...and hears hoping that you all had a wonderful Christmas, be it quiet or party-filled!!
My Christmas was a quiet one with just one party at a neghbours house, but we dident stay long! My "Nigella" seasoned Turkey though was perfection!!! even if I do say so myself!! *blushes*...and Mum shocked the life out of me when she gave me a huge Clinique gift set that must have cost a fortune!!! She knows I only ever use Clinique and although it costs a bomb, it last ages and keeps my "monthly" spots at bay. Derek got me some "hot socks" which you actually microwave and they keep your feet warm for ages, and also a 3 disc set of Loreena McKennit which I adore, but my main present from him hasent even arrived yet!!! (Christmas and new year post I suppose) which is a Troika mask vase!!!...I have had fun in the sales too, which this year has been excellent for a change! Although my credit cards are quivvering with fright! LOL!!! Among the things I bought were a half price Sanctury Spa set from boots, half price Vivien Westwood perfume, 2 pairs of half price "Ecco" boots, a pair of diamond stud earings, and a crystal pendant to hang by my bed!...Its mums birthday in two weeks too so I have bought her some Bronnley body loation (she likes Bronnley because the Queen wears it!!! I am sure Mum is turning into Mrs Bucket!!...sorry, Bouquet!) and a Royal jelly gift, pamper set, which I know she loves, and I plan to take her for a birthday lunch at House of Fraiser!
In other news we had to take Sirius to the vets yesterday becuase he has an ear infection! I noticed it about a week ago as when I tickled him behind his ears he would yelp in pain, and everytime I cleaned his ears the smell was dreadful so I figured he had picked up some kind of infection! Anyway the vet examined him and gave us some drops for him which we have to use twice a day, and if it hasent cleared up in a week we should take another trip back to the vet to see whats realy wrong! I hate my poor baby being in pain!
Ok...new years resalutions.....??? LOL!!!
I have made 5, all privatly to myself...as usually if I mention my resalutions I normaly break them within a week so I now think its bad luck to talk about them........One of them though is to spent much less time on the internet, and to throw myself head long into antiques dealing! I will still post lots on my blog though and I am still on ebay, mySpace and facebook, but that will be all........
Hear are some piccies of my baby boy at Christmas!!
All my wishes to you all for a wonderful new year!!!!!!!!!!!!
lots of love
from Vicky xxx
With loads of best wishes and hugs and kisses and wot-not!! :-)) to Kate, Richard, Michael, Steve, Julie, Rich8, Ali, Colin, Donna, David KB, Louise, Nic, Anne-Marie, Toby, Jane E, Andrew, Bob, Emma, Gary, Linda B, Christopher, Liv, Debs, James, Glen, Katrina, Lucia, Alex, amd Jon!!! and anyone else who I know! Have a wonderfull time!! xxxxx
Well since about 6am this morning I have been chopping, slicing, seasoning and simmering so now I have decided to have a break and a cup of well deserved tea!!...I like to be well prepared and I am happy to say about 90% of my dinner prep is done!! I have even seasoned my Turkey crown (doing a Nigella!!) by pulling back the skin and pricking it all over and then rubbing butter into the breast with some lemon juice and a sprinkle of rosemary!! Should be nice, I hope!!...but I still have heaps to do before I can realy put my feet up and relax! Also Derek finishes work early today so I will have to get his dinner ready soon after which I am going to clean my kitchen from top to bottom, ready for tomorrow! My fridge is stuffed to bursting though and I am finding it very difficult to fit stuff in there. This evening Derek and I are off to a neighbours party which should be fun, but I am realy looking forward to my bath, Port and supper! and a reletivly early night as the roast will need to be cooked from about 8am!
Anyway!! here are some piccies of my home in this festive season!
Looks like a bleedin' fairy grotto to me!! LOL!!!
MY TREE!!!........compleate with obligatory Troika pottery!!
.......and I even decorated my Henry VIII tapestry!!
Have a wonderful time folks! and see you next week!!
What century is Pope Benedict the 16th, living in??
I find it absolutly unbelivable to hear that the Pope has said saving humanity from Homosexuality is as important as saving the enviroment!!! Did this chap just step out of the Doctors Tardis from the Dark Ages? and does he understnad just how horribley hurtful such a comment is to gay and transgendered people? Now I am not going to waffle on about theolgy or the Catholic faith, but I am wondering what a man in his position is doing saying such things!
