December is rapidly approaching, and if you can’t wait
for Christmas Day before treating yourself to gifts, you’re going to need an
advent calendar. I remember as a child being happy enough with a simple bit of
cardboard and finding a picture behind it, even if it was just a badly-drawn
donkey. Then I discovered chocolate. And it’s been chocolate every year since,
even though I’m now well into adulthood. As in, I’ve been an adult for almost
as long as I was technically a minor. I regret nothing. Not even the 3
fillings. Anyway, here are 7 advent calendars that don’t just rely on the magic
of chocolate or tiny works of art:
If you’re a tea fan like me, you could experiment in the run-up to Santa’s arrival with this selection of 24 different teas from Indian supplier VADHAM.
The teas come in four categories – herbal (9 teas included), green (8), chai (4) and black (3) – and feature intriguing choices like “Cookies & Cream”, “Sweet Cinnamon”, “Earl Grey Citrus” and several turmeric teas.
OK, I said no chocolate, but I didn’t say no sweets.
Let’s face it, most advent calendars are enjoyed by children and if you want to
spend a similar amount as you would on the average chocolate calendar, this
option from Swizzels might keep your little ones (and their dentists) occupied.
Not only does it
feature favourites like Refreshers, Love Hearts and Fizzers, but it also
includes classics Parma Violets and Banana Skids, plus a bag of Drumstick
Squashies.
3 Cheese – I’m Dreaming of a Cheddar Cheesemas! Advent
Calendar (£29.99)
If you don’t have a sweet tooth and prefer something
savoury, The Chuckling Cheese Company have a solution for you.
Comprising 12 cheeses, 6 mini jars of chutney, and 6
packs of biscuits (presumably crackers as opposed to custard creams), you might
need to clear out some space in your fridge for this advent calendar, as it
needs to be stored below 5 degrees Celsius.
Many of the cheese flavours are
suitably festive, with offerings such as Christmas Pudding Cheese, Orange &
Whisky Cheddar, Pigs in Blankets Cheese, and Sunday Roast Cheddar.
4 Crisps – Pringles 24 Days Advent Calendar (£29.99)
If you’d prefer to have a salty snack each day as
Christmas nears, look no further than the best thing to come out of a tube
since toothpaste – the Pringle.
Containing 24 servings of 40g tubes, you could
possibly stock a flight to the Mediterranean or at least keep a supply for a
several trips to the cinema. Alternatively, just scoff them in front of the
latest hit series on Netflix (Cowboy Bebop or Tiger King 2) or Disney+ (Hawkeye
or Dopesick).
The calendar contains Pringles in four classic flavours – Original, Salt
& Vinegar, Sour Cream & Onion, and – my personal favourite – Texas BBQ
Sauce.
5 Personal Care – 24 Days of Discovery Advent Calendar
(£20)
For those who enjoy a pampering, or if you just want to
stock up on travel-sized toiletries ahead of next year’s holiday abroad (covid
permitting), these calendars are ideal.
There are two options,
marketed to women (pictured) and men, both featuring a range of personal care items like
shower gels, soaps and deodorants.
They also include a few curveballs such as
socks (men), a hair scrunchie (women) and a multi-charging cable (both).
Brands include Dove, Vaseline, Radox, Tresemme, Lynx, and Toni &
Guy.This
product is available as a Black Friday deal on Amazon.
6 Booze – Baileys 12 Day Christmas Advent Calendar (£17)
Fancy a tipple? Alcoholic advent calendars have become
increasingly popular over recent years, but many come with hefty price tags.
You can pay anything from around £45 for a beer advent calendar to well over
£100 for one featuring 24 whiskeys.
Assuming you’ve got less cash to splash,
Baileys offer a selection comprised of 5cl/50ml bottles, in Original Irish Cream, Salted
Caramel, and Espresso Crème flavours.
The only drawback is that the calendar
only contains enough for 12 days, so you could start early or late, only open
the calendar on odd or even days, or perhaps buy two calendars?
Anyone fortunate enough to have a garden might enjoy
putting it to use with this growing kit for vegetables and herbs from The
Little Trees Bees & Seeds Co.
Unlike the other advent calendars on this list, this one is less about
instant gratification and more about patience and enjoying the fruits (and
vegetables) of your labour at a later date. Green-fingered folks can turn their
hands to growing carrots, fennel, chard, cabbage, basil, tomatoes and many
more.
