We had the broken washing machine collected yesterday, meaning that the task of clearing the garage is now complete. It has only taken two years, but it's done!
In other news, we managed to get LC's car fixed yesterday, which means we don't have quite the same need for having the garage cleared as we did about a week ago. Still, it's good to know we at least have the option of getting a car in there if we need to.
One of my tasks for the weekend, then, is to put the rest of the things that were in the garage back into the garage, and also to rearrange the garage somewhat so that things that can be stored on the shelves are stored on the shelves - that way, if we ever do need to put a car in again it won't be quite such a challenge.
(I'm also now inclined to accept the wisdom of LC's argument that we should probably invest in a small shed, and store things like the lawnmower in that rather than in the garage. But don't tell LC that...)
Friday, July 26, 2019
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Good Omens
"Good Omens" by Pratchett and Gaiman is probably my favourite novel of all time. (Which isn't quite the same as being the best novel I've ever read, which is probably Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" - much as "Star Wars" is my favourite film but "Schindler's List" is probably the best I've seen.) It's one of very few novels I've read on more than one occasion, and one of a vanishingly small number, mostly by Pratchett, that I've read thrice. The combination of two great, but very different, authors writing at the height of their powers, combined with the subject matter, is pretty much made for me.
So it was with some concern that I anticipated the TV adaptation because, as it is written, the book is always better. The fact that it was written by Neil Gaiman, who is now an accomplished scriptwriter, and that he was doing it pretty much as a last request by Terry, helped a little. And the casting of David Tennant and Martin Sheen as the odd couple at the heart of the story, helped too. But could it really do the novel justice?
The answer, surprisingly, is "yes". Mostly. The book is still better, but the series is very good.
(LC and I happened to be in a position to watch this due to our recently getting a Prime subscription. That's a whole other topic, as I'm not terribly happy at doing business with Amazon - I'm very much not a fan of the way they treat their staff or their tax arrangements, or the fact that they pretty much killed off my FLGS and are bringing death to book shops across the country; they're basically the least ethical country I'll still to business with. But, as I said, that's another rant.)
Anyway, Good Omens.
As expected, the central pairing of Tennant and Sheen are very good. The surrounding cast are likewise excellent. I also approved a great deal of taking large sections of the prose from the novel and putting it into the 'mouth' of the narrator - this brings one of the great strengths of the book across to the adaptation and gives the whole thing a "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" feel (no bad thing).
I was a little dismayed that all three of my top-three moments from the book were missing from the adaptation, but I guess they had to cut something. And there's enough there that those three are probably amongst the least-painful cuts they could have made (from a storytelling, rather than personal, point of view). So there's that.
One of my colleagues has noted that he really didn't like the last episode because the climax all felt a bit low-budget and, well, crap. I tend to disagree with that assessment - yes, it did seem a bit low-budget but I think that's the point: this isn't a glossy American production with an endless CGI budget; this is what happens when the End of the World happens in Nowhere, England and is just a bit, um, quaint.
Oh yes, and I'm very glad that the end of this series appears to be The End. No need to spin this one out to a second and subsequent series, thank you very much!
And that's that. Do I recommend it? Yes, absolutely. Is it as good as the book? Well, no, but it wasn't going to be. But it's as good as it probably can be.
So it was with some concern that I anticipated the TV adaptation because, as it is written, the book is always better. The fact that it was written by Neil Gaiman, who is now an accomplished scriptwriter, and that he was doing it pretty much as a last request by Terry, helped a little. And the casting of David Tennant and Martin Sheen as the odd couple at the heart of the story, helped too. But could it really do the novel justice?
The answer, surprisingly, is "yes". Mostly. The book is still better, but the series is very good.
(LC and I happened to be in a position to watch this due to our recently getting a Prime subscription. That's a whole other topic, as I'm not terribly happy at doing business with Amazon - I'm very much not a fan of the way they treat their staff or their tax arrangements, or the fact that they pretty much killed off my FLGS and are bringing death to book shops across the country; they're basically the least ethical country I'll still to business with. But, as I said, that's another rant.)
Anyway, Good Omens.
As expected, the central pairing of Tennant and Sheen are very good. The surrounding cast are likewise excellent. I also approved a great deal of taking large sections of the prose from the novel and putting it into the 'mouth' of the narrator - this brings one of the great strengths of the book across to the adaptation and gives the whole thing a "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" feel (no bad thing).
