On Monday (I think it was Monday anyway, or over the weekend) I entered a competition on the Radio Times web site. It was for tickets to this weekends television Baftas. I had second thoughts entering the competition as it did state if you won tickets the dress code is black tie. I was thinking “how the hell am *I* going to dress for that?”. Then thought “what the hay!” and entered the comp. anyway. I just assumed I’d never have a hope in hell of winning them.
I had to go to the Bafta site to help me answer the question you had to enter the comp. Then I saw that tickets were available to the general public, but they were £50 each!! That helped me decide to enter too 🙂 Anyway, I’d just got out of the shower this morning. Had just finished drying myself off actually when my mobile phone rang. Em brought it upstairs to me and I answered. “Hello. Is that Larelle Read I’m speaking to?” Yes I say to the voice at the other end of the line. “Hi, this is (missed his name) _____ from Radio Times. You entered a competition online to win tickets to the television Baftas?” Yes, I say. “Well, I’m pleased to announce that you’ve won the competition.” My flabber had never been so gasted! Couldn’t believe it! I enter ALL their comps online and the least I was interested in winning was this one, truth be told. But hey, it’s like being able to go to the Emmys or the Logie awards. I mean ZOMFG!! The guy reiterated the event was black tie. I declared I didn’t own a dress and he said jacket suit was fine. As long as dress was smart, it would be fine. Later in the day a lady from Bafta called and confirmed an address to send the tickets to me and also said about the black tie dress code. I checked with her and she said as long as we were smartly dressed – no jeans, trainers, etc, it would be fine. I must admit, I have had to buy myself a pair of tailored trousers – I’ve got suitable tops and a jacket. Em has NOTHING! But I was actually able to order her a suit with a mail order catalogue I use for £20! Trousers and jacket. Both for £20! They should arrive tomorrow. We’ll just have to get suitable footwear from town on Saturday. We’ve got to spend a little money to look the part, but it’s a once in a lifetime thing for us, so it’ll be worth it. I’ll let you know who we see, what happens and whatnot on Monday. OMG! Squee! The TV Baftas! F*ck me sideways!!! And you just never know “Who” might be there – nudge nudge, wink wink!!!!!!!!!Recipes From Scratch.
I saw a story on the BBC that showed from research carried out by the UKTV Food channel that Briton’s can make 10 meals “from scratch” – IE: without the use of a recipe or cookbook.
Number one on the list was spaghetti bolognese. PER-LEASE! If you buy the sauce ready made, as I’m sure most people do these days, the recipe has three ingredients – sauce, pasta and mince. Ooh, hard! Second on the list was a traditional roast dinner. Erm, again. What recipe *IS* there for that? Get a big slab of meat, or a chicken, whack it in the oven. Roast some potatoes, boil some vegies. Third on the list was pot noodle. Forth was beans on toast.LOL – NO! I’m kidding! But it might as well have been. Some of them do get a little complex down the end of the list. Some people claim to be able to do a cottage pie from scratch with no recipe. That’s fairly bold. At the end of the list was curry. I can’t help but think for some people who said “Yeah, I can make a curry from scratch.” that their list of ingredients would read: 1. One jar of korma sauce.
2. 500gm of chicken fillets.
3. 75gm of uncooked rice.
4. 15ml of olive oil. Method:
Cook rice to instructions on packet.
Place oil in frying pan, heat. Add chicken, cook to brown, approx 8 minutes. Add korma sauce. Serve with cooked rice. If they actually can make the sauces from scratch with no recipe to reference, they are better than I could ever be! I suppose if you’re Asian you might be able to do it, as it would be second nature to know what the sauces are made with and they’d be making them regularly. Another was stir-fry. Well blow me down with a feather! That’s hard. Fry some meat, and a variety of chopped vegetables to your liking, then add some soya sauce, a bit of honey…viola! Still, if people ARE cooking at home, and regularly enough not to need recipe guides, it can only be good. Click here to read the story from the BBC.
Baby Blackbird Drama
I was just settling down to watch the Doctor Who – Planet of the Dead repeat (just to give it one last try to see if I didn’t change my mind about it) when a REAL drama unfolded.
