For the girls...

After reading the comments so far on yesterday's blog, I realised that the link shown was one mainly for the boys. Reminds me of a thread on the doctors.net women's forum about corsets, someone was asking about whether they are any good and where to get them, and those of us in the know posted several similar links to tried-and-tested companies. Anyway, that thread soon got hijacked by visitors from the men's forum who added comments similar to those from Steve and Stuart, and I thought it was most amusing! Topics on the men's forum currently include a discussion of the merits of "handbag strap between boobs"... you get the picture? Of course there is also serious and educational medical discussion going on, wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea about what we spend our time between patients doing!

So as something for the girls, today's photo is of former England rugby captain Martin Johnson. I get a lot of stick from certain friends for fancying him, but this is a rather nice photo I think. They argue that he looks like a Neanderthal or that weird one off of the Addams family, I prefer to look at him as being big and tall and rugged and the sort of person who could look after you in a fight. And by all accounts a thoroughly nice person too, but obviously as he's married I will stick to admiring him from afar. We need more like him in rugby, that is people who can win matches rather than leading us to embarrassing defeats. Least said about that the better.

I've made a cake today as have had some hopefully good news on the job front so will be going to talk details with them tomorrow, thought it best to take something to use as a negotiation tool. Maybe soon I'll be working permanently in one place rather than flitting around the county, here's hoping!

I love a bit of cake!

Mmm, I love a bit of cake! But not the whole cake, oh no. Had first gym training session in ages yesterday and aching a bit today, but have somehow managed to lose 9kg in the past year! So celebrated my failure to enter onto my GP surgery's obesity register (latest QOF points-win-prizes initiative) by eating some Tunnocks teacakes, you know, the sweet soft biscuit covered in sticky marshmallow and chocolate. Mmm indeed.

Had some nice cakes at the weekend when I was in Wales for a friend's 30th birthday. They had a 1940s themed party and we attempted to do one of those murder mystery game things, although we accidentally failed to do the bit where we were supposed to work out the murderer ourselves. Nobody was really bothered who the murderer was though, as the "victim" was supposedly the greatest mime artiste in France and hence all of Europe. Not sure whether I hate mimes as much as I hate clowns, but they are all part of the same creepy family. The French seem to love these silent creatures, and you can't move in Paris without being followed by one of the damn things. Not funny. I say shut them all in a box, but a real box, not an imaginary one, so they can't just pretend to be trapped. Anyway, I digress. 1940s wartime murder mystery parties are a great excuse to be very non-PC and there was much banter going on, all jolly good fun. Also, since I was suppposed to be a busty Danish art-dealer, an excuse to get out the corset, and about 4 of the others there ended up trying it on afterwards and deciding to get their own, so I think I ought to get commission off of Eternal Spirits! Anyone who wants to get one (or just look at some, eh male readers...) can see here.

Quote of the week...

Quote of the week as voice of reason and therefore much respect, goes to Dr. John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. He's been scoring credibility points with me for a while now by simply telling it like it is and standing up for good old British common sense - sod the fact that he was born in Uganda, he's proving to be a rather Great Briton.

The quote in question is his criticism of British Airways who have got themselves all in a tizz over the issue of a worker wearing a tiny cross on a chain to signify her Christianity. Apparently this falls foul of their uniform regulations which state that no visible jewellery can be worn, but she argues that she wears it as a statement of religion rather than a fashion accessory, and likens its importance to the hijab or bangles worn openly by Muslim and Sikh employees respectively (which BA allows on the basis that it would not be "practical" for such religious symbols to be worn under a uniform).

Anyway, she's just lost the case, and Dr. Sentamu's suggestion was that "under BA's current reasoning, an employee who turned up to work wearing a 3ft-long cross must be allowed to wear it, because to hide such a cross under their uniform would be impractical". Someone PLEASE take his advice and try this out! All these PC rules and ideas seem to be at the expense of the good old British folk who are not being allowed to express their preferences whilst all and sundry bend over backwards to accommodate minority groups. I've no problem at all with multiculturalism and I'm not offended by people celebrating other religious festivals, but I despise the fact that Christmas and Easter are being toned down. When in Rome, and all that.... If I moved to live in Iran for example, I would respect their traditions by donning a burqa, and I would not expect them to tone down their Eid celebrations just to avoid offending me. I've heard that many companies (especially those in the public sector) have changed to sending out Christmas cards saying "Happy Holidays" allegedly so's not to offend people of other faiths. Hello? Christmas? Why not be proud of the symbolism behind the celebrations and enjoy it for what it stands for. They're not saying that it's any better than Hanukkah, or Eid, or whatever, but it is still at the heart of Britain and British culture and therefore should be embraced and removed from the PC nonsense that darkens our country. Thank God that someone is standing up for common sense in Britain! We need more like him!

