test please delete

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

Cloudy day again, though no signs of rain this time. It's expected to clear up towards teatime. Mild at 16°C with 21° anticipated, while the barometers are up a little at 1007/1015mB

Feeling vaguely stressed out about getting ready and heading off to the birthday thing. Still, I suppose one has to accept the occasional disruption to one's Saturday routine

[NickFitz]

Home again!

The cousins' birthday bash was good fun! Just a gathering at the village hall, which has a quite extensive garden so we were outside most of the time. My brother's wife couldn't make it as she had to attend the equivalent festivities for one of her grandchildren, but he was there, as were my sister and her husband. Various other cousins and the like were also there that I only see from time to time

Really good buffet, meaning I'm very full and probably won't be wanting to eat any more for a while

Coming back, I was surprised to find this end of the city exceedingly busy, particularly with younger people in very summery clothes, until I realised that today's the Caribbean Carnival over on the park

So there are parking restrictions on adjacent streets, but I found on my return that my preferred parking space in here was still free, and quite possibly untouched since I departed at lunchtime

[NickFitz]

After having pigged out at the buffet, I wasn't very hungry this evening. So I grabbed a cooked chicken leg out of the freezer, gave it a bit of a defrost in the microwave, then chucked it in the air fryer with some fries. Very nice, and definitely as much as I needed or wanted

There's a fox down on the lawn! It had found a patch of sun and was lying down there, just enjoying the evening. The sun's moved behind something now, possibly the trees or one of the big Victorian houses over the road, but it seems to have curled up and gone to sleep so it's still there

[WTFH]

Yesterday evening’s dinner at a highly rated pub included a cheese board served with fresh figs and a fig chutney made with figs from our garden and a panna cotta made with our plums. The meal was made even better by The Wife’s boss paying for it.
Today involved a walk on the beach and some hedge trimming, followed by happy hour in the summer sun.
Tomorrow is a dog walk, trip to the tip, beach walk and then who knows what after 11am.

[NickFitz]

Tonight's major motion picture premiere was Mickey 17 (2025) in which a chap joins an interplanetary mission on the basis that he'll die, then have his body 3D-reprinted and all his memories re-implanted and… onwards! As the title suggests, he's on his 17th incarnation when the story starts, and that's where things start to get complicated. I enjoyed this one, which is really a satire about how we make such a pig's ear of life on Earth rather than a sci-fi story

But one does need a little sci-fi action now and again and, remembering that I had to get several films into the series before accepting that they're pretty good really, I decided to start again with a rewatch of Resident Evil (2002). Though this is perhaps the one most beholden to The Game, it does shed the rather obvious stuff like weapons and status overlays quite rapidly, and gets on with being a decent enough action thing

And then the nth episode (can't remember what n is) of S2 of The Last of Us. I think there's only one episode left, as this one's shorter than the last season (or series). It's very much a series (or season) that keeps circling back on itself to explore earlier matters in more depth, but it's none the worse and perhaps all the better for that; revisiting and reflecting on that which was lost with the past, even the recent past, seems like something that would be an inherent aspect of living through such times

Goodnight all

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Sunday.

Damp.

Drizzly.

Grey.

Sunless.

Cool in here at 20.2 deg, 21 deg in the kitchen, 19.5 in the leanto.

1012 mBar, 29.88 in Hg, 759.1 Torr, 14.6778 psi, (down from 1013 last night), 66% RH (Lidl electric).

Freecell score: 93%, running average: 83%.

Lunch: brunch. Entertainment: book. R4 thing about Reform in Wales.

Freecell score: 91%, running average: 83%.

UFO bollox on Blaze whilst dozing gently.

Tea: beans on toast with added scrambled egg and, for today, a baked potato.

Entertainment: The invention of Hungary.

Yet more UFO bollox.

World about us (1977) "The corncrake and the croft" on North Uist narrated by Finlay J. MacDonald. It must be said that the song of corncrake rivals nails on a chalk board. .

"The Killers (1964)" with that Lee Marvin. And that chap who played POTUS for 8 years. Who we all thought was mediocre. Then again, we hadn't encountered the Orange Micropenised Moron back then, and had probably never even heard of him. Dear Dead Days beyond recall.

[ladymuck]

Morning all

Sunny with lumps.of fluff. Currently 18 degrees with a high of 19 expected Barometer down to 1012 mBar.

Sunrise 05:26; Sunset 21:20 BST

HWMBO's new WM is very fancy. It was pressed into service soon after installation and performed its required functions as expected. In the evening we went out for his youngest's birthday and had a very good time too.

Heading back to London this afternoon. Just in time to avoid that storm which is a-brewing.

[NickFitz]

Afternoon denizens

It was sunny out until about fifteen minutes ago, but now it's clouded over with some light rain showers expected soon. Still mild though, being 21°C and still climbing, getting g to 23° by teatime. The barometers are heading down though, being at 1004/1012mB

[NickFitz]

Heinz tomato soup and white toast for lunch

[NickFitz]

Tea has been corned beef hash with a fried egg, which turns out to be a winning combination

And this was accompanied by part one of Operation Dark Phone: Murder by Text on All4, about the Encrochat hack back in 2020. This reminded me that I bought a book about that recently, so I'll have to give it a read soon