My Year in 2024

2024 has actually been a really good year. Here's why...

My Year in... Blogging 

Okay, firstly a negative - this has been my least bloggy year since records began. Both here and on the Imaginarium there has been a dearth of posts. I've often found myself lacking anything to write about, and lacking both time and inclination to do so anyway.

The Imaginarium is now about to enter an indefinite hiatus, while this blog will continue for the foreseeable future. However, I'm not sure what 2025 holds, and I've elected not to set a goal while I see if my passion for it remains.

My Year in... Work

The update for this year can be identical to last: Work has been mostly good this year, but not without its frustrations. There's not much more I can say here, so I'll leave it at that.

My Year in... Health

This years has been fine for health - no particular illnesses to speak of. I have had some odd battles with anxiety that seem to be related to tiredness and stress, but those hopefully seem to be abating.

My Year in... Gaming

The "Isles of Dread" campaign came to a successful end, and with that my gaming career came to an end, at least for now. This is rather unfortunate, but the group I was with had really run its course, and I don't currently have time or inclination to find a new group.

My Year in... Band

Band has been somewhat disappointing this year, as we had only a few events and ended up cancelling several of those. The band continues to plod on, and does its job in that it does keep me practicing, but it's a shame.

My Year in... Resolutions

As always, the wrap-up of annual goals, and setting of goals for next year, are handled in another post. The headline is that this year did not see any great level of success in my stated goals.

My Year in... Travel

This year we had three trips away. We saw in the year in France, at Disneyland Paris. Indeed, one of the highlights of the year actually came on the morning of the 1st of January, where we arrived at the park early and found it really quiet.

We also enjoyed a week or so in Banff in summer and a week or so in Alnwick in October. In both cases we were extremely lucky with the weather and had a really good time.

That said, one of the things I want to do next year is to get away somewhere abroad - the weather over the summer was generally disappointing, so I'm keen to see the Sun again!

My Year in... Faith

This has been another solid year. I've gradually settled into my new role as an Elder of the church, which mostly seems to involve attending a number of meetings. There's a lot more I could say about that, but it's a topic for another day. All in all though, it's been good.

My Year in... Money

There was an odd confluence of events between August and October of this year where we had to arrange a new mortgage deal and I was then forced to take stock of my pension situation. The upshot of that is that I've spent some times digging through my finances and bringing all the information together into a single spreadsheet. This has all proven extremely reassuring, but has left me a little annoyed that I didn't do all of this years ago.

My Year in... Love

This has actually been a really good year. Probably the key thing that has made a difference is that Funsize and Surprise! seem to have mostly settled into something of a routine, which means we have a bit more by way of free time and a bit more chance to get some decent sleep.

My Year... Overall

Once again, it doesn't really feel like the summary captures the feel of the year as a whole - most of the entries seem to be quite negative, while the year has actually been really good (and, indeed, considerably better than previous years). That's rather odd, but never mind.

And with that, I'll sign off for the year. I hope you all have a very Happy New Year. See you in 2025!

End of Year Update on Goals

As part of the end-of-year wrap-up, here is the closing update on my goals for the year:

• Books: The goal for this year was to read 30 books, which I have not done. I did read slightly more books than last year, and have a decent mix of books in there, but this goal was not achieved.
• Blogging: I've come nowhere close to reaching my target of 120 posts for this year. Indeed, it was almost immediately obvious that this wasn't going to happen. One thing that did happen was that I have brought the Imaginarium to a close - there are a handful of posts scheduled to take it to 1,000 posts, but then it will be on hiatus indefinitely. It is also perhaps worth noting that I've managed to end the year hitting the nominal 10 posts for December, which is nice - it would be good if that represented a return to normal service.
• Redecoration: This was all done except for looking into the heating and insulation for Funsize's room. Even there, our expectation is that a big part of the issue is actually that the windows need replaced. I feel that's enough to consider this one done. In addition, we replaced the carpet in the study (although Lion has managed to rip a chunk out of it), and have re-repainted the walls and replaced the curtain. So that's all good.
• Complete my Campaign: This was all done very successfully.
• Update the Church Website: Some of this has been done. There remains a fairly big renovation needing completion.

So that's two goals completed, and three failed. That's not a good showing, but also not a huge surprise. But, also, given how much else was in this year, I'm not terribly disappointed.

In terms of goals for next year, a big theme is "enough is enough". There are things that I've been dissatisfied with for quite some time, and some tasks I've been putting off, and it's time to actually address them. So...

• Books: The target is the same as this year: 30 books.
• Weight: After having dropped this for several years, this one is very much back on the agenda. The target is to drop at least 20 pounds by the end of 2025. Which will still leave me too heavy, but at least it will be progress towards the ultimate goal.
• Career: I'm now very much into the second half of my career, and am starting to see something of a vision for how I want it to be. Since work is one of the things I don't talk about here, I'm not going to say any more than that, but there's a goal I have in mind here, that can play out one of two ways.
• Church Website: I want to get the renovation done.
• Redecoration: We've actually pretty much finished the redecoration of the house - only the en suite and bathroom upstairs, and the kitchen and utility room downstairs, haven't been repainted. But none of these is the goal for next year - I want to get our windows replaced.

And that's it - five stated goals, all of which represent things that I've felt have needed done for quite some time, and all of which I mean to see actioned in 2025. We'll see.

Notably, you'll see that I haven't set a Blogging goal for next year. Similarly, while I have an ongoing project to enhance our home automation, that isn't a goal for next year. In both cases, anything that gets done will be considered a bonus, with a view to maybe promoting them to proper goals in 2026, especially if completing the others has cleared the decks somewhat.

