Ok...I have been indulging in the Telegraph as usual this morning, when I came across this article!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/centralamericaandcaribbean/2473423/Antigua-honeymoon-murder-Beware-the-perils-of-paradise.html

You will have to copy and paste it to your search box, however, as "thicko" here still hasen't figured out how to add links to her blog!

sorry!

Anyway this article is typical travel scaremongering, following the horrific shooting in Antigua...but scroll down and read some of the comments and I was surprized to read so many "sensible" attitudes!
Throwing *statistics* about to prove a country is "travel hell" is just unrealistic!! and if it was, I would never visit London again!!!...or New York or LA come to that (both of which I plan to do in the future) I have sent many, many folks to Jamacia, and they have had a fantastic time, and also testement to this I have even recieved gifts from clients who I have sent there! one included a brightly coloured backpack style beach bag, with Jamacia embossed across the front!!! ..so why do journalists insist on scaremongering??? it baffles me! If they want to use statistics to prove a country is unsafe, why not do the reverse and see how many people have had happy holidays in the Carribean!? Admittedly I have never been to the Carribean myself but thats only because I have a stubborn other half who regards this area of the world as "to touristy", and in all honsetly here Derek is a total travel snob, who does not do touristy! But as a travel agent I have studied the Carribean, and feel confident enough to sell it as a destination...Basically travel safety boils down to an individuals commen sense!!! When traveling absolutly anywhere in the world I always advise my clients of the following:

a: Don't wear expensive looking jewellery or an expensive looking watch (even if its fake)...but a wedding ring comes in handy for ladies traveling alone

b: Dont show off flashy camera equipment!!! you will be seen as a rich target! Carry a cheapish looking camera discreatly!

c: Dont have expensive looking luggage such as Louis Vuitton!!...have sturdy "boring" looking luggage such as Antler or Constallation cases!

d: Alway dress smartly when you travel but dont "look" expensive

e: NEVER carry around a large ammount of cash and ALWAYS use travelers cheques, and carry it along with documents and passort on your person in a money belt when en route, and always use your hotel room safe to store them during your visit!

When I use this advice (almost always) I normally recive a cocked eyebrow and an expresion like "Oh I never thought of that!" which makes me giggle inside, but seriously, all of this is just commonsense! You would not flaunt your wealth at home, or in the supermarket, or out shopping (well most normal folks woulden't) so why do it on holiday!?? But sadly all too often I see people trapesing through airport lounges with excruitiatingly expensive luggage, clothes, and dripping in gold jewellery, which practically screams "Look at me!!! I am a walking bank account, please rob me promptly!!"
Tisk tisk!!!

Anyway, enough travel waffle for now!! I blame the Telegraph realy!!
Just now there was a UPS van outside my house and they delivered my free "the Dark Knight" soundtrack CD, all the way from the sunny shores of LA!! A few weeks ago I recieved an email from a media promotions company in LA asking me if I would be kind enough to advertise the soundtrack CD on my Gary Oldman website, and in return I would get a free copy! Now first off I was a little surprized that my modest little fan site had caught the interest of buisness folks in Los Angelese, and then I thought why dident they choose to advertise on other bigger and more popular fansites? Well I just sent a polite email back asking for details and any HTML they would like me to add, for my front page at GaryOldmanGenius.co.uk (my site), and recieved art work and links in return which I added later that day while watching that ghastly episode of Holby! *cringes* Well I had thought a tiny fish like me, they well forget to send me the CD, but no...true to their word, I got it this morning! A genuine American CD compleate with federal copyright warnings on the back!
Well I am hopping off for now as Sirius needs his walk, and I need to stretch my legs!
Please do take a look at the Telegraph site! Its interesting, informative and somtimes even fun!...and I must admit its my internet homepage!!
Did I just say that??
*hides*

and if you pick and choose your rooms carefully you can avoid *most* of the weirdo's!!
But it can be fun!!
I started going on there for Doctor Who chat, as they have a special Dr Who dedicated room so I can get my chat fix with other fans of the show!! (although I have changed my username now) and the rooms are carefully monitered, and even swearing is not alowed on there, but you can pm..
Which reminds me, I realy must update my yahoo messenger as I am running an older version that dosent always work properly!!
Now why all this chat about ukchatterbox...???
Well basically I am bored and went over there for an hour or two, in between household chores, but being the midweek and in the day, its not very busy so I just went in to read realy! so basically if anyone on here wants to "who" chat you will find me in there at some point, most evenings!

Today I recieved my "Monsters of Earth" CD Boxset, but I am waiting unitll tonight to listen to it, as I am reserving the whole evening for this audio extravaganza!!!!! (Port and supper included)...Can't wait for this but I wait untill after Coronation street, which I never miss! Recently I have been feeling very down over the fact I had to take down my Dr Who library in my living room to make room for the fishtank... The only items that remain on the old library wall are my Dalek clock, and a Tardis moneybox that is pinned to the celing with invisable thread so it looks like its flying! But saying this lots of other things remain in my living room, like my treasured "Red Nose the Dalek" which is a much loved gift from Richard....all my Who DVD's, weetabix cards, Denys Fisher Tom and Leela dolls, and 7 other Daleks of various extraction!...still, I can take heart that my other stuff is packed safely away...it just keeps some getting used to, thats all! *sighs*

I can remember when I fist saw the inside of Colins room and gasped in amazment at his "who" collection! which is far more diverse than my own, and has ALL the videos (which I do not)...well after I gave him "Deamons" for his birthday!! I must admit I watched it though, before I parcelled it up for him! LOL! As it stars my favorite Doctor, which is Jon Pertwee!...Colin also has something that is worth an obsolute fortune (I have told him it needs to be insured) as its an old convention guide (Panoptican, I think) and its signed by no less than 6 doctors!!!! and lots of other people who have worked on Doctor Who in the past!!! While I was looking at it, totally gobsmacked I felt the sudden urge to pull on white silk gloves like antique dealers wear when handiling priceless antiques!

Ok...talking of antiques, I better go and get his lordships tea ready!! But looking forward to listening to the Sea Devils at 8pm!!

*silly grin*

The news is so terribly sad this morning!
A pretty, young Doctor was murdered while on honeymoon on the paradise island of Antigua!

Having traveled to some down right "dogey" places myself, I would still not consider Antigua to be dangerous...but following this absolutly terrible news I am starting to have a re-think...Like many islands that attract tourists (Bali included) the local economey IS the tourist dollar! and as I saw for myself the awful way Bali was affected after the bombings (5 star hotels totally empty) I have no dought that Antigua will now follow suit after this ghastly shooting! Saying this though, if I had a ticket to Antigua this morning I would still travel there!...But what does send shivvers down my spine is that this lovely young couple were attacked in their beach cottage!! Now ususally the security in these holiday complexes is very strict. The Cocos hotel, where the couple were staying is not dissimiler to many Carribean, and Mexican hotel complexes, and indeed the place I stayed in on Zanzibar was the same too. In other words, a central complex with holiday cottages (chalets) in the grounds, so what I would be questioning is the security on the grounds...???...Anyway I just hope the Police catch these evil people very soon, and give them the highest possible sentances!

So on to my central topic for today!
CAMPING!!

Now I can honestly say I have stayed in practically all kinds of accomodation from rat infested hovvels to unadulterated 5 star luxury! But what I realy love is camping! But first a little travel anecdote for you!...While staying in Malaysia once Derek had found a "hovvel" that was very cheep and also reccomended by the backpackers Bible (lonely planet guide) so we booked in. Now at this point we had been on the road for six months and I was very travel weary, but I went along with him to this place. One evening we were sat on one of the single beds doing a jigsaw (Henry VIII meeting Anne Boleyn) and I looked up briefly only to see this huge rat casually stolling across the floor and sniffing the air...my patience vanished in an instant!!!!
"Sod this for a game of marbles!!!!!!!!! I am out of here!!!!" I announced pulling on my backpack, and before Derek could even protest I was off in the nearest Rickshaw to the nearest decent hotel! A 4 star called The Oriental in central Kula Lumpur!...now I am an animal lover, and I do indeed like rats, but I had absolutly no desire to sleep with one! (that last statment kind of reminds me of my first husband who was a rat!!)...but here at the Oriental I felt human again!! throwing myself on the massive double bed, raiding the mini bar, and sinking into a huge hot bath with half a pint of icey Gin and tonic!!!!!!!!!! Later, and wrapped in two huge fluffy white towels my phone rang and it was Derek! "Ok I get the message" he said "Im coiming with you! where are you staying?" I told him and half an hour later he had booked into my room! He actually wrinkled his nose at the "discusting" level of comfort that my room provided! "we can't do this all the time you know!! we ARE supposed to be on a budget!!" he had moaned!
Now what has all this to do with camping? I hear you ask!
Well camping is the only form of accomodation that I know where you can make it luxury or very basic, yourself!!
Derek can suffer all manner of "basic" but I am afraid I like my creature comforts, so when we have got the tent up (its a huge 6 man affair that you can stand up in) I always set about covering the floor of the tent with picnic blankets, throws, and scatter cushions to such an extent the inside resembles a smart Arabian Yurt!!! I also take two small fold up tables, a fold up pantry and fold up chairs, as well as a small stove and cooking utensils (also fold up belive it or not!! LOL) mp3 and small speakers and even a protable dvd player!!!! even my Tardis fridge comes in handy. The pub garden (camp ground) where we stay has lovely, spotlessly clean wash and shower rooms! So basically everything realy!...But my question is: Why do some folks still shy away from camping??...Its cheep, its cheerfull and indeed its fun! and with the soaring costs of the credit crunch (who ever came up with that daft phrase??) can be a lovely option, to an expensive holday abroard! Today you can buy "Camping kits" with everything included such as blow up beds and sleeping bags for under £300!!! Sounds expensive? Well not realy, when you think once you have all the gear you dont need to buy anything else! and the gear can last years!!!...hehehe this has just reminded me that I have to mend my tent as Sirius decided to eat some of it, when I first got him! but you can get tent repair patches very cheaply from all outdoor shops!
Colin has just phoned, and said he is going to challenge me to a game of pool on facebook sometime today!! LOL!!
I loaded the pool application form facebook yesterday, and its great fun, but so far I have only practiced....

