Work Placement Review

It's been a while, I'm very sorry about this but I've been on a work placement We live in a demoralizing Catch 22 society where you cannot get a job without work experience, but finding work experience is practically impossible. It's a case of who you know not what you know, so those of us who do not have family members that are lawyers are unlikely to ever find work experience and subsequently we will therefore never become lawyers. Meaning those already from privileged families are protected whilst the rest of us struggle to get noticed. However that is quite enough of my left wing harangue.

I had a stroke of luck however, after applying to well over 50 firms for a work placement- all rejected and most without the courtesy to inform me so- My boyfriend's dad who is manager of an auction house had managed to get me a month's work at a solicitors in Chester as one of his regulars is a partner. I love Chester, it's historical yet vibrant, which is why i'm applying to do my Legal Practice Course there. It also meant I got to spend a month living it up in Wrexham with my boyfriend, this was a blessing as we live far apart and summer holidays normally drag laboriously.

I came to the realization that I do not want to be an Ambulance Chaser, personal injury law is incredibly jejune and dreary. It occurred to me that I wouldn't get to be Ted from scrubs, I would not be deliberating the ethics of a hospitals actions or a jehovas witness' right to martyr their children. Instead I would be dealing with reckless drivers suffering from acute whiplash who copious volumes of wonga so they don't have to work for a year. I couldn't possibly spend the rest of my life doing such monotonous work.

So instead, I've discovered an underlying passion for family law. My calling lies in divorces and child custody. Many view this as a nefarious and dastardly specialisation, it came as a surprise to my family having never gone through the trauma of a divorce myself, luckily no one in my family has ever filed for one. I'm a firm believer that many give up on marriage far too easily and unless there's been adultery or 

abuse then couples should try work through their problems. A man with inferiority complex issues because his wife earns more money than him is not a legitimate reason for divorce. So why would I want to go down this career path? Is it because I like a bit of gossip and want to feel like Jeremy Kyle on a Monday morning? possibly. But the truth is that such a sensitive practice needs someone compassionate yet headstrong, and that's what I am. 

So it was an invaluable learning experience, I gained far too much weight and am now the wrong side of 9stone, I blame the boyfriend for fine dining me but I cannot complain :) But it prevented me from making a huge mistake and going into the wrong practice. I've applied for training contracts in 2013 for a place as a family lawyer. I can see now why firms insist you have experience, how can you know law is the right career for you and what subject really ignites you if you haven't had first hand experience? I just wish more law students could have this chance, it's a poignant and vital opportunity for self understanding and growth that should not be denied to prospective lawyers. 

Man Vs Food.

This is, undoubtedly, the greatest show on television. Adam Richmond, a white, rather lardy, self-educated food expert and trained sushi chef, yank eating his way through America's food hot spots, devouring whole cows and phall chillies for sheer entertainment. "i'm just a regular guy, with a serious appetite" and takes on some of his countries greatest gluttony challenges. He has me salivating over meaty goodness- something that as a peskatarian I should NOT be doing! You can see the pure joy Adam experiences as he eats the most delicious looking foods. There's no etiquette spared for the camera, he literally shoves it down his throat as if he'd never eaten before, then rolls his eyes and head in Ecstasy and groans in an almost sexually suggestive way.

It's not just greasy foods, although this does make up the majority of the foods, there is much emphasis on quality. One memorable meal I witnessed was crab cakes, made with literally just crab. There was no potatoes or vegetables filling out the cake, just crab, crab, crab and some seasoning. Adam makes an effort to go behind the scenes and find out exactly how the food is prepared and cooked and the history behind the dishes and restaurants. He's not visiting commercial, fast food, microwave filled kitchens, these are REAL kitchens with unique methods, family recipes and proper ingredients. Often the diners look like run down shacks, not the sort of place I would visit, but it proves that my preconceptions are wrong. It goes to prove  there is more to america than corporate, mainstream, processed food. Okay, none of it is healthy, but it sure looks delicious. There's no avante gard or a la carte menus. It's all about size, layers, fillings and mightiness rather than delicate, small portions like we prefer over in England. We can't pretend that these foods won't give you a chronary heart attack, i'm surprised Adam isn't fatter than he is! Although research tells me Richman exercises twice a day while he is on the road. and When the schedule permits, he does not eat the day before a challenge and he tries to stay hydrated by drinking lots of water or club soda and forgoing coffee or soft drinks. It's quite sad that in america, the healthy option is probably subway. 

