Treading Water

I mentioned late last month that I had slipped behind on several fronts, and that catching up would probably be the theme of this month. In the event, the theme of this month would probably be more accurately named "treading water" - although I have caught up somewhat on the book front (such that I'm about two-thirds of a book behind), I've managed only ten posts on this blog (leaving me exactly where I was), and two over on the Imaginarium (which is therefore now behind). So after fairly significant efforts, I'm pretty much where I started overall.

My goal for next month will very clearly to get back on target for each of these aspects, but that may be a pipe dream. I guess we'll see...

#44: "Whispers Under Ground", by Ben Aaronovitch

Lockdown 2

Well, here we go again. As of last night we have a significant tightening of Covid restrictions. Thus far, this has stopped short of a proper second lockdown, but I very much suspect it is coming - in fact, I'm pretty certain that we really should have had a full-blown second lockdown, but the political will was just missing. So we'll pay the price for that one in a few more weeks.

Unlike the first lockdown, this one leaves me absolutely furious. Not because it isn't necessary - I absolutely agree that it is, and indeed that it should have gone further. However, it shouldn't have been. A few months ago we had this thing under control, all the metrics were going in the right direction, and we had an opportunity to eradicate it.

Instead our governments unlocked too fast, in too haphazard a manner, and lost control of the situation. And then they dithered and let the virus get back into a position where it could grow exponentially... and here we are.

And I'm afraid I consider the Scottish government pretty much as bad as Westminster in this regard. On the one hand, it is true that they didn't have all the levers available to an independent country, and so probably couldn't have managed outright eradication. On the other, I can't help but note that a few weeks ago there were an estimated 300 contagious people in the whole of Scotland, and now it has exploded out of control. They had a grip, and they lost it. So if they're better placed than Westminster, I'm afraid it's a difference of degree not of type - the report card still says "must do better".

Oh well. The damage is done, so that's my last moan about that.

Where that leaves us is that any notion of returning to the office is well and truly parked now, with almost no prospect of that happening this year. It's also likely that our Christmas lunch will have to be cancelled, or somehow done remotely, which is a shame. Otherwise, work will go on just as it has been.

For the time being, the schools are remaining open, and given the political costs involved, the powers-that-be will be absolutely determined to keep them open until they absolutely have to close them. I have my doubts whether they'll reopen after the October holiday. Likewise, there are no signs of Funsize's nursery closing, and I'd be surprised if that changes without a full-blown lockdown coming into force.

And the final factor that plays into this is the Furlough scheme, which was supposed to come to an end next month. The problem there being that if it ends then people will have to go out to work en masse, meaning that a lockdown won't be possible - it doesn't really matter what the government order on that front, without the necessary support people will just have to go to work. And yet, I'm increasingly fearful that the reason the scheme is coming to its end if less about blind ideology (which, frankly, wouldn't have brought it in in the first place), but rather for a simpler, harsher reason - the country is simply broke.

So...

My expectation is that these new measures will be largely ineffectual. I expect therefore that we'll see a much tighter set of restrictions coming soon, that may or may not be backed with an extension (or replacement) of Furlough... and depending on that may or may not be effective.

And, bluntly, as a consequence of all of that, I fear that Christmas is cancelled.

Ulysses

It's fair to say I wasn't overly impressed with "Ulysses" - if it hadn't been on The List I would have abandoned it fairly quickly. It is, by far, the toughest book I've ever read, and while I have very definitely read it, it's also fair to note that I've read it only in a strict sense of that word.

Boiling it down, my view is this: some novels are written simply to tell a story, some are written to explore a theme or otherwise make a point. "Ulysses" seems to have been written to experiment with the use of words themselves - it's very much in the Modernist tradition. But the net effect of that is that it renders the plot largely incomprehensible and the theme, if indeed there is one, entirely irrelevant. And, as such, while I can see the value of the work as an experimental piece, and indeed as an object to be studied, I'm afraid I find very little merit in it as a novel.