I was a little dismayed that all three of my top-three moments from the book were missing from the adaptation, but I guess they had to cut something. And there's enough there that those three are probably amongst the least-painful cuts they could have made (from a storytelling, rather than personal, point of view). So there's that.
One of my colleagues has noted that he really didn't like the last episode because the climax all felt a bit low-budget and, well, crap. I tend to disagree with that assessment - yes, it did seem a bit low-budget but I think that's the point: this isn't a glossy American production with an endless CGI budget; this is what happens when the End of the World happens in Nowhere, England and is just a bit, um, quaint.
Oh yes, and I'm very glad that the end of this series appears to be The End. No need to spin this one out to a second and subsequent series, thank you very much!
And that's that. Do I recommend it? Yes, absolutely. Is it as good as the book? Well, no, but it wasn't going to be. But it's as good as it probably can be.
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
100 Days to Halloween...
... and here comes the scary clown to make sure that this one is a real nightmare.
End of an (Ice) Age
When I first moved into the flat in Yeovil, way back at the start of Part Two, one of the very first things I purchased was, of course, a fridge freezer. That fridge then came with me back up the road to the first flat in Falkirk, where it spent three years tucked away in the kitchen. (That also marked the start of my pioneering two-fridge approach!) It came with me to the second flat in Falkirk, where the two-fridge approach continued, and then came with us to the house in Livingston, where not only do we have two fridges, but we have two freezers also!
However, during the most recent house move it became very apparent that the fridge was coming to the end of its useful life - it has been making odd and disturbing noises for quite some time, and the back of the fridge was absolutely manky. Over the last few months, the secondary fridge (that came with the house) has also started to groan ominously.
And so we find ourselves coming to the end of an age - it is getting towards time to finally retire and replace the fridge that has done me good service lo these thirteen long years. At the same time, we'll likewise retire the secondary fridge, and return to a more primitive one-fridged lifestyle. (That said, I have my eye on a huge fridge freezer to replace all the existing units and increase our storage space. Plus, the new one is considerably more efficient, which is always a good thing. Ironically, keeping all these things cool is probably our #2 contribution to global warming (after driving).)
Anyway, it's not quite certain yet - we'll need to measure the space into which the new fridge is to live, to make sure it will actually fit without being an impossible disruption; there's been a small issue with the financing of the purchase (barely worth mentioning); and there's the general hassle of actually making the purchase, getting it installed, etc.
Of course, the other big advantage of going to a one-fridge solution is that it frees up a spot right next to the sink, which is ideally suited for adding a dishwasher. Huzzah! (And if we also retire the extra freezer, that then creates a spot that could be used for almost anything...) But that's a consideration for another day...
However, during the most recent house move it became very apparent that the fridge was coming to the end of its useful life - it has been making odd and disturbing noises for quite some time, and the back of the fridge was absolutely manky. Over the last few months, the secondary fridge (that came with the house) has also started to groan ominously.
And so we find ourselves coming to the end of an age - it is getting towards time to finally retire and replace the fridge that has done me good service lo these thirteen long years. At the same time, we'll likewise retire the secondary fridge, and return to a more primitive one-fridged lifestyle. (That said, I have my eye on a huge fridge freezer to replace all the existing units and increase our storage space. Plus, the new one is considerably more efficient, which is always a good thing. Ironically, keeping all these things cool is probably our #2 contribution to global warming (after driving).)
Anyway, it's not quite certain yet - we'll need to measure the space into which the new fridge is to live, to make sure it will actually fit without being an impossible disruption; there's been a small issue with the financing of the purchase (barely worth mentioning); and there's the general hassle of actually making the purchase, getting it installed, etc.
Of course, the other big advantage of going to a one-fridge solution is that it frees up a spot right next to the sink, which is ideally suited for adding a dishwasher. Huzzah! (And if we also retire the extra freezer, that then creates a spot that could be used for almost anything...) But that's a consideration for another day...
Monday, July 22, 2019
The Journey From Hell
LC, Funsize, and I have just returned from a holiday in France. I may well write more about that in due course, but for now I'll start at the beginning, and a truly horrendous outward journey.
The plan was straightforward - I finished work on Friday afternoon, we would quickly pack the car and get on the road by 3:30, drive down to Manchester, spend the night in a Premier Inn, then drive to the airport and fly from Manchester to La Rochelle. From there, we'd get a hire car and drive to our final destination in La Tranche Sur Mer. A nice easy, relaxed journey all around.
