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Nov. 22nd, 2009
Montrose v Berwick Rangers yesterday; game of the day in the Irn-Bru Scottish Third Division. My dad was there, as usual. The Montrose fans and Berwick fans were there, having a cheeky pint in The Legion before the game. The Berwick players made the journey from the Edinburgh area (where most of them live) But the game was postponed five minutes before the three o’clock kick off. Why? Because the (Glasgow based) Montrose players couldn’t get to the game, as they were stuck in a traffic jam an hour away between Perth and Dundee on the A90. You’d think that in this day of regular traffic reports on the radio, sat nav, big signs on motorways warning of diversions (or, more commonly, telling you to wear your seatbelt/ not to drink and drive) and text messaging that most people doing a long journey would find out that a major road like the A90 was closed (for example the BBC website had the fairly unambiguous headline The A90 is partially closed after a fatal accident. So, yeah, the away players get to the Montrose at half one, whilst the Montrose players were still an hour away at three o’clock. You wouldn’t believe it if it was a story line in Roy of the Rovers…
So, after our game at (the children of) Albion Rovers was delayed by half an hour because the referee got stuck in roadworks near Cumbernauld (I was at that game, and a friend texted me at quarter past three to ask if it was true that the game was delayed due to “crowd congestion”, as had been reported on Sky Sports News...), and our home game against Stranraer was postponed when the Stranraer team bus was caught behind a large lorry crash on the M8 outside Glasgow, yesterday was the third Berwick Rangers game to suffer from traffic problems (we’ve only played thirteen). It’s about time Alex Salmond spent a few billion on Scotland’s road network to ensure that vital Third Division games are unaffected…
The reason for the traffic delays on the northbound A90 were due to a woman being killed at three in the morning, and the Police wanting forensic information. But (whilst I understand the need for evidence) I’d have hoped the powers that be were getting diversions well advertised. Then again, we managed to close the northbound A90 a few years ago (writing off our car in a blizzard when a lorry full of “Chunky Chickens” careered into us). When Grampian Police (it was outside Stonehaven) got to the accident site, their main priority was to get us out of the way so that the traffic could get moving again (even though the car only had half a door). Long story. And my condolences to the family of the lady who died.
Only another three weeks until London finally gets a half hourly train service to Sheffield (change here for Crookes), due to the extension of an existing London – Derby service north. Which means East Midlands Trains have lots more seats to sell, so the cheapest tickets are coming down from £13 to a fiver. Could be tempted with a trip to London upon Thames in the New Year – not been down for at a couple of years (three?).
In other news, I’m not planning on leaving the house this weekend. Last weekend was a bit hectic, next weekend will be a celebration of all things ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
shullie. But the Crookes weather is minging enough to justify a mooch around the house. Mrs B is catching up on episodes of The Hairy Bikers on Topfield, which sounds like a perfect hangover morning. Except that I’m not. Since getting back from Gran Canaria the only booze I’ve had was on Halloween, so I’ve had a “dry” November (which wasn’t easy last Sunday, given the ale selection with lips_of_tragedy…). Given how unhealthy December is bound to be, this is my chance to try to be good.
And talking of lips_of_tragedy, this weekend I’m finally going to get Firefox sorted out (after our conversation). Been meaning to do it for months, just never got round to sorting out all the applications and the like. Not that I’m a complete luddite. Well, maybe.
Lastly, one of the Conservative Party proposals announced in the week was a 25% cut in the administration costs of the Ministry of Defence. Which would normally sound like a good thing. Trouble is, that’s now part of my job (in an indirect way). Another reason not to vote blue? The strangest army announcement this week was the plan to withdraw the twenty five thousand British troops in Germany. There’s twenty five thousand army personnel in Germany? Over 60 years since the end of the Second World War? Bonkers. At a time when we’re crying out for troops in Afghanistan, I think it’s fair to say that we’re not expecting Germany to invade us any time soon(?), so why are they there?
Nov. 16th, 2009
This weekend cost £157.10. Approximately.
( Standing. Order. )
So, that was the weekend. A relatively short notice trip back to see my ninety eight year old Granny (who got out of hospital on Monday, after a couple of falls). As ever, when I come back to Scotland, I’m in bother for some of the things I *didn’t* do (I didn’t see my sister, didn’t see my school mates, didn’t catch up with some other friends) – never enough hours in the day. But there’ll be a next time. And that’s a promise.
