This month saw the debut of The Archers spin-off show Ambridge Extra, focusing on the lives of some of the younger and further afield inhabitants. I was excited about the show, then I was a bit put off when I saw some of the reviews who said it was like the Ambridge take on Skins. However, when I listened, of course, it's The Archers, so it's really not at all …

A lot of the blog memes and challenges pass me by, but occasionally there is one that catches my eye and the 30 Day Song Challenge is one of those. I'm not sure where it's origins lie, but I have seen it posted by a few friends, on Facebook, on blogs. Most recently, Lukeh took up the challenge with the genius idea of using Posterous so as not to spam …

Over the last few weeks, I've realised that running for a longer distance means starting to look after yourself as you go. I've found myself super thirsty towards the end of a run, and suffered a headache a couple of times. The obvious answer is to take on more fluids as I go, but that's not something I find particularly easy. Keeping upright as I'm jogging along is hard enough, …

A week that seemed it would never end. Full of ups and downs but ending on a high note. Just one week left after this, and clearly, the fact that I am nowhere near 10k shows just how slow I am. Will have to ponder what is next for me. Week 9, Day 1 Run 18 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 3. I was really fighting the odds with this …

This header came about suddenly at the last minute, but was a culmination of a lot of experimentation during the month. Firstly, the typeface is the one I use for headers on the blog - Anivers. When I made the changes with Typekit, it suddenly made the existing header look a bit strange. I've already mentioned that I need to find a way to make text look more integrated with …

Last week I had to watch the episode twice to figure out what was going on. I probably should do the same this week, but... I just don't want to. From the start, it made no real sense. We were three months later, the officials were after them, the Doctor was all locked up as insane. Do we know why? Am I just being stupid? Just when I thought I …

This time last year, Google added new functionality to Maps on Android phones - Google Navigation. The new feature allowed you to search for directions as per usual, but then take it a step further and switch the results into turn by turn navigation. I've long resisted the SatNav world, although I have no real reason why. Perhaps I couldn't justify the cost in my head, and didn't particularly want …

Last weekend, Mr C and I took a bit of a break and used the long weekend to visit the coast. It was beautifully sunny, hot and busy, but it was great fun. We used the time to work on a process for taking, editing and sharing photos on the move, which I've written more about over on Sidepodcast. Along with photos, I took some video which I've compiled together …

If you've popped by this blog at any point over the past 24 hours or so, you may have noticed some wonky typeface situations. If you've been following the blog since the Squarespace incident, you'll know that my only real gripe with Wordpress is that I couldn't change the typeface from Georgia. I tried any number of solutions, including Typekit, the Wordpress CSS edit addon, and, of course, Squarespace. The …

Adobe are soon to be offering pay as you go models to rent their creative suite of software. Things like Photoshop, After Effects, InDesign and Illustrator are all costly pieces of kit but the new payment method could bring the point of entry down to new users. I decided to take ten minutes to chat to Mr C about how this might change some of the things we do on …

Last time I discussed the Back to the Future game, I was only mildly impressed and mostly happy that they hadn't ruined everything. I wrote that first post after playing the game for about twenty minutes, and I may have judged it a bit harshly. After the post went up, I picked up the game again and played it right through to the end. I loved it! I couldn't wait …

When the letter from the DVLA arrived, suggesting I needed to replace the photo on my driving licence, I instantly thought what a hassle that was going to be. They have those photo booths in a couple of shops locally, the supermarket and some in town, but I hate going in them. The voice booms out so that everyone around knows exactly what you're doing - adjusting the seat, trying …

It's back! It's back, it's back, it's back. And boy is it confusing. The first time I watched this, I missed at least 15 minutes off the start which didn't exactly help matters. A second viewing was essential, even if I had already planned to do so to lend a hand with this blog. As with most science fiction series, those involved have spent the off-season suggesting that the new …

Getting back from a mini-break away, I was a bit antsy to go out, but not really motivated to do a proper run, considering I had to get some food and sort out all manner of post-holiday chores. Mr C suddenly suggested that I should just run to the shop, get food for today and run back again, with a big shop planned for later. I instantly discounted it. That's …

In my running update this week, I referenced the column of advice that was remixed into the most excellent Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen) by Baz Luhrman. Once it was in my head, I remembered what fabulous advice the song has, and I re-listened a couple of times. Here are the bits that I have taken to heart and try to live by: Don’t worry about the future; or worry, …

I felt like doing a bit of baking and found this recipe for a classic Victoria Sponge. I know I said I had sworn off the BBC's GoodFood site, but there are such good finds on there, I can't help myself. Anyway, the thing I particularly love about making a sponge is that you just throw all the ingredients in together and mix it up. Mix, mix, mix. I even …

