Friday 5 September 2008

Fall, not falling off, and the end of BB9

Autumn is here.  The scent of it hangs in the air, deliciously crisp and fresh.  When I was a child growing up in Canada, it was called Fall, presumably because the leaves fall off the trees.  But it is also the fall of summer, the end of a year long cycle of birth through to death.  So whilst I love the summer, the spring, and even winter, I think the Fall is my favourite.

Autumn is also the time I love to write the most.  The weather is still gentle, the rains wash away the stifling heat (usually!) of the summer, and it's good to be all cosied up in the house, in front of the patio doors, looking out into a garden alive with intense colour.  I become melancholy but in a good way - a time to reminisce and to write about it.  This year is particularly strange and melancholy because I'm not going back to work, the scan is on the 16th to see if the RT worked/didn't work/how much it worked, and I see the oncologist on Oct 1st.  A scary time.  And the children have returned to school, the day has a pattern again, a natural rhythm that I can fall into.  I'm hoping it will be a good time to crack on with my work, and to finish my novel.

And of course Big Brother finishes tonight, so will have to find something else to occupy my days, especially now (fingers crossed) when my stomach seems to be sorting itself out.

Riding

I had a fantastic lesson yesterday, despite torrential rain and the horse refusing to walk across a flooded yard to the indoor school!  Siobhan had her ears pinned back but eventually settled down.

I've been reading a lot lately about jumping techniques and cross country, and realised that I didn't have an independent seat at all when it came to jumping positions.  So I asked my teacher if we could work on that in order to get my confidence back.  I spent 45 minutes learning how to balance in a cross country seat, and it all started to fall into place.  Fab.  The best bit was when I was asked to get Siobhan to jump over the pole on the ground, and to tell her when to take off.  I thought, how the hell do you do that?  But S is such a good teacher that I managed to get it second time around.  Funny - there seems to be no relationship whatever between what we learn in the early stages of riding, to what we learn further down the line, but I love that it's so technical, so physically challenging, and so enjoyable.  Oh dear, I am truly a horse freak now!

Big Brother 9 Final

It's Friday and the last day of BB9.  Who wins?  You decide (because I'm too tight to pay the costs of a vote!). 

This year's series has been more inspirational than previous years.  They seem to have gotten rid of the idiots early on - the violent ones, the fame seekers, the shallow and the depraved.  The tasks have been interesting, and Big Bro has been quicker off the mark to stamp out unacceptable behaviour (probably since all the furore over Jade and Shilpa Shetty in Celeb Big Bro).  The range of people has been far wider this year, in terms of age, place of origin, and character, and that's made all the difference for me, because of course I only watch it to study the interaction/psychological side of people for my writing (and if you believe that you'll believe anything lol).

I think we've been left with a lovely bunch of people this year; Darnell with his 'potty mouth', and issues of not fitting in (reminds me of myself when I was younger except I was more sad than angry), Rachel with her 'Disneyesque' character (so what if she is simply a nice person?!), Rex, whose arrogance and plain speaking is actually quite endearing now (although what was going on with him and Nicole - a co-dependent relationship if I ever I saw one), Mikey who is extremely funny and has a wicked sense of humour (although I'd probably kill him if I had to live with him), and last but not least, Sarah the Aussie who genuinely doesn't  seem to realise that she's really leading poor Darnell on all the time with her flirting (and who has already won £25 grand).  I'm struggling to pick a winner, feeling they all deserve it pretty much, but Rex says he'd give the money to charity (so not him - I want it to make a real difference for whoever wins it), and Sarah has cash now... I think... er... mmm... okay - Darnell.  I'll go with Darnell to win!

7 comments:

CL Taylor said...

Hoorah! I'm glad I'm not the only Big Brother addict. Every year I tell myself I'm not going to while away the hours watching a bunch of strangers scream/shout/laugh and flirt with each but..but I'm always sucked in. Like you I'm not 100% sure who should win. Definitely not Rex because, although he can be very entertaining, he's quite a manipulative and controlling character and I don't like the way he picks on women and the weaker men. Also, his relationship with Nicole...my god...it made for uncomfortable viewing! I'm not convinced Rachel isn't acting a teeny tiny bit (house behaviour vs diary room behaviour is case in point), Sara has her £25K and Darnell. Oh. Darnell was my favourite for AGES but when he turned and started called Sara as slut and ugly and stuff he lost my sympathy. So my vote (not that I'm actually going to pick up the phone!) goes to Mikey. Yes his manners are gross and yes his jokes are blue but I think he's been consistent, himself and he's probably the most observant housemate of the lot. Go Mikey!

hesitant scribe said...

calistro - I'm loving your rationale here! Mikey or Darnell - now you've got me thinking! Although I thought Darnell's behaviour re: what you said, was terrible, I think he's got real issues, bless'im. Oh god - am still not sure!!!

CL Taylor said...

Hee! I'll admit I wouldn't be gutted if Darnell won. He does have issues and maybe winning BB would be the tonic he needs to get over them.

p.s. I'll be crossing everything for your scan and results on 1st Oct x

hesitant scribe said...

thanks hun - I need it!

clairesgarden said...

nothing wrong with being a horse freak!!

Mistlethrush said...

Glad the riding is going well. I always find that doing something physical is good for the brain and mood - it shakes me up and gets me thinking again.

Lane Mathias said...

Good luck with the results of the scan. I really hope there some good news.

I didn't watch BB but am eagerly awaiting the start of Strictly Come Dancing. I just lurve that:-)
x