Experimental Cookery 2021: Quick Chicken Tacos

This is another one from the Tesco magazine (which, oddly, have two nearly identical versions of this in the current issue). The big claims here were that it was quick and simple, and also that it was not an expensive meal.

Sure enough, the preparation was quick and simple - a few minutes to get the chicken in to marinade, and then the next day a little chopping and slicing, and quite a lot of relaxed frying. Then bring it to the table, and watch it very quickly disappear.

This was a great meal, and is likely to become a new favourite. It really was that good.

One thing I will particularly note is that this involved making a quick pickle out of a red onion. That was especially, and surprisingly, nice - I'm inclined to add that as one of the sides should my birthday BBQ take place (which looks promising).

And that's about that.

Seriously, Why Would You Do That?

In Tesco today I bumped into someone from my band, which was nice - good to get a wee catch up, even if only briefly before we both needed to move on. Except that at one point he stuck out a fist expecting to receive a bump.

Gah!

Seriously, why would you do that? Yes, the risk is now very low, and the proposed contact fleeting. But we're still in the midst of a pandemic, and we still need to eliminate those non-essential contacts. And I had my daughter with me, and so have an additional obligation to show a good example. Yet now I have a choice to make.

Actually, it's quite surprising just how quickly attitudes change - eighteen months ago I wouldn't have thought twice about a fist-bump, a high five, or a handshake. Or even, with closer friends, a hug (in a strictly manly way, you understand). And yet suddenly the prospect of even a fleeting contact becomes a huge issue, provoking instant dread and in the longer term a blog post. It's funny.

But hopefully it won't be too long before the vaccine has this thing beaten, and things will go back. This absence of physical contact, while necessary, isn't really a good thing.

#19: "The Poisonwood Bible", by Barbera Kingsolver (a book from The List - fifteen to go)

Torn

After some time thinking about it, I have settled on voting SNP/SNP next month. My gut feeling, based on the polling that has been done, is that the Alba party won't win any seats in my region, which means that a vote for them would probably be wasted (and while a list vote for the SNP will also probably be wasted, it does make that outright SNP majority marginally more likely).

Given some of the candidates that the Alba party are standing, and some of the stuff that has come out from that party, a significant part of me actually doesn't want them to get many, if any seats. There's more than a hint of nastiness in some quarters.

However...

There's also a part of me that absolutely does want the Alba party to win at least a couple of seats and, crucially, to do well enough to have a platform to build from - with a view to establishing themselves as another legitimate party.

The reason for that is very little to do with Alba specifically, and much more about what it says. Our democracy is fairly heavily weighted against the smaller parties, and even moreso against independent candidates. That means that in order to be represented you effectively need to align yourself with one of the existing parties. But the reality is that there are a fair number of people who end up politically homeless - they find that they simply can't align with any of the existing parties for one reason or another or, worse, they find that all the existing parties agree on some topic with which they disagree.

Faced with that reality, it really needs to be possible to either stand as an independent or to start your own party, and have some chance of success - if there are enough like-minded people who agree with you then you can build something over time.

The problem is that we have seen, time and again, a lot of these micro-parties pop up, contest one election, get nowhere, and fold. The system is just weighted so heavily against micro-parties that they're basically done.

So now we have Alex Salmond trying much the same thing - he's set up his own micro-party, which a significant minority (2-3%) agrees with. And so we come to the big test: is it possible for him, with all of his star power and his backers, and with Wings Over Scotland behind him to set up his own party and build something.

Or is this just another micro-party that the system dooms to failure? If he can't make it work, that essentially means that nobody can make it work... and it means that a voter gets to choose from five parties (that are, frankly, pretty close on most issues), or they don't get representation. And that's really not right.

So...

The upshot is that while I won't be voting Alba (as above), and while I don't particularly care for some of what I've heard from them, I do want them to get at least a couple of seats. And, more importantly, I want them to endure to contest the next General Election and beyond.

Still Waiting

Tadpole's due date was last Saturday. The reason I haven't yet posted anything is that there's no news as yet. I'm not terribly surprised by this, but I think we're both now at the point where we'd rather it was done.

I'll update again if and when there is something to say.

#17: "Sharpe's Tiger", by Bernard Cornwell

#18: "The Good Earth", by Pearl S. Buck (a book from The List - sixteen to go)

Day 100: Update on... Stuff

It has been a really difficult few weeks, for a number of reasons. The sooner this lockdown is over and we're able to actually travel and meet people, the better. Oh well.

• Books: By Day 100 I should expect to have completed 16.44 books. With the completion of book 16 this morning, I'm actually back to being a little ahead - I have a Sharpe novel well in progress as well. I've also just passed the halfway point through Shakespeare, and it will be really nice to tick that off the list.
• Weight: No change.
• Blogging: I'm very slightly behind on both blogs, but it's only matter of one post on each. So I'm reasonably happy there.
• Redecorating the Spare Room: The carpet has been replaced, and Funsize has been sleeping in the room for a couple of weeks now. We need a headboard for her bed, after which we'll no longer have to transfer her to a lower bed in the night. We do also have some residual stuff in the wardrobe that will need to go - that's part of the goal for the next week.
• Tadpole #2: The due date is a week today. All the arrangements are in place... we hope!

And that's pretty much the theme for the last month right there, and also for the next few weeks - good times to come, but the waiting isn't so much fun...

#16: "Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection", by Rev. W. Awdry (a book for Funsize... and for daddy)

Just... why?

So, Prince Philip has died. That is, of course, extremely sad for the Queen - the loss of a husband of so many years must be hard to fathom. I also understand that this is the item that is right at the top of the news agenda - it almost certainly is the most important event in the UK today.

But...

The truth is that Philip was a 99-year-old man who had been in uncertain health recently. So this isn't unexpected news by any stretch of the imagination. It's also true to note that there is almost nothing to say about this story - the Royal Family are unsurprisingly not about to parade their grief before the world, and so the journalists basically have nothing to say.

So the BBC's standard approach to the big news story, of putting together an interminable loop of empty nonsense to fill up a channel, is already overkill. There is just about justification for putting such a thing together and running it on the BBC News channel so that people can dip in, get informed, and move on.

But can someone please explain to me why the BBC have felt the need to run the same, pointless, empty feed of nonsense on all of their mainstream channels? BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC News, BBC Parliament, BBC Alba, and BBC Scotland are currently all showing exactly the same thing... and that same thing is utterly and completely devoid of content.

There is, just maybe, an argument about it being a mark of respect. Except that the mark of respect appropriate for a grieving family is to give them privacy and space, not to put them at the centre of a media circus. If that was the aim, the BBC should properly suspend it's programming - pull the plug on all their channels for the duration.

It seems we really have lost our collective minds.

#15: "The Dwarves", by Markus Hietz

The Admixture

I've just finished watching "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny", which was an intensely frustrating experience - some elements of the film were genuinely great (including, in particular, the final battle), but many just sucked. The resulting mixture of awesome and awful made for a film I really don't know what to make of.

This is, basically, a much-delayed sequel to the original CT:HD, starring the always-great Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yu. It basically takes all the trappings of the first film, but then wraps them in a Hollywood sensibility of how films are supposed to go, which meant that the whole thing was intensely predictable - there is the evil bad guy raising an army, there is a magic sword, there are fueds and vendettas. There is even, somehow, an echo of Rey and Kylo Ren which is quite uncanny. And then, of course, there's the mega-happy ending, quite at odds with the melancholy of the original film.

I really can't recommend this film. And yet, I really enjoyed large parts of it. It's just... odd.

#14: "The Gates of Athens", by Conn Iggulden

Whatever Happened to March?

It's bizarre - we seem to have skipped pretty much from February to April. One minute I was getting stressed out by a big change in direction, and the next I'm one day away from a very long break.

March did have one milestone of note, that I meant to mention at the time but forgot: we saw the one-year anniversary of my working from home. Which would have been rather nicer if we weren't still stuck in an interminable lockdown. Oh well.

Here's to a better April.

#13: "Blood of Elves", by Andrzej Sapkowski

Experimental Cookery 2021: Arrabbiata Meatball Bake

This one came from this month's Tesco magazine, and was a fairly simple bake - make and brown some meatballs, add a sauce, move to a baking tray, add a topping, and bake. Easy.

The resulting meal was very tasty and quite filling. A definite success. The only thing I would note is that, as written, it doesn't include any pasta, and most definitely benefits from its addition.

And that's all there is to that. We'll certainly have this again, with the only change I would make would be to bake the full amount, rather than a half measure, and keep the leftovers for lunch the following day.

Comedies: Done

I'm currently working my way through Shakespeare, that being the last remaining book in the UK side of The List. I've therefore been reading an Act a day, and as of today I have finished "A Winter's Tale", and with that have come to the end of Shakespeare's comedies.

I now have the ten histories to read, and then ten of the tragedies (having read "Julius Caesar" and "MacBeth" in high school, and "Hamlet" some years ago). I also read the poetry over the previous three months, meaning that I should complete everything that remains in early July. At least, that's the hope.

My opinion thus far? Like a great many artists, Shakespeare has some extremely well-known and well-regarded "greatest hits", and a whole lot of lesser works that are largely forgotten - and that's not necessarily an injustice. There is also, of course, a certain amount of 'problematic' material, notably in "A Merchant of Venice" and "The Taming of the Shrew", but I'm inclined to put that largely down to him being a product of his time. (That's not to condone the material, of course, but context is always important.)

Oh, and also: my initial impression was broadly right - these are plays, and are therefore best enjoyed by watching.

