More Fantastic Mr Fox news

The official Fantastic Mr Fox website is launched with a picture gallery. Is it wrong to be insanely jealous of a fictitious Badgers office?

Shopping frenzy

I always find shopping for weddings outfits a slightly hysterical experience. I know from my own time as a bride that you couldn’t care less what people wear just as long as they turn up, have a good time and don’t get too pissed before dinner. At our wedding not everyone managed to comply with the latter, but the alcohol bill suggested a good time was certainly had by all.

Despite being armed with this insider knowledge i still ended up on a frantic mission to secure a new frock for R&C’s Danish wedding next weekend.

I found myself at Westfields, the shiny new mega-mall over in White City. Am i the only one that finds those gigantic shopping meccas absolutely terrifying? Years ago when i lived in Sunderland i visited the Metro centre at Gateshead, which was then the largest of its kind in Europe. I got spectacularly lost and ended up in a blind panic desperately trying to locate the exit. The same thing happened to a lesser extent on Thursday. On the plus side, i did get myself kitted out.

I'm busy preparing for my Mum’s arrival on Thursday – she’s kindly agreed to cat/garden sit whilst we’re away. She’s bringing with her a new duvet and pillowcases set to, and I quote, 'save me from doing any washing’. Whilst this is such a sweet gesture it also implies my mother thinks i own just the one duvet cover....

River Cottage Croydon is in full produce mode. Got the last of the potatoes up on Monday and some of them were large enough to use for baking. I also picked my first courgette. Like Hugh, i employ the ‘rule of thumb’ to harvesting – if the courgette is longer than one of your fingers you can pick them. If you’ve ever seen my tiny hands you’ll understand how ridiculous that belief system is.

I’ve also become a little bit obsessed with playing a quiz game on the Xbox called 1 Vs 100. You compete live with thousands of other players worldwide for prizes. It's now my life’s ambition to be chosen as 'the one'.

Anyway, best be off to interact with the real word.

Come on August, my bored little brain needs you!

It became apparent to me this afternoon that since the walk training ended I’ve been in desperate need of a welcome distraction. Earlier I found myself giving serious consideration to learning to play the ukulele (perhaps something to do with The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain being on my iPod at the time). Me learning the ukulele is about as likely as Philip Glenister marrying my mother (sorry love, it just aint going to happen). So, it’s time for the thinking cap to go on....

Other things of note this week:

I’ve been ill. Whoh - before you start reaching for the Tamiflu I’m pretty certain it’s just a cold. My immune system is pathetic so if it had been anything more sinister I’d still be on my back demanding immediate hospitalisation. Really, all it meant was I spent Saturday night in a nest on the sofa watching the second season of ‘30 Rock’ and swigging back the Lemsips.

I’m ashamed to admit I watched ‘Twilight’. Not sure who I need to apologies to for this. Probably everyone.

I was over the moon that the first stills from Wes Anderson’s upcoming ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ were released. A few of you will be aware of my Wes Anderson obsession (which borders on stalker-esque at times). If you haven’t seen ‘Rushmore’ I insist you see it immediately. If you hate it please don’t tell me; I’ve lost friends over it already.

This week begins the countdown to August – a month that’s brimming with comedy gold for the blog: R&C’s wedding in Denmark, holiday in Copenhagen, my 36th birthday, 5th wedding anniversary and - the piece de resistance - the final ever Swift family BBQ in Ironbridge (Will Kev exceed his record of 14 consecutive cans of Scrumpy Jack or will my father-in-law have to intervene again?).

I’ll be boring you to tears about all of this shortly.

What do you think radishes taste like?

Ok, so it would appear stopping the blog would cause me more grief than keeping it going – so you win!

So, what have i done this week? I saw Oasis at Wembley on Thursday night, which was much better than I expected. In my opinion Oasis haven’t had a decent album in over a decade and only a scattering of half-passable singles in the same timeframe. So, whilst they played too much of their new stuff for me it was good to hear the old favourites belted out. The brothers Gallagher were very well behaved on stage; the same cannot be said of the men in the box two down from us (yes, another corporate freebie) who had a riotous punch-up with the punters below. Silly boys.....

