Victoria is

There be EGGS HERE!!!!

Victoria Short — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:47:51 +0100

WOW!!!
I have eggs...goldfish eggs!!!

My Fantails spawned this morning, and I am still absolutly amazed by the fact!
After the wild goings on this morning I looked closely at the area of the tank they had been and and sure enough one of my live plants was covered in tiny, pearl like eggs. Anyway this sent me rushing about like an expectant father, trying to find something I could put the plant covered in eggs, in! Two days ago I was cycling some gravel and the large tupperware box the gravel had been in was still in my kitchen half full of tank water!! Perfect!!! I thought and as gently as possible lifted the plant out and placed it in the box with a top up of tank water! At first I thought I had only saved about half a dozen eggs but on closer inspection it turns out to be about 20 eggs! I dashed up to Pets at home and got a hatchery unit and I have put approx half the eggs into it and its floating at the top of my tank! The others are still in the tupperware box, clinging to their plant, on my coffee table! I have never had a fish lay eggs before so I am dipping my toes into new territory here! At pets at home I also got some fish "baby food" but could not find the food recommended to me on the fish forum! Its a liquid feed...I have been finding out as much as I can about breeding goldfish and apparently the hatching takes about a week (if indeed they hatch) but I am trying to keep my expectations as low as possible to avoid dissapointment...I would be absolutly heart broken if they indeed hatched and then died so I am preparing for a few tears along the way too!

Fishy goings on...appologies and a question?

Victoria Short — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:11:54 +0100

I left this desperate message on Practical Fish keeping this morning:

There are some VERY amourus goings on in my tank this morning!

and because I am new to fish keeping I will not have a clue what to do if Hermionie lays eggs! So can anyone help?

Heres what happening!
Both Albus and Voldie wont leave Hermionie alone! They are chasing her and trying to nuzzel her underside, and this has got so vigorus that they even knocked a tank orament over (which I have now removed) Hermionie in turn is swimming into my live plants and flashing her tail about...Now Voldie (moor) has his white mating spots (just a few) on his nose and a couple on his gils, But Albus does not (he is a red cap fan) in fact I dont think he is old enough to mate, but goodness me it dosen't stop him trying!!!!...in all honesty I dont expect baby fish as Hermionie and Voldie are two different species...but what do I do if it does happen??
Just in case.......
Also this wild activity is bugging my other fish, my youngest fish are hiding in the tower, and the Paradise fish have taken refuge in their submarine
Oh heck...gotta go...they just knocked one of the live plants over....

Please help!

Now this has been happening for several weeks now, on and off, but this morning it seems to have reached a peak!! and I am slightly worried as I have never had fish have babies before!! Last night their behaviour was normal, and I was even as please as punch when my baby fantial, Minerva, fed from my hand for the first time!!! But this morning all hell seems to have broke loose in the name of fishy passion!

Ok a huge appologie goes to Kate!!! So sorry for cutting our phone chat short, because Derek had phoned me on the mobile!! Its the bloomin' car again and he has to take it back to the garage again today!! UGH!! Its somthing to do with the cruise controle! Not bad for a car we have only had for two weeks!!...And Kate! remember to say "fantastic" when you want to swear!! your lovely son is listening!!! hehehehehe....Oh what the *fantastic* is going on with the new car!

Richard!!
How long did it take for your Dalek set to arrive from forbidden planet??
Mine were due to arrive last friday bt did not...emm...just my luck...I have made a special place for them in my living room too!!
Please let me know!

Laterzzz xx

Weekend doings, and Colin has been a naughty boy!!

Victoria Short — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:18:43 +0100

Colin has just been on the phone to me giggling his head off, telling me that he has finally recieved a months ban over at Outpost Galifrey, because he said Jamie Oliver should be put into the Wicker Man!!!!
ROFLMAO (Rolls on floor laughing my ass off)
When will the people at Outpost Galifrey get a life!!!!???? ...and a sense of humor?
Now years ago Outpost Galifrey was a fun place to be, but sadly all this is changed now, to such an extent that hardly any of the original members ever post there anymore! On the forum you get the impression that you have to be "very careful" about what you say, whether its about Doctor Who or any other matter, and freedom of speech just does not exist over there...now it appears having a sense of humor is also a crime too!!! The self important demi-gods at Outpost take themselves so seriously its like walking on broken glass! One, who shall remain nameless even changed my avatar into a picture of a Cow with the words "lying Cow" writen across it, and then threatened openly on the forum that I should be hit with a baseball bat!!!!!!!! Now is this the proper behaviour of a grown man who has the responsibillity of one of the admin on the planets largest Dr Who discussion group???
I think not.......
Well I am not going to waste time and space on my blog going on about this silly place...end of......

On to much more interesing stuff!!!
CLAMS!! *grins*

Hermionie has been waging war with my live tank plants and seems to have got it into her head that they should all be ripped up, and float on the surface of the tank, so yesterday saw me back at Pets at home! Several weeks ago I saw some "plant anchors" in there and yesterday I decided that this would be the only way I could hold my plants down, so we went back to the shop. To my huge delight they had some new Clam in, and very large ones too!! I have been waiting ages to get some more clam as I guess my single clam, Cedric, must feel lonely now in his new much bigger home...so I came home with two of these lovely new clams!! Now for those of you who dont know, clams are "filtre feeders" and this means they filtre the water for their food...Now after I had acclimatized my new arrivals I had expected them to start digging the gravel but they dident, they just lay on the bottom of the tank. In the evening I had my usual bath and when I came down one had indeed began to extend his foot and bury himself, the other one, however, haden't moved....This morning the first thing I checked was my new clams and sure enough the one who haden't moved had now vanished under the gravel, and the one who had just extended his foot was still continuing to do so...I made coffee and started to check my emails and things, while looking over at my clam occasionaly...He was indeed moving but he was extending his now huge foot into the water and waving it about, and not into the gravel, as he is supposed to do!!! After about an hour of this I decided it was time to give nature a helping hand so I went to rinse my arm in cold water, and went into the tank where I dug him a small space in the gravel and gently turned him over so he was in the proper position to dig!...and he is still digging!
In other news, I have heard from my pole dancing friend in New York, who was wondering why I had not got back to PoleJunkies. I explained about the tank, and the waiting and indeed the hassle, but said I was now back pole dancing again, properly!!... My Mum has been involved with some kind of brawl with her neighbours but it dosen't realy surprize me because she can be a gossiping, busy body sometimes...oh and Sirius had his usual weekend bath!! so ll is as normal as it should be realy!! LOL!!

BACK SOON! x

Some "spooky" Art I have done for you!

Victoria Short — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:23:40 +0100

Well manips in Corel 10 realy! *blushes*

....and I have decided that this final one has a story to it!! *grins*

I used two photos for this! one of a staircase in a derelict mental hospital, and the other of a Nun! So this story started to form in my mind...