Experimental Cookery 2024: Christmas

After I finished work on the 20th, I proceeded to spend five days in the kitchen. It has been an extremely busy time, between hosting Christmas dinner for the first time and also helping my parents with their own hosting duties (due to an injury taking one of them out of action rather more than he would care to admit). Ultimately, it was a success.

Firstly, the Christmas baking. This year Funsize, Surprise!, and I baked several things, only one of which was actually new:

• Ginger biscuits
• Shortbread biscuits
• Chocolate chip cookies (new)
• Mince pies

I had hoped to do some snowmen cupcakes, but time did not permit. In any case, given that we now have far too much food in the house, that's probably for the best.

Then there was Christmas dinner, cooked for seven. The menu for that was also extensive.

We actually started with baked camembert. This was intended to be an appetiser as guests arrived, but unfortunately this was the one bit of my timing that didn't work out quite right - I had less time in the morning than I thought, and it took longer than expected. Which meant that we were straight from that to our planned starters, which left everyone stuffed. But never mind - that's my main lesson learned for next time.

For the main Christmas dinner, therefore, we had:

• A choice of soups to start: roasted red pepper and tomato, or parsnip and apple. (These were supplied by one of our guests - I did a lot, but not everything!)
• Turkey
• Roast potatoes, carrots, and parsnips
• Hasselback potatoes
• Brussels sprouts
• Peas
• Pigs in blankets (supplied by a guest)
• Stuffing (supplied by a guest)
• Gravy (from the butchers)
• Chocolate orange tart for dessert, though we didn't actually get that far (made by LC)

So, quite a lot. We ended up with huge amounts left over, much of which I have since turned into a turkey curry.

The Outcome

Everyone ate far too much, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The turkey came out extremely well, which was the most important thing, and then the sides accompanied it brilliantly. All in all, I'm calling that one a success.

Lessons Learned

After an epic like that there are always some lessons to be learned. Some things that went well, and some that were not so good. So:

1. There was way too much food. And drink for that matter. I'll need to give some thought to either cutting down in future, or having more robust plans in place for dealing with the leftovers.
2. The camembert needed to be starter earlier, or perhaps even prepared on Christmas Eve - the second proving step could have been done overnight.
3. Surprise! really wanted sweetcorn in addition to the peas. Given how small an addition that is, I'll bear that in mind.
4. But the big one is this: A few weeks before Christmas I made up a meal plan showing the courses, breaking down the ingredients, and indicating what was coming from where. Then, two days before the meal itself I wrote out a "Plan of Attack" detailing what I was preparing on Christmas Eve, what on Christmas morning, with a space for the calculated cook time for the turkey (after it was weighed after being prepped to go into the oven). These two lists were hugely helpful, as they ensured that nothing was missed and that everything was being done in the right order. After which, it was just work, not stress.

So that's my main takeaway for the "No-stress Christmas": those two lists are utterly invaluable.

The one thing I would introduce as an enhancement is that, in addition to calculating the cook time for the turkey, it then becomes possible to work back from the preferred time for dinner to determine when you need to start put the turkey in the oven, when the various bits of preparation need to be done, and so on.

But... it's important, if you do work backwards like that, that you allow time for things taking longer than expected (because they will). And it's also important that you don't try to schedule everything down to the last second - if your list of steps goes over half a dozen, you're probably setting yourself up for disaster. The key thing is that those plans are there to help you, they mustn't be allowed to become another source of stress.

Anyway, that's Christmas for this year. It was a good one, fairly quiet despite everything, and I have no complaints.

Experimental Cookery 2024: Beautiful Brussels

From that same book "Together" as the Hasselback potatoes come these Brussels sprouts.

The choice to have Brussels was a controversial one - I knew going in that there was considerable resistance from several of the people around the table, and it doesn't help that Tesco seem to only sell them in huge bags. But it was Christmas, so I persevered.

These were quick and easy to make. True, there was a step where each sprout needed to be individually trimmed, peeled, and then the base cut, but that was the only tedious bit. The rest was just a matter of putting things in a bowl and then two small cook steps (a quick boil of the sprouts, then roasting the whole for 10 mins).

One thing that does amuse me is that so many of our TV chefs have done so many different ways of showcasing sprouts and they all, including this one, seem to involve adding one or more strong flavours to them, as though to disguise the underlying taste. Which rather seems to defeat the purpose.

The end result of this one was that the sprouts were fine, but the dish did nothing to disguise the essential sproutiness of the vegetable. So anyone who doesn't like sprouts is unlikely to be moved by this, while those who do like sprouts will like this fine.

For me, it was just important to honour the sprout, and this achieved that. I don't regret cooking this, but I think I'm unlikely to do so again, even if we do have sprouts with Christmas dinner another year.

Experimental Cookery 2024: Amazing Hasselback Potatoes

I got Jamie's book "Together" three years ago and somehow haven't managed to make any real use of it. It's a lovely book, well put together and filled with things I think I might like to try... and yet somehow it's just never seen the light of day. Until now.

For Christmas this year I cooked two types of potatoes, just because. The other were regular roast potatoes (with the only oddity being that I don't bother peeling potatoes any more). Just to be sure, I actually did a dry run of the Hasselbacks a few weeks ago, meaning that this was their second outing.

Well, first or second, they're really good. The only downside was that quite a lot ended up in the bin, by virtue of there just being way too much food.

In terms of effort to prepare, these are rather more work than regular roast potatoes, as there's a load of work cutting slices through them. But that's not too bad - amongst other things, when I got them into the oven for the first roast it gave me ideal time to prepare a load of other things.

