The rain didn't disappear completely, but it centainly abated and we had warm and pleasant sunshine for most of the shopping expedition. The tough part of this, is that it lasted most of the day. I love a good bit of shopping as much as the next man* but my feet weren't in agreement after 6 hours of staggering around both town and city.
We did get some bits and pieces though and all was generally well with the world. Also managed to pick up a couple of fun items for daughter's forthcoming post-op recovery session over the next three weeks. Breakfast bowls - you can never have enough breakfast bowls - so a couple of brightly coloured and stripy jobs are bound to cheer her up, and a bell.
Now, I was dead set against a bell, but Mrs G thought it would be hilarious for daughter to have me at her beck and call while she's immobile in bed and I'm trying to work for a living! For a while I though I was going to be able to avoid this misery because we couldn't find a bell anywhere, but in the end the docks came to their rescue. The Antiques center had a few Ship's bells and hand bells of various types and when I got behind the idea I was all for a hotel desk bell, which is not only functional, but makes for nice furniture too - but the final decision was with Mrs G and she settled on a small painted bell from the waterways museum. Daughter was thrilled - father is not - but as long as she's OK, she can have whatever she wants. This is how the world is with father's and daughters.
Today however, there are two points of note....
1) Tonight is the BigBrother final. I've not really mentioned it too much, but I have been keeping my finger on the pulse of it. I can confidently predict that it'll be won by Josie Gibson from Bristol. Always good when a local does well, and she is a genuinely lovely person (at least as far as we can see) so looking forward to her reaction.
I know Big Brother get's a hell of a kicking from the holy-ier than you crowd who claim it's benign, bland, bloaty, boring television that takes talentless plebs and lifts them to a status they don't deserve to have. Well, I'm afraid I beg to differ for the most part. Everyone, no matter who they are, has a talent of some sort. That doesn't mean they should automatically be afforded all the trappings of wealth just because they can burp the alphabet backwards for example. But it does mean that if they have something new and are prepared to put up with having their every move watched 24x7 for 3 months in the name of entertainment, well then they at least deserve a modicum of respect.
Over the 10 years it's been on our screens it's had it's fair share of controversy, but I think in the end, it's been a social experiment that's proved very interesting and has shown many of us how the media really works. What goes on behind the wizard's curtain so to speak. Particularly when it comes to the red-top press and the glossy magazines. Heat wouldn't even exist if it hadn't been for BigBrother (which is of course a great shame, but you can't have everything). On the plus side, it's made Davina McCall a household name, so it will be very interesting to see what happens in her career post BB.
There is no doubt that BB changed the way we think about television in this country. It's impacted every walk of life in some form or other, be it large or small. Everything from the near diplomatic situation between India & the UK (caused by inherent racism), a punch up that resulted in security being called in, almost sex on live television (thank god we all missed most of that!) through to an alleged MP behaving like a cat....or should that be an MP allegedly behaving like a cat??? :-) There's been WAG's, pop stars, builders and bookies. Geeks and Nerds, Transvestites and imbeciles. It's had it's run in the sun though and it's time for it to pack up it's bags and shuffle off into the sunset. But it's not over just yet..... There's one last spurt of Big Brotherness before it finally pops it's clogs. Ultimate Big Brother
Channel 4, in their infinite wisdom have come up with this wheeze. They're taking housemates from all of the previous series of Big Brother and selecting who they consider to be the best for a stint in the house where we get to decide who really is the best of the best of the rest. And what, you might ask, is the point of that ????
Fair question - and it's got a very simple answer... nothing more than entertainment. You may chose to enjoy, or you may choose to switch over. As long as you're not watching the X-Factor, I couldn't care less what you decide, but I would remind you that this is the end of an era and as such it's televisual history in the making. Personally I can't miss it. (8pm Channel 4 - 24th August 2010) and if you need to catchup, take a look at SeeSaw
2) Back to work :-( Well, I can't sit around for ever, and it's not like I haven't got any work to do, there's plenty right now.
Which means finally, some fun stuff just before I go and get on with it.... Aren't Beer ad's the best in the world? Well, probably....
* i.e. Not at all! Women don't understand that when men shop that is what they do. They do not wander aimlessly all over the place 5 times looking for the same thing, they just shop. Men say "I'm going to get a paintbrush" then they go to B&Q and get a paintbrush. Women say "I'm going to get a handbag" and fourteen hours later they're back in the first shop they visited buying the third pair of shoes of the day and not a handbag in sight.
