Sad day on the cobbles

If you have read this blog before you know that I have been a fan of Coronation street for a while – even before we moved here.  There is something about the fact it is so not ‘Wysteria Lane’ -  everyone isn’t perfect with botox, implants and a picket fence.  They wear normal clothes have yellow teeth and more often than not have bad hair days – now that is something I can enjoy watching.

I was sad to hear today however that one of the main characters has died.  She has been on the show for over 25 years and was responsible for delivering some of the best wittiest, sarcastic remarks the show had to offer – and we all know how I love wit and sarcasm.

From what I understand, in real life Maggie Jones (who played Blanche Hunt) was every bit as funny and witty as she was on the show which you have to believe as it would be hard to ‘act’ witty as well as she did.  The highlight of the show for me most recently was when she dressed up as a fortune teller for one of their street parties – and at 75 I think she rocked the outfit pretty well.

For those who didnt watch the show you probably stopped reading a while back but below are some of her remarks which made her character, Blanche, so fantastic.  She was like a British version of Estelle Getty – a true British Golden Girl – and she will be sadly missed.

Blanche Quotes (stolen from various places on the interweb so thanks)

Blanche (to Fred about his marriage to Bev): Still, you’re getting on now, if you’re miserable you won’t have that long to endure it.

Deirdre: If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all.
Blanche: I think I’ll go home then.

Blanche: “You’re going to have to start taking pleasure in the misfortune of others, Kenneth, or you’re going to have a long and unhappy old age”.

Blanche Hunt (to Steve MacDonald): That’s the second fiance to chuck that ring away. You’d be better off buying a boomerang!

Norris: “Speed bumps? Oh no, they are so ugly and unattractive.”
Blanche: “So are you, but at least they have some use.”

On Peter: “He’s about as much cut out for fatherhood as I am for rugby league.”

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Home for the holidays

Well, we are back from our whirlwind and mildly chaotic trip home for Christmas.  We finally did receive our bags…2 on Christmas eve and one on Christmas day.  The vodka bottle was still in tact however the chocolate mousse cakes I had frozen and packed in ice packs for  Mom, sadly didn’t make it…they were a little too warm to be deemed safe to eat.  We had a lovely Christmas with the family…and I even received some blog related presents including 2 Coronation Street tops which I love and my very own Slanket hand made by my Mom!   I will start early next year hinting about stuff as it worked well.

On top of the delays and lost luggage we had a few family illnesses to contend with –   Mom with laryngitis (a Christmas present from Santa to Dad perhaps?), Mother in law with a cold, Father in law with pneumonia and Mom with a Christmas Day 24 hour stomach flu meaning she missed out on dinner.  The hubby and I did catch something as we both had stuffy noses and sore throats for most of the trip and the hubby had a nice big nose bleed  Saturday night….fa la la la la, la la la laaaa

Needless to say once Sunday arrived I was mildly looking forward to heading home to my own bed.  When we woke up on Sunday we were greeted with a loud rumbling noise, like a train going by…I opened the curtains and realised it wasn’t a train, just gale force winds bending trees and knocking down my parents outdoor Christmas tree…perfect flying weather.  As we drove to the airport we saw fallen down signs, trees and debris flying everywhere (dad almost got taken out by flying styrofoam at the gas station).  This did make for a fairly bumpy flight from Toronto to Detroit but we arrived safely.  I won’t bore you with the details of the return flight….I’ll save that for tomorrow.

Until then, some pictures of our white Christmas (click to make them bigger).

WTF? Friday

So I have mentioned it a few times but I do enjoy watching Coronation Street and as such I do read up on the little gossipy bits that I come across.  This headline however I was convinced was a joke but apparently not (don’t worry Canadian Coronation fans, the headline won’t give too much away – although clicking on the link might)

‘The Windasses are going to be trouble’

Apparently the Windasses are a new family that are to be introduced to the show this week.

Are you kidding me?  They had every last name in the world to choose from and they chose Windass? Granted not everyone has the sense of humor of a 7 year old like I do but come on!!  Can you imagine a dream role comes up…’Congratulations you just got a part on Coronation Street, you will play Donna Windass!’ (insert one second pause) ‘Um, no thanks, I am going to see if Eastenders is hiring.’

