The first annual Peter Ugarte Couch Potato Awards – My Favourite TV shows 2015

Everywhere at the present moment it all about reviews of the last year be it news, film and TV. I spend a lot of time watching the goggle box and I am always ready to give an opinion on what I like and don’t so here are my best shows/programmes of the year.

To ever been known as the 'Ufartes'

Best Drama

Wolf Hall, BBC - The acting was  impeccable. Mark Rylance plays a remarkable Cromwell, completely making you believe in the  character he played. I've always enjoyed Damian Lewis, so it was no surprise his Henry VIII didn't disappointed me in the least. But Claire Foy, what a talented, lovely interpretation!

They, together with Saskia Reeves (an excellent actress), Jessica Raine and a constellation of great actors make Wolf Hall a truly powerful experience to view more than once.

The production boasts of a marvellous attention to detail, from indoors decoration to costumes, behaviours and dining-- a pleasure to relish on.

• Runner-up Fortitude, Sky Atlantic
• Highly Recommend 1864, BBC

Best Comedy

Peter Kay's Car Share BBC - Peter Kay struck gold again with a comedy that made me  laugh out loud. Fans of Phoenix nights will not be disappointed with Peter Kay's return to the small screen. The writing and acting is in turns funny, witty, and poignant. The first episode will have you laughing out loud and as the series progresses you will build an affinity with the characters that makes them endearing.

This is a do not miss programme which will no doubt be a talking point in any workplace, with abundant quotations and subtle humour that will require the viewer to replay episodes to see what they missed. I hope that the second series is commissioned, as I  want to no what happens between these two.

• Runner-up 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, C4
• Highly Recommend Russell Howard's Good News, BBC

Best Sports Show

Football Focus, BBC - I have watched Football Focus since I first found my love of Football when it was incorporated into the Saturday BBC sports show Grandstand. Former Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson was the main presenters Before the Premiership, you would get reports from around the leagues more than today, and they were competitions like the longest throw in and loudest fans.

Today I am still an avid viewer but it is mostly about the Premiership with the odd nod towards the Football League.

• Runner-up Soccer Saturday, Sky Sports
• Highly Recommend Final Score BBC

Best Reality Show

The Great British Bake Off  BBC - I have no idea why I like this show because I hate cakes but for a good slice of Madeira. Plain and simple like me while most of the stuff baked makes me feel cold.

I know it’s popular that can be seen in the viewing figures. Why would upto10 million Britons switch on their TV sets each Wednesday evening to watch a baking contest filmed in a tent in the countryside and why am I one of them. I like the presenters Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, and their Carry On-style humour. The judges – the grandmotherly, Mary Berry, and the eye candy Paul Hollywood do a great job judging.

The mixed bag of contestants all so help the show along so much so you find yourselves investing in then. Maybe that’s the secret of the show.

• Runner up Celebrity Big Brother C5
• Highly Recommend

Best Chat Show

The Graham Norton Show, BBC - He is ace at is job the best on TV at the moment and I love the show. I gets the best guest leaving the other to full there sofas with reality Z listers and soap stars. Norton also has the knack of getting his guest off message to open up with some very amusing outcomes.

I was look forward to Friday nights when he is on.

• Runner-up Backchat BBC2
• Highly Recommend Last Leg C4

Best Documentary

The Hunt BBC - The Hunt was a highlight of the year, and I was delighted to hear David Attenborough voicing of the show. Watching nature documentaries without his voice over and his participation just don’t seem right. You get what you expect from the BBC nature department, quality preparation, and utterly incredible camera work.

Hard to pick out a favourite sequence but the wild dogs did it for me it was breath-taking camera work. They are very social animals and live in packs that are usually dominated by a breeding pair, the alphas. We see them work as a pack chasing down a wildebeest if the lead dogs tires one of the other dogs takes the lead and once they target dinner they don’t give up, impressive.

• ShowRunner-up Alaska: Earth's Frozen Kingdom BBC
• Highly Recommend  An Island Parish BBC

Best News

BBC - The BBC wins hands down with its news coverage it’s much better than the only other 24 news organisation Sky News no wonder the Sky bosses are always looking for ways giving the BBC grief about competition.

There have been a lot of big stories in 2015 too many to list making for some interesting coverage. There is many changes happening to the BBC and there is talk of BBC News 24 being one of the casualties

Best International

Game of Thrones Sky Atlantic - This section was by far the hardest to pick a top show internationally there were some great stuff out there to be viewed. In the end, I just thought which one I was looking forward to watching in 2016, not that hard, Game of Thrones.

I would think everyone has heard of ‘Game of Thrones’ even if in this country few have seen it stuck out on Sky Atlantic a channel Sky subscribers can view. That leave the rest of the UK with the option of a box set or iffy internet stream.

My only disappointment is with the ‘Stark’ family who are constantly being killed off. Still there are a few left and the whole of the new series to thin them out at the writers’ pleasure.

• Runner up The Walking Dead Fox
• Highly Recommend Storage Wars History Channel

And Then There Were None - BBC - TV Review

The BBC came up trumps with the drama this Christmas with the excellent ‘And Then There Were One’ and the other triumph, ‘Dickensian’ both worth more than the licence fee.

Owing to other commitments, I missed the first two broadcasts of And Then There Were One on BBC1. However, with the help of the iPlayer I caught up with those two episodes last night before the third and final episode was broadcast so I was kind of viewing it has a film.

I truly enjoyed this version of Agatha Christie’s book, which has been made into numerous films, and TV shows over the years. It was well written and had a great cast including the likes of Aidan Turner, Charles Dance, Sam Neill, and Miranda Richardson!

This tense three-parter is about ten strangers descending on a remote isolated rock off the Devon coast call Soldier Island. Summon to the island are eight guest and two members of staff already in position at the house all their on the request of their hosts Mr and Mrs U.N. Owen who are mysteriously absent but have left instructions with the staff.

