- Gobbledygook
from the BBC
- Judes off on a tangent again
- Convention
News
- Up
the Mighty Armstrong Angels
- Like
trying to get blood out of a stone
- Disappointing
& Slightly Arrogant
- Bad
Call
- Greatest love story of all time
Ho
Hum! Here we go again! I wrote to the BBC over the
weekend and received 3 auto replies almost instantly then today, I
received another load of gobbledegook from Peter, this time, from BBC
Information. He writes, he's been unable to ascertain from my
email the exact nature of what it is I'm trying to say in relation to
this series. If I can send more information, he'd be more
than happy to try again. As I said, Ho Hum! Can't
wait to see how far it differs from all the others we've all received
so far. This is the rant several of you asked me to send the
BBC so we can only wait and see, eh?
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
For the attention of:
Peter
BBC Information
Dear Peter,
Thank you for your email
received this evening in which you were not able to ascertain the exact
nature of what I was trying to say regarding Robin Hood Series
2. We, that is, my friends and I cannot for the life of us
understand the term as has been "spouted" to us by way of an
explanation all these months of the unnecessary death of Lady Marian by
the hand of the very brutal Gisborne. Firstly, we object
strongly to the brutality of the character which in our opinions, is
tantamount to violent abusive behaviour towards women in general and we
hasten to remind you that there are campaigns worldwide to try and stop
this behaviour, besides which, this wonderful programme began as a
Family show intended to bring families together for a fun filled,
action packed, perhaps tongue in cheek version of the most popular
legend in British Folklore. It also reflects badly on
youngsters watching because it creates the impression that this
shocking abuse is acceptable in all societies and it most certainly is
not acceptable.
The killing of Marian, if
indeed she has really been killed by Gisborne was shocking, devastating
and broke not only the hearts of the kids who aspired to be like their
heroes, but to us older audiences alike, and for the life of us, in
doing so, we cannot see any sense whatsoever in the excuse that BBC
want to create a story that feels "engaging and surprising" for the
audience. Would you please define what is engaging and
surprising about killing off the Heroine and taking this legend where
it has never been before? I have no doubts about the amount
of irate letters BBC obviously has received in the intervening months
since the final episode went to air and I also do not doubt for one
second that that was the single most unpopular storyline you could have
pursued unless of course, it is a plot to get her away from Gisborne
and that ridiculous overdone, over-played 3-way triangle (which was
never in legend anyway) once and for all.
How do you justify the
villain running a sword through the Heroine, and the Writers and
Production Team cannot or do not want to understand the audience do not
consider such an act of (1) killing the Heroine, Fiancee and Wife-to-be
of the Hero, Title Holder and Headline Actor of the show, a wise choice
to make especially after building up their beautiful romance two-thirds
of the way through a three-part Season? (2) That
same villain should suffer the consequences of his action and the
sooner he's eliminated from the show, the better! (3) We are
and never were interested in whether HE suffers the consequence of his
actions or not. And for your information, may we remind you
you have a strong tendency to favour this villain over the
Hero and while we are all
aware that Richard Armitage is a very attractive man who plays the part
absolutely thrillingly, if not far too brutally, he is not the hero and
this story should not be about him (Gisborne) regardless of Richard's
popularity. Apart from the heinous crimes he's already
committed and the number of times he has betrayed Marian, the woman he
professes to "love"(??) he has already been allowed to take up far too
much of Robin and Marian's life together so far. We remind
you again, this is Robin Hood's legend (this version). Let Gisborne
have his own show in some other production at a later date but then,
please give that it's appropriate title - the Guy of Gisborne show ...
We have no other reason
to believe BBC are not still planning to promote Gisborne's evil over
Robin Hood yet again which is totally unacceptable to us all who love
and watch the show so devotedly every week and would prefer to see it
go back to its original, traditional classic re-telling as it
began. It promised the audience everything then and delivered
on those promises much to our absolute delight as possibly -
undoubtedly the best Robin Hood screened to date. The Cast
and Crew were exceptional and brilliant in their efforts to deliver the
best possible story until this unprofessional attitude crept in
favouring the bad guy.
It is to be hoped Marian
did not end up occupying that empty gravesite and she will come back
into the story at some time during the next 13 episodes for the happy
ending - now that is our idea of engaging and surprising - because the
excuses we've all received from BBC do not make one iota of common
sense. It was said by Foz Allan that where Miss Griffiths was
concerned there was a contingency plan in place if she failed to
deliver. Apparently she passed that plan with flying colours
which is another reason we ask, why then, was this course unreasonably
taken? There was never another love, different or otherwise
for Robin as we all know the legend or so we all thought we did until
the BBC and Production Team saw fit to attempt to alter a centuries old
story. As I mentioned, the villains are just that - evil bad
guys and Gisborne, no matter how popular Richard is - has played his
part brilliantly but then, so have Jonas, Lucy, and every other star of
the show - they put their hearts and souls into this production, so
Gisborne should never have been permitted to overshadow the legendary
hero who, we would respectfully remind you, is none other than the
Title Holder, Robin Hood played by the brilliant young Rising Newcomer,
Jonas Armstrong not to mention Lucy Griffiths' fabulous
performance also.
The entire cast have been
an absolute credit and their performances brilliant, absolutely
brilliant to the success of this adaptation, really and truly engaging
and surprising but it will be disappointing if they don't receive the
acclaim they well and truly deserve and come back in Series 3 for the
real expected proper engaging and surprising ending but I'm afraid
Gisborne's participation is no longer an option as we, the audiences,
believe the position Richard has played so well and the triangle ad
nauseum has been overplayed to the detriment of the show.
Thank you for giving me
the opportunity of explaining.
