Days 2456 - 2469

Aka Monday 9^th August - Sunday 22^nd August 2021

This fortnight was pretty much like the last one healthwise, still feel under-the-weather and not back to normal. The first week was spent working in the office and the second I had off as annual leave. So that week I got my haircut and took a mediumish walk (twenty minutes there and twenty back) to the barbers, which left me feeling a little out of breather and knackered, so that was it for exercise that day. The next, and the following, day I tried to get properly back to normal, doing some weights and stuff, but I was back to my chest feeling painful and a little short of breath. And I wasn’t sure whether to push through or not, as it could be because I haven’t done anything strenuous for over a month now and that could be caused the pain and breathlessness, so I wasn’t sure whether to push through or not and ended up erring on the side of caution and doing a little exercise with lots of rest in-between…aside from that the Postman delivered this months Kyle Starks Sticker Club stickers:

…and my copy of the TPB of ‘Alex Automatic’ Vol.1, which I haven’t read yet but I’ve liked Fraser Campbells other work and the ’Time Before Time’ process edition, which give plenty of insight in to how the series and first issue came about and were created:

…I also picked up this fortnights New Comic Book Day gems:

…and ’Too Slow to Disco Yacht Soul - The Cover Versions’:

…a collection of covers of AOR tracks done by soul/funk singers/bands, which isn’t bad, but isn’t that memorable. Like it’s enjoyable to listen too, but the songs don’t stick with you…

…I also read a load of comics, ranging from fine to mighty fine (leaning mostly on the mighty fine side):

 

…finished watching 'Superman & Lois' S01, which was a pretty good Superman tale, a very good mix of superheroics and the everyday lives of Superman and  the people he cares for…and because it was Friday 13^th I had a little 'Friday the 13th' marathon and watched the first four Friday the 13th films, a bit of a guilty pleasure, but fun…and I did this week’s G2 Crossword:

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a flying start, especially compared to recent weeks, as we only had to cheat on a ninth of the clues (three out of 26). Maybe we finally getting over our recent bout(s) of unwellness and are back to normal crossword solving shape? All I know is that the little grey cells chomped through the clues like beavers through a forest! Although we are slightly annoyed that we didn’t get ‘pachyderm’ from ‘thick-skinned beast as we did consider elephant(s) or ‘bacterial’ from ‘from bugs’, but not a bad start to the week…

…Tuesday’s grid goes even better as we only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 24). I don’t want to jinx it, but maybe we are back to normal health and crossword tackling? We might even be back to walking places that are more than five minutes away without getting wheezy! And we shouldn’t really have gotten stuck on those two either, we should have gotten ‘extol’ from ‘eulogise’ and ‘ascribe’ from ‘attribute’, but onwards and upwards for tomorrow’s grid…

…and we’re maintaining our normal level of crosswording for a third day with Wednesday’s grid, we only had to cheat on a tenth of the clues (two out of 21). Again, the little grey cells just powered through the clues like a Star Trek villain through Red Shirts, and while we should have gotten ‘rustic’ from ‘countrified’, we did learn that the ‘river estuary between Argentina and Uruguay’ called the ‘Plate’…

…and Thursday’s grid goes perfectly as we didn’t have to cheat on any of the 21 clues. The little grey cells just strolled through the clues like skipping through a summer’s field. Very easy peasy, lemon squeezy…

…and Friday’s grid goes okay, we only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 23), so maintaining what were previous norms of crossword solving, but we should have gotten ‘oust’ from ‘depose’, we shouldn’t have been left metaphorically scratching our head with that one! But we did learn ‘Jerome Kern’ was the ‘Show Boat composer, d.1945’ and that ‘Eau de Vie’ is a ‘colourless fruit brandy’ (we got close with ‘Eau de Via’, but our brandy knowledge is a little lacking)…

…and Saturday’s grid ends the week on a pfft note as we had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (four out of 21). The little grey cells were doing so well on this grid, but they stumbled on one too many of the clues. Like, how did we miss ‘urge’ from ‘strong restless desire’ and why didn’t we check the intersecting letters when we went for ‘delay’, and not ‘defer’, for ‘postpone’? But we did learn that a ‘run scored at cricket but not off the bat’ is called an ‘extra’ (although that is kinda obvious in hindsight) and that ‘toasted Italian bread with a savoury topping’ is called ‘bruschetta’…

...and I did the second weeks G2 Crossword:

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a flying start as the little grey cells strode through the clues like a PM through a cornfield, only having to cheat one of the 23 clues. A couple of the clues were chewy, but we got stumped by not knowing that ‘Eliot’ was a ‘Four Quartets poet’…