All in all, these were a winner, and we'll definitely have them again. They will not, however, be supplanting the regular roast potato - I like them both.

Handbrake Turn

I always find it bizarre the speed at which the shops change: we've been having a build up to Christmas for five months (I first saw "Christmas stuff" in Tesco in August), with ever-increasing urgency, all declaring CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!!! and then, by the time the stores open on the very next day it's all disappeared and we're on to the next thing (HOGMANAY IS COMING!!!!!).

Which is neither new nor particularly profound, but is still bizarre.

Do-over

Many years ago, back in first year of high school, I gave my first ever presentation. My topic was "Dungeons & Dragons", and it's fair to say that it did not go well. It was too long, unfocused, and frankly boring. None of which was exactly great, but it was what it was - you can't change the past.

Except, just occasionally, you get a do-over. And yesterday I found myself once again with a presentation to give on basically any topic of my choice. It being the last week of the year, I therefore decided to take some games in, and my topic was once again "Dungeons & Dragons".

This time the presentation was far better, with all of the issues of the first time through dealt with. Hardly surprising - one would hope that in thirty six years I might have learnt a thing or two!

Still, it was nice to have another crack at it, and to redeem a mis-step of the past.

Cancelled TV Shows

A quick catch-up on some TV I've watched recently...

• Star Wars: The Acolyte: There are few TV shows I've looked forward to as much as this one. "Secret Invasion" probably comes closest. Unfortunately, like "Secret Invasion", it was a bitter, bitter disappointment. That said, "The Acolyte" wasn't the horror show that certain elements of the internet made it out to be, it just wasn't much of anything really. Other than two really good lightsaber duels, I find it hard to think of anything much in the show that is at all worth recommending. Which is a real shame.
• My Lady Jane: From Amazon Prime, this is a fake-historical show about Lady Jane Grey, the short-lived sucessor to King Edward VI. This is another one that the trailers made look really quite interesting, and it was diverting enough... but I was neither surprised nor particularly disappointed to hear of the cancellation. Basically, after a pretty good first, each subsequent episode was weaker than the one before it, until it was mostly just a case of getting to the end. A shame.
• Renegade Nell: Again in the fake-historical genre, this one came from Disney+ and followed the exploits of a superpowered highwaywoman. This one was better than "My Lady Jane"... but not enough to save it from the axe. Of the three, this is the show I would most liked to have seen more of, but I was still not surprised that it wasn't renewed.
• The Penguin: This one hasn't been cancelled, and that's a good thing. Large parts of "The Penguin" were extremely uncomfortable to watch, so much so that I rationed myself to no more than one episode a day, but it was extremely well made, with a commanding central performance by an unrecognisable Colin Farrell.

My upcoming watch list is fairly extensive - I took a long time getting through "Succession", so several things have backed up:

1. I'm currently nearing the end of the third season of "Vox Machina", which remains excellent.
2. The second part of the final season of "Cobra Kai" is next.
3. The second season of "Rings of Power".
4. "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew"

and then I'm not sure.

Still To Do

Christmas is getting closer, and the "low stress" nature of the event is still more or less on track. An awful lot has been done, with just a few things to go...

- All but two of the presents have been bought, including both Secret Santa gifts. Of the presents that have been purchased, one needs collected and then wrapped. That last isn't ideal, as the best time to get it is Christmas Eve, and I'd rather not have to deal with it then.

- The Christmas cards still need written and sent, with one exception (the most difficult). Some of that may be on my list for this evening.

- The Big Shop before Christmas obviously still needs to be done. My hope is to do almost all of this next Friday as part of our regular shop, with just the remnants to pick up the following Monday.

- Speaking of the final Monday, the turkey and other components of the meal need to be picked up from the butchers. Which may cue a whole lot of worry about other things that have been overlooked or that turn out harder than expected.

- And then, of course, there is the Cooking of the Food, an event so monumental that it must be capitalised.

The last thing, which isn't on the strict To Do list (because it's optional) is my Christmas Baking. This is the first year in quite some time that I've had a window of quiet time between ending work and Christmas Day itself (usually I either finish on Christmas Eve or there's only a weekend, or part of a weekend, before). So I have a list of baking that I'd like to do, and there's actually scope to do some or all of it.

But, alas, it doesn't seem that I'm likely to get to the true "and... relax" moment until the very end of the season this year.

A Secret Reputation to Uphold

Last year I purchased someone an especially good present. Indeed, it was widely recognised as being a superlative present. Huzzah! Of course, that means that this year there's a need to maintain, or even raise the standard. After all, there's a reputation to uphold now.

Except...

The present in question was for a Secret Santa, and as a consequence nobody knows that I was the person responsible. Consequently, while there is obviously a reputation to uphold, it is in fact a secret reputation. Which isn't quite the same.

This year I'm involved in two Secret Santas. I'm very happy with the gift purchased in one, while the other is a solid, workmanlike gift that is perhaps not quite so inspired. Anyway, I've decided I'm happy with that.

#19 "Firefly: Coup de Grace", by Una McCormack
#20 "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", by J.K. Rowling (a book for Funsize)

Dear Labour... An idea for you.

The Labour government, in their most recent budget, have increased National Insurance on employers. That is, in effect, a tax on companies for each person they employ, which amongst other things will encourage them to avoid hiring, and to reduce their workforces.

One of the ways companies are already cutting workforces is via automation - checkout assistants are replaced by self checkout, fuel is provided via "pay at the pump", switchboard operators are replaced by chatbots and now AI, and so on. Automation represents a huge and upcoming shock to the labour market; it's going to hurt us all, really badly.

