Tuesday 15-05-19 Tunisian Holiday I

So we went to Tunisia on holiday at the beginning of May. It was TW's idea, she realised that since the bank holiday and the General Election coincided in the same week, we could take the girls out of school and only miss eight sessions. At the moment, there is a bizarre scheme in place in our local education system where if you take your children out of school for more than five days without authorisation, you get fined. And of course, "holiday" is not a good enough reason to obtain approval. So we did tell them in advance that we were going to take the children out of school, and the school marked it as "unauthorised absence". TW had searched the internet thoroughly and found a holiday through Sunmasters, which came in at just over £1,000, which wasn't bad for the five of us. I'm sure that it would be at least double that during the school holidays. We were flying Monarch and staying at a hotel in Monastir called the Delphin Ribat. TW chose not to book any luggage into the hold during the flight, so we were restricted to 10kg each of hand luggage. Actually none of us packed more than 7kg, and that was with the children taking a cuddly toy each. Working to that limit really concentrates the mind, and we don't normally max out our luggage anyway - we normally pack the 23kg to book into the hold and travel light in the cabin. So I packed one pair of trousers, one pair of shorts, trunks, two short-sleeved shirts and a t-shirt and obviously had what I was wearing; trousers, a long-sleeved top and a jumper, and sandals. I chose to travel in sandals and was planning to wear them for the week, but unfortunately I developed a blister and had to switch to my back-up sandals after a couple of days.Anyway, we got to Gatwick in good time, this was to be the girls' first overseas holiday and TW wanted to make the most of the experience with them, so that meant immersing ourselves in Duty Free and generally having a good look around the airport. We booked the car into "Summer Special" car parking, with a special deal which meant it was only £40 for the week, which was cheaper than the train tickets would have been, and it was so straightforward - we booked online, they told us to turn up after a certain time, we left the keys with them and then jumped on the shuttle bus to the North terminal. It was really simple, and it's certainly a service we'll use in the future. We had a go on the inter-terminal shuttle train to get to the South Terminal, which I think they enjoyed; actually they enjoyed the whole thing. Then we checked in, and they told us that since the flight was busy, we could check in our luggage free of charge, if we so chose. Result! That saved us about £200, not that we needed to check it in, but it meant that we could wander the airport unencumbered by luggage which was threatening to kneecap or seriously disable unsuspecting members of the public. So of course we agreed, and then we skipped joyfully to the security checkpoint. It was there that we hit our first hurdle; although we took all our metallic items (coins, rings, phones, etc.) out of our pockets, our middle child pinged as she went through the scanners. She had to go into one of the new-fangled complete body scanners to be scanned in more depth. I think it was due to the sequins on her top, but she looked very worried as she went into the "scanning chamber" - she'll probably never wear that top again :). We had a look around airside, and went for lunch at Frankie and Benny's; I have to say it was great value, and maybe the kids enjoyed it more than Pizza Express. The portions were large, and the drinks were refillable, which is the main concern for our children, at least. I had the Full English breakfast which was delicious; the bacon was a bit dry but apart from that, it was a full plate of deliciousness. We had to stock up on sun tan lotion because we thought we were taking hand luggage only, and so we hadn't packed large bottles of sun tan lotion; TW went to Boots and picked up some of their own-brand stuff, which came with after sun too. And then it was time to fly. It was amazing how the time sped by, and suddenly we were in the air. More to come next time...

Thursday 15-04-30 Meh.

Meh.

So last night I got on the scales and weighed myself, and I'm up to 14 stone 10 lbs. That was fully dressed, but even this morning when I was wandering around my domain, lording it up naked, I still weighed in at 14 st 3 lbs.
No wonder I've been so lethargic recently. Life, it seems, has all been a bit "meh", and really it shouldn't be like that. I have a lovely lively wife and three beautiful girls, and I wasn't taking pleasure in any of them.
This week I've not been drinking, I thought that might help, and perhaps it has, but I think that when we get back from holiday I am going to have to take some serious action. I'm talking about running again, and keeping it up this time. I may even start going to the gym, I'm not sure if TW can still get me half-price membership, I'll have to check. I was looking in the mirror yesterday morning and I know I have a belly, right, there is no way I can be three stone overweight and not have a belly. But I noticed that I now have saddlebags too, above my hips and to the back? That's a new development I've not noticed before. So that's kind of like a call to action.
The trouble is that we go on holiday tomorrow, for a week, and so I'm not sure what state I'll come back in. Should I take an ascetic approach on holiday and live like a monk, watching my calories and limiting my booze intake? Or should I forget it all and pick it up when I come back? At which stage it'll be harder to achieve my aims, or it will take longer, at least.
Well, looking at that, it seems that I have answered my own question, and I have been thinking that I would limit my booze intake anyway, since the children will be with us. It seems like I shall probably do a lot of reading. Hopefully the children will be occupied with activity clubs, and TW & I can get some time to relax.

Sunday 15-04-19 Easter at Petworth

As part of our strategy to keep the children occupied and happy, on Saturday 4th April (the day before Easter Sunday) we went to Petworth with some friends and their kids. Petworth House is managed by the National Trust and they tend to do seasonal activities for the kids, which is nice.
Our girls immediately tried to climb up to the folly using quite a steep approach, and as it was still slightly wet underfoot, they ended up slipping and getting muddy within five minutes of getting there, the muppets.
This time the NT had arranged an egg hunt in the gardens of the house, which ended with them receiving a chocolate egg - quite sizeable it was too, but then it was £3 per child to take part, so fair's fair. It took quite a chunk of time, 40 minutes or so, during which the children were rushing here and there, and we didn't see them, which was nice. They were playing nicely with each other and rushing around trying to find the eggs, which were quite well-hidden. Once the hunt had finished, we walked down to the lake, and had our picnic at a building (possibly an old boathouse?) on the lake.
After lunch we went up to the house and wandered through the rooms and the kitchens. Again, the children loved it and played nicely with each other. A lovely day was had by all, really.
We finished the day off with fish and chips from Old Nick's, and that was another day down. I can't believe that we're already midway through April and almost a third of the year is gone. It's Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary today, 46 long and happy years. I hope TW & I manage as long, and longer even.
TTFN.

Saturday 15-04-17 A Trip to Knockhatch

So it was the Middle 'Un's birthday nearly three weeks ago. As a treat she asked to go to Knockhatch, which is an adventure playpark / petting farm over in East Sussex, near Polegate. She wouldn't have asked, except she was prompted by her older sister who went there last summer for a friend's birthday day out.
It was the 30th March and it was a little nippy, but we're a hardy bunch (or TW is, at least), and so off we went. It took about an hour to get there from Worthing, which isn't too bad, and they had a lot of parking. Tickets were £10 for the children and £8 for the adults, which seems only fair since it is an attraction for the kids and not the grown-ups. Someone very kindly gave us a twofer in the carpark, and so for me and TW, and four kids, it cost £36. The vouchers are apparently freely available on t'interwebs. There are a few attractions for which you have to pay £1 or £2 extra at entry, like Laser Quest and the "rock climbing", but we didn't bother with any of that. We did buy some animal feed, a beaker-full was 50p, which was well worth it when it came to feeding the animals.
When you get in, there is a barn close by with goats, sheep, llamas, donkeys, alpacas, all of whom you can feed, using the feed you just bought from the entry kiosk. I think it was The Eldest who got a bit squeamish and didn't manage to feed any animal, but even I had a go, so it was really not that scary at all. And the attendants were very engaged in caring for the animals, and talked enthusiastically about them all, which was good to see.
Next up was a barrel ride, where a tractor pulls a load of hollowed-out barrels on wheels, the girls quite enjoyed that. Then we went into the main part of the adventure playground.
They have a "demon drop" slide, which starts vertically, and then curves out to horizontal, the girls enjoyed that too; the Middle 'Un didn't quite get the courage to do that, and The Youngest took her time, but by the end we had to prise her off it! There was also a little "air chair" sedate fairground ride for the younger ones, and the more nervous ones, that had a height restriction.
They even have a Runaway Train Simulator, which the children loved but left me and TW feeling nauseous. I have no spatial awareness on those things, and so I was gripping the handrails and holding on grimly, although I'll bet that the simulator never tipped much at all; it was more the jerkiness of it which was unsettling.
After that, the main thing which occupied our kids was the Wave Runner waterslide. Basically, they went down a watery chute on a sled, and then skipped along a water-filled halfpipe, until they came out at the end onto dry land. There was a possibility that you could remain dry throughout, but it was a remote possibility at that. Although I took a change of clothes, I didn't go on it, but the girls were mad for it.
Which was handy, because TW & I were very interested in the bird display. We saw a Red Kite and several owls and the keepers at Knockhatch were very knowledgeable and engaging, explaining about their habitat and hunting practices.
And we even got to go on the boating lake (also included in the entry price), although I did keep steering into the bank. Practice makes perfect though; if we go back I shall definitely do that again.

