RANDOM JOTTINGS

Well, the snow has gone, vanished as if it had never been and instead of the outlook from my window looking white and lovely, I now have spots of slush, dripping trees and bleak grey skies.  In other words, a typical January day.  I went out yesterday and the pavements were still treacherous with deceptively clear stretches but with small unseen patches of ice ready to catch you out.  I did a Torvill half way to my destination and only by grabbing somebody's front gate did I stop myself doing a purler so was glad to get indoors.  Today was different.  I went out and though it was raining, the temperature had risen and as I tramped through the small wood just to the back of my block it was good to breathe in that lovely smell of wet earth and to hear the water from the stream which had been frozen, trickling down the hill.  But, it is a day when it is good to be indoors nice and warm with the curtains drawn and this is where I now am.  I have some chicken stock boiling up at the moment in my kitchen which will be used tomorrow when I make my courgette soup and it is all cosy and nice.

I received a couple of DVD box sets for Christmas so spent last night watching NCIS, Series One and found myself enjoying it all over again.  The new series, Number six, just started this week on terrestrial TV and I now have to admit to being a total fan and will have to get hold of some of the other series as well.  Amazon have them on sale at the moment for about £10 each which is simply amazingly cheap so may very well treat myself. 

Not sure if I mentioned to Random Readers that Simon Bates on Classic FM, name checked me a week or so ago when I was listening to his show and sent him, on the spur of the moment, an email saying how beautiful the snow was making everything look.  A minute later he used my email as a lead in to the playing of the waltz from Swan Lake which was done so smoothly it really aroused my admiration. What a pro and he segued into it so well.

OK, so yesterday morning, got up around 10am (reading in bed), shambling around in my dressing gown, drinking coffee and listening to the Simon Bates show again, and was on line when he played one of my favourite pieces, the Schubert 9th Symphony, and it was the third movement which has the most sublime lilting tune slap bang in the middle of it.  So I send him a quick email saying I was in my dressing gown blah blah, chilling blah blah and wasn't the Schubert gorgeous blah blah balh.  Blow me down the piece finished and out of my loudspeakers comes Simon's voice 'Picture this.  Elaine Simpson-Long is sitting in her dressing gown, drinking coffee and chilling and enjoying the Schubert, What a glorious piece of music' and then the next piece started.  Well, I nearly dropped my coffee I was so surprised.  It also made me laugh and put me in such a good mood for the day….

So a rambly post today.  I will be posting over on Random Music tomorrow about a TV programme I watched last night 'From opera star to pop star' which left me totally breathless – for all the wrong reasons I might add. I can only call it Car Crash TV, but more anon.

This week I have been trying out a wonderful new Typepad widget called Blog it. If I come across anything in the papers or reviews that I like and wish to share with you, I just click on this button on my tool bar and Yay, it is done.  Technology is really great.  Also, I now have linked my posts on Random Music with this blog and they are shown on the right hand side of the page so if anybody sees anything they might be interested in you can click on that as well and over you go.  I am trying to build up the traffic on this blog, but remember when I started Random Jottings – it takes time and patience.

Getting dark and dreary now and my lights are on even though it is not yet 4pm so I think a cup of tea is on the agenda and a return to my current read, The Children's Book by AS Byatt which I am finding a bit of a struggle.  I shall let you know how I get on.

Have a good weekend everyone.