On my way home from work, I pass by one of those old computer shops. You know the kind I mean, where they have stacks of dusty old PCs and monitors, they take them apart and put them back together again, and hope for some business. The shop looks pretty dated, and I've never seen a customer go in there. In fact, I had barely noticed it at all until …

The concept appealed to me enormously. Tracking the lives of two people by peeking at them for just one day every year for twenty years. It was unusual and enticing. I was slightly concerned that it would mean either they got together straight away and we would have to follow them through a humdrum existence, or it would be an endless will-they-won't-they. Actually, it was both of these things but it was brilliant. The writing was exquisite, catching you up on a year's worth of happenings without being boring, but also dealing with the minutiae of that day without wasting a second. The characters were both fabulous and frustrating, and the years flew by without a second glance.

I've read this one before, a long time ago, and I loved it as much this time as I did back then. The reason I picked this up was that I managed to get my hands on a copy of the sequel - World Without End. I want to read that one but thought I'd refresh my memory of the original. Although they are standalone books, it was good to remind myself of the style of writing, and the sort of time in history we're talking about.

I am ever so slightly obsessed with this new smoothie from Innocent Drinks. The problem is... It's green. Really, really green. It doesn't look appetising at all. Mr C turns his nose up every time I pour a glass. It's very good for you. Two of your five a day. Apples, grapes, kiwi fruit. There's even some spinach in there. In fact, here are the full ingredients: No wonder it's …

Always love Bruce saving the world. There aren't as many catchphrases in here as I thought there were but still, I love it. I still like the second one more, but this one must have been good because it broke the dreaded two hour barrier and I _didn't even notice_. Go Bruce!

For the first time in this series, I spotted an image during the week and saved it to a folder called: Inspiration. Get me! So, It's not a carbon copy but it's similar and I love it. I made it pretty hard for myself though. For a start, I was sitting outside in the sunshine, so the colours weren't exactly as I thought. Thankfully, they didn't clash terribly once I'd …

As human beings, we are pretty rubbish at negotiating for the future of the human race, aren't we? The second part of this story didn't really seem to capitalise on the first episode. There was an awful lot of setup and although I have nothing against the wrap up - it was all a bit formulaic. The humans failed, big style. Some people made some sacrifices and the Doctor managed …

Only read this if you a) care and b) have seen the LOST finale. Let's begin with something positive. The two things that made the finale worth watching: Miles: "I don't believe in many things, but I believe in duct tape." The scene with Hurley asking Ben for help. Love Ben. Now, I'm afraid, the rest of the post will be entirely negative, because... let's face it. It sucked. The …

I am the proud owner of a new HTC Desire and it is fabulous! My G1 finally came to the end of it's useful life. That or my contract came up for renewal so I went for the upgrade. To be fair to the G1, I was a seriously early adopter, I got a lot of use out of it, and it only occasionally let me down. By the end, …

This one is just so very Sex & the City, isn't it? I started out with a straight line of text, then played about with size, bold and italics, plus made good use of the ruler to move it above and below the regular line. Great fun. The background came afterwards, a simple cloud filter and purple colour (which adds to the Sex & the City vibe, I feel). Made …

With a reverse grid for the second race, Franck lined up 8th. An incident on the first lap allowed Franck up to sixth, and then he overtook another car to move up to 5th - a pretty good first couple of minutes. It was all for nothing, though, as Bourdais went and crashed into him in the corner, knocking out three Frenchmen from the French race. Good work Le Seb. …

Once again, none of us had any idea this was to be a two-part episode because the powers that be behind Doctor Who don't seem keen on making it obvious. It's only when it gets to the end and you realise they are still in as much danger as ever that it can't possibly be solved in the next five minutes. Anyway, what of the Hungry Earth then? It was …

Franck qualified for the first race in 13th place, which isn't that impressive. If you take into account his topsy-turvy season so far though, plus the fact that he's driving with injuries, it's a little bit more acceptable. Autosport labelled Franck as a "surprise dropout" so at least they have noticed he is rather good. Made up a couple of places on the start, up to 11th. After the pit …

Blenheim Palace is just above Oxford and claims to be: Britain's Greatest Palace. I don't know whether there's an award that goes along with such a thing, but so says the pamphlet. I bought the ticket without access to the palace itself, because photography is not allowed inside and I don't want to support that kind of restriction. I accidentally went past the main parking area and ended up just …

We have done the community film watch thing over on Sidepodcast, all gathered together to live comment a movie - ensuring we all hit start at the same time. I've seen many people tweeting their way through TV shows and movies. It seems as though sharing the experience with someone else is becoming ever more popular - even if you are on opposite sides of the globe. So here is …

This is a must watch video, if only because Franck is very cute when he gatecrashes other people's interviews. Also, I appear to have missed out on the news that FKM has four broken ribs. How did that happen?