[top >>>]
July
8th 2008
I get to the point where
I have to think, think, think, what to write until my head hurts, and
that doesn't take long either, I might add. One minute,
everyone is extremely enthusiastic discussing interesting ideas of
where they think the programme is heading for Season 3, then we talk
ourselves out basically until the tabloids print some more incompetent
or well outdated nonsense that has us pick ourselves up, dust ourselves
off and away we go for another few pages of in-depth discussions. Now,
the tabloids are reporting that Toby Stephens has been chosen to play
"King" John which seems to indicate the story has either jumped a few
years or it's just incorrect reporting yet again, assuming Prince John
has succeeded his Brother, Richard to the throne. I'm
inclined to believe it's more a case of the tabloids getting their
"facts" for want of a better expression, wrong once again. I
hasten to add at this stage, the BBC are still remaining tight-lipped
about everything, not giving any crumbs away whatsoever.
You see, nothing will
convince me that with the remaining 13 episodes left to film, and
you're probably thinking that "Oh No! Jude's off on her
tangient again", the ending of the second season could just possibly be
the wrong ending we have been shown - there was talk of there being two
endings made - and that now I feel what we were shown, in fact, did not
take place at all. I keep remembering what the Fool said
about if you want to keep something hidden, the trick is to divert the
audience's attention. I now find I am having trouble getting
past the fact that when Allan A'Dale got Robin and the Gang out of the
Barn at Nettlestone while the Sheriff and Gisborne, with Marian along
too, were making their way to Portsmouth to embark on a ship to the
Holy Land, I can see why Robin would want to follow to get Marian out
of the clutches of those two evil characters, but for them all to leave
Nottingham to its own devices - the ride to Portsmouth wasn't exactly
the quick trip it appeared to be so we are lead to believe the distance
to Acre was like a trip from Dover to France - overnight??
Yeah! Right! On horseback, Nottingham to Portsmouth
- a five-minute ride - I doubt it! They'd have all been out
of England for many, many months so how would the poor of Nottingham
get on in the meantime, I'm sure they'd cope easily enough
with the Sheriff and Gisborne's absence, it would probably the happiest
time of their unfortunate lives with their brand of terrorism in the
name of greed and power, but without Robin's help - I don't think
so. I am thinking along the lines that the nightmare or
dream/illusion started earlier than was at first thought. I
don't quite know how, that's for the writers to figure out.
If, as we know Jonas has
committed to only stay for the 3 seasons he originally intended, and
the show carries on once he has honoured his commitment, then perhaps
the story will stretch on into King John's era, but if the current
adaptation finishes with Jonas's departure and hopefully, not with
Robin Hood's death as most of us are inclined to be fearful of, I
cannot see Robin becoming involved with anyone else in the remaining 13
episodes, as blimey!
It took him long enough
to get around to letting Marian know how he felt and asking her to
marry him - a whole 21 episodes, wasn't it? Even throughout the telling
of the Legend, there never was another woman in Robin's life. And
surely it's not going to dissolve in a fight to avenge Marian's death
by Robin winning this week, Gisborne next week, or having to put up
with Gisborne's sneering, snarling evil behaviour until the
end. Sorry, I like my ending far better where Marian faints
on withdrawing Gisborne's sword from her side, giving the appearance of
her death only, Djaq and Will discovering before her burial
that she is indeed, still alive and because Robin and the Gang have
been farewelled by Richard, they nurse her back to health and take her
back to England and Sherwood Forest to Robin. There is much
talk about Lucy not returning for Season 3 but I am very suspicious
about that and even though it's finally been mentioned she is at
present, filming something else, that is not exactly a hurdle that
cannot be overcome if she is not needed until well after the actual
filming of Robin Hood has begun. As we all know, it has not
been a problem for Richard Armitage filming another project, Jonas
himself, has made a movie in the interim, Keith Allen's supposed
"death" is supposed to be in process of filming now but who's to say
that is going to be shown anywhere from Episode 1 to 13? The
scenes from each episode aren't necessarily made in sequence.
And to go off track I'll explain:
Two incidences of this
taking place are apparent (1) Where Robin savagely throws his dagger at
Gisborne in S1.08 lodging it in the tree about 1 inch from Gisborne's
ear. And (2) where Robin mounts one of the horses "stolen"
from Gisborne and laughs in Gisborne's face S1.04. Gisborne
wasn't in either shot. I mean, would you want to be tied to a tree and
have Jonas (in a temper) hurl a knife at your head - a clue -
no! No! We are in for a surprise I think, or rather
I believe, because with the time remaining, I cannot see another woman
in Robin's life so I think that after a suitable grieving time for him,
say, between 6 or 7 episodes, Marian will return accompanied by Will
and Djaq (even for a brief time before returning to the Holy Land if
they have to go back), or even being brought back to Robin in the
King's entourage, and he will do his utmost to keep her presence back
in the Forest with him from Gisborne ever finding out, although I
really don't fancy that brute's snarling nasty ways for the entire 13
episodes but even Richard Armitage himself, thinks Gisborne won't last
the distance as he deserves to be written out for want of a polite
suggestion. And then of course, the whole production comes back on
track for the wonderful Wedding of Robin and Marian at long last, and
Much and the rest of the world get to go home and eat. Who
knows? All the Armstrong Angels might yet see their dream
come true with Jonas shirtless and perhaps bathing, to dress like the
Noble he is supposed to be for the Wedding of what could still be the
greatest love story ever told. We can live in hope, I suppose
.... there's no harm in hoping and surely the powers that be must have
listened to us just a little somewhere along the way with all the
hostile anger directed at them over their disastrous decision to try
and anticipate the balladeers and story tellers of the 12th to the 21st
century. To quote Gisborne: "Please be to God
......." Give us back our wonderful family programme for a
happy ending.
[top >>>]
June 26th 2008
LONG MAY LUCKY AND KATIE
REIGN OVER US - Well! Unfortunately that wasn't to be for long, was
it? Katie has stepped down and that is very sad for all of us
but it is a decision which she had to make for her future and we all
wish her the very best of everything. Luckily, she will still
be a part of JAF and we can look forward to her maintaining contact
from time to time and of course, we hope she will be attending the next
Convention which is now going to take place from 11th to 13th September
2009 at the New President Hotel in Blackpool.