All in all, it's a lovely place with few pretensions and there is enough there to keep the family entertained all day. I didn't even mention the indoor soft play area! In fact it was so good that TW took the kids there again the following week with a friend, while I was at work. I'd thoroughly recommend it for a day out, even if it does take a while to get there.
TTFN.

Friday 15-04-10 Range Appliances

So a couple if weeks ago I made a cake. It was a coffee and walnut cake, and it was delicious. TW had to rescue the icing on the top, because for some reason it curdled, but other than that, it was all my own creation, and I was very proud of it.
Unfortunately, while it was cooking, the oven exploded. Well, I say "exploded", it did make a popping sound, and although I was able to finish cooking the cake, the oven didn't work again. So it was time to call out the repair man.
We called out Range Appliances before, to replace our grill. We had been without a grill for about 18 months, and when we had our fuse box replaced, I asked those guys if they had anyone they could recommend. They mentioned Range Appliances, and I gave them a call. The main guy came, checked the part, gave me a price which was acceptable, and then he came back a couple of days later and replaced it. Brilliant service.
So, on this occasion, I had no hesitation in calling them again. The cooker blew up on the Sunday, I called them on the Monday, and they came out to look at it on the Tuesday. Then the guy gave me the price, £73, and said he could come back on the Thursday. So I got two days working from home, and we got our cooker fixed.
If anyone local needs some oven repair work done, I would recommend calling Range Appliances, they're brilliant.
My only regret is that my attempt at a joke, as the guy was leaving ("thanks ever so much, but I hope not to see you soon") fell a bit flat. But as TW says, I can't tell jokes, so it's not surprising really...

Friday 15-04-10 There's an Election Coming...

Unless you've had your head buried in the sand for the previous three months, you'll know that there is a general election in just under four weeks.  And what a mouth-watering, interesting few weeks we've got coming.
We've already had the "Leaders' Debate", which of course I watched. I zoned out a bit during parts of the debate, but overall I thought it was quite interesting.
There are more debates to come, and I believe Cameron and Militant are going to be on a Question Time type show, although not debating head to head.
And then there is the question of who to vote for... It's a bit of a moot point here in West Worthing, or it has been up until now, as Sir Bottomley is our sitting MP. But I have heard that Bob Smytherman is standing for the Lib Dems, and he used to be Mayor, so he might stand a chance of challenging Sir Peter.
I don't think I can vote Tory this time around, so I am trying to see what my options are. Cameron, whom I quite like, suggested that if the Tories get into power with a clear majority, they would freeze JSA (Job Seeker's Allowance), which would save £2bn. But at the same time they've raised the threshold at which taxpayers pay the higher rate of tax, which is costing approximately £2bn. So they are causing hardship for those who have to count their pennies, and they are rewarding those, or reducing the tax burden on those who have a bit extra and can probably afford to have their wings clipped a bit. And I include myself in that; I am acutely aware of where the higher-rate tax threshold is, since my salary is slightly higher than that threshold. But then I spend a lot of my salary on comics, and wine, and electronics. I don't have to juggle necessities, and decide whether I am going to eat well or heat the house. I don't have to go to loan companies like Brighthouse and get finance on unacceptable terms. I don't have to borrow from loan sharks and put my belongings and limbs at risk. If I was a bit short one month, I could just stay sober for longer, or more likely dip into the kids' savings - they have more tucked away than I do.
Of course, with inflation at close to zero, any increase in JSA would be minimal anyway, and he probably could have got away with saying nothing, and still not increasing JSA, but it's a "dog whistle" tactic, or a policy aimed squarely at the natural Tory voter, and despite the fact that I'm 43 and getting older, it seems a bit distasteful to me.
One of the other policies or beliefs that the Tories espouse is the "trickle-down" theory, that the super-rich benefit the rest of the nation through spending their wealth. And so newsagents see more business, restaurateurs take in more in earnings, etc. It's not a belief I share, and so again I can't vote for that.
As I've said previously, West Worthing is a Tory stronghold, but they have a strong Lib Dem presence on the council, so Lib Dems might be the way to go. I'm certainly not going to vote UKIP, that's for sure :-D.
We'll see how it goes, I will have to make up my mind soon-ish. I am looking forward to the horse-trading which will happen after the election; I think that will be the most interesting and convoluted part.
Tally-ho!

Monday 15-04-06 Richard Herring @ The Ropetackle (Saturday 28th March)

So, the night after I went to see Courtney Barnett, and TW went to see Murdoch's Crazy Eyes, we treated ourselves to a second night of 'cultcha'. I've been a long-time fan of Richard Herring, I remember being blown away by TMWRNJ, and apparently it might be out on DVD this year. I've listened to his Leicester Square Theatre podcasts, AIOTM, and the Collings and Herrin chats. I've bought a couple of his DVDs and I even pay (more than) a pound a month to support his wacky and way-out internet-based ventures which are bound to end in disaster.
So when I heard he was coming to the Ropetackle Arts Centre, I was overjoyed. I bought tickets for myself and TW in a wild act of celebration, and then sat back and waited for the date to roll around.
I like the Ropetackle. It's staffed by ageing volunteers who do a damned fine job, while still leaving it a little rough around the edges. They let you pick up tickets on the door, and they serve Long Man beers, which are locally brewed, so it's all good. We turned up and the guy on the desk spent a minute or two searching for our tickets before admitting defeat and printing off two new tickets for us. The couple before us had experienced the same issue, so I think we got our tickets slightly more quickly; the guy behind the counter was muttering darkly about having a chat with someone as he handed our tickets over. We bumped into some friends so sat with them as we nursed our soft drinks; I still felt a bit fragile from the previous night, and TW was driving, so we were both on the wagon.
Then it was time to go in, so we filed in and sat near the back. Herring was a few minutes late on, apparently this was because he hadn't done his local research, the slacker. Overall I enjoyed the show. It was good, but in parts it seemed like he was reciting a speech. The bits where he freestyled, about Shoreham-BY-Sea, and chatted to a harp player in the front row were more sparky. But it was a heart-warming show, especially the finale. Now that he's married and a father, it seems that he is enjoying life, and that certainly came through. As I say, I enjoyed it, and I would recommend going to see him if you get the opportunity. I think he's added a date in Worthing, here. It would be an interesting experiment to go and see him again, to see whether the show was different at all. But I think I shan't.
We got out of the performance pretty quickly, being at the back, and Rich walked past us. He really is very short. I'm not tall, weighing in at 5' 8", but I reckon I towered over him. He was busy setting up his stall, and TW asked if I was going to get my programmed signed, but I chose not to. And then he was swamped and there was no chance. Maybe next tour? We'll see. So we got out sharpish, got back to the car, and drove home. We stopped for sandwiches at Tesco once we got back to Worthing, and relieved my baby-sitting parents, and normality resumed.