During life, Sister Edna had been a Nun of the purest of pure virtues, who recieved an assignement from the Holy Mother, to go and devote her services at a local mental hospital...Sister Edna was so horrified by the patients she saw there!!! she begins to murder them one by one, in styles of murders from the Bible...she HAD to cleans this hospital of its evil sin!!!!...and ofcourse Sister Edna was never suspected...patients were simply found with limbs nailed to the beds with their skulls smashed in.....but the remaining patients know whats happening and murder Sister Edna in the most brutal way!
Her soul in torment and bound to the hospital, she haunts, she is followed by a creature waiting for the right moment to drag her evil soul into Hell to burn for all eternity!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I am only drinking tea too!!!
LOL!!!!!
Well untill about 9pm tonight after my bath when I shall be toasting Richards good health, on his Birthday!!!

Balloon Festival Weekend!!!

Victoria Short — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:28:28 +0100

But firstly let me just say................................

I shall be raising a glass (or ten) for you this evening, Richard and wishing you many, many happy returns on this special day!!!

Now I realy should make a "Birthday diary" so I can do birthday cards on here for everyone who's special day it is! So please let me know when yours is and I shall keep note...emmm mine is coming up too!! the big 41!!!....NUFF SAID........

Its the Northampton Balloon Festival this weekend and we were treated to some close ups of the Balloons yesterday evening when "Bertie Basset" almost landed on my house!!!!LOL!! This happens often during the festival, if the wind is blowing in our direction. Yesterday, before it got dark Derek took Sirius for his evening walk and when they came back Sirius bolted through the door as fast as lightening, with tail between his legs, and shot under my coffee table, quivvering in a fit of fear!! Thinking he had just been attacked by some huge nasty dog I quiried Derek who was giggling almost hysterically!!
"Its the Balloons!!!" he had told me.
My huge shaggy, loopy dog is terrified of the balloons it appears!!
Apparently they had flew low over the park where we walk Sirius and these huge things in the sky, coupled with the noise of the burners had absolutly terrified my dog!!! It took me ages to coax him out with the aid of some custard creams, while cajouling "Is my baby Pud Pud scared of the 'Loonies!" (his nickname is Pudding and loonies means balloons)........(yes I realy am that daft)...Needless to say he dident eat his dinner last night, as its still here on the floor this morning, poor love!
For those who don't know, the Balloon Festival is an annual event here in Northampton! Its always held on the old race course and concludes on the Sunday by an open air concert and fireworks display. I used to attend the festival every year as it was free and fun but two years ago the local council slapped an entrance fee of £4 on it and I have not been since! But fortunatly, living where I do, I am almost guarenteed to see the balloons at some point over the weekend! This year the free concert will be Rick Astley so I guess I am not missing that much!!
Anyway, I have got to hopp off for now and make his lordships sandwiches for work!
Oh woes for the chores fo a woman!! LOL!!

See you soon! x

Ebay crunching!!

Victoria Short — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:37:08 +0100

Yes folks! I have started to sell on ebay again!!

Now this is mainly guilt as I have spent a small fortune at Forbidden Planet and his lordship will have a small freaky when he gets my credit card bill....so this morning I have listed a very small pair on Nike trainers that I have only worn a couple of times and cost an absolute fortune!! They were an impulse buy several years ago, and I got a size too small for me, hence they dont fit and have just been stuck at the bottom of my wardrobe. So I am going to have a jolly good sort out today (will be mostly shoes and handbags, which I have an abundence of) One thing is certainly a no-go area though, and that is ofcourse my Dr Who collection! as well as my other collections of die casts dating back to the 60's and my Peggy Nesbit royal dolls (worth about £50 each)...I haven't listed anything on ebay in years becuase I was put of by a buyer who left me neauterl feedback after I sold her a ski jacket. She had said there was a make up mark on the collor! and I also stated in the listing that the jacket had not been dry cleaned! so it kind of put me off a bit...but hey, in these times of the credit squash (crunch is a silly word) needs must when the Devil poo's on your doorstep!!!
I just hope I can make enough so I am able to get the Red Emporer Dalek...and maybe the odd bottle of a nice vintage Port! ;-)

Ok.I am going for a rummage...back soon!! xx

"Big Brother!" Goldfish....Horror and cruelty!!

Victoria Short — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:27:13 +0100

I only ever watched this pathetic excuse for a programme once...and promptley turned over after half an hour........

*apoligies to any of you who like this show* But its just not my cup of tea!!

As I said in an earlier entry I have joined the "Practicle fishkeeping forum" and was absolutly horrified to read that contestants on Big Brother had been given 3 goldfish to look after in a tiny, wee bowl with no water filtration and precious little else!!!
THE R.S.P.C.A AND OFCOM SHOULD COME DOWN ON THEM LIKE A TON OF BRICKS!!!

Not only is this a horrible cruel way to keep fish, it also sends messages to young folks that this is the *ok* way to treat fish!!! OMG!!! this makes me angry!!!! In effect this is absolutly no difference between this and winning a fish at the fair in the 60's and 70's (now banned fortunatly)....as a child (aged about 6 I think) I indeed won a golfish at the fair but immiediatly demanded to my mum, that he had to have a tank (not a bowl) and a friend because I dident want him to be lonely! My fish were called "Bit" and "Bott" after the goldfish that were featured on Play School at the time, and lived for 10 years!! (properly kept goldish can live nearly 30 years!!)...But I loved my fish with a passion!! Goldfish are not only beautiful, and gracefull to look at they are intelligent, playful and friendly!!! and in no way should they be treated in the manner that Big Brother has been treating its goldfish!!!! It also turned out this morning that one of the poor, unfortunate fish has now died!! Its not a bit of wonder as a single goldfish needs at least 30 litres of water, a proper pump and filtrations system, about 8 hours a day of light, water property management, hiding places and live plants to nibble on...none of which were provided to the Big Brother fish which were in a poorly sized bowl (its very cruel to keep fish in bowls anyway)...Some of the folks at the fish forum have complained to Channel 4 only to recieve *the same* standard responce with pathetic excuses, so I have suggested Ofcom, the media regulator, and I have complained to them myself !
Big Brother should take itself more responsibly, because its a programme watched and loved by millions of kids up and down the country...and lets think for instance what would happen if the house mates were given a puppy to keep in a foot square steel creat????!!! Belive me keeping goldfish in this tiny bowl is EXACTLY the same thing, and I am sure there would be a huge uproar about "puppy kept in terrible conditions" all over the country...but because the subject is goldfish, no one seems to care about this barbaric cruelty except for us fellow fishkeepers!
Oh and dont get me on about China again!
Chinese Olympic souvenirs now include live goldfish inprisoned in airtight, plastic keyrings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The makers of these should be castrated!! I would happily do it myself with a blunt instrument!!
LIVE goldfish trapped inside novelty plastic keyrings are being sold to the public in the Chinese city where Olympic sailing events will take place later this year. The items, which are not official Games merchandise, have been condemned by animal rights groups, who called on authorities in Qingdao to ban them.
Without access to oxygen and food, the fish cannot live for much longer than a few hours. Aimed at children, the keyring - which sports an image of Huanhuan, a young boy who is one of five mascots for the Games - is said to be selling fast in markets.
“The fish would survive just a few hours and would be lucky to make it from the manufacturers to the point of sale,” an RSPCA spokeswoman said. “We can’t understand why anyone would want to buy it.”
The RSPCA said it would be calling on Chinese authorities to crack down on the sale of the items. “It is a gimmick … This product shows a shocking lack of respect for a living thing and should be withdrawn from sale,” the spokeswoman said.
I, for one, am horrified and discusted that this kind of cruelty exisits in our 21st century!!