Once all the guest and staff gathered for dinner all of a sudden, we hear a voice confronting them with accusations about dark moments in their pasts involving murder. When one of the party dies suddenly they realise they may be harbouring a murderer among their number. I was particularly happy who when first he was the most obnoxious off them all.

One by one, they are killed off and we learnt the truth of the accusations in this stylish murder-mystery with you caring less and less about this hotchpotch of characters. All were evil but for the final death who was the most innocent of the ten. I figured out who the killer was by the end of the first episodes but had to wait for confirmation.

I am not giving any spoilers here and if you haven’t seen it get over to the iPlayer and give it a viewing, you won’t be sorry.

And Then There Were None - BBC Webside

Fatboy - EastEnders - Soap Me

R.I.P

I am not a fan of the soap’s, hate them really but I do have a soft spot for EastEnders from back in the olden days but there was enough interest there to see what happen to Fatboy.

From what I saw on social media last night there was a lot of anger flying in the direction of East Enders and the writers for killing off the loveable character. He was killed after being caught in the crossfire of the Hubbards and the Mitchells and was way out of his league.

The plot leading to his demise came to fruition when Ronnie Mitchell hired a couple of thugs to scare Vincent Hubbard and lock him away in the boot of his car in the Mitchells garage. Fair enough, we knew someone was in the back when Ronnie when over to gloat in an earlier episode for all intent and purpose it was Vincent we were lead to believe.

Last night all the T were crossed leading to the reveal. We see Ronnie looking at a blank space in the Mitchells garage were the car was and Vincent walking up behind her. We found out she hired some heavies to kidnap Vincent, as she put it to tie him up gag him and throw him in the boot of his car and take him for a drive to the local scrap yard, Vincent looked shock hearing what was coming out of her mouth.

Fast forward to the scrap yard and Vincent is first on the scene and manages to give a smack to one of the heavies stopping the crane as the car is dropped into the car crusher. The car looks relatively undamaged not crushed he was able to open the boot with no trouble. On opening the boot, his face is full of horror as he reach’s in bringing out Fatboys neck chain. Fatboys phone rings it is Dot asking if he will be home later.

So if he was not crushed to death how did he die? Was it the fear of being in a confined space which was alluded to in an earlier episode or was it Ronnie’s heavies.

Ronnie pulls up in a car at the scrap yard with half her family in tow asking Vincent who was in the boot he just looked at them and walked away. Later he lets her off the hook by telling her the boot was empty. But hang it would be easy to work it out even for a Mitchell. Who is Vincent right hand man, the only member of his gang and friend sometimes … Fatboy.

Even if Ronnie is that much of an idiot when she goes to collect her baby at Dots she is bound to ask her if she seen Fatboy. Has for Vincent only a few episodes ago he was himself threatening Fatboy with a nasty accident if he didn’t leave town. Always interesting in Albert Square.

Boxing Day - Cardiff City - Depressed

I have always loved the Boxing Day fixture preferring a home game but I did enjoy the away trips. Many moons a go it would have usually meant a local derby, Swansea, Newport or one of the Bristol teams, City or Rovers but those games have gone with Cardiff on the road today to Milton Keynes to play MK Dons.

There was a time I would have been on the road with the 1000+ fans making their way to MK Dons now I make do with the TV and Radio to keep me up to date. The publication of the team left me none the wiser in this crazy league top of the league can be batter by just about anyone. I sent positive vibes all the way to Milton Keynes at kick off from my armchair and sat back watching the scores roll down the screen.

So it was my laptop, Soccer Saturday for the afternoon after watching those former gods of football, Manchester United fail to win again. The Jeff Stirling show under way and was soon cursing the TV as Swansea scored an early goal but I thought to myself that it was a long way to go. But it was the Championship which occupied my mind has I watched the ‘As It Stands’ league table.

In at halftime all square and I would have been happier with a few goals, but with our inability to keep a lead maybe not. Then it happened has Jeff Stirling announced we were off to MK Dons v Cardiff City there has been a goal, 50/50 chance but it was not to be when former Cardiff striker Nicky Maynard opened the scoring five minutes after the restart. My heart sunk I was only saying this morning he owed us Cardiff fans a few goals and that he was bound to bite us back.

Time lingered on with the odd report I was still in hope then Stirling was heading back to MK Dons stadium there had been a goal. Please be an equaliser went through my mind with only about 9 minutes to go plus any injury time, Substitute Craig Noone, 1-1 and all of a sudden I was happy for a point.

However, I forgot we are Cardiff City and there is nothing better this team likes doing then dropping points, and today was no exception. Just before full time and with 6 minutes of injury times they struck causing a mass intake of breath of every Cardiff City fans, 2-1 to them, game over most likely. So three points dropped and more cries for the head of Russel Slade so things never change.

Three home games on the trot with two league fixtures, Nottm Forest and Blackburn, followed by an FA Cup fixture Shrewsbury and the fans will be insisting on three victories.

Christmas Sandwich, The Ultimate, Viva Le Resistance, The End

My last Christmas post of 2015 having had a hearty Christmas dinner it is time to put an irritation to bed once and for all. I have bitched before about my inability to find a full on Christmas sandwich but today that ends.

Having searched the shelves for a Christmas sandwich to my taste without mayo and cranberry sauce the exercise as been futile with nearly everywhere forgoing the traditional butter and margarine as the official sandwich spread.

There must be a market for non-mayo fans like me while in Tesco’s like most other shops it is a plain ham sandwich on offer. It was suggested I try Subways where I could build my own but I don’t like the bread they use, I am fussy. I gave up in the end and locked myself away in a darken room to design my own cost no object sandwich.

I can build it. I have the technology. I can make a better Christmas sandwich than those mayo shop bought crap. Better, tastier, the first Peter Ugarte Christmas sandwich with butter. Not a normal Turkey sandwich a mini dinner between two slices of bread.

