The First Hurdle Cleared

Now that we have been moved to Covid Level 1, it is just barely possible for us to host a family gathering - we're allowed twelve adults outdoors, which means the birthday barbecue is basically ideal. Weather and delta variant permitting, we'll be able to gather for the first time since August. Which is rather nice.

That said, the journey has already been something of an adventure. It started with the meal planning - as I've mentioned before I like the notion of having a small number of foundation items along with a few elaborations, but with it being so long I thought I might go for something a little more involved this time... and I have some very interesting things to debut.

But this past weekend we hit a major hurdle. Our gas canister was nearing its end, and finally reached the end on Friday. This is actually a good thing, as we were in that awkward twilight area where there was some gas but not enough - leaving a judgment call over whether to replace it, get a second canister, or gamble. Better to be sure.

So on Saturday we went to B&Q to get a refill... and only then discovered that there is a major shortage at the moment! Disaster.

That of course prompted a lot of phoning around to try to find stock, as well as looking at other options, including but not limited to replacing the whole BBQ with a charcoal one, hiring in a BBQ and/or gas supply, or just getting takeaway instead.

But, luckily, there's no need - I've been able to find a stockist with actual, well, stock. And so we're now back on track... weather and delta variant permitting.

Surprise!'s Lack of Surprise

Yesterday we celebrated the baptism of Surprise!, which was a very different experience than Funsize's equivalent event - this was the first time we were back in the church building in more than a year, it was a much smaller event (both in the church and the family gathering afterwards), and we're all that much older and tireder than we were then. For all that, it was a lovely event.

The service was, in form at least, pretty much the same as for Funsize. However, where we had several people at the front, this time it was just LC and myself, plus Funsize and Surprise!. When the time came, LC held Surprise! forward, and the minister applied the water, rather than taking the child as would normally be the case.

One of the more surprising elements of the event was Surprise!'s reaction to the whole thing, or rather his complete lack of one - he just happily lay there are the water was applied, as though it was any other day.

After the event we returned home, where it was possible to host a small family gathering - one of the benefits of having a garden in which to host these things. It was a relatively small affair, but nice for all that. It was also the first time we've had any sort of gathering involving both sides of the family for more than a year. Another very welcome sign of things returning slowly towards normal.

Hopes For Our Son

Unlike with Funsize, we weren't asked for any words about our hopes for our son. That's probably just as well, as I'm running short of suitably subtle Pratchett/Tolkien/Babylon 5 references to use.

That said, the truth is that I hope for my son pretty much what every parent hopes for their child: happiness, health, good friends, and self-worth. Everything around that is just about arranging words.

So: I hope he grows up to he happy and healthy. I hope he finds himself surrounded by good friends. I know he will have a loving and supportive family, both immediate and wider.

And, most important of all, I hope he always knows just how loved and treasured he is. Just like his sister.

I Was Wrong

My previous post turned out to be in error. There is one combination of events that would represent an even more Scottish way to be eliminated, though it's massively unlikely...

As a consequence of yesterday's fixtures, the table is pretty open: the Czech Republic and England have both qualified, with four points each, and Croatia and Scotland are each on one point, with those two pairs still to play one another. Additionally, Scotland has the worse goal difference. So when Scotland play Croatia:

• If we lose, we're out. However, Croatia will almost certainly go through.
• If we draw, we're also out. Croatia will almost certainly also be eliminated - they'll be third in the group, but probably not one of the best third-placed teams.
• If we win, we're almost certainly through.

However, there is a permutation where we can actually go through as the second-placed team in the group, but only if the other result falls out just right:

• If England and the Czech Republic draw, they'll both be on five points. Regardless of how we do, Scotland could only manage third at best.
• If England win, they'll top the group on seven points, the Czech Republic will be on four points. And if Scotland also win, and thus get to four points, due to the head-to-head we would therefore be third. (I think, but am not 100% sure, that it is the head-to-head, not goal difference that would determine this.)
• However, if the Czech Republic win, they would top the group on seven points, and England would be on four points. If Scotland also won, we would be on four points, and of course the head-to-head was a draw. So we'd go to goal difference, and then to goals scored.

What that means is that, in the unlikely event that Scotland beat Croatia, and the very unlikely event that the Czech Republic beat England, and if the scores are big enough, it's just barely possible that we could get to second place.