I, myself am not gay or a Catholic, although I am married to a Catholic! Derek was embarraced to hear the Pontiff's comments, and I just listened in disbelif!! I find it scarey that there is just a tiny hint of naziism in these kind of comments...sorry if this upsets folks, but thats just what I am thinking. I consider myself a Christian (actually a Baptised Methodist) but a Christian, if albeit a non practicing one, and belive in the teachings of Jesus in that we should love our neighbour as ourselves and be tolerent in all things...The Pope's comments are non of these things! In fact they are dangerous, coming from a man who is head of one of the biggest faiths on the planet! and coming so near to Christmas too, that this is going to stay in peoples minds for a long time, I think. At this time of year, what ever our faith, we should be celebrating the exquisite patchwork that is the human race! Not condeming it!! Try to imagin living in a world where everyone was EXACTLY the same!!! How boring would that be??? As a traveller I have lived and breathed the wonderful diversity of this world! I would not be totally besotted with half of Asia if it was not so colourfull...just as life itself is colourfull and Homosexuality is a part of life in this world!! To me, what the Pope said is like saying "we have to protect the world from redheads!" (of which I am one!) which sounds absolutly stupid...a little anecdote for you!! During my time as a travel manager, a respected banker from Barclays, next door to my shop, called in one day and asked me for information on all gay holiday resorts, for him and his partner! He was whispering to me, and then said "Is this ok?" is what ok, I had asked not understanding him, but he felt embarraced to be asking about gay resorts, poor chap! No one should be embarraced by their sexuality!!! Anyway I set to work finding him a company called "Respect Holidays" (the have now ceased trading) got on the phone to them, sorted my commision levels and hey Presto!! A Happy client, booked on a wonderful holiday! He came back to me time and time again, which I was very pleased about because he spent an absolute fortune, and whats more he recommeneded my humble travel shop to all his gay friends, to such an extent myself and my staff became gay specialists!!! On a different level another anecdote!!! A lady came to my shop one day and asked about flights to Etheopia. With a few taps on my keyboard I had a whole list of flights to Addis Abba and pointed them out to her! She looked at me in disbelife and said "You know the airports of Etheopia???" hehehehe well I just smiled but inside I was thinking "ofcourse I know!!! I am a bloody travel agent!!!"
Opppssss....I have gone off on a travel tanget again!!!....sorry!!
Anyway, basicaly I was discusted by the Pope's comments!!
They are damaging and upsetting, and soooooooooo not in touch with the real world!!!
Whether we are gay or strait we should love and celebrate just being who we are, and respect each other, always!
I promise my next entry will be more cheerfull!
I just got very annoyed by the Pope today!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!
.......well I dont like hum bugs...but I do like Chocolate Eclaires!!
Ok........MOAN TIME!!!!
Mum!!!
God Bless her little Olbas Oil covered hanky!!!...Decided it would be great fun to drag me around town today on a last minuite shopping trip which included, Primark, the Pound shop, TK Max (I actually enjoyed that one because I got some nice Ecco boots) Wilkinsons, Debhanams, and Beatties!! PHEW!!!! She might be 75 but she can out shop me anyday!! Now I absolutly detest crowds so during a phone call early this morning I suggested we meet up at 9am at Primark, but Mum said no becuase she can't use her bus pass untill 10am, so she would have to pay, so I agreed to 10am. With it being just a few days away from Christmas the town centre soon got packed out with chav's, kids, prams, mobility scooters, and genrally all the pushing and shoving and barging about that ususaly goes on when town is at its busy, but this was madness!! Two of my bigest "room 101's" are HUGE prams and mobillity scooters! Supermarket trollies fall into this catogory for me too! For all 3 I belive folks should have to take a driving test!!!!! Honestly!! & Piped Chirstmas music in every shop grates my nerves too!! Yes!!! We all know its Christmas but do we realy have to listen to the same "best of" Chirstmas album over and over again in every shop we go in? Its not a bit of wonder that folks like me of a certain age realy do go all bah humbug this time of year! Also how the heck has Woolworths managed to clear their shelves so quickly when their so called "sale" was nothing more than a 10 % off if your lucky, debarcle! ...I went in our Woolies today and there was almost nothing on the shelves!! BUT they were still selling the Dr Who Micro Universe packs for £9.99!! I must admit though, that was all they had left!......AND Northampton dosent even have a real Christmas tree this year!! Instead we have somthing that resembles a giant green traffic cone with things stuck on it! Surely our council is not so hard up that they can't even aford a real tree?.....AND while I am having a moan, Derek commented on the fact that this is the 3 rd year we have not had a card from his Auntie Annie in Donegal, Ireland...He mentioned it as he went through today's post this evening after he came home from work, and stood counting on his fingers just how many years since we last had a card from her. Now the lack of a card is a very long story but to cut it short Auntie Annie (Derek's Mums sister) who was always very regular with her Chirstmas cards, stopped sending us one, abruptly, after Auntie Kitty died and left Derek a "substantial" chunk of her money in her will!!! Since this happened we have not heard anything from Dereks realitives who live in Ireland, but this is just plain simple jealousy! In reality it was Derek and I who cared for Auntie Kitty in her final years and even when she eventually went into a home because she had altzimers (like my Nanna) we always visted her every week and basicaly Derek was her only living relative who gave a hoot about her! Since her death Derek and I have been compleatly cut off from his Mums family becuase of the will...Now the lack of a Chirstmas card is realy sad!! But for some people the true spirit of Chistmas is over-ridden by jealousy, hate and lack of forgiveness! and what make it even more sad, is that these people freely call themselves "Christians"...???.....emmmm...I think not...
