3BT: Resolutions, Knighthoods, New Year Greetings

1.The usual diet, although I‘m pleased to say I haven‘t strayed too far this Christmas. 2. To learn how to use Facebook properly (Brad’s going to help me in exchange for driving lessons). 3. To make sure I do my homework in a timely fashion (only ten weeks left) and then use the course-less time to actually write stuff and, more importantly, send it off to someone! And to keep up with the Daily Scatter as much as possible - it may have to become the Weekly Scatter, if I’m serious about the scripts.

Congratulations to Sir Terry Pratchett, now an even more officially recognised genius and my total, favourite author of all time; Sir Chris Hoy, awesome displays this year, as ever - more to come? Commiserations to Brucie: Stop worrying everyone, he’ll get it when he retires from Strictly.

Have a fantastic night tonight; I hope all your dreams come true in the New Year.

Jaye xx

3BT: A Winter’s Tale

We took a stroll through the local country park and were amazed to find the lake frozen over; never seen that before. The seagulls didn’t mind but the ducks were all herded together up the one end where the ice had been broken. After traipsing along various paths we reached the ski centre - but the toboggan run was closed! Possibly because the brakes were frozen or, bizarrely, the track was too slippery! We didn’t hang around for long, the sun was already dipping below the tree line.

Spotted on our travels apart from the ducks, seagulls and sundry squirrels were a greenfinch, a robin, a hedge sparrow and a titchy little browney-orangey bird we couldn’t identify.

Back at the lake, we tried breaking the ice with various stones and half a branch Matt had dragged back with him. Then we broke ice near the sides and skimmed the pieces across - some of them went a hundred yards at least. And despite numerous warnings about staying away from the edge just in case, guess who ended up with a wet foot. Yep. Me.

3bt: foreshadowing, quickest, lookalikes

Watching the new dramatisation of ‘The 39 Steps’ last night and an example of foreshadowing: When Victoria remembers exactly where they vacated the car, illustrating her photographic memory, which leads to Richard believing she was the traitor, before realising it was hereditary on her father’s side, thus leading to Uncle George!

I got Heart FM’s Time Tunnel this morning within the first bar of the first song, which was Shalamar, 1982. I didn’t hear the end, but it says it here, along with the two I remember most with it. The Clash and The Steve Miller Band No relation to David.

Driving home along the high street and there are two miniature Zammos bowling along, hands in pockets!

Music Choices

I had great fun with the lovely like minded people on the SCD forum, under the thread of the same name and I’m going to carry on with anything I hear throughout my day: George Michael’s latest I think would make a wonderful foxtrot. Or waltz, maybe Viennese Waltz. I hope Foxy or Ale turn up to confirm! :) They might be able to come up with something for this Manhattan Transfer song. I heard it for the first time in ages and had forgotten how much I loved it. All I can think of is a bamba (ballroom samba) 1983? Could have been yesterday!
And I still can't stop watching Tom and Camilla's showdance! This is the fixed camera angle from the SCD website - listen out for a very excited man towards the end! I've heard it's been likened to Torvill and Dean's Barnum and I can't argue - what a compliment! It's all in the timing and musicality, something T&D excelled at. Mack and Mabel was probably my favourite, specially the 'train' bit. Stunning. I could watch them all day. In fact, that's what I seem to be doing right now!

101 Uses for Party Poppers #57

Our old game, when the mother-in-law used to criss-cross decorations across the living room, consisted of us taking aim and popping the small poppers as far as we could over them, all from the comfort of our armchairs. With the advent of the huge spring loaded poppers, she very sensibly stopped criss-crossing anything. But boys will be boys (all aged over 40!) and they resorted to reloading the springs, firing chocolates across the room into each others mouths.