Yeah, right.
My last day at work was terrible. I made the horrible mistake of trying something new for the first time, and made a bit of a mess on the network... and a mess I didn't have the required permissions to clear up and where the colleague who did wouldn't start work until after I'd left. Oops. Also of note, I was having problems with a slow puncture on my car, had decided the tyre needed blown up, and in the process of doing this I had actually broken my foot pump! (We have two of these, one in each car.)
So I was really glad to get home, shortly after the intended 2:30. We then proceeded to load LC's car with our luggage (and Funsize), and we were off!
Now, in the course of the morning, LC had had her car windows open, in an attempt to keep the car cool. This was fine until, about halfway along the M8 we decided to put them up, only to find that mine (the passenger) rose about halfway and then stuck. Gah! Now, we have seen this before, and it has always been the case that you turn the car off and on again, and it's fine - we thought it was a power issue. In hindsight, we should have stopped immediately, verified this, and if not sought help at once, but hindsight is a wonderful thing...
Instead, we drove to Tebay, and only there discovered that we had a problem - the window just wouldn't go up.
So we called the AA. (Actually, used this app they've been advertising with the Red Dwarf crew recently - because of course the crew of Red Dwarf were so noted for their steely competence.) They said they were very busy, but would hope to be with us in about an hour. We also got a call from the garage they'd contracted the recovery out to, who reiterated that they'd be about an hour.
Fifty minutes later, that estimate changed - they'd be another hour. And then an hour after that it changed again, again adding an hour. About 9pm, after we'd been at Tebay for almost three hours, I finally called the garage to ask for an updated estimate.
After some minutes on hold, I hung up and called back, and this time was told that they were very sorry but that we'd been taken off their system - the AA had been unhappy with their ETA so had reassigned the case. We'd need to call the AA directly.
So I did, and after fighting with the automated switchboard finally got to speak to an actual person, who then put me on hold for 10 minutes while she checked things out. Eventually she got back to me to say she didn't know why the garage had told me we'd been reassigned but that this was incorrect, that the original garage would now be coming to us, but that their best estimate was another hour. This was now 9:20, and we'd been at Tebay for just over three hours.
(Incidentally, that "you've been reassigned"/"I don't know why you were told that" is code for "somebody screwed up the IT stuff, but neither of us is going to admit it".)
At this point, I told them to forget it - we'd deal with the issue ourselves. And instead started on plan B (or probably plan F or something, as we'd discussed several options in the meantime).
So we drove home.
(I'll note at this point that, fortunately, Funsize had been holding up spectacularly well. Indeed, she'd been doing rather better than either of her parents, being a happy, smiling, laughing girl throughout. It was only when we started the drive home that she started to complain, due to being extremely tired. Then she fell asleep after a few minutes, and didn't wake again until home.)
The drive home was mostly uneventful, except when we found that a section of the motorway was closed. Naturally, we didn't quite trust the signage for the diversion so decided to use the SatNav for backup, only to find that it was determined to take us back onto the motorway, that being by far the quickest route. Still, we did manage to follow the signs without getting lost, so that only cost us twenty minutes.
At 11:30, after ten hours of hard travelling, we finally got back to where we started. We put Funsize to bed, and then started on the next part of our task...
Fortunately, one of the tasks on my "to-do" list has been to clear all the rubbish from our garage, and this was almost complete. So we spent the next hour or so clearing out the last few things (mostly into our garden and utility room), after which we were able to fit LC's car into our garage (actually, for the first time ever). And then we went to bed.
In the morning we dragged ourselves out of bed around 6am, I finished pumping up the tyre on my car, we loaded it with our luggage (and Funsize), we contacted Manchester Airport and reassigned our car park booking to the different car, and we set off again.
This time we made three stops - one early on for a frankly inadequate breakfast (we of course had nothing in the house), one at Gretna to change drivers, and then again just before leaving the M6 to change back. However, that part of the journey was blessedly uneventful, and we reached Manchester Airport around 12:30 for a 3:30 flight.
The last time we were at Manchester Airport was actually seven years ago, coming back from our honeymoon, where we had to struggle through an eight-hour wait. This one wasn't quite as bad... was was still quite bad. Our flight was delayed, and then was delayed again. Then, somehow, it was delayed slightly less - we finally boarded at around 6:20. (During this time, Funsize was bored and tired - she wanted to run around and see things. Can't fault her for that... but neither LC nor I were in the best coping mode.)
