Pipe Band Season 2018 Wash-up

Despite not competing this year, I did have a bit of a pipe band season, with gala days running from early June until late August. (We also have one event in September, but I'm considering that to be part of our Autumn/Winter, rather than of the season proper.) I think I probably attended a bit more than half of the events - several were cancelled for one reason or another and there were some I just couldn't make it to (and one I just opted out of).

All in all, it's been a good summer. There has been a lot less stress than in previous years, and obviously a much smaller set of events. And absolutely no weekends with two events, which is nice. On the other hand, the standard just hasn't been as good - that's an obvious and unavoidable consequence of not competing. And there's no prospect of that changing, as attendance at practices is just too erratic to allow for significant improvement.

The one thing that I do miss is that there's no opportunity for teaching at the new band, which is a shame. Again, there's no sign of that changing. (And, if I'm being honest, I'm not minded to fight very hard to change that.)

Otherwise, things have been pretty positive for my first year with the new band.

(Incidentally, my previous band have had a banner year, being placed in the prize list at four of the five majors. They also came higher in the Worlds than I ever saw in my tenure, and came second in one major, where the best I ever saw was third. So well done to them - surely now that means they'll be promoted back to Grade 4A?)

The Wrong Jam

This morning for breakfast there were pancakes! Not made pancakes, I should note - LC had purchased a packet, which is fine. Since I don't have butter, when I was ready to apply spread to my pancakes I naturally reached for the jam... only to discover that the only jam we had was chilli-themed! Oh, the horrors!

Personally, I blame the shopping committee. Or I did, until LC pointed out that I am the shopping committee. I'm now looking for a new official Scapegoat.

Anyway, the upshot was that I had my pancakes plain, much to LC's dismay and disgust. (No, I didn't consider having chilli jam on my pancakes. It's still too early in the morning for such wild culinary escapades.)

And that's the end of that story. I feel it doesn't quite have the excitement of some of my other adventures, but given that it's been a quiet week, I have to work with the material I'm given. Sorry!

#40: "Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game", by West End Games

The Curtis Completion

This weekend saw LC and I (and Funsize) attending our fourth and final (probably) wedding of the year. This time, it was the wedding of two good friends of ours, and took place in the church where LC and I were married lo those many years ago (well, six and a bit). The reception was at Ross Priory, at the side of Loch Lomond.

It was a lovely day. We arrived bright and early, in order that I had time to tune my pipes and otherwise get ready. Then there were a few minutes of waiting, and then the time came to play. That went well, and then the bride arrived.

It now transpires that LC is going to mock and deride my description of the dress regardless of what I put here, so I'm going to content myself with: it was a white dress. So there!

Anyway, the wedding ceremony was lovely, and was fairly traditional in character. I thought it was quite short, although LC disagreed. There were two hymns, the exchange of vows and rings, the signing of the register, and a short message. Then outside for some photos, and then off to the reception.

The reception in Ross Priory was likewise lovely - the building had a lot of (fairly small) rooms, which meant that people could mingle in various groups. Before the meal, and while the official photos were being taken, there were drinks and nibbles laid on, including haggis bonbons (which means that this wedding wins - sorry to the others!). Then there was the cutting of the cake.

The meal took place in a very crowded dining room - much like the first wedding of the year, there was a top table with four rows leading down from it. This meant that the staff had a somewhat difficult time moving between the rows to serve the food.

But before the meal, came the speeches. As standard, there were three - ish. The father of the bride spoke first, then the groom, and then two the best men each gave a short speech. There were the usual happy words, the usual jokes, and the usual rounds of thanks. (As thanks for my part in the day, I was presented with an 8-pack of cans of Irn Bru "from before it became illegal". They know me so very well...)

The meal was excellent - a tomato and red pepper soup to start, followed by chicken and many vegetables, and then a sticky toffee pudding. Naturally, Funsize made her presence felt - LC had to take her out to feed at the start of the meal, and I had to eat my soup very quickly. Then I took FS for a walk in the grounds and persuaded her to sleep, before returning. I returned in time for the chicken, which LC cut up for me and I ate one-handed.

And then there was the dancing - a ceilidh in a fairly tight space, but with plenty of other areas for people to go and chat and generally catch up. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable evening and day. It was just a shame that we had to leave around 10, when the buffet was served, as Funsize was by this time worn out.

Which brings us to the end of wedding season for this year. Actually, 2018 has been very unusual - weddings have become somewhat few and far between, so to have more than one in a year is remarkable, and to have four...

It has been quite interesting to see how the four weddings have each been unique in their own ways, and each quite lovely. The first, in London, was probably most notable for being FS's first big trip. With the long train journey each way, with the heat, and with having so much to carry, that weekend was perhaps overly dominated by travel. But the wedding itself was a great centre-piece to that. (I feel almost compelled to highlight the champagne at that one, especially as that was brought to our attention several times. In fairness, it was particularly nice - if you're interested, or happen to be looking for a recommendation, it's the Veuve Clicquot which is apparently especially good this year.)

The second was of course the big trip to the US, and so notable for the huge distance travelled, the holiday that surrounded it, and indeed for piping in another continent (though I have played in the US before, but not at a wedding). More than that, though, it was notable for being a family wedding, which of course puts it in a different category for the others. This was probably the biggest of the four weddings, in terms both of number and of 'spectacle' (not sure that's the right word, really). It was also interesting seeing how things in the US were almost, but not quite, the same...

Then there was my colleague's wedding, which was right at the other end of the scale in terms of size - about twenty people, no speeches, no dancing, but a lovely time. And finally this wedding, which felt like the most traditional of the four. Or perhaps was just the one closest to what I was used to.

Labour-saving Devices

Why is it that getting a new PC inevitably entails days of annoyance and frustration porting across data and settings, installing software, and generally getting it all back to the way the old PC operated?

And why is it that no matter how good the built-in mechanisms for migrating all that stuff get, when it actually comes to it there is always some reason why you can't use them, or they don't quite work right, or they strategically omit the one thing that you absolutely have to have?

And why is it that having just gone through all of this with one PC, be it at work or at home, you then immediately start looking at all the other PCs you work with and start thinking, "Hmm, I quite fancy an upgrade..."

?

#37: "White Knight, Black Swan", by David Gemmell (the new candidate for book of the year)
#38: "Up the Faraway Tree", by Enid Blyton (a book from The List)
#39: "Winnie the Pooh", by A.A. Milne (a book for Funsize; a book from The List)

Here We Go Again...

It's fair to say that I'm more likely to drag LC to a film than vice versa - in recent months we've seen "Avengers: Infinity War", "Incredibles 2", and "Solo" at my behest, and "Jurassic World 2" at hers (and that wasn't exactly an ordeal). So in a spirit of fairness, I felt it only right that I go with her to see "Mamma Mia 2".

Now, it's fair to note that MM2 is a critic-proof film - it's going to make a lot of money, and that's the case regardless of what anyone says (or even whether it's actually any good, which isn't necessarily the same thing). Still, here we are. And, as I said in my review of the first film, I didn't actually hate the previous effort, with one key exception.

So, what did I think?

Well, there's much less singing by Pierce Brosnan, so that's a major plus. And everyone else ranges from "just about okay", through "fine", to a couple of cases of "quite good, actually". Except Cher, of course, who as a professional is head and shoulders above everyone else - but I'll come back to her.

That said, it's just not as good as the previous film. There are really two reasons for this: firstly, they've already used up Abba's best-known works in the first film, meaning that they had to use a lot of lesser-known pieces here. And, with a few exceptions, there's a reason the lesser-known songs are lesser-known.

Secondly there is the tone of the piece. The first film is an unashamed, unalloyed feel-good movie. It's just fun. The second film opens with death and heartbreak, so it's a bit of a bummer. It's the minor-key rendition to the fun of the first.

That's not to say I hated it - I actually didn't. There are several funny sequences, and the casting of the younger versions of the characters is great. Though it was a bit wierd seeing "Wills" (Hugh Skinner) playing the younger version of Harry.

I do think Cher shouldn't have been in the film. Firstly because, as a professional singer, she served to put all the other performances into context - and not in a good way. And secondly because as soon as she arrived on scene, the whole thing was suddenly about her, her character, and the songs she elected to delight us with. Which was a shame. (There is actually a third reason, but it needs more space to unpack than I have here, and would overshadow the whole of the rest of the post. So I'll leave it, and may or may not address it later, elsewhere.)

And, of course, the film needed more Christine Baranski. That shouldn't be a surprise - almost everything she's in needs more.

So, anyway, it's fine - a reasonably diverting way to spend a couple of hours. I'm not exactly desperate to see it again, but I won't absolutely refuse to watch the inevitable DVD release (as I do with the first). And, yes, I enjoyed it rather more than Tuesday's viewing of "The Last Jedi" - make of that what you will (that said, I enjoy most things more than Tuesday's viewing of TLJ).

The Last Jedi Revisited

I watched "The Last Jedi" for the third time last night, and unfortunately I don't think it holds up at all well. As with "The Force Awakens", each time I see it I am less impressed with the film, and more annoyed by its flaws. (And it really doesn't help that the film starts with the terrible "holding for General Hugs" gag. Three times in that film Hux fails to just shoot someone, with disastrous results every time.)