Nov. 10th, 2009
So, where were we?
Twenty years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall and Her Majesty’s Media are more concerned about Gordon Brown’s handwriting. I could understand the furore if Jacqui Janes (the mother of a soldier who recently died in Afghanistan) had received a mail merge letter along the lines of “Dear Insert Forename Insert Surname, I was sorry to learn…”. But to criticise a hand written note from the Prime Minster for spelling errors and poor handwriting seems scraping the barrel in terms of criticism. But since The Sun has gone Tory (with the cringeworthy headline “Cam can have a go, cos we think he’s hard enough”), we’ve presumably six months of ludicrous stories to pad out the wait for an election. Strange how the papers so desperate to criticise his jogging shorts didn’t criticise the two BILLION overspend on the Private Finance Initiative the former Chancellor set up for the London Underground. Sorry to go over old ground; I just find it frustrating the way we obsess about relatively minor things whilst ignoring the bigger picture…
…which is a criticism I could level at myself for blogging. So much easier to write about the trivia (I used my Tesco Clubcard today when buying seven bananas for 68p – e.g. under a quid, so no Clubcard points – was this force of habit or am I desperate to let Tesco know all my personal shopping habits even when there’s no financial incentive?) than to try to formulate and define thoughts about important things (my Granny had a fall overnight, which has a few implications about things longer term).
(I could write more, but I’m trying to do “little and often” rather than one weekly post – will see how long this lasts…)
Nov. 8th, 2009
They say it’s lucky to have a bird poo on you. There’s a joke there. “They” also say that many a mickle maks a muckle, but I’m not so sure.
Anyhow, whilst I was sat on The Moor, happily nomming an “all day breakfast” pastie from Croshaws of Doncaster (the local version of Greggs of Gosforth), with pigeons scavenging around my feet, one of aforementioned flock of birds decided to show it’s displeasure (maybe it was a critique of the Dukla Prague shirt I was wearing – the claret home one, and not the amber away one Half Man Half Biscuit sang about).
So, has today felt lucky? Well, has it, Punka? (Kenickie reference inserted for decembre)
( Underground cliche… )
Current Music: The Football League Show - BBC1
Nov. 3rd, 2009
So, what was life like back in 2009, granddad? Y’know, before we all lived on the moon (and all those other things that people always imagine will happen in the near future)…
Well, Busto Junior (the third), things were different back in the dark ages. And, let’s face it, 2009 was fairly dark. It was a strange year alright. One fat racist bully was public enemy number one after he appeared on Question Time. Another fat racist bully was a national treasure (the new Diana?) when she died of cancer (memo to Nick Griffin – it worked for Jade Goody – why not contract cancer and then we’ll all say we love you?).
Yeah, it’s been a funny few months, typified by a story which features this sentence half way down: The government also announced that it would be putting up to a further £39.2bn into the two banks. A *further* forty billion quid? The government spending forty billion of your English pounds to prop up the banks sounds like pretty massive news. However, we’ve spent so much bailing them out (hundreds of billions) that the fact we’re chucking a further forty billion (to keep the wolf from the door, as my Granny would say) is only mentioned as an “aside” further in to an article about something else.
Now, this is the same 2009, lest we forget, when we had days of front page headlines about taxpayers spending 88 pence on a plug (Jacqui Smith), a tenner on porn (Jacqui Smith’s husband), a few quid on taxi fares (Michael Martin’s wife) and £1,600 on a floating duck house. I think it’s fair to say that you could buy the entire population of Crookes their own floating duck house, their weight in porn, free taxis and a shiny new bathplug each, and still have change from FORTY BILLION. Sadly I can’t imagine our local MP Nick Clegg campaigning with this promise, but he’d get my vote (as we need a new plug).
Yeah, 2009 was a bit strange, like the worst bits of the mid 70s coupled to the fashion of 1991 – what a combination. At the moment, we’ve got the postal strike, the firemen are on strike in Sheffield most days (a dispute over shift patterns, which is taking over the Toby Foster show on BBC Radio Sheffield), the buses are on strike every few days (First Group refused to find any money for pay rises, have sacked dozens of drivers, have tried to reduce several services, including the evening buses to Crookes), there’s a postal strike, the Leeds bin men have been on strike for a couple of months… plus (even more worryingly) the day glo fashion disasters that were naff eighteen years ago, and claiming it’s “ironic” to wear different coloured shoe laces doesn’t really help things today.
