Baking with Funsize #7: Jam Layer Flapjacks

This one came from Nadiya Hussain's latest TV series, by way of the BBC website. (I believe the recipe also appears in her latest book, "Nadiya Bakes Everyday".)

The flapjacks were nice and easy to make, and ideally suited for baking with Funsize. Indeed, unlike a lot of the previous efforts, this one held her attention throughout, which is good.

The flapjacks came out very well. I did make one big mistake, in that I cut the flapjacks too early. In highsight, after they had cooled "completely" I should have moved them into the fridge for a couple of hours before cutting. (I also made up a batch of brownies yesterday, and exactly the same was true there - chill and then cut.)

As anticipated, the end result is very nice - soft and squidgy with just the right sharpness from the jam, and a nice layering of chocolate. Huzzah!

#31: "Shogun", by James Clavell (a book from The List - three to go)

Flush!

When we first moved into the house we had more toilets than people. That has, of course, gradually reversed. However, one of the toilets, the one in the main bathroom, never worked terribly well - the flush was unreliable, and when it did work it was a feeble thing.

I've had various goes at fixing it, with no real success. A couple of months ago I thought I had cracked it - it stopped working entirely, I made an adjustment, and then it worked. Huzzah!

But on Monday it gae up again, this time completely, and this time beyond my ability to do anything about it.

Anyway, long story short, we've had the flushing mechanism replaced, and now it works properly, for the first time since we moved in. Additionally, the new mechanism is a much better design, so the hope is that this one will now keep working rather more reliably than the last.

Huzzah! - for real this time.

Rings of Power review

I really hate it when media that has been pilloried for "woke casting" turns out to be rubbish. Whether it was the female-led "Ghostbusters", the Star Wars sequels, or now "Rings of Power", there was a noisy segment of the internet (and supposed fandom) that reacted to the casting by condemning the whole thing. And since the internet doesn't allow for any sort of nuance, thereafter any and all criticism of the thing gets lumped in with the same racism and sexism that motivates that.

All of which is rather annoying.

Anyway, I finished "The Rings of Power" this week, and I'm afraid it sucks.

In fairness, there is an awful lot to like about the show: the look and feel of it is great, the casting is universally great, and they do a really good job with the material that they are given. Basically, if it wasn't that that material was just rubbish, the show would be great!

The most fundamental issue with the show is quite simply that they're trying to build an adaptation spanning multiple years of TV, but they're basing it on virtually no source material. Not only did Tolkien not actually write all that much on the Second Age, but Amazon only actually hold the rights to the even more miniscule amount in the appendices of "The Lord of the Rings" (plus one or two other specific things). I forget exactly who it was, but some wise person said something about "butter spread over too much bread"... somehow, that all comes to mind here. There's just not enough that happens to justify nine hours of TV, and the notion of many other seasons of this doesn't bode well.

The other fundamental problem concerns Galadriel. I should note that, as with everyone else, the casting here is perfect, and she does a good job with the portrayal she is asked to give. And that portrayal would also be absolutely spot-on... if this was the Dragonlance show and she was Laurana, the Golden General. But this isn't Galadriel, the noted and powerful sorceress. In short, they've turned her into the bog standard badass action woman. Good job, you guys!

The only other thing that really warrants discussion occurs in episode 6, which is the great big set-piece battle of the season. This was clearly their version of Helms Deep, where a small force faces off against much stronger forces, all while others race to their aid. Except that, unlike in Helms Deep, the defenders don't have extensive and impregnable walls around them. By rights, they should be slaughtered. And, unlike in Helms Deep, the reinforcements don't actually know that the battle is actually happening, nor where it is happening, or the need for urgency.

But the biggest issue with the battle is this: at various points the show cuts away from the battle (at night) to the Numenoreans racing to their aid (daytime), and then back to the battle (at night). Just one problem: the Numenoreans are coming from the West, which means that dawn should come to them later than at the battle. Unless, I suppose, they're riding so fast that they literally travel backwards in time.

I'm afraid the whole thing is just so spectacularly stupid as to undercut everything that's good about the episode. And since this was their big set piece... yeah, not good.

