Occulomency

I'm such a fanboy....

Of course I'll be in!

Do you think I'd go out when a new shiney thing is appearing?

Do you think I'm insane (rhetorical)?

In other news, come mid-August I'm off on the Eurostar!

Woohoo!

Good times.

Bedford Falls

I think we can call Christmas a success. We had Both Grandmas and Grandpa round for Christmas Dinner, and it went well with pretty good food and nice wine and really very nice prezzies.

Lets start with Alistair. He nice red trike, a strange, overly complicated Thomas the Tank Engine set which Boots sent us without us asking, and is quite mesmerising and a few other bits and bobs, cars, trucks and the like, all of which were very well received. Jools got a shed load of stuff, including an anamatronic Iggle Piggle, which Alistair loves almost as much as Jools does. Two very chripy kids all day (pretty much....)

For the Prof, she is now bound to me for eternity (and has the ring to prove it), a nice Georgian Doctor's box and a DS Lite amongst other bits, again all well received.

Me, well I received a haul of top-notch prezzies, the star being the return of Flossy, the return of a functional twin cylinder Mamod stationary engine, and a prezzie which is so cool, I'm not going to mention it until I've worked out all the things it can do.

A very nice day.

Happy 1st Birthday Jools.....

Today is daughter of mine's first birthday, as I'm sure the more astute of you will have already picked up from the title of this post.

She went to two mother and toddler group parties and had some cake and candles.

It was lovely. It really doesn't seem a year ago....

Presents? (In the Night Garden alert).

Upsy Daisy

Upsy Daisy here I come,
I'm the only upsy one!
I'm the only daisy too,
Ipsy Upsy Daisy Doo.

Similar to a rag doll. She has her own special bed, which can move around the garden. Her catchphrase is her name repeated over and over. Her hair stands on end when excited, and her skirt inflates to a tutu when she dances or pulls the ripcord on her waist. Upsy Daisy enjoys singing and has an orange megaphone on a stand.

I think Derek Jacobi is a new God.

But amid all this merriment, I have a submandibluar salivary gland calculus, which has caused my face to swell up like a pumpkin. No wonder I got so few trick or treaters last night. It is really very sore and I wish it would go away, I'm on big pain killers and antibiotics, so here's hoping.

Chthonic Saturdays

You know when you wake up early on a Saturday morning, and you ask your two year old what he want's do do and he says 'castle', well, we had a nice drive out to Castle Rising.

It's rather large and complete, with quite impressive earth-works (scene of an attempt to exhaust a dog called Arnold about 25 years ago). I confess it is all a bit smaller than I remember it.

The best thing about it though is it's history. It was the residence of Queen Isabella of France (known as the she-wolf of France) following her alledged involvement in the demise of Edward II, her husband.

Now Isabella was about 12 when she was married to Edward II, but Edward had a secret, although I use the word secret in it's 'every sod knows about it' sense. Edward, like his contemporary namesake, was a screaming homosexual. Although Isabella produced four children, the king was notorious for lavishing sexual attention on a succession of male favourites, including Hugh le Despenser the younger (which has to be the funniest gay name ever). 

Poor old Isabella was treated pretty shabbily by Edward.  She despised le Despenser, and in 1321, while pregnant with her youngest child, she begged Edward to banish Despenser from the kingdom. Despenser was exiled, but Edward recalled him later that year, and this act seems to have finally turned Isabella against him altogether.

Isabella's brother, King Charles IV of France, seized Edward's French lands in 1325, she returned to France, initially as a delegate of the King charged with negotiating a peace treaty between the two countries. However, she gathered an army to oppose Edward, in alliance with Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, who had become her lover.

The invasion by Isabella and Mortimer was successful: King Edward's few allies deserted him without a battle; the Despensers were killed, and Edward himself was captured and forced to abdicate in favour of his eldest son, Edward III of England. Since the young king was only fourteen when he was crowned on 1 February 1327, Isabella and Mortimer ruled as regents in his place.