The makings of my ultimate Christmas sandwich.

Two nice slices of sandwich loaf crusty bread and spread a nice lump of butter. The makings was Turkey pre stuff with sage and onion stuffing with Turkey, of the chunky variety. I took a short cut here when I bought a couple of sage and stuffing pork sausages forgetting the Turkey was already stuffed. Can you get enough stuffing! Not in my book. I slit the sausage down the middle and baked two slices of bacon in the oven. A nod to healthy eating no fat used in the construction of this sandwich.

I decided to make a truly one of a kind Christmas offering by using left over veg and the rest. I mushed together cabbage, peas, carrots, potato, and a roast potato then shaping it and baking it in the oven to crisp it up.

There you have it the ultimate and no mayo in sight so sandwich boffins take heed and remember the butter/margarine resistance are watching you, Viva Le Resistance.

Christmas Eve 2014 (My Day)

You can’t Adam and Eve it! I over slept this morning. I am always an early riser around 5am most mornings no matter when I go to bed. Being late through my plans up in the air a bit but worst it made me grouchy. I hate rushing about so I was somewhat moody has I left the house for the butchers.

Being Christmas Eve, the shop opens early to dish out Christmas orders so I was out the door at 7am with my fingers crossed there was no great ruddy queue like last year. It just so happened I was pleasantly surprised there wasn’t, so that was a result. I always like to get this job out of the way early. Years back, it would have been an early dash to the supermarket to beat the crowds and do a full shop something I am glad we don’t do anymore.

Queuing on Christmas Eve is not fun especially when I am not in the best of moods.

2014 order

No money passed hands between the butcher and me due to my Christmas club account. Actually, he owed me money, which I left in the book for this Christmas. My only worry was being jumped by a pack of dogs looking for easy pickings but I made home base easily.

Home for the day but for a little trip around the corner to get the papers. I love reading newspapers but with none on sale Christmas Day, I still feel the need for a fix so I buy in some guest papers. I normally buy six and keep three for Christmas Day, stupid, but I do like reading newspapers I did mention that earlier and meaning I day outside was over.

With this Christmas Eve falling on a Wednesday, I was due 4 hours of respite care but with so much to do, we cancelled. I need Glenys, Simon, and David to vacant the property and do some last minute shopping for fresh bread and veg while I would tidy up a bit and chill. Problem was David, yes, the little one was having problems getting out of his pit, and being grouchy from early, I announce I would accompany what was left of the shopping party.

The thought of a packed out Tesco and an hour or so queuing at the till, I was not happy.

My mood didn’t pick up when the boy wonder David managed to drag himself out of bed to join us with the shopping. What I wondered would drag sleeping beauty out of his pit, to help his wheelchair bound mum or make sure he got us to get some booze in for himself and other goodies. Our local Tesco was surprisingly quiet there were no long queues, it was more or less a in and out job. My mood picked up but even so, when Glenys suggested just her and me pop into the Plum Tree for breakfast I turned her down.

A friend of Glenys popped in with her daughters. We normally have a little gift for them but this time we gave them a Christmas Eve Box something suggested to me by a friend. It is nice to see youngsters enjoying Christmas for me that is what Christmas is about younger generation and without access to our granddaughter, I feel we miss out.

We were back to the magic number 5 for the next few days with our oldest boy home for Christmas which was pleasing for his Mum and me although no sooner as he dropped is bag he was off out. No cooking tonight we finished off the day with a curry from Love Curry and sat back waiting for the delivery guy to knock the door.

One Christmas Eve tradition I am glad to see the back of is hours of wrapping presents. When the kids were young no matter how prepared we thought we were there was always presents to wrap.

Who will be Christmas No.1 - Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir?

What a disappointment for this year’s Christmas no. 1 with that cretin Justin Bieber looking to have won the race unless there is some divine intervention from God, PLEASE?

The 21-year-old's new track Love Yourself has nudged ahead of the NHS Choir's A Bridge over you in the race for the Christmas top spot, according to the Official Charts Company. His song is currently on the top spot. His lead is reported to be only 3,000 to 7,000 sales ahead with three days before the Christmas Day announcement.

With any luck, the charity song by the Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir's a re-working of Coldplay's Fix You and Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge over Troubled Water will pick up some momentum. All the proceeds from the song will be shared between healthcare charities, including Carers UK and Mind - with a percentage also being distributed to Samh (Scotland) and Niamh (Northern Ireland).

Looks like Simon Cowell and his X Factor winner Louisa Johnson will be lucky to break into the top five with her song Forever Young at the rate sales are going. Cowell’s record company and the man himself are now putting the poor performance down to the wrong song.

The charts have a sprinkling of festive classics in the mid-week Top 40. At number 13 there is one of my all-time favourites and a regular Christmas entry over the years ‘All I want for Christmas is you’ a hit for Mariah Carey. Another Christmas favourite a place behind is the Pogues featuring the late Kirsty MacColl and the little ditty Fairytale of New York.

Wham's ‘Last Christmas’ is in the top 40 sitting at number 22 with Slade’s Christmas anthem ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ making plenty of noise at 29. The other big Glam rock band around the same time as Slade, Wizzard have charted once again with ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’ a popular favourite, first released in 1973, is at number 30.

Rich Christmas - Poor Christmas - Christmas both sides

This week we were given the two opposites of Christmas with TV shows on C4 ‘The World's Most Expensive Christmas’ on Tuesday and last night ‘Christmas on the Poverty Line’ on the benefit channel (Channel 5).

All through the C4 show, I was asking myself why you would spend this crazy money was beyond me. What can you say when someone would splash £250,000 on Christmas decorations. The mega-rich spending obscene amounts of money on expensive baubles to boost their self-worth that is my theory. The extravagance revealed by the programme is beyond normal people where limitless wealth can buy you a £22,950 USB memory stick (it’s encrusted with diamonds) and you can get a designer Christmas cracker to put it in but maybe you should put two so everyone is a winner.

