Dear Fatty – Dawn French Opens Up

I was very pleased when at Christmastime, as requested, my darling man gave me, Dawn French’s autobiography. The fact that it took me only two weeks to finish reading this marvelous book, despite having a seven month old occupying most of my time, should speak volumes for its inability to allow me to put it down! I only wish it could have lasted longer, because it was an eye opening account of a truly fascinating life. Written in the form of letters to friends, loved ones and others, French is able to convey the most personal of sentiments and make the reader feel that they have really been part of her life. Her natural wit oozes from the pages, as does her intense love for those close to her and her ability to see people for who they truly are. I felt throughout my magical two weeks a strong connection to her, and now am still baffled as to whether that connection was because she is my sort of person – someone who in different circumstances I could be friends with, sharing opinions on so many topics – or whether the connection was because she is a gifted writer in addition to her many other talents. I suspect it’s both.

Our Poison Of Choice

Sergei and I have a little obsession. DVDs. Think of it as a type of alternative investment. We tend to avoid “normal” television most of the time, and would certainly never consider forking out ridiculous amounts of money for Foxtel or a similarly ridiculously priced Pay TV option. We did succumb briefly, when we were offered the first month as a free trial, but the moment the contracts came out to extend the life of our 24-7 “televisual feast”, we told them where they could stick it. It wasn’t that great anyway, what with just as many, if not more ads, than normal television, and repeats galore. What we found the most ridiculous was that even if we did want to proceed with some sort of contract, we weren’t allowed to pick and choose the channels to which we wanted access. I’m not interested in this package or that package, because they’ve all been stacked to include a variety of things which frankly don’t all suit us. Therefore, we chose another option. Stick the Pay TV, we will forever after choose our favourite programs and purchase them on DVD – an option allowing us to access whatever we want, whenever we want thank you very much. No ifs, no buts, and certainly no time restrictions OR advertisements. Read More…

Christmas 2008

You’ve already got a pretty fair idea overall of Christmas 2008, particularly about the toy shop that is now our home. Yes, our little angel has been spoilt rotten, but it was her first Christmas so I think that’s entirely acceptable. Here’s a few (ok, 30) select shots from the day, and the general Christmas period. Trust me, limiting the photos to 30 was hard enough… plenty where they came from for another day… As always, your comments on my photos are more than welcome. Hope you like them! Read More…