Isabella and Mortimer plotted to murder Edward in such a way as not to draw blame on themselves, sending the message "Edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum est" which depending on where the comma was inserted could mean either "Do not be afraid to kill Edward; it is good" or "Do not kill Edward; it is good to fear". 

When Edward III became an adult he, and a few trusted companions, staged a coup on October 19, 1330 and had both Isabella and Mortimer taken prisoner. Mortimer was executed for treason one month later in November of 1330. Isabella lived out her years in some comfort at Castle Rising.

And Edward II? Well, according to Thomas Moore:

“ On the night of October 11 while lying in on a bed [the king] was suddenly seized and, while a great mattress... weighed him down and suffocated him, a plumber's iron, heated intensely hot, was introduced through a tube into his secret parts so that it burned the inner portions beyond the intestines. ”

It is also historical fact that no-one can imaging this with hearing Kenneth Williams voice in their head saying 'ooohhhhh..... Matron!'

Anyway, after finishing there we drove up to Hunstanton for fish and chips and a stroll along the beach.

It hasn't changed. There were so few people at the fun-fair that Alistair and I were the olny two people on the Dodgem's, which is a lot less fun than it sounds, and it went on for bloody ages, so long that Alsitair, who can get excted by anything, tried to leave the vehicle whilst it was still  in motion.

It was fun though.

The drive back took us over the Cross Keys bridge at Sutton, which I think is a marvel of Victorian engineering, but the Prof,as it fails to recreate the majesty of the Millau Viaduct,thought was underwhelming.

Sunday was good too, we went to the Playhouse to see Sean Lock. Funny bloke, although a bit hit and miss. One can see why he was the first comedian to be booed of the stage at Wembley Arena, although in fairness, as the support act to Newman & Baddiel, he was the first comedian to appear at Wembley Arena too. Shame the two facts were so startlingly contemporanious.

Ah well, better get back to work eh? Blogging during my lunch break, now that's dedication.

Gainfully Employed

I got the job with Aspyra. Quite please really, it's been a while since I had a proper job.

Yeah, I thought that was a bit odd too.......

Today I have an interview just south of London.

Lippmann, colour photography and the electrometer that made the ECG possible.

It's ten years today since the Princess of Hearts proved that Mercedes Benz safety measures aren't all they are cracked up to be. In Britain we got a crap fountain, in Paris, a speed camera.

I was at work in Casino at the moment Henri-Paul ran out of talent. Seems a lot further back in my life than that.

Pigs, Owls and Arses

Sniff Petrol makes me laugh.

Doctor and Mr Olivier should like it too.

G... G... G... G... Go!

Mike Reid, star of Runaround (a UK children's game show from the late '70s) has died.

A stalwart of the British comedy scene in the 70s, he migrated to Eastenders in the 80s and then to the Golf course which is , of course, the 70s comedians spiritual home.

He will be best remembered as the inspiration for the Viz Comic character 'Cockney Wanker'. He is survived by Danny Baker.

Doughal...

Fr. Doughal McGuire, our lovely black fluffy cat died yesterday. He's had kidney issues for years now, and he passed away peacefully at the cattery where the three of them were staying prior to their joining us in a few weeks.

We're obviously terribly sad about this, but it sounds as though he didn't suffer.

**sniff**

Get well soon Hamster

The BBC reports Richard Hammond is improving but remains seriously ill in hospital after he crashed a jet-powered car during filming for Top Gear.

 

What is it about this September and the famous? First Steve Irwin (and I'm not given to the sentimental, but Bindy Irwin's speach at his memorial was wonderful), then Peter Brock (who you Poms won't know, but beleive me he was a motor racing legend over here), and now the Hamster.

The fireman who got to the Vampire car first said "He was regaining consciousness at that point and said he had some lower back pain. But he was drifting in and out of consciousness a little bit."

I take it as good news that he was conscious when they got to him, and the recent reports, although lacking any form of detail, don't seem to be too bad. Hopefully he'll be back for series 10, and all his newly whitened teeth are unharmed.... Like I said, get well soon Hamster.