Congratulations to Humza Yousaf on becoming the SNP leader, and soon the next First Minister of Scotland. He wouldn't have been my choice, but maybe I've misjudged him. He certainly deserves every chance to prove me wrong.
And I do sincerely hope that I'm wrong.
#6: "Cytonic", by Brandon Sanderson
After a lucky escape with the hard drive from my old PC, we've been hit with a not-so-lucky event - the portable hard drive the LC uses for her work failed. Unfortunately, much of the content of that drive wasn't copied elsewhere, and although much of the drive was salvageable it certainly wasn't all.
Which is all a bit of a disaster, really.
The key lesson to learn from this one is quite simple: backup early and often, and try never to have a single copy of anything that's really important. And, ideally, set up your systems so that those backups are made automatically on a regular basis so you don't have to remember.
Which is an expensive lesson to have to learn again, but I suppose it could have been worse.
The task of setting up the new PC never seems to end.
We were extremely lucky to find that the hard drive on the old PC remained intact, which means that we didn't lose any data in the move. I've now copied everything across to the new PC, though for the moment it's all in a dumping ground folder - I still have a task to sort it into some sort of order and get rid of any files that truly are obsolete. (That's not as big a job as it may sound - I did a massive digital declutter a few years ago, so there are only a few stragglers to sort out.)
However, this has meant that the list of jobs to do for the new PC has dropped from 3 to, er, 4:
I'm hoping to get all this done by the end of the weekend. But I'm not entirely hopeful - these tasks just seem to be growing arms and legs constantly.
The polls open for the SNP leadership contest today. The winner will be both SNP leader and, barring an absurd shock, the next First Minister of Scotland, so while I don't have a vote (not being a member of any political party), I obviously have an interest.
There are three candidates: Kate Forbes, Ash Regan, and Humza Yousaf. But, realistically, there are only actually two - Ash Regan is the least well-known of the three, she has had virtually no media coverage, and so regardless of any other factors she's not going to win. (In the same way that the Lib Dems aren't actually going to win the next General Election.)
The problem with that is that there isn't really a great choice available. On the one hand, Humza Yousaf is undeniably the more experienced of the two, having held almost all the big roles in Sturgeon's government at one time or another. Unfortunately, he's made a mess of all of them. And he seems extremely cold on the topic of Independence - the de facto referendum notion would be off the table, being replaced by, well, nothing. Which means that a Humza Yousaf-led SNP wouldn't be getting my vote - I wouldn't be voting on the competence of the government, and neither would I hold my nose and vote for independence.
On the other hand, we have Kate Forbes. She's much less experienced, but in the big job that she has had she has done very well (and, indeed, did well at extremely short notice). She also presents far better than Yousaf, and has made no bones about identifying that the SNP government has been slipping for a long time. She might just make for an SNP government that I wouldn't have to hold my nose to vote for.
But...
There are two big negatives with a Kate Forbes-led SNP. The first is that she's also very cold on independence, dropping the de facto referendum plan. Her replacement plan is slightly more credible than Yousaf's, but not meaningfully so.
The other one, though, is her social conservatism. As I noted before, I don't agree with many of her views. The truth is, though that they wouldn't be a block on my voting for her - but that's the nature of the privilege I enjoy. For those more directly affected, I can well understand that those views would make for a much more significant problem - and that might be an absolute block on her running the type of government that we really need.
It's fair to say that it's a tricky one.
Only, not really. Because as I've indicated, a Humza Yousaf-led SNP is almost certainly not one I could vote for; a Kate Forbes-led one probably is. So while I'll readily accept that others may come to a different conclusion, and while I understand entirely why, my support, caveated and wavering as it is, basically has to go to Kate Forbes.
Funsize has her first wobbly tooth, scant days after her final birthday party. The tooth fairy has been contacted and is on standby.
I'm surprised by this development, as it feels awfully early. Bluntly, I'm not ready for her to have her permanent teeth, and all the pressure that goes with that. But that's academic now - apparently, five years old is on the early end of the 'normal' range, and therefore nothing to worry about, and so onward we go.
Still, it's a pain. There I was thinking things were settling down for a bit (especially as Surprise! is no longer moaning about being taken to nursery), and now it's all change again.
I've just received my credit card bill for the month, and ouch it's expensive! It's not unexpectedly so, given that in the past couple of months we've bought a dishwasher, a new PC, paid for a holiday and started booking another holiday, and Funsize somehow managed to arrange to have multiple birthday parties all of which had cost associated with them.
And, luckily, we have reserves in place for precisely a circumstance like this.
