Happily returning

Tomorrow is my birthday. Now, I don't like a fuss (actually I do), but this is the last birthday I'll be closer to 35 than to 40 so that warrants a bit of something. I'll be tootling off to the seaside at the weekend to have fun with some chums. Lovely!

Now then, the trouble with birthdays is the question "What do you want for your birthday?". I never know what I want. The best I can do is an Amazon wish list, which isn't the most exciting thing in the world. Not that I want to sound ungrateful, you understand, but these days we pretty much buy ourselves the stuff we want, and the stuff we don't buy (because it's too expensive) is too expensive to ask for as a gift anyway. (In case anyone's got too much money lying around and wants to buy me something expensive, I really want a new fancy digital SLR camera.)

What I really want is for someone to set up a shop that is a cross between Lakeland and Staples (Stakeland? Laples?) - kitchen gadgets and stationery. I'd spend my life and all my money there. It would be great.

I also want a pair of quiet flip-flops. In this wonderful hot weather, I've been very self-conscious in my quiet office when I'm walking around - clatter, clatter, clatter. I've taken to going barefoot, but I'm just not sure how professional that looks (but then again, how professional do flip-flops look...?).

Finally, I want cake. I love cake. And I am actually getting a cake. Tomorrow. On my birthday.

Tee Vee and Mee

Malcolm in the Middle is one of the best shows on TV - never a bad episode - but when you watch it randomly like I do, it's quite disconcerting to see how different all the boys look at various stages/ages. The only one who doesn't change is Reese.

Doctor Who's terrific, isn't it?

The Simpsons, of course, is always great. The only so-so episode I can remember is the much-hyped Ricky Gervais 'Wife Swap' one. But why, when they must have made a gazillion of them, do I always end up seeing one I've already seen tons of times?

I like the new Doctor Who a lot!

I'm amazed at the number of air freshener ads. Are we really that smelly? Now there's one that sends out a different fragrance every 45 minutes, because apparently we can't smell a smell after a while. Well, if we can't smell smells, why do we need air fresheners? OK, so I've got a Glade Plug-In in the kitchen that smells like tea, and I use Muji Green Tea candles in the living room, but that's just because I like the smell of green tea and not because I don't like the smell of me and my house.

(D'oh! An episode of The Simpsons just came on that I've never seen...!)

I'm not watching so much telly any more. I'm doing more knitting and listening to music and going to bed early. I've even lost touch with Lost and ER. After a Sky + failure a while ago, I got out of sync, so I gave up. Now my only must-see-TV is (can you guess?) Doctor Who.

I am taking more advantage of my movie channels these days too, thanks to my policy of only watching things that I'm choosing to take time to watch (rather than just mindless TV viewing all evening). Last night I watched Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and I enjoyed it much more than I did when I saw it at the cinema. Don't know why. Oh, and I love the multi-start thing on Sky Movies.

Well, OK, so right now I'm writing this and half-watching The Mummy. But you can't beat a load of old living-dead nonsense with splendid special-effects and the gorgeous Brendan Fraser!

If I were a sculptor, but then again no...

Mum and I went to the Pride of the Valleys Sculpture Park the other day. It's tucked away in Churt (turn right off the A3 at Hindhead - coming from London - and head for Tilford). We spent a very pleasant afternoon wandering amongst the sculptures - most of them were strange and abstract and not my idea of attractive, but here are some pictures of things I did like.

More on my Flickr, if you're interested...