What on Earth Possessed Me?

I’ve started lots of things I’ve never got around to finishing. Sometimes I’m not sure why. Procrastination strikes again! Maybe the project wasn’t turning out as well as I expected or something else came along I needed to do. Possibly I just got bored with it.

However when I look at this crochet runner pattern, how long did I think it would take me? I couldn't have finished it in a month of Sundays! Just look at it! What the devil possessed me to even think about it? All those little circles, dozens and dozens of them. It must have been a mental abberation! And I'm usually quite a practical person.

Another thing the cotton was thin, very thin and the crochet hook I had to use was so thin it was like a needle. Into the bargain I was working full time so when on earth was I going to have time to do it? Well I didn’t!

It has lain in the cupboard for over five years and I came across it when I was going through the stuff in the black hole (cupboard under the stairs) this week. Trying to get a bit of tidying done. Well that's what I was telling myself. To be honest nearly all of it just got shoved back in again.

I think I remember what put me off finishing this was I couldn’t grasp how the bits were fastened together. Normally when you crochet, you link the pieces as you go. I had managed to put some bits together but there were lots of loose pieces.

What I found in the black hole!

As part of my current attempt to do things I’ve put off for years and finish things I’ve started, I decided to have another go at this. I had another look at the pattern to try to figure out how the pieces linked. I’ve done a bit of Irish crochet in the past and had no problems with it. However it was no good, I still couldn’t understand it. I decided to just stitch the bits together and see what it looked like. If it was rubbish I’d scrap the whole thing.

Well here it is and it looks OK after a good pressing. However its sods law that I've hit a couple of problems!

Current State of Play

First, I’ve only completed four crosses and fillings. The pattern has twelve crosses and zillions of little circle fillings! Think I’ll be realistic and just go for eight crosses. Which means I'm halfway there.

Second, for some reason best known to the crochet fairy, the next cross I made was a lot smaller than the others. *?@&** I'm using the same crochet hook and the same thread so what the heck is going on I don't know. I'll have to try another and see what that turns out like. If it's as small as the last one it won't fit the four I've already done. I'll have to settle for a small square with four crosses. That would mean I've already finished!

If I ever finish the eight crosses, I’ll show you. One thing I know is, I’ll never again attempt anything like this.

Music Has the Power

Olympic Stadium, Sydney

Funny how music has the power to transport you in time, change your emotions and make you relive good times.

It's raining here, it's chilly too and I was feeling a little bit down after all our lovely sunshine. I was listening to Ken Bruce on Radio 2 and then he played Kylie Minoghue singing "On a Night Like This". Suddenly I was back in the summer of 2000 at the closing ceremony of the fantastic Sydney Olympic Games. I might add I didn't have the good fortune to actually be there. Sadly, I was only watching it on telly, but it was still wonderful.

I remembered how great those Olympics were and that closing ceremony was just perfect. Remember that fabulous Priscilla Queen of the Desert bus, the Strictly Ballroom dancers, the surfers and the fabulous Kylie Minoghue? You just knew watching and listening to her that this was going to remake her and it did.

Thanks Sydney and Kylie, it was a great night to finish a fabulous Olympic Games and you made me feel much better today!

Unfortunately the embedding for this You Tube video doesn't work. Ignore the initial commentary, German I think, just relive the feelings and delight in that fabulous golden frock!

Kylie At the Sydney Olympics - On a Night Like This

Photo: Adam. J.W.C. Wiki Commons

Watching the Detectives

I like the telly!

Well I did identify it as one of my guilty pleasures a little while back. I try not to watch daytime telly too much as I don’t get anything done. However during the daytime now that Wanted Down Under has finished, I really only watch Diagnosis Murder. Yes I know it’s a bit lightweight in the drama stakes and it’s often corny, but I love it. So now I’m listening to the radio in the morning, Radio 2 of course!

When I started to think about my telly watching, I realised that I mainly watch comedy and crime dramas as I don’t like the reality and talent type of programmes and I’m not into the soaps. There’s not a lot of decent comedy around so it’s mainly crime drama that I watch now.

