I'm getting blue tits, great tits and robins visiting at the moment. Have been coming since the start of this summer and they've luckily stuck around. Unfortunately, the squirrels are putting them off a bit but there's not much I can do about that - I fought a losing battle with them for a few months before finally admitting defeat and deciding to feed them too. If I don't, they just gnaw everything else in the garden (including the shed )

Hey there SQ Lovely to see you here. There are some feeders that deter Squirrels, but they're not cheap.

Any thoughts on the show? Do you have a favourite yet?

Hi Wrenny

Yes, I spent ages looking at the different feeders out there only to find most, if not all of them, have complaints that the squirrels eventually break their way into them too. Now I've put up protection around the washing line where the bird feeders are and a wooden basket at the other end of the garden, which both the birds and squirrels eat from. They haven't launched an attack on the feeders for a month or two now, so I'm happy.

No, I don't have a favourite yet. I probably like Caroline/Pasha and Pixie/Trent the most though out of who is left. Frankie seems nice, but KFG does my head in too much to support them.

This week's ramble....

Steve and Ola - Jive. A bit limp from Steve at the beginning. Lifts were good but I didn't think lifts allowed in the jive?? Not very exciting choreo, music or performance. Why the football/cheerleader theme?
Caroline and Pasta - AS. It felt like this had all the parts of a stunning routine, but the whole didn't quite gel for me. It wasn't actually very smooth, though I did like the jazzy flavour they were aiming for. Perhaps almost falling on her bum panicked Caroline a little, but I felt like she was rushing and not finishing lines and moves properly. I wonder if the daahnce purists on the forum will fulminate at Pasta's choreo lacking foxtrot in hold. It doesn't seem to influence Len's marks these days...
Pixie and Trent - Charleston. Crumbs! I loved what they did, but really felt the charleston elements clashed with the jazz styling and the song and then clashed with goodness-know-what-rhythm the audience was clapping to . It seemed really discordant (but rewatched on mute and it was better ). Perhaps there was too much content - bit raggedy and hurried, but who knows what timing they were aiming for!
Mark and Karen - Tango. Poor widdle Marky having to work and train. I bet Sunetra wanted to slap him It was an awful song for a tango and I guess they managed quite well, though I was a little underwhelmed. Didn't like the bit where he walked away and then dragged Karen backwards. Weird. Whole thing seemed a little undercooked. Meh.
Frankie and Kevin - VW. Not a fan of Kevin, but I liked that this had lots of proper 'stuff' in it. I did worry she might barf halfway round, but thought she made a good job of it. Lovely left hand and arm. Glad no bucket required.
Jake and Janette - Samba . I felt about this a bit like when Kevin and Susanna danced that paso at Blackpool and I was chortling on my sofa about how he'd sent up the genre..... only to find the judges and half the world thought it was magnificent . I don't think there was much decent samba content in this but it was entertaining in a ***Oh, MY EYES!!!*** sort of way. And camp. Very, very camp . (I could have done without the crotch thrusts and that funny knee drag. And his faces ).
Sunetra and Brendan - Waltz She looked fabulous and the dress was beautiful (though a coloured net might have been better than the flesh material). Her left arm and shoulder aren't great, but she is so much shorter than Brendan, I think it's really hard for her to be in the right place. She really sells the ballroom dances. I knew what he was getting at, but Bruno's comment was a bit off-colour.
Simon and Kristina - Salsa A naff song with more bad audience clapping. He really performed it well and looked completely at home with it. Nice job.

Thanks Wrenny.

Hi Suzie Q. Will talk about birds more if it results in a visit from you.
We have had bluetits already on other feeders, but it is warm and very damp at present and no takers so far.
Wrenny there was a bird I mistook for a robin here for a while. it had a sort of orange tail. I eventually guessed that it was a female redstart, stopping off on its migration route, ( a bit late)
On the subject of Strictly just watched it through and don't have a lot to add to Soupy and wrenny's points. I like pixie and Trent, but I didn't like her charleston. She looked bandy and heavy thighed. ( I have hockey thighs so I am familiar with them) I kept wishing war Drobe had given her a longer dress. I did like Simon's performance, he does seem to have had a personality change
Would have voted for him if I had been at home.