The upshot is that I'm going to have to downgrade the film: I enjoy it considerably less than "The Force Awakens". Indeed, I'm pondering whether to drop it below even "The Phantom Menace" in my ranking!

Also, I now find myself, probably for the first time, not really looking forward to the next Star Wars film. TFA was enough to make me excited for RO, and I really enjoyed RO and so was very much looking forward to TLJ. But TLJ was a let-down, and then Solo was mediocre at best, and so now I'm not all that bothered. Which is an odd experience - even in the depths of disappointment following AotC, I was still looking forward to RotS, partly in the hope that Lucas would finally get it right, and partly due to the influence of the "Clone Wars" series (the first one, that is).

Currently, my order for Star Wars films is:

1. Star Wars (the original)
   
2. The Empire Strikes Back
   
3. Return of the Jedi
   
4. Rogue One
   
5. The Force Awakens
   
6. Solo (this may change when I see it again)
   
7. The Last Jedi
   
8. The Phantom Menace (controversial, I know, but for me it's the least-worst of the prequels)
   
9. Revenge of the Sith
   
10. Attack of the Clones

... to Yield

Grandad's funeral went as well as could be hoped. As anticipated, he had indeed left detailed instructions, so it all went off pretty much without a hitch. My thanks to the funeral directors (who, as always in my experience, were reassuringly professional) and to Eric - a friend of Grandad's and a retired RAF chaplain, who conducted the funeral service itself.

And, actually, I don't think I'm going to say any more than that. I found the day extremely cathartic, but found the weekend extremely tiring. Mostly, though, it was a fitting end for an age.

#36: "Pathfinder: The Reaper's Right Hand", by John Compton

Goodbye Little Dog

My parents' dog had to be put down today. She was the third dog I remember my parents having (not counting yet another two - it's complicated). They got her at New Years many years ago, and she was very quickly a member of the family - though for the first few years she always got nervous at Christmas time - we believe her previous owners abandoned her at that time, and she obviously feared it might happen again. Eventually, of course, that fear faded, and she became resigned to wearing the festive tinsel.

Bonnie had become very old, and almost entirely deaf, but she refused to act her age - she would rush to greet whoever had arrived with a friendly bark, and inevitably want to play with the tug rope, at great length. She always won, usually by simple attrition. And that persisted until close to the end, but alas the last few months saw her becoming increasingly unwell as cancer ravaged her. There was no hope of recovery, so it was just a case of waiting until the inevitable day when she was actively suffering and the end had to come. Today was that day.

She lived a very long and very happy life, with suffering only towards the very end of it. That's as much as any of us can hope. Somehow, that doesn't make it hurt any less.

She was a good dog. She is missed, and will continue to be missed.

#34: "Canal Dreams", by Iain Banks
#35: "Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes", by Wizards of the Coast

Options

Many years ago, before my conversion to support in independence, I noted that in the event of a vote for independence I might find myself having to move to England for work - I expected to see the industry in Scotland be decimated, such that I would have to go elsewhere. Of course, that didn't happen - and, indeed, I concluded that actually it wouldn't happen, even in the event of independence, due mostly to a significant improvement in the health of that industry in Scotland (which, incidentally, continues to boom).

Alas...

This week, the government started talking seriously about preparations for a "no deal" Brexit, including efforts to start stockpiling to ensure that we had "adequate food" - the expectation is that a "no deal" Brexit will cause the ports to come to a shuddering halt, and given that we import 50% of the food that we eat, that's a bit of a problem.

There are three problems with this that I can immediately see. Firstly, "adequate food" is just enough to get by, not enough to be comfortable. Secondly, simply having "adequate food" doesn't mean anything unless you also have means to ensure that it is effectively and fairly distributed - we have massive inequality in this country, so while we may have "adequate food" on average, somehow I expect that to mean that the very rich continue to feast while thousands starve. But the third problem is the real clincher: they can't stockpile that food - they don't have the warehousing, they don't have spare capacity in the lorries doing the importing, they don't have time to get either of those things, and anyway much of the food in question is perishable and so can't be stockpiled anyway.

(Meanwhile, the government's preferred deal has just been killed dead by the EU, while the ERG are pushing hard for a "no deal" anyway, since they and their backers personally stand to make a lot of money, and we have a government and an opposition playing "chicken" on the subject - neither of them wants to deal with the fallout that would result from Brexit being abandoned. Basically, a "no deal" Brexit looks more likely with every passing day. And neither a second referendum nor a General Election would actually do anything to help, since the country as a whole doesn't actually know what it wants, beyond being generally pissed off at the status quo.)

The upshot is that I am deeply, deeply worried about what the next year holds for the UK. Unless the Powers That Be come to their senses and call off Brexit completely, or the EU takes pity on us and break their own fundamental rules to give us a deal the "no deal" fanatics can agree to (yes, I know), we're screwed.

In the "no deal" scenario, given our ability to produce food and the likely level of our stockpiles, our best case outcome will likely be the return of rationing in full force. For several years, until we can strike trade agreements with the EU and the US.

Given that our government can't organise a piss-up in a brewery, and given that rationing would now be a vastly more complex process than it was when it ended, I'm inclined to think that that's a forlorn hope. It's going to get very bad indeed.

Which brings me back to what I was talking about at the start of this post - moving for work. The blunt truth is that while Freedom of Movement within the EU will end with a "no deal" Brexit (or, indeed, any deal that we'll actually sign up to), the practical reality is that skilled workers always have greater options - and a software architect and a teacher of English are in a pretty good position.

And so, for the first time in a long time, I'm seriously starting to consider the possibility that we might have to quit this country and go elsewhere. My first and immediate thought was the US... but they have their own problems, so that's out. Which means that the EU probably remains our best bet, even despite everything that's happening. Specifically, Copenhagen - I hear it's nice there.

(There is one other escape clause, which is that while the UK will be leaving the EU, it's not absolutely certain that Scotland and/or Northern Ireland will do so - in both cases, there is at least the theoretical option of leaving the UK in order to remain. However, I discount the possibility of an independent Scotland for two reasons: (1) I don't think there's enough time - even if we voted for independence tomorrow, it would still take years to achieve it, which means enduring Brexit in the interim; and (2) the polls have failed to move noticeably, which suggests that even in that worst case Scotland would still vote to remain a region.)

Experimental Cookery 2018 (Outsourced!): Goat Goulash

Our second foray into the use of goat while cooking was actually put together by LC. However, as I adapted the recipe for the slow cooker, I've decided to claim enough of the credit to justify a blog entry. Which is a bit of a cheek, but there it is...

I got the recipe originally from The Scottish Goat Meat Company. However, later investigations revealed that is was suspiciously similar to a beef goulash recipe from the Hairy Dieter's "Eat For Life" book (the one with the yellow cover) - that is, it was identical in every respect except for the substitution of 1kg of goat meat for the 1kg of beef in the recipe.

In truth, adapting it for the slow cooker was easy: I reduced the water from 600ml to 200ml, and then instead of putting it in the oven it should be put in the slow cooker for 8 hours. So it was a fairly straightforward recipe with some fairly simple modifications...

Anyway, the resulting meal was rather enjoyable. Certainly, the goat was nice, though I did feel that the goulash could be a bit more, well, goulash-y. If that makes sense. But it was certainly enjoyable enough - fortunate, as we have four portions left in the freezer!

My two conclusions from this meal are: (1) I need more things to do with goat (and I have one or two ideas), and (2) we really do need to use the slow cooker more.

Goodbye

Today at dinner time I was forced to say goodbye to an old friend:

Yes, today was the day that my stockpile finally ran out - some eight months after the end was announced, and some six months after it became difficult to find any of the original recipe. I'd been rationing it, and then cut the ration about a month ago, but the end finally came.

Fortunately, I had exactly the glass to drink it from:

Unfortunately, today also marks the point at which I'm giving up hope that Barr's will rethink their decision to remove the old formula for sale. I've held out as long as I can, but the time has come to give up. Alas.

(All that said, I do still have one more ultra-secret supply hidden away for a special occasion or two, and I also do have a line on a very small amount elsewhere... But, as of today Irn Bru will no longer be a regular fixture in my life.)

Day 200: Update on... Stuff

Day 200, so time for another update...

Books: By day 200, I 'should' be at 32.87 books read. I'm pretty much right on target for that one.

In terms of the actual goal I set, I've read two of the four volumes in "The Faraway Tree Collection", and am close to the end of the third. I should finish that up some time next month. The reality is now that I won't complete this goal by the end of the year, though I shouldn't be too far from it - there were just slightly more books than I'd bargained for.

Band: Gala day season is now more or less done, and was mostly successful. I have a couple of other events coming up - one this weekend and one next month, after which I'm done. But it's good not to have every weekend in the summer dominated by competitions, and it's good not to have the level of stress that that entails!

Gaming: No change.

Weight: Nothing to report.

Blogging: I'm still behind, both here and at the Imaginarium. There is now no prospect of catching up in the latter blog - I'm just not gaming enough to maintain the interest in updating that one. I do hope to have caught up on this blog by the end of this month.

(One other thing that may be worth noting - I've been gradually importing posts from an old RPG blog into the Imaginarium. That task is proceeding apace, so hopefully should be done some time in the next month. Unless it gets derailed again...)