And despite that, I fully intend to watch the next season. Unlike "Wheel of Time", I'm sufficiently invested in the setting that I really want to give it a chance to improve. But it's the same as with the later Star Wars films - I'm now going in with increasingly desperate hope rather than expectation. Still, hope is never mere, even if it is meagre.

No IndyRef, ever

The Supreme Court have, as widely expected, ruled that Holyrood does not have the right to conduct an independence referendum without Westminster approval. Most importantly, this does not apply to holding a referendum in 2023; it applies to holding one ever.

The major consequence of this is that the SNP, and other pro-independence campaigners, need to drop any discussion of another independence referendum. That route is dead. Find some other route, and persuade people of it, or give up the fight.

Because Westminster will never authorise another referendum, as they know fine well there's a very good chance that they'll lose it, so that route is done. Whether it is a Tory government or a Labour one, it's done.

Alister Jack: A Quick Thought

I see that Boris Johnson has decided to elevate Alister Jack to the House of Lords in his resignation honours. This has prompted calls for him to be sacked as Secretary of State for Scotland and a bi-election called.

Well...

Firstly, it's a disgrace that we still have a House of Lords. Secondly, it's a disgrace that Boris Johnson (and, I presume, Liz Truss) get to give out resignation honours, given the nature of his departure. Thirdly, it's a disgrace that the majority of these honours are nakedly party political, designed to give the Tories an imbalance in representation in that place.

That said, that's all part of the system, so so be it.

I don't agree with the SNP calls for Jack to be sacked as Secretary of State for Scotland - while he's hopeless in that role, so would be any of his successors. More importantly, there's no constitutional impediment in him filling that role while in the Lords.

However, there absolutely should be a bi-election. The rules are very clear here: you can't be an MP if you're in the Lords. And this notion that he could delay his elevation until the General Election to avoid a defeat for the Tories is a disgrace. If he's going to accept the elevation at all, it really needs to be now, not later, and a bi-election held.

#29: "Firefly: Life Signs", by James Lovegrove 

Return of the Poo

One of the things that I don't recall anyone ever actually telling me about parenthood is that you find yourself spending an inordinate amount of effort considering poo. Is there enough, too much, what about the colour, consistency? Where does it stand on the universal food stuff comparison chart?

Fun times.

Surprise! has been unwell for the past week, suffering from a bout of the same sickness bug that laid low the rest of us the week before. This was an unwelcome surprise, as we'd assumed we got it from him, and so we'd come to the end, only to be rudely disabused of that notion.

The symptoms were fun: first he was productive at one end, then the other. And gradually it all tailed off as he was emptied out. And I think I'll avoid going into any more detail than that.

All of which is a tragic build up to the absolute highlight of my weekend: the return of the poo in yesterday's nappy.

It's fair to say it was not the greatest weekend ever.

Rangers Management Woes 2022

Dear oh dear!

When Steven Gerrard resigned from Rangers last season, it seemed to be immense good fortune that Giovanni Van Bronckhorst was a free agent and willing to come. And the initial results were good. Alas, once we got past the winter break the wheels started to come off - for the fourth year in a row, the league was decided by one team having a meltdown in form while the other went fron strength to strength.

But last season there were a couple of mitigating factors: the signings made in January, that on paper were excellent, proved to be disastrously poor; and the run in the Europa League covered a lot of troubles.

Then there was the summer, a chance to rebuild, and a chance for GvB to really put his mark on the team. Early signs were promising, with the team managing to qualify for the Champions League with some impressive performances.

And then the wheels well and truly came off: a flood of bad performances, a shockingly poor Champions League campaign, poor performances in the league, and now a defeat that may put the league beyond them.

At the time of writing, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst is still Rangers manager. If I waited to post this until tomorrow, there's a decent chance that that would not be the case. Though perhaps that's precipitous - the board might yet give him until the break for the World Cup and then decide.

But I really can't see any way back for GvB or any way to turn this around - he's basically reliant on a collapse from Celtic, which isn't impossible but really doesn't look likely.

I've no idea who they'd replace him with, though.