Some PA working for a rich Middle East family who may or may not spend 36 hours in their London home over Christmas. The designer hire to decorate the house with an expensive Christmas make over was asked would there be enough room under the tree for the presents. Maybe they plan to put a full sized golden elephant under there.

Looking at my £5 star decoration on top of my £129,99 Christmas tree (reduced to £29,99) in an after Christmas sale maybe I should aspire towards the £615,000 top of the tree star in the programme for my tree. I wonder how much it would be after Christmas in the sales.

Christmas is a costly time of the year for anyone even the rich so what about those at the other end of the scale. It’s not pretty and I should know having been a cash strapped parent myself. I wouldn’t say we were poor there is always someone poorer. At least we had a home, warmth, food and what we could afford under our tree and family of course.

This documentary ‘Christmas on the Poverty Line’ explores the sacrifices they have to make to ensure their families have the best time possible. Those featured include Lancashire couple Kevin and Karla, who are unable to work because he is her full-time carer, and have taken to searching free gifts on social media or the bins. At the end, they are happy to get through Christmas without owing money to anyone.

We also see a family from Cornwall with five kids, a winter wedding, and Christmas to be funded by doorstep loans not free money it all has to be paid back with interest over a number of weeks. The husband works but is on a zero hour’s contract not the most reliable way of earning a living.

Been there with the loans thing with the loan company Provident. If my memory serves me right, a Christmas £600 loan with £300 interest so I would have to pay back £900 over 49 weeks. A woman in Blackpool Karen is facing her first Christmas on benefits after a lung condition prevented her from working and she was worried about Christmas and her kids. She entered some competition to win a free Christmas hamper, which was given away by some ordinary member of the public.

Not the out and out benefit cheats or those playing the system we normally see but it does little for some on social media. They have computers why don’t they sell them, she smoking, is that a flat screen TV just some of the crap I came across.

Something that stood out was the kids and their understanding of the plight there parents were in. Writing out lists for Santa with one girl saying she was called names such as “dossers”, “skanks” and “tramps” just because they haven’t got the latest Nikes and another girl put on her list a nice chicken dinner.

The Quiller Memorandum - Film Review - Senta Berger

Spent the afternoon watching 1966 cold war film The Quiller Memorandum a nifty euro spy thriller and a particularly good tale of this type set in cold war Berlin. Starring American actor George Segal the leading lady was Senta Berger (crush alert).

The film has a very close similarity with the second Harry Palmer film Funeral in Berlin (1966) - the same dirty unglamorous post war Berlin and of course, Caine and Segal's very laid back performances. It was rumoured at the time Quiller would take over from Harry Palmer has the anti-Bond kind of spy

All the acting is understated, Segal's fits the roll well with the baddie Max Von Sydows 'I'm not a barmen Mr. Quiller I'm a German gentleman' is menacing without being overly dramatic or cartoony. Alec Guinness plays the head of the good guys and there are a host of faces you would recognise from films of the era.

My Crush

George Segal plays an American spy who is brought to Berlin by British secret service to help track down a group of neo-Nazis after two British agents have been killed. There contact was a schoolteacher who hung himself leaving Quiller questioning his replacement played by Berger. They soon become romantically involved but is it all too easy. There is a lot of dialogue and not an overabundance of action, which made a change for this type of film.

Even when the leader of the Nazis (Max Von Sydow) captures Segal, they have a calm, lengthy conversation. No shootouts and the only bang is when Quiller finds a getaway car rigged to exploded soon as he starts the engine but comes up with ingenious way to fake his death so to make is escape. In the last half hour, I wouldn't say it really picked up, but it got very interesting.

Christmas - More Christmas - It's Christmas

It’s 10 days from Christmas and I can only thank my parents for the amazing job when I was a little boy, when it came to keeping Christmas magical for as long as possible. I remember the excitement of Christmas Eve the last minute shopping as the day slowed down and the excitement I felt leading to the shout of ‘bedtime’.

I remember going to bed with a plan to catch Santa and would try every year diving under the blankets making a spy hole to watch for is arrival only to fall asleep in my snug warm hidey-hole. Without fail, I would wake up to my sock full of sweets and fruit and rub my head on how he managed to sneak into my bedroom again? I never had the feeling he wouldn’t show up, he always turned up even if it wasn’t snowing.

Never once, can I remember a Christmas that wasn’t magical and wonderful as a kid and I count myself extremely lucky to truly mean it. I know there are many people out there that don’t share this experience or grown out of Christmas, which breaks my heart. It’s a case of each to their own, happy or not just be happy.

I tried my hardest when I became a dad to make December as wonderful for my kids as I could. It wasn’t easy with little available cash but the wife and I tried our best. That one month a year, that is filled with a little something more. More joy, more smiles and more magic. A sort of escape from everyday life, for the entirety of a month. Things Christmassy in school, church, in the streets, in town and in your house. Tree and decorations with strings of cards hung from the wall. To create memories that I hope one day my now adult children will carry on when they have kids of their own.

There’s something so special about Christmas for me. I even love the hectic time we have shopping. All my plans come to the top of my pyramid, which started way back in January. Sounds idiotic but that is how I have always felt and has a lapsed catholic I do understand the spiritual meaning of Christmas. How big I felt walking down the street for midnight mass even if for the first few after it still mend going to church Christmas morning as well.

Top 5 Christmas chart - 1989

With the wife picking the year 1989 here are the top five Christmas Day tunes. Not the best year for the Christmas chant.

DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? - BAND AID ll

  LET'S PARTY - JIVE BUNNY AND THE MASTERMIXERS

WHEN YOU COME BACK TO ME - JASON DONOVAN

DONALD WHERE'S YOUR TROOSERS? - ANDY STEWART

DEAR JESSIE – MADONNA

Christmas No1 - Not X Crapfactor - Bring back Cliff

I’m not sure but I get the feeling people have lost interest in the race for the Christmas No 1 single. We don’t have the novelty Christmas records like Cliff Richards hit Mistletoe and Wine or Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody leaving the field open to Simon Cowell and X Factor unless the people revolt but this year on that front it’s been real quiet.

There is money to be made for a good cheesy Christmas song and shed loads if you write the song. The aforementioned Cliff Richard tune earns nearly £100,000 every year. That means the song has pocketed over £2.5m since the release of Mistletoe and Wine while lead singer of Slade Noddy Holder calls his hit, his pension.

The bookies have the X Factor contestant Louisa Johnson has favourite to take the Christmas number one single, and at the time of this post the song is yet to be revealed. That is if she wins X Factor. The competition is said to be coming from the NHS Choir who are hoping to reach number one with their Christmas charity single, A Bridge Over You, which is a mash-up cover of Coldplay's Fix You and Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water and will hit the top spot.

Others in the race are the Star Wars theme, Christmas In the Air (Tonight) Scouting For Girls and Kylie has a couple of chances with Every Day’s Like Christmas and a duet with James Corden singing a Yazoo hit Only You but they could have been released to early.

I have a favourite and I would be proud to see it at No1 Christmas Day. The Four Sopranos are putting out a track, titled Her Majesty The Queen (A Tribute) and sampling the Queen’s 1957 Christmas message with 50% of sales set to go to Haig Housing Trust’s Coming Home campaign, in aid of injured ex-servicemen.

Panini Sticker Book - Wales - I am collecting

Standing in the queue around the shop earlier waiting to pay for some ‘Bog Roll’ there were two really obnoxious kids in front of me who were fighting over Welsh Panini stickers. Both wanted to lucky dip, pick their own packets of stickers with the lady in the shop getting a tad annoyed with them.

My nerdy senses begun to tingle, I collect programmes for fuck sake and I have never completed a ‘Panini Sticker book because I would lose interest, but Wales have qualified for France and I decided I was in for £2.99 for the sticker book.

I have noted I am a little behind many of my social media comrades some of whom are close to finishing their books. There is no way I will be spending £10 to buy 20 packets of stickers I bought two with my sticker book not realising there were some freebies within.

I just know there will be one or two of the stickers at will be impossible to find but I intend not to use the Panini complete your collection service. It wasn’t a bad first haul of sticker’s just five doubles and on the plus side eight shinys.

Swaps will not be as easy as the last time I collected stickers I would just front up at school and trade. I could be arrested for standing around the school gates now. So I may have to correspond to like-minded more of an age collectors via post.

Pornhub advert - Not what you expect

When I heard, Pornhub had a Christmas advert I rushed to find it thinking this would be something special. My mind was full of the kind of debortuary I would expect to be viewing, as this is the same company that wants to send two porn stars into space.

Disappointed, well I was a bit. We see a family exchanging gifts like dressing gowns and I loved the Polaroid camera proper vintage. Then we see a rather bored looking granddad who bucks up when his grandson hands him an envelope containing a Pornhub gift card. Not what I was expecting.

That the Double – FA Cup – Welsh Cup – On the Road in my Armchair

Brecon Corries failed in their attempt to extend their run in the Welsh Cup after their trip to Cardiff ended in a 4-0 to Caerau Ely who now reached the fourth round. While in the FA Cup Sheffield United progressed into the third round with a 1-0 home win against Oldham.

What a difference a competition makes because while there are some match reports and lots of other FA Cup news flying about in the English/national press the same can’t be said of the Welsh press. In Wales, information is very sketchy about the Welsh Cup which is very annoying for someone who would like to see Welsh football given a high presents in the media.

I could find nothing about Caerau Ely win but for a paragraph on the official FAW website in the local paper the South Wales Echo’s website there was not a word. It goes without saying I had no real trouble locally or nationally finding reports on Sheffield United. Yes, I understand the difference between the two team’s footballing profile and footprint in the world but the FAW needs to wake up and promote the Welsh Cup it’s there competition.

The fourth round Welsh Cup draw was made yesterday live on S4C with Caerau Ely facing a trip along the M4 where Welsh Premier League team Port Talbot lay in wait. The only other Cardiff based club Cardiff Met University ended the hopes of the underdogs STM Sports in a capital-City derby at their ground at the Cyncoed Sports facility on Saturday and now face a trip to Afan Lido’s Marston Stadium, Aberavon. The two Cardiff clubs will be playing less than half a mile away from each other with the two home teams local rivals with no love lost between their fans.

My team in the FA Cup may be Sheffield United, which I am obliged to follow, but it is the third round my team Cardiff City entered the fray. The draw was live on BBC 2 and actually took in the Welsh capital at the Welsh Sportsman of the Year awards. After a wait out came Manchester United and next out was Sheffield United I was on my knees in seconds praying of a Sheffield win because I truly hate Manchester United.

On the home front, Cardiff City will have to wait for a replay between Grimsby and Shrewsbury to see whom they will face at the Cardiff City stadium. A chance to progress if manager Russell Slade is interested in any kind of a cup run.

Christmas in Canton - Bah Humbug

Can I just say, what Christmas! After a little walk along Canton, there is a distinctive lack of that Christmas spirit with what shops there are looking dour.

If you like tinsel, spray on snow and cheesy garlands it’s your kind of heaven. If you would like to see the Canton lights make your way to the ‘Tuck in Café’ shop window and behold the wonderment. I would not even call it a shopping area there are too many charity shops and takeaways.

It was nice to see the kids of St Mary RC School full of Christmas cheer giving a carol singing display in Tesco they were in fine voice. The highlight of my little wonder out.

Looking forward to a trip into town later in the week to see the lights and possibly part with some cash.

