Thunderbirds Are Go

I came across the bargain of the year today in Sainsbury's. A brand new DVD release of all 32 episodes of the classic puppet adventure series from the 1960s, complete with postcards for the amazing price of £12.

It only came out last month to coincide with the programmes' 50th anniversary and seems to retail at around £40. So a very good saving, especially as it only really cost me £2, as I had a £10 gift voucher that I used.

Thunderbirds has always been one of my favourite shows growing up, and I think Parker the Cockney chauffeur to Lady Penelope was always my favourite character, with his "Yus me lady". This is possibly because my dad was also a chauffeur and a Londoner to boot.

I'm not sure whether Gail is looking forward to watching the five Tracy brothers rescuing people from dangerous situations from their secret island in the sea, even though all the special effects etc were hand made, rather than computer generated.

FAB

Gong Hey Fat Choy

 It's the Year of the Goat this year in the Chinese calendar and their New Year celebrations took place today in Beeston, on a smaller scale than usual due to the budget cuts in community events.

They of course had the dragon dance, some demonstrations of martial arts and how to write your name in Chinese. I didn't do this, as having a pretty long name, I would be there all afternoon!

I bumped into a couple of friends of mine, one being a filmmaker and puppeteer, who was putting on a show in about ten minutes time. I had not seen his show before, so I went off to find a seat. I was quite surprised that there were more adults wanting to see the show than children.

The story revolved around a girl, her father, a teacher and a yak. The Professor (my friend Melvyn) did all the voices and actions. Quite amusing to hear one sentence in a man's voice and then another in a woman's. The audience appeared to thoroughly enjoy it.