Days 2698 - 2704

Aka Monday 11th April - Sunday 17th April 2022

This is my first week back to work(ing from home) after a week off with Covid, and I still feel a little off, a little brain foggy, a little weak and breathless if I have to do anything strenuous, like I’m permanently at half strength (at best), but okay enough to be back working…I just need the occasional catnap to recharge…aside from recuperating and working this week and the PM (and Chancellor) having been found to have broken the law:

…and none really happens afterwards, it just washes off of him. Like, how come the Tory party isn’t bothered about their leader breaking the laws he literally wrote (a few weeks before breaking them!!!) while “normal” people received fines, some that went into thousands of pounds, that greatly affected them. And when there's a spoof front page to advertise a TV show about a political scandal: 

...you can't tell it from the real headlines! I guess that it’s a perfect example of Tories putting Party before Country, like they always do. And then they introduced a racist policy to send people seeking refugee and help and safety to Rwanda, where, even if they do qualify for asylum, that they prove that they are genuinely seeking refuge, have to stay in Rwanda. It won’t allow them into the UK, like they wanted. Ignoring any family links, language links, etc. The worse thing is the suspicion that the Tories know that it won’t work and won’t stand up, but it will give red meat to their racist base and allow them to further their culture war on the left and “woke”/lefty lawyers. This current Government is just the worst collection of scum and villainy.

Anyway, aside form that I picked up some meagre Lottery winnings:

…picked up this week’s New Comic Book Day hotties:

’The Ghost In You’ – the latest ‘Reckless’ book from Ed Brubaker & Sean and Jacob Phillips, this story focuses on Ethan’s assistant Anna, as she takes on a job (as Ethan is out of town) connected to old Hollywood. And it’s a great read, Brubaker and the Phillips are on the top of their game and are producing great neo-noir thrillers.

‘Newburn’ #5, – by Chip Zdarsky and Jacob Phillips, and it’s a good story (Newburn gets locked up in prison) but it moves slowly and it feels a bit ephemeral, like you’re not getting full value for your money. Kinda like an half an hour long detective story that’s been drawn out to an hour. 

‘All New Firefly’ #3 – by David M. Booher and Jordi Perez, was a fine read, focusing on Jayne and bit on Simon, and the story feels like it’s from the TV ‘Firefly’, but it does feel a little slight, like an issue is equivalent to a quarter of an TV episode, so you’re left wanting more. Maybe I should switch from the monthlies to the trades?

‘Image!’ #1 – is a new anthology series from Image Comics, which I mainly got for the first outing of Declan Shalvey’s upcoming 'Old Dog' series, and to try out stuff from creators that I wouldn’t normally read. But the rest of the stories felt a little meh and didn’t grab me and make me want to read other stuff by those creators.

’Rogue Trooper: War Machine’ – by Dave Gibbons and Will Simpson, which reboots/reinvents/reimagines Rogue Trooper. Gone are the bio-chips, but the betrayal remains and the violence/gore is dialled up. It’s a great looking story and delves much deeper into Rogue Trooper's psyche and we get to know this Rogue much more than the traditional Rogue Trooper. But I feel that the realism limits how many stories you can tell, that by bedded this story more in real life, you can’t do the “flights of fancy” that the original stories did. But it is a great story and is well worth getting. There are other stories by other creators in this volume, but none that gripped me.

…and I read ‘ZVRC: Zombies vs Robots Classic’ #1:

…which was a fun read. I can remember when they were first published, but I never picked them up as I didn’t know Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood’s work at the time, and I didn’t have room in my budget to try it out. But I’m glad that I can get them now. The art is great and the stories are kinda self-contained, but also fit together to tell a larger story. I also tried these savoury Hot Cross Buns:

…which sounded great, I love cheddar cheese and caramelised onion chutney, but these Buns hardly had any of that flavour, it was like a ghost/hint of cheddar cheese and caramelised onion chutney. Almost like a normal Bun had been waved over some cheddar cheese and caramelised onion chutney, rather than cheddar cheese and caramelised onion chutney being put into the Bun mixture ☹ I also watched ‘Choose Or Die’:

