I can say no more...

...but last night The Cat's Mother and I went to the Secret Cinema. We arrived in our dressing gowns. It was fantastic...quite disconcerting...but I'm bound to secrecy until November 23rd...have a look here to get the flavour of past events. If you're a film buff, this is an amazing experience.

In the meantime, The Cat's Mother has gone off for for a spa weekend leaving me in charge of the teenagers. Either they or I may not survive....

Je suis desolé

The Boy and The Cat enjoy linguistics...in The Boy's case, German is his thing. The Cat is partial to a bit of ancient Greek. They both study French, and speak it pretty well. At least in the class room. The Cat's Mother and I have tried to promote this by declaring French only half hours. No English is permitted. A lack of vocabulary is no excuse whatever the topic of the conversation.

The downside is that neither of The Cat's Mother nor I are remember much French, so we bumble along in pidgin Franglais...which we both find hilarious. Generally the youngsters sit there stony faced, or storm out declaring us to be ridiculous. We look at each other confused...

I've never been much of a linguist, and my particular gig is an obsession with news. Local news, national news, international news...I just have to know what's going on. If I had a garden fence I think I'd be there gossipping with the neighbours...

On my computer then I have homepages for the BBC, Sky News, the Evening Standard, Brighton & Hove Argus, Euronews, France 24, Al Jazeera, The First Post, China Daily and Russia Today. I can never get enough.

Russia Today is the easiest and best way of knowing what's going on in Russia. And I am delighted to say, that at my age I have decided that now is the time for me to learn a new language. Russian seems to be the way to go. Naturally, my interest is entirely stimulated by a visit to the country earlier this year, having studied Russian politics at University...and of course, Russia will be one of the superpowers in the new world order. Russia Today has helpfully supplied a link to their favoured language learning specialist, and I hope you will take the opportunity of learning this very special language here Marina Orlova is the sort of language teacher I've always felt I deserved

Somehow, I don't think the BBC would provide this type of service...and I think with this sort of teaching, my 'O' Level language grades would have been much higher

Seasons greetings

Tara has picked seasons as this week's gallery theme...so do go and enjoy...

I thought I could cheat, and use this picture...it's The Four Seasons Hotel in Beirut..but that misses the point I guess....



It does seem that these days, seasons are not quite what you expect -



Summer? No this was early November in Cyprus




The true colours of autumn



Winter? No..snow covered cycles from April



Spring as we expect it...the trees spring into life contrasting with the grave beneath



It must be summer - Christmas menu in the restaurant in August



Summer can only mean one thing these days...a rock festival



Winter? No summer in Iceland....





This is winter in Hereford...2009

Shhhhhhhhhh!

On Thursday evening The Cat's Mother and I are going out.

We have been instructed by the organisers to meet at a London Tube station in the rush hour wearing a dressing gown. We must bring a first class stamp.

I can say no more.

I may have said too much already.

The only way is Essex

On the one hand, Sunday evening has been significantly enhanced by the presence of Downton Abbey...especially last night when we watched it on our new HD, 42" LCD TV...all bright colours, hi fi sound...and a good way to dumb down before the start of the week...anyway it's been a lot of fun, and we're addicted enough that The Cat's Mother's brother came round for dinner, but was ushered away before the opening credits started to role...

...on the other we have tried to watch more than 10 minutes of The only way is Essex...ITV 2's 'reality series'. The thing is, we know all the places they hang out, visit, spend their money in...Essex does indeed have more than its fair share of flash cash and awful, awful people. It's like watching a very dull cartoon or a car crash in slow motion. Anyway, have a quick look...if you can manage more than 10 minutes, you are doing well. Worryingly, they'll be filming at The Boy's school this week..the headmistress feels that it's not a widely known school, so she seizes TV opportunities like this and the monotonous Allen Davies programmes as a way of getting it better known.. Sometimes Any Publicity is NOT better than No Publicity...

It was party weekend this weekend...The Boy went to one on Friday and one on Saturday...The Cat went to the same one on Friday. They returned Friday night to find The Cat's Mother and I asleep on the sofa...oh dear. The Boy returned at 2.00 am on Saturday night, having helped a friend home after he'd had a many, many too many. Three of which had been his reward from his mates for managing to 'Get off' with someone...in this case I'm not sure what 'Get off' means. I don't want to know. Another girl managed to get so drunk BEFORE the party that she threw up over her friends going to the event...in their mother's car. I'd share a photo of the girls in their party outfits, but you may find it easier to reach up to the top shelf of your local newsagent.

I feel that age thing coming knocking again. Especially as our Saturday night out was spent at the local golf club's Annual Dinner Dance. My defence is that I don't play golf.