Vixens at the Zoo

Monday was the annual Vincent Vixen reunion, and this time we decided to go to my favourite stomping ground, London Zoo.



Diane, Eliza and Ann, with Melati in the background.



Diane, Eliza, Melati and me.

We had a great day catching up. Even with not much Vincent stuff to talk about, we have so much to talk about that we never shut up.

Ann took some lovely animal pictures:

Funny, they were bigger than this when I uploaded them...

At the end of the day, we tried to make our various ways back home to the four corners of the country (well, not quite...) but almost did not get past second base. There was a signal failure at the tube station, Camden Town, and hundreds of people outside pressing to be allowed in.

We decided  to try our luck with a cab (not easy in a busy location under such circumstances) but we were fortunate, and found one pretty quickly to take us to King's Cross, where Diane could catch her train, and the rest of us could find alternative ways to get to where we needed to be to continue our journeys.

Today I slept!

Endgame

Poor, sad, perfect Bobby.

Depths

Just the view we all longed for, and fully appreciated.

Death Roe

No wonder that silly woman-child make goo-goo eyes at him.

Old New Forest

When King Harold avoided a Scandinavian future for the English by defeating Harald Hardrada, he had to make his way as speedily as possible from the north east coast to the south coast where William the Bastard was about to make his own invasion attempt.

Of course, poor old Harold got an eyeful of arrow, and William won the Battle of Hastings in the year the English lost control of their country to foreign invasion for the last time ever, in 1066.

In 1079 Harold created from an existing ancient woodland a hunting forest, identified and described in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the New Forest.

It's a very desirable place to live, and one of my cousins is lucky enough to live there. Every year I go to visit her and her family just for a day, and yesterday was that day.

The New Forest is famous for its wild ponies. People love to see them (though they don't always drive as if they realise a wild pony can run out into the road at any point, and this year the death toll has risen). Some now have reflective collars round their necks in an attempt to reduce deaths. Even though I visit every year, and knew there were also cattle grazing on the forest heathland (deer are restricted to specific areas) I had no idea till yesterday there were wild donkeys.

I thought some of you might enjoy a few pictures of the creatures that wander nonchalantly across the roads to the delight and, sometimes frustration, of passing motorists.


An adult pony wanders off the road on to the verge.


One foal had wandered away from its mum, and was having a leisurely stroll past the cars.


A group of donkeys oblivious of the traffic mayhem they were causing. Some were youngsters with their fluffy juvenile coats just beginning to moult off.

Dead

Which side do you dress, sir?

And can I help you with that?

Awful Pretty, Pretty Awful

First the good part. At the end of July I took my friend Rob to London Zoo. I really needed to see the baby Malayan tapir before he lost his stripes.

I was lucky. His stripes are beginning to disappear under his adult grey back, but he's still stripey and sweet as anything.









The Francois langurs have a new baby, but unlike the adults the babies are ginger. You can just about see the baby's head and part of its body.



Meanwhile, my expensive summer continues - though luckily not quite as expensive as it could have been. On Saturday I came downstairs to find that my shower had flooded the kitchen, which is below the bathroom. The ceiling was stained from floodwater from a leaky gutter last year, and I still haven't had the stains painted over. Just as well. As I walked to the shops on Saturday afternoon, I was determined to ask every neighbour I met if they could recommend a good plumber. The first one I met said she'd recently had a similar problem, but the plumber was supplied but the company that insures her pipework. A light bulb lit up in my brain. Didn't I have just such an insurance policy? I checked when I got home, and I did. A plumber came out today and, instead of as I'd imagined ripping up the floor tiles and floorboards, he sawed holes in the ceiling:

The company will send someone out to patch the holes, but the repainting is down to me. This year, next year, sometime, never...

DAW

That beautiful brow, the stern look. Ooh, I'd melt!

Who New

So, the new Doctor Who is Peter Capaldi. That makes 2 out of 12 Doctors I've seen with my own eyes, in person.

Tom Baker passed me at Charing Cross Station years ago. Peter Capaldi walked past me in the street a couple of years back. I seem to recall he went into a cake shop or cafe.

See how sad I am? I think this is a big enough deal to make a post about, even more than remembering a week or two ago that I once worked with someone who was on a plane with the world's first female elected head of state, Mrs Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, putting me at two degrees of separation.

Cuba Libre

Bobby in the dark with a kissable neck. Every red-blooded woman's dream.

Cruise To Nowhere

Perfect.

We won

For now.

The plans to downgrade the A&E and maternity services at Lewisham Hospital, my local, by the Health Secretary, have been declared illegal in a judicial review at the High Court. Locals were not consulted, including the GPs that now hold the purse strings, thanks to a decision by the government that appears to have backfired on them.

Whoopee!

Of course, this crappy government, which wasted £6 million on the initial consultation (which wasn't even about this hospital) is going to appeal, thus wasting even more money. Our money.

And if they lose the appeal? They will spit out their dummies and change the law to make it legal for their puppets to do whatever the fuck they decided they wanted done anyway, thus making consultation a charade and a farce.

Typical of bullies to change the rules if they don't win. But they have to learn to take it, especially when they have no mandate from the electorate for any of this creeping dismantling of our beloved NHS.

Crazy

Kissy kissy.

Con-Text

Again, you have to be a Vincent fan to get it fully.

Consumed

Only a Vincent fan will understand.

Conscience

Getting all hot and bothered. Me as well as him.

Collective

Just look at that expression. Little boy at play, needs cuddle. Or spanking...

Chained Exclusive! Rerun

I've decided to republish this little gem from last year's London Frightfest because Jennifer Lynch has been getting some nasty trolls tweeting and blogging against her, and I thought it might be nice to show her that she is appreciated. I know some of you were too wimpish to watch the film, even to see our favourite actor, because Bobby Goren this character is not. But I know we are all glad to know he is getting the chance to stretch his creative wings, which Jen certainly gave him here.

Review, and interview with Jennifer Lynch.

This was a harrowing film during the showing of which the audience sat for the most part in stunned silence.

Vincent D'Onofrio acts brilliantly, as we would expect, and needs make no effort to be believable as a brute capable of dragging and carrying a full-grown woman screaming and struggling to her doom.

There are some flashbacks to the childhood experiences that made Vincent's character, Bob, what he is. As he tries to persuade/coerce Rabbit to emulate his actions and lifestyle, there are some interesting psychological observations in the portrayals under Lynch's direction.

There is a twist at the end that Lynch had to reduce because of time comstraints. Lynch is hoping to release a Director's Cut to restore the lost scenes.

On the absolute unmissable plus side, there are shots of Vincent's torso, front and back and in the shower, his lovely calves, and those size 13s. Plus a side view of one bum cheek with leg on top of a victim as he dozes. Trust me, it's worth all the nastiness.

As this recording of part of the interview starts, Lynch has been discussing the doctoring of the one murder scene that is visual rather than audible as required by the censors. It had to be painted out as being "too realistic" which, she said, was rather the point.

Cold Comfort

I just love the shoulders in the shirt.

Chinoiserie

It's been a while since I posted a tongue shot.