Experimental Cookery 2022: Cajun Chicken Traybake

This one came from "Jamie's £1 Wonders" show, and was as quick, easy, and cheap as promised - a handful of inexpensive ingredients mixed together in a tray, then stuck in the oven. Also of note was that the rice was cooked along with the rest of the meal, reducing the washing up and also making the whole thing even easier.

Unfortunately, for various reasons, we didn't get the full benefit of the meal - I had to rush mine, while LC was left waiting until it had cooled beyond its best. Still, from what we saw it was nice enough. And, since neither Funsize nor Surprise! had any, we've been left with lunch for today.

This feels like one we'll have again - being quick and easy is a major boon. With a bit of luck at least one of the children, or ideally both, will start eating this. But we'll see.

Jamie's £1 Wonders

I watched Jamie's latest show yesterday. And, um, yeah, it's a thing.

The truth is that this show, like "Jamie's Money Saving Meals" isn't actually for poor people - Jamie's just not in a position to understand and approach the problems that the genuinely poor face. And there are people who are better placed to address those problems (notably Jack Monroe).

Where this show does have value, like "Money Saving Meals" before it isn't for people who have nothing, it's for people who can and have made use of Jamie's work in the past, and who may well have a well-stocked kitchen and a well-stocked pantry, but for whom there is value in having a few lost cost meals that they can use to bring overall bills before. That is, if you can afford to buy a great big chunk of salmon and then make a week's worth of meals from that, or if you have a rack of spices and herbs, and just need some recipes with which to use those, this show may be of use to you.

In other words, it's aimed more or less squarely at people like me.

And, look, I'm not going to fault Jamie for his offering. The meals he made yesterday mostly looked reasonably appealing - there were at least two I figured I might have a go at, and one other that I thought looked quite nice but just couldn't eat (brocolli...).

But at the same time, it did feel like a bit of an odd one. I just wish I thought it wasn't needed.

Halloween 2022

Well, we now have a house full of sweets. So many sweets.

Actually, I rather enjoyed Halloween this year - the estate seems to get really quite involved in it, which means both that there are plenty of enthusiastic houses to visit and also plenty of people going about in costume. And where the whole thing could be quite sour and mercenary, in general it all seemed to be in pretty good fun.

One thing that was interesting was that Funsize is now something of an old hand at this, well versed in the need for a costume, a song at the ready, and off she goes. Meanwhile Surprise! was getting involved for the first time, which started the evening with him being rather apprehensive about it all, but ended with him happily wandering up to the doors to collect his sweet, sweet treasure.

Most of which he won't get to eat, poor thing. Oh well.

Alas, the night that followed was not so good. But that's a whole other topic, and one of which I'll spare you the details.

Lights Out

This weekend, in amongst all the other horrors, I found myself having to buy a set of C sized batteries. I really don't like these: other than D size, the C's are the least useful of all the batteries, so I try to avoid anything that needs them.

Worse, though, in this instance the batteries are for something that doesn't need them. More accurately, they're for something that runs on mains power, and for which we do indeed use mains power exclusively, on the rare occasions we use it at all: a portable radio.

But the reason we bought the batteries is that we seem to be heading towards a winter of power cuts. Initially, these were just distant rumblings, nothing to worry about. Then, as the weeks progressed, they gradually shifted the mood. And a couple of weeks ago there were reports that the BBC were preparing emergency scripts for multi-day blackouts (potentially 48 hours), with broadcasts to be made on Radio 2 and Radio 4 to keep people informed - hence the need for batteries.

That was the point at which I started to get worried. Because if they're preparing such things that suggests that the "unlikely" 3-hour blackouts (4-7 pm on some weeknights) almost certainly are going to happen, and it would be wise to prepare for the worst. Though there's only so much you can do to prepare for not being able to power anything and not being able to heat anything. I guess we're going to have to learn to enjoy nocturnal winter BBQs.

Unfortunately, I think I have to recommend others do the same: better to prepare now, before the inevitable rush.

