Not Long Now

Shush... don't tell anyone but it's only a few more days until we can step back inside the (remodelled) Tardis for more adventures in time and space...


Matt Smith and Karen Gillan as the 11th Doctor and Amy Pond, inside the Tardis.

As these pictures from the Radio Times listings magazine show, it's even bigger on the inside this time!

Elementary My Dear Alice

Long story short, last night I ended up booking and paying to see one film, only to have to pay (again) to see a different film at a different cinema 8 miles away. Ended up being quite a late night but very enjoyable LOL.

Reading 1 - 1 West Bromwich Albion

I think the Royals were robbed- I'm pretty sure the Referee was playing for West Brom today.

Anyway, on a humourous but absolutely true note...

You will recall how back at junior school, children in the playground would get into arguments that eventually boiled down to "My dad is bigger than your dad" and "Oh yeah? Well my dad's a truck driver and can beat your dad up."

Well no word of a lie, I was sat at work this week in the kitchen having my lunch, reading my book when two grown men (mid twenties to thirties) got into a row that before too long turned into "My mum is an antique dealer" gaining the reply "Oh, well my mum is a diamond expert. So I should know what I'm talking about."

I was so tempted to chip in with "Well my mum's an angel" but I thought better of it LOL.

Freebie

I don't know about you but I love those freebie mail order magazines that come stuffed inside other publications. You know the sort that sell all sorts "reader offers" such as electronic gadgets you never thought you wanted, rather unfashionable/unflattering clothes and an eclectic mix of garden products...


Anyway I really enjoy leafing through these magazines, checking out all the "wonderful" items I won't be ordering before consigning it to the recycle bin.

Now given my feelings that us British just aren't patriotic enough, you can imagine my delight when I found this flagpole for sale at a "bargain" price of £59.99 this week. I mean it's 6 metres (about 20 ft) high and comes complete with a flag for instant patriotism, what more could you want?

Well for one thing if you happen to be Welsh or Scottish, you won't be too happy that it is supplied with the English St. George's flag and if you want either St. Andrew's or the Welsh Dragon flag you have to pay extra LOL.  



Leicester 1 - 2 Reading

Oi! Ginger!

Long standing readers to Mostly Harmless will know I absolutely adore all things ginger. Especially Ginger Beer. So you can imagine my delight when I discovered this in my local Waitrose supermarket. It's come all the way from our colonial cousins living in the Land Down Under. Can't wait to try a bottle later tonight. Strewth!



















And while on the subject of ginger-ness, my very own 'copper-top' in the form of LL (he gets it from his maternal Granddad) has been doing rather well lately. I have him every Saturday and in the mornings he goes to Gym club for an hour or so, where sadly (LOL) I can only join the other parents and watch from the balcony. He really enjoys it and while he's keen, he'll get all the encouragement I can give. They assess the kids about once a term to national gymnastic standards and I'm pleased to say that with some effort he's been able to progress, winning himself this lovely certificate.   

And this afternoon we popped along to the Wycombe Swan theatre where they were having an open day, including guided tours from back stage all the way up into the lighting gallery. Excellent fun and was totally free. Now that's not bad is it?

Since I'm on a bit of a blogging-roll... I found this recently, all the way from the New England area of the US. I used to have one on the back of my previous car, which didn't make a great deal of sense in the UK but you should have seen the faces of puzzled on-lookers! Maybe I should consider it again..?

While I think of it, we don't change our clocks in the UK until 28 March. I checked here on the government website, since there'd been a total lack of coverage this past week. Sorry for any panic/confusion caused LOL. Spring is still due to start tomorrow though.


Middlesbrough 1 - 1 Reading

Interesting-ish Stats

In a not very scientific poll it would appear that Firefox is the single most popular browser currently in use at about 43% (the various versions of IE totalling 34%). Well that's one of the statistics being reported by BlogPatrol regarding visitors to Mostly Harmless.

Mind you, of no surprise what so ever is the fact that Windows XP is more widely used/more popular than Vista. Having said that some people are still clearly hanging on like grim death to Windows 98...




