Saturday 15-04-04 Leaders' Debate

So I watched the Leaders' Debate on Thursday night. It wasn't very illuminating. No particular leader punched through as a clear leader.
The Welsh leader spoke to her Welsh audience; I don't think she had a "national" message aimed at including England and Scotland.
The Scottish leader, Nicola Sturgeon, did okay, at least she tried to aim her message at the whole of the UK and not just Scotland.
Natalie Bennett did okay for the Greens, I think she was debating at a slower, more low-energy level of debate. Which suited her, and I think suited a lot of the viewers.
TW said that Nick Clegg did okay, but as damaged goods, the Lib Dems are a losing proposition.
In my view, Miliband looked out of sorts, and Cameron (as current PM, let's not forget) did not impress.
So I think this debate was a showcase for the "minor" parties; and as others have argued. the major parties are sitting in a winning position and can only lose from these types of debates.

And I've not mentioned UKIP; their discourse is on a completely different level which is a foreign language to me. But I would say that Farage's comments on "heath tourism" and AIDS are worth viewing if you want to see a black & white view on things.

All in all, as I said, there was no breakthrough winner in the debate on Thursday night. I guess we will need to wait for more to come over the coming weeks if there is to be a voting groundswell in any particular direction... It'll be interesting to watch the next few weeks, however things turn out...

Friday 15--04-03 Courtney Barnett @ The Concorde II, Brighton

A week ago I saw Courtney Barnett at The Concorde II in Brighton. I was at work during the day and decided to stay in town as the doors opened at 7pm and I thought that as it was a Friday, there was likely to be a club night, and so Courtney would be on early.
I started at the Great Eastern, and as soon as I walked in I was assailed by that old pub smell of stale spilt beer. It was a comforting smell, bringing back good memories of the Peds and the Park Crescent. I enjoyed my pint, and moved on to William IVth. I had another there, and then caught the bus out towards the end of Kemptown and the Bristol Arms.
By then it had gone 7pm, so I wended my way to the Concorde and started watching the music. There were two support acts, the first of which was Fraser Gorman, who was a good fella. He had a good rapport with the crowd (as small as it was, at that stage), and he had some good tunes. He did say that he was planning to come back with a full band for The Great Escape, I think he's one to watch, especially if  the record labels start looking for "the next Courtney Barnett" - although, of course, he's not a woman.
The second support was called Spring King, and their lead singer was the drummer, which was an unusual twist. They were a bit punky, which was offset by the rest of the band doing some really good harmonising, which was really nice. I had a couple of beers watching the supports, and then it was time for the main event.
Courtney Barnett came on with her band and she rocked it. I don't know that there is much more to say. She has just released her debut album, but she has previously released a double EP, which was almost as good as an album. Anyway, I only bought the album last Wednesday, and only listened to it once before going to see her promote it. Each track is brilliant, with perhaps "Pedestrian At Best" being the stand-out track, although I think that other tracks will grow on me more. She played all the good 'uns, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, although to be fair I was more drunk than I intended to be. Next time I shall ensure I stop off for a dirty burger or some other guilty pleasure rather than hit the booze straight away. She is certainly worth watching again, and I hope she comes back to Brighton at some point in the near future. Recommended.

Sunday 15-03-29 KitKat for the Huawei MediaPad M1 8.0

I took a leap of faith the other day. It was either brave, or foolhardy, and I haven’t yet decided which. Just before Christmas I bought a Huawei MediaPad M1 8.0 off of eBay, and I have been loving it.

I have caught up with series 2 of Arrow on there, and am planning to start watching The Wire series 2 (again) as well. I read articles I have saved to Pocket, as well as The Week and tablet editions of the Daily Telegraph.

One thing has been bugging me though; it wasn’t operating on the latest version of Android. Lollipop is only just out, so I am not expecting it to use that, however it would be nice if it was running on KitKat. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the tablet, I am just a neophile.

So I did my usual; I started visiting the XDA forums. Folk were talking about rooting the MediaPad, which I didn't see the need for, as there are no custom ROMs available. But there was mention of KitKat, or a KitKat version, available on a Baidu server somewhere in China. The XDA link is here, and the Baidu page is here. I tried to download the package from the Mega mirror, but after taking an age to download, the website advised that the "file is empty", so that was gutting.

Then I found something on a Russian website, which said it was for the S8-303L, which I thought was a naming error, so I downloaded that and tried to install it. I should clarify at this stage my tablet's model is S8-301LV. You need to be very careful with the naming, as there are several similarly-named versions out there. You have to do some extra stuff with the ROM, like extract the "dload" folder and paste that into the tablet's SD card. Then the download process will recognise that a new version is available. With the Russian 303L version, it started performing its checks and then advised that it couldn't be installed. Maybe there is actually a S8-303L model, it may be a Russian variant? I also saw someone asking if there was an update for a S8-306L, so maybe there are a couple of different regional variants...?

So, emboldened by the fact that the tablet performed some checks itself before installing the software, I went back to the Baidu webpage and downloaded the zip file. It took an age, but once I had downloaded it, I started the install process. I extracted the dload folder, and then transferred it onto the tablet. Then I ran the local update process.

My heart was in my mouth as the familiar black screen appeared, displaying the green android figure. The various milestones ticked by pretty quickly: checking system, writing modem, flashing etc. Then it got to "writing system", which took an age, and I was worried that I had bricked it. But eventually that message cleared (probably after only 90 seconds), and the tablet rebooted.

I could see instantly that there was a difference; the splash page had a big "Powered by Android" message at the bottom, which I don't think was on the previous version. Then it took a while for the homepage to appear, but it did.

I was relieved; I was prepared to end up with a brick. The tablet only cost me £65 off eBay, so if I did destroy it, I wouldn't have lost much. But someone on XDA had written that it had worked for them, so I was hopeful that it would work. An additional benefit is that voice calling is enabled in the update, I swapped the SIM out of my phone and tested it.

A slight downer is that people are now reporting that an OTA (automatic Over The Air) package is available, and I am slightly worried that the version I have downloaded and installed might not be on the update path, so I may be stuck on KitKat for a while. But, we'll wait and see how things turn out. So the update is good, but if you are considering installing it, you might want to wait to see whether you get the OTA.

Good luck, people!

Wednesday 15-03-25 Southern Cross

Last week I was mostly reading Southern Cross, a new story published by Image. No sauciness this week, it is the story of a woman headed towards a space station to find out how her sister died. 

It reminds me of the opening plot of Roche Limit, to be fair. But the artwork is great, the big scenes are suggestive, rather than detailed, and the living conditions on the spaceship are quite grim, not at all futuristic. In fact it is reminiscent of working one's passage in steerage, not that I've ever done that, but the heroine lives below decks and there is a scene where she goes to eat in the mess, and it is clear that the others there are workers on the ship. I'm looking forward to reading more...

Sunday 15-03-22 Coffee and Walnut Cake

So a couple of days ago I was round at a friend's house and she served up some coffee and walnut cake that her mum had made. It was delicious. I had enjoyed a slice of coffee cake a few days before that as well, I think it was probably last week, people at work made cakes for Comic Relief. Anyway, it got me to thinking, maybe I should have a go at making one.
So on Friday night, I mentioned to TW that I was considering making a cake, which took her by surprise, since most of the time I would be hard-pressed to tell you where the kitchen is, let alone use anything in it to make a cake. At least, that would be your impression if you listened to her...
She popped to Lidl yesterday and picked up some walnuts, and told me that this afternoon I would be making a coffee and walnut cake. I protested, advising that I hadn't told her when I was going to make it, and I hadn't even decided that I was going to make one at all, it was just an ambition.
But as it turned out, she headed into town with the Eldest, and the younger two were out playing, so I got the recipe from the BBC website and read it through. I got on with it, mixing and blending. The recipe said it would take about 30 mins of prep, and 30 mins to cook, and that's what it took me, so I must be getting better...! I did have to phone TW and ask about greasing and lining the cake tins, but apart from that it was quite straightforward. When making the buttercream, unfortunately it curdled, and TW helped me out with the blender. But apart from that, it was all my own work.
We tucked into it immediately after taking the pictures above, and it was delicious. I thought that maybe the crust was a bit hard, but the cake was lovely, light and moist. I'm quite pleased with my efforts, and maybe next time I'll have a go at something savoury - if I can find the kitchen, that is...

