January & February 2024 Favourites

Welcome to my first Favourites post and video for this year! As I had a very busy Christmas that lasted until mid-January, it made sense to combine the latter half of that month with February for this roundup.

Recent weeks have been quite relaxed compared to the festive period, as hoped and expected, but there’s still quite a variety of bits and pieces to mention. These include an audio described gallery tour, a free meal, a special scenic view of the city, an important new audio play, things I’ve been watching that have been recommended by friends, and other entertainment I’ve enjoyed. Some of these items are PR-related, as indicated when appropriate, but all opinions are my own regardless. So I hope you enjoy!

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40th Birthday Favourites

Here we go, the big four-o,
These two score years have not gone slow!
Amazing how the time has flown,
And since my youth how much I’ve grown.
I had to celebrate, you know,
With food and drink and West End shows.
So with my friends and on my own,
I’ve really marked this milestone.

There’s stand-up stars who made me laugh,
Musicals well-choreographed,
Eating blind and on a cruise,
A 9-course feast and rounds of booze,
A major rock star’s prized possessions,
Art displayed with cool projections.
An action film with audio description,
And shows I’ve seen on television.

Come see how I’ve spent my time,
I promise it’s not all in rhyme.
Here’s why I’m feeling all aglow,
Enjoy this post and video!

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Doctor Who Review – Series 2

Recently I’ve started to binge-watch the modern era of Doctor Who again, given that the 60th anniversary is fast approaching. So following my extensive review of Series 1, where I also explained how I got into the show, it’s now time to move on to Series 2, by going through the Blu-ray Steelbook that I own.

This is the first series to feature David Tennant as The Doctor, and the second to be overseen by Russell T Davies as showrunner – which is significant given that they’re both returning in the same roles for this year’s anniversary.

David’s predecessor Christopher Eccleston is my favourite Doctor, because he was my first Doctor and he was absolutely brilliant in the role. But David Tennant is joint top of my list with him to be honest, as he was also excellent, as demonstrated right from the outset in this second series, where Billie Piper also returns as Rose Tyler. There’s such wonderful chemistry between David and Billie as their relationship progresses throughout the series, which makes the finale all the more moving.

So without further ado, and without all the preamble that I had to write for the first series, let’s get straight on with my review, and I hope you enjoy!

[Note: This post was edited in November 2023 to mention the new Whoniverse collection on iPlayer and the Series 1-4 & Specials box set.]

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Christmas 2022 Favourites

Happy New Year, I hope you had a lovely Christmas! I know that various things including finances, strikes and the weather all conspired to make things difficult, and the economic woes will continue during this coming year, but I hope you were able to enjoy the festivities in whatever way your circumstances allowed.

Fortunately, despite my recent redundancy, my mother and I are in a comfortable and stable position, so we were able to enjoy Christmas in the same way we do every year. I went out to see a musical and a variety of festive displays, and at home there were plenty of things for us to eat and watch.

It hasn’t been entirely without issues though. The railway strikes and the snow in December prevented me from going down to Devon to see my ex-colleagues for a Christmas meal. And now, in early January, my mother and I have finally caught Covid, after 3 years of successfully swerving it. I’ll write more about it in a later post, once I’m sure we’re clear of it, suffice to say being fully vaccinated has clearly helped, as we’re recovering pretty quickly. Plus I’ve still been able to put together the traditional video that accompanies this post.

So let’s get into it. This is an epic bumper post, as festive roundups tend to be, and none of it’s sponsored or gifted. I hope you enjoy!

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September 2020 Favourites

Autumn is now upon us, as is the second wave of the pandemic, and I know this will be a very difficult period for many, just as the whole year has been. So I hope you’re all continuing to keep safe and well as best you can.mu

For my part I’m still doing fine thus far, and still keeping myself occupied. I’ve been getting out and about more, and have continued to enjoy various forms of entertainment at home. So here’s my latest post and video roundup, in which nothing is sponsored or gifted as usual. I hope you enjoy!

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July 2018 Favourites

Time for another monthly favourites post and video, looking back at July. Things were very busy and successful on the blog and social media this month, I enjoyed some fun social events, museum visits and other entertainment, and I even got a bit sporty for once, all while enjoying the sweltering heatwave. So it was a pretty good month, and I hope you enjoy my review of it.

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Journal – March 2011

Welcome to another set of journal entries. This has been quite an eventful month, with Mum and I finishing off the legal stuff relating to my Dad’s passing, the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan that’s dominated the news, I’ve bought some more DVDs, and I saw Comic Relief on TV, among other things. And then at the end of the month I had a lovely long weekend break in Guernsey with a mate. So I hope you enjoy looking through it all.

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