Turn your lights on!

Driving in the country is different from in a city or town, I'm discovering. It's a different sort of driving really, far less '30' zones as there are fewer residential areas. And lots of use of pretty fast windy country roads - which is the principal reason that I have been so annoyed of late with other drivers.

We are well into the winter season now, and light levels are far lower as the hours of daylight decrease. We're also experiencing fog and rain a whole lot more - but people just aren't turning on their headlights! I can't believe that it's not an unconscious thing that any driver does when the light level dips, or if it's foggy and visibility is impaired at all. Especially whilst using country roads at high speeds.

It does seem somewhat impossible for many boy racers round here to chill and perhaps not break speed limits quite so often, but they could at least put their lights on.

Moan over.

Shaken and Stirred

My Dad had an awesome idea - he and mum would babysit so that Robin and I, along with Heidi & Mark coud go and see the new Bond movie, Casino Royale. Not wishing to pass on such a fabulous offer, tickets were booked and all was arranged for last Saturday.

Like many people who have been brought up with the Bond Genre it was with mixed feelings that we took our seats - what would we make of this Bond? And would the much-malingned Daniel Craig be a convincing 007?

Well. Yes, he was. And what's more I think I enjoyed the film more than most of the Bond movies I've seen (ooooh how very contraversial!) Whereas Bond has been portrayed as a bit of an unfeeling cad in the past - we saw a more conflicted and sensitive side to him. And there were none of the comic oneliners after killing some villan in a wierd way. In this, the violence seemed to be taken more seriously, and the film had a more gritty feel overall.

The free running (Parkour) sequence right at beginning was fantastic, and had us all on the egde of our seats, a fabulous show of agility that must have taken painstaking choereography. There so many points during the film where the tension became almost unbearable!

One interesting thing of note was quite how many times Bond got beaten up, I was surprised how many times he was more evenly matched to his assailant, and ended up with bloody cuts and a ruined outfit.

All this added to the film seeming to be breaking the 'Bond' mould and taking it in another direction. I think the time of daft gadgets is over and we have a Bond for the future, not always looking to the past films to adopt their formula. I say Daniel Craig is a refreshing change from the old Bond's, and he seems to have very much created his own interpretation of the charachter. I am looking forwards to the next one.

Utterly Entertaining

I have to confess that I have pinched this from Wendy's blog - We saw it and thought it was so clever and amusing that I had to pop it up, click here to view for yourself.

You'll not be able to stop your toes tapping!

Scrabbling around on the floor again

Yesterday we took delivery of Elias's new bed. And you just can't put a new bed into an unfinished room, so over the past few days I have been painting the last bits and trying to buy carpet.

Because the room is so small, and because the carpet needs to be a light colour in order to maximise the light in there I didn't want to spend a great deal - because boys and beige just don't really mix! Also, it is a funny 'L' shape so a large portion of the carpet would be wasted too. I cruised the carpet stores and just couldn't find a suitable colour and sized piece - It took me 2 trips until I finally bought a good piece, and thanks to my lovely old car, easily got it home with me.

Yesterday afternoon while Elias was at school (Joy too) I closed myself in his room and set to work.
And every time I get to that stage I suddenly think - why am I attempting to do this exactly?? It's really rather daunting - the first cut. It almost seems wrong, after being brought up to be careful not to spill anything on the carpet, and generally TAKE CARE not to damage it!! So the first cut is by far the worst, it gets easier after that - and by the last little bit, after lots of wrestling and huffing and puffing, I get into my groove and Ta Da! Finit.

Now you're wondering why no pic - did it all go terribly wrong? Have I caused irreparable damage to the house, and carpet???? No, I just ran out of steam and time and the bed is not yet assembled. When it, and the drawers are all in situ, then, a pic, a grand unveiling of the first finished room in the house. Yipeeeeeeee!

Today is another DIY day.

MFI tip

When we moved into our house a number of rooms presented us with a bit of a challenge. Most need at least a wall paper strip and bringing up to date - which is pretty straightforward, if time consuming.

But Elias's bedroom, whilst having floral carpet and wallpaper presented us with another problem, it's size. Our third bedroom is very 'compact', and has a strange deep shelf above where the stairs come up.

The solution... raise the bed. And to do that I saved up my Tesco clubcard vouchers and converted them to MFI clubcard vouchers. (sweet!) tomorrow we take delivery of a midi bed, tunnel canopy and drawers that cost us pennies, this weekend Elias moves up in the world. And hopefully he'll even get a little den under the bed too.

(I'll also be removing the floral carpet and replacing with something a lot more neutral)

Warning - we may be unavailable for a while....

This Monday saw the release of the latest 24 boxset. Pretty much anybody who knows Robin and I will know that we're really into the 24 series' and it will be no surprise therefore to know that we have the new one!

So, until we have viewed all 24 episodes, you may find we miss phone calls, don't check email as much, and appear somewhat paranoid when out and about... Occasionally feeling the need to duck behind a tree to avoid being followed!!!!!!

I bought it yesterday and we were really restrained and only viewed the first 2 episodes - I will just say it is quite a beginning, and we even wondered if instead of being 24, it would be more like 4! Other than that, I cannot bring myself to divulge any details as I know there are a lot of you out there as anxious as we are to see what happens.........