We shall see.........

Has she got nothing better to do, I hear you screech!! LOL!!!..Well yes I have.....but I avoid it like the plauge!

Prepare for an exciting blog!!!! ............NOT!!! LOL!!!
As I spent last night "fish watching"

Yesterday afternoon saw me back at "Pets at home" looking for 2 more fish to give a huge aquarium home to...I had, had my eye on two young Shubunkins but the girl assistant said it was not realy a good idea to put Shubunkins with fantails. A little put off but not two down hearted I looked at her recommendations of other small fantails and a Calico that the girl assistant was realy quite taken with..."he has a black mustash and a personalty all of his own!!" she had announced pointing at a small orange fish buisilly shifting the gravel of his display tank. The mustasch was actually a block spot on his nose that was so carefully positioned, it looked like it had been painted there, and he realy was a very attractive young fish, so that settled it, the young Calico and a baby fantail with unusual blue markings, found a new home yesterday...Now I was very carefull not to pick fish that were to small, as I remembered the fate of my Minoes, and dident want Hermionie (my huge fantail) thinking that these new arrivals were her latest lunch!!! So both fish I had chosen were indeed small, but not small enough to follow the fate of the poor Minoes...Ok, for those of you who dont keep fish, adding new fish to the tank usually takes about 20 mins as you have to place the bag whith the new fish, in the tank to acclimitize them. I always open the bag so its resting inside my tank water so it becomes mixed with the water in the bag!!...Now my new blue fantail (who I have called Minerva) was having non of this mallarcky and after just 5 minuits she practially jumped into the tank herself and swam off! I was amazed as I have never seen a fish do this before!! She was obviously eager to explore her new home that is so big it must have seemed like an ocean to her...her eagerness was cut short, however when Hermionie began to chase her and poor Minerva ended up quaking in fear underneath some fern, which I had to gently coax her out with my fish net!...Also I noticed that Harry the Rainbow fish is still happily "Displaying" to his lady friend, Ginny (female rainbow)...he swims in front of her and opens his tail out, and puffs out his gills to make himself look bigger...Unfortunatly that is ALL he is doing!!! its as if he is saying "Come and get it baby!! But you have to do all the work!" to which she is thinking "Not bloody likely!" and swims off!!! Typical bloke realy!!! LOL!!! All mouth and trousers and not much else!!! ROFLMAO!!!
Huge appologies to my male readers for whom that last statement does not apply!
*hides*
So I spent much of last night "fish watching" to make sure my new arrivals were settling in ok, and getting used to their new surroundings! and this morning they are still happily swimming about and exploring the castle, sunken U boat and other things in the tank!

Now this morning saw me in tears!!!
A friend of mine on FaceBook had sent me a video, that by the time I had watched it I realised I had tears rolling down my face with the utter cuteness of the thing...Colin just rang and I told him about it and he said that indeed this video was doing the rounds on the internet, and that he had seen it!!! So beware folks!!!!!!! This is the ultimate in CUTE!!!
THIS IS CUTE- OVERLOAD!!!!



*sniff* *sniff*

*blows nose loudly*

Just got back from Morrisons, and I am melting!!
Sirius is insisting on sitting outside with Derek as he washes the beloved Alpha for the last time!!
...and I have some Dandelion and Burdock on ice!!

Its well worth hunting for bargins in the supermarket, because they are there if you look!...This morning there was some lovely fruit on the "Cheapy" shelf (Cheapy shelf is the term I use for stuff thats priced cheaply because the items are near there sell by date) so I bagged a punet of Clementines for 25p, a bag of 6 Pears for 25p and a Mellon for the same price! All the fruit looks fresh and the Clementines are wonderfully sweet (have just eaten two)...and other bargins were found such as boxes of half price cereal and a long tube of Austrian Smoked cheese for 70p! I love Austrain smoked, and its probabally my favorite cheese! So there we go!! Bargins to be had indeed!
Today though, had a surprize in store (literally)...
Our Morrisons had a travels agency called Harvey World travel, an Australian based company and when it opened about 16 months ago I applied for a job there as an agent...Now folks in travel in Northampton know each other dreadfully well, and the manager who interviewd me had worked at Yorks travel in the town centre which is a specialist coach group which rivaled my little shop. I dident get the job at Harveys because basically I am over qualified as an ex-travel manager, which seems silly but its true. Agency managers don't realy like to employ ex-managers for fear they will try to run the agency but in my case this is not true as I can seperate the job of manager from the job of travel agent. As a manager you have to devote 90% of your time to running the shop, staff training and supervision, and book keeping...but as an agent you can spend 100% of your time selling holidays (which I love!!!) Sadly ex- travel managers are a misunderstood group of folks, but hey, thats the way the cookie crumbles...Well I am glad to say today that I dident get the job, as if I had, it woulden't have lasted long, as this branch has now closed!!!!...In all honesty its not realy a shock as when your shopping at a supermarket the last thing on your mind is booking a holiday!! Booking a holiday should be a pleasurable, relaxing expierence for the client, and how the heck can you be relaxed booking a holiday when all you can hear is tills beeping and loud, repetative special offers being announced by tannoy...emmmm...NOT!! Now in my old shop relaxing and pleasure was number one priority. My clients always recieved tea, coffee or squash and bisquits or sweets, there was always soothing background music on, and I had a lounge area where clients were free to look at brochures without having their heads pecked to "take a seat", before recieving second to non travel help and advice, and their next holiday, trip, adventure, or quiet get-away! ...........so it was not realy a shock today when I got to the checkout only to glance over my shoulder and see this agency CLOSED!! There was a curt note on the window which simply said they were closed and wished clients well for the future (sounds like a best mans speech at a wedding) but I suppose its cute! LOL!!
Arn't Supermarkets wonderful places??? *giggles*
Well I suppose I better get on and put my salad together for lunch......

But a thought for the day!!! WHY do UK Gold only show the awfull Carry On films, and not the good ones, like "Camping" and "Cleo" ??
Ansewers on a postcard to Potty-Vix!!!
thank you!
*wink*

ITS TOO HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Typically British eh? LOL!!!

There is not a breath of wind here! Its sticky and stuffy and my brain is convinced I have gone back to Thailand (no travel waffle in this one, I promise) and there is still hardly any sunshine! I can almost bare the heat if the sun is shining, but its very dull and overcast here, and indeed not pleasent...I can't even be bothered cooking today, so it will just be a simple salad for lunch! Oh and I will be giving Sirius a cold shower later as he is hot too, and drinking loads of water, following his walk this morning! I am so glad we are not camping at the moment as this kind of heat in a tent is unbareable, espescially at night! Anyway I am currently planning my shopping list and counting the pennies carefully. as always. I am on another cook and freeze day soon so I will be looking out for cheep stuff in the supermarket. Sadly in this day and age, finding cheep stuff is difficult, as we all know...
Ok...thats all realy for now, and I realy must get on with making this bloomin' shopping list!

