Even as he's holding up the toilet roll he's wondering why!

"You probably don't want to say that when you see her!"

If no-one sees the camera, is it really there?

They were NOT called Golden Nuggets.

I think you'll find they were.

(repeat)

Only sugary lolly pops could turn these cherubs into......

c R a Z i E s

you shall go to the ball!

all change?

Today I spent a good quarter of an hour looking through all the hair dyes in Tesco deciding what to go for. Eventually I chose something that looked considerably different from my hair colour but natural enough not to make roots look like my head is cracking open when they grow through. I followed the instructions to the last letter.

The result?

Absolutely nothing. I can't see any difference, nor can mini-me.

What mighty conquests rise from trivial things

Have been thinking big thoughts recently. It starts with me having a huge blank canvas and a paint brush in my hand......I add me and mini me in the middle......

All suggestions for a future picture welcome.

lost

"I can't find W"

"Sorry?"

"The W's. I can't find them."

Whose line?

Forgot just how much I loved 'Whose line is it anyway?' when it was on. Have only just dipped my foot into you tube.

Love Ryan.

Have just started reading this and I think it should be very good. More teen fiction - as I'm too busy at work to keep going with anything that needs a great deal of concentration at the moment - the blurb goes;

It was just supposed to be a routine exam. But when the doctors snake the fiber-optic tube down Robert Smith's throat, what they discover doesn't make medical sense. Plastic casings. Silver filaments. Moving metal parts. In his naked, anesthetized state on the operating table, Robert hears the surgeons' shocked comments: "What the hell is that?" "It's me," Robert thinks, "and I've got to get out of here." Armed with a stolen automatic and the videotape of his strange organs, he manages to escape, and to embark on an orphan's violent odyssey to find out exactly who--exactly what--he is.

Quite the weekend

2 days off in a row deserves blogging!

made an apple, blackcurrant and redcurrant crumble, 3 dozen mince pies & 20-25 parmesan cheese rounds for savoury snacking.

Had the work Christmas do which was fun. Lots of fabulous chinese food to eat, hugs from people I least expected but most welcome and lots of agreeable red wine. Plenty to laugh about and a most successful secret santa.

I gave a picture type of thing I had drawn that went down really well. I received a pack of 4 Reebok running socks that I am well chuffed about. I reckon the poor quality socks I've been using before might be partly to blame for the sore legs I've had all week that has prevented me from running. We shall see.

KA had its Carol Service this evening which was packed out and went really well. Always very creative and ambient.

And now we head into the mythical and legendary WEEK 34, the place where dreams come true and nightmares flourish!

christmas visit. ho ho ho.

tomorrow (later today technically)

we have the M.D coming to visit.

no doubt he'll be happy

just to make small talk

and not get bogged down with details over

atv figures and

stockturn.

'this is meant to be an 'appy occassion,

let's not bicker over who killed who.'

It's official.

I asked '82ASK' if my sister would like the cuddly bunny i've bought her for christmas and they replied that while they didn't know my sister, she probably would like it because, and i quote; "most girls like stuffed animals."

is there anything a phone can't do for you?

The Rope Ladder

Hot on the heels of my last read, I have picked up another proof. I think this is a teen book and it's by Nigel Richardson. I'm 66 pages in and finding it really gripping. Just the kind of easy, exciting quick read I need at the moment.

(his first novel)

There really is so much good, quirky, well written teen lit out there.

Alone on a Wide Wide Sea.

Just zipped through Michael Morpurgo's latest in the last couple of days after having had a proof sat on my shelves for a good 2 or 3 months. For something that resides in the 9-12 section it's pretty harrowing. It's like a seretonin-free Louis Sachar's 'Holes'. Clearly by the speed at which I gobbled it up, it's compulsive reading. The first 2/3 reads more easily that the back third but it still hangs together pretty well.

Orphan boy gets shipped to Oz after his parents are killed in the war. He leaves with a key thread through with string given to him by his big sister Kittie. He meets a variety of cruel, sad, strange, gentle and hearty individuals who shape his life and move the story full circle until he has a daughter of his own and she decides to return to England and find out the truth about Kittie. Not a sniff of sentimentality and some pretty harsh things get thrown at the characters; abuse, snake bites, 30 foot waves to name but a few.

A very memorable read. I don't care if it's written for kids, he's a very accomplished writer, grounded in social realism and well worth the effort.

M I L E S

last night i caught a glimpse of f-nakaj'sbf.

i approve.

not that my approval was required.

all i have to say is that anyone who calls that silly hair but prefers this;

needs their eyes testing!

condiments

I refer you to
http://newyorktrilogy.livejournal.com/
where the following is posted:

"Do you have a book in stock called: 'Mayo'?"And there I was, like a fool, looking for a book that intrigued me by the title alone. There was I, expecting to be rewarded with a Mark Kurlansky-esque insight into the world of Mayonnaise - a la 'Cod' and 'Salt'."It's called Mayo: The Unknown Story"And there I was, like a fool, now even more intrigued, excited by this historical investigation into the very beginnings of the condiment... until..."And it's by someone called '...Chung Chang?' and '...John Holiday'."Oh.

Only today, in another unnamed, unmentioned, uncited and positively ANONYMOUS branch, the same request was made for 'Mayo' but then the customer added:

"It's the sequel to the curious incident of the dog in the night time."

FOUR

I need to up my running distance by a mile a week from now on if I'm going to stand a chance of completing the London Marathon.

So today I ran four miles. It took me 55 minutes which I know is really slow BUT it was further and longer than I've run before so I'm happy with that.

Bad news is that I've not been accepted through the ballot and all the Oxfam Gold Bonds have gone which means I have to find another charity to run for that still has places. I'm rather miffed about that.

But I ran four miles !!!!!

Need to plan a five miler for Thursday. >gulp<

Homeland security announcement

Subject: Teacher arrested at JFK airport NEW YORK -

A public school teacher was arrested today at John F Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule and a calculator. At a morning press conference, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction. "Al-gebra is a problem for us," Gonzales said. "They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute values. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are 3 sides to every triangle'." When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes." White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the president.

brave

tonight i plucked up the courage to go and run with http://www.kingsafc.co.uk/ chaps while they did their mid-week training. I've been missing out on so much running time because it's dark by the time I leave in the evening. This way I get to run for as long as I can round a floodlit pitch. Kind of scary cos I only knew 2 of the guys there and I don't expect the others knew who the hell I was! I went for a modest 26.5 minutes which isn't bad considering I haven't actually run for quite a few days.

2 purchases

&
Chicken with Plums & The Gaze of the Gorgon.
Marjane Satrapi Tony Harrison

4 weeks to go!

yeah I know that's the last thing you want to hear but it's all go-go-go at work and i'm loving it. Spent enough money on books this week to buy a three bedroom house but it's paying off already as we have enough cover on titles that have already gone into reprint. of course this hive of activity leaves me in a near vegetative state in the evenings with only enough energy to sit down with mini-me and watch