Movies I Love

Sitting around on my butt, playing with my compooter, because we are on strike today. I hate this stuff. I'm an old fashioned girl and I believe that certain sectors of society should be run as a service to the community. The mail and health care, amongst others, should fall in to that category, for me. It seems the powers that be have other ideas. Yesterday I was talking to a physio(therapist) who was helping my mum, and her regular carer, and we all had the same concerns. There seems to be no room in Great Britain PLC for people who care any more. It's all down to number crunching and profit. How sad. I'm crying at the thought, but what can you do? Wanted to talk about movies but I had to get that off my chest. Great afternoon ahead. There is K-9 followed by Kindergarten Cop! If you believe I am going to watch that sh*t you should probably be reading another blog. First I am going to watch "The 39 Steps". This is the 1935 version with Robert Donat and is seen by many, including myself, as the quintessential film adaption of the book. And later on we have "84 Charing Cross Road". Anything with Anthony Hopkins in it is going to be good. That is a given. This is a delicious tale of unrequited "love". So sad, but so engaging at the same time. More tears. Guess I am in an "emulsional" mood today.

Double Edged Sword

Been a bit quiet lately because my mum has been ill and I am very concerned. She has been suffering from nausea for the last few days and has taken to her bed. Not a good option. It can cause more problems than it solves. Then a couple of days ago she fell in the middle of the night going to the toilet. Fortunately she has this emergency wristband and when she presses the button on it, it will summon help for her. She was helped into her bed and fortunately a "Rapid Response" team came round today to drag her out of her bed, and get her on the move again. It's what she needs. I have had to go round frequently to let her regular carers in to her flat but she seems to be on the mend. On the up side I saw a fox this morning. It casually cantered across the road in front of me as I was driving to work. My name drop today concerns a man of the cloth. A person only one rung down the ladder from The Pope himself, I believe. I refer to Cardinal Keith O'Brien. I have to admit when I went to deliver to his house it was not him that answered the door today but I have met him a few times and he is a typical layed back Irish man. He is only the second person in Scotland, ever, to have been made a Cardinal. It's funny how the great and good usually have an endearing humility about them. And then you get the pretentious gits who buy an over priced tacky-box house in suburbia and a 4x4 and think there is something special about them. What a topsy-turvey world we live in.

Can't Help Myself

Have just about recovered from Pottermania. I was back working in the same area today and bagged another famous name, almost. Clang! What was that? It must have been me dropping another name. This time it's Ian Rankin. Him of Inspector Rebus fame, OBE etc . I enjoyed that so much I am going to do it again. Ian Rankin. I feel quite light headed despite having only just started to hit the sherry. Unfortunately said author was not in. How do these people manage to get any writing done when they are hardly ever at home? I have tomorrow off so this girl is going out to do some shopping. I so need a new pair of shoes for my work. The ones my employer provide are rubbish so I prefer to spend my own money so I get something that is comfortable and stylish. On Wednesday I am out at Damhead so I am really wishing there will be some drama which I can report to you. Here's hoping.

Need Your Help

Now I have a global audience, I hope, there is a wrong I can possibly right. I am a great fan of sexymsp.com, which rates members of the Scottish parliament by their sexual attractiveness. I recently had a campaign to get the lovely Siobhan Mathers in to the top ten and she is currently at No. 9. My latest desire (it seems to be the way the wind has been blowing lately) is to get the gorgeous Nicola Sturgeon (deputy leader ot the SNP) in to the top ten. Go to the site and click on Find My Constituency. Scroll down to Glasgow Govan (Rab C Nesbit country) and you will find the lovely Nicola looking uber sexy in a gold top. Give her a vote of ten, and if we all pull together she is destined for mega stardom.

