Guess what?!?!?

I was out for dinner with Jerome prior to our salsa dance class tonight. We were sitting in a booth at the Elephant and Castle Pub downtown peering out of the large window at the street view.

As we were chatting and people watching, an older man stopped in front of the window after being approached by a panhandler. He dug deep into his pockets and produced some coins, dropping them into the other man's hands with a lovely grin on his face.

Leonard Cohen is such a nice man.

I am so glad he didn't look in our direction, as my mouth fell to the floor. It was strange because, he is just a man, like any other, and he looked so small in stature to what one would imagine an icon to be.

I watched as the other man stumbled across the street completely unaware of who just gave him some change.

I wanted to run up to him and say "Hey, I'll give you five bucks for that quarter."

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Well, Leonard, I will be in row 39 on the floor tomorrow night at your concert, so just wink so I know that you read this. You are a very nice man.

The F word

About ten years ago I was an avid cross-stitcher. I made wedding, baby and retirement announcements, and even country kitchen motifs. Then I developed some taste...

Seriously, I was sick and tired of the kitschy look and really, if I wasn’t going to hang it in my house I shouldn’t expect someone else to hang it in theirs. Let alone ADMIT that I had lovingly created it!

So I put down my needle, friends, and called it quits to cross-stitch.

Until I discovered Subversive Cross Stitch: 35 Designs for Your Surly Side by Julie Jackson, doesn’t it sound simply naughty? Basically, it’s cross-stitch with an edge; raunchy, ballsy, ruthless cross-stitch. Girl, we were separated at birth.

Oh yes, I have picked up my needle again. The mother ship has landed!

A dear friend is turning 30 soon and I can’t wait to stitch the word ‘fuck’ for her!

Cause that’s how much I care...

#@%&!!

I love everything British! Especially their TV...

I am an Anglophile. I like tea, the Queen and especially British humour. That dry, witty, sarcastic banter that I feel I can hold my own with...on a good day.

The Brits know how to do TV right. They don’t mess around, six episodes a series (season) and they’re done, in and out, leaving you wanting more...

You know where this is going, don’t you?

Here are my top picks from the Brits ( in no particular order), highly recommended and if you ask me very nicely I may even let you borrow one of my box sets? Oooo, box set, that’s sounds sort of wrong, doesn’t it?

Coronation Street – No brainer. You know they must be doing something right if it’s been on the tube for almost 45 years. It’s like Shakespeare, the comedy, the tragedy, the antics. I love it and I love nothing more than watching it with my love. And, as you may have guessed this one was longer than six episodes.

So here are some shows that you may not have heard of:


Life on Mars – Now, I don’t usually go for cop shows, but when Sam Tyler gets in a car crash and is transported back to 1973, you just have to have a go. It’s sci-fi meets COPS, and you can laugh at the bad clothing and cheesy-car-chase scenes. This went for two series and there is also a follow-up called ‘Ashes to Ashes’ where a woman detective is transported to the ‘80s.

The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard – Green grocer turned Prime Minister? Highly unlikely? The lovely Jane Horrocks leads a feminist revolution in British politics. How a seemingly happy family copes with the stresses of the ‘ultimate job’. You go girl!




The IT crowd – Wow, do you ever wonder what computer techs’ lives are really like? Well, look no further in this low brow (still rather hilarious) comedy of ...well, nerds. A pair of socially awkward IT guys have their troubles coping with a new boss, a woman boss, who knows nothing about computers. Turns out she is as much as misfit as they are. 2 hilarious series.






The Street – Gritty drama where each episode takes you into a house of another tenant who lives on the street. Dark, dark stuff, affairs, abuse, suicide and crime. Superbly acted, but it took us a long time to get through this series because it was so INTENSE. Worth a watch though. 2 series.

Now for my two favs, with the exception of Corrie.

Bob and Rose – Can a gay man fall in love with a straight woman? Well, they are going to have a helluva time trying. Warm, funny and real, this will make you smile one minute and cry the next. And there is an insane fag-hag and over-the-top supportive mother to boot. I loved it. Six blissful episodes...

