Catch

Yes, I know. But I'm afraid the blogging is just a reflection of the intermittent nature of my woodworking at the moment. However I have done a little work on the chair; applying shellac. Yeah, don't say it, I know that too - I could have done that ages ago. Except somehow I'd forgotten that I hadn't and I really want to have the finish in place to repel the glue when I come to do the sticks. And the last thing I wan't to do is bore the stick mortises first and then have them filling up with shellac and generally being a nuisance. So here I am, applying numerous coats of shellac - again. Looking pretty nifty though, I think. Am I prevaricating before embarking on drilling holes in it? Well wadda you think...

Other than that, nadda, zilch, nowt. Principally 'cos I've been under the weather and just couldn't face it. Instead I wallowed in a double bill of Cary/Hitch in the form of To Catch A Thief and North by Northwest courtesy of an exchange of a duplicate copy of The Curse of the Were Rabbit from my birthday. It was quite a revelation to see NbyNW in all its clarity instead of the very elderly print I've only ever seen before. Even when I went to see it at the cinema it was in a shocking state and you really didn't get it in its full glory. (I'm not that old, but it was on in the Haymarket just before I left London and I couldn't resist seeing it. Unfortunately I missed Vertigo). Anyway, if you haven't seen the crop duster scene in a cinema you haven't lived. Just thought you'd like to know that... The nice thing about both those films is there's absolutely zero woodworking to be distracted by. I was watching Sleepless in Seattle as well (okay, don't groan. Chick flicks aren't so-called for no reason. I expect you've all caught the Sleepless/Cary Grant link. I'm fairly sure I'm not obsessed...) and had to rewind to see if I could identify the plane in the kitchen fitting/awkward client scene.

I couldn't.

Then of course there's been the cricket and the delights of watching a useless 45 minute highlights package through a snowstorm. i.e. The laughable excuse for a picture we get on channel 5. Half the time I have less chance of picking up the ball than Monty Panesar. May all the cricketing gods rot the ECB's and Sky bloody TV's soul - except they don't have one. But on the plus side, or possibly minus, Stick Cricket has recaptured my interest with their new Club Challenge. 10 balls to get as many runs as possible with an extra ball for every boundary - but no idea what type of delivery it'll be. Slightly tricky, but the chance to do my bit for Surrey CCC is too much of a temptation. Best score so far has been 120 (bowled last ball or it would have been 125 - dammit) but I'm more your lower order contributor of vital (quality not quantity) runs. Anywhere in the region of 50 and I'm a happy batswoman. Although -10 wasn't a particularly pleasing score...

All of which is making large portions of the readership go "huh"? Or more likely "yawn". Sorry. Either skip it all, or if you're really crazy there's a choice of semi-serious and quite helpful or really unhelpful but absolutely accurate explanations of the great game. Just don't try tickling someone's googly round the corner or you might give a sitter to short leg. You've been warned...