I'm now going to take a day off, before starting "King John" on April 1st.

The Alba Party

I see Alex Salmond is to start a new list-only political party to contest May's elections. And I thought it was going to be dull!

Some thoughts:

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a fan of parties being set up to try to 'game' the voting system. Nor am I a fan of a party being set up to try to give the current SNP leadership a bloody nose. If those form any part of the motivation here, and I think they probably do, I'm not keen.

From a tactical point of view, it will be interesting to see what happens next. By my count there are now three pro-Indy list-only micro-parties. If that remains the case, I expect them to split the vote and end up with a grand total of zero seats between them. But if we do see the other two folding in the next couple of weeks and a grand conjunction, they might be in with a chance.

My gut feeling, despite that, is that this is probably a retrograde step for independence. I'm quite sure that the Westminster government, and the BBC, and indeed the rest of our media, will spin anything other than an SNP majority as putting independence to bed for the next five years, and adding the Alba party to the mix makes that majority that much more unattainable (while, ironically, also making it more likely that there will be a pro-independence majority in Holyrood - but appearance means more than reality in politics, and the media control the appearance).

For myself, my plan had been to vote SNP/SNP, but that this was going to be my last ever vote - my willingness to support them has been hanging by a thread for some time, and if they can't (or worse won't) progress the cause of independence with significant speed then I won't be giving them another mandate. I'm now mildly intrigued by the possibility of SNP/Alba, but only if this appears to have a reasonable chance of being effective. Even then, probably not.

Of course, the last thing to mention is this: these list-only micro-parties are not the best thing in a single election, because they make the overall majority harder to attain with little chance of success themselves. But a new party needs to start somewhere, so even if the party can only get at least some traction, to be in a better place for next time, that may yet be worthwhile. Again, we'll see.

Experimental Cookery 2021: Chocolate and Raspberry Fudge Cake

About a week ago Funsize got her hands on the Tesco magazine, and decided that she simply had to have the cake that was on the front cover. And so, for no particular reason, I found myself baking my second cake of the year. Once again, this was a job split across two days, and once again this was one that Funsize really wanted to help with... right up to the point where it came time to help.

The sponge part of the cake was nice and easy - it wasn't quite just a matter of throwing everything into a bowl and mixing, but not hugely far off. And the cake rose rather more successfully than the previous effort, which was nice!

The decorations on the second day were rather less fun - we don't currently have a cover for our mixing bowl, which meant that the kitchen was promptly dusted with icing sugar on every surface! Other than that, though, it wasn't too bad. That said, once again we were hampered by our cake tins being larger than recommended, which meant I didn't have enough covering for all the surfaces, and the raspberries were a little sparse also.

Still, it looked nice, and it tasted nice too. The sponge could perhaps have done with being cooked a little less, but that's a small tweak.

Would I make this again? Well... perhaps. It was good, and I was a little happier with it than the previous one, but on the other hand we make cakes so infrequently, and have so many recipes to try out...

Experimental Cookery 2021: Whole Masoor Dahl and Cucumber Raita

A much-delayed Experimental Cookery, we actually had this meal some weeks ago, using the final two recipes from the curry box I received as a gift.

Both of these were simple, quick, and easy to put together. I have no complaints on that front. And the cucumber raita was very successful - something we'll no doubt have again.

Alas, the dahl did not have quite the same reception. Sadly, we found it rather too bland for our tastes. That's a shame, as I am generally looking for some good vegetarian options to add to our repertoire. But this one was less successful than either the chickpea curry or the other lentil curry I had tackled before.

As a consequence of all this, I can say that the cucumber raita is certainly something we'll have again. The dahl is not, except that I have some of the ingredients left to use up. So it's likely that I'll have it twice more, just for that purpose.

Overall, I've been very happy with this meal kit - of the six recipes only one really disappointed. Granted, some of them I felt would be a bit better in different circumstances, but given that we're just heading into BBQ season that's not really a problem. That feels like a successful Christmas gift to me!

#12: "Exploring Eberron", by Keith Baker

All Out War

The fall out between Salmond and Sturgeon continues. It now looks like the two factions are thoroughly dug in for a fight to the death. One the one side we have Alex Salmond, Wings Over Scotland (the most-read Scottish politics blog site - but there's a good reason I'm not linking to it), Craig Murray, and now David Davis. On the other side we have Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP, and the current Scottish Government.

The claim, as has been online for more than a year, was aired at the Fabiani Committee a couple of weeks ago, and was restated in Parliament last night, is that a conspiracy of people around Nicola Sturgeon (including her husband; possibly including NS herself) arranged a crooked and unfair process to discredit Alex Salmond and, ultimately, imprison him up for crimes he was acquitted of.

If this were to be shown to be true, those involved would have to go. And if they refused, the government of which they are part would have to be removed from office. And with the election just a few weeks away, and then no opportunity for the voters to have their say again for five years, the stakes are incredibly high.

On the other hand, of course, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proofs, and I haven't actually seen those. I've seen extensive references to the relevant evidence, and David Davis in particular shone a light on where it can supposedly be found, but the relevant information is not in the public domain (often for good reason).

And while all four of the people I named above are very convincing, that's not quite the same as being truthful. And even being truthful is not the same as being right.

On the other other hand, the behaviour of the Scottish Government is very far from what it should have been. Having promised an open and transparent investigation, they have dragged their heels on releasing key evidence, have redacted and obfuscated extensively, and they've been generally uncooperative. In particular, the redaction of the Salmond evidence was just incompetent - the material was published and only then redacted. That had the effect of shining a big light on what was redacted... and it was really instructive to see what exactly they'd felt the need to hide.

Additionally, there's an inherent problem with the way the committee works - it has nine members, four of whom are SNP, one in a former-Green independent, and four are from the Unionist parties. Naturally, these all then vote on party lines. One way or the other politics is more important than truth.

The whole thing really, really stinks.

My view on all of this: I'm on the side of the truth, wherever that lies. As I said, if there was indeed a conspiracy to fit up AS, then those involved need to go, and if they refuse then the government needs to go (even though that would absolutely mean the end of talk of independence for at least five years). Conversely, if there's nothing to this, then that should also come out in the wash - and those accused allowed to carry on without a blemish on their character.

Unfortunately, it looks very much like we're not going to get that. We'll get some sort of wishy-washy nonsense from the official committee report, the SNP will spin this for all they're worth as a total vindication, the Unionists will spin this for all their worth as being a massive whitewash, and the voters will be left none the wiser. And we'll then have to vote based on a best guess, and with our confidence in the whole thing totally shot.

And all because nobody in the political and media circles in Scotland seems to actually be able to do their jobs.

Mug Anecdon't

Weep with me, for the worst has happened. I was all set to make my first coffee of the day, put the coffee and milk into the mug while the kettle boiled... and then noticed that my Gaudi mug from Barcelona had a chip in it.

On the plus side, one of our main trade shows has recently moved to Barcelona, so there's a reasonably good chance I may have to go there in the next few years anyway. If not, I daresay we'll make it there on holiday at some point. (Or, indeed, somewhere else in Spain - I collect mugs from countries, not really cities.)

But for now, alas, I'm a mug down.

#11: "Sharpe's Devil", by Bernard Cornwell

Experimental Cookery 2021: Bolognese Bake

This one was taken from "Mary Berry's Simple Comforts", and it lives up to the title - it's simple, it was quite comforting, and basically it was a win. The only downside was that Funsize utterly rejected it, though she might well have eaten it happily on another day.

There's really not much more to say about this. We will no doubt have this again, and it's a very good choice for a meal if you need something that scales up to large numbers.

#10: "Sword of Destiny", by Andrzej Sapkowski

Experimental Cookery 2021: Chicken Bihari Kebab

Another one from the recipe book that came with the spice kit, this was another quick (ish) and easy meal to produce. I say quick-ish because it consisted of two quick steps separated by a full day. So preparing the meal wasn't any great effort, but it does require remembering to marinade the meat the day before you want to eat - something I forgot last week.

In terms of the result, this one was fine, but...

Both LC and I felt that this would have been considerably better if made closer to summer, and probably on the barbeque. Which isn't a criticism of the meal as such, just something to remember for the future.

Additionally, we were both somewhat surprised at just how mild the flavour on these was. We had expected something rather stronger. Again, that's not a criticism, just an observation. We'll certainly have these again, subject to the above note.

And that's pretty much that. There are two more recipes in the booklet, both of which I'll tackle next week, and then it will be a case of using up the remaining spices gradually over time. All in all, a good Christmas present, despite the delay in using it!

Funsize's Lockdown Birthday

As the previous post implies, Funsize has recently turned three. Whereas the first birthday saw us borrowing a hall and hosting a big party and the second year saw me taking the day of work for a daddy-daughter trip to the aquarium followed by a visit from many family members, this year was celebrated in lockdown.

The day started before the previous one really ended - it proved difficult to put FS to bed on Saturday, after which LC and I spent some time decorating the downstairs and laying out presents. Which meant we were already up against it, as going to bed after midnight is no longer as enticing as it was (and it was never all that enticing, if I'm being honest).

On waking, FS's immediate request was to have cake. She had been excited to help me in the kitchen on Saturday, only to be cruelly denied the ability to actually taste the cake we'd made, and again she was to be denied. Such a shame.

However, her disappointment was to be short-lived as we took her downstairs, whereupon all those efforts hanging bunting and blowing up balloons were worthwhile. And then she spent an hour or so tearing apart wrapping paper. Good times.

We then headed out for an early lunch, which we purchased from a McDonalds drive-through. I have no excuse.