I dunno. Maybe we’ll look back at these as some kind of golden age (from our homes on the moon)
Oct. 25th, 2009
Aug. 25th, 2009
1. Virgin Media have just spent a few quid opening a brand spanking new store in Sheffield City Centre, even though their “cable” doesn’t reach Crookes (NTL apparently ran out of money half way up the hill). So I’ll never sign up. So I’ll never end up wasting several hours of my life on ‘hold’ to them. But, from speaking to a colleague, apparently they give you the option of whether you want to listen to pop/ classical/ jazz/ early Deacon Blue. Okay, the last one may be fanciful, but what does this mean? Is it a sign of just how customer friendly companies are, eager to please? Or a sad admission of just how long we’re expected to spend on hold (due to crap customer service), meaning there’ll be plenty time to listen to a couple of album’s worth of music? Discuss…
2. We were out on Saturday in the Devonshire Cat (the city centre version of the Fat Cat); one of Sheffield’s many splendid real ale ghettos. As previously discussed, it’s easy to spend my life with similarly minded folks, ignoring the vast majority of people who don’t care for the Scottish Third Division or read the Guardian. We’re becoming more and more fragmented, with less ‘common ground’. Anyhow, at the bar (as well as Moonshine, Barnsley Gold and other local treats) was Wilson & Co’s Snuff (from the back of Ecclesall Road – where the Porter Brook flows towards the Cemetary). Never had the stuff, but I remembered it was going to be The Next Big Thing when the smoking ban came in. Maybe it will be, one day. Ever tried? I don’t know anyone who has.
3. An ATM operator has introduced Cockney rhyming slang to a number of its cash machines in east London - what James Blunt thought that one up?
4. Following Britain’s Andy Murray doing well at Wimbledon, may I be the first to praise Britain’s cricket players for winning the Ashes? ( … )
9. Was this *really* the funniest joke at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival?
10. I mentioned the Queens Park – Albion Rovers game was postponed due to U2 a couple of days ago. Now the Irish band inflict more damage on lower league football
Aug. 22nd, 2009
1. So, where were we? Want to talk about Albion Rovers and Rotherham United? ( … )today’s win for Berwick will be wiped from the record books and we’ll have to play Cowdenbeath instead( … ) (the local chip shop with the Sean Bean connections( … ) the early ‘90s revival starts here! Now where can I get some Global Hypercolour? ( … )I’ll drink a pint of Mild in the Grapes in your honour…( … )
Aug. 19th, 2009
About time I posted again, before elaine4queen uses her regal powers to smite me. Had a bit of a crazy weekend, featuring a few elephants in the room (family, friends, Albion Rovers – all the usual ingredients of a Grade A headache). But, whilst I work a few things out, it’s been a while since I did a “comments” entry. So, here ya go – since I last updated in January, the following people have made it into double figures (I feel like I’ve only made about a dozen posts in 2009):
( in between talking about the football… )
Right, now I’ve remembered how to post, I may do it again. And this time I mean it…
Jun. 19th, 2009
(are you prepared for a long ramble full of tenuous links? And talking about...)
