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******************************** 28th October 2005 Final blog....
You know, I’ve been putting fof this entry to my blog for quite some time.
It’s the one in which I have to say goodbye to BBC Radio Stoke and particularly to the listeners of my Monday night programme.
I feel as though I’m migrating and leaving a good friend behind (true in many respects). I know this probably sounds overly sentimental .. but its just the way I feel :( Thanks to you all who’ve listened and supported the prog. Right, trying to put my emotions aside for a moment, let me just say I’m not intending to leave the BBC just yet.
I’ve moved to London to try a few things out down there. And you’ll catch me on The BBC Asian Network from time to time as well.
I’m hoping to continue blogging on my own website and you’ll find out what I’m up to from there as well. So if you fancy log on to ramaasharma.com Much love - and see you again I hope, sometime! --- Ramaa 19th September 2005 I've been a busy bee this weekend! I decided to see if I could manage to create a website. That's from start to finish without hollering for my brother or any of my male friends. Who incidentally seem to be extra good at computer related stuff. And as I expected it was all in my female mind. I'm computer literate don't get me wrong I just didn't trust myself I suppose. Creating the site was pretty straight forward! (uploading images took forever..but otherwise fine!) I used a wizard and it told me exactly what I needed and when before I knew it bobs your uncle..and sally's your aunt! ramaasharma.com was formed! .. Wehey ! Check it out and see what you think! Chuffed that I got my name for the address as well. I've heard you have to pay a fortune sometimes but hey there's the advantage of having a somewhat foreign name!
5th September 2005 And for those of you who have misinterpreted the entry below... (particularly the filthy minds amongst you!) The weekend was simply a lovely time in Bakewell. In which a couple of the girls and I went to this wonderful little cottage over looking a bubbling brook. Endless fun cooking, eating, soaking in the tub (as you do!) and capturing the moments on my new digital camera ! Right now that I've cleared that up ! see above for my latest entry ! Authentic Bakewell Tarts.... bubbling brooks...
chocolates...olives...salads...pizza ..Ice cream..champers ....
Hot tub... .... having a good time ... dancing ......sillyness....
sleeping…more picture taking …obession with digital camera…
waking ... pool playing ... giggling...walking .....nature ....Beautiful ...lakes... swans.. picture taking (of swans) ...
walking...tired...hungry .....pub lunch ....hot hot food ... burnt mouth! .... Mouth ulcer …no pictures …
and monday morning. Yep... that was my weekend ... !
29th August 2005 ... If you listen to my programme regularly you will know of my fixation with anything digital at the moment .. whether it be my digital radio or my newly purchased digital camera... (ooh its fab...I can't stop taking pictures!!)
In fact, I mention them so often, I'm beginning to bore myself!
But anyway, one criticism I have to get off my chest about this wonderful technology (DAB radio in particular) is: why, whether it be bad weather or the position of the radio, at times it begins to turn all robotic on me.
My favourite radio station seems to morph into some crazee, incomprehensible Android which doesn’t get better - and that you just have to turn off.
I thought Digital was the next best thing after sliced bread....so what happened? I thought it would be indestructible, and perfect, with the pre-sets that have made my life so much easier!
... But obviously ... not ! ....
(Aaaa!!! Now that’s off my chest I feel better .:)
26 August 2005
...there are times when you can't believe your luck is in.. Admittedly it doesn't happen all that often ... But when it does, isn't it just magic? !!!
The kind of things that, when you are strapped for cash... you discover a cousin's girlfriend can get a 75% discount at my favourite shop. Or the occasion when a rare sale appears at Moorcoft the week you really need to buy a pottery piece. I'm just having bit of a reflective phase at the minute .. my life has really taken a sharp turn recently, and I couldn't have predicted the things that have happened to me in the last few weeks a month ago... (not necessarily bad, I'll have you know).