Day 304: Update on Goals

The 31st of October is the 304th day of the year, so I'm overdue for an update on goals:

• Books: By this point I should be aiming to have complete 50 books almost exactly, which given the progress of the year raises a weary chuckle. I've actually completed 28 books, with three others in progress. I expect to end the year on 34, though even that is subject to revision. I also expect to finish the year with three books outstanding on The List.
• Weight: A few ups and downs, but across the year I'm a little lighter. That's as much due to last week's illness as anything else.
• Blogging: This one is going pretty well - this blog is going to end the month a little short again, but not by too much. Meanwhile, The Imaginarium is right on target. So that's good.
• Redecorating the Hallway: The decorators came in and replaced the wallpaper with paint, so that part of the job is done. We do still want to replace the carpet and hang some pictures, so this goal isn't yet done, but is expected to complete by the end of the year.
• Super Secret Goal: Abandoned.

The predictions for the year haven't changed: I expect to end the year with the Blogging and Redecoration goals completed, the SSG abandoned, and the Books and Weight goals being abject failures. That's not a terribly good showing.

This is the final update until the end-of-year round up. We'll see how things stand then... but I wouldn't expect much change.

Ill

I've been ill again. On Monday I went to work and everything was fine, except for a persistent and increasing headache. But as the night progressed I found myself crying out for my good friends Huey and, sometimes, Ralf, who had inexplicably fallen down the toilet. I was violently, violently sick.

I had actually planned to have a day off on Tuesday while LC went to school for a training day, but in the event that didn't happen. I instead spent it drifting in and out of sleep, completely incapacitated. Then on Wednesday I was a lot better, then a lot better again on Thursday, and today I returned to work.

Unfortunately, in the interim LC has herself come down with the same bug (and is now well on the way to recovery) while Funsize was sick for the first time yesterday and is therefore another day behind. Surprise! was the first to get it, so he's long since recovered.

Anyway, it's been a fun time.

#28: "Monstrous Menagerie", by E.N. Publishing

End of an Error

I tend not to like regeneration episodes of "Doctor Who" - with very few exceptions they are overshadowed by the great big change that is to come, which detracts from the story they're in the process of telling. The big exception to this was the Ecclestone -> Tennant switch, which had the advantage of being a massive surprise. Given that "Power of the Doctor" was also the final episode of the Chibnall era, which I'm afraid I just haven't rated, I wasn't terribly hopeful.

The good news is that it was better than I'd expected. The story suffered from just throwing far too much on the screen too quickly and not really allowing anything to breathe, but it did at least seem to have some sort of coherent narritive in there. And Sacha Dhawan was excellent as the Master, so giving him more screen time was no bad thing. (That said, I kept expecting him to morph into Orlo from "The Great". Which would have been interesting. Huzzah!)

There are spoilers from here on out, some of them massive. So you know what to do...

...

The other really thing about PotD was the big play on nostalgia - the appearances by several Doctors and Companions past, the references to Adric, Ace's baseball bat, UNIT... it all added up to an episode that was more for me than for current audiences, I think. It was good to see Ace back in action (always a favourite), and really quite nice to see Baker and McCoy back in the saddle for what is likely to be one last ride. (Also good to see Davison and David Bradley back.)But my biggest takeaway there is that I'd still really like to see McGann getting a mini-series at some point...

Of course, one thing that Chibnall has messed up is that the reverence given to the First Doctor now makes no sense whatsoever in-universe. It still plays for the audience, a bit, I guess, but now that he's not the first, he's actually just one particular incarnation - might as well just roll the dice and pick someone, or even just cast someone random and put them in position. After all, why not? (Grr.)

One thing I was a little surprised not to see, though I'm not sure exactly where it would fit, was one final scene back at The Edge, where we see Thirteen, post-regeneration, walking to join all her predecessors. But on the other hand, the Companions Support Group was a better idea...

...

And with that the Whittaker era comes to an end. It's a shame, as it had such potential, but I still maintain that she was badly served by most of the material she was given, and was asked to give a performance that was itself disappointing. Not her fault, but I'm afraid it does leave Thirteen at the bottom of my ranking.

And it also marks the end of the Chibnall era. I'm much happier about that, and really intrigued as to where RTD takes us from here. I just hope he has a really good explanation for Ten coming back...

