OK I know it's early but I just found what I want for Christmas...

My own personal David Tennant Doctor

Tell me you don't want one too

Thanks to maggi137

1. When did you start watching?
Of Doctor who overall? when I was a kid.

1a. Why?
It's Doctor Who!!! Science fiction that is obtainable ground level for today's TV that can be all things to all people.

2. What was your first episode?
Of the new regime Rose the first episode.


3. Which episodes have you seen?
I can't remember the old episodes. I have seen the Peter Cushing movies and all of the New Whos

3a. Favourite?
Empty child/Doctor dances, Doomsday, Blink

4. Have you been to any Doctor Who conventions?
Nope not yet

5. Have you ever dressed up as a Doctor Who character?
No, I haven' t.

6. Do you own any Doctor Who merchandise?
Yeah, Season 2 boxset and the Doctor figure from "The Wire"

7. Are you a fan of Russell T Davies?
Yes. He brought us back The Doctor and along with that he brought us 2 fantastic regenerations in Chris Eccleston and David Tennant. I love his episodes too and can never see why geeky whovians want him off the show.

7a. Steven Moffat?
Yes Moffat's episodes are wonderful - He brought us Blink after all ;)

7b. Paul Cornell?
Not really

8. What say you to Season 6b?
Dunno

9. The UNIT dating controversy?
No idea

10. The Blinovitch Limitation effect?
???

11. Multi-Doctor episodes?
I really loved "Time Crash" and "The Five Doctors" - so I would love to see more. This is maggi's answer but I will agree.

12. What's your favourite Doctor Who technobabble?
Also the Timey-Wimey Detector.- it's so hilarious. Again I agree with Maggi

13. Have you watched other TV shows exclusively because of the presence of Doctor Who actors?
Oh Yes all the time - I have no shame ;-)

14. Have you met any of the actors?
No sob sob

14a. Travelled to any filming locations?
not yet...

15. What do you think of The Curse of Fatal Death?
Absolutely Pissed myself ROFL

16. Do you have any fannish opinions that you think are fairly unpopular?
I can't stand Catherine Tate and still after 8 episodes of her I still have not warmed to Donna - Roll on her demise!

17. What's your favourite pairing?
10/Rose...Always

18. What pairing(s) won't you touch with a really long pole?
Doctor/Donna. Doctor/Jack

Hooray, Hooray It's a Holi-Holiday

You gotta love those Sun Holidays.
On Friday morning at 8.45am we set off on our weekend break to Mablethorpe. We were booked in at Haven Golden Sands. My sisters had both been there before and advised me to set off early. I had planned to get the 11.11am train but we ended up on the 9.11am train instead. The train to Notts was pretty packed but we found seats. My suitcase was a bit of a nightmare though. It is bigger than any of the luggage holds and I had a job storing it anywhere out of the way.

There was a huge gang of teenagers who all seemed to be going to Skeggy too. This didn't please me as I know that the train is usually only 2 carriages and if you can't get a seat it is a 2 hour standing journey. At Notts station we only had 10 minutes to get to the other end of the platform for the Skeggy train. Those teens all ran ahead and I was struggling along with my big old cumbersome and very heavy case. DD & DS had their own bags to carry as well as the shopping bag with all our food and supplies for the journey. As it happens, there was a whole carriage empty so we comfortably found a table seat and relaxed. Unfortunately not for too long though as that group of teens also found the empty carriage and took up residence. My lovely peaceful journey was ruined by crappy dance and rap music and lots of shouting and swearing and running up and down. There was also this very annoying boy asking every five minutes "Are we there yet?"
I had my PSP with me and attempted to watch the final episode of Skins series 2. I just about managed to blank out all the noise from the train to concentrate enough to get emotional. I was bawling my head off for most of it (Embarrassingly) but then I was crying with laughter throughout the coffin chase scene. I think that was a first for Skins setting the scene to Girls Aloud and Britney Spears which isn't the genre of music you usually get in the show. By the end of the episode I was just about emotionally drained. I had a bit of a break and then watched episode 2 of Gossip Girl. We had seen the first episode on TV but kept forgetting to watch after that so I want to catch up and carry on watching it on ITV2.