1. Bored at work this afternoon, I got a text from a friend referring me to a Daily Mail opinion poll “ should gipsies be allowed to jump the NHS queue?”. ( … )Following shullie’s advice( … )decembre’s addictive nuggets( … ) bile salts. ( … )THREE FUCKING HOURS ( … )Holby City scriptwriters ( … ) mashed potato, in a pie case ( … ) expedition (it’s got an “x” in it, as Winnie Teh Pooh would say). ( … )(msb66 has, IIRC)( … )I bought four pairs of trainers( … )twenty two quid of cheese, meat and other goodies( … )
Current Mood: rejuvenated
Jun. 7th, 2009
1. It’s been a week of real mixed emotions, a busy week, and a week I’ve not had much time to sit and collect my thoughts. So, in typical *me* style, here’s ten trivial things to mull over whilst I try to temporarily ignore the “bigger” stuff (and try to work out how to express it through the medium of creative dance):
2. I’ve just booked train tickets for Mrs B’s parents to spend a couple of days down in London Upon Thames (like my parents they have no internets, so we do all their online bookings etc). Something I’d not noticed before is that National Express tell you the Carbon Emissions of your journey, and compare them to driving/ flying. For their 465 mile round trip they’ll apparently save 85kg of CO2 compared to driving to the Capital, which allows them to boil 859 kettles (901 if they’d flown). How very 2009…
3. We’ve had a week of headlines about Susan Boyle of Britain’s Got Talent (no, I’ve not watched it either, and, yes, I think the third word of the show’s title should probably have quotation marks), but that was until Big Brother started on Thursday. Hence the Daily Star’s Friday morning headline “Bonkers – Big Brother house full of Sex Starved Nutters”. You’ve got to love the way we deal with Mental Health in the UK. The number one single this week was called “Bonkers” (Dizzy Rascal), and the number one album called “Relapse” (Eminem). Yes, we are a nation of sex starved nutters, And, no, we can’t deal with mental health in the sympathetic way we can with physical health. Whilst Crohn’s is a horrible disease, and a horrible disease to explain, at least people can understand the general concept. It’d be impossible to get the same understanding sympathy of a mental condition in our ‘tolerant’ world…
4. Went to Lidl last weekend and bought a gigantic “continental” sausage WITH HAZLENUTS IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.I think it’s fair to say WTF…( 5-8… )
(More on the other stuff later… maybe not in the medium of expressive dance though)
May. 9th, 2009
1. How did you spend your Saturday? I spent mine refereeing a game of football between Cambridge University and Manchester University, and a game between Sussex and Southampton Universities too. ( … )
Current Mood: wildly optimisic (not really)
Apr. 28th, 2009
I’ve a several thousand word entry in my head, but then I often do. There’s some things for another day (and some things for never, right now…). But, in the meantime:
1. We have a (temporary) goldfish. Our neighbour caught Hamble (his cat named after the PlaySchool doll) with aforementioned fish in her mouth, so it’s swimming round our wee pond in the meantime whilst he goes door to door round Crookes to find pond owners with a missing fish. If only Google Earth was high enough resolution to spot who had a pond in their gardens
2. There’s only one man who can save us from Swine Flu (it’s this year’s Bird Flu) – Hugh Pennington. The man knows. An ex girlfriend did her phd at Aberdeen University – apparently all the lab students would follow the Emeritus Professor at the canteen, and all order the same meal as him. Let’s face it, if the country’s expert on infections thinks the lasagna is safe to eat, then it’s probably a safe bet.
3. Talking of Mexicans (since that’s where this new strain of Flu is “from”), I spent a whopping £2.50 this weekend – the cost of my Saturday morning football with the Mexicans (and associated students etc). Friday night was spent in the house, Sunday was a five hour walk in the Peak District. The way things are looking, there’ll be a few more weekends of thrift this year…
4. There’s too much snooker on the telly. I love it as a game, I love it as a metaphor. But we get overloaded with televisual snooker at this time of year – I’d much prefer a channel that showed a nightly frame – say half ten/ eleven-ish – it’d be a lovely habit at the end of the evening. Much as I enjoy it, it’s impossible to keep up with so many games at once…
5. In local news, the Somerfield supermarket in Broomhill is about to close to become a Spar. When the mutually owned Cooperative bought Somerfield, they had a lot of stores close to each other; since there’s a Co-op in Crookes and a Somerfield in Broomhill we didn’t know which would get kept. We get to keep our local shop (open till eleven). At least neither is to become a Tesco…
6. It was the Sheffield half marathon on Sunday, same day as the London upon Thames marathon. Maybe next year…
Apr. 16th, 2009
I know where I was when I heard Princess Diana died (listening to Radio Five at about half five in the morning, waking me up to start my early shift at a papershop). Sat in my student bedroom I heard the Dunblane massacre unfold on the same radio station. I was off work the day of the London bombings, so watched it all on BBC News 24. And, twenty years ago yesterday, our family car was driving along the A706 from Lanark to West Lothian when Radio Two broke news of the deaths at Hillsborough.
I’d been to the ground for the first time in 1987, when staying at my grandparents down here. Been back since to the sanitised all seater stadium. And yesterday I went down to the ground to take some pictures (Leppings Lane, twenty years later). There’s not much I can say about it that hasn’t been said elsewhere (msb66 wrote some beautifully angry words on the subject), so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. All I’ll add is that it was heartening to see the variety of scarves and tributes. There were Nottingham Forest scarves (the opposition that day), flowers from Lincoln City (the Imps were visitors when Bradford City’s stand burned down, killing two of their fans, and dozens of Bradford ones).