Travesty!

Bloody X-factor! As the nights have been drawing in, I've become engrossed in the series and even went so far as to submit a vote last night. Anyway, the result last night was a disgrace and it's all the fault of the bitter Anglophobic Scots from north of the border.

With only six acts left in the competition (two from each category), it's stepping up a gear and I thought I had the order all worked out. Before the show, I reckoned that the act to be leaving would be the bland Scottish brothers, and the final sing-off would be between them and Ray. I don't at all wish to get personal about any of these people, after all it's not as if I'm anywhere near as talented as any of them. But the McDonald brothers, pleasant lads though they may be, should have been knocked out weeks ago. They have zero stage presence, and just sing in a very bland way, much like Journey South last year, who I also thought were really dull. Their competition in the bottom two should have been Ray, who can perform very well in a kind of musical theatre/cabaret way, but isn't good enough without his live charisma to sell millions of records.

However after seeing the show, I wondered whether Eton Road's performance might have cost them their place in the competition, as it was most bizarre. They're not a traditional boy band anyway, but Louis Walsh made a huge mistake making them cover the Scissor Sisters. There was high-pitched screeching all over the place and it just didn't work at all, so I feared that they could make an earlier exit than they should have.

Anyway, the public voted and the McDonald brothers remarkably made it straight through to next week! What is obviously happening is that because Simon Cowell keeps slagging them off, everyone in Scotland is getting indignantly patriotic and voting them through for all the wrong reasons. Like Louis did in voting for the Conway Sisters over Maria last year. And the more Simon goes on about this fact, the more they will vote against him. Doesn't he remember what happened last year when Sharon had a rant at eventual winner Steve? Although we all know she had a point, it gave him the sympathy vote and people who previously wouldn't have bothered stuck up for him and voted. So Simon, let it lie! Just let them do their boring thing and eventually people will get bored and boot them off! At least Simon voted to keep in Eton Road on the basis that they have a better chance of progressing further in the competition than Robert, who was the eventual evictee.

My predictions for the remainder of the series are thus:
McDonald Brothers get evicted next week, if there's any justice, that is. Ray loses the following week and goes straight into the West End. Eton Road come a respectable third, then Ben loses to Leona in an exciting final. Let's hope that everyone else agrees and votes accordingly. And me? I voted for Leona, it's about time a girl won the series and she's by far the best of the contestants!

On the Box

OK, a few days later than planned, but have been busy and stuff, so I thought I'd get around to talking about TV since I've just watched a load of high-class rubbish. Been up since 3am this morning with work but don't think I'll go for a nap now, I'm always too wide awake when I get in and if I go to bed now it'll just muck up my system.

So I had a nice leftovers lunch and watched a quality programme on LivingTV2 called "Amish in the City". Basic premise follows the typical reality-TV-strangers-living-in-a-house-together thing, but in this show half the group are precocious LA brats and the other half are Amish teenagers on their traditional break where they experience the outside world. It's gripping stuff! The LA teens come across as selfish and narcissistic, but the Amish are starting to give them a run for their money in terms of bitching, and it's kind of obvious that they have in fact been out of their communities for a while. Unfortunately I already know how it all ends up as I looked it up on the internet, but it's still good fun.

Today's photo is just a reminder of another programme I like, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy". I watched it once with my dad, who was very funny as he totally did not get the concept behind it, and kept asking questions like "why are they all gay?" and then "what's being gay got to do with it anyway?". My dad doesn't really do television apart from the news and the odd documentary thing, and anyway he'd no way take advice on what to wear from anyone in the picture shown, apart from maybe the bloke on the left who is wearing a shirt and blazer.

