My creative side.....made with love and now available for purchase

I just wanted to let you all know that I have an addition to my market stall where I sell my lovely handmade greeting cards....these new handmade by me, upcycled denim bling bags are now available.

Made with heaps of love, the bags are made from denim jeans I purchase from local charity shops, are adorned with bling procured from near and far, come with a lovely scarf and are all fully lined and hand stitched. They are available online at www.louisedempsterbags.com and from the Davies Park Markets, Montague Road, West End here in Brisbane each Saturday 6am - 1pm (weather permitting). Come and say hi and peruse the latest collection. Eftpos facilities available.

It's soccer or bust Australia!

Association football (also known as football or soccer) is the most widely played sport in the world. An estimated 3.5 billion have some interest in association football, either playing or watching it.


To say that the only codes of football in Australia are AFL, NRL and ARU is a fallacy my friends. History tells us of early evidence of soccer being played as a sport finds the occurrence in China and soccer is one of the most popular sports in Europe and the Americas.

In Australia, social football (soccer) has no specific start date since it was played sporadically across the country from the late 1870s between rival mining communities and visiting ship crews – mostly by English and Scottish natives. Organised football began with a game on Parramatta Oval (NSW) in August 1880 between Wanderers and Kings College. Wanderers won 5-0.

With a worldwide following in 2010 of Association football (also known as football or soccer) it is the most widely played sport in the world. An estimated 3.5 billion have some interest in association football, either playing or watching it ie 53 separate countries/teams compared to Australia’s 10 A-league teams.

I predicted this some three years ago and I predict this again in 2010: Australian soccer, or soon to be known as Australian football in the European scenario......will have the largest following population in Australia, far outweighing the rest of all the leagues.

As the saying goes my friends.....if you can’t beat them......join them.... and I have. Go the mighty Brisbane Roar.....Go Ange Postecoglou and the boys....Go the A-league. We love you all! Go Australian soccer, we are right behind you all!

As Australian as football, meat pies and being a passionate female supporter

This weekend is a huge weekend for Australian footy ( the shortened word for football for my overseas readers who are not ‘in the know’ re Australian slang.) Australia vs New Zealand in the Rugby League test (go Darren Lockyer) as well as the World Cup Rugby Union semi-final in New Zealand, again Australia vs New Zealand. Now I know that so many of my female readers will be about to close this blog and wander off to do something a little more exciting than reading about men’s football but I for one must state that I LOVE AUSTRALIAN FOOTY! Did I receive a little more testosterone than the normal female dose?(Females do have testosterone.) Nope I don’t think so. I grew up in a female-dominant family, two sisters and one bro. So why the great love of these male-dominated sports? I put it all down to great patriotism and a little male influence too.

My maternal grandfather was a keen sportsman in his younger days and I cannot remember a weekend when visiting both him and my darling grandmother that the television wasn’t on and featuring some form of a sporting event be it cricket, league, union, tennis, golf and being a made keen golfer (he lived across the road from the Ashgrove golf links here in Brisbane and frequented it very very often) I remember him often standing in front of the television, talking to the commentators and voicing his opinion to them as if they could hear him. Hilarious at the time and guess who has now picked up this habit?

My father too was a feather-weight boxing champ in his army days; a cross country enthusiast again in his army days; was a keen cricketer and a very good one (wicket keeper mostly) and I was fortunate enough to meet the great Sir Viv Richards because of dad's interest in cricket. Dad also found himself on the judiciary of the Mt Isa Rugby League back in the days when we lived in ‘The Isa’ (great times) and let me tell you this position evoked much passion from the offending players and their supporters but we won't go there! After having three fabulous daughters, came my brother eight years my younger who not only was a fine goalkeeper for his Hilton soccer club in Mt Isa but also represented North-West Queensland as captain for age team; he captained his secondary school ‘firsts’ in cricket and had an outstanding year and he also played Rugby Union at the same school. I am sure I will be reminded by family members who read this that I have missed some things out but regardless this is a fine list of sporting prowess on so many levels.