A year later, and football was all about a crying Paul Gascgoine, with the soundtrack of Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma during the 1990 World Cup. The all seater stadiums came in, the Sky Television money came in, and look where we are now… I think that’s one reason for the resonance of Hillsborough; the way that you can split football into “pre” and “post”. It’s strange to think now that there used to be a time when being a football fan was still a relative minority thing. Nowadays, everyone seems to “support” someone, though the vast majority have never been to a game. Listening to the office conversation each morning, everyone has an opinion. But when I was at school, I remember being a football fan marked you out from the crowd.
Similarly, twenty years ago, music was still a relative niche hobby. You only had a couple of chances a week to see a band on the telly (Top Of The Pops or the Chart Show). Nowadays it’s impossible to avoid. Maybe part of me is nostalgic for those days, though I was too young to appreciate (twelve in 1989). I think, deep down, I’d enjoy some things a little more if they were a bit more underground. I know that sounds contrary, maybe a little perverse. Not sure what that says…
*Off to Milton Keynes for the weekend – do you want a postcard?
Apr. 12th, 2009
1. Yes, it’s a ten point entry. Been a while since I did one. But then, been a while since I posted, so got enough nonsense to pad it out…
2. The most depressing thing about the Bank Holiday is that Homebase advert with Dave Gorman voiceover and music from Peter, Bjorn & John. Not because it’s a bad advert (it’s pretty harmless – compared to the “bloomin’ fab” Jamie Oliver one, which makes me want to kill), but because it makes me realise that I’m probably the target market for the advertisers. I can picture their power point presentation: “If you like Dave Gorman etc, you’ll probably be the kind of person who spends his Bank Holiday building a patio and painting the spare room”. Sadly, it seems, I am that demographic. ( cut for length, and mild mention of Dr Who/ Red Dwarf, but no real spoilers… )
10. And finally… it’s been a long time since I added anyone “new” on LJ (ignoring new accounts of old friends) – probably a year and a half ago when I friended the wonderful lips_of_tragedy - so nice to be added by blimmy - hope you don’t get bored reading of pasties etc.
Apr. 6th, 2009
Did you know I own five cans of shaving foam? No, neither did I. But I’ve been in a tidying mood for the past week or so, and part of that involved finally tackling that cupboard under the bathroom sink, where cosmetics hide. Things get bought, things get put into that cupboard, things end up hiding under the mountain of Paracetemol (I’ve still got most of the 96 tablets they gave me last time I was discharged from Hospital…). And, presumably because I could never find anything in that cupboard, I end up buying new ones. Too much shampoo too. But no spare deodorant. Hmm. Now I’ve sorted things out, I really hope I stop stockpiling these things…
In other news, my dad got a parking ticket last week for parking at a Bus Stop. Which sounds fair enough. I’ve no problem with Traffic Wardens. However, in his defence, due to them rebuilding Edinburgh’s roads, there’s been no bus service down my Grannie’s road for months (due to the traffic cones etc). So, no chance of a bus coming along. Hmmm.
Spent Sunday afternoon starting on the garden again. When we bought the house a few years ago, I was made redundant a few months afterwards, so used the following few months tackling the acres of overgrowth that had built up (the house was rented for years before, so nobody looked after the garden – meaning that I found a patio underneath the ‘lawn’ that had grown over it, amongst other surprises). I was young, I had ambitions, I had no idea how bad the soil was (and most of what I planted died). Then, with my time in Hospital (etc), I wasn’t able to keep on top of things. Now, I’m hoping to keep it in shape, especially now it’s still light when I get home after work.
