test please delete

[NickFitz]

At the dentist. Running ten minutes behind, apparently

[NickFitz]

Dentistry done

I was able to use the road past the stadium both ways. I don't know what time the road gets closed when there's a game on, but the signs and cones were already stacked up at the sides of the various junctions, ready to be deployed when the time comes.

And having returned safely home, I popped round to the chemist's for the monthly prescription

This gave me the opportunity to inspect the bit of pavement that tripped me up the other week in daylight. It's very uneven due to tree roots, but sadly there isn't a smoking slab that might give me an opening to sue the council

[NickFitz]

Lunch: leftover pork cutlet in a wholemeal bap with apple sauce

[NickFitz]

Finally got around to wrapping the presents - well, putting them in gift bags with a label attached to the handle, which will be adequate

My general policy of failing to plan properly has paid off in terms of surplus chocolate: I have two extra each of Thorntons Continental (dark), ditto (milk), and Quality Street (plastic tub)

And that's not counting the tin of QS I got for myself

[NickFitz]

I expected the Chinese to be busy tonight but when I phoned, I got through on the first try and was given a collection time of thirty minutes, which is as near as they ever get to "straight away". So that was tea, and very nice too

I did wait until a bit after six to call; maybe the rush had already died down?

[NickFitz]

Tonight's major motion picture premiere was Violent Night (2022) in which a very wealthy and rather despicable family convene on Christmas Eve, only to be captured and held hostage by a band of robbers. Luckily, the youngest child's belief in Santa Claus means that he stops off to deliver a present for her, and finds himself having to do battle with the heavily-armed thieves to rescue everybody. Good job Santa used to be a savage Viking warrior before he got the Christmas job! I thought this was excellent, but you probably don't want to put it on for the kids, as it's also extremely violent and gory… oh wait, kids love that! Stick it on for them, it's Christmas

And then in similar vein, and because there's a new one to watch, I refreshed my memory of The Equalizer (2014) and The Equalizer 2 (2018). The first one is, IMHO, definitely the better of the two; but will the third be better still? We shall see

Goodnight all

[NotAllThere]

We watched Spider-Man, Across the Spider Verse. It's great seeing films where the makers care about their art. The different parallel universes have different animation styles.


Drank too much whiskey, given to us by the Ukrainian ladies who stayed over for 5 months last year.

Been up for 45 minutes. Wifey sleepily called, "Morning love". I queried if she would like some tea, and she said yes, - just getting up. There's no sign of her.

[WTFH]

Christmas Eve, in the drunk tank.

Morning all
About to take MMtSH out for a walk.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Sunday.

Grey.

Dark.

Dank.

Dreary.

Drizzly with hints of murrain of beasts.

Sunless.

Chilly in here at 13.6 deg, 12.5 deg in the kitchen, 12.5 deg in the leanto.

1005 mBar, 29.6776 in Hg, 753.81199 Torr, 14.576 psi, (down from 1007 last night), 76% RH (GDR hair), 74% RH (Lidl electric).

Meanwhile on the 8th of August 2019 NF was watching the last ep of "From the earth to the moon" being about Apollo 17, whereas at 04:10 on the 9th of August 2019 I awakened & finished whatever tome I was then reading in a vain attempt to return to the land of nod.

Seriously disappointed to find that the Cuk bookclub thread fails to inform me of what the tome was that I finished reading on the 9th of August 2019. Not that it matters since I can barely remember what I read last week much less 4 years ago.

Lunch: beans on toast etc. Getting fed up with that raspberry jam that's gone a funny colour, though it's not blue on top. .

Oz customs thing: no frog fat yet, but lama foetus from Bolivia, makes a change, plus some birds nest soup from China, endless "holiday visa" applicants from Malaysia, and a chap offering a bribe to the customs chap. . Drummer from Chicago who failed to declare a criminal offence: sentenced to 6 years, served 9 weeks. Lady with a boyfriend who, by the sounds of things was a spook, eventually allowed in. Indian family not. Antique brown bear rug: nuked to make sure it was all dead.

Last 40 mins of "Goodbye Mr Chips" (not the classic version, the Clunes version).

Bits of a thing on Blaze about "Ideas that changed the world": Robots. Little bit of Turing & the Manchester Babby along with a Williams tube, the first time I've actually seen the memory display on a VCR97 crt. If only you knew what I've seen with your eyes.

Ditto: Rockets. Took 35 minutes to get to Goddard & dear old Wernher. . 45 minutes before we get to Korolev.

The smartphone: 15 minutes to get to Morse. Not Endeavour. The other one with the code. Bell. Marconi. Hedy Lamarr. Spread Spectrum. SIGSALY.

UFO bollox on Blaze: Oz.

[NickFitz]

Afternoon denizens

Grey day out and still rather breezy, but no rain right now. Currently at today's high of 13°C and the barometers are down again at 988/996mB

I've got to pop down and get some bits of crap out of the boot of the car, being things that are still left in there from moving last year

I need the space to accommodate several boxes of God-knows-what belonging to me that have been residing in the parents' loft for years, which now need to be removed as we start on the process of getting the house ready for sale