Runnergirl’s Friends

Today Sprog sold her brother for a lollipop.

2008-08-08T12:45:53Z

We were in the post office and I was faffing with a parcel. Sprog was engaged in one of her favourite pastimes - Old Lady Baiting. This usually involves acting in a revoltingly cutesy way (bunches, giggling, chatting to her dolly, I've even seen her sing Bobby Shafto to lure one in - she has no shame) and then as soon as they bite ("Hello little girl! Aren't you lovely?") she adopts stony faced withering distain, maintaining eye contact but cracking no smile nor saying a word as the poor old dear desperately tries to prove to the rest of the post office that she is Good With Children. Perhaps her favourite bit is when I take pity on the old lady and start to answer on Sprog's behalf in a strange sing-song voice, in the hope that if enough adults in the vacinity are talking in ridiculous voices it will make up for the haughty silence eminating from the small girl at the centre of it all.

Today's old lady was crashing and burning with her no-hope choice of conversation about Sprog's baby brother ("Aren't you lucky to have such a lovely baby brother?!"). All seemed lost, when suddenly from nowhere she turned it around with the frankly brilliant "do you like lollipops?". If there's one thing Sprog enjoys more than shooting old ladies down in flames, it's a sweetie that represents tooth decay, choking hazard AND sticky E numbers all rolled in to one. Onna stick. She grudgingly admitted that yes, yes she did like lollipops, and helpfully pointed out to the old lady that the shop we were in sold lollipops. Just there. On that shelf. Lots of them. There.

Things moved swiftly, and the next thing I knew the old lady was proposing a swap and Sprog was eagerly agreeing.

Old Lady: Can I have your brother?
Sprog: Okay.
Old Lady: Really? I can have your little brother?
Sprog: Okay. He's called Wilfie.
Old Lady: If I buy you a lollipop maybe we could do a swap. You get a lollipop and I can take your little brother home with me?
Sprog: A yellow lollipop?

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Televisore

2008-08-08T11:47:05Z

We got Sky (finally) installed today.

We now have proper telly.

No more indoor aerials with three good channels.

We have H-frickin-D*.

I can watch the Olympics opening ceremony in HD.

*I may be a bit over excited about this.

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Entertainment: Movies, TV, Music, Books

2008-08-07T20:00:54Z

.:What I'm Watching:.

Casablanca

Casablanca. [Of all the "gin joints" in Morocco, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), with husband Victor (Paul Henreid) in tow, had to walk into the one owned by Rick (Humphrey Bogart), a former beau she abandoned in Paris. War looms over them all, and in a much-discussed ending, Rick and Ilsa make heroic but heartbreaking choices. As time goes by, director Michael Curtiz's 1942 classic war noir only gets better. Peter Lorre and Claude Rains also star. ~netflix] yet another classic i've never watched before. and it was soooo good. 5 stars. i love me some classic movies.

The Cleaner

The Cleaner. [In this A&E series inspired by actual events, Benjamin Bratt stars as "extreme interventionist" William Banks, a former drug addict who talks to God and now spends his time helping other users turn their lives around. His team of so-called "cleaners" includes a woman he once slept with (Grace Park), a serial complainer (Esteban Powell) and a car salesman (Kevin Michael Richardson) who owes William big for saving his brother's life. ~netflix] it's all right. not great, that's for sure. i like grace park as a maneater, not as a frakkin' cylon. hehe. i never thought i'd say this, but i might actually keep watching the show just to see more of her. i was never a huge grace park fan in Battlestar Galactica, but i really like her in this show. i don't know about the rest of the cast and the writing and stuff, though. i mean, i get that the show's a drama and everything, but does it seriously need to be THAT DRAMATIC? jeez. 3 stars.

Da Ali G Show - The Complete First Season

Da Ali G Show, Season 1. [Hilarious British comedian and impersonator Sacha Baron Cohen crisscrosses the United States alternating among the three offbeat personalities he plays. Cohen becomes Ali G, the "hip hop journalist" who's really just a white wanna-be rapper; Borat, the gullible newsman from Kazakhstan; and Bruno, the homosexual Austrian fashion plate. Laugh while Ali G, Borat and Bruno discover America and interact with the locals. ~netflix] so funny. i honestly have NO idea how he doesn't just start busting up laughing at these people he's interviewing. 4 stars.

