SWEETIESAL

It's been a weird old week.

I wouldn't usually weigh in on what I will mention today but I have all these thoughts and bugbears floating around my head and as my blog is my corner of the internet I just wanted to vent, so grab a coffee and let me know if my thoughts echo yours?

Firstly, I just have to mention the most horrible of news from my beloved Manchester. I woke up in Dubai on Tuesday morning at 7am ish (4am UK time) and read messages from my mum in our family whatsapp group that made my blood run cold. The unthinkable had happened in Manchester. I still can't get my head round it and I am not using this platform for anything other than sharing the fundraising page as I don't believe in making stuff like this about me. What I will say though is that Manchester has my absolute support and if anyone has any ideas as to how I can help then please message me. I felt so so far away from home this past week and I just want to give my condolences to everyone affected. I got home on Saturday and went straight to St Ann's Square to pay my respects.

If you want to donate to the official fund then please click here.

Events like the above put everything into perspective for me and I also want to talk about two very public fallouts with two very popular bloggers. I'm talking about the Gabriella / VelvetBl0cked and Sarah Ashcroft sagas. I am not going to get into what they said/did or my thoughts on it as each to their own, I am an adult and quite honestly I think there is more to worry about.

What I will be discussing though is the terrible online bullying I have seen as a result. It amazes me how nasty people can be to people they don't know on Twitter or other social media. I am not surprised that people are blocked in all honesty, I certainly wouldn't want to read some of those tweets I have seen if they were about me. If you don't agree with something then fine, I understand, everyone is entitled to an opinion. That said, I have to question whether ALL of those people who have so much to say have ever said something that came out completely wrong or was misinterpreted. These girls are normal girls just like the rest of us and no one is perfect. Granted, I accept that being semi in the public eye does mean that you have a degree of influence over younger readers but I am going to go back to the intent. I strongly doubt that the intent of the comments made was malicious so to see tweet after tweet of personal attacks which are malicious I think makes those tweeters worse than the people they are tweeting about in my eyes.

This is the side of blogging that I hate. People are very quick to be keyboard warriors and seem to forget that often these people they are criticising are young girls too. We've all had those moments where you say something that you immediately want to suck right back into your mouth and wish they never came out, we are human it happens.

All in one week I have seen Manchester come together so beautifully that it has been truly inspirational to watch and actually made me feel a little homesick despite only being on holiay for a short time. I've seen people working together and refusing to be scared into submission by some sick bastard with his own personal agenda that goes way beyond religion.

It makes me angry to then witness all the petty bullying tweets going on whilst people are grieving. Why are people wasting energy on stuff like this - let's be honest here, nothing of what has gone on in the bloggersphere has ANY effect on your life. No I didn't particularly enjoy seeing someone say that there isn't room for any more bloggers but equally, how can we be sure she actually said that? I just think it doesn't affect me. I will continue to write my blog and would urge you to do the same if that's what you want to do.

Let's channel all this energy into something more positive and as a blogging community take some inspiration from Manchester in the way we conduct ourselves. Togetherness, support, passion, enthusiasm and don't try and destroy each other from within.

That's my rant over, I am sure some of you will disagree with me and that's fine. I just had to get a few things off my chest.