The highlight of the show is the challenge at the end where he attempts to eat either a ridiculous quantity of food or something unbearably hot withing a time limit, it's barbarically and highly entertaining to watch Richmond intensely struggle with  food. Examples include 13 pound pizzas, where one slice alone is the size of a baby, a 72 pound steak and curries where the chef has to wear hazard protection when cooking, with the heat of 70 phall chillies. He doesn't always win, but the crowd is always freverently cheering him on in a way that only America could. The boyfriend and I have decided to have Man v Food days, we are going to attempt to re create some of the challenges and will be posting photos online just to brag. Going to make giant burgers and ridiculously hot burritos. I will be starting with the crab with extra crab cakes...

TV overdose: Horrible Histories- with Steven Fry

It's totally acceptable for a 20 year old to watch Horrible Histories now Steven Fry hosts it, right??

As most people my age, I've read the horrible history books. I also bought my much younger brother the series in a hope to educate him out of his nerdy, computer obsessed ways. At first when I heard they were turning the books into a tv series I was slightly annoyed; as a passionate reader, to me the horrible histories books encouraged children to read worthwhile, relatively educational books. But when I first watched an episode it was like how I imagine taking your first hit of heroine would be- highly addictive. 

The show works on the hypothesis that children are vile creatures who only care about poo and macabre tales, and it undoubtedly works. It crams nuggets of worthwhile facts into peuney brains, although I'm sure they only remember the runny poo nuggets rather than the factual nuggets- although there's always the possibility that a few historical facts will seep through into their minuscule brains. I'm sure my A level history class would have been much more exciting if we'd been learning tales about Black Death paramedics paying small children to wee on people's heads. Rather than spend a whole year learning about the Russian revolution- We didn't even get to do Stalin!

Simon Farnaby as the grim reaper, singing Stooopid deaths, stoopid deaths, they're funny cause they're troooo. and the Simon Cowell-esque layout is one of the highlights of the show. But the winning sketch is without doubt the dainty summary of a tedious Cavalier vs Roundhead ample textbook into a delightful hip hop rap. 

"When Ollie died, the people said :

"Charlie, me hearty, Get rid of his dull laws, Come back we'd rather party" 

This action's what they call the monarchy restoration 

Which naturally was followed by a huge celebration "

It's now a Bafta and British Comedy Award-winning sketch show and has been given a new look and time slot, featuring the very best sketches from the first two series, with added insight and historical golden nuggets provided by Stephen Fry. Now it has gone mainstream, surely it's acceptable for older kids, parents and grandparents to watch this guilty pleasure? 

Having been an A graded history student once, I probably shouldn't be endorsing this simplified and moronic approach to history, but I love it. It's a fantastic blend on fact with entertainment.  I'm certain David Starkey is weeping into a history of British constitution textbook somewhere.  

Cheltenham food and drink festival.

An early morning, a train journey and a mile walk, a quick (not so quick) stop in the promenade, a long stay in Jack Wills and eventually we made it to Montpellier gardens for the Cheltenham food and drink festival. It's basically a fat, rich mans reading festival. Free samples of food and booze whilst strolling round to some soft jazz music. Luckily the weather just about held out. I am now also officially a member of the Cotswold's foodie club. I shall list the stalls which particularly stood out for us and some links :)

The Fluffle

http://www.fudgeheaven.co.uk/

the fluffle is a mixture of truffle and fudge. It's a melt in your mouth creamy texture with no grittiness that you normally find in fudge. As someone who usually prefers savouries to chocolate this was such a winner for me. Flavours include, baileys, vanilla, tia maria, coffee etc. 