So, here's a suggestion:

Why not tax companies for each time a UK-based customer has to interact with a machine instead of a person? If I go to self-checkout, the supermarket gets taxed. If I phone my insurer and have to battle with an automated switchboard, they get taxed. And so on, and so forth. I'm not talking a huge tax, but a small charge multiplied by millions of interactions each day will quickly add up.

I would also note that the tax needs to be based on the location of the customer, not the chatbot/AI/whatever - if not, companies will respond by putting in thin UIs to all their terminals and put the intelligence offshore, and hosting their AIs out of the country. But tie it to the customer, and they can't so easily dodge it.

Anyway, there it is.

Day 300: Update on Goals

I've been giving a lot of thought to the topic of goals recently, in particular focused on the larger question of "what do I want?" This has led to some interesting conclusions... but that's a topic for another day.

For today, it's time for the penultimate update on goals for the year...

• Books: By this point I should have read 24.6 books, and have actually read 18 and parts of two others. I'm therefore well behind target - so far behind in fact that I've actually deleted the part of my spreadsheet that tracks the target for me. (Yes, I have a spreadsheet for these things.) I'm now hoping to complete another five books or so by the end of the year, which would leave me well away from the target, but does at least represent something approaching a decent last two months for the year.
• Blogging: I've gradually restarted blogging here after many slow months. Hopefully that will stick. I'm also in the process of bringing the Imaginarium to the 1,000 posts milestone - I hope to reach that by the end of the year; whether I achieve that or not, I intend to place that blog on indefinite hiatus at the end of the year.
• Redecoration: This was considered complete in the previous update.
• Complete my Campaign: This was considered complete in the previous update.
• Update the Church Website: There has been only a tiny update since last time. There will be a couple of further small updates before the end of the year (one for the Armistice and one for Christmas), but that's probably all. I really need to start the ball rolling on a fuller update - that will be a key task for next year, I think.

The consequence of all of that is that I have completed two goals but have accepted that the other three are now failed. However, I am now making renewed progress on two of those three goals, which is something - in terms of the year it will of course count as a failure, but since the formal goals are a means to an end, making some progress is better than just shrugging and giving up.

The US Election: What are Labour Playing At?

Eight years ago, Kezia Dugdale famously traveled to the US to campaign for Hillary Clinton in the US election, and so profound was her impact that she ended up taking a selfie with a cardboard cutout of her chosen candidate. Americans just don't care about UK politicians one way or another, and frankly that is the way it should be.

Apparently, this year there are some hundred or so Labour members who have travelled over to the US to campaign for Kamala Harris. No doubt, their impact will be every bit as potent as Dugdale's was.

However, there is a very important difference between the two scenarios: back in 2016 Labour were in oppositio in the UK, and indeed were essentially an irrelevance in domestic politics, never mind the US. In 2024, however, Labour are now the party of government in the UK, meaning that the actions of representatives of that party are, at least in some ways, reflective of the attitudes of their party, and by extension our government as a whole. Kier Starmer is going to have to work with (well, play lapdog to) whoever wins the US election, and if that is Trump he's going to be starting from a position of having provided at least tacit support to the other side.

Bottom line: I don't particularly think members of UK political parties should be getting involved in the US election at all, on any side, but I certainly think our party of government must stay out of it.

But maybe that's just me.

(I have no particular dog in this fight, mostly because it's for the US to pick their own leaders, and partly because they seem to have found the two absolute worst possible candidates. I have a very marginal preference for Harris, but as with Biden before her, her only selling point is that she's not Donald Trump. Whoever wins, I think the next four years are going to be pretty horrible.)

Only Seventeen Months...

Back in July of 2023 I posted that it was time for Phone #6 - at that time I'd concluded that my existing phone had become slow, wasn't holding a charge, and the storage had become way too full. I then proceeded to do nothing about it.

The week before last, something happened to that phone that has damaged the charge circuit - it still works, but it will no longer "fast charge". That's probably a failure of the USB-C port such that it can no longer negotiate power needs. Regardless, it meant that that was no longer any ducking the issue, and it was time for a new phone.

So I've now purchased said new phone. The good news is that I now have a clear view of my needs (or lack thereof), and they're such that any smartphone on the market would meet them. And since the old device is seven years old, literally any phone on the market will be superior in every way.

The consequence of that is that I have bought the second-cheapest smartphone offered by the same vendor as the old one. Now I just need to set it up.

Enough is Enough

After several years of drought, we've now been invited to a wedding in the summer of next year. And, unlike the most recent weddings we've attended, it is likely that we'll be called upon to dance at this one.

In a convergence of events, we've also recently returned home from our most recent trip away, and getting back onto the scales made for a fairly horrific experience. The one slight mitigation there is that any trip away always leads to a spike, and it always drops back to normal. But, inn all honesty, things have been in a fairly bad way there for a long time, rising gradually since the halcyon days of 2009. Repeated goals to reduce this have gone completely neglected, and so we arrive at today.

The upshot of all of this is that enough is enough. Time to take this one seriously, and sort it out.

Et Tu, Coco Monkey?

While we were away recently we decided to pick up a box of cereal to share between us. In the event, I think I was the only one who had any, but never mind... We decided to allow Funsize and Surprise! to choose the cereal between them, and they opted for Coco Pops, and we even treated ourselves to the name-brand box rather than the store's own-brand.

Big mistake.

Opening the box, it turned out that most of the Coco Pops were, in fact, not. Instead, it was a box almost entirely of Rice Crispies, with just enough Coco Pops to turn the milk hint-of-chocolatey.

Needless to say, this is the most horrific of betrayals, and not one that Coco Monkey will be forgiven for a long time.

