26-01-03 - Saturday I - Stranger Things

How could I have forgotten? New Years Day was mostly spent watching the end of Stranger Things. I really enjoyed the whole thing and can't believe we've given over six (?) years of our lives to this show. Towards the end it increasingly felt like a D&D game, which is natural, but it was so well done. The first few episodes of this final series felt really claustrophobic and tense. 

Because of the time we've invested in the show the ending felt right, but I would have been okay with a shorter final episode; I guess some indulgence in wrapping everything up was allowed. All in all, a really enjoyable TV show and recommended from me (as if that carries any weight with anyone).

TTFN.

26-01-02 - Friday I - Darts

My sister came a-visiting yesterday, she has been to see Mum in the care home and since she's up in London she took the opportunity to pop in. Very kindly she brought Mum's Irish documents so that we can apply for Irish citizenship. The girls fancy living and working in Europe over then next few years and Irish citizenship will make that easier, what with Brexit and all. 

Apart from that, New Year's Day was very quiet. I watched a bit of the darts and had a drink or two in the evening because I'm a monster but then was in bed by about 22:30. Rock on! 

TTFN

26-01-01 - Thursday I - Happy New Year

It's the start of a new year, so that means it's time to resuscitate this excuse of a blog. New Year's Eve was fun with a couple of cocktails at home with TW and TL, then to bed at about 00:30 and swiftly to sleep. And that's the level in winning for in 2026... Happy New Year!

TTFN.

25-08-21 - Thursday I - A New Pad

Well, so you poor bastards are in for a treat. I've swapped my iPad for an Android tablet (Xiaomi Pad 7, if you must know) so that I can type more regularly and not have to learn those weird Apple shortcuts (I'm not sure they exist, tbh). That should mean that I start posting more regularly, but we all know that good intentions didn't necessarily end up in good outcomes. Although I'm not sure that more posting can be classed as a "good outcome". Anyway... 

I went to see YHWH Nailgun tonight. The support band were good. 

TTFN.

25-07-23 - Wednesday I - Oh Well

That didn’t work then… On Monday night I went to see Wet Let, a last-minute resold ticket at Chalk in Brighton. The ticket was for the early show, so I got there just after 5pm. I’ve not seen a queue like that before at Chalk; the line of people went all the way down to the seafront and around the casino. I was in just after 5:30pm, I guess, and it was already (over)crowded inside. 

I managed to get somewhere in the middle at the back, I was trying to get over to the right hand side but there was just no room. We stood there, packed in like sardines for 20 or 25 minutes and then the band came on at 6pm. They didn’t have much banter in between the songs, and since this was the album launch,  I didn’t know the songs either. To be fair, they did say that it was nice to be in Brighton, and they did thank us for making the album number 1 in the charts, but apart from that there wasn’t much. They did play “Chaise Longue” and a couple of other tracks which I half recognised. Then it was 6:45 and they left. Was that it? To be fair, they were playing a second show the same night, but the tickets weren’t noticeably cheaper for the early show, and I was left expecting something more. Still, I was home by 8pm, so I guess it’s swings and roundabouts… 

TTFN. 

25-07-20 - Sunday I - 100 Words pt I

So this is a challenge, to write 100 words per day about stuff. So far today I’ve been to see Mum in her care home and I’ve put some petrol in the car. Then I walked into town and dropped off some broken glasses at Specsavers. They want to charge me £17 for a new arm, which I am not sure is worth it, but then it’s always good to have a pair of specs as back-up - not really sure what to do. I do have until 10am tomorrow to decide whether to go ahead or not, so I guess we’ll see by then. 

It’s been a lovely sunny day in Worthing, I really enjoyed having a solitary beer at Level 1 earlier. I was able to make use of my Stubble & Co shoulder bag too, although I think that was a bad purchase - I was expecting a bigger bag. Well, I wasn’t “expecting” a bigger bag, I guess I just didn’t look at the dimensions before I bought it. I would have liked a shoulder bag I could have fitted my iPad, I guess. Still, that’s my fault for not really researching the bag before I bought it.

25-03-20 - Thursday I - Big Boys

Wow. Just finished watching Big Boys on Channel 4. What a lovely heart-warming comedy that was. Absolutely brilliant from start to finish. I am surprised I didn’t hear more about it; it was only as a throw-away comment on a podcast about the third series being shown that brought it to my attention - I guess that’s the nature of today’s fractured media landscape. Maybe it wasn’t aimed at 53-year old men, but I thought it was great. Go watch it - here.

24-12-30 - Monday I - Christmas in 326 Miles

On Christmas Eve we drove to the MiL's house up in Oxon, in a little village called Long Hanborough. We had a nice afternoon getting ready for actual Christmas in a different house and then cracked into Christmas there. Christmas was a quiet low-key affair, as we were celebrating with TW's Mum who is 80 and her partner who is 89. 