Having a quiet weekend I think, the usual gym and stuff, in fact I'm a bit tired now so might just go and have a quick nap...

My Space

Not quite this sort of space, but I have now begrudgingly signed up to internet "community" MySpace, which I think a few weeks back, I said I'd never do. It was only because a friend of mine has put some songs he's written onto it, and in order to see them fully, I had to be a member. A few photos is all you're going to get though, I'm not going to try and launch a music career by broadcasting late-night concerts from my spare room.

Within about 5 minutes of joining, I had a queue of people wanting to be my "friend" - how odd! I approved two of the requests (both from bands whose music sounded ok), and have declined the rest who just look weird. Like, they don't know me or anything. Fair enough bands trying to widen their audience, and I'm happy to have a listen to see if I find anything I like, but people will have to try a little harder if they want to be proper friends...

Did a bit of shopping today and went to the gym, and have a nice evening of food TV ahead - just watched mad Heston Blumenthal cook a steak using a blowtorch, my dad wasn't convinced by the concept last week when I was watching it at home, but I find him very entertaining (HB that is, and I guess my dad too, if he's reading). Then Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares is on in a bit so I'll be off to watch that. Might talk about TV tomorrow as I've watched a couple of really funny shows lately, and feel the need to pass on my opinions to a wider audience.

Oh, yes, and if any of you want to be my MySpace friend, you can find me here.

Mmmm, pie!

Didn't realise how long it had been since my last entry, but I've been pretty busy. Had a friend down all weekend so have been playing the good hostess. We had a good time, but I'm pretty tired now so think I'll try for an early night later. On saturday we went into town to watch the rugby, and it seems that the England boys are doing worse than Gubbins Athletic in that they seem incapable of winning a match. We were not best pleased with the game, so had a few drinks in comiseration, before I ended up seeing the Borat film again as my friend Russ hadn't seen it and wanted to. I didn't laugh quite so much the second time around, but still thought it was good. We ended up staying in on saturday night again, another friend came round to join us so we just had drinks here. On sunday, we went to the famer's market in the morning to get stuff for dinner (nice local apple juice, mushrooms, bread, bacon, assorted game etc), and then I spent the afternoon slaving over a hot stove making a game pie and a cake, while lazy old Russ went back to bed with a hangover! The pie was delicious though, and I'm going to reheat the leftovers for dinner tonight. We then went to see Russell Brand's stand-up show in Salisbury, like Borat it was pretty rude but very funny in places, and he didn't at all spend the time going on about his dinkle.

I've had a quiet day today, clearing up and that sort of thing. Not working til later in the week so will be making sure I'm up-to-date on the paperwork and stuff. Resolved to go to the farmer's market more often, I think I may have raved about it before, but the food is just so much nicer than what you get at the supermarket (apart from nice ranges like Duchy Originals). And they have some superb recipes on their page, I especially like the "Easter Bunny Casserole" which I might have to do, seeing as I've still got a rabbit in the freezer from when I went to stay with Marie recently (we found a nice traditional butcher on one of our days out).

Anyway, feeling hungry now so going to go and make some mash and cook the veg and pie leftovers. Mmm!

Badness

Suppose I'll have to think of some ugly things for tomorrow's blog entry then. Had a nice relaxing not-doing-much-at-all day today, as my car was in for servicing and so I had planned to waste a few hours around town. However when I got to the garage at 8.30am they said it wouldn't be ready til 5pm which was a bit of a joke, so I went shopping for a bit, then got the bus home for lunch, then went back into town and killed the last couple of hours watching the Borat film. Very rude, very offensive, and very funny too. I was crying with laughter before the first five minutes had passed! Rather ashamed that I found it so funny though, but there probably is a little bit of the Borat in all of us... My friend Susie came round this evening and insisted on showing me her knitting, which she has taken up since she was last round (when she saw the scarf I was knitting for the orphans Christmas box) - rock and roll, eh?!

Anyway, after yesterday's things that got the thumbs up, I have to follow it with a few things that have gained the opposite reaction in the past week:

1. Celebrity divorces. Britney Spears has unsurprisingly filed for divorce from husband Kevin Federline (the soft of person you just want to slap). I never had any expectation that this marriage would work, which is really sad, as it would have been nice if Britney had realised this before having two children with him in the space of a year. More shocking is Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon who always seemed like such a nice couple, very sad. But if she doesn't want him then I can think of a few of us that would...

