BB FANS

I get angry if people get angry just because I don't have the same interests as them. If we were all car geeks the world would be a very boring place.



I sense more eye rolling.

Yes it is, you're right. What I find unfortunate is that the advice they're dishing out appears to be intended to placate angry fuel-buyers, as if somehow advising people to use less fuel actually takes the place of lowering the tax levied on it.

LOL

I'll have to check back and see if I actually used the word angry lol.

Gracious it maybe wasn't the exact word "angry" but it was the same idea.

Unimpressed, disappointed, digusted.... the actual word was "horrified"... will make sure to quote next time...

right, i'll be CAREFUL this week!!!

How he gets on very well with his brother now although it wasn't the case when they were younger and used to argue and fight all the time. Things got better when they went away to uni etc. One of his regrets is not visiting Julyan while he was working in Australia for two years but things really changed for the better when they both worked at an American summer camp. They've now properly sorted out the problems and differences they had as children and are very close.

Leona Lewis being rumoured to be singing the next Bond theme tune.

Finding it hard to get into Big Brother this year despite always looking forward to seeing the changes to the house and the like in the first week.

Being surprised to see vodka sales have overtaken sales of whisky with sales in the year to April increasing by 11%.

Thinking the UN has a "cheek" to suggest we get rid of the royal family saying they have more important matters to focus on.

It would be nothing unusual to say that food had crossed my mind once or twice this week. I’ve always been a fan of food. I remember my Granny asking me once if I’d remembered to tell the dentist that the reason my teeth were so strong was because they got plenty of exercise!
Being in the fish industry and working with the French government for five years on an organic aquaculture programme helped to widen my health-conscious horizons. And ever since my stint at the Rowett Institute I’ve been much more aware, not only of my own food intake, but food issues in general.
I mentioned Gordon Ramsay recently and his rant about eating local food when in season and trying to reduce our food miles.
One of my favourite shopping sprees is at our farmers’ market – all good, high-quality produce, and local to boot. And the crumble made with the rhubarb I bought at the Feein’ Market in Stonehaven was delicious. Hardly a food-mile in sight!
I’m sure you remember my statistic about kiwi fruit and the fact that they emit five times their own weight in greenhouse gases being flown from New Zealand to here. I know kiwis are grown nearer the UK than that now, and they do happen to be one of my favourite fruits. But with ever-increasing transport costs and our growing environmental conscience, can their long-term shelf-life last?
Figures from the Office of National Statistics record an acute rise in food prices over the past year particularly in bread, eggs and meat and an average increase of around 9%. Since this time last year, loaf has risen by over a fifth and tea by an eye-watering 67%!
The worldwide food shortage is the principal culprit in all this – mainly blamed on population growth, increasing amounts of crops being used for fuel instead of food and climate change.
On Friday I was involved in a fund-raiser for a Malawi charity called Mary’s Meals. The sum of £5.30 is enough to provide food for a child for a whole year. That’s about 10p a week.
Compare that to the subsidy that European cattle get – something in the order of an alleged £1.50 a day.
Next time you’re tucking into something exotic, spare a thought for the global food situation; urbanisation, pollution, food-miles and all. Or better still, spare some change for an overseas aid charity.



The longest day has been and gone. And that means that it’s the time for the internationally renowned St Magnus Festival in Orkney too. For the first time in about 14 years I’ve been involved as a performer, singing Beethoven’s Mass in C in the Festival Chorus along with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Because I’m away so much I would normally miss a lot of rehearsal time therefore I always opt out. But because this year they chose a piece I’ve sung before I thought I would chance it. And I’m delighted I did. It was hard work sometimes, but Saturday’s performance with the SCO showed it was all worth it.


We often hold celebs up to be role models. But parents might want to avoid mentioning Naomi Campbell anytime soon, unless as a threat. Found guilty of assaulting two police officers and abusing an airline pilot when her luggage went missing in Terminal 5, the 38-year old supermodel faces 200 hours of community service and fines of nearly £3000.


I’ve been visiting friends and seeing their new arrival Elsie Margaret this week. And what a cutie she is! Her proud Mum told me that she’s a great sleeper, managing 10pm till 7.30am. I told my mother about how chuffed they were and she announced “You used to sleep from six at night until eight in the morning!” Sometimes I wish I still could!


In the Big Brother House, life goes on. And on and on and on. But not for annoying Alex who got the chop for intimidating behaviour, even after Big Brother’s warnings. So this weekend it’s been one out and one in. New arrival Stuart gives himself 9/10 for appearance and 8/10 for humour and intelligence. Let’s give him 2/10 for modesty!

sorry meant to do this earlier but will do it tomorrow... day off of sorts

and sorry as well for not doing last week but I wasn't impressed with the paper itself and then lost it. . .