Let’s face it, you can’t do much worse than Jeremy Clarkson did in the
first series of his farming show. Besides, buying this particular advent calendar
should more than make up for all the years you chose chocolate.
All information correct at time of publication. Prices
quoted are taken from amazon.co.uk on 21/11/2021 and are subject to change.
Always check the contents and age restrictions of any product before purchase.
Listening to music can be a helpful way to stay mentally
healthy. It can have soothing properties, or simply make you feel happier, more
energetic or calmer. We all like different music and it’s good to seek out the
stuff you enjoy. If you don’t like hard rock or metal, this won’t be for you,
but if you do, read on. Feel free to shout at me on Twitter about stuff I
forgot or criminally overlooked. It’s my list anyway and you can always write
your own.
1 Welcome to the Jungle – Guns N’ Roses
One of the all-time great debut rock albums, Appetite
for Destruction by Guns N’ Roses, opens with a killer guitar hail from
Slash and a haunting scream from Axl Rose. A thumping glam rock anthem then
erupts, with the rhythm section driving the song through various twists and
turns as Rose sings his innuendos and makes some strange sex noises. You
probably won’t want to play this with your parents in the room, but it’s the
banger that introduced the world to the first of many sublime Slash solos.
2 Enter Sandman – Metallica
Metallica’s self-titled or “Black Album” is arguably the
record that made them household names and Enter Sandman was a big reason
behind its success (although Nothing Else Mattersis another must-hear song, with rock
royalty Elton John calling it “one of the greatest songs ever written”). The
catchy entry riff will get your head banging, while James Hetfield delivers
lyrics that sound like a dark nursery rhyme and Lars Ulrich pounds his drums as
best he can. But the undoubted star here is lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, whose
virtuoso solo midway through the piece propels this track into the god tier.
3 Them Bones – Alice In Chains
Seattle’s grunge scene produced some of the best
angst-filled music ever and one of the few bands still going is Alice in
Chains, despite the tragic death of singer Layne Staley in 2002. Indeed,
guitarist and fellow vocalist Jerry Cantrell recently released a very strong
solo album called Brighten (featuring the superb single Atone). But it was in the early 90s when Alice in Chains were at the peak of their
powers, and Them Bones is the short but formidable opener on the band’s
outstanding Dirt album. Built around a doom-laden riff and languid vocal
harmonies, the song really soars with a monster guitar solo just after the
halfway point. Fun fact: the song features on the popular video game Grand
Theft Auto: San Andreas as part of the Radio X playlist.
4 Black Dog – Led Zeppelin
If you don’t like Led Zeppelin, do you even like rock
music? Their fourth album, released in 1971 and selling over 37 million copies
to-date, is their magnum opus, featuring the epic Stairway to Heaven and
favourites such as Rock and Roll and When the Levee Breaks. The
album opens with Black Dog, on which Robert Plant croons suggestive
rhyming couplets while the rest of the band play a stop-start groove around
John Paul Jones’s chunky bass and John Bonham’s masterful drumming. There is,
naturally, a sumptuous Jimmy Page solo to conclude the start of a very special
record.
5 The Grudge – Tool
Back when Tool fans only had to wait 5 years for new
music, Lateralus arrived in 2001 to stake an early claim for album of
the century. The record rumbles into gear with this masterpiece of Danny
Carey’s tribal rhythms, Adam Jones’ grinding guitars, Justin Chancellor’s majestic
bass and Maynard James Keenan’s soaring vocals, including that 24-second
roar at the 7-minute mark. It is the ultimate release of frustration and
cathartic relief. Keenan’s lyrics switch between obtuse references to Saturn
ascending (which no doubt has some cosmic significance) and the very simple
repeated chant of “Let go” to round things off. Across 8-and-a-half minutes, The
Grudge takes the listener of powerful, pummelling, profound aural journey.
It’s one of those songs that still sounds soul-bendingly fresh 20 years after
it dropped.