Still, it has been rather a shock. We'll need to make sure to cut back on the expenses for the next couple of months. Which will be tricky, since there's the other part of that second holiday to book.
When I ordered our latest PC, I was advised it would be available around mid-March - later than I'd hoped, but I figured it was worth the wait. Plus, it was coming on a Monday, so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle for LC to arrange to be in for the delivery. But on Wednesday there was 'good' news - the PC was coming on Saturday! This was a bit more of a hassle, as we were busy entertaining on Saturday, but at least we'd be around for the delivery...
Then on Friday, just as I was walking out the door to head to work, I received a text telling me it was coming between 12.20 and 13.20 that day. Um, great... I think? Anyway, I had to hastily switch to working from home on Friday in order to take the delivery - I neither wanted to have to wait for the inevitable rescheduled delivery (which no doubt would be a hassle anyway), nor did I want to risk them leaving it in a 'safe' place.
So the new PC arrived on Friday at 11.30. Which is almost one of the times they said.
The PC then sat in its box until Saturday, when I dug it out, connected it up, and got started. And inevitably found that I didn't like it - Microsoft have, in their wisdom, decided to change the desktop layout again and don't provide a handy "put it back the way we like it" option. Sigh.
The requisite moan about that out of the way, I then got started with installing the various bits of software: a replacement browser, the office suite, PDF and ZIP tools, and so on and so forth. It really does feel like there should be an easier way to do all of this, but unfortunately right now it looks like there's just an easier way to do some of this.
So we're now more or less set up. As far as I can see there remain three things to do: recover as much of the data from my old PC as possible (we have backups, but I'm hoping that the hard drive remains intact so I can get the definitive most up-to-date version of everything), reinstall Dropbox (which is best done after getting the data, so the folder can be set up easily), and switch the anti-virus software (from the installed free trial to the one we've been paying for).
It's funny how getting a new and better PC still involves hours upon hours of work getting it ready.
I was rather surprised, but actually rather glad, when Disney announced a TV series continuation of "Willow" - although it's not the absolute best film in the world it was a lot of fun, and if everything else is getting a revival then why not? We finally sat down to watch it over the past few weeks and... it's not the best show, but it's fun.
The truth is that "Willow", like "Wheel of Time" and "Rings of Power", is pretty much just "fantasy lands of generica" - a mismatched fellowship of characters gather for some quest, have some adventures, and then there's a big showdown at the end. You've seen it before.
What sets "Willow" apart from the other two is that this one doesn't really take itself too seriously - yes, there's a world-ending menace out there, but it's not the po faced doomscape that we've come to know and 'love'. That's a good thing.
That said, "Willow" does start rather badly and then gets better as it goes (although the very best episode is at the halfway point). So I'd suggest trying to stick it out for those first few episodes before passing judgement.
And that, I think, is all I have to say about that. Except to note that we'll watch a second season if there is one, which isn't the case for "Wheel of Time".
After eight and a half years of sterling service, my home PC has finally failed on us - for the past few months it has sporadically suffered from random freezes, which finally reached the point where it would consistently freeze while booting up. Frustratingly, I saw this coming just a little bit too late to get a really good backup of everything from the main PC - although we have multiple backups, there's one I don't entirely trust and another that is 3 months old. (Which isn't actually all that bad, given the way that PC is used - worst case scenario is that we've lost a year's worth of photos, mostly photos of randomness taken by Funsize.)
I have a new PC on order, which should arrive at the weekend. Once it gets here, and I've reconfigured the machine to my liking and installed the five key bits of software, I'll try attaching the old hard drive to see what can be recovered. With luck, it will just work and I can recover everything.
But it has been a frustrating couple of weeks, having to manage without the PC, but also kicking myself for not grabbing a definitive backup in the final day, and also having made several failed attempts to repair the machine (to enable that backup).
Then again, it has been time for a new PC for quite a while, and it should represent a significant improvement in performance.
I should preface what I'm about to say by stating that I disagree with just about everything Kate Forbes said at the start of this week. I do believe that the GRR bill is fatally flawed, but that's a matter of detail rather than intention. (I do also think, though am not certain, that the UK government it legally in the right with their challenge, but that's another matter.) However, I'm inclined to the view that legislating for equal marriage was one of the very few good things that David Cameron actually did in office, and that the corresponding law in Scotland was equally good. And so on and so forth.
However, the treatment that has been meted out to Kate Forbes as a result of that has been disgraceful. And make no mistake, despite John Swinney's claims to the contrary it was entirely about her Christian beliefs - if Forbes wasn't the candidate then none of this would even have been raised, and the media simply wouldn't dare to grill Humza Yousaf over his Muslim faith in anything like the same terms as they've handled Forbes.
