i liked him.. he has a backshallian level of enthusiasm, which is always good in a wildlife presenter. *nods*

i remember he did a show with a talking computer.

I remember him squidging about in soil looking for creepy crawlies 

I have completed most of my Christmas shopping [ online ] *feels very virtuous* 

still got a bit to do. plus, i need to take my mum's birthday dvd back to hmv.

Yay Ireland defeated a nine man Estonia 4 - 0 !!! Told you Trapatoni was a lucky manager 

"runs round thread with Ireland Shirt pulled over her head*

congrats! you may borrow our 'one team in tallinn' chant.

we defeated a 0 man estonian team once. they refused to show up. that's where the chant comes from.

 lol

Have you watched James May's Man Lab Hitch? I fear its blokeiness is too much for me.

i have. it's rather enjoyable... not too blokey. it's the lovely mr may remember, so, a more gentlemanly blokey-ness than say his colleague mr clarkson would display.

oh yes... xmas shopping. mission completed!

Ahhh... in that case I shall watch it on iplayer.

One show I adored was Frozen Planet. Did you see it? There seem to be so many wildlife programmes on, but that was outstanding.

Well done on completing the shopping. I have most of mine wrapped!  

didn't catch frozen planet. i know i should watch it, it's attenborough. actually, don't think i've ever watched an attenborough. got so much v+ and iplayer to catch up on as it is.

which reminds me.. still got autumnwatch from friday to watch.

ah now wrapping... bought new papers and ribbons... i make present wrapping a sport. *nods*

It is a sport indeed. Unfortunately I'm quite kak-handed at it. I admire people who can neatly and evenly wrap.

i attempt to make it look well done... how successful that is, i shall leave for the recipients to decide. *nods*

No-one ever compliments nor complains about my wrapping. I hope that they just tear it off and won't notice.

Oh speaking of Autumnwatch.... I got my brother a beehouse, the bamboo kind that was featured earlier on Springwatch.

i always miss springwatch.. it's harder to remember/catch than autumnwatch.

was funny that women were tweeting in to get iolo to keep saying "pufflings", they should've been offering money to cin for what they got. he hammed that right up.

bees are important i know... but, eek!

Our house in Belfast is a terraced house and Owen grows lots of flowers + veg despite the tiny back garden. Bees are a gardener's friend as they pollinate. Owen even bought a special macro lens and sent me close up photos of a bee, so hopefully he'll like the beehouse.  He's convinced his "bee" was the same one visiting the garden all summer. They won't build a colony there, its a resting place for mason bees, which are solitary bees - probably the type he saw

mason bees? not the ones that eat at your mortar i hope?

Or maybe the ones in secret societies with funny handshakes... 

as long as they don't wake you up on a saturday morning... with pipes...

Well... they're both orange 

lol

i have decided ogre faced spiders are cute.. i think something may be wrong with me. 

They sound scarifying... are they a real creature?

they are. large, poisonous, african spider.

have my pudsey ears on for tonight. *nods* they don't half pinch.

I could never take to a spider, I'm too phobic 

Was Children In Need good? I might catch the best bits on YouTube.

have to admit.. i only saw doctor who and buzzcocks. watched autumnwatch (and unsprung) live on iplayer.

Apparently it wasn't great in terms of entertainment, and even Susan Boyle sang out of tune. 

i could hear her depeche mode cover from the next room... not sure about tuning, i was jarred by the lack of speed in the song...

whereas martin hughes-games waistcoat was legendary. plus, chris packham was on cold meds, and it came across as such. lol

Haven't watched Autumnwatch yet. Theres a backlog on my iplayer. They won't let me download anymore til I watch some of the programmes 

Was Chris Packham sounding strange?

he was a wee bit madder than usual. plus he had a bogey up his nose the entire time, rather distracting.

he was a wee bit madder than usual. plus he had a bogey up his nose the entire time, rather distracting.

Ewwww  - and he has big flarey nostrils so you probably got a good view.

He's slipping song titles from The Damned into his pieces now, so maybe that was partly the reason he sounded even madder than usual?

i was watching on live iplayer, so not so bad... apparently glorious on hd.

possibly, but he's been doing that all series, i missed the manics titles on springwatch. ;(

Yeah, he's an odd guy.

Guess what? I'm going to attempt making my own mince pies + shortbread this year ( lower carb versions ). As someone not known for their culinary skills, this could be interesting 

ooh! good luck!

yum yum. Do let me know how it turns out?

Yep I have all the ingredients ready. Tesco Finest mincemeat check. All the ingredients for shortcrust pastry check. Even got a little Kenwood mixer to do the pastry right. Now which recipe to choose hmmmm... Delia, Jamie or Nigella? I've discounted Delia already... ain't no lard going near my pies  its butter all the way.

maybe best choose jamie then?  nigella isn't exactly famous for the healthiness of her food.

Ummm thats true. However on the Atkins Diet you're allowed the unhealthy stuff like double cream etc. I shall use Jamie's sweet shortcrustpastry recipe I think  as it sound the nicest.

Wooo... a month to Christmas!

yum yum.

yay! and presents! double presents for me.. (ok, a few days later, but still!)

It'll be a good week. Are you hoping yo get anything in particular?

already got my main... not my what i'd really want.. just what i needed.