Urgh, I'm sick

So for the last few days I've been feeling pretty under the weather and finally today I caved in and called in sick to work. I hate calling in sick. I hate falling behind at work, I hate having to make the phone call but there is something to be said about having a day to yourself - even if I you are in bed surrounded by tissues and orange juice.

In between naps and blowing my nose I've been watching my favourite show in the whole wide world. It used to be on TV on Sunday afternoons, I remember having Sunday lunch then running around outside and doing what ever kids did back them (usually play 40 40 Out). Then as the sun started to go in I'd go home and watch this before having my weekly bath. I'm talking about, of course, The Storyteller.

Now I've tried to talk about the Storyteller to some of my friends, and they look at me like I'm crazy, like I'm making it all up. Conversations usually go something like this 

"You know, that programme with John Hurt, he sits in front of the fire and tells stories. And he has a dog, a talking dog you must know it?!"

Blank stares.

"It's by Jim Henson"

"The guy who did The Muppets?"

"And the Labyrinth, one of the best films known to man, anyway The Storyteller has trolls, trollops, giants, the stone soup story, and you must remember Hans the Hedgehog"

"I like Beaker"

Beaker? What about me?!

So, that's the kind of people I'm friends with. Beaker fans who have never heard of The Storyteller. But surely it can't have just been me who watched this as a kid?! For those (poor people) who have never watched The Storyteller, John Hurt regales us with different folk tales from across the world. The stories are dark, certainly not anything Disney would make a film about, the acting can be a bit dodgy (especially the child actors) but it is beautiful. The mix of puppets, animation and live action is perfect. The Storyteller's narration and the music merge wonderfully. I may be a bit nostalgic over this TV show but I've never seen anything similar since. It's just what I need today to make me feel just a little bit better. That and and nutella on toast.

Also, I've now joined Instagram (I know, I'm 5 years behind anyone else) so if you want to follow me please do. When I work out how to get photos from there on to here I'll also try and do a monthly post to show what I've been taking photos of.

Wicked Weekend

Last weekend I had one of the best weekend I've had in a long time. I don't like winter, it makes me tired, lazy and cold. However as my friend George and I have agreed to walk up a mountain sometime this summer I thought I better get some sort of fresh air and exercise. To do this I headed down to the Isle of Wight for the weekend.

Blatantly stolen from The Islander

George and I spent Saturday morning walking up St Boniface Downs, climbing over trees, rolling down hills, and generally enjoying the sea air. After all that activity it was only fair the rest of the day consisted of eating pick n mix at the cinema, watching X-men First Class (Michael Fassbender, be still my beating heart!) whilst eating George's amazing homemade pie. The weekend was finished off with a trip to the local wildlife park on Sunday to get pooed on by a rather large bird - who knew one bird could poo so much! It was a very relaxed but active weekend, especially for me who has practically hibernated all winter, and made me yearn for spring.

Unfortunately I decided not to take my camera (before I went down there I was in a grump and didn't want to blog or take photos - stupid me) but George did. Therefore I want to take this opportunity to point anyone who reads this to George's blog so she can regale with photos of at least part of the weekend. You can find her post here.

I promise I'll get out of this winter grump soon and get out with my camera again!