This fine list has clearly been a major contributor to my interest in a plethora of sports. To add to this fine list, I married a Scotsman who not only follows the great (cough, splatter) Aberdeen team (which is sad for him as I am a Celtic supporter, the great green and white – my grandmother was a Glaswegian lassie and me being Catholic...yep.....and of course then there is the fab Rod Stewart too….) Hubby represented Scotland in Volleyball, was a cross-country runner, naturally played soccer as a youngster growing up in Scotland (dah!) and is also a retired junior soccer referee. My youngest daughter also plays soccer (oh and can I mention that she received the award for ‘most improved’ for team this year…so so proud of you darling…...thanks Paul!)

Don’t get me wrong, my female siblings were also great sports people. We three girls were fabulous swimmers and we took many awards away with us at meets, my mother was an ace tennis player, so too my eldest sister and the list goes on too.

Hence these have been my connections to the sporting world and I guess this is where the passion has come from and yes passionate I am! I was sitting in a room at a family friend’s house last weekend and we watched the last half of the Australia vs South Africa World Cup Rugby game after having a scrumptious BBQ lunch and to my amazement - ‘tis true, I did not think we would make it after watching our thrashing by the fabulous Irish, and how lovely it was that I was wrong -we beat those Seeth Africins but was sadly disappointed by the lack of Australian support in the room!

Now let me tell you what happened:- whilst sitting in this room which was dominated by Scotsmen (who sadly?….I don’t think so…. are out of the cup whoop whoop!) I discovered by their clear lack of enthusiasm for the score that they were NOT supporting the great Australian Wallabies. Sacrilege!! Due to this obvious lack of support, I dutifully reminded them all that I thought that theirs was a ‘poor call’ and I asked them to think about what country they were all presently living in and which they chose to live in! What country they had all found wealth and a great lifestyle? What country provides sunshine to them for three quarters of the year as opposed to their mother country and what country’s economic climate has held up against all others including the UK in the present economic climate oh and what country were they all presently living in, oh did I already say that? Yes, you could hear a pin drop.

Karma happened to them as Australia went on to win that game resulting in me jumping up, punching the air with my fist whilst yelling jubilantly GO THE WALLABIES!!! My fellow viewers were silent. Wanting to make the most of their clear demise, I then regrouped and just prior to me momentarily leaving the room to seek out the bathroom, I counted out loud whilst pointing to each of these Scots, yes those ‘non-Australian supporting offenders,’ and informed them I would be returning with a tissue for each so that they could cry into it. Again, their response was complete silence.

Yep, I am a very passionate Australian and Queenslander and more than proud to support these male sports, female and all! It doesn't always 'go down' terribly well in male company at times when I quote players names; declare that I thought that that pass was a forward pass and then the referee agreeing with me and awards a penalty etc. I am known to regularly tell THE MOST BIASED NSW league TV commentator, Gus Gould, to 'be quiet Gus' during any game he is commentating where a Queensland team is participating, because Gus really, really, really dislikes Queensland and takes great joy in showing his clear bias....shame on you Gus! I am often momentarily disappointed when my wonderful Brisbane Roar soccer team miss goals but so proud of their achievements during last season after having such a poor start. They won the A-League premiership last year….Whoop! Whoop (take that Mark Bosnich....love you Adam Peacock!) Being competitive is healthy and without competition we wouldn’t be able to use the letters VS would we?

So let’s get together my fellow Aussie girls and you lads….show your support for our great Australian sports men and women we have produced and I say Go the Kangaroos, Go the Wallabies and go Australia. The land of the great!

The glass ceiling and women.....it is slowly being lifted

I am a suffragette from way-back-when. I was labelled with this word whilst working in the operating theatre during my nursing training days whilst I voiced my opinion to the ‘then’ surgical registrar whilst I assisted him during a procedure. He then referred to me from that day on as a suffragette, a label I feel proud to hold onto to this day – oh and might I add he dated me for a couple of months after that so he also felt comfortable with my outspoken approach to the powers of being a female.

The day women won the right to vote back in around 1893, was clearly a day when many men or maybe I should say most men swallowed with difficulty. History shows us that women seemed to have been created for the purpose of breeding and then child rearing, cooking, cleaning etc etc. However, thank goodness, gone are those days. Yes clearly we are required for breeding purposes and quite frankly any man who had to endure hours and hours of labour pains let alone birthing, in my and millions of other female’s opinions, would not be a good idea. However I must give credit where credit is due and let’s face it anatomically male musculature clearly allows our men to be physically more apt when it comes to laborious duties involving the expanding and contracting of the old muscles and that is a great thing. Don’t get me wrong, nobody adores men more than I and socially I usually feel more cerebrally stimulated listening to male conversation than those of my  own sex but there is no doubt that women are extremely capable at pulling in the dollars when it comes to employment as men are….just ask Westpac’s CEO Gail Kelly. There are more females than ever entering into the world or law, medicine, IT, engineering etc, and quite frankly I feel the boys feel very threatened by our presence in these male dominated professions.