From there we headed over to the Scottish Owl Centre, which is one of very few things that are still open. Fortunately, the weather was bright and sunny, albeit cold. Also fortunately, this is something the FS has very much enjoyed before, so we knew it was a decent choice. And so it proved. We enjoyed about an hour and a half of looking at the owls, including a talk from the keepers, before FS gradually decided it was time to move on. Then a quick play on an extremely busy playpark (not surprising on the first day of really decent weather in ages), and then home.

At this point we were then able to arrange a short playdate with one of the FS's friends. Obviously, the travel restrictions meant that family weren't able to visit, which is a real shame, while lockdown meant there was no chance for a party. But what is still allowed, we did. It's obviously no substitute, but it was also very welcome for all that.

Then FS helped me decorate the cake, something she'd been desperate to do all weekend, and then it was time for the Zoom and Skype calls to both sets of grandparents - and two lots of blowing out candles. (Poor thing - FS really wanted to try the cake, and after the first candle blowing she still couldn't! But it was, eventually, worth the wait.)

Then a birthday buffet, which I over-catered rather spectacularly, an evening watching "Spies in Disguise" (which is a reasonable way to spend a couple of hours, if you already have Disney+), and then bed for a very tired but very happy three-year-old.

It was a good day, though at the end of it LC noted a little sadness about it all - obviously, the lockdown meant no opportunity for a real party and also no chance to see family in person. For all concerned, but especially the two sets of grandparents, that's hard to take. And as good as the technology is, it again is just no substitute.

I totally understand that, of course. However, the major mitigation of that is that she's still young enough that she probably won't remember any of this, and resilient enough that when it's all over and done with she should just pick up where things left off. So rather than focusing on what she missed out on, it's okay to focus on what was possible. And it was a good day.

But here's hoping it is the only birthday she ever has to have in lockdown.

Experimental Cookery 2021: Chocolate and Strawberry Dessert Cake

For Christmas I received "Mary Berry's Simple Comforts". Shortly thereafter LC and Funsize took a look through the book and the latter decided that this particular cake was the one that she wanted for her birthday (probably due to the strawberries). So on Saturday I made the cakes and then yesterday they were decorated with strawberries and cream:

The cake was easy to make and decorate - the hardest part was knowing exactly when to stop whisking the various components (and remembering to fold in the various items carefully!). The result looks pretty close to the picture in the book. It's wider and therefore shorter, due to my using a bigger cake tin than was indicated, but that's no bad thing.

In terms of taste, it's lovely. As might be expected from a fairly dense chocolate sponge, vanilla-infused cream, and strawberries. The only downside is that we probably have a bit much for three people and a cake that will only last for two days (fresh cream...). Still, I'm sure we can rise to the challenge...

I would certainly at least consider having this again. The only doubt I have is provoked by the fact that we don't have cakes very often - there are really only two occasions in the year when I might make this, and I'm somewhat inclined to try something new rather than repeat myself.

Day 50: Update on... Stuff

I didn't formally set goals for this year, but I figured it was worth an update anyway. So...

• Books: By Day 50 I should expect to have completed 8.22 books, so I'm a little ahead of target here. I am, however, fast running out of reading material.
• Weight: This is down very slightly from the start of the year, so I'm cautiously happy with progress here.
• Blogging: Likewise, I am pretty happy here - I'm pretty much on target both here and on the Imaginarium.
• Redecorating the Spare Room: My major task for my holiday last week was to repaint that room, including two coats for the walls (due to a colour change). The room still needs the carpet replaced, which will occur once lockdown finally ends, and some more furniture, and then we'll be ready to move Funsize in. All in all, that's pretty promising.
• Tadpole #2: There are now just under two months to go. We're probably about as ready as we can be. Though there is still one non-trivial purchase to make - one of the few things you can't reuse is the matress for the crib, so we'll need to get a new one.

Generally speaking, things are going about as well as could be hoped. It has been a stressful few months, but things do seem to be gradually improving. I'm currently looking forward to three key things (other than the above): getting the vaccine, the end of lockdown, and getting some better weather.

And that's that, really.

Restart Brexit?

I see that the Independent today has an article with some Tories calling for the government to restart Brexit talks. Social media has therefore gone into a whirlwind of people laughing at Brexiteers and the government, and the notion of "Get Brexit Done", and so on and so forth.

The thing is, of course the government should be restarting talks, in at least some form. In fact, they should never have stopped.

Three reasons:

Firstly, the notion of "Getting Brexit Done" was always a nonsense. Yes, leaving the EU was an event, and ending the transition period was also an event. But the reality is that we remain intimately tied to the EU in a wide variety of ways, large and small. Some of those are ties that we want to retain long-term, some we may wish to allow to diminish... and there are some that have ended that we might well want to renew. So we should talk.

Secondly, it is a fact that the eventual withdrawal agreement was negotiated and signed off with almost indecent haste, especially towards the end. That inevitably means that it is flawed in a variety of ways, with some parts not working for us, some not working for the EU, and some not working for either party. So of course talks should continue, to see if improvements can be made for mutual benefit.

But thirdly, the EU remains our closest and most important neighbour, and unless it ceases to exist as an entity it will always remain so. And, despite our recent issues, it remains an ally. As anyone who has a neighbour knows, it is much better to have a good relationship with them than to have a poor one - and an antagonistic relationship can be all sorts of awful. So we should talk, and keep talking.

#9: "The Star Wars Book", by Pablo Hidalgo, Cole Horton, and Dan Zehr

Experimental Cookery 2021: Tandoori Chicken, and Mint & Coriander Chutney

Two more from the same spice kit as previously, these are both more or less as the name implies.

The Tandoori chicken was easy to prepare, but did involve a long marinade step (which meant it was delayed a day). The chutney proved to be much easier than I had initially expected, as a stick blender did almost all of the work.

In terms of result, the Tandoori chicken was very nice but would, I think, be better if finished on a barbeque. Certainly, I plan to do this again in summer when that will be a possibility. The chutney was okay, but really needed more mint and coriander - it was just a little bland. To be honest, I'm not sure I'll bother with that one again.

And that's that. There will be another recipe from this pack next week...

#7: "Sharpe's Revenge", by Bernard Cornwell
#8: "The Alchemist", by Paulo Coelho (a book from The List - seventeen to go)

Whedon

I had really hoped that the Joss Whedon allegations were untrue. It helped that I could largely ignore them, having next to no interest in either version of the "Justice League" movie.

However, even at the time it was obvious that there was something really not right in the filming of "Angel" series 4, and so when Charisma Carpenter made her statement it had the unmistakeable ring of truth. Given that other stars of "Buffy" have now come out in solidarity, it very definitely looks like a pattern of behaviour.

Damn.

The upshot of that is that I'm now no longer interested in any future project that has Whedon associated in any major capacity. I'll still give him the credit for what he has done - I'm still a fan of "Buffy", "Angel", "Firefly", "Toy Story", and "The Avengers". Having red in your ledger doesn't erase the black. But as for new projects... no. Just no.

It's also worth noting that there has been talk of a "Buffy" reboot for several years, and there is always talk of a "Firefly" reboot/restart. But in both cases I was never interested without his significant involvement, and now I'm not interested if he is involved in any significant way.

Time to let those IP die, I'm afraid.

Experimental Cookery 2021: Chicken Curry

For Christmas 2019 (!) I received a kit of spices for various chicken dishes. This has sat in a cupboard until recently, when I decided I really had to start using it - and the chicken curry was the first of the recipes.

This proved to be a quick and easy recipe - soften a base of veg, add the spices and form the sauce, then add the chicken, and then simmer.

The result was highly successful - I liked it, LC liked it, and Funsize raved over it, coming back for seconds and indeed thirds. So we'll be having it again!

Next up is tandoori chicken, which also looks good.

The Pink Tax... and it's reverse

In case you haven't heard the term before, "the pink tax" refers to the relative pricing of some items when marketed to men versus women - most commonly shown in the form of the pink version of the item being sold at a higher price than the identical blue item. Which is, of course, crazy - both that so many manufacturers do that, and that they are actually able to get away with it (presumably because women do indeed buy the pink item).

Examples of the pink tax are many and varied, of course. Possibly the most egregious was the "woman's pen", which was simply a pen made in pink, but with the price doubled. Another common example are razor blades, which are slightly different for the sexes, but in many cases largely interchangeable. And then there are cases where the items being sold generally are different - but where the "male" version of the tool is coldly functional, the "female" version is less functional but of greater aesthetic appeal... and significantly more expensive.

As I said, the whole thing is crazy. But it does, at least, seem to be getting a little better. (Though, to quote a recent TV show, actually talking about racial issues, "it always gets better. But never enough, and never quickly enough.")

Anyway, the reason I mention this is that yesterday while at Tesco there was an item I needed to pick up, and they very definitely had a pink and a blue version. Surprisingly, though, and just for once, the pink version was the cheaper - largely because that one was reduced to clear while the other was full price.

The upshot being that I proceeded to buy the pink item. For two reasons: (1) I'm never actually going to use said item in public, and (2) I honestly don't care anyway. Pink and blue are both perfectly good colours, and we would really benefit from breaking our obsession that one is for boys and the other for girls.

But maybe that's just me.

#5: "White Oleander", by Janet Fitch (a book from The List - eighteen to go)

#6: "Tome of Beasts II", from Kobold Press

Credit Where It's Due

It's fair to say that the UK government's handling of the Covid-19 crisis has been absolutely abysmal - a monstrous death toll, disastrous economic consequences, and vast amounts of public money given to chancers largely for no results. In general, the Scottish government have been doing better, though as I said in another post it's a difference of degree rather than type.

