Mia

I've just finished The Darkest Evening of the Year and wasn't that impressed. He seems to be suffering from Stephen-King-itis - ie his earlier stuff was great and his latest stuff is comparatively poor. At the moment, he seems to be fixated on God and the divine loveliness of dogs, particularly golden retrievers(!). He needs to pull his socks up, methinks.

Yeah, I saw that Hovis one last night for the first time - it's really good. I also like the one for hair dye where the woman is looking in the shop window at some shoes and the snooty sales assistant is looking down her nose at her. She takes off her hat to reveal her (not very nice, IMO) hair colour, gets instant confidence and goes in and buys the shoes! I like the music to that one too. It's a good job I don't mind this advert, as it's on every single break.

How did I forget to mention Phillip Pullman?! His trilogy Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass is excellent.

I thought this second episode was better than the first. I liked the bit where Amanda Price kneed Mr Collins - well deserved, I thought. Unfortunately, despite Amanda's best efforts, she's mucking everything up. It was sad to see Jane married off to the creep Collins. And poor Amanda's face at the mouthful Mr Darcy gave her (even going so far as to call her "Madam" to show he was really angry). Everything's going pear-shaped, so it should be interesting next week to see if she can get things back on track!

Welcome to the forum, magicstar! Hope you enjoy it here. Your avatar is great.

Or maybe Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series - a different kind of teenage spy book. Also, a trilogy by Stephen Bowkett called Ice, Storm and Thaw, set in a world far into the future after an ice age. I'd also recommend the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.

Mr and Mrs Smith was pretty bad. Also, anything by M Night Shyamalan - not the genius the critics make him out to be.

Definitely - I've just checked your profile and you were born in 1981 and Spangles were around in the 70s - count yourself lucky!!

A square, hard-boiled fruity sweet, which may or may not have been slightly fizzy (I can't recall). What I do remember is that all selection boxes at the time consisted of lots of yummy chocolate bars, and for some reason, an obligatory packet of Spangles, which invariably hung around for ages after the chocolate until I got desperate and finally ate it.

It took about half a day to eat a Texan bar! I remember the advert for that, where the guy was facing a firing squad... He began to eat a Texan bar, and took so long that the firing squad fell asleep and he strolled off into the sunset! Toffos were gorgeous, you got strawberry, banana, chocolate and plain toffee flavours. I think you can still get them, though I'm not sure if the flavours are the same. I don't know why everyone remembers Spangles with such affection- they were foul! Not a choccie bar as such, but I wish they would bring back Trio biscuits. Yum.

I'm sure it could be argued that almost any pursuit is a waste of time. What's the point of doing a jigsaw when you take it apart again when you've completed it? Or the point of chasing a football up and down a pitch? But I totally agree with kernow_reader - it's not a waste of time if you enjoy doing it. To each their own: everyone has their own hobbies and interests and should be able to enjoy them without being ridiculed. People who makes comments like reading being a waste of time are frankly just too stupid to think about things properly and should be ignored.

Yeah, like Colin said - an aerated chocolate bar, so it's chocolate but all light and bubbly. Basically, Cadbury's copy of an Aero bar, but superior to Aero as Cadbury's is nicer chocolate! And being sweet and sickly is the point of chocolate in my opinion!

Yay!! Mint Wispas!!! Mmmm.

Wow, he sounds like a really nice man!

If memory serves me correctly (which it probably doesn't) I think they're coming back around the beginning of October. I thought they were back for good before, but apparently it was just a trial run to see how popular they were, and they disappeared again before I had time to buy one! So this time I will be ready!! Does anyone remember the mint Wispas and the caramel ones? They were nice too.

Oh yes, I agree on this one! Also Losing my Religion.

I thought it was good, but not quite as good as I was expecting! I thought we might see the problems Lizzie was having in modern times, as well as the ones Amanda was having in Austen times. Maybe we will in future eps? It was all a bit silly really, but quite enjoyable! I can't believe no-one really commented on Miss Price's clothes - wouldn't they have been outraged by a woman wearing such tight "breeches"? Or her hairstyle? Explaining everything as being all the rage in Hammersmith didn't really cut it! I'd like more of Miss Price trying to cope with how things were done then - I enjoyed the dancing and the willow twigs for toothbrushes and her reaction made me laugh! The guy playing Darcy wasn't too good, IMO. He was trying so hard for the "sulky" look that he just looked permanently constipated! But, of course he could never be Colin Firth. All in all it was slightly disappointing, but a good hour's escapist entertainment.

Supergran, I kind of like that one... But it also annoys the hell out of me that the woman just sits there and lets her brat misbehave instead of stopping him!

Yes, that looks really good Nici.