Monday, 28 May, 2007
I Hate Bank Holidays
Today, in the UK, is Spring Bank Holiday and, as per usual, it is raining. I am unaware of how the weather knows it is a Bank Holiday but it always seems to, and almost always without fail decides to make the day a washout.
The fact that it rains is not the only reason I dislike Bank holidays, I also hate the fact that it is like having 2 Sundays in the week.
I could have spent the extra day doing some more work on building the garden, which frankly needs as much time as possible, but instead am forced to watch the garden fill up with puddles.
At the beginning of the weekend we had built the rising walls that will eventually become the steps leading to the back (top) of the garden. I added the word top as the back of the garden is level with the first (second if you’re American) floor of the house.
When we bought the house (Jan 2005) the garden wasn’t a very nice, or even usable space. Just 2 steeply sloping patches of grass which were held back by breeze block walls with a thin path up the middle leading to a badly crazy paved patio area at the top and a pond with water that was almost black.
So far, we have replaced the walls with brick and have built a new pond nearer to the house and created a terraced garden with areas for sitting and beds for plants.
The patio at the top has been replaced by a greenhouse, which is currently full of tomato plants. The new patio will be situated at the bottom, closer to the house and a damn site more private.
But all this has to wait because the weather is so bad. I am a very keen gardener but I draw the line at doing it in the rain.
Sunday, 7 January, 2007
I Love Ugly Betty
Saw the first episode of Ugly Betty this weekend & I absolutely love it…
America Ferrera plays Betty Suarez, a slightly plump & totally unfashionable plain jane for Queens NY who has an amazing amount of metal in her mouth & a dress sense that is far from plain but oh so fabulously unfashionable.
Betty dreams of working in the fashion business & so is thrill when she is hired as assistant to Daniel Meade, the editor of Mode magazine. Only to find out that the only reason she was hired is because the magazine owner, Bradford Meade (played by Alan Dale, of Australian soap ‘Neighbours‘ fame), thinks that she is the only woman in NY that Daniel won’t try to get into bed.
The show also stars Ashley Jensen from the BBC’s ‘Extras’ as Christina, Betty’s friend at work, and Singer Vanessa Williams as Wilhelmina Slater, Mode magazines diva fashionista, who is trying to undermine Daniel Meade at every opportunity.
The show is based on ‘Yo Soy Betty La Fea‘, a Colombian show. Which goes to prove that there are no original ideas left in the US television & film industry.
After a fantastic premiere show I only hope it doesn’t slide downhill for here.
