De-blog

Created 8th November 2009 If the title of this posting reads as a list that lacks a certain creative edge, it's deliberately so. The three issues are hardly related, but have developed their own connections in my mind over the past few days, taking on the usual narrative life of their own that pre-empts a far too occasional blog rant. An alternative entitled "Don't Watch This At Home" battled its way to the fore once or twice, but the constructive emotional impetus was insufficient. By this I attempt to draw the reader's attention to my acceptance that the postings one can read here are often driven by negative emotional states - depression, anger, frustration, confusion, disappointment and so on - but with the intention of honing in on the positive energies that such emotions can affect. Thus, the subject matter of puppy mills and Cesar Milan's recently screened episode of The Dog Whisperer highlighting the despicable conditions that dogs endure in the...

Created 23rd June 2009 There are times, even at my increasingly ripe age, that it is not the lessons we learn via discovery that are the greatest, but those that are bestowed as statements of tried and tested fact by others. Their confidence in the rightness of what they advise is sufficient to warrant treating it as such without further redress to dipping one's toe in the water. Thus I present, for my own reflection mostly but also in gratitude for some of these have been life-changing, on some of the wisest words given to me. "Get a drainer" This may well be the most life-changing words ever spoken to me. How can I describe Stella Devine? Intelligent, assured, dignified, honest, cantankerous, awkward, rude - these last three were her own. A retired probation officer, successful single woman, who I had the privilege of assisting in maintaining her lifelong independence. One day I was lamenting the toil that is drying the dishes and, in the way that only Stella h...

Created 27th December 2007 The last episode of 'To The Manor Bowen' was aired yesterday on Living TV, a channel that has been top of my favourites for a couple of years now. My viewing diet is menial and consists almost entirely of Living TV exclusives, including CSI Miami, CSI, Criminal Minds, Boston Legal and occasionally Most Haunted . This will be of no surprise to the channel's programming executives, for I'm certain I am a perfect fit to their audience demography. I've always liked Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, undoubtedly the most successful celebrity designer of the 1990s and first half of this decade, when Makeover TV was the viewer's choice before it abdicated to dreadful 'reality' programmes and opportunities for everyone to take a bite at the apple of fame. DIY, interior design and gardening hasn't gone away, but no-one wants to watch it 'as it happens' these days. It can't be easy to uphold one's lifestyle in the face o...