Sunday 17th April 2011

They say a week’s a long time in Politics.  The same could be said of my week this week. In last week’s blog I told you how I’d started working with a new woman and that it was all change for me.

Well, that’s all on hold.  Two reasons: firstly, it didn’t work out between us unfortunately, and secondly, it’s my live standup ‘gig’ tomorrow night at ‘The Victoria’ pub in Oldtown, Swindon. At our last session on Thursday night, the lack of time spent properly writing my act meant I found myself still at the ‘cut and paste’ stage, rather than being on a final ‘polish’.

Not one to want to do anything less than 100% though, I’ve spent the best part of every hour since then working on it, as I know I cannot go on tomorrow night and fail just through lack of rehearsal.  If I do badly because my material’s rubbish then fair enough, but if it was through simply forgetting my lines then I’d find that really hard to cope with.

The end result of these two events is that this week’s blog is (like last week’s), a bit of an ad-hoc affair I’m afraid.  After tomorrow, I’ve got my Tuesday and Wednesday cleaning jobs as normal, and then on Thursday it’s back to ‘Business as usual’ and back to the long hours, starting firstly (and most importantly), with looking for a SEO/Wordpress person.

I’ve got some ideas for re-organising the site/blog, but it all takes time and experience (neither of which I have!), and – despite all my efforts – I’ve realised that I’ve not really had proper behind the scenes support, so am now finding that I’m still hardly anywhere to be seen on Google/Amazon etc, and need to get on with rectifying that, pronto!

There is some other news to tell you this week though, which is that I’m finally able to announce that I’d been asked to become a contributor to the Official Coronation Street Blog, and my first posting will be up either tonight or tomorrow morning.

As someone who’s watched and loved Corrie’s acting and humour since I was a child (eey, when even our Ken wor barely more than a lad), it’s such a thrill to be able to write for two Corrie sites (the other being Corrie Countdown).  Soap-y Corner is probably going to just become a general ‘overview’ of the week’s Soaps from now on, with the more detailed Corrie reviews only appearing on there (if you’re interested!).

So: as for tomorrow night … I’m just nervous about forgetting my lines. As I write this I’ve got a few butterflies, but am going to do lots more practise before tomorrow and (whether it’s good or bad), if I can get hold of a recording I’ll put it up here next week, as you’re all ‘living’ it with me and – like when you’re pregnant – people always want to see the baby!  I’ll be tweeting tomorrow, so if you want to read more but don’t already follow me on Twitter, I’m janereynolds8.

I owe a big apology to BARRY from Swindon 105.5’s Big Weekender show, as I strangely managed to rename him Scott in last week’s blog.  Nick actually called him Scott all the way through this week’s show and – frankly – I think it suits him!  They had two hilarious sketches on Friday that would have slotted right in on Radio 4/4Extra.  These guys are undiscovered genius, and I wish I was able to do more than just ‘big them up’ on here.

Right; let’s try and get some writing done.

MasterChef

Seeing that profiterole tower took me back to the best profiteroles I ever had, in a wonderful Restaurant overlooking the water’s edge in Amalfi in about 1985.  No chocolate; just the little choux balls, filled with creme patissiere then drizzled with a thin, chilled white sauce, delicately-flavoured with just a hint of Amalfi lemon.  It was one of the nicest things I’ve ever tasted, and I’m surprised I’ve never seen it anywhere else … But enough of my reminiscences!

Glazed scones: don’t get me started …  It makes them look shop-bought, and the glaze sticks to the roof of your mouth.  Not necessary in my opinion (other opinions are available).  As usual this series, everything’s had to be OTT, the whole Wartime Tea thing was just – for me – way too much, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard “Very nice,” said so many times in one programme by so few.  If I’d had a Million Pounds, I’ve have bet they’d have put the tin hat on it by playing Vera Lynn at the end and … ooh, I was right!

