Channel 4's fantabulous program Grand Designs featured an Underground House in the third series, so this evening I watched the show via 4OD and took copious notes! Here's what I found out as I watched. They built their house in a conveniently house-sized gap in a quarry that was already dug. The guy said he wanted a house like that to both "hide away and not impose." Sounds about right. …

Lukeh wrote an excellent post yesterday to celebrate the 101st blog post on his site, and as you can imagine, he went for a Room 101 feel. Lukeh's three choices to go into Room 101 were Facebook, buses and clubbing. I pretty much agree with all of that, but given the option to choose some hateful items of my own, I couldn't resist. First, let Lukeh explain: Then of course, …

Thus the series comes to an end - three episodes is clearly not enough, but at the same time, I'm not sure I'd want thirteen or so of them either. Suddenly, all that talk about Watson's blog and Sherlock's website is actually impacting on the story. It starts to make sense why they actually exist. I was worried that it might be a bit too inclusive, though. I like the …

My dad sent me a link to this video, in which a man saw some birds sitting on an electric line and wondered what they would sound like as musical notes. Sounds weird, but it's kinda intriguing. https://vimeo.com/6428069 And of course, it's very fitting with this week's header.

Ah, the difficult second album. I've seen plenty of people slating this episode, and I'll be honest, I'm almost right there with them. I lost track of the story mid-way through but I wondered whether this was my fault more than anything else. I've watched it twice now, and I do think the underlying story was pretty simple but it is very dressed up and quite confusing. I don't believe …

The BBC played a risky game with this short series. Aimed very directly at the people that love Doctor Who, they built it up to be something enormous. Steven Moffatt spent a lot of time raving about it on Twitter, and between him and Mark Gatiss, interviews, blog posts and adverts, it was hard to escape from the glare of the descending Sherlock. When it finally arrived, it turns out, …

Recently, we found ourselves meeting up with some F1 fans - families of weary parents and gadget-hungry children - and we managed to sell several iPads to them. The kids just loved the iPad, whereas the parents were keen on the F1 Timing App - and it is pretty revolutionary. Selling the iPad is actually really easy to do. My mother is a notorious technophobe, but I left her alone …

There are lots of things the internet is good for, but handing over control of your life to internet users for a year would never have struck me as one of them. The newest show on Revision 3 is called Dan 3.0 and it features Dan as he takes a year out of his normal schedule to do what the people on the internet tell him. It's a strange idea, …

The fabulous Alex pointed me in the direction of a site called Pencil Talk, and I love it. It does exactly what you would expect, looks at pencils from all over the world and reviews how they look and how they write. I don't have much else to say, the pencils speak for themselves! It's nice to have some stationery thoughts to blog about since the end of Stationery Corner. …

Hadrian's Wall is quite confusing. It's a big long wall, obviously, but I wasn't sure if just seeing it counted as part of the alphabet, as most of the visitor spots are Roman forts that come under another name. To combat this, I chose the Housesteads Roman Fort. Win-win! To get there, I had to travel along the amazing Roman roads. You know, you drive along a straight road and …

I stumbled upon these brushes of electric poles, wires and birds. It seemed like such an odd combination that I instantly downloaded them to play around with. Turns out it was a lot of fun, particularly when you had tiny wires and enormous birds. Of course, I had to get a bit more sensible with proportions for the finished product, and I hope I got it right. The text was …

In the ongoing saga of Montagny versus Superleague, it looks as though our favourite Frenchman is still not happy, particularly after events at Brands Hatch this weekend. In this week's Autosport magazine (available digitally here), they suggest that the team behind the football name Barazi-Epsilon gave priority to Tristan Gommendy when it came to pitstops. Franck said: We had good pace here, we were fast, but I think we gave …

Yes! Jude is out of the way. The only real problem this story had, aside from the ongoing annoyances at David putting his size fifteen wellies in it every step of the way, is that it was so obvious from the start. Jude was older, not that bothered, pretty darn lazy, whilst Pip - although head over heels in love - was none of these things. Her friend Izzy put …

A while ago, Mr C compiled a list of things you cannot podcast near to, and they are (including but not limited to): near train stations in windy locations anywhere close to police or fire stations next door to noisy neighbours in an owl sanctuary Owls are a surprisingly common problem. A week or so ago, I offered a throwaway comment on Sidepodcast, suggesting if we had the funding, we …

It's time for our next set of headers to appear (although technically this should have gone up yesterday - shhh). This first one was never intended to be a header, I was just messing around with the original photo, taken in Gretna Green. It's silly, and it won't win any design prizes, but I like it. Made with: Pixelmator Original photo: Welcome to Gretna Green Filters: Sepia colour, small amount …

As we established, Franck was back in the car for Girondins de Bordeaux for the Brands Hatch weekend, although we still don't know where or why he went away for round 6. Maybe he just needed a rest. I didn't get to see any of the action, apart from a few videos of the terrible crash for Chris van der Drift that overshadowed the entire day. It was an awful …