We’re hoping she doesn’t notice the smudge marks on the wall. And the ceiling. And the TV…

The Morning After …

And the best dances for me were Tom and Camilla’s foxtrot show dance, followed by Suzanne and Matt, then Zaraah and Fred, with Kyran and Melanie in close attendance. Craig pointed out any mistakes. Or was it Jason? He did too, quite rightly, in the face of overmarking. But at least the judges on Dancing on Ice stated quite clearly they overlooked any mistakes because it was Christmas! The SCD judges marked Tom and Camilla down because it wasn‘t a foxtrot as such, although it was perfectly OK for illegal lifts in other dances. I’ll say no more! Alesha and Matthew’s VW was eagerly awaited, but unfortunately the vocal arrangement spoilt the magic. I love Tommy and Lance, whichever it was, but it just didn’t suit a VW, they should have stuck to the Bing Crosby version. Lisa and Brendan tried to inject a bit of TomCam stylee into their quickstep, but they lacked the panache to carry it off and it was a very messy affair. I was expecting Great Things from Jill and Darren but again, very bitty, frantic - I was disappointed, expecting something a lot classier. Again the arrangement of Favourite Things was too much - for listening to, not for dancing an AS to (the original would have been better). So far, I’m not blown away. Rachel and Vincent did the rumba again, but the dress seemed more suited to a cha cha. And I wondered if everyone else knew they were allowed lifts. Kelly and Brian take the floor and I’m thinking, that’s a big dress for a jive - there’s going to be a Bucks Fizz moment. More illegal lifts and again, I found it too bitty and also Brian way out danced Kelly. Love the bloke, but he needs to learn from Camilla on how to show off your partner, like she totally did again with Tom. They knew no matter what they did, they weren’t going to top score with the judges in this and why should they care? So they served us up another treat in the shape of a fun, entertaining and humorous routine that had me smiling involuntarily all the way through and the audience clapping along. Although, to be fair, they clapped along with everything.

So there’s a four way tie at the top of the leader board - M&A, J+D, R&V and K&B with T&C in fifth, L&B in sixth. After deliberation the judges ranked them in that order for the scoreboard and the audience vote pitted Jill and Darren against Kelly and Brian with the glitter star going to Jill and Darren. Now call me old fashioned - the judges and producers must have known this would be a tight one - so why not leave it to the studio audience to vote for their favourite of the night? Kelly clearly must have been top or second to leap frog over Rachel and Alesha. And it would have been interesting to see whether Tom would have beaten the girls.

Dancing on Ice starts 11th January, a much less stressful affair of course, since we don’t get to know the celebrities like we do on Strictly. And I’m strangely in agreement most of the time with most of the judges, even Jason. Probably because I can see for myself who’s better on the ice (on account of the wobbling, falling over and panic stricken faces!) but no doubt there’ll still be less technically perfect performances I enjoy regardless. And I've yet to get the feeling that the judges are in any way biased for or against any of the contestants. I thought they put on a terrific show tonight - splitting them into boy/girl teams, five judges scoring so they all spaced out well, with the audience then voting for their individual favourite couple. Very close and what d'you know - Mrs Joe Public does it again, I thought Team Torvill would take it and I'm right! SCD, are you paying attention!

Tracking Santa

We're on the NORAD Google Earth site at the moment and Matt has now firmly started believing again - we've never got him off to bed so easily; he can actually see how close Santa's getting and didn't want to take any chances!

Have a Merry Christmas everyone and thank you for taking the time to read both blogs this year.

((Hugs))

Jaye xx

Short Story Challenge "Cinnamon"

She picked up her mug of hot chocolate and shuffled through into her cosy lounge, where the fairy lights on the tree cast a multi-coloured glow over her plain magnolia walls.

Pulling the tattered Swiss Chocolate box towards her, she lifted the pretty pictured lid with the red silk ribbon bonded to the front. Her heart leapt as his crinkly eyes stared up at her from inside, the first snap she’d ever taken of him. Her dedicated unofficial memento featuring him, just him. In a chocolate box. It couldn’t be more perfect. She gazed dreamily at the thick dark hair, with just a hint of a curl at one temple and then at the broad, open smile she could never resist.

If only he could be with her now. Sometimes, life conspired against you. Why had she suddenly thought to bring this box out from it’s hiding place; the pictures were ancient, the box even more so. The waft of her cinnamon scented hot chocolate reminded her: The first time they met. The village pub, bedecked with all the trappings of a traditional Christmas, it’s roaring, welcoming fire and bunches of cinnamon sticks hanging above on the mantelpiece. She’d never felt so giddy or so girly as she did then, completely smitten with this charming, wonderful, man. She’d known immediately; she would feel this way for ever.

