All the best for 2007

Santa catches streaker

Father Christmas has been hailed a hero after helping to arrest a streaker in the US.

He helped police catch a 35-year-old man who was running naked outside a police station in Damascus, Virginia.

Santa told News Channel 11: "He sees you when you're sleeping, he sees when you're awake, and he sees when you're naked coming down the street.

"I've seen a lot of things in my life, but that has to be one of the strangest I have ever witnessed."

Santa, who requested that his identity be withheld, said he was driving his car when a man behind him began throwing trash, parts of his truck and then his clothing out the windows.

"By the time he got into Damascus and jumped out of the truck, he was stark naked," Santa said.

Police officers rushed out of the police station after hearing squealing tyres and Santa was able to point out the naked man who was promptly arrested.

Police Chief Tony Richardson said: "He said that he had been to the dentist and taken some pain pills and apparently he took too many.

"I'm standing here with this naked man handcuffed and then here comes Santa Claus. I said: "Can it get any better than this?""

I enjoyed piglet, but I love kitten head...

Thanks to Safari Candle.

Reincarnation?

Almost 25% of people will be reincarnated as a higher form of life than you.

You're not perfect, but you've lead a better life than most.  With a few changes now, your next life could be even better.

If Michelle Pfeiffer can have one, then why can't I?

Straight or Male

You are 25% lesbian! Either you are a male and therefore cannot be a lesbian (I'm still not convinced by the whole lesbian-identified male thing) or else you are a very very straight woman!

Here you go.

Two men in Kentucky tried to pull the front off an ATM cash machine by running a chain from the machine to the bumper of their pickup truck. Instead of pulling the front panel off the machine, though, they pulled the bumper off their truck. Scared, they left the scene and drove home... leaving the bumper complete with their license plate still attatched to the cash machine!

Fishy business

The Reuters news agency reported that in June 2005 an Australian woman was arrested for attempting to import banned tropical marine life. Customs officials became suspicious when they heard “flipping” noises coming from underneath her skirt as she arrived at Melbourne airport.

On further examination, they discovered that the woman had strapped on an apron of plastic water-filled bags containing 51 live tropical fish.

A statement from the Australian Customs Service said that "During the search, customs officers became suspicious after hearing 'flipping' noises coming from the vicinity of her waist".

Smuggling Snakes

In Stockholm, Sweden, customs officers arrested a woman who had tried to smuggle 75 live snakes in her bra. The officers became suspicious when they noticed how the woman kept scratching her chest.

Cocain Bananas

Customs officials in Miami became suspicious whilst inspecting a shipment of plantains. Some of the green bananas seemed unusually hard. Upon cutting them open, the officers discovered over 750 pounds of cocaine stuffed inside.

The smugglers had moulded the plantains out of glass fiber, filled them with cocaine and painted them to look like the real fruit. The culprits painstakingly scattered the fakes throughout 1,080 boxes of genuine plantains shipped from Ecuador to the Port of Miami.

Mr Gough and his partner Melanie Roberts, 34, from Bournemouth, reached the north coast of Caithness on Monday.

The ex-marine, who began his 874-mile trek in June, has been arrested and jailed on several occasions.

Mr Gough, from Eastleigh in Hampshire, said he wanted to challenge public attitudes to nudity. He celebrated his success by putting his clothes on.

Video cameras

Mr Gough, who first completed the trek in January 2004, did not rule out doing the journey again.

Speaking from a John O'Groats cafe, he said: "It's nice to get warmed up again.

"It has been pretty cold and the locals have been coming up to us offering us whisky and all sorts.

"They've been very, very friendly. We passed a school and there were even parents coming out with video cameras."

However, the naked pair had encountered problems earlier in their journey.

Mr Gough was jailed for two weeks in September for breach of the peace by walking naked on the A701 in Midlothian.

Cover up

He was arrested again moments after leaving Edinburgh's Saughton prison for refusing to cover up and was bailed.

And he was later jailed for two months at Dingwall Sheriff Court for breach of bail conditions and was sent back to Saughton to serve his sentence.

As he left jail in November, Mr Gough was again arrested for refusing to cover up.

Last month, he was admonished by a sheriff for breaching bail conditions by failing to wear clothes as he left prison.

The pair were picked up by police near Dingwall after an outraged Kirk minister spotted them and complained about their nakedness.

And they were arrested again as they neared Dornoch Bridge in the Highlands.

Woman is paying two mortgages after refusing to move house while she searches for her missing pet cat.

Corrina Mackenzie and her 11-year-old daughter Amelia said they were "devastated" three-year-old Siamese Wilbur had vanished in Aberdeen.

The mother and daughter will not move to their new home in case Wilbur returns to the old one.

Mrs Mackenzie, offering a reward, said: "Someone may have taken him in thinking he was a stray."