Now with all this off my chest, I should feel better....well I promise I will after a hot bath and some Port.........
.....And I just had a parcel arrive from Egypt!
Its tablets for my nerves!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of Troika that is as I have just listed my first peice for sale on ebay!
Its a nice, classic piece, coffin vase designed by Alison Brigden who was one of Troika's top artists in the late 1970's...Now the question is "will I make any money on it?" To be honest I choose this piece because it was my cheapest piece to date coming to mummy (me) for the princley sum of £85!! I have been busy listing other things too like some Dr Who videos, a 7 cassete lot of William Hartnell with a free gift and I had take piccies of other things I was going to list untill I realised that, listing things today means a finish day on Christmas Day!!!!!!!!! Arrrghhhhhhhh!!!! so I stopped listing for now as I dont think for two minuits folks will be looking for stuff on ebay on Christmas Day!! OMG I am dumb somtimes!!
*slaps head*
I have also listed my treasured collection Henry's six wives by Regency Fine Arts! Now this set orignally cost almost £500 about 10 years ago and its condition is pristine so I have started them at £69 with a "buy it now" for £250...I just hope the people that might bid on these dolls realises how valuable they are. What ever (if any) money I make on them will be going toward a Troika face mask which is the rarest of the rare! One sold yesterday for only £715, when at auction it could have fetched double that! Sadly I cna't aford that kind of money at the moment but I am working on it!!
Ever since I was a child I have not been a good sleeper...but I have always slept better with some form of furry friend on the bed, or other. So since we got Sirius I have always allowed him to sleep on the bed (which at first Derek thought was odd but soon got used to it.) Now firstly let me explain about my bed. Its a super-king size which means its about 7 foot wide (getting dovet covers for it is a pain in the arse so I make them!) Now surley this size of bed would fit two adults and a huge daft Briard cross?? But no!! Sirius has a habit of stretching out lengthways between me and Derek and fully stretched out he is about 5 foot long!!...Last night I woke to about 3 inches of bed to move on at about 4am. This had woke Derek up too, neither of us had any room and my lovely doggie was lying fully stretched out with his huge paws in the air, blissfully snoring! anyway I took hold of his front paws and tried to move him to a better position only to recieve a deep growl "Oi!! you can pack that in!" I told him and tried to move him further...the next thing I knew was he went for me, nastily, and bit my hand!!!....Sirius has never bitten me before! so at first I was quite shocked and tapped him on the nose and said "Naughty!!!" but I think Sirius is getting a bit two bossy for his huge furry paws! So pulling back the covers I got up and pulled him off the bed, onto the landing and shut the door!!!! He knew he had done wrong and I dident hear another peep out of him....recently Sirius has got very bossy for some reason and I think its becuase he is so used to getting his own way. If he wants somthing he will "paw" you and whine and bark untill he gets his way, so drinking tea and having a buscuit is vertually impossible to do in peace! If he is in the car with me and Derek and he decideds he wants to sit on my knee so he can stick his head throught the window, he will whine and bark from the back seat untill I let him! Now imagin a 30kg dog on your lap in a small car!!! Its not a nice expierence! So basically last night I just snapped with his "I will get my own way" attitude, just to remind him that his is NOT the boss!!...Anyway this morning he has been very quiet and subdued so I am hoping he has learned his lesson.
In other news, my "stolen" photos on iXtractor have now been removed, thank goodness! I had a curt email from them this morning saying so, so at least thats a bit of good news. Mum came for dinner yesterday and brouht us another home made Victoria Spong and some of her bread, which I was very pleased with. But Derek has not been well for a few days now and yesterday I found out exactly whats wrong with him. Yesterday when we got up he looked like the Elephant mans twin, becuase all the right side of his cheek was dreadfully swollen and he admitted he has a nasty tooth absess! Its quite normal when Derek is ill that he wont talk about it, and he haden't talked to me about this lastest illness. He just skulked around the house all weekend, moaning and growning, and he has even said he wont go to the Doctors or Dentist to get some antibiotics saying it would cost a fortune! Rubbish!!! He is just being a typical bloke who is ill!!! in other words a pain in the arse!! LOL!!!!!!!! the only thing Derek is realy suffering from is "Grumpy old git syndrome"
Off to twon later for some solitary peace and shopping! x
You know, at times in our lives we feel we have a great problam or a burden to carry, and you feel like your the only person in the world who has to go through it............?...........Well I have this problam every Saturday evening with "Strictly come dancing" on TV!!