Which means there is a new most-Scottish way to go out:

1. Scotland score early to lead their game 1-0.
2. England suffer an utterly disastrous collapse, and somehow contrive to lose their game 3-0.
3. With minutes to go, all of Scotland is gripped by the impossible fever of knowing that this time we're going to do it, and in fact we'll even make second place!
4. And then Croatia score the equaliser at the death, and in an instant we go from "second" to being out!

But, more likely, we'll revert to form and come ever so close but never quite manage to score.

The Most Scottish Way to Go Out

I think I'd best post this before today's matches go ahead. I think I have found the sequence of results that would be the most Scottish way of being eliminated from Euro 2020:

1. Scotland will play well tonight, but suffer a narrow defeat - 2-1 or something like that. The kind of result that everyone accepts as being just, and the kind of performance to give hope.
2. More importantly, Croatia have a nightmare against the Czech Republic. This results in them failing to win the match and, more importantly, give us hope that we can actually win.
3. This should mean that the winner of our final group would go through as one of the best four third-placed teams, but a draw would eliminate both.
4. Scotland then score early in that final match, and defend manfully for the remainder of the game. Until...
5. With practically the last kick of the ball, Croatia score an equaliser and eliminate us both. Disaster!

All of which isn't without precedent: that's almost exactly how the women's team were eliminated last time...

A Major Milestone

I've noticed this morning that my previous post, about the "Game of Thrones" rewatch, was actually the 2,000th post on the blog. It's funny how that milestone just crept up on me, but it's good that it's not going completely unmarked.

Game of Thrones rewatch

I have been working my way through "Game of Thrones" for the past several weeks, at roughly a rate of an episode a day. I'm now halfway through the fifth season. Some thoughts:

• I tend to split the series into three parts: seasons 1-4 adapt the first three books and are generally excellent, albeit not as good as the books. Season 5 adapts books four and five, and adds some new material (notably involving Dorne, but also sending Sansa to marry Ramsay Bolton). For the most part, this season is good, not as good as 1-4, but better than the (fairly poor) books. That said, the new material is notably poor. Seasons 6-8, of course, move beyond the books, and race towards the end. There is a very noticeable drop in quality.
• Varys' storyline makes no sense. He's apparently working "for the good of the Realm", but he's supporting a Targaryan restoration, when the last Targeryan was "the mad king" and the initial heir is Viserys who really is no better. And then, when Daenerys emerges and makes for a fairly good candidate, he promptly jumps ship to support Jon Snow who (a) doesn't want the jobs, (b) isn't in a position to claim it, and (c) is a poor choice anyway.
• Sansa's storyline in season 5 likewise makes no sense. It's entirely out of character for Littlefinger to sell her off to someone about whom he knows so little.
• The Dorne storyline just sucks. No more really needs to be said about it.
• That said, I remain of the opinion that season 5 remains a step above the novels, which sadly drop horribly in quality after the first three. I'm increasingly inclined to recommend that people read those and then consider them to represent the start of the greatest unfinished fantasy epic ever. I'm somewhat doubtful about whether the series will ever see an end, and even more doubtful about the eventual quality of any end that does emerge.
• I think this is the fourth time I've watched the first few seasons (once on Sky, once when I first go the blu-rays, once with LC, and now), and only the second time for the later ones. That's not terrible, given the relative quality of the series.
• I really hate these blu-rays. Not only did I have difficulties with some data they had stored on the PS3, which meant they didn't want to play properly again, but each disc has several minutes of unskippable nonsense that insists on running every time you load it. When I want to sit down to watch an episode, every extra second I have to wait before hitting the starting credits is an imposition, and these disks have too many. But then, the days of physical media are essentially done, so I guess it matters very little really.

I may well have some more thoughts when I get to the end. We'll see.

Freedom D(el)ay

So, Boris is set to delay "Freedom Day" by another four weeks. Frankly, that's a good thing - we're getting there, but the fact is that the group most likely to go out and mingle are also the group who are still unvaccinated. Far better to wait a few more weeks, vaccinate that last group, and then call it done. It's a frustrating delay, but it's the right thing to do.

That said, the reasons this delay is needed are frankly inexcusable. There are three very obvious lessons from the last year that our government have singularly failed to learn:

1. We live on an island. (That is, GB specifically. Different considerations apply to Northern Ireland, not to mention the other islands that make up the UK.) That means that we have control of our borders that other countries don't enjoy. For goodness sake, close the borders early!
2. If you think you might need to tighten restrictions, or delay relaxing them, you absolutely should have done so several days ago.
3. Every day you delay in taking the necessary steps makes the inevitable pain worse - in terms of lives lost, in terms of the economy, in terms of people's mental health, and in every other way. Get on with it!

