Aka Monday 20th March to Sunday 2nd April 2023
I’m way behind again, so this’ll be a v quick run through. I had the first week of as annual leave, which was nice and gave me a chance to recharge the ole batteries…I also had time to do a few chores, like my six-monthly dentist visit…and my Morning Walks, which I did on Wednesday 22nd March:
…during which I walked 3.72km, in 47minutes and 16seconds, in 5,045 steps, burning 349 calories…then on Friday 24th March 2023, which too in 3.77km, taking 47minutes and 21seconds, in 5,076 steps and burnt 354 calories:
…and a third walk on Sunday 2nd April 2023, which covered 3.90km, in 47minues and 43seconds, in 5,173 steps and burnt 368 calories:
…also this month’s Kyle Starks Sticker Club stickers arrived:
…which was nice, ‘cos they are super cool. I also picked up a few comic gems:
…including ’Mr T and The Fools From the Future’:
…and it was v good and enjoyable, it takes a known trope, but delves into it and presents it in new ways. And with gorgeous art that perfectly shows the emotions and stresses that the characters go through. I originally saw a recommendation for this comic on Twitter and coupled with the beautiful cover design, decided to give it a go. I picked up each issue as they came out, but held off on reading it until I had all the issues. And I’m glad that I did, as I think reading it monthly would have lost some of the tension and dread and worry (although it would have given time to run through ‘what will happen next’ and daydream about where the series would go), which you don’t get with binging it. And it ends in a way that ties things up, while leaving things open for a sequel. V recommended.
…and I got the latest ‘Mojo’:
…mostly for the cover CD, to get a taster of The Kinks, and it was alright, nothing special, nothing that made we want to buy a Kink’s album. ’I Am The Law’ arrived:
…and compares the development and growth of ‘Judge Dredd’ alongside real life law enforcement. And it makes a very compelling case for (a) the Police not serving the public, effectively being a gang themselves and protecting the powerful and (b) ‘Judge Dredd’ predicating the development of policing! I went to the cinema and saw ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’:
…which is a fine end to the series (or at least end for now). Lots of action, a little bit of humour and a dash of pathos (although I did wonder while watching about the ethics of spending 2 hours or so watching someone basically kill everyone they meet) and it kinda recrates scenes from the previous three films, but bigger or tweaked to change how the characters (and the viewer) experience it…I also watched ‘Freaky’:
…which enjoyed a lot, it takes the slasher trope(s) and throws in body switching to give it a fresh spin. And it does a great job of being scary and gory and funny, without either over-powering or diminishing the other. V recommended. I also brought ‘X’ (as it’s a top-notch horror film and it includes extras! Which seems rare nowadays) and my Go Faster Stripe DVDs arrived (which I haven’t watched yet):
…Go Faster Stripe do an incredible job of supporting comedians and how could I say no to such bargains?!?! I also got a few CDs, the first was by Tom Meighan was the frontman of Kasabian, until he was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend. So naturally he was dropped like a stone, but it turns out that there was much more to it. He actually had a mental breakdown, caused by drug use and lockdown, and in this mental state, while he was being attacked by his girlfriend, he physically responded. It’s all recounted and explained in this video. And the music is perfectly fine and sounds v much like early, 'Empire' era Kasabian.
I also got ‘A Celebration of the Land: Wilderness America’, which is an album from the late ‘70s that “is a musical exploration of our place within the cycle of living things. All compositions were specially commissioned for the album and blended with natural sounds recorded in the wild – lending the entire project a conceptual air that still feels fresh today.” And it’s a great listen. Combining ambient, nature noises and songs, and acoustic guitars, and elements of funk, solo and rock ‘n’ roll.