…which is a fun little horror flick about a haunted computer games from the ‘80s, with a little bit of 2020s politics thrown into the mix. It kinda reminded me a little of ‘Thirteenth Floor’ and ‘The Computer Warrior’ stories from the ‘80s Eagle comic. And I rewatched ‘Hot Fuzz’:

…which was as fun as ever, and is probably the best of the Cornetto Trilogy. I also got Lego Star Wars magazine:

…but didn’t get run to making the AT-AT yet. And I did this week’s G2 Crosswords:

…Monday’s crossword went pretty schwifty, we only had to cheat on one of the 18 clues. After their weekend rest the little grey cells are back to full strength and we only fell over not knowing that ‘ambit’ can mean ‘range – compass’…

…Tuesday’s grid went even better and we didn’t have to cheat on any of the 19 clues! Looks like our post-Covid malaise hasn’t impacted the little grey cells…just our ability to walk or lift or do anything strenuous without losing our breath or to not feel knackered all the time…

…things stumble with Wednesday’s grid, we had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 24). We were back in the office for the morning (and working from home in the afternoon) and it did wear us out more than we expected or hoped it would. Not looking forward to doing a full office week (minus the Bank Holiday) next week. That aside, we are still getting a bit of brain fog, as we should have gotten ‘mammon’ from ‘material wealth’ and ‘debauch’ from ‘corrupt morally’, but we did learn that a ‘Tree Frog’ is an ‘arboreal amphibian’…

…and we’re back to super awesomeness with Thursday’s grid as we didn’t have to cheat on any of the twenty three clues. Another clean sweep with the little grey cells smashing it again…maybe it’s because we weren’t over thinking things as our mind was mostly taken up with how corrupt and inhumane our Government is being…like grabbing for anything to distract from their disgusting behaviour. Makes one nostalgic for the sleazy days of Major’s Government…

…we stumble again with Friday’s crossword. We had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (four out of 25). We should have gotten ‘trisect’ from ‘cut three ways’ and ‘obelisk’ from ‘four-sided tapering pillar’, but we thought that an obelisk was a rounded pillar ala the obelisks from the Asterix books. But we did learn that a ‘trireme’ was a ‘Greek or Roman galley’ and that a ‘Pueblos’ is a ‘Native American communal communities in south-western United States’…

…and the stumbling continues as we end the week with having to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 24) for Saturday’s grid. I guess the little grey cells got distracted by the Easter Bank Holiday’s and chocolates, along with all the troublesome things going on in the world. But we did learn that ‘lawn’ is a type of ‘fine linen or cotton’ and that ‘Navarre’ is a ‘autonomous province of Spain, capital Pamplona’…

Days 2684 - 2697

Aka Monday 28^th March - Sunday 10^th April 2022

It was a big health fortnight this fortnight. As per usual I still felt weary and fatigued and anxious, and between Monday 28^th and Tuesday 29^th March I developed a stinking cold. I went from that pre-cold run down feeling when I went to bed Monday night to waking up on Tuesday feeling headachy, hot and a massively runny nose, the full gamut. But at least I was working from home for this week, I could just wrap u warm and work from bed. On Friday (the 1^st April!!!) I was persuaded to do a LFT, as I didn’t have any of the three big symptoms (at the time) I assumed it wasn’t Covid, but it was, the LFT was very positive:

…which did shock me. Mainly because I managed to avoid a getting a positive test for two years (although maybe that’s because most of the LFT just used a nose swabs and not throat and nose swabs, like the one that gave a positive result) and because I had been out.

Once to get a new laptop from work, as the screen on the old one broke, and once to do a big food and other stuff shop. I had worn a mask and tried to keep socially distant, but I still felt guilty that I might have spread Covid and infected others. All I could think about was the people I’d seen and interacted with, did I infect them, did I catch it from them!?! The annoying thing is a day or two after I tested positive, they announced seven “new” main symptoms of Covid, most of which I had!

The odd thing is that when I took the LFT I was feeling a bit better, it felt like the cold had broken, but once I got the positive result I felt worse. I’m not sure if that’s down to how Covid works, that there are peaks and troughs, or if it was a psychological response to knowing I had a more serious disease. Or I did I have a cold and then caught Covid? Who knows, the main thing I remember from having Covid is the feeling of continuous fatigue and the vivid, weird daydreams whenever I closed my eyes and rested or tried to sleep at night. So vivid and so weird!!!

