Loss

I'm not normally one to get personally bothered by the death of a celebrity, but the passing of Rik Mayall has shaken me up. The Young Ones and Bottom were a big part of my childhood and teenage years, and I watched them time and again with my family and friends. I didn't realise at the time how groundbreaking The Young Ones was, it just made me laugh a lot. Rewatching it recently, I saw there was a lot to admire in all who wrote and performed it (and still a lot to make me laugh). 

Bottom was the programme of choice for me and my friends during my mid-teens. It coincided with my discovery of booze (though I never drank the pernod, ouzo, marmalade and salt cocktail the characters invented, of which I have just tried in vain to find a clip), and my friends and I watched endless episodes while drinking Diamond White. I also wrote poetry at the time; in fact I was not unlike this:

  

RIP Rik Mayall, you were brilliant. 

(With thanks to the friend who posted this quote on facebook yesterday which reminded me of the above clip.)

Fashion

I can't decide which fashion item from tonight's 7.30 Corrie I prefer: Liz McDonald's red bandeau top with black chiffon neckline, or Carla's lawyer Pauline's amazing monochrome outfit complete with black patent quilted chain-strap handbag. If I ever get arrested I'm calling her.