23-08-03 - Thursday I - Barbie @ The Dome Cinema, Sunday 30th August

Yeah, so I went and watched Barbie. It was an enjoyable film, very stylized, and really quite funny in places. Is it the film which will end the patriarchy? No. Some kids behind us were chuntering about how boring it was. I thought it was loud, colourful and zesty, and I liked it. Will I go again? No. But, you know, it was a good way to spend a couple of hours...

TTFN.

23-07-19 - Wednesday I - Pub In The Park @ Preston Park, Brighton, Sunday 16th July 2023

Ah, Pub in The Park. That was a fun day, until I sprained my ankle literally falling out of a pub...

We saw Craig Charles DJ - again - and Dodgy, who actually made sense in the Sunday sunshine, and Gabrielle, who rounded the day off quite nicely. It's been quite notable over the last few days that whenever you mention Gabrielle, the reaction of almost everyone is to put a hand up over one eye in a very similar gesture. She has ptosis in her left eye, apparently, which we didn't notice since she was wearing sunglasses. 

We had a few cocktails, which was a bit unlike me, and then we had a few more, and then once the day ended in the park, we went to the pub. Once I'd had enough, I headed for the door, and I missed the step and sprained my ankle. I didn't feel it at first, but once I had slept it off sufficiently it really hurt, to the extent that I was concerned it was broken and I went to A&E to have it checked out. Luckily it didn't take very long to get seen (I guess that is the benefit of going at 05:30) and they told me it was a sprain. I've taken a few ibuprofen, and that seems to be managing it for me. 

All told, though, I really enjoyed Pub In The Park. The weather was great, the music was good and the beers & cocktails were very enjoyable. It's a shame though that I won't be able to go running for a couple of weeks... 

TTFN. 

23-05-24 - Wednesday I - Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

We watched this film back in April now. I was planning to write about it before now, but I didn’t get around to it. It was a lovely film, a real two-hander. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that it was based on a play. Emma Thompson was great in it, it was kind of downbeat, which I like more often than not, and it was really sweet too, while also being about sex, and so weirdly graphic without being graphic.

Anyway, I wanted to record that I’d watched it and I liked it. And here’s the link on Amazon if you wanted to watch it yourself / selves.

TTFN. 

23-05-21 - Sunday I - The Night Agent

So, last week TW & I watched The Night Agent. An absolutely brilliant bit of telly, it had our hearts in our mouths several times in every episode and it was so enjoyable we watched all ten episodes in three nights. 

We did have to suspend disbelief, I mean some of it is complete cobblers, but why let reality get in the way of a story well told? I said it was enjoyable hokum, and I stand by that, and I think we’ll watch the second series if and when it appears. 

We haven’t watched much telly at all since we moved house to be frank, and it’s been nice to take some time to immerse ourselves in a story and relax as the story happens “to” us. We enjoyed it so much we are now watching The Diplomat which is another Netflix special; it is not as “high octane” as The Night Agent, but it is enjoyable and it’s got a pretty good cast too.

I do need to carry on watching The Expanse, I stopped watching that a while ago, but I really enjoy it and I’ve been told that it just keeps getting better - I’d like to find out! So we’ll see how that goes. 

Anyway, it’s sunny out so I am going to enjoy some sunshine. 

TTFN. 

23-05-20 - Saturday II - Fräulein @ Prince Albert, 26th April

Wow. I saw Fräulein at The Great Escape in 2022, and although I had already booked to see Ditz on Thursday 27th, when I saw that they were playing I had to book tickets. I went with Dave who loves a bit of live music, it’s always nice to introduce friends to new music. The Prince Albert is a small venue with a capacity for 110, so any gig there feels intimate. 

Fräulein are a rock duo, consisting of a male drummer and a female guitarist / singer, and they are really quite angsty. They remind me of Pixies, in a good way, and there were times during the evening where they cranked up the volume / emotion during songs and I found myself expecting them to go loud at that specific point, or agreeing that it made sense at that point, if that makes any sense. Maybe I was remembering their 2022 gig (at Zahara nightclub of all places!), but listening to them play felt like I had come home; although it was angst and noise and raw emotion it felt comfortable and warm.

I did ask if they were playing The 2023 Great Escape but I think they had other commitments  unfortunately. Safe to say though that I will be keeping an eye out for them visiting Brighton again, and I will be in the audience somewhere… I really liked them and hope they go on to bigger and better things. 

TTFN. 

