British Comedy Awards 2012

I'm pleased that my new BFF Jo Brand won an award and Lee Mack was deservedly Best TV Comic (male).

However... many of the nominations/awards went to programmes that I've never even heard of!!! Hunderby - what/when/why? If this was completely off my radar, despite TV promos, twitter and internet browsing, who voted for it?

Also, the clips shown for nominated sit-coms that I hadn't seen certainly didn't make me feel I'd missed anything. Were they badly selected or can un-funny stuff win awards? (Well, yes it can.)

I'm disappointed that I couldn't agree with most nominations or winners but, because I hadn't seen these (new?) programmes, I couldn't disagree either. Weird.

Hurricane Sandy Relief Rock Concert

Woke up this morning to the news of Hurricane Sandy Relief Rock Concert being a huge success last night. Either it was the best kept secret ever or I've been in a coma recently - this was the first I'd heard of it!

Who wouldn't want to have been there (not that I had a chance)? I hope it will be televised in the UK - or did I already miss that too?

I don't know the full list of participants but some of the legends included:

• Bruce Springsteen
• Bon Jovi
• The Who
• The Rolling Stones
• Eric Clapton
• Paul McCartney

plus 'newer' artists

• Chris Martin
• Alicia Keys
• Kanye West

Wow! Now that's what I call Music.

Link to Bruce Springsteen rockin' for New Orleans - Go listen, it's Brilliant!

BP2

It's (nearly) Chriiiiiiiiis-maaaaas!

Christmas 2012
Most of my family and friends are too polite to tell me if my gift choices are naff so I thought I'd try to elicit the opinions of others, prior to buying some 'surprises'. Please feel free to comment and help me out!

1. Italian Cooking & Language Lesson, £69 per person + optional meal (held in London). I'm thinking of booking this for husband & son (ulterior motive - they can cook me some yummy Italian food)

2. My husband uses Canon camera but has some old lenses for Olympus so I'm looking for  a converter so that they will work together.

3. Son likes The Riddler and Big Bang Theory: how about this T-shirt?

4. Amazon lets me print off vouchers and/or email them to multitudes of teenage nieces and nephews who can then shop on-line so I lazily opt for this. Other shops are losing out because they don't offer this flexibility.

5. Gino D'Acampo's latest book, "La Dolce Diet" - maybe for myself? Seems a bit rude to give someone a book with 'diet' in the title unless it's actually on their wish list!

6. Very impressive selection of stocking fillers -  wallet tools from TouchOfGinger.com

Other than that, I'm still searching...

Rape of Schoolgirl in North London

2012: a recent news story made me reflect on my years as a schoolgirl and the lucky escape I had at that time, not far from there.

1970: Two teenage boys were walking a few paces behind my friend and me. As we reached the entrance to playing fields, they caught up with us and pulled us away from the street. I was being physically overpowered but trying to distract the boy with conversation while my friend, who managed to escape, went to get help from a house opposite.

The man from the house shouted and the boys then ran off.

I never told my parents as I didn't want them to worry or over-protect me. I'm now a parent...

Red Lion, Welwyn, Herts

Tuesday 6th November 2012: with a few minutes thought, we suddenly found ourselves heading out to dinner in the Welwyn area. Having not tried the Red Lion (just south of the village) for a couple of years, we decided to give it a try and, from a possible 5 stars, it rated a decent 4.

Arriving at 8.20pm, there was ample parking and, on entry, a welcoming atmosphere. Recently decorated and nicely furnished. Possibly understaffed as we tried for 3 or 4 minutes to find someone to ask if we could have a table for two.

It was about half-full and we had a choice of tables. The waitress was pleasant and friendly, the menu looked good with a variety of food and a range of prices. Because we didn't have a starter, there was a bit of a wait for the main course, enough time to finish the first drinks and replenish as the main course was served.

We chose a mushroom tagliatelle - excellent - and organic sausage with crispy bacon, pureed potatoes and butterbeans - also good. For pudding, one of us had frozen yogurt with fresh berries and the other one chose cappuccino which, unfortunately, did not arrive by 9.40pm when we had to leave.

Summary: atmosphere, decor, food and drink all good, maybe slightly understaffed but the staff we encountered were good. Website: www.theredlionwelwyn.co.uk

Not Going Out, Not Getting In!

Batman under cover? Holy Steptoe & Son!

If you are going to a studio recording of Not Going Out at Teddington Studios, make a day of it. It states on the tickets that they over-subscribe due to a high number of no-shows and that people are let in on a 'first come' basis.

Here are some tips. If driving, there is parking further along the road from the studio but that could be at least 500 - 800 metres/yards. Also, your average speed for the final 7 miles will be around 11 miles per hour - I kid you not! We left  North Herts at 4pm on the dot, expecting to arrive in Teddington around 5.40pm but it was 6.10pm plus parking and walking back. Still in plenty of time as doors open at 6.30pm for a 7.30pm start and we could see that the queue wasn't too long.

We all stood, unsheltered from the rain, until the doors opened. As we neared the entrance, the queue stopped shuffling with a dozen people in front of us. Full! When we queried that the number of people let in was very small, we were told that some had already been let in earlier (even though we had arrived 10 minutes before 'doors open'). Hmm. It seems that some priority tickets are issued - not sure how you can get them.

So you need to arrive no later than 6pm and not for 6.30pm as implied. It might also be worth finding a route that doesn't use roads, as the A1 was clear but the rest of the journey was a nightmare. Alternatively, the train journey from Hertfordshire involves two changes (Kings Cross and Vauxhall), takes about 2 hours and costs around £20-£30. You won't get back till after midnight.

Time wasted, there & back = 4.5 hours
Cost of fuel (120 mile round trip) = £25

Lifestyle and British Accents

When we bought our house in 2006, it was still in its 1960-built / 1975-redecorated state. We spent a year organising the extension, planning permission, etc. and another year or two with various tradespeople building and finishing and decorating indoors and out. We still hadn't finished everything but felt that we'd spent enough!

The end result was good. In fact, everyone who walks in for the first time uses the same description, "Wow!" Not because it's ultra-super-amazing but because the inside is an unexpected upgrade from the ordinary 1960 frontage.

However, I've never managed to find much time for housework and, with a teenager in the house, it's always a manic tidy/clean when I know someone is coming, which isn't very often as I'm totally unsociable. I sometimes think it would be better to have more visitors so that the house was tidier more often. It was brilliant having builders around - I had a perpetual excuse never to clean or tidy.

There was a Scot amongst the Cockney builders but, in general, I found myself emulating the way that the 'Norf Lundoners' were speaking, despite years of living in middle-class Herts, probably because I was born and schooled in North London.

In the 1970s, I married a Scot who has now lived and worked amongst pseudo-Cockneys for much of his life and now has barely a trace of Scottish accent - except when he wants to - yet his older brother, who moved south at the same time, has never lost his Scottish accent.

There is a great round-up of accents in this video (not Hertfordshire though!)
I hope you will enjoy...