"Now then, now then ..."
There was a programme on the other night called "Saville Row". I was hoping it would be a show where Jimmy Saville has a blazing row with a different celebrity every week. "Tonight: Jimmy nearly comes to blows with Joanna Lumley over stem cell research."
Sadly, it was just some guff about clothes and shit. Highly disappointing.
Labels: television
link | 0 comment(s) | links to this post
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
I'm Not Dead ...
... but you wouldn't have noticed until quite recently. Since the start of the year I've been in a sort of horrible funk, just sleep-walking through life. I'm not very good at this time of year. The dark really gets to me, and this has been compounded by weeks of horrible rain. February has been quite crisp and sunny so far, the days are getting a little longer, and I'm beginning to feel a little better. I do have a bit of a cold, but it's nothing compared to the one that has been plagueing R since before Christmas. Apparently it's common for pregnancy to slow down your immune system, making it harder to shift colds and the like, and of course she can't take anything for it. All I can do is make her steamy bowls and keep going out for tissues. It shouldn't be affecting her passenger, though, and everything seems a-ok on her part. We are almost exactly half-way there, and are going for our final scan in a couple of weeks.
In preparation for impending parenthood (and utilising the services of the cathode-ray babysitter), we thought we'd put on CBeebies the other night and have a look at what televisual fare is on offer to the younger viewer. We ended up watching an episode of In The Night Garden, a frankly terrifying programme for toddlers from the makers of Tellytubbies. In common with that show, it features oversized fabric characters larking around in a rural setting and talking gibberish. The most unsettling character is Iggle Piggle, a sort of blue teddy-bear and nominal star of the show whose continual lopsided grin can only be described as deeply sinister. Its only saving grace is Makka Pakka, whose endearing catchphrase ("Makka Pakka!") and altruistic demeanour (he wanders the wood washing other character's faces with his oversized sponge and soap) have charmed us suffiently to overcome the unease provoked by his colleagues and has gone to make "In The Night Garden" a regular teatime fixture in our house. Sadly, he is much under-utilised, and more often than not an episode will focus on the nightmarish antics of the Tomliboos, or a tale involving the Pontipine family going for a walk and losing their children along the way (Mr and Mrs Pontipine are surely some of the most negligent parents on our screens and set a terrible example for those parents who may be watching along with their kids.), rather than our undersized cave-dwelling hero. I intend to write to the makers of In The Night Garden and insist that more exposure be given to Makka Pakka forthwith. Nothing less than his own spinoff series will suffice.
In the meantime, if anyone would like to buy one of these and send it our way, it would be greatly appreciated. For the baby. Yes. The baby.
Labels: diary, pregnancy, television
link | 2 comment(s) | links to this post