I had been working through the cold, but when it became Covid I decided to take sick leave, to concentrate on getting better. I’ve heard lots of stories about how trying to power through Covid can exacerbate Covid symptoms. And by the end of the second week I did feel much better and ready to get back to work and got my two negative results (on Tuesday 5^th and Wednesday April):

…and in other health news on Friday 8^th April I got a letter from the Hospital confirming that my recent heart tests (a CT Coronary Angiogram and a Transthoracic Echocardiogram) showed nothing of concern and that my GP should book me in for some lung function tests. At least it’s narrowing things down, I think the worse outcome would be that my symptoms are just anxiety/anxiety attacks, because that would mean that the problem is in my head and is forever, waiting to strike at any moment, whereas if I do have a physical illness, it would be something that could be treated and then forgotten about. Anyway before I tested positive (Thursday 31^st March) my new Chuck T’s arrived and compare them to how knackered my old ones were after roughly ten to eleven months of daily use (e.g. very knackered!!!):

…and while I thought I just had a stinking cold I picked up these New Comic Book Day gems:

…and the latest Lego Jurassic World magazine for the mini T-Rex:

…and while I was convalescing I, now that the series has concluded, re-read all of ‘Moonshine’:

…which was a fun, deeply noir read. Lots of horror (both psychology and physical), bad guys doing bad guy things, femme fatales femme fataling and anti-heroes caught in the middle with no good options. I also re-watched ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘The Initiation’:

…’Shaun of the Dead’ is still enjoyable, although the more I rewatch it, the more familiar I am with the gags, the more I notice the acting, the dramatic elements, the set design, etc. And ‘The Initiation’ is one of the first films I can remember watching and is an excellent starter slasher to watch. It’s got all the elements, horny teenagers, a mysterious past traumatic event, gratuitous nudity, cool kills, everything you need! I also watched ‘Quatermass 2’:

…which was a fun ‘50s sci-fi adventure, with perhaps the weirdest thing being how people behaved in the ‘50s, the respect for authority and the social class distinctions, when seen through modern eyes. But it’s still a fun adventure of invading aliens defeated by good old British daring do! I also watched ‘Gangs of London’:

…which was a weird watch. As it’s from Gareth Evans I was expecting a lot more action, but it’s a lot more noirish and twisty. Although there is action, and it is spectacular. Well worth a watch. And I also watched ’Who Killed The KLF?’:

…which tells the story of the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu aka The KLF and the aftermath of the band aka the burning of a million pounds. It’s a great documentary that covers the band’s history (mostly without getting it wrong or maybe creating a new mythology using the old adage of printing the legend not the truth!) and gets over what made them so fun and different from other bands of the time (and now!). I also picked up some meagre Lottery winnings:

…and the postman delivered these goodies:

…I got the Manic’s CD for the Chemical Brothers remix of ‘Everything Must Go’, which is epic, retaining the emotion of the song while moving the feet and hips. And I got Sniper’s ‘Dirty Harry EP’ because their ‘Crossfader Dominator’ is a monster of a bug beat tune and any song that samples Lalo Schifrin’s ‘Dirty Harry’ is starting strong and Sniper’s ‘Dirty Harry’ is a great track that adds some hip-hoppness to Schifrin’s ‘Dirty Harry’ that grooves like you cruising round the streets of ‘70s San Francisco. And I got a second MacReady figure:

…initially I thought I was getting a duplicate of the figure I already had, so that I could have one in the box and one out, but this is a different version, the Station Survival version and not the Outpost 31 version. So I guess I have the dilemma of do I open both or get an extra version of both so that I can have one in box an done out of each version?!?!?

