My Year in 2025

So, how has 2025 as a whole been?

My Year in... Blogging 

This year has seen me return to regular blogging, which is a good thing. This is the 120th post on the blog for the year, so that's a success. This year also saw me completely miss the 20th anniversary of this blog, which is... weird.

The Imaginarium remains on indefinite hiatus. I have more to say on the topic of gaming more generally.

All in all, I'm happy with that. In 2026 I would like to just see more of the same. Though there is a part of me that is considering a refresh of the blog - the current theme has been in place for a very long time, so maybe it's time for a change?

My Year in... Work

This has been a banner year in many ways, though somewhat frustrating in parts. It has also been a really hard year in many ways. So, successful, but I'm also very glad for the rest!

My Year in... Health

Nothing to report here - it's basically been fine.

My weight continues to be an issue, and one that really needs to be addressed. That said, I said exactly that last year and ended up getting nowhere...

My Year in... Gaming

It's funny how something can be such a huge part of your life for so long, and then it just stops, and then... it turns out you just don't miss it that much. I haven't done any gaming this year, I haven't been planning any campaigns, or writing anything, I haven't purchased any (physical) products or backed any Kickstarters. (I have purchased a small number of classic PDFs, but that barely counts - I'm completing a couple of 'sets'.)

I have no plans for any of this to change in 2026. Indeed, it is very likely that this segment won't even appear in the wrap-up for next year.

My Year in... Band

Band continues to be something of a disappointment. It just about does what I wanted it to do, but it's not particularly fulfilling. I may need to think on this some more - the current arrangements are unlikely to hold.

(On the other hand, the very last practice of the year was really good, so maybe there is some hope? If we can pick up in 2026 where we left off this year, I think I'd actually be happy with that.)

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 has been mostly positive.

My Year in... Travel

This year had two meaningful trips: to France for a week in the Summer, and to London for a couple of days with work. These were enjoyable enough, and in particular it was good to see the Sun in Summer! That said, I'd hope that next year sees a bit more travel to various places.

Also, there is now A Plan, but that's one for the future...

My Year in... the Church

This has been a tricky year. A few months ago I made to mistake of being persuaded to take over as convenor of one of the committees, which started well and then became hugely stressful. I'm now rather concerned for the future.

I also allowed myself to be drawn into a "Growing Young" initiative within the church, which I remain convinced is both the right thing and indeed absolutely essential for the church going forward... I just don't want to be the person doing it. But we'll see what happens with all of this in 2026.

You'll note, however, that the topic of this subsection has changed from "My Year in... Faith". And there's a reason for that - the last several months have very much been about attending church and being involved in the church, and I've been feeling something of a falling away in terms of faith. I have some thoughts on that for 2026, but I'd very much like to switch the title back for next year.

My Year in... Money

Another odd one. On the one hand, this is robustly healthy, and is all generally good. On the other hand, I now find myself obsessing over a spreadsheet that basically doesn't change day to day, which is odd. That's a good thing insofar as it's better than reverting to just ignoring it, but on the other hand it doesn't actually achieve anything.

My Year in... Love

I said last year that one of the good things was that Surprise! and Funsize had adopted a more settled sleep routine, which meant I was a bit better rested. Please excuse me while I go have a darkly cynical chuckle to myself.

My Year... Overall

This has been a really good year - even the negatives have generally been about things feeling flat, rather than anything truly bad. If 2026 is as good as this year has been, it looks to be really good indeed.

As always, this will be my final post of the year. I hope 2025 has been good for you, and I hope that the start of 2026 finds you happy and well, and looking forward to even better times ahead!

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: My target for the year was fairly modest, set to the same 30 books as last year. Unlike last year, however, I actually achieved this target - see the separate post (tomorrow) for the full rundown.
• Weight: This goal has been failed. There has been a very small amount of progress made, but nowhere near enough.
• Church Website: This has fallen by the wayside. I now have something approaching a plan for the website, but need to dedicate some time to making it happen. I do also need to get some information with which to populate the page. Ultimately, though, this goal was not completed.
• Career: This goal seemed to just naturally fall into place midway through the year. That was really great, and served to fix an awful lot of things. Good stuff!
• Redecoration: We had the windows replaced in July, which served to complete this goal. However, as a side-effect of that we found there was a need to fix some of the paintwork in the upstairs bathroom and didn't have the matching colour. This therefore led to us redecorating that room, thus leading to this goal being done and then some.
• Blogging:  I didn't set a formal blogging goal. If I had, I would have achieved it - this is the 119th post for the year, with one more scheduled for later today.
• Home Automation: This is another funny one - I didn't set a goal as such, but did have something in mind. In the event, that "something" was abandoned, as I think has been the rest of any automation plans, at least for now. I'm a little surprised by that, but not particularly disappointed.

So the final tally is three goals done, and two failed. Of the "non-goals", one was completed and the other abandoned (not failed). So I think we can assume a final score of 5-2 in favour, which can be considered pretty good overall.

As for goals for next year, I only have three:

• Books: The target for next year is a little more ambitious than this year: 36 books, or an average of 3 per month.
• Weight: This really needs addressed. The target is the same as this year: to lose 20 pounds in 2026.
• Church Website: This also carries over from last year - I want to get the website renovation done.

I've once again decided not to set a goal for Blogging, but will keep track of progress through the year. If I do hit the nominal target of 120 posts, I'll promote this to a proper goal in 2027.

#30: "Light Perpetual", by Andrzej Sapkowski

#31: "Crystal of Storms", by Rhianna Pratchett

Wee Guys

LC has a group of friends who have (mostly) stuck together since her school days, and each year we get together for a meal in the run up to Christmas. As can be expected, most of the original group were girls (now women, of course), and although there are a few partners now there are still twice as many women as men. Additionally, the families now number six children between them (one 17 year old, and the rest Funsize's age and below), with Surprise! being the only small boy among them.

All of which may seem odd context, but is fairly important to what I'm getting at. So, to recap: there was Surprise!, one teen, and three older men present.

Anyway, as the meal was winding down, I noticed that there came a point where Funsize had rushed off to play with the other girls, and LC was with most of her friends at one of the tables, leaving myself, one of the other men, and Surprise! at a second table. I was on one side of the table, with Surprise! and C on the other.

Anyway, C and I were chatting, and as we did so I gradually noticed that Surprise! was occasionally glancing across at C, and then carefully mirroring him - as C moved his arms or adjusted his posture, Surprise! did the same things.

This very closely matches the experience when he's with his cousins: despite being the youngest of five boys, Surprise! always wants to get involved as best he can in the games, and very much takes his cue from the older, bigger boys. (And, finally, it's worth noting that he fairly idolizes his childminder's son - another older boy.)

It's hardly an epiphany, but: wee guys look up to bigger boys as their guide for how to act.

And that doesn't really change - whether formally or informally, men seek out those they perceive as successful in whatever milieu they want to thrive, try to identify the behaviours that those role models exhibit, and copy those.

That, unfortunately, creates something of a problem, because positive male role models have become rather thin on the ground: our politicians are a fairly unimpressive bunch (not to mention being mired in various scandals along the way), religion has lost almost all its sway (not to mention being mired in various scandals along the way), our civic authorities are viewed with skepticism at best (not to mention being mired in various scandals along the way), and our media and sports stars often seem more interested in the trappings of fame than in providing good examples (not to mention being mired in various scandals along the way).

It's also the case that a great many boys are now being raised by single mothers. (At this point I need to stress that is in no way a criticism or a value judgement; just a statement of fact.) And our education system is run by women, and increasingly for women.

All of which adds up to an awful lot of wee guys having no positive male role models who they can look up to.

And that's why the likes of Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson are so dangerous. Because wee guys will look up to bigger boys as their guide for how to act, and if they have no positive male role models, they will look up to negative ones.

So, what is to be done?

Well, firstly, we men need to up our game. Whether we like it or not, we are the role models for the next generation - there isn't anyone else. So it's important to be aware that at any time, any one of us may find ourselves being observed, looked up to, and copied. You may find that you are the role model, so be a good one.

But society has a part to play as well:

• We need to see an end to the casual misandry that has wormed its way into much of our media - particularly egregious examples are the blithering idiot that is Daddy Pig and the oh-so-funny 'jokes' in Doctor Who. The mainstream media no longer make equivalent jokes about women, and that's a good thing; they need to stop the reverse.
• And I'm afraid there's a degree of casual misandry in our education system at all. A few months ago, I was fairly horrified to see our local university holding a 'debate' with the topic "We submit that masculinity is inherently toxic". Again, reverse the sexes and there would have been outrage; it absolutely would not have been allowed. This needs to stop. (Indeed, if I never again hear the word 'toxic' being used in reference to people, it would be too soon.)
• We need to stop viewing initiatives and groups aimed at men, and even those aimed exclusively at men with suspicion - very often, the moment any such group or initiative is started it is immediately the subject of a pile-on from accusations of misogyny, or demands that it be 'inclusive'. But women-only groups are accepted and celebrated.
• Perhaps most important of all: we need to stop demanding perfection from role models. I've spoken about this before, in the context of politics - absolutely nobody is perfect, so if you tear down and drive out any largely-positive-but-flawed role model for falling short of perfection, the alternative isn't perfect exemplars; it's the ones who you can't tear down, whether because they're too powerful, too entrenched, or they just don't care. In politics if you can't tolerate Tim Farron the alternative isn't a better Tim Farron, it's Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. In role models, if you're going to tear down anyone who is less than perfect, you'll be left with Andrew Tate.
• Much as I have agreeing with Tory blowhard politicians, the ones who periodically lobby for a Minister for Men and Boys are right - the specific problems of boys falling into addiction and crime, of them taking their own lives, and of them falling under the sway of the Tates and Petersons of this world probably need a dedicated person in government to focus on them.