And that's everything. Next time, I'll probably omit mention of either band or gaming, unless there is something to report.

Hammock Time

For the past couple of weeks I have been finding the afternoons, and especially the couple of hours just after lunch, to be especially wearing. I'm starting to think I may need to start taking a siesta in that time.

The only problem with that is that it would then delay my being able to leave in the evening, which would be a disappointment. Well, that and that I already don't have enough time to get through everything.

I wonder if my employers can be persuaded to invest in some quality hammocks for staff? Or is that an idea worthy of Homer Simpson?

The Incredibles 2

By my reckoning, "The Incredibles" is Pixar's best film, which is a pretty high bar to clear. So it's fair to say that I was rather looking forward to the sequel - after ten years away, what could they have cooked up for us?

Well, it turns out that "The Incredibles 2" is good, but not great. And the more I reflect on it, the weaker it seems in hindsight. All the same elements are there, but the whole just doesn't live up to the hopes.

Warning: there are major spoilers from here on. So if you don't want to know, skip down to the end of the post, where I update the list of books I've read recently.

And the reason why it doesn't quite work? All the same elements are there, doing pretty much exactly the same thing (only this time it's Elastigirl who is off doing superhero stuff while Mr Incredible stays with the kids) - the secret superhero missions, the family drama, the tension between Supers wanting to use their powers while that is illegal.

And a villain who is not themselves super-powered but who makes use of high technology to match up against the Supers, having become embittered by a past experience. Oh, and that character initially presents as a benign figure, indeed employing our hero for her secret superhero missions.

So it's basically the same film, albeit with Mr Incredible and Elastigirl having their roles (and an oh-so-hilarious venture into "aren't men just useless?" territory to boot).

Basically, it's fine, good even, but I'm finding it increasingly hard to think of a reason to recommend seeing "Incredibles 2" rather than just watching to original again. Which is a shame.

But the music is great, so there's that!

#31: "The Jesus Storybook Bible", by Sally Lloyd-Jones (a book for Funsize)
#32: "Pathfinder: City in the Lion's Eye", by Mikko Kallio

To Strive, To Seek, To Find...

Grandad died yesterday.

I don't really have a great deal to say that hasn't been said - it had been a long time coming, he'd clearly been suffering and so it's good that that has come to an end; but it still hurts. Thank God I did indeed drop everything to rush down there to say goodbye on Monday.

When thinking on death in cases like this, I'm very much inclined to the view that death isn't really the enemy. Yes, it hurts, but it's really the culmination of a life lived long and well. Two weeks short of ninety-three years is a good innings; and although he faced his challenges, and although the last decade or so were faced in increasingly poor health, they were mostly good years. When I read my grandad's life story a few years ago, it was quite apparent that that was not a life filled with regret.

It also helps to know that his passing was as peaceful as could be hoped - my Grandma and my cousin Jo were with him, and from her account it seems that he was asleep, his breathing changed, and that was the end. It could have been a lot worse.

So while this is a time for grief, it's not a time for despair. And a time, again, for me to reflect on the blessings I've been given before the three bereavements I've faced.

I don't, as yet, know any of the details for the funeral. I expect that there is a well-laid plan in place - with plenty of time to prepare, and knowing the people involved, I can hardly imagine anything else. Hopefully, it will be a send off fitting for the life, and for the manner of the death.

The Highs and the Lows

I thought I was going to die last night, and that wasn't one of the lows to which I refer...

On Saturday, LC and I (and Funsize) attended our third wedding of the year. This was for one of my colleagues, and I was once again called on to play the pipes. It was a lovely day - hot and sunny, with a small but intimate party present, in wonderful surroundings.

Unfortunately, Sunday was less successful. When we returned home, it was to a text message from Captain Ric to the effect that he'd just been to see Grandad and that if we wanted to see him again then it would be wise to drop everything and go and do that.

So on Sunday I sent an email to work indicating that I wouldn't be in, and made preparations for a long drive. (I'm extremely lucky in that I have an employer who is very reasonable about such things. It's likely that I'll have to come to work on Saturday to make up the hours, but otherwise it's fine.) After some consideration, G decided to join us, thus ensuring that all five of the siblings had the chance to go.

Yesterday was therefore a day dominated by long drives. Fortunately, FS took it all in her stride, remaining asleep most of the time and fairly content most of the rest. Of course, we had to make additional stops to ensure she had a chance to get some air/stretch out/feed/change, which meant that the normal three-and-a-half hours each way was considerably longer.

It wasn't a comfortable visit. The sad reality is that the person we said goodbye to wasn't the man I knew.

But, crucially, that visit did allow us to say our goodbyes, and did provide closure. (Indeed, as I mentioned briefly before, I felt that my last visit had been deeply unsatisfying, precisely because I felt it didn't give that closure. So it's a massive relief to have made that one last trip.) So, while it was horrible and painful, it was still to the good.

As for nearly dying... (I should note that you might well not want to read this...)

Getting home late last night, we proceeded to order too much food from Dominos, which we then scoffed. A couple of hours later we went to bed, still feeling rather uncomfortably full (or, at least, I was).

About three o'clock, I woke up feeling very distressed. This was shortly followed by the mini-sick, but with a very nasty twist... See, with my mouth being so dry, I suddenly found that I wasn't able to swallow properly, which meant I suddenly found that there was a blockage.

Cue several anxious seconds of gagging and choking until I finally worked it free and was able to actually breathe again.

It's fair to say that it has been an eventful few days...

What if England Win It?

In my previous post, I said that we wouldn't get any real indication as to England's prospects until their match against Colombia. Well, we did, and the answer is... complicated.

There are clearly some weaknesses in England's play, especially in the loss of that last-minute goal and several minutes of fragility in the first period of extra time. On the other hand, they came through that and managed to finally win a penalty shoot-out in the World Cup.

From what I've seen, France are the favourites for the tournament, with their performance against Argentina being the best I've seen from anyone in the World Cup so far. On the other hand, France were really quite poor in their group games.

And England have been playing about as well as anyone, and they've been very fortunate with the draw, and especially with Spain being knocked out. So it's certainly not unreasonable to think they could reach the final... and in a one-off game anyone can have their day.

Oh dear.

Running Out of Books

A few years ago, back when I was reading the Jack Aubrey books, I hit on the idea of splitting my 60 books for the year into five sub-lists. This had the advantage of giving me a variety of reading material in each month, while also allowing me to make progress in several series at once.

However, it looks like that approach may be coming to an end. Indeed, it looks like I might be running out of books to read entirely.

My sub-lists for this year are as follows: the monthly Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes from Paizo, books from The List, novels by Iain (M) Banks, the last few Shannara novels (now done), and 'Other'. As noted, the Shannara novels are now done - by the start of this year there were only two remaining, with a third published (in paperback) in February.

Next year, at the current rate of progress, I expect to read the last of Iain Banks' novels in March. Meanwhile, Pathfinder is moving on to its second edition and I have decided not to follow it. For that reason, I will be discontinuing my subscription to the Adventure Path then, bringing that sub-list to a halt.

The upshot is that I'll be left with two sub-lists: books from The List (which should last until about 2021) and 'Other'.

The other factor is that in the last couple of years, when faced with a need to find a new series, I've been able to fall back on some I'd read in part years ago but had fallen behind on: Feist's Riftwar saga and the aforementioned Shannara novels. However, there's now only one such series out there (Salvatore's Drizzt novels), but I made a very conscious decision to give up on those after "The Ghost King", which did not impress - I'm not really inclined to pick them back up again. Otherwise, I'm up to date on all the writers I follow, who each produce a book a year (if I'm very lucky).

The upshot is that I have plenty of books for this year, and probably have enough to bulk out next year as well. But come 2020, it may be tricky to find books I actually want to read!

(Funnily enough, I was talking about this issue with my mother at the weekend, who is in much the same position - she has various series she follows, but has reached a point where she's up-to-date on all of these and is now waiting for new books to be published, and is finding it hard to find reading material in the interim.)

#30: "The Bridge", by Iain Banks

Experimental Cookery 2018: Chorizo & Squid Greek-style Couscous Salad

This was another one from Jamie's "15 Minute Meals". It took rather longer than the stated time!

This was also the first time I cooked with squid, and it met with mixed results - the tubes cooked up really well, but the legs were distinctly unappealing. I know where I went wrong with those, however, so should be able to do better next time.

The meal as a whole was really nice, with the combination of the various flavours working well. And, despite taking well over the stated 15 minutes, it was quick and easy to produce. So we'll most certainly have this again at some point.

It Must Be Hell Being an England Fan

On Sunday, the heights of euphoria - a magnificant win over Panama. 6-1! The greatest thing ever! Clearly, England are going to win the World Cup! It's coming home! And all that nonsense.

Except... Panama are really a team that England should be beating, and beating handsomely. Yes, 6-1 is a great result, and yes it was a good performance, but still... There aren't really any indications to be read here. As you were.

Today, the depths of despair - a defeat to Belgium meaning they only came second in their group. Disaster! They'll be going out in the next round. Woe! Woe!

But, again... it was obvious from last night's match that England really weren't trying very hard. Rightly or wrongly, Southgate was clearly convinced that it was better to lose that match, take the slightly-tougher match against Colombia (rather than Japan) but then have the benefit of avoiding the possibility of Brazil before the final, and so forth.