Sunday 15-03-22 Six Nations 2015 - The Final Round

And so it came down to the final set of games to decide the overall winner of the Six Nations 2015. England, Wales and Ireland had all lost only one game, and so they were the three teams in contention. Although, to be fair, Wales's points difference was atrocious, and they would have to put on at least 40 points against Italy to even draw level with England and Ireland.
I was looking forward to the afternoon, but I was dreading it as well; I've watched three rugby matches in a row before, and I got rugbied out - I was hoping that wasn't going to happen again. And I would have to pause the matches to take TW into town to watch Hairspray at the end of the first match...
So the Italian-Welsh game kicked off at 12:30 in Rome, and it seemed to be a bit of a slow burner. Italy took the lead with a penalty, and then kept inching slowly ahead of Wales until at half-time Wales were one point up, and the score was 13-14. In the second half, Wales came out and scored two quick tries, to start taking the game away from Italy. And then they increased the pace, in a truly dazzling display, to add 47 points in total in the second half. Italy scored a consolation try at the end to take their tally to 20, and the final score was 20-61. The Welsh gave it their all and confirmed their brilliance in execution, and Italy fell apart, it has to be said.
In scoring their 61 points, Wales had gone past both Ireland and England, so both teams had to perform in order to win on points difference. Ireland beat Scotland, which frankly wasn't a surprise, but Scotland played some good rugby. The final score was 10-40, and so that left England having to beat France by 26 points.
England played well, and scored early, but then gave away a few penalties and the initiative. France came back and took the lead, before England reasserted themselves. They came close, and there were a lot of points scored, but unfortunately England were a converted try short. They beat France by 20 points and the final score was 55-35. That meant that Ireland were crowned Six Nations winners. England left the field dejected, but I think that the Six Nations result obscured the fact that we beat France by 20 points, and properly dominated the game for the most part.
It was an exhilarating afternoon of rugby and an excellent advert for the game. I shouted myself hoarse during the England match, and drank a number of beers as well. My nerves were shredded, and we ended up going to bed early.
A great day.

Saturday 15-03-21 The Newsroom

So I have just finished watching The Newsroom, an absolutely brilliant TV series from the pen of Aaron Sorkin, who also wrote The West Wing. This third series took long enough coming, and it was only six episodes long, but it was perfectly crafted, and worth the wait.
Jeff Daniels (pictured above) was a strange choice for the main role, I thought initially, but he was fantastic in role, and all the players acquitted themselves well. Maybe it was the snappy dialogue, maybe it was the intricate plotting, maybe it was the Don Quixote references. The story was pretty similar to The West Wing, i.e., a bunch of liberal journos fighting against the injustices of the world, but it was done in an awe-inspiring, fast-moving, glitzy kind of way.
I've been watching Arrow recently, and I only bring Arrow in to contrast against the self-effacing nature of The Newsroom. Arrow is full of pomp and overblown histrionics; I was watching it recently and took myself out of the narrative, to look at it one step removed. The music was surging, the characters were reciting dialogue that no-one in the real world would ever say, and it kind of ruined it for me slightly. I enjoy it still, but I think The Newsroom is better written.
The Newsroom is different, in that the dialogue flows by so quickly that if you don't pay attention, you've missed a vital plot twist. The characters are all modest, and although of course it's unrealistic, it shows a world I'd quite like to live in, where everyone has a snappy comeback and is intent on making the world a better place.
The romance between Jim and Maggie was a main thread in the first series, and I'm glad that it was revisited in the third series. I have to say though that Olivia Munn pulled off an absolute stunner as Sloan Sabbith. All the characters were great; Sam Waterston as Charlie was a tour de force, and Jane Fonda as well put in a strong performance when she appeared.

Basically what I'm saying is that I recommend it. It's reminiscent of The West Wing, and full of snappy dialogue and a strong ensemble performance.

Friday 15-03-20 Tyrant

So this week I have mostly been watching Tyrant. It's a TV show about an American doctor whose family happens to be a bunch of Middle Eastern dictators. The American doctor heads back to his home country for his nephew's wedding, and then he gets caught up in the domestic politics of the country.
Apparently it's by the same team who did Homeland, which I still haven't seen, but it is becoming more interesting by the episode.
Tonight we had a guest and so I missed the double episode phenomenon that we've enjoyed over the last couple of nights, but I'm hoping we'll get back to normal tomorrow night. But having thought about it, tomorrow night will be after the conclusion of the Six Nations, I'm not sure I will be fit for much. We'll have to see how it goes.

Warning! Warning! Tunisian Attack!

So, regretfully, the Bardo Museum was attacked by those mindless Islamic fundamentalists:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/18/eight-people-killed-in-attack-on-tunisia-bardo-museum

It won't stop us going on holiday to Tunisia though, we're going on May 1st for a few days with the kids. Still looking forward to it.

15-03-08 Fiction Squad

I can't let today go by without mentioning Fiction Squad. Fiction Squad is a six-part series from BOOM Studios, and it was pretty good stuff.

The central conceit is that a down-at-heel P.I. (think someone from a Raymond Chandler novel) is investigating crimes in NurseryLand - but every rhyme is a crime scene. Humpty Dumpty gets knocked off a wall and the P.I. needs to solve the crime. The trouble is, his partner is Simple Simon, who lives up to his name. So he is pretty much on his own. There are some really nice bits of story, where particular nursery rhymes are referred to and invoked. 

The story was very clever, the artwork suits the Nursery Rhyme theme of the story, and we also see the down-at-heel P.I., so there are really good variances in light and shade throughout the story. 

Having said that, I'm unlikely to read the story again, so I've listed it on eBay. If anyone wants it, let me know. 

TTFN.

The Week Magazine

So yesterday, I bought a newspaper, and amongst all the junk adverts inside, advertising rubbish, was a small slip of paper advertising The Week. The offer was for one free issue, as well as a USB memory stick, and I think we all know my weakness for memory sticks. Anyway, it's been a while since I read The Week, so I thought I would give it a go. Their advertising schtick is that it only takes an hour to read their magazine cover to cover, and then you are caught up on the week's essential news.
So I gave the chap my details; name, address, email, etc. All well and good. Then he tried to sell me an extra five editions, for the princely sum of £1. I politely declined, and expected that to be the end of the matter. "Oh, come on, Rob, you can't buy anything for a pound these days. Isn't that very reasonable?" Well, thank you for your offer, but no thank you. "Just to let you know Rob, when we've carried out surveys from our previous promotions, the common complaint was that one issue wasn't enough of a taster for our readers. So that's why we're now offering this additional five copies for just £1. It's a bit of a no-brainer, really, Rob. Think about what you can normally buy for one pound, Rob, it seems very reasonable." Well, no. I wasn't interested, thank you. I rang up because there was an offer of a free copy of The Week, not a free copy of The Week and the Hard Sell. I was very close to letting the kind gentleman with the Hard Sell that he could take his free issue and shove it, that I wasn't interested. But finally he took the hint, that wasn't actually a hint at all, but rather a bald statement of fact: "I'm not interested in making any further commitment today. I'll read the FREE issue which you are going to send and see how I feel after that."
So I am now waiting for my free issue to arrive. Obviously the hope is that readers sign up to the "Five for £1" offer and forget to cancel. The issues normally cost £3.10, but the subscription on a quarterly basis is ~£27. There is quite a big jump between 20p an issue and £3.10 an issue.

The funny thing is, when I looked up their website for this blog entry, I noticed that they are offering SIX free issues. So I have signed up. I have handed over my bank details, and I will be careful to ensure that I cancel my subscription before it starts costing me any money. It turns out that the joke is on them; if they had been slightly more relaxed on the phone, they might have got an extra pound out of me. But as it is, I will get an extra five issues out of them for absolutely nothing.

Pussycats #0

This week I have mostly been reading Pussycats #0.