Am I realy the only person in the UK who absolutly hates this rubbish with a vengence??????
What makes it worse is that Derek is an absolute fanatic for the programme, hosted by the "past his sell by date" Bruce Forsyth!! He will slob out on the couch in front of the telly every Saturday evening with his note book and pen, giving the contestants his own marks to see if they match the judges!! Mum loves it two so when the two of them get together the conversation is always "Ooooo such a shame watsit was voted off Strictly".........
I could SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND TONIGHT THERE IS A DOUBLE HELPING!!!!!!!!
Well my usual tac tic is to have a long bath when this crap is on....but tonight it seems I will be a wrinkled prune!!! What the heck is it all about anyway? As someone who actually attended ballroom dance classes as a child, I watch the dances they perform with horrified wonder and think "that is not how you dance the jive, Cha char, Tango, quick-step ect" and what the hell is "American Smooth"?? Well my ansewer is: its a dance made up because the contestants can't be bothered to learn proper ballroom dancing! *ahem* ......and my other gripe is why this programme which is an insult to any serious dancer, is always mentioned on the BBC news of a morning? Every single morning at some point, "Strictly" will be mentioned, and you would think with all that is going on in the world, surley something is more news worthy!
Ok...gripe over with...but tonight I will be taking some extra things into the bathroom with me...my portable DVD player, so I can watch a jolly good horror film while wrinkling in the bath, my port, and some nibbles, and said bath will be done by candlelight (and to give the film more ambience) ANYTHING to avoid this "Strictly Rubbish" on TV!!!
.........So your all going to shout at me now, because I hate this programme!! LOL!!!
Shockingly I have just found that some one has uploaded photos of me and Derek to a site called iXtractor which is bascialy a search for porn pictures site!!!!!! Why in Heavens name would anyone want to do this is totaly beyond me!!! and its upset me deeply...I sent them this message:
Dear iXtractor,
I dont know who has uploaded them, or why my photos are on here from photobucket, and I am not happy as I have not given my permission for them to be used here or anywhere else.
Could you please remove the photos uploaded form photobucket account:
vixtravels2
iXtracted by: lilcasino
I would realy appriecate your help in this matter.
best regards
Vicky Short
My Photobucket is set to PRIVATE for a reason and I want it to stay private!
Also I am not the only "victim" of this, as a quick internet search revealed! Many young ladies have had their photo's stolen in this manner, and what a horrible thing to happen too!!!...Now this got me thinking, have I upset someone? and this is their revenge (although I can't think for the life of me who I have upset) or more sinister, have I somehow picked up an internet stalker?? I even thought my git of an ex husband might have done this but I dont even think he would stoop so low!...Incedently my MySpace profile has been hit A LOT from exactly the same area in London (Lamberth Palace Road) and I have blogged on there asking this person who is soooooooo interested in my profile, to come and introduce themselves, but the coward has not...I have now taken my map of the page as it was freaking me out!!
I suppose this is just yet another reminder of just how dangerous the internet can be!!
Also I have just told Derek about this and he is fuming!!
He says if the photo's dont get removed he will be seeking legal advice, becuase there is a photo of him on there as well as me as a 14 year old!
Be careful folks!! I would hate to see any of my friends photos being used in this dispicable manner!
Remember!! the perves ARE out there!
I am ashamed to admit it but my Christmas organisation started in September when I got my Turkey crown off the "cheapie" shelf in Morrisons. Its was a huge crown (just the breast) that was £5 off so I bagged a bargin and its been sitting in the bottom of my freezer since!
This year I have decided to do everything early so there is no last minuite panic (I usually leave stuff untill the last minuite) and because money is a little tighter this year...so I have been watching the cheapie shelf carefully and later bagged some roast potatos in Goose fat, some "the best" baby parsnips in honey glaze, and a packet of "the best" Potato Croquetts with Carephilly cheese!!! so practially all my Christmas dinner comes via the Cheapie shelf. As for my shopping and decorations, well thats done too!! So am I sitting back on my laurals and grinning like a Cheshire cat????....NO!!! as I am still in the process of doing lots of Winter cleaning...also I don't know if Dereks Auntie Joan will be joining us for Christmas dinner yet? She is a lovely lady who will be otherwise at home on her own this year so I have asked Derek to invite her, but I am thinking she might not accept. A: because I am a smoker and B: she hates Sirius!...I will happily go upstairs to have a ciggy and not smoke near her...(I dont smoke in the presence of non smokers anyway) but its trying to convice her. Derek will have to let me know soon though as I still have to plan ahead!
Anyway, I have made this TO DO LIST for Christmas Eve, as I nearly always forget somthing!
Here it is!!!
Finish tidying the house
Set the dinning table
Set the dining sideboard
Make up Brussels sprouts with bacon and a shallot. Rap and put in fridge.
