Okay, I lied....

Maybe I won't be Blogging every day, lol! One day into my holiday and already I have missed a day's post! Still yesterday wasn't like a proper day of my holiday because it was a bank holiday and more like a bonus day! We had intended to go out, the three of us ~ me, Mrs.Sparky and Emilie, but it was such a miserable day that we didn't bother in the end! Instead we all had a day of doing very little. Me and Ems played with her Duplo and took a little trip to the shop to get stuff for tea but that was it! It was sooo nice and relaxing!

Last night, watched Ferris Bueller's day off again! What a classic eighties' movie. The late John Hughes was a brilliant director and every thing he touched in the eighties seemed to turn to gold. And, of course, I take Ferris' message to heart- Life moves fast; sometimes you need to stop and look around once in a while or you might miss something!! How true!!!!

Vacation day two....or what I did in my summer holiday

Day Two of my hols has seen me doing ANOTHER mystery shop today earning me a cool £10 for around half hours work! I am not supposed to talk about it but so far all my assignments have been in local towns covering a variety of businesses! It was my fourth assignment today and I really quite enjoyed it ~ pretending to be somebody else for a small slice of time! I do it through a company website called Grass Roots and signing up was dead easy. Hoping I get some more assignments soon as they are really quite fun!

Gave up on David Peace's 1977 last night; just couldn't get into the way each chapter alternated between the two lead characters and actually found it quite confusing! Don't think I am going to bother with 1980 or 1983, the last two installments in The Red Riding quartet, as I do not like Peace's style particularly and cannot see anyway it will improve with the later novels. Am reading instead The Lovers by John Connolly who is a much better writer and someone of whom I am seldom disappointed. There have only been two of his books I did not like and both these were independent novels rather than part of his Charlie Parker series...

This newest novel sees Charlie Parker holding down a job as a bar manager in Maine after having his Private Investigators license revoked following events in The Unquiet which saw him upsetting the wrong kind of influential and powerful people and attracting the attentions of a very creepy guy known only as The Collector! With time on his hands, Parker finds himself drawn back into his own past as he finally attempts to discover the true reasons behind his father's disgrace and consequent suicide that followed his murder of two unarmed youths. Will Parker's death has never been satisfactorily explained to his son and now, after hints from The Collector that Parker's parents may not be whom they seemed, he has decided to investigate his own family history as opposed to other peoples. Meanwhile, a hack journalist and occasional crime writer decides to write a true-crime book all about Parker's exploits and his recent dealings with those others would consider to be "bad men!" And then there is the mysterious figure who is dogging Parker's footsteps....how is he connected?

Connolly writes very dark and macabre thrillers that always border on the edge of insanity and which have dealings with the supernatural whilst still entitling the viewer to form their own opinion of events. Whether the more paranormal elements of his novels are all in Parker's head or not is left entirely to the reader's own interpretation and this makes his books work on a variety of levels. If you have not picked him up before, then start with Every Dead Thing and introduce yourself to ex-cop turned P.I Charlie Parker. I guarantee you will not be disappointed...

Went to see the latest Harry Potter today at cinema, The Half-Blood Prince, whilst mum looked after Emilie for a few hours.Mrs.Sparky twisted my arm as we have seen them all so far on big scren and I am glad she did as it was very good! But blimey, the films are getting very dark and serious now!!! I should really try and read the books but I tried Philosopher's Stone a while back and didn't really enjoy it! I didn't like Rowling's style paticulary but Im thinking I should give them another go! I would like to get them in a box-set with the adult covers but will probably wait a while as I have enough books to wade through at present! We saw a trailer for the new Guy Ritchie film, a modern take on Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jnr, whilst we were there and that looks bloody good and then they just advertised the new Quentin Tarrantino, Inglorious Bastards, on TV a moment ago and that looks cool too! They also have a final Final Destination planned to finish off the series this year but whether or not that will be any good remains to be seen as number 3 was a bit pants and not at all frightening like the first two which had some, excuse the pun, killer scenes that literally left me gasping. For those who have seen the films I will just say "BBBBBUUUUUUSSSSS!" and "Holy Panes of Glass Batman!" The first two films were nasty!!