The Tudors were kinder to traitors!!!!!!!!!

Richard has been tempting me!!! faints

Victoria Short — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:04:27 +0100

Its all got too much for me!!!

*recovers from severe credit card surgery*

Richard, bless him, has sent me a piccy of his newly aquired "Classic Dalek set" and I just kept popping back to look at this absolutly exquisite set of Daleks!! and the info was that the cheepest price was on the Forbidden Planet website, and indeed I could not resist this and checked it myself! I also checked ebay and some rip off merchants on there are charging over £30, for "buy it now"...well by this time my fingers were acting of their own accord and I had absolutly no power to stop myself!!! I popped back to Forbidden Planet, and as if by magic my credit card just happened to pop out of my wallet, and it put its own details on my laptop all by its self!!!!!!!! I had absolutly nothing to do with it!!!! HONEST!!!

*HIDES*

So I just happend to put in my order from the classic set!!! Now to make matters even worst, my laptop, working by itself ofcourse, also went on to order a 1:18 scale model of "Christine" the demon car from one of my favoite movies by John Carpenter!!! It even has working lights which would look awesome in a darkened room...recently I saw the same model on ebay going for over £70 but this was just £35

Well I had spent the morning in town as I had very nearly run out of ciggies...checked the usual appalingly bad selection of WHO stuff on sale in Woolies, and came home just after an hour and visiting the pound shop for some doggie things, and Radox bubble bath...I was quite pleased with myself because I dident come home with any new shoes and dident spend any further money!! But my credit card had other idea's when I got home and just happened upon the FP website...my classic Dalek set is due to arrive on friday........

...and I just cannot resist temptation!! LOL!!!

cheers Richard!! your brilliant!!

PS!
Please remind me to NEVER EVER visit the Forbidden Planet shop the next time I am in London...otherwise Derek might just file for divorce!!!
*whistles innocently*

Earth Sounds....the HUM!! (or Om)..??

Victoria Short — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:41:58 +0100

Non Hindu's and not allowed in Indian Temples...BUT!

"Meditate and you will feel and hear the OM!!!" breathed an old Hindu Priest, in my ear...his breath hot with nerves at the thought of allowing a white westen woman into the inner scantum of his Temple...I entered tentivly and knelt onto the warm, damp stone floor. It was very dark, but as my eyes adjusted I could make out butter candals, lighting a large, gold, Om symbal, and the air was loaded with incence and the smell of offerings of fruit and flowers.........and I listened.........

"Ommmmmmmmm......Ommmmmmmmmmmmm....Ommmmmmmmmm!!!"

Astonishment almost made me stand up, and indeed my body jerked like a puppet on a string, at the thought I could actually hear THE OM!....I had tried to relax but the sound excited and entralled me and I felt at peace...UNTILL!!

"What the heck is that sound!!!!!!!!!!!" I had moaned to Derek on Lighthouse beach in Kerela, southern India!! It was so peacefull laying there benith the shade of a shabby old umbrella, but I kept hearing this annoying noise like a far off motorboat...Derek dident ansewer as he was sound asleep so I looked up and squinted into the sunlight dancing on the surface of the Ocean, searching for the boat, that was the source of this sound I could hear, but there was nothing, just a very distant container ship, and nothing that could have made the sound of a diesle engine boat, which is what I was hearing...quite suddenly I remembered hearing the Om at the Temple, and realised that this humming I was hearing was remarkablely similer!!
"MMMmmmm... must be the Om of the Earth!" I though as I drifted back to my tropical dream....

Now whats all this waffle about? I can hear you mumbling ...yes she is indeed waffling again!! LOL!!

Well, today I found this on wonderfull Wikipiedia!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

Apparently the "HUM" is a real thing that people all around the world can hear!! So I wasen't going bonkers afterall, and I did hear "something" very distant and sounding like a diesel engine! I must admit I have only ever heard this sound on very deserted quiet beaches. Derek never heard it however, and wondered what I was talking about. Some folks can hear it if they are susseptible to low frequencies, but others can't hear anything...Weird...after some more research I found this piece of a documentary on youtube, and the sound has been altered for everyone to hear, and its incredible, but its just like my "Om of the Earth"

Weird, isent it??...and why did I only find this today?...I have no idea.

Now further on from this I have found that our pleasent little blue planet is very noisy! This following quick clip is the acctual sound that our Earth makes in space!!...spookily someone put in the comments section "This is the sound of the Earth SCREAMING!!!"

Jupiter makes this noise too although she sounds much more peacfull!!

The above piece is 10 mins long but you just have to listen to the beginning realy!

Finally.........Saturn.........warning: this is quite spookie!

a quiet weekend!!!

Victoria Short — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:36:36 +0100

Very quiet indeed!!

Even shopping in Morrisons yesterday morning was quiet!! (oddly)

Not many bargins were on offer either, and they have even moved the "cheapy" cold shelf, so I was wandering, round and round like a berk, looking for it...I know why they do this though, as its marketing strategy so customers looking for said cheapy shelf will look around more trying to find it, and may pop a few more would be bargins into their basket!!! But when I eventually found it there was no amazing bargins on there anyway! Food bargins are becoming more and more difficult to find, methinks...and I have even considered growing my own veg lately! My Dad grew his own veg when I was a kid, and I can remember him growing, carrots, spring onions, potatoes, and his was absolutly obsessed with growing runner beans! Shorty after we moved here in 2000 I had a pop at growing runner, and French beans, only to find the whole lot being eaten by a veritale army of snails! Now being an animal lover it broke my heart putting down snail pellets so I eventually gave up, and have not attempted to grow any veg since! In fact the only thing I grew since were Sun Flowers but Sirius ate them when he was a puppy! LOL!!
Yesterday I decided now would be the right time to get more involved with fellow fish keepers for help and advice, so I have joined the forum at Practical Fishkeeping! As I am the only fish keeper I know! On posting there yesterday I was very surprized to learn that keeping a freshwater clam is *unusual*...I had thought there would be lots of other clam-keepers out there, but apparently not! Ofcourse when I mentioned Cedric, my clam, everyone was asking for pictures, but I dont have any as he is rarely seen!!! Freshwater clams live their lives under the gravel or sand, filtering the water for food, and if they are unexpectedly uncovered they will immiediatly begin to burrow themselves back in with a white flashey foot that pokes out one end of the shell! Admittedly I have only seen Cedric about 10 times in two years, but he has grown fast and his shell is now over two inches long! Sometimes he is accidently uncovered during water changes, but intill that happens again there will still be no photos as I am not about to forceably dig him up just to take his photo! My next water change is due on Friday where I will keep an eye out for him, and post his piccie here too if I catch a rare sight of him!
Sorry this blog has been a bit boring, but my highlight today will be walking Sirius, and looking for fish piccie oppertunities!!
My highlight yesterday evening was having the great pleasure of looking at Richards Westen Isles photos!!!!!!!!! You really are a superbly talented photographer Richard!! and huge thanks again for sending them over!!

