If It Wasn't For the Nights

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I love ABBA, and I love ABBA remixes. I have tonnes of them, but the most notable are the remixes by Almighty Records. They created a group called Abbacadabra (clever, eh?) and in my iTunes library I have 130 different dance versions of ABBA songs by them. I have ten different versions of Dancing Queen alone!

So for this weeks song… ABBA's If It Wasn't For the Nights.

The original Abba version…

The Abbacadabra version…

On Being Sick

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I've had a cold/flu thingy for a week now and if you've been reading my tweets you know I've sounded pretty pathetic.

I get that way when I'm sick.

I've been lucky, this is the first cold/flu I've had in over a year. Normally I catch every one that passes within 10 feet of me. When I catch something I catch it good. And this one was a good one.

Sleeping for at least 10 hours a day. Napping for 2. No energy AT ALL. Fortunately it all seems to be passing… just in time for allergy season.

In the past, when I get sick I would hibernate. I don't wanna talk to anyone. I don't wanna see anyone. I just wanna be left alone to get better. This time, however, I let my Twitter friends in.

And many expressed concern and compassion. To all my online friends THANK YOU for your concern but, for some unknown reason, I always feel guilty for making people worry.

I do the exact same thing when one of my friends is sick. So why am I not comfortable with the reverse?

I guess that's something else I need to work on.

Elisabeth Sladen

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I've always had a love for Doctor Who. My first doctor was Tom Baker and my first companion was Elisabeth Sladen. Elisabeth died last week and it actually hit me fairly hard. Sarah Jane Smith is, in my humble opinion, the best companion that the Doctor ever had. She was not a "screamer" like most of the previous companions had been. She was an intelligent, strong women. She was my Sarah Jane.

When she returned to the new series in School Reunion, I cried. Every time at the end of that story I cry. It was so poignant seeing the new doctor to give her a proper goodbye.

When she first hears the Daleks in Stolen Earth, I felt her pain more than any others, her face filled with fear and a tear in her eyes. She was there at the creation of the Daleks in Genesis of the Daleks and knew the evil that they represent more than most of the companions.

When she got her own series I was ecstatic. The Sarah Jane Adventures is more like what classic Doctor Who was like and I loved it. If you haven't watched the series because it's a "kids" show, then you should really give it a try. The story writing is top notch, and Sarah Jane is, well, Sarah Jane. I can hardly wait for the filmed, yet unaired, episodes of series 5 to see the light of day.

In honour of her I watched a series of her stories. My Elisabeth Sladen tribute playlist includes the following stories:
- The Time Warrior (her first)
- Genesis of the Daleks
- Pyramids of Mars
- The Hand of Fear (her last classic story)
- School Reunion (new series)
- The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (SJA)
- The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (SJA)

One of the best tribute videos is by Babelcolour on YouTube.

And here is the BBC's tribute to Elisbath.