Now, it's entirely reasonable to question the wisdom of that approach. After all, Colombia aren't a team to take lightly, so there's certainly a risk of it all backfiring.

But the thing is: that was the decision that he'd obviously made - better to lose that match and take his chances.

So, again, that game really can't be taken as any indication of how they're going to do in the future matches. The result means nothing, since it's what they played for. The performance means nothing, because they weren't trying particularly hard.

Seriously, it's the most ridiculous hyperbole about Sunday's triumph and Thursday's disaster... ignoring the fact that actually England are yet to really meet with either of them. Tuesday's match against Colombia will be the first time we actually see how well they can do when really tested.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Brace yourself for something I never expected to say: Thandie Newton is the best thing about this film.

(Perhaps unfairly, she had attained the unfortunate distinction of being my least-favourite actor, and one of two who would actively drive me to avoid a film - the other being Patrick Dempsey. (Okay, technically, there's Russell Brand as well. But I've always considered him a comedian rather than an actor. Well, 'comedian'.))

"Solo" is actually an entirely fine film. The cast is pretty good, the performances are decent, the action is as thrilling as you expect in a prequel (where there can be no tension, since you know how things are going to turn out for most characters, and can be pretty sure about the rest). Granted, it also has Emelia Clarke in it, who I'm afraid I also don't rate, but she's okay here. And Donald Glover is excellent, so makes up for a lot of ills.

Unfortunately, though, "Solo" is also a rather pointless film - firstly because we really didn't need to have Han's backstory filled in, secondly because much of it is a box-ticking exercise working through almost everything we know about the character, and thirdly because it is, as noted, a prequel... and prequels suck.

So, um... if you're looking for something to kill a couple of hours in an inoffensive way, "Solo" will do it. But, to be honest, I think I'd recommend seeing "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" instead, and I'd certainly recommend "Avengers: Infinity War" over this one.

(One last thing. In terms of the Star Wars films, I'd rank "Solo" on a par with "The Last Jedi", placing it above the prequel trilogy but below "The Force Awakens", "Rogue One", and the original trilogy. It's actually rather more enjoyable than "The Last Jedi"... but TLJ gets considerable credit for at least trying something new, even if it didn't work out. "Solo" really doesn't, playing things very safe, and so while it's the film I'd rather see again, it's also not something I'd encourage.)

#29: "The Magic Faraway Tree", by Enid Blyton (a book from The List)

Bumblebee

I've just seen the trailer for the new Transformers spin-off film, "Bumblebee". On the one hand, it looks really quite good - certainly better than the other films in the series.

On the other hand:

1. Prequels suck.
   
2. Bumblebee is, frankly, the least good of all the Transformers.
   
3. It's part of a series that hasn't exactly covered itself in glory thus far.

Trump Must Go

I really don't like sounding off about the internal politics of another country. But sometimes you just can't keep quiet.

Due to where we were on our visit to the US, most of the people we met while we were there were Republican voters. And they were, almost without exception, perfectly nice, reasonable people. (There was one very nasty homophobic comment I overheard while at Barefoot Landing. As I said, almost without exception.) So I'm very well aware that there are plenty of perfectly nice, reasonable Republican voters.

But.

When the current US government implemented their "zero tolerance" policy towards immigration, and started forcibly separating children from their parents, they crossed a point of no return. Traumatising children to deter their parents from seeking asylum is unconscionable. Even attempting to justify it shames the person who tries. And it's not good enough simply to row back from that policy and carry on as if everything was now okay. As I said, it's a point of no return.

(Horrifying as it already is, it really looks like we're only just seeing the tip of the iceberg, and that it's going to get much, much worse. It is estimated that, due to bureaucratic incompetence, it will now be impossible to reunite some hundreds of those children with their parents, ever. I have seen reports that, in order to keep those traumatised children quiet and docile, they have been given very strong anti-psychotic medications that will damage them permanently. And where are the girls?)

In an ideal world, all those responsible for this - from the man at the top who ordered it right down to the people at the bottom who implemented it (who, no doubt, were "only following orders") would face trial for their actions. Alas, I'm not naive enough to believe that that will ever happen, so we'll have to be satisfied with them being driven out of office.

Which brings me back to those "perfectly nice, resonable" Republican voters. Because if Trump and his administration are to be removed, it must be at the ballot box. If the judiciary step in to impeach and remove him, that will be painted as the "liberal elite" taking action to defy the voters and prevent him "making America great again".

So, from now until this regime is swept away, it comes down to this: any vote for any Republican will be taken as a vote to endorse this regime and their actions - both by that regime and also by the watching world. They need to be starved of those votes.

(Now, I understand that, for various reasons, lots of people could never bring themselves to vote Democrat. Fair enough. But in that case, the choice is simple: don't vote. And don't be taken in by the argument that it is your civic duty to cast a vote. Sometimes, it's your moral duty to refuse.)

It must be made very clear to the powers-that-be in the Republican party that Trump and those who follow him, those who would adopt his tactics, and those who would adopt his policies are not acceptable to those nice, reasonable Republicans. That this must never happen again.

You need to reclaim your party.

Echo of a Silenced Voice

Until his untimely death in 2006, my favourite author was David Gemmell. By that point I had read everything that he had written, or so I thought. (After that point, I had three favourite authors: Terry Pratchett, Conn Iggulden, and Bernard Cornwell. I'm now down to two.) So it was something of a surprise, late last year, when I learned that there were not one but two 'new' books by Gemmell coming out this year!

The truth is that one of these two is actually a reprint - "White Knight/Black Swan" was originally published under a pseudonym and has recently been republished under Gemmell's own name. The other, "Rhyming Rings", was recently discovered having never been published.

I read the latter book on the way back from the US, and it was good. It clearly wasn't his best work, and also was a murder mystery rather than my preferred fantasy, but still...

(That said, it does have one huge weakness, and it's very similar to Rowling's "The Cuckoo's Calling" in that regard - the revelation of the person who was responsible for the murders just doesn't work. More than that I can't really say without spoilers, and I'm inclined to think the book is worth reading even with that flaw. Which, actually, is also true of "The Cuckoo's Calling".)

Anyway, it was really good to revisit an old favourite, and equally good to find that the writing still holds up. Bring on the next book!

The Promised Land

So, LC, FS and I had made it to America for the family wedding. Yay!

Our first adventure was simply getting from the airport to the condo we had hired for the week. This involved picking up our hire car (which was easy); fitting the child seat we had hired (which was definitely not easy, especially when the assistant said he couldn't even advise on how to do it, for liability reasons); and fitting six people, six cases, six sets of hand luggage, and a stroller all into a seven-seater car (which was just barely possible).

And then the drive. Here, we'd made a crucial mistake - I had decided not to pay for GPS in the car, on the grounds that we'd print directions and, if necessary, we'd switch on our phones' data and use that (and pay through the nose for it). However, on making our way out of the airport we immediately went in a different direction from that indicated by the directions, rendering them useless, and proceeded to drive five miles in the wrong direction!

Getting turned around, we then drove for a while in the right direction before starting to wonder just how much further we had to go. We'd turned on data on one of the phones, and discovered that it didn't connect properly, and was consequently useless...

At this point, we noted that the road parallel to the one we were on was the one we wanted*, so we turned right and then left, and started looking for numbers. It became clear that the numbers were higher than we wanted, and increasing, so we turned around and drove for a while, looking for the place. And then, "Aliens"-like, we discovered that we'd passed the number and had gone too far...

Well, it turned out that we were in Myrtle Beach while the place we were looking for was in North Myrtle Beach, where all the streets had exactly the same names but independent numbering. (* So, not really the road we wanted after all...)

Naturally, by this point everyone was tired and ratty and starting to snap at each other. Fortunately, FS took this opportunity for a highly-strategic cry and demanded to be fed. So we had to pull in to a car park to let LC do this.

I say 'fortunately', because the place we stopped at had a group of people clustered around the entrance. So I went and asked for directions, whereupon they promptly pulled out their phones, pulled up the map, and we were all set - three steps, 23 minutes, and we'd be there!

And, sure enough, we were.

(The other crucial mistake we made: Google Maps does of course allow you to download maps for offline use. Since the condo had wi-fi available, we were able to do this later, and so never got lost again. Still, we should probably have done it before we went. But then, I know that now...)

The condo was really nice - three large bedrooms, each with some sort of en suite facilities, and a vertigo-inducing balcony. We were on the top floor, which gave really good views, but enforced a "stay back from the railing" policy.

The focal point of the week was, of course, the family wedding on the Saturday. So, on the Thursday I unpacked my pipes and practiced briefly, mostly to make sure they'd come through okay. They had indeed, though playing in the heat was pretty intense - the pipes actually sounded great, but it was exhausting. Still, it was good fun looking out from the balcony and seeing everyone walking around coming to a halt and looking around in puzzlement. Plus, the applause I got at the end was rather nice.

The rest of day one was mostly spent getting groceries for the week and going to the beach. Which was fun, but a bit of a blur - we were all still pretty worn out from the journey.