It's now been a good two
weeks since that wonderful, eventful weekend and although we would
reasonably expect everyone has re-entered earth's orbit, I somehow
doubt it. The funny stories, the funnier antics, the
wonderful surprises and all the gorgeous pictures taken by one and all
and kindly published on the board for the benefit of those who weren't
able to go, are just mind-boggling, so much so that with those left
behind in England having to farewell all the travellers, the most
natural thing to occupy one's mind and take away the sadness at
parting, was to get straight back into the action, find out the level
of interest of the non-attendees who would like to attend the next
Convention and get right back into the preparations all over again.
This task has been done,
no mucking about on this Fansite, it sounds as though our Fearless
Leader, the Lovely Lucky, has everything right under control and I for
one, will only be unable to attend if I drop dead meantime, which I'm
not planning on doing any time soon, otherwise, I'll be there with
bells on. I wouldn't miss it for quids - or all the tea in
China and if I have to, I am quite prepared to go back to work for a
few months to finance a decent and hopefully, lengthy holiday in the
U.K. - my first ever. I have missed out so many
times. I left home 2 months after my sister who travelled to
Melbourne until I joined her, travelling by sea on the passenger ship
owned by the Company I had worked for, Shaw Savill Line, at that time,
a well-known English Shipping Company. After working back at
Shaw Savill for the second time, almost a year to the day, we sailed
for New Zealand on the same ship where I was asked to work for the
Company a third time as Senior Telex Operator for N.Z. and because I
hadn't actually had any experience working in Passenger Department, I
was offered the opportunity of a lifetime, travel each way to and from
England on board both the Company's popular liners with 4-6 months in
London Office, and of course, I was to work on board both ships in
transit - what a life - and do you know what I did - I got mixed up
with my ex-husband - a Londoner - instead and married the
sod! Worst mistake I ever made. Needless to say,
within 5 years, I had a change of heart and went back home to Perth to
Mum and Dad and since then, celebrate my Wedding Anniversary each year
as a very happy divorcee. My friends reckon I should be in a
strait jacket but hey! I should write a book on some of the things I've
gotten up to over the years only I don't think anyone would believe
me. Can't help wondering if I was tempting fate by getting
married on Friday, 13th. I'm not superstitious and one of my
favourite numbers is 13. But this time, I definitely stuffed
up badly. You can't help bad luck!
Anyway, moving on, to get
back on track: Several people have asked me what a Brag Book
is as I've now chosen 117 of the Convention Photos to develop and place
in a book (which I will take with me to the next Convention).
Personally, I think the idea of a "Brag" book came from some
Grandmothers who loved to show off pics of their grandchildren -
without any prompting - of course and the idea developed from there in
the form of a mini photo album containing say, 36 sleeves to insert
photos and carry around in their handbags to poke under any poor
unsuspecting person's nose. I may not develop all I've
selected but as long as I cover all attendees singly or in some of the
group photos, I'll be happy. They really are a very happy,
jolly bunch and I can put names to many of their pretty faces already
plus the few I've collected from the non-attendees also. So,
I am happily occupying my time keeping busy (or rather in my case -
staying out of mischief) and guess what! It was my birthday
on Monday, 23rd and someone posted I was 66 while I claim only 29 thank
you very much, but for the first time in more than a year or so, I was
able to go for a walk - what's so unusual about that you might
ask! I haven't been able to walk properly now for the best
part of some time without extreme pain, either with a cane or leaning
on a shopping trolley or the like. Yesterday was the first time in all
that time I walked unaided for 25 minutes, free of pain and very
pleased with myself.
I've been given some
juice to try and I hear you ask: Well! Okay, what's
so bloody special about drinking juice? It's a concoction of
natural native fruits, quite a few of them, used by the Aboriginal
people for thousands of years in the Northern Territory of Australia
and the benefits of taking this juice are plentiful and
beneficial. After taking the juice for 4 days, the
improvement is incredible. It looks like used sump oil and
one friend reckoned it tasted like it too - she didn't try it at all -
but I find it quite pleasant to take and in spite of my rigidly strict
diet where I was specifically told not to take it, I was so fed up
being in pain I thought what the heck. Might have to neglect
to relate all at the Diet Clinic tomorrow, neglect to tell the whole
truth and nothing
but, but they're not the
ones tolerating the pain in my back and legs, besides this stuff aids
in weight loss as well. Has all the vitamins and minerals the
body needs, omega oils, there's not much in the way of ailments it
doesn't benefit and hell! you can even use it as topping on your
icecream and other desserts. It's getting people back on
their feet, healthy and well again, some have used it with success on
their aging pet dogs and cats, one dog even reported to be chasing cats
again - at his age??? It's excellent for arthritis sufferers
and I am now one myself and 30mls daily is all it takes. So I
am looking forward to getting off the not quite so fat behind and
getting mobile again - hoo-bloody-ray! The prospects are now
seemingly endless and am I going to take advantage of that?
My chiropractor is in for a hard time tomorrow too, if he hurts me,
he'd better be prepared to run ....
One thing I'd like to
mention: With the newbies on the board, there is renewed
interest in some very animated discussions taking place and they are
not only welcoming but I believe, have injected new enthusiasm for our
favourite programme starring who else? Our gorgeous
Boss. This won't do any of us any harm as the conversations
appearing are brilliant and to my way of thinking, we needed some sort
of injection into our apparently waning lack of enthusiasm which is
understandable as all we are doing, all we can do at this stage, is
guess or pre-empt the "creators"(?) and producers(?)" of the show
because they don't tell us a damn thing so with all this exciting
discussion taking place, it does help pass the time until we can look
forward to the programme going to air, hopefully, without any delays,
in October or thereabouts.
