test please delete

[xoggoth]

Shopping done, including the new Viz!

As your name is Nick I assume you nick them. Have to stop that soon when Sainsburies rolls out face recognition.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c15l5p4zwdqo

[NickFitz]

Shopping done, including the new Viz!

As your name is Nick I assume you nick them. Have to stop that soon when Sainsburies rolls out face recognition.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c15l5p4zwdqo

I do the self-scanning thing so there's always the risk of being randomly selected for a spot check on the way through the checkout! Probably easier to get away with nicking stuff if you go through the staffed tills

[NickFitz]

My latest attempt at making something different for dinner is in the oven for a long, slow cook: lamb tagine

I was surprised at how much ras el hanout the recipe suggested using, so I looked up another recipe and it said the same! Mine not to reason why, but at least it'll be spicy

[NickFitz]

Royal Mail arrived!

As far as I can tell, Evri have decided not to bother today

[NickFitz]

After a bit of figuring out of how best to use the slider things that were delivered today, a lot of washing up liquid as lubricant, and a heck of a lot of pushing, the washer-dryer is in position!

It now needs to do a "calibration cycle" which takes about two hours, so I've kicked that off

I'm absolutely knackered

I only needed one slider in the end, just to get one of the back feet over the dodgy bit of floor

And I went through a whole palaver to link it with the app on my phone, so I don't have to go in there to see how it's doing

[NickFitz]

I had been thinking of making some kind of rice pilaf to go with the lamb tagine, but I couldn't be bothered so I had it with chips instead

It turned out pretty well for a first attempt! I shall have to think about ways in which I could tweak the recipe to suit my tastes, but it was OK

This was accompanied by a bit of Trucking Hell just for a change

The washer-dryer is coming to the end of its calibration run. I'm just hoping it doesn't wreck the place when it gets to the spinning bit

[NickFitz]

The washer-dryer is coming to the end of its calibration run. I'm just hoping it doesn't wreck the place when it gets to the spinning bit

Far from it! I went through to the kitchen when the app said it had reached the spin bit, just in case, and you'd barely know it was doing it, it remained so stable!

Might put a wash on now, as it would be nice to have some clothes to wear tomorrow and it doesn't seem like it'll disturb the neighbours

[NickFitz]

Unexpected delivery from Amazon just now: the drain blanking cap that they failed to deliver last week and have already refunded me for

They said there was no need to return it on the refund confirmation, but I didn't expect them to turn up with it so I had something to not return!

[NickFitz]

Tonight's major motion picture premiere was Highest 2 Lowest (2025) which was just released on Apple TV+ and would be a much better film if it was at least half an hour shorter. It's a kidnap drama involving Denzel Washington as a record company owner from whom ransom is sought, but the first hour is full of a bunch of stuff about Family and Black Culture and that kind of stuff, none of which contributes to the story in any relevant way. After that, when they get into the stuff that makes it a thriller or at least a drama, it's good. But it should be at least forty-five minutes shorter, actually, or have that much more action to it. Stuff about The Importance of Family should be restricted to Vin Diesel wittering on about it for two minutes while standing next to a barbecue holding a bottle of beer right at the end. That's one thing the Fast & Furious films get right, assuming there's a place for that stuff anyway, which there isn't

And then a rewatch of Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) which isn't as bad as that other one, but isn't that good really; another film that picks up towards the end, and thereby makes you wonder why they didn't put the same effort into the beginning

Finally, the last episode of S1 of the Dune thing. This gave the impression that the writers had been told at the last minute that there'd be a second series, so they had to quickly rewrite all the plot lines so they were available for that rather than wrapping them up neatly

Meanwhile in the kitchen, wonderful things were achieved in the new washer-dryer's first encounter with the mundane laundry

Goodnight all

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Saturday.

Dry.

Grey.

Sunless.

Cool in here at 18.9 deg, 19.5 in the kitchen, 18 in the leanto, 15.5 in the salting house.

1011 mBar, 29.854 in Hg, 758.3 Torr, 14.66 psi, (down from 1014 last night), 71% RH (Lidl electric).

Meanwhile on the 14th of February 2020 Churchill, BR14 and Brillo popped in.

This morning's dream before waking involved someone with a gun holding people hostage in the house which I resolved by stabbing the mother****er in the eye with a nice pointy letter opener I had handy. Then I woke up to find it was all true. .

Washing frenzy in progress.

Freecell score: 93%, running average: 84%.

Shirts in off the line, duly iRoned, & airing upstairs. Entertainment: The Infinite Monkey Cage S33 "building an athlete" or some such. I'm running out of Monkey Cage. Maybe I'll start at the beginning again.

Shopping trip to Morrisons done dusted washed dried sanitised & put away.

Lunch: brunch. Entertainment: latter half of The News Quiz since I didn't realise it was back.

Walk (towpath, abbreviated) walked in the sunshine.

Had a chat to a chap called Martin in PenYDre.

3 lawns mown. Couldn't be arsed with my front lawn or the stuff around the garage.

Tea: soup etc.

Entertainment: Maigret and the cactus (1961).

Bettany Hughes Lost Worlds: the Nabateans. Rose Red City half as old as time & all that. Too tedious for words.

Freecell score: 92%, running average: 84%.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Bits of.

Wind is rising & it's not the fault of the baked beans.