Reply to: test please delete

[NickFitz]

Tonight’s major motion picture premiere was Drive Angry (2011) in which the deceased Nicholas Cage breaks out of Hell to rescue his daughter’s baby (ergo, his granddaughter) from a Satanic cult that intends to use her as a human sacrifice. Now that may sound silly, and I went into this film assuming it would be foolish nonsense; but about halfway through, I realised that my disbelief had been wholly suspended pretty much from the start and it was really good! So as long as you’re willing to go along with it (where “it” is a wide-ranging set of preposterous premises), it’s tremendous entertainment

After that, a rewatch of The Beanie Bubble (2023) which is good, but not as good as certain other recent “based very loosely on a true story” films

At this point, I was going to watch a further episode of Silo but I was in the mood for more driving stuff, so I rewatched Le Mans '66 (2019). Also “loosely based”, I assume, and also lots of fast car stuff; so I suppose it kind of tied everything together

Goodnight all

[ladymuck]

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: car insurance renewal for the Corolla

The existing lot had been pushing the price up over the years, as they do. I almost switched to somebody else last year but I was busy at the time and couldn’t be bothered with the hassle, so I let it roll over. But this year their price was ridiculous and the card they have on record has expired, so I could either go and update my details or go and find a better quote. As both would involve some degree of hassle, I chose the latter and saved £230 quid - about 40% cheaper!

I too had to renew my car insurance, and did it today. I only got £75 off mine against auto renewal but a saving is a saving.

I also finally got my car booked in for its MOT, which expires next weekend. Fortunately my garage can do it tomorrow, so I'll have an hour to kill in Acton.

Car tax was paid at the beginning of the month. June is expensive!

[NickFitz]

Tea has been a ribeye steak with fried onions and chips

To go with it, S1E4 of Legends on Netflix. It’s good

Very Simpsonesque here now

[DoctorStrangelove]

Some of those cold cocktail sausages for lunch

I go through periods of quite liking those, then losing interest and not bothering with them for a year or so before going back to them. But they’re minimal effort, which always appeals

OM.

[NickFitz]

Some of those cold cocktail sausages for lunch

I go through periods of quite liking those, then losing interest and not bothering with them for a year or so before going back to them. But they’re minimal effort, which always appeals

[NickFitz]

Such shopping as seemed meet has been done, at Not-as-Big Sainsbury's

I was approached by a lady of minimal stature, requesting assistance - she needed one of the few remaining cartons of milk from right at the back of the shelf, and couldn’t reach

It’s brightening up a bit here now. The magpies were playing around in the flowerbed just before I left, and were also there when I returned. I tried to get a photo but my 2020 iPhone only has something like 2X zoom, so they were too far away for a decent shot

[NickFitz]

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: car insurance renewal for the Corolla

The existing lot had been pushing the price up over the years, as they do. I almost switched to somebody else last year but I was busy at the time and couldn’t be bothered with the hassle, so I let it roll over. But this year their price was ridiculous and the card they have on record has expired, so I could either go and update my details or go and find a better quote. As both would involve some degree of hassle, I chose the latter and saved £230 quid - about 40% cheaper!

[ladymuck]

Morning all

Overcast but bright, with cloud cover set to dissipate by late afternoon for a sunnier evening. Currently 19 degrees with a high of 22 expected. There may be a light shower early afternoon. Barometer steady at 1020 mBar.

Sunrise 04:44; Sunset 21:19 BST

I am getting to the point where I have slightly too much to do over the three gigs, which is when full efficiency mode kicks in and I actually get stuff done.

[NickFitz]

Blood tests done!

They skipped the lifestyle questionnaire this year, so maybe my lies about optimistically low estimate of weekly alcohol consumption last year dropped me off some kind of watchlist. They didn’t weigh me either

She asked if I’d fasted, so I said only in the sense that I hadn’t had any breakfast yet. I was never told to fast, so hadn’t, but the timing of the appointment had the same effect. As far as I know, NICE dropped the fasting requirement a few years ago for the only test I have that used to require it. But maybe it still makes a difference to interpretation of the results so they have to note it on the form

Coming home from there is uphill. Not steep though; a moderate slope that any moderately fit person could cycle up without really noticing it. So it reduced me to a state of near-death by the time I’d made it to the lights, which were in my favour for crossing the road and taking the cycles-only bit into my road. Normally I'd count that timing as an epic win, but I really wanted to stop for a rest by that point!