I got some nice presents including a lovely warm dressing gown and I think TW appreciated her gifts. 

On Boxing Day we drove to Bristol and celebrated with TW's family including the MiL & partner and TW's brother and sister and spouses and nephews. It was a lovely day, more celebrational than actual Christmas Day and unfortunately I overdid it slightly. 

On the 27th we girded our loins and drove back to Worthing on a very slow M4 - it took us five hours to get home but once we'd got off the M4 onto the A34 the traffic was more free-flowing. When we got home we watched three episodes from the first series of Gavin and Stacey as a family, which I really enjoyed.

The other thing of note worth mentioning was how still and how foggy it was for three days or so. Driving to Bristol we couldn't see the countryside and I was disappointed about that, and it was really quite mild - no need for heavy jackets at all. It was difficult to get a fire going in Long Hanborough because it was so still. 

It was a lovely four days though, and a great way to spend Christmas. 

TTFN.

24-12-18 - Wednesday I - A Birthday Trip to The White Horse, Chilgrove

Sunday 1st December, the day of my 53rd birthday, TW & I went to The White Horse in Chilgrove. We stopped in Chichester on the way and TW shopped for a few Christmas gifts at John Lewis and Home Sense, then drove on to Chilgrove.

We checked in and lay on the large double bed watching an FA cup game, which was a nice distraction. It was just the two of us, in the afternoon, with nothing to do except enjoy each others' company and pass the time until dinner.

Speaking of which, the food was lovely. I had rainbow trout with some horseradish loveliness to start, which was a departure for me. TW was planning to have steak for her main but because it was Sunday and they were doing roasts, steak wasn't on offer. So we had burgers and fries, which were delicious but not the experience we had planned. We had cocktails as well, which were delicious and refreshing,  and then shared a bottle of wine that could have been a bit colder. TW of course had a pudding which was delicious but would have been too much for me - I've always preferred "starter and main" rather than "starter, main & pud". The restaurant had a nice atmosphere, it was very relaxed, and I enjoyed the evening. We were tired from the previous evening so it was early to bed for us. 

Next morning my cold really started to develop, so we had breakfast which was again delicious - I chose eggs Benedict instead of a full English, another departure - and then we came home where I retired to bed for a couple of days. 

It's funny, I seem to remember not being floored by colds twenty years ago, but these days it really helps just to get into bed and watch some mindless Christmas films where concentration is only minimally required. And lots of lemsip and tissues, of course. 

So that was Birthday #53, let's see if #54 can top it!

TTFN.

24-11-30 - Saturday I - Lost Rucksack

I managed to lose my rucksack the other night. I was on the way home with TW and T, and we'd had a few drinks at the pub to celebrate T's birthday. I think TW needed a wee, or there was some other reason why I was distracted and wasn't thinking about my rucksack and belongings when I got off the train.

Anyway, it wasn't until we were just around the corner from home when I realised I didn't have it. I don't know what made me remember it at that point, maybe because I am normally wearing it when I come home from work? I certainly noticed it's absence then. 

I immediately jumped on Twitter and DMed @southernrailUK to ask if they could find it for me. We'd stopped at Morrisons so it was later than it could've been, and I wasn't particularly hopeful, but I had to try. When I woke up early the next morning (with extreme thirst) I noticed a new DM from Southern - timed at 2am - letting me know that a bag matching my rucksack's description had been handed in at Barnham.

When I'd washed and got ready, I caught the train to Barnham and collected it. And then felt rough for the rest of the day. But it just goes to show the power of social media; Southern Rail are there to help sometimes, not just be the butt of my daily commuter complaints. 

TTFN.

24-10-05 - Saturday I - What a Week

Well, that was a week and a half; Monday we were in Chi to see a play, Tuesday in Brighton to see Ezra Collective, and then tonight to see Arxx celebrate the release of their second album in Resident Music and dinner out afterwards at Wagamamas… 

The play was enjoyable, funny even, but once we got out of the theatre it was a bit difficult to describe what we had just watched. Was it a comedy? Was it a thriller? What did that bit mean? Overall I think, they tried to cram too many ideas into it, and so it ended up leaving not much impression at all.

 

Ezra Collective were very good, great music to dance to. The venue, Chalk in Brighton, was a sellout and so it was really busy. Actually it was difficult to find a space where there was room to dance, especially when some idiots insisted on wearing rucksacks in a crowded venue like that… Towards the end of the night I couldn’t shake the thought that if the drummer used brushes instead of sticks, and the keyboardist kept to major chords and didn’t “wig out” quite so often, we could have been listening to them on a Sunday afternoon in a rural pub somewhere - so it was a triumph for jazz, really. 

