Not many new posts...

....from moi, as you can see.

Ho hum!

Sorry, peeps!

And they're probably aren't going to be any for the next few weeks, either. Tomorrow I am heading off on my hols to Cornwall. I must admit I am rather excited, having never visited that neck of the woods before (even though I was actually born in Falmouth but was, erm, far too young to remember). We're staying in Newquay, which I've heard lots of good things about, not to mention Cornwall itself - we're planning on visiting lots of other places in the county too - St Ives, Tintagel, etc. The gay scene there looks pretty non-existent but then, that's not the be-all and end-all is it?! After that I'm back home for a few days but have scarcely time to rest before setting off on another trip, this time to visit folks/friends up North - and I'm going to be journeying from place to place - a Yorkshire/Lancashire/Leicestershire road trip no less: my family in York; a mate in Newcastle; a place in the Pennines called Haltwhistle; then Morecambe, Lancs, where one of my oldest friends resides (looks gloriously tacky but don't tell him that...) and finally Loughborough near Leicester. Should be good!

Not been many "cheesy" posts of late, I know, and still nothing on the last series of Dr Who!! You want the truth? I can't be bothered to watch all the episodes from Season Six again, in order to write some reviews! What has happened to me?! When I started my original blog, one of my main aims was to write a lot of posts on Dr Who-related things but over time my interest has really waned...am I turning into a boring old fart? Nah. I just wasn't that crazy about the latest series, that's all (and I agree with what you said, Amanda! And Tim, yes, perhaps I should dust out some old series DVDs and write about those instead!)

Anyways, enough of that. Have a fab Summer whatever you're doing everyone and I will be back...

OC x

Tomorrow....

...I'm going on holiday to the country wot has this as their flag...


.... and I can't bloody wait!!

Jetting off...

Tomorrow I'm off on my hols to the USA. Yay!! Actually this is going to sound SO ungrateful and moaney, but the last few days I've been feeling a bit indifferent about it all - just kind of lazy and lethargic and wanting to stay on the couch all the time. However I'm sure that will all soon come to pass once I arrive there.

So just to let you know, there will be no further blog posts from moi (not that there have been that many anyway!) until I get back from vacation which will be in about a week and a half's time - so I shall speak to you all then.

And will I ever write those Dr Who reviews?! If truth be known I just haven't felt inspired enough to do it, that is why!!

Must go and finish packing...

Ciaou for now my lovelies...

OC x

Holiday!! Celebrate!!

I tried desperately to think of a snappy n' cool title for my "return" post. I suppose it could have been "I'm back, back, BACK" but I feel that one has been ever so slightly flogged to death. So instead I had to settle for Madonna. Even more passe. Aw well.

Anyway folks, as you might have gathered from the aforementioned title, today was my very last day at work and I now have over 4 weeks' worth of holiday to look forward to!! Yaaaay!! As I sit typing this the sun is shining outside my lounge window and it all bodes well... It's been a long haul, marking, marking and yet more marking, preparing next year's schemes of work, etc... But it's all done and dusted now and I'm better off financially too having done my annual marking stint for AQA (a rather good exam board to work for, for anyone who might be remotely interested). And this will help considerably with my forthcoming trip to ...

... San Francisco!!!

Double yay!!

And also ... Los Angeles.

Yes, I'm off there at the start of August and can't wait. This is actually my first ever trip to the USA, let alone SF and LA! And I'll be meeting up with the lovely Matty too...whoop whoop!

Meanwhile, I am sooo behind with my Dr Who reviews and need to finish off discussing the remaining episodes (if you're remotely interested in hearing the musings of this Old Cheeser!) I can say right now though, the last instalments kind of disappointed me. Matt Smith is very endearing and has for the most part won me over, but some of the stories were just too sub-standard for me, and slipped into soap opera histrionics, which under the new regime of "The Moff" I thought and hoped we were getting away from, since Russell T Davies cleared off. However that was not entirely the case...More on that later...

Anyway, it's good to be back. And I've missed you all lots!!

Brazil pics - Part One!

Okay, I promised I'd put up some pics from my hols to Brazil to show you what it was like - so here are some edited highlights .... belatedly! It all seems a lifetime ago now what with the chilly climes we've been enduring here ... (ggrrrr!!)

The house we stayed in, in Porto Seguro. I loved the warm colours and rustic style - as soon as I saw the place on a website I knew it would be THE place to stay!

Another house shot with lots of lush vegetation.

Pool shot. One day I want my own place with a pool - every home should have one!

Me taking a dip, I was in there like a shot as soon as we arrived!

Night time dips were rather nice too! (it was so balmy and warm at night it made no difference!)

There were lots of trees in the region with red flowers like then one you see above - this picture doesn't totally do them justice, but very pretty all the same.

Or fabulous pink ones like this.

Cute (pretend) lighthouse at the bottom of the street where we were staying.

I liked the coloured glass of this building.

One of the many beaches in Porto Seguro. Bliss!

Sea view.

We visited the beaches practically every day.

The beaches were constantly full of vendors, like this sweet old lady, coming to sell you various goodies. Prawns on a stick or fried sea food (spiced up with fresh lime) were very popular (and totally delicious!!) Goes very well with a chilled beer too. And they had some fab and very cheap cocktails ...

Yum!! Or as they say in Portuguese, gostoso ....

You also found scenes like this on most of the beach areas - a stage area with lots of Latino music and trained performers/dancers, like the chap with in the red t-shirt with the mic, who'd get all the punters to come up and copy their moves. Brazilians are very into synchronised dancing. I had a good go, but it's damn hard to keep up with it all!

Altogether now .... Follow the leader, leader, leader, follow the leadaaaaaaaaaar!!

Alternatively there were performers like this .... laaaaady (ahem)!! Great entertainment and there was usually a performer of this ilk down on the beach every day.

Standard trannie act usually involved getting four nice-looking men, sometimes mere teenagers, out of the audience (mostly heterosexual guys) and making them perform lots of interesting ... dance moves ... as well as getting them to do other rude and suggestive things, to the extreme amusement of the audience.

Such as this.
And this .... what was great to see was the parents and kids thoroughly enjoying it all with no bigoted comments or nastiness. Not sure you could get away with that in the UK - Brazil is definitely more open-minded in some respects and I just think they have a much freer attitude and sense of fun over there!

Even the pensioners got a look-in.

Alternatively there were fit young fellows like this one - mmm mmm.


If you fancied a tattoo, there was usually someone on the beach who could oblige. Here's me and Gustavo's sisters, newly tattooed (temporary ones, mind!)

Another fascinating thing about the resort is the abundance of Native Indians. Porto Seguro is one of the oldest cities in Brazil, and was the first site to be discovered by the Portuguese explorer, Cabral. Prior to his arrival, the Native Indians were the indigenous population - still are, actually! There were lots of Native Indians frequenting the beaches, selling natural artefacts and the like and we also visited one of their villages a bit later on! This stunning, if sombre looking, guy kindly allowed me to take his picture...

Thinking about it, they probably get sick of tourists saying "Can I take your picture??"!

Another Native Indian, this young boy was a bit of a cheeky chappie and took the mick out of Gustavo being gay! These people are more clued up than you think.


Do you think the headdress suits me, then? More of me in Native Indian attire, later.

Gustavo and some of his family on the beach...

More piccies coming soon!