Reply to: test please delete

[NickFitz]

Tonight’s major motion picture premiere was Predator: Badlands (2025) which I thought was very good, though only once I realised that it wasn’t trying to be a sequel to Prey. It’s more about the Predator folk and also involves Alien stuff, so it’s a completely different kettle of fish really, and also quite humorous. So watch it on its own terms is my advice

(I still prefer Prey, but only in terms of the kind of story I prefer.)

And then a rewatch of RoboCop (1987), mainly because I recently saw a comment online about the sequel which made me think I should watch that again, so I need to watch the first one first. But it’s worth watching anyway, because it’s excellent

And as Apple have nearly got to the end of Hijack S2, I thought it was safe to start watching that and viewed the first two episodes. It’s set on the Berlin underground this time, and I have to fault it for requiring obvious impossibilities to set the story up in S2E1. Firstly, a train held at red at a station would not be able to leave that station without being automatically stopped within a few yards (or metres, as they’re called on the Continent). Secondly, if we let that slide, the train then passes another signal at red, and all that happens is that the lady in the control room calls them on the radio to ask why when, again, the train would be stopped automatically. And no, there’s nothing to suggest that the safety systems have been tampered with. But they do send in GSG-9, who I’d never heard of until I read that book about them recently, so at least I was able to say “Ooh, I know about them! I read a book!”

Goodnight all

[NickFitz]

Tea: ribeye steak, fried onions, and chips

This was accompanied by the start of Fukushima: Days That Shook the World on All4. It’s still on the initial arrival of the tsunami at the moment, but I assume the conclusion at the end of E2 will be “Don’t operate your nuclear power plant in such a way that its name becomes part of the War Boys’ chant in Mad Max: Fury Road"

[ladymuck]

The grey hairs have been banished for a few weeks.

One more meeting (in about an hour) and then I'm done for the day. Trying to decide whether I want to update some documents for dodgy SwissClientCo (gig2) or do it next week. I also need to create some 'New Market Onboarding' process documentation.

[NickFitz]

Home again, again - this time with the Corolla

I walked in the end. Turns out it’s under two miles via the shortest route, through the polytechnic, and it's downhill from here

I’ve only done just under 900 miles since last year and he felt there wasn’t much point giving it a full service. He’d adjusted the brakes for free as it only took him a few minutes, rather like the other year when one of the exhaust brackets was dodgy so he just welded it there and then rather than mucking about getting my approval for the work and calculating an estimate

So that was why it was ready by lunchtime rather than around teatime, as often happens. This meant I was able to pop along to Big Sainsbury’s while I was that side of the river, and get various bits and bobs that I would have had to get next week otherwise.

Upon finally returning home, not only was the preferred parking space free, but this entire edge of the lawn was empty, so I didn’t even have to parallel park. And just to round things off, the lift was on the ground floor, so I didn’t have to wait for that!

Time for lunch now; I’m quite peckish as I only had coffee for breakfast. Some hot wings (cold) await

[NickFitz]

Car’s ready!

I’ve only just recovered from walking about three miles earlier! Tempted to get the bus into town rather than adding another two mile walk. Rain’s due, so I could use that as an excuse, having already been drizzled on quite enough earlier

[NickFitz]

Home again after a considerably more active start than my usual Friday

I drove down and dropped the car off just after half eight. Then, as I was that side of the river, I walked up to the hairdresser’s - I’d made a minor detour on the drive over to check she was there. So I’ve had a haircut, which should see me through Easter

Then I walked back up towards town - this took me past the garage again, where I believe the car was up on the hoist, though I was across the road and they’re a bit of a way back across the yard in front of the units; so it may not have been. Anyway, I headed up past St. Nick’s church (c. AD 879) to the high street and into the shopping centre I hate (c. 1991-2008 depending on which bit you’re in) to collect some new AirPods Max from the Apple Store. Then onwards to the market, where I obtained various nice things from a couple of different butchers, and then set out for home.

I had been thinking of getting the bus back, something I haven’t done in many years. They now do tap on/tap off here, so at least there’s none of the hassle of fumbling for change and trying to remember the name of the stop you want. But the rain had stopped and the wind wasn’t too biting, so I decided to walk it

Most of the way back is up New Walk, a wide route lined with grand Victorian houses and the occasional incongruous new (c. 1970) block of offices. This has since its inception (c. 1785) been closed to all traffic (including bicycles) except carriages owned by residents of the houses. As few, if any, of the modern residents keep a stable of horses or a coachman, this effectively means it’s pedestrianised

And so home, where I now find that the car has passed its MOT!

