Kell

Srry - I was listening to Rammstein at midday - I thought loud German metal would be acceptable, as I'm not into punk.

Well, he's doing OK, but I would still say Eccleston was the best Doctor since the series returned. He had the perfect mix of quirkiness, seriousness, humour and, well, just everything. He had charm and intellect and I'll admit I fell a little in love with him. He had a great chemistry with both Billie Piper AND John Barrowman and he made it very exciting as well as keeping it down-to-earth. David Tennant was good too, but he took longer to grow on me (CE had me from the first episode!). He seemed to "mug" a bit too much and was a little more OTT in the role, but still good. He still had the charm and the rapport with the others too. Matt seems to me to be a little more OTT that even DT was and I hope he tones it down bit as he gets settled into the role. If he does, then I shal enjoy it immensely. If he doesn't, I could well end up getting completely sick of him very quickly.

I took a couple of books I'd registered on Book Crossing into town with me and left them in the Bon Accord shopping centre in Aberdeen yesterday morning. When I passed back through again 15 minutes later, one was already gone and someone was reading the blurb on the back cover of the other, so I hope they register that they've found them, read them, adn then release them back into the wild once more.

I've been designing again with another fun little sampler: PMS Subversive Sampler

The impulse bit is completely inaccurate for me - I ALWAYS weigh up the pros and cons before making a carefully considered decision.

Absolutely gorgeous - now just pack him up and send him to me, please.

Oh wow! I'd love to visit each and every one if those bookshops!

Bought Xan a new book today - it's an In the Night Garden book called Silly Ninky Nonk! He already has All Aboard the Ninky Nonk and loves it (as it features both the Ninky Nonk and Makka Pakka - both are favourites of his), so I reckoned this new one would be a surefire hit with Xan too. Right enough, I read it to him, he joined in and giggled through it, then he sat and looked through it again by himself. He has both his Night Garden books out now because it's on the telly and he likes to have the right book out when a programme comes on - funny boy!

I am positively salivating!

I have the play of Arsenic and Old Lace printed in 1948, and, like Rawr, I have an old, old copy of As You Like It, but I have no idea of the publication date as I can't find it anywhere on the copy. It's linen-bound though and has THe Junior School Shakespeare on the front cover. I got them both 2nd hand in Kirkcaldy when I was at college. I also bought a gorgeous little linen-bound copy of Macbeth at the same time, but I lost it while moving house. It was a pre-1920s copy, but I can't remember ny more about the date than that.

*woot woot* (that's as close as I could get to typing a wolf whistle - LOL!). Looking fabulous.

Apparently Armstrong is working on a second trilogy which, although isn't tied directly to these three books, is another off-shoot. I'll be looking forward to seeing what she comes up with!

OK, so I found the Dalek/Churchill episode incredibly dull. And what's with the brightly coloured Daleks? Cheery colours do not a scary alien make! Rather disappointed by this episode, which is surprising, because I usually like Mark Gatis' stuff!

I've started work on my NATO Phonetics Subversive Sampler which will go in my hallway. I'm stitching it on white 14-count aida in DMC 69 variegated floss. It will be my afternoon project for a few days till I move onto "card week" on the 21st. During that week I'll stitch a design for a Xmas card and then come back to the sampler once the card design is finished. I'll still be stitching Butterflies Galore in the evenings though - I can't bring myself to put that one down for a while yet, so it will most likely be my main project for stithcing in the evenings at least until the end of the month.

I don't understand why they move ANY of the schedule around. They know what programmes they have and how long they'll run. They should arrange the schedule so that the programmes have a regular time and fit one-offs in between them. That way people know when their favourite shows are on and they don't have a dip in viewing figures that they do when people don't know when their show is on because it's been moved yet again - grrrrr!

I want a blue rat! How cute is that pic?!

THe man is a total legend! I love it when he suddenly pops up in something I'm watching unexpectedly.

We'll most likely be watching the repeat tonight on BBC3 as the time it's at on Saturday nights isn't at all convenient for us - we're bathing Xan at that time and getting him ready for bed. Sunday nights he's already in bed when the repeat comes on, so we can settle down and enjoy it. I notice they've already stared shifting the time around though - you'd think they could set a specific time and leave it there for a gem like Doctor Who!

No. If parents are worried about what their kids are reading, then they should take the time to read it first and decide if it is appropriate for their child. I never had my reading censored, but my Mam did check out books she suspected might be a bit much for me before handing them over, if only so she would know ahead of time of anything I might decide to ask her about. We had a very good relationship where we (my sister and I) were encouraged to ask about anything on any subject, no matter how embarrassing most folks might find it, and we always got frank and honest answers.

I had horse when I was on a school trip to Valkenburg. Our first night at the hotel, we were serves these delicious steaks and everyone else was guessing it was pork or beef - I knew exactlywhat it ws because I just went ahead and asked. It didn't put me off and I found it delicious - in fact, it was one of the best steaks I've ever had to date! When the rest of the kids found out it was horse, most of them stopped eating it and looked a bit green around the gills, but it'd take something major to stop me enjoying a good steak - even at 15-y-o, this was true of me! I'm not a fan of traditional British game meats like venison and rabbit. Not a fan of pheasant either (I was tempted to type "phan" there - LOL!). I also don't like lamb or mutton. I've never tried veal, but I've heard great things about it.

The Vampire's Promise was actually the sequel to The Cheerleader. A girl called Althea wants to be popular, so she makes a deal with a vampire that trades her friends off to him so that she can have their physical attributes instead of them (if I remember correctly). Return of the Vampire features a girl called Devnee - similar stuff. Then The Vampire's Promise has a fresh victim. THey're all Point Horror books.

Have a look on my design blog - they are all quite simple. See if anything there takes your fancy - they're all free to download.

Calli, I'd say the best way to get started is to get a magazine that has a free kit on the cover. That way you have everything you need to try it out - fabric, floss, needle and pattern - without spending a whole lot of money. You can see if you like it before buying in any other bits and pieces. It can be quite an expensive hobby initially, buying all the materials you need, but once you have them, it gets cheaper as you only need to buy top-ups as you use things.