Please, someone tell me that this is an early April Fools Joke…

 

A piece of the street…

Even before the hubby and I made our move to the UK we started watching Coronation Street (gasp). The main reason we started watching (besides both my Uncles being huge fans) was that it was on for 2 hours straight first thing Sunday morning so we used to lay on the couch with our morning tea and got sucked in because really, what else is there to do on a Sunday morning?

It seems however that being a ‘Corn’ fan is something of a secret in Canada however since moving here I have had loads of inquiries into different plots so definitely think more people watch it than admit to watching it. Based on the new merchandise that CBC (the channel that airs Coronation Street) has launched, I don’t think its just tea totaling ex pats that are watching the shows.

Check out three of the adorable T-shirts (that incidentally would make great birthday/Christmas presents for me…both are in December and I would take a small – images are in preference order). This either means that the audience that watches Corn in Canada is young and trendy or the merchandising guys thought they were designing for 90210 2.0.

Anyhoo besides the trendy tops there are some other random things like mugs and mousepads but i think my all time favourite items are the Coronation Street Shampoo, Conditioner and Volumising spray (for those big nights at the Rovers Return)!!

Oooh do you think they use it at Audrey’s salon?? They say it smells like Tangerine and Mango but I reckon it would sell better if it smelled like beer and Betty’s hot pot…way more authentic.

Betty's famous hotpot

PS…not really as keen as receiving the hair products as a birthday or Christmas gift.

We interrupt this programme…

I have noticed when watching TV here that the commercial breaks are significantly shorter here than they are at home…so much so that they even cut out breaks when they re-broadcast American shows…ie if you happen to catch Friends on TV here (frankly it’s hard not to as it is on 24/7) you will see where a break is meant to be for a commercial but it continues on. This does actually mean however that a half hour show ends short of a half hour but leaves you more time between the end of say Friends, and the beginning of…let’s say another Friends episode (to make popcorn). I did hear that they are thinking of shortening UK shows to the same length as US ones to increase ad revenue….or they can come up with silly ideas like this one below.

Ads that pop up during shows! Apparently there is a new computer technology (an algorithm to be exact) that can detect blank areas in a scene (ie a blue sky or blank wall) where a logo or message could appear! ITV is currently testing it out with their online broadcasts but promise that the logos wouldn’t pop up at a crucial point in the show…..riiiight just like Yell was told that their logo would pop up during relevant news articles (thanks to a fancy algorithm) as it did below.

(if you cant see it there was a story about a chick that had adopted a cat as a friend and they mention that the cat and chick ’share’ a house…this word share was clickable and an advertisement for Yell.com cleverly popped up with the search field filled out for an Investment Banker…um no, not that kind of share)

…anyway not too sure I love the idea of plastering logos in the middle of my shows (I find the pop ups in news articles annoying enough and I can close them myself) ….I do love though that in the ITV story they have mocked up a photo of this advertising in a scene from Coronation Street and used a McDonalds logo…sounds like a perfect night in to me!!

See, I’m not the only one

I am not afraid to hide it…I am a Coronation Street fan.  It started before we moved as Canada does get the show (it’s almost a year behind though) and I have continued to watch it as it is conveniently on during the dinner which suits me as its far easier to eat dinner in front of the TV than clear the clutter off our kitchen table and eat there. 

In Canada people seem to be hesitant in admitting to watching the show but once you admit to watching ‘Corrie’ to another fan, you are bonded for life.  Here it seems that admitting to watching the show is a bit more taboo and people look at you a bit funny and carry on pretending they didn’t hear you….I truly believe they are all closet fans…wanna see the evidence ??

WARNING NOT SUITABLE FOR CANADIAN VIEWERS- Clicking on this link will tell you which cast member has recently left the show which wont’ be aired until 2009 in Canada

More than 12 million see XXXXX’s Corrie exit

Either I just haven’t run into one of those 12 million people or its the country’s favourite secret past time.