But where the vaccine roll-out is concerned, I feel I do need to give credit where it's due - after a slow start, the UK government have reached a very good rate of delivery, such that there's some genuine hope for the future. (Although there is one massive caveat - I'll get to that momentarily.) And, on the topic of vaccine delivery, I'm afraid the Scottish government just isn't doing as well, nor indeed is it doing well enough. And, again, it's a difference of degree rather than type, which means that the same caveat applies.

(That caveat concerns the increased delay between doses, where they were approved for a 3-week delay, the manufacturers recommend a 3-week delay (although it should be noted that they are obliged to do so), and yet the government has elected for a longer delay of up to 12-weeks. That's one hell of a gamble, and we must all desperately hope that they've got it right - the consequences if not are too horrible to contemplate.)

So I feel I must offer a very cautious congratulations to the UK government on this part of the process. And ask that the Scottish government please up their game.

Not Coping

Fair warning: what follows is just a moan. There's no happy conclusion, nor is there a book listed at the end of the post. So maybe look away? I'm also well aware that this one is somewhat lacking in perspective. But it's my blog, so sometimes I'm going to post about me.

It's fair to say that I'm not coping with this new lockdown at all well. Whereas last time it at least happened just as we hit the Easter holidays, and also just as the weather turned really nice, this one suffers from lots of short days, dark nights, and pretty dire weather.

Additionally, I'm finding the closure of just about everything really hard to take. Not that I'd be inclined to go many places anyway... but there's a difference between choosing to not go somewhere and having nowhere to go in the first place.

Mostly, though, it's just the slog of routine that sucks - work all day, then deal with my list of tasks in the evening, then do it all again. And then at the weekend don't really do anything.

I'm missing people, both in the general and the specific. Basically, the third most meaningful relationship I've had in the "real world" this year has been with the checkout assistant at Tesco this week. And while she was perfectly nice, and somewhat amusing on the topic of the Christmas playlist, it's not really right.

I fin myself intensely frustrated by the lack of information - when will this end, and how will things look when that happens? When can I expect to receive the vaccine? And so on. And yet, I'm also well aware that the powers that be shouldn't be giving out that information. It's better they stay quiet until they have solid answers, because it's much better to under-promise and over-deliver.

Actually, that more or less sums up the situation entirely - much as I don't like it, they're mostly doing the right things now. It's right that I'm at the bottom of the queue for getting the vaccine, it's right that I should be avoiding people as much as possible.

And, as I said up top, relatively speaking we're almost certainly doing better than almost everyone, and much better than a great many people. I'm aware I should really be counting blessings rather than just moaning.

But that doesn't really help. Moaning into the void does, perhaps surprisingly. Though more than anything, what I really need is a problem that I can actually solve (and that will stay solved).

Anyway, if you've made it thus far, I commend your forbearance. Normal service will return soon. I hope.

Loss of a Mentor

Yesterday afternoon, shortly after I finished work for the week, I received an email informing me that my advisor of studies from my university days had passed on. On the one hand, this wasn't a huge surprise - it was twenty years ago, and his health had been in decline for some time. On the other hand, something like that always comes as a shock. TAW was somewhat unique amongst university lecturers in that he made a strong effort to remain in touch with his former students, and so his passing leaves another hole in the world.

Funnily enough though, it's sad but not a great tragedy. He had a long and happy life, he had a fulfilling career that he clearly enjoyed, and he touched a lot of lives in a very positive manner. We should all be so lucky.

Order of Preference

There is, yet again, some discussion of a second independence referendum and the circumstances under which it might happen. And, in the event that Westminster refuses permission for such a thing, whether the SNP should use an election as a proxy for such a referendum.

My strong preference is that this matter should be addressed with a referendum. People vote in elections for a variety of reasons, and consequently it is really hard to pin down a single cause for them voting a particular way. This is especially so in Scotland where the SNP are able to make a unique offer to the public that they can provide minimally competent governance (albeit even that just barely). The only alternate government is a Con/Lib/Lab unionist coalition, and given the vacuum of talent on offer even between those parties, that's a prospect that I find frankly terrifying. So giving people a choice between independence or a coalition of calamity isn't ideal.

Likewise, my strong preference is that such a referendum should occur with the underpinning of a Section 30 order. That puts to rest all doubts about the validity of it, means there will be no large-scale boycott, and should ensure that the result is respected.

However, we cannot allow Scottish democracy to exist at the whim of a Prime Minister who owes his position almost entirely due to English votes. (In the 2019 election even if 100% of the people of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland voted Labour, Boris would still be PM; conversely, had England been excluded from the vote, Ian Blackford would now be PM.)

Additionally, it needs to be understood by our politicians that a mandate is not permission to do something; it is an instruction to do that thing.

So, my preferred course of action is as follows:

In the first instance, the SNP (and Greens if they want) should run on a manifesto with a clear and unambiguous commitment: if they win a majority, either alone or together, they will hold a second independence referendum.

If they win a majority then they should apply one final time for a Section 30 order to hold that referendum. (Obviously, if they don't win a majority, the issue is moot.)

If they are denied the Section 30 order, they should proceed anyway - referendums in the UK are by default consultative anyway, so this should be possible. (Obviously, if they are granted the Section 30 order, the issue is moot.)

At this point, the UK government may allow the referendum to go ahead (in which case the issue is moot), or they may block it - either by winning a legal challenge using existing law or by using emergency legislation to explicitly and formally reserving the required power. (At the moment, there is some doubt as the issue has never actually been tested. What isn't in doubt is the UK government's ability to close any possible loophole.)

If the UK government do block the issue, then at that point I believe the SNP (and the Greens, if they want) should stand in every future election on a manifesto with a clear and unambiguous pledge: if they win a majority of the seats, that will be taken as a statement that the people of Scotland want independence, and they will seek to negotiate accordingly.

Sooner or later, it's likely they'll win that majority, at which point the people of Scotland will have had our say. After which, it is a matter for the diplomats.

That is a slower process than just using May's election to short-cut the process and going straight to the final step. However, I do think it is a necessary delay. (My view is that the SNP and the Greens should have started the process with the 2016 election, and we should already have done steps 1 and 2 by now, but they didn't and we haven't - the manifestoes weren't quite clear enough, and they chose not to press the issue when May and Boris said "no". But that's the past - we are where we are.)

The only issue with that approach is time - standing in 2021 on "we want a referendum" means that it will be 2026 before the next scheduled election. So either that means five more years of waiting or it means collapsing the parliament for an early election (which isn't ideal for several reasons). And, of course, in the meantime we're likely to see Holyrood gutted, if not shut down completely.

But I think those delays are necessary. If the current majority for independence is actually as solid as the polls indicate then they should remain solid as we work through the stages. If it isn't then perhaps we shouldn't be heading for independence anyway - something like that really does need to be the settled will of the majority, and not just a knee-jerk response to Boris, Brexit, or the balls-up of the pandemic response.

Inauguration Day

So, all being well, today is the day that Donald Trump ceases to be the sitting US President and Joe Biden is sworn in. We made it!

I must admit, though, that I'm going to feel a whole lot better once this day is over and done with - there's a horrible thought lurking in the back of my mind that if this were a season finale there would be one almighty plot twist coming up...

#4: "William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Merry Rise of Skywalker", by Ian Doescher

Experimental Cookery 2021: Roast Tikka Chicken

The first experimental cookery of 2021 comes from Jamie's "5 Ingredients" - a book that I've had for a while and like a great deal in theory, but haven't found much opportunity to actually use. This was one that he cooked in the accompanying show and that we've thought for a while that we'd like to try but have never quite gotten around to until now.

In terms of preparation it's actually hard to see how this could be any easier, although it is somewhat messy - roughly cut up a few things, rub the tikka paste on the chicken, and then cook. (I should note that I omitted the cauliflower from the dish - LC doesn't eat it and I can't, so there didn't seem much point.)

Once cooked, it was a simple matter of carving the bird and then eating. And it was about as good as we'd expected - nice spicy potatoes, nice chicken... basically, it was nice. I have no doubt that we'll have this again, though I'm not entirely sure when.

And that's about that, really. Except for one more note: Jamie said to cook for an hour, but I ignored that. Instead, I followed the guidance on the chicken itself, which said 40 mins per kilo plus 20 mins. Since the bird we had was a little larger than in the book, I figured that made sense.

#3: "Tasha's Cauldron of Everything", from Wizards of the Coast

Nadir

I really thought we'd reached rock bottom, and that finally we'd hit a point where something was so horrible and so obviously wrong that it was finally, truly indefensible. Specifically, I am referring to the most recent Free School Meals fiasco.

The principle was simple: since schools are closed, parents would instead be given help to feed their children. In some areas, this took the form of a voucher worth £15 a week, that could only be spent on appropriate items. In some others, it took the form of a box containing food.

Well, fair enough, I guess. I have opinions both about what the appropriate value of that top-up should be and also how it should be delivered, but I can appreciate that there are arguments to be made in other ways. I don't see supplying a box of food as being inherently problematic.

But that value of that food should equal the value of the food that can be purchased by the voucher. That is, the box should include £15 worth of food. (And since economies of scale should kick in, it should actually hold more than could easily be purchased at a supermarket for the money.)

Instead, it turns out that hundreds of people were receiving boxes containing £5 worth of food. And, worse, many of those were boxes intended for two weeks, not one - and so the shortfall wasn't even 'just' two-thirds of the value, but rather five sixths.

