SITARRRRR'N YA BIG BABY

It happens to be another Thursday, on the cusp of the weekend and at the backside of the working week, and with it comes a few interesting facts I learnt since last time:

ONE] Ravi Shankar was NORAH JONES' DAD?!: It is widely known that Ravi Shankar passed away on
         Tuesday in Southern California, a sad piece of news for all musicians and indeed music enthusiasts
         from the sixties 'til the present day. He helped bring the sound of the sitar to the forefront of pop culture
         with the Beatles [but mostly George Harrison], and helped raised money for charities helping the homeless
         in Bangladesh amongst other things. Something that is not widely known is the fact the Mr Shankar is in
         fact Norah Jones' father [woah] Was I the only person who didn't know this? I find it hard to believe that
         I haven't ever come across this fact, especially since becoming more interested in Ravi after
         watching the Martin Scorsese documentary of George Harrison's life. Whilst father and daughter shared a
         love for music, their compositions couldn't be further apart on the musical spectrum, with Shankar
         composing film scores and playing traditional, meditative pieces con sitar, and Ms Jones delving into the
         mainstream [soppy songs]. That said, I did really like 'Don't Know Why' when it was released in 2002. That
         said I was fourteen at the time. Either way, I think this is a worthy piece of trivia that'll probably win you
         some peanuts at the pub quiz next week.

Lets face it. He was a very cool guy.

New bob. Cool-er?

TWO] Adult Babies exist, and probably a few feet away from you: Wow, now this was a weird one. Not only did I
         learn that this wasn't made up, I discovered that there are over 40,000 people in the world who casually like

         to become babies in their spare time. This includes sucking dummies, lying in giant cots and getting
         nappies changed, mainly by their PARTNERS. Now I'm not one to judge, but really, could someone explain
         to me how this works? Oh wonderful -  there is [conveniently] a documentary entitled 'The 15 Stone Babies'
         on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm! I probably won't be back home in time to watch this, but be sure to know

         that I will be popping on the old 4oD so I can see exactly what this phenomenon sweeping
         the country [i'm not even lying] is about. I believe that most 'adult babies' find this the perfect way to

         escape the responsibilities of an adult life, including tax, bills and a whole host of other things everyone

         deals with on a daily basis. Is this how the leaders of the world avoid becoming alcoholics? I rather like the

         idea of Angela M. and David C. discussing the pros and cons of dummies whilst sitting in their giant cots.

Wow that teddy bear looks a bit..angry.

        Be sure to tune in tonight and tell me all about it!

THREE] Winter Wonderland is open: Yes, the magic that is the Winter Wonderland has re-opened in Hyde Park

            [I'm a little late on the uptake with this one] and I will be sampling its delicacies [no innuendos here] this
            very evening. I'm quite partial to a mulled wine or a mountain of carbalicious Christmas breads and cakes
            so I'm due to have a wonderful time. That being said, it does have Birmingham's German [Frankfurt]

            Christmas market to live up to. I'm very exited for this though because:

                       a] It's a really good way of officially making myself fell more Christmassy

                       b] I can pretend it's the weekend because it's a really weekend-y thing to do, and

                       c] maybe the mulled wine will warm me up for more than two seconds.

I've got to say. It does look pretty Christmassy. Wish I hadn't lost my bobble hat so I could fit in more tonight.

On a side note, in the next four days I have to:

hand out 5 Christmas presents

make 4 train journeys,

go to 3 parties (so to speak),

cook 2 roast chickens,

see my poorly great grandma

#and a partridge in a pearrrr treeeeeee

Lots of love

STANLEY