It's crazy to think that it was one year ago today that I was hurrying off (probably not hurrying tbh) to London to meet my surgeon and sign the papers that would allow him to cut open my chest and play with my heart (that's not the technical term, but the emo within me).

Two days ago I went back to hospital for a check up, and it's all pretty gosh darn good. YAY!!! So obviously I celebrated in the best way, by going for a country walk in the April sunshine/snow!

We did a whole 4.5mile walk from Ditchling, to Streat Church and then to Westmeston and back, that ended up being a bit longer because we got lost, twice. It did mean some decent pictures though!





This time last week I was packing my stuff up and getting ready to head back from a wonderful four days in the Irish Capital. There is so much to do and see in Dublin, and even though we managed to cram as much is as we could, I've already got plans of what I want to do next time I go back, whenever that may be.

I have complied my list some of my favourite things we did while over there;

pic by Liton Ali, via Flickr

4.  At LFW SS16 approximately 30,000 espressos, 25,000 bags of Propercorn and 20,000 bottles of water were consumed.

 

via pixabay

 

 

5.  If you're a blogger and you want to be an accredited blogger for LFW you have to fulfil the strict criteria set by The British Fashion Council, including having over 10,000 unique blog visitors per month, and over 10,000 followers on social media (as well as having a high standard of fashion content and such...) and even then there is no guarantee of accreditation. Fortunately the London Fashion Week website does have resources for all of us mere mortals to keep up to date with all the action.

Checkout the details here.

 

 

 

 

2. The first stethoscope was created by René Laennec in 1816, when he had listen to a patients chest. Up until then doctors would have to put their ear onto the patient's chest to listen to their heart and lungs. Laennec though this was a bit inappropriate so tried using a tube of paper, which magnified the sound of his patient's lungs, and voila! The Stethoscope was born and by the 1890's wooden tube stethoscopes had been replaced by plastic ones similar to those used today!



5. The British Heart Foundation was founded in 1961 by a group of medical professionals who wanted to fund extra research into heart and circulatory disease. The 'Heart beat' logo was created in 1971 by one of the charities regional organisers, Sheila Harrison.



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/wilson-greatbatch-inventor-of-the-implantable-cardiac-pacemaker-2363206.html
http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/dr-chris-barnard-performs-worlds-first-human-heart-transplant
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/3/newsid_4294000/4294423.stm

So naturally, here are this weeks Fun Facts, all about Henry VII and Henry VIII.

Henry VII

4.  Most of us have the image of Henry VIII being rather short and obese, but he was actually pretty tall, standing at 6'4, and was described as an 'adonis' and was fit and healthy. It was only in his mid Forties after a jousting accident that lead to constant ill health did he being to put on weight and by the time of his death he had to be winched on to his horse.

Henry VIII

All pictures use under creative commons licences,
www.historyextra.com
www.bbc.co.uk/history
www.hrp.org.uk

 

Yellow Eyed Penguin.

2.  Penguins that are smaller in height live in warmer climates while those in the cold are the taller of the species. The smallest is the Fairy Penguin (also known as a Blue or Little penguin), which average at 16 inches tall and live in Australia and New Zealand. The tallest are The Emperor Penguins at 3.7feet, and huddle in Antarctica.

Emperor Penguin

3.  They spend up to 75% of their lives in the sea, and can swim at speeds of up to 22mph and some species can stay under water for up to 20 minutes.

4.  Penguins are carnivores and get all their food from the sea, they can also drink sea water and have supraorbital gland that filters the salt out of their blood. The excess salt mixes with moisture and in the gland and then leaves to body though the nasal gland, and drip out of the penguins nose.

5.  Penguins are flightless birds, but research suggests that millions of years ago Penguins could fly, and an early penguin skeletons have shown them to be much taller then we know them to be now.