Why does all this matter?

Society has long taken the view that there is such a thing as "male privilege" - that women have been disadvantaged in society simply by virtue of their sex while men are not. And there's historically a great deal of truth in that. But it is emphatically not true for the current generation of young men and boys, who are struggling in a great many ways. If the goal is equality, there is a great deal to be done - and not all of it in the direction that you'd expect.

But maybe you don't care. Maybe you're of the view that men had it all their own way for centuries, and now it's time for payback.

Okay, fair enough. But consider this: none of those young men and boys who are struggling is entirely isolated. Every one of us is connected to a web of other people: families, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, 50% of whom are women and girls.

So when a boy goes off the rails and spirals into the manosphere and misogyny, the women and girls around them suffer. When a boy is driven to despair and falls into addiction or suicide, the women and girls around them suffer.

The bottom line is that if we fix the problems being faced by the current generation of young men and boys (and, yes, the problems being faced by the current generation of young women and girls - I'm not blind to these; they're just not my topic for today), then we all of us benefit, and all of us will be the happier for it.

Which should be obvious, but presumably isn't.

Suddenly...

Firstly, many congratulations to St Mirren on winning the League Cup. A few weeks ago the match seemed to be something of a formality as Celtic strolled to the first step in yet another treble (at least potentially), and then suddenly it didn't.

In fact, it turns out that their winning the match was very much not a shock. They played extremely well, but the usual rule that "you need to play extremely well and need them to have an off day and need a lot of luck to boot" didn't apply - Celtic just haven't been their usual selves all season, and so a really good performance by St Mirren was enough.

Which leads me to the surprising realization that, suddenly, it looks like we might be looking at the first season since the 50's when neither Celtic nor Rangers pick up any silverware.

The thing is, this year we're at a point where they are no shock results: anyone can beat anyone else (well, apart from poor Livingston...).

In terms of the league, that means there are no false positions: Hearts are deservedly in the lead, Celtic are deservedly behind them - not far, but a little, and then Motherwell, Rangers, and Hibs are deservedly a bit further back. By the end of the season, the best team overall will be in the lead... and at the moment, that's Hearts.

For the cups, it's a matter of putting together a run of a few games, but crucially the right few games. There are a whole load of teams that you could see doing that: Hearts, Celtic, Motherwell, Rangers, or Hibs easily. Aberdeen could come good and retain their Scottish Cup, or St Mirren could readily do the double.

In a world where anyone can beat anyone, though, Celtic are probably the favourites... but it's also the case that it's more likely to be someone other than Celtic than it is to be them. (And the same for Rangers, and I suspect more likely even for them together.)

But while I said that this is a year that there are no shock results, I suspect there is one: specifically, if neither Rangers nor Celtic win something, that I'm sure would be a shock.

(Of course, there's a transfer window coming up fast, and the smart money is on both Celtic and Rangers strengthening. But it is worth noting that Celtic have come out of all of the last three transfer windows than they went in, and they're going into this one with their best player wanting away. Meanwhile, Rangers have managed to spend a huge amount of money on a team of duds. So while I expect both clubs to recruit, I'm by no means convinced they'll strengthen.)

It's going to be fun!

Voyage's End

Some time ago I found myself in a Star Trek-ky mood. I think it was probably at one of the points where we had a Paramount+ subscription, but where I'd watched all the latest shows. And so I made the mistake of starting a rewatch of "Voyager".

The reason I chose "Voyager" shouldn't be a huge mystery: as I've mentioned on the blog before (albeit a long time ago), I lost track of it after the end of the fifth season, making it the only one of the middle run of Trek TV I never finished. (I've also never seen all of TOS, and never seen any of TAS, but I'm afraid I have no great enthusiasm for those.)

Of course, one might very well question why I went for a rewatch, rather than just jumping back in at the sixth season. Certainly, I'm now wondering just that...

(The reason, incidentally, is that it's been so long that I wanted to see if my previous impressions still held. And, for the most part they do - I find myself somewhat kinder of some aspects of the show, but also struck by how many of the characters are unlikeable, or just dull, and how much wasted potential there is in the show. Also, I've just reached the middle of the third season, and hit a run of really, really bad episodes.)

So "Voyager" has been my recent go-to for a brainless show to kind-of watch when I have nothing much else to do. Which has been going okay.

Except that last week Netflix let it be known that it will be leaving in a couple of weeks. Meaning that if I really push myself, I may manage to get to somewhere early in the fourth season - just after the introduction of Seven of Nine, and the beginning of the show's painful obsession with all things Borg. I might, just about, reach the "Year of Hell" episodes that mark the halfway point of the whole (and also the very "best" episodes of the show).

And then it will be gone, just as surely as it was before. Typical.

(I daresay that at some point we'll take out Paramount+ for another couple of months, presumably when "Strange New Worlds" returns. At which point I may race through some more of "Voyager". Or maybe not.)

My Pettiest Annoyance with "Stranger Things"

We watched the first set of episodes of "Stranger Things 5" when they were released a few things ago. To be honest, I wasn't as keen as I previously would have been - the very long delays between seasons has largely blunted my enthusiasm for what had once been must-watch TV. (George RR. Martin may want to take note...) In the event, the episodes were mostly very good, and nicely set up a race to the finish. So I'm pretty happy with that.

But...

There is one thing that rather annoyed me. Though be warned, it's absurdly petty...

In one of the episodes, Mike gives Will a pep talk, likening Will to his D&D character, "Will the Wise". However, he later notes that Will isn't really a wizard like his character, but rather a sorcerer because his magic is innate rather than learned.

Which is a nice, clever D&D reference that will sail over the heads of those unfamiliar with the game, but serve as a nice little "Easter Egg" for those of us who are.

Here's the thing, though: "Stranger Things 5" is set in 1987, when the current edition of the game was 1st Edition. Indeed, the books for this edition have been showcased in "Stranger Things" over the years - it's very clearly the edition they have been playing.

The sorcerer class was introduced to the game in Third Edition, which was published in 2000. Until that point, the distinction between wizards and sorcerers was no different than in plain English - they're one and the same thing.

So that clever little reference is, I'm afraid, an anachronism.

As I said, it's a very petty annoyance!

#29: "Skyward Flight", by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson

Punitive

A few days ago we received a card from the Royal Mail saying someone had sent us something and failed to attach postage - if we wanted it, there was a charge to pay. Of course, there was no indication of what the thing actually was, so...

Anyway, I ended up paying the fee and arranging for a redelivery for yesterday. The item therefore arrived this morning.

Anyway, it turns out to be a Christmas card, and it looks like a straightforward mistake. At a guess, they wrote a whole bunch, stuck stamps on them, checked them, managed to miss one, and then posted them. (I hope that's it, and not that they completely forgot to stamp all of them!) No big deal; it happens.

Except for one thing: the charge to receive this item was £5. The item in question was just a card, which would be £1.70 for first class delivery or 87p for second class (both of which are already outrageous, but that's another rant). That's a mark-up of between 3 and 6 times the regular cost, which frankly seems punitive - especially since this was not, in fact, our mistake.

Given that the postal worker in question had to visit twice (once for the original card and another for the revised delivery), I would have thought a fee of double the original might be reasonable, but surely no more than that?

All of which amounts to nothing, of course. Royal Mail are now a private company responsible for their own charging patterns, and if we don't like it we get to go to the (non-existent) competition. That's the joys of privatization for you. Oh well.

Just one thing though: please do remember to stamp your cards before sending!

Celtic's Management Woes 2025, part two

Just kidding.

Back when Brendan Rodgers left Celtic and they appointed Martin O'Neill as interim boss, I thought that was an inspired move - O'Neill is the only living Celtic manager who can be placed in the same quality bracket as Rodgers, and so he was the safest of safe pairs of hands. And so it worked out - eight matches, seven wins, and an all-around improvement in their form was the result.

But it was only ever going to be an interim appointment. Martin O'Neill wasn't going to take the job long-term, which meant that a permanent manager needed to be found. And while there was no rush, it needed to be done in time for the new guy to assess the squad in good time before the January transfer window opened. All of which meant that they had reached the point where it really had to be done.

And that in turn meant that Wilfried Nancy was always going to face a baptism of fire - the fixture list in December is absolutely packed, so he was always going to have a match within a couple of days of arriving, and a 'crucial' match within a week at absolute most. This week, with a top-table clash, a must-win European match, and then a cup final, is perhaps more crazy than most... but only a little.

So the first match was always going to be difficult.

Additionally, given that Nancy was hired, at least in part, because he has a very clear, distinct style, he needs to assess the squad not just in general but also in terms of how they fit that style - if that's why he's here, that's what he's going to play, so he needs to players for it. He basically needed to make the change right away, and accept that it led to a rough start.

So the first match was always going to be difficult.

The outcome of that match was not what would have been wanted by Celtic, but the immediate knee-jerk response by their fans has been quite a thing to behold.

But the harsh reality of things is this: Martin O'Neill is gone. It was fantastic to see him in action once again, and he left Celtic in a much better place that he found it, but he's gone now. Time to stop looking back and move onwards: Wilfried Nancy is the manager now, for better or worse, and he needs the support to actually give him at least a little time to get bedded in.

