Aka Monday 6th February to Sunday 26th February 2023
I’m still catching up, so this will be a romp through three weeks. Work wise is was pretty much split up 50/50 between working the office and working from home. The effects of the Redesign really kicked in, and at points we were two weeks behind on our work, as there just wasn’t enough of us to keep up to date with work, train new people and be trained ourselves in the new tasks our team is taking on. But the silver lining is that we’re getting some OT out of it, just got to find out where the application form is! Throughout these three weeks I still had the residue of my earlier cold, luckily just a feeling of being a bit tired and a cough (and no positive Covid test). But there was some good things happening, meeting up with friends, catching up and sharing laughs. Plus, the following goodies. First up I got this incredible and impressive tome:
…my copy of the Pop Will Eat Itself biography arrived. And it’s a very impressive tome! It covers the groups independent years (1981 - 1988) and I think the only thing missing are the band itself! There seems to be everything possible in here. When I ordered it I didn’t pay much attention to the books size, but it’s massive (like I say it seems to cover everything a fan would want) and looks (and feels) like a ancient holy book. It’s been a while since I had a deep dive listen to the Poppies (aside from my own best of compilation) and reading through this book sent be back to the Poppies early days. And my mind is still blown by how they went from that jingle-jangle/C86 indie sound to a British Beastie Boys sampling based band. Can’t wait for the second volume!
…I also got the latest ‘Uncut’, ‘Mojo’, ‘Shindig!’:
…I picked up the latest ‘Uncut’ partly out of reflex, partly for the article on the ‘Nuggets’ album and for the cover CD. I’ve said in the past that these general/best of this months music cover CDs can be very hot and miss, but this one was pretty hit. Highlights were ‘Leaving Him’ by Jana Horn, ‘A Ghost’ by Shana Cleveland, ‘Crescent City’ by Mac Demarco, ‘Oh Me On My (with Michael Stripe)’ by Lonnie Holley, ‘The People Say’ by Steve Mason, ‘Pra Vida’ by Roge, ‘Real World’ by Max Jury and ‘Miles Chases New Voodoo In The Church’ by London Brew…I got ‘Shindig!’ for the Anton Newcombe interview/article (but I haven’t fully read it yet)..and, like ‘Uncut’ I got ‘Mojo’ partly out of reflex and party for the Depeche Mode rarities cover CD, which was okay, but not mind-blowing, and didn’t entice me to further explore the Mode’s discography…and I got some Lego, including the latest ‘Lego Batman’ magazine:
…and this ‘Boba Fett’ Lego Star Wars set, just a little set (partly as I don’t have space for the full size one!), but fun:
…and I got ’Folklore of Essex’ by Sylvia Kent:
…which I’d read about in Warren Ellis’ newsletter and his review of it intrigued me and I’ve always wanted to know more about the local area, so this should satisfy that scratch! And I picked up some great comics:
…and some great music:
…‘El Bueno Y El Malo’ by Hermanos Gutiérrez is an epic album of ‘bootgaze’, perfect for those hazy evenings. ‘The Future Is Your Past’ maintains the BJMs excellence and is just perfect rock ‘n’ roll, while 'Counter Melodies’ is a return from Maps, who I don’t think has released anything in the last few years, and this album was great, it has that shoegaze lilt that his early work had, but with a modern sheen. A bit like Orbital’s ‘Optical Delusion’, which is a great return to form, although I did prefer the instrumental/few vocals songs rather than the ones with singers. Andy Bell’s ‘Strange Loops & Outer Psych’ was an interesting listen, some great remixes, including one from Maps, but it didn’t make me want to buy the parent album ‘Flicker’ (‘Strange…’ is a collection of remixes, covers of influences and acoustic versions of ‘Flicker’ songs). I also got a live The KVB album, ‘Live at The La Cigale (Paris 29.01.2020)', which is full of tat shoegazery, droney, indie rock ‘n’ roll I love so much…and this month’s Kyle Starks Sticker Club stickers arrived:
…and I did this tri-week’s Metro crosswords:
…and I did the first week’s G2 Crossword:
…and Monday’s crossword gets the crossword week off to a strong, strong start. We only had to cheat on 4.55% of the clues (one out of 22), stumbling only on not know that ‘Manuka’ is a ‘kind of honey from Australia and New Zealand, said to be good for you’. Apart from that one clue the little grey cells flew through the clues like a hawk! Hopefully a good potent for the rest of the week…
...and Tuesday’s crossword went also as strongly as Monday’s, we only had to cheat on 7.69% of the clues (two out of 26). Which was pretty much the best we could do as we didn’t know that ‘mast’ are ‘forest tree nuts used as feed for swine’. Although it’s a tad annoying that we didn’t get ‘defeatism’ from ‘expectation of failure’…
…there’s not much to say about Wednesday’s crossword as the little grey cells smashed it and we didn’t have to cheat on any of the 24 clues! Hopefully this continues! Roll on Thursday…
…Thursday’s crossword didn’t go as well and we had to cheat on 4.17% of the clues (aka one out of 24). So still pretty damn fine! And we’d query whether ‘gosh!’ is a good clue for ‘coo’, ‘cor’ maybe, even ‘coo-oo’, but 'coo’! Nope we don’t like it…
