No More Doctor

The BBC are getting their money's worth as David Tennant has been on nearly every show I've watched. It's almost reaching saturation point for me as though I find him awfully sexy, I think we've had just a bit too much of him this festive season and I let out an awful groan whenever I see him on yet another show or turn on the radio to find he's taken over there. Sad to say that now I'm in my 40s I'm an avid Radio 2 fan but even I had to turn it off when the Tennant and Tate show was on.
I don't even know if I'll bother to watch the last ever Tennant Dr Who. Alright, I lie, I will but that's it. After that no more. Well I'll watch the Hamlet I've got recorded and then THAT's it. I kinda feel sorry for the new Who as he's got all this to follow. Wonder if he will cope.

mobile again

I am trying a touch of mobile blogging for a while as I am without my clunky laptop. Last time i tried things did not go well as some posts and comments failed to appear.
We escaped London yesterday no thanks to me who freaked about driving in snow but mostly as the snow rushing to our windscreen looked like that effect in star trek when they go to warp speed.
Two things stick in my mind from the journey. The first is how do kids learn that annoying moan that does not illicit sympathy...our tot has had colds, coughs and puking on and off since mid oct and has developed a self pitying moan. Note the lack of sympathy in my tone :(
The second is why have a gesture activated button to flush a loo but no such thing to open the door...germs travel. Then have a gesture activated tap but have dryers that require physical contact. So stupid.

A land without borders

I'm an odd shape so I'm not much of a clothes shopper and I'm not girly girl enough to go for much jewellery (though any received over Xmas from Mr Plummy will be welcome) or shoes. Given spare cash, I'm more likely to spend my time in Forbidden Planet, Gosh, Borders or independent book stores around London.
So tomorrow is going to be a very sad day for me as the Borders group has gone into administration and it's shops are closing down.
Utterly shite timing for the staff too, rather like the poor Woolies people last year.
In case any of you are reading out there, I'd like to thank you for the hours I spent in your Oxford Street branch, scanning shelves for the excellent collection of UI design books, philosophy (still no clue about that though), art books and films upstairs. I also discovered a lot of my favourite authors in that shop as I spent happy hours going along the fiction shelves picking up that book or another. Even a rather boring trip to San Fransisco was made happier by the discovery of a great Borders there, though I realise that's not related to the Borders UK stores.
I was rather shocked the stores are closing as unlike Woolies, I always thought Borders had got the mix right with good store layouts, plenty of places to sit and read through the books and the introduction of cafes instore. But I must admit my guilty secret that I, in my little way, helped the demise by going to Amazon and for that I will feel shame.
I hope that things will work out for the staff and that they will find other jobs.

Tis the season to be jolly

Growing up, we didn't celebrate Christmas as my family aren't Christian. We also didn't celebrate New Year as my parents weren't party people. I found the whole holiday really hard as my western friends would be talking about the pressies they got, their trees and parties. As I grew older and was able to go out, I would join the mad rush to find parties and stuff to do, especially on New Year's Eve. After a few years of trekking down to Trafalgar square to be squashed and then some party or other, and a totally horrendous Millennium Year party, I was in tears and a kind stranger at Baker Street station told me to give myself a break and not feel the need to "celebrate". So from then on, pressure was off and I would spend NYE at home watching films and hopefully falling asleep before the countdown. New Year's day would involve an extremely long walk - it's one of the best times to walk around London as it tends to be empty. My best walk was one around central London into Convent Garden.
How times have changed. Now I've got the tree, decorations, pressies and the whole NYE to look forward to. But in some ways it's been a tough year, and at times the despair keeps me awake at night. I also still feel some pressure and worry about the pressies as I don't have an income but I don't want my tot to miss out and my hubby's family are Christian and celebrate the whole thing.
Tis the season to be jolly. However, for many people it's the exact opposite. The depression alliance have said that 1 in 5 people suffer from depression. This is the one of worst time of year for sufferers of depression - full of pressures whether you are alone or not. If you are alone you may be fine with that - or you may also be lonely. And this season helps people dwell on their loneliness. Or you could be part of a family (but still lonely) with the pressure to buy presents, cook dinner, entertain and so on. To breaking point.
So there is a helpful guide that you can look at:

http://www.depressionalliance.org/publications/da_christmas.pdf

If you don't want to be alone, consider volunteering on Christmas day. Crisis are looking for volunteers:
https://web.crisis.org.uk/cc2009/

And most importantly, remember that this is only a short 2 week season. People aren't always as happy as they seem so don't assume you are alone in your feelings and know that you will get through it all.

Charlton Fair

We went along to the Charlton Xmas fair last weekend. Wish we had gone in the morning when it was sunny rather in the rain as we ended up doing. And when we got there, after some time finding parking, it was also dark (as were my photos :( ).

The fair had a small farmers market, then an area with some very gorgeous reindeer who were sat rather peacefully while all around them children loitered (I hope they weren't somehow drugged!) and owls. Some of the owls were MASSIVE. And a very tiny little horse that kids could take rides on.

One [depressing] thing that immediately struck me is that now we have a tot, we are doomed to spend our lives in queues. There was a very long queue for Santa's grotto and an even longer one for the little Thomas-like train taking people [i.e. not just little kids but big ones and even bigger adults] around part of the grounds. We didn't bother. Much as we love our tot, we didn't think waiting in the cold and rain was justified. She was happy just to watch the train go chugging by.

I've never been to Charlton House, but I will definitely make the time. We saw part of the inside and it is beautiful.

There was a jolly steel band of Santa clad drummers that added a bit of atmosphere. However, perhaps as we were a bit late getting there, we didn't think there were enough stalls and only left with a small stash of fudge and a loaf of bread.

I had read there were fireworks but I'm afraid we also gave those a miss. I am sure if you are the sort of parent that is willing to queue and wait, this would have been a great event. I hope it's there next year as I'm sure by then, tot will have us properly trained.

London Bridge is Falling Down

Swinford bridge which spans the Thames has been sold. I wonder if we could persuade the new owner to take it down and rebuild it near here. I am not sure people would pay the 5p toll but if their alternative routes across London are on fire (Blackwall tunnel) or effectively sunk (Woolwich Ferries), then the average Southeast to North London commuter may be willing to cough up.