Irritations, Inverness and In Memory

Is it a full moon tonight ? It must be because the nutters are out in force. My first voicemail of the day ... "Hello, I'm in a phone box, call me back if you want some business". Erm ... right. Swiftly followed by a complete gentleman who obviously went to the School for Charm, NOT. "Hi, I'd like a prostitute". Oh dear. Actually the deeply mischievous side of me wanted to say "Certainly Sir, would you like blonde, brunette, transexual or a sheep ?"

Thank goodness it's nearing holiday time. I'm taking the first week in August off to go and spend time with my family so I'm looking forward to that. Time to chill out and relax whilst deftly avoiding my mother's cookery as much as possible. ( I use the term 'cookery' rather generously actually, to describe the various abominations she has produced in her time. ) It has to be said, I'm not much better myself but Mr F has showed me how to cook a couple of very basic dishes so I'm looking forward to trying them out on my clan without landing everyone in A & E. I know my cooking can't be up to much because everytime I dig out the saucepans at home my 8 year old whistles through her teeth and says " Good luck everyone".

Amanda and I are in Inverness at the moment and it is so hot it's unreal. We are literally melting, however this afternoon we found a beautiful bookshop within an old church and thoroughly enjoyed browsing around. It also has nice place for lunch so we had some soup and toasties too. Thank you to Dollymopp for the recommendation, it is certainly worth a visit. As I post this Amanda is stretched out on her bed reading a book about 17th Century whoring so I'm waiting for the inevitable "WAIT 'til you hear this ..."

The world has gone Michael Jackson mad, I tell thee. Half of usually sensible newspapers taken over with photos of fans weeping, quotes from other celebrities, etc. It's all a bit much in my humble opinion. Of course a celebrity can never die without the usual conspiracy theories being bandied about and I'm sure they'll surface soon. His death seems to have completely over shadowed that of Farrah Fawcett, which is a shame. She was my favourite Angel and I have fond memories of watching her on tv and desperately trying to get my hair to 'flick' like hers.

But there's one other death in the news at the moment that I must admit moved me to tears. It's that of Neda, a young girl shot dead in the streets of Iran by a cowardly faceless sniper. I've included a link below, which I must warn you is quite upsetting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5KBrsz1oxs&feature=related

She was a beautiful young woman with everything to live for, she was a talented musician who was engaged to be married and she had her whole life ahead of her. In just under a minute that life was snatched away from her. So rest in peace Neda, and I just hope that your death wasn't in vain.

LL xx