Ozfest

Okay, I know I posted ten photos and a video of Ozzy, just four posts ago, but I have this new one, and I just love it so much that I simply had to thrust it into the ether.



Gotta love the fluffy little fella!

:0)

In the night garden....(well, in the garden, at night)

Last night, we had a visitor in the garden of Pandah Palace. Young Ozzy discovered our new guest, and they were obviously having a good old chinwag cos we couldn't get him back inside! He then helped himself to what was left of Ozzy's dinner, before bidding us farewell and shuffling off to sit behind the hose reel.

I'd love to say we got a picture, but alas, we didn't, so this is the best I could do!



That's about as much news as I have I think? Ooh, though I do have another band rehearsal on Sunday, yay!

Which reminds me, I need to practice!!!

iP

A ha!

Hefty solved it, it's to do with tags. We downloaded Acorn - yay!

WALKTALK

Okay, so today I participated in something called WALKTALK.

When the London bombings happened, the last person to be pulled out was a lady called Gill Hicks, who lost both her legs in the attack, but still managed to walk down the aisle 6 months later. She really is an amazing woman, unbelievable, and I got involved because my friend Kimberley helped organise the event. The idea behind it is that Gill and her husband are going to walk from Leeds to London in a month, and people can join in along the way, but they must talk as well as walk. It's about people who would never normally meet or mix, just talking to each other as equals. Gill's philosophy is that there's too much of a 'Them' and 'Us' society these days, and perhaps if people communicated a bit better, there wouldn't be so much hatred and misunderstanding. The first part of the walk, which was launched today, ended up in a place called Beeston, and it's actually the place where the bomber came from. I'm not normally sentimental or anything like that, but I thought that was quite profound. I can't imagine being in a terrorist attack (and I hope I never am) or losing my legs, but then reaching out to the community that raised the guy, well I just couldn't do it. It was very poignant, and as I don't normally do anything like this, I actually felt quite proud to be involved. I know it's corny, but I did, so there. It's going on for the next month anyway, they'll be working their way down the country, which again, I mean, she's got prosthetic legs, I only walked 5 miles and I'm knackered!!! Here's the link to the website anyway if anyone's interested:

WALKTALK

When we reached Beeston, we had lunch, and then Colin Jackson appeared out of nowhere (just like the shopkeeper in Mr Benn), because he's been following the initiative on Sunday LIVE, a programme on BBC1 (think it's on at 10am tomorrow). I didn't speak to him, but I noticed he had some nasty tracksuit bottoms on. Still, that's not really important! See, I had a moment of compassion and now I've slipped back into my evil ways....
Anyway, we then let a load of balloons into the sky, which looked really cool! And then everyone went on to the next bit of the walk, where there was a picnic going on, but me and Kimbers headed off. It was really interesting though, and I did talk to loads of people who I would never talk to normally. I discovered how dull I was, as I didn't think that saying I was a Lady of Leisure would be a particularly good barrier-breaking conversation topic, so I just told people what I used to do, and let's face it, accounts isn't a talking point in any social situation! But it was still pretty cool, even if I am not!

Right, have to go, dinner has arrived!

Ciao for now peeps!

iP

I'm now recovering from doing the most exercise I've done all year, by having Chinese food and watching Dexter.

Photomographs

So, I thought it was about time I posted some more photos before I move onto the serious business of writing about what I've been up to.

Firstly, for the benefit of Tim, these are the best shots I could manage of Ozzy in his cat tent. They're naff quality (camera phones, tsk) but will have to do:





And here are some more gratuitous Ozzy shots.

These are a couple of shots of Ozzy assuming his favourite lying down position. I'd have to dislocate both my hips to achieve anything like this:




These are random pictures of cuteness, the pink bandage he got from the vets, and an arty shot involving a Habitat garden chair!






This is me having a bath, or rather, taking a photo of Ozzy whilst in the bath! He comes to have a nosey at what I'm up to, and then spends ten minutes just walking sideways along the bath (in this position), and squeaking because he can't get in!



And this is a video clip of him being clipped by the groomer. He waves at people as they go past, as if to say, "Help me, I don't like being clean!"



And this is something I saw today in Leeds City Centre - a place I don't frequent - a real-life proper Mini, glued (or possibly something stronger) to a billboard. Crazy!



I did have a rotated picture of it, but Blogger NEVER uses these versions, so my pictures always come out squiffy! Any ideas Tim? Surely you have to rotate pictures sometimes, it can't just be me?!!