6 Ghost of Perdition – Opeth
The heaviest and longest track on the list, Swedish
progressive metal geniuses Opeth kicked off their 2005 album Ghost Reveries
with this beautiful beast. Lulling the listener in with a few gentle chords,
they produce a fantastic “scare-drop” to blast into a brutal burst of brash
riffs. As you’d expect from a song that exceeds 10 minutes in length, they
change the pace and tone a few times, with softer sections and more melodic
moments interspersed between the almighty chugging guitars and relentless
double-kick drums. Opeth don’t write boring songs, so while it can take some
time to get your head around the growls, it’s well worth sticking with the band
for their sheer musical ingenuity. More recently, they’ve mellowed a little and frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt has switched to clean vocals. The band are still making
brilliant music, as 2019’s bilingual (available in both English and Swedish
versions) In Cauda Venenumattests.
7 All My Life – Foo Fighters
It would be almost too obvious to include Smells Like Teen Spirit on this list, so instead I’m going with Nirvana alumnus Dave
Grohl’s band Foo Fighters and the first cut from their 2002 album One by One.
This was the Foos at their boldest, loudest and best, delivering a chugging
riff and sing-along chorus that satisfy full stadiums. From experience I can
confirm that they are an excellent live band, even if you can’t really see them
through hundreds of taller people. It’s hard to tell if the refrain “Done,
done, and I’m onto the next one” is a critique of consumerism or just Dave
ticking off his shopping list, but it sure makes for a memorable tune.
8 Going Under – Evanescence
The greatest thing about Evanescence is Amy Lee’s
incredible voice. Not just the way she hits the high notes, but the way she
nails every note. The opener to the band’s multi-platinum Fallen
album also showcases their underrated song writing ability. Built around a
grungy riff and catchy chorus, Going Under also features a cool little
guitar solo and some subtle piano work that is a signature of Evanescence’s sound.
Top Female Vocalists in Rock and Metal
It is a bit of a crime that Lee is the only female
vocalist on this list, but if you want a few other leading ladies of rock and
metal, check out: Hayley Williams of Paramore (especially the early stuff);
Courtney Love, particularly Hole’s Live Through Thisand Celebrity Skin; Lacey Sturm of Flyleaf (first three
albums); Lzzy Hale of Halestorm; Heart’s Ann Wilson; and I highly recommend the latest album from Taylor Momsen’s band The
Pretty Reckless, Death By Rock And Roll.
9 Prayer – Disturbed
Disturbed’s musical journey is an unusual one. They
started out at the turn of the century as a successful metal band but were not
widely known beyond the genre until relatively recently. Their debut album The
Sickness from 2000 has sold over 5 million copies, but it wasn’t until
2002’s Believe that they first hit the number one spot on the US
Billboard 200 chart. Prayer is the first and arguably best track from a
second album that was neither difficult nor disappointing. Although their records
continued to sell well, the music always deserved more attention than it got.
Then in late 2015 came a cover version of Simon and Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence, which has over 750 million views on YouTube and was nominated for a
Grammy. The haunting rendition has helped to immortalize Disturbed and its enigmatic vocalist David
Draiman.
10 Highway to Hell – AC/DC
No true hard rock top 10 list would be complete without a
nod to one of the genre’s most famous exponents, the forever young AC/DC. It
was a tricky choice from a band with so many good album openers, but 1979’s Highway
to Hell gets the nod. The iconic opening riff is one of the best the band
ever wrote, the simple chorus is memorable and fun, and of course there’s a
killer guitar solo in place of a third verse. The band might be on the highway
to hell, but with this track listeners are in headbanging heaven.
With COP 26 – also known as the latest Global North greenwash festival – drawing to a close, and governments once again
failing to be bold enough to take sufficient action to limit the drastic
effects of climate change, here are some things individuals can do to help to
reduce our carbon footprints.
1 Take Fewer Business Flights
Do you really need to fly across the Atlantic/globe/continent
to attend that conference in person? It’s the 21st Century. Zoom exists. Use it. Your liver will thank
you too.
2 Take Fewer (But Longer) Holidays
Lots of people like to fly to foreign countries, although
anyone doing it during a global pandemic is a bit of a wally. Under normal circumstances,
we need to re-think how we holiday. Several different trips a year is going to
be a killer for the climate, so instead of taking multiple weekend breaks, take
one or two longer breaks and explore each area more. Or use cleaner transport
to connect multiple destinations. You could try interrailing around Europe or just pick a
destination with loads of culture like Italy, Greece or the less touristy parts of Spain.