The Fluffle, is it a truffle or fudge?

Black mountain smokery

http://www.smoked-foods.co.uk/

Traditionally smoked salmon, gourmet food hampers and gift baskets, all locally made, this includes the Finest traditionally smoked salmon. You can have gourmet smoked food hampers of fish, meats, poultry and cheese delivered directly to your door. The smoked salmon was beautiful. I also managed to scoff some smoked makeral- a few handfuls actually. I went back a fair few times for free fish. We are thinking of getting some lovely smoked salmon delivered to our door. If it weren't for the fact I had to train it back I would have bought some there and then. But I didn't want to stink out first great western. 

Fish in a box

http://www.fishinabox.co.uk/

This stall didn't do free samples. But I am 100% ordering their shellfish box at some point this summer, 350g fresh langoustines, 350g fresh uncooked King Prawns, 200g King Scallops, 1 Whitby Dressed Crab. YUM YUM. 

Fishy in a box

Bread Tree co. 

http://www.breadtree.co.uk/

A specialist in bruschetta toppings. They did an exquisite wild chicories and porcini mushroom spread. 

The Fabulous Vodka Company

http://www.fabulousvodka.co.uk/

We loved the Caramel vodka. Few too many shots of this. 

Hinton Marsh Farm

http://www.hintonmarshfarm.co.uk/

Hinton Marsh Farm is situated at the foot of the Wiltshire Chalkdownlands and has been a family run farm since 1956. They offer award-winning free range beef, pork, chicken and lamb to you online. My carnivorous friend fell in love with their Beef sausages which use lean, matured slow growing beef. There was many samples of the variations of sausages

Jimmy's farm 

http://www.jimmysfarm.com/

And talking of sausages, Anyone who watched the BBC TV series will be familiar with Jimmy’s ethos: using traditional farming methods to rear several breeds of rare pigs and produce quality pork for farmers’ markets.

Perfect Tipple

http://www.perfecttipple.com/

Sparkling Gold Cuvee this unique drink is produced with the finest Pinot grapes and infused with real, edible 23 carat gold flakes. 

Champers with real gold.

Smokehouse kippers- the winning stall!

http://www.polsco.co.uk

my personal favourite of the whole show was the smoked kippers. Yes I had seconds, thirds, fourths... possibly more. I took slight liberty of the free "samples". People need to give kippers a chance. As we are running low on Cod, tuna etc we should all be embracing these smokey bad boys. I loved how they were all hung like bats in some sort of wooden cupboard. I guess that's how they are mass cooked. But boy they smelt good. Proper fresh fish doesn't have a nasty odour, contrary to anti fish myths. God damn they were good.  

Fishy Fishy, look how happy is to have his face deep in fish. 

Pyman Pâtés

- link to website not working. it's a google jobby. 

These were gluten free, In fact, a lot of the foods here were gluten free, which is great because I'm not actually supposed to eat wheat. Then again the dipping breads were too good to resist so I deserve any crippling stomach pains. I also do not eat Pate. Anyone who knows about the immoral or unethical method used to make pate will understand why. But there was a trout pate and a salmon one which I sampled. I'm hoping the creation of seafood pate doesn't involve barbaric methods of feeding/torture as I'm sorely tempted to buy some. 

Snowdonia Cheese Co.

http://www.snowdoniacheese.co.uk/

I was already familiar with this brand of cheese. There was a vast variety of cheese stalls, and as a cheese connoisseur I sampled every type of cheese there- twice at least. Without a doubt I ate my own body weight in cheese, there's wasn't a single cheese I didn't like, which is why I'm not going to bother listing every cheese stall, I give them all the highest of accolades. But as my all time favourite cheese I'll give the Snowdonia Cheese company some golden prime time on this riveting blog with my millions of readers :p The Black Bomber truckle is something every one should buy at some point in their life if they like strong Cheddar's with a bite. I have actually bought this cheese when drunk before, that is how good it is. In 2010 it won the Silver Medal at the Nantwich International Cheese Show, 2007 World Cheese Award Bronze winner, It is Creamy & smooth and has a unique- almost crunchy- texture & taste that will entice.

