Chillin' and illin'

I've made my feelings about swine flu quite clear in previous posts, and although I still firmly believe that the panic and paranoia surrounding the outbreak is mostly due to a mixture of hype and ignorance, I can't deny the fact that I've been quite ill for the past three days and feeling quite sorry for myself. Whether I have swine flu, regular flu or just a very heavy cold is a matter for debate, but I spent most of the weekend curled up on the sofa flicking through the TV channels in a vain hope of finding something to watch other than infomercials.

Weekend television was never a highlight on the schedules in the UK (other than the sport) and it's just the same in Canada. Many stations don't even bother broadcasting actual shows for large parts of the day, opting instead to expose us to the virtues of the Magic Bullet, Slap Chop and Sham Wow (notice how all these products have two word titles?).

At least I have the option of TV I guess, now that my boxes have arrived, and if I continue to feel as bad then I might be sampling the delights of weekday daytime TV tomorrow. I struggled through today at school, but I don't know if I'll be able to manage tomorrow. It might have to be Regis & Kelly and Martha Stewart instead, with a trip to the nursing station sandwiched somewhere in between. Assuming I survive, I'll let you know what happens; if there aren't any new posts by Friday, send out the search parties...

Christmas comes but twice a year

There are few greater pleasures in life than the late, unexpected Christmas present, and I have been fortunate enough to be on the receiving end twice in the past week. Firstly, Vikki gave me a collection of gifts that rather accurately summed up all that I hold dear and believe to be true: a trivia-based game, a toilet roll with jokes on, a scarf and a Family Guy DVD (OK, the scarf may have been a bit of a red herring, although it was rather stylish).

And then, to cap it all, at the weekend I was presented with my very own...wait for it...Sham Wow and Mighty Putty!!!!! (Thanks, Dave!).

Consequently my cup now runneth over, and the good thing is that I am now in a position both to mop up the mess and mend the handle should the cup topple over as well as runneth.

Life is sweet.

Happy New Year

With the holidays over, the blog is back! I suppose I could have re-run old posts over the last week or so, much in the way that the major networks air re-runs whilst their top shows are in hiatus over Christmas and New Year, but I didn't want to short change you, dear reader. I say the holiday's over, but I actually have an extra week's laze to look forward to, courtesy of a cunningly booked dentist's appointment this coming Friday. I should have flown back North yesterday, but now I will probably not return until Sunday, so I can continue to enjoy my Tim's for a few more days. That said, my trip to the dentist will now hang over me like the Sword of Damocles for the rest of the week, so I suppose it's a bit of a mixed blessing.

Melanie is now safely back in the UK, and I've been entrusted with taking down all the Christmas decorations by myself, always an arduous task. It's always a touch sad to have to 'de-Christmas' the house after all the build-up to the day itself, and you can bet your bottom dollar - or your top one if you like - that I'm going to miss something, and that we'll be finding a surreptitiously hidden snowman or reindeer come Easter. Speaking of Christmas, ours was very good, and involved the usual round of eating and greeting, and public thanks to Tarni and Dave for providing such a feast on Christmas Day.

New Year's Eve was a quiet, 'at home' affair, and I must say that I was most disappointed with the fare offered on TV over here. Nothing to touch Andy Stewart's hogmanay party, and in fact many channels didn't even show anything different to their normal programming. You could very easily have unknowingly ushered in the New Year whilst watching the Sham Wow commercial. Speaking of Sham Wow, I had the privilege of actually using one over the holiday, having anticipated such a day for longer than I care to remember. However, just as in the way that it's often disappointing to meet your heroes, my Sham Wow experience was a bit of a let down. It didn't mop up vast areas of spillage as depicted on screen, and my idea of using miles of Sham Wow as a tsunami defence system looks like it will now have to be shelved.

I hesitate to try Mighty Putty now.

Happy New Year.