Home!

It’s not until you travel with three children while 31-33 weeks pregnant that you really appreciate being at home! At least, that’s what I feel like right now 🙂 It’s been a very busy but lovely 12 days away, which we’ve all thoroughly enjoyed, but oh, it’s so nice to be back in our own space, our own BEDS! I felt like we caught up with lots and lots of friends and family, although there are always a few who you just can’t co-ordinate with, which is sad. And some who you only manage to see in groups, with lots of noisy children demanding attention (sorry Cecily!), but at least it’s still nice to say hello and have a bit of a catch up 🙂 Will have photos of various points during the trip sometime over the next few days probably – S-i-L and I managed to get all six kids lined up on Monday morning for some photos, which will hopefully nett at least a couple of nice ones between us. Small children don’t have the attention span for a long photo shoot, surprisingly enough!

I’m glad we took the time to break our trip from Miles to Brisbane over two days. Well worth the money spent on a motel on Monday night, even if I didn’t get all that much sleep (blaming pregnancy insomnia, but all of us sleeping in one motel room didn’t help!), and it meant we got to have dinner with another family of friends at Sizzler, which the kids love. Kids were fairly well behaved during travels, despite being squished into the back of tiny hire car because the only place the extra suitcase would fit was the front seat (!), though Master Two could have slept on the plane for me, rather than in the car on the way home from the airport!

In the 24 hours or so we’ve been home, I’ve wrangled my inbox and managed to have a variety of social outings or visits, all of which were unexpected. Have a day to myself tomorrow, so will unpack the suitcases then. Really I will.

Good to be home.

New Who Season Three Report Card

See David’s S3 Report Card and Tansy’s S3 Report Card through the clickies! (See our Season One Report Cards here and our Season Two Report Cards here)

SEASON THREE REPORT CARD – Tehani

The Doctor: David Tennant

Even first time around, I was feeling the Tennant love in this season. He just IS the Doctor in this season, and while there’s some odd directions taken in various episodes, he carries things well.

The Companions:

Martha Jones: Freema Agyeman

I love Martha for so many reasons and her character was only disappointing in the “another one in love with the Doctor” kind of way. In everything else, she rocked completely, and I was sad she left after just one season.

Recurring Characters:

Captain Jack Harkness: John Barrowman

SO GREAT to have Jack back, even for just a few episodes. I really liked the movement in his character in this season, and I love him so much more than I ever did first time around.

The Master: John Simm

Absolutely insane and over the top and yet Simm’s playing of the Master worked really well for me. But then, I don’t have the original Master/s as a reference, so it might be different for others.

Martha’s family: Adjoa Andoh (mother Francine), Trevor Laird (father Clive (divorced from Francine)), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (sister Tish), and Reggie Yates (brother Leo).

Wonderful to have another companion with a family. Martha’s family don’t just play a part as background to her journey, but are actively part of the season arc in multiple ways. Francine was a favourite.

What is your favourite episode of this season?

I have to say “The Shakespeare Code” – it’s silly in places and over the top, but also so awesome!! That said, it had stiff competition from some of the other episodes.

Least favourite episode?

Also a tough choice, because there were some woeful ones! I was so disappointed by the season ending, but I think that the “Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks” double takes the crown.

Favourite guest performance?

Hands down, Derek Jacobi as Professor Yana – adorable and yet completely believably menacing once his memory returns. Having said that, there were some fantastic guest appearances this season.

Describe this season in one word!

Uneven.

Grade: B

 

Flying visit to WA

We’re making the most of these school holidays by wandering about the countryside! Travel to date:

Thursday last week: hopped on a plane to QLD. Kids travelled well, Jetstar was fine. Flew into Brisbane, then hired a car. Got to Toowoomba that night, as planned, for a not terribly restful night’s sleep (note to self: two year olds are not fun to share a bed with, and 9 year olds who want to see Grandpop and go fishing wake up really really early).

Friday: drove to Miles. First stop lunch, where my mate Sharryn joined us. Second stop, hairdresser! My favourite hairdresser is one who has done my hair since I was a teenager, and the salon is kid-friendly and nice. I always take the opportunity to get my hair done there when I’m visiting the family. Though it’s getting to the point it would be WAY cheaper to fly her down to visit us instead! Finished there and went to the Historical Village to wait for Mum to arrive back from a bus tour she was on for work, then headed out to brother’s place. S-i-L not home, nor oldest nephew, but enjoyed catching up with brother and his two youngest. Dad also joined us there, so was able to leave hire car rather than brave the kangaroos on the gravel road. Aunties from Sydney arrived at Mum and Dad’s not too long after we got home, so it was a bit chaotic!