…despite this Friday being the release day of a new Brian Jonestown Massacre album, we couldn’t get to grips with today’s crossword. Maybe it’s ‘cos when we went to get the album the shop had none! We were a tad irked by that and in the end we had to cheat on 14.29% of the clues (otherwise known as three out of 21). We did learn that ‘arpeggio’ means ‘broken chord’ and that a ‘confluence’ is ‘where rivers meet’, but we should have gotten ‘became’ from ‘grew’…
…and Saturday’s crossword, in conjugation with Friday’s crossword, brings the crossword week to a mediocre end as we had to cheat on 13.04% of the clues (three out of 23). I think that the little grey cells worn themselves out at the start of the week and just need a touch of R&R. We really should have gotten ‘simulate’ from ‘feign’ and ‘infidelity’ from ‘cheating behaviour’, although we did learn that ‘inimical’ means ‘hostile’…
…and I did the second week’s G2 Crosswords:
…and Monday’s crossword gets the crossword week off to a meh start. It didn’t go terribly, but it didn’t go great…just meh. And we had to cheat on 14.29% of the clues (three out of 21). But we did learn that a ‘besom’ is a ‘broom’ (possibly relearnt that one as it feels a little familiar) and that ‘coif’ can refer to a hairdo and a skullcap…
…and the mehness continues with Tuesday’s crossword. Again the little grey cells aren’t quite clicking in gear and we had to cheat on 13.04% of the clues (three out of 23). We should of gotten ‘squelch’ from ‘crush completely (informal)’, but we did learn that ‘Vetch’ is a ‘pea family plant cultivated for silage or as fodder’ and that ‘Padua’ is the ‘city setting for The Taming Of The Shrew’…
…and the mehness continues to continue with Wednesday’s crossword, as, again, we had to cheat on 13.04% of the clues (three out of 23). I don’t know why, but we seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut. At least it’s not a rut of terribleness and we learnt that ‘Assam’ is a ‘north-east Indian state, noted for its tea’ and that ‘St-Malo’ is a ‘historic port of north Brittany’. Hopefully things will improve for the rest of the week…
…and finally Thursday’s crossword ends the run of mehness, as we only had to cheat on 4.00% of the clues (one out of 25). Almost a clean sweep! The little grey cells only stumbled on forgetting that ‘Eritrea’ is ‘part of the Horn of Africa, once an Italian colony’, which we think has come up before. Hopefully this isn’t a one-off and we’re back on track for being 5 by 5, clear skies all the way…
…and Friday’s crossword shows that it wasn’t a one-off, that the little grey cells are flying high and clear, as we only had to cheat on 4.76% of the clues (one out of 21). And we learnt that the ‘Medina’ is the ‘ancient quarter of many north African cities’. I think we’re on a roll now! Let’s see what tomorrow brings...
…and we round the crossword week out on a high note as we only had to cheat on 4.17% of the clues (aka one out of 24). The grid was a little bit chewy and we had trouble getting the left hand top corner, but I give the little grey cells time to chew the clues over and they aced it. Only stumbling on not getting ‘lay up’ from ‘store for the future’, we got ‘lay’, but went with ‘by’ for the second word. Oh well, at least we ended the week on a strong, solid note…
…and I did the third week’s G2 Crosswords:
...and we get the new crossword week off to a damn strong start as we only had to cheat on 5.56% of the clues (one out of 18). We only failed to get ‘corrupt’ from ‘crooked’, we got to tied up with thinking along the lines ‘crooked’ as in something being bent or non-straight. The little grey cells found the rest of the clues easy peasy…
…Tuesday’s crossword kinda keeps things on the upbeat, as we only had to cheat on 10.53% of the clues (two out of 19). Slightly worse than yesterday, but not too much worse. We missed ‘sigh’ from ‘sound relieved (or disappointed)’, which is pretty shameful, but we did learn that a ‘set of instructions or rules’ can be called a ‘rubric’. And it’s always good to learn something new…
…and Wednesday’s crossword brings back to rarefied air as we only had to cheat on 4.17% of the clues (aka one out of 24). Although we did miss the v obvious ‘lost’ from ‘helpless - doomed’, which we really should have gotten, but aside from that a damn good performance…
…in which we stumble, slightly, with Thursday’s clues, having to cheat on 13.04% of the clues (three out of 23). I guess the little grey cells were a tad ruffled by being back in the office. ‘cos we should have gotten ‘rife’ from ‘widespread’ and ‘dearth’ from ‘lack of what’s needed’ and ‘context’ from ‘background’. Hopefully this is just a blip on otherwise a great crossword week…
…and the blip continues with Friday’s crossword, as we had to cheat on 12.00% of the clues (three out of 25). Again we missed a couple of obvious/known answers, but we did learn that ‘Subfusc’ are ‘dark formal clothing (worn during exams at some universities)’…like there is no way we could have guessed that as the answer! But we know now…
…and things tick back up with the week’s final crossword, as we only had to cheat on 4.17% of the clues (one out of 24). Yeah, the only problem we had was blanking on ‘ovation’ from the clue ‘acclaim’, which we really should have gotten. It would have been good to end the week on a clean sweep, but maybe next week…
No comments:
Post a Comment