Of course, maybe it really won't work, and he'll have to be removed. But the time for that is 4-5 months after he arrives, not 4-5 days.

(And, actually, the more important thing is what happens in January. Celtic have had a couple of remarkably poor transfer windows, and can't afford another. So the key determinant of the destination of the title is really about who Celtic bring in, rather than the identity of the man bringing them in.)

Family Tickets

Last week I read an article in the Guardian about family tickets, and in particular a perceived unfairness faced by single parents (as the tickets are generally "two adults and two children", or sometimes "one adult and three" children - most single parents of course have one, and less commonly two, children and so are ineligible).

I am, obviously, not a single parent. However, LC regularly has preparations for her work that she needs to do at the weekend, and which is best done without the distractions of children in the house. The consequence of this is that I frequently take Funsize and Surpise! out to various places and so have noted exactly this same issue. (Naturally, as a lone father who is, gasp, taking care of his own children!, I am routinely hailed as an absolute hero when out on these trips. So it's not quite the same.)

For any businesses who are keen to do something about this, I have a suggestion to make. I should stress that I'm personally not particularly bothered either way, since not getting a discount isn't a big deal to me. But I can well see that for a single parent, it might be the difference between something being affordable or not.

My suggestion is simply this: pitch your "family ticket" as "one adult and one child", but also offer a discount on additional tickets bought along with that ticket - the price works out the same, but is then much more flexible. Of course, it's not quite as simple as a fixed 2+2 family ticket, but that's the price of flexibility.

Or just offer "10% off for multiple tickets bought together" - that's close to working out at the same thing anyway, and much easier...

#28: "Warriors of God", by Andrzej Sapkowski

Race to the End

It's hard to believe that we're into December already. Unfortunately, November saw something of a slip on multiple fronts, meaning that goals that I thought were definitely going to conclude easily within time are now at risk - in theory, I'm still right on target with these goals, but the progress over the last few weeks suggests it may be a struggle.

So the race is on - can I complete three books this month (with two well in progress)? Can I manage a further nine blog posts (after this one)? Will I find time to update the church website?

And, ultimately, do these things necessarily matter all that much?

This Year's "One New Thing"...

As I mentioned in my Guide to the Stress-free Christmas, I quite like the notion of building a strong foundation for Christmas and then each year adopting a "one new thing" rule - in order to avoid things becoming samey and repetitive, each year try to identify one new thing to try.

However, this year I think our "one new thing" is actually going to be "no new thing" - partly because Christmas worked so well last year that I'm keen just to keep things the same, and partly because we're rather over-stretched at the moment and so this is a year to just keep things on narrow rails. Which is fine - for various reasons we're all going to be somewhat busier this year than last (some of which I can't talk about), so not taking anything extra on feels like a good step.

That being the case, Christmas this year is going to look somewhat like this:

• Obviously, we have presents to buy and wrap for a number of people. This has started, but has quite a long way to go. I'd like to get all the presents bought in the next two weeks, and then wrapped in the week after, but we'll see.
• Likewise, we have cards to send to a number of people. I'd hope to get this dealt with fairly soon, too.
• The Christmas tree and other decorations will go up over the weekend, officially on Sunday. (I then have a second tree to put up on Monday...)
• We need to place an order with the butcher in the next couple of weeks.
• There's the village Christmas Lights Switch-on, which happens tonight. My band's competing event has been cancelled this year, likely permanently, and it looks like our annual visit to the Zoo lights has likewise fallen by the wayside.
• However, we will go to the Mill Farm Christmas event, including a visit to Santa there.
• Funsize has a number of performances with her Stage School over the next few weeks.
• My work night out is the Friday before Christmas (and LC the week before). I'm not planning as later a night as last year - I think I'd prefer just to get to bed.
• The weekend before Christmas I'm hoping to do some Christmas baking. Not as much as last year (as we had too much), and a different selection, but a couple of nice things.
• The Big Shop will hopefully be on the last Friday before Christmas, but may slip a little later. Then, a day or two before Christmas we need to pick our order up from the butcher.
• Then, on Christmas Eve I'm hoping to take the children over to my parents' for a visit, followed by the Christingle service, and then bed.
• Christmas Day should then have the same format as last year - a relatively slow morning involving presents, breakfast, and a nice walk (weather permitting), followed by the big meal, and then a fairly lazy afternoon/evening. At some point we'll watch a nice film or something on TV.
• Then, on Boxing Day it's over to my parents' again, this time for the big family gathering. Fun!

And that's basically it. Which, in fairness, is quite a lot.

Thoughts on the Budget

I must admit, I had expected today's budget to be absolutely horrendous - the various bits of speculation I'd seen online had suggested it would be a near-perfect attack on every aspect of my finances, and that has proven not to be the case.

In the event, the effects we'll face are likely twofold: the freezing of the tax bands will mean paying slightly more tax than might have been expected... but in the way that frankly is unlikely to be noticeable, and the change to NI payments on salary sacrifice pensions means paying a little more in NI (though by my calculations is a pretty small increase). That's not horrible (though I can well understand that people living in very expensive properties, or those in London, people saving large amounts in cash ISAs, or people who use electric cars might feel differently).

And, frankly, the removal of the two-child limit for child support (and the corresponding "rape clause") can only be a good thing.

So, a cause for hints of optimism, I think.

However...

I was extremely bemused to see that the OBR published their report (by "mistake") ahead of the budget, meaning that the key analysis was all in place before Rachel Reeves even stood up to talk.

But more to the point, there was all the speculation beforehand, which as I said had given me the impression that this was going to be a horror show. The thing is, all that speculation involved a great deal of talking down the economy, of suggesting all manner of badness, which will have prompted a load of people to take actions that now are ill-judged (such as, for instance, the suggestion that the rules for pension lump sums were going to change, encouraging people to take them early, or the likely damage to investor confidence). There's a decent change that that very speculation caused damage to the economy.

Needless to say, this is something of a problem. (And, incidentally, I don't recall this level of feverish speculation about any other Budget. I don't like pointing to misogyny as the sole root cause of things, because it tends to be reductive, but in this case I can't help but think that it was a big part of it. Either that, or our right-wing press really hate Labour, which they do, and thought this could be a useful target.)

That said, I don't really know what could be done about that - I'm really loathe to advocate restrictions to the press without absolute need.

End of a (Quite Short) Era...

On Sunday Funsize and I finished our read-through of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". Rereading this book for the first time since it was first published, I'm reminded of my two previous conclusions regarding the book: on the one hand, it's a great ending to the series, and itself ends really well; on the other it is by far the weakest book in the series, and for large stretches of it just isn't very good. (Basically, there about about 200 pages in the first half of the book that should just be dropped.)

But that's not really the topic of this post.

As we were getting close to the end, Funsize was presented with a choice: we could then tackle "The Lord of the Rings" ("The Hobbit" was not quite the first book I read to her), or we could make a switch: LC would take over her bedtime, and I would instead read to Surprise!.

In the event, Funsize elected to make the switch. So instead Surprise! and I will be making a start on (probably) Winnie the Pooh, or maybe Thomas the Tank Engine. And then we'll see - there are lots of books ahead of us.

As I said, the end of an era, albeit a fairly short one.

#27: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", by J.K. Rowling (a book for Funsize)

Counts as Fun

One of the consequences of getting everything locked down in spreadsheets is that I now have a monthly ritual: at the end of the month I cross-reference my bank balance against my spreadsheet of expenses and proceed to move some things around: the credit card gets paid, some money gets moved into a pot for the bigger expenses that come in the second half of the year, and then whatever is left goes into savings.

In theory, I then forget all about this until the same time next month; in practice, there's constant adjusting, tweaking, and general obsessing over the spreadsheet.

All of which pretty much counts as fun these days. Which is perhaps a measure of how everything else is going right now. Oh well.

The Tale of the Lost Book

Book #26 for the year was supposed to be "Warriors of God", by Andrzej Sapkowski. I had started it some weeks ago, and was making rapid progress, when disaster struck - there came the morning when I had it at home, then didn't have it when I reached the office, and yet it was neither at home, nor in the office, nor in the car. Somehow, it had disappeared.

I very rarely lose things - I do quite often misplace them, but they generally turn up (often where I left them last time I had them; sometimes where they have been hidden by the hiding-things fairies). And it drives me mental - it doesn't really matter what it is, but having something disappear like that creates a gap in the mental model of the universe, which is just endlessly frustrating.

In this instance, it also created a conundrum, because I've already picked out my remaining books for the year. As noted, book #26 was supposed to be "Warriors of God", which is part two of a trilogy, with the third part also on the list. I also had "Skyward Flight", but having just finished "Defiant" I had been hoping to delay that one a little. Book #27 will be the final Harry Potter, which I'm currently reading to Funsize.

But the final book that I had picked out was one that I at that time had on pre-order, as it had not yet been published at this time this all went down. So I couldn't really start that one. Suddenly, all my best laid plans had very much gone agley.

Anyway, the upshot of all of that is this: "Skyward Flight" is a collection of three novellas, so I ready the first while waiting for the new book to be published. Then I read that (see below). In the meantime, I ordered, and have now received, a replacement copy of "Warriors of God", which I will resume next. And that, more or less, puts the sequence back where it should be: book #26 is finished, #27 is the Harry Potter that will finish imminently, then #28 is "Warriors of God", #29 is "Skyward Flight", and then we finish with the third volume of that trilogy.

