This week, I've been mostly weaning myself off Sherlock by watching Stargazing Live.

Did you know that pretty much all the stars and everything you see in the night sky are part of the Milky Way? I didn't because I'd never really thought about it before (and now I feel like an idiot). But when you consider it:
Other galaxies are really far away. So far away that you can only see one other galaxy from the northern hemisphere, and it looks about the size of any other star in the sky. So of course the only stars that are close enough for us to see properly are the ones in the Milky Way.

Blew my mind.

In non-serious news, my Dad and I were doing impressions of Prof Brian Cox the other day. Here's my Dad's:
If I take these tic tacs and throw them on the floor, there's more stars in the sky than that. And that's amazing.

Tell it like it is, Brian. Tell it like it is.

The best bit about Stargazing Live though is that it is live, so Brian gets to rant about why no-one should believe in ridiculous conspiracy theories and superstitious nonsense, and nobody can do anything to stop him :D
For example: this gif.

How refreshing to see some sense on prime time TV. Brainy really is the new sexy.

Spoiler-free review:
This episode may have been written by the same person who wrote The Blind Banker but do not fear. The Reichenbach Fall is far better. It is perhaps even my favourite episode of the second series. So there you go.

WARNING WARNING: SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT
Click read more for my meandering, spoilery review:

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Spoiler-free review:
This episode was more simple and tighter in terms of plot than A Scandal in Belgravia. Still lots of fun though!

Click through if you want to read an embarrassing, spoiler-laden review of the episode.
WARNING: SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT.

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Hi! I said I owed you a massive Christmas post, so here it is.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and a happy new year! Mine was good, although it was subdued a little due to two deaths in my extended extended family. I only met them both once or twice and they both had good innings at around 80 years old, but it still hit a lot of my family quite hard. It just goes to show how important it is to have a celebration at this time of year. You can only imagine what it must have been like thousands of years ago when these traditions first started. Winter is hard as anything, so it's good to have something to look forward to. Christmas and other mid-winter festivals are basically humanity's way of saying 'Keep Calm and Carry On'.

For me, this year, Christmas started when Nick, Steve and Heather came to London and we all stayed with James and Eppa for some fun times.

On one of the days, we went on a nice walk through South East London. It was meant to be a 'transport tour' but this is the only piece of transport we encountered all day.

It's a train carriage and also a cafe. Apparently. After walking all the way to Deptford to find it, we realised that the cafe was closed for the day. Also, the weather was rainy and horrible and we had some really disappointing soup in another cafe, but other than that it was really good, guys!

Chilling in James and Eppa's place afterwards. We all drank lots of cranberry juice because apparently it's healthy for your fanny.

Then we had a cheese evening.

Here's the spread. Quite impressive, I think you'll agree. What this photo doesn't show is the pièce de résistance, which was a Camembert that had been baked in the oven. Dipping apple slices into that was heavenly. I still think back on it with fond memories.

The remains, once we'd gorged ourselves.

In other food news, Eppa made us poached eggs on crumpets for breakfast. I had never even conceived of this as a thing before, but let me tell you, it was good. If you've never had poached eggs on crumpets before, I urge you to try it.

Post-cheese, there was much karaoke-ing. This was massively fun for Nick and I, and massively annoying for everyone else. (Sorry guys, but I was having too much fun to shut up.)

Then, somehow, it was Christmas eve. I packed up all my stuff and took the train back to my home-town to go stay with my parents for a week.

It was nice to be back. After moving out of my home-town earlier this year, I hadn't been to visit for about 4 months. I got to catch up with some old work friends too, which was good.

Also, there was much visiting of family. I have a pretty large family of various grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins, so this took up a fair amount of time. One of the days involved a family walk through the cold countryside.

My Granddad (on my Mum's side) with two of my cousins.

This house that we came across looked rather fabulous. I loved the way those steps suddenly stop at the water. I don't know if the water is meant to come up that far, but I think it gives the place a rather run-down, romantic look.

