cheeztoast

Very helpful, thanks! So Thursday is completely a creation of Colin Dexter? Or was he in the original Morse books?

I've seen a couple of Morse episodes and have now watched all of the eps of Endeavour minus the one airing this Sunday. I need a diagram as to who is who. I watched Morse with my parents and my dad pointed out old Strange and I blinked and missed him so I don't understand his significance in later years. I can't remember the name of the guy young Morse shares the office with, the nasty rat-faced one. Is that Lewis? Who's Lewis? Who's Thursday in the later years? Is he in Morse? I haven't had time yet to go back and watch all the old eps of Morse. And now that I'm in love with Shaun Evans (or Jesse Eisenberg, but with amazing eyes), I don't know if I want to see more of old man Thaw.

Caprice was a "model" in the British tabloid sense of the word - a la Katie Price - glamour model-ly - i.e. girls with big boobs who are usually photographed wearing very little and definitely not high fashion. Definitely more Kardashian than Kate Moss. Brunette Juliet (Julie? I can't keep their names straight) has the handsomest husband, I think, which is surprising, but maybe she's a sweetheart when she's not playing up obnoxious American on-camera. I think the only one that understands what this show is trying to convey, with a wink, is Caroline. I probably wouldn't like her in real life but I now think she's in on the joke.

According to this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/nyregion/kevin-mccrary-a-hoarder-faces-a-deadline-to-pack-up-and-move-out.html#, his brother is still alive but apparently doesn't want to be involved in this foolishness. I don't blame him.

Caroline is related to the Vesteys who are close to the Queen (horses, you know) but the Vesteys would have been considered arriviste by the 18th century aristos as I think they got their title through trade, ie grocery stores. I don't think that makes her royalty, ferchrissake. Also, if you're blue-blue-blood, you never claim how close you are to royalty because they're all Germans. And most of the higher-ranked aristos (dukes, particularly) are offspring of royalty on the wrong side of the blanket. Annabelle was a fixture in Tatler, mainly because she used to be married to Nat Rothschild. Noelle showed up only when she was engaged to Matthew Mellon after he and Tamara (Jimmy Choo co-founder) Yeardye split up. I don't know if I would have called Annabelle one of McQueen's muses (a term as overused and misused as "diva"). She was definitely friends with him, but who in London wasn't? The Americans - I've never seen or heard of them ever, including the Earl of Sandwich's wife. She's not on the regular Tatler society scene (mostly aristos who all went to school together and never stopped partying with the exact same people into perpetuity). Apparently she's on the made-for-TV London party scene, huh?

My aunt is a Level 2 hoarder - mostly a "collector" of expensive clothes, shoes, etc as well as household bric-a-brac (of the faux fancy variety). Unfortunately, she is a very very healthy 80 years old, active and very wealthy. The main drawback is she lives in a condo that is not big enough for all of her stuff even though it is three bedrooms, three bathrooms and she lives alone. Her husband, now deceased, was about a level 4 - collected everything he ever touched, picked up from the curb, got for "free", since the 1950s on up to the early 2000s when he was too sick to acquire new stuff. It took my aunt six years to clear the house after his death so my brother and his family could renovate and move in. She was still reluctant to do it - 60 years of crap plus her own clothes hoarding.

This is a true confession: I've been a subscriber to British high society mag Tatler for years, like since I was in high school in the '80s. I've actually heard of all of the Brit women before - Annabelle and Caroline, definitely. I don't know how they "rank" in high society, but they are definitely a familiar sight. Had definitely heard about Caprice, but mainly from Hello! magazine. The others - rank amateurs from the land of Un-Real Housewives of Absolutely Nowhere.

I think it would have killed Augustine to say "I love you" directly to her daughter. She was doing it for the camera and to satisfy her "boyfriend" John. Glad she's out of that hellhole of a house she created and not wheezing (I think the wheezing made me want to strangle her in the first follow-up). She's got to be the only person to ever get two reality-show follow-ups. Kevin - I know you can't smell a person through a tv screen but he looks clean and healthy (physically). His clothes look in fairly good condition, even his facial hair is relatively unscraggly. For somebody who eats out of trash cans, he looks healthier than Shannon and her family who are caring for a menagerie in their home and look like they eat nothing but convenience store food. I don't know what to say about his choice to live outdoors and hoard "recyclables" - clearly nutty as a loon, but is he hurting anybody? Shannon and family: her one daughter looks exactly like her and this is not a compliment. They obviously do not have a "healthy" lifestyle and with so many animals to feed (and does she work?) how are they paying for all of that? I also don't believe they are necessarily living as clean as it appeared on this episode. I don't remember Constance or the lady at the end but the one whose husband and two kids had died tragically (heart attack, suicide in the bathroom-turned-into-shrine, and something else) was a good ending. Glad to see the show has helped a few people who have gotten better and stayed better.