Unless things change again...

#26: "Firefly: Aim to Misbehave", by Rosiee Thor

Experimental Cookery 2025: Slow Cooker Vegan Chilli

We're having a pot-luck lunch at work, and I have decided that my offering is going to be a vegetarian chilli. So I've had a look around, and found a method on the internet. Today was the test drive.

As might be expected from a slow cooker recipe, this one was quick and easy - chop things up, put them in the cooker, stir to mix, and then wait a very long time.

We had the resultant chilli with a mix of baked potatoes and rice, some pickled jalapeños, guacamole, and (non-vegan) sour cream and cheese. Oh, and some Doritos. It was something of a feast!

The verdict: yeah, that was good. The jalapeños definitely helped - it was perhaps slightly lacking in a kick without... but then, tastes vary on that one, so providing the option is the way to go. But it was hot, filling, and flavourful - all the things you want from a meal. And it's ideal for the purpose I need it for in a few weeks.

We'll definitely have this one again, though it's unlikely to entirely replace our regular (non-vegan) chilli recipe!

Officially Underway

This morning I purchased the first of my Christmas presents for the year. So I'm now officially underway!

Obviously, the hope is to get all the presents bought by the end of the first week in December, get them all in hand by mid-December (earlier would be good, but isn't actually possible), and get them all wrapped by the end of the 18th of December. We'll see how that goes - at the moment I don't even know all the people that I'm buying for, which rather hampers my ability to select a gift.

(I say "obviously", but of course it's not obvious at all. Those deadlines are entirely arbitrary. But as part of my "stress-free" Christmas, I like to get ahead on those things that are amenable to getting ahead on, and buying presents definitely falls into that category.)

You may note that I've discarded my previous stance that I don't start on Christmas until December. That's a consequence of having children - in the past I was in the habit of taking a day off work early in December to get everything organised, and indeed I had time at other times to actually do things. These days, I absolutely can't use one of my days off for this purpose (I just don't have any to spare), and my available time for anything is sorely limited. Which means that things just take longer. So now my rule is that I start Christmas after we get past the Armistice, giving a few weeks to get things done, with the hope of concluding the present buying at the same time as previously.

To Stop, or to Do It Forever?

It is now eight years since we moved into our current home. As is basically standard practice, at the point that we moved we forwarded our mail, and made sure that "everyone" was aware of our new contact details. The previous owners of our current house did likewise. Those redirections have, of course, long since expired.

Shortly after one of those redirections expired, we started receiving a small number of letter addressed to the previous owners. So we reached out, got a forwarding address, and sent them on. All of which is to the good, except that about once a year we still receive a letter (and only one) addressed to the previous owner. I'm almost certain, but not entirely so, that it's junk mail.

So I find myself at a quandary.

On the one hand, it basically costs nothing just to keep readdressing the letter and chucking it back in the mail - there's a post box close enough to being "on the way" that it's just the cost of a little ink and a few steps.

On the other hand, eight years is probably long enough that if they'd wanted this company to know their new address they would have let them know.

I'm also struck by the reality that either we have to stop forwarding these letters at some point, or we have to commit to doing so effectively forever. And, of course, if they ever move again, I'd just be creating another new problem for another set of new owners...

So... yeah, I think I'm done. I forwarded this week's letter, and I'll continue to forward anything that looks like it isn't from a business (on the off chance that a long-lost friend tries to get back in touch), but for anything that looks like it's just spam I'm now going to introduce it to the shredder.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Lovely Home-made Gravy

We've just had a fairly indifferent dinner - venison sausages, mashed potato, and gravy (plus peas and sweetcorn for me). The sausages were nice, the mash was okay but a bit bland (could have done with boiling the potatoes for another minute or two, and perhaps adding some mustard to give it a kick - but we didn't have any), and the peas and sweetcorn were as you would expect.

The method for the gravy came from the Hairy Bikers "Perfect Pies" book, which advocated slicing and frying an onion, adding some wine and some flour, some stock, boiling it down and straining. Nothing much to it, really.

I think that what went wrong was two-fold: too much flour, and boiling down a little too long. The outcome, therefore, was a really thick gravy that tasted fine but looked fairly unappealing - not really what I was aiming for.

I actually have loads of different methods for gravy scattered among my many books, most of which go unnoticed (since I don't generally care for gravy, we only ever have it fairly seldom, and when we do I tend to just bust out the granules as a lazy solution). But it's something that it's good to have in the back pocket, if only for special occasions. So I'll be making gravy again... just not necessarily this one. Though I should perhaps note, if it wasn't obvious, that the weaknesses of this meal were more down to my preparation of the components rather than anything in the books.

Should Have Seen That Coming. I Didn't. But I Should Have.

Our microwave died on us last night - at first glance it seems to work, but it doesn't actually heat anything. And given that that is the main, nay the only, purpose of a microwave, it's somewhat less than ideal.

I think this is my fourth microwave - there was the initial one bought when I first moved out, a replacement purchased some time in 2011, a replacement product for when that one failed almost immediately, and now the current machine. I don't have a specific record of buying this one (because I don't track everything), but I'm reasonably sure we must have had a new one some time since 2011, and I'm equally sure that this is the one we brought with us from the old flat. So it was at least eight years old, which is decent service.

The upshot is that I should probably have expected it to be on its way out, but alas I did not - I was blissfully unaware that my trusty appliance was just about done for.

I'm now in the process of trying to find a new microwave, and am finding myself somewhat stymied. My assertion last night was that "microwaves are all pretty much of a muchness", which is pretty much accurate. The problem with that is that when you ask Google to recommend the best microwave, every site therefore gives a completely different set of results. Similarly, the reviews of every microwave seem to be the same - loads of people saying it's great, some giving a more nuanced view, and then one or two saying it's a load of rubbish.

All of which isn't terribly helpful. I guess the reality is that it doesn't matter much: just pick one and be happy with it.

Celtic's Management Woes 2025

Funnily enough, I almost wrote a post by this name yesterday. It would have been a very different post!

Had I posted yesterday, I would have noted that Hearts are in a really strong position, and Celtic a surprisingly poor one, but that Celtic still had the best squad in the league, the best manager in the league, and sufficient money that, if they had to, they could go buy a whole new squad in January. I therefore expected (and expect) them to go on a very long unbeaten run in the latter parts of the season. The destination of the league will therefore, I think, be determined by just how much of a lead Hearts can build before Celtic get their act together.

(I would also have noted that it's a really good thing to have a serious challenge in place again, and also that it would be really good if Hearts did manage it - it's really not healthy to have one, or at most two, clubs winning everything all the time.)

Of course, Brendan Rodgers then resigned last night, which was followed by two rather acrimonious statements being issued by Celtic.

So, what now?

Well, the first thing that strikes me as really interesting is the contrast between how Celtic are doing and the way Rangers did - Rangers were the ones who removed their manager, and they did so right before an international break. They thus had control over the timing, and gave themselves the best possible opportunity to find a new manager. They then engaged in farce for several weeks, left poor Steven Smith to manage the club in a game in between, before finally settling on what seems to be a decent appointment (although with rather too many near-misses).

By contrast, when Brendan Rodgers walked away, Celtic immediately put in place a temporary team of impeccable credentials - Martin O'Neill probably wouldn't be in the frame even if he were interested, but as a safe pair of hands he is second to none. This gives them as much time as they need to take to get exactly the right person in position - as long as it's done reasonably quickly, and certainly before the transfer window opens, they'll be just fine.

As for who "the right person" is, I wouldn't care to speculate. I suspect they may well go for the obvious option, and bring back Ange, but my gut feeling is that that would be a mistake. But we'll see. In the meantime, my biggest question is whether Hearts can take advantage of this to widen the lead further - will someone do them a favour or two?

Day 300: Update on Goals

The penultimate update on goals for the year:

• Books: By day 300 I should have completed 24.66 books. I'm now far enough ahead of target that I'm reasonable confident that this goal will complete successfully - indeed, I've started giving some thought to which books I would want as any "extras" for the year.
• Weight: There has been a very small loss since the previous update, but not enough - this goal will show some progress but will not be successful.
• Church Website: There has still been no update made.
• Career: Done!
• Redecoration: Done!
• Blogging:  If I had set my usual goal for this year, I would expect to have posted 98 times by now.  As with the "books" goal, I'm now reasonably confident that this will be successful over the course of the year.
• Home Automation: The item I had been waiting to purchase was reduced very significantly for Amazon's "Big Deal Days". However, about a day before those started we saw an Amazon advert that prompted LC to declare that I should not buy said item. I therefore respected that, and as a consequence this goal has been abandoned On the one hand, that was somewhat unfortunate, not least since I had basically waited the whole year for that very moment, but on the other I can readily see where LC was coming from.

So that's two goals completed, two that are sufficiently advanced that I'm confident of completion, and one that has now been abandoned. Of the two that remain, one is something that I might be get to something approximating "done", while the other won't succeed (but where any progress is better than none).

I've also started giving some thought to goals for next year - two of the goals will clearly carry over, as will a third if it doesn't reach "done". I'm inclined not to set a formal "blogging" goal, though will continue to track it in the same way as last year. The others will be dropped for one reason or another. But that then seems a little light.