And finally....

Are you ready?
Gavin and Stacey – THIS SHOW WAS AWESOME!!!! Comedy about an Essex boy and a Welsh girl who fall in love. Incredibly funny and sweet with each show ending making you go ‘Awwwwww’. The roles of the two co-stars (and oddily enough, also the show's co-creators) will make you want to go 'Urgh, are they actually showing us this on telly'.

We watched this right through one lazy Sunday and we couldn’t get enough. Thankfully they are working on the third season.

I don't get people

An older lady walks into the school library today.

She appears to be a sub; it’s busy so I don’t give her a second thought.

She approaches me after a few minutes and asks ““how do I get out of the library?”

Ummm…

“The same way you got in “, I respond.

“You mean through that door?” she points to the main door she stepped through just moments ago.

Not kidding. This is too good to make up.
Are they pulling people off the street for these jobs?

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Another ‘cute’ library moment today. I am sitting at my desk, which has two glass doors infront of me. I am usually tempted to ask “would you like fries with that?” on a daily basis when someone approaches the window.

It usually obstructs my view, but not today.

Directly infront of me, not ten feet a way, a student is sitting and ripping full pages out of a periodical. Just flipping a page—RIP—flip, flip, flip -–RIP.

I don’t even get up and I ask “Is that a current magazine?” The reason I ask this, rather calmly, is because we do have a box of discards that we let the student cut up for projects. The current magazines are not even close to this box and have clear signage that states “PLEASE DO NOT USE THESE MAGAZINES FOR CUT OUTS’’.

She wouldn’t, she couldn’t, would she?

“No”, she states confidently.

“Well”, I say (remaining calm). “Does it have a barcode on the back cover?”

She flips it over and sure enough --- Teen Vogue, May 2009

“Yeah”, I say, “You are going to have to pay for that.”

If you ever have anger management issues, don’t work in a high school library.

Savouring my Sunday...

I love and hate Sundays.

Coronation Street in bed (love)

Nagging feeling of returning to another work week (hate)

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We had my pal Betty over for a belated 50th birthday celebration brunch. Jerome was an amazing host, as always, and it was great to catch up with a dear friend that I do not see nearly enough. Betty has refused to partake in showing you her photo, which btw she looks amazing for an old broad. And I am delighted she liked the pink scarf , so much infact because I detest pink and am glad it has now found a worthy home. Rock on Betty, you look hot!

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I was introduced to My First Dictionary by my cohort, Mike. He always knows of the best blogs and likes to fill my head with "useless" information while we work in the hope that someday I might win a pub trivia competition.

This blog was indeed a true find, almost makes me want to shape young minds in an elementary school... well, almost.






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The house is so quiet. Jerome went to drive Betty home and pick up Ryan (aka 15 year-old-soccer star) on their way to drop him off at a practice. It all sounds very logistic, but its not.

On their way out the door there were hugs goodbye and I thought I should get Jerome to mess with his son's mind ( that's my role as evil step-monster). "Tell Ryan that Betty is now his new step-mom ,that you dumped me for her and that I said goodbye", I quipped.

"Oh...and he still has my library book."

hello world

Look at me blogging, you blog lookers!

Although I do not own a cell phone ( really, I am not techno-phobic ) there seems to be this desire for me to get out there and use more ,less irritating , forms of communication; one that will not always talk back. Unless, of course, you agree with what I am ranting about, then please, feel free to leave a lovely comment. I will try to behave...for now.

So, for those of you who are not living under rocks, the world was indeed changed by the stellar performance of Susan Boyle on “Britain’s got Talent” a few short weeks ago. It really got me thinking about the power of a first impression and how one's looks can really influence you. Well, Susan, you are just lovely and I hope you don’t succumb to the pressures of society and change your appearance. As Bridget Jones says, I “like you just as you are”.




Note in this photo she now has her eyebrows waxed and hair dyed. Oh Susan!