23-05-20 - Saturday I - Leith Ross @ Chalk, 18th April

Saw Leith Ross again last month. Really enjoyed it, as expected, but it was a weird experience. The last time I was at Chalk it was to see Dry Cleaning, and that was a sold out event. This was sold out as well, but it was a completely different demographic, due to the nature of the act. Leith Ross is a young Canadian singer / songwriter who is gay and prefers “they / their” pronouns. So understandably the audience was completely different to the crowd at Dry Cleaning. The main differences were that I could see the stage, since the rest of the audience were mostly young women under 30, and they were shorter than the crowd I am used to at a gig, and the toilets had been changed to non-gender specific. I felt weirdly  out of place, but not in a bad way, it was as if I had been transported into the future in some weird way. The crowd weren’t as reverential as they were at the Bess Atwell gig I went to, but it was really inclusive and everyone seemed to be really happy to be there; it felt like a celebration more than anything else, despite some really dark and honest songs from Leith. The one that got me last time I saw them was “Tommy”, which was nostalgic for a male grandparent; admittedly it was just after Dad had passed away but it really spoke to me and so I was happy to go again to see them perform with TMO. 

Leith Ross has a great voice and some really great songs, and they deserve some wider appreciation, I think. I don’t know if I’ll go and see them perform live again, but I’m certainly open to hearing their songs on the radio and Spotify and I would recommend searching them out and listening to a track or two to see what you think. 

TTFN.

23-05-08 - Monday I - The Kings Coronation

Well, it happened and I didn't watch it. People now seem more worried about the arrests of the protesters than a 74-year old man in a robe. According to news sources even he was bored, and he was actually being crowned king! At least we get a bank holiday out of it, even if it does look like it's going to rain all day. Oh well.

TTFN.

23-03-04 - Saturday I - Dry Cleaning @ Chalk, 1st March 2023

Saw Dry Cleaning at Chalk. They were brilliant. It was a sold out gig, so it was packed, which upsets me. It's good for the band and the venue, but when it's so busy that it's difficult to move I get a bit worried.

I missed the first support band but caught DEHD, which didn't float my boat; a couple of songs were okay though, which was nice.

Then Dry Cleaning came on and it's weird; the way the singer almost throws away the lyrics dismissively hides or distracts from the degree to which the rest of the band are wigging out most of the time. I enjoyed the performance, I recognised a few songs, although I thought they didn't do justice to Strong Feelings, the 1st song of theirs that I heard. I also thought they cut short one or two songs, but I might have got that wrong. The energy dipped in the middle, I thought, but then they brought it back for the finale, which of course included Scratchcard Lanyard. All told, it was a fine night and worth a trip into Brighton.

TTFN. 

23-02-27 - Monday I - Maisie Adam @ Connaught Studios, 26th Feb 2023

I'd seen Maisie on HIGNFY before, and when I saw that she was coming to Worthing I said to TW that we should go see her. TW actually bought tickets as a birthday present for me, which was nice. That seems an awfully long time ago... 

So, the night rolled around eventually and we headed out. We stopped for a pre-show drink at the New Amsterdam, which was nice, and from there it was only a short walk to the studio. The crowd were a bit older than we were expecting, and I did worry for a bit that we had missed a memo, but when Maisie came on, she performed standard stand-up - I guess it's just that Worthing tends to an older crowd and older people have more disposable income. 

Anyway, she talked to a couple of people in the audience, which was fun and a little odd at times. Some bloke, when asked what he did, replied that he couldn't say because he'd signed the Official Secrets Act, and there were a few other peculiar exchanges - Maisie managed to find two people who both worked at Sainsbury, and they started having a separate conversation about which branch of Sainsbury they both worked in - Maisie was almost able to sit back and let us as the audience entertain ourselves.

Then we had an interval and then Maisie came back on to do the main part of her show, which was light-hearted and optimistic and really enjoyable. It wasn't always laugh-out-loud funny, but the laughs were never far away. She is a very engaging performer and I really enjoyed the evening and I was glad that we went. Highly recommended if you get the chance to see her. 

TTFN.

23-02-18 - Saturday I - Mostly Ill

This week I have mostly been ill. Only a cold, but where a few decades ago I would have struggled on, disclaiming that it was "only a flesh wound", these days it normally feels as though my brain has been removed and replaced by cotton wool, and the best thing to do is repair to bed for as long as I can put up with the fetid smell of my sweaty, ill body.