And so, once again, we get to a point where it's obvious a delay is needed, we've all known it was coming for about a week, and still the government dithers. And this after the government dithered over adding India to the red list.

I really wish I believed that there would be a reckoning for this. Our government are manifestly incompetent; it would be nice to think they would be replaced in short order.

Euro 2020

So, today marks the start of Scotland's campaign at Euro 2020, our first major tournament (in the men's game) for decades. And today's game represents our best chance of racking up some points... with even one win likely being enough to qualify from the group. This is, already, the big one! (Though the game against England is also "the big one", albeit for very different reasons.)

Honestly, though, I'm not too bothered. We've already over-achieved just by getting to the tournament, so provided we don't suffer any outright humiliations I'm actually happy regardless of the results. Getting out of the group would represent our greatest result ever, and the odds of getting any further than that are minimal anyway, even if the impossible were to happen. So...

Meanwhile...

I've only "seen" two of the matches thus far. Obviously, I was quite glad to see Wales gain a draw in their first match, and wish them well.

As regards England, I thought they gave a perfectly creditable performance - they did what they needed to do, they got themselves a win, and there weren't any glaring weaknesses that I could see. It wasn't a steamroller, but that's fine.

In the past, I've felt that it's been obvious right from the first game that England weren't going to win the thing. Usually, they do okay, win the group by virtue of being by far the biggest team there, progress a few rounds, and then meet a really good team (usually by the quarter-finals; definitely by the semis), and then go out.

I didn't get that feeling this time. I thought that this was a team that, you know, was actually in with a shot. That said, I also didn't get the feeling that this was an invincible team. My gut feeling is that several teams will likely think they're in with a shout of winning this thing, and England are one of them. Which is fair enough.

Scotland, of course, aren't one of the teams with a realistic belief we could win it. But that's fine. I'm jus glad to be there.

#26: "Children of Húrin", by J.R.R. Tolkien

#27: "Sharpe's Fortress", by Bernard Cornwell

Day 150: Update on... Stuff

The past several weeks have been a huge improvement over those before that. A combination of no longer having to wait for Surprise! to arrive, lockdown being significantly eased, and the weather improving has had a hugely beneficial effect. Additionally, finally receiving the vaccine, and some other aches and pains clearing up has been good. All in all, things are in a much happier place now than they were.

• Books: By Day 150 I should expect to have completed 24.65 books. Having already finished book 25, I'm a good way ahead of that target. Additionally, I'm well advanced in my read-through of Shakespeare, which remains on target to conclude in early July.
• Weight: No change.
• Blogging: By this point I would have hoped to have posted 49 times here and 24 or so over on the Imaginarium. Unfortunately I fell a long way behind in April, and have not yet caught up - I expect to have rectified that by the next update, but we'll see.
• Redecorating the Spare Room: All remaining items have now been completed. This is done.
• Tadpole #2: Surprise! arrived two weeks after the previous update. Despite a rather more exciting birth than we might have preferred, the main thing was that everyone came through safe and well, which was indeed the case. This is done.

And that's that - two done, one ahead of plan, one behind but catching up, and one that's behind with no progress to speak of. I'm actually reasonably sanguine about all of that, largely because I deliberately didn't set any goals for the year!

Not Enough Letters

When you get right down to it, English is just a rubbish language.

Here's the problem: one of the single biggest innovations in the development of language was hit upon by the Phoenicians, and it was the notion of using letters to depict sounds, rather than using pictures to depict things. And with that it was suddenly possible to write the word for anything using a combination of only a few distinct letters. (Of course, that's also where we derive the word phonetic, and the idea of "sounding it out" when learnign unfamiliar words.)

So far, so good.

But then you get English, which is an utter nonsense of a language: we have letters where the sounds are modified by other nearby letters ('ch' rather than 'c' and 'h'; or pretty much any word ending in an 'e'); we have a set of mad rules with all manner of exceptions ('i' before 'e', except after 'c'... which is just weird); we have silent letters everywhere...

Fundamentally, we just have too few letters.

(Of course, the downside of that rant is that it also implicitly accepts that Americans are right with their policy of dropping the unnecessary 'u' in words like honour and armour, and replacing 's' with 'z' in words like organisation.)