Anyway, the flight out was fine, and we actually made up quite a bit of time. Which was nice. Then we went through passport control in France, got our luggage, and went to collect our hire car. At which point I was stung for a 50 Euro charge for collecting the car late - their office 'closed' at 7pm. Grr.
The rest of the journey, fortunately, was relatively painless - we made a quick stop at McDonalds, then drove for an hour or so, and then we were there! We finally arrived at about 10:15, tired, stressed, and generally pissed off. But we had, at least, made it!
#35: "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Jedi the Last", by Ian Doescher
#36: "Clan of the Cave Bear", by Jean M. Auel (a book from The List)
#37: "Colonel Sun", by Kingsley Amis
The plan was straightforward - I finished work on Friday afternoon, we would quickly pack the car and get on the road by 3:30, drive down to Manchester, spend the night in a Premier Inn, then drive to the airport and fly from Manchester to La Rochelle. From there, we'd get a hire car and drive to our final destination in La Tranche Sur Mer. A nice easy, relaxed journey all around.
Yeah, right.
My last day at work was terrible. I made the horrible mistake of trying something new for the first time, and made a bit of a mess on the network... and a mess I didn't have the required permissions to clear up and where the colleague who did wouldn't start work until after I'd left. Oops. Also of note, I was having problems with a slow puncture on my car, had decided the tyre needed blown up, and in the process of doing this I had actually broken my foot pump! (We have two of these, one in each car.)
So I was really glad to get home, shortly after the intended 2:30. We then proceeded to load LC's car with our luggage (and Funsize), and we were off!
Now, in the course of the morning, LC had had her car windows open, in an attempt to keep the car cool. This was fine until, about halfway along the M8 we decided to put them up, only to find that mine (the passenger) rose about halfway and then stuck. Gah! Now, we have seen this before, and it has always been the case that you turn the car off and on again, and it's fine - we thought it was a power issue. In hindsight, we should have stopped immediately, verified this, and if not sought help at once, but hindsight is a wonderful thing...
Instead, we drove to Tebay, and only there discovered that we had a problem - the window just wouldn't go up.
So we called the AA. (Actually, used this app they've been advertising with the Red Dwarf crew recently - because of course the crew of Red Dwarf were so noted for their steely competence.) They said they were very busy, but would hope to be with us in about an hour. We also got a call from the garage they'd contracted the recovery out to, who reiterated that they'd be about an hour.
Fifty minutes later, that estimate changed - they'd be another hour. And then an hour after that it changed again, again adding an hour. About 9pm, after we'd been at Tebay for almost three hours, I finally called the garage to ask for an updated estimate.
After some minutes on hold, I hung up and called back, and this time was told that they were very sorry but that we'd been taken off their system - the AA had been unhappy with their ETA so had reassigned the case. We'd need to call the AA directly.
So I did, and after fighting with the automated switchboard finally got to speak to an actual person, who then put me on hold for 10 minutes while she checked things out. Eventually she got back to me to say she didn't know why the garage had told me we'd been reassigned but that this was incorrect, that the original garage would now be coming to us, but that their best estimate was another hour. This was now 9:20, and we'd been at Tebay for just over three hours.
(Incidentally, that "you've been reassigned"/"I don't know why you were told that" is code for "somebody screwed up the IT stuff, but neither of us is going to admit it".)
At this point, I told them to forget it - we'd deal with the issue ourselves. And instead started on plan B (or probably plan F or something, as we'd discussed several options in the meantime).
So we drove home.
(I'll note at this point that, fortunately, Funsize had been holding up spectacularly well. Indeed, she'd been doing rather better than either of her parents, being a happy, smiling, laughing girl throughout. It was only when we started the drive home that she started to complain, due to being extremely tired. Then she fell asleep after a few minutes, and didn't wake again until home.)
The drive home was mostly uneventful, except when we found that a section of the motorway was closed. Naturally, we didn't quite trust the signage for the diversion so decided to use the SatNav for backup, only to find that it was determined to take us back onto the motorway, that being by far the quickest route. Still, we did manage to follow the signs without getting lost, so that only cost us twenty minutes.
At 11:30, after ten hours of hard travelling, we finally got back to where we started. We put Funsize to bed, and then started on the next part of our task...
Fortunately, one of the tasks on my "to-do" list has been to clear all the rubbish from our garage, and this was almost complete. So we spent the next hour or so clearing out the last few things (mostly into our garden and utility room), after which we were able to fit LC's car into our garage (actually, for the first time ever). And then we went to bed.