Once upon a time, that would have shocked and outraged me - how could someone do such a thing? How could the government sign off on a deal that allowed that to happen.

Unfortunately, my cynicism has reached a point where I can see the answer to that all too easily.

But I did at least think it would be seen as indefensible. How wrong I was. Even that, even the poorest children in our country being starved, was met with a multitude more than willing to cheer them on.

What a wretched little country we have become.

Transformers: Earthrise

I really enjoyed the first part of the "War for Cybertron" trilogy. If the very first series of the very first show was the perfect cartoon for the 8-year-old me, "War for Cybertron" was the perfect one for the 43-year-old me - darker and more mature, with much stronger grey areas, motivations, and factions. It's fair to say that it was a little slow, but I didn't mind that.

Unfortunately the second chapter, "Earthrise", just didn't live up to the first. It retained the slower pace of the series, but because the characters were largely separated throughout it missed much of what I found worthwhile about the first. Worse, where there were some interesting ideas, such as the inclusion of Scorponok and Sky Lynx, they just didn't seem to know how to deal with those, such that those characters seemed to be stuck in a loop - rather than having a coherent conversation they just repeated a handful of stock lines over and over.

The other feature of note in the series were the cameos: as mentioned we see Scorponok and Sky Lynx, but also Alpha Trion, Galvatron, and even such obscure characters as Doubledealer. All of which is cool, except that the show therefore suffers the same weakness as "The Force Awakens", "Ready Player One", and almost all of Disney's recent live-action remakes of their classic cartoons - it coasts along on the well-wishes generated by reminding us of something that used to be awesome, without actually having to be very good itself. Dig a little between the surface, though, and you find it's all just surface.

One last thing: although I remember Prime being all noble and self-sacrificing, and so forth, I don't actually remember him being utterly stupid. And so, while I can just about understand him agreeing an alliance with Megatron in desperate circumstances, and for the mutual good of all, I really can't see him doing so, suffering the inevitable sudden and unexpected betrayal, and then immediately doing exactly the same thing again.

And then the show ended.

I was, sad to say, bitterly disappointed with this second part of the trilogy. I will watch the third part when it becomes available, but my hopes have been thoroughly dashed now. How that third part turns out will determine my recommendation for this one - at present, I'm saying "avoid", but if part three is excellent then this may be necessary as a bridging episode.

#2: "Starsight", by Brandon Sanderson

Experimental Cookery 2020: Turkey Curry

Our second use for the leftover turkey was in curry form, using the guidance from Hugh's "Love Your Leftovers". This was also a quick and easy meal to put together, and was by far the more successful of the two. I would definitely have this again, subject to my caveat that I don't expect to do too many Christmas dinners to generate the leftovers to use.

Experimental Cookery 2020: Turkey and Ham Christmas Casserole

Despite the date of posting, this was made in 2020, hence the date above. The recipe comes from the Hairy Bikers "One Pot Wonders" book, which is rather a good one. As the name implies, it's a good way to get through some of the leftovers from Christmas dinner, of which we had plenty.

This was quick and easy to put together - a gentle reheating of the meat in some juice, then the addition of a topping assembled by food processor, and then bake.

Taste wise it was... well, it was okay I guess. To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan - we have four portions in the freezer, and I'm contemplating just binning them. I have two main thoughts here. Firstly, there was just too much spinach in it - indeed, adding the spinach at all may have been a mistake. Secondly, as a result of making this up I've found I just don't like chestnuts, or at least not by themselves, so I would definitely be inclined to skip these in future.

Except that I don't expect to make this again, both because I don't expect to be doing too many Christmas dinners, and even if I did I would expect to use the leftovers for something else. A shame.

#1: "Sharpe's Siege", by Bernard Cornwell

Books of the Year 2020

As part of the end-of-year round-up, I can once again present a list of books read in the past year.

Here is the list:

1. "Lethal White", by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
2. "Dragon of Icespire Peak", from Wizards of the Coast
3. "The Next Person You Meet in Heaven", by Mitch Albom
4. "Mythos", by Stephen Fry
5. "The Red Tent", by Anita Diamant *
6. "The Stiehl Assassin", by Terry Brooks
7. "Sharpe's Rifles", by Bernard Cornwell
8. "Raw Spirit", by Iain Banks
9. "Fall on Your Knees", by Ann-Marie MacDonald *
10. "Firefly: Big Damn Hero", by James Lovegrove
11. "Sharpe's Havoc", by Bernard Cornwell
12. "Sharpe's Eagle", by Bernard Cornwell
13. "Heroes", by Stephen Fry
14. "The Stone Diaries", by Carol Shields *
15. "I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire", by P.N. Elrod **
16. "Sharpe's Gold", by Bernard Cornwell
17. "Further Tales of Little Grey Rabbit", by Denis Judd after Alison Uttley
18. "Skyward: Claim the Stars", by Brandon Sanderson
19. "I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin", by P.N. Elrod **
20. "Eberron: Rising from the Last War", by Wizards of the Coast
21. "Sharpe's Battle", by Bernard Cornwell
22. "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
23. "Centuries of Stories", edited by Wendy Cooling
24. "The Count of Monte Cristo", by Alexandre Dumas *
    
25. "Blindness", by Jose Saramago *
26. "Sword of Kings", by Bernard Cornwell
27. "Call for the Dead", by John Le Carré
28. "Sharpe's Company", by Bernard Cornwell
29. "50 Literature Ideas You Really Need to Know", by John Sutherland
30. "The Stone Angel", by Margaret Laurence *
31. "The Broken Sword", by Poul Anderson
32. "Sharpe's Sword", by Bernard Cornwell
33. "Carte Blanche", by Jeffery Deaver
34. "The Fall of Gondolin", by J.R.R. Tolkien
35. "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", by Betty Smith *
36. "Throne of the Crescent Moon", by Saladin Ahmed
37. "Sharpe's Skirmish", by Bernard Cornwell
38. "A Suitable Boy", by Vikram Seth *
39. "Firefly: The Magnificent Nine", by James Lovegrove
40. "Sharpe's Enemy", by Bernard Cornwell
41. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", by Roald Dahl * **
42. "The Testaments", by Margaret Atwood
43. "Ulysses", by James Joyce *
44. "Whispers Under Ground", by Ben Aaronovitch
45. "Sharpe's Honour", by Bernard Cornwell
46. "The Last Wish", by Andrzej Sapkowski
47. "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" by Roald Dahl **
48. "The Lies of Locke Lamora", by Scott Lynch
49. "Fifth Business", by Robertson Davies *
50. "Fire and Blood", by George R.R. Martin
51. "Fantastic Mr Fox", by Roald Dahl
52. "I Know This Much Is True", by Wally Lamb *
53. "The Sword Saint", by C.F. Iggulden
54. "Sharpe's Regiment", by Bernard Cornwell
55. "The Long Tomorrow", by Leigh Brackett
56. "Faeries", by Brian Froud and Alan Lee
57. "Icewind Dale - Rime of the Icemaiden", from Wizards of the Coast
58. "Sharpe's Christmas", by Bernard Cornwell
59. "The Celestine Prophecy", by James Redfield *
    
60. "A Christmas Carol and other Christmas writings", by Charles Dickens * **
61. "The Pillars of the Earth", by Ken Follett *
    

So that's 61 books. That includes 15 books from The List. There are only 3 RPG books, and 5 re-reads. There are 5 books for Funsize.

There are a few candidates for book of the year, with "The Testaments", "The Next Person You Meet in Heaven", "Blindness" and "The Red Tent" all being very strong. But the win goes to "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", by Betty Smith. I also need to give an honourable mention to the Sharpe series, which has been excellent throughout, without there being any stand-out novel that could take the title in its own right.

Sadly, there have also been some stinkers this year - "I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin" and "Carte Blanche" were just a waste of time, and I just couldn't get into "The Lies of Locke Lamora" (though that may be my issue rather than Lynch's). "Ulysses" was just painful. But the runaway winner of worst book of the year is "The Celestine Prophecy", given its ability to make "The Da Vinci Code" look good.

And that's that. As I've mentioned, I'm not setting any formal goals for 2021, though I will keep track of my reading here. I would quite like to get Shakespeare read, and take a big bite out of the remaining books on The List, but we'll see how it goes.

My Year in 2020

This time last year I wrote: 2020 looks like it will probably be the year when those various changes actually come about, and so I expect it to be another very busy year. But, hopefully, it will be a good one.

Dear oh dear.

2020 has been an absolutely disastrous year in so many ways and for so many people that my over-riding view at this point is "thank goodness that's over". And yet...

My Year in... Blogging 

For 2020 I set myself the same goal as in 2019 - 120 posts here and 60 on the Imaginarium. And, despite a major wobble, it looks like both of those goals are set to be achieved, if only just. I'm reasonably happy with that - for a year in which we've done nothing, it is something of a success just to find things to write about.

My Year in... Work

2020 started very well, picking right up where 2019 left off. Then, late in March, we were sent to work from home. This actually worked quite well - we had been equipped with everything we needed to work remotely, albeit for entirely different reasons, and so all of that just carried straight over.

Nonetheless, I had expected things to founder quite quickly - that we'd get through our existing to-do list and then grind to a halt. That actually didn't happen.

The upshot is that the first three-quarters of the year were absolutely outstanding at work.

And then the whole thing came crashing down. The sense that I get now is that the points have switched over, and my career has been moved from the express line to a siding. And there's nothing can be done about it. Looking forward to 2021, it's all just sickening. Gutted.