I’ve not been to an in-store before, so I didn’t know what to expect from Arxx. Obviously the album was released on the same day as the appearance, so I knew we would hear some tracks off the new album, but I didn’t know how long they would play, whether it would be an acoustic set, or anything really. But the opportunity to see some live music from a band I liked was too good to miss. So TW & I headed into Brighton to Resident Music to see what was up. The band played six or seven songs, and had a chat with the audience, and it was a nice intimate gig. Maybe a bit shorter than I would’ve liked, but then I guess that’s personal preference.

After the gig TW was hungry and so we went round the corner to Wagamama’s which was nice. I have avoided Wagamama’s because I did think I ordered badly - we’ve been a couple of times and I didn’t like what I had - but last night I had chicken yakitori and beef donburi. I did actually order chicken donburi, but the beef was delicious. So I am pleased we went. And we were out and walking up to the station before 9pm, which was refreshing. 

All in all, a busy week, but all good. 

TTFN. 

24-08-14 - Wednesday I - Riots

I like to think I'm a regular guy, but I abhor the recent riots in the UK. There is just no need for them. Or, if there is a need for them (and I think there might be), the root cause or trigger for the riots is not the basis that the rioters or the "mainstream media" think it is. 

Let me explain. 

There are people who can't get council housing. There are people who don't get swift police response when shit happens. I think a lot of people have experienced delays at hospitals and A&E departments. 

These things are not related to the (relatively) small number of people arriving on our shores "irregularly" in small boats.  

The fact that there is no social housing is attributable to the fact that there has been no investment in housing by central government. 

The reduction in police numbers and the "reprioritisation" of crimes has been attributable to the fact that there has been no investment in policing by central government. 

The delays in treatment in A&E has been attributable to the fact that there has been no investment in healthcare by central government. 

I am hoping that a change in government will change this, but actually I am very concerned by the early signals from the current Labour govt. They need to change the way they look at the economy, because if Rachel Reeves has the same approach as George Osborne, then to my mind there is no benefit in having a Labour govt. What I am hoping is that this is a moderate "don't startle the horses" beginning, before more radical policies are adopted. At least it looks like the union issues are being resolved, and speaking personally as a commuter that is a fantastic breakthrough. 

It's only been five weeks, let's wait and see, I guess?

TTFN. 

24-07-20 - Saturday I - Present Laughter @ Connaught Studios, Worthing, Thursday 18th July

Thursday evening took us to Connaught Studios to watch Present Laughter, a play by Noel Coward revived and starring Andrew Scott (he of Moriarty / Sherlock fame). 

It was a very funny play, I really enjoyed it. There were moments when it was all a bit too hysterical, the actors were screeching at each other, but I’m sure that was intentional. It was a view into a very niche bohemian way of life where people were awfully catty to each other but it didn’t really matter, they carried on anyway. And their love lives were very complicated; Garry (Scott) was married to Liz (Indira Varma) but sleeping with Joe Lypiatt (Enzo Cilenti). Joe’s wife Helen was having an affair with another woman. It was hard to keep track of what was going on, tbh. But that was half the fun. 

We have seen Indira Varma in a couple of filmed plays, one was The Seagull, which was a bit meta, and tbh I can’t remember the other. But she is always good value and she was in this play as well. 

It was a great night out and I think these plays filmed by the National Theatre are well worth going to see, even if the subject matter doesn’t look that interesting. It’s something a bit different from a Marvel film or the latest Mission Impossible. They normally leave you with something to think about, and I think that’s a good sign in an evening’s entertainment. 

TTFN. 

24-07-17 - Wednesday I - St Swithin’s Day

In order to be a writer you have to write, and so here I am. 

First up, I guess I should mention the Euros; England managed to lose in the final last night. There were some poor performances during the campaign and it was a bit of a surprise, to be honest, that we made it to the final at all, but once we had made it there was always the hope that we could win. However, it wasn’t to be. I think I’ve watched more football in the past four weeks than I have in the past four years - or it certainly feels like that. England had a good go at it, and probably played better in the final than they did all tournament, but it wasn’t good enough and Spain won. They were the better team, and had been the best team all tournament, tbh. 

The other item worthy of a mention is the assassination attempt on Trump on Sunday. I guess we have to call it an assassination attempt, since he was nearly killed. The weird thing is, his would-be assassin was a registered Republican voter. Of course he was immediately shot, so we might never know his motives. Oh well. 

Monday was St Swithin’s Day, which is supposed to signify 40 days of the same weather: if it rains on St Swithin’s Day, we are supposed to be in for 40 days of rain. And similarly, if it is dry, we can expect 40 days of good weather. So the legend goes. Anyway, it rained, and today has actually been a summery day. So that myth / old wives’ tale is clearly rubbish.