Vision In Blue

At a certain age you begin to have those odd moments, moments where you're not sure what you were doing or... what was I saying? If you haven't had a senior moment yet, don't worry, it'll be hiding for you around a corner of life. It waits in the darkness, waiting to jump out at you. Usually it'll strike at you sometime after you've felt the urge to use the phrase "kids these days" or "back when I was a child". It's a slow spiral! I'm forgetful, and the following things sum up a fair amount of what I forget... well, probably... there might be others, but I forget. Where did I put things? There is a zone in your home that acts like a blackhole, it sucks in anything that you leave unattended just before you will desperately need them. Sometimes you'll put something down, turn away for just a second... and it's gone. Every time I prepare to go out I have my mantra, "keys, phone, purse", usually rec...

*Massive spoilers everywhere, sorry, not sorry*     I have always been a Harry Potter fan, but I definitely can't claim I'm a Potterhead... I've read the books, I've seen the films, I listened to the audiobooks... but I have too many other things going on to dedicate such a large portion of my spare time to HP like a lot of people on the internet have. I think I've said before that when I watch new films, I like to watch them with my brain switched off... I like to enjoy them as a standalone project (whether they are or not), and not pick them apart or look for the problems. These things were created for us to enjoy, we really should try doing that first. And I do, the first time, then I watch it again, almost certainly with a notepad and pen at the ready. This is going to be a very mixed article, as what was going to be a review has evolved into a bit of a monster. By that I mean, after I read Harry Potter & The Cursed Child I went looking for what ...

I had the urge to make another list... haven't made one in ages and I'm getting an itchy writing hand just thinking about it. You guys know I don't like an easy challenge, in this case it is go big or go home... the epic list... the one everyone thinks about... The Bucket List. I have what can only be described as a work in progress. I've taken things off it, I've added things on, I've completed a few... but it really could be never ending. So here it is, my work in progress, my list of things I really hope I get round to doing: Places to visit: See all the Guggenheim museums Mount Rushmore, South Dakota Grand Canyon, Utah/Arizona Niagara Falls, Ontario/NY Yellowstone, Wyoming Barcelona Crater Lake, Oregon Angel Falls, Venezuela Galapagos Islands, Equador Northern Lights, Finland Zion Wildlife Park, New Zealand Terracotta Army, China Moraine Lake, Canada Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah A proper American "Believe It Or Not" Sal...

As you know, I don't go and explore the area as much as I should. Sheer laziness! But occasionally I'm forced into doing something against my will... which as it turns out was quite fun in this instance. So yesterday's jaunt took me to Portishead. I have never been there before, and it certainly isn't somewhere I would have accidentally ended up in. Looking at a map you will see that it isn't that far away from Bristol so you'd think it was a doddle to get to... not for paranoid old me! Essentially it's a case of cutting across Bristol and taking one road pretty much all the way there, and while I'm good with directions I like to have the satnav on just in case. I don't know how the rest of you react when using satnavs, in general I find I tell mine it's an idiot! Even if you don't know the exact way, you know the general direction you should be going in... so when my satnav instantly went in the wrong direction I was sceptical. I have ho...

I'm having a week off... and of course that means binge watching things! So many options, but thanks to All4 I've been watching The IT Crowd. My only issue with All4 is that you have to put up with adverts like you were watching it live... seriously... why?! If it hadn't been for these adverts though I wouldn't have seen the following one... Well done Cathedral City... I couldn't agree more! Watching Mock The Week the other day I saw John Robins do a bit about health. In it he talks about getting test results back that say he's got gout. The doctor says he should avoid eating cheese and his response is "what the fuck mate?" This is the correct response. This was essentially my response when I got an allergy test back and saw that cheese was in the no go zone. As stated in the advert, there are some very important rules when it comes to cheese... cheese should be loved, worshipped and binge eaten until your stomach aches. Hot cheese ...

Score one for being super organised. for months I've had a ticket stuck on my fridge door... and after all that time I nearly forgot about it. It's all very well being really organised but it does help if you remember when you're actually going! So Saturday saw me taking a trip to Colston Hall in Bristol to see Sarah Millican's show Outsider. It's a lovely venue and I'll definitely be booking tickets to see something else there. There's nothing quite like being serenaded by a three piece band when you walk in the door. The crowd was what you'd expect... I'm not being judgemental, after all I'm about to tar myself with this brush too... barely anyone under the age of 30, groups of women or couples and small clusters of gay men. My kind of people. We're not rowdy, we don't do raucous behaviour... we generally only do laughing until we're worried we might pee a little. Although there was an anecdote about one of her crowds getting...

Travelling between Bristol and London means a long straight 100 mile (or so) stretch of motorway... nothing to do but drive and contemplate the deeper meaning of life... or sing along to the radio. The weather was fantastic and it was noticeable that everyone was driving with a little more verve than usual, and that got me thinking about those unwritten rules of the roads. Our very own highway code that we've all just learnt from experience. As my journey went on I kept thinking of more and more things that we just expect to happen, and when they did I did the typically British thing of tutting in my car, and/or shouting at the car violating the rules with no hope of them hearing me. So I thought I'd give you a run down on some of the top ones that I encountered today. I'm also going to throw in a few tips on how to make the journey bearable... in no particular order of course! Dreaded slow inclines - Coming round the M25 there is a stretch of motorway at R...

Last night I went to the theatre with nine people I'd never met before. Possibly one of the most random things I've done in a while. Long story short I was pimped out by a friend for social events. But as it turns out I'd have missed something truly amazing had I not gone. Another first for me in Bristol, first trip the the Bristol Old Vic. It's a lovely quaint theatre with such wonderful little touches that I couldn't help but smile. Thread bare carpets as you walk through to your seats that make you wonder who has walked there before you. But possibly my favourite thing to do in a theatre... the complete opposite of the carpets... look up when you're in your seat. Why is the ceiling always so beautiful? I'm sure there's a reason for it but if I spend my time Googling it I'll never get this written. The last thing that I'll say about the décor in the Old Vic is the picture on the right... Original 18th century seating. There's not a chance...

After a few days in Cornwall with my family I've taken to the road on a Megabus. I figured that Penzance to Bristol at 9am on a Tuesday has to be one of the least stressful times to experience this for the first time! Kudos to whoever designed this route... the streets of Cornish villages were clearly designed for giant buses weaving through them!! But I can't quibble, £12.50 for a bus ticket home, for what equates to 6 hours of travel give or take the traffic... a bargain, and had I remembered to book it when I got paid it would have been even cheaper at £10.50. The one bug is no internet, she says as she writes her blog post on her iPad in preparation. I was going to write by hand but there are no tables and I could barely read a word of what I did write. I'm experiencing some of my worst nightmares right now. Strangers. They're loud eaters, they invade my personal space and they want to talk every second of the journey. No strange people, just no, leave me be! Ca...

I've had a little break, partly due to being away but mostly due to being so sick I couldn't raise the enthusiasm to use my brain! So I thought I'd have a recap on the cultural things I've been up to. A couple of years ago I decided I wasn't doing anything cultural in my life... because I realised sitting in the pub drinking pints of coke, while being sociable with my friends, was definitely not cultural. After some discussions with one of these friends, we decided that the best thing to do was at least once a month go and do something cultural... and that we did. But it lasted exactly a year... it was a good year... but I really should have challenged myself to it again and kept up with everything! So in the last couple of months I've tried some new, and some old favourites. Where to start? At the beginning I suppose, which happens to be February... I missed January by a hair... never mind! Arnolfini According to their website... Arnolfini is one of...