We are repeatedly hearing the anecdotal comments regarding the corporate world allegedly trying to get rid of the ‘glass ceiling’ when it comes to women in corporate/CEO positions and indeed all top positions including political via the media, it is going to take an army of women to get this going. Mr Rupert Murdoch (born Keith Rupert Murdoch) and his News Ltd empire, clearly has a very strong hold on influencing our political views and controls most of what people read, watch and hear when it comes to Australian politics. Being a capitalist and as Australian political history shows us, capitalists and the Liberal party go hand-in-hand here in Australia, Mr Murdoch has, and this is not just my opinion but those of Australian advertising companies along with truly honest males, Rupert has a clear dislike for Ms Gillard and her Labor Party. We hear EVERY DAY AND I MEAN EVERY DAY currently Julia is clearly being pushed out by Rupert thanks to his media control. Julia cannot walk, talk, blink, breathe, dress, eat or do anything right in ‘his’ (the media’s) view. A recent male advertising guru agreed on national TV that Julia is being given an extraordinarily hard time and he believes it is mainly due to the fact that she is a WOMAN! Yes, admittance by a male.

Here is our first female Prime Minister, a graduate of law who became a partner at 29 at the firm she was employed by….is no mean feat. Clearly a tough and highly intelligent female who has had to contend with a male dominated political party from way back, during her uni student days and so knows that the boys are tough nuts to crack, but oh how she managed to do it at our last federal election.

During a recent TV interview an advertising mogul who admitted to the rough treatment of Julia by ‘the boys’, he was quick to state that he felt Julia was a very strong female and he had the utmost belief in her that she is strong enough for the clear ‘stirring of the pot’ she is currently enduring as a female prime minister and will no doubt have to endure this agitation for some time to come, maybe even forever.

Julia is lacking talent in presentation and marketing. Is Swanny any better at selling? No and this is the problem these two face. You cannot take away from the Howard and Costello or Hawke and Keating advertising campaign that they managed to ‘sell’ their party’s strategies hence their political longevity. Yes, they suffered from verbal diarrhoea and it worked. Yes, Julia needs to scrub up on her salesmanship big time, however, support/teachers for this absent talent come from the back rooms advisors of Labor. They are clearly not stepping up. Why? Because they want her out too maybe?

My thoughts…….hang in there Julia…..you are a forced to be reckoned with…..yes we do live in a world where it is clearly dominated by the attitude of “jobs for the boys” and the lack of CEO female positions talks for itself. Quite frankly whether you were Liberal or Labor, you would be given a damn hard time by many due to you being female. Yes, we have to change things and yes it will be left to the females to do so unfortunately. Are we not capable of managing these top positions? Absolutely not. Do the men feel threatened by females moving up the corporate ladder? Understandably and absolutely yes and that is a pill they are just going to have to learn to swallow. We gals are more than capable of holding these top jobs. Some would say no thank you and that is fine. Many would say yes please and to those ladies I say hold on because your day is fast approaching.

Stop and smell the roses

Those of you who read my blog regularly will know that I am a market stall holder and sell my gorgeous handmade cards very cheaply here in Bris Vegas. There is never a weekend that goes by that I don't go home from our day at the markets, inspired and enthralled by chatting to the public for whatever reasons. I was engaged in two consecutive conversations at our last market day by customers who own parrots. Now I am meaning that one converstation happened straight after the other, with about a 15 minute gap and I am pretty sure that neither know eachother. I was fascinated as was my hubby.What are the chances?

I love nature very much and my Lady Lou Lettuce blog clearly confirms this fact. I don't think, however that I have ever taken enough time to learn about these amazing creations. I have a father who over the years has been a keen bird watcher and was often sighted with binoculars in hand gazing up at a gum tree observing the feathered creature of interest. I also, bought a rather expensive book on birds so that I too could start identifying various bird life which surrounded us as I lived across the road from a reserve. On a recent visit to our fabulous Lone Pine Bird and Koala Sanctuary I stood in wonderment gazing at the plethora of bird life on display and I guess in my case it is more the amazing colours that mother nature has bestowed on them that attracts me to these lovely creatures. However my parrot people taught me much about these amazing creatures that day and just how incredibly intelligent they are, how they do take on the role as a feathered human being when mixing with humans and I was in awe about my lessons that day and am truly appreciative of my newly acquired knowledge on parrot life.

