Teapot and the VIP club

There are some things that leave you speechless. That kind of jaw dropping inability to utter a sound that comes when you are faced with a shock or surprise, or both, which is so big it short circuits the brain.

So it was this morning when I heard that Teapot has been a secret member of the VIP club for well over a year now. It could be longer for all I know. I should have known something was up with all the calls to That Bobby and the trips to Pacific Nurseries. The chat about Red Poles and the like with one and all on Facebook. The ever growing basket of unironed clothes. The layers of dust looking like the beginnings of a new sandstone strata in the paleozoic era. That alluring look of being lost in thought as she stirs the hourly cuppa.

I blame it on all the trips to France and somewhere in all this is the Grenoble Guru. I am sure he is helping her translate copies of Les Petits Guides des Parasseuses.

So she is now trying to organise a Four Oaks Chapter. I knew something was up during the week when she was deep in conversation with the Glamorous Granny to be. Trying to recruit her no doubt.

Help!

Comic Relief

There is not much of that around just now what with the unimaginable earthquake and tsunami in Japan and its consequences, the vicious assaults by the Libyan government on its rebellious cities and the air and missile attacks from western countries. And all that hard on the heels of the storms and floods in Queensland and Sri Lanka, and earthquakes in Haiti and New Zealand.

But Friday was red nose day, the annual Comic Relief fund raising event with the slogan "do something funny for money" which has a big focus on poverty and health issues in Africa. Nearly 60,000 red noses have been sold since Comic Relief began in 1985. It is an event which usually passes me by but I just happened to spend an hour or so at the home of my good friend JT where the TV was tuned to the BBC Comic Relief programme.

There is something very uncomfortable about watching Miranda Hart one minute and desperately sick children in Kenya the next. The videos of David Tennant among children suffering from malaria were especially moving.

Comic Relief began in Sudan so my mind naturally went to my friend the Biscuit Addict in Juba where this shot was taken. She may not read this blog but she is everything Comic Relief is about. Malaria is described as "hyper-endemic" there and at the end of last year there was the worst outbreak of kala-azar for 8 years. This parasitic disease caused by the sand fly is 100% fatal unless treated.There are only 10 midwives in the whole of this emerging nation.

So my friend wherever you are right now red noses are all about you.

To party or not to party that is the question...

...and the good citizens of Kingston upon Hull have resoundingly decided not to party, that is as far as the streets are concerned, when Prince William and Kate Middleton are married on 29 April.

According to the press this week the local council has received not one application to hold a party on the Queen's highway to celebrate the nuptials of her grandson. Of course this may just be the refusal of your normal tight fisted Yorkshire man to pay for the privilege, especially for such things as insurance, warning cones and all the other paraphernalia of the nanny state.

Some say it is the spirit of Oliver Cromwell and a republican trend which goes back nearly four centuries. It may have something to do with their ex MP John now Lord 2 Jags Prescott, who rose from humble toil as a merchant seaman to Deputy Prime Minister and finally to TV ad man for car insurance. But who better to provide some knock out spirit to get the party going!

No, Timelord thinks none of this really touches the spot. The jaw dropping reality of the Royal Wedding is that it reminds us all of the wedding of William's parents nearly 30 years ago and that jug ears Charles is still king in waiting. If that thought doesn't dampen the party spirit nothing will.