I've just finished watching a programme about the Summerhill School in Suffolk. I don't make a habit of watching kid's TV... oh, who am I kidding... but either way, the subject matter fascinated me. Summerhill is a school that revolves around the concept of the school fitting the child, rather than forcing all children to comply to the same hideous timetable. Kids that go there don't have to attend lessons, …

I ended the last week a little dispirited, although not put off altogether - it'd take quite a lot more to do that, I think. I took a couple of days to think about it (thanks for the nice comments, all) and geared up to start again. Rather than dive into the 17 minutes at a time, I figured I'd start with a shorter run to get back into it. …

A couple of days ago, I wrote about the great bargains to be found on Zinio, if you took some time to browse. I also mentioned that it might not be a foolproof process to buy, as Mr C had been having troubles. He even commented on the post, suggesting that it was a pretty rubbish service but there is no real alternative so it has to be done. Or …

Just recently, F1 Racing magazine finally made the switch to offer up digital publication alongside the traditional paper editions. To investigate, it meant revisiting the Zinio store, something I hadn't done for a long time. When I perused the Zinio magazine store for the first time, there was a specific UK section but very little in the way of digital content to offer up. This time, I was amazed at …

In 2004, I said: So, I’m watching the crazy people running the London Marathon, I do not understand how anyone can manage to run that far… I have trouble running to my car when it’s raining! I think it’s great though, all those people raising money for charities and coming together to do something worthy like that. I really just want to note this day down in history, because it …

My dearest, darling brother (ha!) emailed me this last week. It's a poster for Panda liquorice (bleurgh), and the tagline reads: "If you love liquorice, all you see is panda." I don't like liquorice at all, so I would change it to: "If you like pandas, all you see is panda." But I guess that's not as catchy.

At last! The return of my alphabet adventures! I struggled with where to go for J, and then winter appeared, and then I quit my job and things got manic. However, it's been a beautiful week and I've finally found some free time, so I decided to man up and go outside. The Judge's Lodgings is a museum situated in a tiny village on the England/Wales border, and it would …

My old Mac had been on a slow decline for the past few months. It wasn't exactly a stunner when I got my hands on it, and I used it an awful, awful lot. The poor thing had been overworked and wanting a break for a long time but I wasn't about to let that happen. So, over the course of the Australian Grand Prix weekend this year, it sort …

Interestingly, the big "end of the world" reveal didn't really happen until the start of this episode. In other two-part finales we've seen, everything would have been stacked against the main heroes all at once. Here, we had them in personal peril, which was solved by the Doctor just walking straight out to the Daleks and facing them down. Thank goodness for forcefields, that's what I say. It wasn't until …

I have often expressed my frustrations at Twitter, and continue to have a love/hate relationship with the microblogging platform. At the moment, I'm more on the love side, though, and anything that makes it even more amusing can only be a good thing. Yesterday, I was introduced to the concept of That can be my next tweet! It's a site with one of those annoying URLs that is impossible to …

It's quiet in Franck-land again. I did enjoy looking at Google News for any mentions and finding they've done this: I think every webpage should have a Franck quote at the top.

The start of this episode packs a powerful punch, and not in terms of emotion or drama, but simple amazement. How can they put the Doctor in Big Brother? How have they got the rights to get Davina to say "Please do not swear?" Putting Rose in the Weakest Link and Captain Jack in Trinny & Susannah is less amusing as they are both BBC programmes, but Big Brother is …

A long while ago, when my best friend and I would get together, we used to dream of going to live in Florida. I'm not sure whether it was the sunshine or the proximity to the Backstreet Boys that was the key influencer, but whatever it was, we wanted some of the Florida life. To get a taste for it, we would listen to radio stations from the FL area. …

Ahead of this week, I came to the conclusion that it was okay to find the running difficult. If it was easy, that would mean I wasn't pushing and wasn't getting on any further. However, as you'll see, by the end of the week I have come to a completely different conclusion. Week 7, Day 1 Run 15 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 3. Tricky run today. I had an …

Another piece for my journalism course, this time a feature article about an outdoor leisure activity. Luckily, I have one of those, which is a step up from this time last year. Now I can pretend to know what I'm talking about! Why the correct running shoes can make or break your hobby It seems like the simplest thing in the world, strap on some shoes and head into the …

As a bit of a change, I thought I'd split this month up into its separate weeks - Sunday to Friday - to see how the stories developed. Week 1 Emma and Clarrie go shopping together and it's all very awkward. Considering Emma has Susan at home just desperate to pamper her, it seems odd that she's chasing more of a relationship with Clarrie as well. Both Pat and Tony …

With a reformatted Mac comes the opportunity to start things over, to organise better. I decided that I would try out iPhoto in all it's proper glory - as in attempting to use it as a photo library, instead of as just a way to get pictures out of the iPod. I've sorted everything out into Events, which was pretty dull, and then I took a look at the face …