The Dark Knight [Theatrical Release]

The Dark Knight. [Batman (Christian Bale) teams with Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to continue dismantling Gotham City's criminal organizations in this sequel to Batman Begins. But a psychotic new villain known as the Joker (Heath Ledger) threatens to undo all their good work. The star-studded cast includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Michael Hall, Michael Caine and Eric Roberts. ~netflix] 5 stars. totally awesome. loved every minute of it. saw it at the imax and it was awesome. when we own this on DVD (you know we will buy it!) i wanna have another movie night. :D

Doomsday (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

Doomsday. [When a deadly viral epidemic breaks out in present-day Britain, killing hundreds of thousands of people, the government quarantines the infected behind a walled city -- only to be confronted with a resurgence of the disease 30 years in the future. In the vein of Mad Max and 28 Days Later, this morality tale veiled as a sci-fi hypothetical features enough action, combat and suspense to keep audiences wondering, "What if?" ~netflix] this movie has everything! viral outbreaks, blood and gore, mohawks, future stuff, medieval stuff, action, chase scenes, fighting, fires, and the poor man's kate beckinsale. heh. what? she is. this is from the same director who brought you The Descent. (which is an awesome movie, btw... and i don't like horror. although it's not typical horror. whatever. anyway, you should rent it.) anyway, back to Doomsday... like LE said, "i'm not sure if this is a good-bad movie or a bad-bad movie." regardless, i liked it. 3.5 stars.

Umrao Jaan

Umrao Jaan. [Ravishing Indian beauty Aishwarya Rai stars in director J.P. Dutta's remake about a poor girl who is sold into a brothel, where she's transformed into the courtesan Umrao Jaan and falls in love with Nawab Sultan (Abhishek Bachchan). Life as a courtesan is filled with hard knocks as Umrao tries everything in her power to control her own destiny. Shabana Azmi, Sunil Shetty, Divya Dutta, Himani Shivpuri and Kulbhushan Kharbanda also star. ~netflix] very sad. end was confusing. and even though it was 3 hours long, i felt like it was totally unresolved. I NEED CLOSURE!!!! i believe it's a remake of another movie by the same name. but the original doesn't have aishwarya in it. the costumes were breathtaking. 4 stars.

.:What Mia's Watching:.

Disney Little Einsteins - Flight of the Instrument Fairies

Little Einsteins: The Flight of the Instrument Fairies. [This colorful collection from the popular Playhouse Disney series includes four fairy-tale adventures, including the never-before-seen episode "Flight of the Instrument Fairies," featuring a band of musical sprites who paint the Artic sky. Join Rocket -- who can gleefully transform from a spaceship to a submarine -- as he guides Quincy, Annie, June and Leo on adventures with a team of lost puppets in Prague and at a black-tie ball in Vienna. ~netflix] while i like that this show introduces kids to various composers and artists, i dislike how annoying this show can get. also, there's a little asian girl character and i noticed that the girl who voices her is asian as well. is that a rule? like, if you have an asian character, it has to be voiced by an asian? because it seems ridiculous. then again, i'm sure asian peeps would be all up in arms that the asian character isn't voiced by an asian if it weren't... ugh. people are so dumb and ridiculous. oh. right. back to the DVD. your kid will probably be totally mesmerized... but you won't be. hehe. i think mia would give this a 3 or 4 star rating. i am giving it 2.

.:What I'm Listening To:.

Modern Guilt

Beck: Modern Guilt. produced with Danger Mouse. pretty good. i enjoyed it. i am looking forward to a repeat spin. i think i liked it as much as I liked The Information. maybe even more! 4 stars.

Fabriclive 38

DJ Craze: Fabriclive 38. good fun. seriously. i was not expecting much at all, but it was good times. 3.5 stars.

Fabric 40

Mark Farina: Fabric 40. this album was good, but i prefer to see mark farina live. 3 stars.

Knowle West Boy

Tricky: Knowle West Boy. i'm really digging this album. a lot. this is my second spin and i think it's going to be in heavy rotation. drops september 9... or you can get the import now. 4 stars.