2. Garages. Yes, the length of time it takes to get my car serviced. No way does it take 8 hours to check a few things and tick the boxes. Surely no more than a couple of hours work at most. Why then do they insist on me getting up early on a day off to take the car in first thing, when it's blatantly going to be sitting on the forecourt until the afternoon. Why not give an appointment time like they do when you go to the doctors or the hairdresser? They know how long it will roughly take, they know how many cars they have to do that day, so why not give me a proper time slot instead of forcing me into town to go shopping which is not good for my credit cars?

3. Trisha Goddard. Not necessarily the woman, seeing as I've never met her, she might be really nice for all I know. But her daytime TV show is dreadful. Gormless chavs with nothing better to do, arguing over paternity tests and broken families, really, really sad. People need to start taking more responsibility for their actions and if I carry on thinking about it I will start ranting and getting really right-wing and non-PC about how to deal with it. So I'll stop. And kind of on the same note, all the adverts seem to be the ambulance-chasing-compensation-seeking firms: "I slipped over at work on something that shouldn't have been there and badly injured my knee"... Then why the bloody hell weren't you looking where you were going? I'm actually getting angry writing this, enough already.

So I'll breathe deeply and think nice thoughts, like cute baby animals, aaaaaah, feeling better already!

Goodness

Hmm, hard thinking of interesting things to say when all I've really done in the past couple of days has been work. So, it's list time again. Some things that have got the thumbs up from me this week:


1. Heston Blumenthal. I'm loving his BBC 2 programme where he uses daft scientific ideas to create the perfect food. Like today, in order to make bubbly chocolate for a Black Forest gateau, he rigged up some apparatus involving a vacuum cleaner, a clothes packing bag, and ice-cream box, and sucked all the air out to make the chocolate all bubbly before freezing it so it would hold it's shape. Personally, I'd have cheated and used an Aero bar, but that wouldn't make good television and the resultant cake looked delicious.

2. Asda. Not sure whether this should be on the bad list due to it being the pikey-est supermarket around, but it's so cheap! Aside from making me buy 12 tins of tomatoes for 2 quid (4 of these nice brand ones usually cost £1.89 elsewhere), I managed to get a whole outfit for work today for 18 quid (skirt and jumper). And it looks nice, not as cheap and nasty as some of the stuff does.

3. Boots. Not the chemist (although I do like shopping there for nice things), but the footwear. Perfect for winter when worn with skirts, as it doesn't matter if your legs are a bit stubbly for the week before you go for waxing... girls will know what I mean! Although there is a whole argument going on as to whether they are too slutty for work if they are boots with heels, my view is that they aren't (especially as they spend most of the time under a desk out of sight), as long as they're not worn with a mini skirt or PVC or anything...

4. Google Earth. Hours of nosey fun zooming in on tourist attractions and your house, but my area for some reason isn't on very high resolution. Some say it's because there are some army barracks in the area, I'm not too sure why but it's a shame as I can't see my house from the air. Been trying to see some of the Nazca lines figures but have only found some of the trapezoids as yet, for those of you who are interested they're at around 14.43S and 75.08W.

5. This song . My angry-teen-emo-rock phase continues, and I have been listening to an album recently with this on. Respect to Finnish goth-rock bands!

Was going to also list some things that have pissed me off this week, but nothing particularly has so far so I'll have to do that another time.

Burn baby, burn

The bonfire on saturday night was pretty impressive actually. Not sure what I was expecting (having not been to the local one before), but the recreation ground was packed with people, there was a huge bonfire bigger than a house it seemed (100 tons of wooden pallets up in smoke), and a 20-minute firework display. What's that you say about climate change and reducing our carbon emissions?... All for charitee of course, the fireworks were apparently paid for by one of the local estate agents who I guess are raking it in, given that I live in what is officially the best place to live in the UK according to last week's Channel 4 show.

Was pretty tired at the end of the evening after getting in, so managed a lie-in yesterday and worked yesterday evening which was surprisingly quiet, thankfully no firework-related injuries. It's really foggy this morning and I think winter is definitely here now, am going to move my chilli plant inside as there's still tons left on it and I don't want it to die with the frost.