Hi Clarty
It could have been either a late migrating female/immature Common Redstart or, possibly more likely, a female/immature Black Redstart. Whereas the Common Redstart is seen on migration in your part of France, the Black Redstart is a resident. They both have the habit of 'shivering' their tails and they also have the very upright stance similar to a Robin. So I'm not surprised it fooled you for a while. If you still see it hanging around now, I would think it is a Black Redstart (google them both to check out the subtle differences of the females/immatures types).

I've not had a chance to see the show again today surprisingly, so I'll hope ot give my thoughts on the couples sometime tomorrow.

Defrost, pre-heat oven (GM 6?), spray bread with a bit of water or dampen under the tap and put into hot oven for 6 - 10 mins. Cool on a rack. Eat.

Thanks Soupster! Much appreciated. xx

Louis Armstrong singing What a Wonderful World is almost guaranteed to bring a tear to my eye. Barry Manilow just massacred it. Am traumatised.


^^^wrong kind of tears

Nice words from the other couples for Steve and Ola



Brenda is so disengaged this year. Is it just Sunetra, or the whole thing?
Wonder if he will be back. (Happy for Trent to take his spot .....)

I know, he just looks so p*ssed off there and I just get a vibe from him that he is tolerating Sunetra at best. Such a shame. I so hope that Trent is kept on next year and I didn't think I'd be saying that when I think back to the start of the show!

Wrenny you are such an expert. Thank you. She does shiver her tail. I haven't seen her for a few days so she might be common


Thanks soupy fast forwarded.
Thought the right couple went. Couldn't fathom why Darcy voted for Steve.
Saw a wonderful documentary tonight about the photographer Salgado made by his son and Wim Wenders. gruelling at times but brilliant.

Ok so I am a digracefully bad poster and just came onto this thread to see the first post at the top of the page from Wrenny about 'fat balls' and then SuzieQ12 and her 'blue tits'

What on earth has been going on ????

Been stupidly busy in work of late,hence the non posting but been keeping up with all my Strictly watching though.

Soupy - thank you for the thoughts on the weekend dances - agree muchly. Felt really sorry for Caroline's slip as I do think it threw her but it was still a pretty fab AS. Enjoyed Frankie, despite the unusual song choice and loved that dress. SimonfromBlue is definately my fave male (3 consecutive good weeks helping) and vying with Caroline for my top dog spot.
Still find Pixie and Trent a bit creepsome - it's not them per se, just the two of them together if that makes sense.

Oh and Barry Manilow has possibly scarred my soul for life. I will never forgive him.

Hi Clartem :waves: Hope you're well and you start getting some garden visitors soon

Steve and Ola: He tried, but not good. Craig was right, it was a bit stompy. Not surprising given his bulk and foot problems. I don’t think Jive is one of Ola’s strong points anyway.

Caroline and Pasta: Such a shame about the frock malfunction. Poor Caroline, the first time they give her a half decent frock and she has an incident. I couldn’t enjoy this dance the first time around as I was just waiting for that dress to get caught again. On second viewing, it was really a fabulous routine and having said in a previous post that I wasn’t enjoying Pasta’s choreography, he pulls that one out of the bag. Would have been great but for the slip.

Pixie and Trent: My god! Just too much choreography in there. Less is more and all that. It was too frantic but she did her best to make it work. Her lines and legs were quite ugly in places. The first time I’ve not really enjoyed one of their dances.

Mark and Karen: This didn’t work for me. It was a lovely frock for Karen. There was some weird choreography in that, specially the running drag with the slap on Karen’s hips at the end of it. Just bizarre! He did give it some attitude though.

Frankie and Kevin: I quite like Tom Jones, but this song just ruined it for me. The beat was just too plonky for an elegant VW. I’ve just watched Karen Hardy on ITT and for once I almost entirely agreed with her. She said that Frankie hasn’t really shown us her personality yet. She a good dancer and yet she’s a bit boring too. Kevin doesn’t help for me.

Jake and Janette: On the second watch, I still really enjoyed this dance. Yes, it wasn’t technically very good, but it was just one of those dances that you get caught up in the moment. Well I did as did Mr Wrenny and lots of others apparently. Again Karen summed it up very well on ITT.