In the morning we dragged ourselves out of bed around 6am, I finished pumping up the tyre on my car, we loaded it with our luggage (and Funsize), we contacted Manchester Airport and reassigned our car park booking to the different car, and we set off again.
This time we made three stops - one early on for a frankly inadequate breakfast (we of course had nothing in the house), one at Gretna to change drivers, and then again just before leaving the M6 to change back. However, that part of the journey was blessedly uneventful, and we reached Manchester Airport around 12:30 for a 3:30 flight.
The last time we were at Manchester Airport was actually seven years ago, coming back from our honeymoon, where we had to struggle through an eight-hour wait. This one wasn't quite as bad... was was still quite bad. Our flight was delayed, and then was delayed again. Then, somehow, it was delayed slightly less - we finally boarded at around 6:20. (During this time, Funsize was bored and tired - she wanted to run around and see things. Can't fault her for that... but neither LC nor I were in the best coping mode.)
Anyway, the flight out was fine, and we actually made up quite a bit of time. Which was nice. Then we went through passport control in France, got our luggage, and went to collect our hire car. At which point I was stung for a 50 Euro charge for collecting the car late - their office 'closed' at 7pm. Grr.
The rest of the journey, fortunately, was relatively painless - we made a quick stop at McDonalds, then drove for an hour or so, and then we were there! We finally arrived at about 10:15, tired, stressed, and generally pissed off. But we had, at least, made it!
#35: "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Jedi the Last", by Ian Doescher
#36: "Clan of the Cave Bear", by Jean M. Auel (a book from The List)
#37: "Colonel Sun", by Kingsley Amis
Friday, July 19, 2019
Day 200: Update on Goals
Day 200, so time for another update on goals. As with the previous update, I'm writing this in advance and scheduling its publication - I may need to revisit this a few days after it goes live.
- Books: By day 100 I should have read 32.87 books. I'm now well ahead of that target, which is good. The current estimate is that I'll end up slightly over the 60 books for the year, but that I'll fail to finish off the British part of The List.
- Weight: There has been no further progress since last time.
- Blogging: This remains right on target, both here and on the Imaginarium.
- Redecorate the Study: No progress, nor am I expecting any between now and the next update.
- The To-Do List: I've removed the redecoration of the study from the To-Do List (as discussed previously) and have completed my scanning of old bagpipe music. That leaves two items on the list at the time of writing: clearing the garage and refixing the wardrobe. Both of these are actually in progress, with the garage down to only a busted washing machine to get rid of. I expect to deal with that in the next couple of weeks.
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Ella's Kitchen
For the want of a better topic, here's a quick review...
Over the past year or so we've made a lot of use of the baby foods in the "Ella's Kitchen" range - starting with some of their pouch meals, then some of their snacks, a couple of their ready meals, and some of their frozen chicken and fish pieces. Funsize has sampled a lot of things, and the results have been mixed.
The short version is that the pouches come highly recommended - there's a fairly wide range of these, and Funsize basically lapped them up. Sure, she wouldn't eat everything every day, but she did seem more than willing to eat any of them on the right day (if that makes sense). I'm not aware of any she just rejected outright.
By contrast, their meals for older children have proven to be a complete waste - she refused the beef stew, she refused the veg moussaka, she refused the chicken pieces, and she refused the fish. We had a small amount of success with the cheese croquets, but only a little.
The upshot: for the early months, I highly recommend their pouch foods. I would avoid the later offerings. My feeling now is that the more we can arrange for Funsize to share the same meals LC and I eat, the better off we will all be.
#34: "Book of Spells, Part II", edited by Gardner Dozois
Over the past year or so we've made a lot of use of the baby foods in the "Ella's Kitchen" range - starting with some of their pouch meals, then some of their snacks, a couple of their ready meals, and some of their frozen chicken and fish pieces. Funsize has sampled a lot of things, and the results have been mixed.
The short version is that the pouches come highly recommended - there's a fairly wide range of these, and Funsize basically lapped them up. Sure, she wouldn't eat everything every day, but she did seem more than willing to eat any of them on the right day (if that makes sense). I'm not aware of any she just rejected outright.
By contrast, their meals for older children have proven to be a complete waste - she refused the beef stew, she refused the veg moussaka, she refused the chicken pieces, and she refused the fish. We had a small amount of success with the cheese croquets, but only a little.