Earlier in the day I’d spotted our resident male and female blackbirds (who I refer to as Mr & Mrs B). They were behaving quite erratic and seemed to be getting very flustered over the presence of a magpie. They both kept flying onto the fence on the other side of our strip of lawn, and going from there to the roof of the house opposite, to the fence again, and back and forth from the tree. As I started to watch Planet of the Dead, Chrissy kept looking at the shrub outside. Then, suddenly Em spotted what must have been the cause of Mr & Mrs B’s earlier frenetic behaviour. There was a blackbird chick in the shrub outside our front room window! Chris was obviously in raptures. And I became enthralled too – and frantic – no 3rd chance for Planet of the Dead I’m afraid. Please be mindful there is sound on the video and it does contain some strong language (sorry). http://www.facebook.com/v/104088099744 Here’s poor little bub looking defenceless in the shrub. Mr & Mrs B were fab though. They kept coming back to check on it and feed it. When they could find it! Mr B sort of knew where it was and came over to the shrub and fed it. A little while later Mrs B came over and did the same thing, then bub got the courage to try and fly back over to the other side of the garden. What I think had happened earlier in the afternoon was that bub got lost in the shrubbery on the other side of the garden, by the fence. And I think Mr & Mrs B lost it for a while. It certainly explained their behaviour to me once I’d seen the baby. So, now here is bub as he gets the courage to try to get over to the other side of the garden. http://www.facebook.com/v/104099764744 We were watching with hearts in mouths. As you will see below, the poor bub JUST makes it over, flutters a bit on the fence, then takes shelter in the conifer tree. We kept watch. Mum and dad were still looking out for him. Mrs B even managed to feed bub while it was in the conifer. http://www.facebook.com/v/104108839744 Eventually bub moves on, as you will see below. http://www.facebook.com/v/104121489744 It’s on the compost bin now. Mum comes along with the BIGGEST worm to give to him, but can’t land near him. She keeps the worm for him! Bless!! http://www.facebook.com/v/104127249744 From there he ended up in the hebe bush above, and stayed about 15-20 mintues. Then, finally, finally, after a bit of coaxing from mum and dad, he took a plunge for the oak tree. He made it!! Mum and dad kept on flying back and forth from the large conifer trees in the gardens beyond (where we think the nest might be). They were trying to entice him to fly with them over to the conifers. After a few minutes of wing flexing and branch hopping, he took one final leap. From what I could see he had just about enough energy to make it to the first branch of the conifers. There are three large ones in a row. I think he got to the first one, but I think the nest is in the third one, so he had a little bit of branch hopping to go to actually make it home. Mum and dad were taking really good care of him the whole time though. I didn’t intervene as much as I wanted to. When I watch Springwatch, they say time and again, if you see a baby bird in peril, try not to intervene as you can make a bad situation worse. All I could do was keep watch and make sure he didn’t end up on the ground and look out for cats. The magpie was hanging around a bit, but mum and dad kept him away, and I don’t think he was even aware of the chick anyway. I just hope the little thing made it and is okay. I haven’t seem Mr & Mrs B much today. They’ve only visited the garden once since I’ve been up. Mrs for a drink and a bite to eat, and Mr for his obligatory bath. PS: In the time it’s taken me to upload the videos, I have seen a baby blackbird flapping around the conifers beyond where the nest is. I can’t be certain it’s THE baby, but I hope it is. At least I know it lives to fight another day 🙂
Odd Juxtaposing Day.
I feel very drained today. We ventured out yesterday. Got this free bus travel around the region and have hardly used it so far. We just went to Stevenage again. There’s a pet store there that I wanted to go to. It’s quite large and they have lots of small animals for sale. Bunnies, guinea pigs, chinchilla’s, gerbils, as well as degu’s. One of the gerbils looked just like our little Banjie, and he came up to the glass to say hello to me! Too cute. And me and Em were both going gaga over all the lovely CAVEY’S!