Right, I’m off to bed to read When Saturday Comes (the magazine, not to be confused with the Sean Bean film…) and some more Colin Bateman. Night…
Current Music: Newsnight programme about Cancer
Mar. 27th, 2009
elaine4queen said I should post again, so, here goes: Any plans to spend an hour *not* doing anything this weekend? Since it’s the time we gain lighter evenings (at the expense of an hour fewer in bed on Sunday morning), I feel I should ‘give up’ something to compensate. Probably Facebook would be a good idea, but you know me…
( cut for public transport news… )
Talking of The Recessionz, how do you react to the news that Marks and Spencer sell 75p Jam Sandwiches. Doubleyou Tee Eff? Is this a sign of how cheap and desperate we are for basic nutrition (cue newspaper articles about recession) or proof of how lazy and rich we are that we’d rather buy a jam sandwich off the shelf than spend a couple of precious seconds spreading some jam on some bread (cue newspaper articles about how well off we all are)? Seventy Five Pence? You could buy a three course meal in Greggs for that ;-)
And finally, the National Trust for Scotland have announced they want to close Arduaine Garden, near Kilmelford. I’ve not visited them (yet), but this is important to someone who is important to me, therefore it’s important to me. I’ve signed, and would love you if you did too:
The National Trust For Scotland Kill Kittens For Profit
Mar. 17th, 2009
Mar. 15th, 2009
The Dunblane shootings (where Thomas Hamilton killed sixteen young children at a Primary School and one teacher) were a hugely important event; I remember freezing to the spot listening to Radio Five in my university bedroom as I listened to the news unfold.
A horrible horrible time. I remember our Minister Professor Whyte (former Moderator of the Church of Scotland) doing the memorial service (he gave a very conciliatory and moving memorial after the Lockerbie bombing, which occurred when he was Moderator).
Nowadays there’s very little said about it (other than a rare mention in biographies of Andy Murray – the tennis player was at the primary school back then).
That’s until I noticed decembre had joined a Facebook group called The Sunday Express is abhorrent. Intrigued, I clicked on the link to find what it was about.
No, it’s not a story about Princess Diana or Madeline McCann (the paper's normal obsessions). Turns out that Paula Murray has written an article about the children of Dunblane.
What’s the story? Erm, the fact that the five year olds from 1996 are now eighteen, and behaving like eighteen year olds. Some drink. Some smoke. Some have Bebo accounts (where lazy journalists can copy and paste quote).
There really is no fucking news whatsoever, apart from the chance to make a group of eighteen year olds (who have had a pretty shitty start in life) feel guilty for living the kind of “normal” lives we’d all wish for them to have.
Sorry. I don’t normally swear online. But Murray’s trashy article has really made me upset. I’m actually slightly surprised how such a tawdry bit of sensationalist “journalism” can make me react.
( Anniversary Shame Of Dunblane Survivors… )
The rest of the article is here. Please join the group (I don’t like sending “invitations” on Facebook). Please tell other people about what a crap paper the Express is. Please be angry, because if we can’t be angry about this kind of tripe then…
Thank you for listening. I’m off for a lie down…
Remember me? Not posted for at least a day or two. And to think I used to get a nose bleed if I posted more than once a week…
Went out for a curry at Jeera to avoid Comic Relief on Friday Night. Nice little garlic chille nan, well spiced ;-)
On the day when Berwick beat East Stirlingshire on Astroturf, I played a game of football on grass for about the first time in a decade yesterday morning. Since all of the University pitches were booked, we decamped to Weston Park. Good muddy fun, plenty sliding around between consenting blokes and a lovely location between the bushes Jarvis Cocker lost his virginity in and the renovated bandstand.
Walked home via Commonside, where there’s a new chip shop. We have some interestingly named chippies in Sheffield (such as “Codrophenia”), so this latest one is called New Cod On The Block. What next?
Went for a wee drive round the Peak District (round Ladybower etc), before going for a walk at Surprise View. It’s a wonderful place where the road from Sheffield rounds the corner and suddenly you’re at the top of a hill looking down on the Hope Valley. Beautiful spot. Local legend says that Queen Victoria commented on how enamoured she was by this “surprise view” of the valley that the name stuck. Which now means it appears on the map. You see road signs saying “Surprise View 1 Mile”. Would it be cynical to suggest that all of the signs take away the element of surprise somewhat?
Round the corner from Surprise View is the Fox House pub, a great place for weekend walkers heading towards Stanedge. So, where better to meet kirstygold and Dougie (nice name…). Had a great afternoon (apart from when I was being bullied for my lettuce consumption), full of meaty mushrooms, Slovakian bus drivers, peppered pineapples and interesting facts about golfers... As Ms Gold is in Wales for the next week, it’d be unfair for me to say more, but I really hope there’s a “next time”…
Came home to watch Lars And The Real Girl - Mrs B’s choice from Love Film about a man with a “life-sized, anatomically-correct doll”. Strange stuff (I think she’d have been a bit worried if it was *me* who’d added it to our rental list!)…
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