Lemonlight

Gaza

Something terrible always seems to happen in the world at Christmastime - or maybe it's just that the festivities are a convenient bookmark in our memories in a world that is always troubled by something or other. This year's big neon post-it note is highlighting the terrible goings-on in Gaza. I can't pretend to be an expert on middle eastern politics but surely anyone can see that what is happening there is wrong? The bombings and killings are shocking enough but the fact that no one else is condemning what's happening is really scary. Happily there are people who can express themselves a lot more eloquently on this matter than me and are prepared to make a stand.

Fingers crossed

Do you think there's anyone in the world that doesn't know it's the US election (finally) today? If I was allowed a vote, you know I would be Obama through-and-through. As a citizen of the world, he's the man for me. For us all. God bless America!

Tagged

Saw this on yvestown - what would your answers be?

1. What time did you get up today? 8:08.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds (fake ones are fine, thanks).
3. Latest movie in a movie theater? Was aaaages ago... think it was Die Hard 4.
4. Favorite TV series? Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes.
5. What did you have for breakfast? Coffee and 0% fat Greek Yoghurt and honey (because I can shove it in my bag and eat it at my desk at work).
6. What's your middle name? Claire.
7. Favorite food? Really good bread and salty butter. Best though is my Dad's roast dinner.
8. Which food don't you like? Urmmmm. Hmmmm. I'll get back to you on that one.
9. What's your favorite CD at the moment? We Started Nothing by The Ting Tings.
10. What car do you drive? Silver Ford Fiesta.
11. Favorite sandwich? Crayfish and Rocket (from Pret a Manger).
12. Which human traits can't you stand? Rudeness. Without a doubt.
13. What are your favorite clothes? Jeans and vest top (I like having my arms unincumbered).
14. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Iceland.
15. Favorite clothing brand? I love New Look - I'm all about quantity and changing my mind rather than having expensive designer stuff. Plus there's the clothes I make myself, of course!
16. Where would you like to retire? Somewhere rowdy, vibrant and full of life. Maybe Brighton.
17. Favorite time of day? About 6pm - the longest possible time before more work!
18. Where were you born? In Southampton (England) and I'm still here!
19. Which is your favorite sport to watch? I like winter sports - possibly the Luge.
20. Coke or Pepsi? Either, but definitely not any other sort of cola (especially not the soda-stream crap foisted onto me as a child).
21. Soccer or hockey? Soccer!?! Football, thank you.
22. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Hoot, hoot!
23. Pedicure or manicure? I hate my feet, so manicure.
24. Any exciting news to share? Less than 2 weeks till my birthday!
25. What did you want to become as a child? It was something different every wek. To be honest I still haven't decided.
26. Best childhood memory? The day during the school summer holiday that it was deemed hot enough to bring out the paddling pool.
27. Ever been to Africa? I've never been outside of Europe.
28. Ever rolled anybody in toilet paper? Err, no. Should I have?
29. Have you ever been in a car accident? Happily, no. Have seen lots in my rear-view mirror though! [joke]
30. Favorite day of the week? Saturday.
31. Favorite flower? Peony.
32. Favorite - Hot dog or Chinese food? Chinese - salt & pepper squid to be precise.
33. Do you own a bike? No.
34. Who was you latest e-mail from? Let me go and look... Ha, ha, it's the Lidl Newsletter. I think that says a lot about me!
35. Where would you like to shop more if you could afford to? Liberty. Oh, and Etsy of course!
36. Bed time? Around 1am.
37. Latest person to share dinner with? Lovely husband, Mark.
38. What are you up to now? Laptop is on my lap (surprisingly) half watching TV - Heroes.
39. Favorite color? The clear luminance of a bright blue sky.
40. How many tattoos? Zero (and it will always be zero).

The Flight of the Conchords

The Flight of the Conchords is a totally amazing comedy show and I love it to bits. There's lots of great TV on at the moment, but I think this has to be my number one show, and definitely in my all-time top-ten. It's so refreshing to see people trying something new and different and turning out so very, very funny.

The Flight of the Conchords are Brett and Jemaine, "New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk paradists". They're in New York awaiting their big break but it will probably be a long time coming with an agent like Murray in charge. Each episode is in a docu-sit-com format with a couple of songs, so you're getting a lot of entertainment for your investment of couch-time.
My favourite episode so far is #3. How about these for rap-names... hiphopapotomous and the rhymenosaurus. Excellent! There's a great clip on You Tube if you want to see them in action...

Even though I have cleared the clutter to such a degree that I now have just a small handful of DVDs that I own, this one will definitely be a welcome addition to the Muldowney household and the first one I have purchased in about 3 years. High praise indeed.