The upshot of all of that is this: there is now, I have no doubt, significant pressure being applied to Kate Forbes to 'persuade' her to drop out of the race. I have no doubt that there is equally significant pressure being applied to those who might back her to withdraw their nominations.
But here's the thing: If Kate Forbes is forced out of the race due to her Christian beliefs, the SNP will never again see another vote from me.
If she stands and loses, then that's absolutely fine - that's democracy in action. But she needs to be allowed to stand.
And that goes for voting for independence, too. I want no part of a modern, tolerant, inclusive Scotland in which every religious minority is welcome, except one. And where we only throw Christians to metaphorical lions.
We're already more than 50 days into the new year, so it's time for an update:
My expectation is that all three goals will complete at, or close to, target. Largely because they're not a hugely ambitious set. But we'll see.
It's fair to say that I'm not a fan of a monarchy. In fact, I'd abolish the whole institution given the opportunity. And I definitely think King Charles needs to be taking decisive action to push Andrew into a well-deserved obscurity.
But I'm also very much not a fan of this "Queen Consort" thing.
Now, technically, Queen Consort is a correct title - it differentiates someone who is Queen because they're married to the King (Camilla, or the old Queen Mother) versus the Queen Regnant, who is Queen in her own right (Elizabeth, Victoria, Elizabeth). But the truth is that the 'consort' bit is usually omitted - it is being used this time in deference to Diana and her enduring popularity.
But here's the thing: Diana has been dead for twenty-five years. And while she was horribly mistreated, including by Charles, it's also the case tha Charles was likewise mistreated in being forced to marry an 'appropriate' wife. (Indeed, one of the reasons I'm in favour of abolition is exactly that ongoing mistreatment of younger members of the family. A gilded cage is still a cage.)
It's also the case that Charles has been married to Camilla for longer now than he was married to Diana. He's obviously considerably happier with Camilla than he was with Diana.
And, as far as I can tell, in the last two decades Camilla has done nothing wrong. She is tarred, permanently, as "the other woman" - but she was the other woman in a relationship that was clearly disfunctional by the end and was probably doomed from the start.
So I'm very much not a fan of this Queen Consort business. In my opinion, she should just be Queen.
This one is a bit of a belated Christmas post.
One of my least-favourite bits of the run-up to Christmas is dealing with presents. And I do mean specifically the run-up to Christmas - that bit of the day itself is all good, I quite enjoy the giving of presents, and certainly don't mind the receiving (and even moreso the reception by Funsize and Surprise!). But in the run-up to Christmas, dealing with the presents is rather a hassle - there is the list of people who you're obliged to buy presents for, most of whom have so much stuff that you basically have to ask them what they want and then get that (so why bother?). Then there are the people who want to buy you a present, but again you have so much stuff that they ask what you want and you have to rack your brain for a suitable item in a suitable price range (which you could have bought for yourself, so why bother?)
So that's that.
But last year for the first time, I went "off book". In addition to the various obligations I bought two other 'surprise' presents - presents for people who weren't on the list, and who therefore weren't expecting to receive anything.
And that worked really well - the surprise of getting a gift, the surprise of what it was. All in all, it was a no lose proposition. Those two were the presents with which I was most happy last year, either the ones I gave or that I received. I call that a win.
Ultimately, what I'm saying is that it really is true: it's better to give than to receive. I recommend trying it.
One of my rules when counting books is that I don't include graphic novels. Which makes some sense, since they tend to be rather too slight - although some of the things that I do count as books are almost trivial, I don't for instance count the books I read to Funsize each night.
However, last year as I fell behind in my reading, my desire to "catch up" meant that any and all extraneous reading was dropped - if it didn't count to the total, it didn't happen.
The upshot of that is that the three graphic novels that I received as Christmas gifts in 2021 never got read.
Now that we're into a new year and the total is reset, and especially since the goal has been utterly revised, I'm now taking a different approach, and will prioritize getting those three off of the backlog. To be followed by all the other books I have waiting.
(Oh, and just in case there was any doubt: the target of 60 books a year is very definitely not happening this year. Any notion that it might has been spectacularly debunked by January.)
#3: "Dragons of Stormwreck Isle", by Wizards of the Coast.
LC and I took the children to see "Hey Duggee" at the Festival Theatre on Saturday. As I've said before, I consider Duggee to be one of the genuine greats of CBeebies, but with these adaptations there is always the risk of having the life sucked out of them, so how does Duggee fit on the scale of painful experiences?
