I Ain't Afraid of No Daleks

The BBC and Dr Who Confidential will be airing a special episode, honouring 45 years of Doctor Who.

The Ten Doctors will air on Saturday 3rd January 2009 on BBC One at 5:35pm.

Woke up late, nearly 10am, to a frigid cold but beautifully sunny day...not a cloud in the deep blue skies...which with the snow glare, makes it a tad hard on the eyes...must think about getting some clip on sunglasses. After the high winds and horizontal snowstorm yesterday, the sun is quite welcome...yet, oddly, I've noticed that it is the exact same temperature now at 10.50am, as when I looked at it at 9.30 last night....6.7 F, or around -14 C. The windchill is better than last night tho', that's only minus 4 Fahrenheight. Ah well, it's supposed to warm up in a while, to 16 F. That'll be alright.

Actually, the cold is quite tolerable--without wind. I've walked around with my jacket open, when it's sunny and windless and around minus 15 C or colder, and been perfectly warm and comfy. In the past, I've gone snowshoeing (I sold my snowshoes--and other possessions-- in 2006 to help pay for mum's funeral) I've gone out into the fields in just jeans and gaiters, wearing only a heavy sweater over my flannel shirt, when it's 10 F and windless, and been completely at home. It's the wind in winter that makes it bad, really. When I was 18, I once worked outside a part of the day, in a minus 60 F windchill...yes, it was so bad that even 30 years later, I well remember the experience..it wasn't pleasant.

Oh, enough about the weather...we yanks tend to be obsessed with the weather...I've seen people actually have their teles set to the weather channel all day, glued to the screen, watching the little red blobs on the radar over some corner of the mid-west that no one isn't from there has ever heard of, waiting to see if they're going to be wiped out by a tornado. I mean, sometimes I've been obsessed by weather--because I was working outdoors, and you tend to pay attention to those things--you don't want to go out in a tee shirt, if the temperature is going to drop below freezing, do you? Or be caught out in a storm, dressed for a sunny day. Yet, I've seen people who seldom go outside, sat on their settees, staring at some nasty blip in the radar that shows a storm or other disaster, that will never touch them. Very strange. Human nature, I supose. Me, I'd rather sit and read a good book, but, whatever floats people's boats, I suppose.

I've spent part of the morning, trying to work out how chapter four of my Dr Who story Evil Waters is going to work out--I've opted for a twist in the plot, but am not sure how to--or whom will--resolve the situation. I'm leaning towards bringing in a new character--someone known to the Doctor..and haven't decided whether to kill off the Doctor's one-off companion and replace this person with someone the Doctor knows--or to kill off the Doctor's new companion, period...part way into the story, and leave the Doctor companionless for the rest of the story--or with a more familar companion--or just resolve the dilema in the usual way..the Dr saves the day, keep the new companion, do away with the introduction of a new character, and just go on business as usual--oh, and I need to blow something up--I've not blown something up in one of my stories in a while...thinking the narrowboat would make a good target for that...after figuring out a way to get the Doctor off the boat first, of course...in other words, I'm stuck. Wish I had someone to bounce ideas off of, but I don't so, it's my problem to work through on my own. Well, the story's rubbish anyway..but, meh--it's something to do.

Flamey has been ultra affectionate these last few days, and I susupected her of going into heat...yet again. Driving me bonkers--it's that stinking unnutered male cat which belongs to the sister of the hillbilly next door to me--they let the cat roam the hallways, and he's egging her on, but sitting outside my doors all the time, meowing.

Now Flame's going to do nothing but meow and howl and scream for days on end. I can't get her fixed, the cost is astronomical...it isn't just the operation, I can't find her vaccination papers, so she'd have to have the shots, they'll probably do other things to her as well (vets always take it upon themselves to treat the pets I bring in for things other than what I'm bringing the cat in for...which leave me with my jaw dropped, when I get the sinking overinflated bill--last time it was 235 dollars, for a 60 dollar proceedure! Blimey! Vets suck around here--it's the posh people, they suck the posh people dry, and then expect EVERY pet owner to have the same funds as the rich people...leaving poorer pet owners with little choice but to back off from vet care for their pets, because...hell, I can't afford that for myself, let alone for my cats! Jeez! $200 dollars is about a week and a half's pay for me...sometimes two weeks..or even three, if I've been out of work sick or injured.

Well, I'm going to go back to writing for a bit. Tonight I've a nice dinner planned--rogan josh with punjab eggplant and rice pilaf.

The cats are happy. Charlie is playing with an empty box I'd pulled out of the living room closet...they'll find the oddest things to play with! But then, so did we, when I was young--a stick was a sword and a dustbin lid was a shield, a low hanging tree limb was a horse, piles of sand where houses and pieces of sticks where trees, the cellar hole of a long gone house was a spy headquaters...the cat's aren't much different than that, I suppose. They're just like big kids most times, really.

I've just been e-mailed some news about actor David Tennant:

It seems Mr. Tennant has been named as one of the most influential people in showbusiness by entertainment newspaper The Stage. This is especially impressibe, because apparently, he's only the fifth actor in the history of the stage's list, to make it into the top ten--a spot usually dominated by directors and producers. Tennant shares the spot with other actors and actresses such as Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith, and and actor Nigel Havers.

Also, I'm told that Mr. Tennant narrated a documentary called "Swarm" about historicaly significant swarms of insects and such, for BBC One, to be aired on 4th and 11th of January.

Just saw my visitor stats for December, tho' my daily stats seem to be half of what they were in the last week, I still got 26,310 visitors in December--wow.

In my estimation, I reckon at least half of those were fan-girls (and boys) looking for "David Tennant naked." I keep him in the wardrobe you see, trot him out once in a while to raise my visitor stats.

http://oldmaid.blog.co.uk/2008/09/14/david-tennant-naked-4728340

Wow, what a trip some of these fans are...and possibly desperately oversexed, as well....I'm kidding...well, mostly.

I actually saw a headline in a UK online newspaper today, blaring out the dire news that it will be minus 15 C on New Year's....oh dear, isn't that awful...you big girl's blouses.

As I write this, it is outside at about 15 minutes before 9pm, minus 14 C...with a windchill factor of minus 20 C.

Later tonight after midnight those temps will drop to minus 20 C...with a windchill of MINUS 28 C

So stop whinging Britain! Jeez, these kinds of temps are normal for us way up here in the frozen wilds of northeastern New York state this time of year..and may last for as much, on and off, for 2 months!

Minus 15 C, indeed. Pfft.