3 Insulate Your Home
This could save you on heating bills, although in a time when
gas prices are sky-high, it might help you break even.
4 Turn the Heating Down a Notch or Two
Similar principle. Use a bit less gas, pay a bit less, make
your grandchildren’s planet a bit more habitable. Alternatively/additionally,
switch to a heat pump because they’re more efficient and produce fewer carbon emissions. 5 Wear Extra Layers or Thicker Jumpers
Why turn up the heating when you could don a sexy sweater
or a pair of wonderfully warm long johns? No-brainer.
6 Get Solar Panels
OK, maybe not the best advice in a country like the UK that
has rain every other day and only 8 hours of light each day during the winter,
but overall you’ll still save money on your energy bills in the long-term while
making sure polar bears still have ice caps to roam about on. In some places,
solar energy can even be sold back to the grid, so you might even might a tidy
profit (until everyone gets them).
7 Eat Less Meat
Confession time. I love meat. I eat meat nearly every
day. I’m a bad person. I’m contributing to methane emissions on a grand scale. It’s
hard to adjust to non-meat and non-dairy products when you’re so used to them (soy
milk is grim), but I’m sure there must be some tasty alternatives out
there. Right? Oh yeah, they’re everywhere now. No more excuses. The occasional greasy burger or succulent
steak allowed as a treat as long as I cut down overall? Deal. 8 Eat More Local Produce
It’s trendy these days to eat stuff grown on your doorstep
(or in your own garden, if you can afford one). Not only does it mean fewer
carbon emissions in transporting the food from source to plate, but it can support
someone in your local area with their business. It’s tricky to get things like
bananas from the UK, what with our distinctly un-tropical climate, but
switching from items imported from the other side of the world to European produce
feels like a win. But then there was Brexit. Moving on…
9 Walk More
According to the Department for Transport, over half of
car trips in England in 2014 were under 5 miles. Stop being lazy, leave your
car at home and enjoy the great outdoors. If it’s raining, take an umbrella.
You are not made of sugar. 10 Use Public Transport
OK, walking more than a few miles is rather time-consuming,
so if you do need to travel a bit further, swap your car for public transport. Admittedly
it’s easier in urban areas with good transport links, such as trains, trams,
and buses. One advantage is that you can read great literature or scroll your social
media feeds while on public transport. You might even make a new friend, although
probably not on the London Underground where nobody makes so much as eye
contact. 11 Switch to a Greener Car
Not everybody wants to be exposed to a stranger’s armpits
or have to stand within inches of someone with garlic breath, and public
transport can be time-consuming and expensive too (train prices are particularly
extortionate in the UK). If you must travel by car, throw a few thousand quid
at Elon Musk because he needs to go to space again. You’ll be helping the
planet in one way at least, even if slightly damaging it in another. 12 Cycle More
Another alternative to burning petrol or consuming
electricity is to pedal. Just don’t be one of those cyclists who jumps through
red lights or doesn’t use the cycle lanes where provided. Also, it’s probably
best to wear a helmet (unless you’ve got a really hard head) and hi viz gear in
the dark. 13 Get Double or Triple Glazing
Most people have got double glazing these days and it
does help keep the heat in. Some houses are still single glazed and probably still
contain furniture from the 1960s. It might be vintage or hip, but the planet’s
dying, so get the windows sorted and peace out. 14 Turn the Air Conditioning Down
If you happen to live somewhere that’s warm most of the
time, I envy you, but you’ll likely not enjoy the forecast temperature rises in
the not-so-distant future. For now, instead of blasting cold air into your
house all day, turn it off while you’re out, and turn it down a few notches. It’s
not healthy to go from desert to freezer to desert again anyway. Plus humans
have this thing called sweat to keep us cool. Oh, but don’t use spray-on
deodorant to counter the smell because the CFCs are also pretty yucky for the
ozone layer. 15 Stop Buying So Much Stuff
Do you really need so much stuff in your life? Stuff
requires resources to produce and to move across the globe, so one way to help
the planet is to buy less of it. OK, the economy might take a slight hit, but
it’s about time we moved to a sustainable economy rather than one obsessed with
endless growth, which is basically the modus operandi of a cancer.