It's always going to be hard to follow the panda success of March, and that being the case, I present you with a header I actually made beforehand. It was based on this tutorial but I went wrong somewhere along the way. I ended up with a dark pink nightmare, that was far too black. I threw the tutorial away, tweaked some bits and pieces, and most importantly, changed the …

I've never really been a fan of April Fool's Day. The concept of fooling people doesn't really fill me with joy, particularly when at least 70% of the tricks are not that funny. As use of the internet becomes more prevalent, it's getting even harder to like the idea. A good percentage of my day is spent trying to figure out what is real and what is not on the …

This is a piece I submitted for my journalism course. The brief was to write 250 words about a news item, in a general opinion piece style. The girl behind one of the UK’s most iconic images has revealed herself to the world… again. You may not have heard of Fiona Walker but you’ve likely seen the poster of her – walking away on a tennis court, skirt hitched up …

It's not usually my style just to post a trailer and go - woo! but this does look kinda epic. I'm in two minds about River Song. Sometimes when mysteries are resolved they turn out to be rubbish (LOST!), and it's been built up quite a lot. However, it would be awesome to find out who she is, for goodness sake. The only other bit that jarred with me was …

I just wanted to write a quick post to say that the BBC have only gone and created a podcast feed for the Desert Island Discs archive. They said a while back that they'd be releasing a whole host of shows for indefinite download, but it wasn't clear how they were going to do it. I discovered the podcast feed, which is a great way of looking through the ones …

It occurred to me, when I was doing that 5k interlude, that in actual fact I didn't run a full 5k because there was the warm-up included. For this week, I decided not to include the five minute walk, and that means I'm looking a bit backwards on distance but a bit further forwards on average pace. This week someone told me about a 10k race they were doing, sort …

An episode that requires a "Previously on Doctor Who..." It was a bit weird. I've always felt that the new Who references so much stuff that you either know or you don't, but each episode/double episode is standalone anyway. I love the domesticity of this episode, because although it could be boring to just watch a couple of people go on a couple of dates, there are a lot of …

When I was putting my Life List together, I added a vague "photo a day" item. In my head, it was the idea of making one of those videos where you take a picture of yourself every day, and see how you change over the course of a year. Then I thought about it a bit more and realised I'm unlikely to remember to take a picture every day, I …

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered a new iPod game called Land-a-panda. The premise is simple, but it gets complicated quickly. You have a panda on one side of the course and he is keen to get to his lady friend on the other side of the course (they must be in that magical 12 hours of a 365 period when they're attracted to each other). In between, you …

I remember when Goji berries were the brand new health craze and all the serious doctors were coming out and saying there was nothing proven about the health benefits. I've never had them before but figured it couldn't hurt to try, and I found a pack of dried berries. Initially, it was like eating raisins with no flavour, but then the aftertaste kicked in and it was like soap. Gross. …

Moving on to the sixth week of this 10k programme, I was in two minds whether to do the scheduled 10 minutes run/1 minute walk, or stretch it to 11 minutes jogging. I felt like I could probably manage the extra distance and that would accelerate the process a little. I couldn't decide right up until I started running, so I figured I would wait and see how I felt …

It was a long, old race. 12 hours, I suppose. The challenge from Audi fell by the wayside quite early on as a coming together between Marc Gene and Allan McNish, plus some reliability issues, meant they fell far down the order and had to make their way back up. Meanwhile, Montagny, Sarrazin and Lamy spent a good while leading the race, swapping between the other Peugeot and the Highcroft …

This weekend, Mr C and I ventured into the outside world, and not only did we escape from the office but we also decided to go to shops. Actual brick and mortar retail establishments. This was never a big pastime for us, and particularly not now the internets is so useful. However, a day away from the screens called, and we headed to Currys. (As an aside, did I ever …

Stephane Sarrazin did the business in qualifying for the 12 hours of Sebring, putting the Peugeot on pole position ahead of the race today. Talking about his day, Sarrazin said: We arrived here with new car and new rules so it was hard for us this week. We have been improving the balance of the car. Things were much better in qualifying than free practice because of the traffic. I …

Despite the fact I accidentally started week five at the end of the last week, I decided to repeat the run for the legitimate week five. Week 5, Day 1 Run 9 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 4. So, this was the first run after a bit of a break. It was appalling and I was disappointed. I wasn't bitter about the run, really, I chalked it up to one …

The BBC have a cute little clip of baby panda Po, introduced at Atlanta Zoo. A while back, I thought the Beeb were doing better at allowing videos for embeds, but it appears not, so I will have to settle for just linking and hoping for the best. I did take a cheeky screenshot though.

Following on from the better-than-expected Empty Child, we have the conclusion of the two-parter. Last we saw, the Doctor was trapped in a corner, surrounded by the worrying gas mask people. "GO TO YOUR ROOM!" And just like that, the tension is over and we can get on with the rest of the story. I love the terrible last words line though. As we're winding our way through the story, …