My favourite local(s) in Kingston

Seeing as I haven't updated this in a bloody long time (blame exams), I've decided now would be the perfect time to go into TravelWriter!Jenny mode...and tell you all about my favourite pubs in Kingston! These are only a few out of the huge amount of pubs you find here, I might add, but I'll be working on getting to see the others soon enough.


1. The Druids Head
This was my very first pub in Kingston. I staggered there with a bunch of Americans after a lot of free wine at the postgrad gathering and was shocked at the price of a pint of Guinness. This became a running theme with nearly every pub I went to - ah, naive Janna! Anyway, I don't visit quite as often as one would imagine (it's the closest pub to me) but whenever I do it's always fun, whether it involves meeting Kingston local men's clay pigeon shooting club or dancing around to Madonna's Vogue.
Pros: Dead central plus you have to love the name. Ahhhh, English pub names!
Cons: Expensive!! And a little boring on the inside.


2. The Mill
OH THE MILL! <3 Got to love the Mill. This is every Kingston student's second home, especially the ones on Penrhyn Road and Knights Park campuses as it is hilariously close. It is your typical student pub - cheap(ish) prices plus the wonderful invention that is Quid Night on Mondays (Fosters for only £1.30!). The jukebox there is only 50p at a time and it is always amusing listening to the sequence of songs that comes up when you spend a longish time there...yesterday it was Marilyn Manson followed by Eurotrash followed by Bonnie Tyler at one point.
Pros: Always a good night out. Food is usually great too. Love the jukebox addition.
Cons: Despite it being riverside you can't go outside at summer time. Finding tables is like a mission from God. Gets a little too student-y sometimes. AND they stop serving food at 9!


3. O'Neills.
O'Neills is part of a chain of Irish pubs across the UK. The Kingston one is a particularly lovely watering hole. Atmosphere there is always great with the live music (usually Irish!). Plus it is extremely central and therefore only requires a 2-minute long stumble home on my part.
Pros: THE LIVE MUSIC!
Cons: Pretty expensive plus some of the staff can be really rude at times.


4. The King's Tun/Lloyds
Ahhhhh, Lloyds. Or the Tun. Or Spoons, whatever, it has a lot of names! Lloyds is, happily enough, one of those magical Wetherspoons pubs which means prices are slashed...gotta love it <3 Lloyds is great for one of those epic nights out because it turns into a club after a certain time on weekends. During the day, it's nice to go there, even by yourself, and just have a drink, a (cheap!) burger and read a book.
Pros: Cheap, fun, big as it's on two levels. It's never difficult to get a table there.
Cons: Does attract a fair amount of creeps. Plus the last time I went there, I didn't get ID-ed for buying beer but my friend got ID-ed for buying (get this)...apple crumble! Weirdos. Also, it's across from Oceana...just google that...


5. The Spring Grove
The Grove is the ideal Penrhyn Road-type post-university hangout because it's round the corner from university. In fact, it's where we usually run into our lecturers, haha! The Grove has a lovely atmosphere and great staff, but it is quite honestly the most expensive pub I've ever encountered. I mean, ouch.
Pros: Love it at wintertime because of its lovely fireplace. Also: proximity to university. Especially after an evil lecture.
Cons: EXPENSIVEEXPENSIVEEXPENSIVEEEEEEE. And not central at all.


6. The Ram
Lovelylovelylovely riverside pub! Quite tiny but worth it if you want a few drinks in the sun...as long as you find a table, that is...
Pros: The aforementioned riverside beer garden <3.
Cons: Lack of tables!


7. The Grey Horse
The Grey Horse is fantastic because of its stand-up comedy nights. My friends and I tend to go on Fridays but they're on all weekend as far as I know. Admission to live comedy is only a fiver if you're a student!
Pros: Very cheap. Close to the train station so it's not a long walk back. Stand-up comedy!
Cons: Itsy bitsy teeny weeny.

I can cook!

So I have a slight addiction to these wings. The hotter they are, the better. And the more sauce thrown over them, too. I've always wanted to learn how to cook them properly but the rest of my family isn't as into spicy food as I am...no one could blame them for that, though, seeing as I require Tabasco along with salt and pepper at almost every meal.

Anyway. I tried to cook the wings yesterday but it wasn't successful seeing as a) I was somewhat drunk and b) the smoke alarm went off and distracted me. Today, I tried again! I used a combination of recipes, and whilst I couldn't get my hands on the much revered Frank's Red Hot Sauce (or Louisiana Hot Sauce *guitar strum*), Tabasco suited me just fine. I don't do measurements when it comes to cooking, so the sauce was basically a concoction of butter, cayenne pepper, paprika, some blue cheese, a bit of ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, garlic flakes and the aforementioned Tabasco. I blended all these in a saucepan and let them simmer over a hot heat.

In the meanwhile, I had preheated the oven to 200 C. I picked out a few wings and cut them into halves before coating them in flour. Then I cooked them for 20 minutes - my oven's tiny though, so baking will take longer in larger ovens. After they were cooked, I poured the sauce over them.

These + blue cheese dip = heaven.