My Year in... Health

Obviously, this has been a year of real concern, though mostly I've been concerned about others more than about myself - both Lady Chocolat and Funsize have been at considerably more risk than I have been. That said, I had a major health worry about six weeks ago, to the extent that I genuinely thought something was drastically wrong. In the event, it all turned out okay, but that was still a worry.

My main thought for 2021: that vaccine can't come soon enough. (Unfortunately, I don't expect to get it in 2021 - for various reasons I am, rightly, at the back of that queue, and it's going to be a multi-year project.)

My Year in... Gaming

2020 has been a curious year, because the switch to doing everything online has actually opened the floodgates to a bit more gaming - my work game moved online, and when that proved a success that motivated me to start a second, online game. Which has been fun.

There is still something I miss, because there just isn't a real substitute to face-to-face gaming, but I'm in a much better and happier position than I was in 2019.

My Year in... Band

Conversely, 2020 has been disastrous for pipe bands. The lag inherent in online calls has meant that there have been no practices since lockdown began, and all of our events for the year were cancelled.

During lockdown proper, we of course had the "Clap For Carers", at which I was asked to play something. That's pretty much all I've done by way of performing this year, with next year also looking like it may be a slim year (vaccine dependent).

My Year in... Resolutions

As always, the wrap-up of annual goals, and setting of goals for next year, are handled in another post.

My Year in... Travel

I had one two-day trip to Copenhagen early in the year, and was just about planning another when lockdown hit. We also took a long weekend away in October. And that's about it.

My Year in... Faith

This has been a difficult year, because of the difficulties with everything else. Attending church via Facebook really isn't the same as attending in person.

My Year in... Sadness

We have come through 2020 blessedly unscathed, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't been without sadness. Unfortunately, Grandma's health continues to decline, and will inevitably continue to do so. And with lockdown her ability to receive visitors has essentially been curtailed. That's really not a good position, and the toll it is taking on people and relationships is very sad.

I also received another piece of very sad news recently - a friend and mentor from the Camelon & District Pipe Band passed away early in December. Apparently he had been ill for some time, but chose not to share this widely (as was his prerogative). There is yet another hole in the world where a person should be.

My Year in... Love

It occurs to me that I have not, until now, mentioned the single most important event of 2020 on this blog at all. Come April next year, and all being well, Lady Chocolat, Funsize and I will be joined by another little Tadpole! That is obviously great, and much-hoped-for news, though I must admit to a certain concern given the situation.

My Year... Overall

2020 has been a bad year. Things are looking up, but that hope is mingled with significant fear - there are just too many unknowns, and too much of that home is just fragile. So while 2021 should be a better year, I find that I face it more apprehensive than anything else.

As always, this will be my final post on this blog for the year, so I'll take the opportunity now to wish anyone still reading a very Happy New Year when it comes. Thanks for sticking with me!

End of Year Update on Goals

At the end of last year I set myself four goals. At the end of the year, then, it's time to look back:

• Books: I completed this goal with a little over a week to go. I'm also now digging in to the last 20 books on The List, which is a bit of a mixed blessing - it will be good to be done, but on the other hand I'm getting increasingly short of reading material. The full list of books will come in another post. 
• Weight: This goal looked to be going okay and then took a major turn for the worse. I'm now losing weight, but doing so having gained too much in lockdown. The upshot is that I've actually gone backwards this year.
• Blogging: This goal is not quite complete, but only because there is one more post scheduled for this blog later today. I have posted 60 times on the Imaginarium, and this is post 119 here, and so this goal is, or rather will be, complete.
• Work: This goal was thoroughly derailed by Covid-19, though I'm not certain it was ever really realistic. I'm also inclined to think it's out of reach for 2021 too, though for other reasons. All of which is fairly disappointing.

So, two completed and two failed. Not a great showing. Still, given the general awfulness of 2020, I think that can be understood.

I'm not going to set any goals for 2021. In truth, the reading, blogging, and weight loss goals would just have carried over, with one more that will be needed anyway, so it wouldn't exactly have been an inspired list. I'm even considering just abandoning the practice as not being terribly helpful, since if it's just the same set every time then what is the point? But that's a question for late 2021.

And that's that. A somewhat downbeat note on which to come to the end of the year, but given the nature of the year it could have been much worse.

#61: "The Pillars of the Earth", by Ken Follett (a book from The List - nineteen to go)

The List

Three years ago I posted that I was into the final fifty books on the List. Given that I average roughly one of the books a month, it isn't a surprise to note that I am now down to twenty remaining volumes. It is possible that I might get one more finished by the end of the year, but given that I've hit my goal I may well not push it - and indeed there are certain advantages of going into the year with a long book nearly finished!

Of the twenty remaining books there is one from the British side of the List, being the "Complete Works of Shakespeare". My intent is to read that at the rate of an Act a day across several months (with the weekends dedicated to sonnets).

The remaining nineteen books are all from the American side of the List. (There are no longer any appearing on both sides.) The only duplicate author is Ayn Rand, who has both "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" listed. I'm not exactly looking forward to these, which is one reason they've taken so long to get to. Margaret Laurence did also provide two books - I read "The Stone Angel" earlier this year, but don't know when I'll get to "The Diviners".

Finally, there are six very long books (at more than 1,000 pages each), seven short books (with fewer than 500 pages), and seven in the middle ground. My hope is to read four from each of these groupings next year, as that will allow for a predictable rate of progress.

And with that, here is the remaining List. Note that the numbers here don't correspond to those from the original lists (Shakespeare was #14, for instance), but they are at least in the same ranking as before...

1. Complete Works of Shakespeare
2. The Stand (Stephen King)
3. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
4. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
5. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
6. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
7. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
8. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
9. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
10. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
11. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
12. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
13. Shogun (James Clavell)
14. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
15. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
16. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
17. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
18. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
19. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
20. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)

#60: "A Christmas Carol and other Christmas writings", by Charles Dickens (a book from The List)

The Big Shop

For the past few months, the Tesco shop has been first thing on a Friday morning - I would drop Funsize at nursery, head to Tesco, get it done, and then start work for the day. This has the big advantage of getting to the store when it's really quiet, and also doesn't take away from any of my 'good' time - that is, evenings or weekends.

Unfortunately, yesterday I was booked in meetings from 8.30 right through the whole day, which meant that I couldn't do the weekly shop. And, of course, the next two Fridays are unavailable due to the store being closed. This meant that the weekly shop this week had to be pushed back to today, and had to get enough supplies in to last us well past Christmas.

And, to add to the fun, I discovered this morning when assembling the list that many of our stocks had run out, so that needed added. The upshot of that was that today's list was going to be a big one - and to be done on a Saturday which is, of course, the worst possible day of the week to go for.

In the event, it wasn't too bad. Although I just couldn't face getting up at 6am this morning, I did get ready reasonably early, and so got there before the big rush. And thanks to a carefully-constructed list, I was able to get around reasonably quickly. The only real annoyance was in the few occasions when I really wanted to get past someone - which is normally fine, but not an option in these days.

I'm now very hopeful that I've got everything to cover us until the Monday after Christmas. I really don't want to have to head out again before the big day - each day is just going to be that bit worse, and the only day I'm not working is Christmas Eve. But if there's a need...

But with that, and all being well, that's all my preparation for Christmas done.

The Seductive Danger of Big Numbers

Today the government has announced that they have vaccinated more than 130,000 people in the first week since they began. Which is absolutely fantastic news. Except...

Firstly, they haven't vaccinated anyone yet - all three of the vaccines require two doses, significantly spread in time. So what they've actually done is given 130k people the first dose. That's not the same thing.

Significantly more concerning, though, is what that says about the overall problem. The thing is, 130,000 people is indeed a lot. But the population of the UK is 66.65 million or so.

What that means is that to get to everyone, if we proceed at that rate, we'll take more than 9 years. Just for the first dose. (Fortunately, you don't need to get to everyone... just 80% of people. So that's 7 years and 9 months.)

I really don't mean to denigrate the achievements here. Just getting the vaccine out is fantastic, and delivering 130,000 doses is great.

But the news isn't as good as is being made out. We really need to be targeting at least 300k doses delivered per day - at least a 15-fold increase in the rate. That would allow us to deal with the virus in about a year.

Perhaps more important even than that, we need a media that actually provide that context, because big numbers are seductive and can be misleading.

Three Down...

As I noted late last month, I had four tasks for Christmas: the decorations, the cards, the presents, and the food. As of this weekend the final presents have been purchased and, where applicable, wrapped. The cards were dealt with last weekend and the decorations the week before so, unless I've forgotten something, I have now completed three of my four tasks.

I should also note that in that time I have also managed my Christmas baking - another batch of mince pies. These were great, but for two small details: firstly, the plan had been for Funsize to help with these, but she opted to sleep instead; secondly, Funsize also rejected the mince pies as something to eat, which left me with the full batch to consume. Oh, the horrors!

Anyway, the upshot is that I now only have a single task remaining for Christmas, which leaves me with a Christmas that is perhaps not stress-free (since nothing is this year), but is at least as relaxed as the year will allow. Which is a win in my book.

(The menu for the Christmas food has been settled on also - turkey dinner with the usual trimmings on the day, followed by a turkey and ham casserole on Boxing Day, and then curried turkey later in the week. LC is going to provide the starter and the dessert on Christmas Day, and we'll be having a non-alcoholic sparkling not-wine with the meal. And, of course, a nice buffet supper later.)

