Lights Out

This weekend, in amongst all the other horrors, I found myself having to buy a set of C sized batteries. I really don't like these: other than D size, the C's are the least useful of all the batteries, so I try to avoid anything that needs them.

Worse, though, in this instance the batteries are for something that doesn't need them. More accurately, they're for something that runs on mains power, and for which we do indeed use mains power exclusively, on the rare occasions we use it at all: a portable radio.

But the reason we bought the batteries is that we seem to be heading towards a winter of power cuts. Initially, these were just distant rumblings, nothing to worry about. Then, as the weeks progressed, they gradually shifted the mood. And a couple of weeks ago there were reports that the BBC were preparing emergency scripts for multi-day blackouts (potentially 48 hours), with broadcasts to be made on Radio 2 and Radio 4 to keep people informed - hence the need for batteries.

That was the point at which I started to get worried. Because if they're preparing such things that suggests that the "unlikely" 3-hour blackouts (4-7 pm on some weeknights) almost certainly are going to happen, and it would be wise to prepare for the worst. Though there's only so much you can do to prepare for not being able to power anything and not being able to heat anything. I guess we're going to have to learn to enjoy nocturnal winter BBQs.

Unfortunately, I think I have to recommend others do the same: better to prepare now, before the inevitable rush.

Day 304: Update on Goals

The 31st of October is the 304th day of the year, so I'm overdue for an update on goals:

• Books: By this point I should be aiming to have complete 50 books almost exactly, which given the progress of the year raises a weary chuckle. I've actually completed 28 books, with three others in progress. I expect to end the year on 34, though even that is subject to revision. I also expect to finish the year with three books outstanding on The List.
• Weight: A few ups and downs, but across the year I'm a little lighter. That's as much due to last week's illness as anything else.
• Blogging: This one is going pretty well - this blog is going to end the month a little short again, but not by too much. Meanwhile, The Imaginarium is right on target. So that's good.
• Redecorating the Hallway: The decorators came in and replaced the wallpaper with paint, so that part of the job is done. We do still want to replace the carpet and hang some pictures, so this goal isn't yet done, but is expected to complete by the end of the year.
• Super Secret Goal: Abandoned.

The predictions for the year haven't changed: I expect to end the year with the Blogging and Redecoration goals completed, the SSG abandoned, and the Books and Weight goals being abject failures. That's not a terribly good showing.

This is the final update until the end-of-year round up. We'll see how things stand then... but I wouldn't expect much change.

Ill

I've been ill again. On Monday I went to work and everything was fine, except for a persistent and increasing headache. But as the night progressed I found myself crying out for my good friends Huey and, sometimes, Ralf, who had inexplicably fallen down the toilet. I was violently, violently sick.

I had actually planned to have a day off on Tuesday while LC went to school for a training day, but in the event that didn't happen. I instead spent it drifting in and out of sleep, completely incapacitated. Then on Wednesday I was a lot better, then a lot better again on Thursday, and today I returned to work.

Unfortunately, in the interim LC has herself come down with the same bug (and is now well on the way to recovery) while Funsize was sick for the first time yesterday and is therefore another day behind. Surprise! was the first to get it, so he's long since recovered.

Anyway, it's been a fun time.

#28: "Monstrous Menagerie", by E.N. Publishing

End of an Error

I tend not to like regeneration episodes of "Doctor Who" - with very few exceptions they are overshadowed by the great big change that is to come, which detracts from the story they're in the process of telling. The big exception to this was the Ecclestone -> Tennant switch, which had the advantage of being a massive surprise. Given that "Power of the Doctor" was also the final episode of the Chibnall era, which I'm afraid I just haven't rated, I wasn't terribly hopeful.

The good news is that it was better than I'd expected. The story suffered from just throwing far too much on the screen too quickly and not really allowing anything to breathe, but it did at least seem to have some sort of coherent narritive in there. And Sacha Dhawan was excellent as the Master, so giving him more screen time was no bad thing. (That said, I kept expecting him to morph into Orlo from "The Great". Which would have been interesting. Huzzah!)

There are spoilers from here on out, some of them massive. So you know what to do...

...