How did I Miss This One

With all the excitement about JK I nearly forgot about this one. If you are a Blue Peter fan you might remember Romana D'Annunzio who was a presenter from 1996 to 1998. She is of the same era as the scrumptious Tim Vincent and the gorgeous Katie Hill and Konnie Huq. Gosh, for a kids programme they had some sexy presenters in those days. In amongst the Harry Potter books today I had a package for a Miss R D'Annunzio. She did come from Edinburgh. Name dropping is one of the few pleasures I have left. Please indulge me.

I was JK's Postie

So the big day has come. Millions of children world wide are waiting for the arrival of her latest book. And a lot of these are not so young. I have to say that I managed to deliver all the books I was given which gives me great pleasure. We got a thousand copies to deliver this morning in our office. There are about forty of us, so you do the math(s). I may be a wizened old crow but seeing the pleasure my delivering these books to people caused, gave me great pleasure. I will probably never have kids of my own, but they are our future and we should all respect that. I passed by JK's house a couple of times today. I had hoped to drop in for a cup of tea and a girly chat but it seems she was at the Natural History Museum in London at the time. That could explain the lack of response. I have had a few early morning meetings with her (delivering mail), and like anybody else, she scrubs up well given a chance. Not going to get the tallons out for a girl I respect. I did drop a letter in to her mailbox saying that these occasions are stressful to my health, at my age, and I would prefer if she didn't write any more Harry Potter books. I am confident she will respect my wishes.

I'ts All in the Name

One of the interesting things about my job is coming into contact with people who have unusual or amusing names. For example, Florence Torrance. She is a lovely old dear, and doesn't her name just trip off your tongue? Another one I like is Donald McDonald. So good they named him twice. I would have to deduct points for sheer lack of imagination though. My favourite is one that always sets me off giggling. I swear to you this is a real person. His name is Mr Peter Ness. You are probably asking yourself, what is the old bat on about? Has she been hitting the sherry too hard again? This isn't remotely funny. Let me explain. Some of his mail has his first name shortened to it's initial. It therefore reads " Mr P Ness". Gets me every time.

Building Up the Suspence

Saturday could be a big one for this blog. A certain woman is having a certain book published on this day. Unless you have been living in outer space for the last six months you will know what I am talking about. There is also a possibility I will meet the afore mentioned person on said day because I will be working in her area. Could be blogging gold, or could go totally tits up. Who knows. Isn't life an adventure? Damhead failed to deliver any excitement today, again, so I will spare you the details. Watch this space!

Hippocratic or Hypocrite

No space for flippancy on this one. This is serious. It's not about fundie-bashing, although I promise you will have your chance later JanieBelle. Today sees the start of the trial of Doctor Andrew Wakefield by his medical peers. This is not about whether his claims that the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) jab for children is linked to Autism, as he claims, but is simply about his methodology. He is being challenged about some of the dodgy practices he is alleged to have used. The most bizarre is that he paid children to give blood samples at his son's birthday party. I wonder if the word "ethics" means anything to him? Even if he comes out of this gleaming brighter than Snow White there is still a serious question to be answered. Has he endangered the lives of millions of children worldwide by his potentially flawed research? And as a codicil just for you JanieBelle, he is involved with the Good News Doctor Foundation in Florida, which is would you believe it, a Christian organisation.

How Silly am I

I keep forgetting to tick the comments box. Sorry folks.

Challenge and be Damned

Been a bit quiet of late, but JanieBelle's recently recived meme has spurred me into action. The rules are I have to go to page 123 of the book closest to hand. I have cheated a bit here because the closest publication at the time I received this meme is actually a magazine. The deal is though, I go to the fifth sentence, and then post the four following ones. And all you have to do is work out which publication I am working from. Here goes. "5.45 Men of Stone 5/5 Island Life Now Julian Richards explores the future for Portland stone, suggesting workers will have to go underground, to find supplies, and questioning what can be done with a worked out quarry. OK, there weren't four sentences in there, but I reckon there is more than enough information for you to guess what I was quoting from.