The Celestine Prophecy

One of the advantages of having a reading list put together by others is that every so often I come across a good, or even great, book that I otherwise wouldn't have seen - "The Shadow of the Wind" and "The Kite Runner" being key examples (though even things like "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic" were more enjoyable than I'd expected).

The flip side of that, however, is that every so often you come across a real stinker. Sadly, "The Celestine Prophecy" falls into that category.

The problems start right from the outset. The novel is built around the mystery of nine "insights", which the hero goes in search of. But the first of these establishes the notion that there are no coincidences - that as soon as you become aware of the First Insight you will start generating coincidences to take you forward.

Which, of course, means that the rest of the plot is then built on a sequence of coincidences, with the hero just happening to encounter exactly the right person, circumstance, or event to take the plot forward.

Thereafter, the book has a fairly routine sequence - the hero meets some character who just happens to have access to the next insight, which leads to long and preachy discussions in which this insight is expounded. These insights being a mix of low-grade philosophy, misappropriated scientific jargon, and unadulterated hippie crap.

Meanwhile, our hero is opposed by a bunch of faceless good with no real direction or purpose, except of course to advance the plot. Every so often it looks like some action might break out... but it tends not to, due to fortuitous coincidences.

Ultimately, it all feels like a less well-written version of "The Da Vinci Code", minus the compelling protagonist, the interesting antagonists, the thrilling plot-twists, and the car chases that causes it to race along. Pretty much the only redeeming feature of the thing is that it's only 331 pages and ticks along at a fairly good pace.

Avoid.

#59: "The Celestine Prophecy", by James Redfield (a book from The List)

Experimental Cookery 2020: Spiced Chicken with Couscous

This one comes from "The Hairy Bikers' Mediterranean Adventure". Like many of their recipes, this one is straightforward, and although the elapsed time was about an hour a lot of that was taken up with waiting.

The resulting meal was really nice, although Funsize refused it outright. The only tweak I'm inclined to make is to switch the chicken legs for thighs, and get the "bone out" variety - my understanding is that they don't taste as good, but I really don't like the hassle of bones.

There's not really anything much to say about this. It was good, we'll have it again, but it doesn't make its way into my all-time favourites list.

Jack Ryan

My experience with Tom Clancy's hero is somewhat mixed - I've read one of the novels but didn't like it, I've seen all but one of the films and liked three of them, and I've now seen both seasons of the Amazon Prime series. I very much enjoyed the first season, which felt like it had the makings of a decent "24" replacement.

But the second season was a disappointment - all through it I was waiting for a big twist, such that it turned out that the obvious evil bad guy wasn't actually the bad guy... and it just never happened.

So the 50% hit rate seems to be holding up. Given that "Shadow Recruit" is also available on Prime, I'll probably find time to watch that in the next few weeks, for completeness if nothing else. And I'll watch season three of the series if it ever materialises (naturally, with the events of this year, everything is much more uncertain than it once was).

I'm not sure if that's a recommendation or not. Guess you'll just have to see for yourself. (I would give the trailer a go. That gives a pretty good idea of what it's about, without too many spoilers. So pretty much does what a trailer is supposed to do.)

#58: "Sharpe's Christmas", by Bernard Cornwell

Snow Day! Oh... no, wait

 It snowed last night, much to Funsize's excitement.

Naturally, the main consideration I have when it snows is whether I'll be able to get the car out, and therefore whether I'll be able to go to work or not. Of course, that's yet another thing that the pandemic has ruined for us - if the answer had been "no", I would still have had to work - though I'd have had to look after Funsize at the same time.

As it happened, I was able to get the car out fine, so she went to nursery and I have retreated to my box. And all is well... ish with the world.

That's all.

#57: "Icewind Dale - Rime of the Icemaiden", from Wizards of the Coast

Theme for Next Month: Christmas

Perhaps inevitably, the theme for December will be Christmas. It's going to be a really strange one this year, but in some ways that just makes it more important.

At the time of writing I have completed four of my tasks for Christmas:

• The decorations are up. This was done over the course of the weekend, yesterday being the first Sunday in Advent.
• Given the greater importance of greeting cards this year, I will of course take on my share of filling them out and posting them. At least some of these will need done very soon, but as of just now it is a task that has not been started.
• There are the presents to buy and to wrap. I have one more present to choose and a further three to buy (though one of these is itself made up of several small items). Alas, at least one of these would benefit from the shops being open, but I'll find a way to manage.
• Finally, there is the Christmas food. For the second time, I'll be cooking a Christmas Dinner. Naturally, this will be the final task to conclude, though there may be some things to do in preparation.

More than all of that, though, I'll need to give some thought to how this Christmas will be different from the norm, and try to find ways to make it extra-special, especially for Funsize, who is perhaps enjoying the experience fully for the first time.

Theme of the Month: Wash Up

 As is probably obvious, this has been a hugely productive month for blogging, largely because I've made sure to actually write things! I suspect the output has been more than a little patchy in quality, but it has at least been present, which is the first step.

The upshot is that I am now close to being caught up on both blogs, and hopefully in a position to finish the year having achieved my targets!

Celtic's Management Woes

Something has gone horribly wrong at Celtic, and it's realy hard to see Neil Lennon surviving the last bad result. My personal suspicion is that he simply has a natural lifespan at any club, after which his style starts to grate, his opponents work out how to beat him, and things just naturally come to an end.

Unfortunately for Celtic, it's really hard to see how they can get a new manager who they can afford, who is willing to take on the job, and who understands the importance of this season above all others. The two names put into the fray - Gordon Strachan and Martin O'Neill - both feel like retrograde steps, but it's hard to come up with any better alternative.

All that said, it's probably for the best of everyone in Scottish football (except for Celtic of course) if they don't win ten-in-a-row. Firstly because it shows just how pathetically weak our game is that one club can dominate to that extent, but secondly because that then immediately creates a new obsession - forever after the other side will have to equal, or better the achievement. I'm afraid the whole thing is just poisonous.

(Finally, it is of course worth noting that Rangers have had a collapse in the second half of both the previous two seasons. Despire the way they're currently playing, there really isn't any guarantee it wouldn't happen again.)

The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special

 I can't believe I forgot to blog about the new Star Wars Holiday Special!

The original Holiday Special is of course legendary, largely due to being awful. It has two redeeming features:

• It introduced Boba Fett to the world (though, of course, I maintain that he is wildly over-rated)
• It is almost impossible to find, meaning that almost nobody has actually seen it, actually including me.

However, one of the key benefits of switching to the Lego format is that this enabled them to lean in to the inherent silliness of the occasion - since both the concept of a Holiday Special for Star Wars and the various Lego animations are rather goofy, the people making this could simply lean in to it and come to something that was actually rather fun.

And so it is with this holiday special - don't go in expecting a hard-hitting adventure, a massive new piece of Star Wars lore, or anything like that; don't expect the plot to really make too much sense or to hold up under scrutiny; and don't over-think it. Just watch, enjoy, and have the occasional chuckle.

Or watch something else instead - that is, of course, also a valid option.

A Suitable Boy

As it happened, I was in the midst of reading the novel just as the BBC started their TV adaptation of "A Suitable Boy", so we set it to record and left it at that. In the event, LC decided she wasn't interested, so I've watched it myself, finishing last night.

After what they had done to "War and Peace", "Les Miserables" and "The War of the Worlds", I was really nervous about this adaptation. As it happened, though, those fears were unwarranted - always nice when that happens.

"A Suitable Boy" is a very long, very detailed book. Cutting it down to six hours is a massive task. Fortunately, the structure of the novel seems to have supported that well - although the six episodes remain extremely dense, the major plot points have been covered well. The material excised has almost entirely taken the form of subplots that have just been dropped - there's an entire story about Pran's health and career that simply doesn't appear, for instance.

The cast of this adaptation are universally excellent, with those playing Maan and Firoz being particularly of note - the relationship between those two is key to almost the whole novel, and the actors portray that perfectly.

The only character that didn't feel quite right was Haresh - his performance was absolutely fine, and captured the essence of the character, but... the impression I got from the novel was that Haresh was a very plain man, distinguished only when he smiled. The actor here was perhaps rather too attractive for the role. (Then again, maybe it's a case of "TV ugly"?)

But that's a tiny, tiny nitpick. The adaptation was excellent, and I would highly recommend it.

#56: "Faeries", by Brian Froud and Alan Lee

Spidersbane

Poor Funsize got a bit of a fright the other night - she had decided to sit on the floor to finish her dinner, only for a mid-size spider to sneak along the floor to join her. And at a stroke all my efforts to persuade her that spiders are, by and large, both friendly and harmless were undone.

Anyway, I sprang into action, caught the spider in a glass, and then ejected it from the house. It will bother us no more. As a result of this great deed, I am now claiming the title of Spidersbane... at least for now.

I may lay it down again once the offended spider returns intent on wreaking a terrible vengeance!

#55: "The Long Tomorrow", by Leigh Brackett

If Looks Could Kill...

I would have died rather confused yesterday.

I've been feeling pretty lousy all week (almost certainly just because I ate something that didn't agree with me - certainly nothing to do with Covid). And, amongst various tweaks to try to improve my general health, I've decided to start taking a vitamin D supplement, as that deficiency is rife in Scotland. (In previous years I think I've probably been okay, but this year has of course seen me spending a lot more time indoors than previously... especially now.)

So I went to an appropriate shop and picked up said vitamin D supplement. Heading to the checkouts from there, I noticed that the one directly in front of me had a single customer who was just finishing up - and indeed had finished up by the time I got there. So, rather than head to the self-checkout (and potentially have to wait for authorisation to buy what is, after all, medicine), I figured I'd take advantage of the lull and go there.