(((((((((((hugzz))))))))))))
Vix, Sirius and fisheys!! x

BTW my fish are:

Hermionie....6 inch fantail
Albus.....4 inch redcap
Voldie.....4 inch Black More
Bella....4 inch Back More
Harry....3 inch Rainbow fish
Ginny....3 inch rainbow fish
Minerva....baby fantail
Barty....baby Calico (the one with the balck spot on his nose)
Cedric the Clam!

Favortie Movies!!!

Victoria Short — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:29:43 +0100

I feel like making a list!!!
Virgo's like me like to make lists and organise things, although I am not that organised...but I am going to do a list of my top 50 favorite films, as I got my new portable DVD player last night, and I need to remember which ones to put in my portable case, before my next camping trip!! ;-)
Now these are just personal favorites for one reason or another, but to any *normal* person my choices will seem like a list of total rubbish! LOL!!

Here goes:

1: The Fog (1980 version) Richard Carpenter classic, which is my all time favorite movie, and very underated IMHO!

2: Halloween 3 Season of the Witch!...I like to call this the "sister" movie of the Fog! Superb story but nothing to do with the Halloween series!

3: Something Wicked this way come!...Wonderful take on the Ray Bradbury book of the same name! I adore Johnathan Price!!

4: Dr Phibes (first movie)...Vincent Price is one of my all time favorite actors, and this movie is just beautifully CREEPY!

5: The Devil Rides out!...Hammer Horror classic, and the best in my opinion!

6: Partners!!...a side splittingly funny comedy, starring John Hurt and Ryan O'Neil as a gay and straight cops solving a gay community murder!

7: Anne of the Thousand days!....why ask! LOL!!! Genivive Bojould and Richard Burton!!!

8: State of Grace!!....My favorite Gary Oldman film!! He is so chilling as Jackie Flannery! love it!

9: Texas Chinsaw Massacre (original)...why ask! *giggles* wonderfully classic, gorey escapism!

10: Alien (first movie)...Superb Allen Dean Foster story, with a fantastic cast! with no less than 3 of my favorite actors!

11: Asylum...4 diffent stories in one here with the excellent Robert Powell!!

12: CREEP!!!... In my opinion the Best British horror movie in years!!! Stars Franka Portente is the dislikeable, snobby Kate!! Brilliant!

13: Air Force One!!...Gary Oldman stars as the mad Russian terrorist who gains control of the US presidents aircraft!

14: Lust for a Vampire!!...wonderfully raunchy Hammer flim about a lusty lady Vampire!

15: Voyage to the Bottom of the sea!!!...Brilliant 60's Sci-Fi at its best!! starring Walter Pidgeon

16: 10 Rillington place!!...superb boi horror about murderer Christey with John Hurt and Richard Attenborough!

17: Dracula!!...Gary Oldman, need I say more!

18: The Fall of the House of Usher!...I love this short E.A. Poe story about this mad family!! (I am a big E.A.Poe fan folks)

19: Blood from the Mummy's Tomb!...Hammer Horror at it best! IMHO!...yet again!!

20: The Hitcher...need I say more! this is the only horror that actually makes me hide behind a cushion! LOL!!

21: The life of Brian!!!...when I first saw this Monty Python film I cried laughing...and still do!!

22: Poltergiest! (first film)...wonderfully creepy Steven Spielberg film, which I have certainly watched more times than I can remember!

23: For Richer or Pooper!!...I dont go in for romance films but this is just sooooo funny!! and a jolly good story too!

24: Seven...Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are on the case of the "7 deadly sins" murders!! gorgeously gorey!!

25: The Relic...a mutated monster prowles a museam at night! some superb CGI in this one!

26: Jaws...classic fishy Spielberg adventure! Dad took me to see this when I was just 10 years old, and I hid under my coat for most of the movie!

27: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabhan!...the best book in the HP series IMHO!!...and of course Gary Oldman stars!

28: Beverly Hills Cop!! (first movie)...The Brilliant Eddie Murphy at his finest...or perhaps...

29: Trading Places...another of my favorite Eddie Murphy films!

30: The Firm....Gary Oldman as a football hooligan underneath his guise as a respectable husband and father! Stars with his first ex wife!

31: Carry on Cleo!!...IMHO the best of all the carry on films apart from.............

32: Carry on Camping!! *grins*

33: The Twins of evil!!!...Hammer Horror staring Peter Cushing in a witch hunt!

34: FunHouse...this absolutly brilliant film should have been placed in my top ten realy!! *hides*

35: Lady Jane!! Brilliant film about the life of Lady Jane Grey starring Helena Bonham Carter as the young Jane!

36: The Wickerman!! (original) spinetingly, chilli horror classic staring Edward Woodward!

37: 1984!!...Richard Burtons last film, sadly...George Orwells terrible vision of the future, also stars John Hurt!

38: Saw (first movie, but the others are good too)...Staring Carey Elwes and THAT puppet!!

39: Waking Ned!....superbly funny film about a lottery win in a small Irish village!!! it was actually filmed on the Isle of Mann!!

40: A Man for all seasons!!...multi award winning story of the life and dilemmers of Sir Thomas Moore!

41: Some where in Time!!...Crikey a romance!!!! *stands back in shock* Chistopher Reeve and Jane Seymore!! makes me cry at the end!

42: Convoy!!!...American trucker movie that my Dad and indeed I adore!

43: Evil Dead!!...this classic movie gives me the shivvers AND the giggles at the same time!!

44: Porky's!!...really silly teenage American romp, but the follow up was rubbish IMHO!

45: Killdozer!...very chilling early 70's movie about a murderous Bulldozer that goes on a killing spree!

46: The Elephant man!...Anthony Hopkins as the Doctor and John Hurt as the poor, deformed Elephant Man (biopic)

47: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory (1973 version)...I was not impressed with the recent re-make!

48: Nil By Mouth!...directed by Gary Oldman, and I think its in the Guiness book of records for the most "F" words in any film! (semi-biographic)

49: Christine!!....a Plymouth car is possesed by a demon!! by John Carpenter

50: Theatre of Blood!!...Vincent Price as a mad actor who murders his critics in bizzare ways from scenes in plays by Shakespere!

