Glad it's all over - Johnny Depp covered in chocolate, surely not?

Well hello again, and Happy New Year!
I hope you had a good Christmas and brought the New Year in without too much of a hangover!
Instead of starting the first Blog of this year with resolutions, I’m going to start by holding my hand up and admitting three guilty secrets to you...

The first is that every year at about this time I’m always secretly pleased that all the festivities are over, and we can put the decorations away in the loft until next year.
Yes, shock horror – I actually like the bareness of the house without the clutter of all the cards and decorations. I don’t have any particular dislike to them when they first reappear from the loft in early – mid December, I love to see a brightly lit Christmas tree as much as the next person. But when it’s time for them to come down, I’m usually ready for some change. Whether it’s to my diet – all those extra calories make me begin crave the low fat/ low sugar options I live on for the rest of the year again. And who doesn’t start their year without a thought of at least one thing they’re going to do more or less of in the following 12months, even if they don’t out it officially as a dreaded ‘resolution.’

I see January as the start of a fresh new year and I love it!

The second is, I don’t get all the hype about the movie Mamma Mia?
Ok, yes I went to see it in the cinema when it first came out (I may have blogged on here about it?) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Although my husband became slightly panicky beforehand, and I had to physically restrain him from leaving the cinema before it even began, when two women in front of us began discussing whether or not they would be standing up to join in with the singing & dancing during the movie. I think he wondered what he'd let himself in for!
In fact the cinema was so full that night of post-menopausal women, you could almost smell the hormone replacement patches! And every time poor tone deaf Pierce Brosnan showed an ounce of flesh, the universal hot flush that went around the room was so great - I feared the sprinkler system might cut in!
Anyway, I enjoyed the film at the cinema, and duly bought the movie on DVD when it came out before Christmas. But there were women throwing several copies into their baskets in Woolies the day I bought it (Ah, poor Woolies – if this blog is being read in the future in some sort of time capsule type affair – Woolworths was once a very famous shop on virtually every High Street, famous for it’s Pick & Mix sweeties, and usually where you went to buy your first record/tape/CD *delete as age appropriate. Yes, we actually had to physically walk to a shop to buy music once upon a time, not just click a button on a computer to download it!)

Anyway, then I find out it’s the fastest selling DVD of all time in the UK... I’m sorry I just don’t get it? Yes, it’s a good film. Yes, I like the Abba songs in it. Yes we fast forward when Pierce Brosnan sings like everyone else does. But why, when my friend who’s the same age as me came over at Christmas and we watched it together, did she want to sing and dance around our lounge during the film? My ten year old son was happy to oblige her (any chance to perform and he’s up there.) but my now 13 year old daughter and I just sat and looked blankly at each other in a ‘has the whole world finally flipped out’ kind of way, while they cavorted around the room.
‘But,’ my friend informed us, ‘The whole cinema was up and dancing in Germany when I saw it.’ (She lives there.) What’s also interesting is she actually saw the movie dubbed in German. Abba songs in German - now there’s a thought...

You’ll be pleased to know my third and final confession is much shorter – but in two parts. The first is horrifying enough – I’ve only just realised how gorgeous the film star Johnny Depp actually is! How have I been missing this all these years? I caught a few of his movies over the Christmas period, and I’m more than a little impressed... And the second part is more of a question: Is it very wrong of me to fancy him as Chocolate factory owner Willy Wonka too? ;-)

Until the next time keep warm,
A x

PS. If you’re reading this, thanks for the German Mamma Mia stories – M ;-)
PPS. No more news yet on the Novel, except it may have a new title... and now post Christmas, I’m well into the re write before it’s sent back to the publisher for their final decision... I’ll keep you informed.
Just realised I was going to talk about reality TV today, with the return of celebrity Big Brother and Dancing on Ice on this Sunday.

Think I’ve babbled on enough today though, maybe next time... ;-)

I'll leave you with the gorgeous Mr Depp.