On the same day, as I sat and crocheted my soon to be eco-friendly and very colourful shoulder bag, I realised my craft was being observed by a male bystander. On lifting my head, he stood there not a foot away from me and I smiled and said hi. He returned the favour and we commenced a conversation about the fine old craft of crochet informing me he was waiting for his partner to complete the fruit n veg purchasing across the path from me.  He explained to me how his grandmother used to crochet and how he used to admire her workmanship and I explained to him that it was my grandmother who indeed taught me to crochet. We then conversed about craft and how wonderful it is, he admired my handmade greeting cards, told me they were too cheap for the workmanship and advised me to increase the price. I thanked him for his advice and his compliments and then he parted as his partner approached having completed his purchases. It was a short but pleasant encounter and I appreciated his kind words and his story about his grandmother.

I cannot explain to you how my days at the markets inspires and motivates me and how much I appreciate human interaction. I guess being head down and bottom up for the week here in my work room allows me my personal and quiet time, especially being a busy mum of two teenagers and I do so appreciate my "time out" creating. Also, however, I very much look forward to my market day, conversing with those who are from all walks of life, who I can learn so much from and who make my heart sing with their compliments of appreciation for my card workmanship.

Life makes us all so focused on that 9 to 5 clock, paying that bill, worrying and wondering why your child isn't showing any interest in a subject or two at school and "oh what will become of them?" Chill girl, chill! Yes, crappy things will happen but these too shall pass and will be followed by laughter. I have learnt to let toxic words from others dissipate into nothingness as they own them and not me. There will always be clouds with silver linings. It is time to stop and listen and take time and worry a little less about those dirty dishes in the sink or getting that washing in off the line. I do very much love to stop and listen to the positivity of others about things like say parrots and grandmothers who were great at crocheting and oh how I appreciate it all.

Keeping up with the Joneses

I was privileged enough to be having a cup of coffee with some of my wonderful girlfriends the other day. I love to catch up with my BFFLs (best friends for life), and as the majority of females will agree, I honestly believe and so too will the world of psychology, that female interaction with females, strengthens the soul. Well it strengthens my soul anyway.

Women are experts at being able to chat about any topic and give wide and intelligent opinions about these matters. I have often, on occasion, sat down with a very direct opinion on life’s matters and come away from my BFFLs with a completely different attitude about that topic. The change in attitude I attribute to listening to various opinions and then being intelligent enough to heed these incredibly wise women thus analysing and accepting the contributions of their differing ideas and forming a sometimes different opinion from my learned colleagues….the most powerful people roaming this earth……females albeit mothers, wives or whatever!

Now my collection of girlfriends varies greatly in backgrounds and social status etc and I love them all. I however, and those who know me well, will know that snobs Ville and I don’t mix well at all….a bit like water and oil in a bottle. Regardless, I love to sit and listen and of course contribute with my verbal input and take home with me all I have heard (well if that is possible as retaining all of the information these women contribute in one coffee session would be a little impossible on some days as not even a court secretary be able to type fast enough, trying to record our chat). Regardless, it is great information which I hold very dearly as I do my girlfriends.

These female friendships have taught me much over the years, and will continue . I guess some think that I have had a slightly privileged upbringing having had private schooling but my parents have taught me through life, not by words but by actions, that life has its ups and downs, especially financially and I have never taken anything for granted, oh..........maybe those Barbie dolls over the years oh and OK, no doubt a few other things. Forgive me.

Having relatives who have been associated with ‘old money’ and have travelled much, no doubt spent much but who also have had very difficult times too, again, has taught me to never take anything for granted.