Day two was dominated by the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, where I learned what I was actually doing on the big day. It turned out I was doing more than expected - in addition to the normal 20 mins before the service, I was doing a processional for the mothers and grandmothers of the bride and groom and a second processional for the entrance of the bridesmaids/matrons of honor/maid of honor (of whom there were 9 - it was a big wedding party). Then I was playing a recessional for the full weddding party. But that was good - having come all that way, I might as well be useful!

The rehearsal dinner was great - a good chance to get to know a lot of the bride's family and to mingle, plus some really great food. I especially liked the mac & cheese, and the garlic bread rolls were amazing.

And then came the big day, and with it came the usual nerves.

The day started with me taking LC to get her hair done for the day - she had decided to wear it up that day, and the stylist did a really good job. (More than that I'm not qualified to comment. Sorry!) Then back to the condo for a very quick lunch, then a flurry of getting ready (with a strategic meltdown by FS, who of course demanded to be fed and changed just as LC really needed to be getting herself ready). And then to the car, and on to the church.

The service was lovely. The bride wore a white dress (tee hee), off the shoulder, with a long train and a veil. Surprisingly, the only singing in the service was from one of the bride's matrons of honor, firstly for the entrance of the bride and then again as they lit the "unity candle". The service was really quite touching.

The piping went well. I was happy with that.

Then we went to a nearby hotel for many pictures and the wedding breakfast. That was all pretty standard stuff. There were also speeches, and dancing - the first dance, a father/daughter dance, a mother/son dance, a dance of the bridesmaids, and then more dancing during the evening.

All in all, it was a really great day. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The rest of the holiday is a bit of a blur, as the tiredness really started to catch up with me. There was a visit to a nearby town (that, sadly, turned out not to be particularly interesting), a little shopping, a massive thunderstorm (including a walk home in very heavy rain... damnit, should have taken the car!), more rain, a visit to a mall, and then to an alligator park. That was fun.

And then we came home. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable time.

So... why "The Promised Land"? Well, that stems from a discovery that I made while we were waiting in the airport in Charlotte - the US haven't joined in with this made crusade against sugar in all their soft drinks, which meant that Sprite doesn't use artificial sweeteners (technically, they use high fructose corn syrup instead of actual sugar, so it's not the same as it was over here... but still). It was a massive pleasure actually having a choice of things I could drink. And, incidentally, it really puts the lie to the notion that you can't tell the difference between the drinks.

#28: "Norse Mythology", by Neil Gaiman (sadly, not his best book...)

Funsize Goes Intercontinental

LC and I recently spent a week in the US attending a family wedding. Naturally, Funsize came with us. (Long-time readers may choose to point out my hypocrisy at this point. Guilty as charged.)

We had a total of six flights, three each for the outbound and return journeys. Fortunately, FS came through all of these with a minimum of fuss. Indeed, she travelled rather better than many of the adults in our party - she slept through most of the journeys, and when she was awake she was mostly happy throughout. Certainly, there were no screaming fits on the plane, though there was one wobble when we were waiting in Charlotte on the way out.

That said, our journey was not entirely stress-free.

We had booked our tickets about six months ago, prior to FS arriving on the scene (but after we knew she was coming). At that time, the airlines had said they couldn't book her in without a name, but that we should get in touch after she arrived to update the records, which we duly did. We then paid for an infant ticket, which included a full luggage allowance - one checked bag, one piece of hand luggage, and the ability to check a stroller at the gate for each flight. This may become important later...

So, we arrived at Edinburgh airport at a ridiculously early time in the morning, having not been able to check in online because we were travelling with a small child. We waited in a painfully slow queue before finally getting some of our boarding cards - some others we would need to get printed in Heathrow because of... reasons. Oh well, at least we got our bags checked...

Security in Edinburgh was fine, although my bag was pulled for a double-check due to the bagpipes raising some eyebrows. That's an occupational hazard when taking pipes abroad, and something I had expected. It was easily resolved.

We got to Heathrow, and made for our transfer to Terminal 3 for the next flight. And here we ran into our next difficulty, because only half of our party had the required boarding cards - the rest we'd been told we needed to get printed. Eventually, after a fun venture into "computer says no", we managed to transfer from one Terminal to another. (Annoyingly, all this took place outside the secure areas.) Anyway, we got to Terminal 3 and went to security, and got to enjoy the next bureaucratic failure.

We went to the ticket desk and explained that only half of our party had been issued with the boarding cards for the next step in our journey, so could they print out the remainder please? This, naturally, was met with incredulity - how was it even possible that some of the cards hadn't been printed? And wasn't it utterly amazing that a small child would be travelling with her mother? Apparently, such a thing could scarcely be imagined.

Well... eventually, after having been shuttled from the person at the desk to her supervisor (who, as far as I could tell, was actually the same person standing at a different desk), we were given a boarding card for FS for the flight to Charlotte. Those of the rest of our party who didn't have them received two boarding cards, one each for the next two flights. (Apparently, FS didn't need one for the final flight as she wasn't using a seat. Bet you can't guess where that's going, can you?)

Meanwhile, another member of our party was randomly selected for enhanced screening, which meant there was a need to unpack his hand luggage for checking. But that's fine, I guess. And so Flight Two was done.

We had a few hours to kill in Charlotte, which was fine. I may mention more about that in a later post. At length, though, we were getting closer to our final flight. At this point, LC said I should go and check at the gate that FS really didn't need a Boarding Card.

So, I asked, and sure enough that was the case - LC's own Boarding Card should indicate that she was travelling with an infant...

Which it didn't. Yes, there was another cock-up in the system, such that FS actually didn't appear on the booking at all - she wasn't associated with LC's ticket (as at Heathrow), she wasn't associated with the lead passenger's ticket (as at Edinburgh). "Computer says no", again.

Well, we got that sorted out - they basically re-issued LC's boarding card to note that there was an infant with her, and that was the job done. Phew!

(I'll also note that at Charlotte I was told that I had to check in my bagpipe case. This was intensely annoying, given that the case was specifically designed to be the right size for hand luggage, and given that they don't do well with the change in pressure that being checked in implies. So I had to take them out of the nice, sturdy case and instead carry them in a fairly flimsy backpack that I then had to carry carefully for the last flight. I wasn't best pleased by that, especially after everything else.)

Anyway, that was the journey out. It was okay, I guess.

For the journey back, we of course knew that we'd face all the same problems...

At the first airport, we went to check in only to find that FS, once again, seemed to be missing from the booking. Only this time it wasn't just as simple as adding her to LC's boarding card - she had a full set of luggage with her, and with no clear record of a ticket we would need to pay to check in that additional case - an extra $80 charge (that we'd already paid for, of course). So there then began our next journey through "computer says no"... only to finally discover that FS did indeed have a ticket. It wasn't (as you would expect) associated with LC's ticket, nor was it associated with the lead passenger's. Instead, she had her own, entirely separate record in the system. Apparently, she's very independent-minded.

There then followed an inquest - did this record entitle her to a checked bag, or should we be paying $80 for that privilege? This time, the computer said yes, but of course you can never trust computers...

Anyway, that was that, and then we were off to security. Again, my bag got stopped, but was checked and found to be bagpipes, and we were able to proceed. And so we got to Philadelphia. So far, so good.

And, miraculously, the only issue in Philadelphia was that our tickets had us scattered about the plane, so we had to arrange a switch - LC and I ended up sitting together, with everyone else scattered.

In Heathrow, we found ourselves waiting about an age for the stroller to re-appear, only to discover that it had been delivered slightly closer to the plane than where we were waiting. Oh well.

We then found ourselves with a dilemma - do we go right to "Transfers" or straight on to "Baggage Reclaim", given that half of our party had already gone ahead, and given also that at our first airport we'd been told both that our bags were checked to our final destination and that we'd have to pick them up in Heathrow. Because of course we had.

Anyway, we went to Baggage Reclaim, and sure enough that was the wrong choice - we'd get our bags back in Edinburgh. Still, that was fine, we just needed to use the shuttle to Terminal 5 rather than walking. But given that the other route apparently had much longer queues, we probably got the better end of the deal there.

In Terminal 5 we then needed to get boarding cards for about half of our party printed. Once again, FS was recorded somewhere different - this time she was associated with the lead passenger, rather than with LC. Sigh. Anyway, we got the cards, and off we went to security.

On presenting my Boarding Card, the assistant took one look at it and declared that it wasn't the right thing. Which left me at a bit of a loss - that was the card I was given back at our first airport, it had the words "Boarding Card" printed on it, so, um... Fortunately, she was persuaded to at least try it in the scanner, and the computer said Yes! Amazingly, the Boarding Card I had been given, with the words "Boarding Card" printed on it, was indeed a Boarding Card.

I was truly stunned.

After all that, and having been awake for 24 hours, we finally got the final plane, got back to Edinburgh, and everything was fine.

Ha ha. No.

On the night before we travelled, there had been a crash between a bus and a tram at Edinburgh, and when we arrived back they were busy clearing the vehicles away. This meant massive delays in the traffic in and around the airport - it took us 90 minutes to get from our space to the car park exit, and that was a relatively short delay. There was then another 40 minutes or so, and we were finally home.

Huzzah!

(In case you're wondering - I will post about the rest of the trip at some later point. But the journey was enough of an ordeal that I thought I'd best post about it separately. In case it wasn't clear: I really wasn't impressed.)

Time Please!