.:What I'm Reading:.

Altered Carbon: A Takeshi Kovacs Novel (Takeshi Kovacs Novels)

Altered Carbon - Richard K. Morgan. (click here to read the plot summary on wikipedia) a very interesting, very enjoyable read. i'm not done yet (i'm reading two books at once. i should just commit to one and FINISH it. sheesh.), but hopefully i'll finish this next week... :)

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I love him

2008-08-06T14:19:51Z

Another reason that M and I are so well suited is that we've spent as least two hours today taking over email about radiators and radiator placement.

He said "We'd just need to know maximum sizes of radiators and BTU/kW needed for the room. We can mock it up in SketchUp tonight? We need to mock up room layouts to sanity check radiator sizes anyway."

What man would offer, and indeed like doing mock room layouts? He is a prince among men!

Well this next picture may test peoples opinion on my supposed good taste. Our latest (about twenty minutes ago) eBay win:

Victorian Ladies Writing Desk

Lookit those elegant spindly turned legs and those kneehole drawers. I feel the need to write my morning letters at it on lavender scented note paper. We need somewhere to put our macs (and our old desk was left behind as it was built in) as M's iMac is currently taking up the dining table and we'd really like somewhere to eat again. Also every bit of important paper seems to have gravitated to said table to be worked on. Lawks, I want to drink my tea at the dining table!

The desk will be living in our main bedroom so it needed to be pretty and have that whole posh ladies dressing table aesthetic going on. We'll see how 'orange' the ash desk is when it arrives as to whether we make any changes to it. I may put some adorable little ceramic and brass Victorian castors on it for added flexibility and line the drawers with pretty flock wallpaper. If the handles are chipped in any way I might swap them for round china or glass ones*.

*I am just showing off.

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Onwards

2008-08-05T16:06:51Z

We now have the luxury of hot water at Bobble Towers courtesy of our new condensing boiler - the gas pressure hungry condensing boiler - and a long length of fat copper pipe. Surface mounted pipe is very ugly to be sure but it was the only way. I am now shopping for off white metal paint to try and get it to blend - good luck with that - into the hall wall.

The boiler installer was brilliant though and asked lots of questions about which floorboard I'd prefer him to cut and was the carpet tacked down enough etc. etc. If anyone needs a plumbing company in East Sussex I can recommend them a good one.

The three old lead crystal chandeliers are back from rewiring and look marvellous. It's a pity our Electrician can't hang them for another three weeks as he is booked up but I am already imagining scenes such as the one below occurring in our drawing room:

A Tuesday night at Bobble Towers

We couldn't find energy saving light bulbs that were pretty enough for the chandeliers so we have gone old school and bought clear incandescent bulbs in a flame shape. They are the most gorgeous light bulbs I have ever seen. To offset them not being energy saving we've bought dimmer switches for the rooms they'll be in. We've also got some very pretty 'dolly switch' toggle light switches for the rest of our rooms. They make a very satisfying clunk when you switch them on and off.

Today I am expecting a visit from 'Shutterly Fabulous' to measure our huge windows for some shutters. The quotes we have had so far cost the same as a small car so hopefully this one will be a tad more reasonable. Unlike most people I want solid panelled shutters like the house would of had originally not plantation or louvre shutters. I think I have a phobia about louvres shutters on Victorian houses... but that could just be me.

So one month in: a new boiler - check.

This month: getting the sashes restored, a new consumer unit, some new wiring, new down-lighters and the chandeliers being hung.

Did I tell you about my teapot? It's like this:

Teapot

I think I may have to change my surname to Morland or Dashwood.

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The Joy of Growing Yer Own

2008-08-05T11:20:47Z

IMG_0149

IMG_0150

Reader, I ate him.

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QotD: Mind Eraser

2008-08-03T17:47:36Z

If you could, which film would you un-watch or which book would you un-read?
Submitted by Kate.

Get me! Answering my own question!

