Flaming Nora

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

I've just returned from summer holidays here and while whiling away the hours by the pool, got through some cracking books, as below. Below Stairs, by Margaret Powell. A 1968 autobiography of a woman who worked as a kitchen-maid and then a cook in service in the UK during the 1930s and 40s. The book's been re-released on the success of TV shows like Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs and is well worth a read.  Very good indeed, I'd give it 8/10. Mary Ann in Autumn, by Armistead Maupin. What's to say? If you're a fan of the Tales of the City books, like me, you'll love it, and it'll have you in tears at least once. Excellent. Unmissable. 10/10. Zero History, by William Gibson Another cracking novel from the man who termed the word 'cyberspace'.  Who wouldn't want to be the coolest heroine in a novel this century, Hollis Henry?  Wonderful, 9/10. Player One, by Douglas Coupland Interesting, intriguing and it makes you think.  Anoth...

Spent the first day back from holiday drinking lashings of tea (because they don't make it properly over there) and catching up with Coronation Street.  Oh, and uploading the holiday photos to flickr for public consumption.  Hav e a look at them here .

Just back from a wonderful two week holiday in Spain. The resort we stay in is robustly Spanish, with only approx. 5% of the visitors being English, so it's little surprise that restaurant and cafe menus aren't translated into English.  It's half the fun of the holiday sitting over a vino tinto or cerveza trying to decipher the Spanish menu into English with the help of a dictionary.  But some of the cafes do try to make an effort and in one of the very few that had the menu in English, we came across this rather odd translation.  Well, it's not really odd as the English word for the Spanish "pijama" is indeed, "pyjama". And so if anyone knows what Pjyama With Cream actually tastes like, I'd love to find out! And this second picture was taken for the very simple reason that Farton is a funny word in English. Well, it made me laugh and of course I had to try one. I can therefore confirm that a Farton is a soft, sweet, stick of pastry that you...

To The Customs House at South Shields last night to see Willy Russell's comedy, Stags and Hens .  It's a cracking venue, can't recommend it highly enough and had dinner before the show in the Bistro, which was ace. An excellent night out and my first chance to see canny lass Corinne Kilvington acting on stage as Maureen.

When you're a woman of a certain age (and by you, I mean me) and you hardly ever wear make up, knowing you're going to be photographed and gawped at for a whole day next month finally propelled me into the make-up artist's chair for what they call a make-over. I call it slapping on a load of gunge and trying to grin and bear it, but whatever floats your boat. Call it what you will. So, makeover number 1 - which I've blogged about here . One of the professional make-up artists on a TV show I'm familiar with advised me to go to Bobbi Brown.  I'd heard of them, so that was a start.  I schlepped over to Newcastle with my sister in law for moral support and to look after my handbag. Well, you never know. The make-up artist was the same age as me, so that was a promising start, and to be fair, she didn't once try the hard sell, which I was expecting. She explained in clear and easy terms what she was going to do, what she was doing, and what she'd done....

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here. This week there was carnage on the cobbles.

I've blogged about Nigel Slater before and I'm about to blog about him again.  His spinach and mushroom lasagne has proved to be a dream, easy to make and delicious to eat. And for someone like me who isn't that great in the kitchen, he even tells you when to expect black smoke to billow from the pan so you know you're actually not doing something wrong, the food's supposed to do exactly that.  Nigel Slater, eh? If he didn't already exist, you'd have to create him.

I had my first ever make-over today.  Not one to usually wear make-up, I found the experience unusual, to say the least. And although it was done by a professional in an upmarket make-up concession of an upmarket department store, I still came out feeling that I looked like a drag queen on speed. Which wasn't really the look I was aiming for.

To the flicks this week to see the new Pedro Almodovar film, The Skin I Live In.  I'm a  huge fan of Almodovar and have seen all of his films either at the cinema or on DVD.  The new film is fantastic, absolutely wonderful and I can't rate it highly enough. My lovely man has blogged about Almodovar on his own blog here and it's most definitely worth a read.

To the Newcastle 02 Academy last night to see Toots and The Maytals. Cracking gig but my gig etiquette is cruelly outdated. So, gig go-ers, just what is the etiquette here? You're at a gig enjoying yourself, dancing your socks off and singing along and some person right in front of you decides to take pictures on their phone and puts their phone right slap bang in your line of vision so all you can see is their phone and not the gig for a few minutes. Is this normal and to be expected at gigs these days or is it ok to move their arm and phone out of the way and say 'Oi! I can't see' - which is what I bloody well did?!  Or am I just turning into a grumpy old woman?  Answers on a postcard, please.