test please delete

[NickFitz]

I finished reading Blood, Sweat & Chrome. The madness in the Namibian desert continued, after which they were going to film the Citadel stuff for the beginning and end of the story. But a senior studio executive, angling for the top job and fearing the budget overrun would jeopardise his chances, cut them off! So then they spent getting on for a year trying to edit the film together from what they had, but the studio guy failed and left, and the guy who'd got the top job instead basically said "Here's the money, just finish the damn thing and don't get me involved". So they got everybody together again in Australia and were able to finish the filming. Then, of course, the studio started panicking when they saw a rough edit with people eating bugs and women hooked up to milking machines and were demanding cuts, but their idea of what it should be tanked horribly in test screenings while everybody raved about George Miller's rough cut. So the studio finally realised they should maybe just let the guy who'd been making hit movies for decades get on with it, and they were able to finish it entirely on Miller's terms; and the rest is movie history

I'm going to have to watch it again now, though I don't regard that as any kind of hardship

Goodnight all

[WTFH]

Morning all
kinda warm overnight. Max has been pacing around, so it’s time for a walk.

[WTFH]

TFIF, etc.
Walk was just over 10km. It's a bit humid with some high clouds coming in now.
Max has curled up at my feet in my office and is snoozing.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Friday?

Dry.

Grey.

Sunless.

Warmish side of cool in here at 21.4 deg, 23 deg in the kitchen, 22 in the leanto, 22 outside the back door, 22.6 in the saltinghouse.

1015 mBar, 29.973 in Hg, 761.32 Torr, 14.72 psi, (down from 1016 last night), 71% RH (Lidl electric, 35% RH in the saltinghouse).

Meanwhile on the 26th of January 2020 PhilTheGreek popped in, along with BR14 and wattaj, NF was filmwatching: "In the name of the father" and "Ronin", and had identified a street corner in the first epic as being in that Liverpool rather than that London, the street name leading to the discussion of the first chap to be run over by a train and trespassing on the track leading to a fine not exceeding 40/- back in the day according to those cast iron notices of yore, WTFH was still debating on his birthday present, and LM was eating M&S toffee.

The dream before waking this morning, rather than some obscure job I couldn't do working somewhere I'd never been, involved the Ft tester I was playing with some months ago, the kit of parts for which resides unloved & unbuilt in the front room junk room cum office. It made an almost pleasant change to the usual run of the mill crap, though I was still in the process of going somewhere undefined once I'd built it.

The latest book by A. C. Clarke is reading rather more easily than the Heinlein of late, both of which have stalled at the last story to be read before disposal.

Looks like I've overwatered the ferns: had to tip the biscuit tin half full of water over what remains of the lawn after no now may.

Freecell score in the appalling heat: 89%, running average: 82%.

Lunch: brunch. Entertainment: green bollox on R4 about rare earth elements/critical minerals <click> Had enough green bollox to last me a lifetime.

Short trip down to the garage to check it's still there & the electrics still work. Forgot to mention that I tested the remote controlled lights and the PIR lamp last night.

Watered the pots containing some gooseberry plants I rescued from next door. They don't seem to be doing much but there you go.

Too hot out there to bother potching today.

House roughly vacced: too hot in here too so done with just the underpants on.

Tea: soup etc.

Entertainment: PM.

Book. Next book.

Dalgliesh on 5select. Well it's better than my tinnitus. Just about.

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

High, thin, hazy cloud can't stop it being pretty sunny out, and it's going to be a hot one too: already 21°C and expected to reach 28° by mid afternoon. Tonight will be hot too, not even getting as low as 15° until sunrise. Thank goodness the madness will peak on Saturday at 30° after which we go back to moderately acceptable temperatures for at least a few days

In here, the living room is already at 24.8° so I've got the air conditioner going, on the assumption that it's easier (or at least more pleasant) to get the temperature down a little bit and keep it there than it is to start high and bring it all the way back

[xoggoth]

Free day 2day. Have to plan a walky in some nice dark woods.

Can't understand why but even if I leave all my windows open for hours the temperature in my bedroom won't go below 22'C Even tried putting a fan in the window to blow the air in.

[ladymuck]

Morning all

Cloudy but still bright and dry. Cooler today at 27 degrees with a high of 28 expected. Barometer down to 1023 mBar.

Sunrise 04:44; Sunset 21:22 BST

Busy morning at the coal face. Apparently discussing feedback on a concept of operations document is unwelcome and so I have had to document everything that needs some clarity and send it out for everyone to think about and send me their comments on. So if two people have opposing viewpoints then we have to discuss via emails rather than have a conversation.

Discovered that the coachworks in Acton where I was considering taking my car for some repairs has moved to Watford. This is not convenient. I can't pop to Watford during a lunch break to get a quote! So I may as well stick with the company in Sussex that I already know will do a good job.

Really must get my car's air conditioning fixed first, though.

[ladymuck]

I finished reading Blood, Sweat & Chrome.

Should we ever finally organise a CUK meet up, where I can give you the Southern Reach Trilogy, would you lend me this book? Sounds like a great read!

[NickFitz]

Shopping done!

More importantly: new reading glasses collected

The last set of reading glasses I got have never been very comfortable; the frames are a touch too heavy, and they feel like they're squeezing my head a bit. I ended up using my previous pair most of the time as they were good enough except for books with a small type size, for which I'd have to switch to the "better" ones. I didn't need a new pair from any ocular requirements, but I got them anyway for the sake of the ultralight titanium frames, and they're extremely comfortable

[NickFitz]

Should we ever finally organise a CUK meet up, where I can give you the Southern Reach Trilogy, would you lend me this book? Sounds like a great read!

Yes, of course!

We had a summer Friday evening meet-up years ago… I was going to say it must be over ten years, but it turns out it was in 2008!

Anyway, that was at the Market Porter near Borough Market and everybody seemed to have a good time