minerva111

Reply to Music Review: Toni Basil "Mickey" in Music JoeUser Forums

One of my favourite songs of all time. I first heard it and saw the video when Toni Basil did a programme for BBC 2 about herself and her art. Mostly it was boring and pretentious - except for Mickey. When the single was released I bought it immediately (no small thing in those impoverished days when I couldn't even afford to eat properly....) Now it's on my iPod and as the shuffle setting brings it up every few days I still bop around the house.

Gadgets in Cooking JoeUser Forums

Ooh, I do love gadgets! A lot enter my kitchen, get used once or twice and then sulk for years at the back of a cupboard because they're too complicated to assemble or simply don't work. But there are some which have stood the test of time and this is my list of the best....in no particular order. Zyliss garlic press. We eat a LOT of garlic in my f

I've got flu in Health & Medicine JoeUser Forums

What an awful week. Flew back to UK on Saturday to take the kids out of boarding school, son complained of sore throat that night, had full blown flu on Sunday, and had passed it on to me by Monday. Daughter managed to avoid it and went back to school by taxi. But Paddy & I have been coughing and sneezing and aching and feverishly shivering together for the past we

Kitchen design - Part I in Home Improvement JoeUser Forums

I’m planning a new kitchen. The one in the new (to us) flat is about 15 years old, and getting very tired. The magnetic seal round the fridge door is coming adrift, the microwave is underpowered and turntable-free, the drawers are sagging, the sink is made out of a cream coloured resin that has to be bleached daily to look halfway pristine….it's time for an update.<

Cosmetics for the Chronologically Challenged in Misc JoeUser Forums

It is worrying to realise just how much make-up I need to face the world nowadays. When I was in my teens and twenties, I only put on the slap for special occasions - usually ones where I was hoping to score. In my thirties a bit of eye pencil and blusher made a more regular appearance, though rarely at weekends. But the big five-oh looms ever closer, and now I fin

Welcome in Misc JoeUser Forums

I'm minerva111, an ex-pat Englishwoman who's recently moved to Iberia. I'm devastatingly attractive, outrageously entertaining, mellifluously mendacious, and.....somewhat.....opinionated. As as none of my nearest and dearest will put up with my entirely rational and, indeed, desirable prescriptions for their health, wealth and future happiness, it is