Black bomber. Not racist. Not deadly. Damn Good.

Other highlights.

My friend was desperate to try one of the Kangaroo, Ostrich, Wild Boar, Zebra or Angus burgers. Me, not so much. But another highlight was all the fabulous chutneys to try. We steered clear of the overly spicy ones but there was many gorgeous caramelised onion chutneys, red pepper relishes, money and mustard chutney's etc. There was also another stall with sachets filled with goodness that turned normal mayonnaise into creamy garlic dips, but I cannot find the link to the stall. But they were genius. 

So that's my overview of the food and drink festival. It shall certainly be an annual thing now. Perhaps next year we will make the most of being in the beautiful town of Cheltenham Spa and go to a few bars in the night and get a hotel. I'd recommend in a heartbeat going if you are at all passionate about good quality, local foods. All the meats are organic and as ethically produced as possible (without being vegetarian). In a society where we care more about where our food is from and what goes into it, festivals like these will without a doubt be on the increase, and that's jolly good. :)

TV overdose: Injustice

As an overwrought and emotionally drained law student, the last thing you'd expect me to voluntarily watch is a legal drama. But it's almost a case of Stockholm syndrome, I have learned to love my oppressor, I just can't get enough of them. So when I was the advert for injustice, I knew I'd be spending every night this week, 9pm-10, watching this show. I have no intention of becoming a criminal barrister, but if I could be I would, it's tres difficult to make it as a barrister. even more so than a solicitor, and this show also highlighted the fact I probably couldn't cope with the psychological pressure that comes with being a criminal lawyer. Nevertheless, I find such shows fascinating and always scan the script for legal technicalities that the script writers have got wrong, allowing me to smugly tell my family "well under the Police and Criminal evidence act 1984 that wouldn't be allowed". But they got it all pretty spot on. 

Tasty Travers and Wanker Wenborn.

The show was based on a book by Anthony Horowitz (forgive me if this is the incorrect spelling) as a literature snob who favours the old classics over modern texts (George Orwell and Harper Lee are about a current as I get) I am not familiar with the novel, but I hear the tv producers toned down the action and explored the psychological aspects much more in depth, which is quite unheard of for tv drama, normally they Hollywood-ize perfectly decent books with excessive explosions and sex scenes.  

Basic plot line: Extremely competent and rather tasty defence Barrister, Travers, will only defend those he believes to be innocent, but when one client is acquitted and subsequently admits his guilt, Travers has mental breakdown and refuses to take on any more murder cases. But when he spots the defendant walking freely around a train station, he decides to correct the mistake he made and shoots him. Also an old university friend asks him to defend him on a murder trial, promising to be innocent despite copious amounts of incriminating evidence against him. Travers reluctantly takes on the case, and looks for evidence to acquit his old friend. Meanwhile, a Cop with a incessant hatred for lawyers, Wenborn is given the case of Spaull (the guy Travers killed- hope your following me) he seems to be close on the heels and claims he is ready to make an arrest. However his fatal flaw- besides being an abusive husband- is his inability to do any paperwork and reluctance to keep fellow co workers in the loop. Therefore when his poor wife in accidentally kills him in self defence (he was about to beat the living crap out of her) all his progress on Travers dies with him. Back to Travers then, he successfully gets his friend found "not guilty" of murdering his mistress, but soon after realises that he too had been lying to him and not only is his old friend a murderer, but also into a bit of child porn. So Traver's takes matters into his own hands, and corrects the injustice he has causes by shooting Martin's brains out. We finish with him about to take on another murder case and him asking the defendant not to lie to him and tell him "did you do it". There is a sub plot involving his wife who works as a teacher in a young offenders institutes who finds a promising student who's been writing a novel, but he hangs himself so there's not much more to add to that. 

