The Heat Is On

It’s very hot today and I am now well into my grumpy “I hate summer” persona. I’m sitting in my lounge with three – yes, THREE – fans twirling the air as hard as they can, and my poor attic flat is still roasting away under the sun like the Kalahari Desert in July.
I hate [...]

Up, Up And Not Going Away

Phew! I’m as busy as a bee preparing for the Honey Olympics at the moment, so it occurred to me that I’d better post something before you think I’m ignoring the comments you’ve been heaping so liberally upon this blog. (And seriously, guys, if you’re all gonna talk to each other in my absence you [...]

Nostalgia…

I just came across a battered old diary I kept back in 1983 when I was all of 12 years old. The handwriting is almost undecipherable and the diary smells strongly of mould. Out of curiosity, I looked up what I was doing on this day 25 years ago and read this:
***
“Went for a walk [...]

Evil And Eviller

Earlier today I received a phone call from an automated voice telling me I was liable for a free loan or compensation or lottery winnings or somesuch rubbish. It told me that if I pressed the number five on my handset I could hear all about it. Annoyed at being bothered, I hung up. The [...]

A Peak Into The Past

Some of you – say, those who’ve known me since 1990 – may already know that I’m a massive fan of Twin Peaks. And I mean MASSIVE. Twin Peaks changed my life, in more or less the same way that Buffy changed my life almost a decade later. (For the curious: I went to a [...]

George Clooney, In A Nutshell

I’ve just read this interview with George Clooney on The New Yorker’s website and, while I have issues with the piece being written in a rather jarring past tense that bumps you out of the interview time and again, it does contain this wonderful statement:
Clooney is America’s national flirt, a pitchman on talk shows [...]

Technological Marvels

When I joined SFX way back in 2000, one of the first things I did in my new role as their Staff Writer was to buy one of those newfangled DVD player thingamajigs.
It was obvious after only a few days on the magazine that videos were on their way out and DVDs were the way [...]

He’s Henry The Eighth, He Is, He Is…

Biddy came to stay with me last weekend and we paid a visit to Hampton Court, which is only 11 minutes away from my house by car unless there’s a rugby match on at Twickenham Stadium, which there was, or you get lost, which we did. Oh well.
The former abode of King Henry VIII was [...]

Fish-slapping Fun

I finished Michael Palin’s book last night. At around midnight my neighbours might have heard me howling with laughter at this diary entry:
[There's a] very angry, abusive letter to The Times [today] from a man called Allott in Finchley, who clearly doesn’t like Life of Brian, but admits he hasn’t seen it. It is proposed [...]

Trouser Pythons

I’ve spent a lot of time this week reading Michael Palin: Diaries 1969-79 – The Python Years. It’s a book that’s not only humungous (I only trust myself to read it in bed, never daring to take it outdoors for fear of dropping it on a small child and squashing them flat), but also beautifully [...]

Top Of My Pops

It was snowing when I woke up this morning. The snow didn’t last, but it looked pretty for a few hours, which is really all I ever want from snow: to look pretty. Thank you for fulfilling your purpose, oh frozen flakes of ice.
Last night was a terrific night of telly, not just because Doctor [...]

Funniest TV Clip Ever?

Oh, and once you’ve watched it, click on this link here and sign the petition to get Stephen Fry knighted. Go on, I’ve done it (and got an email from 10 Downing Street in return)!

Dear Santa: please can I have a seaplane in my stocking next Christmas? Thanks!

Today has been lovely and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, if you excuse some guilty glances towards the pile of features I’m supposed to be ploughing my way through this week. Instead of working, I’ve been trotting off to garden centres, filling up hanging baskets and repotting houseplants who were starting to look at [...]

Back To The Grind…

Greetings! I’m back in Blighty (it’s raining, natch) and wracked with guilt over not updating this blog for over a week, but unfortunately I think I left my brain in Vancouver. Not to mention my free time: I have over 200 photographs to sort through, label and put on Facebook (I’ve already sorted through hundreds [...]

Evil Crows

I’m having a relaxing Sunday after a week spent running around so much that my once-tight trousers are now seriously in need of a belt (quite amazing, considering how much I’ve eaten while I’m here!). I’ve done something cool every single day, even the days I’ve decided to take off, like today – I’m currently [...]

V For Vancouver

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to YVR Airport. We hope you enjoy your stay in Vancouver. If you have to make a connecting flight, please proceed to Carousel 23 to pick up your baggage, as we will not check your bags onto the new flight for you. If you do not collect your baggage, it will [...]

Happenings

I’m now just a few days away from my long-awaited trip to Vancouver, which is currently shaping up to contain:
1) Lots of sightseeing.
2) Lots of relaxing.
3) Lots of photography.
4) Lots of me crossing my fingers about something.
5) No work at all.
6) Apart from the photography.
7) And the thing I’m crossing my fingers about.
Hmm. Was that [...]

Download Away!

Hopefully torrentfreak.com won’t mind me reposting this interesting article here. According to them, half of all internet downloads are comprised of TV shows, and while film and music companies are kicking up a fuss about illegal downloading of their wares (and quite rightly too), the TV networks are keeping surprisingly schtum about it… because they’re [...]

Welcome To The New And Improved Jayne’s World!

Here’s my new blog. The font’s a little small (I have no idea if I can change it or not) but otherwise I much prefer it. I hope you do too!
And, just to be random, here are some dinosaurs:

I went to Crystal Palace yesterday to check out their monsters.
Those Victorians were inspired!

Oops, I Did It Again…

Another new look! I’ll actually get round to writing something interesting soon. Honest.