Christmas 2011

This was my very first Christmas by myself. Not bad really, for 35 years worth.

I managed not to be morrose at all though. I had my own tree, I called the family, and spoke with them on Skype for a good couple of hours and then I watched movies and did a lot of needleturn and went on a 'London Walk' walk of Dickensian London.

That was quite amazing - there was easily 100 people in my group of tourists, (the photo shows as many of the group as I could catch - no there weren't any other peoeople around, just us!) and there were five or six guides on the day. Obviously not much to do in 'ole London Town of a Christmas day. It was truely strage to not see a single red bus the entire day though. And the rain held off until the very end of the tour, which was lovely.

And then I cooked a proper christmas dinner. It even included roast potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots - although I managed to undercook the carrots and overcook the brocoli but never mind - it's really quite hard to judge food preparation times for just one person when I'm so used to cooking for many! Entre was Bree and specialty cheeases and complimented by a Jacob's Creek Shiraz/Cab-sav. And I even had my own little christmas pud with custard and brandy butter. So the food compliment was achieved.

On boxing day I caught the Doctor Who Christmas special, which was indeed special. Humany-woomany tears! Lovely.

True Blood Rocks

So have I got a new series for you… if you enjoy black humour, southern American accents, vampires and gratuitous sex that is.

Whilst in Stockholm, I went for a tour of Sodermalm (the southern island) and had lunch with Anna B, who is best friends with Anna K, who is the sister of Johan, who is married to Helen, if you can follow that. Anyway, we were discussing which books and TV series we enjoyed as we have similar tastes in these areas, and she suggested I try out a new TV series called True Blood.

Well, I was getting very frustrated from the lack of job opportunities recently and so decided to give myself the present of a little escapism and try the series out. At $3 an episode from ITunes, I could afford it at least.

He he he… I loved it.

Brought to you by the guy who made the series ‘Six Feet Under’ (life and love in a Funeral Parlour!), it’s about a town in southern Louisiana called Bon Temps (good times) in an alternate reality where Vampires have come out of the closet so as to become legal, acknowledged citizens and are campaigning to receive the same civil rights as humans.

It is really macabre. The total body count in the first series was 14 and I lost count of the number of bare backsides you get to see. The overall impression is dark and seedy but it has loads of light and fluffy bits too. Kind of like Fanny Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, meets an X-Rated Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Gory, gritty, real and yet totally surreal. Gratuitous sex everywhere. A perky lead, a brooding vamp, a shape shifter who goes around as a collie, a brother addicted to “V” (vampire blood) and some totally f***ed up friends, it is so bad, it’s great.

I even went so far as to look up the author of the book the series True Blood is based on, and now I am completely addicted to her too! Ms Charlaine Harris – I salute you!

A warning, though: You may just need my kind of sense of humour to appreciate it. I wouldn’t recommend it to Helen for instance. Remember, I’m the girl who left the cinema after seeing Sweeny Todd, grinning like a maniac and giggled at inappropriate moments all through it. Well, I’m grinning now.

Try it. You may just find it as cool as I did.