Sunetra and Brendan: This was the perfect dance to come after the manicness (is that a word)? of Jake’s Samba. Beautiful frock, lovely music, nice and gentle and elegant. I really enjoyed it but Brenda is spoiling their partnership for me I’m afraid. I’m just not seeing a connection and for me, this is appears to be down to Brenda.

Simon and Kristina: I really enjoyed this. He looked so comfortable and easy and fluid with this dance. I can see what some of the judges said about over stepping but it was still great. Great armography and Kristine places a lot of trust in Simon which is great to see.

So, those are my thoughts, sorry they’re a bit late coming…..

Hi Nina

Sorry to hear that work has been so manic, I hope things calm down for you!

I posted that I was envious of SQ's Tits, but then thought better of it and deleted!

Hi Wrenster, completely agree with you on the dress front, WarDrobe really aren't getting it right with Caroline are they. ?

Disagree on Frankie, and by extension, Karen on ITT tonight. I am seeing personality from Frankie, it's just not that 'out there' so when you compare her to say Jake (who's dancing face has a personality all of it's own, ie the spirit of Les Dawson) she perhaps comes across as being restrained. Anyways it was still a loverrlyy red dress.



I think I'm getting past the point of caring, as long as things settle down by Christmas with luck ???

Well you will just have to get your hands on some bigger fat balls is all I can say !!! Phnarr Phnarr !!!!!!

Have been away and am just catching up on the Results show.
Barry Manilow was dreadful
What has he done to his face? (Not a good advert for his plastic surgeon.)
Did anyone ask Louis Armstrong if he wanted to perform with Barry?
The Producers of SCD seem to be booking performers who are past their prime this season (Barry Manilow, Dame Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, Donny …)

Do you think they may be very cheap? It's possible they might even pay SCD. (Or they're sponsored to appear by Botox...)

Nina and Suzie - great to see you both posting. Missed you.

Jake's facial choreography and Les Dawson? Yes! I see it!!

I think I agree with Karen a little about Frankie not putting enough personality into her dances though she seems to have plenty on the ITT sofa. Kara had similar criticism, didn't she? Comparing their two VWs is probably unfair (I mean one was with a woobie faced Artem whilst Frankie's got Kevin... ), but I think Kara inhabited that dance completely. (**wistful thoughts**). Perhaps the bubbly dances suit Frankie better on that front. Caroline is sometimes a messier dancer, but she does 'express' the dances beautifully.

I will keep posting bird related stuff if it flushes out the likes of SQ and Nina.
No blue tits on my fat balls yet but i am so excited. At this moment in time in our wet meadow bit, skulking behind a clump of grass is a strange looking bird. At first I thought it was a brightly coloured thrush, but on inspection with binocs, I realised I have a snipe in my meadow.--- (zip it Nina) lovely stripy markings on its' back and the long thin beak. Goldfinches around as well, but the Snipe outclassed them.

Great post C4K, nails hit firmly on their heads.

A Snipe in your meadow eh??? *raises eyebrows suggestively* You didn't say anything about me zipping it Clarty!

Seriously, if you get to watch them for long, you'll see that they feed like an electric sewing machine! Beautiful birds. There is also a Jack Snipe (not at common). If it starts bobbing up and down, then look carefully at the bill length.

Strictly Come Botox I like it !!!

BIB - she did, particularly until the 'Strictly Come Teething' bit. I do still think Frankie is fine in the ballroom, 'specially her Tango. I think she probably reminds me of Rachel Stephens - ie ruddy good but maybe not destined to win ??




I'm saying nothing, looks around at the ceiling, whistling.......


.................... Cheers Wrenster

G'day Kartemites

My little brother will be at the show tonight. I've already charged Peeve with trying to find him in the audience as she's so good at it.
Might as well have some more eyes looking out as well. So, a brief description: He is wearing a pink jumper and is um..........follicly challenged. His Indian friend apparently has grey hair and glasses and will be wearing a sparkly purple waistcoat. Obviously don't miss the dancing looking for them, but if you happen to notice any possibilities......... I'll probably have a good look on I-player tomorrow once he's told me where they were sitting.

See y'all later....