Despite the ruffians, the trip went quite quickly - Of course that was only the second leg and there were 2 more changes of transport to go. At Skegness we had to go to the bus station and get the bus to Mablethorpe. This was a 1hour trip and we had to wait 40 minutes in the freezing biting wind. When the bus turned up (5 minutes late) there was absolutely nowhere to put luggage. I first had it alongside me in the wheelchair/pushchair bit but then 2 people with buggies got on so I had to move it. I got up and some woman jumped in my seat. When I came back she told me to sit in the seat next to her by the window. Stupidly I did and was squashed in for the next hour with her bag sticking in my leg and her taking up the whole seat. She was a cantankerous old woman too. She was chatting to me but everytime she asked me a question and I gave a negative answer she would say "Oh but yes it is - I know because I live here" she was telling me how wonderful the pool was at Butlins and even when I said I didn't swim she was going on. Even when I told her I had a fear of water. I told her that we probably wouldn't leave the Haven camp anyway as there was enough to do there.
The further the journey went I prayed for her to get off but she just went on reading her book. When she finally did get off I moved to a seat by the children as the bus had pretty much emptied.
We finally reached Mablethorpe at about 1.15pm we got off the bus and were just wondering where we go to get the bus to the camp when chugging along the road came a little mini bus with Haven on the front. I clambered up the steps with me suitcase and the bus set off. The driver didn't take my money but he stopped soon after that at the bus station and took my money then. Only £2 for the 3 of us so I knew it wasn't far.
It was a funny old bus. Everyone who walked past as we sat there waved to the driver and they all knew his name. Most people got on and didn't pay (I realised that is because they are pensioners and had bus passes) 1 bloke even came and told the driver to wait a minute while he went to the butchers and bought some pies.
The Bus driver set us down outside the entrance of Haven Golden Sands at 1.30pm. It was nice to finally get there but we were 2 and a half hours early for check-in. We struggled across the car park to find the way to go. There wasn't any clear indication of which way it was and the park itself was laid out really badly. We found our way to the showbar which is where check-in was to be. We went into the Quayside bar to sit and have a drink while we waited. The service in the bar was horrendous. There was a long queue and they staff were so slow.
I waited at the bar at least 15 minutes and just as it was coming up my turn, there was a power cut and the tills all went off. When the power came back on the woman couldn't get her till to come back on, it seemed to have locked her out. By the time I got served I fancied a beer instead of the coke I was going to have. We sat in the bar for a couple of hours. We had a few drinks while we were waiting. The kids went off for an exploration of the facilities.

At 3.45 I went to have a look in the showbar (Falcon bar) and collected my welcome pack. They give everyone a Haven character card and when your character is called out you can go check-in. Our card was Bronze Naughty Ned and we waited about half an hour to be called. Then we were off to our lodging for the next 3 days. We were lucky in that our caravan was right next to the entertainment complex. You always dread a long walk when you get there especially with a big heavy case like I had (My arms are still killing now) We also had to manoeuvre over a large muddy bog because of all the rain but we were soon inside. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed - Last year we were lucky enough to get a private caravan so it has all the mod cons plus central heating but this time we were just in the bog standard unit with 2 bedrooms no heating, no toaster and no microwave. There wasn't even a grill pan so I had to be creative when making toast. It didn't bode well that I could see my breath.

We dumped all our gear and then went out for a wander. It had been a long day and we were quite hungry and tired. We explored the Amusements and the supermarket and sought out the food outlets. I was disappointed again because there was only a fish & chip shop. When we went to Haven 2 years ago there was a chip shop and a Burger King as well as the Pub Restaurant. Yet at Mablethorpe all there is is a little fish and chip shop (that didn't have any fish) and the pub restaurant. Not much variety. So we had some chips and had a play on the arcades.

We wandered around a bit and DS wanted to go up to the "Brain Buster Quiz" at 8.15pm. We weren't sure what kind of format it would take and soon found out it was just like a pub quiz. Each table was given an answer sheet and told to think up a good name. Well we were inventive, we just went with our surname. DS wanted to make a silly name but I am just too boring I guess.

Funstar Matty B was our MC for the quiz. He is from London and can't half talk for England. He went on and on and kept going off on a tangent. It took him ages to get round to the first question we could see it would be a long night. The first question was who is Phil and Grant's sister in EastEnders. Easy - Sam Mitchell. I can't remember what all the questions were. There were a few more soapy ones in there. Who had an album called the Immaculate collection? Who is Posh Spice married to? What film starred Kate Winslett and Leo DeCaprio on a boat? What is the pub called in Corrie? One of the questions asked where is Matty B from? Of course how did we know but he gave a clue about Only Fools and Horses and so we knew the answer was Peckham.
When we had answered all 20 questions it was time to swap papers with someone at another table. As we went through the answers it was obvious we were doing well. The person we marked had got 18 out of 20. When they were all marked we had to give them all in to Matty. As he went through the papers, everyone was getting 19 out 20 I was surprised because the questions were so easy I thought everyone would get 20.

So we were victorious as the only team to get 100% right. I sent DS up to the stage to collect our prize - A bottle of *ahem* Champagne and a certificate. As Matty B couldn't just be straight forward to played about and made DS follow him around the stage first before giving him our prize. As soon as I got my hands on the plonk we were out of there. Next on DS' program for the night was a magic show in the main room (Falcon bar) We managed to find a table to sit down at the back of the room so DS went to sit at the front on the dance floor with the little kiddies. He loves magic shows.
To be honest this was torture for DD and me. It wasn't the best of magic shows I have ever seen. The tricks were basic stuff that DS can do himself and it was made worse by picking precocious little kids to go on stage who weren't playing along at all. Then when that was finally over he broke into a Ventriloquist act - and not a very good one at that I have to say. You can imagine the relief for DD and me when (not-so) Magic Mike finally left the stage and it was time for the Party dances.