Radio Times 2015 - Christmas Edition - Must watch

I had to dig deep for this year’s Radio Times, which was bloody £4 for the two week Christmas and New Year edition. A sizeable mark-up but a must on our coffee table if we had one, a coffee table that is. Christmas without the Radio Times hanging around just wouldn’t feel right.

I must say I was disappointed in the Christmas Day offering with Emmerdale, Coronation Street, and EastEnders taking up most of the evening schedule and no big film with the best film of the day, Scrooged on Channel 5. On the movie front and if you subscribe to Sky Movies Premiere the big film is Ridley Scott’s biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, which doesn’t sound very Christmassy.

Top of the Pops gets its Christmas runout before the Queen about the only thing of any tradition left of Christmas of my childhood. Not that I would have heard much of the stuff on TOTP although to the rescue comes BBC 4 who later in the evening will be showing TOTP Christmas 1975 and 1979 now that’s better.

So what am I looking forward to over the holiday period,

Bear goes wild with Barack Obama 20 Dec – C4
We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story 22 Dec – BBC2
Doctor Who Christmas Day – BBC 1
Dickensian Boxing Day, 27 Dec and New Years Day – BBC 1
And then there were none Boxing Day, 27 Dec, 28 Dec – BBC 1
Backchat end of the Year Show Boxing Day – BBC 2
Charlie Brooker’s 2015 Wipe 30 Dec BBC 2
Catherine Tate’s Nan 30 Dec BBC 1
Sherlock New Year’s Day

All the above are must watch TV so hopefully they don’t clash with anything the wife must see or she will be watching on her laptop. There is lots to read in the Radio Times, interviews and reviews so it will keep me busy for a while.

Christmas 1989 - A Blur - Franklins pasties

I asked the wife to pick a year and she said 1989 but here is the thing, I can’t really remember because it was a blur being a parent now. It was such a busy time I really can’t remember much than being at the beckon call of our boys. My oldest son was four and was getting the whole Christmas thing while is brother 13 months younger was noticing it but baby David was months old without a care in the world.

At least they were young enough to stay in bed and innocent enough to believe in the whole Father Christmas story. Although my oldest boy was beginning to wonder why I left a plate of Franklins pasties and a can of beer out for Santa. No mince pies, milk and carrots for Father Christmas here son but the year it was a Clarkies, the game was over.

When kids are that young the pressure on your pocket was negligible because of their innocents it’s before the Christmas demands and list. Before Power Ranger, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and WWF wrestling figures those nightmare presents you never seem to find until after the Christmas holidays. Seen the film ‘Jingle All the Way’ where the father character Arnold Schwarzenegger is running all over the place looking for the latest Christmas craze Turbo Man action doll, I have kind of been there without the drama.

As my boys grew, I have concluded that after 1985 Christmas Day was a blur until I started writing about them. I remember when my sisters were young I could just sit back and watch but when you’re a dad your work never ends at least until dinner is over.

Christmas Day Dinner in the Pub - Yea or Nay - Home Cooked

According to media outlets, it’s getting more and more popular to take your family down the pub or to a restaurant for your Christmas dinner. Most pubs are fully book soon has bookings are taken with parents dodging the pressures of cooking at home.

You are at the mercy of whatever establishment you book into and dependant on good weather for your meal, it could snow or the cook taken ill with bacteria such as E.coli or salmonella. So many things could go wrong, so why take the chance. Not that everything can go right at home like the time the wife forgot to switch the oven on a job I now do myself. Listening to the radio people are saying stress, cost, family, are the most popular reasons to eating out.

A friend of mine is stumping up £55 a head for a three course Christmas menu, £25 for the kids that’s a lot of money to put down on the table. Some newspapers tell us if you shop around you could get a Christmas dinner for around £6.50 a head, not sure if that is for three course but would think adding another £0.50 and you could have all three. It’s like flowers on valentine Day when a £10 bunch of flowers become £30 you put Christmas in front of Sunday dinner and the price sharply increases.

At home, you can personalise your meal to each person’s tastes and if young Billy doesn’t like sprouts then there is no need to plop them on his plate. While eating out you could tell, the waiter to leave the sprouts out but you won’t get a reduction in the bill. Do you get turkey leftovers for sandwiches and a curry on Boxing Day if you eat out?

“Many mums and grandmothers find they spend 90 per cent of Christmas Day in the kitchen and they would rather spend it with their family.” Really whatever some of these survey people must sit at home and make the results up.

Twaddle, as the Christmas day cook in my household I would say I spend about 10 per cent of Christmas in the kitchen and it would be no difference with a house filled. What is it about having a house full of relatives over on Christmas Day! Mum and Dad yes but the rest could fend for themselves in my family Boxing Day was for family to visit or go visiting.

Booze Dispenser - Vending Machine - End of the Pub

Could this be the future of the pub some booze dispenser at the end of the street. With the rate pubs are closing it could be.

If pubs are not being turned into housing, its shops and those that survive are fast turning into gastro pubs where you are treated to an experience of food, drink, and a chilled out atmosphere.

Somewhere in Kortemark, Belgium you could front up to this lump of metal (see photo) that just happens to be a vending machine where you can buy whole crates of beer. With most of the youth today, forgoing the pub and getting tipsy at home before heading to town your normal local is fast becoming a rarity.

This contraption is not a new idea there are vending machines around at will dispense booze but I have never heard of one chucking out a tray of 12 or 24. I could see one doing good business outside a student’s hall of residence or anywhere the underage youth gather.

The machine offers little in the way of checks for ID purposes. It does have an ID-scanner, although it wouldn’t be hard for somebody who is underage to buy the beer, by finding someone’s ID to borrow. Who will check the ID with no landlord or staff to confront little Tommy who has half inched is mums ID.

I would think our licensing laws would not allow this kind of vending machine on the street.