The rest of the time at home was spent with my parents watching a glut of Christmas TV. Some of the highlights included:
- Tony Robinson's Gods and Monsters - This was a little unnecessary in parts (like forcing Tony to sit in a bath of entrails in order to imagine what it would have been like for some Celts) but it was still interesting. I love learning about old folklores and customs. The part about corpse mutilation to stop bodies coming back from the dead was particularly fascinating.
- Great Expectations - This new adaptation from the BBC was really good. I read the book a couple of years ago and I think it was captured very well and very faithfully here. It's a great story. Oh, and it looked gorgeous too. There's not much I like better on my screen than some old-school costumes. Ohoho.
- Royal Institution Christmas Lectures - I watch these every year with my parents. Despite the fact that they're aimed at children, they are always interesting for a more mature audience as well. This year we learnt a little about how brains work. Brilliant.
- Still Ringing After All These Years: A Short History of Bells - Ok. So I watched this one slightly before Christmas, but I want to talk about it anyway. Over the past year or so, I have come to realise that anything presented by Richard Taylor will be fascinating. This show was no exception. A history of bells might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it was mine. He talked about how bells used to serve a very religious purpose before gaining other uses, so they're still seen as being quite mystical. And their magical properties are so ingrained in our culture that, even today, if you hear a lone bell tolling it can be really quite spooky.

There were more programmes, of course, like Downton Abbey and Doctor Who and something about some sort of private detective and his doctor friend having adventures across London (I forget the name) but if I listed everything I watched over the Christmas period, we'd be here for hours.

Christmas over, I headed back to London for New Year's Eve. I'm afraid I didn't take any photos of this, so you're going to have to put up with text text text :D

I went to see Deborah, and together with a large number of her friends, we went to the flat of another of her friends in Dalston. The flat was new and really nice. As a bonus, it had a roof terrace, which meant that we all piled out there to watch the fireworks at midnight. It was a great view, but we came to discover that there are problems with being so high up on New Year's Eve. Namely, flying Chinese lanterns. I didn't realise they were dangerous until we had a run in with two of them. If the night is slightly windy, they don't just go straight up, they also go across and down and all over the place. One came careering right towards my head D: If I was a couple of inches taller I think I could have some nasty burns right now. Of course, it's only after the event that you stop and think, 'Hold on, that was actually quite dangerous'. At the time, I was fine. After midnight we headed back down into the flat and celebrated the new year with some 90s dance tunes. (As you do when you're well into the second decade of the 21st century. We're so down with the kids. Rock on.)

Incidentally, you know those times when you instigate a huge Whigfield dance-off only to realise, after a few minutes, that only two of you are dancing and everybody else is watching with a vague mix of admiration and horror? What do you do??? Keep on dancing until the speakers break! That's what you do!

And it's hard to talk about Christmas without talking about Christmas presents. Let's go.

Once again, Maryia outdid herself with a parcel of lovely things. Here are just a couple of them:

This necklace is quite rock-chick, I think. I like to wear it with my big leather belt and some knee-high boots.

This is lots of fun. It looks like a bunch of grapes but they're actually made of soap! Very cute, and they smell lovely too.

When it came to presents, my Mum was very big on giving warm, cosy things this year. I always feel the cold, so warm, cosy things are a-ok with me!

This may look like a big, black scarf, but it is, in fact, a snood. I love it to pieces. It's warm and looks great and I've already worn it more times than I can count.

Who's rocking the house with Sarah Lund inspired socks? I am! Seriously, I am going to solve so many crimes in these socks. Watch me go!

I bought these boots in the new year sales, but they're not what I want to show off. Those fluffy bits on top? They're detachable! Another present from my parents, these. They fit on any boots and instantly make them five times more fabulous.

In other news, I got some books! I've never read Gone With the Wind or seen the film, so that should be something to look forward to (I'm assuming it's good otherwise it wouldn't be so famous).

The Hark a Vagrant book is possibly one of my most favourite things right now. Jokes and history and comics = all my favourite things! I particularly enjoy the Nancy Drew comics. This Nancy will stop at nothing to solve mysteries, even if they're all in her head. I love how, with each set of comics, Nancy grows more delusional.

