Gift Guide 2015 | For Students

1. World Map Flask £18 by EllaJames on Not on the High Street

2. Architecture Page Markers £3.80 by Gilbert13 on Not on the High Street

3. Glitter 2016 Planner £8 by Paperchase

4. Herschel Supply Co. Backpack £55 by Paperchase

5. Laptop Table £21.20 by The Futon Company

6. Random Crap Storage Bag £9 by Lisa Angel Homeware and Gifts on Not on the High Street

7. Lunch Box £16.95 by BlackBlum on Not on the High Street

8. Economist Magazine Subscription

9. Wall Calendar £12.95 by Lollipop Designs on Not on the High Street

10. Canvas Wall Organiser £8.45 by The Futon Company

11. Laundry Punching Bag £20 by SuckUk on Not on the High Street

12. Condiment Pen and Highlighter £7.50 by Paperchase

13. Xiaomi Portable Charger £12.69 on Amazon

14. 8GB USB Chips Keyring £15 by Paperchase

15. Amazon Laptop Stand £14.49 on Amazon

Gift Guide 2015 | Good Enough To Eat

Food themed gifts good enough to eat!

1. Pineapple Speaker 19.99 AUD on Adairs (Australia)

2. Strawberry Eyeliner £0.99 on Ebay

3. Cereal Sweater £29.70 by Shelfies

4. Ice Cream Sweater £17.95 by RAD

5. 4GB Food USB 4.99 USD on Amazon

6. Chocolate bar lighter 8.59 USD on AliExpress

7. Macaron Lip Balm £3.89 on Ebay

8. Cupcake beanie hat 28 USD by Neff Headwear

9. Sprinkles Sweater £29.70 by Shelfies

10. Banana Umbrella 12.99 USD on AliExpress

11. Watermelon Towel 54.95 USD by the Round Towel Co.

12. Bacon Clutch £26 by Skinnydip London

13. Strawberry Backpack 32.70 USD on creatboutique

Gift Guide 2015 | Statement Sweaters

1. Kitty £65 by Lazy Oaf

2. I woke up like this. £22 on Inct

3. Psycho £22 on Inct

4. Nap Queen £16.96 on Etsy

5. Eat a Lot. Sleep a Lot. £20 on Inct

6. Super £29.90 by RAD

7. Shark £29.90 by RAD

8. Peanut Butter £24.90 by RAD

9. This is welcome £55 on Urban Outfitters

10. Cooler on the internet 18USD by Techiegeekiness

11. Rudeboi £19.99 by Rudeboi

Gift Guide 2015 | Gym Bunny

1. Sports Bra £13 by Forever21

2. Drop it like a Squat Gym Tote £18 by Hey Holla on Not On The High Street

3. Nylon Gym Bag £21 by American Apparel

4. Hair ties £4.48 on Amazon

5. Nike Pro 13" Shorts £20 on Zalando

6. Personalised Towel with zipped compartment £15.95 Duncan Stewart Textiles on Not On The High Street

7. Brita Filter Bottle £14.99 comes with 4 filter discs, available in 4 colours

8. Nike Free 5.0 Trainers £53.99 on Sportsshoes (The greatest all round trainer imo)

9. Fanny Pack £18 by American Apparel

10. Adidas Windbreaker £49 by Adidas on Zalando

11. Leggings £16 by Forever21

Gift Guide 2015 | Mug Shot

In Britain, we throw away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups a year! Help save the environment and help caffeine withdrawal by giving someone a reusable cup this Christmas.

1. Daily Tumbler 20 USD by Miir. Available in a range of colours, comes with lid, double wall insulation, and clean conscience as the cost of the cup includes clean water for a person in need for a year.

2. KeepCup ~£10 on Amazon. Wide range of colours and various sizes, BPA free and also available in glass. Only needs 15 uses to break even in terms of embodied energy.

3. S'Well Water Bottle £29.95 500ml. Featuring double wall insulation, a screw-top "leak proof" lid, and a huge assortment of colours, textures and patterns.

4. Joco Cup £18.99 225ml, £19.99 340ml, £22.99 500ml. For coffee lovers who fear that plastic and paper can affect the taste of coffee. Ideal for taking to coffee shops to ask barristas to fill, however it can't be thrown into a bag when full.

5.. The Mighty Thermos £23.95 470ml. Famous for it's insulating power. Thermos have a range of shapes and sizes online.

