Listening to Wogan

At risk of turning this blog into a tribute site for deceased celebrities, I feel that I must make mention of the death of Terry Wogan this morning at the age of 77. My fondness for him stems from listening to his Radio 2 breakfast show in the 1970s with my Dad, in the car in the daily school run. My Dad thought he was very funny and I also enjoyed his humour. On his return to Radio 2 in the late 1980s I resumed listening. He always made his listeners feel as if they were part of the show, which was very clever of him. I remember him once chastising his regular listeners because he claimed that when he was on holiday they had run rings round his stand-in (I think it was Ed Stewart) and made him give away a whole month's prizes in a week. His "handovers" to Jimmy Young in the 1980s were often very funny as they traded jokes and insults. His listeners used to send in limericks which were clearly going to end very rudely but he would stop after the second or third line. And his Janet and John stories were hilarious, told in the style of the old storybooks but with the hapless husband John always getting himself into a pickle due to unintended double entendres, and getting a row from his angry wife Janet. 

He also once told a joke which I found so funny that I was driving along in my car laughing helplessly; I had never heard it before and it really appealed to me. This may not be so funny to others, since humour is down to personal taste, but I shall attempt to relate it here.

There were once three men sitting in a railway carriage and they struck up a conversation, which turned to amusing slips of the tongue that they had made.

The first man said, "I once went into a clothes shop and I meant to say to the sales girl, 'Have you got a vest?' But instead I accidentally said 'Have you got a chest?'"

The second man said "I once went into a restaurant and I meant to ask for some grilled cheese, but I accidentally asked for some 'chilled grease!'"

The third man said, "Yes I know what you mean - I was recently having breakfast with my wife and I meant to say, 'Please will you pass me the jam' but instead I said, 'You've ruined my life you horrible old bag!'"

It still makes me smile. RIP Sir Terry!

Chilly day

What a raw, cold day it is! I woke with a headache but perked up after some painkillers and breakfast in bed. This is my first day off after working for twelve days in a row so maybe I'm just tired. We went into town to get a new ski jacket for James, and this proved very successful; after trying on the jacket that he wanted in Nevisport we had a coffee in Caffe Nero while he compared prices online. Armed with this information James then negotiated an even better price, with which he was very happy. Meanwhile we received a photo by text message from Ally and Cat from the top of Mount Snowdon! It looked pretty cold there too!

Surprised by Gertrude

When I went off to bed at midnight last night, tired but happy, I hadn't seen any weather forecasts. So I was surprised to be woken at about six in the morning by wind and rain battering against the windows really hard. Storm Gertrude had arrived! That wasn't the only thing that disturbed my sleep; at some point during the night I was half woken by hissing and yowling and two furry creatures fighting all around the bedroom. When I got up there were clumps of fur all over the carpet.

Anyway, in the morning it was very stormy and according to the radio all the bridges and ferries in Scotland were closed and cancelled. Luckily I needed neither for my drive to work! There were quite a few branches on the road which had been blown off trees and the car was buffeted about by big gusts of wind, but I arrived safely. 

And now it's Friday evening! James is home after a bumpy plane ride from Birmingham, we have had a tasty curry, we have watched a film (Everest, about the ill-fated 1996 expeditions) and we are now headed for bed. Outside the storm continues, but we are warm and cosy. 

Long day

I was at my desk working by 7.30 a.m. and left at 7 p.m., picking up a curry on my way home for Ally and me (James is down south overnight) By 8 p.m. I was proof-reading Ally's essay. It was very interesting - a critique from a pragmatist point of view, of how Westphalians and Hobbesians would each tackle the current refugee crisis in the Middle East. Alasdair had already completed the essay; I proof read it and then we went through it together, talking it through. After three hours he was happy with it and had written his conclusion. Despite the length of time that we spent, I didn't really contribute any content at all - I was just a sounding board for his arguments, which were (in my somewhat biased opinion) extremely good. The metaphor he used in his conclusion was that the tools (ideology) that you already have affect the whole way you see and tackle a problem. I coudn't have bettered it. It was a very enjoyable evening! 

Midweek

It's the middle of the week. It's a rainy and blustery week and also a very busy week at work. James had a bad cough before he went on his hill walking weekend and he came back on Sunday evening really quite ill. Needless to say he refused to take any time off work, but is now gradually improving. I have heard several bits of bad news this week - serious health problems affecting people that I know - it makes me more keen than ever to try to sort out my life before it's too late. Tom and Ruby are not letting the weather get them down; they are full of life and it amuses me to see Tom "helping" James to tie his shoelaces in the mornings! 

Chilling

I am alone for the weekend because James and Ally are away hill-walking. I'm quite happy chilling with my kitties, doing a few errands and watching some films on television. I have just watched Jurassic Park III and it was very good - it's a very long time since I first saw it so I had forgotten what happens (not that it's very hard to predict!) and I was enthralled by all the twists and turns. I am also reading quite a good crime thriller by Angela Marsons, "Lost Girls", the third in her D.I. Stone series set in the Black Country. This is a genre that I enjoy but which has never appealed to James, although he will watch a good quality crime drama on television, like Luther or Breaking Bad. After I found myself watching a horror film (I tend to avoid these) I was reminded of something I read recently - "If you feel lonely, watch a horror film. After a while you won't feel alone any more!" So I have headed to bed. A quiet but pleasant weekend so far.

Two wee kitties

I met two kittens this evening when I was at Jennifer's for book club. They were both black and about four months old - so sweet! The shyer one is called Celeste and the extrovert one is called Lucy. Book club was fun as usual, the book was Gillespie and I which I read ages ago - I thought it was excellent. And of course it was good to catch up with everyone. 

I am half way through a very busy week so not much to report because all my activities have been schooly. At home James and I have been watching Season Three of House of Cards on Netflix - it's so great!