Christmas wouldn’t be the same, alone. There was normally so much joy and laughter in the cottage. Now, all was quiet, apart from her favourite, Bing Crosby, singing ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ - she smiled wryly, it couldn’t be less apt at this time.

The shrill ring of the telephone gate-crashed her daydreams; it made her jump, then she calmed herself and reached for the receiver.

His voice was like a river of molten gold to her.

“Ellie, you’ll never believe it! I was able to get the morning flight after all! I’ll be home before the Queen’s Speech …”

She slid contentedly back onto the sofa, his lilting tone warming her more than any fire ever could, with the cinnamon smelling memories of forty years of Christmases together.

Stocking up on the important stuff

And I did most of it today ...

After Eights
Turkish Delight (the proper stuff covered in chocolate mind, not that dusted rose flavoured stuff)
Celebrations
Heroes
Terry's Chocolate Orange (it ain't his any more)
Maltesers
and
Toblerone

Oh, and some other foodie type stuff too!

Strictly Come Dancing -The Final

Not so much a running commentary since I was far too engrossed to write anything - what a night! All three couples did their foxtrots and all would have scored top marks had Tom not had a little stumble. But we weren’t going to punish him for that were we? On to the Latin round where Rachel and Vincent’s rumba scored same as before but Lisa improved her Cha cha apparently for the judges to score it perfect - better than Alesha’s? I’ll leave that for you to decide. Tom’s and Camilla's salsa was blistering, my heart was pounding - in my mouth - and still they couldn’t give him top score. Thankfully, the scoring system meant Tom and Camilla only had to win the public vote. Again. Well, they won it last week so I hit the redial button along with all the other Tom fans and he and Camilla made it through to the second stage. At that point I was told off for screaming. Rachel and Vincent also went through - and the final stage is public vote only, so it seems like a foregone conclusion BUT - many voters decide following the show dance.

Lisa and Brendan did their show dance to Meat Loaf, a bit of a slow number and I remember some rolling around the floor. A lot of clambering around each other and not particularly elegant. They should have stuck with something a bit livelier, I’ve enjoyed her ballroom dances, something like a glorified American Smooth may have had more appeal, but it’s immaterial anyway.

Previous champions Darren, Alesha, Jill and Mark with their professional partners gave us the second biggest treat of the night, with all four taking to the floor to ‘Let Me Entertain You’, showcasing bits of their best dances and it was awesome. And we were treated to Brian and Kristina and then James and Ola, dancing a cha cha.

Rachel and Vincent’s show dance was a Latin medley with lifts to ‘What a Feeling’ from Flashdance and it was Rachel’s turn to have a little stumble. Again, no-one is going to punish the dancers at this stage in the competition, the judges all praised her - Craig pointed out the mistake, as is his wont.

So it just remained for Tom and Camilla to pull out all the stops and give us what we’d been hoping for - and be under no illusion, after the tap dance in the quickstep, T&C fans wanted to see a proper Hollywood showbiz number - and boy, did they give us it! ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ from the musical ‘Sweet Charity’ - must credit the band and the singer, who were awesome, as were T&C - the best show dance I’ve ever seen in any SCD final IMO ( I’ve seen them all). Absolutely brilliant and a deserving winner, following a series where Tom and Camilla were never out of the top three in fourteen weeks of competition, bar one week (4th) but still weren’t in the dance off and would only have been there when the judges made it impossible for them not to be - not the spirit of the show, and hopefully the Beeb will now realise it (it’s not like we didn’t all tell them last year).

A brilliant and rightful end to a controversial series. I hope they now drop the dance off when it gets to the final six couples - so the public can actually choose who they want to see in the final instead of having finalists foisted upon them by four judges. And next year, hand the judges a dictionary open at ‘unbiased’, ‘consistent’ and ‘polite' and make sure they read and understand what they mean!