 

I took the opportunity to rewatch The Expanse, a series on Amazon Prime, which I did start watching previously, but I was mostly drunk at the time and so I thought it would benefit from a rewatch. Indeed, I was right, it's a very enjoyable show, and I have almost reached the end of the first series. 

I am on the mend now though, so things are getting back to normal. It's good, sometimes, to take an enforced rest; it does make me appreciate life on occasion. 

TTFN. 

23-01-02 - Monday - Christmas Dregs

Another quiet day. These days where we are still not back at work and have no "official" duties or tasks are quite confusing and mundane; I think I will need to have a plan for when I retire, because every day could soon begin to look like Christmas dregs. 

I went for my first run of 2023, and took back some slippers that were too small to TK Maxx. I swapped a top that was too big for me at H&M. TW rearranged the contents of the "summer house" because she likes to keep herself busy. She also cooked a lovely roast that we should have had on Sunday, but the girls had decided to bake a "deaf, mute and blind" cake, that is: one of them couldn't see, one of them couldn't hear, and one of them couldn't talk. It was quite funny to listen to the "deaf" one shouting, but they swore a lot. The cake was delicious. 

Anyway we had the roast and then went to bed rather early. Can't believe we're actually  back to work tomorrow. It'll be nice to have some structure to the day. 

TTFN. 

23-01-01 - Sunday - Happy New Year

Well, well, well. Here we are then, in the future - 2023. Happy New Year to us all. Today was a Sunday so we didn't have much on. It was nice waking up sober, as we had a very quiet and dry New Year's Eve. We actually struggled to stay up until midnight, my eyelids were certainly very heavy at times...

TE had arranged to exercise at the rugby club with a friend, so TW & I took the mutt for a muddy walk which she (the dog) enjoyed. Luckily the rain stayed away, although this festive period has been mostly grey, damp and mild. 

I did a small bit of tidying and TW took down the Christmas decorations. We had two trees this year, which was maybe extravagant, but it was the first Christmas in our new house and we did have 13 house guests, as TW's family all came to stay. It was a brilliant Christmas, I really like all of her family, and she enjoyed it too.

After dinner (a lovely butternut squash risotto) the girls watched Glee and TW & I did some financial planning, which has set us up for the year, I reckon. It's almost an annual tradition now. Another sober evening, and then off to bed. 

TTFN.

22-12-02 - Friday I - Birthday Boy

So, 51 I was yesterday. I've made it past the half-century. I had a lovely day, it was really downtempo, but it was just me. I had a haircut and a beard trim, which is a nice treat. I like the barber, it's a regular visit for me; normally the shop is empty so it is only me and him, but I am beginning to think I need a change up. 

Then I wandered in to town and had brunch at Malt Cafe. I really like it there. They cater to all types; carnivores, vegetarians, vegans and the undecided. I asked for a savoury snack, since I didn't think I was that hungry, and they recommended smashed avocado on sourdough toast. I took their advice and ordered that, and it was delicious. I was hungrier than I thought; I near enough wolfed it down!

I also bought a newspaper for the first time in an age and flicked through that, which was nice. It's all very well listening to the headlines on the radio, or catching a few minutes of the news at 10pm, or catching up on the latest controversy on Twitter, but there is something special about reading a newspaper and catching a story I hadn't been aware of. 

Of course, walking all that distance meant I easily hit my 10,000 steps for the day. So I felt quite justified in enjoying a slice of birthday cake in the evening... 

We also had our first fire in our new house, which didn't go quite to plan; the coal we've bought is a bit wet and so getting the fire going is a bit difficult, but with some wood to set it, it heated up the dining room quite nicely. 

And that was my day. May there be many more, full of small wins.

TTFN.

22-10-13 - Thursday I - Developments

So, Mum's recently moved into a care home. She wasn't really enjoying life at home with a live-in carer, but we kept her at home for as long as we could. Eventually she refused to have the carers in her house, and so I had to go and stay with her for a few days over a weekend. 

It made sense really. Although I didn't really want to do it, I had looked after her for five months before the carers came, and it made sense to do the last few days before (hopefully) she moved into a care home. We had already lined up a "taster day" at my preferred home - I had looked at three or four already - so I had high hopes that Mum would like it. As it happens, she did, and I asked if she would like to go in for a longer term, like overnight? Yes please, was the response. Caroline arranged for Mum to go in permanently on Monday, and the last time I saw Mum was the Sunday before, nearly two and a half weeks ago now. 