Here's another one. I pulled into the Junction 27 retail park (a distinguished place) to go to Boots and Costa Coffee (the Starbucks is in Borders and has a separate and ridiculously small car park), and spotted this ostentatiously decorated Fiat Punto:



God how annoying!! ROTATE, ROTATE!!! Anyway, in case you can't see, it's a delightful bottle green shade, with neon pink stars all over it. My immediate thought was, 'This is the kind of random shit Tim would take a photo of, so I must do the same.' And as if by magic, a red Mini pulled up in the spot next to mine. A sign! He wasn't in it, but that's not the point!!!

So there you go. Random photos and ramblings. And as this is all very random, I feel now is as good a time as any to say that I'm watching Cadfael on ITV3 and Johnny Lee Miller's in it. Whatever happened to him?

Right. Now I shall move on to the blogging...

Nightmare

We had no Internet yesterday, ALL day, can you imagine?!!

Oh hell. BRB.

News and Reviews

Well it looks like my new blogging average is about once a month, impressive....not. Best make the best of it then!

I have now decided to split my posts up into sections under little headlines, so they're more flowing and readable, as opposed to the usual amount of incoherent nonsense. It'll still be slightly chaotic, I've decided to dispense with any kind of time-line of events, and just spout off what's gone on, in no particular order. So, it's probably going to end up like a text version of the camera work in Cloverfield, but with less nausea (maybe).

Dexter
Dexter has become my new obsession. It started off because I saw an advert for the TV show and liked the music. I didn't really pay any attention to what the programme was about, until one day, it was on, and Hefty said "It's supposed to be really good that series." Well, I immediately Googled and Wikipediaed it and decided that it was right up my street, having, as I do, an obsession with murder/crime/stuff like that, though not in an 'inspired to kill' kind of way. So, first port of call was to read the books, as I like to be a purist about these things. I ordered 'Darkly Dreaming Dexter' and, because we now have the totally awesome Amazon Prime thing going on, it arrived the next day. And I pretty much read it in a day. SOLD. I passed it on to Hefty who prefers reading O'Reilly books normally, or so it seems, and he also read it in a day. So, straight onto the DVD rental site went I, and managed to procure Disc 1 within about 3 days. When it arrived, although I should have waited for Heft, I sat and watched it all, and LOVED it. So, I went back on to Amazon Prime, ordered 'Dearly Devoted Dexter', and then went to Play USA to buy the complete series (cos it was £17.99 on there and 30 squids everywhere else). Brilliant! I've watched half of the series so far, twice, I sat through it again with Hefty, and I really do love it. Am halfway through the second book too and I also really like that. So I'm entertained out at the moment, which is nice, because as I'm waiting for new BSG to come on (even though I have a feeling I'll be sorely disappointed, maybe even horrified like I was with the ending of series 3) I currently don't have anything to watch. Hurrah.


Ozzy
On Sunday, Ozzy found and ate half a bunch of grapes, the little swine! Luckily, Hefty caught him in the act and we managed to get him in at the emergency vets. He was in overnight where they made him sick (didn't have to pump his stomach thankfully) and had him on a drip. Phew! In case you didn't know, grapes and raisins are extremely poisonous to dogs and cats, worse than chocolate, and they can die within a couple of days from renal failure if you don't act quickly. Scary! Apparently, not a lot of people know that (why am I suddenly thinking about Michael Caine?) so the vet was very pleased. I went to pick him up yesterday and he was sporting a neon pink bandage on his front leg, cos they'd run out of blue! He looked like an 80s dog, it was very cool. Anyway, he seemed okay when he got home, but today he's been very jumpy and squeaky, so I took him back to the vets (thank god for pet insurance). It would seem he's got a rash on the spot where they took blood samples from him, so we've got some cream! She reckoned he was also feeling sorry for himself because he's a moody dog, so I've left him to it. He's been in his little cat tent for most of the day, sleeping (or maybe plotting to take over the world Tim), and generally looking miserable. I feel bad, but he won't come out so there's not much I can do. Sigh.


Band
Had another band rehearsal last week, and I was initially a bit worried, because the male vocalist left cos he got a job in London, so that meant I suddenly became the lead singer! I wasn't nervous, it's really weird, and slightly corny, but it's just the best feeling in the world doing this, so I don't feel nervous, just excited. However, I was worried in case the rest of the band thought I was crap, cos I'd only done backing vocals so far. Luckily, it was a HUGE success!! I had learned all the songs, as you might expect, or so I thought. Apparently, none of the other singers in other bands they'd been in ever learned songs properly, they just half-heartedly attempted stuff. 1-0 to Pop Star Pandah. Also, I just sang really well, and everyone seemed really impressed, and told me I was awesome, which was even better! 2-0 to Pop Star Pandah. They could have been lying, but I really blasted out You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette (love it or hate it, it's a good song to sing if you're in a covers band), and when it finished, the lead guitarist and founder just laughed (in amazement, he explained), and said 'F*cking hell we need to do more songs like that." 3-0, game over. Yay!
They wanted to rehearse again on Friday, which I was well up for, but Hefty says Fridays are 'our night', and he doesn't want to sit in on his own. I was really disappointed, and am still a bit gutted, but I know what he means. However, I'm hoping that maybe the odd Friday, he won't mind, if I ask very nicely. It's the best night for everyone else which is just typical. Oh well. Sigh :0(