The show explores perception of good vs evil, one of the many morally contentious questions which arise is "is it murder to kill a murderer?". Travers- the barrister, portrays all the qualities of a good moral entity, hardworking, a faithful and loving husband, a kind father, trusting and kind, yet he has committed murder, whereas the police man Wenborn demonstrates such ugly traits, violent towards his wife, unfaithful, discriminatory and vile towards collegues, and citizens, yet he has not committed such a heinous crime. It makes you question- who is the good man? Most viewers will take Travers side, arguably the people he killed deserved it, he was only correcting the mistakes of the English criminal justice system. However, we should remember it was Travers who'd gotten these people off in the first place. It was his wrongdoing in the first place. Is it wrong of him to expect his clients to be innocent? We should remember that in England, there is no death penalty, he's going beyong the realm of the penal system by killing his deceitful clients, are they getting what they really deserve or is he going too far beyond his authority? Because of Wenborn's death, Travers clients who are found not guilty will have their freedom restricted far more greatly than if they'd be found guilty. They are probably better off going to prison if they intend to lie to him. Is it justice? To kill those who have killed? Or if a jury has found someone not guilty, should we respect that, even if we know better? Even as I typed that it seems nonsensical to me- Travers is following the old maxim of "an eye for an eye". Which most people in this country to some extent agree with. But most people will probably think Traver's shouldn't be such a damn good lawyer in the first place if he can't handle the consequences of his job. 

The show was a slow burner on monday. It wasn't until 45 minutes had passed that I suddenly was really drawn in. As the show went on I began to think it was becoming predictable, in a pleasant way, i thought it was my legally inclined mind figuring out the shows plot, but come friday my mum outwitted my and predicted the client would be guilty, neither of us were expecting Wenborn's death nor were we expecting the child pornography story line.  It was compelling viewing and I will be buying it on DVD. Best tv I have seen in a long long time. 

Dr Who Overdoes: A Good Man Goes To War.

Most people I know have been seriously disappointed by this episode, however, I feel people are forgetting it wasn't a complete final, this was the mid series finale, there is obviously going to be unanswered questions to make you wait on the edge of your seat until Dr Who returns to our screens. I found this episode to be a compelling watch, it was a dark, psychological exploration of the Doctor, which delved further than Davies had ever dared to go. Although Davies lightly touched on the Doctor being perceived a a "fears warrior" the surface was never really scratched. Moffat has been waiting 16 years to give the word "Doctor" a new angle, it was a morally contentious and reflective episode.

 

 The highlights of the episode include the hilarious moment when the Doctor was being interrogated as to where little Melody was conceived. "I know how you blush"  his painful embarrassment and cluelessness was pant wetting material. And the moment when it turned out the Melody Amy has been protecting and hugging was actually a ganger and she suddenly dissolved into gooey flash- this produced the finest acting from Karen we have yet to see, I actually felt pangs of sadness for her, or perhaps I'm being all broody and maternal myself... don't tell the boyfriend. But the way she cried over a litre of yogurt really did pull the strings of my cold heart.

The big moment came, we finally found out who bloody River Song is. And it turns out that she is Melody Pond. This had been suggested to me but I'd tried to ignore this horrible accusation and as the terrible truth dawned on me I found all my broodiness for the baby dissolve almost as quickly as the ganger did and now all I feel is resentment for that baby. She will become the worlds most annoying plank ever.

Now although I wholeheartedly loved this episode, It was highly flawed and left many loose ends and unanswered questions, if this was a two part episode I could cope with it, but I have to keep telling myself that these questions will be answered when the show returns, but I have a small niggling feeling that some of them wont be. Many of the characters were completely pointless. We had a lesbian lizard that killed Jack the Ripper and an emasculated Sontaran nurse. For some reason Rory was dressed as a centurion and seriously, what was the point of the Thin Fat Gay Married Anglican Marines if you're just going to behead one of them and subsequently forget about them? Such conundrums meant little empathy or emotion was developed over the Doctors army, when they died I really felt nothing because I was that confused as to their purpose. Moffat has single handed abused all the established rules of time, dimensions, paradox and time lines within this episode alone. Furthermore, it's either a case of bad scripting or lack of communication between Davies and Moffat but if River Song is a time lord and can regenerate, why did she die when we first met her? Is it possible we will get to see a younger, different actress play River Song? Preferably one with less tendencies to look smug 24/7. Thankfully the ridiculous quotes such as "spoilers" or "hello sweetie" are becoming few and far in between. Is Amy effectively the Doctor's mother-in-law? There fore Dr Who has gone all Dorian Gray on us and smooched both mother and daughter. This also means that, presumably, Amy tried to shoot her child at the end of The Impossible Astronaut. It's all a bit chaotic.