…and Tuesday’s grid goes just as flyingly, as we only had to cheat on one of the 23 clues. A flying start to the week with the little grey cells blazing. And we learnt that a ‘baroque keyboard composition’ is called a ‘toccata’…

…and things go downhill with Wednesday’s grid as we had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (five out of 25). Maybe the little grey cells were a little burnt out or the pressure of it being no.16,000 or a poor night’s sleep? Hopefully it’s just a blip. But we did learn that a ‘block of Earth’s crust lifted to form peaks of a mountain range’ is called a ‘massif’ and that ‘Ostia’ is/was a ‘large commune of Rome at the mouth of the Tiber’. Slightly annoyed that we didn’t get ‘vain’ from ‘conceited’…

…and after yesterday’s poor performance the little grey cells have bounced back superbly with Thursday’s grid, as we didn’t have to cheat on any of the 24 clues. They all toppled like dominoes, one after one after one. I may not be 100% back to physical health, but the little grey cells look to be back on top of things, will this excellence continue? Let’s see…

…and Friday’s grid started out chewy, but the little grey cells soon go it under control, and we only needed to cheat on a ninth of the clues (two out of 18). Apart from Wednesday, the little grey cells have been on fire this week! And we learnt that ‘imprecation’ means to curse/swear and that ‘Boswell’ was the ‘companion and biographer of Samuel Johnson, d.1795’…

…while Saturday’s grid ends the week on an okay note, we had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (three out of 19). Not terrible, but not great either, especially considering how the week started. A couple of mistakes, like going for ‘ointment’ for ‘embrocation for relieving muscular stiffness’ and not ‘liniment’, but we did learn that ‘Abyssinia’ is the ‘former name of Ethiopia’…

Day 2442 - 2455

Aka Monday 26^th July - Sunday 8^th August 2021

This was a pretty quiet fortnight. I was still feeling under-the-weather, so much so that I had another GP appointment, this time via telephone conference, who recommended that I continue to take it easy, up my Vitamin D intake (to 3,000iu), use ibuprofen instead of paracetamol for pain relief, and Propanol. And it has helped, but at the end of the fortnight I was still nowhere near being back to 100%, better, but further to go. And I’m not sure that being back in the office actually helped. It was helpful in that I was moving about, nit stuck sitting down for eight hours, but it was more strenuous, and I was knackered by the weekend.

Also, on Friday 6^th August the hard drive in my laptop died. There was a weird clunk, and the laptop froze, froze forever. When I rebooted it, all I got was the black screen of death saying that it could not detect the hard drive. Luckily, I had most of my stuff backed-up, so I didn’t lose too much stuff, and thanks to modern capitalism my new laptop arrived on the Sunday. Which meant I spent several long hours setting up the new laptop, reinstalling my favourite programs and files and websites and trying to remember my passwords for things. But at least I was back online and once the external disc drive arrives (it seems that today no laptops are made with internal disc drives!!!) it’ll all be back to normal.

And aside from all that:

The postman delivered the new Bob Stanley compilation ‘Choctaw Ridge’:

…which was okay, but not that memorable, and ’Steeple’ Vol. 2 and ‘American Vampire 1976’ #10:

 

…’Steeple’ Vol.2 was originally published online and continues the story of Billie and Maggie as they get used to their new lives, Billie as a new priestess in the Church of Satan and Maggie as the new curate, tackling werewolves and “ancient evil from the unknowable depths of the Pacific Ocean”. If you know John Allison’s work you know what fun this collection is and if you don’t know his work, then (a) you’re missing out and (b) you’ve got a lot of fun comics to read!

I also brought Total Film magazine, due to its special feature on John Carpenter:

…and the latest Lego Star Wars magazine:

…and ‘Love + Light’ by Danial Avery:

…some very nice techno for the body and mind…and I got this fortnights New Comic Book Day gems:

…and I saw ‘The Suicide Squad’:

…which I thought was okay, there are some excellent individual performances, Idris Elba as Bloodsport is superb, and some funny moments, and on paper it should be a perfect film for me (kaiju’s, a great cast, James Gunn writing and directing, etc.) but it’s missing something and doesn’t quite hold together. Maybe it’s a mis-balance of humour and bloody violence, but whatever it is, it’s something that I can’t put my finger on. But subsequent viewings have left feeling more favourable to the film.