I didn't get the gist of the story, but I think the comic might be important as it's the first porn crossover comic I've seen. I've only been collecting comics for about six years, so I'm sure someone has tried this before; after all, there's nothing new under the sun, right? But this comic has some pretty big names backing it - Karen Summer, Priya Anjali Rai, and Tanya Tate to name but three. Those links are all NSFW (Not Safe For Work), by the way. 

The comic itself is a black-and-white line drawing affair, with a few panels depicting women in lingerie or actually having sex. I was a bit confused after reading it, as I wasn't sure who was who, but I'm hoping that might shake itself out in later issues; this is #0 of 4.

Other honourable mentions must go to Descender and Suiciders, both of which I'm looking forward to reading more of:

Suiciders looks like a good read, the artwork is good and the juxtaposition of the different narrative threads works well 

Descender is a different affair, set in a future where robots are classed as living, and humans have been (more or less) wiped out. 

Both titles have started strongly and I'm sure will reward further reading. 

Saturday 15-02-28 Chromebook Envy

Strange as it may seem, I am beginning to get chromebook envy. I am typing this on a Samsung Chromebook, but I am jealous of the 'books with more processing RAM and more capability. I believe I've said it before, but I am an unrepentant neophile - just call me "bleeding edge" Thorley.
Not that anyone is likely to sell me a chromebook / PC for £15 - that's all I'm prepared to bid - PCs are a commodity and the lower someone is prepared to go in selling one, the lower I am prepared to go in buying one. What can I say? I'm a miser.
Anyway, must be bedtime xxx...

Saturday 15-02-21 - James Acaster in Worthing

Last night TW & I went to see James Acaster at the Connaught Studio in Worthing. It was part of Matt's Comedy Club, a regular night in Worthing which has been going for a few years now.
James was supported by Jay Foreman, who is a musical comedian. He is actually Beardyman's brother, which I didn't know until I looked him up on Wikipedia just before the show. And it showed, he did some really clever stuff (which was also funny) with his guitar and the songs during the show.
The night started with three local comics who each had a short slot. The funniest of these was a passive-aggressive housewife called Lindy Larkin, she came across like Alison Steadman in Abigail's Party, and she had some really sharp lines.
Then Jay came on, and sang some songs. They were light, witty and enjoyable. He had a couple of more eccentric jokes, and the John Lennon song was brilliant, I thought. The half-hour or so that he was on sped by.
Then it was time for the interval. TW went and bought a CD from Jay, and as she does, they got talking. She told him that we'd been to see Beardyman, and they had a nice chat. And then, it was time for the main event.
I was looking forward to seeing James, I'd seen him on a couple of TV shows, and Richard Herring interviewed him last year and bigs him up a lot, as part of the new generation of comics coming through. His show was likeable enough, and he is certainly a likeable fellow. He plays a lot on his geekiness / awkwardness and the way he interprets other people's behaviour (in the show) is cleverly wrong. The show really sparked when he accidentally swore. To explain, Matt's Comedy Club is a "family friendly" event, and so they must have asked the comedians not to swear. I'm sure they wouldn't have asked Frankie Boyle to perform, for instance. James coped well, I'm not sure that his act involves much swearing anyway, but he accidentally swore anyway, and there followed a moment or two of inspired lunacy, the act began to take off. The finale was odd, but funny, and all the way through it seemed to be building to something, but never quite getting there.
It was a good evening, and I'm glad I went, it was good to have time out with TW, even if we were both hanging and tired. That may have affected my enjoyment of the evening, but there were great bits there, little nuggets of brilliance.
This morning we played Jay Foreman's CD to the girls and they really enjoyed it. We have a permanent memento of the evening, as well as the memory of the laughter, and of course next time we see any of them on the TV, we'll be able to say we were there and we saw them...

15-02-14 Valentine's Day (Part 1)

I don't do Valentine's Day, and nor does TW. Her issue is, why should there be a specific day set aside for being 'mantic with your partner? Should we need to diarise it?
So we exchange cards, mostly. Her mother and grandmother are probably going to be here all day, so there isn't the opportunity for a grand romantic gesture, even if I were that way inclined.
But it's probably worth taking some time out of our hectic schedules, looking after three girls and working and tidying the house, and meeting friends and sleeping and eating... to appreciate each other just a bit. To spend some time together, not on the sofa watching crap telly in companionable silence.
We went out for an evening together at the end of January, and we should probably do the same again, probably at the end of the month. In fact, I might try and make it a monthly event, wouldn't that be nice?

Saturday 15-02-14 Cricket World Cup Australia vs England

Just a quick thought on this... I initially thought that actually, if the umpire had declared lbw, Anderson was right to give up and therefore his stumping was due to the umpire's decision. If the umpire's decision was wrong, or classed as wrong after the fact, the ball should have been called dead or replayed. Unfortunately, on the field, the run out was given. I came to the conclusion that because Australia had continued playing, and Anderson had stopped, actually Australia were in the right and they had won the game correctly.
Later the laws were clarified and the ball should have been called dead, but by then it was too late. Taylor missed  out on his century, which was the main issue. With eight overs to go, England would never have won, let alone survived, so it would not have been a big deal to replay the ball.
England were never going to win but it would have been good for Taylor.
I expect that with review systems and video replays, etc., it will go towards my view on things, where the ball will be played and all sides will have to play until the ball is called dead, then the video refs can review the play and determine if any foul or notable play occurred.
Now, lets see the highlights on ITV...

Friday 15-02-13 Portsmouth Docks

Whenever I think about docks, I am reminded of the Blackadder scene with Rowan Atkinson and Tony "Time Team" Robinson. There is always a slightly seedy, tawdry feel to it.
That is so not the case with Portsmouth Docks, they are a testament to the naval history of the UK.
It was an INSET day at school, so I took a day off and we headed to Portsmouth. The docks are a short walk from the Portsmouth Harbour train station, so it was easy to get there. Also it is a short walk to Gunwharf Quays, and on the way back TW was threatening a detour, but luckily that never materialised.
The entry ticket costs a fair bit, about £55, I think, but that gives you entry to the docks for a year, so we will be able to go back during the summer and do the bits we missed yesterday.
We first went onto the Warrior, a ship built in 1860, and the engineering and vision utilised in building such a ship was amazing. The ship was bristling with cannon, and some of those weighed six tonnes. The fact that the ship was still floating and not at the bottom of the ocean was quite remarkable. Of course, the living conditions "enjoyed" by the men onboard were horrific, but the things they achieved were awe-inspiring. The way they lived together, and relied on each other, was amazing. Certainly there would be no opportunity for introspection or "me" time. Even if they did get a moment to themselves, they would be assaulted by their own stench, or the worry that they would be punished for some reason by the officers or the bosun.
I was impressed by the many uses of the hammock; in addition to a sleeping-place, it could be used to protect from shrapnel (when wrapped up and stored in the splinter nets topside), it was also a bouyancy device, i.e., it could be used as a life-raft for 12-14 hours, and it would also, for those unlucky enough to die at sea, be used as their coffin. A cannonball would be set at the corpse's feet, and the hammock would be sewn up around the body, and the last stitch, known as the "dead man's stitch" would go through the corpse's nose, to ensure a) that the corpse was indeed a corpse, and b) that the body didn't float free once the hammock was pitched over the side. Because some of the crew were pressganged into service, they would take any opportunity to escape, even if that meant pretending to be dead. The dead man's stitch would provoke a response from any body not already a corpse :) .
As well as learning about the naval practices and living conditions of the day, we learned about the origins of sayings. For instance, "not enough room to swing a cat" refers to the basic punishment tool of the day, the cat o' nine tails. That was the lash, basically. Apparently if someone was punished by the cat o' nine tails, in a lot of instances they had to make their own cat, which would be particularly galling. "Let the cat out of the bag" is another relating to the same, the cat was always taken up in a bag, and when it was taken out, something bad was going to happen. I don't think it means the same these days, I think now it means to reveal a secret, although not with dire consequences.
Later we also learned the origins of "cock-up" which isn't rude as you might imagine. I was quite disappointed. It is from archery, and the fact that the "cock feather" is a different colour to the other two and should always be at a 90-degree angle pointing away from the bow. If the cock feather is pointing up, the arrow won't fly properly, and so a mistake is referred to as a "cock-up".
We had a picnic which we took with us, so we sat outside in the cold and the rain in the middle of February, eating our sandwiches. At that point I was ready to come home, but we were under a canvas outside the Mary Rose museum, so although it was raining around us, we weren't actually getting wet.
The Mary Rose museum was brilliant, very well done. There was one point where I was looking at a skeleton, and they had an "artist's impression" of what the archer might have looked like. I had quite a surprise as it looked as though the archer was looking at me - I'm not sure whether that was a little joke by the museum curators, but it put the wind up me for a minute or two.
Then we went to the Victory, and had a guided tour around that. The guide was very knowledgeable, but it seemed he was rushing through his presentation. To be fair though, I think there was a tour behind us as well, so he probably wanted to ensure he was keeping ahead. The majesty of Nelson's quarters was impressive, and the noise and the hullabaloo that the sailors below decks must have suffered during battle was also equally impressive.
We didn't have time to see the submarine, or the boats out to the submarine weren't running, and there were several museums we didn't go into. There is also a boat trip around the docks which we didn't take, so there is still lots for us to do the next time we go back.
The girls really enjoyed it, and that's the second time they've been. Maybe next time we'll split the day between the Docks and Gunwharf Quays - at least, that might appeal to TW.