The same advisories about some corrosion as last year and the year before, so it doesn’t seem to be getting any worse; and a couple of new ones about an imbalance in the brakes, which I assume they’ll fix as part of the service

[ladymuck]

Morning all

A dull start but it seems to be brightening up with some gaps forming between the clouds. Currently 7 degrees with a high of 11 expected. Rain likely this afternoon. Barometer up to 1018 mBar.

Sunrise 07:05; Sunset 17:25 GMT

A much quieter day today. A meeting this morning then I'm off to the hairdresser to get the greys covered up then a couple of meetings this afternoon.

Gig3 has paid me for last week's efforts, so I think that means clientCo changing their mind about my IR35 status is less likely to happen

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Friday.

Wet. Very wetly wet.

Grey.

Sunless.

Dark.

Dreary.

Dank.

Marsh full.

Chilly in here at 12.4 deg, 10.5 in the kitchen, 8 in the leanto.

1011 mBar, 29.854 in Hg, 758.3 Torr, 14.66 psi, (unchanged), 62% RH (Lidl electric).

Meanwhile on the 17th of March 2020 DaveB, BR14, LM, NF, and WTFH popped in, DaveB's dog was still at the vet's, and WTFH had 8 eggs, whereas I was looking forward to going stir crazy (not that anyone would notice the difference of course), and NF was celebrating the Opening Windows by airing out the flat.

Lunch: brunch. Entertainment: some thing about mountains and gorse fires in Ireland.

Other Book.

Tea: Mr Brains faggots with peas & such. Nice enough. Entertainment: PM. Well that's woken up Dozy Don. . Oh dear, how sad, never mind. .

Taggart S7 E2,3,4. "Nest of Vipers". No recall of this one: lots of snakes and the odd brown reclusive thrown in for good measure. Not sure they joined all the dots on this one but pretty good. The Big Blue Volvo estate featured was last tested in 2017 and is now SORN.

[WTFH]

Morning all
TFIF, etc.
Clear skies earlier and 6C, but now some high level light clouds are coming in.
Going to a wedding evening reception later today.

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

Mainly clear skies out there today, but with very high patches of thin cloud coming in from the west. It’s likely to get cloudier and windier, with light rain expected from time to time. It’s 4°C but “feels like” -2°, with an expected high of a rather balmy 10°, and the barometers are back up to 1003/1011mB

I’ve got to head out soon, dropping the car off for its MOT and service. I’ve become quite unused to this business of leaving the flat first thing in the morning

[NickFitz]

Tonight’s viewing was the motorway cops thing, in which they actually spent some time on the motorway! Made a change

And things are getting stranger in Peace and War

Goodnight all

[NickFitz]

Tea was brought to me from Nando’s, partly because I’m lazy, partly because I had a reward that needed to be used up

The rewards are valid for a year, but I’d misunderstood the way it worked. You get a green, then an amber, then a red reward, and I hadn’t redeemed the green or amber because I thought it was cumulative and wanted to save all the points up for the red one, as that’s the best deal. But I got the red one the other week, and it turns out I still had the green and amber ones! So I had to use the green one or lose it

[ladymuck]

Checks thread and wonders where ladymuck is as she's not posted since yesterday morning when she was off to see Client C for the first time..

It was the second time; you didn't scroll back far enough

However, you are quite correct in that I have been tardy in my usual daily weather report.



Evening all

It's been a dull day. Damp. Currently 4 degrees ('feels like' 2) and the high was 6. Barometer up to 1011 mBar.

Sunrise 07:07; Sunset 17:24 GMT

It's been a busy day. I earned my money from all three gigs today. Back to back meetings all day. Fortunately HWMBO is still here to make me dinner.

[eek]

Checks thread and wonders where ladymuck is as she's not posted since yesterday morning when she was off to see Client C for the first time..

[NickFitz]

Another day done, another week done!

As soon as I’d finished, I popped down to the Corolla and cleaned out a load of the rubbish therein: old receipts, empty water bottles, old carrier bags, etc. I know for a fact that at least a couple of things from the back of the boot (well, the front; away from the door) have been sitting in there since some time when I was working in Cambridge, so probably around 2012

And then I set to work with the fancy handheld vacuum cleaner I’ve just bought specifically for this purpose. The interior is looking a lot better now - well, to the extent that I could tell, as it was nearly dark when I’d finished

There was a trace of dried mud on the rear seat which came from putting my Dad’s wheelchair in there when I was taking him to see Mum in hospital, so that was nearly three years old, and the car wasn’t exactly clean and tidy then

I have no idea if the theory about garages doing a worse job if a car appears untidy and neglected are true but, if so, they’ll have no excuse this time