There are various forms of torture, Chinese water torture, a medieval rack machine, plucking out eyes with hot pincers and then there is hair laser removal.
Although I have been having hair laser removal treatment on ‘painfree’ body parts for some years I avoided treating my upper lip after overhearing a remarkably tough looking woman claim [...]

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The facebook login page boldly states ‘facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life’. Suitably ironic, given that facebook frequently does the opposite.  Of course this is true of any forum where face to face interactions are replaced by a keyboard and screen.
Before I launch into my ‘down on facebook’ campaign, [...]

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For those of you who are not familiar with the wonders of Google Analytics allow me to enlighten you.  Analytics is a program that tracks traffic to my website.  The most interesting feature is its ability to show the search words or phrases that lead people to this site (nothingvanilla.com)
Admittedly I feel like some sort [...]

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Have you ever been accused of something that you didn’t do but couldn’t find your accuser to defend yourself?   Well I have, and my story involves a swimming pool, a steep hill and a large boulder.
If you are familiar my article, ‘Reviving the Spanish Revival’ you would know that we are in the middle of [...]

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This isn’t a ground breaking discovery but I am compelled to write about the U Chromosome.  I know what you are thinking there is no such thing as the U chromosome. That’s where you’d be wrong and at least 2 billion people on this planet can attest to its existence – the U Chromosome is [...]

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Over the last month my grey hair has become greyer, my frown lines are more frowny and my temper is more temperish. Why is my physical and mental health comprised? I will tell you why -we are undertaking a house renovation nightmare project damn it! Excuse me while I take a moment to [...]

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With Christmas looming, Santa must be cracking the whip on his little elves, topping up the sleigh’s oil and giving Rudolph and the rest of the reindeer gang a final health check before he lets loose over the North Pole on Christmas Eve.
Like Santa, I wonder how many other people are starting to think about [...]

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I am an enthusiastic (obsessed) collector of anything from my childhood. In addition to this I am passionate about books, preferably first edition consisting again of anything from my childhood, along with a more eclectic grown up range of genres and authors.  I am a ‘spirited’ collector – as hunting stalking and scoring the kill [...]

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To this day I am haunted by the stories my family told me whilst I was growing up.  Old wives tales, white lies, urban legend, superstition, folk lore.  Or how about we remove the sugar coating and call it plain old BS!
I am certain that everyone remembers being told a story or two from childhood [...]

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As you get older illness, death and funerals become a common event. Let’s get one thing straight there is nothing funny about death itself but sometimes there are absurdly funny moments in the process, well at least in my (disturbed?) mind!
To illustrate this absurdity I have decided to reveal my own recent hypochondriacal experience, [...]

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