our good fortune allowed us to feel a sadness our parents didn't have time for.

In general, I'm not really a film person. As I get older, my attention span seems to be getting shorter and my ability to will myself to do... well anything is lessening day by day. And I know that watching a film isn't exactly hard work, you just sit there and it unfolds before you, but anything over ninety minutes and I get bored. And then I start doing something else. And the film never gets finished, and it hangs over me like a credit card bill. I find film-watching an overall depressing pastime. I watched Beginners the other day, and all it did was make me sad. I watched The Rebound today, and all it did was make me sad, but in a very different way.

But yes, I really do need a pastime. I've started running again in a bid to spend all summer on the beach, but that is more a grueling necessity than something I find enjoyable. Perhaps I should devote myself entirely to learning the Italian language - I do really love learning grammar - but it's just so hard, and I find it difficult when the man from whom I buy coffee sniggers at my pronunciation, let alone when people I actually like are listening to me butcher their language.

I've started reading a lot more, and strive to do this outdoors now that it's getting warmer and I'm beginning to discover all the open spaces Rome has to offer that seemed to hibernate over the winter. Currently, I'm trawling through the Stieg Larsson books. I say trawling, I am absolutely loving them, and I just can't stop turning the pages (pressing the "next page" button on my Kindle). I am yet to see either version of the film, but I'd like to finish the trilogy first so I can make up my own mind about how everyone looks and sounds. It's a nerd thing.

I suppose cooking could be my pastime, but I don't really have any money, so buying fancy ingredients is a bit of a struggle, and I invariably end up making pasta. It's one of the side effects of living in Italy.

Drinking, shopping and museum-going also all fall into the not enough money category. Basically I need ideas for things to do that are free and require little or no effort. Let me know!

I've included this video, not because I like the song but because I think she has a funny singing manner and feel you should appreciate this. She has a similar demeanour to a nodding dog.

ode to the man with the red shining hair...

There are many things I hope to achieve in my lifetime. Some of these things such as my desire to suddenly morph into Marion Cotillard may never happen. Others, such as some day leaving Kidderminster are (slightly) less ridiculous. Somewhere on the spectrum falls the desperate hope of some day marrying Rupert Grint.

Now I don't think this is that ridiculous. I stand more chance with the Grint than I do with say... Barack Obama and following this logic, I conclude that our wedding is imminent. You see, I've always liked lovely, lovely Rupert and can probably trace him as the cause of my fondness for ginger boys through my teenage years. So in a tribute to my thirteen year old self and the red-heads who filled my daydreams, here it is - the ultimate list of ginger celebrity men! Are you excited? You should be...

1. The original and the best, Mr Rupert Grint - Look at him, just look! Without him, the Harry Potter films would be atrocious, with him they are just bad. He rocks various types of knitwear and is considerably hotter than all of his lanky brothers put together. He seems refreshingly normal, too. Perhaps this is just in comparison with Daniel Radcliffe who seems more and more bizarre every time he is interviewed...
   
   
2. Glen Hansard - 'Once' is a bit lame but I really like his band, The Frames and he seems positively lovely. Irish accents are possibly the one thing that can turn an average ginger man into an absolute Adonis. Anyone fancy a trip to Dublin?
   
   
3. Damian Lewis - There is something so oddly attractive about this slightly arrogant, freckly man, especially when he is playing a rogue, morally ambiguous Russian spy in Stormbreaker. Blimey.
   
   
4. Ewan McGregor - definitely a little bit ginge, definitely a little bit dreamy. Again, the accent is a bonus, along with his ability to serenade with the best of them and ride a motorbike with Charlie Boorman (who I also quite fancy but who, unfortunately did not make the ginger cut). Though I love 'Trainspotting', the horrific toilet scene definitely saw Ewan slip a few places, but then I remembered 'Brassed Off' and he soared back up again. Anyone who can play a brass instrument...
   
   
5. Mac from Green Wing - I believe I mentioned him last time, so I shall not drone on. Suffice to say that he is definitely an awesome ginge who can save lives and woo women while being generally lovely, funny and unattainable. Swoon...
   
   
6. Damien Rice - The man who got me out of my little greebo rut and taught me how to feel falls into a special sub-category of ginger men - the sort of man who doesn't seem to be ginger at all until he grows a beard and BAM! There it is, like a shining red beacon of hope on an otherwise cloudy day. And no, he's not that good looking but he has such a wonderfully lovely voice and a wonderfully lovely accent and a ginger beard. I don't think I need another reason...
   
   
7. The guy from Eastenders - which I have never watched, but I like his voice on the Orange adverts and he reminds me of this man I served once in Morrisons with whom I fell a bit in love when he defended me when his father was being a knob. Alas, he never came in again and I suspect he is living it up in Hawaii or Cuba. Not quite a modern Romeo and Juliet but you have no idea the things that keep you going when you spend three days a week performing menial, degrading tasks in an orange and green checked shirt.
   
   
8. Mr Bingley - actually, both of the recent portrayals of Darcy's less stroppy friend have been more than a little bit ginger. I love this character, and I am glad other people envisaged him to have red hair and it wasn't just me. Phwoar.
   
   
9. Martin Freeman - Not that ginger but this is my blog so I make up the rules. I was always a bit dubious of The Office and not all that fond of Mr Gervais, but I just didn't get it. I bought it all for about a tenner and watched it in a matter of days last summer and became an instant convert. Tim, played by Freeman is the epitome of the boy your mum would like if you brought him home and master of the longing stare. I am fairly sure I was not alone in my jubilation when he and Dawn finally got together in the final episode. I probably was the only person to be jealous...
   
   
10. Stephen Merchant - Another pioneer of the ginger beard clan who I just love. With my new-found appreciation for all things Gervais came regular viewing of 'The Ricky Gervais Show' and with that came a fondness for this very tall man. He has an accent which on others would be annoying but which renders him even more amiable. And he went to Warwick. That's me sold...
    
    
11. Robert Webb - I didn't like him at all. I assumed he was barely acting when he played the insufferable Jeremy in Peepshow. Then I watched his 'My Life In Verse' and I came around to the idea. Again, he's not that ginger, but it's there if you look hard enough...
    
    
12. Jake from One Tree Hill - More auburn than proper ginger but have you seen him?
    
    
13. And finally, because no 'best of' list of mine is complete without this adorable man, James McAvoy. He is it as far as I'm concerned, the most fanciable man on the planet. The obsession began with Mr Tumnus then escalated when I saw Starter for 1o and reached a peak when I began to watch Shameless from the beginning. He is Scottish and intelligent, and I know he has brown hair, but has occasionally been spotted sporting a beard which is decidedly ginger. This is good enough for me...

So there you have it. It was supposed to be a 'top ten' but my enthusiasm took over and it grew a little bit. Besides, thirteen is a lovely rounded number...