Anyway, that's my rant for today.

#25: "Baptism of Fire", by Andrez Sapkowski

Fixing "The Rise of Skywalker"

The Star Wars sequel trilogy have not aged well. By my book, "The Rise of Skywalker" remains the best of the bunch, but that's largely because "The Force Awakens" is a Greatest Hits compilation of older films, while "The Last Jedi" is just a mess. Still, "The Rise of Skywalker" has very significant weaknesses.

I've been giving some thought to this, and I have a proposed fix. Though, naturally, it's largely useless - there's no more prospect of this film being redone than the final season of "Game of Thrones".

In my opinion, there are three big problems with "The Rise of Skywalker". The first is the revelation that Rey's parents aren't "nobody" after all, but rather that they all tie into Palpatine's plans... but in a frankly ham-fisted way. Secondly, there's the issue that our heroes' big plan at the end is to send a message calling for help from the galaxy... which they did in "The Last Jedi" and received no response. Finally, there's the problem that Finn basically has nothing to do - apparently, he's Force Sensitive, but this is handled so badly it reads as an unrequited crush on Rey, and even that goes nowhere.

So...

My solution to the Rey thing is actually pretty simple: have her parents be, almost literally, nobody. More specifically, we know that Anakin was conceived through the Force and therefore had no father - it would be easy enough to have Palpatine repeat the same trick to conceive a new child into which he planned to pass his consciousness. Indeed, it would be a fairly small step for him to combine that with Kaminoan cloning techno-magic and eliminate both parents entirely. And thus, instead of being a previously-unmentioned son, all we need is for Rey's 'parents' to be researchers who absconded with the child, and that all ties together.

Regarding the other two issues...

One of the big themes of Star Wars, in all the films, is that complacency kills. The Jedi are brought down because their arrogance blinds them to the danger of Palpatine. Tarkin dies because he doesn't recognise the danger the Rebels pose to the Death Star. The Empire is ultimately undone by the Ewoks.

One of the plot points of the sequel trilogy is the use of child soldiers by the First Order - they have abducted masses of children from the galaxy (apparently including Lando's child, though they neglected to actually mention that in the film), indoctrinate them, give them guns, and call it good. And, to a large extent, those troops are held in place by the force of Phasma's personality - Phasma being dead as of "The Last Jedi".

So...

I would have thought that the solution to both the final plan and to Finn having nothing to do would be for Finn to lead the First Order's Stormtroopers in their own rebellion against Palpatine - and thus the First Order is brought down by its complacency about its own troops.

And this would actually be easy to arrange with minor tweaks to the film: there's a scene early on where the First Order agree to step up their "recruitment" - step one is to add a comment to the effect of "are you sure? We've been seeing many more defections now that Phasma is dead..."

Step two is to reveal that the informant is actually legion - lots of Stormtroopers are leaking information under a single codename (Fulcrum). Then, when Finn and Poe are captured and set for execution, rather than Hux shooting the Stormtroopers, it is they who shoot him in the leg, reveal themselves to be Fulcrum, and then they all flee together. (And then Hux gets shot as the informer without a chance to explain himself, followed by the same arrogant "I've found the leak" statement by Pryde as in the film...)

And that way you get a well-established indication that the Stormtroopers are fit to rebel, and so in goes Finn, back in armour, together with the ex-Stormtroopers from earlier in the film and Jannah and her troupe.

(If they wanted, they could even still have that whole "there are more of us..." scene - there's no reason Lando and Chewie couldn't take the Falcon to try to gather allies. It just shouldn't be something they rely on.)

And that's more or less it - the rest is details. For instance, I would be inclined to name the Final Order flagship "Skywalker", thus making the Rise both literal (in that it is seen rising from Exegol) and thematic (as it rises from captivity back to the light). The Sith dagger shouldn't point to the ruins of the Second Death Star (much less a singular location within that ruin) - you need some other, less contrived, path to that. And, frankly, there should be a massed battle between Jedi and Sith Force Ghosts at the end - with Vader and Anakin being the last two standing.

Or something like that, anyway.

Histories: Done

As of this afternoon I have now completed my read-through of Shakespeare's histories. I now have nine of the tragedies, plus Pericles, still to read, with my hope being that I'll finish up in early July. In the immediate future I'm going to take a couple of days off before starting the next play.