It feels really weird. I am used to popping over at any time to see her, getting calls from the carers asking for help, etc. Now she needs time by herself to establish a routine, to get settled and used to her surroundings without our assistance. I get regular updates, she seems to be doing okay. But I can't *see* her. I did catch sight of her on the stairs when I was dropping some extra clothes round, but I don't think she saw me. The home are good at putting up pictures of what's going on on "social media" so I do get to see what she's been doing, but we've outsourced her care, even moreso than we did when we got a live-in carer, and it feels very, very odd. 

I am going to see her on Monday, so that will be something. I am not expecting to stay for long; once we've said hello to each other and I have asked how she is doing, I expect conversation will dry up. I will be able to update her on family goings-on, and blather on for a few minutes, but I won't want to stay for too long. It'll be interesting to see how she is. I think that currently Mum's mood depends on what she has been doing for the previous five minutes, so if the morning activities have been enjoyable and lunch tasty, I think she'll be in a good mood. If the morning activities are boring and lunch uninspiring, she might ask me to take her home. I don't know which way it's going to go. I guess we'll see when we get there... 

TTFN. 

22-08-21 - Sunday I - Farewell to the C-Max

For a number of years now, we've had a Ford C-Max. I'd forgotten how long, actually, but looking at the paperwork it's been since 2016, so six years. A couple of weeks ago while driving home from an appointment, it developed a fault. As we pulled out of Tesco, I noticed that the red battery light had come on. I pulled over and stopped the car, and restarted the engine. Great, I thought to myself, the light has gone out. But after a few seconds it came back on. Okay, not a big deal, I thought to myself, we're probably less than a mile from home. We can sort it out when we get back there. So things were fine, until we tried to turn into our road, when I realised that the power steering had stopped working. Trying to turn into the road at a low speed meant really applying some elbow grease into turning the wheel. I got that done, and then pulled up opposite the house, and stopped the engine, which was a mistake. When I tried to restart it, there was a clicking noise but the engine didn't turn over. So we had to push the car into the garden, and resolved to call the RAC the next morning.

Well the RAC man came and advised that the alternator was in a bad way. Not only had it stopped working (because normally it powers the battery) but it was short-circuiting, which meant that it was draining the battery - hence the speedy failure of the power steering. If we had driven much further I am sure other essentials, like the lights for instance, would have stopped working. So he offered to tow it to the garage for us, and I asked them to give us a quote to fix it, which came in at £890 - a bit too rich for my blood. If it had been more like £500, I would have done it, so instead we decided to scrap the car, and we got £250 for it. 

It's a bit of a shame, because we liked the size of the C-Max. We could fit the dog in the back, or a tent, or a super-massive weekly shop. Now we are reliant on a Fiesta, which is a much smaller car, and while in the short run there is no issue, I can see that long-term we will start to miss the C-Max. But while the cost of second-hand cars is so high, I can't see us replacing it - except that we might get some money in a couple of months from Dad's estate - but that is already ear-marked several times over, to pay for the extortionate energy costs incoming, and also to pay for TE's accommodation when she goes to University next year. So a spacious second car is very far down the priority list... 

TTFN. 

22-08-17 - Wednesday I - What to Write?

I sit here, angry and despairing in equal measure. Faced with a blank page, I have no idea where to start. Prices are rising and wages are stagnant, as has been the case for the past few years, and while some people have been willing to suck it up, prices are now rising at over 10% per year, which is unpalatable to those who have seen their disposable income being whittled away over the previous years, albeit at a slower rate. 

I realise that the prices are rising due to the war in Ukraine, but we could have taken steps in the last 12 years to ensure that the UK has a robust economy. Instead it feels like we've been hollowing it out, so that it looks fine from the outside, but at the first gust of unexpected global headwinds it collapses. The number of trades unions waking up to the fact that they are providing their labour and expertise for basically the same price as they did five years ago, despite the fact that their wages don't buy the same amount these days appears to be growing exponentially, and they are all deciding to strike. 

I'm not a member of a union, but normally wage discussions are ongoing when I get my annual settlement, and I have in the past been awarded what a union might refer to as "a derisory pay increase". As it is, I do (and have done) okay. But I can see why these guys are upset, and I can see why things are coming to a head now. So fair play and good luck to them. 

I guess the TL:DR point of this is that the UK economy is screwed (putting it politely) and currently I can't see any solution - certainly the solution isn't called Truss or Sunak. 

TTFN. 

