Beliefs I Hold Dear

Cars are not self healing

Signposts always appear too late


Cats will always throw up over anything new or freshly laundered


Traffic wardens do not possess a sense of humour


At least one Dalek will always escape the wrath of the Doctor


Sat Navs are not infallible


Bank managers are genetically modified


Life is full of surprises

The Doctor is Dead, Long Live the Doctor

Last night when David Tennant said, "I don't want to go" as he was regenerating, I suspect I wasn't alone when I shouted at the TV, "I don't want you to go either."

I've been a fan of Doctor Who from the very beginning when the irascible William Hartnell took the role of the first Doctor. I was never one for hiding behind the sofa; I wanted to be right there in the Tardis with him journeying on new adventures through galaxies and time. In the old series before the brilliant Russell T Davies stories my favourite two Doctors were Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. I loved Jon's romantic look, dashing about saving earth with his cloak flying out behind him, a Victorian gentleman on speed. Tom Baker to me was always larger than life. I loved the humour he brought to the character. I'm sure jelly baby sales must have increased dramatically during his time as the Doctor. I also remember being permanently attached to my 20 foot long knitted stripey scarf worn in homage to the time traveller.


Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane was my favourite companion to the Doctor. My Dad for some reason got very interested in Doctor Who when Leela played by Louise Jameson became the Doctor's companion. The sofa used to get very crowded on Saturday nights. I was pleased to see Elizabeth come back to work with David Tennant in 'School Reunion' in 2006 and star in her own spin off series 'The Sarah Jane Adventures'.


Favourite story has to be 'The Sea Devils' . I loved the moment when they emerged from the sea with their huge rubber heads and fishing net costumes. The episodes were filmed not too far from here at No Man's Land Fort in the Solent. Recently on a visit to St Mary's House in the village of Bramber, the guide was eager to show me a tiny bit of blue paint left by the Tardis on the old wooden beams when Silver Nemesis was being filmed there.


I've never felt the need to collect a lot of Doctor Who memorabilia preferring to enjoy great story lines and adventures instead. However I will admit to wearing my Dalek socks whilst writing this blog. You gotta enter in to the spirit of the thing! Over the years I've been easy to buy presents for - anything to do with cats or Doctor Who always got my mojo working. I've been given Doctor Who calenders, Tardis money boxes and keyrings, even a Doctor Who birthday cake.

(David Tennant - good enough to eat!)

However the one thing I always wanted was a Dalek suit. I plagued my Dad for years for one of these but it never materialised and even now at the tender age of (deliberately left blank) I still have a hankering to run around wearing one (counselling should maybe help here).

Coming back to the present day I am in awe of Russell T Davies' innovative writing for the series. He has got the most incredible imagination. If there was an accolade of Sci Fi Laureate he would win it hands down. Watching episodes over again I can see where he has dropped in words and signs that had no apparent relevance but in later episodes have become central to the plot. A master storyteller. I'm sorry he has departed the series along with David Tennant but I live in hope that he has handed the mantle on to another excellent writer.

Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor has got a hard act to follow but having seen his previous work I think he can pull it off and in spades!

The Best of Intentions

I was going to post a picture of the first sunrise of 2010 however as the effects of last night's alcohol intake were still with me at 8.00am this morning, standing on the beach photographing the low winter sun casting its pink and gold rays over Worthing Pier and holding a camera steady was verging on the slightly impossible. Plus my ability to erect a tripod was also suspect.

So here is a nice picture of a flower instead.

New Year Resolutions? Might as well jump on the bandwagon......

After much deliberation and a few beverages I think the following should be worthy of some kind of observance.


Take at least one sunrise picture in 2010

On the road try to avoid getting behind and uttering profanities at elderly men wearing hats and driving dark green Rovers

Before buying magazines in the shop empty out all those annoying bits of junk mail found inside

Be as politically incorrect as possible

Campaign for the winding up of Jobsworths to be classed as an Olympic sport

Avoid watching any TV programmes with the words celebrity or reality in the title.


And here are some more nice flowers.

Happy New Decade to all old friends and new friends still to be made!!

Christmas is a time to.........

Be determined to get home in spite of the weather

Listen to carols on the radio

Fall asleep after playing with your new toys

Dress up as Santa

Party hard

Have fun in the snow

Share your toys

Admire the tree

Examine new arrivals

Get comfy for the Christmas Film

Record your favourite TV Christmas special

Deliver that Christmas Kiss!



Happy Christmas 2009!

Winter Solstice

Ah, Winter with its supporting cast of brooding leaden skies, chilling tendrils of cold reaching into our homes, seeking us out to freeze the warmth from our bodies. In the still of the night, ice splitting and cracking under each footfall. The darkness creeping through keyholes, under doors, surrounding our very souls. Our world slowly silently descending into the embrace of Winter since the flames of summer exploded into autumnal fire.

Time for contemplation, to reconnect with the ancient power of the Druid priests still able to reach down to us through lost forgotten centuries.

Then suddenly in the midst of our slumbering shadow world the Solstice arrives to give us hope. A spark of light to shine and sparkle in the darkness and at last the day begins to slowly claw back the hours the dark night has stolen from her.

The Winter Solstice, a shining hope filled wonderful time of year and one of my favourites.