Ola Jordan - Candles - Hate

I have really no reason to pop up a picture of Ola Jordan, it is Christmassy is a good reason and I am going to miss her now she has left Strictly Come Dancing but I am banking on this beautiful woman being back on the small screen.

However not even the delectable Ola could interest me in buying some crisp-scented candles or any other smelly ones. I hate the smell of them and even touching them, which goes back to my childhood.

Back in the day of three day weeks, power cuts, strikes our house was full of candles during the evening has we sat in the dark listening to the radio and just the memory is giving me the shivers. I can’t remember why it all started, but I rather grew into it. Like how I can’t touch chalk, I hate touching wax that over the years has developed into the flicking of the flame and the smell. That was a later development thanks to church watching the flame flickering of a hundred or so candles.

I don’t even like candles in the house, so god knows what would happen if we had a power cut. If the wife received one as a gift they tend to stay boxed and stored in the back in the recesses of a black hole. While putting the Christmas decorations up I noticed a candle, which is now in storage. However, I do like ‘four candles’ remember the sketch.

Christmas Hampers past their sell by date

 Harrods Christmas Hamper
The Decadence cost £20,000.00

I remember when Christmas Hampers were popular and there was always someone in your street running a club, collecting money weekly but along with that came a lot of trust. There a plenty of stories of collectors stealing the funds even within families.

I remember the collapse of Farepak Christmas savings club and the thousands of customers who had their Christmas ruined and while the world collapsed under their feet the bosses of the firm retreated to there, million pound homes. It must have been a Christmas come true for the loan sharks and companies like Provident picking up the pieces.

Ever since we had a Christmas hic-cup, I have become OCD about our Christmases to the point of obsession. One Christmas Eve we spent hours sitting in the local Social Security office trying to get an emergency loan because our then Family Credit was weeks late. We had pennies in our pockets but they turned around and told us they couldn’t help and gave us a list of loan sharks, very helpful don’t you think.

Mum would get hers from Tele bank coin TV rental and Granada before that and in December a nice large box would turn up but you would be disappointing once you opened it. One tin of beans between seven and if you are lucky two, I thought wartime shortages were over but every year mum would buy into the Christmas hamper ritual until my sisters, brother and I flew the nest. When I started married life, we continued the tradition for a while before I realised it was money after old soap.

We ran our own little club but it was still stressful and someone ripped us off, which lead to me not doing it again. There are many of ways to save toward the expense for Christmas, which is helpful for low-income families as Christmas is never cheap no matter how much money you have in your pocket. The hamper business expanded to cover more than food and drink to a wide range of gift cards and vouchers, including the Love2shop voucher that can be spent in over 20,000 of your favourite high street stores.

Christmas Radio Times - Festive TV

It’s that time of the year when Christmas fever over takes me and my heart is all a flutter because on Wednesday 9 Dec the Christmas Radio Times hits the news shelves.

Buying this magazine is part of my Christmas since I was a child with mum putting it on order around the shop with the now defunct TV Times. I could probably get a cheaper TV schedule magazine for Christmas and in this age of the internet crammed with information why the need for a TV magazine. Because I am old fashioned, I still like reading newspapers when I could read them on the internet.

Steptoe and Son classic Christmas TV

When I was a kid and growing up I would create my own TV schedule although I had no control over the TV buttons. My choices were mostly based around TV Christmas specials like Morecambe and Wise possibly the kings of Christmas Day, The Two Ronnie’s, and Mike Yarwood. There was always comedy specials like Steptoe and Son, Terry and June while today the TV Christmas schedules is bloated with soap operas.

There are still your Christmas specials but little to excite me like in my childhood. I suppose with so many channels these days the big variety shows like Morecambe and Wise don't fit into the schedule even if they were made.

Black and white TV, three channels an innocent time of TV when watching the big Christmas film was probably the first time you saw it unless you had seen it in the cinema. Today there are hundreds of channels and you are more than likely to have seen your Christmas film in the cinema, on a DVD or Sky movies before a terrestrial television channel. It takes some of the spice out of Christmas for me.

In today’s world of Multi-channel TV the Radio Times has moved along from publishing BBC programming to a wide range of TV channels from rivals ITV to Sky TV and more making it a one-stop publication. Before all the new channels, the Radio Times would review and rate around 30 films in the Christmas and New Year edition but this year a staggering 4,500 will be on over the fourteen days festive period. That will be on all channels according to stats from the Radio Times.

This year's double edition features 292 pages packed with 14 festive days of the best TV, film and radio, from Doctor Who to Mrs Browns Boys, Carols at Kings to the Queen's Speech, plus films rated, and interviews with the brightest stars. It's the biggest and best guide to Christmas I my book.

Cardiff City - Woe is me - Future for Slade

Woe is me, woe is me being a Cardiff City fan you would think we were bottom of the league staring relegation in the face but no, we are in touching distances of the Play-off, and still I am full of woe.

Defeat away to Derby last weekend and then dropping 2 points in 8 minutes thanks to an own goal left us fans scratching our heads to what should happen next. I took myself to the toilet with a round 5 minutes to go thinking of three points in the bag. When I returned to the living room I was none too happy to see the score was now 2-2 I was gutted to say the least. Slade out, Slade in over the last few years nothing has steadied the club.

Among the fans, it’s time for the manager to go now rather than later but not all fans agree with that statement. Who am I to say but I have an opinion. I have not been a fan of either former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær or present manager Russell Slade I felt Solskjaer was parachuted in because of is Manchester United past and a name. While Slade was totally the opposite when he was named manager, it was a case of ‘who’. From all accounts, he was the personal choice of our owner Vincent Tan his chosen man, which I found a surprise that he knew anything about football let alone managers in the lower leagues.

I remember when Slade was appointed owner Vincent Tan saying something stupid as he could emulate Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger. Bigging up new managers is always a mistake fans are not stupid but always have high expectations. I am moving towards a new manager but I have no idea who I just want someone with passion, who can lift the fans, get the fans back into the stadium with football to excite them and get more out of this group of players.