This is the part I most look forward to. I don't get up and dance on the dance floor but It is still fun to dance in my seat. Thing is they hardly do any that I recognise so we had to learn as we went along. After the partying was over we made our way back to the extremely cold caravan to wrap ourselves up in the duvets and drink Hot Chocolate and eat cake. We put off going to our beds as long as possible as the bedrooms were like ice boxes. I wanted to be so tired I could just drop off. I tried very hard to get comfortable but the duvet wasn't very big or indeed very thick so I shivered a long time before I finally fell asleep.
 Saturday

I woke up at about 5.30am with hands and feet like ice blocks. My nose too was so cold. Outside the caravan I could hear the wind blowing up a storm. I was worried for a moment that the caravan would be blown away just like in The Wizard of Oz.
 I played my DS for a little while until I fell asleep again. I woke again about 7.30am and managed to get up and put the fire on in the lounge area so that when the children got up it would be a little warmer.

When we were all up and fed we went out for the bus into Mabelthorpe. As we stood at the bus stop the wind was whipping up a storm. The bus came from the opposite direction and the driver indicated to us from the other side of the road that we could get on there. He said that it would save us standing in the cold. I love Mablethorpe. It is a lovely little town. Not too big and you can walk round all of it in a hour. We walked up the main street going in and out of all the arcades. Ange had told us about an arcade where they have lots of old penny machines so we had to go in there. It was fantastic, they had real penny falls machines and old fashion penny games.
  There were also some really classic arcade machines like Jolly Jack Tar and the Pile Driver.
DD & DS played a game of table Ice Hockey.
  Once we had spent all our pennies, we found a nice little cafe called the Matador Cafe. It was in a little plazza with other bars and cafes but was the only one open. DS and I had a gorgeous Tuna Melt that was huge and came with a side salad. DD had an extremely large Cheese and Ham toastie which also came with a side salad. DS had a Chocolate Milkshake with his lunch and we had cans of pop. After our lunch we tried to take a walk along the beach but we couldn't get anywhere near as the sand was blowing up a storm. We did manage to see the sea but we soon retreated.
  We walked along the front which wasn't very long then we treated ourselves to freshly made Donuts from a stall called the Pit Stop. They were gorgeous, you know when they are fresh baked and they just melt in the mouth? 5 for £1 - That is £1 well spent.

We spent the afternoon walking down the street going in and out of the little shops and arcades. One arcade had a car boot sale in the back of it. We went to have a look and it was like being taken back in time. Anything for sale on any of the stalls can't have been any newer than the 80s. There was some real relics from the past. Then randomly a stall selling eggs.
We also went in a little market that had stalls selling just about everything. There was a lovely stall that sold lots of spiritual items. Brian would have loved it as they had lots of different crystals of all shapes and sizes and colours. There were also some items that might be classified as Occult. I bought myself a little bag of worry dolls which are perfect for me at the moment. I also bought a spell candle which is supposed to suck in negative energy. There was a lovely little shell shop where DD bought a gift for her friend and DS bought some new earrings. We popped into a little shop that sold reduced price goods and I bought some cakes for back at the caravan and some chocolate for the journey back home on Monday.

The last place we looked round before going for the bus was a huge factory outlet shop. It sold everything you could think of from clothes to food to toys to fancy goods. I could have spent a lot of money in there so we got out before I did. After a hot coffee and a warning up back at the caravan we went out for dinner.

 While we were getting ready to leave I spied a wild Hare outside the caravan chomping on the grass. It was just sat there. DS went out to try and get a picture of it and it kept galloping away from him but he pursued it until he got cornered by the mud.

We fancied a proper meal so went to the bar restaurant. DS ordered Chicken and chips and I ordered the Bangers and Mash. DD wasn't too hungry so just ordered a starter of Garlic bread with cheese. My meal was huge. A great big Yorkshire pudding with 4 scrumptious sausages a massive dollop of mash , veggies and all swimming in tasty gravy. I tell you, I really fought to eat it all but I got there in the end.
  After Dinner we went down to the Falcon bar for the evening entertainment. It was packed and we couldn't find a table so we got a little stool each and sat up at the back. We got quite a good view of the stage and it wasn't too bad - apart from when I went to the bar and came back to find 2 little kids had nicked my seat. Their parents didn't seem to care and I finally moved them on when some more stools became vacant.

