CyberMonday

So yesterday was CyberMonday - proudly announced on the radio as the day that the whole of the country logs on to internet shop their Christmas lists.

I am a cyber geek anyway  - I have been using the internet since it was a tool for scientists at CERN and the rest of the world knew nothing about it - and I have been using the internet as my only real shopping mall for at least the last 15 years - despite the offerings being a bit rubbish in the beginning and my personal style being subsequently  profoundly tragic.

So of course I sat down and instead of having a relaxing evening watching semi-celebrities being tortured, I started Christmas shopping - talk about a self fulfilling prophecy.

If I had only bought shares in DHL 15 years ago.....

(as an aside - my kids love  'I'm a celebrity...' it's the current obsession of the P7's but quite frankly I find it pretty sad.  It's fine as background noise for a good book but do actual grown ups really watch this stuff?)

Seeing the sky

I am totally obsessed at the minute with whether or not I can see the sky.  Every day I open the curtains and peer through the gloom looking for a bit of blue between the clouds.

On Sunday I went for a long run round the lake and at one point I promise I saw a little bit of sparkle on the water.  I looked up and a little gleam of sun had peeked through the sky for a second, then the clouds shifted and the sky went grey again.  I could see, in the distance, there was a patch of blue and I thought to myself that later I would get in my car and head there.

However by the time I was ready to head out the daylight hours were over and the sun was starting to set. The days are too short and getting shorter and the sky is too grey.

I really need someone to remind me why I live here.

Running

Zoomed off to TaeKwonDo, ran back to car, dashed into the house, pulled on running kit, ran 3 miles, ran down stairs, back in car, zoomed back to the sports centre and then waited 15 mins in the gym for the kids to finish.  I was dishevelled and sweaty, big winter coat pulled on over gym gear. Boots zipped up over leggings - almost but not quite meeting so there was a sliver of skin showing.

People were very good not to stare.

Daylight please

My office was bright this morning.  The sun was low in they sky and came in just above my VDU screen meaning that I had to pull down the blinds to see the screen - which is just wrong.  A tiny bit of blue sky and natural light and yet I have to screen it out so that I can work.

The room is getting re-arranged asap.  This will not do.  I need as much daylight as possible to stay upbeat through the winter gloom.

The day passed quickly and before long the sun was going back down again.  I decided at the last minute to try and start Christmas shopping. The mall was really quiet and I wandered aimlessly for a while before it got to that spooky time where shop assistants are starting to tidy up and you feel like you are the last one in the building. 

Creepy.

Pitch black and raining within minutes of getting in the car.

All the cars on the motorway were a haze of red lights shattering into stars in the spray kicked up from their tyres.  Lines and lines of folks heading home in the pitch black. I bet most of them drove to work in the dark too.

There has been much talk this year of not turning the clocks back for winter.  I can't decide if it would be better or worse.  At the moment it is light when I get up and dark in the evening.  Could I really bear it to be dark when I get up or would that make the whole day feel like it is bookended by the darkness?

Dream On!

I an going to start off with a bit of a rant about something I have been reading about on many other blog sites - that is the Rodial product 'Boob Job'.  Ben Goldacre posted yesterday that the company in charge has finally given up some of it's research for scrutiny - it is hilarious to read - for research simply substitute advert and you will get the idea.  The biggest graphic on the page is a beautifully proportioned glistening female torso with curvy bum and boobs that would not be out off place in any fitness mag selling supplements.  Says it all really.

I confidently expect to see sales go through the roof however as everyone loves to believe the hype.

In the news there is also a libel action brought by Rodial against Dr Dalia Nield, a cosmetic surgeon at a London clinic, who had the audacity to question the company's claims,  this has lots of bloggers exhorting their readers to sign up the petition to change England's Libel laws here.  I wouldn't disagree as this whole thing seems farcical and ridiculous - but Rodial will not doubt get more publicity out of their actions and more mugs will buy their ridiculous products.

I say ridiculous but they would be wonderful and live in abundance in my bathroom cabinet if I was fool enough to think for one second they worked.  I would be having a few gallons of the Tummy Tuck for example - which promises to flatten your stomach by actually breaking down fatty cells and boosting cell metabolism.  Then there is the 'Crash Diet'  - scientifically proven no less, to break down stubborn fat from any area of the body you wish to lather it on to for 8 weeks or so.

They also sell cleansers and spf containing sunscreens.  I kind of believe that their cleanser will clean your skin and that their spf's will keep the sun off (a bit at least) yet they are happily selling sanity next to total bollocks.  Why doesn't their website spontaneously combust when they have the audacity to put in writing 'scientifically proven' and 'clinically proven' next to such ridiculous claims? Or am I am fool for believing that their spf's are real? Is the entire cosmetics industry just an exercise in self-delusion?  

Okay so I already know the answer to this.

It reminds me of the time I went to a Health and Beauty Expo and there was a very very large lady selling miracle products at a stall. She was the ideal sales person, chatty, enthusiastic and the products were lotions and potions all packaged in bright appealing colours. I was instantly hooked and wandered over to see what she was hawking.  Turns out it was a 'revolutionary' slimming product that helped remove stubborn fat deposits and slim you down all over.    The large lady in question was actually the inventor and of course she was very persuasive about its efficacy.  I didn't have the heart to ask her why her wonder slimming cream hadn't worked on its own inventor.

I wonder if she sold the formula to Rodial?