No sign

They have had Wilbur since he was just a few weeks old but he has now been missing from their Old Aberdeen home for a month.

Mrs Mackenzie, a sports administrator with Aberdeen University Students' Association, told the BBC Scotland news website: "I have been phoning everyone I can think of and have been searching but nothing has turned up.

"We were supposed to have moved house four weeks ago and I am now paying two mortgages.

"We have not been able to move in case he comes back to the house.

"My resources are going to run out eventually.

"We are devastated, heartbroken. My daughter is crying herself to sleep at night."

Mrs Mackenzie said their other Siamese, Scooby, was also pining for Wilbur.

Wilbur is small, with a cream body and dark brown face and paws.

According to Wiki - I must learn to temper it, lest I get angry scowls!

Sarcasm in written communication

Because it is vocally oriented, sarcasm can be difficult to grasp in written form and is easily misinterpreted. To prevent this some people end sarcastic comments on the Internet with an emoticon, emphasize words with italics, bold, and/or underlining (e.g. That's just great), or surround them with a made-up markup language tag, e.g. *sarcasm*, <sarcasm> or <snicker>. Sarcasm is also achievable through written language by using capitalization to emphasize certain words. For example: “Well isn’t THAT just fantastic.”

In the UK and some other countries, writing has adopted the use of (!) (an exclamation mark in parentheses) following speech in which sarcasm or irony is perceptible via the tone of voice, a punctuation mark which is very regularly seen in subtitles.

Right. That's it. A woman's work is never started done.

Hello All,

I trust you all had a very merry Christmas and Santa was kind - well, didn't leave you a bag of coal at least or a bundle of twigs. I can't believe it is Thursday already - Christmas week always does this. You feel like it's the summer holidays when you leave work, then Wham! 4 days have just disappeared in a blip of doing nothing for days and then wondering where the time went.

Santa was kind to me - he brought me one of these:

Yes, a pink one. And once I'd figured out how to work it, and after a glitch where it froze up, it's brilliant. Goodbye iPod, with your defunkt battery and you're annoying software. All I have to do is slap in a CD and it downloads it straight onto the player! And it does video too, at amazing quality. I'm saving up an episode of Jeeves and Wooster for when I'm away. Santa was kind to me again and got me a Jeeves and Wooster box set also.

I'm really going to start tidying up the house today. No, I am honest - just after this next cup of coffee. I may even take a stroll around the garden and identify the many parts of it I am going to chop down and destroy. My study (where I am typing from at the moment) needs serious attention also. Just think of the joy of accomplishment I'll feel when I'm walking around a clean and tidy house!

Well, the Christmas TV was mediocre. The best things on (apart frpom Doctor Who of course) was Sky One's Hogfather. I caught it when it was on earlier last week in the evening (and annoyed the hubster to death  - as women do - with 'Who's That? What's going on? Where's the Hogfather? What's Death doing now?'. But the second time around on Christmas Day, it all became clear. Sky One must have spent a fortune on this - I think someone had a word and told them to start spending money on mini series rather than turning out drivel like the Poseiden Adventure. And is it me, or is Marc Warren in absolutely everyhting at the moment?

I've never read any Discworld novels, so may give them a go. I like complicated and off-the-wall plots.

I haven't thought about work for a while - but I do keep dreaming about it. which is wierd. Got to distract myself. I am spending a lot of time now going down to Leeds. I was coerced by buffoon boss to do some 'fieldwork' archaeology in January  - aka getting a shovel out and digging - I don't think that my back is going to take it, it's been so long. Still - stop thinking about work!

I'm in Leeds again for New Year (not working, thankfully) as I have done every year for the past 10 years at Aunty Audrey & Uncle Laurence's house. So I know their house part of Leeds and also all the dodgy bits where buildings are falling down which I have to record - oh, and Pudsey town centre (nice Italian) - but not actually in Leeds. So if anyone knows the area and knows some nice places to go, let me know.

Right. Thursday morning. Don't let it turn into the aternoon! Time to change out of these pyjamas.

Have a good day, love Gil xx

Hello! Really enjoyed the Christmas Special this year and the sneaky peek into Series 3 - Shakespeare and Daleks in New York! Can't wait.

Catherine Tate was superb and the script was funny, just right for post-Rose blues.

Hi to Tammytastic also - my new 'Who' friend.

Thanks Kiki - and for that last one too:

You Are a Black and White Cookie

You're often conflicted in life, and you feel pulled in two opposite directions.
When you're good, you're sweet as sugar. And when you're bad, you're wicked!

Go here.

You Are a Gingerbread House A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.

Go here.

My santa's elf name is

Floppy-Gnome.

Try yours here.

Borrowed from Tea Lady, thanks.

People don't know that a fourth magi was turned away for bringing fruitcake.