[top >>>]
June 17th 2008
The expression should be
"Up The Mighty Armstrong Angels" - someone please tell Jonas next time
he phones:- Actually, another ideal Tee-Shirt idea - What!
Wow! What a
weekend! It's always a wonderful feeling, arranging and
organising something of this magnitude, worrying yourselves sick
periodically that all will go well at the due time and then
experiencing the joy of finally meeting friends you've only heard on
the phone, or in our case, mostly on the internet. There's
nothing in the world that can compare. The excitement and joy
at getting together and having THE undoubtedly most successful time of
your lives in company of fantabulous people, all plans coming to
fruition to the extent of becoming rip-roaring successes every event,
and then the most thrilling part of all to be contacted by our Hero and
his Lovely Mum and his thoughtful, considerate friends to bring about a
weekend you will never forget. We at home, won't forget
either!
Then comes the time to
part and go your own way until the next time. This is always
the most devastating time and it will last indefinitely for you all,
believe me, I am well aware as I arrange reunions bi-annually for the
former Iron Ore Mining Company I used to work for. All the
excitement and planning, worrying what can or might go wrong, meeting
good friends again finally, the fabulous time enjoyed by all over the
weekend, then the time comes we say goodbye until the next
time. It is a dreadful feeling and always leaves me drained
and empty, but as soon as I come back to earth, I get started all over
again working towards the next function and that helps the sadness pass
faster than if I sit feeling a bit lonely and sorry for myself as I
tend to do. So, I heartily recommend getting back into the
swing of things as soon as practicable and based on the tremendous
success of the weekend, to start building on that
immediately. It helps and it keeps everyone remembering the
happy weekend and for those who couldn't attend this event, only makes
them more determined not to miss out next time. I know I'm
more than ready to start making arrangements as soon as Lucky and Katie
return from orbit and come back to earth.
Speaking of Lucky and
Katie, how absolutely awesome are these two ladies? I did not
know they had never met until this weekend although several times when
I've received pm's and emails from them, I wondered if they actually
worked together as in, like, an office together or what? What
an achievement for them to do what they have done, first, in setting up
this brilliant Fansite and arranging the JAF Convention. I
knew I had made the right decision when I joined JAF, that it is
efficiently and properly run with excellent rules and regulations
especially regarding and protecting our younger members, then to find
out during the weekend, they had not met beforehand. I would
like to travel to the U.K. just to meet them personally and
congratulate them on their splendid efforts - what they achieved was
nothing short of miraculous and even for us at home, unable to attend,
we were kept up-to-date with what was going on and the antics kept us
laughing all weekend. I was extremely happy for you all and
admire and respect you to the point that I can't wait to meet you all,
perhaps at the next Convention.
In the meantime, there
were a few of us who posted pictures of ourselves dressed up in our
Marian shirts and I have asked quite a few of the members if they'd
agree to do likewise. There's no great hurry now but I have
already started my "brag book" of Armstrong Angels which I will add to
as and when new pictures are added and it doesn't matter about the
Tee-shirts as we will no doubt know how successful (or not) we were
whether Marian is returned to us for the final season.
It is exciting and very
comical reading the reports that are now filtering through to us,
especially from those of you who have already touched down again and no
doubt, there are many of us anxiously waiting for the announcement that
the DVD/Videos are ready to order. You can't imagine how
disappointed, those of us who weren't able to attend, were, especially
when we received nothing but brilliant and very considerate feedback
from you all for which we thank you very much, that was very thoughtful
and very much appreciated.
And as for the magical
surprises from Jonas' Phonecall and his Text Message, then his Lovely
Mum and Colin visiting you all at the Party on Saturday, then to find
out Mrs Armstrong had a Family Album at Jonas' suggestion, she brought
along to show you, how wonderful it would be if he allows some, a
little, publication of perhaps one or two photographs for the JAF Forum
but of course, if he chooses not to, we will understand, then there's
only one thing we can do - attend the next Convention, isn't that
right? We loved and adored him before this weekend and chose
to become members of his Fanclub, but now, his thoughtfulness and
consideration to us, his loyal fans, has elevated him in the extreme -
there is no one quite like Jonas Armstrong and as I started off
raving: Another Tee-shirt in the making:- Up The
Mighty Armstrong Angels and perhaps as soon as the next Convention is
announced: Blackpool 2009 with the AA Logo included and "We Love Jonas"
with of course, presentation to Jonas and Mrs Armstrong - Whatd'ya
reckon? Another Fundraiser? If this does eventuate,
please don't tell John McGoldrick from Smegshirt I made the suggestion
as he might just want to wring my neck for all the trouble I gave him
over my Marian Tee-shirt. And while I'm at it - LONG MAY
LUCKY AND KATIE REIGN OVER US. Magic Ladies ....
[top >>>]
May
23rd 2008
All is quite quiet on the
home-front at the moment, no information forthcoming from anyone in the
know and trying to get information out of anyone concerned, is like
trying to get blood out of a stone. Of course, I shouldn't
have to elaborate but naturally, I'm referring to Robin Hood if that is
what our favourite show is still being called for the next, and final
series, and we can't even be sure it will be the final series in this
current version according to what Keith Allen said in a recent
interview. I don't know, all this gossip and innuendo is a
pain in the butt, but one minute we have reason to hope for the best
and the next, it seems that common sense is not going to prevail after
all and no-one will tell us what the hell is going on - to the powers
that be and everyone else in the corridors of power - where is the fun
in that? You're all spoilsports, you know that! And
to keep us all in suspenders like this is just plain lousy .... the
surprise at the end of this better be worth the long wait .... and I
don't mean any of their stupid artistic decisions or alternative
unnecessary storylines either.