It's just sometimes you really must just go with the flow ...... (PS did any of that make sense? .. Just some random thoughts I felt the need to share with you all :))
16th August 2005
Yes the break between my entries is because of a long break in lovely Vancouver… Picture this... You're driving to the supermarket or heading to a garage you know for a MOT or the likes and every time you take a turn you're greeted by one amazing view! Whether scenes of beautiful lakes of the Rockies it's always a treat to be outside. Yep.. That's what you'll get if you head to that part of the world... I'll try to dig out some pictures to show you... I thoroughly recommend BRITISH COLUMBIA! PS… Some odd things I spotted include a superstore called "London Drugs" and hundreds of drive-through Starbucks. (not that I'm complaining) :) The chocolate's not worth boasting about mind… (Great salmon and maple syrup though apparently) 14 July 2005 ... Blimey I can't believe my holiday's come around so quickly. I had booked it about eight months ago and now here it is. I'm off to Vancouver peeps for a wedding amongst other things. I'll return with a blog full of Canadian promise... (yea alright I know that's not the exact phrase!) 11 July 2005 This week's blog was going to be about the Olympics yet they just have seemed to have paled into significance. "Target London" was the most ridiculous tag line I saw on television..what does that even mean? But the the pictures of the affected areas were unreal. I grew up in London and was pretty startled to see all the pictures sitting here in Stoke (as we all were no doubt)....but you know what... it wasn't until I was at home, took out my diary and looked at the tube map in it, that I felt sick in the stomach. Completely and entirely sick .... I can't really explain it other than the fact it seemed to have brought it home to me...the last time I had looked at my tube map was one day last week when planning my journey to Liverpool Street. 5th July 2005 Right ... I'm going to have to rant about a couple of things ... I've been putting them off for a while and now I just can't ...I'm still outraged at a couple of news stories that have been in the media in the past few weeks ... The first was about a hospital that was considering removing bibles from bedside cabinets in case they caused offence to ethnic minorities ...! What !!!! ... Why as an 'ethnic minority' would I be offended ... Please explain !!!! .... My first generation parents have never been offended ... My Sikh and Muslim friends have never expressed any sort of contempt... So why are such assumptions made !!!!!!! ... It's this sort of thing that fuels Racism ... Oh it makes my blood boil ... And if that wasn't enough ... I then read about scout groups thinking about changing their pledges to be more PC.. Oh please ! 1 July 2005 How about an introduction to Stoke-on-Trent via Ceramica? Don't forgot to mention Tunstall as Robbie Williams home town .. (that'll impress 'em) ..head towards Biddulph Grange for the afternoon .. and have cream tea and scones in the tea room.. (its a shame the tea room doesn't give you a view of the Grange the scones make up for it though) you could pop by Knapersley Reservoir .. but you might have had enough greenery by then. Book yourself a show at the Regent and then a meal at any of the nice restaurants around, I quite like the cheap and cheerful Turkish near the snowhill roundabout. We actually didn't do the Regent, opted for some Wimbledon instead. Did a quick tour of BBC Radio Stoke before heading to the Turkish. Do keep your suggestions coming email me at [email protected]. 27th June 2005 Right... before I witter on about what happened to me over the weekend... I've got a question for you. If a friend of yours is visiting North Staffs for the first time, just for the day....where would you take them? A person whose interested in exploring, history and the likes.
And considering that you want them to enjoy the place that is... Stoke-on-Trent? I planned a day out which I would say was pretty successful ...But I'm making a scrap book of day visits and the likes ..(cheap ones ideally) so I'd love to hear your suggestions. Email me please [email protected]... ta x PS I'll let you know what we got up to in a couple of days... . 24th June 2005 I was in Birmingham a couple of days back... I had about an hour to kill before I caught my train back home. As I was walking painfully slowly towards the station.. window shopping on my way... (as you do) this young woman pounced in front of me.... not armed but smiling and asked ..."Do you want to do a stress test ?" Okay, I thought what the hell I'll give it a go. So I followed her off the high street into an office block and we headed to the the ninth floor... I was getting a bit uneasy at this point, coz I didn't see any signs that directed me towards this "so called stress test" ...and this overtly friendly woman wasn't giving anything away either. Fortunately a few minutes later, I wasn't thrown into a basement or gagged or thank god robbed at gun point... But ended up in what seemed to resemble some sort of book exhibition. All the books looked like space age novels - fantasy types, ones I'd rather not buy to be frank! ...Anyhow, I was told to wait and whilst I was doing that, I overheard bits of conversations coming from these cubicles in front me. Female voices were spilling their guts about their boyfriends, husbands and the likes. About a minute or two later this beady eyed woman came over to get me and took me into one of these cubicles. She then spent the next five minutes trying to stress me out! After giving me these metal cylinders to hold, she asked "who stresses you out? ... How does he/she make you feel?..When was the last time you were stressed?" Since I was having a fine day ...I answered quite nonchalantly and didn't let her wind me up. I didn't want to be her prey! She seemed quite frustrated that her gadgetry had failed on her and that she wasn't able to stir much emotion in me. It didn’t stop her from trying to flog me two of these fantasy looking type novels though. The audacity! These sci-fi looking books were actually books by scientologists - the new age religion of some celebrities I'm led to believe. They were all so aggressive!.. Not the sort of religion I'm used to that’s for sure. On a very separate note... Davina please don't present in a bikini ...Awkward ...weird!?... and some of my male friends thought so too... PPS. What a cracking match between Mirza and Kuznetsova I wish I could say I was at Wimbledon ...but was actually housebound Lemsip in hand. (Everybody say ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh) all better now though : ) ______________________________________________________ 14th June 2005 ... I was at a friend's house one evening last week and we caught a mention of Gordon Ramsay on the tele ... Having seen half a dozen of his interviews recently, I realised I quite like him, regardless of the foul mouth he's got. From his interviews he seems shy as bizarre as that sounds. Which brings me on to the chat we were having - my friend said something on the lines of - "he's got every right to be arrogant because he's been brilliant at everything he's done from being a professional footballer, restaurants and now his programmes ... ..." (we digressed to talking about his acne marks as well .. sorry Gordon) but anyway ... I ended up thinking yea... Wow ... Then I picked up the OM magazine with Davina Mcall on the front cover and she said ..Yea and that's another woman I've got a lot of respect for because of the challenge she did on 'Don't try this at home' (not a programme I'd seen so excuse my interpretation ... ) Anyway one of the contestants was apparently pretty rude, arrogant (my friends description of him I can't share with you but a lot of expletives were involved) he thought he could do a bungee jump from a helicopter suspended above the Grand Canyon but he was so terrified when he stood there looking down at the Canyon, he decided to forfeit it. So this meant Davina had to take on the challenge .. and guess what .. She did it ...Girl power! She cried when she watched herself do it back in the studio, remembering how awful she felt at the time.... but its an event that's earned her a lot of respect in my friends eyes and in mine now for that matter.... .. Speaking of having a lot of respect for celebrity figures ... Meera Syal is another woman who ... I say ... Hats off to. I've met her several times as a student and more recently .... I really wish I could say that I got on with her like a house on fire ... but to be honest I didn't - but you know what, that's okay ..I have far too much respect for her to care ...
______________________________________________________ 7th June 2005 So I decided to tape Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen’s 'Art' programme (the one where he works with prisoners) - because you know I had to watch the double bill of Desperate Housewives on the other channel... as you do! I can't actually remember the name of the programme (having a memory like a sieve) but watched it one afternoon last week and loved it. There had been this discussion about whether it was a waste of the license fee payers’ money... but as a payer myself I think not. It was amazing to see someone so qualified in Art struggling with a project he himself had set the prisoners. Lawrence in fact, admitted how difficult it was for him to open up... You know what, thinking about it, I don't think he did or could for that matter. Something you don't expect from a flamboyant personality frilly cuffs and all... and yet the prisoners themselves completely immersed themselves. That's not a criticism of him or the programme... I didn't expect much. But it was incredibly human and very entertaining as a result. ______________________________________________________ 31st May 2005 .... "So what did you do at half time when Liverpool were three nil down" asked my radio the next morning.. (Hi Nicky if you're reading.. blush) If I told you.. You wouldn't believe me and if you believed me you would also be pretty sure that ... I'm a CRAZY lady! I'll leave it to you ... so here goes anyway, after the third goal went in ..... and I was trying to come to terms with the sinking feeling ... the urge for copious amounts of chocolate ice cream began to set in....... (sod's law there isn't any in the house... of course ..) Call it comfort food, lack of self discipline or Sheer Depression I started to map out the route to the nearest late shop... Admittedly the half time whistle hadn't gone yet ........But C'MON I needed something to keep me going... (she says). Hoping that my housemate was going to discourage me somehow or suggest an alternative.... she too became increasingly excited by the idea of finding the most luxurious chocolatey treat that we could find before the second half of the match began. A match that would probably drive us to copious amounts of alcohol as well! So mission chocolate gateau began.. two shops later we managed to find one in the freezer cabinet. And feeling quite triumphed for returning just in time... we realised that our hard rock cake wasn't ready to eat... AHH... well, not ready to feel defeated I suggested. Defrosting it over the radiator... but we opted for an even quicker option... Yes the microwave! The rest well... every time I put a forkful of cake into my mouth... We scored... And scored... And scored. And I'm telling you... it's the gateau you've got to thank for that cup!!! | 
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