 Tonight was the talent show. And boy were we subjected to lots of talent - NOT! There were 2 twins who were dancing to a party dance (Well sort of standing still moving their arms around) another couple of dancers, A brothers and sister group doing a High School Musical number, A boy in a wheelchair singing Angels and a young 10 year old girl with an amazing voice who sang Valerie with no backing track. She was fantastic and should have won but the funstars decided to give certificates out to all the children and not pick a winner. I think that was a bit of a cop out myself.

The evening's evenings entertainment was another magic show by a group called Atmosphere (Or Phoenix illusion, it wasn't made clear) They were a mix of dance and magic and strobe lighting with a little bit of audience participation thrown in. The escapology illusions they did were amazing. you know the one where one of the couple is in the box and the other one stands on top? the swap was instantaneous. I really enjoyed this show. We stayed for the party dances again and then went back to the caravan for Hot Chocolate and cake. I was annoyed when we got back as the gas had run out so we couldn't put the fire on and warm up so it was duvets out again.

Sunday

 I woke up very early again with the wind howling around the caravan. I curled up as tight as I could and went back to sleep for a couple of hours. I got up at 9am to ring reception and get them to bring us some more gas. Even though she said she would get some sent right away I wasn't sure how long it would be so I just took my duvet to the lounge, made a coffee and sat watching Hider in the house. The children were up before the gas was delivered and we watched a show on Five called the gadget show where I entered a competition for loads of prizes but haven't won. The gas was finally delivered at 10.30 and I could finally grill some toast, put the fire on and most importantly have a wash in hot water.

 Although the weather was really awful we wanted to visit the Seal Sanctuary which is across the road from the Camp. It was really different from what we expected. The Seal pools are outside of the reserve so you can see them without paying to go inside but it is so worth going in.
  Inside is a huge nature reserve. It is also like a TARDIS as it looks so small before you go in but once inside it goes on and on and on.
  You can see Ponies and Owls and Emu, Pheasants, Gannets and real life Wildcats (HSM fans will see the joke)
  There was also a Time walk where it takes you back to see Mablethorpe through the ages. In there we saw lizards and a Porcupine and a Turtle. Unfortunately there used to be a Crocodile but he died recently.
  It took us an hour to walk round the whole thing, At the end of the walk you can see the rehabilitated seals before they are released back into the wild. After we had seen everything we popped into the little cafe to warm up. I had a lovely Hot Chocolate and a cream scone and the children had a chocolate muffin and a can of pop each. We bought some souvenirs in the little shop and all had a wish in the wishing well before making our way back to the caravan.
  I was ready for another coffee when I got in. The children decided to get the bus into Mablethorpe but the rain was coming down quite heavy and I didn't want to get wet anymore. I wanted to stay in for a bit and keep warm and dry, put my feet up and relax for a couple of hours. When the rain stopped though I nipped out to the shop and for a little play on the arcades. While I was out I got a text from DD saying the bus never came so they had come back. It was about 3.30pm so we took a walk to the restaurant as I fancied the Carvery for Sunday lunch.

It was gorgeous. We got the choice of Turkey, Beef or Pork and then there were roast potatoes, Veggies, Yorkshire puddings, gravy and a selection of sauces.
After our lunch we spent some more time in the caravan reading the paper and magazines and just chilling (That should be warming really as I had the fire on full!) I wanted to get to the club early for the last night so we got a good seat and got to see the whole evenings entertainments.

We got to the club in time for Meet and Greet with Anxious. Then it was Prize Bingo and the character parade followed by the Character show which was the Legend of Ar-Man-War.
  I love these shows and get right into with the little kiddies. The show did go on a bit though and I am sure that some of the littlest children would have got bored and wandered off. After the show it was time for the fancy dress competition. This was much better than the talent contest, Some children had really made an effort and brought their costumes from home especially for this night. The winners were a 3 month old baby and her 4 year old sister dressed as Minnie Mouses.

The evening family entertainment was the Funstar show "In the Mix" which was a group of the funstars (4 girls and a guy) doing a mix of modern and not so modern songs. It was quite good but went on for an awfully long time. A bit too long really and they had about 3 or 4 big finishes but then returned with new costumes.
It turned out that our good seats weren't so good after all as when the club filled up, we got hemmed in and so I couldn't get out to get to the bar or the toilets so I had to send DD to the children's bar to get us all slushies. She could just jump over the side.

DS decided to join the Party dances tonight as he was dying to win a prize and they were giving prizes to teenagers tonight. Unfortunately he didn't win - every teen around him seemed to win though so he wasn't happy. I cheered him up by treating him to a Hotdog. DD can't be around Hotdogs as they make her sick so me and DS had to go eat our hotdogs at the back of the room.