I also got ‘Bitches Brew’ because the record shop didn’t have ‘London Brew’! ‘London Brew’ is a re-imagining of ‘Bitches Brew’ and I heard one of the songs on a free CD, liked it and decided to get the album. But because they didn’t have that record I though I’d get the original instead. Plus, it’s widely regarded as a classic, so I really should give it a listen. And it was…okay, but nothing special, just good jazz with a touch of funk and rock ‘n’ roll. Although that’s based on the first listen and maybe it’ll entice me the more that I listen to it?…there was also some important political events going on, mainly that on Wednesday 22nd March the Partygate lies select committee question Johnson…and as so many people predicted he just lied and lied and lied and brought shame, dragging UK politics further into the gutter. Such a c**t. And I can’t say more as it just makes me feel so frustrated that such a self-serving individual could get to such a powerful position and sully some much. On a happier note I did the first week’s G2 Crosswords:
…and the crossword week gets off to a great start, as we only had to cheat on 9.09% of the clues (two out of 22). The little grey cells were on top form and just ploughed through the clues, stumbling only on not knowing that the ‘science of land management and crop production’ and that the ‘Laburnum’ is also known as ‘the ‘golden rain’ tree’. Hopefully this sets the tone for the rest of the week…
…and we kinda maintain yesterday’s good start with Tuesday’s crossword as we only had to cheat on 11.54% of the clues (three out of 26). Would have done a tad better, but we misread ‘derivation’ as ‘deviation’, so we weren’t close to getting the answer ‘origin’ and we should have gotten ‘arch’ from ‘patronising - impish’! But we did learn that ‘diacritic’ refers to a ‘mark over, under or through a letter’, so not all bad…
…and Wednesday’s crossword went pretty meh. The little grey cells pretty much strolled through the clues, but there were a few stumbles and we had to cheat on 12.5% of the clues (three out of 24). Like not getting ‘absolve’ from ‘exonerate’, and is ‘small summer house’ the best clue for ‘gazebo’? Surely a house has walls and isn’t exposed to the elements? But we did learn that a ‘roe deer’ is a ‘small graceful animal with no visible tail and a reddish summer coat that turns greyish in winter’…
…and there’s not much to say about Thursday’s crossword as the little grey cells smashed it and we didn’t have to cheat on any of the 24 clues! Roll on Friday’s and Saturday’s crosswords…
…after yesterday’s clean sweep things take a tumble with Friday’s crossword and we had to cheat on 14.28% of the clues (three out of 21). I do think the little grey cells were a little burnt out as how could be miss ‘Kafkaesque’ from ‘nightmarish (like a Bohemian author’s work), especially when we had the intersecting letters, including a capital K! Or not get ‘blur’ from ‘make dimmer’? But we did learn that the Cuckoo Pint is a type of plant, the ‘Arum’…
…and Saturday’s crossword ends a good crossword week on a mighty note, as we didn’t have to cheat on any of the 23 clues! The little grey cells just decimated the clues! There was no holding them back…and I did the second week’s G2 Crosswords:
…and Monday’s crossword gets the crossword week off to a meh start, as we had to cheat on 14.29% of the clues (three out of 21). It’s not a terrible amount of cheating, but it’s not great either! At least we learnt that ‘Trinidad’ is the ‘Southernmost West Indian island’ and we not sure how often ‘glacial’ is used to describe being ‘extremely cold’, it’s normally used when something is slow moving…like when I went outside this morning it was cold, it was chilly, it was nippy, it was freezing, it wasn’t glacial…
…and the little grey cells have picked up the pace with Tuesday’s crossword, as we only had to cheat on 4.35% of the clues (aka one out of 23). The only stumbled block to getting a clean sweep was our lack of Latin, the clues was ‘ie (2,3)’ and we knew that meant the full Latin phrase for ie, we just didn’t know what it was, but we now know that it is ‘id est’…
…and Wednesday’s crossword went very well as we only had to cheat on 4.35% of the clues (one out of 23). The little grey cells were on top form, only stumbling on not getting ‘akimbo’ from ‘with hands on hips, elbows out’, which in hindsight we should have gotten, but at the time we just couldn’t see it…
…and Thursday’s crossword was a bit of a struggle, we just couldn’t get to grip with it and it was a real grind. And we’re probably lucky that we only had to cheat on 12.00% of the clues (three out of 25). Maybe the early start of hayfever session is getting to us? Either way we missed the slightly cryptic nature of ‘set of steps’ and didn’t get ‘stairway’, but we did learn that an ‘American vulture’ is a ‘Turkey Buzzard’. Hopefully the only way is up from here…
…and it’s really up with Friday’s crossword as we had to cheat on 14.29% of the clues (three out of 21). Although we did not know what the answers were to those 14.29%, so it was a kinda clean sweep in that we got the ones we could get and we learnt that the ‘Diet’ is ‘Japan’s national legislature’, that if one ‘has a fit of the vapours’, one ‘swoons’ and Churchill and Nehru are/were ‘Old Harrovians’…
…and we end the crossword week on a grand note, as we only had to cheat on 4.17% of the clues (one out of 24). The little grey cells knocked it out of the park, just sauntered through the clues like it was a summer walk. The only grey cloud was not knowing that a ‘decorative ribbon or bow worn in the hair’ is called a ‘topknot’. A nice end to the week…
…and I did a fortnight’s worth of Metro cryptic crossword:
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