Avatar and other knitted characters

I've downloaded Rage Against the Machine, obviously, heard a friend's Birmingham choir sing on The Archers, taken the grandchildren to see Avatar (pictured), recycled, taken out the rubbish, sorted the washing and am now caught between a rock and several hard places. I could battle several miles north on icy roads to the gym, ditto east to Sainsburys for the final family food shopping, finalise a few mileage details on my online self-employed tax return, or I could blog.

Sharp as you are, dear reader (how else would you have arrived here?) you'll have realised what I plumped for. It's all arisen because my wife has left me. No, that's not as dramatic as it sounds, just a tabloid hack's kneekjerk way of catching reader attention. Quelle cliché.

She's gone to California to spend Christmas with our daughter (I've taken the library book back, dear). It didn't make financial sense to pay for me to go for such a limited time. The Christmas air fares almost double and I'd have had only a few days before getting back to child care duties when other daughter and her kids go back to school.

So, a few personal high and lowlights to pass on (we'll forget yesterday's Indian buffet lunch). Do go sledging while the snow lasts. Fun to the nth degree. Do see Cinderella at Warwick Arts Centre if you can - simply great and grab the chance to dance with the wonderful cast during the interval.

And let me know what you think of Avatar. I hated Titanic, so wasn't expecting much from the much-hyped latest from James Cameron. One critic Stateside has predicted it will reach 'blockbuster mediocrity' and that seems like a sound judgement to me.

Yes, the kerching factor is undeniable, but it seems deliberately aimed at an audience brought up on the narrative depth of video games or TV hits like Two Pints of Lager etc. They'll see it as an epic on the scale of War and Peace, no doubt. There's no denying its mesmerising technical brilliance and special effects. The 3D is stunning, but everything else is decidedly one-dimensional, and how the fiercely intelligent Sigourney Weaver can stump round the world pushing the publicity machine's line that Avatar represents the future of movie making is beyond me. Convince me I'm wrong.

Oh, and also tell me if you've received your Knitted Character. You know, the Harry Hill's TV Burp toy that turns up in TV shows every week. I ordered one online for the family on December 2 and, despite assurances from the company, am still waiting. Bet they sold out. Bit like Sigourney Weaver.