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[ladymuck]

Morning all, Honolulu calling (local time 1130)

Sunny and humid with occasional chuncks of fluff. Currently 27 degrees ('feels like' 29) with a high of 28 expected.

The hotel is being strict about the 3pm check in time, offering me a room that is ready for the princely sum of $50.

After 6 timezones and 24+ hours of flying, we are staying put for a couple of days before we do the whole trip again in reverse!

[NickFitz]

After 6 timezones and 24+ hours of flying, we are staying put for a couple of days before we do the whole trip again in reverse!

I've stayed in Bristol longer than that, though the journey felt just as arduous

No premiere tonight as the new Avatar film is now on Disney+ so, before watching it, I thought I'd rewatch Avatar (2009) (though I watched the "extended special edition" or some such - mostly a few extra minutes thrown in here and there, though it does devote some of those to giving a bit more background to the guy's life on Earth before the events of the film start). Still jolly good as these SFX extravaganzas go

And then S1E7 of The Last of Us, Left Behind (TV Episode 2023). I think this series maybe isn't as good as his previous effort Chernobyl because I can take quite long breaks between episodes, but the individual episodes are often excellent, and this is one of them

Tomorrow brings the dentist (well, dental hygienist) on the way down south for the hospital visit to my Mum. Not the ideal version of a relaxing weekend. Ho hum

Goodnight all

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

Grey day today for a change; the weather app talks of drizzle, though it must be either very light or happening up the road somewhere. Still quite warm, though: 18°C now, but no higher than 23° expected. The barometers are down at 1004/1012mB, and there's a warning for mild thunderstorms in effect until tomorrow night

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Saturday.

Dry.

Wanly sunny.

Overcast.

Warm in here at 23.8 deg, 25.5 deg in the kitchen, 24 deg in the leanto.

1008.5 mBar, 29.781 in Hg, 756.44 Torr, 14.627 psi, (down from 1010 last night), 68% RH (GDR hair), 62% RH (Lidl electric).

Meanwhile on the 17th of June 2019 the late lamented Smithsonian channel was showing a thing about the Apollo programme, while Xogg discovered the heat generated by grass cuttings & thought of saving money by spreading them on the carpet in the winter (very prescient), whereas PBS was showing some BBC interviews from the 1960s with old soldiers who'd served in WWI.

Lunch: baked potato with cheese & baked beans, a red corner yog, bramble jelly & marmalade on slices of toastie toast, 0.91*1.55 pints of good Glengettie tea.

Entertainment: Westerns: Talking Pictures on BBC2, with Sylvia Sims.

Thing about Nostradamus on Blaze. End of the world stuff. The Modern Version being by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and his algorithm.

Thing about the kilogram standard on PBS. A load of silicon balls.

Walk (abbreviated alternative fly avoiding route) walked.

Freecell score in the cooling down phase: 89%, running average: 85%.

Tea: spag with the first portion of bol, stewed gooseberries and custard, 0.91*1.55 pints of good Glengettie tea. Strewth I put a lot more chilli in that lot.

Entertainment: that Nick Robinson cove chatting with Lord Finkelstein. One of whose parents knew Anne Frank in Auschwitz, while the other spent time in the gulag.

Thing about the 1974 miners strike, when all the lights went out rather regularly and The Grocer lost an election & ultimately his job as party leader, whereas the miners signed their own redundancy (though it took 10 years to come to fruition under The Manic Miner).

Some bollox about pyramids and ancient aliens and light bulbs and hydrogen masers and similar total crap on Blaze, with that fright haired Giorgio guy.

Maigret S1 E10 "On Holiday". As if. . Nanette Newman was in this, but not selling washing up liquid.

The Four Just Men E24 "The Slaver": all about the Manchester Grauniad from the sounds of it. Charles Grey in a bad perm as Sadik Bey, the slaver, plus Roger Delgado cast against type as a good cop. .

Thing about Aliens on Blaze BBC4: "Aliens: the big thinkers" with Frank Drake & the retired Astronomer Royal Martin Rees.

Innerestingly enough, Drake's first radio telescope search found, not aliens, but rather overflights by the U2.

Strange Signals from Outer Space! It's Frank Drake night. Wow! and The Lorimer Burst.

It's life, Jim, but not as we know it.

[xoggoth]

Wierd. Went to get summit from me shed and the path between shed and greenhouse was soaking wet. Not seen any rain today and no sign of wet anywhere else or of any watering by neighbours. Micro-climates don't come in 3 sq m sizes do they?

PS NO! This old fart is not incontinent yet!

[NickFitz]

Home again after the trip south to take my Dad to see my Mum

There's a possibility she might be going home this week, depending on progress and carers and so on

Before setting off I went to the dental hygienist for a descaling and such. This meant I was starting south from just by the old flat, so the best route was the motorway and onto the A14. Turns out this route is twelve miles longer than the journey from here, but it's still quicker to go via the motorway than to drive the two miles or so back across town

Next item on the agenda: deciding what to do about food. I think I might see if the Chinese is answering the phone today

[NickFitz]

Next item on the agenda: deciding what to do about food. I think I might see if the Chinese is answering the phone today

Got through on the third attempt over the space of about ten minutes. They've excelled themselves: it'll be ready at 19:45, so a wait of an hour and three-quarters

I had to check she really meant that, as recently the wait has usually been more like forty-five minutes

[ladymuck]

Morning all (local time 0825)

Sunny. No cloud. Currently 26 degrees ('feels like'" 28) with a high of 29 expected. There might be a thunderstorm this evening but the chance is low.

Thanks goodness for aircon.

[NickFitz]

Got through on the third attempt over the space of about ten minutes. They've excelled themselves: it'll be ready at 19:45, so a wait of an hour and three-quarters

I had to check she really meant that, as recently the wait has usually been more like forty-five minutes

It was inordinately nice, once the appointed time came and I was able to get it

Slightly less nice was the enclosed copy of the new edition of the menu, with quite substantial price rises coming in next week. Then again, the previous edition dates from 2021, so they've been taking the inflationary hit for a while

[NickFitz]

I was planning to watch the new Avatar film tonight, but as much as I like the first and will probably like this one, you can only take so much "It is the Way of Our People, since the time of the First Songs" guff in any given weekend. Also, it's over three hours long

So tonight was instead devoted to a rewatch of Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020) because it's fun and doesn't need to be followed too closely

But I'm feeling absolutely knackered, presumably due to all this getting up early and doing stuff that I've inflicted on myself over the last few days, so I'm getting an early night before I just fall asleep anyway

Goodnight all