...and the Six Nations Rolls Around Again

So last night was the start of the Six Nations 2015, and the opening match was Wales vs. England at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The kids were up in bed, TW was out for the evening, and I was ensconced in the living room with a bottle of red wine. Work was done for the day, I had taken off my suit (we had had visitors) and I was relaxed.
The build-up to the match was sensational; they turned off the lights in the stadium and had a brilliant light show. England refused to come out on to the pitch because they thought that Wales would keep them waiting, and as it turned out there were more fireworks and build-up before the Welsh team emerged. The match started, eventually, and things went Wales's way, they were very quickly ten points up. England scored a try to pull back five points, Mike Brown put in a lovely little grubber kick which was picked up by Watson for the try.
The rest of the half was enthralling, they played hard and fast, Wales put on another two penalties, and England took one, so that the score was 13-8 as half-time approached. Wales were pushing hard, and on the last play before half-time they dropped a goal to go 16-8 up. What a threatening way to finish the half, and I was gutted.
However, it seemed that a different England team came out of the changing room after half-time. They upped the tempo, and Wales were on the back foot, scrambling to get back and defend in an organised manner. Within five minutes of the restart, England had another try, Joseph slipped a tackle and was clear, he crossed the line and ran it back to almost under the posts, making the conversion simple for Ford. England were in touching distance, at 16-15.
It was a tense twenty minutes before there was another score, England took a penalty to go 16-18 up; it was a start, but the match was nowhere near won, and there was still fifteen minutes to go. If I had any nails, I would have been biting them, and I was hugging myself and gently rocking, hoping against hope that England might hold out against Wales. I was worried that they would suddenly get a second wind and take the game away from England. As it was, England scored again, which broke the tension, but then it was disallowed because Easter had over-run the ball, and obstructed the game. Gutted! The score was back to 16-18. Haskell as well, made it as far as the line, but was prevented from scoring by the goalposts. He tried to deposit the ball at the base of the posts, which would have been a try, but it didn't work out. England were in the ascendancy, but they just couldn't turn their advantage into points on the board. It could still have gone Wales' way; all they needed was a quick break and they could have been home free.
In the last minute of the game, Ford took another three points and England were 16-21 up. It wasn't possible for Wales to win from there, but they played out the game. It was a tense game, I was tense for the full 80 minutes, and it was as though we were on a tightrope, teetering high and liable to crash out at any point. What a great game, both sides gave it their all, I thought, and it was a great way to start the tournament. The icing on the cake was the win for England.
With the wine drained, and the excitement levels slowly returning to normal, I headed off to bed. I am looking forward to seeing today's matches, although I think TW might have something to say about that...

J Mascis at The Haunt, Brighton, 9th Jan 2015

So I was looking forward to this. I'd bought the ticket ages ago, back in October. I stayed late at work, and wandered in to town slowly, taking in a stop at Burger King on the way. I also popped in to the Goldfish Bowl for a lemonade, and then it was past seven p.m., and the doors were open.
I took one last look at my confirmation email, and noticed the following advice: "Please print this email and bring it with you to the event..." Whoops, I had imagined we were in the 21st century, and print-outs were no longer required. I began running through scenarios in my head where I was refused entry; it was early enough that I was sure if I put my mind to it, I would be able to obtain a print-out... But where would I go? Could I find someone back in the office? Or would I have to go into a convenience store and pay a couple of pounds for use of their PC and printer? Or was there an internet cafe open somewhere nearby? As it was, I walked up to the door staff, waved my phone in their general direction, and they ushered me in. Phew, crisis averted.
Up the stairs, I spoke to the receptionist who actually had my name on the list, she gave me a stamp on the wrist and let me in.
I've not been to The Haunt before, it's pretty dark and grim. They were selling cans of Red Stripe at £4.30, I know because I bought one before J came on. On the way home, I bought two cans for £2.80, so that's an indication of the sort of mark-up they had in place.
I didn't have to wait long before the support, Luluc, ambled on to stage. They are an Aussie duo playing folk music, although I'm sure the guy had rock god pretensions; he was waving his acoustic guitar around like it was a stratocaster, trying to sustain the notes, I think. They were good, and their harmonies were absolutely astonishing. I am intending to listen to them on Spotify, and if I like it, well, there'll be a couple of new CDs for my collection...
The place wasn't rammed while Luluc were on, so when they finished, I went to the loo and bought that can of Red Stripe. Then I noticed that I was surrounded by tall people, and I couldn't actually see the stage any more. The place got more and more rammed, and fuller of tall people, and then J came on stage - and promptly sat down.
So there I was, standing behind some very tall people, in the dark, getting hotter and hotter, and more squashed, and listening to J play an acoustic set. It was actually quite nice, except that where, if he was playing a normal electric set, he would go into overdrive and lay on a squealing guitar solo, he did that as well during the acoustic set. The effect was quite jarring, as he would go from a gentle strum into full-on guitar-melting riffage, and then cut back to the gentle strumming with no warning. He also had a heavy reverb / echo on the vocals, so it sounded like he was singing from the bottom of a well.
The long and the short of it is, I wasn't enjoying it. I began to wonder if I was going to last until the end, since I had heard that he now does a cover of "Fade Into You", a Mazzy Star number, which I thought might be nice. I also read the review of his previous night's show at La Scala and was looking forward to him fuzzing it up at the end.
But eventually, after about 45 or 50 minutes, I couldn't take any more. I was too hot, the venue was too claustrophobic, the music was too jarring... I had to get out. As  I left, there was a guy at the back who had obviously overheated, he was sitting against the back wall with his head in his hands - so it wasn't just me, that was reassuring.
Hitting the cold air outside, the cold, and the quiet, was a relief. I breathed deeply, and felt the cold pricking my cheeks, and to be honest wondered why I hadn't left fifteen minutes earlier.
I'm a big Dinosaur Jr fan, I've listened to the four albums I've got a lot, and Freak Scene is one of my favourite songs ever. I saw them about the time they released "The Farm" at the Koko up in Camden, and really enjoyed that. I don't know whether it was the venue, or the music, or my state of mind, but it really didn't do it for me that night. Shame.