Speaking of suspenders,
next time I go anywhere I'll need a pair of braces. I'll soon
have my rather extensive wardrobe back at the rate the weight is coming
off now and I've got a really expensive blouse I'm dying to wear, it is
brand new or was 30 years ago when I first bought it and it's been
hanging in the wardrobe until I can wear it. I do things like
that, buy things I like then hope for the day - you know - 10, 20, 30
years down the track when I can comfortably wear them. (And if you
think I'm mad, wait 'til you meet the rest of my family).
Hey! Have I mentioned before that my car is back on the road
from the Panelbeaters? In all the years I've bought, owned
and sold motor cars, do you reckon that one day I'll get to smash one
of my own cars? I've never had that opportunity, someone else
always manages to damage them for me. I really do think I
know who's responsible for the damage done to this one and trust
me! I will get him back! That much I can
promise. The cute little car I own now, I bought brand
spanking new and paid cash too - it isn't 2 years old yet and this
fellow might feel he's got away with it, but - that's what he thinks -
Ha!
I've been reading
everyone else's blogs and they are hilarious so while I have mostly
concentrated on our favourite subject - our gorgeous Boss - I thought
that while there isn't a lot of news on where he's at, how the
production is progressing, etc. etc. etc. I'd elaborate on some funny
shortcomings and mischief I've managed to get myself into
over the years. Sporting wise I ran and swam for my school, played
softball then in High School, I played Hockey and as a member of the
Fremantle Ladies Hockey Club Schoolgirls I went into the Senior ranks
of A Grade under notice of 2 Australian Olympic Captains and Left
Fullback which position I played. They gave me every
encouragement to play on but when my Father found I had to rely on
wearing my Glasses, he wouldn't allow me to play anymore. As it was, I
got my front teeth broken. So it was back to ballroom dancing
which I had been doing since I was 13. Gave up swimming as couldn't get
the hair wet - Oh No! Anyone remember the beehive hairdos of
the Beatles' era? Dad used to say we didn't tease our hair
and comb over, we used to torment it.
My work resume was pretty
exciting (for me) as not being able to join the Navy I got my first job
with an English Shipping Company. Shaw Savill & Albion Co. Ltd,
or Shaw Savill Line or as the Sea Staff called it (SS&A) Slow
Starvation & Agony (not true). I got to
travel on the two popular Passenger Liners quite often and worked on
them too. That was very hard - 4 hours on in the Purser's
Office - 4 hours off in the Tavern - 4 hours on - 4 hours back in the
Tavern - very hard indeed, Then I went into the W.A. Gov't Stores
Department shipping from Albany in the South to Darwin in the Northern
Territory - I loved working with shipping companies. Then at age 23 I
left home and sailed out of Fremantle on board Shaw Savill's "Northern
Star" and by the money I spent in the Tavern alone, I reckoned I was a
part-owner of the ship, to Melbourne where I was asked to come back to
them again, so I spent just on a year there until I embarked on my
beloved "NS" again bound for Wellington, New Zealand where after a
short time doing temporary work, I was asked to meet the Personnel
Manager who offered me the Telex Operator's job back with Savills for
the third time and that wasn't work, it was a pure pleasure.
What a wonderfully funny atmosphere there was in that office, all of us
78, there were, would go to functions ashore or on board the visiting
ships and we had an absolute ball. To this day I am still a
member of the Shaw Savill Society in NZ and hope to go back in October
this year for the next reunion.
After returning home to
Perth when my Father became ill and passed away six months later (and I
still haven't forgiven him yet) I went up to the rugged North West and
worked for Goldsworthy Mining Limited, the first iron ore mining
company in W.A. where I was with them for 17 pretty hilarious years
too. I organise their reunions every two years here in Perth
since the Company was bought out by the Big Australian, B.H.P. and
we've had some pretty spectacular reunions over the past 16
years. We take over a Hotel for the entire weekend so we
don't have to drink and drive. I travelled into the South
Pacific on a 12-day cruise - I can't go anywhere without meeting
someone I've known or worked with - so life for me while it's held very
few tragedies has always been loads of fun with some terrible mischief
befalling me - friends have asked me to write a book but I personally
think no one would ever believe the funny situations I have often found
myself in. The worst and most unforgivable thing, not to
mention my biggest tragedy, was marrying an alcoholic Londoner - I
didn't realise he was an alcoholic to begin with but after putting up
with him bashing me once too often, I'd had enough of him, so as luck
would have it, he was carrying on something awful one night and I
managed to get the upper hand for once. He came at me in such
a way, I grabbed the bloody twerp and threw him into an open wardrobe
door, shut the door on him, grabbed the car keys and backed out of the
drive so fast, I took the brick letterbox and half a cyclone wire fence
attached to the car as I raced off down the street. That was
on a Friday night, and on Monday morning, I had my name
changed by deed poll, back to my maiden name and filed for
divorce the same day. Mind you I married the sod on Friday,
April 13 so I was tempting fate to begin with. The next time
I went back to NZ I visited my former in-laws, and asked them what had
they done to deserve a son like him - they were the loveliest people
but what on earth they did to deserve an offspring like him we'll never
know. His sister refused to have children of her own because
of him and she was gorgeous - a typical English Rose if ever there was
one. We were to discover we had all been on board "Northern
Star" at the same time. I blushed madly thinking
they might not have had the best impression of me had they ever dreamt
we would eventually become in-laws, and on board my favourite ship too.
I must have behaved because they didn't remember me and that would have
been unusual - me behaving, that is. I did work on board in
the Purser's Office from time to time during the cruise as it happened,
but, luckily .....
Anyway, As I said last
paragraph, My Darling Dad left me far too early and in lots of ways
Jonas is like him - same beautiful smile, same gorgeous blue eyes that sparkled or
flashed when I got into trouble - (which was more often than
not). There are so many similarities .... but!
enough, for this time anyway. I mentioned earlier that I have
never had a dull life - more often than not, it has been an absolute
hoot. I wouldn't change anything for quids.