The other really thing about PotD was the big play on nostalgia - the appearances by several Doctors and Companions past, the references to Adric, Ace's baseball bat, UNIT... it all added up to an episode that was more for me than for current audiences, I think. It was good to see Ace back in action (always a favourite), and really quite nice to see Baker and McCoy back in the saddle for what is likely to be one last ride. (Also good to see Davison and David Bradley back.)But my biggest takeaway there is that I'd still really like to see McGann getting a mini-series at some point...

Of course, one thing that Chibnall has messed up is that the reverence given to the First Doctor now makes no sense whatsoever in-universe. It still plays for the audience, a bit, I guess, but now that he's not the first, he's actually just one particular incarnation - might as well just roll the dice and pick someone, or even just cast someone random and put them in position. After all, why not? (Grr.)

One thing I was a little surprised not to see, though I'm not sure exactly where it would fit, was one final scene back at The Edge, where we see Thirteen, post-regeneration, walking to join all her predecessors. But on the other hand, the Companions Support Group was a better idea...

...

And with that the Whittaker era comes to an end. It's a shame, as it had such potential, but I still maintain that she was badly served by most of the material she was given, and was asked to give a performance that was itself disappointing. Not her fault, but I'm afraid it does leave Thirteen at the bottom of my ranking.

And it also marks the end of the Chibnall era. I'm much happier about that, and really intrigued as to where RTD takes us from here. I just hope he has a really good explanation for Ten coming back...

Experimental Cookery 2022: Winter Chicken Bake

This one comes from the Hairy Biker's "One Pot Wonders", and is a companion piece to their Summer Chicken Bake. The principle is the same - create a base of vegetables, lay the chicken on top, add a sauce, and bake. Quick, simple, and done.

Tasty, too. On balance, I think I preferred the summer bake, largely because this was essentially just an inferior Sunday Roast in a pan, but on the other hand this had the major advantage that I prepared it in all of 10 minutes, programmed the oven, and then it was ready when we got home. And for that reason, we'll certainly have this again!

Metrics

One of my hard-won lessons is that what you choose to measure inevitably controls your thinking. That is, if you decide that you're going to measure, say, your car's mileage, you'll inevitably find yourself doing something with that number - either you'll seek to drive it down to as low a value as possible, to conserve fuel, or you'll seek to drive it up as high as possible, to see what your "high score" will be on the car. Or something - but people very seldom measure something and then do nothing with that information.

What that means is that you need to pick and choose your metrics very carefully, and just because something is easy to measure does not mean that you should measure it - if something is irrelevant then it's better not to know, so that you focus on other things that are important.

(Indeed, the effect of this can be readily seen in the blog: I've been tracking the number of books read, which has the effect that I've been pushed towards reading shorter books so I can clear them out. Had I instead chosen to count the number of pages read, that would have led to different behaviours.)

The upshot:

• Decide what is important, decide in what way it is important, and measure it (in the right way). Then review the results and take action.
• For things that aren't considered important, don't measure them!

Don't Look Back...

Yesterday the nursery drop off for Surprise! was pretty horrible - he didn't want to be left, and proceeded to grab on to me and hold tight, while starting to cry. That cry turned into a howl as I handed him over (something to do with having to drop him off, which did mean leaving).

This morning was a very different drop off. He happily wandered in to the room, and didn't even turn back to say goodbye. They I took Funsize to school, and her drop off was essentially the same - in she went, without a backwards glance.

Which was certainly better, and indeed it's good that they're both happy to go and indeed confident in doing so, but still a little recognition would be nice, before they gleefully stride away!

Done, But Not Complete

Over the past week we've had the wallpaper stripped from our hallway, and a nice triple coating of paint applied to the walls. This makes for a vast improvement, and means that the bulk of the redecoration job is done.

That said, when I had previously considered this task I must admit that I'd neglected to think of all the other things that need doing: a dramatic change to the walls means we'll also need new carpet, new curtains, and potentially new shades for the two lights. Plus, of course, there is a step of hanging, or re-hanging some pictures on the walls to break up the colour scheme somewhat.

So we've made a bery big step forward, indeed the largest step forward, but there remains a little to do.