test please delete

[NickFitz]

It seems I won a sum that was exactly £3 less than I'd wagered in total on the National

Better than losing the lot, I suppose, but I wasn't even able to watch the race so I'm not sure why I bothered at all

[NickFitz]

Went to the Chinese for tea as usual, despite having had a large meal at lunchtime, and there found a tale of woe concerning a driver who'd failed to show up

"I can't send anybody else out, because I can't cook, and I don't want to go out because then the chef, well…" At this point she threw her hands up in dismay, leaving it unclear what the chef would do or fail to do should they be left without her close and constant supervision

Anyway, the food was very nice as always, possibly because she was too busy moaning to me about the errant driver to get in the chef's way

[DoctorStrangelove]

Home again after the journey south and relative's birthday lunch

It's really tulipty getting old, isn't it?

Ho hum.



TFBSZ

[NickFitz]

Home again after the journey south and relative's birthday lunch

It's really tulipty getting old, isn't it?

Ho hum.



TFBSZ

Seems so

I see I forgot to describe my lunch, which was very nice. I had a honey cured gammon steak with fried duck egg, chunky chips, and peas. The gammon was particularly fine, with a touch of sweetness from the honey that enhanced the flavour without being cloying. The egg was nice enough, and the chips were great, being light and fluffy within, with a delicate but crunchy crust. The peas were peas, but that's peas for you. All good

Tonight's entertainment began with The Unthinkable (2018), or Den blomstertid nu kommer in the original Swedish (as is the film), in which Sweden (naturally, it being a Swedish film) comes under attack: initially what seems a couple of terrorist attacks, but in no time at all it descends into a major onslaught. But being a Swedish film, it naturally takes the course of devoting no end of time to dysfunctional family relationships; a full fifty minutes with nothing more than a couple of bombs but an enormous amount of familial strife before anything more portentous happens. And said familial strife continues to play a major role even as the entire nation is being almost destroyed.

If I could offer one piece of advice to the filmmakers of Sweden, it would be: less Ibsen, more Cloverfield

That's not a spoiler, BTW, unless you expected it to be aliens from outer space, which it isn't.

Anyway, fancying something a little less sombre after that, I elected for a rewatch of the excellent In Time (2011), a dystopian satire on capitalism in which money has been replaced by the actual moments of one's existence. An excellent film, in which the action keeps flowing even as significant points about society and interpersonal relationships are made. Getting the idea yet, Swedish filmmakers?

And then, as I had some beer to finish, S1E6 of Babylon 5: Mind War. There are foreshadowings in earlier episodes, but this is really the one in which B5 starts to move on from monster-of-the-week to revealing the major story arcs that make it so great.

Goodnight all

[WTFH]

Morning all cloudy on the hill. Got 4 new rescue chickens yesterday, so need to start integrating them with the two surviving old ones.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Dry.

Sunny.

Chilly.

The weather's borked again.

[DaveB]

Morning

Turns out that Wales does know how to do weather after all

Dry, bright and Sunny all day yesteday, but no too warm. Pretty much perfect conditions.

Not so keen on the hills it has to be said, although the views from the top of Epynt were impressive. Much assisted by the MOD spending wads of cash on resurfacing the roads around the ranges. Pretty much unused otherwise so miles of lovely smooth tarmac.

Legs a bit achy today though.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning

Turns out that Wales does know how to do weather after all

Dry, bright and Sunny all day yesteday, but no too warm. Pretty much perfect conditions.

Not so keen on the hills it has to be said, although the views from the top of Epynt were impressive. Much assisted by the MOD spending wads of cash on resurfacing the roads around the ranges. Pretty much unused otherwise so miles of lovely smooth tarmac.

Legs a bit achy today though.

Wot? no skis required?

[NickFitz]

Afternoon denizens

Grey out again; the weather app describes it as "haze", though it just looks like the usual overcast to me

[DoctorStrangelove]

Afternoon denizens

Grey out again; the weather app describes it as "haze", though it just looks like the usual overcast to me

Glorious day here from what I've seen whilst preparing lunch and doing a bit of springlike cleaning*.

Sunday lunch today consisted of chicken drumsticks with some bacon over the top & an onion in an attempt to give it some flavour.

It was surprisingly nice.

I forgot about the cranberry sauce but I'll have some of that tomorrow at tea/dinnertime.

Dunno what to do with the remainder of the afternoon after the compulsory Sunday afternoon shop.

I think I'll skip the weekly trip to the dump since I'm on my hols from Tuesday so should be able to fit it in at my leisure.

I suspect a fair few crt monitors are about to make their final trips, accompanied by the odd 286 or two.

*i.e. I moved some stuff in the living room & vacced underneath, thusly collecting a number of errant peas and sweetcorn and annoying a fair number of spiders.

The vac seems rather fuller than usual too.