Reparations

Growing up in the shadow of the Second World War, WWI seemed impossibly distant, though it had only been over for less than 50 years. I was pretty well always aware that one of the major reasons the world descended into conflict again so soon was the level of reparations demanded by the winning side (that's us, folks, UK and US, not to mention France and the other frontline states). It plunged Germany into an even worse recession than was being suffered in the 1920s and 1930s by the rest of the world. German people might have enough money to paper their walls, but not to buy a loaf of bread.



It's one of the reasons they were so willing to listen to Hitler and his poison, and to blame the Jews for their ills.



I suppose I always assumed that all of that was behind us. After WWII, instead of demanding reparations, the Allies poured money into W. Germany to develop its industry, giving it into the huge success as an industrial nation it enjoyed during the post war years.



Imagine my surprise, then, to discover that, in the week during which the reunification of Germany is 20 years old, Germany will make its final payment of reparations for WWI.



Madness.

Another nailbiting episode

Lynn has created a further episode of her strand of After Major Case. Keep your knickers on, folks.


http://www.aftermajorcase.blogspot.com

Can Anyone Help?

Ducky is desperate for a copy of Pelham, but doesn't have the channel it's being shown on on Monday.

Is there anyone out there who's recording it and can send her a copy? I don't think there's ever been a challenge yet to supply a fan with V-material that a fellow-Vixen hasn't risen to.

Meanwhile, here's the scene where I'm down below, just out of shot:

Lawks-a-mercy, look at that jaw!

That Face

We all love it. We'd all love to kiss it. We admire its flexibility and its ability to express so many emotions.

It's Vincent's face.

New Season 5 (Attempt 2)

Hopefully the final and successful attempt.










Bobby sniffs my irresistible perfume.




















That neck thing Vincent mentioned in an interview.


Ah, look at that tum!











Ooooh, look at that neck!








Bobby does his Al Jolson impersonation.


That smile - insincere or what?


This is worth dying for.

New Season 5 - Slither (Attempt 1)

I give up. The pictures have rearranged themselves into some random semi-reversed order, and after choosing the ones I wanted to post, the page went to log-in, and my choices were lost.

Bugger.

Time Doesn't Fly

What a great day! My 9.40 hospital appointment time came and went, and I finally got to see the doctor at about 10.45. I then managed to make the poor woman's day run even later by spending 30 minutes discussing my condition.

My MRI scan last month has shown a torn rotator cuff, which will have to be repaired by keyhole surgery. It will be some months still, and I will have to try and foster out my chickens for a few weeks when the time comes. Unfortunately, the scan also showed signs of osteoarthritis in that shoulder, and when we discussed other bits of me, the doctor said she could see that the pain in my thumb joints was actually not tendonitis but also arthritis. She looked up an old x-ray of my feet to confirm that, before the one that said my feet were fine, there was one that said they weren't!

One or two other things took a lot longer than I intended. Lunch in Marks and Spencer's cafe went on for about twice as long as I'd intended when the former deputy warden of the nursing home where my mother died turned up, and we had a long chat. On the way home I stopped to chat with a couple of neighbours, one of whom recently had a hip replacement, so I had to find out all the details of that incase my other hip ever needs replacing.

I thought I would make an early start on the computer, as I had a couple of emails I was anxious to send, and I also needed to cap Slither for tonight's post. Sadly, after taking about half an hour to turn on, and about the same time to reboot, it STILL wouldn't play my DVD. Nor would it open myYahoo mailbox. Thank goodness I cleared this crap Toshiba out almost completely with a view to giving it to my friend, then changed my mind and kept it, 'cos it's currently the only one that moves at anything like a reasonable speed.

One of the things I took off was my watermark, and as usual I couldn't remember what script I used for it, so Slither will look a bit inferior to my more recent caps. They are also somewhat smaller, as I couldn't remember the cap size I used either.

Of course, you may know that by now if I've actually managed to post some Slither pictures, in which case, why did I even bother to write this post in the first place? Answers on a postcard, please.

Hallmark Catches Up - Almost

On October 20th Hallmark Channel (or Universal, as it will be known by then) will begin showing Season 9. They are advertising it as Goren's last ever case.

They need to keep up.

No Arm In It

No arms can measure up to our lovely Vincent's muscular limbs.

OK, I know this one's shoulders, but I couldn't resist it.

From Shrink to Shrunk

In the early 1960s there was a great TV show called The Human Jungle, which starred Herbert Lom as a psychiatrist. It was a great show. I can still recall the spisode where Joan Collins danced naked on a tube station platform.

It disappeared, never to be seen again. Like The Expert, starring Marius Goring and a very young Robert Powell, it has sunk into the abyss whence black-and-white programmes never emerge. I wish someone would find them and give them another airing.



Lom, who was born in Czechoslovakia, next came to widespread attention as Police Chief Inspector Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movies. I loved the eye twitch when Clouseau drove him crazy, but the scenes in the insane asylum were among the best. This scene continues with a knicker-wettingly funny sequence with the garden rake, but I could only find it in an extremely long excerpt on YouTube. You can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIz6YpMXz1U&feature=related



A week or two agao I saw in the birthday listings in my newspaper that Herbert Lom is now 93. I don't know how old this picture is, but by george, he's looking well. Long may he flourish.

Free Willy

We think. We hope. We want to check. We want to inspect the Rocketman's pocket rocket.

Scared Crazy Hands

There are a lot of great hand shots in this episode. I haven't included the ones with the penknife where he's peeling the window film, 'cos I'm not at all convinced they are the Fine Hands of Perfection, but are rather the stunt claws.

New Season 5 - Scared Crazy

Bobby at his beautiful best. This perp was lucky it was our handsome hunk who was on his case.