A bit of a break

It’s been half term recently so I’ve really enjoyed the chance to stop thinking about my scoliosis for a bit and just take a break from it all. I met up with my friends a couple of times which was nice, but I also had to do some revision – boring! My favourite thing I did was definitely going to Camden for my Dad’s birthday because I love the atmosphere there and it was a really nice way to celebrate. We went to a really good fish restaurant for lunch and I had some lemon-battered haddock which was amazing. We looked around all of the shops and Dad got a new bracelet for his birthday present. They made it in front of us which was really cool.

Also, I went to London with my friend Elly. It was so much fun; we went to the National Gallery, Soho and Chinatown for lunch as it was Chinese New Year. We explored the area and got a bit lost but it was worth it! Some of my favourite paintings were in the gallery: Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers', Monet's 'The Water Lily Pond' and Hans Holbein the Younger's 'The Ambassadors'. It was a lot of fun and I would love to go back again.

Today was very different though – I went on a school trip to see The Woman in Black on stage and it was absolutely terrifying! I won’t give anything away but it was really good and the actors were incredible. I would definitely recommend it to people who like being scared! The coach ride was really long though and I got back to a freezing cold house because the heating is broken :(

I know I wasn’t going to mention my scoliosis, but one thing really deserves a mention and that is Cakey Adventures. They have very kindly raffled off a cake and have raised £280! A huge thank you them and to everyone who bought a ticket – it means the world to me.

Selling and Telling

The last week has been busy! Last Friday, we held a bake sale at school. I wasn’t expecting much to come of it to be honest. I thought that it would be a small event which no one would really notice. This, however, proved to be completely wrong! We had at least thirty different people donate around twenty cakes each, plus other things like bookmarks and raffle prizes. The cakes were each sold at around 30-50p and we had two big cakes to raffle off, so by the end of the day we had raised nearly £550. 

It was brilliant – the queue stretched around the school and me and my friends had to go around asking people whether they had specific orders or else they wouldn’t have been served in time! It was so much fun and it was all my sister Holi’s idea; I can’t thank her enough.

The other big event thing to happen this week was being featured on the BBC 3 Counties Radio Health Show! Just this morning, we were all interviewed live on the radio and it was the scariest thing I’ve ever done. We arrived early and were sent through to the waiting room where we all freaked out for 20 minutes. We were then beckoned in by the producer and introduced to Nana, our interviewer. She explained what was going to happen and checked our microphones and then suddenly we were on air! She asked me about the condition, its impact on my life and the different options I have. 

After listening to it back, I think that it went okay. At one point my mind went blank and I had to mouth ‘help me’ at mum, but luckily you can’t hear it! It was certainly an experience that I will never forget. You can listen to it on the BBC 3 Counties Radio website :)

Taking Shape

It’s now been a month since Germany. It feels like ages ago because we’ve been so busy recently. We’re planning loads of events so we’ve all been really active booking venues and organising entertainment. On the 10^th of March, we’re doing an indoor race-night at the Bullfields Centre where we watch horseracing on a big screen and bet on who we think the winner will be. I’m really looking forward to it; we’ve even got an authentic, pop-up Indian food stall making biryanis for everyone! Tickets cost £15 and can be purchased through Mum.

Holi has been hard at work making slime to sell. She has made around 75 pots and has had to order 10 more litres of glue. Overall, she’s made around £100 profit which is absolutely amazing. Also, all my friends are offering to make cakes for the bake sale at school on Friday. They’re all brilliant chefs and they’ll definitely attract a lot of customers!

I’m feeling excited about the events, but quite nervous that we won’t be able to raise enough money to meet our goal. I know that we’ve already sold 6 tickets to the race-night in the first few days of it being available, but our goal is 50+ so we have a long way to go. The operation date is a long way off so there’s still lots of time to raise money, but it can sometimes get a little bit worrying.

Overall though, I’m feeling quite happy at the moment. I haven’t had any particularly painful days recently and I’m in a good mood. The school production of Beauty and the Beast is next week and I’m very excited to get up on stage and do some musical theatre – it always cheers me up :)