Tomorrow

I'm going to lunch with friends tomorrow. Some of you may remember a post last year about Edenbridge House, a big and beautiful place with huge grounds. Well, that's the place, and I may not get back in time to post. But you know me - if I can I will.

Dear Mr D'Onofrio

If you receive Google Alerts for your name, you may sometimes see my blog mentioned, like this one from yesterday:

Google Blogs Alert for: Vincent D'Onofrio

Mis-Labeled?By val(val) Well, yes - it was supposed to be a cop show, but in my opinion it was a Vincent D'Onofrio feast.life and vincent - http://life-and-vincent.blogspot.com/

Perhaps you have even visited once or twice, in which case you will know I am one of your biggest fans (I would say THE biggest, but there are a lot of ladies - and some gentlemen - who deserve to share the accolade with me, and they might do me a mischief if I tried to hog ALL the limelight).

We all love your brilliant acting; we have as many of your films as we can find. Especially the ones in which you appear naked. (Actually it sometimes seems impossible to find films in which you are actually clothed).

We adore your performances in Law and Order: Criminal Intent and are delighted that you are going to continue to make this programme (because you really do make it, be sure of that!)

I hope you are not offended by my tendency to cater to the baser tastes of the Vincent D'Onofrio fans who call themselves (OURselves) Vincent Vixens. We all adore your acting, not just your groin.


Just because we drool over your back, shoulders


front

hands, arms, wrists





feet


face, hair, nose, eyes, eyelashes, mouth, teeth, ears, jaw, eyebrows, stubble



neck

legs

butt

does NOT mean we do not appreciate the finer points of your acting ability. Ann always insists it's your brain that interests her. We may even believe her (though she did try her hand at the zip of the Boby Goren trousers I bought off Ebay) and we even understand. But we are keen for you to know that we love the whole package (no not THAT package JoJo and Julie - though actually, yes, that package as well).

So, if you would care to let us know how you feel about our adoration, indeed if you have a moment for us to feel you in adoration, I know that Eliza, Diane, Tess and all the other fine, upstanding people who dream about you all night AND all day, hoping that YOU will be upstanding too... Damn, I've lost my thread. Anyway, we all want to meet you and have sex with you, sorry, discuss your brilliant acting career with you. If you could just make arrangements for the US bunch to visit you in New York, and for the UK/European contingent to experience your gorgeousness next time you are in London or thereabouts, we would be eternally grateful. Really. We would show it in all sorts of ways. Repeatedly. And for as long as you would let us.

With much love on behalf of your adoring fans in blogdom.

Val.

And the answers are:

1. furphy - a false report or improbable story; a rumour (Australian)
example: unpleasant people post furphies all over the Internet.
2. piligerous - covered in hair or down
example: Vincent D'Onofrio's chest is slightly piligerous.
3. swikedom - treachery; betrayal; deceit
example: we thought NBC was going to commit an act of swikedom by cancelling LOCI.
4. maritodespotism - the domination of a wife by her husband through the use of fear or force
(Good guess, SnarkAngel).
5. ventoseness - the condition of flatulence, or a tendency to flatulence
example: I am tired of the ventoseness of troll posts.

Henry's Latest Trick

Not satisfied with falling off his perch for my entertainment, Henry has taken to flying down on to the floor and scurrying under my large pine dresser. That would be fine, but I can hear him chewing it from underneath. I go over to lure him out, and out pops a head, looking up - is it in innocence or mischief? You decide.

Having picked him up today I put him on the back of the sofa where, like a typical naughty pet, he kept marching up to the camera as I tried to take pictures.

Mis-Labeled?

Well, yes - it was supposed to be a cop show, but in my opinion it was a Vincent D'Onofrio feast.

Festival of Britain

The south bank of the Thames was a mess after the end of World War 2 and the population of the British Isles was still experiencing rationing and other after-effects of the conflict. In an effort to raise morale, and with the Great Exhibition of 1851 in mind, the powers-that-be decided to create the Festival of Britain. The Festival Hall (now the Royal Festival Hall) was at the heart of the celebrations. The Dome of Discovery housed exhibitions on all sorts of topics related to science, the sky and the natural world. It was at the time the largest dome on the planet, and in a very futuristic style, but it was demolished after the exhibition was over.

The Skylon was also very futuristic, and was illuminated from the inside. It looked as if it was hanging in the sky unsupported.

The only part of the exhibition to survive was the concert hall, The Festival Hall. It has just undergone a multi-million pound refurbishment in an attempt to restore it to its former glory after years of fiddling and interfering. It was notorious for its accoustics, which were marred by the interior of the hall itself being lined with wood. They've even had the original carpet reproduced.


At the far end of the building you can just see a large black statue. It is a bust of Nelson Mandela which was erected in 1985. There was some controversy at the time. Some people said it was just another excess of the Greater London Council and its leader, one Ken Livingstone. Thatcher didn't like a body of people she couldn't boss about and intimidate, so she abolished it. Yah boo sucks to the nay-sayers. Now Ken Livingstone is the twice-elected Mayor of London, and Nelson Mandela even has a statue outside the Houses of Parliament!