One For All The Blackberry Sufferers Out There...

Lucky for me, I'm not a Blackberry fan... but is seems some people have been having more than their share of angst with their phones this week.

This sketch first appeared on a Christmas TV special on British screens last year, but it is rather apt for the current situation....

Additional useless information:
Ronnie Corbett is the surviving member of the comedy duo The Two Ronnies.
Harry Enfield is famous for his sketch shows, like Saturday Live.

Time Of My Life...

The famous lift in 'Dirty Dancing'

It was 1987, my first year of high school....and this film (and Patrick Swazye) were the hottest items on the planet! One of my classmates went to see it twenty seven times in the cinema. There was not a lot happening in the mid 1980s in Zimbabwe, especially in an all-girls Convent school run by stern German nuns who lived by the rule of "no-nonsense-tolerated-and even-less-freedom-of-thought-allowed". But we got by...

It's sad to see another icon from my youth lose the battle against cancer.

R.I.P.

Stuck In A Moment...

The past few days have been a bit surreal. Across the UK, temperatures are soaring under fierce sunshine, with thunderstorms in the late afternoons...and there are Michael Jackson songs playing almost constantly on the radio. It's almost as if I've somehow been transported back to my childhood in southern Africa in the 1970s/80s.

Music has always evoked very strong memories and emotions... some songs will immediately remind me of a time, place or event in my life. One of my earliest recollections is provoked by The Carpenters "We've Only Just Begun". I was about 4 years old and was in a car with my parents driving from the then Salisbury to Bulawayo to visit my dad's brother. This song was playing on the car tape deck when we came upon the scene of a horrific accident involving a train and a car at a level crossing. My mom told me to close my eyes tightly and not look out the window...but curiosity got the better of me and I sneaked a naughty peak as we drove past. Really wish I had obeyed my mom as that horrific scene burned into my memory forever that day...

On a less morbid note, the upbeat sounds of "I Like To Move It", famously revamped in "Madagscar" will always take me back to our Caribbean holiday in the summer of 2005. The film was about the only decent thing showing on our in-flight entertainment system outbound and inbound....think I watched it 5 times in total...but still loved it enough to buy the DVD later.

Speaking of holidays....some plans are afoot.
Will let you know more soon....

By George!

It's Saint George's Day... he's patron saint not only of England but also of Aragon, Catalonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Germany and Greece; and of Moscow, Istanbul, Genoa and Venice (second to Saint Mark). He's also patron saint of soldiers, archers, cavalry and chivalry, farmers and field workers, riders and saddlers, and he helps those suffering from leprosy, plague and syphilis. In recent years he has been adopted as patron saint of Scouts.

After living in the UK for almost 8 years, I now consider this island (and England in particular) my home...therefore I am collectively suprised that few people will acknowledge or even remember that today is our national day. However, the day is slowly gaining increased attention and there are even calls for it to be made a public holiday. Perhaps one day we can all look forward to a fun day of celebration and more importantly, pride in our nation...

Earth Song

What about sunrise

What about rain

What about all the things

That you said we were to gain.. .

What about killing fields

Is there a time

What about all the things

That you said was yours and mine...

Did you ever stop to notice

All the blood we've shed before

Did you ever stop to notice

The crying Earth the weeping shores?

What have we done to the world

Look what we've done

What about all the peace

That you pledge your only son...

What about flowering fields

Is there a time

What about all the dreams

That you said was yours and mine...

Did you ever stop to notice

All the children dead from war

Did you ever stop to notice

The crying Earth the weeping shores

I used to dream

I used to glance beyond the stars

Now I don't know where we are

Although I know we've drifted far

Hey, what about yesterday (What about us)

What about the seas (What about us)

The heavens are falling down (What about us)

I can't even breathe (What about us)

What about the bleeding Earth (What about us)

Can't we feel its wounds (What about us)

What about nature's worth (ooo,ooo)

It's our planet's womb (What about us)

What about animals (What about it)

We've turned kingdoms to dust (What about us)

What about elephants (What about us)

Have we lost their trust (What about us)

What about crying whales (What about us)

We're ravaging the seas (What about us)

What about forest trails (ooo, ooo)

Burnt despite our pleas (What about us)

What about the holy land (What about it)

Torn apart by creed (What about us)

What about the common man (What about us)

Can't we set him free (What about us)

What about children dying (What about us)

Can't you hear them cry (What about us)

Where did we go wrong (ooo, ooo)

Someone tell me why (What about us)

What about babies (What about it)

What about the days (What about us)

What about all their joy (What about us)

What about the man (What about us)

What about the crying man (What about us)

What about Abraham (What was us)

What about death again (ooo, ooo)

Do we give a damn

[Earth Song by Michael Jackson]

Dear Mr President

Please live up to our expectations.

