Tag, you’re it

14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is? Jenn seems to be a very deep thinker. Her posts on writing are very insightful. She’s also friendly and welcoming to visitors.

15. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head? Ants in the apple, a-a-a. What, you don’t know this one? My dear, you haven’t lived! There’s a whole alphabet full of them, all the way up to “zippy zebra, z-z-z – and that’s the sound that z makes”. It takes six minutes and forty-something seconds to sing the whole thing, and as soon as you finish, Baby Duck says, “Let’s do it again, Mum!”. Yee-hah.

16. What’s your favorite item of clothing? My new green top.

17. Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy? Not sure what these are. Must be an American thing. Assuming they’re some kind of breakfast cereal, I would probably prefer my homemade muesli, which is so scrummy I hunted down a hospital dietician and begged her for the recipe.

18. What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground? Assume it was a trick.

19. What items could you not go without during the day? Did I mention the thing with the peppermint chocolate?

20. What should you be doing right now? Sleeping. See answer to Question 2.

Mamma mia! He can’t sing!

The whole family went to see Mamma Mia today. Such fun! I could happily see it again tomorrow.

I wouldn’t take Baby Duck again though. He likes his movies animated and got pretty bored. He spent a lot of time climbing all over me and making very loud comments in all the quiet bits, like “that lady looks like a naked chicken!”. The girls loved all the singing and dancing, though Drama Duck got a bit frustrated because we kept laughing at jokes she didn’t get. She is so desperate to be grown up.

My husband had hysterics every time Pierce Brosnan started to sing – and I use the term loosely. The first time he did it I was terrified he was going to have a stroke right there on the screen. His face went bright red and he looked as if he was going to burst a blood vessel. It’s not that his voice was bad – he could carry a tune all right – but it sounded forced and unnatural. His second song was in front of a huge crowd of extras and I just felt embarrassed for him.

Not that it spoiled my enjoyment of the movie. It was even kind of a relief to find that he wasn’t perfect after all. I mean, how can any man be that pretty? It’s not right. But it makes you wonder why they cast someone who can’t sing in a musical. Still, I’m not complaining. Between him and Colin Firth (who can sing) there was plenty of eye candy. And the songs are so good it’s hard to go wrong.

I’ve been an ABBA fan for more than 30 years, though for much of that time it was too daggy to admit. Even my beloved likes to belt out a chorus of “Waterloo”, though he’s usually so lyrically challenged that “Happy Birthday” is the only song he can remember all the words to. Now we get to indoctrinate our children. (Ah, the joys of parenthood.) Though we might have to wait a couple of years before Baby Duck’s little mind is ready to absorb their greatness. Those naked chickens can be so distracting.