Hello, Present Janna...Past Janna wants a word.

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in the lobby of the Marble Arch hotel my mother and I had just checked out of. Four glorious days of running around the city, eating too much (too much being the keywords, my stomach has yet to recover) and spending too much - I was officially exhausted. So whilst my mum and I chattered away about everything and nothing, as we tend to do, I scrolled through my new emails on my mobile very distractedly.

Until I found one email with the heading 'Hello from Past Janna =)'.

A year ago yesterday, I hadn't been in a very good state. Nearing the deadline to finish a thesis I had absolutely no love for, still heartbroken about an ended relationship and very confused about the direction my life was taking (at that point, it seemed to be into a brick wall), I stumbled across the website http://futureme.org. This absolute gem of a site gives you the ability to send an email to yourself...in the future. How awesome is that? You can choose any day, month or year you want. It can be as long as you want and about anything you want. You can make it private (which is what I did) or public, giving the owners of the website access to publishing it in a collection of futureme letters (I think one book's already out).

Before yesterday, I used to regard the first half of 2009 as some of the most awful months of my life. I used to remember my state of mind at that time and cringe at the mess I was. I used to make fun of myself in front of friends, both old and new, about how pathetic I had been spending most of my days on the internet when I should have been forcing out that damned thesis; or obsessing over what had long been over when I should have seriously been giving myself a kick up the arse.

Of course, I still think I'm right about the whole 'I should have stopped moping around and done something' issue but, at the same time, past Janna had some very wise words for me one year later. Whilst she wasn't sure whether we'd actually pull through with the whole thesis business, she certainly hoped for the best. She hoped I would finally find a nice guy and have a good, healthy relationship. She hoped I would eventually find what I was looking for. She couldn't guarantee that all that would happen, but she was indeed hopeful. The one thing she did promise was that, despite my many faults (overthinking everything and obsessing, extremely low self esteem, a horrible temper, a level of stubborness that would make a grown man cry, etc etc) there were people who loved me. Are. Love. People who would support me and offer their shoulders whenever I needed a cry, or greasy food runs whenever I was having a minor thesis-related nervous breakdown, or a whallop if I whined about my thighs (if my best friend is reading this, she'd be smirking rather knowingly right about now).

It's a good thing past me didn't promise all of that because things haven't been perfect. I barely scraped through where my thesis was concerned and, despite a few opportunities, my commitment-phobia has successfully seen to the disappearance of a couple of potential boyfriends. But I am where I want to be! I'm in London for chrissake! Studying my favourite Ruskis! I'm definitely living the life I've always wanted, even if I am completely broke doing it and fearing my bank manager's wrath when I eventually get back to Malta. And whilst I'm not in a full-on relationship, I'm dating - taking it slow enough not to arouse the sleeping beast that is the aforementioned commitment-phobia.

I think I ought to give my past self a lot more credit than I ever have.

In the meanwhile, just to prove my point, I'm going to get back to these lovely, recently purchased buggers. Trifecta of doom, anyone?

Since it's a special day...two posts!

Here, you will find a fairly accurate description of what it's like living in a student building...or what sounds like, anyway. In order to garner the full effect, you have to play all the clips at the same time. Brought to you by YouTube and my declining sanity.

To the tune of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture...


combined with Wagner's Flight of the Valkyrie...












Now imagine being woken up by a combination of the above. At 4.30AM.

What do you do with a BA in...History? (followed swiftly by a MA)

I love my course, I really do. I love that I'm finally free to choose the pathway I'm most interested in without restriction. So when people ask me what I'm studying, I always smile when I tell them the following, in one breath (ok, fine, two):

"I'm currently reading for my Masters in International history, leaning towards Soviet history with direct focus on the Stalinist period from a Trotskyist point of view."

OK, the last part was only recently added. Anyway, these are the responses I usually get to that.

Either:




Or:



Or:


(I couldn't find a 'YOU BE CRAZY' face better than that one)

To be honest the reactions used to annoy me once but now they make me giggle. I have gotten so used to being asked what the fuck I'm going to do with my life that it has become that funny. I mean, it's a wee bit worrying that I'm not sure yet but, to those who piss me off, I usually tell them I aspire to be the leader of a Stalinist political party. That's one of the reasons why I inherited my beloved petname, the Shaved Communist, thanks to one of my lovely former classmates who muttered it 'under her breath' when I walked into class with a new hairdo and wearing my favourite t-shirt:



I also have this one which has earned quite a few glares:



It's enough to make my mother have a Mediterranean mourner-type fit and wonder where the hell she sprung me from! I almost got shot when I tried to wear the first t-shirt to Christmas lunch with the extended family. Quite a funny occasion, that.

Anyway, my point. I may have a (there's no other way to put it) completely useless degree, one that may eventually get me into trouble with the former USSR - "I was only trying to research, Mr Putin!" - but I can't say I don't love it. I complain about all the assignments and all the reading and mock Trotsky for whining as much as he does - but who doesn't grumble about all this stuff? Apart from Trotsky, I mean. I have a feeling no one else would willingly choose to read The Revolution Betrayed unless they had a death wish.