Saturday: Dad and Master Nine headed in early, as Dad was driving a truck in the street parade. M9 not terribly impressed as all he wanted to do was fish, but he had a good time in the end I think (helped that he got to go home with Grandpop at 11 – not at all interested in the rest of the events when there was fishing to be done!). The rest of us left at about 9am, to wait about for an hour in town pre-parade. Miss Six and Master Two were on the Village “float” (the historical ute), looking very country (M6 actually won Best Dressed Girl, which she was chuffed about!). I took a bunch of photos of the parade, but haven’t downloaded yet, so these are my aunt’s. Saw a few people to have chats to after the parade, which was very nice, then walked up to the football grounds where the rest of the festival was taking place. Pleasant day, lots of free rides for the kids, people to see and market stalls to peruse. A bit weary by mid-afternoon but lasted until about four I think before taking my ratty kids home.

How are those holidays going?

Well, doing okay. Where are we at on the list?

1. Finish marking batch 2 – already underway and cruising. Much simpler marking than the last batch, thank goodness, and half the amount!

DONE!

2. Write a bunch of book reviews. I can see six books from here that are read but not yet reviewed, and have two more on the shelf with deadlines.

3. Schedule a bunch of reviews for ASif! and WASLA Reviews. Also follow up some outstanding reviews for WASLA.

4. Start work on issue 3 of ic3 (deadline for copy is the 15th, so can begin layout/editing what I’ve got).

5. File the darn filing! Tax is with accountant, so these four baskets of filing can be FILED NOW. Good podcast listening op! They got put in the shed. Carrying onto next list!

 

7. Washing, ironing, folding – it’s ongoing, but hasn’t been properly finished (ie: no ironing done) for many weeks! About to iron but have kept this up nicely.

8. Tidy house for inspection on Friday (and praise the cleaner coming Thursday afternoon). YES!

9. Pack for trips. About to – have been gathering bits and pieces for the past couple of days.

10. Move kids’ bedrooms around? Still trying to figure out how that’s going to work.

11. Slush reading for One Small Step.

12. Reading for other FableCroft projects not yet announced 

Hmm. So not as good as I’d hoped, but many of those jobs will wait, others might get done over the next week. I’m happy with what I achieved, anyway, and got a LOT of jobs done for husband as well, which needed to be done. It’s a start!

New Who in Conversation: Voyage of the Damned (2007 Christmas Special)

David is coming to New Who for the first time, having loved Classic Who as a kid. Tehani is a recent convert, and ploughed through Seasons 1 to 6 (so far) in just a few weeks after becoming addicted thanks to Matt Smith – she’s rewatching to keep up with David! Tansy is the expert in the team, with a history in Doctor Who fandom that goes WAY back, and a passion for Doctor Who that inspires us all. We’re going to work our way through New Who, using season openers and closers, and Hugo shortlisted episodes, as our blogging points. Just for fun!

“The Voyage of the Damned” – 2007 Christmas Special

The Doctor – David Tennant

Astrid – Kylie Minogue

TANSY:
Before we get started, can I just ask – have you both watched “Time Crash”, the Children in Need special which takes place between the farewell of Martha and the collision of the TARDIS with the Titanic?

TEHANI:
I have! But I went and watched it again to remember. So cute seeing Tennant fanboy over Peter Davison (er Moffett – that’s not confusing at ALL).

DAVID:

I hadn’t, but I have now! I wish I had watched it first, because it makes the start of “Voyage of the Damned” a little more understandable. I know it is one of those things that if you aren’t a fan would make very little sense at all and would seem very self indulgent, but I LOVED it. My strongest memories of Doctor Who are Baker and then Davison and it brought back a lot of memories.

I really enjoyed the little jokes about aging and the obviously heartfelt bit at the end, and Tennant was clearly thrilled and a little awed to be working with Davison. It’s great to know that he is a fan at heart too, and so are the writers. I’ve really appreciated that New Who hasn’t just thrown out or tried to disown Classic Who and this is a great example of how most of the people in the new show wanted to be involved because they loved the old show.

On to Voyage! For me, this is probably the strongest of the Christmas specials so far. I have to admit, for a moment I was thinking that is was actually set on the real Titanic, and then I started to notice all the odd little features of the setting and twigged. In my defense, I was distracted when I caught of a glimpse of someone and thought, “OMG, is that Kylie?!”