#25: "Defiant", by Brandon Sanderson

How to Achieve Independence

I said in my previous post that independence really shouldn't be a talking point in the upcoming Scottish elections - regardless of the outcome the UK government won't authorize a second independence referendum, and there's nothing to be done in the absence of that authorization. (Incidentally, Swinney's claim that Cameron somehow set a precedent by authorizing the previous one is nonsense - it's one of the oldest and most absolute principles in what passes for the UK constitution that no parliament can bind its successors.)

But, that being the case, how should those who are in favour of independence proceed?

Fundamentally, ultimately, it's about a whole lot of really hard work: first, build a clear and obvious majority in favour of independence. They demand a second referendum from Westminster. If one is not forthcoming (as is likely), conduct the next Scottish elections as a de facto referendum, win a majority of the votes, and then declare independence.

But the really important point there is that those steps have to be followed in order. Before any of the other steps in the process can be pursued the first step needs to be completed. Right now, the latest polls indicate that there is a wafer-thin majority in favour of independence. But that fluctuates - a few months ago there was a wafer-thin majority against, and in a few months that's likely to be the case again. If push came to shove, and there really was a referendum tomorrow, it would almost certainly be a win for the union, again.

And the fact that that is still the case shows a shocking complacency on the parts of the SNP and the former "Yes" campaign. At the time of the 2014 referendum, there was a clear generational split - young people favoured independence, but over-50s were very strongly pro-union. Move on eleven years, and the demographic shift should mean a permanent pro-independence majority - older voters gradually die off, while more and more younger voters join the electorate. But that shift hasn't happened. Over the course of the last eleven years, people who were pro-independence have shifted their positions, such that the demographic split remains constant - younger voters favour independence while those over fifty are strongly pro-union. Whatever the SNP and the former "Yes" campaign have been doing has been counter-productive - the SNP government, in particular, have managed to turn people against their core aim.

And that's before we talk about the missed opportunities of Brexit, or the disasters that were Boris and Truss, and indeed the now-loathed Labour government. I rather suspect the SNP are now banking on an incoming PM Nigel Farage as a great recruiting sergeant for independence. If so, they're deluding themselves.

Ultimately, there were some key questions that the "Yes" campaign just couldn't answer to the satisfaction of enough people, notably on the economy and currency questions. As FM, Salmond ran a reasonably tight ship, but even so he was never able to convince enough people that that would translate into setting up an independent country. In the eleven years since then, neither the SNP nor the "Yes" campaign have been able to advance the debate at all, and nobody could now accuse the current SNP government of running a reasonably tight ship (nor, indeed, of being able to build one).

Fix That.

The SNP, assuming that they do indeed get to run the next Scottish government, need to get a real handle on all of the basic elements of government, most notably the economy. They need to end the constant shambolic incompetence they've shown of late, they need to get these damn ferries finished, and they need to stop being caught in these awkward expenses stories (justified or not).

Meanwhile, either the SNP or their related think tanks need to start grappling seriously with the topics of establishing a new country - critically, the setting up of a new central bank and a new currency. The answers of 2014 didn't win over enough people, and they definitely don't work now. What made sense when the UK was part of the EU just doesn't make sense post-Brexit.

I just really can't see any of that happening. Indeed, in order even to start, I think the SNP need some time out of office and need a really good clean-out of the too many mediocrities that infest it. And so, I'm afraid, I think independence is essentially a dead subject for the remainder of my lifetime - it's noise for the SNP to try to win votes (and their opponents to try to stop them), but not something that's actually going to happen.

#24: "The Running Grave", by Robert Galbraith

Any Chance?

It would be really good if we could somehow avoid the upcoming Scottish elections being another completely pointless go around of "vote for us for Independence!" on one side and "vote for us to stop Independence!" on the other.

The reality is that the SNP have neither the ability nor the inclination to meaningfully advance the cause of independence. It's a project that is long-since failed and, unless something massively changes, is effectively dead for my lifetime. So, no, the SNP won't be delivering independence, or a second referendum, or any such thing. Even an outright majority of SNP MSPs wouldn't do that, and they won't get that anyway. And, equally, Labour, the Tories, and the Lib Dems won't be preventing independence, for the same reason that they won't be preventing us being invaded by Martians.

But I suppose I get it.

Because if the SNP don't stand on the topic of independence, they need to stand on their domestic record, and on that front they've been hopeless. There isn't a single thing... actually, there literally is a single thing that they've done since Salmond resigned that they can be proud of (the baby box). Everything is very obviously worse than it was then, and not just because the UK government has been useless, obstructive, and short of funds.

But equally, if the other parties don't stand on opposing independence, they need to stand on what they have to offer. And the sad reality there is that, as monumentally awful as the SNP government has been, all the alternatives are very obviously worse.

So I guess the argument will be about independence again.

Well, it's that or "we're the best to stop Reform!"

But the problem with them arguing about that is that a very large part of the reason for the rise of Reform has been the public's utter disgust with all of our mainstream parties. So arguing that "it's us or Reform" has a real danger of backfiring.

World Cup Qualification

It's fair to say that Scotland aren't very good at football. Every so often it looks like this time we might be about to get somewhere, and then there's immediately a wobble - it's as if the players look at the notion of actually being decent and just can't bring themselves to do it.

The most recent international break has been a really weird one. On paper, it's been really good - six points out of six, and a place in the playoffs guaranteed. What could be better?

And yet, look at the actual games and it's another story. Against Greece we were poor for almost all of the match and were hugely flattered by the scoreline. Against Belarus, we were saved by some dodgy refereeing decisions and a good bit of luck. All in all, not the best.

Next up is Greece away, and then a showdown home to Denmark that will decide whether Scotland come top or face the playoffs.

The permutations make the Greece game largely irrelevant. We can assume Denmark will beat Belarus, meaning they will end on between 13 and 16 points, and they have a vastly superior goal difference to Denmark. So if Scotland lose to Denmark, we will end on between 10 and 13 points, with Denmark on 16 - the playoffs. If we draw, we'll end on between 11 and 14 points, with Denmark on 14, with an equal head-to-head, and a worse goal difference - the playoffs. And if we win, we'll end on between 13 and 16 points, with Denmark on 13, but with the superior head-to-head. In which case we'd go through as group winners.

But I find it really hard to believe, on the evidence of this weekend, that Scotland will beat Denmark. And I also find it really hard to believe that Scotland have it in them to get through the playoffs. It's looking very much like another chance for glorious failure.

But maybe this was a blip, and the next two games will see better performances. Here's hoping!

Alien Earth

LC and I have been watching this and finished at the weekend. The premise is fairly straightforward: a Weyland-Yutani ship crashes on Earth while carrying a number of Xenomorph eggs and some other nasties, and we go from there.

It's good stuff, well made, and with some interesting themes to follow on. And yet...

I'm afraid I really didn't care for the ending of the season: there was an ongoing story that seemed to be coming to a conclusion, and then the final episode seemed to suddenly lose all forward momentum so as to set up the next season of the show. Which is unfortunate - there was enough there without that enforced cliffhanger.

Oh well. Despite that one significant negative, we enjoyed it enough that we'll almost certainly watch the second season once it's out (though we'll probably let it come to an end before making our start). And I'd make a qualified recommendation to others: if you enjoyed the "Alien" movies, you'll almost certainly enjoy this.

Microsoft!!!

I very seldom (though not never) make use of cloud-based storage solutions such as Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive. After the Fappening many years ago, I concluded (or was reminded) that you should never put something online, including in the cloud, if you wouldn’t want malicious people viewing it. (I should note that that’s not to victim-blame. Those responsible for the leaks in the Fappening were very definitely the villains in that piece. But I still advocate taking reasonable precautions.)

I should also note that I have a small number of files on my PC that I have made a declaration that they won’t be backed up online (for data protection reasons). So this isn’t just an idiosyncratic quirk or a mild preference.

On a related note, when I first purchased my PC, I spent a fair amount of time getting it set up and making sure the settings were as I prefer. It’s not a wildly bespoke system, but it is my system that I know better than some random developer at Microsoft.

So I rather object to the tendency of Microsoft, after every “major” update, to bring up a number of screens hectoring me to accept Microsoft’s recommended settings. If I wanted to use those, I would be using those. And I really object to their position of “assumed consent” – if you don’t explicitly opt out of their suggestions, they’ll “helpfully” go ahead and do it for you.

And so it was this morning that I discovered that Microsoft had moved (not even merely copied) all of my key files off my PC and into their OneDrive service. Meaning that any security concern, real or imagined, was now in play, meaning that my data protection obligations were compromised, and indeed degrading the experience of using my PC (because some files were no longer in the location the system required – though I should be glad of that, I suppose, or it might have taken much more than two days to discover).

And so it was that I immediately had a task to undo all of this and make sure the files weren’t any longer online and were back in the locations I expected. And reconnected the library files. (It also probably means that my automated backup for this week may well be a monster – it’s all the same files with all the same content, but they’ve all been “touched” since the last backup).

Thanks guys.

How to Lose a Customer

LC was out on Saturday, and so I decided to order Dominos pizza - it has been a pretty long time, but it's always quite enjoyable, and after an afternoon of rushing around it was good not to have to cook. Or so I thought...

The order was placed for 5.30, and the pizza tracker was opened. It promptly "went to sleep" until closer to the time, and then never seemed to wake up. But at exactly 5.30 there was a ring on the doorbell, and Dominos delivered our order. Huzzah!

Or not, as it turned out. Because while the two sides ordered were correct, neither of the pizzas were those we'd ordered.