...................and some of the ones that got away for some reason (perhaps I should have done a top 100)

Garveyard shift, The Shinning, The Fly (with Jeff Goldblum), the Prophecy (first film), Immortal Beloved, Open Water, Time Walker, Thelma and Louise, the Wizard of Oz, Rollerball, Warlords of Atlantis, Phsyco (first film), the Duel, The Payama Game, Annaconda, Bruce Almighty, War of the Worlds (1958 version), The Island at the Top of the World, Robo Cop (first film), Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, Countess Dracula, Batman, the Illusionist, The Last Emporer, ...........AND far to many to mention!!!

The question now is...what am I going to put in my dvd case for my next camping trip???
*all of the above I have on DVD in some form or another*

Kisses from Vix

Olympics ...and the truth about CHINA!

Victoria Short — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:04:46 +0100

China is a very beautiful place, and belive me, as I have seen it and expierenced it first hand...BUT!!!!!!!!

and its VERY BIG BUT!!

HORRIFIC ANIMAL CRUELTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will not post pictures here because I know some of my readers have young children and it is not my intension to shock or upset kids...but I feel its only right to remind folks that underneath the glitz and glamour that China likes to present to the world, with the Olympics, lies an ugly, evil cankar in the form of maddeningly horrible animal cruelty! and I am not just talking about the murderous fur trade here, I am talking about all the animal cruelty that goes on in China...AND why I think they should have no right to host this years Olympics!!!
For instance here is a piece from the Mail about the "Animal Olympics!"

A black bear perches precariously on a scooter and is forced to drive a circus performer across a tightrope.

This shocking image is just the latest picture to emerge from the barbaric Animal Olympic Games in China, a country with a shameful animal rights record.

China's list of shame:
Sickening 'animal olympics' forces kangaroos to box humans
• Gallery: Humans boxing kangaroos
See the latest pictures from the animal olympics
• China's barbaric horse fighting
• Live animals thrown to the tigers for crowd's amusement

The event has provoked outrage and serious concerns among animal rights groups around the world including The Captive Animals' Protection Society.

Craig Redmond, UK-based campaigns manager, said: "The things these animals are being made to do are not natural acts, and there will no doubt be cruelty involved in making them perform these tricks."

Shirley Galligan from the Born Free foundation added: "This is degrading for the animals, insulting to our intelligence and a disaster for any possible chance of increasing respect for the wild animals we share the world with. The Shanghai Animal Olympics is about domination and manipulation."

Previous pictures from the 'games' have included kangaroos being forced to take part in boxing matches with their supposed keepers and a monkey cycling while tied by the collar to the children's bike.

Other events have included a sea lion high jump and a tug of war between an elephant and members of the audience, with more than 300 animals taking part.

The forth of the biannual events at the Shanghai Wildlife Park has attracted thousands of visitors, including rapturous school children.

But the 'cruelty Olympics' are being held just before the human Olympics take place in Beijing. The Captive Animals' Protection Society is writing to the Chinese Ambassador in London to complain about the event.

"The abuse of the animals is clear. The bears, for example, will be very distressed at being forced to wear muzzles, chained and made to fight," said Redmond.

The protests from animal rights groups has been felt by the Chinese Government, which is keen to improve its reputation among the international community in terms of both animal and human rights. This year's Olympics could therefore be the last.
*******copy right MailOnline*********

as I said "no pictures" but to see the full artical please copy and paste the adress below into your browser:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-407693/Un-bear-able-Chinas-cruel-animal-Olympics-reach-new-heights.html

China so desperatly wants to take her place on the World stage as a sophisticated superpower and if we close our eyes for a moment we can belive this...but scratch the surface and you see the evil that lies benith!!...This is not about a difference in cultures and customs, its about BLATENT CRUELTY to our fellow creatures that we share this planet with, a barbaric cruelty that would shock even the most heard hearted of people....dogs and cats get their necks crushed by people standing on them while they are still alive and crying, hopelessly, THEN still alive they are strung up by their battered and bleeding back legs, and have their skins torn from their bodies by a knife, starting with a deep cut to the helpless animals anus, and from here their skins are ripped off...and the still live and skinless animal is dumped in a heap like a pile of discarded rubbish!!

Glamourous, sophisticated China eh??? I THINK NOT!!

very embarrcing....why I don't drive today!

Victoria Short — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:41:04 +0100

At 15 years of age, my dad taught me to drive in our 1800 Ford Cortina............

"Never forget you have got a killing machine benith your feet!!!! Show it respect!!" Dad had told me!!

At 16 I was happily driving my dads ERF truck around the haulage yard (no power steering in those days folks!!) at Poplar transport in Lymm near Warrington!! and it was thought, at the time that I would follow in my dads footsteps and become a truck driver, a prospect which I was excited about! My dad had only ever had his class 3 licsence, but he was grooming me for a class 1 which would allow me to drive an articulated lorry...Now due to the fact it was the early 80's I was unable to take my driving test, because of costs. Dad had told me to wait, and so I just got my provisional license and carried on with lessons....

At the age of 22 disaster struck...and what made it worse, it was brought about by my own stupidity!!
I am compleatly ashamed of this story, but here goes.............

