What I did at the weekend

It is quite strange being at work on the Tuesday after Easter. Last year, my final day at work for my previous employer was the Thursday before Good Friday. I spent the Easter weekend driving north, and had a week of house-hunting before starting my new job. The year before that, my contract with my then-employer officially expired on Good Friday (although I had that day off). The year before that, I was unemployed, and the year before that I was working on my MSc. So, it's not since 2002 that I've had to work on 'this day'.

I had half expected to have to work on Saturday, and indeed yesterday, but the powers-that-be here were doing extensive work on the phone systems, and I therefore couldn't come in in case there was a dinosaur attack (which happens more often than you might expect in these parts). Clearly, you can't be dealing with roving velociraptors while the phones are also not working. We don't even use UNIX.

Anyway, confusing Jurassic Park references aside, Mr Hammond and I found ourselves at home. I cannot speak as to his choice of activities, but I took the opportunity to burn through my entire 'to-do' list. So, I cleaned the kitchen. I cleaned the bathroom (horrors!). I wrote a reply to the people who are handling my pension from last year's employer about what I want done with the funds. I did my weekly shop. I cooked four days' worth of food. I saw a man about getting my bagpipes fixed. I even wrote to the NHS (finally), asking them to allocate a doctor and/or dentist for me.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching TV and various films I had recorded from Sky. "Derailed" is a bad film. I knew it was a bad film when fifteen minutes into it I saw the 'big twist' coming clear as day. That it took fifteen minutes to get to the point where the two main characters are even actually talking was a bad sign, especially since the whole thing was less than two hours.

"Casanova" is also a bad film, although not as bad as "Derailed". As a hint to the film-makers: when dealing with a man who according to legend had 10,000 lovers, it might not be the best idea to shoot for a '12A' certificate. Additionally, it is probably not a good idea to hinge the plot on the question "will he get the girl?". But then, when the plot was as incredibly stupid as that one, I suppose it doesn't matter. The redeeming feature of the whole thing was that at least it was reasonably amusing in places.

Then there was "Blade: the Series", "Doctor Who", "24", "Lost", and Harry Hill, none of which disappointed.

All in all, it was quite a successful weekend.