Oh the new favourite Party dance is "Big fish little fish cardboard box"
We stayed to the end of the entertainment which included an adult Game show (game show for adults) They picked 3 couples from the audience. The gist of the game was the woman stood at one end of the stage on a chair. She was Jane and shouting for Tarzan to save her. The man was to be Tarzan he had to run across the stage jump on a balloon, pick his woman up in a fireman's carry, carry her back to the end of the stage and ask for a kiss. The couple that did it in the least time was the winner. Unfortunately the woman in the first couple was quite large so it was impossible for her man to carry her. I think she was embarrassed and for the rest of the game she stood there looking like she was waiting for the trapdoor to open up so she could fall down it. Needles to say they came last. It was good fun to watch especially as the winning couple were very drunk.

We got back to the caravan about midnight and packed our stuff before enjoying hot chocolate, Ham and cheese toasties and Cadburys mini rolls. Home tomorrow and it has gone so fast.

Monday

 Going home day! I got up at 7am to finish the packing and clean up the caravan. The kids were up by 9am and when we had got everything packed and double checked everywhere several times to make sure we hadn't left anything, we made our way to Laundry to return the bedding and Reception to return the keys. Like I said before the camp is laid out really badly for those of us on foot. We had to walk all the way around the entertainment complex to reception and then all the way back around to go to the restaurant. We had hours before our bus/bus/train so I said we could go and have breakfast with the characters. It turned out to be my favourite - Anxious the Elephant - So that was great fun. I didn't fancy any breakfast though so I just had a fruit juice along with DD and DS had the full on Breakfast. We left not long after 10am. The journey home was pretty good and we got back inside for around 4pm.

I have been working flat out for 3 days and nights to bring this new Doctor Who music video.
I was inspired by 1 line in this song and though I just had to do it.

Track is "Something's going on" by Al Griffin. Enjoy...

This week is going soo slow.
It is my last week at TBG. Not much to do other than job search which can get very monotonous when you just keep finding the same jobs with each search.
This morning I thought would be more of the same until I was summoned to Clive's room. He asked me if I wanted to help out with some CV work and I thought that would be easy until he told me it would be with the Gateway to work group. These are only young people who are just starting to put together CVs and look for work. A couple of them had a CV from school as a starting place but 3 of them were starting from scratch.

I had 5 learners to work with and we settled in the IT suite. I had to think on my toes as I had to make sure I gave them all equal time. Luckily they had basic pc skills which made the job easier - otherwise I would be doing more typing for them as well as advising them on what to type.

It did get a bit stressful at one time when 2 or 3 of the learners all had their hands in the air "Miss"
It was a shame that I had to leave at 2.30 as I had helped 2 of the learners complete their CVs but the others weren't finished and I would have liked to see it through to the end.
I don't think I will be working with them tomorrow as I need to get my jobsearch done for this week.

I finally got the chance to sit down and watch Brokeback mountain last night.
What a load of pants it was!
Everyone knows I loved Heath Ledger (and still do - His memory lives on!!) but what was so special about this movie? It was slow and boring. Lots of screen time where there was no talking or where I couldn't hear the talking at all anyway because it was so quiet and mumbly.

I gave up on it and went to bed halfway through.

There is big surge of these Chinese buffet restaurants opening up at the moment. Wokmania is the newest but is a bit more classy environment.

When Lisa emailed me and suggested we have our monthly meet up this weekend I was well up for it. Because of DS birthday though I couldn't do Friday or Saturday so I suggested we meet up Thursday after I finish at TBG.
We met at 2.45 on the dot outside the Standing Order and went in there for a couple of pints first. It was great to just sit back relax and chat. There was lots to catch up on and when we get started we can both talk for England.

It was gone 5pm when we made the move and the short walk down to the "Cathedral Quarter" of Derby along to Wokmania which is set inside St Werbergh's converted church.


Inside they have done wonders. It is very classy but they have kept the features of the church which is an experience like no other.

The desserts area is right at the front of thechurch where the alter would have been which is an interesting metaphore if you think of it...

And yes that is a White chocolate fountain you can see.

There are over 100 dishes in all. There was so much choice that both of us had 2 starters. I like the finger food first but they had a great salad bar with Pineapple and Cucumber and Potato a number of mixed salads. As well as the obligatory Prawn Crackers, samosas and spring rolls. No Prawn toasts though :(
We also found ourselves having 2 mains. There are so many hot dishes and curries to choose from. I made a bee-line for the BBQ ribs and the Lemon Chicken as well as Rice, Chow mien, Garlic Mushrooms, Ooh so much I can hardly remember it all. I didn't even see the fish dishes until Lisa was merrily picking apart her spicy Prawns so I had to go back and get some along with the spicy Mussels and fried Whitebait. We could have gone back for more but we both knew we needed to save a space for the desserts section.