Found the paper from last week on my bedroom floor!!! You can tell what I'm meant to be doing on my day off!

So from last Monday...

The amount companies pay for celebrity endorsements etc and wondering if what they pay is really worth it. Moving onto Prince Charles getting slated for the amount he gets in expenses. Says that the royal family cost us 66 pence each a year and how he thinks that the work they do reinforcing relationships with foreign countries etc is their most important job.

The price cuts in big supermarkets last week but he'll be sticking with the co-op.

How he has just found a Renault Megane for a friend but was "horrified" to read a car reliability report where 6 out of the 10 cars at the bottom of the league are french!

Then the bit that was so important they printed it no less than twice! How he was busy last week and couldn't play at a Visual Art Reception at the art gallery as he was playing at a wedding in Inverness then had to head off to meet Prince Phillip at the Duke of Edinburgh awards.


This week...

Thinking it would be a shame if they gave up on Big Brother although this year a lot of people seem to be saying it. The money is mentioned as is the "stick" housemates can get. Also mentions how not so many people auditioned at all this year so rather than picking the weirdest ones maybe that's who turns up.

Being recognised by Prince Philip at the awards the other day.

MPs voting not to give up their rights to the "additional costs allowance" and believing that if they were made to show exactly what our money was spent on "it might be a slightly less bitter pill for the taxpayer".

Being delighted at Kylie Minogue getting given an OBE for services to the music industry.

Many Americans driving over the Mexican border to save up to £50 on petrol with some going into areas where drug related shootings are common.

Thanks Jezi - tidiness is next to editorialness as you know...

Well if I was editor I wouldn't be printing the same thing twice!!!

And both my bedrooms are now nice and tidy once more

Good, good. Play your cards right, son, and we could be having a BB Fans Meet-up on the lawns at Buck House!

That's what we're aiming for! Better hope one's corgis don't eat the gerbils.

The Polish dentist that works in orkney went for a holiday back home and they were all worried she wouldn't come back but she did. However he was shocked to hear a friend from Wales who tried to register with a dentist but was told he couldn't as the work needed was too much and the dentist wouldn't make its budgetary targets.

Mario getting the boot and saying that there's always the debate over whether annoying housemates should stay or get evicted early.

A man from Orkney found a lizard in his hot water bottle. At a swimming pool in Sydney workers found a 3.3m shark under the water which had got washed in by a wave - people swimming early on hadn't even noticed it! (they can't have had their goggles on surely?!)

Music memorabilia being sold in London such as John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for 'Give Peace a Chance' getting sold for £420k and Jimi Hendrix's trousers for £20k.

And the main bit...

This cloud of doom and gloom that’s been thundering over the horizon lately seems to be hanging well and truly above us now. Or so it would seem if you believe all the bad news that’s going about. It’s difficult to see the silver lining too, when we hear that the house boom has bust and more and more jobs are under threat.
And the recent figures about our savings habits makes interesting reading. Apparently we’re saving at the lowest rate since the middle of the last century. Which is a bit scary, as I don’t think many people who remember the 1950s and 60s would tell you that there was all that much money flowing back then.
As I’ve mentioned recently, the last three or four times I’ve filled the car up, the price has risen in between. On one hand it shocks me that the rises happen so frequently, but on the other hand the diesel car I have now goes an awful lot further between fill-ups.
I was speaking to a chap from Ellon this week who opted for a petrol car due to the combination of cheaper fuel and a lower list price for the petrol-engined variant. With the price of diesel still climbing we surmised that you need to cover a heck of a lot of miles to recoup the extra outlay, and he didn’t think his annual mileage warranted it.
However, a recently-released survey by one of the fuel giants reveals that nine out of 10 of us view diesel cars more positively than we used to. It might seem stupid to believe the info that a fuel producer pumps into you, but on this occasion I do. Ninety percent of us reckon that diesels are economical, and two thirds that they’re more efficient than petrol. Gone are the days that it’s the clatter of tractors and taxis that springs to mind when we think of diesel motoring. Some of the most efficient and powerful family cars on the road these days are diesel powered. And with a diesel version of Audi’s R8 supercar in the pipeline, somebody somewhere must think it’s a good idea.
The final clincher for me is the durability of the heavier engines. The old Golf I run is just a wheel’s turn away from 150,000 on the clock. Miles per pound it’s definitely been a good buy.

anorak alert....

You'll need one if you're moving to Orkney!