It's been a while since I took one full week off work, but that's what I did this past week, and boy did I pack in the activities! Wednesday and Thursday last week, Mr C and I went to Silverstone to watch some F1 cars while they were testing. We shared photos along the way via Twitter, and then gathered everything up at the end of the day in a …

The Girl in the Fireplace takes us to 1700s France, for an adventure in history written by future showrunner Steven Moffat. It's one that was incredibly popular when it first aired, and has an enduring quality to it - being about the people rather than the science, as is so often Moffat's style. This time, we've got Mickey along for the ride, as Rose tries to figure out the complicated …

Since I've been catching up with my news and views on Feedly, I've been making good use of the "Save for Later" feature - particularly when I stumble across things I might want to blog about. I managed to scrawl out something on that New York swimming pool, but the rest just isn't inspiring me for a full post. With that and the fact I'm struggling with the heat, I …

I don't keep an eye on the Kickstarter style projects nearly as much as I should, but recently stumbled across this one - a New York-based initiative called + Pool. They essentially want to build a swimming pool in the river, filtering the natural water and making it accessible to everyone. This seems like such a good idea, although I must admit, I wouldn't want to walk along that big …

I can get a bit stressed at using public transport for getting where you need to go, but as a recreational activity planes, trains and automobiles can be a lot of fun. I decided a while back that although my Alphabet Adventure is taking me to a lot of new places, I'm not always seeing what a city or town is really like, concentrating solely on where I have to …

And so, I’m done. If you’ve been following along, you might remember that May was a bumper month for running activities, including an epic 10k. Unfortunately, that 10k was the pinnacle, and the eventual downfall of my running career. Gradually, things got worse and worse, and at the end of my May monthly update, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about it. I completed four runs in …

Can it only have been the start of June when Lillian was desperately trying to contact Paul and not getting any response? It feels like so long ago that she was finding out just how grumpy Paul could be, and then before you know it, he is dead. It’s slightly disappointing that we didn’t get to hear a big showdown with Matt revealing he knew all about it, but having …

Loving the look of this trailer for Inside Llewyn Davis. Just three minutes of it is gorgeous viewing, I can't imagine what the whole thing will be like. We've been catching a lot of films with bonus John Goodman in, and he always steals the show. I can't guarantee that isn't going to happen with this one, either.

Google Reader shut down today, to mixed reactions from: “Finally!” to “Now to see what this alternative is like,” to “It’s 1st July already??” Thankfully, I was one of the middle batch. When Google first announced they would be closing their feed reader, I thought it was going to be the end of the world. Then for a couple of days I didn’t read any feeds at all, and figured …

There were a range of options available to me for the R stop on my Alphabet Adventure, but when I realised it coincided with a trip I was taking to Brighton, it seemed to make sense that I visited the Royal Pavilion. To make things slightly more interesting, my parents were joining me for the visit too, so I got to enjoy the wonders of the pavilion with company. The …

With a trip to Brighton already on the cards, a need to add another sport to my Life List endeavour, and a timely reminder from the fabulous Lou, I found myself clutching tickets to the penultimate day of the Aegon International competition in Eastbourne. I made a slight error in entering the Devonshire Park grounds round the back, rather than the main entrance, which means when I was later in …

Every now and again, I like to peruse the world of mugs. When I started this, I was barely drinking hot beverages and didn't need much in the way of mugs. My tea consumption has sky-rocketed of late, and this week, when I found my Piglet mug, I figured it was time for a look at what was new. As a bit of a change, I decided to look at …

Really enjoyed this quote from a not-so-recent episode of the Frank Skinner radio show. On the subject of the Tom Cruise film Oblivion, Frank was less impressed with one of the romance scenes. There's love scenes in it. Why do they have to have love scenes in films like that? And they're really cheesy, ooh baby type. I hate love scenes. Here's the thing, if you like love scenes go …

I'm not a huge music video aficionado, but Mr C tends to point out those that catch his eye whenever he spots them. Recently, a new video from Kelly Clarkson emerged, for her single People Like Us, and it's worth a look... for the wrong reasons. There's an odd story about saving a colourful child from a world of black and white, but that's not what I saw. I'm fully …

Here's my random thoughts, in no particular order, about events in Ambridge in May: Kirsty boosts Tom's morale when he really needs it, let's hope he's not going to have any rebound feelings in that direction. It would just be embarrassing for everyone involved. Josh gets a loan from his parents so he can buy a share in the chicken business, which puts Pip's nose out of joint. She gets …

I've fallen a bit behind on trailers for upcoming films (or those coming soon to iTunes that I have yet to be aware of). That being the case, here's a bumper crop of five trailers that recently caught my eye. Elysium A good bout of action, set in the future, with a dystopian Earth and Matt Damon? Sign me up right now. And what do I like just as much …

