Water wheel

Water wheel, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

A rustic scene from Northern Vietnam, which could just as easily be in Hobbiton. We are in the middle of watching the Lord of the Rings series of films, extended editions on DVD, as a new year's treat, bringing back memories of the Christmases of 2001, 2002 and 2003 when the films originally came out. Last night we watched The Two Towers and I almost managed to stay awake for the whole duration adn I am sure I saw bits which I had never seen before. We would be watching The Return of the King this evening but we are running out of time, with the Clubavond at 10 and Eastbenders at 9.

We are not exactly avid fans of Eebies, reckoning there is more to life than spending two hours a week following the forced stories of life on the square, but again, this is our Christmas treat. We would have already given up were it not that Sandra, from the film Beautiful Thing has appeared as the long lost mother of a couple of youngsters in the series. She arrived at the square dressed in red and laddered black fishnet stockings, dyed hair, made-up and smoking a fag. This is what we like and when I look back all of my favourite characters in the series have been these scarlet women, notably Cindy Beale, but also Pat Butcher and Sharon, although I would like to mention her husband Dennis here. Unfortunately he was stabbed while we were in South Africa, providing the drama for last Christmas.

Otherwise, the rain has kept away, giving me the chance to tidy up the front and back gardens, prune the grape vines, sweep up the leaves and the red papers from the fireworks and so on. It is only a tiny garden and sometimes one feels it would be nicer to have a bigger one in order to have more to do outside.

Also, received my first rejection to a job application, something which I suppose I will have to get used to, although I am happy to at least get some reaction, as most recruiters seem not to possess the courtesy to even acknowledge receipt of one's application.