What am I watching in the crime drama stakes at night? Well I’ve been watching Lewis, Inspector Morse’s old sidekick. It’s not quite in the same league as Morse however it's good but sadly it’s finished. Well there were only six, two hour episodes. I do like the two hour programme format that they introduced with Inspector Morse, they get more story into it and you don’t feel they’re cramming everything in to the last five minutes.

I’m also watching the new series of The Number One Detective Agency I posted about recently. I do love it. The scenery is great, the music is lovely and the characters are just wonderful.

Ashes to Ashes is back again thank goodness. It’s not as gripping as Life on Mars, but it’s good and funny too.

When I think back over the years there have been so many good TV crime drama series. The first one I remember was Dixon of Dock Green with the lovely Jack Warner as Sergeant Dixon. He was everybody’s idea of a what a British bobby should be like, even though he was well over retirement age when he made the series. I think it was that one that got me hooked on crime dramas!

Over the years there have been dozens I’ve enjoyed, some I never could take to and a few that I’ve loved. At Easter ITV3 had a programme on the Top Cops where you voted online for your favourite TV Cop Show. Well that’s what it said and although I missed the voting for the top fifty, I thought I’d get to see some of my favourites I haven’t seen in years. Well I watched for three hours and guess what? I didn’t get to see some of my favourites! I won't bore you with the whole fifty, only the top ten. Here they are:

10 - The Sweeney with Jack Regan and George Carter from the Flying Squad who were just about as bad as the villains they were chasing, rough and tough. Not one of my favourites.

9 - Rebus – the alcoholic troubled and tormented cop. Again not one I took to.
8 - Sherlock Holmes - He was played by over 100 actors but most popular has been Jeremy Brett. Still great to watch after al these years.

7 - Foyle’s War with Christopher Foyle the gentle, quiet and unassuming detective during second world war. One of my all time favourites and they're bringing him back for another series.

6 - Inspector Frost – A crumpled, dishevelled character who irritates everyone especially his boss, Superintendent Mullett. I love the humour and the real feel to this series.
5 - Inspector Morse – This has got to be the most intelligent and classy TV detective series ever made and in the wonderful setting of Oxford. I didn't take to it at first but I can watch it now over and over again now, and I do. First class TV!
4 - Midsomer Murders – Once described as Miss Marple on acid! This series makes rural England more dangerous than downtown Basra! However very easy viewing.
3 - Poirot – I love David Suchet as Poirot, he's amazing. It's a wonderfully produced series with beautiful clothes, wonderful touches of humour, brilliant actors and lovely thirties settings.
2 - Life on Mars – Oh this was one you couldn’t miss! You had to see whether Sam Tyler, the modern politically correct cop came out of his coma and got back to the 21st Century after an accident had sent him back to the perils of seventies policing. Brilliant and compulsive viewing.
1- The Professionals – Bodie and Doyle working for CI5 in an action packed programme full of car chases, fights and guns in the seventies. Not one I felt a great liking for and I find it hard to believe that this was the number one in the vote. In fact I find it impossible.

No I don't believe this was a fair ballot, not because The Professionals came out on top. It's because the fifty were selected for you and you could only vote for those that somebody at ITV had selected. What a swizz!

You probably noticed that all the top ten were British programmes, well there were lots of American ones in the top fifty such as Kojak, Magnum and Columbo. However I can tell you that some of my favourites didn't make the top fifty. Why? Because they were not included in the list!

Whatever happened to Harry O for goodness sake? I loved this series. Probably the best American TV detective series ever made. So which prize pratt at ITV 3 didn't include him?

Oh and what about The Rockford Files? Yes I know his character wasn't as well drawn as Harry O but it was great viewing and there were nice touches of humour.

Monk wasn't in the list, nor was Cannon, Due South and neither was the wonderful Newcastle based 55 Degrees North. So I think it’s time for me to whack off an email to ITV 3 to tell them what I think about their so called Top Fifty cop shows.

In the meantime I think I might take a nostalgia trip and do a few postings on my favourite detective shows. Watch this space!


Credit: Harry O photo front cover of The High Cost of Living - Lee Hayes