22-07-10 - Sunday I - Interesting Times

Well, that was quite the week. The PM stood down, there was #JohnsonWatch on Twitter (that was my hashtag, picked up by absolutely nobody), and now the leadership candidates are beginning to emerge. It's quite entertaining to watch, but unfortunately we all know it's going to end horribly, with one of them in the position of Prime Minister. I long for a period of uncontroversial government, with some joined up thinking and maybe some long-term planning thrown in, but somehow I don't think that's what we're going to get. So what else is there to do but laugh as it all goes pear-shaped to an even greater degree than we ever thought possible? 

This current lot have been in power for the last twelve years; they are the "natural party of government", apparently, and yet they keep screwing up. I despair sometimes. I crave boring politics; as David Allen Green says regularly, constitutional politics should be boring, and I feel the same about UK domestic politics in general: we should be able to predict what our MPs will do in any given circumstance, and outcomes should be expected and dull. But unfortunately that hasn't been the case since Brexit. 

Cameron, when he was first elected, seemed quite sensible. Unfortunately Osborne implemented a policy of austerity which didn't work out how they expected it to work out, and certainly those who needed looking after weren't looked after, but it does seem that the candidates for the PM role are all promising Austerity #2. It's a shame that the party don't want to elect someone with broader appeal who might be able to build a consensus. So we'll have to enjoy the bits we can laugh at, and try to ignore the wider emerging horror. 

TTFN. 

22-06-07 - Tuesday I - Johnson Survives

This is not turning out as well as I'd hoped. I had loads of time last night when I could have written a blog entry, but instead I was watching TV because Boris Johnson (our Prime minister) was facing a vote of no confidence. It was a foregone conclusion that he would survive it, but the question was: by what margin? As it was 148 of his own MPs voted against him but that wasn't enough 2DS thrown him. It was an interesting evening of TV but I should have taken the time to write my daily 200 words.

Love Island started last night though, so that's a good thing and that should give me about 90 minutes each night in which I can compose my thoughts and update my blog. We've got eight weeks of that insufferable tosh to watch, so I might do something useful like push on with that coding course I was doing - it'd be good to have something productive to show for the next two months.

We also booked our hire car for our French holiday last night, we're going for a week to a villa in the South of France in July which hopefully will be lovely and relaxing and hot - we'll see... 

TTFN.

22-06-03 - Friday I - Sunny Afternoons

Well, that was a good start, wasn't it? I didn't get to write yesterday because we were at Level 1, enjoying the sunshine and a few beers. It was a glorious day, and it was lovely that it was a bank holiday. I don't know quite what is going on, I think the last few bank holidays we've had have been full of good weather; maybe it's global warming? Anyway, TW went out for a bike ride with Ty and when she got back we went out en famille and had a few bar snacks while we drank. We couldn't quite decide where to eat; we had kind of agreed on going to Woods Burger Kitchen, but when we got there the place was closed! 

We did go to Macmillans for a pint on the way home, and then when we got home we ordered kebabs from Worthing Kebab House. I had a falafel wrap and some fries, which was nice. I probably overdid it on the beers, I was feeling a little fragile today. I am trying to get back into staying dry and building up a yellow streak in my Try Dry app, but I am not being very successful. Still, there's time... 

Today we're off to see some friends who are having a Platinum Jubilee party, we are expecting crustless cucumber sandwiches and scones, and then there are a couple of street parties on Sunday, which will keep us busy. So lots to do before getting back to work on Monday. 

TTFN. 

22-06-01 - Wednesday I - 200 Words

So it's been a while. I always write that, because I don't update this blog as often as I'd like. So I thought, what with it being a new month, that I'd set myself a challenge; I'd write just, or at least, 200 words a day to briefly capture how I'm feeling, if nothing else.

We're currently watching Stranger Things series 4, which is beginning to gather in pace. The first two episodes were a bit slow to be honest, but the two episodes we watched tonight were good. I would've watched the next one but it's already 23:30 and it's past my bedtime. 

We're in a long weekend now, due to the Queen's jubilee. We've got both Thursday and Friday off - bargain! And we might get a couple of days off later in the year if she pops her clogs...

TW is going for a bike ride tomorrow and I've got a trip to the dump scheduled, despite the fact that it's a bank holiday. I think it's going to rain, but I'm not sure. We'll find out, I guess. I should probably go and see Mum too, apparently she's been in Arundel today, so hopefully she's enjoyed that. We've got a couple of parties to go to, and friends to see on Saturday too, if we can get organised. Hopefully it'll be good weather and we can have a few hours down at Level One. I'd enjoy that.

TTFN.