test please delete

[DoctorStrangelove]

Chicken bits and bacon crisps for lunch. Living the dream

And some bedding is in the wash. Saturday's a good day to do it, as it takes up a lot of space drying in the kitchen but I'm going to the Chinese tonight so I don't need the room to cook

Do you use a dehumidifier to get rid of the damp?

This afternoon's labour has involved further raking of the forest at the bottom of the garden, and piling up of honeysuckle roots and tendrils.

I dunno which of us is going to die first, I suspect it may be me rather than the honeysuckle.

Also charged the Seicento up a bit since it's been standing for yonks.

Dunno why, it's off to the scrappy once that fecking skip is out of the way.

Still can't find the folder of PCB transparencies that I've put so fecking safe I'll never see it again.

[NickFitz]

Do you use a dehumidifier to get rid of the damp?

No, it's never been a problem; the kitchen window opens, and although the front windows don't, there are good-sized Victorian air bricks at the front and back so there's a reasonable flow of air through the place.

I have considered getting one to make stuff dry faster, but if I can make the space for it, I can also use that space for one of those small tumble dryers, so I'm thinking of getting one of those instead.

[NickFitz]

Somebody I follow on Twitter posted a photo of a van blocking their drive (along with some abuse of the driver), so I've used my time productively by finding out their address using Google Maps

I knew which town they live in, and that they were somewhere in the north of it, and probably near the edge of town, based on some stuff they said six or seven years back about the countryside being a short walk from their house.

The photo shows what the houses in their neighbourhood are like: red brick, with dark roof tiles. It's a fairly modern development (they've made scathing comments about the build quality of Barratt homes), so the road layout would be one of those modern twisty ones with as many houses as possible crammed in, probably squeezed between a couple of areas developed longer ago.

Given these facts, cruising around said town in 3D satellite view allowed me to identify a couple of likely areas. I started with the one nearest the edge of town.

The photo hints at a paved footpath between houses leading away from the road, so I looked for bits like that. I found one likely spot, but going into StreetView, one thing was missing: in the photo, there are two drain covers in their front garden, only a few feet apart from each other.

Back out to satellite view, and a few streets away: a garden, on a corner by a footpath, with two drain covers

Into StreetView again, and it was the right place! Details like windows, gables, rooflines, burglar alarms, satellite dishes and so forth on the house opposite (across the footpath), on the houses down the end of the street where there's a T-junction, and the houses on the other side of the road all confirmed it.

I'm resisting the temptation to tell them I know where they live, as there's no point freaking them out. But overall, from minor things said on Twitter over the course of a few years and one photo, it took me less than ten minutes to find their front door

[DoctorStrangelove]

^^^ Mad Stalker Alert! Mad Stalker Alert!!

Danger Will Robinson!

This evening's first feature was "The Canterville Ghost".

The Canterville Ghost (1944) - IMDb

was what I thought it was, however it turned out to be a 1974 HTV production starring David Niven, Dame Flora Robinson, et al.



The Canterville Ghost (TV Movie 1974) - IMDb

Which was ok in its way, but a bit of a shock since I was expecting B&W.

Filmed in Barclay Castle apparently.

I'll bet they have proper ghosts there, ones with red hot pokers up their arses.

Now we're on to "51st State" with Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle.

Apparently aka "Formula 51".

The 51st State (2001) - IMDb

[NickFitz]

^^^ Mad Stalker Alert! Mad Stalker Alert!!

Danger Will Robinson!

This evening's first feature was "The Canterville Ghost".

The Canterville Ghost (1944) - IMDb

was what I thought it was, however it turned out to be a 1974 HTV production starring David Niven, Dame Flora Robinson, et al.



The Canterville Ghost (TV Movie 1974) - IMDb

Which was ok in its way, but a bit of a shock since I was expecting B&W.

Filmed in Barclay Castle apparently.

I'll bet they have proper ghosts there, ones with red hot pokers up their arses.

I saw that first time around! I thought it was good

Now we're on to "51st State" with Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle.

Apparently aka "Formula 51".

The 51st State (2001) - IMDb

Not the greatest film ever made, but I enjoyed it when I watched it a while back. Some excellent shots of the dereliction up Liverpool's dock road as well, not all of which has yet been redeveloped. Strange to think those docks were still hives of activity when I was a kid

[NickFitz]

In the Chinese

[DoctorStrangelove]

Really enjoyed "Formula 51" aka "51st State".

Laugh out loud funny in quite a lot of places.

This was followed by the evening's 3rd feature, this being a little known epic "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" with Donald Sutherland Kirsty Swanson and Rutger Hauer.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) - IMDb

It really wasn't very good, being played far too much for laughs.

I'll bet that Ms Swanson can't do those moves any more.

[NickFitz]

Tonight's opening feature was Zodiac (2007), concerning attempts to track down the California serial killer who identified himself (or herself) by that name and communicated with the press, police, and public through letters and (rather amateurish) ciphers. A bit of a long slog, but quite interesting. And I sat through the credits as all but the last thirty seconds or so thereof are accompanied by Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man, which made a pleasant enough change from the sub-par noodling that usually accompanies such things

And as I fancied some enlivenment after that rather cerebral two-and-a-half-hours, it was time to rewatch Looper (2012), which is definitely one of the best time travel action films of recent years, even though it doesn't get quite as convoluted in its timelines as the excellent Predestination

And just for a change, no West Wing

Goodnight all

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

Grey but mild again

Juts taken delivery of an Instant Pot, purchased at a considerable discount in Amazon's Black Friday sale

The delivery driver seemed surprised that I was waiting at the front door for him, being apparently unaware that Amazon now does the thing with the map, so I not only knew when he was getting here, but also that he'd just spent about twenty minutes at the petrol station dropping stuff off at the Amazon Locker (including a book for me; the Instant Pot won't fit in there, though). I had in fact been watching him delve through the back of his van for my parcel as I knew exactly where he'd parked, just down on the corner by Iceland

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning denizens

Grey but mild again

Juts taken delivery of an Instant Pot, purchased at a considerable discount in Amazon's Black Friday sale

The delivery driver seemed surprised that I was waiting at the front door for him, being apparently unaware that Amazon now does the thing with the map, so I not only knew when he was getting here, but also that he'd just spent about twenty minutes at the petrol station dropping stuff off at the Amazon Locker (including a book for me; the Instant Pot won't fit in there, though). I had in fact been watching him delve through the back of his van for my parcel as I knew exactly where he'd parked, just down on the corner by Iceland

^^^Danger Will Robinson.

Morning Afternoon all.

Sunny.

Dry.

Not raining, hailing, snowing or murrain of beasting.

Warmish-ish.

13.5 in the living room (not nearly cold enough to put the heating on since I've been moving about & cooking stuff all morning), with 8.2 in the laundry room.

Turkey legs acooking in the oven.

Never done these before so I have no fecking idea what I'm doing with them.

This week's batch of lentil <pffffft> soup is on the hob.

And Sunday dinner, aka "lunch" is pencilled in for about 12:30ish.

I remember starting at Grammar skool and the timetable had "lunch" in it, which confused I, coz previously it had always been "dinner", though not skool dinners.

The poppety ping just went ping to remind me to get up & do something more useful.