Ok.  I’m really wanting Sara to win now, but if I was a betting woman I’d have to put my money on Tim, as (like I’ve said before), they tend to go for the most outlandish contestant, and this year it’s Tim.  Let’s just see …

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t1k5

Candy Cabs

It was more Candy floss than ‘owt else this week, wasn’t it?  Like I said: pink cabs are the flimsy premise being used as an excuse to trot out a load of familiar old storylines.  Feisty lasses slagging men off; a bit of this, a lot of ‘the other’ and surprise, surprise … it’s another hit for the BBC!  Yes, it’s formulaic; yes, it’s sugary, but it’s good fun and you feel better at the end of it, so who can argue with that, aye?  Jo Joyner is just bril-  (oh, I did that last week, didn’t I?) … but she is!  I’m surprised it’s only a three-parter, but I confidently predict it’ll be back (with a longer run), in the Autumn.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yk3dp

Archer-y

Have you listened to Archers Extra?  No, nor me.  Can’t bring myself to.  I almost did, but my over-riding thought is that if it’s not in the ‘proper’ show I’d rather not know, and as the writing’s really rather thin in places at the moment, I feel that more time should be concentrated there.  So-much-so that there’s not a lot I’m really able to say this week, as so little actually happened!

Ed and Emma’s baby arriving was a sweet moment though, and I was filling-up and dripping tears over the ironing* as she was being born, but someone needs to have a word with Wiww-yum.  What a brat!  Ok, we know he’s jealous, but it was hard to tell who was the child – him or George – this week!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/the-archers

Soap-y Corner

I’d been wondering where the Jackon storyline was going in Emmerdale: there’s only so many self-pitying one-liners someone can crack about being stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of their life, but it appears Jackson’s getting sick.  Let’s hope it’s terminal, as I’m getting sick of this storyline.  It couldn’t come at a better time for me, but I don’t want Pauline Quirke to leave.  Let’s hope she gets it together with Bob and re-opens the shop/cafe.  She’s made to take over from Viv behind that counter, dishing out coffee and insults to all who enter!

No offence Jackson.  I’ve liked you, but We need to get Arron back out there on the scene again.  His ‘Angry Young Man’ character was so boring and predictable when he first arrived in the village, but he’s gone on to become one of my favourites (although I don’t really like it when he shaves his head).  There’s a lot of shaved heads in Emmerdale at the moment.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Edna wasn’t bald as a coot under that hat now too!

You know how I’m fascinated by how people look like each other in Soaps?  Well, have you noticed how John Barton seems to be turning into Jack Sugden?  He’s looking more and more like him each week.  All he needs is to be sewn into a green Barbour jacket and the transformation will be complete!

And as for EastEnders … We’ve been desperate for the culmination of the baby-swap storyline, but I’m afraid I found it all a bit of a let-down.  After weeks of torture for everyone (including the viewers!), I found the scene where Ronnie finally confessed to Kat really poor, and both actresses looked to be struggling at not only the quality, but lack of actual words in the script.  Of course, we knew the Episode would end on a knife’s edge, so roll on Monday, but it just felt (to me), like a real anti-climax in – what has been – one of the Soap’s biggest and most controversial storylines.

Kat and Alfie were – as usual – tinglingly brilliant, but ooh, it wasn’t what I’d hoped for. I’m sure this week will have us gripped (but I’m guessing that Kat not being able to bond with little baby Tommy will be the next issue though).  How cute is that baby?

Quote of the Week

“Are you struggling to succeed? Try making your goal a bit smaller. Or, if you’re Fernando Torres, quite a lot bigger.” Thanks to Twitter’s GreySkyThinking

Twitter-y

If you’re one of my new Twitter followers and this is the first time you’ve read this blog, then Thank You for following me, and I hope you’ll click on some of these links as they’re all ones I’ve looked at, found useful and wanted to share with you.

How I Boosted my Twitter Reach by 15 percent Overnight: http://bit.ly/fb4yfe Thanks to TweetSmarter for this one.