride in the mornings that way Katie and I can spend the afternoon together having a picnic or go see a film. 

With Katie going off to university in a week or so this is going to be really important, we've decided that we will make the most of the time we have together because we're both studying and no one needs a grumpy stressed partner after you travel to see them. 

I'd your having trouble in a relationship step out your comfort zone and be honest with each other. And then go get cocktails it's brilliant fun... Although I'm still confused why Katie's had cream in it :p 

I hope you enjoyed this blog, sorry was bit serious. Have an amazing week!!

Sam x

Remember you can you can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blog posts and you can also like my Facebook page. 

Greenbelt festival

Hello lovely internet people,

For the last 6 years every August bank holiday I have gone to a festival called Greenbelt, it's a music and arts festival with a Christian ethos.. Now I was brought up in a fairly religious family but over recent years I've turned my back on the church because well it started to annoy me. However Greenbelt restores my faith in humanity. Instead writing a huge blog post I'm just going to put in all the pictures from the weekend. I hope you enjoy:

 

I drank some tasty cider, enjoyed some fantastic music; listened to inspirational talks and spent with some like minded people. I came home with a new perspective.

I hope you enjoyed this blog, thanks for reading 

Sam x 

You can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blogs and you can also like my Facebook page. 

A change I've made

Hello lovely internet folk, 

I had a brain wave this week and decided to do something new, so I brought a pen and a leather journal. It's not to write a diary or anything like that, it's going to simply be to write down funny things that happen during the day and maybe start writing a book. But I don't know about that yet. 

I just think it's a really good idea to carry some paper around with you and write down the good thoughts you have and sometimes the bad things. I know when I feel like there's a dark cloud over my head just writing the crappy things down just helps. 

Thanks for reading this weeks post, sorry it's a bit random and short I'm really busy with work at the moment. 

Have an amazing week :D 

Sam x

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A few words

Hello lovely internet people, 

I didn't actually want to blog this week, I just didn't feel like I had any decent content to put out there. But then I heard the sad news about Robin Williams who if you don't know was a comic genius and a fantastically talented actors. 

It's said he committed suicide after struggling with depression. This got me thinking, I've not spoken about mental illness on this blog but it's surrounded my upbringing and have suffered with depression over the years. 

I felt that I needed to let out the feelings this has created. Now I'm no expert on the subject but if you've stumbled across my blog at a time where you feel your low and no matter what anyone says or does you can't shift that feeling please talk to someone, your GP, parent, best friend or partner. One thing I have learnt over the years is not for one second are we alone in this world. If you don't feel you can talk to anyone there are charities like Samaritans which I have reached out to a couple of times. 

Thanks for reading, have an amazing week

Sam x

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Thinking forward

Hello lovely internet people,

After a week that can only be described as shit. I decided to start thinking forward to what is going to come. Believe me I know how hard it is to be positive, but sometimes you've just got to do it. 

My dad has an old car that sits on the drive and is waiting to be restored and put back on the road. Now in my family this is a running joke, about how things take years to get done. But I think that you have to wait for the right moment to do them, people don't just climb Everest they train for months. 

What I'm saying is try and look towards the future a bit more, set yourself an achievable goal and achieve it. Don't wait around for someone else to tell you it can't be done. My goal is to travel to at least 1 country in the next 12 months.

Thanks for reading have a great week 

Sam x

You can follow me on Bloglovin if you like and like my Facebook page 

Thinking forward

Hello lovely internet people,

After a week that can only be described as shit. I decided to start thinking forward to what is going to come. Believe me I know how hard it is to be positive, but sometimes you've just got to do it. 

My dad has an old car that sits on the drive and is waiting to be restored and put back on the road. Now in my family this is a running joke, about how things take years to get done. But I think that you have to wait for the right moment to do them, people don't just climb Everest they train for months. 

What I'm saying is try and look towards the future a bit more, set yourself an achievable goal and achieve it. Don't wait around for someone else to tell you it can't be done. My goal is to travel to at least 1 country in the next 12 months.

Thanks for reading have a great week 

Sam x

You can follow me on Bloglovin if you like and like my Facebook page 

Top 5 for Summer Exercise

Hello lovely internet folk, 

As we are all well aware its the summer and that means 1000s of people start to enjoy the outdoors! whether your doing your first charity ride of running with your friends I believe its important to be prepared. So here's my top tips on summer exercise: 

1. Hydrate

Doesn't matter if it's a 15 minute ride to meet your friends or a 100 mile sportive you need to keep hydrated as possible, it only costs £5 to fit a bottle cage and bottle for your bike. and only a couple of pounds to buy a bottle to run with. 

2. Protect yourself

I was out running a couple days ago and forgot sun cream, this was a big mistake!! My neck got burnt and I had the worst night sleep because of it. So always remember to put sun cream on, I've started to use Aptonia sport sun factor 50 because its sweat resistant and its fairly good price, you can only get it from Decathlon I think but there is one of them in most cities. 