(I'm reliably informed, on the internet so it must be true, that this was actually a case of production failure. That is, the box of Coco Pops should indeed have been Coco Pops. But I'm also reliably informed, by those same wise heads, that name-brand Coco Pops are now the worst of all Coco Pops.)

#18: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", by John Le Carré

Clearing the Decks

I'm currently in a process of tidying things up, decluttering my life (physically, but mostly temporally), and generally clearing the decks. Hopefully once that's done normal blogging may resume - it's been unsatisfactory for rather too long.

In the meantime, continue talking amongst yourselves...

#17: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang over the Moon", by Frank Cottrell-Boyce (a book for Funsize)

Day 250: Update on Goals

Another update on goals, again with almost nothing on the blog since the last one...

• Books: By this point I should have read 20.5 books. I'm now well behind that target - having got back on track, I promptly got bogged down in a fantasy doorstop novel that I just couldn't face and so lost several weeks.
• Blogging: By this point I should have posted about 82 times here. I've long since admitted defeat on this one.
• Redecoration: Since the last update we have re-repainted the study and replaced the carpet in that room. That wasn't part of the stated goal here, but it was definitely a good job to have done. I'm now happy to declare this goal complete.
• Complete my Campaign: The campaign has come to a successful conclusion. This goal is therefore complete.
• Update the Church Website: No update since last time.

That's now two goals having reached completion, one that is well behind target (and unlikely to be completed successfully), and one that has long-since been accepted as failed. The fifth and final goal needs some attention - it will probably be the difference between a 60% passing marking and 40% abject failure for the year.

I'm going to need to think carefully about goals for next year - whether to set any at all, but also what they should be. The redecoration of the house has now reached a stage that it is essentially complete (ideally, the remaining rooms could do with more than just a lick of paint), while both the Book and Blogging goals seem to be lost causes. We'll see.

Experimental Coolery 2024: Fruit Tacos

As the father of two young children, it is of course my duty to wind them up with all sorts of nonsense and japes. So it was with huge amusement that I was able to launch a successful double bluff: I spent the day telling them we were having tacos for dessert, secure in the knowledge that they'd think I was joking, only to roll these out at the key time. Huzzah!

The basic idea for these came from the Tesco magazine, but they're really simple enough that they barely warrant a recipe - take some warmed taco shells, add some chocolate spread, ice cream, fruit, and various toppings. Then eat them.

These were a triumph. Not only will we definitely have them again, Funsize has already insisted on having them again. So that's a win.

#15: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time", by Frank Cottrell-Boyce (a book for Funsize)

#16: "Surrounded by Idiots", by Thomas Erikson

Experimental Cookery 2024: Smoky Sausage Skewers with Tomato Rice

Another belated experimental cookery, this one was actually cooked in the over but would have been ideal for the BQ. This one came from the Tesco magazine, but is almost certainly available in the online archive.

This one was a much more successful effort than the previous - it involved in cutting things into big chunks, placing in a bowl with a spice mix, threading on skewers (which Funsize and Surprise! enjoyed helping with), and then baking. Messy, but all rather easy.

And the results were very nice. There's no surprises here - if you like the things that go on the skewers, you'll probably like the result; if not, you won't.

We'll no doubt have these again, though possibly without the rice and probably cooked by BBQ.

Experimental Cookery 2024: Courgette and Halloumi Skewers

This is a much-belated "experimental cookery" - we had these some months ago. The method comes from Tom Kerridge's "Outdoor Cooking".

I'm always on the lookout for good things with which to expand my BBQ repertoire, and also for good vegetarian options. So the possibility of a vegetarian BBQ option was rather enticing.

Unfortunately, this one just didn't work for us at all. I think I probably did something wrong, but the bottom line is that after a big fight trying to get chunks of vegetable and cheese onto parallel skewers (which wasn't fun), and after what seemed an age on the grill, they came off and just weren't nice at all. The tastes were basically okay, but the texture was just... no.

I really can't imagine having these again, and I'm not at all inclined to try inflicting them on any guests. Very disappointing.

Day 200: Update on Goals

Oh dear. I haven't managed to update the blog since the last of these. Well, here goes...

• Books: By this point I should have read 16.4 books. I've read 14 and a bit, so I'm about two books behind target again.
• Blogging: By this point I should have posted 66 times here. I've long since admitted defeat on this one.
• Redecoration: There has been no real movement on this one, but since it was in a good place I'm not too unhappy about that.
• Complete my Campaign: The writing for the campaign is now done. Additionally, the group have defeated the pirate queen and are therefore one session away from the end. This should be done by the time of the next update.
• Update the Church Website: No update since last time.

One goal has slipped back from last time, and one has taken a big step forward. That's not terrible, though the blog in particular is disappointing.

#13: "Empire", by Conn Iggulden
#14: "A Thousand Splendid Suns", by Khaled Hosseini

Day 150: Update on Goals

It seems like no time since the last update, but here we are:

• Books: By this point I should have read 12.3 books. I'm right on target, which is nice.
• Blogging: By this point I should have posted 49 times here. It's fair to say that that hasn't happened. There is now essentially no chance of this goal being achieved this year. The other thing of note, however, is that I've taken the decision to put The Imaginarium on hiatus in the near future. My current intention is to take it to 1,000 posts, which should take it to the end of my current campaign, then add one last "placeholder" post (since Blogger seems to eat the newest post on discontinued blogs), and stop indefinitely.
• Redecoration: Shortly after the last update we completed the outstanding work on Surprise!'s bedroom. The only thing remaining for the stated goal is to look at the insulation in Funsize's room. There has been no movement on that, nor any on reredecorating the study, but maybe for next time...
• Complete my Campaign: The characters are now right at the edge of the unwritten segment of the campaign. Meanwhile the writing has advanced, leaving around 4,500 words and 15 areas left to be written. I hope to have completed both for the next update.
• Update the Church Website: No update since last time.