16 Plant Trees
It’s not a silver bullet, but there are some benefits to
reforestation, when done properly. If you’re a bit lazy like me, you could use Ecosia instead of Google (with only
marginally inferior search results), or donate to a charity that plants trees. 17 Use Less Water
Particularly important in areas prone to droughts, we
could all use less water by flushing toilets less often (not after every pee,
but definitely still after a poo) and not washing our cars/bodies/clothes as
frequently, or for as long a time. Take 5 minutes in the shower instead of 10.
Usage halved. Simple.
18 Recycle
It’s really straightforward these days to recycle. Most
homes have separate bins for cardboard/paper, cans/tins/bottles, and garden
waste. Some people haven’t grasped it, but you can even recycle stuff when you’re
not at home, by holding onto it until you find the relevant receptacle, rather
than dumping it on the ground or in a canal. Here’s Jack Johnson singing some more
details:
19 Boycott the Biggest Climate Abusers and Choose
Greener Companies Instead
Yeah, it’s a bit of effort to find out who the worst
abusers are (spoiler: mostly big oil), but next time you’re choosing an energy provider or making a major
purchase like a vehicle or deciding which mode of transport to take for a big
trip, it’s worth taking a few minutes to research who the cleaner and greener
companies are and to go with them. 20 Erm… Overthrow the Capitalist System
OK this one is probably a longshot and not really that
practical, but it would help the environment if we curtailed some of the worst
excesses of capitalism. In the absence of a full-scale revolution, have a good
hard think about who you vote for next time you’re at the ballot box. Instead
of voting for the rabble-rousing right-wing populists and blah blah blah centrists,
put a cross by the Green Party or the equivalent in your country because they will actually
take the climate crisis seriously. Greta would approve.
If tea is your thing, you really should check out the fantastic
array of flavours on offer at Bird & Blend. For Halloween, their clever
mixologists have come up with a Spiced Pumpkin Pie version that can be enjoyed
as a regular cup of tea or made into a milky chai latte. This particular tea
has won a Great Taste Award and this year is available in a specially designed
tin (150g).
2 M&S’s Colin the Caterpillar Halloween Spooky Festival
Gift Bag
If you’re hosting a children’s party or want a bit of fun for the big kids in your office, look no further than Marks and Spencer’s
Halloween Spooky Festival Gift Bag. Featuring the often imitated but never
bettered Colin the Caterpillar, this is a feast of sweet treats and chocolate cakes.
More cute than scary, but guaranteed to put smiles on faces.
More famous for its tea, Whittard has stepped up its
coffee game in recent years and is now offering its own take on the pumpkin
spice trend. Available in boxes that evoke Mexico’s “Day of the Dead”,
celebrated on 1st and 2nd November, you’ll probably be drinking this long after
Halloween has finished. The product uses ground Arabica beans and is suitable
for vegetarians and vegans.
4 Hotel Chocolat’s Cryptopher the Vampire Caramel Milk
Chocolate
If you like chocolate, you’ll love Hotel Chocolat and its
Halloween offering made from caramel milk chocolate. The Cryptopher the Vampire
collection includes sixteen individually-wrapped chocolates with six different designs
– a bat, a cat, a skull, a ghost, a gravestone, and a witch’s finger. These are
ideal to give to trick or treaters, or to gobble up all for yourself.
Sticking with the chocolate theme, north Manchester-based
baker and chocolatier Slattery has released a unique take on hot chocolate –
the bomb. Don’t worry, it’s not as dangerous as it sounds. The only explosion
will be in your mouth when you taste the winning combination of orange
chocolate and marshmallows. Enjoy around a bonfire or in the comfort of your
own home.
It wouldn’t be Halloween without kids enjoying a few
sugar highs and legendary confectioner Haribo is always prepared for the occasion.
You could go for old favourite Tangfastics, with their frightening mix of sweet
and sour flavours, but if you want to hand out a lot of treats without breaking
the bank, plump for the Trick or Treat mini bags and you’ll never again fear
the doorbell on the last day October.
£18 for 350ml, £35 for 700ml (+ £3.50
postage); 38% vol. Adults’ favourite.
Halloween isn’t just about the kids having fun. There are
many complex cocktail recipes out there, but a quick and easy alcoholic drink
can be made using this flavoured spirit featuring autumnal spices, pumpkin,
cinnamon and cloves. Just add tonic and enjoy.
