Coursework Part 2 - Travel Writing

New York, the city that never sleeps.

Finally, after several hours of exhausting trekking, I arrive in the center. Shivers run through my spine. I recognise my surroundings now, it’s exactly how I pictured it - only more perfect. With my coffee in one hand, and map in the other, I have all I need to continue my adventure.

As the snow continues to fall, the freezing icicles absorb into my furry hat. My gloves struggling to cope with protecting me from the raw cold that besieges me. With the flaming flask in my hand being my only form of warmth, I walk through and all I can see is gleaming lights of warmth, shelter and homeliness surrounding me. Businessmen zooming through the streets, taxis beeping their horns, groups of teenagers hurrying around, young men prancing around trying to earn money, old men on the sidewalk begging for that spare dollar. I am wary that I may accidentally walk into the rush.

As I advance further though my trip, I see fast white clouds emerge from the ground. Panic rushes through my head as I furiously ponder on what this may be. My head spins rapidly to see everyone else’s reaction to this, however everyone seems oblivious to it. Can they not see what I am seeing? Is this of the norm? I reach the conclusion of the latter.

It abruptly dawns on me that I have lost track of where I’m going - I am lost. But I don’t mind, is there really a better place in the world to be adrift?

As I continue walking through the city, I pass what two minutes ago looked like a insignificant, microscopic dot. To my surprise it has transformed to this sizable, substantial skyscraper that now alludes me instantly. My perception of where I am eventually returns.

Whether I am lost or found, there’s some things I can’t escape - McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts, Krispy Kreme.. The list goes on.

As the daylight begins to fade, snow continues falling from the sky but is now easing up. The day is getting later and the darkness is starting to spread, however the city is only getting brighter. As if a magician has cast a spell, the city transforms from a formidable fortress surrounded in slush to a gleaming mirage of shimmering wonder. I wouldn’t change this for the world.

The cold still smacks my face, with the wind whooshing through as if it is trying to knock me off my feet, the only thing that has any chance of doing that are these sparkling stars that follow me on my every move. I walk on and make it to my hotel, as I breeze through the security greets me with a ‘Good evening sir’, as I walk further in, a sudden rush of warmth flows through my body, the scent of homemade cooking runs through my nostrils, I feel at home. I’m at the right place.

Coursework Part 1 - Newspaper Article

Dear Britain, can we stop being so cheap for tourists?

Sickening figures show that tourists are costing the NHS £2bn. Someone call the doctor. 

Dwayne Jones
Thursday 24th  October 2013 16.34 BST


A breakdown of the freebees available to tourists.

We have an emergency.

Or perhaps, according to some of our leading politicians, there is no virus spreading at all.

On one side we have Sir David Nicholson, shrugging off all criticism towards him concerning funding, workers and numerous scandals. He insists that he has done a good job and will continue to do so.

“I am absolutely proud of my NHS record” he told BBC Radio 4’s today programme, however he did concede that there is room for improvement, saying “We could always do better”.

However on the other hand we have his to-be successor, Simon Stevens, who is adamant Nicholson is doing it all wrong. Mr Stevens has seems to have drastic plans to remedy the horrifying statistics that exist today. There has been suggestions of a paid for ‘American-activated’ healthcare.

To me, this radical scheme is just a desperate attempt to salvage pride after the department of health released some quite disturbing facts on how much tourism costs the NHS.

Reports show that Britain is now considered the country with ‘some of the most generous rules in the world’. Further statistics estimate that £388 million goes on tourists who are wrongly given free treatment, and a further £300 million is used on tourists who simply take advantage of Britain’s leniency on healthcare. All this contributes to the most frightening statistic of them all… The estimated £20 - £200 million spent on tourists has been increased up to 100 times more than that. An appalling £2 BILLION.

Soft. That’s what Britain has become, soft. Now, I am all for world equality and I appreciate that health is one of the most important things in life and some are not fortunate enough to not be able to afford the healthcare they need. But given our country’s financial state still being on the edge, we cant afford to give millions of people healthcare freebees.

Jeremy Hunt has said “It’s time for action to ensure the NHS is a national health service - not an international one”. I can only agree with him, if this situation continues, I can see it getting very, very difficult for the economy.

Britain have become the Shepard…With the tourists being the sheep… However our barn is not big enough to accommodate everyone (especially those who don’t need looking after.) So therefore we need a solution or this country may start facing some problems.

Big problems. New ideas need to be put in place to show the world that this is not a place where we hand out free operations to people who ‘just need to check they’re alright’ or free eye tests because they ‘saw two fingers instead of one’.