The upshot: for the early months, I highly recommend their pouch foods. I would avoid the later offerings. My feeling now is that the more we can arrange for Funsize to share the same meals LC and I eat, the better off we will all be.
#34: "Book of Spells, Part II", edited by Gardner Dozois
Monday, July 08, 2019
Creed II
I'm a big fan of "Creed", which is a film that I thought was an awful lot better than it really should have been (along with the first "Rocky" and also "Rocky Balboa"; the others in the series, not so much). So when I saw that the sequel was due I was pretty happy to see it. And I also found the concept particularly interesting - a match up between the son of Apollo Creed and the son of Ivan Drago could be fascinating.
Unfortunately, the sequel was yet another remider that you should never get your expectations up.
One of the reasons "Creed" works really well is that while it is heavily informed by the "Rocky" series, it is very careful to be its own thing - it's not just another sequel in the series. Adonis Creed is not his father, nor is he Rocky, and his story is his own. It works really well.
Unfortunately, "Creed II" is little more than a sequel to "Rocky IV" - Ivan Drago shows up with his son, that son challenges the son of Apollo Creed, and the stage is set. And from there it's storytelling-by-numbers, and indeed Rocky-by-numbers - there's a little life drama, there's a confrontation, there's the training montage, and then there's the scene where Adonis conquers his demons and moves forward, just as the score swells into the iconic Rocky theme.
It's such a shame. This could have been a really interesting story - Rocky and Drago should have had more time together to spell out their conflicting philosophies. Or, indeed, they could have had the conflict between the sons be the driving force in the film, while the fathers (or father and father-figure) bond over the fact that neither of them has actually been well-treated by the years. Or they could have allowed Victor to observe the Rocky/Adonis relationship and contrast with his own flawed relationship with his father. Basically, there are plenty of angles that come at this to give us something different.
As it is, I'm afraid we're now at a point where the "Creed" series is already little more than a retread. And that's a real shame, because it had such potential.
Unfortunately, the sequel was yet another remider that you should never get your expectations up.
One of the reasons "Creed" works really well is that while it is heavily informed by the "Rocky" series, it is very careful to be its own thing - it's not just another sequel in the series. Adonis Creed is not his father, nor is he Rocky, and his story is his own. It works really well.
Unfortunately, "Creed II" is little more than a sequel to "Rocky IV" - Ivan Drago shows up with his son, that son challenges the son of Apollo Creed, and the stage is set. And from there it's storytelling-by-numbers, and indeed Rocky-by-numbers - there's a little life drama, there's a confrontation, there's the training montage, and then there's the scene where Adonis conquers his demons and moves forward, just as the score swells into the iconic Rocky theme.
It's such a shame. This could have been a really interesting story - Rocky and Drago should have had more time together to spell out their conflicting philosophies. Or, indeed, they could have had the conflict between the sons be the driving force in the film, while the fathers (or father and father-figure) bond over the fact that neither of them has actually been well-treated by the years. Or they could have allowed Victor to observe the Rocky/Adonis relationship and contrast with his own flawed relationship with his father. Basically, there are plenty of angles that come at this to give us something different.
As it is, I'm afraid we're now at a point where the "Creed" series is already little more than a retread. And that's a real shame, because it had such potential.
Wednesday, July 03, 2019
Rather Annoying
Last last week I received a letter from my gym informing me that the monthly cost of membership will be going up. That's not actually unreasonable - it was a fairly small increase, it's subsidised anyway, and it's been a long time since they put their prices up. So that was fair enough.
Except...
The gym has two sets of changing rooms. That is, there are two ladies' changing rooms and two gents' changing rooms. This is a good thing, because for the past few months, one of the gents' changing rooms has been out of action, partly due to some damage and partly for a long-overdue refurbishment.
Again, that's fine.
But this Monday when I got to the gym I found that not only was that gents' changing room out of action, but the other gents' changing room had been assigned for the exclusive use of a boys' club they're running for the summer. Today when I went, it was still reserved for the same purpose, and indeed the website indicates that it will be block-booked for that purpose for the next six weeks.
Meaning that in the week when they write to me to inform me they're putting up the price I'm paying they've also left me without the ability to use the service for which I'm paying that money.
It's fair to say that I'm slightly peeved at this.
#33: "Pathfinder: Borne by the Sun's Grace", by Luis Loza
Except...