This story begins on a day trip out to North Wales with an old boyfriend of mine driving his mini Metro...Now for those who dont know the geography of the area, Warrington to Anglesey is a heck of a long drive, but that was what we decided to do and so I packed a flask and some sandwiches and off we set! Starting out, we reached Anglesey by lunchtime and stopped at a picturesque stop by the bridge to eat our sandwiches and admire the view! Later in the afternoon we took the long drive to the other side of the island to visit South Stack lighthouse...I love it there, its so beautifully isolated and the sea air is so fresh I would gulp lung fulls of the stuff!! (much better than the ciggies LOL!!) Anyway, evening was drawing on and we stopped at a little country pub for some intended dinner. Their restraunt was closed so we setted for some drinks and decided to get a take out Chinese and eat it in the car! Ian's drinking was sensible (btw this is not the Ian I have spoke about in earlier entries! this Ian was my school sweetheart who I met up with after my divorce) because he knew he was driving, and the drive was a long one!!!! Me on the other hand was having a whale of a time downing bottles of Pils and drinking whiskey and coke with mounds of ice! in short, by the time we got our Chinese takeaway I was quite tiddled! (scrub that, I was totaly pi***d) and as happy as a sand boy....Ian had yawned as we began our drive back, a little after 10pm, and this should have given me a huge warning that he was absolutly knackered...then at a round about he suddenly swerved and almost crashed into a tree!!!!!! I had not realised it at the time but Ian had fallen asleep at the wheel!!!!!
He pulled up on a grass verge, while he decided what to do!!
"We could sleep in the car!" I had suggested, helpfully, but Ian was looking gloomy and very shaken.
"Can't!! he grumbled "I have got work first thing in the morning"
So we chatted and thought, and eventually concluded that I would drive back! Ian had not argued about this and so we swapped seats and I drove off onto the Expressway...now after about 40 miles of my driving and carefully sticking to the speed limet, I had realised I had taken a wrong turn. Ian was fast asleep in the passenger seat snoring loudly, so I dident want to ask him, so I pulled onto a layby to check the map. Now I discovered where I had made a wrong turning, so a pulled off the layby...........
You've guessed it!!!!
Blue flashing lights appeared first in my mirrors and then a police car flew past me and pulled in front with its "police stop" signe flashing! Oh S**t, I was thinking as I remembered just how much booze I had downed at the pub!...Ian, now awake, was quietly calm and told the officer it was his car and I was driving because he was tired! Next came the question about my licence, and I blubbed that I only had a provisional which I did not have on me, next came questions about tax and insurance (it later transended that Ian had neither, which I was furious about) and then came the dreaded beathaliser! Th officer kindly explained how it worked and said that if the indicator when to red within a certain time, I would be over the limet and arrested for drunk driving! Crikey I could hardly breath into the thing for sobbing at this point, but I am sure even before my lips touched the thing the red light came flashing!!!!!!!! Suddenly I found myself being read my rights, and bundled into the back of the police car!!! I was absolutly terrified!!! and shouted back to Ian to follow us in the car! In the back of the police car and feeling totally helpless I curled into a ball and wailed!
"I want my Dad!!!" whining, pathetically.
Back at the Police station I was interviewed by a Mr Nice Copper, and a Mr Nasty Copper! and I was told I would have to do a breath sample on their station computer thingy. Co-operating compleatly and doing as I was told, I breathed into the thing with Mr Nasty Copper threatening a night in the cells, in my ear!! I remember vividly his breath stank of rotting meat!! But the reading the machine gave was BANG ON the limet, so I was not over the limet after all...Filling out statments and signing things later, the tears had stopped and I was feeling myself again when Mr Nice Copper asked me how much I had actually had to drink! "Oh just two small bottles of beer!" I had told him, lying through my teeth...He had given me a knowing look as if to say "you stink of whisky" but he just smiled and said that our Chinese supper had soaked up most of the alcohol I had consumed. He had winked at me and told me I was very lucky.......Needless to say this horrible expierence was to put me off driving for life, as the thought of being arrested again, and the feeling of powerlessness, absolutly terrified me!
Both Ian and I recieved fines of over £500 for no tax and insurance and driving on a porvisional licence without displaying L plates!

Several years ago now I wrote to a newspaper saying that all drivers should have to go through the process of being arrested for drunk driving, so as to put off potencial drunk drivers!
If would be drunk drivers had to go through, what I did, they would never drink and drive again!

The last time I drove was for 5 minuits, alone, parking Dereks Brava at his aunties farm in Donegal, Ireland...simpley because he did not belive I could actually drive!!! this was in 2000, and I have nt drove anything since...and never will.

The memory of that fatefull night in North Wales is still all too clear...............
NEVER EVER DRINK AND DRIVE!!! not even one single drink, its just not worth it!

As I left the station that night at about 1am, I asked Mr Nice Copper why he had pulled me over?

"Its because you were driving slowly ad very carefully!"

I was amazed...........

"you mean if I had pulled out without looking and wheels screaching you would not have pulled me up?

"Probabally not!" he answered............I was baffled! and I still am.

Why dident Linda Buchanan mind her own buisness?

Victoria Short — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:27:13 +0100

I just sent this to the mail online, in regards to the story of the lady being pushed onto railway tracks, for telling two men to stop smoking!!

********Although I feel deeply sorry for this lady and this terrible ordeal, why did she interfere with these two men? If the station has an anti smoking poilcy on its platform, shouldn't someone in authority enforce this ban on the platform, and not a member of the public! Why did she not just move away from their smoke? Is this caused by the "nanny state" our country is suffering at the moment?
As a smoker myself I have suffered, open abuse from total strangers, and have even been spat at, and to be honest here my patience is wearing very thin with these anti smoking do gooders, simply becuase I enjoy smoking tobacco in the open air!
I do hope, however that these men are punished severely for this crime...but I also hope this will send a message to anti smoking goodie goodies, to "mind their own business"...the next total stranger who tells me to stop smoking will receive somthing rather unpleasent for their troubles!
I am sick and tired of the anti smoking fascists!! ************

Yes these men who commited this terrible crime are total thugs...but reading between the lines of this "what are thugs doing on a railway platform at 7am!"?? Dont thugs hang out in dark allies wearing hoodies, drinking taking drugs and being a niusance???...apparently not! These men appear to be ordinary commuters in their late 20's from the way they are discribed...Now what I think happened here was these guys lost patience with this goodie goodie anti smoking lady, and pushed her onto the tracks!!! However there is absolutly NO EXCUSE for their dispicable behaviour!!! and they should be punished with a lenghty jail sentance...Now I am not going to go on my ususal anti smoking propaganda rant...but I want to know two things, which I explain in my comment....WHY if the station has an anti smoking policy on its platform, is it not enforced by someone in authority??? and why did a member of the public feel she had to take this matter into her own hands??? Had this happened in America for instance, the men she confronted could have been armed with guns!!!!!! Does this silly mare know no fear????
Put it another way...if I was on a railway platform and heard two men swearing loudly (I hate bad language) would I go and tell them to shut up!!! Absolutly not!!! But perhaps, I would complain to the station master/misstress about the offensive language!
I have been at the recieving end of some realy nasty abuse from total strangers in Northampton town centre, when I have lit up...so far I have just responded with...
"excuse me? do I know you?"
"would you mind your own business please!"
and
"yeah!!!! and your problam with that is..." spoke with hands firmly on hips with a menacing look of defiance on my face! LOL!!!
But I can honestly say the next time someone has a go at me for smoking in the law abiding open air, they might just end up with several broken teeth!!!!...I realy have lost my patience with anti smoking do-gooders, that much!!
sorry folks!

Forgoodness sake, if a smoker is "seen" to be breaking the law, TELL SOMEONE in authority! DON'T take matters into your own hands!!!

and I wish this lady a speedy recovery, but hope she has a bit more commen sense in future!
and the men responsible be caught quickly, and locked up swiftly!!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! moan over with!! sorry, sorry, sorry!

Findings...fish antics and simply weird!

