It's no nonsense for me this week as I am way behind in my Christmas preparations.

As you know I love and always embrace this time of year but as usual I've ripped the backside out of the partying and now I will be immersing myself in shopping for presents this week as I have barely touched that job.

The Christmas card situation will have to be tackled as well. Every year I swear that I will have them written and stamped ready to be sent by the beginning of December and every year they are not. So now I'm in the usual panic and toiling again with the convenient idea of doing none and donating an amount to charity conducive of the amount I would roughly have spent on cards and stamps.

My dear friend Sandra {nickname The Duchess} has been doing this for the past few years. Initially I commented that she was just a 'Bah Humbug', now I wish I could get away with doing the same. Anyway I won't. I'm all talk and I've already bought numerous boxes of cards and taken out a second mortgage to buy lots of stamps.

Last Wednesday I accompanied ninety odd P4 and P5 kids to a city centre panto. The kids enjoyed themselves and seemed particularly entertained by the many 'willie' jokes. The innocence of youth. We were seated up in the 'Gods'. It was good fun but when we did the obligatory 'stand up, sit down' routine my heart was in my mouth in case someone went flying.

Talking of flying, I was at a Christmas lunch with some old colleagues from British Airways on Saturday. Reminiscing about great trips 'down route' and crazy experiences on board the aircraft, which would never be allowed nowadays, had us all in stitches. We partied long and hard in the good old days. Former nicknames were revived for the day and I loved being called Gail Healy [maiden name] again, even for a few hours.

Many of my old pals, the Nigels' {nickname for the Pilots}, turned up. Some are retired now and some who were First Officers are now fully fledged captains. The old partying 'practices' are now much more reserved.

A few of them are still very handsome. There is definitely a special attraction when they don the captain's uniform. Men in uniform certainly send my heart into a flutter. Hopefully Tommy doesn't read this column…. How time flies. Stay safe guys!

Everyone's trying to duck dreaded colds and bugs which are rife at this time of year especially with so much to do and parties to attend. So spare a thought for poor old Angelina Jolie who's contracted chicken pox. In a video released on the Universal Studios' website she said she would have to miss the premiere of her £70million movie 'Unbroken' in Los Angeles… can you imagine!

She went on to say "I found out last night I have chickenpox. I will be home, itching, and missing everyone." Is that not just a pure shame?

The 39-year-old star hasn't had the best of weeks. She was accused of being a 'minimally talented spoiled brat' and having 'a rampaging ego' by a Hollywood film producer. The actress was one of dozens of high-profile names embroiled in the scandal engulfing Sony last week after hackers infiltrated the studio's computer system and released more than 33,000 private emails and documents. So, no doubt Angelina and her man Brad won't be making any films with that producer in the future.

Never mind Angelina, I'm sure wee Brad will have the cotton wool ready to dab on the Calamine lotion.