Starting with the good news, I reached the halfway point of the "500 kilometres in one year" challenge. It's quite a big achievement for me to have reached the middle mark, especially considering the slow start to the year I had! The gap between actual and target is also very heartening. The bad news is that running at the moment is a complete nightmare. There's a big leap in that …

It was confirmed yesterday that Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who at the end of the year, after taking part in the 50th anniversary celebrations and a Christmas special that will feature the regeneration. I had pondered recently whether it was time for the show to have the change and shake-up that comes with a new Doctor, and it seems those in the know are on the same page. Three …

I'm always intrigued by the desire to live in compact spaces - whether it is seeing how they manage to fit impressive buildings into small pockets of land on Grand Designs, or a great layout on a narrow boat. Today I stumbled across this video from Gizmodo, in which there is some great design thinking on display to make the most of zero space in a New York City apartment. …

Football is still mostly a mystery to me, but I occasionally find matches on TV and leave them on so I can soak it up via osmosis. This weekend, the Champions League final was on TV, and we watched Bayern Munich - the only German team I have heard of - play another German team. At one point I recognised the name Schweinsteiger but that's about as far as it …

Recently, Mr C played me a music video that showed nothing but the lyrics of the song in question. I was a bit disappointed, thinking it was just like Adele's Skyfall video. Whilst that was quite Bond, and an interesting experiment, I thought a video of only the lyrics was a bit... lazy. However, it turns out that there's a craze for Official Lyrics Videos that run alongside their more …

When Will Smith appeared on Graham Norton last time, he did the rap from Fresh Prince and it was brilliant. This time, he goes a step further. At first, it's like... yeah, he's rapping with his kid, that's cute. Then he does the Fresh Prince bit again. And then, it gets magical. I almost welled up, it was so good.

I vividly remember watching the episode of Sex and the City where they finally revealed Mr Big's name. It was such an intense letdown that I couldn't believe it had been given the go ahead to be screened. I was so disappointed, and I wasn't even that big a fan of Carrie and co. Thus, I approached this episode of Doctor Who with some trepidation, worried they would reveal our …

I always appreciate a unique and amusing way of getting a message across. I also appreciate Matt Damon. This video, and the mission behind it, is win-win!

It wasn't long into my Film Watch experiment that I faced the question of "What constitutes a film?" I had made notes on something that I watched via the iPlayer and then after a little bit of investigation, I found it was a made-for-TV movie. This made it less appealing to me in terms of Film Watch-ing it, and I decided not to publish it. From then on, I decided …

A couple of weeks on from watching Mission to Lars, Mr C and I settled down to watch another documentary film. This time, it was Side By Side - a film in which Keanu Reeves talks to a lot of directors, cinematographers, producers, actors and the like about the evolution from film to digital when it comes to making movies. Once again I didn't think I was going to like …

Expectations couldn't be anything but high for this episode of Doctor Who. The Cybermen were promised to be back - bigger and better, but hopefully less colourful than the Daleks 2.0 - and it was also a return to the series for Neil Gaiman, after his incredible episode, The Doctor's Wife. Although the man himself spoke of how different this episode would be, I was still anticipating good things. And …

I've been joyously listening to the new podcast from Molly Wood and Tom Merritt, called It's a Thing. They were so good together on Buzz Out Loud and it was a shame when they went their separate ways, but onwards and upwards, the glorious duo are back together! This time, it's not specifically technology topics, they just talk about whatever they deem to be an up and coming trend, or …

It's been Mr C's turn to come up with something for us to do on a day out for a while now. With a sunny bank holiday approaching, he said he finally had something in mind, so we hopped in the car. I'm not good with surprises, but he wouldn't tell me where we were going. After navigating us this way and that, he admitted that I shouldn't really get …

I have recently been looking at magazines on the Newsstand, and investigated the digital version of the BBC's GoodFood magazine. Considering most of my recipes tend to come from the BBC or their GoodFood equivalent, this seemed like a natural extension. In my first issue, I stumbled across this recipe for a lighter Bakewell tart. It being "lighter" didn't bother me all that much, but I suddenly had a craving …

Knowing this episode was written by Mark Gatiss and was set in Victorian Britain, I was fully expecting his brand of gothic horror to be stamped all over it. I hadn't expected it to be quite so disturbing, but it was an episode that stood up for itself very well, despite very little alien or sci-fi meddling. The highlights of the episode were, of course, provided by Madame Vastra, Jenny …

Helen persuades her mum and dad to think seriously about Tom's proposal, and after a bit of debate, Pat eventually comes round. The timing couldn't be better, as they agree to sell the cows and make all his dreams come true just as Brenda decides to break his heart. I thought the break-up was done very well, although slightly weird. Am I the only one who thought it odd they …

Mr C rented the documentary Mission to Lars from iTunes, and settled down to watch it one evening. I sat, aloofly, browsing magazines on my iPad, mostly ignoring the TV. I've never managed to get into documentary films - for whatever reason they fail to grab my attention when it comes to trailers and thus I never really get round to giving them a go. The only documentary I can …

All the videos we've seen from those Russian dash cameras have been dramatic/explosive/terrifying. Here, a slice of the nicer side of humanity.

