How Did People Keep Warm Throughout History?

18th January 2023

In a climate-controlled 21st century home so accustomed to 24/7 central heating throughout the colder months, suddenly having to do without any heating at all can be quite a nasty shock. You may roll your eyes at your grandparents’ lectures of how ‘your generation doesn’t know how easy you have it’ and how ‘when I was young, we had frost on the inside of the windowpanes’, but they may actually have a point. How on earth did people manage to get through the winter before double glazing, effective insulation, or electric heating were invented?

How Did People Keep Warm Throughout History?

Altering Part 2: Raising a Hem and Taking in at the Waist

9th December 2022

Following on from my recent article on mending clothes, I thought I should write a follow-up guide on another facet of wearing and caring for your clothes: altering. Too many times have I seen people avoid wearing clothes they bought for themselves because they don’t quite fit right, or they’ll send them off to the tailor’s for incredibly simple alterations that could easily be done at home.

Altering Part 2: Raising a Hem and Taking in at the Waist

The Ukrainian Christmas

9th December 2022

З Різдвом Христовим!
Have you ever wished that Christmas happened more than once a year? This lovely festive dream has been a reality in Ukraine for the last several years. Both Catholic and Orthodox Christmases are celebrated, so the 25th of December and the 7th of January are national holidays. This is due to Ukraine having a diverse population and a majority identifying as either Orthodox Christian or Byzantine Rite Catholic, with the two denominations celebrating on different days. Two Christmases – double the fun. You, my curious reader, are probably wondering whether there are any traditions associated with this festive time. And if you assumed that there are, you would be very right. So, let’s begin our journey of discovering the magical land of Ukrainian festivities.

The Ukrainian Christmas

Word Cup Special – What If Lionel Messi Never Made it?

9th December 2022

As sunshine flushed into the doctor’s office, 11-year-old Lionel Messi anxiously waited for the diagnosis of Growth Hormone Deficiency after a year of testing. The young superstar of the youth club Newell’s Old Boys has led the team to be unbeatable, losing only one game in four years, with young Messi himself scoring 500 goals as the member of “The Machine of ‘87”. However, his family has realised that there is something different about the boy other than his prodigious talent – after measuring his height for 24 months, the doctor has found out that he has barely grown since the age of nine. He was 4 feet 4 inches tall (1.32m), and it was predicted that he would only grow to a maximum height of 4 feet 7 inches (1.40m) without intervention.

Word Cup Special – What If Lionel Messi Never Made it?