Becca Jane St Clair

Today marks Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday and people up and down the country are celebrating, including my small village in Lincolnshire. And this isn’t the Queen’s only birthday! on 11 June, we will also celebrate the Queen’s official birthday! Why, you ask? Apparently, it all started with King George II who was born in the Autumn, but the military cavalcade celebrating the king was held over the summer. Ever since, the reigning royal can have two birthdays – the day of their birth, and a day during the summer when weather would be more suitable. I’m not kidding. Seriously. Google it.

Anyway…..

Our village applied for a beacon when we were celebrating the Queen’s jubilee, and apparently we were the only local parish to be given one! I attended the Jubilee, and so I thought I would have a wander down to the village hall for her birthday beacon.

It really does make me feel proud to be British and proud to be part of this country when I see so many people turning out for these kinds of events, even at the local level.

Here’s a short video I put together for the lighting:

What a fun and chilly evening. Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth!!

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The contents of this post, including personal images and videos are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

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You can read part one here: Travel Techish Stuff Review

[Official Shop] BXT Travel Essential Bags-in-Bag,Travel Storage Underwear Pouch With Handle – Rose
– I first bought this when I was going on The Rock Boat XV in January 2015. I wanted to give packing cubes a try, and thought an underwear organiser/holder would be great since I was sharing a cabin with three other girls (ok, they were all friends of mine, but still) and then after I would be staying with my cousins in their guest room/office and I didn’t want my bras and knickers on display for my cousin’s husband and son. Unfortunately, I still haven’t actually taken this with me on a trip. I’ve attempted to pack into it THREE TIMES and all three times I changed my mind because the end result is too bulky. I’m not saying all packing cubes are bulky (my BFF has a nice set that worked well for her on the cruise), but this one just didn’t work for me. I think this could work if you were taking flimsier bras like sports bras or non-wired bras, but my wired bras just didn’t fit well in it. Either that, or my boobs are too big. But I really like the concept! Shame it didn’t work for me. I would love to get myself a set of eBags packing cubes, and I’ll probably get a set before the next trip to the US and see if it helps cut down on space. But honestly? Ziplock gallon and two gallon sized bags or travel space bags from the pound shop work pretty well for me.

Baggallini Plaza Mini Messenger Bag, Pink (Cherry Blossom) – This travel purse is pretty awesome and there are so many features to show you I’m going to go make a video about it and I will post it below:

Columbia Women’s Silver Ridge Skort – Fossil, UK 18,US 14,EU 46 – I bought this skirt (for a lot less!) in preparation for our trip to Austria last October. I already have one Columbia brand skort from about 10 years ago when I still lived in the US, and I love it. It was starting to get a little big on me, so I went for one size down from the size on the old one……this was a mistake. The skort did not fit over my hips and even if it had, it would have been VERY short….and when you’re under five feet tall, if something is short, it’s really short! But I am a fan of having a skort for travel, especially if it’s designed for hiking. It comes it handy to protect against chafing, and they look nice enough to be worn with regular tops. I’m just sad that I couldn’t wear this second one!

Regatta Mens NEW Work Outdoors Walking Hiking Water Repellent Action Trousers – One for the men, or I suppose the women who know their size in men’s trousers and wouldn’t mind the straight cut of the leg. We bought these for Tim based off the review that said they dry overnight. They don’t. Well, the might in the warmer months, but not in September in Austria. They took about 2 days to fully dry, but Tim found them comfortable and warm. They are also water resistant, which can he helpful. £12.99 isn’t a bad price considering Tim’s cargos from Primark cost the same. I didn’t look to see if they did a ladies cut style, but I’m sure they do. Regatta is a really good outdoors type company, so when I spot things for a decent price I tend to snag them.

Reisenthel Shoulder Bag, 30 Litres (48 x 39.5 x 29 CM) Bavaria – I love Reisenthel, and I particularly love the Bavaria print….but I am not in love with this bag or the medium version. (I also didn’t pay £40 for it! wow, prices have gone up!) The part I don’t like about it is the metal rods next to the zipper, which make it hard to open and close the zip…but the plus side is it opens up to a nice large rectangle with lots of side pockets. I take this shopping sometimes because it’s so big…but it’s also very bulky. It’s good for road trips and probably bus or train journeys, but I think the metal rods would get damaged if you used this as a checked bag.

My last item I’ll talk about in this post, is the neck wallet Tim wanted me t get before I took an overnight train from Florida to Pennsylvania on my own in January 2015:

Neck Travel Wallet to Secure Passports, Money, Credit Cards, Mobile Phones, Tickets, Boarding Pass – Quality Lightweight Neck Pouch Organiser with ID Display Window – This Passport Neck Holder can also be worn as Shoulder Travel Wallet – By Raqpak (Grey)

This particular one is no longer available, but it was VERY useful and it held my passport, cash, ID, credit cards, house key, phone, tickets, and even my 8″ Samsung tablet fit in it (although that made it very bulky). I tucked this under my fleece when I was sleeping on the train and took it with me whenever I used the loo to keep all my important documents on me. If you are making long-distance/overnight trips on public transportation on your own, I recommend getting something like this. Or a money belt. They even make clothing now that have secret pockets, but I’m really not sure I want to keep my passport in my underwear!