Make up "Pigs in blankets" wrap and put in fridge.
Peel and slice Carrots
Peel and dice potatos
Make up sliced onion in vinager (its an "up-north" thing)
Make up stuffing and bread sauce, wrap and put in fridge.
Put defrosted Turkey crown in my roaster on a bed of veg and add a pint of water and a pint of white wine.
..........Un cork and drink copius ammounts of Warre's Port with feet up while eating stilton cheese and grapes!
The last entry is not an option! LOL!!!!!!!!
Standing the Turkey on a bed of veg in the roaster with the two pints of wine and water mix, is a little tip I picked up from Ivy, my chef at the Rifle Butt (first pub I managed)...Its simply cooks the Turkey more evenly and the water and wine evaporate to keep the Turkey moist! Also I have been expiermenting with sprouts for a long time now as I dont realy like them and cooking them with diced bacon and a shallot, even makes the sourest of sprouts more pallatable!! (slow cooked and left to chill over night)...The sliced onions in vinegar is a strictly up-North thing that I have been brought up with and apparently anyone south of Birmingham has never heard of!! Derek thinks its revolting but Mum and I still enjoy this simple accompanyment to any roast!...oh and while I am at it, here is my Last Minuite Shopping List!!!!!!!!!
HERE!!!!
Hairy Carrots (Carrots with the stalks on as they are sweeter)
Sprouts
Potatos
Christmas Pud
Brandy sauce
Fresh cream
Pate
Bread
Galic butter
Ordinary butter
Yule log
1 lemon
Smoked Salmon
1 cucumber
Bunch red grapes
Beers for Derek
1 bottle of Sherry
2 bottles of Port (one white one pink)
1 bottle of Advocart
Dandelion and Burdock and Cream Soda
Fruit juice, soda and tonic
Chocolate liqures
Some of this is most of the obscure stuff I forget usually half way through Christmas day, when everywhere is closed!! Also my drinks list is a bit skinny I know but Mum and Derek don't realy drink, although Derek likes his bottles of real ale or Cider and Mum likes a "Snowball" hence the Advacart. Port is for me (obviously) with the white port for Christmas day and the pink port for Boxing day!
Ok...now for the real reason why I blogged this!
I am so forgetfull I may even loose the lists I have made so my blog can be my emergency refrence! LOL!!
My hotmail adress has been down today from about 7am this morning!
Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
so if anyone wants to contact me, please feel free to do it here if possible!
Remember I am on FaceBook as well as MySpace too!
Where will it end?
I tell you where it will end...it will end with tobacco being made compleatly illeagal!
Tobacco products are to be sold "under the counter" when tobacco displays will be outlawed later today, by our nanny state govenment! Now is this going to stop well seasoned smokers like myself going into shops and buying ciggies? The answer is NO! The anti-smokers lobby's answer to all smokers is ban this and ban that without helping those who seriously want to pack up, and hindering those of us who enjoy tobacco. All the smoking ban has actually done is put thousands of publicans out of business and the anti smoking lobby is now set to wage war on the local corner shop too!!! I think about this in disbelif when we are a country on the knife edge of deep recession! I watched the news with mouth agape as a fat woman (who looks like she is on the brink of a heart attack through overeating) from the British Heart Foundation, as she spoke about the "Razamataz!" of tobacco displays!! What razamataz????? its just small boxes of tobacco on a shelf!!! LOL!!!! there are no adverts, no promotions, no nothing! Just boxes on a shelf! Her argument for banning displays was so laughable it was almost comic! Simon Clarke from FOREST (smokers rights) who is himself a non smoker, who was debating this issue with her, looked totally bemused by her daft, unthought of, comments!! My advice to her is go on a diet and stop stuffing your mouth with cream cakes, and actually think carefully about what your debating. She just made herslef look silly.
Has out Govenment actually got nothing better to do???
What about knife crime, yobbos with ASBOS, speeding drunk drivers, benifit cheats, child protection, immigration, under age drinking.............and the list just goes on and on, as yet again the taxpayers money is being wasted by daft legislation like banning tobacco displays. As far as I know a tobacco display never murdered anyone!
*lights ciggie*
*is fuming!!*
About 6 years ago now, I was watching some kind of "Tomorrows World" type kids programe that featured this new sound tech from the States!!
I have been fascinated in this ever since!
But what are the true implications of HSS??
In the past few years I have been keeping a close eye on this developing science and on the surface it seems superb!!! (a bit like an internet scam) Just think!!...sounds beamed directly at you that only you can hear so no more arguing in the car about who listens to what on the stereo!! You get to listen to your own music in your own private space and no one else can hear it unless they walk into the sound "beam"......
This short video shows you just how HSS works!