Love Vix xx

A great place place for travel folks (and non travel folks) to look, read and enjoy!!!

http://www.ttglive.com/home

Infact the TTG website is not just one website, its actually several, covering specialist areas on travel. My own specialisation is South East Asia, Cruise, Austraila and Central America eco tourism! and if you not a travel specilest its a good place to check out destination info for your coming holidays! Also the Lonely Planet website is simply a gold mine of information, and "the Thorn Tree" is a superb travellers forum!
Now years ago when I had the privledge of reading the TTG and Travel Weekly newspapers, I was alway up to date with the latest industry develpoments and other goings on, but not so these days as the papers are not delivered to home adresses! But I am increasingly using the website offerings to catch up!...sadly, its not always happy....
While working for Airtours back in 2000 I was given an educational (Fam trip) to go Skiing in Italy, as a thank you form my area manager for doing lots of relife work that summer! It was just a six day trip and the first part was by coach, overland to Northen Italy, and it was on my coach that I met someone who was to become a special friend. His name was Ian, and he shared a wild passion for travel that I have only ever seen in myself. Indeed he worked for his familes agency in Shrewsbury and we stayed in touch for a good couple of years after the trip, and enjoyed lots of superb days out together...along with his passion for travel we also shared a deep interest in Doctor Who so there was always somthing to chat about...Sadly we have lost contact, but I found out today that his families agency has been merged with another independant agency, and suddenly I found myself worried for him (did he still have a job ect) ...Now people loose contact with friends for all manner of reasons (wonderfully me and Kate are in touch again though!) and some of these reasons are best left, firmly in the past!! To quote from Star Trek the Movie "You, of all people Doctor, should know the dangers of re-opening old wounds"...Not that Ian and I had, had a row or anything, and our last phone conversation in 2003 was over 2 hours long!! he was paying LOL!!! But I got a feeling that somthing "odd" was happening to Ian, and we would not talk about it (I have no idea what the odd was)..Prior to this I always got a Christmas card from him every year but for some reason I have been firmly crossed off his Christmas card list since 2006! When I was reading the info about his merged buisness I was so sorely tempted to ring him to see if everything is ok, but I dident as, after 3 years of no contact, I realy do get the impression that he dose not want to hear from me, for what ever reason, which are his own...but it dosen't stop me wondering! Loosing touch with ones friends does not stop you caring about them (well in my case) but I wont contact him, as his buisness is his own and I respect that...if he does indeed want to chat he still has all my contact details as far as I know!
Now ironically Ian has a page on the TTG live site and there is also a page for "Fams Re-united"...In other words folks you have met on Fam trips (Familiarisation or educational trips) can catch up with each other on this web page! Actually some of the fam's I have been on have had the most obnoxiously horrid people on them! One girl I was sharing a room with in Turkey kept me awake all night texting her new boyfriend in London!!! By 3am I wanted to murder her!!!!!!!!! GGGrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! and another time I was befriended by a gay guy who followed me everywhere, much to the annoyance of his boyfriend, so much so his boyfriend hit me on the last evening, and called me an f*****g Fag hag!! (I reported him)...Fam's certainly are not the freebie free for all's that the public think they are! You have to work very hard for them, often making lots of bookings for the company concerned, and when your there you must share a room, and "do as your told" by your team leader...My team leader in Italy had been a guy called Andy and he said that us Going Places folks (of which I was one at the time) should not talk to people from other agencies!!! How totally absured is that???????? For me Fam's are not just about learing about the places your visiting, but also getting tips and idea's, while brainstorming with collegues from other agencies! Needless to say, I spoke up about this silly idea....and needless to say when I came home I found I had recieved a "warning" about my behaviour for speeking up against my team leader!...they also make you work so hard you just want to drop, doing far more longer hours than you would ever do in an agency, filling out endless questionaires, and visiting endless samey. samey hotels (In Turkey I counted 27 hotel visits in a single day!!!)...I saw that Ian has recently done a Fam to Brazil, and I just hope he enjoyed it more than I did on any of my fam's!!

Some of my random travel piccies to amuse....are you guy's sick of these yet? LOL!!!

Me trekking in Nepal


Visiting the Royal Palace, Bangkok!


Tempal visit in Vietnam


................Oh and this is very exotic!!! My freshly erected swimming pool in my garden! LOL!!!

Who remembers "Michael Bentine's Potty Time" ??
Come on folks!!! lets show our respective ages here!! LOL!!!!

Recently I have been on a bit of a nostalgia trip, and got the Potty Time DVD from ebay and last night I watched it and absolutly loved every second!!! Michael Bentine, with his glittering blue eyes and mop of curly hair, was the comedy genius behind The Goon's!!! and he wrote and created this brilliant childrens show in the early 70's!! Looking back, its not a bit of wonder I am obsessed with travel as most of the Potty stories were often set in far away countries, and some how this must have fired my imagination as a child!! Also Michael Bentine had very nearly ended up with Tom Bakers role as Dr Who, but a disagreement between him and Barry Letts about a script writing collaboration, meant he lost the role to Tom, but Bentine had been the first choice! I think he would have made a superb Dr Who, but Michaels love of writing far outweighed his ambitions as an actor...sadly his family life was frequently hit by tragedy as three of his children died young (one in a plane crash aged just 21 and the other two to cancer) and he, himself succombed to prostrate cancer in 1998 aged just 74 (the same age as my dad when he died)
Now back to the Potty's!!
At first glance these simple, faceless puppets seemed almost spookie! But their silly antics and comedy drama over-took any element of the scarey from the show...at the start of each show Michael would introduce the story with "Clanence" a Potty director with a clapperboard who would say "Potty time take one!" and Michael would thank him by saying "Done beautifully as ever!! Thank you Clarence!" The stories were not realy stories at all, but snippets of real history so as to make it educational as well as entertaining! Stories included the American civil war, Queen Elizabeth and the Spanish armarda, the Kyber pass, the French Legion, and lots of stories included famous people from History and one superb episode featured famous horror characters like Frankenstien and Dracula....
"I am not a Vampire!!! I am an UMPIRE!!" The Potty Dracula declairs! before promptly turning into a Bat!!...a Cricket bat that is!! LOL!!!
Why do we not get terrific telly like this these days??? *sighs*

In other stuff..........I did indeed get back on my pole yesterday but it was just so hot I was gasping for breath after just a few minuits (ok so I am unfit too) so I only managed about 3 sessions of 10 minuits before I finally gave up and collapsed onto my couch!...I have just seen the weather for today and it could reach 30 degrees!!!!!!!! PHEW!!!! so I just might have to get out that swimming pool today! Colin called me from Surrey yesterday and said the muggy, hot weather was with him, there too! and I told him about the fierce heat in Bangkok as on my first visit to the Royal Palace I actually fainted becuase of the heat!...and the evenings there would see spectacular thunder storms. I am hoping for a good storm this weekend, to break this stiffling heat!
Hope no one else is too hot!! *sprays everyone with cool water*
lets chill!
love Vix xx

a clip from Potty Time for your viewing pleasure!!

Its hot here!!.......stiffeling hot...but over cast and with no breath of wind..so even just sitting here writing this, I am sweating like a git and looking up at my freshly erected pole!!!!!!!!
Now two things have halted my pole dancing in the past couple of weeks and that is the only place I can put my pole is slap bang in the middle of my living room, and secondly I was awaiting the fishtank! So now we are back to near normal I am going back on the pole today but will be taking it VERY easy. I will probabally just do a few stretches and some simple excersises to get me back into the routine of poling on a regular basis. To prepare for this I downloaded a new music CD yesterday which includes a golden oldie...Remember Herb Albert?? the Trumpet player? well I was listening to his old hit "Rise" yesterday and with its solid beat and heavy bass line decided it would be a dream to pole dance to this!!! So I am heading for a bit of "Retro" pole dancing! I also have the old disco hit by Jigsaw (one hit wonder) called "Sky High" but a revamped 9 minuite version which should provide a jolly good work out!...also I have loaded my fridge with pints of icey cold water to keep me hydrated in this sticky heat!!
..and oh what heat!
I find it slightly unfair realy that its this hot but here we have no sunshine, infact its realy dull. But I suppose in a way its a good thing for getting me back on the pole as if the sun was shining I would be lounging in my blow up swiming pool in the garden! Anyway, who knows, the sun might still shine yet! Oh and I have decided to get "Brain of Morbius" off ebay as I can't face a trip into town!! Northampton town centre gets realy hot in the summer as everywhere is so very enclosed, and also its school summer holidays so that means gangs of kids hanging about the town centre with nothing more constructive to do!
Ok... now I know this is a short entry, but I realy must work up the will to start pole dancing again!!
...and I shall have the Deep Heat spray on hand for this evening LOL!!!!!!!!