Now, at this point I must stress that this is a very simple mistake that could easily happen to anyway (especially at it looks like their label machine was probably out of order) - the driver grabbed the wrong two boxes, and so there was a mix-up of orders. It happens; not a problem.

But then it's how you fix the problem that matters. And it really matters.

So, firstly I checked but there wasn't any obvious "we've screwed up your order, let us make it right" button on either the webpage or the email confirmation. That would be extremely useful, though I guess open to abuse.

So, onto Google I went to find the store's phone number. I called, and was answered promptly. I explained the problem, only slightly painfully, at which point she needed to speak to her manager so put me on hold. Which was fine. Moments later, she returned to say her manager was on another call so would be a few minutes... and then hung up.

Sigh.

So I called back, and got the same assistant. She apologised, and correctly put me on hold this time.

Ten minutes later...

After getting no response for ten minutes, I gave up, hung up, and called again. This time the call was answered by a different person (who turned out to be a driver who was helping out due to staff shortages). Unfortunately, he couldn't hear me very well...

I explained the problem again, this time rather more painfully. At which point he went and grabbed the manager, who came to the phone immediately. I then explained the problem for a third time (by now feeling really irate, and dealing with two very hungry and very disappointed children). After a few goes around, he grasped that all I wanted was for them to make the two pizzas that I'd actually ordered and deliver those to us - I wasn't demanding a replacement of the full order, or a refund in whole or in part, or compensation, or anything of the sort. Just give me the thing I wanted, please?

The replacement pizzas finally arrived at almost exactly 6.30, a mere hour after they were due.

(On the plus side, we did then end up with the two incorrect pizzas, which provided lunch for LC and I on Sunday, and then a dinner of sorts for LC on Sunday. So it wasn't all bad, I suppose.)

The upshot is that they made a real mess out of what should have been a fairly simple fix.

The way I think it should have worked:

• Firstly, the means you use to order should also provide the same means for dealing with issues, especially simple issues like this. Things like "why hasn't my order arrived", "I've received the wrong thing", or "it's been damaged" are pretty straightforward, and could easily be resolved by an automated system - and would probably cover 90% of all issues right there.
• Assuming that isn't possible (and given that it could be abused, maybe it really is not possible), then the person who answers the phone really needs to be empowered to solve the problem directly. And if that's not possible, then the second-line staff who can solve the problem need to be available to jump in and help right away.

As it is, this was very much a case where their service very much did not delight me. It will now be a very long time, if indeed ever, that I order from Dominos again. It's one bad experience after almost 20 years of otherwise fine service, but the experience was sufficiently bad as to sour all those others.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Baked Potato with Speedy Chicken Chilli

This one came from last month's Tesco magazine, as part of their "5 for £5" feature. It was, as the name implies, quick and easy to put together - a little chopping, a little frying, then add the sauce and simmer for a while.

The end result was enjoyable enough. It's not going to become one of our favourite meals, but that was never likely to be the case. But I at least enjoyed this meal, then had some of the leftover chilli in wraps for my lunch the next day, and then used the last to top some nachos. So that all counts as a win in my book.

Otherwise, there's not much to say about this one.

Missed It!

For the past several months I've been conscious that we've been coming up to the 20th anniversary of this blog. But every time I thought about writing the "20 years!" post, I've elected not to do so, on the grounds that it wasn't time yet.

We passed that threshold on the 8th of September, meaning it sailed gracefully and unnoticed into the past. Oops!

Screen Time

The issue of screen time is a question I constantly wrestle with. On the one hand, there's a large extent to which Funsize and Surprise! will inevitably have access to screens, and the important thing is for them to learn to be comfortable and safe using them. On the other hand, it's not healthy them watching too much TV/Netflix/Disney... and there are much worse things out there.

And so there have been tweaks, and more tweaks, and yet more tweaks. At the weekend there was an allocation of some additional time, to reflect an unfairness that had crept in. Today that has been adjusted downwards again.

But I think it may need to be something we discuss again. And again...

Another Milestone Passed

Last night Funsize and I finished our read-through of "Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince", which marks the completion of the 23rd book of the year. This therefore means that I have now read more books this year than last, which is obviously a really nice place to be (albeit rather too early - and nowhere near the totals of years gone past).

#23: "Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince", by J.K. Rowling

Stung!

It has been many years since I was last stung by a wasp. I can't say the experience has improved any over the intervening time.

Perhaps the most galling thing of all, though, is that the awful provocation I made to be stung was to open the window, that the wasp was nowhere near, in order to let the wee beastie escape from our office. Grr!

#22: "Dragons of Eternity", by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Seven Weeks On... the Decision

Seven weeks ago, I posted that we were mulling over what to do about Christmas this year. As it happened, LC and I had a conversation on the topic about six weeks ago and more or less locked it down - we were basically in agreement, and so other than leaving some time to let it settle there wasn't much more to say. Still, I did say I don't start my Christmas countdown until 100 days before, and so it isn't until now that I'm ready to share.

The upshot is that we're more or less going to repeat what we did last year: we'll host people for the big meal at Christmas. I'll head over to see some other family on Christmas Eve, and then we'll meet with everyone for the big gathering on Boxing Day, but Christmas Day itself will be a local walk followed by a large meal, followed by TV. (For the TV, since there's no "Wallace & Gromit" and no "Doctor Who", we've identified a recent film that we'll carefully avoid watching until then, and use that as our centerpiece. Until FS and S! object, that is.)

I think that means we're now getting towards settling our core "Christmas experience". That may be another post for when the season is really underway.

Ironheart

One of the more unfortunate aspects of our current society is that these days reviews are almost entirely useless, especially when the protagonist is anything other than a straight white male - everything else is met with a relentless barrage of review-bombs on one side, and a set of hagiographic "reviews" on the other intent on redressing the balance. Neither of which serves to answer the actual question: it is actually any good?

Which brings me to "Ironheart", a show starring a young woman of colour. So, inevitably, the reviews are mixed, to say the least: some people are slating it on every possible pretext but not stating their real objection; meanwhile, the professional reviews are glowing, ignoring the flaws of the thing.

We finished watching it last night, and actually "mixed" is about as fair a review as you can get.

The positives: the cast are great, the characters are well drawn, the effects are surprisingly excellent, and the story, while basic, is well told.

My first negative is that it could do with some more jokes. I do also find some of it extremely far fetched, even within the context of Marvel - the show rightly made the point that Tony Stark's billions were a massive part of why he was able to do what he did... and then has RiRi do exactly the same without those resources anyway. (And, yes, Stark put together his first suit in a cave with no help. But Stark's first suit was also a comparative piece of junk.)

But those are fairly small beans.

I also felt that the ending was underwhelming - once again, we have a finale where the main plot is suddenly resolved very quickly, and we spend a significant amount of time dealing with other stuff - "Discovery" has just done that, "Doctor Who" has just done that, and now this. (Of course, that's largely coincidence - some of these came out some time ago, and I just happen to be watching them all together.) I almost got the feeling that the first five hours of "Ironheart" were largely an excuse for them being able to introduce Mephisto in the final episode. Which is weird.

Lastly, though, there is something that makes me really uneasy. In the first couple of episodes, RiRi engages in serious criminal activity. It's not 'questionable' or 'borderline', or any other euphemism - she's working with a group of thugs and is party to violence, extortion, and almost certainly murder. Plus, there's one point where she's almost certainly on bodycam footage as a cop is shot and killed.

And the show never addresses this and there are no consequences - we're full-square behind RiRi as she breaks from the group, not out of any moral stance or principled objection, but because they find out she's killed one of their number. There's no question of going to the authorities, or facing due process for the crimes she has actually committed. It's all just handwaved and then ignored.

And that's a real problem.

(And, again, it's true that Marvel has a track record on this, where various Avengers have gone rogue at various times, and even when they haven't they do engage in all sorts of illegality. The key difference, though, is that they don't actively and knowingly go to work for the bad guys. At their very worst, they are duped into their actions, but that's not the case here - RiRi knows that Hood and his team are sketchy as hell, but is motivated by the money.)

The upshot: my feelings about "Ironheart" are deeply mixed. But I'll be more than happy to see RiRi Williams appearing in future Marvel projects, and I'll be happy to watch other things produced and directed by Ryan Coogler (incidentally, "Eyes of Wakanda", by the same producer, is really good). I find this flawed, but not the disaster the review-bombers would have you believe.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Spiced Chicken Meatballs with Garlic Tomato Sauce & Tahini (Yoghurt) Drizzle

This one came from the most recent Tesco magazine.

I have, of course, made meatballs before, though never from chicken, and making a simple sauce is easy, so this one was quick and easy to put together. There are two things I would do differently next time: rather than chopping the onion I'd use the food processor to get a much finer consistency, and I'd actually remember to put the yoghurt in the tahini yoghurt drizzle! (I don't think that actually made much difference - it meant using a lot more water to get the desired consistency, but very little difference to the eventual texture or flavour. Still...) Oh, and I'd make up the meatballs immediately after getting the mince and then freeze - this allows for more flexibility than making them out of already-defrosted mince.

But the meal as a whole was very nice. We'll definitely have this again.

1984: Julia

There’s obviously a spectrum of sequels: most sequels are just more of the same, which makes them inherently a bit less good than the original. Sometimes, of course, you see a sequel that is better than the original, indeed sometimes much better. Then there are sequels that are bad, and indeed some so bad that we collectively agree they never happened. And then, very very occasionally, you get a sequel that perfectly complements and elevates the original, somehow serving to not only be great in their own right but to actually make the original retroactively better. It's even possible, somehow, to have a sequel that perfectly complements the original and diminishes the whole, retroactively making the original worse.