Monday 14-12-29 A Day at the Panto

So today, for the first time in years, I went to the panto with the family. Normally TW goes with the kids and Mama, but as my sister is visiting from Singapore, we went en masse, 11 of us.
It was absolutely brilliant. Two and a half hours of entertainment, right there. Aladdin and Jasmine were young and beautiful, as expected. Well, actually, Aladdin was Jon from S Club 7, tattooed to the hilt and 32, according to Wikipedia, and Jasmine was played by Jade Chaston, whom I'd never seen before. Anyway, they were both good, and could sing. They were having fun during the performance, making each other laugh.
When did women stop playing the leading man, though? Or is it too confusing for kids these days, if Aladdin were played by a woman? I dunno...
It's normally the supporting cast that normally make a panto, and the Dame Widow Twankey was brilliant. She was played by "Lola Lasagne", I expect he's a drag act for the rest of the year, he certainly had the audience in the palm of his hand.
The two DJ PCs were amazing, I don't listen to Heart FM myself, but apparently Tom and Jack are well-known in the area. They did a couple of numbers and were pretty good at being the light relief.
My claim to fame is that I knew the actor playing the Emperor of China, kind of... He used to live on our road and is a friend of a friend - Darren Clewlow. He was brilliant, and knowing that we knew him added to the fun of the panto.
There was one scene where they wanted to depict Aladdin flying on a magic carpet, which had us in stitches. Basically, they had Jon in a luminous outfit and turned the lights down, then they had him slip his feet into a luminous cardboard flying carpet, almost like a surfboard. He was in a harness and they lifted him up and swung (swang?) him from side to side across the stage, as he was singing a number. It was very effective, and certainly achieved the intended impression, but it was beyond cheesy. It was a moment of inspired theatre, and probably worth the entry fee by itself.
I was very proud of the Middle Child, as when they were trying to open the cave to get to the Lamp, Aladdin and Abernazer ("Half a Lager"?) asked the children if they knew the password, and she shouted out "Open Sesame!". They acknowledged her, and thanked her... I think they said something like it would be a bloody long play if no-one knew the password... :)

The whole cast could sing, and it was really enjoyable. I shall probably go again next year.

UKIP / UKIK?

I read this story in The Guardian yesterday and found it gently amusing:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/dec/22/nigel-farage-sixth-fomers-ukip-parody-app-nicholas-fromage

I even went so far as to download the app and play it, but it's not that good. Anything that puts the wind up UKIP has to be a good thing, although at the moment they're have a pretty awful run of bad luck.
They're losing councillors and prospective Parliamentary candidates at a rate of knots. Some "rough diamond" with views from the Stone Age, and now some woman councillor who expressed some "jaw-dropping" ideas - I'd like to know what those were :).
But, if they carry on as they are, they might not be around at the May elections, or they might have been reduced to the rump of MEPs that they started with.
It'll be interesting to watch, that's do sure...

Eye Tests and The March of Time

I am not King Canute, nor would I like to try to be. But it's still a kick in the nuts when Time marches on without your approval. And so I find myself one eye test down, one prescription stronger, and one sign of old age more prominent.
With my previous prescription (+1.00) there was not much difference between wearing glasses and not wearing glasses - this meant I could more or less wear my glasses at will.
Now that my prescription has changed to +1.50, it is a whole different story. There is no way I can wonder round the office wearing those babies, I would be a danger not only to my disabled self but to my colleagues as well, and that is a burden I'm not prepared to bear.

Monday December 1st - A Birthday Treat

So as a birthday treat, TW bought a pair of tickets to see Beardyman at Concorde II, which was nice. I'd only just recovered from the trip up to Brixton to see Carter, so I was almost feeling like I had my finger on the pulse...
We did things a bit differently though, compared to my Brixton visit. No guilty Maccy Dees for us; instead we went to Sawadee, which is a lovely Thai place at the bottom of Kemptown. We shared a bottle of wine and ordered their delicious fishcakes, which we still talk about, even more than nine years after leaving Brighton.
We finished up and walked to the Concorde. The warm-up guy was a mixologist, JFB, who has apparently been the DMC UK champion twice, in 2007 and again in 2011. And as expected, he rocked. They had some cameras close up on his hands as he was working, and those shots were showing on the backdrop behind him. He was brilliant. I would pay to see him again, and apparently he is working on an album, which I shall be watching out for. The way he rebuilt DJ Shadow's "Midnight" was amazing.
Then it was the interval, and we were all waiting for Beardyman to enter the arena. A man came onto the stage and started talking Swedish or some other Scandinavian language, and TW and I didn't know whether it was Beardyman or not... Turned out, of course, it was him, and he started sampling his own words as he was talking to us. All of a sudden, he was playing some pretty cool stuff, looping his own words, and adding in some beats and basslines. It was really good; I started movin' and groovin' a bit - I wasn't throwing shapes but it was funky stuff.
Then it got a bit harder. There was a camera under his chin, so pointing up at him, and the images captured there were then refracted and disjointed and displayed on the backdrop. The room was pitch dark and the beats and tunes were getting heavier, and actually it was getting quite oppressive. I think we left about five minutes before the end. It was a great gig, and a brilliant way to spend my birthday and a cold Monday night. The amazing thing was that he was improvising the whole event. Of course he had a couple of hooks and ideas on which he based the whole show, so I'm sure that some elements would sound familiar to people who have seen him before. I would go and see him again, although I was expecting a lighter, more humorous feel, but there were touches of that. If I had been on drugs I don't think I would've enjoyed the end of the show...
Well worth going to see though - there was lots of techno, lots of mixing and lots of funk. Well done fella and thanks TW for buying tickets to see him. The night was topped off with a beer on the train home, and then we relieved M & P from babysitting duties...

22nd Nov 2014 - The Final Ever (?) Carter USM Show, Brixton Academy

So, last Saturday I went to see Carter perform their final ever (?) gig at the Brixton Academy up in London. I met up with my old mucker from Uni, who still maintains we saw Carter at Brixton in 1991, but I have absolutely no recollection.
We didn't get up to much in the morning, and so I set off at about 3pm feeling a bit "meh". I settled into my seat on the train and listened to a couple of podcasts and read a few bits of old newspaper from September. I had settled on wearing my red Poppies top, since I think the Stuffies top won't survive a stiff breeze.
I got to Victoria in plenty of time and immediately hit McDonald's - my guilty pleasure. Once I was sated, I headed to Brixton, admittedly earlier than planned, and hit the mean streets.
Brixton was full of "30 Something" long-sleeved tee-shirts, and I was worried I wasn't going to get into a pub. In fact, to tell the truth, I headed left out of the tube station to try and get off the beaten track, and find a quiet watering-hole. I really am a miserable misanthrope. What the hell was I thinking, agreeing to go and stand in a hall with 4,900 other sweaty 40 and 50 year olds? I could just go home and listen to the CDs, surely?
As it was, I found Plan B was mostly empty, so I texted E to let him know where to find me. We met up and had a few pints, and then headed along to the Academy. We were in time to see the end of Sultans of Ping FC play a few of their hits, including, of course, "Where's Me Jumper?". And then it was time for the main event - Carter USM...
They were ace. They hit the stage hard and played hit after hit, after hit. The most memorable points for me were "Midnight On The Murder Mile", with the mostly male crowd singing along with the "Oh Oh Oh Oh Ohs". I'd forgotten they even wrote and recorded "Rubbish", and "After the Watershed" with its "Goodbye Ruby Tuesday" chorus.
The whole crowd seemed to be singing along to every song, and everyone was very emotional. It was a great evening, and it finished early enough for me to easily catch the last train home. I very nearly caught the penultimate train home, but missed it by a couple of minutes. Ho Hum... I waited in the pub and had a lovely pint of American Pale Ale.

It was well worth it, and I'm glad I made the effort to get my hands on tickets. On the Sunday morning I played "Midnight on the Murder Mile" to TW, and I found an old appearance by the boys on TOTP from 1992 singing "Rubbish", which made me feel old. Well, it was either that or the hangover...