Old age eh?? its a git!!!

back soon! xx

Yesterday morning my living room was immaculate and ready for the arival of my fish tank!!!
This morning it looks like an aquatics bomb site!!!!!!!!
But it did not come without heaps of hassle, which I had almost expected with the way things were going, on getting a fish tank in the first place!!! By 12pm yesterday there was still lack of a delivery van at my door, so with fingers tapping and my patience waning I decided to phone the chap who I had bought the tank off from ebay. He sounded vauge to say the least, and couldent seem to find any of my paperwork! At one point all I could hear was paper being shuffled about and the occasional gisgruntled mumble! Firstly he said I would recieve it later today, but for some odd reason I dident trust this and offered to pick it up ourselves (Derek wont be chuft I was thinking). Suddenly he sounded brighter and said yes to the idea, and gave me his buisness adress and directions which I hastily scribbled down. I had a nasty suspicion that he had *lost* my order!!!!
Poor Sirius was sat under my coffee table cross legged with want for his walk, but at least now I knew I could leave the house without having delivery men banging at my door!!! So with madly wagging tail we went for our usual trot around the park, which was uneventful!...the rest of the afternoon was going painfully slowly, and I simply couldent help clock watching so at about 3pm I decided to do some sewing! About 2 weeks ago I got a couple of packs of quilting patches with the idea of making a patchwork quilt for the coming winter, and untill yesterday I had still not started it, so taking the dust cover off my sewing machine and threading it up, I set to work.........now sewing is kind of in my blood as both my mother and my grandmother were tailoresses in their hay-day and I have been sewing all my life but needless to say, not as good as my mum and nanny have been! I can make simple Kaftans to wear around the house, tote bags for shopping, cushion covers, and even a bolster recently! so I thought if somthing can take my mind off the wait then starting my quilt would do it, and oh how right I was!! Before I knew it Derek was home and I had made a yard square of my patchwork!!!
"Lets go now instead of after dinner" Derek had suggested, in other words to get it over with as soon as!
So with scribbled directions in hand we set off for the M1 in the direction of Luton, as the buisness adress he had gave me was a farm just off junction 12! Now this place could not have been more difficult to find and we got lost twice, and eventually asked an kind, old couple for directions, and only found said farm after about half an hour of wrong turns, and dead ends!
The man who I had bought the tank off was sat waiting for us, outside his small warehouse behind a huge silo!He told me he had sent me an email asking for my phone number so the delivery man could check when I was in, but I have recieved no such email, but I was in no mood for arguing as I just wanted to get the thing loaded, and get on our way home! The flat pack cabinate fitted behind the seats (just) and the packed and boxed tank was loaded onto our "boot rack" (remember all the 60's roadsters had a boot rack!) and strapped it on with several bungee straps! We have carried all manner of stuff on that boot rack from a 48 inch TV, ALL our camping equipment, my Star Trek style living room chair, and all manner of other stuff...but to me this huge boxed fish tank dident realy look safe, and all the way home I was glancing nervousely in the wing mirror to check if it was still there!!!!!! We got home just after 7pm and I set to work putting the cabinate together while Derek took Sirius for a walk! Fortunatly the cabinate just slotted together with no screws or messing about, and with the cabinate compleated I set about taking the old tank down and saving as much of the "old" water as I could for the new tank! My fish had an inpromptu home on my coffee table in two clear salad boxes from my fridge, and I dont think they were too impressed about it either! The tank filtre pump was a little difficult to figure out as it came in lots of pieces and the instructions appeared to have been written by Yoda!! But just after 9pm I was filling the new tank via a hose pipe from my downstairs bathhroom! As the tank got fuller and fuller, the thing was making odd cracking noises as the tank took the strain of 160 litres of water!!! Shortly after 9:30pm I introduced my fish to their new home! They seemed a bit bewildered at first and stuck together in a group but soon they were off swimming and exploring and to all intents and purposses they were loving it!!!!
This was going to be a late night I thought as I sipped my first glass of Port at 10pm, and phoned Mum to tell her my fish finally had a new home!! and it was indeed a late night for me, as I dident get to bed untill well after 11pm!
Now yesterday and today is a bit of a sweet and sour affair as Derek has decided to get rid of our beloved car!!! Because of the credit crunch, and she is now 7 years old with 77,000 miles on the clock! But this will be the very last time we will ever own a sports car! Derek had taken the day off today to get a quote for part exchange from the garage where we originally bought our car new, back in 2001 and he has just phoned me with the price he had been given which was a very poor, and insultingly £2,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This car had originally cost £25,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....in all hoesty I would prefere it if he kept the car, and just spent money on doing her up (new re-spray ect) but he seems pretty well set on the idea of getting a new car, so gone are those wonderful days razzing around in the sunshine with the roof down!!!
*cries*
Anyway....this is another story!..........

Trying desperatly to keep myself busy while I wait for this bloomin' fish tank which I don't think will be here untill Monday now!!

So I have some flying stories for your amusement!! ;-))

The first time I ever flew I was ill!!! dreadfully ill....and it wasen't even on a flight out of the country!! It was just an "exhidition flight" from Manchester to Newcastle and back, for Airport staff and their flamiles (I was married to one briefly) and I think the year was 1987, the aircraft was a Lockheed L1011 triStar! and I think the pilot was "on somthing" as he approached the runway at Newcastle, only to suddenly put the engines into full power and shoot us up into the air when we were just feet from the runway!!......I was absolutly terrified, and swore that I would never fly again!! LOL!!! Oh how wrong I was, because just 7 years later I was being bounced around the planet on all kinds of aircraft, in all shapes and sizes, so much so I have forgotton just how many flights I have done now!
I have two favorite airlines, but only one favorite aircraft!
The airlines are Thai International and Singapore Airlines, and my favorite aircraft is the Boeing 747-400!!! This aircraft, dispite its massive size realy is the ballerina of the skies!! and probabally the only aircraft I truely feel at home on! (its much nicer at the back with a window seat) and because this aircraft is capable of flying up to 45, 000 feet (cruise ceiling is normally 38, 000ft) you feel very little turbulance so you get a realy smooth ride and you dont realy feel any movement at all when your cruising, so you wont even spill your tea... doing long haul, and after copius amounts of wine and a good meal I will usually sleep the rest of the way, untill woken for breakfast, which is served about 2 hours to an hour before landing. Also a few hours after the evening meal is served the lights in the cabin are dimmed so that people can sleep. Some people find it difficult to sleep because the air in the cabin is quite dry but a good tip I have found is putting a light blanket over my head and breath in my own moisture. On most long haul flights you will be given a "flight pack" which will include an eyemask for sleeping, some comfy socks, toothbrush and paste, small haircomb, and some freshen up wipes! The contence of these packs varies from airline to airline, but you basically get the same thing but only if your doing overnight long haul. If your doing long haul Buisness class the packs become much more elaborate. Personally I have only ever flew buisness class twice and that actually was "on buisness" as I was invited as a guest by Garuda (Indonesian) Airlines, as part of a team of travel porfessionals from the UK to visit Bali to promote tourism back to the island after the horrific bombings!

Below is a copy of the letter I sent to the "Travel Trade Gazette"



This was the result of my anger at the FO advice to stay away from Bali following the bombings!
Basicaly I was thinking "yeah!!!! lets scare everyone into not traveling!!! if the FO do this, haven't the terrorists won???"