Film and TV
Today on iPlayer, I watched a programme that was on on BBC3 last night (I missed it obviously) called 'Sasha: Beauty Queen at 11'. It was very car crash, but one of the most entertaining things I've seen for ages. I'm sure it was callously edited, but that's not my fault, I can only judge what I saw. Basically, it was about this self-obsessed mother who'd wanted to be a model and failed, so decided to make her kids do it instead. Her main focus was her daughter Sasha, and it was actually really sad. This girl was talking about stuff, but she had no enthusiasm, there was no sparkle in her eyes, she was just empty, dead, talking about how she'd describe herself as 'Pretty, blonde, and dumb - I don't need brains.' She seemed to like some aspects of the stuff, but I think it was more to do with the attention she was getting from people, and not her Mum. Her Mum just pushed and pushed, threatened, belittled, god it was awful. I can only recommend that you get on iPlayer and watch it, because it's just unbelievable. Really sad, but thoroughly watchable, which probably means I'm sick in the head or something.
Have watched a few films recently too, and these are my thoughts:

No Country for Old Men - Cracking film, Spanish guy - well scary! WATCH!!!
Knocked Up - Would be better if the annoying, horrible, vapid, whiny women weren't in it, but as it's about a pregnancy, they have to be (well, one of them does).
Hallam Foe - Really interesting idea, likeable characters, bit sad, but I thought it was good, on a par with The Chumscrubber.
Superbad - Hilarious, I'm actually going to buy this, the 2 main characters were just brilliant. George Michael from Arrested Development is in it. Wickedgood!


Floors
We're currently having the floors I blogged about put down. Hooray! But that means I have to go, as Hefty's just got home.


Ciao for now.

Life etc.

I'm going to dispense with the usual apologies and reasons why I haven't written anything for ages. I'm ill and busy, that's as much as I can be bothered to say!

Kitchen is all done, just needs a lick of paint and some shelves, pictures etc. Shower taps are a revelation, I wish I'd had one five years ago when I first started washing up. Garden is also pretty much done, we just need some plants. I tried to take pictures, well, I DID take pictures, but Hefty must have turned my MacBook Bluetooth off so I can't connect with my phone. I don't know the admin password or any of that malarkey he set up when we got it, so I'll have to wait til he gets up to ask him. Bah!

We've ordered flooring now which is jolly exciting. We went for this product called Karndean, which is essentially vinyl tiling, but it comes in many different effects and thicknesses. For the kitchen we're going for a Limestone Tile in 'Jersey' from the Art Select range (I don't know what any of that means but it sounds impressive):



And for the lounge and dining room, although Hefty wanted real wood, I managed to convince him of the practicalities of Karndean, and how new puppy + real wood might not be a winning combination, so we're having American Oak from the Da Vinci range:



To say it's not real wood, it's really amazing, because it looks very realistic and feels pretty woody too! Hefty was surprised by it, and I think the quality spoke for itself, so we should have it in the next couple of weeks! We ordered some sofa's too, and did rather well as Heal's were having a 50% off sale, so we essentially got two for the price of one!! Yay! They should arrive in six to eight weeks, which is the longest we've ever had to wait for a sofa (or anything actually) but it'll be worth it:



I was worried we'd have a generic looking lounge; wood floors, leather sofas, but once we get the gold curtains and Roman blind (currently being made, I hope!) it should actually look pretty wicked.

In other news, a fox got into my sister's garden and made a beeline for the rabbits!! They've managed to up the security and so far so good (!), but now, the Biz is obsessed with foxes. If she hears a noise in the house it's "Is that the fox?" But perhaps the most hilarious thing, is that because she's never actually seen the fox, she thinks it's the one my sister pointed out to her on TV as an example. The fox from the Foxy Bingo adverts!!! So Biz thinks a fox in a purple suit is getting in the garden! Oh how we laughed!! :0)



Going to have to get Barkbusters back, as young Oswald is being a royal pain in the ass! He's reverted back to being a little punk, so I'm relieved we paid for the lifetime policy!!! His fluffy little ass needs a good whooping! >:0(

Need to take him out actually, before the storms come (where oh where is Summer?!), so I'll have to scoot.

Let the hayfever commence, atchoooo!