I found the histories rather more interesting than the comedies, largely because the comedies were very formulaic. That said, both the first (King John) and last (Henry VIII) were less enjoyable than any part of the two tetralogies.

However, I do remain convinced of my two previous conclusions:

• Shakespeare very definitely has a small number of "greatest hits" and a lot of lesser works, and those lesser works are generally lesser for a good reason.
• As I've said many times, these are plays and best enjoyed by watching rather than reading. Were it not for its place as the final entry on the UK side of The List, I wouldn't be tackling Shakespeare in this manner, and it's not something I can recommend.

Kane and Abel

As I've mentioned before, one of the great things about The List is that every so often I come across a book that I wouldn't otherwise have read but that I very much enjoyed. "Kane and Abel" is the latest such novel.

The reasons I wouldn't have considered it are probably pretty obvious - being written by a Tory and being about two unabashed capitalists, it was never likely to appeal!

And yet I enjoyed it a great deal. It covers a great sweep of history, moves at a good clip, and has two mostly-sympathic, albeit very definitely flawed, main characters. Granted, it waxes rather nostalgic about the American Dream in a manner that is charmingly naive, but that can be mostly forgiven. Yes, parts of it are a nonsense (albeit much more now than when it was published), but the fantasy wish-fulfilment can probably be excused for the good of the plot.

But what makes the novel work is the parallel tracks of the two main characters and the conflicts between them.

At present, it stands as the candidate for book of the year. Recommended!

#24: "Kane and Abel", by Jeffrey Archer (a book from The List - fourteen to go)

50 Years of Mr Men

Given the avatar I use on this blog, I can hardly let such a prestigious anniversary pass unremarked, can I?

The Mr Men were amongst the books of my early childhood (alongside Thomas, of course). And now they are part, albeit a relatively smaller part, of the childhood of my daughter. That's a win in my book.

Vaccination Day

I had my first dose of the Astrazenica vaccine this morning. So far, so good - my arm is a little sore, but otherwise fine.

I'm extremely glad to have reached this point - it seemed to take an age for the vaccine programme to get to me, but it has at last. Not that it makes a huge difference, as I was always in a low-risk group (due to working from home), and because I'm obviously still bound by the various restrictions. Still, getting the vaccine takes us all that little bit closer to herd immunity and therefore freedom, so it's all to the good.

#23: "A Murder of Quality", by John Le Carré

Aftermath

My after-the-election post - this one has been delayed solely because I wasn't able to find the time to write it. The truth is that I don't think the Scottish election mattered all that much anyway - the by-election in Hartlepool had rather more importance.

Anyway, some thoughts:

The Result: The result was pretty much as expected - the SNP falling just short of a majority, but backed by a slightly-increased Green contingent. Actually, given the voting system and the tactical voting on both constituencies (by unionists) and on the list (by nationalists), it's pretty much certain that this is what we're going to get, give or take a seat or two.

(If you could somehow ban tactical voting, and enforce it - which you shouldn't and can't, respectively - we'd probably see an SNP majority based on the constituencies alone, a much smaller, or even non-existent Green group, and the other three parties slightly diminished. Conversely, a purely proportional system would give us an almost even Yes/No split, with the SNP being almost all of the Yes side, a few Greens, a couple from Alba, and the three unionist parties sharing the remaining seats.)

Anyway, given the rules of the game, the only people who can really feel aggrieved at the result are the Greens - it looks like they should have gained two more seats, but for a bizarre decision by the Electoral Commission. Oh well.

For the parties: The SNP will be quite happy. The Greens will be very happy, apart from the above. The Tories will likewise be quite happy. The Labour party will probably be disappointed, but they never really had a chance to increase their share, and will probably stay pretty much constant for the foreseeable future.

The Lib Dems will be gutted - losing one seat isn't too bad, but it does mean they're no longer considered a party grouping, which has various technical effects. It will be very interesting to see if they feature in the debates next time. If Alba doesn't qualify (and that's probably rightly so), the Lib Dems probably shouldn't either.

For Alba: I think the game is done. They may stick around, but I really can't see them going anywhere now. Come the General Election they'll lose their MPs, come the local elections they'll probably lose their councillors, and it's really hard to see where they go from there.

The only thing that concerns me about that is that it does mean it is effectively impossible to start a new party in Scotland and be successful. That means you now have a five-way choice for your vote, and if you don't agree with any of those five, you're politically homeless... and denied even the hope of representation. (And since there are a great many topics on which all five agree, there's a reasonable chance you may simply be out of luck.)