My spare room is nearly clear now! May not sound like much but it really is a momentous achievement as it's where all the junk and stuff has been stored since I moved in 5 years ago. There were so many boxes of random stuff, books, and general gubbins that I didn't really know what to do with, being a bit of a hoarder I couldn't help thinking that it might all come in useful sometime. But I've been steadily throwing it away, and now only have a tin of batteries and fuses that I can stick under the stairs, and a box full of old cassettes that I'm not too sure what to do with, but guess it'll probably be the charity shop for them. I'm never going to be able to do "minimalist" but at least I'll have a proper spare-room-cum-study where friends can stay without having to dodge the piles of boxes.

Bangers

Aw, bless. Look at these two cuties, although I'm probably liable to get carried away by my professional colleagues if I'm caught describing sausages as cute. This from a girl who once bought a lobster because it was the last one left in the supermarket and I felt sorry for it.

Anyway, they are of course, being used as illustration for a reason. This week is National Sausage Week, and so we are being encouraged to have a nice sausage sandwich to celebrate. Ties in nicely with Bonfire night of course, so bangers all round! I have in fact had some sausages this week (Duchy Originals, again, I really can't get enough of this brand) and will be doing a sausage and sweet potato bake tomorrow from a recipe out of the newspaper. Might end up with more tonight as I think we're going to go down the rec in town to watch the bonfire and fireworks and stuff. That is, if they're still allowed to do that sort of thing what with all the red tape and safety regulations...

Quite tired as I did the silly shift at work today (4am-8am) so have been up since 3.30am, went back to bed when I got home but was too awake to sleep so just dozed in the warmth of the duvet before I got disturbed at 10am by a phone call. Done a bit more clearing in the spare room (have a guest next weekend), slowly making progress, and have just outed a load of old books that I no longer need. More of the same tomorrow but at least I can have a proper lie-in. Will go to the gym, saw my trainer earlier in the week and explained my reasons for non-attendance, he had the cheek to ask if I'd been drunk when I walked into the door (breaking my toe for those who can't be bothered to read back). I wasn't! It was dark and I wasn't wearing my contacts. I hadn't been drinking at all, it's almost as if he was insinuating that I make a habit of falling over after a few drinks... This photo illustrates another misunderstanding, it was a slope leading up to our ski hotel and it was icy and my trainers slipped, observe, if you will, the blokes standing around laughing and taking photos, rather than asking if I was alright. Bastards!

Nobody puts Baby in the corner

I escaped completely unscathed last night, although one of the cars in the close (not mine, thankfully) was covered in flour this morning. Ignored 2 lots of trick-0r-treaters and spooked myself by watching a programme about ghosts on the London Underground (now I could insert a link here but it's totally NSFW even though it is done by doctors, so I won't. Ask nicely and I might point you in its direction. Steve knows what I mean). Anyway, I got sent this random photo which I think is a rather splendid Halloween costume, my best ever one was a triffid when I was about 14, it had a huge head made of chicken wire and crepe paper. I'm all for originality, see, none of these boring old witches and ghosts. The baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells is a good one too, as mentioned by Stuart on yesterday's comments.

The photo is actually quite topical as a friend of mine's sister (who I know too), had a baby this morning. I'm sure they won't be reading but if they are, congratulations, and I'm sure baby Harriet (8lb 1oz) is a lot cuter than the "baby" pictured above, and hopefully with less facial hair.
Going back to spooky coincidences, the exact same photo of the child catcher on yesterday's gubbins was also used on today's Holy Moly main page (warning, contains sweary words), I think for a story concerning Russell Brand, whose stand-up show I am going to see next weekend! So either the people who do Holy Moly also read the daily gubbins and nicked the photo, or Mr Brand's "dinkle" has an all-seeing, all-knowing presence which organised it all from afar. From what I've heard, it's probably the latter which is true...

And also, going back to Baby, I hear the new musical of Dirty Dancing has opened in London to unimpressive reviews, but nobody seems to care about that as it's one of those things that is going to be great however badly it's done. Suspect the audience will be about 99% women getting all nostalgic about the escapism that the film affords. I wouldn't say no to seeing it though!