A Trip Up Chanctonbury Ring

This morning I had to wake two of the girls up at 07:20, which is unheard of, mostly. TW was sleeping in, because she had been in A&E until 2am (but that's another story), and to be honest I was starting to panic - how was I going to feed the girls and make sure that they had lunch with them before they left for school?
The reason was that we took a long walk up Chanctonbury Ring yesterday. We had discussed it on Friday night, when we were round at a friend's house; as it turned out, there were four families trekking up the hill yesterday afternoon. I was feeling a bit jaded, and thought a walk and some fresh air might do me some good. I was expecting a 45-minute stroll, and home for a nice cup of tea, but I was wrong. Two and a half hours later, we headed home.
It took about half an hour to get parked, because the car park was full, so we had to wait for a space before we set off. A family had come back to their car, but then decided to dry off the dog, and change their boots, and clean their footwear and take off their coats before vacating their space. That took about twenty minutes, and the hordes were getting impatient. But eventually we gathered and started up the hill. Apparently on Facebook it's classified as a mountain, but I don't think so. It was a bit steep at the start, but we found the rope swings and the children (ten of them) played for a while. The rope swing was a bit of a death trap, but everyone managed to survive, so we headed on with a full complement. The youngest then got a bit grumpy (he is only two) and he went back to the car with his mum. The rest of us headed on. It is quite a nice walk; it's noticeably steep, but it is through woodland, and at this time of year it's lovely. Lots of brown leaves blowing around our feet, falling off the trees. It was quiet and still, and we passed several families all walking their dogs on a warm autumn day.
Once we got through the woodland, we hit the South Downs Way. It was open fields then, and the wind was blowing something fierce. I had a coat with me, because I'm cautious like that, and I kept putting it on to keep the wind off and then taking it off because I was too hot. Ah well, some people, eh? We strode to the top and sat for a while, while the kids frolicked around and ate sweets.
We were quite proud of the fact that our three kids made it to the top without whinging. I guess because there were so many children with us, they were distracted and didn't realise how far they walked...
On the way back, someone suggested we go the steep way, as it was shorter and quicker. What I didn't realise was that it was a hell of a lot steeper, to the extent that when I kicked a couple of stones, they built up their own momentum, and didn't stop (I think) until they got to the bottom... I couldn't walk straight down the slope myself, I had to track horizontally across the incline and hold on to the trees as I went, to stop me falling over. Several of the group resorted to going down on their bums, which would have been the easier option, but I enjoyed the challenge, I suppose I have to admit. I am aching in several places I never knew existed though; I really need to exercise more often. And once we were back at the bottom, we headed back home for a tea of gammon, roast potatoes and cauliflower cheese (with yorkshire puddings, beans and carrots). A brilliant way to finish the day. And that explains why the kids were sleeping in this morning, I think...

An Afternoon of Rugby

So today we've not had any social plans, which has been nice. I had to go to Asda to replace a toaster, but after that, I've been able to watch some rugby. Earlier it was Sale Sharks vs. Munster, and it looked like Sale had it sewn up. But you can never discount Munster and they pulled themselves back into the game in the second half. Eventually they ended up winning by one point, with a dropgoal in the 81st minute. I really thought Sale had done enough to get through, but unfortunately not - what a gripping game!
After that, there were highlights of the Bleddisloe Cup, Australia vs. New Zealand. Again, as expected, it was an exhilarating game. New Zealand played close to the wind as they always do, but Australia matched them early doors and were ten points up at one stage. Then in the second half one of the Kiwis was sin-binned, but incredibly New Zealand upped the pace and forced the score. Then as we hit the 80 minute mark, New Zealand were in possession but six points behind. They managed to get the try and the extras, robbing Australia of the bragging rights. Again, it was a brilliant game and reminded me why I watch rugby.
There is a third match today, Northampton Saints vs. Racing Metro, but I'm not sure I will be able to watch it in full. Let's give it a go though...