Unlike conventional loud speakers, in HSS, the sound is directed along a beam at a high frequency, as a result the sound is crystal clear and "IN YOUR HEAD" quite literally as you become the actual speaker!!...Now lets scratch that nice surface of listening to your own music, privatly...Already HSS is being used in Tokyo by Coca Cola to beam a plink plink fizz noise into the heads of unsuspecting passers by to make them buy a coke!! and the same application is being used at Disney World in Florida too...even darker!! the Military is also experimenting with HSS to engage the enemy in the field as at extream frequencies it could actually fry your brian and kill you!!! Also how about weirdo stalkers who get their hand on this? They could beam whispered messages into the heads of their victims and drive them mad!!!...I have to be honest here! the applications for this new HSS could be, at best sinister and at worst deadly!!! Do we, as the Human race, already driven to distraction with advertising, realy need to have this IN OUR HEADS!!! This is surely the worst thing thats ever been invented and science gone mad. And unless the use of HSS is tightly controled it could quite possibley drive the whole world population insane !
Suddenly George Orwells 1984 world sounds nice!!
Already hear in Northampton town centre we have loudspeaker announcements every 15 minuits warning smokers not to throw their discarded cig butts on the ground on pain of a £75 and "you will be caught on camera" threats........What about all the filthy, germ-ridden chewing gum that is spat onto our pavements by the million everyday???????????????
Food for thought methinks!!!
Ok, I am off to clean out my fantail Goldfish!!
see ya soon! x
Now Opera isent everyones cup of tea, but I was hooked when my Uncle took me to see HMS Pinafore when I was just 10! (at least it dident scare me like Jaw did when my Dad too me to see it the same year!) I loved the singing and the costumes, and for a 10 year old who was addicted to bight colours it was a real treat!...Now a while back I heard that my favorite Opera of all time, Mozart's "The Magic Flute" was being made into a movie, and yesterday I finally watched it!!
Firstly, let me explain somthing of the story and the bacground of this fantastic opera, for the benifit of the uninittiated!
Written in 1791 just before his death, Mozart had a wacky, wild and fantastic libretto to work on which was wrote by his good friend Emanuel Schikaneder...a bit like how I view horror movies as total escapasim, Emanuel Schikaneder's story is totaly fantasy with weird Masonic undertones (both Mozart and Schikaneder were Masons as was my Uncle Bob!) and is the age old story of a battle between goon and evil, which is almost the same as the Ramayana story. It involves the young princess Pamina being in the clutches of Sarastro, and the Queen of the Night begs Prince Tamino, who has fallen in love with Pamina's portrait, to free her!! My favorite character in Papageno, the bird catcher who is Tamino's friend, but he is a very funny, strange but lovable character. Incedently the amazingly beautiful "Aria of the Queen of the Night" was one piece I actually learned to sing in music lessons at school!!! Unbelivably it contains a VERY high F note which I could sing with ease back then, but I couldent do it now!! I was singing along to it while I watched yesterday and could only manage a strangled screech!! LOL!!!! Anyway I have had the privledge of seeing the Magic Flute staged about 4 times now and next time its staged in Northampton I must admit I will be there again! Originally written in German, it is nearly always performed in German too, but today English subtitals are displayed, discreatly on a screen next to the stage so you can follow the story. But with the Magic Flute its not that difficult realy....Now I come to the best bit...How on earth would this fantastic Opera be transfered to a movie???? I must admit I watched the first bit with trepidation as the opening scenes take the viewer back to World War one...for some reason Branagher set this in the trenches, but I must admit it works well...The Opera is sung in English too so no need for subtitals!! and has a feel of being on a journey to Oz with Dorothy, if I am honest! We even have a surreal bit with singing sandbags of all things! But as this film went on I found myself actually glued to my TV screen and this movie is so beautifully filmed, it realy does take you into Emanuel Schikaneder's weird world ( I am convinced the guy was on drugs when he wrote this! LOL) But I found myself falling in love with Papageno all over again as well as thinking what a superb introduction to opera this could be for a younger generation, while also thinking how on earch did they manage to squeeze an Opera which lasts nearly 4 hours, into just over two?? But it works so very well, and I well recommend every one gives this movie a go, even if its just once! Now I am waiting with baited breath to see if they will transform my other favorite opera "Don Giovanni" into a movie! This one too is written by Mozart and is a dark, shivvery, ghost story...but that for another blog...