The toilets are on a balcony so I took a picture from up there of the rest of the restaurant.


and of the lovely wooden ceilings


Now for the best yet - the dessert section - What a selection they had on offer. As well as the Milk chocolate fountain and the White chocolate fountain there was a soft ice cream machine (You know the ones I have trouble with) and around the tables are bowls of sweeties. There is Jelly Babies and Liquorice Allsorts and Fruit Bonbons and other jelly based sweets. Then there is a huge selection of fruits with Skewers which I guess you are encourged to put all the pieces of fruit on a skewer and bath them in chocolate MMmmmmmm.

I filled a bowl with ice cream then I found the biggest Strawberry I had ever seen and lots of sweeties and covered them all in both types of Chocolate.

All this was washed down with a gorgeous bottle of white wine which Lisa treated us to.

Now I have read a few reviews of the place online and I have to agree with what they all say. The thing that lets them down is the staff. They are all very young and seemed to spend a lot of time standing around chatting. Our plates weren't cleared once and we had to move them to another table out of the way although we were told on our arrival that we could use as many plates as we wanted. At May Sum your plates are gone as soon as you turn round.
I even had to ask a group of them to move so I could go back up to the Dessert area.

I just couldn't let the evening end without having a piece of the gorgeous Raspberry cheesecake which was as good as it looked and finished off my meal perfectly.

By the time we were coming to the end of our meal the place was getting really busy. People queuing right to the back. I was glad we came in when we did.
The other negative was waiting to pay. We stood there for a while while the staff carried on chatting. We could have easily just walked out and they wouldn't have noticed.

All in all it was a great evening. Wonderful company and great food. Now Lisa says we should make it our mission to visit all the buffet restaurants in Derby. Roll on next month!

After all the drama of the day with falling down the stairs and working against the clock to get the house ready and the food prepared. My first guests arrived. Well they all turned up together so there wasn't even time to ease into the evening. Ange and Debz partners and kids as well as our extended family of Zoe and Tori and their partners and kids. Not forgetting Debz mate Shell who I have known since she was about 3.

It was a real christening for our little flat. Suddenly it was full of people and I knew there were more to come. I made myself a Vodka and coke but I think I overdid it on the vodka for my first drink and nearly choked.
I stood chatting to Glynn for quite a while. We chatted about my autographs because there are only a few up and he wanted to know what I was going to do with the rest of them. Pretty soon Brian arrived with Tim and Al. I don't think they had been there long when Ange pounced on Brian to get him to sing with her.

I told you that I had overdone it with the Voddie as I can't even remember Lisa and her boys arriving but I can remember thinking OMG!!! They were both taller than me with their deep voices. They were only so high the last time I saw them and of course just like DD they will be 16 this year. It was great having Lisa and Brian and Tim and my sisters all the one room and then to complete it Dot and her sister arrived with young D. He got straight in with the kids and quickly got addicted to the Wii.

So here they all were - All the most important people in my life drinking and eating and singing together.
The blokes in the kitchen playing Poker




and the gals in the lounge singing karaoke,


Not to mention the kids in the bedroom playing Nintendo Wii.
I did a spot of singing too. I think I might have sang with Tim

but not sure and I have an idea I sang with Dot - Something by Wham I think - Blimey I must have really been knocking them back as my memory of actual events are a bit vague.

I do remember being nagged to get the flavoured Vodkas out. I made 3 because I only had 3 empty bottles. They were Traditional Toffee Vodka, Sour Wham bar Vodka and Double Decker Vodka. Everyone wanted a taste - even the kids. This is where the story behind my title lays.
I picked up the bottle of Double Decker Vodka off the table and shook it - not realising that the lid wasn't on. It went absolutely everywhere. All down me mostly but also all over the walls, floor, in the margarine and anywhere else I haven't noticed yet.

I couldn't believe it when 11pm came and Tim and Al said their goodbyes. It felt like they hadn't even been there long. It wasn't long then before midnight came and the local church bells rang in my birthday. Everyone pulled party poppers - mainly over my head!


It was time to open my pressies and I got some cool gifts. I didn't open all of them as I wanted some to open in the morning - I will do a separate blog of all my actual presents.

I don't remember much else. I haven't a clue when Lisa or Dot left. I do remember Debz, Carl and DD walking Shell home. I also remember standing outside with Ange while they all waited for their taxi along with Tori and Dave.
Oh yes and I remember that for most of the night Brian hogged the microphone after swearing blind he wouldn't even have a go...



The last throws of the party I remember is Brian saying it was 2am as he and DS were having a last go on Singstar. I couldn't believe the night had passed so quick. Ange and Rob were preparing to go home as they waited for their taxi and Dear Nephew didn't want to go home so I said he could stay and stay he did.
I chucked Bri a duvet to camp down on the sofa and I got the sleeping bag out and fell asleep on the chair. (However I did wake up on my bed...)

I was woken at 4am by lots of screaming and shouting and banging coming from my next door neighbours. I was contemplating reaching out for the phone and dialling 999 when I realised they were actually having sex - Very loudly. The banging must have been the bed knocking up against the wall.