So, that's it. The first week back at work is over, and it's already getting stressful! But that doesn't matter, because there are good things too. Like arranging a holiday to go to Frankfurt later in the year (so excited!) and more Sherlock and a literal video version of The Hobbit trailer and this:

This is my poinsettia. I bought it for Christmas last year. They normally only last for about a month, and any plants in my care normally last less than that. But look! It's still going! It's about a year and a month old and it's still alive! It even survived the move to London :D

Keep rocking, poinsettia. Keep rocking.

Let me review the new Sherlock episode in a non-spoilery way:
It was good!

Right, now that's out of the way, let's go into a little more detail. WARNING: SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT.

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Hope you had a nice Christmas! I've got a massive Christmas post to write at some point.

No time for that at the moment though because:

It's T-minus three hours until the new series of Sherlock aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I have my TV on BBC1 already (it's good to be prepared) and they've just played two adverts for the new show in the past two minutes. I'm so excited I might explode! Or do a wee! Or both! At the same time! Aaaaaa!

And that's the end of the drabbles!

If you didn't want to read all of them, here's a handy summary. (Warning, actual numbers may be slightly different, and may go up as well as down. Always check with a financial advisor first.)

The drabbles contained:

Twelve daring chases,
Eleven angry clients,
Ten steepled fingers,
Nine gruesome murders,
Eight dirty test tubes,
Seven breathless giggles,
Six tricky puzzles,
Five stolen things,
Four deleted facts,
Three smug smirks,
Two sodden Johns,
And a naked Sherlock on the settee.

Merry Christmas, guys!

Sherlock advent drabbles :D

Today's word is: Runway

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Sherlock advent drabbles :D

Today's word is: P's and Q's

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Sherlock advent drabbles :D

Today's word is: Owie

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So I went to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows today. And I was planning to write a review about it and the explosions and the japes and the Stephen Frycroft etc etc

But then I got home and discovered that ALL THE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED.

The trailer for The Hobbit was released!
Oh, God, hearing that music again sends chills down my spine and look at all of it, and was anyone else expecting the other dwarves to crash the song with 'Spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam'?

But, while that is exciting, look look over here!

Four new trailers for the second series of Sherlock!
Oh, be still my beating heart! LOOK AT ALL OF IT. Ahhhhhh. I can't believe I have to wait for over a week before the first episode airs. The agony!
Molly Hooper's blog has updated too!
And apparently The Science of Deduction has also updated, although I can't actually see any updates myself. I am so excited I must have gone blind!

Also also, I had my last day at work today and Nick, Steve and Heather are coming to visit tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it!

p.s. Go to bed, Janine!

Sherlock advent drabbles :D (I know I'm a little late today. Shhh. I won't mention it if you don't.)

Today's word is: Psychrolute

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Sherlock advent drabbles :D

Today's word is: Greenhew

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Sherlock advent drabbles :D

Today's word is: Nimbose

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Here's the thing. I really dislike spoilers. Really really. Which means that I try to stay away from anything spoilery as much as is humanly possible.

But then there were these short clips released from Sherlock - A Scandal in Belgravia and they were released as teasers by the BBC media team so I figured they wouldn't be too bad to watch (and they're not, I don't think?)

And now I'm all excited :D If you don't mind watching them either, they can be found here. (I have deliberately stayed away from the YouTube comments though, so I have no idea if any of those are more spoilery or not. I'd rather not risk it, to be honest.)

But if you can't bring yourself to watch it. Have a spoiler-free summary:
Oh, it's fun! And I'm humming the theme tune already and LATERS! and, my, that is a lot of clavicle.

Another thing I have just watched is the ending of the second series of The Killing, The Killiinnng, der der de der derrrr derrrr derrrr derrrr. The spoiler-free summary of this is as follows:
Man, this was as tense and exciting as the first series. Maybe even more-so because they packed it all into ten episodes. I think I was actually laughing with joy at the end there. (Not because it had jokes in, mind, but dramatic and tense scenes tend to make me laugh in a 'wow, I am enjoying this a lot' kind of a way.)

And now I'm trying to work out who would win in a fight between Sherlock Holmes and Sarah Lund and I honestly don't know. All I know is that I kind of want one of Lund's jumpers because then I could feel like a tough, no-nonsense, slightly-unhinged police lady.

Laters, guys! (God, I'm going to be unbearable for the next few weeks. I apologise in advance.)