Anyway, we didn’t go there for the fluffy creatures, we went there to try and get some replacement equipment for the fish tank. There’s a split in the under-gravel filter and we need to get a new one. Of course they didn’t have one! But we were able to get a replacement glass scraper/cleaner and we bought two tubs of this stuff they are selling, which is kind of like a chewy version of Bonito tuna flakes/Kitty Kaviar. I was really hoping Chris would like it, ‘cos she goes MENTAL over the Kitty Kaviar, but she’s not keen. The texture is too heavy and chewy. It’s not light, dry and flaky like the Kitty Kaviar. She kept investigating it, went to eat it a couple of times, but then stopped. I just don’t think she likes the texture. BUM! Anyway, while in Stevenage, we checked out Aldi and we got a little tray of mini Ritter Sport’s chocolates. Em got all dark chocs and marzipan, and I got all milk chocs with different centres. And the local Tesco has an in-store Krispy Kreme counter, so I got my big Easter treat of a dozen original glazed doughnuts!!! YUM! We went back to Hitchin for a while. We got some flower and vegetable seeds from the 9TP (where everything is 90p – hence the name. Cute pun!) shop. 15 packs of seeds for 90p! Then we got a couple of fruit tree/shrub/plants from another discount store. We got one blackberry and one blackcurrant for £2 each. Anyway, on to today. As a result of yesterday’s adventures, I feel TRULY knackered. My legs started to hurt before we got home. By the time we were home, they’d died. My feet were aching like mad, and at that point, once I’ve rested, for next 36 hours, I find it incredibly uncomfortable to put any weight on my legs. They just ached and throbbed in bed all last night. I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. I didn’t want to put weight on my legs and feet. I stayed in bed until 11.30am, then I knew I had to get up. Luckily I did, as my “friends” had just arrived and left a spot on my underwear – GODDAMNIT!! Just to add insult to injury, they arrive! So, it’s a lovely sunny day, Em’s just gone off to some allotment society thing at another allotment nearby to join and get some supplies. And two weird juxtaposing events are happening in England today. The Grand National and Jade’s funeral. At least it’s a lovely sunny day for both. Today is a weird day…The Passing of Jade.
Jade Goody died this morning after what was NOT a long battle with cervical cancer by any means. She had only been diagnosed in August of last year (if memory serves me).
For those of you reading my blog outside the UK, Jade came to national prominence from being on Big Brother in 2002. She didn’t win, she only came 3rd (I think), but she’d won over the nation. More as an object of ridicule really with statements like “I thought East Anglia was abroad?”, when in fact it’s a region of South East England. She also appeared naked on screen after many weeks in the house when she had gone from her slender size 10 when she entered, to a then size 16. She also appeared to have given a BJ to one of her fellow housemates PJ (yes, you can imagine the headlines surrounding that!). But somehow, despite all this, and the seeming ridicule she was viewed with, she won over the nations hearts. She ended up in every other way but factually, the BB 2002 winner. She was in magazines, she started dating a TV presenter (and ended up with a much higher profile than even HE had), started to run her own beauty therapy centre, slimmed down and brought out a fitness DVD, had children and was constantly in the lime light. She became a celebrity in her own right. As a result of this, she ended up in the celebrity edition of Big Brother in 2007. And then the tide of public adoration – which was now less as an object of ridicule as she’d actually seemed to be achieving things with her life – waned as she became embroiled in the racial slurring of fellow CBB housemate Shilpa Shetty. She was by no means the only person involved. She came under a lot of fire and to her credit she always answered to her critics and continuiously and strenuiously apologised for her behaviour in the house. She was then seen somewhat as a media whore. I never really had anything against the girl and I don’t now but I must admit I was sceptical at how genuine her apologies for what happen in the CBB house were. I was sceptical whether she really was capable of understanding how potentially wrong her actions in the house were. I say potentially, because upon reflection her actions were a “storm in a tea cup” comapred to how other housemates behaved. But she copped the biggest villification. She did all she could to rectifiy it and win over the nations hearts again, but the damage had been done. She’d lost favour. Lost curry – as it were. Then last year, she had just entered the Indian Big Brother house when she was notified that a pap smear result from a test she’d taken the previous week was positive. She was advised to return to the UK as soon as possible. It was revealed a few days later she’d been diagnosed with cervical cancer. There were a few stinging comments from some circles akin to “Good! Couldn’t happen to a nicer person.”. As much as I was resistant to the Goody “charms” for the most part, I didn’t wish the woman ill will. I certainly didn’t see her having cervical cancer as some disgusting vindication or retribution for her behaviour in the CBB house, as some malinged people had. I’m sorry for her and her family that her life has been cut short. I feel for her two young sons in particular. But I cannot help but feel that some public sympathy is being over emphasised. People making absurd comments, for example Stephen Fry who tweeted comments like “I suppose she was a kind of Princess Diana from the wrong side of the tracks” – erm, as much as I love you Stephen – PARDON? Is Jade now forever going to be known as “the People’s Chav”? WTF? It is a tragic end to a life, I grant you that one. She was only 27 after all. But I am going to refrain from any expression of actual remorse for her death as I didn’t know her and am not going to pretend I did. I feel pity for those people out there going “poor Jade”, like they knew her. I find that sickening. My condolensces go to her nearest and dearest. She divided opinion in the end. She was selling on her story to make an income while she could to leave to her sons. I’m not sure if they’ll end up thanking her. I guess we’ll have to find out in several years time. R.I.P. Jade. It was nice (not really) knowing you.Yesterday’s Adventures.