That said, I did have a chuckle at one section where two characters were discussing the merits of Irish independence, which did feel oddly familiar...

Experimental Cookery 2020: Naughty Naughty Nachos

 This one comes from Lorraine Pascale's "Fast, Fresh, and Easy Food", which is one of my more-used cookbooks. The occasion for this one came as a result of taking LC out for lunch - on Friday we had that rare combination of a day when neither of us were working but Funsize was at nursery, so we took advantage.

Normally when we have nachos, it's haggis, but as we didn't have any haggis I figured I'd try something different, and this was the result. The key difference was that the salsa and guacamole were made from scratch. Nonetheless, this was a quick and easy snack, and rather enjoyable. Would definitely have these again... though we tend not to have nachos too often, so who knows when that might be?

Experimental Cookery 2020: Curried Naan with Sultanas, and Chickpea Curry

 A somewhat belated Experimental Cookery, this one was produced for a lunch a week ago when we had guests. They come from Paul Hollywood's "Bread", which is a book I like but really haven't made much use of - were it not for the pizza base method, I would have gotten rid of this some time ago.

Still, the meal was nice and easy to produce. (I wouldn't say 'quick' because bread seldom is - all that proving takes time.) And the results were very impressive - a feast for four people that everyone enjoyed, with a minimum of fuss and hassle. So I'm calling this one a win.

(It's also worth noting that this is another successful vegetarian dish, which is something that is always good to have in the repertoire.)

#41: "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", by Roald Dahl (a book for Funsize)

#42: "The Testaments", by Margaret Atwood

#43: "Ulysses", by James Joyce (a book from The List)

iPlayer Woes

At the weekend we made the unfortunate discovery that iPlayer support for the PS3 is to end early next month. My plan had been to wait another five years or so before investing in a significant upgrade to our entertainment system - probably a new TV, whatever Playstation is then current, a full-blown surround sound system (potentially professionally installed), as well as integrating our media server if we ever get one, and potentially retiring the Freesat box in favour of a better solution.

But that had rather assumed that things would continue to work as they were. Now that that's not the case...

I have researched our options, and they broadly fall into four categories:

• We could just live with it. iPlayer would still be available by PC if there was anything we really felt the need to watch, but would be a hassle.
• We could invest in a Firestick (which would also give us Disney+), and also an HDMI switch so that we can connect it to our soundbar. That's a bad solution, from a technology point of view, but would solve the problem without too much expense.
• We could replace the TV with a smart model. That's a much better solution, albeit a more expensive one than we'd wanted at this time (and also Funsize is a little less tech-proof than perhaps we'd like).
• Or we could bring forward the big expense and just do everything now. I'm not doing that.

(We could also upgrade the PS3 to a PS4, but the timing of that is really poor, given that the PS5 is due to launch very soon. So I don't intent to do that unless we see an absurd deal.)

For the moment, we're going to go for the first option. My suspicion is that that won't stick.

One last thing: I'm starting to think we need to be prepared to abandon Freesat - the range of boxes seems to have dropped significantly, there's no great signs of the range of channels ever increasing, and so my feeling is that it won't be worth investing in a replacement should our existing box stop working. That being the case, I think it's time to look again at why the TV aerial doesn't seem to work... when it really should.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

A few weeks ago I purchased a DVD of the Arrowverse event "Crisis of Infinite Earths". I rather enjoyed it - certainly, I've found what I've seen of the Arrowverse shows (not much) to be rather more enjoyable than the DC films. With the exception of "Wonder Woman" they've really not been particularly good. (That said, we haven't seen "Aquaman" or "Joker".)

One of the things that was particularly interesting about the show was the many, many cameos - we get hints of the 1989 Batman, the 60's Batman and Robin, Smallville, Birds of Prey, and so on. All of which were pretty cool, but they also emphasised something that I had kinda been aware of but perhaps hadn't fully grasped: you can't cheat when it comes to building investment. Tom Welling's appearance as Clark Kent works because he spent years playing that role in Smallville, so having watched that show (until I gave up), I was immediately oriented as to context.