Other than the blogging goal, things are looking pretty positive for the year as a whole, so I'm pretty happy with things. It's a shame about the blogging, but I just don't see that recovering for the rest of this year.

#9: "Promise of Blood", by Brian McClennan

#10: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", by Ian Fleming (a book for Funsize)

#11: "Making It So", by Sir Patrick Stewart

#12: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again", by Frank Cottrell-Boyce (a book for Funsize)

Here We Go Again

A year ago I posted about the treatment being meted out to Kate Forbes in the SNP leadership contest because she is a Christian who actually dares to believe things. A year on and Humza Yousaf has proven to be a disaster and has lost his job as a consequence. The SNP need to find another new leader.

At time of writing, there are no declared candidates. There has been a lot of noise, but for the moment nobody has actually put their name forward.

And already the monstering of Kate Forbes has begun.

As with last time, the tone of that monstering is extremely important, and of extreme concern - because Kate Forbes is being decried as some horrific far-right bigot based on her having expressed what are, ultimately, some fairly mainstream Christian views.

I said before that if Kate Forbes was somehow barred from standing, or was ultimately pressurized into dropping out of the race, then I was done with both the SNP and indeed with independence - I have no interest in voting for a country where every minority is welcomed and respected except for mine.

Unfortunately, things have rather moved on since then; unless and until Yousaf's horrific Hate Crimes legislation is repealed I'm done with Scottish politics as a whole. (That's yet another example of well-meaning but atrociously-drafted legislation from Holyrood. It needs scrapped.)

But, again, if the monstering of Kate Forbes is such that she is somehow barred from standing, or she throws her hat into the ring and is then 'persuaded' to drop out, then there's no way back for the SNP. If she chooses not to run, fine; if she runs and is defeated, fine. But I'm watching them closely, and they are on their absolute last chance - get this wrong, and there's no way back for them.

Experimental Cookery 2024: Digger Cake

And so we come to the showpiece of the weekend...

Young Surprise! turned three last week, and we had his birthday party on Saturday. Being a typical boy, he is obsessed with dinosaurs, trains, and tractors. But his particular favourite is Diggers! And so the challenge for our hero was to craft a nice Digger Cake for this birthday...

I'm rather pleased with this one:

The cake itself was baked on Friday night, after I'd finally battled Funsize and Surprise! off to sleep (LC was out). Saturday morning then saw me mixing up a huge bowl of buttercream icing which was liberally applied to the sponges. Then the cake was ringed with Kitkat fingers, and decorated as can be seen.

The cake itself disappeared very quickly, which I'm taking as a good sign. Certainly, I enjoyed eating it!

Of course, I've now raised the bar as to what is possible, which may be something I come to regret...

Experimental Cookery 2024: Peach Melba Pavlova

I'm gradually catching up on a backlog of Experimental Cookeries...

A few weeks ago LC made an attempt at pavlova, which sadly did not go so well - not her fault; the instructions were missing a really key step. As a consequence of this, I found myself inspired, and as things would have it the Tesco magazine this month had a rather appealing recipe for this. So it became a centerpiece for LC's birthday celebrations.

The pavlova itself was easy enough to make - once you've made meringues a few times they become quite easy, and from there it's just a case of baking for a couple of hours and then leaving it in the oven while the whole thing cools down. Then whip some cream, add fruit, and the job is done.

The only slight oddity was the need for a raspberry sauce to go with the pavlova, but even that was more or less trivial and so was done quickly.

And it was pretty awesome:

Experimental Cookery 2024: Garlic Dough Balls and Baked Camembert

This one came from Tom Kerridge's "Real Life Recipes". It was one that I had wanted to try for some time, and so when lacking for inspiration for a meal, this one came to mind. We had it with Spaghetti Bolognese - it was only ever going to be a side dish.

The meal was quick and easy to put together, although like most breads there was a lengthy proving stage. But that was fine. The bake was then simple.

We'd certainly have this again, though I'm more inclined to do the dough balls than the camembert. Additionally, we had rather more dough balls than we could reasonably use, so I think we may make use of this if and when we have guests (as does happen occasionally!).

Anyway, a success. And here they are:

The Choice

The resignation of Humza Yousaf leaves the SNP with a choice to make. The problem is that for any new leader to become First Minister they will need to survive a vote of no confidence from the other parties, and the arithmetic in parliament means that that requires with support from the Greens or support from Alba and there being no SNP rebels. Given that support from Alba almost certainly means there will be at least some SNP rebels, this is a problem.

The SNP therefore faces a choice, and that choice is of profound importance:

On the one hand, they can "elect" a new leader who is palatable to the Greens, and spend the next two years beholden to those Greens in absolutely every way. In which case they continue with the madness of the last couple of years, and receive a massive kicking at the 2016 Scottish Elections.

Or they can elect someone who is not palatable to the Greens, and take their chances with an election - an election which may or may not rearrange parliament into a more workable arrangement (and is reasonably likely to result in a Labour-led government). In any event, it is only for two years, as the election in 2016 would take place anyway.

My suggestion to the SNP is to think about this one very carefully. Because I don't think the people of Scotland are in the mood for any more of the nonsense we've seen recently.