Well! Only one thing perhaps, they say someone on a higher
plane looks after each one of us. I came down from the North West at
one time to buy a house but my Bank would only lend me an amount
$AUD10,000 short of my target and as I didn't want an extra mortgage, I
passed on the house. Some time later I discovered my ex lived
five houses away in the same street....?
[top >>>]
May
18th 2008
Can you believe the ABC
here in Australia? Now I know why I was so reluctant in
telephoning them and asking when we can expect Robin Hood to be
repeated. (And I was only enquiring about Series 1)! The
disappointing and slightly arrogant answer is that they only have
licence to show it twice all told, they've shown it once already and
will repeat sometime between now and - wait for it - don't hold your
collective breaths - the year 2010. I was shocked and asked
why, because Pride and Prejudice had been shown about twice in one year
and annually for about six years thereafter - I couldn't believe
it. I was not game enough to ask whether they intended
picking up Series 3 as was mentioned in last week's TV Week.
So, from my own point of view, I have my Series 1 Boxset and can play
it whenever I like but what about those who haven't got
theirs. The arrogant tart I spoke to had the audacity to tell
me the show was publicised and I flipped - naturally, I made a
comparison to the American promos and publicity and told her in no
uncertain terms that the ABC's effort at publicising was absolutely
pitiful and pathetic in comparison to the BBCA. She tried to
justify the ABC decision but I was too angry to listen - I hung up on
her.
As there is not much in
the way of up-to-date news at present, like, we're obviously not going
to be privy to anything going on in Budapest with regards to who's
there on site to whether filming has started or whatever, whether Lucy
is awake from her coma after the shock of withdrawing THAT sword and
finding herself lying BESIDE that grave, instead of as someone said on
the boards: spitting sand out of her mouth saying "Geez, is there
anything wrong with taking my pulse" or something to that
effect. It was very funny the way it was written and it would
have given the writers something to think about to FIX THAT horrible
season end so I'll get on with the small talk and take inspiration from
some of the other blogs.
Before I do though, there
was a report in this morning's West Australian, the local rag here in
the West, that a Policeman's vehicle was car-bombed in Castlederg in
Ireland. He wasn't seriously hurt but his legs were badly
burnt. I mention this because in one of the many interviews
in the early days of Jonas' budding career, he was asked about being
born in Dublin and were both his parents from there too. He
said only he and his Father were Dubliners and that his Mother was from
Castlederg or was it the other way around? Mrs A. from Dublin and Mr A.
from Castlederg and I think his Grandmother still lived
there. I sincerely hope this incident was as far away as
possible from any of Mr and Mrs A's relatives. From memory,
this interview was the Breakfast TV show.
I was empathising with
PurpleGirl, Ariane's first leg-shaving experience and on reading her
account of it, my eyes kept watering remembering my own first efforts,
talk about blood and excess skin everywhere, the bathroom looked like a
slaughter-house down at Robb Jetty. I played Hockey for years
and as a result my shins were like serrated bones and with each bump of
the razorblade, I was mopping out the cuts thinking there has to be an
easier way than this, bleeding half to death every time not to mention
the band-aids weren't exactly a pretty sight. And getting in trouble
using Dad's razor wasn't much fun either - he'd ground me from going
somewhere special - there was no fun in that at all 'cos I'd stay at
home whingeing and moaning instead. I tried going to a
beautician but that's pure, unadulterated torture of the worst kind ..
Hell! It hurt! So then, fortunately, some bright
spark invented epilators which I refer to as Whipper-Snippers (those
garden type cutters or edgers for getting at long grass in difficult
places. So now, if I tell my mates I'm off to whipper-snip my
legs, they know what I'm talking about. I made a comment at
work one day - we'd been talking about "doing our legs" and I, in my
usual style announced that when I whipper-snipped my legs, I'd weigh 2
kilograms lighter - one of my workmates walked away killing herself
laughing and shaking her head saying I was never going to change - just
as mad as ever.
Anyway, enough about the
self inflicted torture, I've started a weight-loss programme called the
Cohen Lifestyle Programme (don't refer to it as a diet or they all have
a fit, it is a choice (heard that one before)? everything is ... so as
I can wear my bikini in the River De Nial with everyone else.
As a friend said
many years ago: "Have you
ever seen a whale in a bikini?" I have a lot of back pain
sitting on my fat a...e day after day in front of this bleeding
computer - no exercise, not eating at all for hours on end and of
course, not doing anywhere near the required amount of walking I should
be doing then one day, at last, I woke up what I was doing wrong - as
if I didn't know - that was about 4 weeks ago when I hid the razor
blade before I got another bright idea because the pain was so bad. I
thought to myself you're an idiot Jude, you should go back to Cohen's
and I did, I can almost stand straight right to my usual height 5'3",
I'm walking sort of normal (for me) and I'm generally better off, not
quite free of pain but a heck of a lot better than I was.
Walking around the shops last night, I had to go and buy some fresh
vegetables and all of a sudden my slacks and knickers started slipping
down, I got the giggles and had several people staring at me, but of
course, I could hardly tell them, could I? That my pants were
falling off because I'd lost some weight. It's a brilliant
programme and the results are fantastic. I've been given a
goal weight of some 50 kilograms less than I was to begin - and I
should be back to what I weighed when I was in my 20's by
October. It's a rather unrealistic goal and I know one of my
sisters will be very, very critical (know-all that she is), but it was
because I listened to her last time that I regained the
weight. My other sister, well! She was once a
jockey, the youngest here in W.A. but the poor horse would collapse in
terror if it thought she was gonna mount its back to ride.
She badly needs to lose weight too. She's 18 years younger
than I am and a lot worse off than I have ever been and when I
mentioned this di ... oops ... programme, she made some silly comment
that made me give up on her - can't help if she doesn't want to help
herself, can I?