Anyway, if I had one chance to remove one film from my mind, I'm not going to waste it on something which was merely unremitting tedium (ie Vanilla Sky, Magnolia (most things with Tom Cruise, come to think of it) or Meet Joe Black), rather I would choose something which has had a negative effect on me. When I was in Australia, my friend insisted I watch a film with her - it was an amazing film and everyone should watch it. I was then forced to sit through what felt lilke months of the torture that is Requiem for a Dream. I spent the rest of the night quaking in my bed and to this day have been unable to watch anything featuring any of the stars because I can't even bear to be reminded of it. Hence, no more Labrynth, previously one of my favourite films, and no going to see 30 Seconds to Mars, even though I'm reliably informed they're an ace band.

Some years later, I was lent a book by the author who wrote the original book on which the film was based (I forget his name - please don't remind me) and I got about fifty or so pages in of ugly violence and misery when it occured to me I didn't have to go on but if I could have those memories removed and replaced with images of kittens or a badger in a teacup, that'd be good as well.

There was one book which I have successfully managed to blot out from my mind - it was something I found in a youth hostel, somewhere in South America and being bed-ridden with a hangover, I ended up reading it in about a day. It was along the lines of Jackie Collins but my most enduring memory is that previous readers had added their short reviews at the back of it. All I can really remember about the incident is writing in the back 'This book is preposterous! Do NOT read it'.

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Chav tastic

2008-08-01T12:52:30Z

Every two weeks or so I have my nails done. I used to have beautiful real nails, but teaching at a smelly boys school makes that v difficult and so I now have beautiful fake nails.

My nail technician guy was excited today that he was doing my wedding nails and promised me 'something special'. He then did the most beautiful french manicure I have ever had. I was totally thrilled and thanked him warmly.

"No wait" he said and then before I had time to speak (or indeed to shout 'for the love of god - NO!') he stuck two diamonds on my two ring fingers and grinned at me proudly. They glinted in the light as he turned my hand one way and then the other. He then coated them with two layers of clear nail varnish 'They aren't going anywhere' he said reassuringly.

And of course, I'm so repressed and English that I thanked him for what he had done and paid.

I haven't stopped laughing since I got home, thinking about that close up shot of our hands wearing our wedding rings that couples always have at their weddings.

Seriously guys, I was never going to look classy - was I?

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The essence of Being Two

2008-08-01T10:36:39Z

While I was doing the washing Sprog built a den. From her amassed ranks of 'chums' she selected a large bear who goes by the name of Teasy, Old Chap. Once they were suitably attired in a wetsuit and slippers (Sprog) and a party frock (Teasy, Old Chap) they retired to the den to read 10 Chuckling Ducklings using Sprog's binoculars (disposable cardboard binoculars given away free at a recent Headingly Test Match, and given to Sprog by one of her father's friends. Currently her most treasured posession).

It went quiet and I found Sprog and Teasy, Old Chap curled up asleep in the den.

In lifting her to put her in her bed, my hand pressed her tummy causing a sigh to escape her lips. Whispered on the sigh, the words "I don't want to" floated out of her slumber, then she snuggled into her blanket and slept some more.

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Hmmmm

2008-08-01T09:52:51Z

Well the boiler doesn't work. It sits on the wall looking at me all shiny and gleaming and white. The very model of modern sleek efficiency. But yet, no hot water.

Apparently when they converted the building in flats way back when they didn't run an appropriate size diameter gas pipe from where it enters the house to our flat. Our gas supply isn't sufficient. It wasn't even really sufficient for the old boiler hence the shower problem.

On Monday the plumbers return for another wodge of money to fix it. Fixing it entails a new big pipe from the back bedroom out into the communal hall along the corridor and into the front wall of our flat. Then under the hall and kitchen floorboards and so on until it reaches the boiler. New boilers are arse aren't they?

I am slightly worried at the moment that our neighbours will hate us. Doing anything to the communal parts of the building requires the say so of the other freeholders. They are all very laid back and nice (and have even offered us the use of their showers until Monday) but I still feel uneasy. I don't want to alienate them.

Next week the electrician is supposed to to be coming. I hope our electrical supply is sufficient from the hall into our flat for the new kitchen appliances. We're changing from a gas to a ceramic hob so that's a bit extra on the loading. Hmmm, you just know it won't be, right? Oh well.

Today the two chandeliers I bought for the kitchen and bedroom are due to arrive.

I need tea.

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