Maddy-ness

If you're easily offended - look away now. I am really fed up with hearing about Madeleine McCann. You know - the little girl who was abducted in Portugal recently. Before I get my account deleted, let me say - I am not pro-abduction. I am fed up with being told that I should help find this child.

I've now had six emails sent to me with photos of Madeleine on and details about her distinctive eye colouration so I can help look out for her. Despite the fact that she was abducted (or may have wandered off on her own and got into trouble) in the Algarve in southern Portugal, I am expected to hunt for her in North-East London...? Most parents and child-carers around here would have me arrested if I started trying to examine their children's eyes.

I am also expected to leave messages of support for her parents. I'm expected to pray for her safe return. I'm supposed to download and print out posters of her and post them up. And I'm being asked to contribute to a fund which will pay for the ongoing search and "bringing her abductors to justice" (although who exactly is going to decide who those abductors are and how to unload the power of all that money onto them remains to be seen).

And that's just me - pity John Terry, the Chelsea and England captain, who has had to make speeches on TV appealing for information, regardless of the fact that the McCann's are Everton fans (of course the media insist that Madeleine herself is both a Christian and an Everton fan without making the point that she's way too young to have those kinds of opinions, if she is found alive she may well grow up to be an atheist who doesn't like football). I'd like to know whether any crime EVER has been solved as a direct result of showing a brief video before kick-off in a football match? I strongly doubt it, and in this case clearly they should be showing it before football matches in Portugal, if anywhere.

If you have five minutes of your life to spare and want to do some real good in the world, go visit Cru-blog's favourite charity Wateraid - they have tons of volunteering positions open and need all sorts of help and of course fund-raising. And the thing about buildng clean water pipelines in the third world is: it DOES work, you WILL save lives.

Holiday Snaps

If you'd like to see the pictures of myself and Mr Cru off adventuring around Lapland last weekend then please take a peek here. We had a fantastic time.

Phew!

Mr Cru and I had a pretty amazing weekend away. We've been in Lapland - northern Sweden Husky Mushing, Cross-country Skiing, Snowmobiling, Reindeer Sledding, Fishing through a hole in the ice, meeting the locals, eating a lot of reindeer and moose and staying in the Ice Hotel at -5 deg! I'll probably put the photos into a seperate blog when I get them but suffice as to say I am physically shattered but emotionally still on a high today. This was the tour we did, expensive but highly recommended.

The Glamourous Life I Lead...

For those of you who've been wondering why things have been a bit quiet over on Cru-blog lately - I've been away for Christmas and New Year. Myself and Mr Cru (that's his blog) went to spend xmas with his parents - Mr Cru's mum also has a blog for those interested in collecting the set - in Los Angeles. We then headed off to New York and Washington DC to catch up with friends, then had a few days back in L.A. and back to sunny Hackney. Top highlights included:

1) Whale watching off Long Beach in L.A. Spotted three Grey Whales and a Fin Whale (the second largest, about 10 foot shorter than a Blue Whale).

2) Attending a comedy writing seminar where we heard from Michael Arndt (the guy who wrote Little Miss Sunshine).

3) Playing the uber-tourist around Washington DC (I've never been before) getting my piccie taken outside the White House, seat of all evil-ness (well, most of it, see other posts).

4) Friends, friends, friends, really nice to see everyone on the way round.

5) More Friends - the obligatory celebrity spot - saw Jennifer Aniston a few tables down from us at Mozza pizza restaurant in L.A. - I resisted the urge to shout "Look it's that woman, you know the one who got dumped!"