I had to laugh at the
newspaper headlines yesterday! The Federal Government here
has handed down its first Budget and as usual the Pensioners didn't get any significant
increase in their pensions so now the Gov't is being called the Robin
Hood Gov't, only in reverse, taking off the poor to keep the rich in
pocket. On the front page, the Prime Minister is being
targeted by Robin Hood with his Bow and Arrows ....
[top >>>]
May
9th 2008
Oh Great! I
just picked up the latest TV Week here and what do I read?
Quote: BAD CALL: Why did the writers of Robin Hood kill off
Marian in the finale? I love the show and Lucy Griffiths is
one of my favourite actresses. And it wasn't just Marian they
got rid of - Will and Djaq also left Robin's crew! What were
they thinking?! Unquote. And the Answer - Season three is in
production but ABC1 can't confirm yet if they will pick it
up. I've got news for the ABC. There has been so
little publicity over the first two seasons I was having doubts about
it because as I have said in earlier Blogs, there has been very little
publicity here in Australia, certainly in comparison to what our
American Angels have been telling us. Yet the ABC has always had an
excellent selection of British shows throughout the years, so it's
puzzling why they aren't doing more to promote this current
version. I will be making enquiries but I wouldn't be at all
surprised if with all the mystery and intrigue surrounding the show,
there is a feeling that now the Heroine has been killed off, nobody
will be interested in watching any further. -
WRONG! - and strangely enough, I'm not in the least
bit upset because I'll send to England for the S3 Boxset if that is the
case. I really think that later on, depending on the content
of Season 3, that is, If Marian and Will and Djaq are returned
following the desert illusion of the Gang being tied up
in the desert, then that might be a different kettle of fish but it
won't surprise me at all if the finale of S2 has been considered the
finale of Robin Hood for this generation. Can't have that
now, can we? We'll just have to find out their reasoning and
start worrying them no end.
I'm strangely calm in my
attitude too. And I'll just bet the readers of these Blogs
will start thinking, Oh No! She's gonna start waffling
again! Well! Youse smartie pants all, I'm
not! So have some of that! I still firmly believe
this whole sorry set-up is a ploy to keep us guessing, all the giant
white lies that have been told, all the contradictions, all this
underhanded nit-picking, is all for our benefit to gauge the levels
those in the know took it to, which backfired on them to some extent by
the violence of the reaction to their terrible error of
judgement, so I am confident they can't ignore popular opinion to the
extent they have expressed by introducing new storylines particularly
if it looks like spoiling the legend of Robin Hood for all
time. For some unknown reason I am quietly confident
everything will turn out well, because by all this secrecy, gagging
everyone to the point there has been very little leaked out to the
adoring fans, I'd even bet that all the mystery and intrigue that
exists is a cover-up for the surprise I'm inclined to think we are in
store for - and, don't we deserve it too? So many loyal fans
everywhere were shocked and heartbroken and the ridiculous reasoning
given by the Writers and Creators on the Special Features Disc - it was
unreal, absolutely overwhelming, so much so that they would have to
take into account the devastation and grief felt by the viewing
audience and with a new team of writers now, surely we should be able
to hope against hope, this wonderful adaptation is quickly brought back
on track.
This had very definitely
turned into one of the greatest Love Stories of all time and knowing
that Robin Hood, in all the books written down through the ages, even
the one I took back to the library today, Marian was the only true love
of his life and although in most of the stories, she played a very
minor part whereas Movie and Television and even animated cartoons,
introduced her more prominently with every re-telling to the point that
our version as we know it today, has become the most romantic ever told
and what beautiful convincing acting by the stars involved, some of
them newcomers, but soon to be big stars and there can be no doubts on
that score. There isn't just the Hero and Heroine on their
own making this show as great as it is, they are equally well supported
by the brilliance of seven other entirely believable
characters. So, of the nine lovely actors who make this Robin
Hood so successful, they deserve better than to have this version left
sitting on a Video Store Shelf gathering dust if Season 3 isn't as
excellent as it is anticipated, nor if it isn't anywhere near as good
as the first two Seasons. The romance as we all know was
interrupted by a 5-7 year period with Robin away fighting in the
Crusades. In all the books I've read so far - it never
happened - he never left England to fight in the wars however, in this
version, he and Marian were betrothed beforehand and on him returning
home, he was delighted to find she had not married in his absence so
for the first season, the trust and love was re-discovered between them
to the point that they rekindled that love with more than a subtle hint
of interference with Sir Guy of Gisborne throughout the second season,
so my point is, why would the Creators and Producers write such a
beautiful romance over 2 seasons to have it killed off?
I believe her "death" is
the result of a mirage/illusion - I'm not sure whose yet, but I think
the three-way triangle having been overdone to the extent it was, is to
let Gisborne believe he has killed her so as to bring her back to Robin
while Gisborne suffers the consequences of his actions thinking he has
killed her. He's not going to know she is alive and Robin is
protecting her away from his clutches and if this be the case, then I
hope they get married immediately so as to move Gisborne further away
from his threats of taking her by force - I mean - only marriage to
Robin - well! That won't stop Gisborne anyway, will
it? And I am of the opinion that despite Will Scarlett and
Djaq remaining in the Holy Land, they will smuggle her back into
England unbeknown to all concerned until she is safely back in the
forest with Robin and the Gang. I am aware that Will Scarlett
has categorically stated he is not returning but is this another
attempt at throwing us all off track - two of the stars we know have
worked on other projects in the interim, indeed, Guy of Gisborne still
is and may be combining the two projects then again, that would amount
to enormous pressure and the production may begin and continue around him until he
becomes fully available later on. Who knows. I am
of the laid-back opinion all will end well after all. At
least, I hope it does because it would be such a travesty if the powers
that be go ahead with what they've made generally known with all the
lies combined and ruin Season 3 with this version this time around.