Well, that's it - as of last weekend I have now replaced the last of my Region One DVDs. I still have those last few films to watch, just to verify that the new disks work correctly, but otherwise that task is now done.

I am left with a handful of disks, as discussed previously, but I have decided to hang onto these - they're not readily available in Region Two (in some cases they were never released, in some others they are long out-of-print). I purchased an external DVD drive for my PC which I've set to Region One in case I ever want to revisit these.

The next step is to remove the multi-region DVD player from the cabinet entirely. This isn't strictly necessary, but it is my intention in the very near future to replace our surround sound Receiver with a new unit, and the newer units tend not to support very old connection methods (read: SCART). Plus, I'm quite keen to reduce the number of devices in general - having three devices set up mostly for disk playback seems excessive, by about two.

#25: "Pathfinder: The Twilight Child", by Ron Lundeen
#26: "The Algebraist", by Iain M. Banks (the last of his sci-fi novels I hadn't read)
#27: "Rhyming Rings", by David Gemmell (the new candidate for Book of the Year)

Experimental Cookery 2018: Pear & Gorgonzola Farfalle

Tonight's Experimental Cookery was unfortunately another of the rare failures. Fortunately it was quick and easy to put together, and indeed cheap. But the combination of flavours just didn't work for us at all - the pasta was bland, the cheese really didn't come through, and the sweetness of the pear was off-putting.

So I won't be trying this again. (I'm also starting to think that that book was itself a mistake, given that that's now two failures out of only a small number of outings. Still, we'll see.)

#24: "The Enchanted Wood", by Enid Blyton (a book from The List)

Day 150: Update on... Stuff

It's day 150, so time for another update. It's going to be a really short update this time, as there's really not much to say on most of the topics:

Books: By day 150, I 'should' be at 24.66 books read. At the time of writing, I'm currently about halfway through book 24, so I'm a little behind.

In terms of the actual goal I set, I've made no progress since last time. That's mostly just a consequence of just not getting as much reading done as you might expect. I think it's still possible to catch up, but I'm not terribly confident.

One thing that's of note here, though, is that I now have copies of all of the required books in stock. It actually amounts to ten more books to read, as "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" and "Hamlet" only count as one but "The Faraway Tree Collection" has four individual volumes. Of course, that means I'd need to do more than one a month to get through them all this year.

Band: There's nothing to report here - we've been practising through the winter, and on Saturday we have the first of our Gala Days for the year. However, this is, deliberately, a much lower-stress environment than the competition season, so I won't be blogging about it in detail.

Gaming: I'm still involved in the work game, which is going fine, and have done a very small amount of blogging over on the Imaginarium. However, I'm increasingly leaning towards thinking of myself as an ex-gamer.

Perhaps one thing of note: I've decided to abandon my notion of a 30th Anniversary game - after a very brief burst of enthusiasm, almost nobody actually signed up, and I found that finding the time to prepare something was turning into a real pain. So unless there's an outcry in the next two months (that is, by the start of August), I'm going to let that slide.

Weight: Mixed fortunes here - I've continued at the gym, which is good, but not really lost any weight.

Blogging: I slipped behind my preferred rate of blogging, both here and on the Imaginarium. In the last month I've made up a little ground here, and so am just a few posts behind my preferred target of an average of 10 posts a month. On the Imaginarium, there was nothing at all in April and not a great deal for most of the rest of the year. Mostly, that's just a consequence of not actually being involved in any serious gaming.

And that's everything. Not much to report this time, but that's no bad thing!

#23: "Walking on Glass", by Iain Banks

Polystyrene

Almost a year on (I know!) I'm still working through my to-do list from when we moved into our house. One of the key tasks is to clear out a lot of stuff from the garage, perhaps even in the hope that one day a car might be parked there (nah). Which involves numerous trips to the council recycling centre to get rid of things, which is fine.

However, I've discovered the latest in a long line of minor annoyances: apparently, the council don't take polystyrene, as it's just not cost effective for them to recycle. Consequently, such material should be disposed of in general waste.

Which is annoying on three counts:

1. Polystrene is annoyingly common as a packing material. Even having only received relatively few deliveries of things packed in it, we've gathered a substantial amount.
   
2. It's something that is eminently recyclable. And given the quantities involved, and the environmental impact, it's something we really should be recycling.
   
3. There are several businesses in the area offering recycling of polystyrene. Unfortunately, they seem to be offering their services to local businesses, so they're not really of any great use to us.

Maybe this is another area where the government should step in, requiring businesses that deliver items packed in polystyrene to collect and recycle the waste material?

Lukewarm

Ten (!) years ago, I wrote a blog post entitled "Concerned about the church" in which I expressed a concern that the way things were going, the church would die out simply of old age. This week, I'm now reading reports that the church has lost some 20% of attendees in the last five years, probably for exactly that reason. Those reports indicate that at the same rate of decline, the Church of Scotland will be effectively extinct in 30 years. Worryingly, I expect that rate of decline to accelerate rather than remain steady.

(Incidentally, I was recently told that Funsize's baptism was the first in about a decade or so at the centre we attend, although the same parish has had a few at their other location. Similarly, there have been no weddings at our centre in that time, and precious few at the other, but there have been plenty of funerals at both.)

Now, there are several reasons why church attendances are in decline, and plenty of reasons why the Church of Scotland is having problems attracting young people in numbers. (It should be noted that there are some denominations, even in Scotland, that are growing among young people - but they're growing from a very low base.) However, one thing that really doesn't help is that, for an organisation that is supposed to provide moral authority, the church is publicly very bad at taking a stand.

Here's the thing: the Church of Scotland makes the news approximately once a year, when the General Assembly is held. For people who don't attend, that may be the only time in the year when the church gets even the briefest thought from them.

And for as long as I can remember, the coverage of the General Assembly has been dominated by the ongoing controversy concerning homosexuality - whether it's the ordination of gay ministers, same-sex marriage, or whatever other flavour of the issue is under discussion that year. And every year, the outcome of the General Assembly is a fudge, a bad compromise... and then the issue rears its head again the year after.

In the meantime, attitudes in secular society have shifted very significantly, and the issue of same-sex marriage, at least, has been resolved pretty conclusively. And young people in particular are very comfortable with that. There are still some details to work out (such as the continued need for, and access to, civil partnerships), but basically the issue is dealt with. (I should note that here I'm referring specifically to gay marriage - I'm well aware that equality is still a way off.)

The upshot of that is that, for many young people, their only exposure to the church consists of (mostly) old men arguing over an issue that, frankly, they thought was resolved years ago.

That's not an image of an organisation that's good at things. It's not an attractive image for the church. And, for an organisation that should be providing moral leadership, that's very poor.

And since both sides in the debate base their arguments on competing verses in scripture, here's one (Rev 3:14-16, edited):

And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."

Now, I do understand that the church is in a hard place, since there are very strong views on both sides, and since both sides back their arguments with scripture. (And I'm willing to accept that, for the most part, their arguments are based on a sincere belief in that scripture, rather than other motives.) And I therefore understand that taking a firm decision, either way, is likely to cause a split.

But here's the thing: there is a very real possibility that even the least-damaging decision will lead to the effective end of the Church of Scotland. It's probable that the more-damaging decision will lead to that end. But I'm certain that failing to take a decision at all will lead to that end. The clock is ticking; you can't take forever.

The church is called on to be salt and light. If it can't make a clear decision, whether that means going with the zeitgeist or standing against it, then what is the point of it?

(Incidentally, you'll note that I haven't at any point stated what I think that decision should be. I know where I stand on the issue, and I'm also well aware that I'm at odds with a number of people I know, and some whom I respect a great deal. But we're at the point now where I think it's critical that the General Assembly makes some decision, even if it's one I disagree with.)

Assembling the Barbecue: And in Under a Decade!

On Saturday, in between not watching the wedding and not watching the FA cup final, I took the opportunity to not watch the Scottish cup final and instead built my barbecue. This was the usual exercise in frustration, with the instructions appear to have been written by an engineer, probably as the last "I don't really want to do this" task in the list of things to do. So we had text that didn't quite make the process clear coupled with diagrams that did - or would have, had they not been printed at a tiny size.

Still, I managed to assemble the barbecue without resorting to industrial language, so that's good. And, what's more, it took less than a decade to achieve this feat!

I should probably explain that one.

Shortly after I purchased the flat in Falkirk, it was pointed out to me that Asda had a really good offer on barbecues - if I recall correctly, it was a then-£150 barbecue for £75 - and that I shouldgo buy one. So I did. (In fairness, that was a pretty good deal. But maybe not the best use of funds.)

Anyway, I purchased this barbecue, put it into my lock-up, and then did nothing with it. For eight years. Amongst other things, I didn't actually have anywhere to have a barbecue, what with it being a top-floor flat, and with the bit of common ground being strictly reserved for drying clothes and nothing else.

It's possible I didn't quite think that one through.

So the barbecue sat in the lock-up, untouched, for all that time. Then it went into storage with the rest of our belongings, and then into the garage at the new house. And, finally, it came out of its box on Saturday and is now sitting, assembled, in our garden.

But at least there's now some chance of it actually getting used...