As previously mentioned, The Magic Flute has undertones rooted firmly in Free Masonry, of which I have had a life long interest which was, like my love of Opera, fired by delightful Uncle Bob (Robert Lord) since I was about 5!! He was a Grand Master of the Warrington lodge untill his death in 1994. But from being a toddler he would entrance me with Masonic stories about King Solomans mines and the Great Architect who created the world (this being is non religous) as well as showing me all his Masonic regalia along with his beautiful apron embrodered with gold thread!! I was even packed off to ballroom dance classes aged 13 so I could attend Masonic Ladies evenings (yes!! there is such a thing oddly enough) with my Auntie Dot, where my uncle would proudly introduce me too his fellow Masons! But crikey if half of them knew anything about what he had taught me about Masonic ritual they would have heartily booted him out!!! LOL!!! But I found it all very fascinating and I still enjoy learning about Free Masonry today. I suppose it fascinates me because its non religeous. So The Great Architect can be seen as God or any other religious daiety so relay it brings men together from all religious backgrounds.........I just love the Masonic concept of truth and tolerence and taking good people and making them better people!
x
Below is a trailer for this enchanting movie! Hope you enjoy!!
No shock there realy, as I suspected for a long time that this woman was involved in her daughters own abduction...But how can a mother be so evil!??? I can't understand it!...with all the horrible child cruelty cases we hear almost daily, I question "What is wrong with these peoples minds!" As they must certainly be sick to do this to their own kids...Reading Karen Matthews story is a shocking one as she is only 33 but IMHO looks about 73. Has 7 kiddies by 5 different fathers, and gave the performance of a connsumate actress while her daughter was missing!! She is now reportedly cowering in her single cell with the TV on 15 hours a day trying her best to ignore threats from other inmates who have put a 10 cigarette price on her head!! As a smoker I would have said one cigarette will do!...years ago my step dad, Eddie Baguley who was a drunk and a commen theif, spent quite a bit of time in and out of jail, and he used to tell me and mum about how inmates will give convicted child molesters/murders HELL!..Well I hope fellow inmates of Karen Matthews give her hell too, becuase she deserves to rot there!!
Speaking as a woman of 41 who adores children, but sadly will probabally not have my own now, I simply cannot understand the actions of this evil tart!! I have always wanted children but it just never happened, and now time has almost run out and at this stage I could not even get NHS help! So I find it so annoying that a woman like this could have kids at all, when I cannot, and could give a child all the love education and protection in the world!!! It realy breaks my heart!! This overly-ugly CHAV should be locked up for life at least!...and dont get me started on the McCanns!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! they should be locked up too for blatent neglect, but they are not methinks, because they are Doctors, and afterall "money talks"!! What kind of mother could leave her toddler children, alone while they went drinking with friends??? Certainly not a caring mother!! If I had, had kids I would have never left them out of my sight for a second!, let alone to go out drinking, which to me would have been unthinkable!!! Why dident they ask the babysitting service at the apartments? of which I know there is one because I have sold this place to many a happy family and they pride themselves on their childcare services...whatever the McCanns say, there is absolutly NO EXCUSE for their thoughtless neglect! and it should be punished!! Children are a gift, not a comodity! not to be just pushed aside like a neglected toy on Boxing Day! I would not even treat my dog Sirius like this, let alone a child!
Ok, rant over with....
But can I just say there has been a lot of internet waffle on about just how ugly Karen Matthews is....well lets just say I would happily re-arrange her face for free!!!!!!! because she needs it, desparetly!
At least Shannon is now safe from this evil cow! all my wishes are with this little girl who did not deserve to have a horrible, evil mother like this!
Good Holy person on a bike!!!
When will these scammers just F.........GO AWAY!!!
This morning I recieved just such a scam message form some guy in Africa posing as "Steve" saying my photo had been selected by beautylinks london for a billboard advertising coca cola at Heathrow airport!! ROFLMAO!!!!
Basically this scam works by them asking you first to email them privatly and not on myspace, and them they email you a fake cheque for say $3,000 of which you keep 20% and then you transfere the rest of the money back to them via Western Union!!...it also works by praying on peoples ego's!!...Fortunatly I dont have an ego! I have no reason to have one...but what if this half convincing scam message was sent to some 15 year old would be starlet? They would almost certainly be taken in!
Sorry but I have no other words to describe these scammers but EVIL BASTARDS!!
Anyway, I am a wise in the ways of the world, old bird and spotted it as a scam immiediatly and marked it as spam on myspace. Doing this stops the email they have given being used to pray on other people on myspace. But they operate on other networking sites such as facebook (which I hardly use as its too complicated and I think all that super poke thing is just a bit childish) and Bebo and probabally other places too! One way to spot a scam though is too look at the spelling and grammer which will usually be dreadful (a bit like mine! LOL) and they will often try to cover this up by using internet abbrievations such as U (for you) Remember for the scammers, English is their second language! and secondly the "realistic" content! like why on earth would coca cola want to use a pic of a 41 year old woman with spots and middle age spread!??? its so bad its almost laughable! But no, I shouldent laugh because there are thousands of young boy or girl starletts out there who would be very vulnerable to this kind of thing, so I thought I had better blog it so other young people could be aware that these are evil people out there who are praying on your dreams and ambitions...........
