Jo Brand - book review, and other stuff.

Hello. What a disappointment today. I was all ready for the BBC with my notes and I got a phone call saying the interview on the Jeremy Vine Show was off. Too much going on, couldn't fit me in. I got shunted into the sidings. Oh well, that's how it goes. In the meantime I have been communicating with someone from Channel 5 television, they want me on their magazine programme on Saturday morning. I am not able to go to London so they asked if I have Skype. I know I deleted it off this big computer, but it is still installed on the small laptop, and after testing it still works. They are going to let me know if they want to go ahead with that. 

In the meantime.....here is my breakfast. The bran flakes and moooozleee (can't spell that word), topper is swamped by the rice milk. I have some strawberries left from Saturday night shopping and they are still fine. There are some left to finish tomorrow. 

There you are, I do put some heating on sometime. Bugsy snuggled close to the gas fire in his suitcase bed, getting some warm rays on his back. I must check his age, he will be about 20 now.

I had to use some mushrooms up so here is tonight's dinner. Garlic mushrooms on a microwaved spud with a bit of salad. All yellow sticker except for the blob of cream cheese I put in the mushrooms. I just lurv garlic mushrooms, this is how I make it. Slice mushrooms into a smallish pan, add butter, margarine, or oil, or all of them if you like. Add garlic powder and vegetable granules, half a teaspoon of each. Add soft cheese, I use the Value 49p one. When almost done add a couple of spoons of plain yogurt. Sorry it looks a bit messy, I didn't take the photo until after I had dived into it.

I've just finished this book, I started it ages ago. Things got busy and I had to put it to one side. This is the story of how Jo started off in the entertainment industry, how she became famous, and how she managed to persuade someone to marry her and have some children. This is the second volume of her memoirs. Her take on life is really funny, and as I read I could hear the words come out of her mouth. She writes as she speaks and it was just like watching one of her stand up routines.

The book is divided up into lots of short chapters and the format is ideal to pick up if you only have 20 minutes to spare.I found one chapter particularly interesting, entitled Ladies and Gentlemen of the press. It's  what she has learnt about dealing with the media. Pity I hadn't read it before my little dabble into the world of minuscule celebrity. She says she thinks it doesn't even occur to a lot of people how obsessionally selective different papers are about what is 'the news' and how they present it. At least we have something in common, we have both been ripped apart by a Daily Mail journalist.

Jo talks about the comedy circuits, the stand up gigs, writing her material, finding a man and getting married and having children, her charity work and her telly work. It's a very entertaining book, she says it like it is, with some colourful language thrown in for good measure. Pity I didn't take it with me and get her to sign it when I met her.

I sent a link to my trucking story to Leicester Heavy Haulage, and had a nice email back from Paul Rodwell. The company is run by four brothers, who's father Brian, my boss, started it. Sadly Brian passed away in 2014. He was a smashing boss, I'll always be grateful to him for giving me a chance.

I'll just copy part of a recent comment here, which arrived on a previous post. It has cheered me up no end. She found the blog through the Daily Mail article and lives in the south of France, and is now following.

You give lots of important information about how to save money when shopping for meals. The thing that helped me the most is to adapt your meals to the bargains in the supermarkets. I bought carrots and potatoes at a very cheap price, and I include them in my meals this week. I never did that before, I used to make a list first, decide on a menu and then go shopping...now I go shopping first, get the bargains and then prepare my menu. 
Very valuable information, mainly for me, I'm a single mother with 3 children and it's difficult to make ends meet. Marce. 

Now haven't I been saying that all along. Don't menu plan then shop, do it the other way round. Buy the best you can afford at the lowest prices, then plan your meals around that. YAY, go Marce, and I hope you save lots of money doing it that way.

Thank you all for your comments, I love to read them. Crikey, look at the time. I must get off my backside and do my three miles. Thanks for popping in. Catch up soon.
Toodle pip.