…and I read ‘American Vampire 1976’ #1-10:

…which was okay, but at times felt rushed and hurried and more like a film adaptation than a story written as a comic…and I read ‘Skybound X’ #3 and ‘Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton’ #2 (and the ‘Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton’ story in ‘Skybound X’ #5):

…and you can’t go wrong with some Kyle Starks goodness…and I did this fortnight’s G2 Crosswords:

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a poor start, as we had to cheat on a third of the clues (seven out of 23). Last week might have been a bit of a false dawn ☹ and the little greys just couldn’t get to grips with the grid. But we did learn that ‘pianissimo’ means ‘very softly’, that a ‘roti’ is an ‘Indian flatbread, cooked on a griddle’, that ‘Cayenne’ is the ‘capita of French Guiana’ and that ‘salutary’ means ‘beneficial’. So not a good start to the week, but an educational start…

…things pick up with Tuesday’s grid, the little grey cells were back on-line, and we only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 23). The little grey cells easily chewed through the clues, learning that ‘arraign’ means to ‘call before a court to answer an indictment’ and that ‘coddle’ means to ‘cook in hot (not boiling) water’…

…and things pick down with Wednesday’s grid, the little grey cells are back off-line and we had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (six out of 25). We’re still feeling under the weather and our little grey cells are suffering. Like how could be miss ‘vets’ from ‘checks closely’, but we did learn that ‘basmati’ is a ‘type of long-grained rice’…

…and things pick up again with Thursday’s grid, we only had to cheat on a seventh of the clues (three out of 21). So far, the weeks been a bit of a rollercoaster, seems that ill health is not conducive to crosswording! We also learnt that Angela Carter was a novelist, short story writer and poet, and passed away in 1992…

…Friday’s grid bucks the trend and the little grey cells do an okay job, we only had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 24). The little grey cells aren’t back to full strength, stumbling on a few of the clues (we should have gotten those four we missed, like ‘groggy’ from ‘dazed and confused’), but they did chomp through most of the clues in double quick time, so we maybe on our way back…

…and Saturday ends the week on am okay note, we had to cheat on only a sixth of the clues (three out of 18). At the start the little grey cells found the grid hard to get a grip on, but then it flipped and the clues tumbled like bowling pins, leaving just three that we should have, but didn’t get (like ‘peanuts’ from ‘a paltry sum of money (informal)’), so an okay, but not grand week…

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a lacklustre start. We had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (four out of 19) and the little grey cells found it hard to get started and get a grip on the grid and we missed some easy ones, like ‘swayed’ from ‘moved back and forth’. But we did learn that ‘wont’ means ‘(old) custom’ and that ‘Dublin’ is a ‘city on the Liffey’. Hopefully the little grey cells were just rusty from the weekend and things will pick up for the rest of the week…

…things pick up a tad with Tuesday’s grid, back to almost normal, as we only had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 24). The little grey cells are obvs still a little knackered and under-the-weather and not back to 100%. But we did learn ‘Anjou’ is an ‘old French province in the Loire valley, an English possession from 1154 to 1204’ and that ‘Rivera’ was a ‘Mexican mural painter, married five times (twice to Frida Kahlo), d.1975’…

…things continue to perk up with Wednesday’s grid as we only had to cheat on an eleventh of the clues (two out of 23). Maybe the little grey cells are getting back to their full heath!?! They certainly sailed through the majority of the clues! Learning that ‘moot’ can mean ‘debatable’ and that ‘cavil’ means ‘nitpick’…

…and we also get a clean sweep with Thursday’s grid, as the little grey cells powered through the 25 clues, only getting stumped on one of them. For ‘Don Quixote’s squire’ we went with ‘Pancho Sanza’ when the actually answer is ‘Sancho Panza’. So close to a clean sweep…

…things dip down with Friday’s grid, the little grey cells had obviously overexerted themselves yesterday (although I may have been distracted by my hard drive failing and losing everything I had on it!) and we back to having to cheat on a fifth of the clues (five out of 24). We did learn that ‘headland’ means ‘cape’, that ‘Popocatepetl’ is an active Mexican volcano, that ‘Erse’ means ‘Gaelic’ and that ‘Rider Haggard’ is the ‘author of She’…

…and Saturday’s grid ends the week on a lacklustre note (mirroring the start!) as we had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (four out of 22). I think today’s poor performance was due to a combination of the little grey cells not being back to full health and being distracted by my IT woes. But we did learn that ‘Monmouthshire’ a ‘Welsh county’, that ‘hors d’oeuvre of sliced raw meat or fish’ are called ‘carpaccio’ and that Sir Joseph Swan was a light bulb pioneer…