Five Weapons (Image Comics)

I have just finished reading Five Weapons #10. What an excellent comic, and such a shame that it was cancelled at this point.
The first five issues were printed in 2013 and I picked those up from my local comic shop, Uncanny Comics in Worthing. I bought them because the guys in the store were big on Image at the time (and still are), and they knew what I liked and recommended it to me.
The second series started early in 2014 and again appeared to be a five-part series. This time, I missed that it was being printed and had to pick up all five parts off of eBay.
It's a great comic. I'd recommend it to anyone, even people who dismiss comics as being for kids (cough, cough, TW, I'm looking at you...). The artwork was bright and clear, lots of blue sky, thinking back on it. The set-up was just wonky enough to be slightly unreal - where would you find an assassin's school in real life? And there was a definite plot; once I got into the rhythm of the first issue, I was looking forward to the next instalment and the hero's encounter with the next weapon club.
Apparently the author thought he could get fifteen issues out of the story, to tell it completely; in Issue #10, the last two pages seemed rushed, so that he could close it out. Reading stuff on the web, though, he knew it was going to be cancelled and so tried to reach a conclusion. It's a bit of a shame, I might have preferred being left in mid-air.
But it's comics like this that make comic collection such a joy. You can discover really great stories out there, that you might never have found if you didn't go into the comic store at that particular time, on that particular day. Five Weapons almost reads like a Mark Millar book, it maintains the tempo and your interest and there is hardly a frame wasted; it's a real tour de force.
I'm sure that Five Weapons will remain a fave read, and I look forward to finding more gems from the same author, Jimmie Robinson.

eBay Rogue Sellers

Not a consumer advisory posting, merely an indication of how single-minded and irritable I can get.

You've probably guessed or inferred by now that I am a neophile. I love looking at and acquiring new things. I keep this manageable (mostly) by looking on eBay, lots. My favourite category, of course, is "Tablets and eReaders" - I keep thinking that surrounding myself with new tech toys will make me happy. Of course, what I am beginning to realise is that it's not actually having these devices, it's what you do with them. It's how you use them, they should be enablers, not items to be admired in their own right. In fact, they should be unobtrusive. So when my Chromebook freezes and needs to be restarted, that is a fail. But the situation we find ourselves in today is a combination of the consumerist culture we live in, and the beatification of new tech products; so we think that acquiring new tech will save our (basically empty and meaningless) lives, as well as proving to our peers that we are doing well for ourselves - we must therefore be happier and more content.

Anyway, there is a seller on eBay who sells hundreds of tablet cases. He/she (hereafter referred to as "they") must have some sort of automated program, because within seconds, the pages of the "tablet / eReader" category are flooded with adverts for these cases.
My problem, or issue with this, is that there is a perfectly good category in which tablet cases should be advertised. And that category, surprisingly, is "tablets & eReaders Accessories".
When I want to get vaguely aroused by looking at new Amazon Kindles and the latest Samsung eight inch tablets, and iPads that are completely out of my price range, I don't want to have to scroll past pages and pages of adverts for cases for said tablets.

So this morning I reported one case per page that I had to scroll through. I'm not sure that will have any effect whatsoever, but I must have scrolled through 12 pages of the "tablets / eReaders" category and I probably saw about three tablets. The rest of the listed items were cases sold by Ecell Accessorize. So eBay now have 12 reports of items for incorrect listing. I expect no-one ever normally looks at those reports, but I am hoping that the volume of reports might indicate that something is amiss.
Either that, or they will think that I have a personal vendatta against this seller and they will dismiss my reports as the twisted ravings of a bitter and spurned madman.
Let's see if the process works...

An Illness in the Family

Unfortunately The Youngest was ill this week. On Tuesday night we were all sitting in the living room after dinner, when she turned to TW and shouted, "Mum, I'm going to be sick!" So we told her to get upstairs to the bathroom, which she did, where she proceeded to vomit the most amount of vomit I think I've ever seen.
The Youngest is five years old, and I was very proud that a) she realised she was about to be sick, and b) she handled it really stoically.
Unfortunately she blew it later, when she was sick while she was still asleep, and she covered her bedsheets and duvet in vom. But the beginnings are there... Then she was sick several times more during more the night; a couple of times she came up to our bedroom to let us know she had been sick, but we shouldn't worry, and a couple of times she called us to help her.
These days, of course, if a child is ill, i.e., she vomits, she is not allowed to return to school for at least 48 hours. So that meant The Youngest was off school Wednesday and Thursday. I dashed into work at 6am on Wednesday morning to get my laptop, and worked from home that day. I actually got quite a bit done, I left TY in the living room watching telly, while I got to work in the kitchen.
Friday morning was quite funny; we had told her that of course she would be off school for two days. However, on Thursday night she still seemed a bit touch-and-go, so I brought my laptop home just in case she didn't go to school on Friday.
But it seems our fears were groundless, she came down to breakfast in her school uniform, and would brook no interference; when we asked if she was okay, or if she wanted to go to school, she was set on going in. Which was great, that meant that I got to go to work as per normal.
So that's been the major drama this week, there have been other smaller things but I might get to those later.
TTFN.