Anyway, Garuda Indonesia is not one of my favorite airlines and if I am honest here its practically my least favorite as the food is the worst on any airline ever!! Undercooked, overcooked rubbery gruel is the only way I can describe it...but to be fair this was some years ago and I am now hoping Garuda has cleaned up its food act a bit! Also the aircraft I flew on were rather old and clunky, so I am hoping this has changed too now...Must fly with them soon, again!! I think with shivvers down my back!!
The following is a story from one of my many trips to Bali...
Derek and I had been the last passengers to board our Garuda Airlines 747-400, at Denpasar Airport, Bali! We were the last because stuip cow here (me) had left her hiking stick in departures and Derek had to run back and get it for me with only seconds to spare...we were the last two to pull up on our bus on the tarmac next to our giant bird and I remember looking up at her!! She (the aircraft) looks so old she looked RETRO!!!! and there were nasty burn marks on the exhaust on the rear of her undercarrage. This did not look promsing I was thinking to myself as the air stewdess waiting for us at the top of the boarding sets, practially dragged me and Derek into the cabin by the scruff of our necks, and scowled at us with a face like thunder...
"Tarima Kashie!" I said to her breathlessly slumping into our seats (Thank you in Bahasa Indonesian)
We were indeed very late for the flight as we "pushed back" almost immiedatly and were soon rocketing down the runway where I happily counted "V1 -Rotate" in my head as we lifted into the air (v1 rotate is a pilots "commit to fly")...Now the first part of the flight was lovely, smooth and quiet and Derek and I settled into reading the newspapers and drinking wine before dinner (which I was dreading) we kept asking for more wine as we thought it would take the taste away of the god-awfull food we were expecting. This time though I seem to remember it was almost palatable, Satay with peanut sauce and fried veg rice. Anyway our first stop was Bangkok after about 5 hours, where, rather like a bus, some passengers got on and some got off, and so we were due to take off almost right away...but no.......after about 45 minuits and with our fellow cabin mates getting more and more irratated by the second we had an announcment from our Captain "We are sorry for the delay Ladies and Gentalmen! we appear to have a problam with our on board flight computer which is being fixed and we should be on our way again in about 15 minuits. Thank you for your patience!" **as a brief note Captians announcments are often very ammusing as I have heard one giving out the latest Chricket scores and even an impatient Captain over Chaingi Airport, Singapore in stack saying, angrily "you think they would bloody let us down, we are the biggest thing up hear at the moment!!" *** Ok on with the story
Problam with the on board computer??? I was thinking, probabally with a cocked eyebrow...Computers on board 747's and most planes today actually do most of the flying!!! This was a worring thought, and as we set off down the runway again, I must admit my heart was actually fluttering with nerves at the prospect of flying on a 747 with a dodgy computer!!!!!!! Well on we continued, and our next stop was Bahrain and we had the same problam only this time we were on the ground for 7 hours, stuck in the transit lounge, going loopy with bordam!! The only good thing about this was I was able to have a crafty smoke in the smoking area, chatting with fellow passengers of varid nationalities, who also smoked, which was enjoyabe, because you get to hear so many different travel tales from all around the world. So with the computer fixed yet again we continued our journey only to make an impromptu emergency landing at Frankfurt, becaue of...yes...you have guessed it...the computer! By this time we were 30 hours into a flight that should have only taken 18, and everyone, myself included were sick and tired and absolutly exhausted, but Garuda treated us to a free breakfast at the airport and another 3 hour wait before we flew on to London......the best was yet to come...
Everything was going well with our flight untill we were about an hour from landing when the cabin bell, seat belt sign "Bonged" which mean seatbelts on as there is turbulance coming up! At this point I was thinking that a little turbulance on landing was going to be nothing compared to the waiting we had done, so I fastend my seat belt and made ready for landing, pulling on my shoes and brushing my hair....with a huge lurch that knocked everything in the cabin flying (that wasent tied down) the clear air turbulance started, only this was to be the worst clear air turbulance that I have ever expierenced...we bumped and bounced, juddered and jolted and went up and down like the worst rollercoaster!!!!!!!! This is starting to get scary! I was thinking and even Derek looked nervous...on our final I.L.S approach I realised that the pilot was riding this turbulance like a true professional, and flying manually, as I heard the engines and the wing flaps fighting against mother natures most angry air!!! About a second before we finally touched down the whole aircraft swinged violantly to the right and slammed onto the ground (my head was between my knees at this point in a brace position) and then seconds later we were back in the air with our engines screeming like some manical Banshee!!! But the cabin was eirrily quiet with silent panic...SLAM!!! we came down again, engines now screaching in reverse thrust to slow our "two fast" bird, and this time we stayed down THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!! and all the passenger broke out into a huge round of applause for our skillfull pilots!!!!! We were on the ground, and back at London after what had been the worst flight of my life!
Below is a little clip of a Jumbo landing in a clear air cross wind, like we had!



...only differenc on ours is that we actually "Bounced!" off the ground!

see you soon, lovely ladies and gentleman!!!
and thank you for flying with Vix!

*giggles* xx

me in Balinesse National costume with some traditional dancers from a local school, Ubud, central Bali!

WARNING...............PARTIAL MALE NUDITY BELOW!!

DOUBLE WARNING................Colins sense of humor is as sick as my own!! LOL!!!!

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...........REMEMBER WHEN YOUR MOTHER TOLD YOU NOT TO TAKE SWEET'S FROM STRNAGERS????


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THIS IS WHO SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, couldent resist that!!! ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!

I realy need to get a life!!!!!!!!!!
as I spend far to much time on news websites and looking at 9 11 conspircy theories ( I realy do think it was a Govenment plot) and finding out new things....the thing is, I could have been at the Trade Centre when it collapsed (this scares the hell out of me!) because in August 2001 when I was still painfully stung by my Dads death I had a compelling urge to get away on my own, just be alone and think and maybe drink a little too much...Two cities were at the top of my list to visit and both were places I had never been to before! Sydney in Austrailia and New York...In fact I realy wanted to do both and came very close to buying a round the world air ticket. Now I had a carefully planned list of things to do in both cities and when I got to New York a trip to the Observation Deck in Tower 1 of the World Trade Centre was at the top of my list!! (I had even planned lunch there!) Now at the last minuite I got an offer of a "open" return ticket for Sydney (via Singapore from Heathrow) at a very good price so I took it...for those who dont know an Open return means you can come back at anytime during a six months pierod so long as the airline you have purchased the ticket with, has seats...Anyway Sydney it was!!! Now close readers of this blog will remember that I caught Gastroenteritus while on my second week in Sydney, and had to be taken to hospital...Derek had gone into painic mode and begged me on the phone to come back after just 3 weeks (I had planned to stay at least 6) so when I got out of hospital I spent many a happy hour at the Singapore Airlines office trying desperatly to get a seat back to London, but everything was full!! It took two days before I finally got a call from my ticketing agent who had "bumped" me a seat for the next day... "Just make sure your early to check in because I have overbooked the flight!" Needless to say I was first in the que to check in, but basically I had taken someone elses seat on that flight! a little unfair I know, but I was using my knowledge as a travel agent here! Flights will often be overbooked becuase the airlines want to fill seats as quickly as possible so on busy flights, even though you have a ticket, its basically "first come first served"...Ok, I am off on a travel tangent now! LOL!! I flew back on the 8th of September 2001 (a day before my birthday and just 3 days before the towers went down)..in fact I was still suffering from terrible jet lag when I got a call from my mum to put Sky News on where I saw smoke billowing from the first tower, and suddenly a plane slammed into the second!!! I could hear screams, and suddenly I seemed to "wake" and realise what I was watching was real, and then the thought hit me like a mallet! "OMG I could have been at the top of that tower!!!" I was terrified, and shaking, and my heart just bled for the people of New York that day...
Now yesterday I found somthing that broke my heart!!
A beautiful yellow Labradore Police Dog, was killed in the Trade Centre attacks....and his name was Sirius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a tribute to him.



Sirius and Officer Lim were partners at the Trade centre where Sirius worked as a bomb detection dog...on the morning of the attacks they had both been in the basment of tower 2 where officer Lim heard the plane strike but thought it was a bomb. He quickly realise people could be hurt so he made sure Sirius was safe in his kennal before he went off to help the injured "I shall be back for you very soon!" he told the dog, as he belived under the circumstances that Sirius would be safer there in the basement...Officer Lim never came back.........he became trapped himself when the towers fell but was dug free in the rubble some 5 hours later...he was a very lucky man...But poor Sirius was not so lucky...His flattened kennal was found on the 22 January 2002 where he was belived to have died instantly when the full weight of the towers fell on his kennal!
At this point as I was reading I felt tears pouring down my face, and realised I was sobbing almost unconroleably....
Sirius was later honoured with a full Police memorial and 21 gun salute, and also recived full honours! and was presented with the Victoria Cross!!!
Sirius was the only police dog killed that day...but I am so proud that my dog shares his name with a hero police dog from New York

Now that was the tears............the "Waiting" is for this BLOODY FISHTANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I desperatly want to get into town to get "the Brian of Morbius" DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes Dr Who again!
The thing is Tom Baker does the commentary on this story, and I absolutly adore Tom's commentary's!
But I can't get out of the house because I have absolutly no idea when my tank will be delivered...I am afraid to even walk Sirius!
...more to come soon..........

...so as a follow up to yesterday I have an urge to post some family album piccies for your amusement!! LOL!!
or more like bordem!!
This is the earliest piccie I have of me!! Yes thats me in there somewhere!!!

and I vaugley recollect that the pram was navy blue!
Next...a wee bit older and in colour, but in the same garden!

at the bottom of this garden was a huge pylon, which would probabally not allowed today!

Much older (about 5) and with my first beloved pet!! he was a bugie I named Peter (can't remember why) he lived untill I was into my teens!


and with said bugie on my head!!! LOL!!

Next up is a rather special photo!!! Now I can remember this being taken as I was freezing cold, and wanted to sit down in the bath water again...but my Dad who was taking the photo asked me to stand up and seemed to take his time to take it...Now this isent realy the reason why this piccie is special....Its special because my Dad carried it with him in is wallet for the rest of his life, and I only got it back after he died in 2001...he never carried another photo of me with him....just this one!


me in push chair, Mum pushing, at Cheddar Gorge circa 1969!


and I can't resist posting this!! LOL!!! This is my wonderfully sensible parents at Southport fun fair circa '75!!!


Below I am aged 3, and this was taken by my cousin who was a professional photographer!


and this is Christmas day 1972!


and me aged 5 with my dads treasured truck on Lymm walking day! Dad always drove the Rose queen truck, but I was due on another float as a little Scottish girl!


A Birthday piccie from about '73 (I am in the orange dress looking confusedly at the sandwiches) I realy dident like my birthday parties because I always seemed to get told off for one thing or another!


and this was my 7th birthday at a garden pavillion in Southport!


another birthday piccie....the little girl sat next to me was my first best friend, called Andrea...sadly as we grew up we also grew apart, and eventually dident get on at all...the last time I saw her was as a bridesmaid at my first wedding in 1986, and I have not seen her since, although her dad (pictured at very far left) came to my dads funeral in 2001, and occasionally says in touch with my Mum!