Here's to the next Farewell gig, I'll be there with bells on... :)

A Family Sunday

So today the MiL & GiL came to visit. Of course, they intended to stay for lunch. The only problem with that was that we didn't have any food in to prepare. TW had overnighted in Portslade, seeing a friend, and she had consumed prosecco. I had stayed up late, drinking red wine and watching "Fargo".
So TW went to Lidl and did her weekly shop with the MiL & GiL, and then started preparing a roast. In the end we ate at about five pm, which wasn't the intention at the start of the day. We did consider going to a carvery at one point, but quickly dismissed that, causing great disappointment for the children. The Eldest had a real sulk about it, huffing and slamming doors... Eventually she went with TW to Lidl, and thank god for that, because if she had stayed at home she would have been unbearable.
The kids are in bed now, so it's the usual catch up on shit tv for the masses, a.k.a. SCD  and X Factor results. You gotta keep the masses occupied and distracted. I'm quite tired, it was hard doing nothing all day, so I shall be going to bed shortly, to forget this filth.

Welcome to Sunny Worthing

Days like Sunday are lovely. It's warm in the sun, but with a cold undercurrent. TW and I decided to drag the children out for some fresh air, and so we promenaded along the seafront. The girls were all on skates, and the Middle Child was particularly good, pushing and gliding effortlessly ahead. We had sweets in our pockets, to keep the energy levels up, and we were out for about an hour and fifteen minutes. The girls enjoyed it after whingeing that they didn't want to go... The great thing about going out and getting some good quality fresh air though, was that we got to mong out at home for the rest of the day... :)

When I'm 64...

Esther McVey is obviously deluded when she says that because the Rolling Stones are still gigging, people can work into their seventies.
How she can compare the Stones, who gig "every now and then" and are adored by millions, to carrying on pushing paper into pension age is beyond me.
One simply cannot use "pop stars" as examples for everyday behaviour, since they are outliers in every sense - they don't work 9 to 5, they don't work every day, they don't have thousands cheering their every deed. The Rolling Stones are very lucky and envied by millions, but they should not be used as a yardstick by which others should be judged.

East of West

I started collecting East of West some time ago. It's a comic written by Jonathan Hickman. I read the first issue and then I stopped reading comics for some reason.
I didn't stop collecting, oh no, that would've been too logical. So I've got about 15 issues to catch up on.
I've just re-read Issue #1 and I am so looking forward to binge-reading this story. Death is abroad, and it's not a pretty sight...

London Extended

The first weekend of the half-term, we spent mostly been in London.

TW had been frantically searching for a reasonably-priced hotel for one night, so that she could take the girls up to London. She had some harebrained idea that she "needed" to take the girls to London. I thought the idea was that we could crash in London and avoid the children whingeing on the way home, but as it turned out, I was wrong (more on that below). Any way, she wasn't having much luck. All the places she found which were affordable looked a bit dingy and a bit sub-par. I dare say that after a day trudging around London, any room could look inviting, but I was of the opinion that we should wait to get the right accommodation before arranging to go to the Big Smoke. But sitting in the comfort of our living room, the hotels she was looking at didn't seem to be that appealing. 

Then, on the Friday night, as we were discussing what alternatives there were, a friend of hers phoned and told her that he'd seen her trials and tribulations on Facebook, and why hadn't she phoned him? We could all stay at his, he said. TW replied that he lived in Essex, so why would she call him? Au contraire, he responded, we're on the Central Line and quite easy to get to on the Tube... So we had a quick chat and decided to take him up on his offer. On Saturday morning we came down to see the girls lounging in front of the TV as normal, and told them of our plans. They were pleased and excited, to say the least. Since TW's friend is godfather to The Youngest, and has visited recently and played with the kids, it may have been that seeing him was the bit they were looking forward to the most. 

We had breakfast, got dressed and ready, TW made some sandwiches and boxed up the left over chilli, and we headed to the train station. We bought the tickets, and had a few minutes to wait, so I popped to the Co-Op and picked up some pastries and a newspaper. We caught the 10am train up to London, and we were on the way. 

Once we arrived in Victoria, we headed east towards the Houses of Parliament, and then TW remembered her nephew was in Halls near Victoria Station. So she called him and miraculously he was in. In reality, I should say miraculously he answered, as he'd obviously had a big night out on Friday, but if you're in your early twenties and living in SW1 why wouldn't you take advantage of that? The girls were surprised and pleased to see him. We talked for a few minutes and then headed on, across the river and left (north) on to the South Bank. The route was crowded, as you would expect on a Saturday lunchtime. Not only with tourists, but locals getting about their business. In addition, there were "street entertainers" on the bridge, blocking up the pavement. There was one bagpiper, which was fine, but the rest were con-artists "playing" Find The Ball", with wads of £20 notes in their hands. It was a bit depressing. In addition the other annoying people taking up street space for no apparent reason were Christians. There were Born Agains, Jehovahs, and probably some others I didn't recognise. They were hawking their irrelevant wares, so many of them that you probably couldn't spit without hitting one of them (not that I tried it, natch). 

The hordes didn't start to thin out until after we got past the London Eye, which is an attraction we need to visit at some point in the future. We sat and had a sandwich, and watched a couple of street acts. There was a woman juggling knives while balancing precariously on some wobbly stuff which the girls watched, and then we saw some Jamaican acrobats. The Middle One actually got picked to be in the show, but she became embarrassed and didn't participate, which was a shame because her finale would have been being picked up and whirled around by the acrobats. Then we walked on.

Part of the reason for visiting London was to go to Shakespeare's Globe, because The Eldest is studying the Tudors in school and Shakespeare is a big part of that. It was more expensive than we would normally spend, the tour of the Globe was £36 - there are much cheaper ways to be entertained in London (as well as much more expensive ways!) - but the tour was led by a jobbing actor who made the whole thing very entertaining and enjoyable. It was well worth the money. And the Eldest learnt a lot; she came back from school and told us that she'd shared a lot of the facts with her class. In fact, she had remembered quite a lot of things which I'd forgotten.
After the Globe, we went to the Tate Modern for a short time. I'm always amazed at the works of art one can see there for free; there are works by Picasso among others which are just there within touching distance. Walking around the rooms with three small children is not the best way to appreciate the art on display, but I was very impressed with some of the pieces.
We weren't there for very long, as we were all getting a little tired, and then we headed to the Tube and aimed to meet up with TW's mate in Gants Hill.
Onthe Sunday we headed back into London and saw Covent Garden, then made it to Hamleys. By that point though the girls were tired and so we caught the 38 bus to Victoria. We headed homewards and made it back to Worthing at about 4pm (as I recall). What a weekend.

Tantrums

Our middle child is particularly susceptible to tantrums, but only when she's tired. So on nights like to last ht, when she stayed up late to watch fireworks, tantrums are pretty much guaranteed. And thus it was; lots of loose accusations about it "not being fair", and we're "horrible parents " and we "never let me have sleepovers".
To be honest, I was pleased that I managed to remain calm throughout this particular episode.
I guess it's a mix of the emotional high of being with friends and watching fireworks, and the low of going home alone to bed. When you combine that with being tired, it's quite a potent mix, and the whole thing becomes a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.
I'm not sure how to smooth out those steep dips and awesome climbs once the ride starts. I think it's just a case of staying calm in the face of the heartfelt outpourings and not react. After all, it wasn't like she was refusing to go to bed, or clean her teeth, she was just crying and accusing us of being hideous while she was doing the normal things she would do while getting ready for bed. So I think I need to expect it and plan for it in future.
Indeed, I think I've entered a period of calm all round with the children. I do shout at them when they annoy me, and the causes of annoyance are many and varied. It can be not putting something away, or arguing with me when I tell them it's tidying up time. I need to implement a trigger where I take a breath and don't react at their level of ferocity / emotion. And I think I've got one that will work for a bit, at least. The answer is to say "I don't want to shout at you, ...", and in that time I have averted my normal unthinking switch into shouty mode, and it ends up being a bit of a calmer discussion, at least from my side of the dialogue. We'll see how it works out - it's early days yet.

A Fat Man in an Ill-Fitting Shirt

I looked at myself in the mirror today and all I saw was a fat man in an ill-fitting shirt. Strange how liking at the same thing at different times produces different results.

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...