The gym has two sets of changing rooms. That is, there are two ladies' changing rooms and two gents' changing rooms. This is a good thing, because for the past few months, one of the gents' changing rooms has been out of action, partly due to some damage and partly for a long-overdue refurbishment.
Again, that's fine.
But this Monday when I got to the gym I found that not only was that gents' changing room out of action, but the other gents' changing room had been assigned for the exclusive use of a boys' club they're running for the summer. Today when I went, it was still reserved for the same purpose, and indeed the website indicates that it will be block-booked for that purpose for the next six weeks.
Meaning that in the week when they write to me to inform me they're putting up the price I'm paying they've also left me without the ability to use the service for which I'm paying that money.
It's fair to say that I'm slightly peeved at this.
#33: "Pathfinder: Borne by the Sun's Grace", by Luis Loza
Some Thoughts on USA vs England
In the absence of much else to watch last night I caught most of the semi-final between USA and England. Somehow, I actually managed to miss all three goals, but saw almost all of the rest of it. It was actually quite an interesting match-up: those two had been by far the best two teams I'd seen in the tournament to date. (I should note that I'd not seen much of France and hadn't seen anything of Germany's performances.)
I actually found it quite difficult to decide who to root for. On the one hand, the USA are busy running honest-to-goodness concentration camps, so that kind of rules them out. On the other hand, England are busily dragging us out of the EU against our will, so that rules them out. Plus, the winners of yesterday's match were (and are) heavy favourites for the final, and if England were to win the World Cup they'd never let us hear the end of it, so there's that. (Seriously, in the France/Korea match that started the tournament, the commentators managed a whole 17 seconds before bringing up 1966. Do they really not understand how utterly pathetic that is?) On balance, I've decided to support whoever wins the second semi-final tonight.
Anyway...
It was a really good match. When the two best teams in a tournament beat there's always a fear that they'll just cancel each other out, and in a semi-final there's always a fear that both teams will play not to lose the game. Either way, that can lead to a game that just sucks... and that very definitely wasn't the case here.
On balance, the USA were the better team and deserved to win it. That said, they really should have worked harder to get a third (and subsequent) goal, rather than spending so much time just trying to hold on to their lead - a strategy that so very nearly backfired on them twice.
The penalty decision looked rather soft, but was probably just about right. The penalty itself was woeful. That said, looking at the replay I'm pretty sure it should have been retaken - the rule is that when the ball is kicked the keeper must have part of one foot on or above the line, and it looked very much like Naeher had one foot in front and one behind that line (the latter, incidentally, is specifically called out as not being allowed). In other words, England lost out because the refereeing team didn't apply the same rule that was incorrectly used to knock Scotland out.
(Incidentally, I've reconsidered my position on VAR in light of some of the later matches in the tournament. While I still think it's a fine idea, I do think these "VAR Reviews" have to go - the long pauses in the game while a team analyse events over and over again are just lethal to the game. It really needs to be an instant thing - have the VAR team watching the match and only flag things up if they seem them live. That is, get rid of the replays, and get rid of the ref going over the have a look. And, yes, accept that that means that things won't be 100% perfect... if for no other reason that they're not going to be 100% perfect anyway.)
As for where we go from here, to be honest I think things are likely to carry on as they are for the foreseeable future. I suspect Scotland have already given their best ever performance at a World Cup, because as time goes on more and more nations will jump into women's football, will apply greater time and resources than we do, and so we'll stand still while everyone races past us. I suspect England's future is to continue to be one of the best teams there, but probably never the best. So they're probably hoping for a near-repeat of either this year or last, where England get to their semi-final and hope to cause an upset while in the other half of the draw they hope an upset has taken out most of the other good teams. And I suspect the USA will dominate the game for a very long time to come, possibly even on a permanent basis.
I actually found it quite difficult to decide who to root for. On the one hand, the USA are busy running honest-to-goodness concentration camps, so that kind of rules them out. On the other hand, England are busily dragging us out of the EU against our will, so that rules them out. Plus, the winners of yesterday's match were (and are) heavy favourites for the final, and if England were to win the World Cup they'd never let us hear the end of it, so there's that. (Seriously, in the France/Korea match that started the tournament, the commentators managed a whole 17 seconds before bringing up 1966. Do they really not understand how utterly pathetic that is?) On balance, I've decided to support whoever wins the second semi-final tonight.
Anyway...