Victoria Short — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:54:12 +0100

The mini series (or not so mini) the Tudors returns to our screens this Friday on BBC2...Nothing realy exciting in that as I wasen't realy excited by season one, as the makers and indeed writers failed miserebly to capture any true history and for the most part was historically inccorect...ok thats just me having a moan, becuase it was so slow and drawn out, making me feel like I was sitting on a slow donkey cart watching it. Tudor history was fast paced, exciting, and littered with dark conspiricies, which failed to appear in this latest offering! However I did get season 1 dvd and have rewatched it with an open heart, finding the story of the "field of the cloth of gold" the bit where Henry challenges the King of France to a wrestling match which I found amusingly done!!
Now some how the BBC has made the next season trailer look exciting...???...yes, exciting to me anyway, and I was absolutly intriegued by the music they used, and found my foot tapping to this heavy metal beat! On seeing it again this morning I thought "what IS that song?" and did a quick internet search only to find at first it was quite elusive. I scoured youtube to no avil as it just seem to be littered with fan made vidoes, and eventually just asked the question of "which track" to my google box, and was quite amazed by the result!!!....Its a track by Mairliyn Manson called "beautiful People" which I instantly down loaded....it took me a little while to find the vid on youTube as most of them are "embedded disabled by request", but after some patience I found this full version!!!

Caution here!!!!!!!!!!!! its a very creepy video which is probabally not suitable for minors!

What a brilliantly done rock track though!!!

Admittedly I am not a fan of Marilyn Manson, but it realy does shake me a bit when I realise just how eclectic my taste in music is..???? Wildly so!! I can happily listen to "the ariea of the Queen of the Night" from Mozart's Magic flute, and then listen to Nine Inch nails "Head like a hole!"...so here's proof here yet again of what an ODD person I am!
My first music love was, T Rex and Marc Bolan!! as a 5 year old I adored his music, voice, make-up and glamour clothes, and I suppose in a way this is not far removed from Mr Manson (wild make-up ect) or perhaps the brilliant Alice Cooper (these days he loves golf and by all counts has a very good handicap)...Anyway I will certainly make an efforet to listen to some more Marilyn Manson songs, and the rythem and beat of "Beautiful People" makes it an excellent track for pole dancing, to boot!!!!!!!!!!!!
In other news, my fish have been...........errr....doing what comes naturally in the wild!! *blushes*
Last night I discovered a pink mark on Hermionie's undercarrige, and after a quick look at a specialist gold fish site I vist, I read that she maybe "on heat"...in fact the isent realy a maybe about this as Voldie (my black Moore) is chasing her round, and round in a frenzie of lust trying his best to nip at her bits to get her to release her eggs!!! So I have been watching them closely as if any eggs are laid I will have to put them in a nursery tank straight way or the other fish will eat them....ok, so I am a sick pervo who likes watching goldfish have sex!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahhhhhhhhh my much awaited UGG boots have just arrived, and they are gorgeous (although not new) and I am even wearing them at the moment!

see you soon folks!! xx

*hurries back to watch gold fish porn*

Retail thearpy REVENGE!!!

Victoria Short — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:15:24 +0100

*Evil, laughter like cackling*

Derek was driving me absolutly BONKERS yesterday by totting up how much petrol in had used getting to and from work, in pence!!

"It cost me 53p to get to work this morning, and 59p to come home because I had to go via Morrisons!" he announced yesterday evening, his eyes practially glittering with £ saving signes!!!
Now am I just being picky or has Derek finally gone round the twist, or is he suffering from "compulsive saving pennies disorder"..????

Every week I try to shop for food as cheaply as possible, and I am fortunate enough to know some simple, wholesome, home recipies to save even more money...we have no kids, and a fully paid up morgage, so why have things got so bad? as he has a superb job in banking, and I make my own pennies from internet travel advice and ebay dealings!
So over the weekend, and indeed yesterday I had a little bit of RETAIL REVENGE! LOL!!! And yes, me and ebay have been the best of buddies at the moment....for ages now I have wanted some UGG boots but these lovely looking comfy boots are just so expensive to buy new at over £120, that I certainly would not buy new...So on Sunday afternoon I rubbed my hands together, and cracked my knuckles over my key board and set to work. I found a lovely pair in cream that was going to finish that afternoon with a current bidding at £37 so I did not bid....I am ashamed to admit it but I am a "last second sniper" on ebay, and this was my tactic. About 5 mins before the auction was due to end I watched the bids increase and at 25 seconds left I slapped my bid on, and got the boots for an acceptable £73!!!! Oddly I love bidding like this as my heart beat very fast, and I find it quite exciting...yes I am mad! ...Anyway things dident stop there....
Last year we went to our ususal campsite in Derbyshire and it rained and rained!!! One perticular night I was woken at about 3:30am to find the tent flapping about like a derranged bat, and slowly but suerly it was actually detaching itself from the ground...at 7am we decided that we had been beaten and began to pack things up in the pouring rain! Everything was soaked and that included my precious portable DVD player and my pack of disc's...now on getting home from this soggy extravaganza I discovered that although my discs still played after they were dried out, my portable player had played its last film and had died a death in the rain *mourns DVD player*.........Now at the moment there is the prospect of another camping trip, so you've guessed it...I got another player from ebay!! *giggles* again this was a last second bid and I won the auction for £80, for a new Sony portable player worth £150, but the box is damaged. I was hoping to get it cheaper but the bidding on this one was very severe!!!
Dont you just lurrrrv ebay????

Hear is the song "ebay" from Weird Al Yankovic (whom I worship, daily) Hope it makes you smile! ;-))

and his "Jurrasic park" song is hilarious!!! its a micky take of "McArther Park"

In other news I have been cleaning madly so yesterday saw me in blue apron and yellow rubber gloves attacking my up stairs bathroom, (its the turn of the down stairs shower room today) and I have discovered the joys of Cillet-Bang (have to be carefull how I spell that) waging war on my bathroom tiles which are now spotless!!
In fish news, Hermionie is worrying me as yesterday I found she has a torn scale near her dorsel fin and its bleeding slightly. Goodness knows how she has done this as due to her size no other fish would dare pick on her, so I am guessing that she has ripped it on somthing. So later on I am going to do some internet reserch on how I can help her, and if needs be put her in an isolation tank with some antibiotic or somthing! She seems a tiny bit listless but she ate her supper last night with much relish, so it has not affected her huge appitite, thankfully!

Thanks for reading and hope to see you soon lovely folks!! xx

!!!

Victoria Short — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:30:24 +0100

,,,

Victoria Short — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:08:21 +0100

....

Victoria Short — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:55:34 +0100

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

Sunday driving!