Give me 25.4mm and I'll take a mile

The world is a crazy, mixed-up place. Confirmation of this can be seen in the way we measure things, certainly here in the UK anyway. It's quite indicative of how we as a country sit within Europe too... not quite willing to thow ourselves into the melting-pot whole-heartedly, but not wanting to be left out of all the fun either..

Imperial measument is bonkers. I speak with absolutely no authority at all, but really, it's all over the place. Do you know how many yards are in a mile? 1760 apparently. (Yes, I had to google that). I can't let my brain confuse itself anymore by trying to remember another meaningless four-digit number, my life is way too full of them already.

Metric is cool. Metric is level-headed, logical and sensible. Do you have ten fingers?  Can you can divide and multiply by ten? If so then basically, you're sorted – welcome to the metric system. Easy.

In truth life in Britain is a hotch-potch. If you were weighing cheese or parcels you'd use grams, for sure. If you were weighing yourself you'd use stones and pounds. I travel in miles (it's 70 miles to London). I fill my car up with litres of petrol (seems cheaper that way). Being a nation obsessed with the weather, it's no surprise that we adopted Celcius early on, it's all I can remember. Although right now it's cloudy and 15°C, so it hasn't actually improved anything.

I couldn't tell you the relationship between a litre and a gallon without googling it... but to be fair, I've never needed to. If I needed to – if I measured things for a living, I'd embrace millilitres and metres to my bosom and be thankful for easier sums. I reassure myself that important people such as doctors, bomb disposal experts, hairdressers etc, give themselves the best chance of success by keeping it simple and keeping it metric... I'm sure that's the case.

You'd think all this would be confusing. You'd think that this unholy mix of units would, by now, have resulted in some infamous misinterpretations and comical results (Millimeters? This house should be 30 FEET tall! ). But somehow it works. If it stays all mixed up and crazy, I can live with that. But if I had to choose one over the other, I'd go for metric every time – but 'doing 100' down the motorway just wont be as exciting!

Winter Olympics

I guess you have to be a certain type of person to love being cold so much that you want to do sports in it. Whilst I may show a passing interest in a bit of light snowman-making (mainly in a supervisory capacity), that is as far as it goes.

That said, those little European ski-villages with their log-cabins and fairy lights do look quite enticing, so I can kind of comprehend the attraction of, say, skiing... gently down a slight incline with a handsome ski-instructor holding my hand and a cup of hot cocoa and a bubbly bath waiting for me at the end of it.

However, there are some winter sports that a) are very dangerous b) involve v. unattractive outfits and c) no one's ever heard of - who exactly in the world do you go and see if you want to becoming a medal winning luge rider? (By the way, they do luge DOUBLES you know - same as the normal luge, but another bloke lies on top of you whilst you skid your way to glory. I say 'bloke', women aren't excluded, they just don't want to do it apparently)!

I find it extremely reassuring that the only medals Britain has won (or stands a chance of winning) are in these afore-metioned 'lunatic' sports; silver in the women's 'Bob Skeleton' (!), and a chance of something in the curling.

Congratulations and Rule Britannia!

No smoking

Come next summer, if you spark up in a public building, people will legally be able to throw a bucket of water over you and damn your sole for all eternity. Hoorah!

Thankfully the (overwhelming) majority MPs who voted last night were stuck by a wave of common sense and moral fortitude and voted for an all out ban on smoking in public; no namby-pamby half measures like we feared.

Personally I gave up smoking about 8 years ago (hence the smug satisfaction). I started when I was about 13; I started because all my friends were trying it and I wanted to look cool! It is still a vivid memory - the East Street Shopping Centre in Southampton - a 'Raffles' cigarette - how I didn't throw up there and then I'll never know. Hopefully I haven't done any lasting damage by smoking for as long as I did, but it is nice to know that I will soon be able to go out to a pub or club and not notch up my nicotine intake any further (and not come home smelling like a rancid kipper).

I do know what it is like to be addicted, so I would imagine there's some pretty pissed off people out there who feel like the power-crazed government is personally trying to make their life hell. Sometimes though, we need a bit of cajouling, deep-down we know it's fundamentally right - just not much fun for the smokers. I know though, that if I was prime minister or had any sort of power to yeild I'd want to try. I'd want to know I'd done as much as I could to save over 100,000 lives a year.

I live in a cool country* - we have banned smoking and accepted gay marriage!

*Yes - this blogger is aware there are plenty of crappy things which are shameful and embarassing about Britain. Plus we never win any medals in the Winter Olympics. But patriotism is a rare quality in this country, so please allow me this small outburst!