In bed with Ted!! This was actually a "staged" professional shot, done during the day, and underneath the covers I had my best party dress on! LOL!


another professional shot from the same day!


and finally, a bit older relaxing with my Dad in the carpark at New Brighton bathing pool, which was sadly destroyed by a storm in 1994!



Hope you have enjoyed this little selection from my old albums! as much as I enjoyed posting them! ;-))
love Vix

Goodness knows what kicked this off today...but, here we go!
It started out with a basic internet search fo nostalgia in the north west of England (where I grew up) and I ended up, finding lots of little things that triggered huge memories for me!
Practically one of my earliest memories is being under a blanket in the dark and thinking "Crikey! I am here again and I have to grow up AGAIN!" (Which is why I have a basic belife in reincarnation, as this REALY WAS what I was thinking...the rest are flashes, like being again wrapped in a blanket lying on the back seat of my dad's car and being rushed to hospital for some reason, at night...my mum wandering me around rocking me to sleep while the radio played "Wandering star!" (and odd future preditction here I think) and being dumped in a white circular playpen, while I screamed so loud I was sick...and being absolutly terrified of the song "the good the bad and the ugly" for some very weid reason!...Today I found out though that one of my earliest memories is not quite right, though! It involves the old Tower at New Brighton and my being fascinated by a (I cant find out what there realy called but I am sure you will know what I am talking about) Mechanicle puppet show in a glass box, where an automated puppet band played a weird song! Now as a child I had a very inquiring mind and was always taking things to pieces to see how they worked like radios and even once a Cuckoo clock! So while I was watching this bizzare show, I remember looking at the cogs and wheels at the top of the cabinate to see how it worked, when dad had commented about the fire at New Brighton tower, and from here on I must have had a dream about it because I seem to remeber being evacuated from where ever we were! I was convinced unitll today that we had been at that tower when this happened but I found out it wasen't...the tower at New Brighton actually burned down on an April morning in 1969, so we couldent have been there as my memory refrences an evening! So I have concluded that this is from a trip to Blackpool tower from about the same period...
My main memory is the Moon landing though! I can remember this like it was yesterday...when I was about 2 years old Mum and Dad had this rather odd pink, round portable TV, and that was the only set we had untill Dad decided it would be a superb idea to have a brand new "colour" tv for the Moon landing as it was being broadcast in the new colour format! The only thing was the area we were living in had only recived the transmission in black and white and my dad had been realy angry...well it was either that or he haden't set the tv right becuase I do indeed remember watching it in black and white, sat on a blanket on the hearth rug and thinking "so are those little men in the silly suits actually behind the tv then?!" LOL!!! Its realy sweet that I can still, after 38 years remember what I was thinking when I was bearly two! I was so convinced about the men behind the telly that I even crawled behind it to check!...In retrospect its not a bit of wonder that I was not electrocuted by the time I was 3!!...Mum recalls somthing I don't however...I was in a high chair and pulled the flex of a boiling kettle (wanted to see how that worked probabally!) and managed to pull the full lot of boiling water all over my legs and feet! Thinking about this, this could be the time I do remember being rushed to hospital in my dads car. I dont remember the kettle though!


...AND belive it or not I can remember the day I actually learned to walk!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, so I was a very late walker (I was nearly 3) but I was a very, very early talker at 7 months I started and I have never shut up waffling since! LOL!!! Mum and dad had just bought this new white leather 3 piece suite and it was a moring I think, I suddenly decided to pull myself up, and practially ran into the new sofa!! But prior to this my mum had nicknamed me "shuffle bottom" because I would get around the livingroom by shuffling about on my potty! *giggles*...I was sick a lot as a child, and during my childhood I had absolutly every bug know to children, except for mumps and full blown measles! When I was ill, mum would lie me on the couch with a eiderdown over me and spoon feed me her magic formula! Whisky, hot water and suger! Unfortunatly I got to realy like this and would sometimes fake an illness just to have some of mums lovely cure! I also adored (and still do) Gripe water!!! I was also a very fussy eater and Sunday lunches where a battle zone! I loved pop (dandelion and burdock and Barrs cream soda) and dad would say "Now eat half your dinner OR NO POP!" I left home when I was 5 because of this, packed my case and said I was going to live in Walton Gardens and plug the telly into a tree! Very vivid imagination there too!...when I started school I told tales of my mum being pregnant and having a brother (I am actually an only child) we had visited Windsor castle to see the Queen, and my uncle was a diver on an Austrailian reef and had brough me back some rare sea shells! Now all of this was total rubbish, but for some reason I loved to make things up!

Looking back at all this I should have been an engineer or a fantasy writier!!!!
But from all mums accounts I was an absolute nightmare of a child!! I would want to "play bricks" at 3am, everything I lay my hands on I had to take to bits to see how things work, and by all counts I was not a very good sleeper...Oh and from the age of 2 if mum or dad touched the TV when Dr Who was on there would be a screeming hissy fit!!! LOL!!!!!!!! This applied to The Goodies too!...but the end of Dads Army, with the sound of the airraid horn sent me running and screaming in terror (I dont know why) but perhaps I was once killed in an air-raid *thinks*...favortie food was black pudding mashed up in a bowl with melted butter (I would throw up if I ate this now!) dry farlyes Rusks, and bowl after bowl of fried mushrooms! (not altogether ofcourse!) The mushroom thing has stayed with me, however, as I still love mushrooms to this day!
Now what triggered this nostalgia trip???
I have absolutly no idea apart from looking at various nostalgia websites, and stuff on youtube...but I suppose my impending 41'st birthday may have somthing to do with it...
Have any childhood memories you would like to share???
Would love to hear them!
Love Vix
...oh BTW!! I love this song from 1976!!!!!!!!!....sorry, had to post...bit embaracing realy LOL!

The latest fish tank I was bidding on, on ebay was due to finish today at about 4pm, but when I clicked into my ebay this morning it had vanished.....Totally baffled at this latest development (this has happened twice now) I phone the ebay customer support line and spoke to a nice Irish guy called David, who took my details and put me on hold for a short while as he sorted my problam. When he came back he said it had appeared that the auction had been closed because of a problam with the sellers account, it was just that I had not recived any details yet!!!! Good grief!!!! I am truely doomed with this fish tank thing........Now because of the hassle I have had, thats lasted nearly two weeks now, I have totally lost my patience and done a "buy it now" from an aquatics dealer on ebay! Ok, its cost about £150 more than what I wanted to spend but it will be worth it to finally have a new fish tank at last!!! Its a new 36 inch, 178 litre tank on a smart cherry wood cabinate (will post a piccie if and when I finally get it set up) and they even deliver, so no more hassle with the car I hope!
Ahhh the car.......finally got towed to the garage on Monday where it has been since! Derek has been using his bike for work, but at 51 I dont think he has realised how unfit he is, as he has been coming home red faced and panting like a good 'un!...Years ago and about 2 years before we met, he had cycled all the way across Canada in 3 months, and had even wrote a book about it, although it was never published...and this indeed was Dereks chat up story the night I first met him in '93. I remember being realy fascinated by his Canadian oddessy, and indeed impressed as I had never realy known anyone who had traveled before...and...well you know the rest of the story! So needless to say he is a little bit pissed off that he is not that fit 34 year old anymore!
Last night I saw some true horror on TV, in Holby City (of all things!!)
Now I dont usually watch this programme but I was sort of watching it while I was updating my Gary Oldman website to advertise the new score CD for Dark Knight (this was requested) and I was occasionally glancing at the telly while waiting for uploads...Now the horror was the storyline! which was total anti smoking propaganda (which as you know I am heartily sick of) and involved a man who was a chain smoker taken into Holby with a choking cough and chest pains (surprize, surprize) now of course he was told to stop smoking immiedatly BUT the man had about 50 cigarettes STICHED into his pyjamas!!! AND almost set fire to a store room where he went for a crafty smoke, and he fell off a window sill. When he was found after the fire alarm sounded, he was having a fit on the floor (as far as I know smoking dosent cause fits) and there was a pile of glowing cigarette butts on the floor next to him!!!...How absolutly bloody stupid was this story??? *climbs on saop box* Firsty if a smoker was daft enough (or desperate enough) to stich 50 cigarettes into their pajama's, any sane person would know as soon as you lay down you would squash them all!!!!! ( I actually felt embarraced for the poor actor who had to do this pathetic story) and also during the time it took him a sneek into the store room, and fall off the sill, and being found by the staff, how the hell did he have chance to light about 20 ciggies (about the ammount in the pile that was glowing next to his body while he was fitting) in about 10 minuits!!!!!!!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrr!!! whoever wrote this story should be sacked, as its totally unbelivable, unworkable, and sends out the wrong message that all smokers are weidos who will do absolutly anything for a cigarette (or 50!!)...Soaps like Coronation Street have handled the smoking ban sensibly, showing law abiding smokers still enjoying a cigge on occasion! Now why the heck can't the BBC show this too!! Instead they choose to screen a story which was not so thinly discuised as anti smoking propaganda, that Hitler himself would have been proud of!!! At the end of the day smokers ARE human beings who are treated as the lowest of the low, scum of society, for simply enjoying tobacco! Forgive me, but this is wrong...so very wrong!!
*climbs off soap box*
Ok in other news.....The Dark Knight has had its New York premire this week where Gary Oldman attended with his new lady! Gary dosent usually attend premieres these days but I think he made an exception for this one because of the death of Heath Ledger, who, it is rumered, is going to be nominated, postumusly, for an Oscar, for his portrayal as the Joker!! I can't wait to see this movie but I will have too (like the Boleyn girl) as smokers and dogs are not allowed in Cinema's!!! LOL!!!!
Love Vicky xx

