Flaming Nora

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 man from UNCLE joined Coronation Street.

To the Tyne Theatre last night in Newcastle to see Madness front man Suggs talk and sing his way through his life in Suggs, My Life Story In Words & Music. It's the first time I've ever been to an autobiographical show like this, and I guess Suggs is telling his life story his way while many famous people write it down in a book. It was a great night, an intimate show, highly recommended. You can read a review of his show at York online here . And the official Suggs tour website is here.

This week I upgraded my web email to BT internet's new shiny version. It's the same as the old shiny version but it comes with extra ads. Annoying ads. Video ads. Ads that distract from the fun and business of email.  Ads that are fully targetted to my age group and gender. This now means I'm being force-fed adverts for menopause treatments (not yet, dearies, not yet), available hunks in my area (my area? have you seen the blokes round here?) and worse of all, adverts from isme.com.  Isme.com, for those who don't know, is an online women's clothes supplier for women of a certain age. Women suffering from menopause symptoms and in need of the services of a hunk in their local area. I am none of those things. And I most certainly not in in need of new clothes from isme.com being advertised by isme.com poster girl Lynda Bellingham.  So, isme.com, this isn't me: No, no, no. As I head towards my 50th birthday (in, er,...

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

This baby monkey, er, thing, was advertised in a magazine I bought today.  I don't know what the most disturbing aspect about it is.  Is it: 1. That the magazine clearly thinks women my age are the target audience to go gaga over a piece of monkey-shaped plastic dressed up like a baby. 2. That someone, somewhere, sits and makes these things. 3. That someone, somewhere, buys them. And yes, sadly, there are more .

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here This week Owen hit a kid for killing his fish. Only in soapland, eh?

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here This week Eileen was fed up, again. Please vote for my Coronation Street Blog in The Shorty Awards

  Viz comic once had a chracter in it I loved called 'Lazy, Disinterested Shoe Shop Girl'. This morning I met 'Lazy, Disinterested, Confused Checkout Boy'. Exchange this morning from Sainsburys. I called in on my way to work to buy some milk and a banana, total cost £1.07 and I only had a ten pound note. Me: "Would it help if I gave you the seven pence?" Checkout Boy: "I think so." Me (handing him £10 and 7p): "There you go, ta" Checkout Boy hands me £8.50 change. Me: "Sorry, I don't think that's quite right." Checkout Boy looks confused. Checkout Boy puts £8.50 back in the till. Checkout Boy hands me a £20 note: "Is that right?" I was tempted. I was very, very tempted. Me: "Not quite, no. It was £1.07 and I gave you £10.07 so that's £9 change I need". Checkout Boy: "Is it really?" Me: "Yes" Checkout Boy continues to look confused, hands me £9.00 and I leave.

To the flicks to see The Artist. It's a brand new, black and white silent movie and it's fantastic. I can't recommend it highly enough and I'd love to see it again. Watching it silent and in black and white makes you aware, much more than in a regular film, of the music, the lighting, the shapes, the textures, the cinematography and of course the acting.  It really is a brilliant film and if you're wondering whether to go and see it or not - do. It's just what's needed to clear the January blues, a real 'feel good' movie and worthy of all the awards it's now won.

These are bread buns which have just come out of the oven today. I've got another batch baking in there as I type.  The recipe came from Dan Lepard in The Guardian. I like Dan Lepard's recipes and regular readers will also know I like Nigel Slater's recipes too.  However, I'm not fond of Nigella or that Lorraine one on telly. If it's true that you are what you eat then you are what you make and you are, probably, whose recipes you follow too.

I've noticed a worrying trend in bobble-hat wearing amongst adults who should know better. I've noticed it, I don't like it and I don't understand it.

If you've been a regular reader of Flaming Nora, you'll know that I write Coronation Street weekly updates. I've been doing so since 1995 and you can find out why here .  What you don't know is that I scribble notes to myself as I watch Corrie every week to remind me of what's happened when I'm writing up the updates.  Something else you don't know is that the notes I take have to be written in a very special notebook, not just any will do.  I bought a new notebook today, it's flexible yet firm and has cartoon owls on the front.  It's a plain paper notebook. I dislike lined notepaper for this most fun of all tasks because my Corrie notes are a scribble and I'd go over lines on the page. I write the notes while I watch telly and my eyes often don't leave the screen for the page.  But it's not just plain paper that's needed. The weekly update notebook needs to have a feel and a touch that's just right. It can't be too heavy, i...

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here This week another Grumbleweed appeared on Corrie.

Happy New Year to both of my readers.  Here's my list of 12 things I'd like to see happen in 2012. Niece to be given the all clear Win the lottery World peace Cure for cancer Cure for everything else Be offered a job where I'm paid to write and be creative Get a walk-on part as an extra in Coronation Street See my Irish cousin and her little boy before he turns 57 Be able to fly. Not with an aeroplane or anything, just flying to the shops and back, that sort of thing. Bunions to disappear And acne scars For my Coronation Street Blog to be given due credit by all the hacks and journos who use it as a source for stories they get paid to write.