Victoria Short — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:35:42 +0100

My appitite kind of eluded me this lunchtime as I was still smarting form the departure of our Alpha!
The thing is, I was so desperatly sad, I totally forgot about the "cons" of having a smaller, econimical car, and instead whinged like the marter who ever drove it!!!!!!! So shortly after luch Derek suggested a drive in the country...
Now as long as I have known him (15 years) he has always been a bit of a mad driver! At first he had an E reg red Belmont which would skid onto my pub carpark most evenings, and at the time I was thinking he was doing it just to impress. By the time we started traveling in '95 I had forgot all about his mad driving as instead I had to keep concentraiting on how to stay alive/ not go mad ect! On returning to England he eventually bought a red Brava, and the memories of mad overtaking all come flooding back!!! He managed not just to scare me, but scared the living daylights out of my Mum too! One evening in January 2001 we had a mad night dash up to Manchester as my dads condition had deteriorated over night, and the roads outside were very icey. Knowing this was going to be one hell of a journey I filled a hip flask with my then favorite Scotch, Glenkinchie, crawled onto the back seat and stayed there for the whole journey, quivvering like a jelly (jello)...even before our ride had properly begun Derek lost it on a skid at the bottom of our road and we were fortunate enough not to end up mangled under the wheels of a van!!!!
"For f**ks sake put that drink down!!! " He had yelled "Do you want your dad to see you in a mess!!!"
My dad would not have had it any other way, I remember thinking LOL!!
About 8 months later we got the Alpha, and you know most of the story from previous entrys! What I dident mention was Dereks driving!!! Crikey what a risk taker he could be!!! and when I chided him about it he would just replay "well it is a sports car, and you wanted a sports car!!!" so basically I had to put up with him taking off like a rocket at green lights, much to the annoyance of other drivers, overtaking with the minium space, while in full view of on coming cars, and genrally doing his naught to 60 in 7 seconds!!!! At one point in about 2002 he was misjudging bends and several times we nearly ended up in a hedge, so I asked him to "realy" drive like a sports driver!! He had sniffed at this indignantly, but asked me what I meant all the same! "Dont use your breaks going into a bend!" I had told him "Use your gears to slow the car, and accelerate out of the bend!" he had looked at me quizically but tried it anyway and was delighted by the results, and out Alpha cornered like it was on rails!....I knew this little gem of information from two sources, my Dad who at taught me to drive at 16, and the idiot first husband who was a "wanna be rally driver" and gave me some lessons...but why I am not driving today is another story...a long one, that I shall right about in a later entry, and it involved me getting arrested, briefly...
Today, Derek drove like a gentleman!!!
"where is Derek Harrison, and what have you done with him!" I had quipped, when getting out of the car a little after 4pm!!
We had headed to Wellingborough, and the around the countryside, and I could not belive how "normal" he could drive! Sticking to the speed limet, and showing courtasy to other drivers were the norm today, and I have to say I was more than happy about it....as we pulled into our drive he proudly announced that our little Punto had just done 60 miles to the gallon!!
So I suppose having a little car does indeed have its good points on several levels!!! :-))

In other news Mum is coming to say in a few weeks and she is bringing her gorgeous Pershian cats (2 black and ones with dabs of white) which could be interesting, as the last time Sirius met Sooty and Whisky (their names) he went to chase the latter only to recieve a sharp clawed smack on the nose from the cat!!! Sirius had whines and yelleped, like he was being murdered, but on closer inspection Whisky had not even broke the skin!!!
"serves you right!!!" I scolded my scatter brained fur-bal, dogl!!!
Anyway! we shall see....another meeting should make some amusing photography, methinks!

Watch this space! ;-)

Saying goodbye to the Alpha Romeo!! sniff

Victoria Short — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:53:51 +0100

Today was the end of an era, of whizzing around in the sunshine, with the roof down!!
Those days are now gone, and I can help but feel realy down about this!

I first saw our brand spanking new, midnight blue Alpha Romeo, T spark Spyder in the multi story carpark at Heathrow arrivals terminal in 2001l...While I had been in Austrailia Derek had decided to get this much wanted sports car with some money his mum had left him, and I remember the drive to Heathrow about 3 weeks before and I was thinking "em this will be my last time in the old Brava!" I wasent plussed by it though as indeed I had chosen the new car myself (although I have never driven it) His lordship was potty about having an Alpha, and I totaly fell in love with the 2 litre, T spark with a top speed of 130mph!! (the fastest we went in it was about 108mph!) and I remember sitting in it for the first time and thinking WOW!!!! now this IS a car!!!!
"Oh my God you have got it!!!!!!!" I had gasped as I saw the neatly parked, gleaming dark blue sports car!! Derek had been grinning broadly, becuase he has not actually told me he was picking me up in it!! Heck I felt like a princess being driven away from the busstle of Heathrow, in this elegant, and sleek car....she seemed to have an huge ammount of power you could sense from the quiet growling of the engine under your toes!!...Low on the ground (very low in fact) though I dident always feel quite safe on motorways...The first year or so however, she turned heads everywhere we drove, and we drove a lot too as in 7 years she has clocked up 78,000 miles on the clock!
Our car today, just before we left home to pick up the ....errrr....other one!

another from the front, and Derek pulling out of our drive for the last time........

as you can see from the piccies she has suffered some bumps and scrapes, usually done at supermarket carparks!!...but this is our car from the rear!!

Now Derek has bought this in part exchange for a *takes deep breath" cherry red, Fiat Punto which has enough power to rival my sewing machine!!! and feels like being driven around in a tin can, compared to the Alpha!!! Now I am sure the Punto is a very nice car, but having come from an Alpha to this is a bit of a shock to say the least! So it looks like we have firmly joined the ranks of Sunday drivers!!!...shortly after getting home, I said to Derek:
"well you certainly wont have to worry about being challenged to a race in THAT!"

Anyway, a couple of cheerfull pix!! My new fishtank, and Sirius chiilin out!!

Its been a weird day realy...I spent the morning in town shopping in TK Maxx to take my mind of the impending car swap, and I got some lovely bits and pieces including some Jasper Conran white cotton tousers, size 12 and only £11, which I was very pleased with, then I popped into Wilkinsons to get Sirius some of the filled bones that he loves, and I was finally home but 2pm!! Oddly enough I had spent a small fortune but on this occasion his lordship dident complain as he knew I was upset about the car...Anyway I had a lovely bubble bath with my "Sanctury" bath stuff from Boots which I love, and am now sat hear sipping an icey cold lemon coke! From hear on I will give Sirius his dinner, feed my fish, and put the tank light on for the evening, and then I am going to watch Brain of Morbius with the commentry on!!
Oh and did I forget my Port...????... NOT!!
I have a bottle of my lovely white port for tonight, and I intend to drink the lot, and get totally rat arsed!!!

emmmm....and my TV is flickering.........mybe there is a storm on the way.........

Random stuff!

Victoria Short — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:10:30 +0100

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*

UKchatterbox.co.uk......Can be fun!!

Victoria Short — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:58:14 +0100

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*

To camp...or not to camp??

Victoria Short — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:40:35 +0100

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!

Last night...and this morning!

Victoria Short — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:11:52 +0100

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*

Back again!!!

Victoria Short — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:45:31 +0100

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*

Ok...a MOAN!!

Victoria Short — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:50:29 +0100

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

Travel Trade Gazette...website!!!

Victoria Short — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:31:18 +0100

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!!!

I went "Potty" last night!!

Victoria Short — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:06:30 +0100

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!!

Resuming my Pole!!

Victoria Short — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:56:08 +0100

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