I’ve spent a lot of the weekend tending to River Cottage Croydon. I’ve pulled up another bumper crop of potatoes and my first radish (singular). Didn’t know what to do with the radish as I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never eaten one before. Bloody hell, i can’t believe I’ve got to 35 without eating a radish. That sounds so ridiculous.

We also had the Breast Cancer Campaign staff conference last Wednesday – i had a great time and i direct you to Pamela’s write-up of the day as I couldn’t put it any better myself.

Lots of my clothes arrived from EBay and thankfully everything fits. The 7 for all Mankind jeans i brought are exquisite – they’re also four inches too long for me. This didn’t stop me wearing them the whole of Friday. Fortunately i was working at home so no-one saw quite how ridiculous I looked. They’ll be off to the tailors tomorrow.

Anyway, better go and tend to Mr Swift; he’s come down with what I’m praying is a cold. He’s managed to built himself a nest on the sofa and has been asking pitifully for Lemsips all afternoon.

To blog or not to blog?

That is indeed the question. I only ever intended to keep this going until the walk was over. However, since finishing STEP ON IT I’ve had a few requests for it to continue in some format or other. Being a woman of the people I’ve decided to let the masses decide. Let me know by commenting or emailing if you’d like this to continue. In the meantime, I’ll invent a number of responses I’m going to need to to carry on writing.

My fate is in your hands......

Happy Birthday.....

...to Max and Eli who are two today! They’ll be getting a birthday roast chicken rather than a cake.

Back (for good) to reality

So, here we are, one week to the very day since I completed my STEP ON IT challenge. The last seven days have been very reminiscent of the first week back after my Honeymoon almost five years ago. You spend so much time preparing for the big day, that once it's over you're not quite sure what you used to do with your life before worrying about table favours, who's picking up the cake and will the best man be dying his hair a frightful shade of peroxide blonde(the answer to the latter was yes)?

So, I’ve tried to keep myself busy post-challenge with a number of things:

1. Ebay - as several people have pointed out a pleasant side-effect of the walking has been the shedding of a few unwanted pounds. So, I’ve been selling some of my nicer too-big clothes on Ebay. This is beneficial in two ways; firstly it's an incentive to keep the weight off, secondly I’ve been using the proceeds to buy new clothes. I'm sat here typing this in a (large) size 8 denim skirt. The last time I squeezed my ample backside into any item of single digit-sized clothing Gareth Southgate’s penalty was saved by the Germans in a European Championship semi-final (that was a grim evening for us Villa fans). Ask a boy if you can't work out the year.

2. Take That - I’m not what you'd describe as a huge Take That fan - in fact I remember laughing at my then colleagues at Office International who cried when their split was announced on Radio 1 (ironically, the same year as Southgate's missed penalty). This didn't deter me from traipsing over to Wembley on Wednesday to see them in concert, courtesy of one of Mr Swift's corporate freebies. A good time was had by all; my lovely friend Lynn Rouse was also there so it was more of a mate’s night out than a stuffy corporate affair. The box we were in (yes, box - no slumming it for Rouse and I) was two away from the Beckhams. Sadly there was no sign of David and Victoria; I am reliably informed by The Sun they were busy having marital problems in the South of France.

3. The garden - River Cottage Croydon has taken a bit of a back seat in the last two weeks, so I’ve lavished it with tender loving care all weekend. I am starting to see the first harvests of veg other than lettuce. All my garlic is now up and either made into soup or drying. I've just unearthed my first potatoes of the season - 1.5kg of Swifts (we like to keep it in the family). I will be scoffing most of them for dinner this evening.

4. Walking - yes, you read that correctly. Now I’m free from the shackles of enforced walking I’m still keeping it up. Went for a nine mile stroll this lunchtime; it was nice to know it was out of choice, not necessity.

Finally, just want to say thanks again to all of you who've sponsored me. My total is now at £419, and I’m still waiting for a couple more sponsors (my dad and the cats). Speaking of cats, today’s picture gives you an idea of what I have to put up with living with Max and Eli. Max is very fond of the new computer and likes to sit in front of the screen at every available opportunity. Happy days!

P.s – Federer has just won Wimbledon. I think anyone that sells their soul to Satan and appears in those terrible Gillette adverts should be banned indefinitely from re-entering polite society, let alone major sporting events.