Tonight had the Wii out for a bit; Mrs.Sparky bought it about a month ago and not really played it yet. She got Wii Fit for it and doing the BMI test for it produced the result that I am currently ideal!! Wouldn't have said that a few months ago!! It is only because I have lost a bit of weight after being on my feet 12/13 hours a day and not eating properly as don't have time! Still if it says Iam ideal for my age and height, I am not gonna argue. The games on Wii Fit are fun and include Ski Slalom and Ski Jumping though I am not convinced by the Yoga exercises as I kept losing my balance!! That said there is a good Step Aerobics programme on there that is challenging and fun and the more hours you put into Wii Fit, the more extras you can unlock! I played for around an hour tonight before I had realised and ended up all hot and sweaty but had lots of fun!!! It said I had lost 4lbs when I weighed myself at the end of my session and then I realised I had done the first weigh-in wearing my Combats and, by the end of my Wii time, had ended up removing them as they had got in the way and that, loaded down with my keys and wallet etc, that probably amounted to the missing 4lbs! What a dope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, thats Day Two of my holiday over so 'till tomorrow goodbyeeeeeeeeeeee!

Don't you...forget about me...hey hey hey hey!

Had a detox day today from computer which, for those of you who know me, know that on my day off that is VERY unusual!! The only other time that has happened is when P.C played up and we couldn't use it! Didn't intend it like that-just found lots of other stuff to keep me occupied like taking Emilie to the park and swings which she absolutely loved!! Actually let her walk most of the way rather than using pushchair and only had to pick her up when we crossed the road walking back home and when we had to ascend a slope to get to play area. Had to go into work tonight though to cover for the Head Chef who had phoned in sick so, as you can well imagine, was not best pleased- in fact was pretty pissed off in fact. Thankfully it was fairly quiet- just restaurant, no functions- and he will be back to work tomorrow. Must have been one of them "24 hr" viruses then....

It's a good job really as I have my speed awareness/safety course tomorrow at 9 am at the University Of East Anglia Sport-Park (or Norwich UEA as we know it). Not sure what to expect but have in mind something like The Breakfast Club!!! I see myself in the Judd Nelson role for those who have seen the film though, when I was at school, I was more like the nerd, played by the guy who now stars in the T.V series of The Dead Zone, crossed with the character played by Ally Sheedy; a weirdo with a personality disorder who is a compulsive liar to begin with and who, it turns out, shouldn't even be in Detention, she just "didn't have anything better to do on a Saturday!!

My favourite scene is where all the teens are whistling the theme from The Great Escape when the teacher walks in and all you hear is Judd Nelson's character whistling "Da da da daaaaaah!!" That and the scene where Judd Nelson is crawling across the ceiling tiles to return to the Dention room after being segregated for mis-behaviour!! What a classic film!!

The Breakfast Club is my favourite all-time '80's movie closely followed by The Lost Boys, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Uncle Buck and Pretty In Pink. Man. I used to fancy the pants off Molly Ringwald!!! Always remember her in Sixteen Candles, a less well known flick in which her parents forget her sweet sixteenth- back in the day, everything she starred in for me was gold!!!

Anyway, I digress...will let you know how I get on with Speed Awareness tomorrow!! No doubt it will be nothing like The Breakfast Club and I will be throughly bored.... but you never know I might learn something! I have visions of us all sitting in a circle and having to stand up and say "I'm Sparky and I'm a reckless and irresponsible driver!" like we're in Alcoholics Anonymous or something.....

Right, gotta go...Mrs.Sparky is getting narky!! Will see you tomorrow little Sparkettes...xxxxxxx Sparky