Surviving the Dragon

Technically, the first book I read to Funsize was not "The Hobbit", but was in fact a poorly-selected "I know my..." book. However, it's certainly true that "The Hobbit" was the first story I read to my daughter, so that counts. We started about a week after she did, and finished this weekend. It took us rather longer to get through than might be expected, largely because she was scared of the dragon - and who can blame her?

Probably my biggest impression from reading the book to FS is that it reading it aloud is a very different experience to reading it myself. The simple act of vocalising the words means that the whole story proceeds more slowly. But, also, it changes the nature of it all - rather than just describing the thing, it becomes important that the words fit together well, that the sounds go together. This is especially true of the songs, of course, which are easy to skim when reading to yourself but which are much more poetic aloud.

My second impression, as this was my first re-read since the films came out, is that this novel is probably unfilmable. Which is an odd thing to say, but I'm now more than ever convinced that the films called "The Hobbit" aren't films of this book (or story) at all - they're quite another thing. (To the extent that you can't edit down the films to excise the added material and thus arrive at the story in the books.) But I don't think that simply filming the story as presented works either - too many of the dwarves amount to a name and a colour for the hood, with no other character to speak of. I don't see any sensible way to resolve that problem, especially as the stated motive for Bilbo going on the quest is to avoid the company having thirteen members!

Thirdly, regarding the choice of "The Hobbit" for a week-old child: well, why not? At that age, it's not actually as if it makes much difference what is read to her, since it's mostly about hearing our voices anyway. So it might as well be something the reader can enjoy. Plus, it has the great advantage that her geek credentials are now unimpeachable. So there.

Next...

Well, LC is apparently reading "Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls" to FS. Meanwhile, I've made a start on a storybook Bible - we received two copies of this as gifts, and narrowly avoided a third, so it comes highly recommended.

#21: "The Hobbit", by J.R.R. Tolkien (a book from The List)
#22: "O.L.D. Fantasy Heroic Role-playing Game", by Russ Morrissey

Competition Season Begins

Camelon & District Pipe Band had their first competition of the season last weekend, at Dunbar. According to the RSPBA website, they did rather well, which is nice.

Personally, I'm finding that I miss the competition season not at all. I was never particularly keen on that aspect of the band - I always preferred the social aspect, and really didn't need the stress. It was just that that was the local band, and they competed - so if I wanted to play, that was more or less a pre-requisite.

So, I wish them the very best of luck for the season ahead. But I'm also quite glad to be able to look on from the outside!

Space: Above and Beyond

As part of my effort to phase out my Region One DVDs, I made a list of films and series to replace, and somehow "Space: Above and Beyond" made the cut. This was due to some fond memories of the show, and led to me finally purchasing a new, Region Two, set and re-watching the show over the past several weeks. That re-watch concluded last night.

It turns out that it was a mistake to replace that set, with the new disks now immediately finding themselves as prime candidates to be purged next time we have a clear-out.

I've watched "Space: Above and Beyond" four times. The first time was back in the 90's, when I caught the latter half of the TV transmission (if I recall correctly, this was late at night on either BBC 2 or Channel 4 - back when terrestrial TV was five whole channels!). When it was released on DVD I would have watched the series then, and I re-watched it a few years ago.

My recollection of the show was that it starts out pretty weak, but somewhere around halfway through it suddenly gets much better, and that it ends very strongly.

Well...

It's true that that trajectory is broadly accurate, but it rather exaggerates how good the second half of the series is. In fact, there are a couple of very good episodes, and a number that are pretty much okay. As a whole, though, the series really doesn't hold up. And given how far TV storytelling has advanced even in the last six years, it's no longer really worth considering.

That said, there is one potential point of interest in the show. "Space: Above and Beyond" does have a pretty strong concept, and several of the character do have stories that are worth telling (though it's rather unfortunate that the 'main' character is actually the least interesting of the bunch - a fact that the writers seemed to realise pretty early on). The show just doesn't manage to fulfil its potential.

What that means is that "Space: Above and Beyond" is probably a prime candidate for a reboot - especially if looking for something to fill the niche once held by "Battlestar Galactica". That said, I'm not convinced that it has enough name recognition to make such an effort worthwhile... and BSG itself now ended a fairly long time ago, so maybe that niche no longer exists.

(In related news, I'm now within touching distance of the end of my cull of Region One disks - my 'replace' list is down to four entries, none of which is a TV series. With luck, I'll get that done by the end of next month.)

Two Mistakes - and a Lesson

On Monday, I got to work nice and early, reached into my pocket to move my mobile phone onto my desk... and discovered I had LC's car keys with me. Oops. Fortunately, we have a spare set, so she was able to manage without me having to rush home to return them, but it was rather a pain.

Today, I walked to the gym (as is now my wont). It being a nice day, I left my jacket in the office, since I didn't need it. However, when I got to the gym I suddenly realised that my membership card, without which I can't get in, was still in my wallet, which was in the aforementioned jacket in the office. Oops.

The lesson from these is about keeping things in the right place - both those car keys should have a place where they live, and neither of them was in that place. After I drove LC's car on Sunday, I should have taken the keys out of my pocket and put them where they lived. As for the gym membership card, it was simply living in the wrong place - since it will only ever be used when I'm using my bag of gym kit, it should be stored in that same bag (and not in the wallet I carry with me all the time). That way, when I get to the gym I either have the card or I have bigger problems.

Of course, neither of those are truly revelatory. But I figured they might be amusing. Slightly.

#19: "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Force Doth Awaken", by Ian Doescher
#20: "Pathfinder: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur", by Crystal Frasier and Richard Pett

The Handmaid's Tale

I'm a little surprised that I've never actually blogged about this...

I read "The Handmaid's Tale" way back in 2010. My reaction at the time was that it was exceptionally well-written, and quite disturbing. However, I took considerable comfort in the consideration that not only was it not the world we lived in, but also that it wasn't realistic - too many people would have to operate in a manner contrary to their own interests for that to happen. (And I don't mean that women could stop it. We have four entire industries (fashion, cosmetics, diet, and glossy magazines) whose entire business model is based on women spending lots of money. They would be the ones to stop it.)

That said, I've since watched the electorate in both the UK and the US voting contrary to their best interests, so maybe there's something in it after all...

Anyway, we watched the first season of the show last year. It's not exactly fair to say we 'enjoyed' it, since we didn't, but it was extremely well made. That said, the quality wasn't uniform. In particular, there was a clear divide between the bits that were in the book and those areas where it was changed or expanded - with the new material being markedly weaker.

The first season, of course, adapts the whole of the book. Which leaves them in a position where everything in the second season is going to be new material. Which doesn't bode well.

But there's also a big problem. The end of the book (and also the first season) is delightfully ambiguous - things really don't look good for Offred, with her being bundled into a van for... some purpose. We're also told that, at some point, Gilead will fall, but there's no clear indication as to the time-scale involved.

So, this leaves a big question: where does the show go from here? And I don't find any of the answers particular satisfying...

The 'realistic' answer is that Offred is in for a world of hurt. A society such as that depicted would have all manner of control mechanisms in place, such that Offred's various rebellions would not be tolerated. And given the issues with the other handmaids in the last episode, they would be coming down with a hammer blow. So the likely outcome isn't good - here come ten episodes, essentially, of torture porn followed by her giving birth and then, probably, a rather nasty public execution. I have no desire to watch that.

The other possibility, which is the one I rather expect them to go with, is much the same for the first several episodes, followed by a heroic rescue, the tide turning, and Offred spearheading a fight against Gilead. With the season ending in one of two ways: either Offred is reunited with her husband or, more cruelly, them being reunited some time earlier followed by his dying at the end of the last episode. The problem with that is that it's too fantastical - if Gilead is so easily defeated (in that it pops up and falls all in a single generation), that rather undercuts the menace of the series. I have no desire to watch that.

The third possibility, of course, is TV stasis - because they want to run the show for the indefinite future they'll move the pieces around a bit, but ultimately the second series will end up pretty much in the same place as the first one did. Only with Offred now having two children to search for, rather than just one. And given that I didn't enjoy the first season that much, I think I'll give that a miss, too.

The bottom line: I'm not going to be watching the second season of "The Handmaid's Tale". And, frankly, I'm reasonably sure that they'd have been much better to just leave it at one.

I'll still recommend the book, though. Because it's very good.

Avengers: Infinity War

Friday saw LC and I take FunSize for her first trip to the cinema. For this purpose, we had purchased a set of noise-reducing headphones for her to wear, which led to two slight concerns - firstly, that she might simply reject them entirely; and secondly that they might not be enough. (Seriously, what's with the volume control at the Vue these days? They have the volume set considerably higher for the adverts and trailers than for the film itself, to the point where it's frankly painful. While the trailer for "Mission Impossible: Fallout" was playing, I was concerned we'd have to give up, given how FS was responding to all the noise, and that despite the headphones.)

Anyway, we made it through the trailers, and in to the film itself. And it's good - "Infinity War" is very much the culmination of everything they've been building for 10 years, and it therefore benefits greatly from all that lore. Don't go unless you've seen a good portion of the films leading up to this (seriously, why would you jump in at chapter 20 of the long-running series?). But if you have, and you've enjoyed most of the entries, you'll probably enjoy this one.