For me: As I said in my previous post, this was probably my last vote.

The mandate for a second independence referendum: It's actually very simple. We are a representative democracy, and mandates are determined by seats. If a majority of MSPs vote for something that, and that alone, constitutes a mandate.

So the SNP and Greens absolutely have a mandate to attempt to bring about a second independence referendum. (And let's be honest, if it was any other topic, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.)

Of course, the key word there is 'attempt'...

For independence: The dream is dead. This is where Hartlepool comes in.

Regardless of whether it was an SNP majority or a pro-independence majority, the sequence of events was always going to be the same: at some point Nicola Sturgeon will ask for a Section 30 order for a second referendum, and Boris Johnson will say "no". He pretty much has to say no - if he says yes there's a decent chance he'll lose, an then he goes down in history as the PM who lost the union, instead of as the man who delivered Brexit and guided us through the Pandemic. He's not going to do that.

So the key question is what happens then. Now, the last twice this has happened, the answer has been "nothing" - there has been a lot of huffing and puffing, but no election and no real move towards independence. My best guess is that that will happen again - and will always happen again.

But if the Scottish government does try to force the issue, they're still scuppered. Firstly, there will absolutely be a court challenge, which they may well lose. Secondly, even if that doesn't happen, the Westminster government can easily amend the Scotland Act to outlaw any referendum without a Section 30 Order (putting the matter to bed). Thirdly, if they don't want to do that, they can just repeal whatever law it is Holyrood has passed to bring it about - Westminster have retained the right to make whatever changes they want. Either of those latter two options can be done with emergency legislation, taking about a day.

Or Boris could simply shut down Holyrood completely. With any other PM that might be unthinkable, but with Boris...

The thing is, the Tories won Hartlepool, and didn't just win Hartlepool but won it with an outright majority of the vote. Despite everything - the disaster that is Brexit, the horrible death toll from the pandemic, the naked corruption of all that money passed to their cronies, the Arcuri affair, still they voted for Boris.

And it would be deeply disrespectful to suggest that voters didn't know all those things when they voted.

No. Whether it was due to the success of the vaccination programme, or they were grateful for the furlough scheme, or simple loathing of Labour, the fact is that the people of Hartlepool voted Tory in vast, vast numbers.

What that means is that Boris has a large (indeed, expanded) majority in the Commons. And, despite everything, he's still a vote winner. That means that the Tories will back him, and that means he can do basically whatever he wants.

Coupled with that, there's actually very little for him to lose in shutting Holyrood. Sure, 31 Tory MSPs would lose their jobs, but they're not exactly the shining lights of the party. He's not going to lose many votes in Scotland - and even if he does, Scotland is frankly an irrelevance in General Elections (and even moreso if we insist on voting SNP). Given that he's on record as considering devolution to be a disaster, if Holyrood starts to be a real nuisance, he might well just pull the plug.

The bottom line: There won't be another independence referendum in the next five years. There may well not be another set of elections five years from now, but even if there are, they'll be fought on exactly the same issue (singular) with almost exactly the same result.

The whole thing is just profoundly depressing.

#20: "Time of Contempt", by Andrzej Sapkowski
#21: "Sharpe's Triumph", by Bernard Cornwell
#22: "Firefly: The Ghost Machine", by James Lovegrove

Can't Say I Enjoyed That

This morning I dropped Funsize off at nursery and then went in to the polling place and voted. And, for the first time ever, I found myself feeling bad about doing so - although I came to bitterly regret my vote for Labour in 1997, that wasn't until some years later; today I regretted my vote even as I cast it.

Unfortunately, I find myself in a position where I object strongly to at least something being proposed by all of the parties that have any chance of being elected, which meant either wasting my vote or finding a least-worst option. And so, since there is one thing I definitely do want, and I can see only one way that that might happen, that's where the vote went.

Sadly, I can't help the feeling that my chosen government if (when) elected will then proceed to kick the thing I do want into the long grass, and instead focus on all of the things that I find so objectionable. And, of course, they'll use my vote as justification for exactly that. All of which sucks.

We'll see, I guess.

As of right now, though, today was my last vote. The game's a bogey.

Surprise!

I haven't really had any time for blogging in the last week, so this is a rather belated post about a rather belated delivery. You wouldn't expect an overdue baby could end up being a massive surprise, but there it is.