6. Zipcup just finished an Indigogo campaign to bring the world a collapsable, portable, reusable cup to save space when it's not being used and can hold 500ml when expanded. For a daily coffee drinker, the Zipcup pays for itself in two months. However, it is not yet available in stores or online, but watch this space.

(Disclaimer: products shown are not price compared, there may be lower prices elsewhere and the images belong to their original sites)

Gift Guide 2015 | Backpack's Back Alright!

It's official, backpacks are back and oh so convenient. As a countdown to Christmas, I'm going to be making a themed gift guide everyday. To bring us back to basics, we're starting off with novelty backpacks! Also, for those of you who didn't get the reference in the title, shame on you.

1. Pink Horse Power £29.99 by Milly Green @Not on The High Street

2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles £31.99 @TruffleShuffle

3. Pink Colour Block Backpack £86 by JumpFromPaper @ASOS

4. Bacon and Eggs £40 Herschel Supply Co. @Paperchase

5. Jaws £25 on Amazon

6. Reversible Super Mario £32.99 @TruffleShuffle

7. Krusty the Clown £34 by Skinny Dip London

8. Hype X Spongebob £30 by Hype @ASOS

9. Mini Catch of the Day £35 by Fifty One Percent @Not on The High Street

10. Elephant Print £19.95 by Life's A Party @Not on The High Street

11. Popcorn £35 by Adventure Avenue @Not on The High Street


(Disclaimer: products featured are not price compared.)

Student Life | Learning to Fly by the Seat of Your Trousers

Flying by the seat of your trousers (or 'pants' if you are American) is a nifty little phrase I learnt that means to to do something difficult without the necessary experience or ability, or to decide a course of action as you go along, using your own initiative and perceptions rather than a pre-determined plan or mechanical aids.

Why does this matter? Because nowadays there is no room in companies for students or graduates that get by flying by the seat of their trousers. There is no room for error and even the easiest jobs are no longer "entry level". 

Unfortunately this means that for many skills that come naturally but are necessary in a work environment, e.g. communication, teamwork, you need to be able to prove you can do it before a recruiter lets you loose in their company. Woe betide the person who can't demonstrate the use of a transferable skill in a real life situation, preferably done under time pressure or financial constraints. But the point is, flying by the seat of your trousers, when phrased differently, is adaptability, is initiative, and is learning at speed, albeit with a larger risk of failure. However, our generation does have one thing on our side...

That's right. It's almost impossible to not know something with the ubiquity of immediate knowledge that is right at our fingertips. If a job description needs you to have a skill that you've never heard of; Google it. Read up on it. Research ways to learn the basics. Look for recent stories about it so you can engage with the topic if it comes up in an interview. Maybe even invest in a short course if you have the time. Make sure that you are not totally flying by the seat of your trousers, prepare yourself, and let Google give you, at the very least, a bit of padding lest your plane crash out of the sky.  

Let us learn from the very father of seat-trouser-flying himself, a man named Dougas Corrigan who flew from America to Ireland in the Summer of 1938. In those days, aircraft had limited navigation aids and relied mainly on the pilot's judgement. Originally he had submitted a plan to fly from California to Brooklyn, but he claimed his compass was broken, so instead he flew in the wrong direction, finally reaching Dublin 29 hours after taking off. The story of his trans-Atlantic flight was carried by many newspapers in America and the UK, including the following article in the Edwardsville Intelligencer, titled "Corrigan Flies By The Seat Of His Pants."

"Douglas Corrigan was described as an aviator 'who flies by the seat of his pants' today by a mechanic who helped him rejuvinate the plane which airport men have now nicknamed the 'Spirit of $69.90'. The old flying expression of 'flies by the seat of his trousers' was explained by Larry Conner, means going aloft without instruments, radio or other such luxuries." 19th July 1938

Corrigan was consequently nicknamed 'Wrong Way Corrigan' and starred as himself in the 1938 movie The Flying Irishman. A film and national fame aren't bad for a budding pilot flying across the world without full technical support or experience. So flying by the seat of your trousers needn't be a total wreck; you can learn from it and perhaps even make a success of it. But don't bank on it. If you haven't done your research, the chances are there is someone else going for the same opportunity as you who has. Too much reliance on trouser-power may mean you end up flying in the face of danger.