Claire Weaver

This week at work I've had a weird and wonderful mix of celebs to interview - Bill Pertwee, Caprice, The Cheeky Girls, Antony Costa from Blue, Toyah Willcox, Rula Lenska and "Nasty" Nick Bateman. Trust me, this is a step up from the usual - they're spending more money on celebrities this month for the X'mas specials (although, according to my sources, The Cheeky Girls didn't put in an invoice or agree a fee so they don't get paid)!

Outside it's cold but not snowing. And it's only cold because we've got used to thinking the uncustomary warm weather is typical for October - it's probably still mild for November but it just doesn't feel like it! The trees have barely lost their leaves. I like hard frosty autumns - bring on the snow!

A lot of people are im/exploding this week - there's lots of stress flying about. I remain immune (through sheer force of will, you understand).

Borders on Monday night was entertaining, as usual, with lots of good discussion. You can tell it's a true Borders when the audience takes over from the speakers.

I came away with a lot to think about - the different opinions of movies and what makes them SF (as opposed to "futuristic space fantasy"); favourite moments in books, and how much that differs (for me) from favourite moments in film; which books I'll re-read, and why (although this last actually came from a conversation with Jon last week, but it's still in my head).

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The weather is lovely and changeable. Yesterday I walked to work in the rain. By midday it was muggy and humid. Then there a storm. I walked home as everything was drying out and the sun was shining again.

Today it's not so hot, not so muggy, and not so sunny. And it's not so rainy either.

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Found this on BBC news:

Canned mud for 4X4 city slickers

Kinda like spray-on rust, a la Virtual Light, but for a completely different purpose. In VL you make your expensive bike look old and crappy so no one will steal it while you're busy being chased through the dangerous ghetto of the Golden Gate bridge. In Chelsea, you muddy up your 4x4 so the neighbours assume you have a life and thieves in the Square Mile don't laugh out loud at your pretension.