Discover my Cosy Crimes & Historical Sagas

Discover my Cosy Crimes & Historical Sagas

Thursday, November 30, 2006

It’s Nice to Be Nice

A crisp autumn day walking around old and interesting bits of central London as I delivered some important paperwork for work. Kicking through the fallen leaves in my favourite London park* on the way back to the office after walking through historic, twisted streets. And then back in the office, I’m given a Terry’s chocolate orange from a colleague as a thankyou.
* I took this picture walking to work one morning last week.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Doing a Nigel

As a person who Can Not Cook very well, I'm indebted to Nigel Slater's cookbooks and recipes for making it look as if I can. The man is a star and if he was here, I would hug him.

Mother's Ruin

Mother's travelling south on National Express, due to arrive late next week. Right, what's to do when a mother visits their offspring in the nation's capital? All suggestions welcome.
The story so far - Book a show, done. Book a day's annual leave to mooch around Covent Garden, done. Things to do - learn to become immune to the sound of:
"What on EARTH is she WEARing?"
"Have you SEEN the colour of HIS HAIR?"
"Well, you can't get THESE up north, not for love nor money"
Actually, I'm really looking forward to her coming to stay. When she was a young woman, she used to look like Claudette Colbert. Everybody said so, apparantly.

November in the Garden


Things are growing in the garden that should be dying at this time of year. There are rosebuds coming out and fuchsia still flowering. Daffodils are pushing up through the soil, it's all very odd. This pic is from May when the garden went mad with colour as everything flowered at once. Our next door neighbour told us it was the prettiest garden he'd ever seen. So I gave him some tomatoes.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Nice Man on the BBC

One of the signs of getting old is cultivating a fondness for nice men on the telly who read the news or do the weather. My mother was the same with Mike Neville. And so, as well as listening to Radio Fogey and Terry Wogan each morning, I now want to make Hugh Pym a nice cup of tea every time he's on the news.

A Big Bag of Revels

There are lots of nice things in this world and here’s another of them - sharing a bag of Revels in a darkened cinema with your special lovely person while watching a fab film. That’s what I did this week when we went to see Casino Royale, the new James Bond film. It was a great film, I enjoyed it immensely, almost as much as the Revels. But it does make me wonder why, when I go to see so much in London – theatre, arts, walks, gigs, meals in fancy-pants restuarants – that the only things I blog from my social life are the films I’ve seen like this one and this one.

Computer Says No (Sometimes)

Whatever you do, if you haven’t already, don’t upgrade to Blogger Beta. Since moving over, I can only log in when the Beta fairy isn’t looking, which means not only can I not post to my own blog but I can’t leave comments on anyone else’s. It’s also taken away the html code for a cute little stat counter I had in the old template and when I’ve tried to put it back on the beta template, it keeps telling me I’ve made an error and refuses to save it. Some nice Blogger Beta blokes in Denmark are “helping me with my query” as to why the login is proving problematic but in the meantime, I’m sulking.

Monday, November 20, 2006

The Joy of Blogging

Having a personal blog is, of course, all about Me! Me! Me! So trying to begin a post without using I… My…. We… or Our… can be quite tough. I think I’m managing ok, don’t you?

Countdown to Christmas

Here’s my Christmas preparations so far. I’ve bought about seven presents in the shops and am waiting for two to arrive from th’internet. I’ve got a day’s annual leave to book when my boyfriend and I do our annual Chrimbo blitz on the shops in central London. We’ve decided to bling up the Christmas tree good and proper this year and splash out on some new sparkle. I might pass on having Christmas tree hair though.

Blogging from the Bathroom

Regular readers will know there’s a large spider living in our downstairs bathroom. It’s got a web attached to a basket on the floor by the loo and when I clean in there, I lift out the basket and spider, clean around it and put it back. I tell you this incase you think I’m a tart with the housework. I’m not. Anyway, the spider’s been there for about a month now, he hides behind the basket when we go into the bathroom and then comes out when he realises we mean him no harm. I know I shouldn’t get attached to it or claim it to be a pet but I’m starting to wonder what to buy him for Christmas.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Bleedin' Blogger!

Having changed over from Blogger to the new Beta-Blogger using my Google account, I haven't been able to get in and post, respond to comments or anything. It's been like watching people have a party in my house while I'm stood outside with my face pressed against the window shouting to be let in and no one can hear me. Having got in this time, I'm now afraid to leave in case I can't get in again.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Favourite Authors

Margaret Atwood, Edna O'Brien, Patrick Hamilton, TC Boyle. These are my four favourite authors and I know they're my favourite because I've read all their books. Douglas Coupland isn't half bad either. My favourite book of all time is The Handmaid's Tale (I've read it four times).

Daniel Craig, 007, Licensed to Make You Cry

He might be the new James Bond but I reckon that Daniel Craig’s best performance was playing Geordie Peacock in Our Friends in the North. That bit at the end, where Geordie was walking over the bridge across the Tyne, and you just weren’t sure if he was going to jump off and do himself in, well, it can still bring a tear to my eye. Our Friends in the North was one of those telly programmes that makes it worthwhile paying your TV licence. Speaking of programmes that make paying your telly licence worthwhile, of all the Catherine Tate characters, my favourite is Bernie the incompetent Irish nurse. She reminds me of a lot of people I know but none of them are nurses and none are called Bernie.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Spider in the Bathroom

We've got a really big spider living in our bathroom. It's got a web in the corner above the window where it sits during the day and on an evening it takes up residence by a basket on the floor. It's been there for days now and when I did the bathroom out the other day, I lifted the basket and spider out of the bathroom, cleaned, and then put it back. I think I might have seen it smile.

Big Lady, Small Shoes

Being almost ast tall as Jerry Hall means I wear flat shoes. I remember vividly the last time I ventured out in heels - too painful (literally and psychologically) to blog. So while I may clump around in Doc Martens these days, just for the record, these are the shoes I wish I could wear.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

All Saints - A Right Load of Tripe


I once heard Alice from Chumbawumba interviewed on radio and she said she met girl group All Saints at the studios when they were all on TGIFriday at the same time. She had to walk past them and they asked her who she was. When she told them she was with her band, they said: "Oh, we thought you were one of the nobodies". And if that isn't a reason never to give All Saints the time of day then surely their kiss of death to Red Hot Chilli Peppers' Under the Bridge is. I can't abide All Saints, me.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

I'm ready for my close up now, Mr De Mille


What a tart I am. Last month I was on the wireless and today I get a letter in The Guardian's Notes and Queries page. What next? I'd better get my hair done in case Terry Wogan comes calling.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Reasons To Be Cheerful

When first starting this blog, my intention was to blog things that made me happy, cheered my day or in some way made me smile. I realise I've been using it recently to moan. I've been griping about GNER, been full of fear and loathing about living in London (when I love it) - and so to balance things out and get back to a happy place, here are my top three reasons to be cheerful. In order of importance, they are:





Fella, family, friends







Nature, fields, trees, flowers, earth, our garden (pictured May 2006)











The very reason for living

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Sound of a Crowd


Walking through crowded London, when there are people everywhere and no one seems to know each other, I often hear a cry. It’s a sound I imagine to be the one a dolphin makes when it's stuck in a net. It’s only after a few seconds of hearing it that I realise the noise is coming from me.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...