test please delete

[NotAllThere]

I've got books, and a goodish amount of chocolate. Also socks

Ah, the joy of socks.

I got 700g of Läderach chocolate. At £90 a kilo, that's not a bad haul. It's very very good.

Sadly, my mum fell out of bed Christmas morning and fractured her hip. Took three hours for the ambulance to arrive, but yesterday afternoon she had a hip replacement op. She's doing ok now. Not much of a Christmas for them really.

Today all the kids and grandkids are coming round, + a Syrian refugee and her two kids, who are absolutely delightful. A full house ... I generally just sit on the sofa as life goes on around me.

[ladymuck]

Morning all

The wind has calmed down considerably and I can see blue sky. Currently 8 degrees with a high of 9. Will remain mostly sunny all day with a chance of a shower later this evening.

Yesterday involved lots of TV watching. I made sure I saw Dr Who and Ghosts and the rest was my Mum's choice.

Later today my brother and his family will come over and we're going out for dinner.

Need to get some bread.

[NickFitz]

Home again!

Complete with five boxes almost entirely of books - it seems there's an equal number still up in the loft with other things of mine

The books are mainly from childhood and teenage years which, given my generation, includes things like a book about the Bermuda Triangle. I think there's one about Nessie in there too; there ought to be. The Seventies really were a rather odd time, with all kinds of bizarre fringe notions becoming virtually mainstream

A bunch of school textbooks too, so I can start brushing up my Latin

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning Afternoon.

Tuesday.

Another walk: this until about 10 minutes, I didn't venture into the forestry but walked back along the old A465 (Bwhatever).

The towpath is tarmac until Aberdulais: mud etc. thereafter.

It's a fecking looooongway.

The canal is drained in places for some reason, and it's obviously been overtopping in places which might explain that.

Dry.

Grey.

Wanly sunny.

Not very chilly side of chilly.

13.7 deg in here, 12.5 in the kitchen & leanto.

1014 mBar, 29.93434 in Hg, 760.56 Torr, 14.71 psi, (up from 1007 last night), 76% RH (GDR hair), 74% RH (Lidl electric).

Meanwhile on the 9th of August 2019 the holey sheet was washed in preparation for disposal and managed to avoid the rain. I was reading "A Bright Shining Lie" about Nam.

There was lunch.

Entertainment: TWATO <click>

The last 20 minutes of "Quatermass & the Pit" (the Hammer version).

Book. Only 51 pages left of Churchill his finest years. Thank feck.*

Entertainment: Who do you think you are? with Ruth Jones, the actor woman. A fair amount was shot in Neath in Victoria Gardens and the old Public Library (now closed).

Her grandfather was involved in the prewar medical insurance organisation.

Almost started watching "Vietnam E1 (1858 - 1957)" by Ken Burns but thought better of it.

*Done. There's 300 pages of the other one still to go. .

Tea: baked beans on toast etc.

Entertainment: Scotland Yard with the lugubrious one. "The never never murder".

Maigret versus Mr Cadavre S7 E4. Off to Belgium with him. .

Couldn't be arsed to record Vera since it's repeated tomorrow at 20:00 on ITV3 and 21:00 on ITV3+1.

Massive Engineering Mistakes: New Providence Iowa crane collapse whilst erecting a water tower: the pad under one of the outriggers was half the size it should have been on wet ground and wasn't bolted together, killed one, injured 2. Pittsburgh Pennsylvania: Route 30 road collapse caused by landslip due to wet conditions. East Chicago Indiana: Expressway collapsed during construction: concrete pad under temporary supports cracked due to ground conditions. And best of all: UK Smart Motorways.

[NickFitz]

Lunch, perhaps inevitably, has been leftover turkey in a wholemeal bap with a bag of plain crisps

[NickFitz]

The front has been visited by a rather sturdy looking fox today. He was just coming in when I arrived back, and has been wandering around hither and yon, generally acting like he owns the place. Though he didn't attempt to hassle any of the pigeons and magpies, even walking through a bunch of them at one point, they seem to be adopting the policy of casually distancing themselves from him. Probably sensible

I'm not sure if he's one of the mangy ones, restored to health. I've seen another such one a few weeks ago, but its brush hadn't grown back fully yet, and this one has a very fine brush. He does have a sort of brindled patch on his nearside rear quarters though.

[NickFitz]

Today's matinee has been Powell & Pressburger's I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)

[NickFitz]

Festive tea: large pigs in blankets with chips and beans

Accompanied by an old Police Interceptors

[WTFH]

Got into trouble for asking a hunt-friendly sister in law how many foxes they killed today.
Turns out that is offensive to people who like to practice a “sport” that is all about killing foxes (or pretending not to)

[NickFitz]

No further telly tonight; instead I started reading Erotic Vagrancy by Roger Lewis, a biography (in a way) of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Early night now as I'm feeling a little under the weather. Probably got a cold or worse off somebody, what with all this Christmas stuff. I'm pretty sure it can't be a hangover - all I had yesterday was a bottle of Black Sheep and a couple of glasses of white wine with dinner

Goodnight all