We did get some bits and pieces though and all was generally well with the world. Also managed to pick up a couple of fun items for daughter's forthcoming post-op recovery session over the next three weeks. Breakfast bowls - you can never have enough breakfast bowls - so a couple of brightly coloured and stripy jobs are bound to cheer her up, and a bell.
Now, I was dead set against a bell, but Mrs G thought it would be hilarious for daughter to have me at her beck and call while she's immobile in bed and I'm trying to work for a living! For a while I though I was going to be able to avoid this misery because we couldn't find a bell anywhere, but in the end the docks came to their rescue. The Antiques center had a few Ship's bells and hand bells of various types and when I got behind the idea I was all for a hotel desk bell, which is not only functional, but makes for nice furniture too - but the final decision was with Mrs G and she settled on a small painted bell from the waterways museum. Daughter was thrilled - father is not - but as long as she's OK, she can have whatever she wants. This is how the world is with father's and daughters.
Today however, there are two points of note....
1) Tonight is the BigBrother final. I've not really mentioned it too much, but I have been keeping my finger on the pulse of it. I can confidently predict that it'll be won by Josie Gibson from Bristol. Always good when a local does well, and she is a genuinely lovely person (at least as far as we can see) so looking forward to her reaction.
I know Big Brother get's a hell of a kicking from the holy-ier than you crowd who claim it's benign, bland, bloaty, boring television that takes talentless plebs and lifts them to a status they don't deserve to have. Well, I'm afraid I beg to differ for the most part. Everyone, no matter who they are, has a talent of some sort. That doesn't mean they should automatically be afforded all the trappings of wealth just because they can burp the alphabet backwards for example. But it does mean that if they have something new and are prepared to put up with having their every move watched 24x7 for 3 months in the name of entertainment, well then they at least deserve a modicum of respect.
Over the 10 years it's been on our screens it's had it's fair share of controversy, but I think in the end, it's been a social experiment that's proved very interesting and has shown many of us how the media really works. What goes on behind the wizard's curtain so to speak. Particularly when it comes to the red-top press and the glossy magazines. Heat wouldn't even exist if it hadn't been for BigBrother (which is of course a great shame, but you can't have everything). On the plus side, it's made Davina McCall a household name, so it will be very interesting to see what happens in her career post BB.
There is no doubt that BB changed the way we think about television in this country. It's impacted every walk of life in some form or other, be it large or small. Everything from the near diplomatic situation between India & the UK (caused by inherent racism), a punch up that resulted in security being called in, almost sex on live television (thank god we all missed most of that!) through to an alleged MP behaving like a cat....or should that be an MP allegedly behaving like a cat??? :-) There's been WAG's, pop stars, builders and bookies. Geeks and Nerds, Transvestites and imbeciles. It's had it's run in the sun though and it's time for it to pack up it's bags and shuffle off into the sunset. But it's not over just yet..... There's one last spurt of Big Brotherness before it finally pops it's clogs. Ultimate Big Brother
Channel 4, in their infinite wisdom have come up with this wheeze. They're taking housemates from all of the previous series of Big Brother and selecting who they consider to be the best for a stint in the house where we get to decide who really is the best of the best of the rest. And what, you might ask, is the point of that ????
Fair question - and it's got a very simple answer... nothing more than entertainment. You may chose to enjoy, or you may choose to switch over. As long as you're not watching the X-Factor, I couldn't care less what you decide, but I would remind you that this is the end of an era and as such it's televisual history in the making. Personally I can't miss it. (8pm Channel 4 - 24th August 2010) and if you need to catchup, take a look at SeeSaw
2) Back to work :-( Well, I can't sit around for ever, and it's not like I haven't got any work to do, there's plenty right now.
Which means finally, some fun stuff just before I go and get on with it.... Aren't Beer ad's the best in the world? Well, probably....
* i.e. Not at all! Women don't understand that when men shop that is what they do. They do not wander aimlessly all over the place 5 times looking for the same thing, they just shop. Men say "I'm going to get a paintbrush" then they go to B&Q and get a paintbrush. Women say "I'm going to get a handbag" and fourteen hours later they're back in the first shop they visited buying the third pair of shoes of the day and not a handbag in sight.
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