Thread 16 - TalkLair: "Well, I'm not exactly quaking in my stylish-yet-affordable boots, but there's definitely something unnatural going on here."

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 15).

Another year over, a new one just begun...

In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, the walls festooned with tinsel, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors, the tree is twinkling with fairy lights (and possibly being clambered on by cats). The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch though, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics.

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey Christmas roast beast over there in the corner of the cave…

I've seen the vegetarian food. It isn't any better. The problem is that nothing is cooked on site, it all comes from places that are probably providing their "food" to a number of different hospitals and it is all absolutely bloody minging with the occassional decent bit of food. It makes me quite angry because people in hospitals are desperately in need of decent, nutritional and healthy food and they are getting fed utter shite. My fish and chips on Friday had a nutritional value of somewhere between zero and minus twelfty. It's just not right and these outside mass catering companies are making money off not feeding ill people properly. I think it should all go back on site, cooking from scratch wherever possible and with decent chefs/cooks who can put together healthy and tasty meals at a reasonable price.

I know the whole off site thing came about to save money but how does one really save money when people are taking longer to get well because you're feeding them utter muck? Grrr. Rant over!

Being vegetarian, and even more so being vegan, often results in no food at all. And they are shit at dealing with food allergies.

I have a little extra money at the moment due to unforeseen circumstances that fell in my favour - and not because anything bad happened - so today, after having my eye test last week, I went back to Specsavers and I've ordered my brand new glasses. My eyes will be wearing Marc Jacobs and I think the majority of my friends will absolutely hate the glasses. To be fair I said to the salesperson that they were "a little Morecambe off of Morecambe and Wise but I love them." Marc Jacobs will be ready for me next week and then I shall be Eric.

@FagsMagsandBags ...Marc Jacobs will be ready for me next week and then I shall be Eric.

I hope you'll learn to do his wonderful wiggling the glasses business! I still have my first ever pair of glasses, from about 30 years ago, because the frames are just so perfect. Sadly they're slightly too shallow for bifocals, but I could really use some light-sensitive glasses for general tootling about, so maybe I'll get them regenerated ...

Get them regenerated!

I will do the wiggling of the specs. I can add it to my strange male party tricks which also includes a magnificent despite the lack of (a) being male, and (b) not having the required belly, impersonation of Topol when he's singing If I Was a Rich Man and doing the belly rolling type thing with his arms out as he pounds across the floor. I haven't done it in ages. It's too late at night to do it now, but I think I'll do it when I get up in the morning. I think Francis will be deeply afeared as he's never seen it before but earlier today he became unreasonably afeared when the doorbell wrang and jumped off my lap but with a claw on his back right paw dug into my right thigh and drew blood. Frankly if it scares him stupid(er) then he only has himself to blame.

"Regenerated" makes me think of Doctor Who!

Last week we started DC on Buffy Season 4. I have to say, it's better than I remember - the early part at least. Pangs, Something Blue and Hush are three good episodes in a row. I think my dislike of it must come from remembering the overall season arc especially the later part.

Edit: DC found Fear, Itself hilarious.

My oldie watch at the moment is Columbo, which I never saw before. Jolly good stuff.

We're just coming to the end of The West Wing, which DH saw when it first came out and I'd never seen. It's absolutely brilliant. We are also watching our way through Cheers, which again I'd never seen and he loved. He finds it a bit funnier than I do, but it is quite amusing in a very stereotypical American sitcom fashion.

We loved The West Wing, watched every episode faithfully back in the day. Such great characters and sharp dialogue and what a (mostly) grown-up lot of politicians and administrators. Recently DH tried to start rewatching, but said it was too depressing seeing what "could have been" and knowing what the reality was!

I've never seen Columbo. Is it a cosy murder mystery series like Poirot? (We get Poirot on DVD from the library and love it). We're also thinking of revisiting Murder She Wrote, which I last watched decades ago.

All the Poirots are available on ITVX and over the past few years I've watched the lot. I may be about ready to start again at the beginning ...

Buffy is the best TV show evah, loved it from beginning to end. See also Game of Thrones, second best TV show evah. Perhaps I'm just not that discerning.

Columbo is a cop, and each episode starts with showing us the crime being committed. So we know from the start whodunnit and watch Columbo work it out and bring the guilty to justice. So far (I have only watched the first series) the criminals are much richer, posher, 'classier' than Columbo who seems like an amiable bumbler, and they talk down to him and patronise him, which is a mistake. The episodes are long - 70 minutes at least, so like little movies.

It starts in 1971 and there's lots of fabulous 70s fashion for the rich characters, including some very peacockish male garb. And Columbo has an old raincoat.

I loved Murder She Wrote and would think anyone who enjoyed that would enjoy Coulmbo.

Thanks @Gonners ITVX is free streaming right? Will be very convenient not to have to borrow and return DVDs! Poirot is just so... comfy.

I'll give Columbo a try @DeanElderberry, sounds like it might fit in with my fondness for escapist not-really-scary murder mysteries.

Speaking of which, I rather like the new DI on Death In Paradise (wasn't fond of Neville).

@Tenesmus are you the Tenesmus from the Old Place? Hello!

Back to Buffy, DH and I are finding some of DC's comments rather delightful.

After Something Blue when Spike and Buffy get magically engaged - "Yeah that's why some people on the Internet are always shipping those two." No dear, that's not really why

During Hush, when Willow and Tara join hands to do magic - "Oh, they're working together on a spell, thought Tara was being gay at her." Oh, just wait

Columbo is well above par for the time, but of course it's very much a formula.

Hi Tenesmus! (moto here)

Many of the best things in life are very much a formula.

I'd sooner have a souffle than the random fallout of a dropped shopping basket.

For some reason I have never got round to watching the West Wing. I really should!

And I haven’t seen Columbo since the 1970s (for all I know it might be in black and white!) but liked it then.

Hi Tenesmus - I used to be Jenny28 but that was quite a long time ago so you may not remember me :-)

I've just started watching a series on Paramount+ (which we get because of Colbert) called Matlock, which features a lady about my age wangling her way into a high-flown company of lawyers. She's using a fake name because she's trying to find out which one of them it was who shelved a drug case that if it had gone through might have saved her daughter. It's quite good actually, though I may find it so because the main character is played by Kathy Bates, who is a good actress, and it's so refreshing to see an old woman as the central character!

@Kucinghitam @Britinme @duc748 hello! Someone (HelenD?) mentioned this thread over at the old place and reminded me took look in. Hope everyone's well. And another vote for Columbo...

Hello Tenesmus, I remember you from the old place but don't think we ever talked. I was Tricyrtis then.

Hello and welcome! Do stick around, we just chat randomly on here.

I'm not sure what the status of photo uploading is, but we used to share (mostly) pet photos.

Yeah, Flickr GUT cats ftw! Meanwhile the old place has been down for a few hours (twiddles thumbs).

Columbo was not in black and white

Those outfits!!

Isla Bryson, eat your heart out.