I lay there for half an hour before finally falling back asleep. I wonder if they realised that the whole neighbourhood can hear them as their window was wide open.
Should I put a note through the door??

This is our new addition to the family.



Her name is Sabrina and she is a gorgeous cuddly black cat. She loves fuss and will lean into your hand and let you scratch under her chin. She doesn't like her back being stroked much or her tail.

She is still growling and hissing at our other cat but not as much so she is becoming more relaxed around him. She has found the litter box and will now eat while our other cat is in the same room although growling all the time.
Sabrina still prefers the security of behind the sofa but she is spending more and more time on the window sill.


I am thinking of writing a blog for her all about her life with us.

Throughout series 1 of Skins Maxxie didn't really say or do much except dance around and look pretty. I thought maybe they just had him in there as the token gay character.

This season however is turning into the Maxxie show. So far the first 2 episodes have been all about Maxxie and Mitch has suddenly become an actor. I am well impressed and wondering if they sent him on an intense drama course in the time between filming the first and second seasons.

My waking up routine usually consists of Greg James voice stirring me at around 6am then the blasting alarm of my phone about 6.25am and then the central heating kicking in at 6.30. However this morning as I lay there I realised there was no pipes clanging. I reached out to feel the radiator and it was stone cold. I groaned as It occured to me that the gas had propbably gone so I had to drag meself down the stairs to put the emergency on.

I got the stepladders and went out into the cold. I had to use my phone as a source of light as the meter is in a dark corner. Dread spread through me though as the meter screen read FAIL "WHAT????!" I swore a little bit and then slammed the door and went back inside - I would say back into the warm but the inside wasn't any warmer than the outside.

Luckily I still have the halogen heater that was an essential back in the old house so at least I could heat up the kitchen while the children ate their breakfast but this will be one morning they couldn't wait to get into school.

So I have rung NPower and am now sat here waiting for an engineer. I will ring TBG in a bit and tell them I am not coming in this morning. I was only supposed to be in till 12 anyway as it is DS' appointment this afternoon. Hopefully the engineer comes before then as I don't want to miss that after I am so worked up about it.

Our cat Pica has fallen out with me. I finally got around to buying him a collar today and he is not happy.


It is a reflective flea collar and I am going to get him a ID tag for it too but as you see he is definitely giving me the cold shoulder

This weekend I was away to Notts with Brian. It was to celebrate the birthday of our old chum Tim.
Tim lives in Hucknall with his partner Al. I have never been to Hucknall before and Bri had never had to travel there alone so Tim met us at Bri's place so we could travel back with him. We went to Maccy Dees for lunch as it was cheap. I had a BOGOF voucher for a Big Mac but was surprised that I got to keep the voucher to use again.

After lunch we went to the Market place to meet up with another friend of Tim's called Sue. (Sue is a Spiritual healer and was great fun!) Then we went to get on the tram.
Its ages since I went on a tram - The last (and only) time was when I joined the Northern Division to see Jesus Christ Superstar. I wish we could have them in Derby as they are a lot better to travel on than buses - more comfy and more room and also easier to get on and off (Hmm we'll come to that later)

We got to Tim's at about 2pm and were soon sipping white wine. Al was busy in the kitchen preparing the food when we first arrived but he soon joined us and put it on me to decide when the food should be opened. As the event was an open house it was hard to judge when was best. I knew that if the food was available straight away I might just start digging in like a pig.

The afternoon went by very quickly with people coming and going. I got to meet many different people. Al is a spiritual healer and there were a lot of guests that were also very spiritual. It was really interesting for me to listen to them talking about their views and beliefs. I chatted to a nice lady called Helen about past life regression. This is something I have always been interested in and the way she had her regression sounded very simple and powerful at the same time.

Tim and Al also got out their packs of Soul cards to have a look through. Now I am not averse to this kind of thing - In my youth I used to read the tarot. I would often do readings for friends and I became a bit obsessed for a while and wouldn't go out the house in the morning without reading my own cards first. I stopped it at about the age 21 because I decided it was about time I took responsibility for my own life.
I don't quite understand the Soul cards though. With Tarot each card has it's own meaning but the soul cards don't. They are all about interpretation. The idea is you look through the cards and choose the one that jumps out at you. This doesn't mean physically of course - unless you are a lady called June who was shuffling the cards and 1 card did actually jump out the pack.

I went through but there were so many cards that caught my eye. Brian said to do a shortlist so I picked out 6 cards that stood out for me and then after much consideration got them down to 3 and finally found the 1 card that attracted me the most.



Later on a couple arrived with their 2 children. A very confident 6 yr old girl and her younger brother.
The couple run a Sweat lodge out in Notts somewhere. Brian went last year sometime and talks about it here.

