http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82ndBX8x52o
Monday, 10 May 2010
Saturday, 8 May 2010
Cigar bar and Hookah lounge on the Thames at The Rafayel'
Explorer Christopher Columbus is generally credited with the introduction of tobacco to Europe. Two of Columbus's crewmen during his 1492 journey, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, are said to have encountered tobacco for the first time on the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, when natives presented them with dry leaves that spread a peculiar fragrance. Tobacco was widely diffused among all of the islands of the Caribbean and therefore they again encountered it in Cuba, where Columbus and his men had settled. His sailors reported that the Cuban Indians smoked a primitive form of cigar, with twisted, dried tobacco leaves rolled in other leaves such as palm or plantain.
In due course, Spanish and other European sailors caught the habit, as did the Conquistadors, and smoking spread to Spain and Portugal and eventually France, most probably through Jean Nicot, the French ambassador to Portugal, who gave his name to nicotine. Later, the habit spread to Italy and, after Sir Walter Raleigh's voyages to America, to Britain.
A hookah (Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा (Devanagari), حقّہ (Nastaleeq) huqqā)or waterpipe is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based)instrument for smoking tobacco in which the smoke is cooled and filtered by passing through water. Social smoking is done with a single or double hose, and sometimes even more numerous such as a triple or quadruple hose in the forms of parties or small get-togethers. When the smoker is finished, either the hose is placed back on the table signifying that it is available, or it is handed from one user to the next, folded back on itself so that the mouthpiece is not pointing at the recipient. It has been recorded that the Arabs are the biggest shisha smokers in the World and have the most shisha Cafes.
Originally from India,hookah has gained popularity, especially in the Middle East and is gaining popularity in North America , Europe, Australia and Brazil.In the Arab world, people smoke it as part of their culture and traditions.
Most cafés (Arabic: مقهىً, transliteration: maqhah, translation: coffee shop) in the Middle East offer shishas. Cafés are widespread and are amongst the chief social gathering places in the Arab world (akin to public houses in Britain). Some expatriate Britons arriving in the Middle East adopt shisha cafés to make up for the lack of pubs in the region, especially where prohibition is in place.
It is said that the Hookah was invented in India in the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542 - 1605 AD). Following the European introduction of tobacco to India, Hakim Abul Fateh Gilani a descendant of Abdul Qadir Al-Gilani came from Baghdad to India who was later a physician in the court of Mughal raised concerns after smoking tobacco became popular among Indian noblemen, and subsequently envisaged a system which allowed smoke to be passed through water in order to be 'purified'. Gilani introduced the hookah after Asad Beg, then ambassador of Bijapur, encouraged Akbar to take up smoking. Following popularity among noblemen, this new device for smoking soon became a status symbol for the Indian aristocracy and gentry. In North India, it is a great tradition followed among Jats, Bishnois, Rajputs etc. However, the Hookah used there is not for enjoyment all the times but also for the purposes of status symbol and more precisely, for regular smoking as tobacco is used in it.
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Run and the city! Champagne, pampering and post-run treats with Boutique Run
Terms and conditions;
25% off entry offer expires at 23:59 on June 28th or once entries are sold out.
Entries will only be accepted from women aged 18 and over on the day of the run.
The Boutique Run takes place in Battersea Park at 6pm on July 10 2010
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1271025/Enjoy-champagne-pampering-massages-Boutique-Run--25-entry.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz0n98yeHGm
By Donna Mcconnell
If you need more than a bit of motivation to put your summer fitness plan into action, a new chic concept in women's fitness might just give you push you need.
Boutique Run is a girls' night out with a difference: a scenic 5km or 10km run in Battersea Park followed by entertainment and pampering.
As well as the prospect of a challenging run, post-run treats on offer will include free champagne, hot showers, massages, a fabulous after-party and a special Bouti' bag full of goodies.
Boutique Run in a new concept in women's fitness: A scenic 5km or 10km run in Battersea Park followed by entertainment and pampering
And we have secured a 25% discount off the entry fee for all our readers. To claim the discount visit boutiquerun.com and quote code DM2.
Normal price £34.60, price for Daily Mail readers £25.95.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1271025/Enjoy-champagne-pampering-massages-Boutique-Run--25-entry.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz0n970Zlgh
Race for Life coming to Battersea!
By poonamkay
Thursday, April 22, 2010, 23:30
Our very own Battersea Park will be hosting a Race for Life 2010 run in aid of breast cancer on Wednesday 26th May.
By participating in the run, you will be one of 5600 women who will be walking, jogging or full-on running 5k to beat the £534,300 Race for Life want to raise for Cancer Research UK¹s admirable work.
If you¹re an interested lady, we¹re giving you a heads-up over four weeks in advance so you can get training.
Here are some top tips for your regime:
Build up your fitness, by increasing the duration of your regime and
intensity weekly.
Eat complex carbs as these take longer to digest, thus ensuring that you don¹t burn your energy too quickly. Examples of complex carbs are wholemeal bread and pasta.
Set yourself a goal this way you¹ll have something specific to train for.
If you achieve it, you¹ll be happy and if you don¹t, you¹ll have something to work towards.
Wear comfortable trainers to protect your feet and make your training more bearable.
Reward yourself, for example by recording your favourite programme to watch after your training session.
The run will begin at 19:30. Be there or be square! And head to the Race for Life website for more information.
'Truth Hurts'
Five OH Fresh! Young writers, actors, and directors take over Battersea!
By Rosiemarx
Thursday, April 15, 2010, 11:40
Over the past few weeks I have been working as a mentor to one of four groups of young people who are writing, acting, staging and directing their own original devised pieces of theatre which they are then going to perform at Theatre 503 in Battersea.
The groups range in age from 16 - 25 and talents as far reaching as amazing dancers and MC's to incredible prose writers and stage directors. All the plays seem to have interlocking themes on trust, community, background and the question does where you come from define who you are?
My group have given themselves the moniker "Shattered Conceptions" and boy does their play fit in with that, a detailed study of four different lives and the ways that they are connected and how every action has a consequence and consequences can be felt over months, years or even generations.
Enough from me, here's what they say about it
'Truth Hurts' is the first hard-hitting, gritty production from the upcoming, youth based theatre group, Shattered Conceptions. In 13 weeks, we've come together and learnt the basics of all things theatre and now, we've written, produced, directed and acted in possibly the most uncompromising play to have been performed at Theatre 503! As a small group of 16 - 20 year olds, we've comprised an amazing production about real issue, honest taboos and false stereotypes. We can guarantee it'll certainly be a night you'll never forget!
The fours plays will be performed at Theatre 503 on May 6th and 7th. So if you want to see the real face of young people in London and the positive things they've been doing then head down. For more info check out the facebook group and become a friend -
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000896298258&ref=ts
Rosie Knight
Rosieknight.wordpress.com
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