Day 100: Update on Goals

The second update on goals for the year:

• Books: By this point I should have read 8.2 books. I've completed 7 books, with three in (slow) progress, so I'm behind but not terribly so. I'll try to rectify that for next time.
• Blogging: Oh dear. This goal is going horribly wrong, and already looks to be impossible. We'll see - maybe there will be a flurry of posts for next time... but I'm not hopeful.
• Redecoration: As I anticipated in my previous update, we have now done the bulk of the redecoration of Surprise!'s bedroom - the walls have been repainted, the pictures changed over, the one key picture moved to Funsize's room, and new lightshades installed in both bedrooms. The new carpet is on order and due to arrive tomorrow, after which we will hang one final decoration and call it done. I would still like to look into improved insulation for Funsize's bedroom, and LC has expressed a desire to re-repaint the study and replace the carpet in that room, but those are tasks for later in the year (and the study isn't part of the stated goal anyway).
• Complete my Campaign: The campaign is still on the verge of completing Part Three and moving to Part Four. I have managed to get some writing done, such that I'm down to just over 5,000 words to go (from 6,000). It's now a race to try to write it up before the characters get to that point.
• Update the Church Website: The stability issues on the church website were tracked to one bad plugin, which has now been removed. This allowed me to restore the site security, which is a big relief. The only remaining part of this task is to refresh some of the content, but that's not entirely in my gift.

The conclusion is a lot more positive than it was last time - I'm a little behind on the reading and horribly behind on the blogging, but have made very significant progress on all three of the other goals. My challenge for next time is therefore to try to be rather less behind!

Close It Down

What a time to be alive.

Back in 2008, the Labour/Lib Dem coalition in Holyrood had clearly run out of steam and was in desperate need of being replaced. And so the people of Scotland voted them out and installed an SNP government.

In 2024 the SNP government have now reached the same point - they desperately need to be replaced.

Unfortunately, in the interim the Labour party in Scotland have learned precisely nothing. They are every bit as arrogant, stupid, and dogmatic as they were in 2008 - their grand strategy for renewal has consisted of waiting for their rivals to become equally rancid.

Meanwhile the Lib Dems have become an irrelevance, and the Greens have revealed themselves as a horror show.

And, needless to say, the Tories aren't even worth considering.

The bottom line is that we desperately need a new government and there is not a single party in Holyrood that are even worth considering for a vote. The whole thing has failed.

At this point, I would therefore suggest that Holyrood has failed and should be shut down, except that it wasn't so long ago when I said the same about Westminster - and that hasn't changed. Down there, the Tories have become the Monster Raving Loony Party, Labour have become Thatcherites, and the Lib Dems an irrelevance.

So, basically, we're at a point where I think we should simply shut it all down, and just try not having a government for five years, and see how that goes. It's hard to see how that can be any worse.

Experimental Cookery 2024: Sticky Hoisin Wings with Cucumber Salad

This one came from the most recent Tesco magazine. It was really quick and easy (as wings tend to be) - put the ingredients into a bowl and massage to coat, then move to a tray and bake until done. The result was also really enjoyable. Actually, if anything, the cucumber salad was the real surprise on that front.

All in all, a winner. Which is nice. We'll definitely have these again.

#4: "Why Should Anyone be Led by You?", by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones
#5: "Atalanta", by Jennifer Saint
#6: "Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life", by Arnold Schwarzenegger
#7: "Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes", by Rob Wilkins

Relieved

I am by no means a fan of Donald Trump - despite my deep misgivings about Biden's mental health I would still vote for him over the other candidate. However, I must admit I am extremely relieved at the Supreme Court overruling those states that had decided to exclude him from the ballot paper.

There are fundamentally two reasons for this:

1. In a two-party system, you really can't have a situation where one party is not allowed to stand their preferred candidate. That becomes a one-party system, and that's very much not democracy.
2. But more importantly, there was a distinct possibility that in a tight race Biden might 'win' solely on the basis of Electoral College votes garnered from those states where Trump was excluded. Which would have been an absolute disaster - the scenes from 6th Jan 2021 would have had nothing on what followed.

So I'm hugely relieved that Trump is allowed to stand. Now I only hope Americans collectively have the sense to reject him.

Disgrace

I knew the House of Commons was a cesspit, but I thought there were at least some limits - I would never have expected them to engage in base politics over as serious an issue as the situation in Gaza.

The whole edifice is a blight on our country. We need to shut it down, and start again.

Day 51: Update on Goals

Slightly late, here is my first update on goals for the year.

• Books: By this point I should have read 4.1 books. I'm actually very close to that - I expect to finish book 4 imminently, and have read the .1 already (book 4 took longer than expected and got bogged down somewhat, so I decided to read another book in parallel, allowing me to finish the stuck book at my leisure.)
• Blogging: As should be obvious from the fact that even this update is delayed, I've been finding it really hard both to find time to blog and find topics for blogging. So this goal already looks impossible.
• Redecoration: There has been no movement on this goal, but that's not a surprise - my expectation is that we'll aim to tackle the bulk of this task during the Easter break, in time for Surprise!'s birthday.
• Complete my Campaign: The campaign has resumed, and is about to start on part four (of four). However, I haven't managed to write any of it, which means they're about to hit the section I don't have planned out.
• Update the Church Website: There has been no movement on this one, which is becoming increasingly urgent.

The conclusion there isn't good - I'm behind on just about everything, with one goal already looking lost and two becoming increasingly urgent. I have some things to think about.

#3: "Smart Leadership", by Jo Owen

The Worst Combination

I've talked before about the tendency to avoid tasks - when there's something that needs done but that you don't want to do, suddenly it becomes vitally important to reorganise some documents, or sharpen every pencil to exectly the same length, or to alphebetise your DVDs, or whatever.

