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2004-12-25 Entry: "Christmas Eve"

First thing, I finished Black Books series one - well, okay, I watched an episode and a half when I got in last night, so only had two and a half to go. I then ran around doing crazy shopping type things, so I've got some chance of actually having some sort of Christmas lunch tomorrow.

Then I settled in with a pizza for an evening of DVD watching - at home it would have been fish and chips, but where am I going to get that over here?

First up, and suitably for today, "The Nightmare Before Christmas," Tim Burton's animated film about the Skeleton King's desire to do something different instead of the same old Halloween every year. I'm glad I finally got around to watching this, as it's a fun little film.

Then, in an attempt to finish up another disk, there was Ripping Yarns - "Across The Andes By Frog," the tale of Captain Walter Snetterton's epic journey in 1927. This was followed by "The Curse Of The Claw" - Maidenhead, 1926, and Captain Merson turns up at the door of Sir Kevin Orr, with an expedition of natives intending to search for a river passage in Burma, but they took the wrong train at Woking.

And then, to break things up a little, Phantom 2040: The Ghost Who Walks - which turns out to be the first 5 episodes of the TV show edited together really badly. It's a bit like the Defenders Of The Earth DVD in that regard... why they can't just release season sets of these shows is beyond me!

And four episodes of One Foot In The Grave gets me to the end of Series 1. First, in "The Valley Of Fear" Victor gets attacked by hooligans, and tries to rally the local residents to protect themselves. Then, in "I'll Retire To Bedlam" he gets trapped in the shed by bees for three and a half hours. In "The Eternal Quadrangle," Margaret thinks Victor is having an affair with the nude model from his art class, while he has to duel with her father over the vacuum cleaning. Finally, in "The Return Of The Speckled Band" an escaped snake causes confusion in the buildup to Victor's holiday in Athens.

So there we are - Christmas tomorrow, and The Box Of Delights is on the schedule at some point...