Sure I have owned a Mercedes Benz, eaten at The Ritz in London, have travelled a fair bit and live in a fabulous apartment but none of this has been dropped in my lap, so to speak. Having a nursing background exposed me at the tender age of eighteen to death and dying; I watched by first and only autopsy on this person at eighteen; I have given a colonic bowel wash to one of our leading neurosurgeon’s relatives and survived, both of us that is; I have watched my own flesh and blood at the age of two undergo live-saving surgery; I was to sit and watch, on an eight hour shift, a young man who was on suicide watch and who was simply needing to feel he belonged in our society; I was assigned, again at nineteen, to sit and encourage a group of adolescent females who suffered from anorexia nervosa to eat nutricious food during many of my nursing shifts;  I have been and still am privy to chats with girlfriends who have come asking me for advice on a plethora of serious life topics which still humbles me whenever this occurs; I have experienced quite a bit in life thus far.

I guess these things have really ‘grounded’ me and made me very aware that good things come and good things go yet can be obtained again and this is why when I hear of friends and acquaintances trying to keep up with the Joneses makes me squirm and protest a little.

I was chatting not so long ago by a parent who I had known for some time who informed me that they were off overseas skiing, had purchased their new luxury car, had enrolled their eldest at one of the elite male schools and were building a brand new and very large home. “Oh how wonderful” I remember exclaiming to her, most envious and wishing to be in that position. At that time I was a single parent, hadn’t been on a holiday with my beautiful children for quite some time and lived month to month hoping that that maintenance payment would be received but always in the back of my head knowing that if it didn’t, the house would have to be sold, the children taken out of private schooling and goodness knows where I would have to reside with my precious kids. As I stood there gazing at this lady and being quite envious of her conversation, it was in her next sentence that allowed me to regroup. “Oh, we are on final notice from our electricity supplier due to our failing to pay the past couple of bills, but hey, so what, we are going ahead with our plans regardless.”  Say what? Yep, it was all true and I stood in bewilderment about her ‘devil may care’ attitude.

To this day, I cannot tell you if all of this lady’s plans fell into place or if indeed she has electricity in her life. Is this the reason why Australia’s credit card debt is $50 billion dollars presently? How much of it is owed by her? I don’t know and quite frankly I do not want to know. All I know is that very very very little of it is owed by me . I still have the same credit card limit I had when I applied for it at the age of eighteen and that’s the truth. My attitude is if you don’t have the cash, don’t buy it. Okay, there are exceptions such as buying a house, car and any emergencies such as medical etc but hey boys and girls what is this world coming to?

I watch as my now adolescent teenager mixes in her university circle of friends, who are children of a large demographic of families. I listen to some of them chat about the latest mobile phones they have, whose parents drive what cars, where holidays are taken and what suburb they intend living in when they are all “degreed- up” and I love to hear it all. My teenager, who has been taught much by her frugal mother, but currently listens little, spending her plentiful supply and interestingly-sourced funds and watches me intently watching her acquire another designer good purchase whilst I shake my head in disbelief and disapproval.  This “Burberry-wearing, Givenchy-talking” adolescent knows that I have my proverbial tongue in my cheek as I nod at her saying “oh, fabulous.” Yes, she knows that “credit card city” is not the place where I want her living in the future but I can rest easy knowing that, as a student of law, and who is now eighteen and hence legal, she is responsible for her actions and thank goodness her bills, should she walk into 'that' city.

So I sit back and watch the next credit-card and money-crazy generation coming through, not all but many, and listen as some of my generation chat about the who’s who of Brisbane and who’s travelling to which exotic resort and how many pairs of Jimmy Choo shoes who has acquired over the last month on which credit card and I heed it all. In my eyes, the people who are so busy keeping up with the Joneses don’t realise that they are sitting with a member of that Jones family, sipping that cup of coffee and that would be me. No, I don’t have to have acquired the latest Mercedes Benz or the ten pairs of Jimmy Choo shoes to be a Jones family member, I just need to have the money in the bank to pay for that upcoming electricity bill and thank goodness I do, and it’s cash!

Mr Darcy, Mr Darcy!

I was delighted to see the other day on a TV advertisement that the movie Jane Eyre is about to be released at the cinemas. Ok, we have seen a plethora of Jane Eyre series on TV and at the cinema for many a year but what normal female can resist these fantastic classics. I know I can’t. Oh love…..you can’t beat it.