Experimental Cookery 2022: Winter Chicken Bake

This one comes from the Hairy Biker's "One Pot Wonders", and is a companion piece to their Summer Chicken Bake. The principle is the same - create a base of vegetables, lay the chicken on top, add a sauce, and bake. Quick, simple, and done.

Tasty, too. On balance, I think I preferred the summer bake, largely because this was essentially just an inferior Sunday Roast in a pan, but on the other hand this had the major advantage that I prepared it in all of 10 minutes, programmed the oven, and then it was ready when we got home. And for that reason, we'll certainly have this again!

Metrics

One of my hard-won lessons is that what you choose to measure inevitably controls your thinking. That is, if you decide that you're going to measure, say, your car's mileage, you'll inevitably find yourself doing something with that number - either you'll seek to drive it down to as low a value as possible, to conserve fuel, or you'll seek to drive it up as high as possible, to see what your "high score" will be on the car. Or something - but people very seldom measure something and then do nothing with that information.

What that means is that you need to pick and choose your metrics very carefully, and just because something is easy to measure does not mean that you should measure it - if something is irrelevant then it's better not to know, so that you focus on other things that are important.

(Indeed, the effect of this can be readily seen in the blog: I've been tracking the number of books read, which has the effect that I've been pushed towards reading shorter books so I can clear them out. Had I instead chosen to count the number of pages read, that would have led to different behaviours.)

The upshot:

• Decide what is important, decide in what way it is important, and measure it (in the right way). Then review the results and take action.
• For things that aren't considered important, don't measure them!

Don't Look Back...

Yesterday the nursery drop off for Surprise! was pretty horrible - he didn't want to be left, and proceeded to grab on to me and hold tight, while starting to cry. That cry turned into a howl as I handed him over (something to do with having to drop him off, which did mean leaving).

This morning was a very different drop off. He happily wandered in to the room, and didn't even turn back to say goodbye. They I took Funsize to school, and her drop off was essentially the same - in she went, without a backwards glance.

Which was certainly better, and indeed it's good that they're both happy to go and indeed confident in doing so, but still a little recognition would be nice, before they gleefully stride away!

Done, But Not Complete

Over the past week we've had the wallpaper stripped from our hallway, and a nice triple coating of paint applied to the walls. This makes for a vast improvement, and means that the bulk of the redecoration job is done.

That said, when I had previously considered this task I must admit that I'd neglected to think of all the other things that need doing: a dramatic change to the walls means we'll also need new carpet, new curtains, and potentially new shades for the two lights. Plus, of course, there is a step of hanging, or re-hanging some pictures on the walls to break up the colour scheme somewhat.

So we've made a bery big step forward, indeed the largest step forward, but there remains a little to do.

Nope, it's too weird

The adjustment to having a new king was going well, I thought - all the requisite chess-based jokes had been made, the republican sentiment had been viciously stamped out, and pen-related failures had been had in abundance. Huzzah!

But this morning I heard on the news that they're now ready to put Charles' effigy on new coins, and while that seems entirely sensible they're going to have him facing the wrong way!

Apparently this is old custom - with each change of monarch they change the direction they are facing on the coins. Which makes sense, I suppose. But ERII reigned for so long that there is now a very clear right way to be facing, and ironically, it isn't to the right. But that's how CRIII will be facing.

(Actually, it's something worth considering that decimalisation occurred during ERII's reign, which meant that all the coins had to be replaced, which means that at no time in my life were we using coins with GRIV's face on them. I might have seen a few very old sixpences that had it, but these weren't ever in actual use. So, yeah, it's pretty ingrained.)

The upshot is that we'll just have to call the whole thing off. Either that, or stop using coins as currency.

Malaise

This hasn't been a great week. It should have been - I've been on a training course all week, which has meant working from home, having a very little to do in the mornings, and then a nice, relaxed afternoon.

But due to Hurricane Ian my course has been cancelled for the past two days, leaing me nastily caught between stools - there's too much time to do nothing all day, but there's also not an obvious thing to do.

What should have been a reasonably restful and yet nicely productive week has turned into a bit of an unproductive mess. Which isn't what I want, on any metric.

Oh well. On the other hand, all of this is a consequence of Hurricane Ian, and it's probably not quite right if I'm complaining!