3. Go out late

Nobody enjoys sweating out half their body weight, so why not make yourself a goal of going out at least once a week in the evening, for one reason you don't get any traffic and you can see the amazing sunsets were having at the moment. And you can always finish with a massive pub dinner because hey you've earn't it. 

4. Get people involved

I've written about Strava before but I really do think its a great app for getting a bit competitive with your friends. I'm hopefully doing to Wolf Run in November with a group of friends which means I've got to start running a lot more by having the group of friends on Strava it gives me the boost of confidence I need to go out and beat their PB up a climb or go run with them so we can compare data and learn from each other. So why not invite some friends to go for a run or bike ride? 

5. Have some fun and take pictures

This is probably the best advice, just have fun! if you fall over whilst running make sure you laugh about it! Stop and admire the view and take some pictures of that sun set, taking pictures will be a diary to how far you've come in terms of distances you ride and time you've spent with friends that may be moving away to uni soon so take advantage and take lot of pictures of your adventures this summer! 

Have fun with whatever adventures you getting upto this summer. I hope you enjoyed this blog. 

Don't forget you can follow me on my Bloglovin page and like my Facebook page

Sam x 

The best summer

Hello lovely internet people,

It's that time of year where students and teachers alike break up for the summer. But like some of you I have to work which means my days are filled up with building,fixing and selling bikes, which I love doing!! On my days off I'm making an effort to do the things I love. I was inspired by ShayCarl and the Shaytards to have the best summer ever. 

So for example I had to work all weekend but I've got Monday off so I'm going out on the longest bike ride I can find.. Mainly because Katie is away so I can't go and see her. 

I know Katie has a surprise for me lined up and I'm in the process of planning on for her, but shhh. 

What I'm really trying to say is go out there and just enjoy yourself, jump in a river with your friends (if it's safe to do so). Sit in the garden and enjoy any sun we get. One of my all time favourite things to do is get my friends over and light a fire in the patio heater and just have a laugh.

Thanks for reading, have an amazing week

Sam :)

Tour Fever

Tour fever everywhere
in Yorkshire

Hello lovely Internet people!

This weekend I've been in the beautiful county on Yorkshire and all because of the greatest sporting carnival on the planet. THE TOUR DE FRANCE!! 

Going to the Tour de France is one of the best things I've done this year, its been a dream of mine to see it actually happen, ok so I'm not watching it in Paris on the final weekend but I still get to watch the the carnival happen. Can you tell I'm excited? So here are a few pictures taken over the weekend. 

The French police were there to help out.
Just me that thinks they look seriously cool?

Me, my dad and Brother rode the first 30 miles of the first stage of the tour which was amazing! As we passed through villages people were clapping and getting excited about what was going to happen in the next few hours. 

My brother and dad taking in the sights on the route

Arriving in Harrogate. 200m is the finish line.
(Sorry about bad picture I'd just got off the bike)

We then settled in the watch the stage on the big screen. 

After a long day of cycling activities
its only far to try 'tour de what?' Which brewed
By Theakstons.

I had a brilliant weekend in Yorkshire I hope you enjoy this blog post. If you did be sure to like my Bloglovin page..

Thanks for reading, Have an amazing week

Sam :) 

Katie's prom

Hello lovely internet people,

For all of you that follow Katie's, Emily's and my blog your going to get very similar posts. 

But I'll try put a boys opinion on it. 

Katie and I before prom

So lets start with the suit. Now I had a slight suit dilemma last weekend because the last time I wore my full suit I was 16 and I've lost weight since then and the trousers didn't fit and the jacket swamped me. So Katie came along for a shopping trip.  We chose a Red Herring Grey suit from Debenhams. The tie is from next as well as the shirt and belt, I think the belt is so cool because its reversible... Katie didn't find it as cool. And then my Shoes are from New Look. 

Me and Katie got a bit confused

So anyway I'm not really one for dressing up smart, I never feel comfortable and awkward but I'm getting better with it! We wen't to one of Katie's friends house before hand to do girly pictures. Which is actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. 

Sim and I getting a bit silly 

The night then only got better. A little back story as most of you know we met at school so we share a lot of friends, for me it was really good to see them again and have a brief catch up with them all. From then on things got quite silly and yeah was such a good night, I'm glad Katie let me be her plus one :) 

Thanks for reading, have an amazing week!

Sam :)

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In summer!

Hello you lovely internet folk!

I

 really had no idea what to blog about today and then today happened, I went out with my family this afternoon and spent the day with my brother and his fiance and his best mate, this was one the best days I've had in ages! We spent the day lying around in the sun and watched some parachutist who are crazy! I don't mind heights but they were doing back flips and all sorts!!  And then to top it off we went and had a kick about it the park! Now I'm not into football but it was really good to just enjoy the summer evening and relax with some good friends.

I haven't got any pictures from the day because I'm useless and have broke my phone camera

I hope summer continues in this way and I hope yours has started off as nice as this too

Thanks for reading and have an amazing week

Sam :)

can follow me on Bloglovin if you like or you can even like my Facebook page!