Except that the checkout assistant gave me the blackest look, and doubled down on it when I said "just that, please". It was most odd.

I suppose it's just about possible that it's about minimising contact - yes, it was just one item, and yes I could have gone to self-checkout and possibly have reduced the contact by one. But I really didn't expect something so blandly inoffensive to become blog-worthy!

Anyway, in other news: this weekend just can't come soon enough!

Experimental Cookery 2020: Rich Pork Goulash with Gnocchi

This one came from "The Great British Bake Off Winter Kitchen" - a book that I like more in theory than in practice, though one that does have some good entries. This one caught my eye largely for the gnocchi, which I really like. (Though LC, alas, does not. Funsize also refused.)

Anyway, this was a quick and easy preparation followed by a long, slow bake - ideal time to go off and do something else. There's certainly a lot to be said for just allowing the oven to take the strain!

The result was very nice. LC certainly enjoyed it a bit more than the goat goulash we've had before. I also thought it was fine, though I remain uncertain as to whether the remaining two portions will freeze okay. All in all a success.

Why There Must be a Plan B

The SNP want Scottish Independence. I suspect that's not a controversial statement. They also very much want that to come about as a result of a binding referendum, held under the authority of a Section 30 Order from Westminster. And I agree that that would be the ideal way forward - the two sides agreeing the terms of the contest, and then the people of Scotland being given the decision to make.

But...

Given the way the polls stand it would be the height of folly to assume that Westminster will grant that Section 30 Order, regardless of the outcome of the election next year. Indeed, the stronger the showing by the SNP, the greater the motivation for Westminster to try to avoid a referendum.

The thing is, if the polls are at all accurate (and a long sequence of similar results suggests they are), then it is likely that the PM who grants a Section 30 Order will go down in history as the PM who ended the United Kingdom. (Of course, that may be inevitable. Were I the leader of Sinn Fein, I would be biden my time until late January, and then calling loudly and long for a poll on Irish reunification. The strict terms for holding one have been met, and with the new President being a huge friend of Ireland, indeed considering himself to be Irish, Westminster probably couldn't resist that one. And with Brexit causing at least some pragmatic Unionists to value the economic benefits of remaining in the EU over the emotional pull of remaining in the UK, we may well be at, or very close to, the tipping point.)

Anyway, back to Scotland...

If we accept that there is at least the possibility that the PM of the day will just say no, regardless of the democratic will of Scots, then there must be a Plan B - what are the SNP going to do next?

Now, at this point the First Minister's loyalists will advise people just to trust Nicola, assuring them that she has a plan, and that all will be well. But there's a problem with that...

Even if we accept that Nicola does indeed have a Plan B, primed and ready to spring into action should Boris (or his successor) refuse a Section 30 Order, she will need to have a mandate to carry it out - it will have had to go before the electorate and been endorsed (or rejected, of course - but in that case all of this becomes moot).

It's not enough to have a Plan B for what happens if the Section 30 Order continues to be refused. That Plan B must be in the manifesto.

#54: "Sharpe's Regiment", by Bernard Cornwell

Experimental Cookery 2020: Veggie Quesadillas

This was one that Jamie did on his "Keep Cooking" show, with the recipe being posted online afterwards. It looked good at the time, so I felt I needed to give it a go. And, of course, I've mentioned before that I'd like to increase our range of vegetarian meals, so I figured I'd give it a go.

This proved to be nice and easy - finely chop a bunch of stuff, mix with cheese, and then sanwich with tortillas and heat. And I rather enjoyed it. LC wasn't so keen.

In future, I think it needs somewhat fewer veggies and quite a bit more cheese. And less in general. Oh, and maybe a little ham.

But it was mostly successful, I thought, and I think we'll have them again... occasionally.

Never Happier to be Wrong

About a month ago, I wrote: However, given that this is Scotland and we specialise in losing in the most heartbreaking way possible, that match will no doubt be the one where we finally put in a great performance, score early one, then desperately defend for the rest of the match... only to lose two goals in injury time. Or something like that.

Last night, that prediction came horribly close to coming true - the strong performance, the early-ish goal, the desperate defence, and then one going very late in the game. And then extra time. As the clock neared 120 minutes, Serbia got another corner, a carbon copy of the one from which they got the goal, and I was certain it was going in again.

But it didn't, and we went to penalties. And, somehow, Scotland have managed to retain our 100% record in penalty shoot-outs. Huzzah!

And so, we're off to a major tournament for the first time in 23 years, and travelling to the distant and exotic cities of, um, Glasgow and London.

A Merry Christmas for my Nemeses

As I've mentioned before, back in the dim and distant archives of this blog, I count the greetings card industry as one of my nemeses. The major reason for this is that greetings cards are basically an example of something people do because you 'have' to do it, at unreasonable cost for almost no benefit, and with significant environmental downsides at that.

Basically, I object to the fact that a huge number of people are busy sending bits of card through the post every year to send one another entirely impersonal personal messages of well-wishes that they don't really mean, and that are only ever acknowledged in their absence.

But.

This year of all years is one where suddenly it all does make sense. It is extremely likely that we won't be able to gather for Christmas, which means that those seasons greetings won't be shared in person. Which sucks, but there it is. And that being the case, suddenly there is some value in using another means to send them. While Zoom and similar alternatives are available, they just aren't the same.

And so, this year... and only this year... I will be doing my bit to support the efforts of my nemeses to part people from their hard-earned cash. Because for once, they're actually offering a somewhat-meaningful service.

Just don't expect it to last!

#53: "The Sword Saint", by C.F. Iggulden

Fiat Lux

I have run into an unexpected issue with working from home. When we began, we were just leaving th winter months behind, which meant that I was starting my day just after dawn and finishing up while it was still light. Over the last month or so, however, that has shifted - I now start before daylight, and then finish just as it's getting really dark - and it's never really getting all that light anyway.

The upshot of that is that I'm a lot more reliant on artificial lighting than was previously the case and, sad to say, the lights in the study just don't cut it. Worse, the nature of the light fitting in that room does not lend itself readily to swapping in brighter bulbs, and so the light I've got is, unfortunaely, about the limit.

For the moment, my workaround will be to pull in a standing lamp. This isn't ideal, especially since we kinda need that lamp in another room as well, but it's probably better than nothing. However, it does mean that as we head towards the shortest days I'm more and more going to be on the lookout for a better solution.

#52: "I Know This Much Is True", by Wally Lamb (a book from The List)

The Thing I Didn't Want to Do

Yesterday afternoon I caught myself - there was a task that I really had to do, but it was just hard. Frankly, I didn't want to do it. And so I had spent the better part of two days doing absolutely anything but work on the task at hand. It was all good, worthwhile stuff, but it really wasn't the priority. And, of course, as long as I didn't get the big thing done, it remained an ongoing source of stress.

Anyway, I then focused my efforts have have since dealt with the task. So that's good. But obviously not an ideal situation to have been in the first place.

Hello Old Friend

I received an email from an old friend this morning. That was a very pleasant surprise - I had assumed that that friendship was pretty definitively ended. (There wasn't any drama there. It's just shockingly easy to simply lose contact. The days pile up and become months, the months become years... and then all that's needed is a house move, email address change, or similar, and the connection is gone.)

So, anyway, good to hear from him. Hopefully, that marks a reopening of those lines of communication, rather than just a blip. I really must do better on that front!

#51: "Fantastic Mr Fox", by Roald Dahl (a book for Funsize)

At the Crossroads

Well, today's the day. Today, America goes to the polls to decide whether we continue along the darkest timeline, or whether to change course for one that is marginally less terrible. It looks like they're also deciding whether we go for a No Deal Brexit, or whether Boris chickens out and begs for something slightly less bad.

I really wish I was more hopeful than I am. And I really wish the Democrats had a better candidate, though I'm hard pressed to think who that might be - it's a fairly damning indictment that "he's not Trump" is the very best accolade that can be given to their very best candidate. Unfortunately, Elizabeth Warren blew it, and Sanders was never going to be elected in the US. So Biden it is.

Good luck everyone!

Theme of the Month: Blogs

The theme for this month is "blogs" - I'm going to attempt to get caught up on blogging, both here and on the Imaginarium. So my intent will be to post roughly daily on one or other of the two blogs, until such time as I'm caught up.

We'll see if that works out, but it's going to need some fairly drastic action if I'm going to meet my stated goal for the year!

Halloween 2020

Due to the pandemic Halloween was of course rather different this year. Rather than just having the kids miss out completely, our estate organised a suitably distanced affair - those houses that wanted to be involved decorated the outside of the houses, put up a pumpkin sign in the window, and then left sweets outside to be collected.

Funsize dressed up as a butterfly, although the effect was lessened somewhat by needing a jacket over her costume. We then walked around the estate observing all the various decorations, and making the customary collection.

It was fine. In fact, if I'm honest I think I prefer it this way - I'm not a huge fan of Halloween in general, so being able to boil it down the essentials and to remove the need to answer the door was a definite boon for me.

So that one is no great loss. Bonfire Night will be much more of a loss, of course, with all the organised events being cancelled. On the other hand, Bonfire Night is frankly rather problematic, so maybe that's for the best, too.

That leaves Christmas, of course. Unfortunately, I can't see any possibility of it being even remotely normal this year (and, frankly, it shouldn't be - the pandemic just isn't going to go away in the next eight weeks). But that's a topic for another post...

#50: "Fire and Blood", by George R.R. Martin