One idea that has been put into consideration is to charge foreign students £150 a year for healthcare and £200 a year to temporary migrants - this is anticipated to generate approximately £200 million and consequently be a form of recovering the money previously lost.

It looks like there is going to be a change, I like the sound of this change, we must have a change - so maybe let’s hold of dialling 999, for now anyway.











Bibliography

Sir David Nicholson quote “I am absolutely proud of my NHS record” - Interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme - The Telegraph, 11th July 2013

Facts

“£388 million goes on tourists who are wrongly given free treatment”
“£300 million is used on tourists who simply take advantage of Britain’s leniency on healthcare”
“£20 - £200 million spent on tourists has been increased up to 100 times more than that. An appalling £2 BILLION.”
“Charge foreign students £150 a year for healthcare and £200 a year to temporary migrants - this is anticipated to generate approximately £200 million”  - All from Daily Mail - The TRUE cost of health tourism, 22nd October 2013

theguardian

TECHNOLOGY BLOG 

Started from the bottom, now its here 

Twitter: What have they done to get to the top?

With now it being reported that there is over 100 million people using this, we look at some statistics on how this powerhouse of a Social network got to where it is now.

The sign we have all become so familiar to.

Waking up, eating your toast, brushing your teeth, having a shower, having 140 words to say what lies ahead of your day. The latter has become so much the norm to so many of us. The opportunity for anybody to share their life and whatever is going on in it which gives them the impression the whole world actually cares, is simply irresistible as it is believed that 50 percent of the 100 million users that exist log in and use the service everyday.

Twitter has triumphed over other social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo and after defeating the powerhouse of social networks.. Facebook, Twitter can now call itself the leader of these other huge names. However the question I now believe we must ask ourselves is how much longer will the recognisable tweeting bird can stay 'top of the tree'?

Holiday Text

So after a two hour trip to the airport, a five to six hour plane flight and an hour long taxi journey, I finally make it to the place that everyone's talking about. Someone tell me of a place more talked about. I can now tell why. Is there anywhere more bright, lively and intriuging? It's electric atmosphere galvinates the people in the city, and can you blame them? The sparkling lights, the collosal buildings and the numerous food restaurants that surround this city makes it something for everyone. Being there on those February nights, you see the luminous lights contrast with the icy clutter beseiging the roads, is there anything better? It's no myth that it is "The city that never sleeps". It's a no brainer that you must go to this kewl city. You're guarenteed to have a blast!

Style Model - Extract from John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Monologue from Crooks, he is the only black person on the ranch and the only person there with a permanent job, he has been there for a very long time but has failed to form any type of relationship with anyone else. He believes this is because of his skin colour. When Lennie goes into his room, this is what Crooks says to him:

 "S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick."

My Version of this Monologue

"Put yourself in my shoes. No friends, no family, nothing. Imagine if you could not go into the bunk house and play chess, not because you are a bad person, not because you've done wrong, but because of the colour of your skin. You think about it.. fancy that? You would not want to be out here reading books day in, books are boring, I need someone, I need something. This is all making me crazy, I need someone, I do not care who but I need somebody. I'm lonely, help me. 

So much technology around; is it ever going to stop?

Technology has been improving relentlessly, but is it ever going to stagnate? How can the world deal with this?

Just a few of the technologies around in today's world to make life easier. (Playstation 4, iPhone 5S, Samsung 3D TV, Fujifilm camera.)

Playing your beloved game, calling your boss to tell them you are going to be late for work, and capturing your treasured moments.. this has all been made possible with the different forms of automation available to us in today's world. But the question I have is how much more of it can we take?

Necessity. Us humans have now been brain-washed to believe we NEED these appliances, and without them we are depriving ourselves of the easy lifestyle we can be giving ourselves.

Technology has been developing rapidly through currently, and the pace only seems to be getting faster. Computer-crazy people must be licking their lips with the accelerating amount of technology being produced in present times. Major shopping brands such as Argos, Curry's and John Lewis must also be rubbing their hands in delight, due to the major amounts of money they must be getting from selling these kind of devices. Supermarkets like Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco are also getting in on the fun too, this kind of business gets a large percentage of these shops profit.

The question I have however is how much more can the world take? Major companies like Apple, Samsung and Sony surely cannot continue to keep producing top of the range devices that satisfy the world, they must reach a stage of stagnation. My concern then is how the world is going to respond to this, will humans be able to cope with keeping the same mobile phone for five years or more, or have to wait for a further ten or twenty years for the next PlayStation. Will the world be able to manage, I think not.

I anticipate sparks..