Jonathan Ross leaving BBC

So Jonathan Ross is finally to do the decent thing and leave the BBC. Better late than never. After the fiasco in 2008 when he and Russell  Brand made pathetic and cruel phone calls to actor Andrew Sachs, at least Brand had the decency to resign. Apparently, Ross's contract, negotiated for the three years up to 2010, was worth a staggering £18,000,000, which is immoral by any standards. Now, rumour has it that he was to be expected to take a substantial pay cut, but of course, his decision was nothing to do with financial considerations. Of course not.
Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision, referred to him as 'extremely talented', which has to make one wonder about the generally accepted definition of that phrase, and both she and Alan Yentob, current BBC Creative Director, bemoan the fact that Ross has had had a 'difficult year'.
A difficult year with a salary of £6,000,000?
I could cope with that.
Bring it on!

New fleece


Keith has been busy this week, out and about in the freezing cold snow and ice but his favourite fleecy jacket has sadly come to the end of its useful life so, during my shopping expedition this morning, I managed to find a new one.
Apart from the fact that it hasn't got as many pockets as he would like, (What is it with men and pockets?) he is very happy with it, especially as this one has a hood.
"I'll be as warm as toast driving around in this," he said.
Maybe not for long, though!

Global Warming - the ultimate evidence

For those of you who are worried about the threat of global warming, look no further for definitive evidence than here.


Cute, isn't he?

The Case of the Missing Locksmith

Yesterday and today I have had the strong feeling that Keith and I might be about to have a similar experience to this Scottish lady and her husband. Yesterday, the roads up here were like ice rinks and traffic accordingly suffered a much higher than usual number of breakdowns. Keith set off at 9am to Rhyl to do a repair which proved to be very complicated and took far longer than expected. In fact, he hadn't finished before it began to get dark, so he decided to stop and go back today. However, true to Sod's Law, the van refused to start, so he called the AA, who told him it would be SIX HOURS before anyone could come out to him. Fortunately, they eventually sent someone within two hours and once again Sod's Law was in operation because  the mechanic had barely laid a hand on it before the old crate started.
But at least it meant that he got home in time for Coronation Street. (He was SO pleased about that!)
Today, off he went again, this time to Capel Curig, with the aim of returning to Rhyl on the way back. OK so far, except that he spent about two hours on the way back from Capel Curig sitting in stationary traffic so  again it was too dark to finish yesterday's job and he decided to come straight home.
By now, of course, the promised snowfall had started and he has been sitting in his van on the A550 near Caergwrle, going nowhere as the road is blocked by - guess what? SNOW!
Shall I ever see him again? That is the question...

The Wedding

Here are a couple of photos of Elder Daughter, Kathy getting married to Mr Shakespeare (yes, honestly!) on New Year's Eve.



Misery!


The road and pavements outside are like a skating rink and show no sign of improving.
"If we ever move," I said to Keith today, "We are going to a house on a main road so that there will be some remote chance of the road outside being gritted in weather like this!"
But that's not the main problem, no the main problem is that, since Wednesday, I have been feeling increasingly 'not well' and miserable. It's probably the mysterious 'Christmas bug' which afflicts people at this time of year, one of those indeterminate, unidentified germs that waft about looking for likely victims. Suffice it to say, eating has been a non-event and so has drinking except for boiled water and the occasional cup of tea.
It's now the fifth day of feeling like something the cat dragged in and I'm fast losing patience.
New year, huh? Forget it, I'm off to hibernate until Easter at least.

Plaster board and dust

So, we're still no further forward on the British Gas smart meter front and I've given up making non-existent appointments with them...