Can we assume that River Song was the astronaut which killed the Doctor? RiverSong did once say she killed the greatest man she ever knew and she's obviously got a fetish for dressing up in space suits. However, since most girls think of their father as the greatest man they ever knew, could Rory be about to get it all over again? This is a most unconventional family, I couldn't feel happy for any of them, and it's not just my incessant hatred for River Song. It just felt wrong what with her being so much older than her respective parents. You couldn't feel any emotion during this poignant moment. I mean what must be running through Amy's head? something along the lines of  "my daughter is a total slut". 

 I cannot wait for Dr Who to return, "Let's Kill Hitler" sounds promising already. I can only hope that River Song gets less annoying the younger she's technically getting as it seems she's going to be around a long long time. Something has got to be done about Rory as he's just being a wet fish, unwanted third wheel that the writers cannot find anything useful to do with him but have no good reason to kill him off. He needs more direction and purpose.

Resident foodie: King Prawn Gamberetti overdose.

So we were heading towards the end of our final exam. We'd just have three consecutive exams and we only had tort law left, which was an open book exam- they want to test our application of the relevant law rather than memory, thus besides highlighting the textbook there was little else constructive for me to do during the next three days. As i'm approaching my 20th, myself and my favourite law friend went to celebrate this long awaited night off at our favourite eatarie in Aberystwyth, Little Italy. 

Little Italy is on the bottom of North Parade street, not far from where the incline of Penglais hill begins. It's a beautiful Italian resturant, that doesn't look like much from the outside but once you're inside it's wonderful. It's got wooden beams, candle light, operatic music and an all round fantastic atmosphere. 

Little Italy.

My friend has always raved about Little Italy, and since I went with my boyfriend a few months ago, I don't  want to eat anywhere else, I have to begrudginly accept that I just cannot afford to eat there weekly. Most people when going to an Italian will order pasta or pizza. There's nothing wrong with this and I've tried a few of their pasta dishes, they do fantastic vegetarian or fishy options, but it's the grilled section where this place excells everywhere else. Why would you have a pizza or pasta, which a competent cook could easily make at home, when their grill section is to die for. My meat eating friends have reccommended the Duck a la dolce which is duck in orange, lemon and brandy sauce or the Steak Rossini Served on a Crouton with Pate in a Red wine, Mushroom and Cream Sauce.

My personal reccommendation for a starter is Camembert Fritto for £5.75. It's a soft Cheese fried in Breadcrumbs with Cranberry Sauce. It's very delicate and beautifully done. But for mains within a heartbeat I'd suggest the King Prawn Gamberetti cooked with garlic, mushrooms and finished with creamy lobster sauce for £18.45. The best thing about this place is the portions. You really do get your moneys worth. You will get an entire huge plate of just king prawns in this beautiful sauce, and then you get the choice of either garlic, roast or chipped potatoes, which come in a seperate bowl and a choice of salad, vegetables or onion rings, which will come in another seperate bowl. I personally would get the garlic potatoes and the salad. It genuinely tastes like heaven. I couldn't stop smiling as I ate them. It might have been the wine going to my head but right then I just felt unbelievably happy to be eating such beauties. 

Well there you go. If you are going to eat out in Aberystwyth, I suggest you don't skimp on the spending. It really is worth digging deeper into your pockets for the atmosphere and the quality of food. If you are going to go, dont be a cheap skate and buy a pasta dish or pizza. Go for it, buy one of their special items and you will not regret it.