I'm not entirely sure which of those latter two categories "1984: Julia" falls into.

On the surface, this one is pretty straightforward: it's a retelling of "Nineteen Eighty-Four" from the perspective of Julia, Winston's lover from the original. This includes a depiction of her childhood in the early days of the rule of The Party, then we revisit the doomed love affair from the original (um, spoilers, I guess), and then we follow her life after their arrest and time in the Ministry of Love.

And, as I said, it almost perfectly complements the original - Orwell couldn't have written this book, not being a woman, but a "female Orwell" (if such a thing makes sense) absolutely could. Of course, Julia's perspective on the events shared with Winston is at once similar and yet not the same as his.

And yet...

One of the key things that this novel does is it strips away the ambiguity of Julia's character. In a novel like "Nineteen Eighty-Four", where so much of the narrative is driven by uncertainty and untruth, that ambiguity is, arguably, much needed. And removing that, and replacing it with one set of definitive answers, may be to do a disservice to the original.

I'm sorry to say, also, that the ending really doesn't work for me. It's carefully, and deliberately ambiguous, in a way that would be really good... except that however I look at it it just doesn't fit - taken at face value you're left with too much of a coincidence, but if you shift it into another layer of the deception you're left with loose ends that just won't tie up. Which is a shame, because the first third of the novel is outstanding.

The other thing about the ending is that, like Atwood's "The Testaments", it really undercuts the horror that the dystopia is apparently scheduled to pop up, engage in cartoonish levels of villainy for a couple of decades, and then collapse within a single lifetime. So much for a boot stamping on a human face, forever. (Though "The Handmaid's Tale" is, worryingly, looking ever more prescient - the West really is facing a serious decline in fertility, and it's hard to think of a solution that isn't absolutely horrific. But I digress.)

Still... maybe after so many decades it's fair enough to peel away one level of ambiguity, and replace it with another?

The upshot is that I do recommend this one, but with the caveat that you should know what you're signing up for. Once you've read this, you won't be able to unread it, so the original will be changed in your perception. Which, perhaps, is the highest praise I can give it.

(One parting thought: "Nineteen Eighty-Four" is of course one of those classic novels that schools used to teach, though perhaps unfairly given that it may be best appreciated by those with more life experience. Anyway, for those pupils in their upper years who have those big essays to write (we called them the RPR and a Dissertation, though they're surely called different things now), I think it might be interesting to study these two together... but have the pupil write their character study of Julia after reading the original only, and then reflect on how it changes after reading this.)

#21: "1984: Julia", by Sandra Newman

Day 250: Update on Goals

Time for another update on goals for the year:

• Books: By day 250 I should have completed 20.55 books. I fell slightly behind in late July and early August, but had caught up again by the end of August. I'm now very slightly ahead of target, so that's looking good.
• Weight: No comment - it's fair to say this is a disappointment.
• Career: This is now done!
• Church Website: Disappointingly, there is no update on this one. I never did receive the information I was hoping for, so will have to find an alternate way forward.
• Redecoration: Not only have we had the windows replaced, which has made an immediate improvement, we've also repainted the upstairs bathroom (which was needed as a consequence of the window being done).
• Blogging:  If I had set my usual goal for this year, I would expect to have posted 82 times by now.  I'm very slightly ahead of target, with two-thirds of the year done.
• Home Automation: No update since the last time – I missed the Prime Day sales, so am again waiting for the key item to reduce in price.

There's not much movement on the various goals, but they're mostly looking okay: two are done (one more than done), two are nicely on track, and one is waiting for a key event before proceeding. That only leaves two wanting some key attention, so those should be my focus for the next few weeks.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Spicy Beef Burgers with Guacamole

With some regret I have to announce that I have reached the end of BBQ season for the year. We were fortunate indeed that the weather allowed for one more good BBQ, but I'm now calling it - in general, I prefer to end things on my own terms than to be forced to an end, and so it is with this season.

Anyway, we concluded with another burger from "The Handcrafted Burger", and it's another winner - a simple guacamole (not sure if there's really another kind), a minced rump steak with a spice rub, and the application of heat.

The one thing I think I would do different is switching the steak for mince - I'm not sure how much that added step really added, and the burgers were awfully small. I would say "disappointingly so", except that there really wasn't anything disappointing about these. But more would have been nice.

And that's that. We now move into Autumn, and then to Winter, and so a different phase of meals begins - could be fun!

Recent Treks

We’re just entering the third month of a three-month deal on Paramount+ - once again, I took out a subscription to catch up on the various Star Trek series, timed to coincide with the new season of “Strange New Worlds”. (We also took the opportunity to watch two other films, one of which was okay and the other was disastrously poor.)

Looking at those new Treks, then…

Discovery

The oldest of the three, and indeed the reason we first subscribed to Netflix back in the day, “Star Trek: Discovery” had its fifth and final season. Which is fine, all apart from the finale. That final episode was an utter mess, although in fairness to them that seems to be a consequence of an unexpected cancellation – the final episode of the season turned out to be the final episode of the series.

I know Discovery is not generally regarded all that well these days, but I’ve always found it okay – it suffers from starting with a glimpse of a show I’d really rather watch, but does well in presenting the show itself. That said, it’s the weakest of the three seasons I’ve been watching.

Lower Decks

The fifth and final season of Star Trek’s animated series continues in the rich vein of form of this series. I suspect this was a good time for the show to end, as various things were starting to wear a bit thin. But this was a strong season to go out on. And, unlike Discovery, they had plenty of time to construct a finale that does a really good job of wrapping things up.

Strange New Worlds

I don’t have much to say about this season (which is still ongoing), except to note that SNW remains uniformly excellent. This is the show that justifies the subscription to Paramount+. Good stuff.

Section 31

Conversely, this made-for-TV movie is just terrible. Which is a real shame – while I’m no great fan of the whole concept of S31 in-universe, I am a big fan of Michelle Yeoh, and her turn as Empress Philippa Georgiou is usually a lot of fun. But the abridged runtime here really doesn’t give the story any time to breathe, the rest of the characters are really not great (and the presence of Rachel Garrett is especially grating). Such a shame.

All in all, Star Trek has been doing pretty well lately, though I do note that three of the four things I list are ended, while the fourth is ending soon. And I find I’m really not struck by any of their upcoming projects, be they in film or TV, and the prime, mirror, or Kelvin universes.

Pocket Money in a Cashless World

We’re probably overdue in giving Funsize some pocket money, and indeed in having her take on some chores around the house (those two are somewhat, but not inherently, linked). This raises a number of questions: exactly when, how much, which chores should she take on, and what is the exact relationship between chores and money received? So, all the usual questions parents have dealt with over the decades.

But there’s one new wrinkle that I haven’t seen a good answer to yet: how to deal with pocket money in a world without cash?

The thing is, I basically don’t use cash any more, to the extent that it’s a massive pain when I do have to pay for something using it – any multiple of £10 is fine, of course, since that’s just a trip to an ATM, but otherwise it’s either contactless, online shopping, bank transfer, or something like that. And while I am personally very strongly opposed to society getting rid of cash (which is a whole other rant), I also don’t want to actually have to use it. Which is a problem if I’m needing to give Funsize regular, small amounts of cash.

At the same time, she’s also too young for a debit card, and certainly for a phone (and therefore any pocket money app). Not to mention that having actual, physical money in different amounts makes the whole thing tangible in a way that simply waving a card for everything does not.

So I’m frankly a bit stuck.

#20: "Odyssey", by Stephen Fry

Gladiator II

There’s obviously a spectrum of sequels: most sequels are just more of the same, which makes them inherently a bit less good than the original. Sometimes, of course, you see a sequel that is better than the original (“X-Men 2”), indeed sometimes much better (“The Dark Knight”). Then there are sequels that are bad (“X-Men 3”), and indeed some so bad that we collectively agree they never happened (why, for instance, did we jump from “Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home” to “Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country”?). And then, very very occasionally, you get a sequel that perfectly complements and elevates the original, somehow serving to not only be great in their own right but to actually make the original film retroactively better (“The Godfather Part Two”, “The Empire Strikes Back”).

But “Gladiator II” has achieved something that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before: it perfectly complements the original and diminishes the whole, retroactively making the first film worse.

It actually starts off well enough, beginning with a Roman attack on a frontier city, this time shown from the point of view of the defenders. Good stuff. Naturally, the Romans are victorious and our hero finds himself made a slave, and then a gladiator.

The story then unfolds in much the same way as the original. And all the characters from the original are present, but each is moved around the board one space: we have the person of colour who is a co-gladiator and friend to our hero… but this time he dies early. We have the stablemaster (Denzel Washington instead of Oliver Reed), but he’s not the benign figure from the original. We have not one, but two made emperors… but they never set foot in the arena. And so on and so forth.

And it’s fine, for about two thirds of the run time – a completely unnecessary sequel-by-numbers that would ordinarily fit into my very first category.

And then it goes horribly wrong. It’s almost as if the writers knew the story they wanted to write, knew how it should all play out to a certain point, knew what the end-point should be from there, but just couldn’t make the last few dots line up. And so the last forty minutes consist of everything falling apart in a stream of nonsense, characters making endless bad decisions because they need to because of the plot, characters announcing the plot because otherwise it’s just incomprehensible… basically, it’s a mess.