The thing is if there was to be a change, it is better sooner than later in fact now. Any new manager needs time to get his feet behind the desk and with the all-important January transfer window where someone new can stamp is mark on the squad.

Hopefully were ever our owners is hanging out because it is not at the Cardiff City Stadium he should ask his mother what she thinks of Russell Slade after she helped kill off the rebranded. Maybe she help kill off a manager because next Saturday we play bottom of the table Bolton. Lose at Bolton and Slade should be shown the door before he reaches the dressing room after the game.

Going to town - Platform shoes - Gwyns - Freedom

My parents were pretty easy going when it came to playing out when I was a kid. Up until about 10 years old it was stay in the street and if you go around the corner don’t cross the road and go near the river bank. Needless to say, once around the corner I did cross the road and did peer through the fence to check out the river. From 10 it was as if I was allowed to throw my short trousers in the bin and wear long ones now having reach the milestone of double figures.

Going to the two shops around the corner was deemed ok by mum if I was to ‘look left then right and look left and right again’ to make sure the road was clear. We are talking about the late 60s and back then the roads were next to empty but still best to be careful. The last year in primary school Mum lessened the string round me with the local park now open to me. I was quite wild climbing loads of trees and running about everywhere and the riverbank was open to me unofficially, it came with my new found freedom.

My Mum and Dad were fine with me roaming about my area but like most parents, they had no real idea what I was up to. It wasn’t as if I could get up to anything to naughty. With everyone knowing, everyone and any naughtiness would soon find its way into your parent’s ears.

The reason for my latest reflection on life is due to a conversation about when you were allowed to go into town with your friends. If like me you may have made a sneaky trip into town without permission to Woolworth, it was still not an officially sanctioned visit that came a month or so later.

That was just before I went to big school, secondary school, when I received word from on high that town was open to me. Funny enough mum would allow me to travel to my Nans on my own and that was a hefty bus ride, which was much further than the town centre. I would actually have to go through town to get there.

I can’t remember much about the trip but I do remember visiting Gwyns upstairs in Cardiff market, which was the trendiest of clothes shops. I may have not known much about fashion and youth tribes but I knew what I liked and was looking at it in front of me. Mum did my clothes shopping so the chances of her shop here, let’s just say it was never going to happen leaving me in the uncool section.

 Every time we as a family would go to the café upstairs in the market, I would stand gawping at the clothes on display hoping for Mum or Dad to get the message, they never did. It was a few years later before I could put on my ‘I bought something in Gwyns badge’ and that was down to my Nan.

Having bought me a mega pair of platform shoes, which were ace wine and black and moved from the middle of the school line to the back with the tall kids. A few days later I talked her into taking me to Gwyns. I walked away with some braces to hold up my new pair of green patch pocket trousers and a nice butterfly collar shirt.

Tomorrow, When the War Began - Film

YouTube came up trumps again last night with a film to watch while the wife had control of the remote control. I have seen ‘Tomorrow, When the War Began’ a while ago so finding a full copy on YouTube and free, what a result.

What we have here is an Australian version of the film Red Dawn. If you haven’t seen the American version it is about a group of high school kids who former a guerrilla resistance group calling themselves Wolverines, after their high school mascot. Cuban and Russian troops somehow manage to invade America and with most of the country now under their control the war had cooled. The left the resistance in the shape of the Wolverines to fight on. While in a later remake, the enemy was North Korean with a hint of Russian involvement.

In Tomorrow When the War Began the enemy are nameless (though unmistakably, Asian) who were probably Chinese or North Korean. It follows the same template of Red Dawn, group of small-town youths who are on a camping trip in a valley called Hell and the first inkling of trouble back home is the sound of planes in the night. When they return home from their camping trip everyone has been rounded up and detain at the local fairground.

At the fairground, some of the group witness several atrocities, when they are spotted they are shot at and return to their hideout. They are soon found by searching helicopters and barely escape with their lives when the group decide to go back to their old campsite in Hell. From there they fight back with plans to blow up the bridge into town after finding out the bridge was one of the main supply routes.

To blow the bridge they steal a tanker truck of fuel beneath the bridge and the whole operation is nearly a failure when they are discover but a unexpected member of the group comes to the rescue.

It also differs from both Red Dawns because the main lead character is a girl and she is the leader of the group. After no signs of the promised sequel, it is bursting back on the small screen as a TV series sometime next year in Australia.

Electric Blue a Bygone Age.

The birth of the video recorder saw a flourish of entrepreneurs opening shops to rent and sell video films and just about everything we watched on TV. There was also the ability to video from your own TV for personal use and all you would need was a few wires, another video recorder and hey presto you had an illegal business. Making copies of rented films helped make a flourishing market of pirated videos. Why rent when your mate has done a copy and was cheaper.

The reason for this topic is Electric Blue, the top shelve soft core porn video magazine about has risky as it got here in the UK unless you could get your hands on something under the counter, imported stuff, nudge nudge wink wink say no more.

A long with glamor models in different stages of undress the earlier videos any way had the feel of Playboy with short video documentaries and vox pops. The videos had a host like in the first edition Fiona Richmond, a British glamor model, and actress with a cameo from American Marilyn Chambers, (of Behind the Green Door fame).Another segment of the video was archive nude footage of celebrities including Marilyn Monroe, Joanna Lumley, Jayne Mansfield, Jacqueline Bisset and Joanna Lumley.

The videos were made up like a magazine with sequence of soft porn like the world’s oldest whorehouse staff with grannies where the clientele are older than the hookers. In addition, they would use cartoons like, (Snow White and the Seven Perverts) loosely based on the Snow White legend.

Today video shops are long gone, consigned to history and car boot sales. The whole rental market has disappeared with the internet and dedicated movie channels like Sky Movies.