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Many of the Amazon UK links are affiliate links, so if you click on them and buy something, I do get a tiny percent.

This post has not been endorsed by Amazon or any of the products and websites mentioned in this post and I have not received compensation for writing this post or making any videos.

The contents of this post, including personal images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog. If you are reading this through an e-mail subscription, you might need to go directly to my blog to view videos and images.]

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

This past week at Slimming World, our consultant talked about learning visually and it got me thinking about meal planning, so I thought I would do a video showing how I meal plan. It turned into two videos – one for monthly planning, and one for weekly planning.

At the end of the previous month, or within the first week of a month, I sit down with a blank monthly calendar (I print out the ones Philifaxy makes) and some of my cookbooks and I plan out 30 days of meals. This doesn’t mean that the meal I write down for the 15th is going to be made on the 15th, it just means I have 30 meals for the month I can pick through when I make our weekly plans. It takes me about 45-60 minutes to plan the month this way, but then it keeps planning the week down to 30-45 minutes.

I also said I would upload my weekly planning sheet to dropbox, so feel free to download this and use it:
Weekly Slimming World Meal Planning Sheet

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DISCLAIMER: I do not work for Slimming World, I am not affiliated with Slimming World beyond being a paying customer/member, I get no personal benefit from writing this post other than the joy of sharing.

The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog. If you are reading this through an e-mail subscription, you might need to go directly to my blog to view videos and images.]

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

@CaroLowbridge @BBCNews pic.twitter.com/E1AecrercX

— Ice cafe Brighton (@icecafeBrighton) April 5, 2016

So, yesterday, we were interviewed by the BBC South East Today.

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To make a long story that’s not my story short — A statue was created of Sir Nigel Gresley and he was to have a mallard duck at his feet to commemorate his love of birds and as a nod to one of his most famous engines – Mallard. Family members of Gresley opposed the duck, so a petition was started by the Gresley Society to reinstate the duck.

This all leads up to the unveiling yesterday at London King’s Cross and a faceboook post made by my friend M. He wanted to get a group together to show support for the Gresley Society and the sculptress by bringing along ducks. Well, how could we refuse?

#givenigeladuck #sirnigelgresley #sirnigelwantsaduck @gresleyduck #Hamish #ducksoninstagram

A photo posted by Rebecca L (@beccajanestclair) on Apr 5, 2016 at 4:15am PDT

As it turned out, our ducks made quite a stir with the press there to cover the event. Because we were peacefully standing on the mezzanine just waving and squeaking our ducks, no one minded that we were there, and in fact, lots of people told us they liked the ducks and wanted the duck with the statue! Hamish (and his friends) have had their picture taken sitting on Sir Nigel’s newspaper by mane people, including the press. While Hamish did not make it into the newspapers (and really, wouldn’t it have been better to have a Scottish duck?), one of the other ducks I brought and gave to my friend Han did:

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Our picture has now accompanied articles all over the place!

BBC – ‘Deamining’ Duck Absent from Sir Nigels Statue
ITV – Rail engineer statue unveiled… but lack of duck ruffles a few feathers
The Daily Mail – Feathers are ruffled as statue is unveiled of genius behind world’s fastest steam train the Mallard – WITHOUT a duck at his feet
Yorkshire Post – Nigel Gresley statue unveiled at King’s Cross – and he’s out for a duck
Edinburgh Evening News: Sir Nigel Gresley statue ruffles Mallard fans’ feathers

and the Times:

Here we are – Today's Times shows the stupidity of the Gresley Society. A pyrrhic & pedantic approach #gresleyduck pic.twitter.com/NHGpXImGdB

— fraser pithie (@Fradgie) April 6, 2016

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(It’s a subscription service, so could someone who subscribes get me screenshots?)

And, well, it looks like people are still leaving ducks there!

The pro-duck lobby have made their mark on the new Gresley statue at King's Cross (see https://t.co/dgiLExDtGH) pic.twitter.com/5njukqRlbA

— Ed Boiling (@boilerwadding) April 5, 2016

We had a great day. Our little group had 6-7 people, but we kept meeting other people who had brought ducks as well! After, we all headed to the Parcel Yard for a much deserved pint.

#hamish #ducksoninstagram #givenigeladuck

A photo posted by Rebecca L (@beccajanestclair) on Apr 5, 2016 at 4:21am PDT

If I find more links or photos, I’ll be adding them to this post. I still have to unload my camera too and see what other people in our group managed to take. If you spot me or the ducks on another site, please let me know!

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Photo credits when the photo was not mine or embedded:

1 – Screencap from the BBC SE Today, capped by Dave Rudderham
2 – Press Assoiation
3 – BBC
4 – Rob Bough

The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog. If you are reading this through an e-mail subscription, you might need to go directly to my blog to view videos and images.]

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/