And, as I said, it all fits perfectly with the original, such that the two now feel permanently entangled. They’re not two separate films; they’re two parts of a whole. This film makes the original feel worse than it did before.

Avoid.

Experimental Cookery 2025: Slow Cooker Prawn Paella

Not much to say about this one – it comes from a random Tesco magazine from some time ago, it was quick and easy to put together, and other than producing a lot more food than we could eat, it was basically fine. But it wasn’t as good as the other paella that I’ve made before, and I find myself struggling to think when we might have this again – it’s too much for two of us (and doesn’t seem suitable either to cut in half or to reheat), and for a crowd I’d be inclined to put in the effort for the better meal.

So I don’t regret this one, but don’t necessarily recommend it either.

#19: “Dragons of Fate”, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Rangers Woes 25/26

A few weeks ago I mused about how long it would be before I wrote this post. After their match on the first weekend of the season, I very nearly published a post with this title, though at that time it would have been as a joke - although failing to win that match was hugely symbolic, in the grand scheme it probably doesn't matter all that much.

But they've followed that up with a sequence of fairly bad results, with only one actually good one in the interim. And then last night they were hammered 3-1. In truth, the result is probably not all that surprising (as in fairness the Europa League is probably Rangers level, while the Champions League is beyond them), the fact that they collapsed so completely so quickly was rather more of a problem - when the local commentators are describing the showing as "embarrassing", there's a problem.

The upshot of that is that the manager is already under massive pressure - he was never really the fans' first choice, his style has utterly failed to have the expected impact, and now everything has just turned. The mood on Twitter was nothing short of poisonous last night.

So now they have about two weeks, and three matches, to turn all this around. On Sunday they face St Mirren, a tricky away tie that is now a must-win. Then on the 31st of August they face Celtic at Ibrox, and again that's a must-win. In between, there's the return tie against Club Brugge in Champions League qualifying. That's the one that it's probably okay to lose - provided they put on a massive performance and just get pipped. But another humiliation.

But on the evidence thus far, there's no real reason to think any of those matches will pan out that way. St Mirren are a tough team to beat at the best of times, and Rangers are both weak at the back and misfiring up front. Celtic are miles ahead. And Club Brugge have already done the hard work in the tie, and so the return may turn into a exercise in them deciding how much to hurt Rangers.

And yet, if things don't go Rangers' way, there's no obvious way forward. This season was supposed to be the start of a new era, and it's on the cusp of disaster. Do they replace the manager yet again? And if so, who could they get who would both be better and also willing to come to the club in that state?

To be honest, at this point it's hard to see how they could have had a worse start to things.

Andor

I finally finished watching “Andor” over the weekend. My reaction to it was mixed.

On the one hand, “Andor” is almost certainly the single best “Star Wars” show to date (and if you restrict it to live action shows, that ‘almost’ goes away). It is really, really good – exceptionally well made, with a wonderful cast (the only slight disappointment being that Jimmy Smits wasn’t available, so they recast Bail Organa… but the new guy did the job very well, so that wasn’t too bad), a spectacularly strong set of scripts, and no weak episodes. Yes, the pacing is a little slow at times, but that’s because it’s building tension over time.

It's just great.

And yet… I found that I really didn’t enjoy it. There’s just something about the show that meant I knew that it was very, very good, could appreciate all the things that went into making it so very good, but I wouldn’t watch it again. And, indeed, if I knew then what I know now, I might not have bothered to watch it at all.

Which is really odd, and I don’t really understand how it has come about, but there it is.

So, do I recommend it? Well, yes, because it’s excellent. And yet…

(Incidentally, there seems to be a bit of a split in fandom between “Ahsoka” fans and “Andor” fans. Personally, I’m glad we get both – in terms of production, “Andor” is the better show, but I enjoyed “Ahsoka” rather more. Plus, there’s that one episode of “Ahsoka” that I count as the absolute pinnacle of Star Wars TV thus far.)

Broxburn Gala Day 2025

And so, the Gala Day season for the year limps to an end. Sad to say, this one is not one on which I will look back fondly – too many events with too few people in attendance, and a general absence of enthusiasm at most of the ones that we did attend, plus one instance of truly awful weather, has made for a rather poor season.

That said, it’s worth noting that we did in fact end om a high note – this was the event at which we had the largest band, the weather was glorious (if anything, too hot and sunny – it’s a long walk!), and as a consequence a really good attendance from an enthusiastic crowd. All in all, good stuff.

And now we go into the winter season, where we might have a Christmas tree switch-on event to attend (or maybe not, if the Uphall Station Gala Day committee have decided to fold completely). I do also need to get my kilt and waistcoat cleaned, as that’s overdue, and should ideally source some new uniform.

And my bagpipes themselves need a little attention, as they’ve been somewhat neglected of late, and that’s starting to show.

For the most part, though, the next few months look like a time for rest, and hopefully some rebuilding.

How Best to Resume Doctor Who

The end of the most recent season of “Doctor Who” left things in a fairly bad place, and coupled with the uncertainty over the Disney deal, there’s a real chance the show will be going on another long hiatus. Even if not, there will definitely be a delay of a couple of years, as they will need to come up with a new cast (or at least part of one), new writers and scripts, and actually make the thing.

But there’s also the debate of how best to go forward with it.

My thinking is that the best way forward depends on whether there’s a short or a long pause before the show returns. But it boils down to three options:

Option One: A short pause, but otherwise everything continues

The best-case scenario, at least for the BBC, is that either Disney continue with their distribution deal or they find a new streaming partner straight away, RTD continues as showrunner, and they proceed into the new season more or less right away.

In that case, I’d recommend picking up where they left off: Gatwa’s Fifteen has regenerated into Piper’s Sixteen, and the fallout from that becomes the centre of the Christmas special in 2026 or 2027. This is then a one-off adventure culminating into another regeneration (as Billie Piper is almost certainly too expensive, and too in-demand, to be the Doctor long-term), before going into the next season.

Not ideal, but it gets them out of the current mess without too much turmoil.

Option Two: A short-ish pause, resuming without a streaming partner

Alternately, the BBC may find themselves without a streaming partner, in which case the show will inevitably face a somewhat longer hiatus and then may return but with a smaller budget. In which case the chances of having Billie Piper return even for a special are slim, and there’s a pretty good chance that they’d want to replace the rest of the team.

In that case, I think I’d advocate for, essentially, a “double regeneration” – the show picks up again from just before the end of the previous season, we see Gatwa regenerate, see Piper appear and say “oh, hello”… and then the regeneration continues straight through into whoever is cast as the “real” Sixteen. The explanation, if one is ever felt needed, is basically the same as for Romana’s regeneration back in the day – the Doctor was “trying on” a new face but it didn’t stick.

And then you go from there.

Option Three: A longer pause

In the event that Doctor Who finds itself without a streaming partner, the BBC may take the view that they want to rest it, to let some time pass under the bridge, let a new generation of writers come to it, and then revive the series – it was highly successful once, so why not again?

In which case, I’d recommend simply picking up with a new Doctor on new adventures, and simply not referencing what went before. At some point, way in the future, they may want to pull another “Day of the Doctor”, and thus fill in the gaps, but unless and until they come up with something really solid, just leave it unanswered. (And, crucially, don’t rush into answering the question, or even hinting at the fact that there is a question to be answered – let any revival get really confident on its feet first before touching it.)

(I was at this point going to talk about a fourth option, which would be a full-blown reboot of the series. But the more I think about it, the more I think that’s a terrible idea. Don’t do that!)

#18: “Tower of Fools”, by Andrzej Sapkowski

Fixing the Roof While the Sun Shines

I mentioned a few posts ago that we'd seen s few jobs pop up needing to be done: LC's car needed some work, the kitchen door needed a fix, the bathroom wanted repainted, and the washing machine needed something done. Over the last couple of weeks, these have now been addressed.

LC's car was fairly simple, if somewhat frustrating. Basically, it went back to the garage, they did what was needed, and that was the job done. No issues there, it just took a bit longer than we would have liked.

Repainting the bathroom was likewise just a job that needed to be done. So one morning I got up early, got on with it, and that was the job done. Huzzah!

Fixing the kitchen door was a bit harder, but once I'd found the appropriate advice it wasn't hard - the door is now remounted, and the hinges are no longer sagging. It still needs some sort of adjustment, but I'm not sure what wants done there. The advice I've seen looks like it wants a wrench applied, but I'm not so sure about that. I think we might just be leaving it alone.

That left the washing machine, which I took care of on Saturday. This was a job that has been waiting to be done for a long time, and so finally getting it done is really good. The issue was that the washing machine was wired directly into the wall, which I've now switched over to a socket-and-plug arrangement. This turned out to be fairly straightforward, though it did require quite a lot of care and double-checking.

(That's now three of four kitchen/utility room appliances switched over. The last is the kitchen freezer, which I'd like to get switched over as a matter of principle, but we have no plans to replace it any time soon, or really ever, so it would just be a job for the sake of doing it.)

We've now ordered a replacement washing machine - the old one is now pretty long in the tooth, and has some problems we've never quite been able to get fully fixed. That's all fair enough - we got it a couple of years before we moved, and although it didn't come into use immediately after we moved (the house came with a washing machine), it has done about eight years of good service. So it's had a good run.

That therefore clears the list of jobs, at least for the moment. It would be nice to think we'd have a spell without more jobs coming up, but that seems unlikely. I guess we'll see.