That said, while it's good, it's not great - this isn't on a par with the first "Avengers" film, and it's certainly not in the same league as "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" or "The Dark Knight". There's just too much crammed into too little space (and that despite a 2 hour 40 mins run-time), and too many characters.

From here on out, there are spoilers. So if you don't want to know, skip to the next post. You know the drill by now. :)

I think the thing I liked most about this film was the way it really did sum up everything we've seen so far - the film didn't waste any time re-introducing characters or locations, but just got on with things. We saw (or heard referenced) all the locations we've seen to date (Asgard, Knowhere, Zandar Prime...), caught up with pretty much everyone we'd seen thus far.

Although, having said that, the thing I actually liked most was the tiny moment where Bruce Banner finally reunites with Natasha Romanov - there's barely any dialogue there, with everything communicated in silence. It might seem strange, but that's probably the best character moment in the whole film.

The big weakness of the film, though, is that it does just try to cram in too much - too many characters, too many locations, too much story. Everything is therefore compressed and urgent, skipping from one thing to the next just to get the pieces into place. And then there's the big CGI showdown (yawn). We do eventually come out on the other side of the CGI showdown, and get back to the characters, and that's good... but I'm just not sure it's enough.

Also, I'm afraid the tone is inconsistent. Partly this is inevitable - whereas in the first Avengers film they did a good job making the Iron Man bits feel like an Iron Man film, the Cap bits feel like a Captain America film, and the Thor bits feel like Thor; here they're trying to do that and add Spider-Man bits and Doctor Strange bits and Guardians of the Galaxy bits... and given that the latter, in particular, is quite at odds with the seriousness of everything that's going on, it just didn't quite come together. Which is a shame.

And then there's the ending. Which would have been very powerful... if we didn't know that most of the dead characters have sequels in the works. We know Doctor Strange and Spider-Man and Black Panther are coming back, so their deaths are immediately undercut.

Incidentally, it's worth noting that Thanos' master-plan is absurd. That's fine, since he is after all "The Mad Titan", but it's really rather depressing watching various supposedly-intelligent people seriously discussing it. But that's not a problem with the film...

So, the upshot is that this is a good film, but not a great one (as I said above). It's probably a film I'll rewatch a few times, notably just before "Part Two" comes out, but I don't expect to rewatch it too often - certainly less often than any of the Captain America films, the Guardians of the Galaxy films, or "Thor: Ragnarok".

(I was going to sign off by noting that it was still probably the best new film I've seen this year. But it occurs to me that that's not true - "Black Panther" has it well beaten.)

Experimental Cookery 2018: Jamaican Goat Curry

Some time ago, I became aware that there's a stockist of goat meat between home and the Grand-parents', and since then I've been wanting to give it a try. Following a visit down South at the weekend (that was sadly unsatisfying), and despite my phone's best efforts to auto-correct 'goat' to 'boat' I was finally equipped. And so, Sunday's main meal was a true experiment, with a new and exciting ingredient (and, indeed, a case where the main ingredient was new and exciting).

The recipe comes from the Hairy Biker's "Great Curries". I make no claim that it is even remotely authentic (of course) - not that that has ever stopped me!

It was quick and easy to prepare. The meat came ready-diced, so all that was needed was to cover it in the spice rub, mix, and let it sit for a while; then fry up some spiced onions; then combine these, along with some water and other additions. And then it baked for two hours.

The result was... interesting. This meal wasn't like anything I've had previously, although the goat meat was only really a small part of that. The spices were pretty strong - almost overpowering.

But it was nice. I liked it. Perhaps more importantly, LC liked it, polishing off her whole meal. So that's a win, not least since there are four other portions now waiting in the freezer.

We'll certainly be having this again, even after those four portions are going. And we'll probably have goat in some other meals at some later stage. However, I will have to investigate other stockists, since I can't be tied to that particular trip in order to get it...

All in all, that's a win.

The Gym Shower Rant

So I went to the gym at lunchtime, which was fine. Afterwards, I went for a shower, of course. And there my woes began...

As discussed previously, getting a good temperature setting on a shower is an exercise in frustration. But today that wasn't the issue.

On most home showers, there's some sort of on/off control - press a button when you want to start a shower, press it again when you're done. But for gym showers that doesn't work: inevitably a minority of customers will fail to stop the shower, and huge amounts of energy and water will be wasted. So there has to be some sort of automatic cut-off. (That of course means that a minority of selfish muppets have ruined it for everyone else. Which basically describes the whole world.)

In every gym and swimming pool I've seen, the solution to this has been to have a button that switches on the shower for a limited time, before it then cuts off again. And that's okay, I guess... most of the time.

Where it doesn't really work is when that cutoff time is set to about 3 seconds. Or, more accurately, the exact amount of time it takes to get your shampoo lathered up so that you can't open your eyes to see the button to press it again.

Honestly, is it really too much to ask that the cutoff be set to a decent length of time? Granted, setting it to 1 minute would lead to an average of 30 seconds of wasted time, but is that truly so terrible? (And if it really is, I could accept a 30 second cutoff, leading to an average of 15 seconds of waste.)

Better still, of course, would be to fit the shower with an automatic sensor, just like the toilets in the same gym use to control their auto-flush - press the button to start, and then it will detect when you move away and stop the shower automatically.

On The List

While I'm at it...

Generally speaking, I'm rather impressed with the system used for elections to the Scottish parliament - a number of constituency MSPs elected via First Past the Post, followed by a further number elected via lists to top it up, on a proportional basis.

However, there is one very significant weakness to the system: if a particular individual gets themselves into a position at the top of one of the 'big' party lists (SNP, Tory, Labour), they're pretty much guaranteed a seat, and it becomes effectively impossible to get rid of them. That's really not democratic - the electorate really should have a meaningful ability to elect or reject a candidate.

(There's a case in point here: one of the Tory MSPs has been in the parliament on the list for 17 years. In that time, he has stood for a constituency several times, and been unsuccessful every time. And yet, despite that explicit rejection by the voters, he remains in place.)

I'm inclined to think that this quirk of the system should be closed, if it is practical to do so. And, fortunately, there's an easy fix: institute a one-term limit for MSPs serving on the list.

That is, if an MSP enters the parliament by winning a constituency, they should be free to stand for re-election and continue in their role. If, however, they enter parliament by virtue of their position on the regional list, they then become ineligible for a place on a regional list at the next election. If they want to continue in the parliament, then they must fight a constituency and allow the electorate a say on them specifically.

(This doesn't entirely eliminate the possibility of a party playing the system. But it's enough of an improvement that I think it's worth doing.)

(I should note that this also hits the Green party harder than any other - since they don't have any constituency MSPs, all of their incumbents would become ineligible for a second term (unless they did happen to win a constituency). Even then, I'm not convinced that that's too terrible, as the main effect would be to expand their range of people with parliamentary expertise. Which is surely no bad thing?)

The House of Lords

Looking back at the blog archive, I don't appear to have ever posted about what I think should happen with the House of Lords. So...

I'm inclined to think that the House of Lords has now gone beyond the point where it cannot be meaningfully reformed; it needs to be replaced entirely. I'm also persuaded of the argument that simply having it be elected in the same manner as the House of Commons is a bad idea - partly because that leaves us subject to the same broken duopoly that has subverted our democracy, partly because it's better if only the HoC has the legitimacy of the democratic mandate (so that a conflict can be clearly resolved), and partly because of the purpose of an upper chamber: the scrutinise and revise laws.

The thing is, to get the best scrutiny for laws, your ideal body is not, in fact, one constructed via a popularity contest. Rather, you're better off with a body comprised of subject matter experts.

Therefore, I would propose replacing the Lords with a 300-member Senate. Every 5 years, 100 of those members would be nominated for a single 15-year term (a different third each time, such that once 15 years have passed all the members have been replaced). As noted, once an individual has served a single term, they cannot be nominated again.

The nominations, meanwhile, should be divided among appropriate bodies: the various political parties should each nominate some (based on their proportions in the Commons); the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Ireland governments should each nominate some (with a further group nominated by the PM to represent England, unless and until an English assembly is convened); the universities could nominate some, the NHS, the Armed Forces, the business community... and so on. The idea is to get a wide range of experts from across the nation so that they can provide expert input and proper scrutiny.

(Needless to say, I haven't thrashed out all the bugs. But that's the broad outline of the idea. Not that I think it matters anyway - we've been talking about House of Lords reform for at least a century, and the only changes we've managed to make have been to make it even worse. There's about as much chance of proper reform as there is of federalism. That is, none.)

#18: "Dangerous Women", edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

Autopilot

A few years ago, I went through a process of making sure my finances were all under control. (Not that they were ever out of control, particularly; it was more a question of taking stock rather than cutting back.) At that time, I set up a number of charitable donations to come out of my account on a monthly basis, in order to set a level of giving with which I was comfortable.

And then I promptly forgot all about it (mostly). The great beauty of setting these things to run automatically, after all, is that then I don't need to worry about them.

However, as a consequence of LC and I finding a new church and transferring our membership is that I've been compelled to look again at those standing orders. Which has left me shocked at just how easy it is to let things run on autopilot...

(The good news is that it's going to be a matter of increasing my charitable donations to reflect the fact that I'm making more now than I was five years ago, rather than that I've built up a lot of expenses that have run amok. Still, it would be better to be keeping track of everything that bit more closely.)