It all started the evening I finished work. It was the weekend, and because of when LC was booked in to be induced we already knew I wasn't going to be back. That evening we had LC's parents over for dinner - a rather nice BBQ (our second of the year). LC was feeling rather uncomfortable, but at this point there was no real indication of what was coming, and so after the meal LC's parents went home, and we got started on our evening routine - LC took Funsize for a bath, while I started with the clean up and washing up.

The washing up was interrupted by LC crying out in pain. At which point I suggested she call the labour ward while I took over Funsize's bath. The advice was that things might be starting to happen, but we should stay home for now.

Next, Funsize was put in front of the TV while LC had a both to try to help with the pain, and I finished the washing up. Oh, and I called LC's parents to come back and collect Funsize "as a precaution at this time".

By the time the washing up was done, LC was out of the bath, but was crying out in considerable pain. I went upstairs to find that her waters had broken. What to do, what to do? (At this point LC snapped at me. Understandably, given the circumstances...)

The assumption at this point was still that we had plenty of time - last time there were hours between the waters breaking and the birth. Still, there was a need to be ready. So I headed downstairs, got Funsize into her shoes and jacket and made sure she had everything she needed. I also, crucially, unlocked the front door.

But I wasn't liking what I was hearing from upstairs, so now I called the Labour Ward...

As I was going through the routine "who are you" questions, I was heading upstairs and put on the speaker phone, whereupon the midwife noted that LC was already pushing, and asked if anything could be seen. "The head!" LC exclaimed.

The midwife then said two terrifying things. Firstly, that the baby was going to be born at home, and secondly that she was going to call an ambulance. Oh, and could I go get some cloths, towels, or similar?

So I did. Meanwhile, LC got down on all fours, and it was time for the midwife to talk us through the birth...

The next few minutes were not something I ever expected to experience. First the top of the head appeared. With the next contraction, the baby had a forehead and some eyes. Then a mouth and chin. "Your next contraction should be your last," said the midwife on the phone. Meanwhile, I was worried - the baby was a distinct purple colour...

At this point an unfamiliar voice came from downstairs. "Hello?" The ambulance had arrived!

I shouted, and up they came, and with enormous relief I moved out of the way to let the professional take my place. And seconds later, our son was born.

Once that was done, everything slowed right down. The ambulance crew moved on to helping LC, and our son was handed to me for some warmth (and to get us out of the way).

I'm not sure whether it was immediately before or immediately after the birth, but LC's parents had arrived by the time I went downstairs. Which had the nice consequence that they, but more importantly Funsize, were able to meet the new arrival right away. (There is a photo, but it's not the best - the baby is cute; me, not so much.)

And then it was off to the hospital. LC's parents took charge of Funsize, but also spent quite a lot of time collecting towels, clearing up, and generally putting the house back in order - by the time I got back home, it was all spotless.

From there, it was all remarkably calm. LC required some stitches, but was in remarkably good health. The baby was likewise entirely healthy (apparently, they're just that colour when first born), and big - 10 pounds, 8 ounces, and a bit. (And she did that with no pain control at all!) One day later, and we were all home.

A few things remain to be said: This was not at all how I expected to spend a Friday night, but it all worked out okay. Funnily enough, while it was all going on I actually found that I wasn't scared - there basically just wasn't time. I just had to do the next thing, then the next, and so on. But I was enormously relieved when the ambulance crew arrived. (When LC went for her bath, I very nearly joked about "The Worst-Case Survival Handbook" having a section on how to deliver a baby. I'm kind of glad I skipped that particular joke!)

I must also, of course, pay tribute to LC, who achieved something remarkable - to deliver at home, without any pain control, to such a large baby, and to come recover so well is extra-ordinary.

And I must also, once again, thank the medical staff involved - the midwifes in the hospital, and especially the one on the phone, and also the ambulance crew. All were brilliant, just when they were needed. Lots of people have congratulated me for my part in all of this, but the truth is that all I actually did was make one phone call at just the right time (and remembered to leave the front door unlocked). In the big picture, that's basically nothing.

Finally, of course, is that the new arrival needs a blog-name. I had been planning to go with Button, on the grounds that there aren't many types of chocolate smaller than a funsize. But under the circumstances another name seems more appropriate. Henceforth, he shall be Kinder Surprise, or just Surprise! (and KS for short).

Welcome to the world wee man!

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.