nadia's blog

I should probably explain my absence. It's not just laziness (not just).

I'm on jury service and as I've been sworn into court so I can't blog about a lot of the things that have been happening during the day. But it's not just that either as I don't really blog about work anyway.

The main reason is that I'd started to have conversations with my friends that go a little something like this:

"I saw so-and-so/ did such-and-such today, and they were...."

"yes, I read it on your blog,"

"ah, well I heard this-and-that and..."

"yep, that was funny"

...Silence descends....

This isn't just a me, me, me blog, it's happenning the other way round.

"what have you been up to"

"I did this the other day"

"ooh that sounds interesting"

"It's on my blog you should go and read it"

Once more, silence descends.

OK the above conversations are a little contrived but you get the idea. And its frustrating. I actually like my friends, and I want to have proper, real conversations with them.

Maybe its because my life's a little sad and I don't have a handful of reserve anecdotes and events saved especially for friends. What to do? Now I don't know whether to carry on....

PS. Stan - I haven't forgotten about QOTD

Tonight was characterised by a bad dinner...make that an awful dinner.

The reason I’m in a good mood: The Lives of Others.

I thought I'd be here saying, with a programme time of 2h 40m, that it was self indulgent. I expected I might mention echoes of the cosy picture of Communism depicted in "Goodbye Lenin". I wasn't and I won't be.

It perfectly portrayed the paranoia of daily life in the German Democratic Republic living under the watchful eye of the Stasi. The gentle nature of the film and beautiful script lull you into a false sense of security. Before you know it you’ve fallen for the characters and then director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck confronts you with the full force of their humanity and all its flaws.

The result is a wonderfully dark film that juggles poignancy, a cast of faulty heroes and humour, all without the usual schmultz we've had to endure from movies. It even managed to pull off a life imitating art story line.

And it was realistic. The prostitute wasn't trashy in a blockbuster way but had real life drooping boobs and stretch marks. The female lead was stunning without resembling a plastic barbie doll . For most of the film she sports a real life black and blue bruise on her right arm that forms no part of the plot whatsoever - it's just her.

Oh and the other thing that saved tonight - I got popcorn for my (real) dinner. Which was lucky because I had been after a quick dinner before the film. After a bit of internet research I opted for dinner at Maxi's in . The internet reviews say it is a favourite haunt of yorkshire celebs and the Chinese food and dim sum is superb and well priced. They led me to a table in what can only be described as the bowels of the restaurant. This apparently was a favour as it was right by the buffet (ugh! buffet food), where my dinner of deep fried everything and red goop had been simmering since last week. The Cantonese buffet boasted onion rings AND chips.  They make you pay on entry which with hindsight makes perfect sense. Two mouthfuls and I was out of there. Don’t eat there. Tell your friends

We went to France for lunch on Saturday. 

We hopped onto le Tunnel

and less than 4hours after closing our front door we were at the restaurant (and that includes about an hour drive from Calais to Le Touquet).

The Euro24 set menu which included mussels, prawns, some lovely french cod with beer and gingerbread sauce (yeah really and surprisingly tasty) served with a tomato risotto and a very nice goats yoghurt ice cream was a steal.

Then it was on to for a spot of shopping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a walk on the beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Mosh (no label needed here) for blagging the car!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course it would have been rude not to stock up on booze, French cheese, oils and breads on the way back - especially as it's a fraction of the price over here. And then we headed back to home. It was weird in the extreme being abroad but still being able to see the white cliffs of Dover on the drive back to the Calais ferry terminal - although this shaky picture taken on my mobile phone from a moving car doesn't do the view justice. the white cliffs are there - I promise.

Am out traveling with work again. Edinburgh this time. the weather is horrendous so instead of roaming the streets I'm working from my hotel room. We're in a beautiful old building but it means there are some fairly unconventional room layouts.

It's not the best office as its so small that there's not enough room to pull the chair out and sit at the desk meaning you have to kind of perch on the end of the bed.

My office chair.....

My PA for the day....he's a bit rubbish at typing but those little arms don't help...

 

round the corner and through the corridor...

 

up the steps...to the facilities

 

I read today that bloggers in Tunisia and Egypt were being thrown into jail for "vaguely defined forms of slander". According to The Economist it's tied up with consistutional reform and most of the offenders received lengthy sentences. Journalists in Yemen, and Algeria have been similarly punished.

hmmm. Makes you think.

My hayfever has well and truly kicked in....and it's snowing outside. How is that even possible?!

Last week I was basking in the sunshine wearing just a shirt.

With weather like this the end has to be nigh, yep, we are all going to hell in a handbag.

It's taken me a week to get these up here (it's taken me about that long to recover) but here is Ellie seeing her 5th decade in, in style. And yes, the knife is meant to be that way up - apparently it's good luck??!!

What's one family recipe that you wish you knew how to cook?

Kushary. It's an Egyptian lentily - ricey- pasta dish with spicy tomato sauce and crispy fried onions. It sounds like a total carb overload but it is lovely - especially with fried chicken!

Failing that Moloukhiya. Moloukhiya is a deep green leaf a bit like spinach or chard. In Egypt they make a soup out of it which has a sightly slimy consistency.  However, whenever i've done it is a bit like eating a bowl of your own snot. I think it is the quality of the leaves I'm getting....

These are very trashy, but in a good way somehow. Yep they are knitting needle shaped LEDs, the lightsabres of crafting.

 

 

Look at them in action.....

 

 

 

 

They'd come in very handy at the cinema and not at all annoying for anyone else.

Bless KnitLite

It's been a week since Sky switched off its service on our cable. Virgin and Sky had a bit of a tiff about charges for the channels. I'd been a bit worried about it going... concerned I might have to switch off my TV and do something much more interesting instead. But it's been ok - honestly.

A few missed repeats of the Simpsons aside I've enjoyed watching the battle play out on what used to be our Sky One far more than I ever enjoyed actually watching the channel. Virgin, never one to miss a PR opportunity, has replaced our Sky channels with a commentary which reads something like "Sky don't want you to see this channel. They don't want to play anymore, they've picked up their ball and gone home." I'm not sure which side is hurting the most over this - Sky will reportedly loose £20m in advertising but for me It's all been highly amusing.