Yours truly

The World

RIP Tony Hart (1925-2009)

Tony Hart, the television artist whose career spanned almost fifty years and whose work inspired millions of children to take up art, died today at the age of 83. He was most famous for fronting children's art shows including ‘Take Hart’ and ‘Hart Beat’.

I can remember watching ‘Take Hart’ on a black and white TV as a child... and I loved the animated clay character Morph, who lived in a pencil box. Morph's little stories involved him creating artwork, stumbling upon strange artefacts and generally getting himself in a muddle. He never talked to us or Tony, rather he gabbled in some speeded-up goobledygook, but the clarity of the animation and direction of action meant that we could read his body language, so he always made sense.

Bye George!

It's time to bid farewell to Geedubbya....but before that, here are some of his finest moments:

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." [Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002]

"And I, unfortunately, have been to too many disasters as president." [discussing flooding in the Midwest, Washington, D.C., June 17, 2008]

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." [Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004]

"Your eminence, you're looking good." [to Pope Benedict XVI, using the title for Catholic cardinals, rather than addressing him as "your holiness," Rome, June 13, 2008]

"Thank you, your Holiness. Awesome speech." [to Pope Benedict, Washington, D.C., April 15, 2008]

"They misunderestimated me." [Nov. 6, 2000]

"One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures." [Jan. 3, 2000]

"Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" [Jan. 11, 2000]

"It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber." [no doubt drawing on his deep understanding of the scientific principles behind Stem Cell Research, Washington, D.C., April 10, 2002]

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." [Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008]

"Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter." [parting words to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy at his final G-8 Summit, punching the air and grinning widely as the two leaders looked on in shock, Rusutsu, Japan, July 10, 2008]

No squirrels were harmed in making these crisps

Chilli and chocolate, crispy duck with hoisin sauce and Cajun squirrel were among a tastebud-testing new range of crisp flavours launched in the UK this week. The flavours, chosen by the public and developed with the help of top chief, Heston Blumethal, also include fish and chips, builder's breakfast and onion bhaji.

The six flavours were chosen from more than a million suggestions sent in to crisp makers, Walkers, after they launched their "Do Us A Flavour" campaign last year to find out the British public's snack tastes. They will be sold until May, after which there will be a vote to decide which flavour stays on sale permanently. The creator of the winner will get £50,000 plus one percent of future sales.

I wonder if they’ll need to put “May Include Nuts” warnings on the Cajun squirrel flavour packets....

In the unlikely event of landing on water....

I’ve mentioned I’m an uneasy flyer, so news of plane crashes always grab my attention. With morbid fascination....I just can’t stop myself... I’ll trawl through the crash details, which will then get filed in my brain under “Resort to Nervous Wreck When On An Aeroplane Aids”, ready to pop up the next time I’m strapped into a plane seat, waiting for the roar of engines to signal the start of that race down the runway to take-off. That’s the point when I always feel trapped. I can’t stand up and shout “Let me off!”... well I possibly could, but I would definitely piss off the other passengers, almost certainly be labelled a lunatic and probably be banned from flying... which would kind of get in the way of my travel plans. Suck another Rescue Remedy pastille, and dig fingernail stubs into B’s arm (if travelling alone, random stranger’s arm).

But here at last, a plane crash story with a happy ending. Captain Chesley Sullenberger managed to land his Airbus 320 aircraft safely on the Hudson River, New York, after both engines were disabled by a flock of birds shortly after take-off. He then walked up and down the plane twice after everybody else was off and tried to verify that there was nobody else onboard. All 155 passengers and crew were rescued.


Cue Bonnie Tyler's “Holding Out For A Hero”....

I salute you Captain “Sully” and wish you were flying all the planes I will be going on........