Christmas comes but once a year and those tunes come around again. Reuben saw Noddy Holder on the tv and remarked ‘He’s got curly hair like me’. At last, someone he can relate to. Oh dear.

We’ve always thought he looks more like the Pears Soap ad from the past.

Just some Saturday stupidity. Here’s a lookalike for the Ha Ha Section.

Here’s a soundalike on YouTube, Coldplay sounding awfully like Joe Satriani. Link

A funny scene with The Simpsons down at The Mapple Store. Link

Finally, Bruce Lee plays ping pong: Link

I think Chris is pressing for his Maxi to be featured somewhere on the blog. I’ve seen it in the rust, I mean flesh, no, I mean well, it’s immaculate. Quite jealous as it happens. Chris was the former owner of an Aston Martin DB7 and a Ferrari GTB 308 before his midlife crisis. He also owns a bread maker, in other words it’s Helen who earns the money.

It has been featured on the Austin Maxi Owners Club site. Link

Two or three more have been added to the Ha Ha section!

Please send in any if you think they make the grade. Thanks

Pete and myself wandered off to the big city, to see a favourite guitar player of mine, Paul Gilbert on 14th November. After witnessing Pete eat more sausage at breakneck speed (see earlier post ‘Happy Birthday Reuben’), we went off to the Astoria2. This is wholeheartedly my kind of thing and I found it a real treat. Paul is what was commonly known back in the eighties as a ‘guitar shredder’! Much naffness is associated with such things but the guy is so down-to-earth (he openly ridicules himself (not in the Andy Brice or Steve Finch sense)) that I can take it. It was a very welcome tonic to the humdrum. Thanks for coming with me Peter (and playing Dad). Have you got the other bass drum ‘coupled’ up yet?

Here’s a YouTube clip of the eccentric boy from 2007 > Paul Gilbert

Nic was disappointed not to see Bond’s big gun (pictured left) in the new Bond caper Quantum Of Solace. Although it’s featured in the promotional material, there’s no big gun.

We met up with Helen and Tony to witness this $200 million monster. Personally, I felt it lacked a few fight scenes, chases, ott CGI, and there was too much slushiness and gritty realism. Perhaps the next film should have the title  ’Outdo The Outdo’, that’s enough ‘O’s’ to incorporate 007 into the type. It was fun though, and we did enjoy it. The real drama came when we made Frankie & Benny reopen the bar next door. It was lovely to see them, and Helen and Tony too. Thanks. You’re brilliant.

Nicola has just received her second (of three) doses of Docetaxel. This is is post the initial three hits of the aptly named FEC chemotherapy (The E being the stuff in the pic). Perhaps complacency had been administered also, as we seemed (relatively) to be cruising. Rumours told us the Docetaxel would be the easier stint. This isn’t true. After the first hit Nicola was very ill and we felt distraught. This was Tess Daley ‘coupled’ with my stint at glory with ‘man-flu’. We painted a black cross on the door and sat tight. It was grim, I’ll not shy away from it. On the plus side, we’re now five out of six hits down. The fifth is yet to take its toll on Nic but we are getting there. Nic also had a scan on the 27th October. We got the results on 2nd December! The consultant described the chemo treatment so far on the tumour as excellent. Phew. My next few posts will try to recreate some of the momentous events over the few weeks. You lucky lot.

I’d like to believe my absence eerily coincided with the Ross suspension, as nobody really cares if he’s on the air or not. Well, here we go.

Firstly, heartfelt thanks to everyone who are going the distance with us. The babysitting, the food, glorious food, hot (veggie) sausage and mustard, while we’re in the mood cold (veggie) jelly and custard – is there a pattern evolving? We are so grateful. In true ‘Carry-on’ sense, let’s see if I can keep it up this time.

It’s a belter!

Many moons ago, we were invited to the cinema to watch The Shawshank Redemption. Andy hadn’t booked, the joint was full so he’d opted for a different flick. The film we were so lucky to see was ‘Legends Of The Fall’, probably the biggest load of over-the-top nonsense created. It seemed nothing more than a promotional exercise for Brad Pitt’s ego. We all laughed aloud at a sequence when he left the bosom of his family to ‘discover’ himself. The film was based in the early 1900s, and Brad became an epic explorer in a two minute clip, travelling, meeting tribesmen from all round the world, topped with him solo-navigating at speed in a boat at sea complete with golden labrador on deck!  This film had become a thorn in our friend’s side (given that we missed out on The Shawshank Redemption). We constantly remind him by sending picture postcards of the film etc. This epic mysteriously turned up in the post, so thanks Andy.