…and I did the first week’s G2 Crosswords:

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a pretty normal start, with us have to cheat on a seventh of the clues (three out of 22). The little grey cells were on good, but not great form (like we missed ‘Zion’ from ‘the kingdom of heaven’) and the grid wasn’t too chewy. The only ones we stumbled on were not knowing that ‘Epstein’ was the ‘sculptor of Oscar Wilde’s tomb in Pere Lachaise cemetery, Paris’ and that ‘Rwanda’s capital’ is ‘Kigali’, let down by our old nemesis geography…

…Tuesday’s grid went terribly, we woke up with a stinking cold (and a negative LFT), the little grey cells were done in, and we just couldn’t get a grip on the grid. We had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (six out of 26) and a chuck of those six I think we would have gotten under normal circumstances, like ‘amendment’ from ‘statement added to or revising a proposal’, but we did learn that ‘derv’ is ‘diesel fuel’…

…Wednesday’s word puzzle goes much better than expected, we only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 24). The cold is still stinking and the little grey cells run down, which is why we missed ‘porous’ from ‘permeable’ and ‘promising’ from ‘up-and-coming’, but we took our time, went slow and steady and aced the rest of the grid…

…Thursday’s grid went even better, using the slow and steady approach we tots aced the grid and didn’t have to cheat on any of the 24 clues. Either the cold is getting better, the clues easier or cold medicine has a crossword solving performance enhancing effect…

…Friday’s grid goes almost as well, only had to cheat on one of the 21 clues. It must be the ole pseudoephedrine sharpening up the little grey cells, meaning that we were able to pull ‘evensong’ from ‘vespers’ out of the recesses of my memory or that Futura is a ‘font’, and we only stumbled on not knowing that ‘beriberi’ is a ‘disease causing inflammation of the nerves and heart failure’…

…we only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 23) for Saturday’s grid, which, all things consider, went exceptionally well and we learnt that a ‘coxswain’ is a ‘crew member who never does a stroke’. And by all things I mean that my stinking cold turns out to have been Covid (or I’ve got a cold and Covid!), as I was still feeling rough, I did a second LFT and it came up so positive you could see it from space! It’s a good thing that I kept up social distancing and wearing a mask when out and about in public places, but I do feel a little annoyed that I managed to dodge it for two years and got it now and I’ve slightly fallen into a rabbit hole of wondering how and when I got it and if I’ve passed it on, with a slight dash of pissed off-ness that our Government is doing everything to increase transmission and case numbers (such as getting rid of legislation, free tests, and other supportive measures)…and I did the second week’s G2 Crosswords:

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a surprising excellent start, we only had to cheat on one of the 21 clues! Surprising as we assumed that getting Covid would hammer the little grey cells, but it seems to have had the opposite effect. Or the clues are getting easier? Or because we’re resting up, we have more time to spend on the clues? Or I’m at the tail end of having Covid? Either way, we did learn that ‘productive farmland’ is ‘arable’ and we’re left a little confused by how ‘this size is rather small’ is a clue for ‘pint’, which I only got because of the intersecting letters and a good guess…

…Tuesday’s grid goes pretty damn well, we only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 23). And we got our first negative LFT, which is a relief. Although we do have a teeny bit of brain fog, as we couldn’t get ‘derelict’ from ‘ruined’ and we forgot that the pointy bits of forks are called ‘tines’…

…Wednesday’s grid goes awesomely as we didn’t have to cheat on any of the 23 clues. A clean sweep and a second negative LFT, how could this day get better! Plus, the brain fog seems to be lifting as we were able to recall ‘apogee’ from the back of the little grey cells from the clue ‘climax’…

…Thursday’s grid keeps up the excellent awesomeness, as we only had to cheat on one of the 25 clues. I am feeling groggy and fatigued, pretty much all the time, with chest pains and shortness of breath coming and going, but regardless of this, the little grey cells have been on fire this week! And we learnt that Clio and Thalia are ‘Muses’…

…and we stumbled a little with Friday’s grid, we had to cheat on a seventh of the clues (three out of 21), as I think the Covid aftermath has finally caught up with us. We had no way of knowing or guessing ‘hydrangea’ from ‘woody shrub with large, sometimes globe-shaped flower heads’, as our botany knowledge is v limited, but we should have gotten ‘overtone’ from ‘hint’ and ‘historic’ from ‘significant’, as we had the intersecting letters, but we couldn’t make that final reach through the brain fog to the answer. Or maybe the little grey cells are just burnt out…

…and Saturday’s grid ends the week on a sweet note, as we only had to cheat on one of the 24 clues. It took a little bit of extra time, but the little grey cells managed to sort through all the clues, only stumbling on not knowing that the ‘Aegean’ is ‘part of the Mediterranean between Europe and Asia’. Aside from being let down by our lack of geography knowledge a storming week, especially with the Covid brain fog…