I think that's also why "Avengers" worked but "Justice League" didn't - the former laid out lots of groundwork and then brought the team together; the latter tried to short circuit it. Which is a real shame, as some of the characters DC have are great.

The other thing that really struck me about the show was a reminder of just how great Brandon Routh was as Superman... or, more correctly, as Clark Kent. "Superman Returns" wasn't a great film, and really suffers now for Kevin Spacey and Bryan SInger's respective problems, but Routh was great in the role. And, doing double-duty in "Crisis on Infinite Earths", he is great in this. (There has been some talk of them doing some sort of Superman mini-series starring BR, largely off the back of his appearance here. If so, I'd certainly be interested!)

Anyway, that's more or less all I have to say about that.

Keyboard

Over the past few days I have been pondering the fact that I get more done at work (or 'work') than at home. That has led to me conducting an experiment - today, instead of switching out my home keyboard/mouse combination when setting up my work PC, I instead moved the wireless dongle from the home PC to the work one.

The results have been very instructive - despite coming highly recommended, the home keyboard is nowhere near as comfortable to use as the one for work. The keys are just a little smaller, a little closer together, and the whole thing is just a little bit more tiring. The upshot is that there is a small, but very noticeable, difference between the two. (By contrast, there doesn't seem to be much difference between the mice.)

I suspect that that means I'm now in the market for a new keyboard - the difference is enough to really annoy me, and the productivity differences are surprisingly noticeable. All of which is rather interesting, especially since the home keyboard is considerably more expensive than the work one!

This does also highlight something rather frustrating - now that I know what I'm looking for in more detail, it's proving surprisingly hard to actually find the item. And, oddly, the pictures of keyboards on online shops are really bad. It's almost as if they don't want you to see what it is you're looking to buy.

House of Ill Repute

Last night the House of Commons voted in favour of the Internal Market Bill, the same bill that was explicitly stated in the HoC as breaching international law. That being the case, the fact that that bill was even presented to the House brings shame upon our government. That it didn't meet with mass resignation from ministers brings shame on their offices. And the fact that the House voted for it confirms that the House of Commons is a pointless waste of money. We're no longer electing representatives to hold a government to account; we're electing a dictator for five years.

The UK no longer has a government. We have a regime. (Incidentally, we also have weapons of mass destruction and oil, so that's all three ingredients needed should the US feel like a fun bit of invading.)

And... that's it, really. For a long time I held out the slight hope that at least Scotland might eventually seek independence and at least we'd get away from all this. But all I hear from the SNP these days is empty words - Ian Blackford stands up and makes his speech about how Scotland "cannot and will not" allow the latest outrage to stand. And then Boris, quite rightly, pays not the slightest bit of attention and just does whatever he wants. Because when push comes to shove the SNP do nothing. It turns out that Scotland absolutely will put up with it all.

#39: "Firefly: The Magnificent Nine", by James Lovegrove
#40: "Sharpe's Enemy", by Bernard Cornwell

Day 250: Update on Goals

It's day 250 of the year, so here's the update:

• Books: By day 250 I should have read 40.98 books. I'm significantly behind on this goal, but have several books in progress. I hope therefore to be back on track some time in October - certainly by the next update.
• Weight: Nothing to report. This one is going to be failed again.
• Blogging: I'm several posts behind on this blog, but right on target on the Imaginarium. I'm also finding it tough finidng a conjunction between having inspiration and time in which to blog, so I'm growing increasingly concerned about this one.
• Work: I said last time that this one wasn't happening, but might have happened but for the virus. It turns out that it probably wouldn't have happened even then, but looks likely for next year. Which I'll take as a good thing.

The report card right now looks pretty bleak - two near-certain failures, and two behind target. I'll try to pull some of that back for the next update, but I'm not entirely confident.