In other news Mum hacked me off yesterday by dragging me into town under false pretences saying she had shopping to do, which I thought well I better go and help her out with it...Anyway, when I got to the bus station she had already done her shopping and her pull along trolly was stuffed full to the brim and weighed a ton!! "So where do you want to go then?" I had asked a bit bemused "Whereever!" she replied, unhelpfully. So we just ended up having lunch and I took her to TK Max where I ended up pulling her megga heavy trolly for her and almost pulled my arm out of the socket!...AND I have to go back to town today as I have a forgotton parcel to post, and I have to take a DVD back to HMV (which I bought yesterday) as the assistant had not removed the red "box tag". These box tags are horrible!!! and can only be removed by a magnetic gun thingy!! The red plastic thing goes right across the CD inside the box, so if you try to remove it yourself you will damage the disc so badly it will be unplayable!!...well I aint going anywhere yet as the weather is blowing a veritable storm outside (no snow though) but its set to clear by lunchtime so I will go back to town then!
Apart from the snowdrift I walked out into at 9am this morning!!
Crikey its cold!!
Last night I was sat in my Star Trek chair watching David Starkey's "Monarchy" season 2...wrapped in two blankets, wearing two pairs of socks and cuddling a hot water bottle!! My Port warmed me up though so I was greatfull for that! This morning I had a one off parcell to post so after being awake since 6am I decided to go into town for an hour or two. Because its so cold though I dident phone mum to ask her if she wanted to go! It was too early anyway.
Snow was drifting down Abington street, manically at one point, as I went to put a cheque in the bank, and had a fruitless search around Woolies. It soon stopped however, and dident stick, but apparently there is more to come later this week...Brrrrrrrrrr!!!! Anyway I decided to take a trott around Primark, where they have now got this "VAT off prices" thing at the moment, so taking advantage of this I got some pyjamas, 2 pairs of leggins and some socks. The checkout was very busy, and staff were complaining how cold it was as the store heating had broke down. Now by the time I got to the checkout, I was served by a very chatty middle aged woman who promptly sneezed 3 times over my purchases!! I am no snob but I was horrified by this, as she had just sneezed into her hand and had not even truned away, while using her hands to wrap my things! I was horrified because I realy do pick up every single bug that is going about...so when I got home all my new clothes went straight in my washing machine for a jolly good wash! But the rest of my trip to town was pleasent despite this and I even had breakfast while I was there with a hot tea which realy warmed me up...Now today I realised that while an alarming number of shops have closed in the town centre, I discovered 3 new shops today! Gadget type, tacky Christmas present type shops! There was one on the market square and another 2 in the Grosvenor Centre, but somthing quite delightful caught my eye in the 3rd shop!....On a shelf with lots of novelty lighting type thingys was this little virtual volcano, a tiny wee thing, bright red lighted, continuiusly erupting red bubbles! I was quite enchanted!!! Anyway I looked benith the shelf for the boxes of things to buy one and they were no where to be seen, there was just this little volcano lamp sat on the shelf! I asked at the desk and the man and woman started saying how well they had sold...so well it turned out to be the last one in the shop! The man went into the back to see if he could find the box for the display model and came back empty handed! Now here I started using my haggling skills I had picked up in Asia and asked it it would be discounted. The woman was umming and ahhing, so I made like to look I was going to leave. Now the proper price for this little lamp was £7.99 but when she saw I was going to leave the shop she hastily offered me £3.99 to which I agreed, avidly!! Bargining always works but its knowing how to do it, and when your not getting anywhere, make like your going to leave without buying anything, and the price magically drops!! Well it works well in Asia and it was certianly working well for me today...so I bagged my little unusual bargin and made my way to the bus station to come home as I had left Sirius long enough...I was greeted (as usual) with fiercley wagging tail and a huge very exctied doggie, who was chuffed to bits when I gave him the beef jerkey I had bought him in town!
Hope everyone stays warm in this freezing cold weather!
Bagging a bargin certianly warmed me up today! x
About me!!..........
Barm pot, and Tudor history obsessive! Travel addict who has authored articles for Lonely Planet travel guides, namely Everest Base camp trek, and has written for the Travel Trade Gazette! Dr Who manic weirdo, widely outspoken!! Expert Port artist and perfected in the arts of sprouting crap and making strange observations! Passionate lover of horror movies and science fiction. Freemason and proud of it! Loves all the arts and sciences and all things Masonic! Often has difficulty in making sense due to huge amounts of said Port! Enjoys cooking! Is an active member of PETA and IFAW and campaigner for animal rights. Collector of odd looking Troika pottery. Owned by a huge furry French Sheep dog called Sirius and bonded in matrimony to quiet, non drinking university educated, hippy backpacker and banker, Derek F. Harrison! has no sprogletts! and is now a lounging, lush lady of leisure!!