Of perhaps more interest is that with the new series of Doctor Who due to start at Easter on BBC1 and the press screening of the first episode taking place in Cardiff tonight, Digital Spy has reported some well-timed news. They are reporting that as in previous years there will be a Christmas special (penned by show runner Steven Moffat) this year but that also the BBC has already approved the 2011 series. Fab news, if it proves to be true.

As Promised

Yep, feeling quite pleased LOL.

Glazes used are as follows:
Shiny White Tin over Tenmoku on the back with Red-Brown on the front.

I'll upload some images to Webshots shortly.

Reading 1 - 0 QPR.

Kind Of Excited

I've been given a "heads-up" that my pot is ready for collection tonight and is looking pretty fab. Am probably setting myself up for  disappointment but we'll see. If it's good, I'll blog. If you don't hear from me, I think you can guess... 



(Oh by the way. Big thanks -but no thanks- to all the SPAMers who kindly post comments with links to undesirable websites. That's why I have moderated comments, so you can't. Get the message? You're wasting your time. End of mini-rant)

Spring Approaches

Today really did look like Spring was just around the corner; the sun shining and temperatures reaching a relatively high, for this time of year, 12 degrees Celsius (about 54 degrees F). An ideal day in fact for a walk and some fresh air. Which is exactly what I did.

I hear the US put their clocks forward last night marking the start of daylight saving for them. Quite why it needs saving is beyond me. In the UK and I expect the rest of Europe, our clocks change next Sunday morning as the sun moves into the Northern Hemisphere. I'm not really sure what we gain by this time keeping slight of hand any more. It's not as if we're fighting a war and it's important to maintain a blackout and not use artificial lighting. Maybe someone can explain it to me and why we can't stay on Greenwich Mean Time all year long..? Either way it's lovely to think the better weather is on it's way.

As means of proving I didn't play couch potato all day, I thought I'd better share a couple of images I took this afternoon from the Reading University grounds. Enjoy.

Round Up

At the risk of this blog sounding too football centric of late ...

The Royals continue to do quite well in the Championship this week, clearly having regained their mojo. A strong win at home Wednesday against Derby and again today hosting Bristol gives Reading a maximum 6 points and moves them back up the league, away from the religation zone. Talk is rife of them making the promotion play-off's. We'll see.

10 March Reading 4 - 1 Derby County
13 March reading 2 - 0 Bristol City

Earlier this week West Forest Potters met for our near monthly get together with a guest potter. This month the speaker was Elaine Peto who kindly demonstrated from scratch how she hand builds her animal creations.

This fellow took about 2 1/2 hours to build and measures around 51 cm (about 20 inches) in length. This piece is likely nice and dry by now, ready for bisque firing and can then be decorated. Elaine made it all look effortless and easy. I was left feeling in awe and so lacking any type of skill in comparison.








 




 
Some examples of Elaine's finished work...

 
































And finally LL has been doing well, with a glowing school report this week. Am a proud parent.

If Only...

If only the match had finished after 45 minutes, at the end of the first half. Aston Villa came out for the second half fighting, overcoming a 2 -0 lead to finish 2 - 4 with three goals from man of the match John Carew. Fantastic game, pity about the outcome LOL. Read more here.

1927

Tomorrow Reading entertain Aston Villa in the FA Cup quarter finals. It's the first time since 1927 the Royals have got this far and, fact fans, they are now the only non Premiership club left in this year's competition. Finger's crossed they can pull out all the stops, put on a good show and maybe even create an upset.

Elsewhere SFX magazine are reporting the new (final) series of the excellent Ashes to Ashes starts on BBC1 at the end of this month. Further they state Matt Smith's reign in Doctor Who starts Saturday 3 April. Officially this is series 1 although executive producer Steven Moffat has said it's valid to say this is series 5 of New Doctor Who and also the 31st in the programme's history... confused? LOL

Matt Smith and guest star James Corden (Gavin and Stacey) filming an apparently football related scene of BBC's Doctor Who.