Getting on with things and Steven Fry

Again the field borders have been cleared of cover and again fencing has been re erected and repaired. It has taken me four hours straight to complete the necessary jobs and the upshot of all the toil is the sobering fact that although a little more secure the field remains a sort of laid out buffet to a persistent predator.

Now I have a choice here....I can invest on some robust and expensive fencing and have every hen, duck and goose safely enclosed in small, secure and claustrophobic enclosures or I can continue with my original idea of proper free range animals, living a chaotic and more natural existence warts and all.

After some thought about all this ( when I was cleaning the ducklings out with the babies crammed shyly in a bucket!- above pic!) I know I will continue with my present set up.

However Losing Lily has been a bit of a blow

This evening we went to see Stephen Fry in his live one man show/autobiography plug....ok it was at the Scala....and it was via satellite link from the festival Hall, London, but it was nice to see the Grand Dame of British stage, screen and television flexing his considerable brain live in an effortless show of pith,self effacing anecdote and gentle sycophancy.
Fry is safe pair of hands when it comes to performing.

He is likable and accepting of his own considerable intelligence and simply gives the audience what they want,- namely a jolly good set of amusing stories...extremely well told...

Lily

The fox has returned. I let the birds out of their coops this morning and immediately noticed that I was a buff short. It was not long before I found a pile of buff feathers only fifteen feet or so from the coop and after a quick check, it was with a heavy heart that I realised that the victim was my tame buff, the sweet natured Lily.

I couldn't quite work out when she was taken? I am hoping that she was late back to her coop last night and had some how got locked out rather than the more worrying scenario of a daytime "snatch" attack. I think I would have noticed the pile of feathers yesterday, if it was the latter.....so perhaps the old girl just didn't make it home in time.

The war continues......

It's Back

Now I am looking forward to the "rant" that is to come from friend Nigel if he reads this blog entry....yes it is reality mush time for the "middle classes"...as Strictly Come Dancing returns to the Autumn tv schedules on the BBC.

Very slightly past its sell by date, the eighth series (?) has dragged up the usual controversy amongst the net curtain brigade and Daily Mail readers of our green land by posing the vital and important questions and worries such as- will former MP Ann Widdecombe's bloomers remain firmly in place as the implausibly named Anton du Becke drags her round the dance floor like a farmer humping a bag of spuds.....?

Finally, I think, the reign of the tv "reality show" is coming to an end.. but Strictly will limp on for a few years yet because of one important factor!........ It is fun!
The celebrity dancers galloping into the fame limelight this year, actually learn a new skill which is refreshing ( and I am amused that we seem to have a "glut" of more mature lady celebrities this year- which I guess is the BBC's way of apologising for axing the mature Arlene Philips from the judging panel),

Now, I can hear Nigel's teeth grinding in Manchester from here!....but I cannot quite see why....Strictly is a quintessentially English phenomenon ( apologies to my non UK readers, but your versions of the show, for me , don't quite work as well)....despite the glitter and sequins, the dancers generally are "just a little too repressed and self conscious" to cope with the latin numbers, a thing which is so British andsomething that makes the programme just that little bit enjoyable.........coping with the awful "being made a fool of" is something the Brits just dont do well......humm we are a funny old breed.....

bring it on......

9 years

nuff said

Bryn Terfel sings Rule Britannia

See next blog.............nice to see this big slab of Welsh manhood at the Proms

Last night of the Proms

Chris absolutely LOVES the last night of the Proms!

For me?, well it is an OK night in with some fine music and a little flag waving...... However I do find the predominantly toffee nosed and somewhat schoolboy-ish audience..somewhat pretentious, what with the silly bobbing up and down to sea shanties and the manic clapping of the hooray Henrys in the front row.

Tonight Chris "waved his flag" manically from his couch and I "waved mine" (less enthusiastically) from the other!

The bottle of Veuve Cliquot certainly helped..........

scary

Flickan som lekte med elden

The Girl Who Played With Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden),...hummm what can I say.........The lesbian,pierced, abused and damaged Lisbeth Salander is back....she kicks some ass, gets her ass well and truly kicked and bounces around naked on a Swedish apartment's polished floor with her oddly named Girlfriend Wu........The second of Steig Larsson's Novels to be filmed makes for a passable but rather unsatisfying sequel, ten minutes into itI felt as though I was watching an extended tv movie rather than a multi million Krona film...
It was an ok 6/10
Three trips to the movies in one week
Boy do I live life in the fast lane......