The Queen's Christmas Broadcast

Now another feature of Christmas - and an unmissable one at that is the Queen's Christmas Message to the Commonwealth. This year it can be seen on YouTube as well. The Royal Channel is already up and running and there are some terrific archive footage to be viewed. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel Enjoy!

Tony Blair becomes a Catholic

I suppose it isn't really a surprise to discover that Tony Blair has become a Catholic, but it still seems pretty incongrous considering his record in government. It also makes even more bizarre his current role as Middle East Envoy and negotiator. I wonder if the former Prime Minister will be jostling Ann Widdecombe for a space at the altar rail at Christmas morning mass at Westminster Cathedral?

TV Films for Christmas

Surely this must be the only film that should be watched on Christmas Eve - what do you think?

OK so it's arrived......

And a very Merry Christmas to all my readers! Can I ask anyone who drops by to add a comment PLEASE!!!!

I finally put up a tree in my window - so all the passing traffic on the A13 can see it, and there is a line of lights in the window too, the vast collection of cards are festooning my living room. Looking forward to watching all the Dickens films on TV and tomorrow there MUST be a showing of It's a Wonderful Life.....

DAB Radios

Whilst I was in Manchester last week we went to the wonderful John Lewis

at Cheadle and I was delighted to see how cheap DAB radios have become, so I bought one, and I now carry it around the flat, so I can hear the world service, oneradio and BBC Radio 7 24 hiurs a day. The only problem I have is the enormous number of tapes I have - can you get tape players any longer - what do I do when my current tape decks give up the ghost - and the same applies to VHS video players.

Little Lithuania

Recently it was revealed that my part of East London (Beckton) has the largest Lithuanian community outside of their home country. This afternoon I went to a community forum event, a Christmas fare of stalls and entertainments. Naturally a troupe of Lithuanian dancers performed and the large crowd there got into the swing of the music and clapped along. This is a recently arrived community. Unlike the previous Jewish Lithuanian communities now in Tower Hamlets, the Beckton community was almost entirely male until the accession of the Baltic States to the European Union. Now these young men have been joined by their partners and children who are attending local schools. I wonder if these families will integrate fully into the community? Certainly the local libraries are well used by these newcomers, and the stock of Lithuanian language books are regularly borrowed.

Christmas begins

So I received my first Christmas card today. This is to be expected I suppose it is December after all - but it just seems to sneak up on me every year. Now I need to write my annual Christmas letter and send off my overseas cards as quickly as I can. I also need to hand deliver some cards this week as well. Busy, busy, busy.

Cranford

Lets face it when the BBC takes on the dramatisation of classic novels we know at last what we pay our TV Licence fee for. This adaptation is superb of course - the starring roles and players - the women especially are without equal. Judi Dench is terrific, but Imelda Staunton is as always so good, with Barbara Flynn being her usual impressive self. Julia MacKenzie is terrific too. Quite rightly, and totally in the spirit of Mrs Gaskell the men have only minor impact on the storyline - mere adjuncts to the independent lives of these women of a certain age who can more than hold their own in the supposedly masculine world.

And the good news is Oliver Twist is on the way!

2000 Visitors

So I've now achieved 2000 visitors - welcome to all those people who've dropped by, and to those who have left messages too! On to 3000!