So whatever the test results turn out to be, the trip there and back (~3 minutes each way on a pushbike, Google reckons) has been a salutary reminder that I’m grossly unfit and really need to do something about it

Anyway, the coffee is now brewing. I need to decide whether to go shopping; Viz isn’t out until next week, but a flying visit to Not-as-Big Sainsbury’s might be worthwhile. I shall review the contents of the freezer etc. and come to a conclusion based on that

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Friday.

Wet. Can't see Drumau. Just about see March Hywel.

Grey.

Sunless.

Misty.

Sunless.

17.9 in here, 18.2 in the kitchen, 16.5 in the leanto.

1015 mBar, 29.97 in Hg, 761.3 Torr, 14.72 psi, (up from 1013 last night), 70% RH (Lidl electric).

Meanwhile onthe 30th of March 2020 Andygarbs, Churchill, LM, scruff, and WTFH popped in, with Brillo popping in even more.

Lunch: brunch. Entertainment: the end of the butterfly thing.

Book.

Curiously, yesterday, I recalled how my now very late maternal grandfather, a gardener, used to treat the splits he'd get in his fingers & thumbs: he used sealing wax melted over a candle: the memory was brought to the fore by his candlestick which resides in my kitchen (along with a lot of other junk).

Then I recalled how my grandmother used to treat his lumbago: a warmed smoothing iron ironed over his back through brown paper. They hadn't invented ibuprofen back then.

Drumau visible. The rain won't be long.

Walk (unabbreviated, towpath) walked in the grey gloom. It stayed dry.

Book.

Tea: Mr Brains faggots with peas and such. Nice enough. Entertainment: More or Less. PM <click>

So the Reichsleiter is now a trillionaire. Well there's a thing. Luke 12:20.

Book.

Dead Ringers. Very funny.

Taggart S12 E7,8,9 "Angel Eyes". The gay murders one with the mad strangler.

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

Gloomy and grey again, with the air of being about to rain although it supposedly isn’t. It’s 16°C (“feels like” 11°) and warming all the way up to 21° later, albeit briefly, while the barometers are much the same at 1006/1013mB

Time for me to head off for blood tests! According to the reminder text I got earlier, the main entrance is back in use, so that saves a few minutes

[WTFH]

Morning all
TFIF, etc.

[NickFitz]

This evening’s viewing was a new episode of Traffic Cops

And tonight in Future Noir, I completed the very long scene-by-scene chapter - though it appears there’s additional stuff in later chapters relating to the differences in the assorted later cuts

Better get to sleep now as tomorrow, I have to go to the GP’s surgery for the annual blood tests at 9am. They no longer have the notice on their website about having to use the back entrance because of the flooding, so I assume the front is operational again. But I’ll need to allow extra time in case it isn’t, as the only way to get to the back (which is also the first floor because they’re in a dip, which is why it keeps flooding) is by going up to the university campus and doubling back through the adjacent sixth form college

Goodnight all

[NickFitz]

I was quite looking forward to having shepherd’s pie for tea tonight, but my memory had led me astray and there wasn’t any in the freezer. Oh well, at least I got the drawers organised a bit better while I was hunting for it. In the end, I had the last bit of some chicken casserole from a few weeks ago with chips

I thought about making shepherd’s pie with the lamb mince yesterday, but I didn’t bother because I thought I still had some

[NickFitz]

In a turnip for the books, gig1 have extended me to the end of the year! It's only max 2 days a week and could be binned at any time once the status of a programme that's winding down is known.

Gig2 is in a death spiral. Today's fun was someone saying that a process map should have the swim lanes denoting the task outcome rather than the roles...

Boomed!