It's been another slow "week" on the running front but not due to my inability to complete a workout. This time, it's been real life getting in the way. In iPod news, I fixed the syncing issue so the music returned, and I think now the runs are getting longer, I welcome the distraction rather than the silence. I also went and broke my earbuds, though. They are hanging on …

It's been a while since I perused the mug scene, and since then I have been more interested in drinking hot chocolate and cups of tea (not in this weather, obviously). That being the case, the innovation that is taking place in the mug world is even more fascinating. I mean, who would have thought you would one day be able to properly hug a mug? They call it "the …

I'm officially confused. Franck is back with Girondins de Bordeaux for the next Superleague round at Brands Hatch. But why did he go? Why is he back? Why did he have to come back on a weekend when I can't watch it? So many questions.

Yesterday, Gavin posted a great link in the Sidepodcast comments - 10 Things You Didn't Know About Ghostbusters. For once, this is a list where I did not, in fact, know any of the items on it. To be honest, though, they aren't all entirely fascinating, but you must keep reading to the end to uncover this gem: ...you won’t find the music video on the home video version of …

I've spent a good few months now trying to consolidate all my writing into one or two spaces. Sidepodcast benefitted from the F1 related thoughts that used to appear here, plus the articles I wrote for BellaOnline. Meanwhile, this here space of the web suddenly found itself merging with the other blogs I used to write, plus a whole load of archived stuff that was without a home. Going through …

There was no Franck Montagny at the Superleague race in Zolder this past weekend, and we aren't the only ones who missed him. Firstly, the team finished 12th in the first race and 10th in the third (which sounds better but is actually only second to last). Meanwhile, there's a post on the Superleague site today suggesting the team aren't happy without him. Apologies for the rather dodgy Google translation: …

Yesterday, I posted the results of my Alphabet Adventure when it comes to the letter G. As you may have gathered from the posts of Edinburgh, Falkirk and Gretna, I took a quick trip to Scotland to take in some of the scenery. I must say, for some reason, I really like things like this: Because I drove past it, and just around the corner was the sign saying 'Welcome …

Gretna Green was a tricky one. I wasn't 100% sure it counted - given that the rules of the alphabet challenge say it should be attractions rather than places that are worthy of a visit. I thought I could spin it that the anvil thing was an attraction, but that is technically called the World Famous Blacksmith's Shop. None of those letters are a G. In the end, I went …

We all know that I have a love/hate relationship with Twitter. I swore off it for a while, and when I returned I left the design as a default wallpaper - one you can get to under the settings tab. I looked on as many, many people put photographs and custom backgrounds on their Twitter account, and I never really felt the need to do the same. Since the World …

I had initially planned to split the nine week course into three blog posts of three weeks each (you can catch up with weeks 1-3 here). But this fourth "week" has taken so long to complete that I just have to blog it and get it out the way. Week 4 Day 1 Wooo, now I can run five minutes at a time! Sort of. The shoes still rock (or …

Autosport is reporting that Franck Montagny won't be driving for Girondins de Bordeaux at Zolder this weekend, and it reads as though his time with the team and with Superleague has come to an end. Bourdais left the sport just a couple of days ago, and he said: I've stopped for the moment and I'm not pointing fingers at anyone or anything, but I don't see it getting any better. …

I was just browsing through some photos and uncovered one from the Didcot Adventure that didn't make it into the post. If you remember, I briefly mentioned that my mother and I did like the section that may or may not have been aimed at children. The bit where you can press buttons and play games, and make things light up. There was also a section where you were confronted …

Just one snoozy panda for you today. Credit: Thai Yin/Flickr

The BBC have been bigging up this two-part drama for ages. I read not one but two entries on various Beeb blogs, and it was all over the other TV blogs that I tend to read. I couldn't sit back and let it pass, so I tuned in. From the very first image, like the one above, it was clear that this wasn't just a regular drama. It was all …

I recently discovered the new Groceries section on Amazon. It's in Beta and it sells, well, groceries, obviously. I find this idea so weird, and I've been struggling to put my finger on why. I've narrowed it down to two things. Firstly, I never really got on board with the third party aspect of Amazon. I've actually only used it to buy books from - both physical and now in …

The Superleague Formula is back in action this weekend, with the football themed cars taking to the track in Belgium at the Zolder circuit. A brief intro from the official site: The 2.492 mile, 10 turn circuit has remained a staple of the championship since its inception in 2008. Indeed, it is the only venue to have been included on the calendar throughout Superleague Formula’s brief history to date. Don't …

Ah, so that's it, it's all over. Done and dusted. The World Cup 2010 is complete. Wait a minute... that was it? I am left feeling slightly confused and bemused by the whole World Cup thing. The first two weeks were brilliant. Football overload. Matches starting all over the place, lots of great teams and fun player names to laugh over. There were barely any tactics, because a draw was …