Al put the PS2 on for the children but they didn't really get the hang of it and tired quickly of having to wait for games to load. I found myself playing Crash Bandicoot which was always 1 of my fave PS games. In fact I was rather upset when Al turned it off after they left.

As it got later more people arrived. There were Tim's old mates from off of the trams They weren't very sociable as they all stood together at one end of the room. Some more friends of Al's also arrived including a lovely young girl called Ellie who clicked with all of us as soon as she sat down. We discussed such things as Vegetarianism, Vegan ism, Gorgeous men of the 80s, Dancing on Ice (Very jealous that Ellie went to the tour last year but she said it wasn't worth the money) Alistair Griffin (Oh yeah I got a bit of Griffin action into the conversation), The length of Tim's hair and his youthfulness.
There was also a lesbian couple who were both a lot younger than us and very cheeky.

Soon it came the time when Brian and I had to leave to get the tram back to Nottingham. Tim walked us up to the main road and we found our way to the stop. Annoyingly we were just about to open the doors to get on when the tram pulled off and left us behind...
So we had to wait another 20 mins until the next one.

We got back to Bri's place about 10.30pm and sat drinking coffee and chatting about spiritual matters. I swear the evening had really given me food for thought.


Sunday
We got up early of Sunday morning and went along to Cineworld to see Sweeney Todd. I have been looking forward to this movie for about the last year and it certainly didn't disappoint. A true concept of the Tim Burton mould. Johnny Depp was superb as Mr T himself but for me actually I thought Helena Bonham Carter stole the show as Mrs Lovett and look out for future appearances by the young Ed Sanders who was a brilliant supporting actor.

When we got back after the film Bri made one of his gorgeous pots of Soup. It was delicious and had I not had to rush off to get my bus, I surely would have asked for seconds.

I am still shocked and stunned at today's news.
I heard Moyles talking about it this morning but didn't catch who they were talking about until he got a few texts saying the same thing and then when I heard it was Heath I just froze and my jaw dropped.

News article



I am sure I have mentioned several times in this blog about my love of Heath Ledger.
I first saw him in 10 things I hate about you and then in A Knight's tale I then started to try and get hold of his other movies. I have Two hands which was one of his earlier movies made in Australia. I also own The Patriot and Ned Kelly. Ned Kelly was a double whammy as it also stars Orlando Bloom but it isn't the fastest moving movie and just like The Patriot - Heath dies before the end. (Ooops! sorry if that is a spoiler)




I have seen a few of his other movies too but I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain which appears to be his most Well-known movie by those outside of the Heath Ledger fan club. Another of his films I didn't much care for was Monster's Ball. It was a bit on the violent side.



At the age of 28 Heath had already done so much but he still had so much more to give to the movie industry



RIP HEATH! Will be mourning your sad loss.

Can you please watch and comment on the youtube page if you like it



Song is Naked By Alistair Griffin
Video is made up of clips taken from the first series of E4 show Skins.

You wouldn't believe what I have been through the last few months with Virgin Media. First of all they forget to collect payments from me for 4 months then try and take £170 off me all at once just before Christmas.
I tried for days to contact them before Christmas but you may be aware that the VM customer service isn't very good. I would ring and be held in a queue for hours and then get cut off, I would ring up and not even get to the queue before I was cut off. I would even get as far as an operator then get cut off or just be stuck in a queue for hours on end being told they value my custom and I am next in the queue.

So I went on holiday over Christmas with this all hanging over my head. I did have a call from them at 9am on Christmas eve on my mobile. I was in Minehead, the reception wasn't good, I had lost my voice and was barely awake. I said I would call when I got home.
So I got home to find they had already cut off my services. I tried to get through on the free 150 number and got to talk to Peter from India. Sorry but I couldn't understand a word he said plus the line being bad so I got him to put me through to an operator in the UK. I got to speak to someone in the UK and thought now everything would get sorted out only to be cut off again.

This is where I snapped. I typed out this long angry letter and as well as sending it to VM by recorded delivery I also emailed it to the the CEO Neil Berkett at Virgin. Best decision I made. This morning his assistant Penny rang me and within 20 minutes everything was resolved. She was lovely and is investigating why no charges were made to my account for 4 months but she was no nonsense and also very polite and chatty. Job Done!!

Today I treated myself to a new microwave since my old one want *POOF* on Tuesday.
I saw this on offer at Argos...
... And thought at that price I couldn't say no!
I haven't had a combi microwave / Grill before so I have no Idea how tio use it to it's best. The manual really doesn't tell you much.
At least I can do Baked beans and Rice pudding now (Not together Stupid)

It's just after midnight here and I am guzzling down coffee.
The reason is because in an hour I have to get my son up and dressed to walk up to school.
 My Dear son is off for a day in Bologne with the school. They leave here at 1.45am to travel down to London to get on the Euro-star.