What with yesterdays madness of breaking down car, and still no fish tank on the horizon...its going to be realy nice to write about somthing pleasent for a change!
Back in the ancient days of the Commorore 64 and the Spectrum ZX (I had the latter) there was a game that I absolutly loved called "Impossaball!" which does exactly what it says on the tin! A simply bouncing ball game that is quite literally, imposible!! Now I was never a fan of video or computer games but admittedly there were some I liked from the past like Asteroids and Galaxain and even a very primative Lord of the Rings game which you had to load with a tape cassette! (I am realy this old??? *hides*) and I seem to remember it took about half an hour to load!LOL! I think it was about 1987 that a game caught my eye in WH Smith called "Impossaball" and it looked interesting so I got it, and that night I gave it a try...Now never in my life have I found (and since I must add) a game that was so frustraiting, irritating and yet incredibly addictive all at the same time!!! I was litterally tearing my hair out when my ball got popped by a spike or squashed by somthing else, and yet I kept playing and realy could not put the thing down.......Now, 22 years later I have found a re-make version online!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!

http://www.tcksoft.co.uk/downloads/remakes/impossaball/

which just takes seconds to down load (its a zipped file so you have to unzipp it) and hey presto!!! Away you go! I was very surprized to find this acctually works on "vista" as I know a lot of games are not compatable with it! Another favorite game I like is "Bejewelled" but the main site for bejewelled does not support Vista or firefox comes to that but its ok if I switch back over to internet explorer...but now this game works fine!!! You get a full screan version that is very retro in its look, and a heck of a game into the bargin, and when you have finished playing (if thats possible?) you just pess escape to come out of it...the download dosen't automattically load a desktop link but you can do that yourself from the open file in windows!

A little hint....use the floor of the tunnel (it has squares) to line up your ball before you bounce it before you get popped!! ;-))

...oh and I am not responsible for any mental proplams you may develop playing this game!! LOL!!!

Oh dear...oh dear...oh dear...

and thats putting it mildly as some of my language today has been very less than lady-like!...and a day that saw me sat on a grassy round-about with Sirius...and traffic zooming past at 70 miles an hour....
Today started badly!!
The tank I was bidding for on ebay had gone over the top with 17 bids and up to £300!!! which is a bit over my limet, so I sulked, and then I sulked some more as I realised a bout of PMS was setting in...had lunch and still sulking untill Derek happily agreed to go and have a look at some new tanks! Wo! he has changed his mind, I was thinking, happily for the first time today...But like all things with him, there were conditions...In order for me to look over new aquairiums I had to tag along on a trip to the cemetry where he likes to put flowers on his mums grave, AND visit Aunty Joan who is a lovely lady but she dosent like Sirius, and I am sorry for this but "Love me love my dog!" me and Sirius come as a package! Anyway I went along with this plan...Now hear in the UK we still have silly Sunday shopping laws and most shops that do open on Sunday's will close at 4pm (both aquatics centres I was due to visit had 4pm closing) Now we got to Aunty Joans at just after two pm, and after an hour my feet were tapping and I was clock watching, and eventually we left at 3:20, barley enough time to visit both places I had commented, grumbling to Derek as I got in the car...and a car that suddenly refused to start.... he waited a few moments and turned the ignition again, and nothing but whirring, and no firing...reminded me of the time I was with Dad in his truck and the starter motor packed up, but thats another story...He tried a few more times, and eventually I ended up pushing said car down the street so he could start it, with a VERY bemused Sirius looking back at me pushing the car wondering what the heck was going on. The car hit s down hill bit of road and spluttered to life, which I was very relived about. So we continued our drive to the first aquatics centre! I jumped out of the car at the door thinking Derek would just keep the engine running as I looked at prices, and I called back..
"where will you be parked?"
" Over there!" he waved, vaguley to his right.
Anyway the cheapest tank of the size I was looking for was a whopping £491 for tank and stand, so I just figured, to expensvie, and realised time was getting on so I hurried out hoping to see our car, but it was nowhere to be seen!!!!!!!!!!!! I wandered around the bottom part of the car park like a right tit for about 15 mins untill I found our car parked out at the furthest point with no Derek and no Sirius!! I was fuming!! Now to cut a long story short Derek returned with Sirius about 10 mins later and a shouting match ensued with him saying he had told me he would follow me in, but I hadent heard that...this day was turning into a kind of "Carry On" farce!
But the best was yet to come!!
Derek raced across town on the ringroad to the other place we were to visit with only about 10 mins to spare before the 4pm deadline...Presently, while coming off the slip road onto a roundabout the engine spluttered and died!!!!! In the worst possible place, just pulling onto the roundabout and about 30 yards from some traffic lights !!! with traffic running up to the back of our car at a frightening speed. Needless to say we forgot the row as we realised what a precarious position we were in, and to be honest I was more scared for Sirius than either of us!...Now when all said and done Derek and I do not have the perfect relationship, but when push comes to shove (literally in this case!) we can work together like a carefully oiled machine...Firstly I got Sirius out of the car and onto the grass roundabout, where I reluctantly tied him to some railing's while I went back to help Derek...I could feel my heart breaking as I left him there, and I could hear him barking and crying because he was scared, at this point tears were starting to sting my eyes...but I had a job to do to make us all safe, so with me steering, and Derek pushing we got our car onto the grass round about, and out of the way of the very fast oncoming traffic!! I was shaking....a police car pulled up and a kind officer asked if we were ok, to which I blurted out that Derek was on the phone to the RAC rescue, and all was well!
"You have both done very well to get the car away from the traffic!" the officer commended, before driving off...
Now it was swealteringly hot!!!!!!!!!!!! today has been the hottest day in weeks, and there was no shade on the roundabout for the three of us to sit, and Sirius was panting badly, at this point Sirius and I were back in the car, which was the only shaded place to be honest!
"45 minuits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Derek yelled down the phone to the RAC! (that was the waiting time the RAC had initially given us) But I was thinking fast...Sirius needed water, badly and so did I come to that...Now because we had been to the cemetery we had two empty water bottles in the boot (trunk) as Derek uses water to clean the grave stone and to put with the flowers, and both bottles hold 2 litres. I asked Derek if he would take the bottles and get them filled up at a near by Pizza hut which was about 10 minuits walk away, and he agreed and me and Sirius waited with the car trying to make the best of a bad situation. Much to my relife when he returned with the water he said that the RAC had called him back and would be with us much sooner, and needless to say I could have kissed the very handsome RAC man when he arrived. He dident, however get our car started as something had "gone" on the crankshaft, but he did give us a tow home...

I have bid for another tank on ebay.............

and there was a huge disaster today in Morrisons! They had run out of my Tawny Port, so for tonight I am on White Port......

Copius ammounts of white port tonight, may I add!

Love all, Vix xxxxxxxxx

...and planning it carefully as there is no Doctor Who and I absolutly refuse to watch that Choir waffle on BBC 1 tonight...so I have been shopping!
Telly on Saturday nights has been getting worse for the past 20 odd years untill now (with no WHO) we are subjected to the mindless dance and talent shows and the mind numbingly borning "Celebrities do this" type thing, when said celebrites are actually folks you have never heard of...Remember Saturday evenings in the early 70's??? Basil Brush, Dr Who, Jim'l fix it, the Generation Game, (maybe not in that order) and were basically aimed at kids untill 9pm when there was usually some kind of "play for today" which made saturday evenings very family oriented! Now poor kids today have to put up with the total rubbish on TV on Saturday evening's, its not a bit of wonder they want to go out, roam around in gangs and drink booze!!! Oddly enough present Saturday night TV makes me want to go out, wander around in gangs and drink booze, becuase its sooooooooooooooo bad....Last Choir standing???? what next eh??? Morris Danceing Mania!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or perhaps Celebrity bell ringers....UGH!!
Sorry...rant over with...
So I have been craftily planiing!!!!! TA DAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Picked up this little gem in HMV for the princely sum of £7!!!