A few miles to the west of Edinburgh is a hidden gem - the Falkirk Wheel. It's an incredible one-of-a-kind feat of engineering that lifts a narrowboat from one canal up over 100ft to another one. It also looks like something out of Doctor Who. A bit more about the wheel, then. It replaces 11 locks which joined the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. The locks were …

Mr C bought an iPad pretty much the moment he could, and we had fun for a while playing around on it. Mostly, it was in his custody though, and about a week ago, I noticed he really wasn't getting the most out of it. So, I commandeered it. I have an iPad now! I'm still playing around with it, learning things, figuring out how I'll use it and where, …

Credit: jikatu/Flickr I was skeptical about watching the 2010 World Cup There was no doubt that England would mess the whole thing up For five long weeks, flags everywhere. Football's all that matters Inevitably our heroes left the nation's hopes in tatters The countries kept on playing though, while our boys were sent packing The quality of game increased, goals no longer lacking And there he was, a shining light, …

I'm currently in the process of sorting out and organising my writing notes. This sounds a lot grander than it really is. When I used to write, I started dozens of notebooks, scribbled on scraps of paper, and created quite a few Word documents. They were saved all over the place, both in terms of hard drives, and boxes. When I started writing again, I began a new system, and …

And then, he was gone. Poor Sid! He only just got to take a holiday, went jogging, and poof, he was gone. At least he got to see his daughter one last time, I suppose. I've not been listening long enough to know him as anything other than Jamie's dad that takes him to football sometimes, and that guy behind the bar. Still, he seems to be quite a popular …

I headed to Edinburgh and decided to make use of the Park & Ride. I'm not a big fan of buses, or any kind of public transport for that matter, but it seemed like a good way to get in to the centre of a city I know nothing about. I couldn't have been more wrong. The Park & Ride took me three leaflets to figure out, and when I …

I'm not sporty. Not even slightly. Growing up, I kind of liked netball. Until the other girls started throwing balls at my head. Then I was sort of good at badminton. But the badminton club clashed with the chess club and I preferred the sitting down sort of extra activity. I do like to swim, and was in a swimming club when I was younger, but these days things are …

Thanks to Leigh, I have found a new panda related site to peruse: Perfect Pandas. The updates are generally cute panda related items, such as Panda Ice Cream and Panda Mahjong. I particularly like the post about the Panda Earbuds. I would not wear these, but still. Cuteness.

David Mitchell's Soapbox is back! I know you have probably known this for a while, but I have only just caught up with it. I love, love, love these two episodes, because they're about words and language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw I think I actually said "I could care less recently" and I have no idea where it came from or why I said it. I hated myself afterwards because as Mr M …

I've been a big supporter of the ebooks movement, but for some reason I haven't actually been jumping on the wagon with the band until just recently. To start with, I had absolutely no time for reading, I wasn't buying books, so although I flew the flag for digital novels, I wasn't consuming them myself. Then I began to find time to read again, and now, I'm pretty much as …

Thank you to everyone who voted in my July Header poll. More than anything, I was blown away by the 40 votes. What lovely people you all are. For a while, three headers had made a break for the lead - with numbers 4, 9 and 10 all on equal footing. Then 4 fell behind, and up until about ten minutes ago, the remaining two were tied for the lead. …

This is terribly self-indulgent, and really just an excuse to post a graph, but I wanted to share the Wordpress stats for the last couple of weeks: The big spike at the beginning was my World Cup post, and the second spike in the centre was all about Wimbledon. The two medium spikes on the 19th and the 27th are for the first and second parts of the Doctor Who …

I was listening to a relatively recent episode of the CNET podcast The 404 and they were talking about trends in the 90s. I love it when they reminisce because although some of their references I don't get, thinking back to the good old days is always fun. They lightly brushed past the topic of those must-have toys that scary parents would run around the shops desperate to get. You …

Well, I didn't see it because someone scheduled it the same time as the European GP, but it looks like Franck came second. The report from Superleague says: Earlier in race 2, Alvaro Parente claimed victory for FC Porto after holding off a late-race challenge from Bordeaux’s Franck Montagny. Parente led right from the start after both he and Montagny got past pole-sitter John Martin (Beijing Guoan FC) at the …

Wow. Where to start? This entire episode was really well written, beautifully crafted, and swept us all along to the finish. Despite there being a lack of action (not a criticism, I think it's nice the action was loaded into the first part, and the second was about the consequences), there was nothing lacking. I love, love, loved the bits where the Doctor was flying in and out of time. …

Well it was nothing to write home about, was it? Franck started way down the grid, 16th. He stayed out longer than everyone else, which meant he was leading the race for a moment until he came into the pits. He wasn't about to win the race, but he might have made up a few places. Unfortunately, there was a delay in the pitstop which meant he finished the race …

A while ago, Janna asked if there was going to be a vote on which was the favourite header. I thought that was a good idea, but as it's an ongoing project, I wasn't sure how voting would fit in. However, now I have completed the tenth header image, I thought it would be the perfect time to take a break. It's always good to recharge one's batteries, sit back …