Sorry this final part has taken so long to appear. Perhaps sub-consciously I just did not want to say goodbye to our characters. Either that or I was really quite busy. However, we must say goodbye, and here is how we're going to do it - the results of our final vote. Melissa's future caused quite a bit of discussion but we have a definitive answer: Mitch sat in the …

Oh, it was just so good. This film was well over my self-imposed two hour attention span and I was gripped all the way through. It was good old-fashioned disaster movie stuff, but it worked. All of it. Even the plot holes and the mushy stuff didn't get in the way. I was glad that they actually had a plan to save the human race, rather than just running to the top of the nearest mountain. Loved it.

I was following a tutorial up to a point and then decided I liked how it looked in black and white without adding any of the colours. A lot of the tutorials I've looked at seem to like multi-coloured colour burns. I'm not so keen on them, but tutorials are there to be expanded on, aren't they? Made with: Pixelmator Tutorial: Colorful Bokeh Effect Font: Impact Mr C and I …

I sacrificed watching some of the Monaco GP to tune in to Franck for the second race at Assen. When I switched over, he was being interviewed on the grid, and didn't sound too optimistic about what they could do. Franck started fourth, though, which was the only bonus of retiring from the first race. At the first corner, he moved up to third with some great work. He held …

I hadn't planned to watch the racing this weekend, but I woke up with two minutes to spare, so I grabbed the laptop and watched. Franck started the first race in second, lining up on the first row. During the outlap, he backed the pack up a little, and when the pace car disappeared, he had a great first bid to try and overtake for P1. He didn't make it …

I have mixed feelings about this episode. On the one hand, it was a good romp through an unusual situation with an interesting outcome. On the other hand, it wasn't even slightly what I thought it was going to be. Firstly, I know that it's my fault for building it up into something it wasn't. I'm a big fan of the time travel/flash forward/mixed up universes kind of story, ones …

If you remember back to the first brand new food I tried as part of my New Year Resolutions, it was a fruit that did not go down very well. Slippery slimy thing that lives on in my memory. For the second two new foods I tried, I went for something I had at least heard of and understood what to expect when it came to the eating. Goat's Cheese …

Love, love, love it. The story is ridiculous but brilliant. It's a little bit slapstick, but intelligent with it. It's not too soppy, but you can tell the emotions are there, and the people involved really believe what they're doing. He kills goats and bursts clouds, you know. Highly recommended as long as you don't take it too seriously.

The first few scenes of the film put me right off. Some pretty violent stuff, followed by some law stuff that I didn't really understand. However, once we got past that, into the real plot of the movie, it was great. Some fabulous acting, although the polite little girl was a bit unnecessary, I think.

Well now, that was a really fun experiment! For a long time Mitch was leading the vote, but Bruno snuck up from behind and took glory. Only Mason was chosen twice out of the various Other suggestions. I am intensely curious where the idea of Damon Hill came from. Anyway, on with the story. "Bruno," Melissa sighed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "What are you doing?" "I just wanted …

A rather damp looking Franck, presumably after getting out the car: Photo Credit: chkltcow

This weekend, Franck will return to action for Girondins de Bordeaux at the second round of the Superleague Formula series. This time they are at Assen, and the official SF website describes it as thus: Better known as the cathedral of motorcycling, the 2.830 mile circuit located in north eastern Holland should prove a real challenge for the championship’s V12-powered 750bhp single seaters thanks to it being specifically designed with …

During the Free Practice commentary for the Monaco weekend by 5Live, David Croft and Anthony Davidson discussed a certain driver that we all know and love (even more so because of this!) Transcript Croftie: Sir Stirling Moss... very much enjoying the interactive tweeting that's going on this morning and he sent us another tweet as well - thank you for this! He says in 1960, us drivers did 100 laps …

I am very impressed with how good and honest you all are: Let's see how she takes it! Also for today's poll, I thought we'd try out the "fill in your own" option. Much fun! "Come with me," Mitch said, taking her by the arm and leading her through the crowd. They slipped out into the corridor and Melissa followed Mitch as he rounded the corner and walked ahead. He …

I've found a couple of great videos from this weekend's racing in Spa. The first is a build up to the event and features lots of drivers - but keep watching because not only does Franck make a couple of appearances, but in one of them he is hugging Bibendum. My two favourite people! The second video is footage from the podium, in which Franck is standing to the far …

I needed a few days for this one to come to fruition, but we're getting there. Now we are on part seven and beyond, I know where I'm going with each outcome. We have some end goals in sight, people. Here are the results for the last vote: I thought it might be closer than that, but interesting voting, nonetheless. Now for part 7: "I'm not going to race you, …

Somehow, although I was vaguely aware of Franck taking part in the LMS race this weekend, I didn't see or hear anything about it until after the event. I have managed to gather together the pertinent facts, though. Firstly, Franck and Sarrazin were left in the lurch when Nicolas Minassian pulled out due to some sprained ribs. He sustained the injury during some training earlier in the week, which is …