Damhead 2

No, this is not the title of a dreadful movie which doesn't live up to the original. There are so many of those, although my male friends tell me that Terminator 2 surpasses it's predecessor. Certainly Bridget Jones didn't. I forgot to mention that when I deliver to Damhead on a Saturday I will also be there on the following Monday as well. Sadly the good people of Damhead were mainly out at work today so despite the better weather I saw few of them. I am really trying to create an atmophere of intrigue and suspence but it is just not happening. I am sure there is an underbelly of filth and depravity, if only I could tap into it. Sadly I won't be in Famous Author Land this week because we will be on strike again on Friday. On the up side, and I always look for this despite the adversity I have suffered in the last few years, I will have four days off at the weekend. Friday (on strike) Saturday (day off) Sunday (day off) Monday (on strike and day off). Might just have enough time to put together a quality blog entry instead of this knocked together rubbish. Must go and check my sherry stocks will last 'till Tuesday.

From Bad to Badder

With reference to my previous comments about god I thankfully haven't felt the desire to go out and kill people en mass in his/her name like some nutters, but I do have a bone to pick. If you care about me, and I'm told that this is part of your job description, why did I have to leave my flat at 5am this morning to go to work on a SATURDAY, and it was raining, just to make things worse. Personally I wouldn't do that to someone I care about. Maybe your dictionary has a different definition for the word. Damhead sadly failed to provide the excitement I was hoping for. Even though the sun did finally come out the good people of said burgh generally stayed indoors. Part of the duty on a Saturday now involves emptying seventeen pillar (mail) boxes. Two of us do this (each) and I managed to pick up the wrong set of keys when I left the office. Silly me. That meant a round trip of half an hour to correct the problem when I realised what had happened. Roll on Sunday.

Day Off, Schmay Off.

If there is a god, and I seriously doubt it given what goes on in the world, I would like to thank him/her for the concept of "a day off". Forgot to say in my last post that I have sent another letter to Radio Times. It seems that programme makers on both sides of the pond are guilty of pre-empting and post-empting content. I can remember what happened last week and am quite happy to wait 'till tomorrow or next week to find out what happens next. Get a life guys!

Silly Me

Think I fogot to check the Allow Comments box on the last post. Your views are always welcome dear readers.

Another African Lady

Today was my world famous writer day. To clarify, I was delivering to Merchiston, which has more than it's fair share of renown wordsmiths. The highlight of my delivery was meeting (again) Alexander McCall Smith. Not only is he a Professor at Edinburgh University, kudos in itself, but he is a world renown writer as well. He has written many papers in his field of medical law but is probably best known for his fiction writing. He has writen a few series of books, the most famous of which are "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" novels featuring Precious Ramotswe. As an embryo writer myself I look upon the man as a hero. Check out his pedigree at my beloved Wikipedia. You know you've made it if they list you. When I pulled up at their house I met his wife, for the first time, when I got out of my van. She is a very classy lady, just like I used to be, and was happy to give me an autograph (signature) for a Recorded Delivery. After she left I still had to go to the front door to deliver the item to her husband. He is always a very warm person and a joy to meet. When I am a famous writer I would love to emulate his humility. It's my day off tomorrow. Praise de lawd! I'm doing Damhead on Saturday so I hope something happens so I can do my diary.

Back to the Salt Mines Tomorrow

Forgot to mention I have been on holiday for the last week. The up side is that my customers have been given some breathing space. On the down side the countries reserves of sherry are now running dangerously low. All will be restored to normal next week. I won't have so much time to devote to this blog but I will do what I can. Will be out in my beloved Damhead on Thursday or Friday. I was going to start a "Damhead Diary" feature but not much of note goes on out there. Very different to "Mrs Dale's Diary". Even a lady of my maturity can hardly remember this very racy "soap" which was on the "wireless" many decades ago. Henceforth I am going to try and practice the principle of abstinance. Fortunately I do not drink if I am going to be driving. The re-awakening of my sexuality problems has been a bit stressful. JanieBelle is a saucy minx but I am sure we can work things out. Wish me luck.