Happy Solstice

Narnia, Sussex Style

Woke up to find a thick covering of snow on the ground. First thought, "Grab camera and take pictures." Second thought, "Put some clothes on first."

So while the cats were wondering how far down their little legs would sink into it, I was dressed and out through the door which was a minor miracle as I had so many layers on I could've made the Michelin Man look anorexic. I headed up to one of my favourite places, the RSPB reserve at Pulborough Brooks expecting to do battle with all the other photographers out capturing snow scenes.

We get so little snow in Sussex that when it does fall it usually induces some sort of madness which has all the local togs running around upping the EV and hammering the shutter button. Speed is also of the essence as Sussex snow doesn't hang around for long. It probably helps to have a snow plan made in advance, but I've never got round to making one.

I swung into the car park, quite literally as I was a little too eager with the steering wheel over the ice. Anyway there I was in the big empty car park, not a single snapper in sight (Christmas Shopping 65m - Linda 1). Into the Visitor Centre to be told I had the reserve to myself, go enjoy! And I did!

Wandering over glittering white crystal pathways in a magical landscape watching bunnies, fallow deer, and bouncing red robins has to rate as being one of the most fun things you can do with all your clothes on (note I said 'one').

Hundreds of Canada Geese were parked on the Brooks making their funny honking calls. A lone woodpecker was tapping out his secret message on a tree trunk. The paths were crisscrossed with dozens of deer and fox prints made the previous night, evidence of just how many animals frequent the reserve after the humans have gone home.

Over at the Hanger viewpoint there was a notice telling visitors of the recent arrival of a female Peregrine falcon and pointing out her favourite perching tree. Usually I never manage to see the subject of signs like this but I looked for her anyway and after deducing that it wasn't a stuffed bird the RSPB had nailed to a branch I finally saw her. Spent ages looking at her through my bins. A beautiful magnificent creature casting her eye over her winter kingdom. Humbling to think I was looking at the fastest living thing on this planet. Even better to see a bird that's not part of any falconry display but living wild and free - awesome!

Third Party Living

There was an invitation in cyberspace recently to submit in one line your own personal answer to the following - “Before I die I want to.............”

Some of the answers were -

Travel the world

Swim with dolphins

See tigers in the wild

Drive a racing car

Climb Everest

Visit the Galapagos Islands

Learn to play the guitar

I wonder how many of those people who replied will ever get to live their one liners? Why do we get distracted from them? 'Reality' takes over and by reality I suppose we mean shopping, cleaning, putting food on the table, commuting day after day after day. I'd hate to think that was it, that I was doomed to stay within this 'reality' circle for the rest of my natural born.

The majority of us seem to be content to keep our one liners as pipe dreams as we go for the easy safe option and watch someone else do it for us. No risk there, no need to get immersed up to our armpits in mud in our quest to see a rare elusive animal. We can watch tv and get the experience in a sanitised safe way. We can have the visual memory but what we can never have through this medium is the effect on all our other senses. The damp musty smell of jungle vegetation, the aching muscles in our legs caused by reaching that mountain peak but we got up there anyway and the view was breathtaking, popping seaweed pods between our fingers and thumbs, how cool and refreshing that bottled water tastes in our mouth when we stop for a well earned break on a long walk. Taking the easy path will result in a future big empty hole in our memories while we try to work out what we did with our lives.

I wonder what would happen to us if we all made an effort to live our one liners. Would we put Mr Murdoch out of business by creating our own memories instead of the ones dreamt up by Fox's finest.

Friends is apparently the most repeated series on tv. Six different personalities; plenty of scope there for us to choose our own favourites and identify with them throughout their fictional struggles with life in the Big Apple. We get so involved with the characters that we forget they are made up; Ross and Rachel do not exist. They are not our friends, the same way that Tesco/Sainsburys etc are not looking out to make life better for us, they are just plain and ordinary shops. I am not impressed with 'every little helps' or smacking my backside every time I reach the checkout, just put the damn things out on the shelves and I'll buy it if I need it.

Life has become safe, scripted and I find that incredibly scary. Even our hobbies are getting the scripting treatment these days. There is something so heart rendingly sad about a person standing alone at home on a wobbly board looking at a screen and pretending they are skiing down a mountain. What's wrong with actually booking a real life skiing trip and please don't say cost. For the price of one of these wobbly boards you could have a super holiday with a load of apres ski thrown in. Oh and you could actually meet up with other human beings and possibly create some lasting marvellous memories, what a bonus that would be.

In real life there are no certainties, perhaps that's what scares us these days. We don't get a preview of what is going to happen to us in next Saturday's 7.30pm to 8.30pm time slot. Far better to not risk anything and to stay in our comfort zone. Thankfully there are people out there in the world who are not content to let their sofas do a mind meld with their backsides. Ordinary real life people like the PA who gave up corporate life to fulfil a passion to paint animal portraits. The gardener who one year ago was shouting himself hoarse on the stock exchange floor and now the only sounds he hears are the birds singing and hedgehogs snuffling for slugs in the undergrowth. Being responsible for ourselves is probably the biggest challenge we of the sofa generation face in these PC/Nanny State/Health & Safety times.

But it can be done and done well. All we have to do is find our own one liner, then focus and LIVE!