Director Paddy Breathnach's work is new territory for me, as I have not seen any of his other films! But this seems to be a genuine Irish horror movie, with a seemingly workable plot! I have avoided reading reviews with spoilers (I hate spoilers) but its star rating is very low (like 2 stars) which for me is good news, as ususally when a film is rated or reviewed terribley, it turns out to be a good film....Some of you may remember I raved about (Creep) which had terrible reviews, but turned out for me, to be one of the best British horrors in years. I firmly belive that the folks that rate this type of film are not true fans of horror, as such true reviews are vary rare!...Admittedly I have watched a lot of twaddle-horror over the years, and I am not a fan of slasher movies, although some classic slasher stuff like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for me are brilliant! But my heart truley does belong to the Hammer Horror films of the 60's and 70's!
Ok, my time planning...........7:30pm bath with Elizabeth Arden "red door" bubbles, 8:30pm sees my living room movie premier of "Shrooms!" 9pm is time for some reserve Port, 10:30 supper which is a small Riccotta and Spinich canelloni with salad 11pm bed!! ....oh and all my wall sconces will be lit! *grins* all ten candals just to give my living room the right feel! and Sirius will have his usual supper of milk and biccies at 8:30 too which I will give him before I settle down with the movie!
I can't wait!!
a piccie for you Kate!!! me with saggy boobs!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!


Have a lovely evening what ever your doing folks!
Love Vicky xxxxx

Just found this on youtube and just had to share!!!!!!!!!!

It had me crawling on the floor with laughter!!!!



Beware "WHO" toy collectors....they DO come alive at night!!

Love Vix xxxxxxxx

I just found this on the Mail website:

She Has been travelling in time and space with Doctor Who. But now some are asking if the Time Lord has turned his hand to cosmetic surgery.

For as Billie Piper collected an acting award, onlookers couldn't help commenting on her apparently fuller lips.

'I could hardly concentrate on what she was saying,' said a member of the audience at Tuesday's National Television Awards in London.

'Even Angelina Jolie's lips aren't that luscious.They were just enormous, and when she smiled they became all tight and unnatural looking.

'Her top lip moved up, exposing all her teeth and her gums. It just looked odd and a lot of people noticed it.'

Others put the look down to carefully applied lipstick, and a spokesman for the 23-yearold said: 'I can categorically say that she has never had any surgery to enhance her lips.'

But leading plastic surgeon Jonathan Baker commented: 'Her lips are startlingly full and plump. Personally, I have never seen anyone whose lips naturally look like that.

'Lips are not normally that full unless they have been exposed to some sort of toxin, such as collagen for example.

'But because there is no scarring from collagen treatments, there would be no way to know if she has had surgery.'

Plastic surgeon Alex Karidis added: 'It looks as if she has had her lips filled with some kind of injectable filler to give them extra volume.

*****************************************************************

Now firstly why, I ask, would Billie, who is a beautiful, talented young woman, would feel the need to have collagen lips???? Her lips were lovely in the first place, but I have noticed that Dr Who fans have been questioning her new pout....??? Its non of my buisness realy, but I too was curious, and I know Kate is too, but it wasent just us two who noticed she could barley speek her lines without lisping in recent stories! Also the fact that her spokesman has denied she has had cosmetic *surgery*...Collagen implants are NOT technically "cosmetic surgery"!!...Collagen is injected with a local anastetic just under the skin, so there is no actuall surgery!...Ok perhaps I read too many newspapers online (my favorite is the Telegraph!) but I must admit this does seem to offer some kind of explantion, as to why this beautiful young lady has suddenly appeared with a (to coin a phrase) Trout Pout!
Her lips were gorgeous naturally!! I would snog her, and I am not even a lesbian!! LOL!!!

***COMING UP..........................
will Vix and Sirius get the fish tank of their dreams??...???

...and oh boy I have had a whacking great appologie from his lordship for the other evening!!
and an unexpected present....
Now while out shopping earlier this week I popped into WH Smiths and got the film I have been waiting for so much for most of the year now! "The Other Boleyn girl!" Starring Scarlett Johansson, Natailie Portman and Eric Bana...Now let me explain a little of the fab book by Phillipa Gregory, that this film is based on...Miss Gregorys story is a FICTIONAL take on what might have happened in this majestic, love triangle! I first read this amazing book while on holiday in Sena-Gambia a few years ago, and you know me, Vicky the Tudor NUTTER!! Well as I was reading it I was thinking "well that dident happen...and thats totally wrong, and thats all wrong too!!!" But I had to keep kicking myself and remind my self that this work is fictional...Shall we say Miss Gregory adds some bodice ripping scandal to an already scandalous story from English Royal history...So first off, I am saying that this film is fictional, and I watched it twice yesterday!!! ;-))
THIS FILM IS AMAZING!!!! (If you forget the historical facts!) and what an amazing performance from Natalie as Anne was as close to the character of ther real Anne that I have ever seen on film!! The real Anne Boleyn (from my extensive research) was fiesty, witty, a religous reformest, and expert in all courtly manners, as well as being sophisticated, intelligent (she spoke 4 languges) and firmly belived that men and women were equal (this caused some horror I can tell you in 1533) as well as being very loyal to her two siblings, Mary and George! Basically Thomas Boleyn (Annes father) was a devious oppertunist who was low born but married a lady with Royal Blood, his wife Elizabeth Howard! But Thomas could see that Annes charms had caught the eye of the King, after his realationship with Annes sister, Mary broke down after she bore him a son!...Henry began to persue Anne, feverishly, but Anne, after seeing what happened to Mary, refused his advances, returned his gifts and letters thus publically insulting him! Henry was livid but it made him all the more passionate for Anne. With carefull manipulation from Thomas Boleyn, and the Duke of Norfolk (Annes Uncle) they convinced her she could take this as "far as she liked" and convinced her to play her stakes high, and as high as a Queens crown! Henrys passion for Anne had no bounds, and when the Pope refused his divorce from Cathrine of Aragon, he broke with Rome, and declaired himself "Head of the Church in England" Bannished Cathrine from court and married Anne in secret, when she eventually gave herself to him and they concived a daughter, Elizabeth!...Anne had great power as she was a crowned and annointed Queen, but she also had many enmies and she was spyed on constantly. But Annes power soon deserted her when she failed to give Henry a male heir, and by now Henry was acting very cool with her, and spent most of his time with Jane Seymore (eventaully his 3rd Queen)...so basically it was Anne's wit and spohistated, flirtatious ways that her conspiritiors used to hatch a plot that would send her to the block! The conspitirors noticed that she was close to her musicain called Mark Smeaton, whom Anne would pay gold when he played to her! Also several of Herny's closest friends were wound into the inpending plot! Weston, Breareton, Norris among others, and so desperate were they to get rid of Anne, they used her closeness with her brother, George, Lord Rochford, to charge the poor woman with incest as well as adultary...Anne's fate was sealed, and on the 19th of May 1536 her head was smote from her body in one swift stroke from a skilled French swordsman...
Henry spared her the clumsey axe...
Now most of what I have written above is the FACT!! Miss Gregoery's book goes a little further into detail, and actually makes you think a lot, about what "could" have happend!!! So watch this movie with an open heart folks! and I wont say aything else about the film as I don't want to give spoilers...I will just say one word!! AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
I was watching it last night with my usual Port supper, and I had even lit my candle wall sconces to give my room a Tudor feel....Now Derek spends nearly every evening upstairs in his office! which I dont realy mind because it gives me the chance to watch whatever I like on telly in the evenings...so yesterday evening I was halfway through watching "the other Boleyn girl" when he suddenly came down stairs to get something from our car...I cringed, becuase I HAD NOT told him I had bought the DVD after the row about the fishtank, but a part of me thought "He might not notice" as he is well used to me watching Tudor drama in the evenings!! He glanced at the telly, and fortunatly that was all. I breathed a deep sigh of relife when I heard him climbing the stairs back to his office!...Now Derek knows me very well, too well infact....and this evening he came in with a huge appologie for the row...and he had a gift for me!!
Yes you have guessed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I now have TWO copies of "The other Boleyn Girl!" ROLFMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok in other stuff.............
I have found a new fish tank over on ebay and so far things are looking good, but I am not counting my chickens. Also its a huge 250 litre!! but a very nice set up, so I am keeping my fingers crossed for now, but I have a feeling we will have to hire a van as our little Alpha Romeo Spyder maybe a bit small...Oh and I have taken my pole down for now untill the tank is fitted! It needed adusting anyway, as the base had got a little too slack for me to feel safe on, but rest assured I will be back polling again once my fisheys are settled into their new home!
Some piccies to amuse too!!!

Sirius is sneaking up on me!!!! Yikkeesssssssss!!!



Me and Sirius!!! Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!