It was a really good match. When the two best teams in a tournament beat there's always a fear that they'll just cancel each other out, and in a semi-final there's always a fear that both teams will play not to lose the game. Either way, that can lead to a game that just sucks... and that very definitely wasn't the case here.
On balance, the USA were the better team and deserved to win it. That said, they really should have worked harder to get a third (and subsequent) goal, rather than spending so much time just trying to hold on to their lead - a strategy that so very nearly backfired on them twice.
The penalty decision looked rather soft, but was probably just about right. The penalty itself was woeful. That said, looking at the replay I'm pretty sure it should have been retaken - the rule is that when the ball is kicked the keeper must have part of one foot on or above the line, and it looked very much like Naeher had one foot in front and one behind that line (the latter, incidentally, is specifically called out as not being allowed). In other words, England lost out because the refereeing team didn't apply the same rule that was incorrectly used to knock Scotland out.
(Incidentally, I've reconsidered my position on VAR in light of some of the later matches in the tournament. While I still think it's a fine idea, I do think these "VAR Reviews" have to go - the long pauses in the game while a team analyse events over and over again are just lethal to the game. It really needs to be an instant thing - have the VAR team watching the match and only flag things up if they seem them live. That is, get rid of the replays, and get rid of the ref going over the have a look. And, yes, accept that that means that things won't be 100% perfect... if for no other reason that they're not going to be 100% perfect anyway.)
As for where we go from here, to be honest I think things are likely to carry on as they are for the foreseeable future. I suspect Scotland have already given their best ever performance at a World Cup, because as time goes on more and more nations will jump into women's football, will apply greater time and resources than we do, and so we'll stand still while everyone races past us. I suspect England's future is to continue to be one of the best teams there, but probably never the best. So they're probably hoping for a near-repeat of either this year or last, where England get to their semi-final and hope to cause an upset while in the other half of the draw they hope an upset has taken out most of the other good teams. And I suspect the USA will dominate the game for a very long time to come, possibly even on a permanent basis.
Monday, July 01, 2019
Toy Story 4
There are few films I've been more apprehensive to see than this one. The "Toy Story" trilogy is of such a high standard, and the ending is so perfect, that adding a fourth film seemed like a recipe for disaster. Plus, the fourth film in any series is almost bound to suck: see "The Phantom Menace", "Superman IV", "Batman and Robin", "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", "Star Trek V" (an odd one that - after the very first film they effectively rebooted the series with "Wrath of Khan"), "Star Trek: Nemesis", "Lethal Weapon 4"...
However, it's not like I wasn't going to see the film, so we went yesterday.
It's okay. Though the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw pretty much nailed it with the comment that "Having done so many things unimaginably better than so many other movie franchises, it’s fitting that the Toy Story series now gives us a classier, superior kind of anticlimax."
Basically, this film is exactly what you would probably expect: a bunch of our heroes get lost and have to find their way home. Along the way they make some new friends, have a wacky adventure, and dispense some life lessons. It's all good... but very little of it is new. And the one genuinely new and interesting idea in the film comes in the form of a decidely unappealing character - if you've seen the trailer, you'll know the one.
I also felt that the ending somehow managed both to lack the emotional punch of the previous film and didn't really sit right with the dynamic of everything that had gone before.
I probably come across as being more negative about the film than I really am. I enjoyed it for what it was, and it's important to recognise both that it wasn't the awfulness of many of the films I listed above, nor did it in any way diminish the series to date.
It's just that, on balance, maybe it would have been better if they hadn't made it?
However, it's not like I wasn't going to see the film, so we went yesterday.
It's okay. Though the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw pretty much nailed it with the comment that "Having done so many things unimaginably better than so many other movie franchises, it’s fitting that the Toy Story series now gives us a classier, superior kind of anticlimax."
Basically, this film is exactly what you would probably expect: a bunch of our heroes get lost and have to find their way home. Along the way they make some new friends, have a wacky adventure, and dispense some life lessons. It's all good... but very little of it is new. And the one genuinely new and interesting idea in the film comes in the form of a decidely unappealing character - if you've seen the trailer, you'll know the one.
I also felt that the ending somehow managed both to lack the emotional punch of the previous film and didn't really sit right with the dynamic of everything that had gone before.
I probably come across as being more negative about the film than I really am. I enjoyed it for what it was, and it's important to recognise both that it wasn't the awfulness of many of the films I listed above, nor did it in any way diminish the series to date.
It's just that, on balance, maybe it would have been better if they hadn't made it?
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