Now that I’ve got my newly decorated work space pretty much sorted apart from some finishing touches, I should spend more time there writing my little blog posts. Gone are the boring magnolia walls peppered with picture hook holes and grubby marks that were far from inspiring and in their place are walls of dazzling white, bare at the moment but soon to be filled with shelves, plants, prints, notice boards and a lovely big clock. I plan to use my new space to be creative and not just the place where I go to pay bills, read emails and generally procrastinate. I’ve got a shelf full of arty things and my sewing machine has finally been taken out of its box and ready to be used. Except that I haven’t a clue how to use it, but that’s a small problem that can be overcome with the help of Youtube tutorials. Who knows, this time next year I may be making my own frocks, or then again, maybe not! What I would really like to do is write the novel that’s at the moment is writing its self in my head. Basically, it’s the story of a put upon middle-aged wife and mother who on a whim abandons her family whilst on holiday in Cornwall and decides to do Land’s End to John O’Groats by bus! I want it to be light-hearted, feely good and at times funny. Definitely not serious. I can’t do serious. It’s just not my style. I’m not expecting in a million years that if it ever gets written that it would be published, but what if it were, what a hoot that would be. Now to learn to type with more than one finger otherwise my debut novel is going to take like forever to complete!

So who’s watching Bake Off? Who said that they would not watch it now that it’s gone over to Channel 4 and that Mary, Mel and Sue would not be part of the team of judges and presenters? I initially was in two minds whether to carry on watching it, thinking that it couldn’t possibly be the same, but deep down I could never give up on a programme that has been one of the highlights of my TV viewing year since series two. I have no idea why I missed series one, all I can remember is watching the time when the contestants made pasties, but that’s about all.

Almost four weeks ago I watched those opening credits along with million others wondering if the format would have changed and could the familiar Bake Off we’ve grown to love over the years have been spoilt forever. Thankfully any worries were quickly squashed and apart from the addition of the newbies, Prue, Sandi and Noel and those pesky commercial breaks (a good excuse to put the kettle on, go to the loo and cut another slice of cake) it’s absolutely no different from how it was before. Prue and Sandi are great and Noel is sort of growing on me, but he still seems just a bit awkward at times. I have to say that I think there’s a cracking group of contestants this year. I like them all. My particular favourites though are Liam, Julia and Yan. What I love about the show apart from the baking its self, is that the contestants genuinely seem to care about each other and you just can’t imagine that any nasty shenanigans would go on in the tent, even the likes of  Alaska-gate which caused such a furor amongst the great british public must have been an honest mistake. Sabotage in the tent? Never!

Like thousands of other people who love to bake, I’ve applied twice to go on the show, and of course, like thousands of others, I’ve failed to progress beyond the first stage which is a very lengthy application form. I’ve decided that I’ve been rejected not because my baking isn’t good enough, because I rather think it is but because I’d struggle to get on to the bar stools due to me being vertically challenged and health and safety rules don’t permit a helping hand from a nice young member of the production team. I’d also struggle to get off the floor after peering into the oven for twenty minutes watching my choux buns rise! If the very nice people from Love Productions happen to read this (highly unlikely I know, but never say never ) then please consider me for future series. Not only can I bake, but I’m very good at different expressions. The “I haven’t the faintest idea how this technical bake should look” confused expression. The “Did you really just say only five minutes” panicked expression. The “Maybe the chilli and stout choice of flavours wont work after all as a doughnut filling” I’m going home expression and finally the “I know I’m Star Baker but I’m going to pretend it’s a complete and utter surprise”expression.

On that note I’m going to wish you goodnight and go and unpack the Ocado delivery that arrived two hours ago and before you worry about defrosting freezer food, I did pop them into the freezer when they arrived.

So toodle pips everyone until next time. xx