Batman

To the flicks this week to see the new Batman film, The Dark Knight. Loved every second of it, I'm a real Batman fan. Spotted a Ken Barlow look-a-like in the film too.

My surreal Batman moment came when I saw four Gotham City police cars outside my office at work in central London a few years ago. Producer Christopher Nolan is an alumni of the University of London and filmed some of Batman Begins in Senate House.

Anyone care to listen to the ska version of the Batman theme tune?

Sheer poetry

Our local Indian restaurant does a monthly poetry and poppadoms night, both of which are crisp, fresh and tasty. The winner this week of the Poppadom of Power Poetry Trophy was Abe Benson. Now then, I've never put YouTubes on my blog before. I've always thought it was a sleazy, easy, lazy way to blog but Abe Gibson deserves a wider audience. Click and enjoy Abe's poem: Nancy and Riva.

Coronation Street Weekly Update

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

This week Ken Barlow camps it up in style.

Sweet Peas

One of the many joys of having a garden is the scent of freshly picked flowers floating around the house. Another joy is digging up and eating my very own potatoes. Picture not available due to having eaten them all.

B52s at Camden

To Camden Roundhouse last night to see the B52s, aka My Favourite Band. Caught up with them last summer when they did a short stint at Lovebox but last night in Camden they did a full-length gig and it was well worth the wait. Kate Pierson looked stunning and sounded fantastic. Cindy wore her satin shorts and beer belly with pride – indeed, it’s a look I’m aiming for myself. And Fred danced around in a controlled fashion looking like he had a bad smell under his nose. They sang new songs and I danced. They sang old songs and I jumped up and down like an overactive puppy. And when they finished with Planet Claire I went a bit bonkers. Came out of the hot and sweaty gig with my hair plastered to my head and a huge grin on my face. And as we left, spotted Sophie Ellis-Bexter in the audience too.

July in the garden

The lawn might look like it's half dead but my favourite flower is doing what it oughta in the garden. Trollius be thy name.

Coronation Street Weekly Update

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

This week the update comes with George Michael and cake. Double yum.

Psycho Buildings

To the Hayward Gallery on Southbank this weekend to see the Psycho Buildings exhibition. I thought a tenner to get in was quite steep but it was worth every penny. My favourite, which I couldn't find a picture of sadly, was the doll-like house being smashed to pieces by a Korean house from a different culture. I could have spent hours looking at it and if I hadn't had to go home for us tea, I probably would have.

Coronation Street Weekly Update

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

This week the update comes from Deirdre Barlow's happy place.

Sunday in the park

To the Rise festival in Finsbury Park on Sunday just gone.

Musical highlight of my afternoon / week / last 28 years was listening to this performed live once again. It was the first time I'd seen Terry Hall and (most of) The Specials perform live since 1980.

A happy afternoon indeed.

Stranger on a train

Got on a train from Waterloo this week on a day off from work and my fella nudged my arm. "Oi, it's him, over there," he said. I looked and sure enough, it was him. He was in his mid fifties, a really famous actor from TV and film, British, plays baddies and coppers, has a lived in face, really famous, oh you know who I mean, don't you? We knew him but we couldn't name him. We couldn't even remember what he'd been in, just that he was, like, really, really famous. He looked like a cross between Pete Postlethwaite and Jim Broadbent. Any ideas who he might have been?

Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

Decided to change plan this year and instead of heading to the Chelsea Flower Show as we'd done for the last few years, went to the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show instead. It's better. I liked it a lot. It's more friendly, less crowded, more open, you can actually buy the plants instead of just looking at and sniffing them.

The gardens were unusual and provided more inspiration than Chelsea ever does. My favourite of the gardens was this small garden. It was half the size of ours yet really packed a lot in by going deep down into the ground, I liked it a lot.

Something I was less keen on was the insidious Daily Mail, spreading its mindset, giving out free papers (I politely refused mine) and sponsoring one of the marquees (I refused to go in).

Wordle your blog

Look at your blog from a different angle, wordle it here, it's fun. Sort of.

Coronation Street Weekly Update

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

This week the update comes with geriatric tourettes.

Penny Arcade

For reasons best left unblogged but mainly to do with one thing (*) leading to another (**) I've had this song in my head for weeks.

(*) too much red wine
(**) karaoke

Stress Level: Twix

This week at work I was peeved. I was so peeved that I had to go out at lunchtime for chocolate. I looked at the shelves in the shop, wondering how bad I felt and what kind of chocolate bar would cater for my needs.

I wasn't peeved enough to need a Mars Bar but I was more peeved than a Bounty bar would fix. So there you have it. Twix: for when you're just a bit peeved.

Down the tubes

“Where are we?” my fella asked when our train got stuck in a tunnel this week on our way to work on the tube.

We were deep, deep underground in a mess of tracks, wires and heat, buried beneath crumbling sewers, the remains of dead rats, sitting in a lifeless carriage breathing in other people’s dust, hair, snot, fear.

“Just outside of Kings Cross,” I replied.

Mamma Mia!

There’s an international conspiracy that the musical Mammia Mia! (their exclamation mark, not mine) is a Good Thing but I’m not buying into it, no. I saw Mamma Mia! at a theatre in London a couple of years ago and didn’t enjoy it one bit. And I am, as regular readers might know, a huge fan of musical theatre and I’m quite fond of Abba songs too.

But anyway, there, I’ve said it. Mamma Mia! is rubbish. The lead man we saw was (and I hope fans of Eric Morecambe will forgive me for skewing this famous line) singing in the right order, but not with any of the right notes.

“It’s great,” some posh friends told us after they’d been to see it. “We were up dancing.” (They pronounced it darncing). My boyfriend’s mum saw it and loved it. My sister in law loved it so much she went back to see it again. And so, with such hearty recommendations, we went. Andy Gray the football commentator was there with two blonde bits, nieces of his probably, and yes, the three of them were up darncing in their private box. But not me and not my bloke. We just sat, bemused, wondering what all the fuss was about and wishing we’d stayed in and saved the best part of £100 we'd wasted on tickets.

Garden in July

I know. You're looking and you're thinking it's Andalucia, but it's not. It's our little bit of heaven in an outer London borough.