Started out in a rush to the bus stop. Was worried we weren’t going to make it on time. We got there with a few minutes to spare though. Phew.
We were going to finally use the vouchers we won last year for the free bus travel. We get on the bus, the driver is perplexed by the sight of these vouchers. He entered in the code for the ticket we were to be issued, but the value price on the voucher had changed. He called his boss to confirm is was all legit and above board. Boss confirmed it and we were both issued our tickets. I had explained during events that we’d won the vouchers in a competition. As he handed over the tickets the driver said “You won a good competition there!” I replied “I know”! Issue price of the tickets – £70, EACH! So, we were on our way to Welwyn Garden City. Been wanting to go there for WEEKS. We were originally going to take the bus to Hitchin, get off and walk to Hitchin railway station to get a train to Welwyn. Then I realised it would be better to stay on the bus. We had quite a walk from where the bus would let us off at Hitchin to the station. The bus was going on to Stevenage and there it would takes us right to the train station, and Stevenage is on the same train line, so we just stayed on and rode the bus right on into Stevenage. We waited about 20 mins for a train and were in Welwyn about 12 minutes later. We mooched around the shops in the little shopping centre there, had some lunch. I had an adult sized “babycino” – which is basically just steamed milk. I had it with some caramel syrup. It was yummy. Got a tiny little biscuit with it which was nice. We went outside for a bit. We’d taken the camera with us, so Em got some shots of the main drag of Welwyn. We went round the corner and I looked in Evans (clothes shop for big ladies) and scored myself a pair of summer cropped pants for £3. We were walking along and just just split up, Em was going to the health food shop and I was going to have a look in another large ladies clothing store when I was accosted by a “chugger”. There are people on the streets over here, who work for charities and they accost you and try and get you to commit to regular, monthly donations by taking your bank details to set-up direct debits. They have been labeled “chuggers” a blend of the words “charity” and “mugger”. He was just there in my eye line and before I knew it, he had stopped me. I ended up letting him say his spiel in the hope that he might accept a one-off donation. But of course, these chuggers don’t work like this. Thank God, after some moments had elapsed, Em came to my rescue. The guy still put his heart and soul into it, bless him, but he was fighting a losing battle with Em at my side. We finally pulled away another 5 minutes later. They can really lay on the guilt man! But it’s not even a charity I would be most inclined to give to. I’m far more into animal charities, the RSPCA, PDSA and all that. I’d be more willing to give to the PDSA because we actually might need to use them some time in the future. Anyway, enough of that. We decided to leave Welwyn and go back to Hitchin for a bit. We got the train back to Stevenage and as we were boarding the bus Em said “maybe we should just go back into Luton and you can see the new Marks and Spencers part of the mall”. “Okay” I said, so we rode the bus past Hitchin and onto home. As we got into Stopsley, it was becoming obvious that the bus was going to go right by our stop for home before ending up in the town centre. We were both feeling a bit knackered by this time – we’re a right pair of old fogeys! So we decided to get off at our stop, get something for tea from ASDA and go home. What a pair, eh?! A couple of hours out and we’re clagged out like two old cows with udders that hang on the ground! Goodness me! lol But it was nice to get out and about. And it is SO lovely being on the trains again. Haven’t taken a train since probably taking the tube over a year ago. The underground is NOT a romantic train journey experience though… I find there is a real romanticism with taken the train though. Seeing the countryside go by out a train window. We went over this lovely old viaduct yesterday, and the view from it, over the Hertfordshire countryside was lovely. I so wish trains were more affordable to use.White Valentine’s Day?!
http://www.facebook.com/v/75244359744
Here’s the scene in Luton this morning. Yet more bloomin’ snow. I know I shouldn’t complain. It’s lovely really, and it doesn’t inconvenience me like it does many others. It’s just that it’s so FREEZING cold! But I’d much prefer it to sitting in 43 degree heat, like my family and peeps in Sydney are. I did some online grocery shopping for my mum the previous day. She had it delivered this morning, Oz time and she was telling it was already in the 30’s, and that was at 8am!! Lord almighty!! So glad I don’t have to suffer Oz summers any more.
Photo of The Day
This pretty much sums up the Brit attitude and APTITUDE for dealing with the snow! The snowmans face says it all!!
Even People At The Darts Want To Know
As Pixie-Anne Wheatley on Fast Forward used to say (if you’re Australian, you might get the reference), “It’s the question that’s on the lips and tips of everyone’s thingies”…
Was That A Kite?
Yes, but not THAT kind of kite! It was one of THESE kind of kites!