[top >>>]
May
2nd 2008
The dreaded final episode
came and went on Sunday 27th April so now we're in for the long wait
until Series 3 airs whenever .... I must email the ABC and ask if they
ever intend showing either of the first two series as they've never
been repeated up 'til now and I can't help wondering why.
I've downloaded lots and lots of the lovely videos that have been made
by the talented Angels and people from other sites too and amongst them
have been many promotional and publicity videos as shown in America and
elsewhere but here in Australia, we got practically nothing, zilch,
very little in the way of advertising, so now Season 2 has ended here,
I will start hounding them as to what possible reasons they have for
not showing repeats of my favourite show. After all, I have
seen Pride and Prejudice on an average of six or seven times, perhaps
even more often, since that show aired in 1995, It hasn't
been on for a while admittedly and I may have under-estimated how often
it has been repeated but there has not been enough publicity or repeat
shows of Robin Hood at all here in Australia.
In fact, the overall
publicity seems to be sadly lacking and whatever everybody else
believes, I didn't believe Marian "died" at the end of S1 and after
transcribing and listening to all the crap spoken on the Special
Features Disc, I still don't believe they killed her a second time and
I won't believe she won't return in Series 3 until I see for
myself. And the reason I reckon she'll be back is because of
the stupid, unintelligent comments made by the spaced out writers
trying to tell us intelligent beings that the reason they almost killed
her in the first series warranted them killing her off in the
second. If that isn't the greatest load of hogwash I've ever
heard, I'll go 'he'. Who knows, the lack of intelligence in
their 'conversational nonsense' might just have emanated because of the
possibility of them divulging surprise or secret elements, anything at
all where Season 3 was concerned. Just a thought on my part
because they never sounded quite as idiotic when they were so
enthusiastic over the first series. Again, who knows where
they will take the show now because of the volume and outrage as
demonstrated by the fans over the reaction of THAT ending.
Try this for
size: They've killed her off this time (as an illusion only)
to end once and for all the three-way triangle. Consider
this, the writers were spouting off over the Guy/Marian thing and it's
obvious the only way out they had of ending it forever, was to remove
Marian from the equasion, he suffers (the poor dear so-and-so) because
he thinks he's killed her but what did he do? He ran off when
his nutty fruitcake Boss called him, jumped on the back of said
fruitcake's horse and left her lying in the sand - some bloody hero he
is, and yet he threatened to take her by force earlier in the same
episode. Now you tell me, what woman in her sane, right mind
would choose to go off with a bloke like that even way back in those
days. I know women were very submissive in the 12th century
but Marian is depicted as a very independant young woman and I'd bet
that she would take her own life rather than be forced into an
unbearable union with a monster, (especially if her Darling Robin was
dead) either that or he Gisborne, wouldn't survive one night with her
because of the hardware (daggers) she had conveniently concealed on her
person.
So, that is my
unqualified opinion. She isn't dead, she's not lost to Robin,
although he will grieve for her naturally, until Will and Djaq can
bring her safely back to England, hopefully with Carter too (as he was
really cute). Guy will suffer too but do we care - a clue -
No!. He will suffer all the longer if he is never made aware
she is actually alive! Robin and the Gang will protect her
and keep her safe from Gisborne's evil clutches seeing as he hasn't got
the brains to understand why - now - she would despise him with every
inch of her being (understandably) but, knowing Marian and how stubborn
she is, the show will go on with Robin having one hell of a job on his
hands protecting the woman he loves because she'll want to be in the
thick of things as usual and will disobey him, creating more problems
for him by fighting for that useless King of England who hasn't yet got
his priorities right. (And for historic accuracy I can say
that because of his 10 years as King of England, Richard, Coeur de
Lionheart only spent approximately 6 months in all that time actually
in the Country, because he spent most of his reign fighting in the
blooming Crusades). And the rest of it living in France .....
How the new writers bring
Marian back, especially after the shocking ending of the second series,
is their problem, (but at least one of them is a Female), there are any
amount of various ways and ideas to be found (here I go again, but at
least I am consistent!) by referring to our JAF brilliant Armstrong
Angels Fanfic section. In fact, a good many of the Angels
should have been considered for positions of writers for the
show. It's never been more obvious than it is now that that
ending became a bigger shock to the then existing writers than they
ever could have anticipated from the violent reaction and objections
especially on the announcement made that the powers that be intended
taking the legend where it has never been before and at this late
stage, couldn't have succeeded in the remaining time frame, at least,
not knowing that this current day Robin Hood, our Darlin' Boss, has
always and very fairly, made it known he didn't intend remaining past
the third season. And if it comes to the point where he has
to be replaced, how on earth are they ever going to find someone who
could ever surpass his brilliant performance or his beautiful handsome
appearance - because they won't be able to. He is the most
credible Robin Hood to ever have gone swashbuckling, thrillseeking, or
daredevilling in Sherwood Forest (would you believe a Forest in
Hungary) yet.
One thing I would like to
add before I finish, is the powers that be in their wisdom, created
this family show by building up the loveliest and quite possibly, the
greatest love story of all time over a 26 episode programme to the
point that Robin and Marian had finally made their long-awaited
committment to getting married, so they absolutely and completely wreck
it for no genuine or apparent reason that couldn't be suitably remedied
as explained earlier in this blog and expect us to cop an unrealistic
"artistic decision" as a pathetic excuse to derail the most popular
story of British Folklore and expect us to believe Robin MIGHT fall for
some flibbertigibbet in the remaining 13 episodes. Even Robin
himself would have said: "I don't think so!"
This is in no way
intended to disparage Richard Armitage for his brilliant portrayal as
Sir Guy of Gisborne. But, I did not write the script nor did
I make SGoG so evil.
I have nothing but the
utmost respect for Richard and his acting ability. He is a
very nice young man to be greatly admired and that he is most
definitely on this Fansite.
Judy xx
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