grumpyf1

At the risk of calling forth a lycra-clad tidal wave of abuse, I’ve got a bone to pick with some mountain bikers. know that suggesting that someone on two wheels might be wrong about something can be an efficient way of getting yourself into a whole pannier-full of trouble. I should also make it clear that there are many very good, safe, conscientious and polite riders of bicycles out there. I even count some of them as my friends, even though I haven’t sat upon an impossibly uncomfortable saddle myself in over a decade. The problem is those peddlers who seem to believe that, because they are saving the planet, or horribly exposed to injury, whatever they do on two wheels they are completely in the right at all times. Skipped a traffic light and nearly got hit by a car? Car driver’s fault. Going so fast down the outside of traffic that they have no hope of stopping in the event of someone turning out of a side junction who couldn’t see them, then banging on the driver’s car a...

Come close, dear reader. Bit closer. I’m going to have to whisper this bit you see. Whoa – back up a touch. Right. Ready? Your TV is listening to your every word... As we power purposefully along the information superhighway with our foot firmly on the virtual gas pedal, it appears we may have forgotten to put our seat belts on. Or the lights. To say we’re a bit reckless when it comes to privacy in our wifi-ed modern lives is a massive understatement. Most of us are so tied to our mobile phones and desperate for data, we’d happily connect to an available hot spot even if it was called “WhatsYourPIN”, just so we could Tweet a picture of our sandwich, or complain about how our bank account had been robbed yet again, and when ARE they going to do something about that? LOL. Watched by security cameras that can tell what time it is from my watch even if I’m a quarter of a mile away on a foggy day (I saw that on CSI, so it must be true), or work out who I am using facial recogni...

I know I’m somewhat late to this particular party, but why is that ‘Let It Go’ song from the “Frozen” animated movie so popular? It’s now over a year since Disney’s “Frozen” was released - just in time for Christmas, of course – so I’m not entirely sure why I’ve suddenly got myself all hot under the collar about it’s feature song. Maybe it’s that my central heating is on the blink, meaning the word “frozen” regularly spreads it’s icy chill through my shivering brain cell. As many parents of young children will willingly attest, it is entirely possible to hear “Let It Go” far, far, too many times. As it’s sung by one of the lead female characters in the film, it resonates powerfully with children of the female persuasion, but also with many of their Mum’s too. Sung so passionately by Idina Menzel it sounds like she might be about to injure herself, the song is an empowering statement of release, escaping the constraints of other people’s expectations of perfection, and setting y...

Forget your ‘talent’ show squawk-fests, it seems that the only show with an ’X’ at the front worth watching, The X-Files, might be coming back to our screens. The US Sci-Fi-horror-drama managed nine seasons between 1993 and 2002, plus a couple of big screen outings afterwards. Dark, brooding, paranoid, mysterious and sometimes deeply disturbing - these were just some of my personality traits that neatly matched those of the show. That the Fox network are seriously considering bringing it back is great news indeed for people like me, who badly need some complex conspiracy theories and a spot of sexual tension in their lives. And aliens. Or ARE they? For those too young to remember, the show was based around two central characters, played by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, both of whom seem to have taken every available opportunity to get their kit off in subsequent acting gigs. The two FBI Special Agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, have the slightly tricky task of invest...