Stumbled across this video from March last year of a proposed underground mansion. Actually there are two videos, the first is a report from Granada which gives a clearer idea of what the mansion is all about. The second video has more images and less chatter from irritating presenters - it's actually got no sound at all which is a little disconcerting. Here's the first though: Video no longer available. …

The final stop on my Alphabet mini-tour (way back in May, how did that happen?) was the National Space Centre, just outside of Leicester. I'm developing an interest in all things space travel, and I was surprised that we have a space centre, given that we have very little in the way of a space programme. The website makes it clear that this is a destination designed for kids. At …

Last time we saw The Doctor, he was saving the world, keeping Rose from imploding and taking one for the team, by forcing a regeneration. David Tennant had just a moment to say Barcelona before the episode ended. Thus, his first full length episode is this Christmas Special. Although, he isn't really in it for a lot of the action, so perhaps it's harsh to call this his first episode. …

A great set of baby panda photos by jsteph on Flickr. Credit: jsteph/Flickr

This month has been dominated by two main stories - the scarecrow rivalry, and the E.Coli outbreak at Pat and Tony's. Firstly, the scarecrow battle. It was interesting to see how all the parties reacted to the efforts to make a bigger and better scarecrow. It seems Will has forgiven Emma for everything that has gone before, whilst his hatred for Ed just keeps on getting bigger. Both parties were …

Mr C has instructed me to make a note of this conversation. Me: "I don't know why it's so hot." Mr C: "It's summer." "I want winter back." "No you don't." "I'll never complain about being cold again. Next time I complain about it being cold, punch me in the face and remind me of this moment." "Blog it, and I can link you back to it later." I guess …

What I love about the repeats of Top of the Pops on BBC Four is seeing the 1970s for all the good and bad of music, fashion, and taste. Rather than the golden era montages, where the best and the iconic are selected for a rose-tinted package, this is full repeats of TOTP programmes that were running in 1976. It's incredible. Noel Edmonds pretends to be a cameraman! There are …

Again, I didn't manage to run over the weekend which has put me rather behind schedule. Also, for this first one, I was slightly hampered by new-shoe-related injuries. Thing about taking some time off work is you forget how to wear posh shoes. Anyway, on with the running. Week 3, Day 15 Tricky run. My feet weren't actually that much of a problem in the end, but I did find …

I actually had this post in mind yesterday, when I realised I'd spent quite a lot of time watching the action from the Swimming World Championships in China, and was loving it. Today, it seems to have taken on a different significance, given the news that F1 will be moving to Sky next year. However, these aren't F1 replacements, just sports I'm starting to get more fond of, and want …

Oh, how I have so loved having Back to the Future back in my life. Not that it ever went anywhere, but fresh material, and most importantly good fresh material has been brilliant. I have already blogged every episode of the TellTale Game revival, and whilst I do not have much more to add now I have completed episode five, it seemed only fair to have a farewell post to …

The new Apple operating system, Lion, was released last week and I volunteered to be the test pilot for our house. At first, I wasn't that fussed about it but gradually, the more I use it, the more I notice, and there are some bits and bobs that have caught my attention. Here are five of them: Natural scrolling. I turned off the natural scrolling straight away. They can call …

One of Mr C's biggest complaints with the iPod and iPad stems from the idea of touching the screen and your big thumbs getting in the way. Particularly when you are playing games, controlling whatever is on screen with your not-particularly-see-through-hands can be tricky. It's a valid complaint, although I always argue that the ease of the iPad far outweighs a technical little issue like that. We were perusing some …

Whilst watching Wimbledon this year, Mr C questioned what those tennis players were consuming when they squeezed little gel packets into their mouths. I assumed they were some kind of gel thing for top sportspeople, but then I realised they sell them in the supermarket. We decided to try some. Eww. I mean, I wasn't expecting a sweet treat or anything but this was not good. It tasted like medicine, …

Had to delay the long run until after the weekend, as I wasn't feeling too good. That might also explain why it was a tricky one! Week 2, Day 8 Felt good to start with, but gradually got more and more tired. It's quite weird having to run to a programme set in miles when I'm so used to working in kilometres, but it doesn't make a difference either way …

A while back I discussed the concept of degrees via the Open University, and whilst I move more and more away from the concept of degrees and suchlike, the very open format and wide variety of courses on the OU still intrigues me. I just discovered the LearningSpace with tons of free modules - usually bits and bobs taken from now defunct courses - and there are some interesting things …

I've just started playing Monopoly on the iPad and I'm enjoying it. Actually that's not true, I'm hating it because I've played twice - both on the easy setting - and I've lost both times. I swear the AI is cheating. However, if you ignore my uselessness at Monopoly, the app is really cool. There are animations that make the dice rolling and piece moving fun, but you can fast …

The second book of the 365 F1 Stories series was published over the weekend, and you can find more about it on the books page. It's been quite the process getting these two books into being, and it's not over yet. There are more things to do with those two, and more ideas in my head for further exploration. I hope to blog more about the process when I am …

I've been catching up with some episodes of The 404 and they mentioned this relatively new website that lets you create a social environment for listening to music. Outloud.fm allows you to create a chatroom with the added bonus of anyone invited able to upload music to a collaborative playlist. The queue of music then plays out for everyone at the same time. I love this concept. I'm no music …

Here we go then, the first week of a new Runkeeper Class, and all fingers crossed that it's going to be more successful than the last one. Just two runs to break into the first week gently. Week 1, Day 3 First workout was four minutes running, one walk, and repeat x3. You can see the bumps that are the walks, but overall it was a lot faster than any …

I've mentioned before, many times, how I love Maggie's outlook on life. She inspired me to create my own Life List and that has been something magical for me. This time the message is - when life is getting you down, turn it around and do something fun for thirty days. Fabulous. The thirty day idea is such a good one. Who knows where it first came from, but breaking …

Whilst on my trip around the Merrivale Model Village, I spotted the zoo with added baby pandas! Fantastic! There doesn't seem to be an awful lot of bamboo for so many pandas living in one space, and I'm surprised they are housed between the monkeys and the llamas.

I've wanted to see a model village for a long time, and although I'm not sure there's anything special about this one, it coincided with my trip to Great Yarmouth. When I told people that I was visiting a model village for the letter M, they assumed that was because M stands for Model. I went one step further and found a model village that begins with M as well. …

Here's a revelation. Trying to come up with your own running schedule, and more importantly sticking to it, is pretty darn tough. Today I said to Mr C: "I've been thinking about signing up for another Runkeeper Class, because it's not working so well doing it by myself." He replied: "I don't remember the last time you went out!" Well, it was a few days ago, and the time before …

With ITV finally bringing out their app for iDevices, we know have all channels from 1 through to 4 covered. The BBC iPlayer has been doing it's iPad business for a while now, Channel 4 had their On Demand app out relatively recently, and ITV have now joined the gang. The ITV app is not a bad one but the choice is limited, considering how many channels ITV have. There …

It's about time I posted another update of innovations in the world of the mug. I have posted a couple of mug selections before, but now I am drinking more tea than ever, so finally, I can envisage actually using them rather than just looking at them. In this world of ever-shrinking attention spans, it seems even a tea break needs to have some kind of entertainment involved. The concept …

With thanks to Martí, who pointed me in the right direction.

I thought that now the 30 day music challenge is complete, it would be worth rounding up the highs and lows of what we've seen over the past month with a list of links. It will also be helpful when in future, any videos that I've linked or embedded may disappear (not the most reliable of formats, is it?) so it'll be good to have the definitive list all in …