Well, the children thoroughly enjoyed it. As the lights went down, Surprise! had a little cry. However as soon as the narrator came on stage he was immediately transfixed. And from there he was bouncing around, dancing along, clapping and laughing throughout. Funsize also enjoyed it in much the same way.
The show itself was essentially a compilation of "best bits" from the show - throughout you could basically see where this bit, and that bit, came from. But that's fine. They clearly knew their audience and gave them what they wanted. One thing that was very clever was that when we entered the children were each given a sheet of stickers, and at various parts Duggie gave the Squirrels a badge - and the audience were encouraged to find and wear their matching sticker.
The show was about an hour of fun and puppetry. We had the Acapella Badge, the Choregraphy Badge, the Costume Badge, the Egg Badge, the Singing Badge, the Space Badge, all building up to the Theatre Badge. There were numerous songs, lots of audience participation, and all sorts of fun.
And it was great fun. I actually very much enjoyed it, partly because the kids were having such a good time, and partly in its own right.
Well done to those involved - you've earned your Live Tour Badge!
I started the Christmas break with a list of seven things I would like to get done. On Saturday I finally completed the fifth of these (and one of them was actually done by LC on my behalf). My available free time is painfully limited these days.
Anyway, the task in question was a repair of one of our 'kitchen' units (actually in the utility room) - more or less since we first moved in it has gradually been collapsing, and although it was still usable it had increasingly been bugging me.
The fix was reasonably easy - empty the unit and clear all weight from the counter above it, then remove the door. Then I put a fairly liberal coating of wood glue on the two bits that should be joined, and hammered the unit back together. And then, to provide some additional support I drove four nails into the wood where it joined.
The unit was then left overnight, before having the door re-hung and the contents replaced. Job done!
Almost exactly three months ago, LC and I took an offer for 3 months of subscription to NOW TV. We mostly got this so that we could watch "House of the Dragon", though since we finished that I've used it to watch a few other things:
That said, I don't particularly regret paying the money - there was enough there to justify the cost given the deal that was offered. We got our money's worth.
LC and I finished the third and final season of "His Dark Materials" last week, and it's... fine. As with the books, the series seemed to get weaker and weaker as it went on - season two is largely forgettable, and then season three starts with four filler episodes in a row.
It's well made and well acted, and the gap in production enforced by Covid really helped in some ways (especially with the ages of the child stars). But I must admit that it made me increasingly uncomfortable as it went - the material was a fairly naked attack on Catholicism in particular, and on Christianity in the round. So we're maybe not the best people to be objective about it.
Do I recommend it? Yes, mostly, but not wholeheartedly. I suspect it may now be better now that you can binge the whole thing, so the only real question is whether you can stomach the content.
And that's that, I think.
We were due for a disaster. We aren't any longer.
This one came from Tom Kerridge's "Real Life Recipes" book, which was one of two new cookbooks I received for Christmas. It was quick and easy to put together, and was made up of nice, cheap ingredients. That was all to the good.
Unfortunately, it all went horribly wrong when we plated up and started to eat - the chicken was still raw in the middle! The meal was therefore discarded and replaced with a pizza. That was nice, at least.
I think the issue here was that I made up the sauce, browned the chicken, the placed it into the fridge for some time - this meant the meat went into the oven cooler than expected and so didn't cook through. But I'm not really sure. In any case, I'm going to take the blame for this one.
That said, I think we're unlikely to try it again.
This year we have a much shorter list of books read than normal. But here it is...
Unfortunately, there were some gaps in the blog where I should have recorded books read, and while I was able to backfill most of them, I cannot for the life of me remember what book 12 was! I'm sure I read a book in there, but for the life of me I can't think what it was. So I'm going to have to discount it.
That means that there are a meagre 32 books for the year. This includes no rereads, and no books for Funsize/Surprise! - it's not that I haven't been reading to them; there just hasn't been anything of sufficient significance to make the list. There are eleven RPG related books, which for an already short list is quite a lot.
The best book of the year is a toss-up between "The Angel's Game" and "Shogun". On balance, I think "The Angel's Game" just shades it, but both are recommended. There haven't been any particularly poor books this year, despite the utterly forgettable #12, so I'll not nominate one for that dishonour.
I'm ending the year two two books in progress. That's not because I've been bogged down; it's just that I haven't found as much time to read recently as I would like.
Finally of note, I'm now in a position where there are a grand total of three books remaining on The List. Which is a really nice place to be. And, given how little reading I have managed this year, my target for next year is simply to complete those books - any other reading beyond that is a bonus.