I found the brushes whilst browsing on BrushEezy and knew I wanted to use them up for something. I'm not happy with the way the one in the top right doesn't end properly, whereas the one in the bottom left does. The idea of big brushes in the background to temper the dark foreground ones is fascinating. I played around with the text a lot and couldn't really get anything …

The first thing to do, I suppose, is to take a step back from my big ol' sulk of last week. I still stand by the fact that Doctor Who, for me, is not about the romance. But I got over it. The one thing I would say is that if there's something I'm unhappy with, usually watching Confidential makes me see it in a different light. It did not …

The 1st May - a Saturday - and my challenge has begun. I had a couple of options to go with for the first letter of the alphabet but I thought I would start with something simple. Aberdulais Falls is a National Trust location, just off the M4 in South Wales. The blurb reads: Set in a steep gorge, this property demonstrates the power of water and its impact on …

At first, I was in two minds. The Julia Child storyline was annoying, it takes a while to get used to her. I wanted to watch more of the Amy Adams stuff, more cooking please. But then I really got into it and the way the two stories worked together was fabulous. I love, love, loved it. Want to read the books and start cooking more. Yay for blogging!

Whilst investigating potential places to visit for the A-Z Adventure, I came across this interesting event: the Dorset Knob Throwing festival. Now, I do try and be an adult most of the time, but sometimes there are things that you just can't ignore. A section from the rules. Dorset Knob measured at final resting place. If Dorset Knob breaks upon landing it will be the umpire’s decision of final resting …

Gosh, it's been quite a busy month in Ambridge, hasn't it? And it's been all about the girls in April. Pip has at least gone quiet now, after her ill-fated trip to Cornwall to check up on her boyfriend. Then he tried to kill her by recklessly driving around on a quad bike and now David has banned him from the farm. Phew. I thought it was all over, but …

Way back at the beginning of the year, when I made those five silly little resolutions, one of them was to go outside more. This is not a very achievable goal, as there is no attainable target, no specific timeframe and no real sense of achievement. (My resolution next year will be to stop over-thinking things!) Now that I have a bit more time on my hands, I have given …

We're entering into the second half of our story now, and things are hotting up. Old rivalries come to the fore, and new relationships are tested. There, that ought to look good on the back of the book. Here are the results of the vote: That Mitch, he does like handling things himself. "Don't make any calls, Mason. You sound like you're in the mafia." "You never know," Mason chuckled. …

I went to visit my brother recently (hi brother!) and he's the proud owner of a fancy HD TV. I do most of my media consuming online but I can appreciate a good TV when I see one. He was watching the snooker, which seemed a bit of a waste to me, but still, nice TV. We got into a conversation about 3D vs HD and we were mostly in …

I actually fall somewhere in between the two camps of whether this was better or worse than the original. I think the story was lacking somewhat, way too much goo and I got lost halfway through. However, the characters were more fun because we know them already and they play off each other better. It hasn't aged as well, the music seemed to date it quite badly, particularly right at the end. Overall, though, a thumbs up.

As you can tell, it wasn't until about halfway through that I really started to enjoy the film. I liked the therapy stuff much more than the process of convincing him to go there. The conversations between Matt and Robin were fabulous. If it wasn't so long, I'd be tempted to watch the film again.

The film was not at all what I thought it would be from the trailer. Very strange throughout - but highly entertaining. It sort of twisted towards the end and I maybe would have preferred something else, but the facts are what they are, and I wasn't left feeling disappointed which is the main thing.

I really love this one. Made with: Pixelmator Tutorial for the text: Golden Text in Pixelmator Font: Garamond Background Images Set 9

LibriVox is an organisation with a simple goal - to make all public domain works accessible in audiobook form. I've been involved for a long while now, part of an enormous group of volunteers who record chapters, poems and entire books to attempt to reach this goal. I have finally finished the second book in the Grace Harlowe series - Grace Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School. As with the …

Certainly a very tricky situation, and how will Mitch try and get out of it? Mitch slammed his foot on the brake but knew that stopping wasn't an option. The track was slippery and grip was almost non-existent. Bruno was inches away. Mitch jerked the car left, as hard as it would go, and held his breath. Bruno steered the other way, but his out of control Shuttleworth continued sideways. …

I never really thought I was one of those fans who got angry about the idea of the Doctor and romance, but there it was. When Amy was wandering around the forest by herself, eyes closed, panic rising, I felt for her. I couldn't imagine anything worse. Then she went and ruined it by throwing herself at the Doctor and now I don't really like her anymore. I don't remember …

My timing seems to have gone all wonky now. I closed the poll late, and this post has appeared later than I'd hoped. I can only apologise. Here are the results for the poll on Part 3: Quite the majority! Awww, you guys. "Wow!" Mitch said, hugging her quickly. "Congratulations. I'll have to take you out for a celebratory drink." "I turned it down," Melissa said. "A commiseratory drink?" "I …