So, having read Les Miserables and followed it up with World Without End, two of the longest books on the planet, I suddenly realised how many books I have sitting on my Kindle waiting to be devoured. I think I'm going to have to pick some of the shorter ones and start ploughing through. Expect more than a few Casual Reader updates over the next while. Whilst on that subject, …

Hoorah! At last I have managed to not only keep up with the target, but overtake it and get a bit of a healthy lead. Another achievement this month is to have no gap longer than three days. That is something I am looking at working on reducing even further but I am slightly torn. This 5k route I have found myself is becoming routine but I think I would …

Ghost: Just a Blogging Platform It's about time there was a bit of competition in the blog-hosting space. I am quite ingrained in Wordpress these days, but always looking to try something new.

My bread-making skills are still very basic, and although I keep meaning to practice more, it is such a stop-start and lengthy process that I never get round to it. Nevertheless, when I bought a loaf tin for my cherry cake, I decided I should probably try and make a loaf of bread - it would be rude not to do so! I delved into my copy of Paul Hollywood's …

30 abandoned places that look truly beautiful An incredible look at some former buildings that have been left behind by humans and reclaimed by nature. Some are eerie, some are gorgeous, some fascinating - a great collection to look through.

I watched this episode not from the comfort of my own armchair, but in a hotel room on a tiny television. I never quite realise how used to HD I am until it is taken away from me! Thankfully, this episode didn't look like it delivered much on the grand scale of beauty. Rather than gorgeous outer space landscapes, or moody forest settings, we were locked away inside the TARDIS …

Q turned out to be a tricky letter in my Alphabet Adventure. I was expecting it to be hard to find something beginning with the required letter, but I wasn't necessarily anticipating it taking so long for me to get there too. I gave up waiting for the weather and made my way to Quarry Bank Mill, somewhere near Manchester Airport. Along the way, I passed Jodrell Bank Observatory which …

Looks good. Had forgotten how short Natalie is. And Loki's hair!

I am quite behind on talking of my recent bakes, but equally, you haven't missed that much. I have discovered the Basil iPad app for keeping track of the recipes I like, and spent some time importing all the recipes I've tried, noticing that a lot of them come from the BBC. I've also been looking at the GoodFood (BBC) magazine available on the Newsstand. Perhaps I need to spread …

Just two weeks after the divisive Rings of Akhaten, Neil Cross was back on writer's duty for Hide - a ghost-hunting romp through an old stately home in the seventies. What begins as a traditional ghost story, moves through some really quite tense and scary scenes, before resolving itself as a love story that spans pocket/balloon universes. This felt more like the Doctor Who people expect, dashing through corridors, unravelling …

Tweeted by the marvellous Molly Wood earlier today, I watched a new campaign from soapmakers Dove. It's a fascinating look at the way women see themselves compared to the way other people see them. An actual forensic artist draws a portrait of the ladies based on their own descriptions, and then on a description from someone else. The results are amazing. There are plenty of critics to this - it's …

I saw a trailer or description for the film Internship a while back, but just recently watched the new trailer for it. The Internship Some of this looks funny, a lot of it appears strained. They don't seem like the type of people that wouldn't be using mobile phones and tablets really. And also, how much is Google paying for this??

I keep telling myself I will go back and watch these episodes again before I write about them, so that I have one viewing for the sheer enjoyment of it, and another to take in the finer details. So far, I have not managed to do that. Is it just a lack of time, or is there a lack of motivation here too? The recent episodes do seem to suffer …

ITV have brought the exceedingly popular quiz show Catchphrase back to its screen, with updated graphics and a snazzy new host. I haven't seen the new show, except for a brief stint where they got Ant & Dec to play against each other a week or so ago. I'd imagine that it's still fun, but nowhere near as good as the original - these remakes never are. And Roy Walker …

I have to buy a new coat. A riveting start to any story, I know, but this is a big deal. I haven't bought a new coat in... well, six years. I have been wearing the precious Honda Dreamfields waterproof that we were given at Silverstone in 2007, and it's served me very well. I went through one period where I thought I had better get a new outer garment …

Doctor Who is one of those television programmes that will never be able to win. It's demographic is so wide-spread, and people want such different things from their Doctor Who experience, it really is impossible to please everyone. He's too human, too alien, there's too much sci-fi, too much humanity, it's too childish, too adult, boring, complicated, incredible, ridiculous, etc, etc. Obviously opinions matter, and we write blog posts about …