The idealism of love, ‘an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment’ is just too wonderful to live without. As you look back in time and see the plethorically abundant libraries of movies of these fabulous classics just makes my heart sing. To watch Colin Firth galloping over the heath on that horse in the role as the scrumptious Mr Darcy in the classic Pride and Prejudice makes my ovaries turn! What girl hasn’t dreamt of being Lizzie, waiting for the announcement by the maid of his arrival at her modest but love-filled home? Mr Darcy walking in, all six foot something of him (okay these height calculations may be wrong here but let me pretend), whilst he hesitantly asks for her hand in marry, but is rejected………what?........well he did say previously that she was ‘tolerable but not enough to tempt me’ which darling Lizzie overheard and let’s face it, wouldn’t we all be a little peeved off hearing this from a man of his stature. Oh don’t worry……he tries again later, just like this in fact…..

DARCY: You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged; but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.

ELIZABETH: Oh, Mr. Darcy. I... I...

DARCY: ...If your feelings are the same, just say so. I'll go away. You'll never see me again.

ELIZABETH: I... I...

DARCY: ...I have no right to expect anything but your censure. My behaviour has been abominable.

ELIZABETH: Mr. Darcy...

DARCY: ...Miss Elizabeth, you're so quiet.

ELIZABETH: Mr. Darcy, how can you even speak to me after the terrible things I said last April?

DARCY: How can I speak to you? But the only thing I want to do is to speak to you, Miss Elizabeth. Forever.

ELIZABETH: Mr. Darcy.. I... I...

DARCY: I've never stopped loving you, Elizabeth. But if you --

ELIZABETH: But the things I said to you, ...

DARCY: I deserved everything you said.

ELIZABETH: Not entirely. I was wrong about so many things.

DARCY: It all tortured me, for weeks and weeks. Not because it was hurtful, but because I eventually realized how true it was. I had been so, so...

ELIZABETH: My sentiments have changed, Mr. Darcy, so very much. In fact... I must say... I have to say... that I must receive with gratitude ...and pleasure... oh...

DARCY: Miss Elizabeth, are you trying to say...

ELIZABETH: Yes. ...Oh yes, Mr. Darcy.

DARCY: Oh Elizabeth, I can hardly believe it. Do you mean it?

ELIZABETH: Yes.

DARCY: I prayed and prayed for another chance to ask you.

ELIZABETH: When you left for London I thought I'd never see you again.

DARCY: You were so quiet at Longbourn. I was hoping you'd at least insult me, or admonish me, or anything at all. Any excuse to look into your eyes.

ELIZABETH: I was too embarrassed to speak.

DARCY: When I was in London two days ago I had almost resolved to come back and just ask you straight out. I was steeling myself for another humiliation. And then my aunt came to visit.

ELIZABETH: She did? Oh, Mr. Darcy, I was so horribly rude to her. She'll never forgive me.

DARCY: I don't care anymore. She told me all about her visit. It serves her right. She made me realize that there was still hope. How can I ever apologize for her behaviour?

ELIZABETH: She gave you hope? Oh, my. Perhaps we should be grateful to her.

DARCY: I must confess, my own feelings were similar to hers for such a long time, for most of my life in fact. That's how I was raised. But I never counted on meeting anyone like you.

ELIZABETH: Oh, Mr. Darcy.  (then we cut to)

DARCY: Oh, Lizzy. I must go to your father immediately. I can't wait.

LIZZY: Oh. Perhaps you should wait a day or so. My father may still be skeptical.

DARCY: As you wish. But I want you to come to Netherfield as soon as you can to dance that reel with me.

Oh, Lizzie, Lizzie you lucky girl!

For those of us who just can’t get enough of Mr Firth as Mr Darcy then here you are:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0dmzLkaQFE

Then there is Wuthering Heights where Catherine and Heathcliff go through torrid times to find that they love each other but this ends in tragedy.

What is it with the mental and sometimes physical cruelty that often comes with these unbelievable and overwhelming bonds of love in these classics? Mr Rochester and Jane certainly have a torrid time, Darcy and Lizzie go through their mental teasing, Heathcliff and Catherine have a cruel time, not so much with Little Women and their male suitors, …….it gets a little over the top sometimes however, I guess that is why Darcy and Lizzie have a big part of my heart, a little teasing but no real cruelty.

I am off now to put my DVD of Pride and Prejudice on, featuring the scrumptious Mr Firth and then follow it with a double dose of Colin's Bridget Jones’ Diary. Prejudice? Yes I am when it comes to Mr Firth, and I admit this with great pride!