But there's one combination that's even more pernicious: having two tasks you want to avoid. Because that then opens up whole new levels of avoidance strategy: you get to spend a whole lot of time getting one ready for action, then switch to the other, then switch back long enough to decide it needs yet more preparation, then back again, and on and on it goes.

Ultimately, there comes a point where you do just have to knuckle down and address one of the tasks, get it done, and then face the other. But there's a whole load of sweet, sweet temptation to wade through before that point.

Please and Thank You

The story of how we came to have an Amazon Echo 5 in our living room is almost worthy of a saga itself - initially I bought it for the kitchen as a replacement for our CD-player/radio, only to discover I really didn't like it at which point I banished it to the garage, and then find that I really wanted to leave some ambient music on to keep the dog company during the day, leading to Alexa's triumphant restoration to the living room!

Anyway, this device is now the first part of the home automation setup I talked about some months ago, and plans are afoot to start expanding the ecosystem. Because while I initially resisted getting any of these voice-activated assistants, once we had one in place it gradually started to see more and more use. We've still barely scratched the surface, largely due to my lingering disdain, but it does seem to be a good place to start.

All of which is by the by. My main point for this blog post is that we now have an Alexa device in the living room, and of course there is therefore a need to address the device and ask it to do things.

I'm also in the process of raising two small children, and one of the important lessons to be taught is the importance of saying 'please' and 'thank you'. Always and every time, nay habitually.

The upshot of that combination is that I now make sure to say 'please' when asking Alexa to do things. Hopefully Skynet will take that into account when the time comes.

#2: "Promise of Blood", by Brian McClellan

Lather - Rinse - Repeat

I know the blog has been quiet for quite some time. Unfortunately, I'm finding it hard to find things to talk about, as right now life seems to mostly be stuck in a loop of trying to survive to the weekend, then not quite enough rest to recover, and then repeating. This seems to be pretty common in January, but does seem especially tough this year.

The good news is that today I noticed for the first time that the sky was distinctly lighter by the time I left the house, so we're gradually getting out of the dark. Hopefully things will pick up soon.

The Forgotten Daughter

Over the Christmas break we took a short trip to Disneyland Paris as an extended family. Unlike a trip we took a few years ago, this was a fun adventure and one that the children, in particular, very much enjoyed. Which is nice.

On the third day of the visit to Disneyland itself (that is, not counting the day spent travelling there), young Surprise! reached a point where he just couldn't take it any more. And so, the weather being pretty ropey at that point, LC took him back to the hotel for what turned out to be the rest of the day. This left Funsize and I to enjoy our final afternoon in Disneyland together.

And we had a great time, racing from one ride to another, cramming in every last bit of fun that we could in that afternoon and evening - some new rides, a lot of repeated rides from the previous days, and even the tail end of one of the shows that we managed to catch at just the right time. Good times.

And while at the time I was rather hesitant, in hindsight I'm rather glad that the day worked out that way. For entirely understandable reasons, Surprise! requires a significant amount of our time, energy, and attention, and as a consequence he largely sets the agenda for our days. Worse, because we've then expended so much time, energy, and attention, when we are then freed up there just isn't much left. And so I'm often somewhat concerned that Funsize is just not getting a fair shake. We do the best we can... but it's a concern.

So having an afternoon like that, where Funsize was able to get some undivided attention, and where she was able to set the agenda and have things her way was very much welcome. Even if it did mean that we returned to the hotel late, and she was absolutely shattered as a result - if nothing else, it meant we absolutely got our money's worth.

#1: "Ariadne", by Jennifer Saint (which I enjoyed, though I enjoyed "Elektra" more)

Books of the Year 2023

A very short list of books this year:

1. "The Fountainhead", by Ayn Rand *
2. "Tome of Beasts 3", by Kobold Publishing
3. "Dragons of Stormwreck Isle", by Wizards of the Coast
4. "Tome of Beasts III Lairs", from Kobold Press
5. "Paranormal Power", by Rachel Williamson
6. "Cytonic", by Brandon Sanderson
7. "Flying Scotsman and the Best Birthday Ever", by Michael Morpurgo **
8. "Eldership", by various authors
9. "A Woman of Substance", by Barbara Taylor Bradford *
10. "Crucial Conversations", by Grenny, Patterson, Switzler, and McMillan
11. "Bond: With a Mind to Kill", by Anthony Horowitz
12. "Lion", by Conn Iggulden
13. "Star Wars Roleplaying Game", by various authors
14. "Guardians of the Wild Unicorns", by Lindsay Littleson **
15. "Parenting Hell", by Widdicombe and Beckett
16. "Firefly: Carnival", by Una McCormack
17. "Elektra", by Jennifer Saint
18. "Atlas Shrugged", by Ayn Rand *
19. "Firefly: What Makes Us Mighty", by M.K. England
20. "The Ink Black Heart", by Robert Galbraith
21. "The Fall of Númenor", by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Brian Sibley)

That gives a total of just 21 books - it's just about possible that I may have to come back and edit this to add a 22nd, but that currently seems unlikely. This includes no rereads, and two books for Funsize/Surprise! There are five RPG related books, making up almost a quarter of the whole.

I don't think this year really had either a 'best' or a 'worst' book - there were lots of fine works there, but nothing stood out for me as in previous years. But the major milestone was the completion of The List, which was a huge deal!

Partly as a consequence of being focused on The List, and the three "doorstop" books that were on it, I now have shelves heaving with reading material - no fewer than twenty (physical) books are awaiting my attention. Hopefully 2024 will end with far fewer sitting there, and none that are more than two years in waiting!