If you love cake (who doesn’t!) and have a bit more cash
to spend, you might consider this gourmet option. Impress your friends with these
Halloween-themed cupcakes, which come in three different designs (Ghosts, Bats
and Pumpkins; Spooky Sprinkles; Halloween Eyes), two of which can be bought gluten-free.
All prices and quantities are correct at the time of
writing. Some products may incur additional delivery charges. You should always check product details and allergen information
before purchasing.
The city of Preston may not be the most famous or
glamorous place in the north of England, or even in Lancashire, but there is
plenty to keep visitors entertained for at least an enjoyable day trip, if not longer.
Preston got a bad rap a few years ago when its high
street was awarded the dubious honour of the Unhealthiest High Street in Britain owing to the number of businesses considered unsavoury by the
public. These include establishments from tanning salons to bookmakers, loan
shops to fast food outlets (presumably including bakeries).
Despite its unwanted reputation, the main high street (Fishergate
and Church Street) does serve as a handy reference point for visitors, more or
less connecting the main transport links to some key attractions. Indeed,
public transport is a great way to arrive in Preston. The railway station named
one of Britain’s 100 best by Simon Jenkins and the brutalist bus station featured in a book listing 1001 buildings to see before you die, which covers the whole
world. In the latter case, I suspect the compilers were starting to run out of
options.
If you arrive at the (genuinely good, though no
Huddersfield) train station, turn right and you’re almost immediately into the
action. You could hit the shops at Fishergate or St George’s Shopping Centre,
but I’d recommend venturing as far as the market. When you reach Waterstones, turn left
down Cheapside (no jokes please) and past the cenotaph onto Market Street. A
short stroll will bring you to the city’s newest attraction, a bench and sculpture
of Wallace and Gromit, two much-loved animated characters created by one of
Preston’s most famous sons, Nick Park.
Wallace and Gromit Bench, Preston
The market itself is in a modest but pleasant hall now
mostly selling food and drink, from fresh fruit and vegetables to baked goods,
local meat, and craft beer. You can grab a bite to eat and a coffee here,
although I recommend retreating down Cheapside to Cafuné for a delicious South American sandwich
or arepa. The less adventurous can still purchase a toastie here. Another good and
very reasonably priced lunch option is the quirky Clare’s Kitchen and Vintage
Tea Room (see photo below), situated on Cannon Street, just off Fishergate.
Clare's Kitchen and Vintage Tea Room, Preston
If you’re prepared to venture a little out of the city
centre, you can visit Deepdale football stadium, complete with its fountain
statue of Preston North End and England
legend Sir Tom Finney, or the Lancashire Infantry Museum
(currently closed due to covid). Staying in the heart of things, when I visited
a few years ago the Harris Museum and Art Gallery was a great way to spend an
hour or so, but the Grade I listed building has just begun a £10M revamp
and won’t be open again until 2024.
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
Also undergoing some improvements is the city’s Avenham
Park, where the steps and balustrades are being renovated near the statue of the
Earl of Derby. The park itself – along with adjacent Miller Park – is a hilly
green space featuring a Japanese garden, water fountain, children’s play area
and the Pavilion Café(see map above for location).
Japanese Garden at Avenham Park, Preston
Fountain at Avenham Park, Preston
Down by the River Ribble is a particularly nice (and
relatively flat) place for an afternoon stroll, run or cycle. Beware though –
very few cyclists when I visited were obeying the frequently signposted 5mph
speed limit. The café marks the start and end point for Preston’s Guild Wheel, a walking, running or cycling route stretching for over 20 miles alongside the river, past the marina
and around the outskirts of the city.
River Ribble, Preston
All in all, the city of Preston offers enough to keep one
entertained for a day trip and I look forward to returning in a few years when
the Harris Museum reopens to see how they’ve improved it. I also hope the city
moves away from pawnbrokers and generic chain outlets (although Waterstones can
stay) in favour of more independent traders, with their friendly staff and more
creative menus and products.
Getting there: I travelled to Preston by rail, with an
adult off-peak day return ticket from Manchester costing between £12-14
(October 2021). The journey takes around 35-50 minutes depending on the service
you catch. To check train prices from other starting points, visit the National Rail website.