Everyone (in the North Wales area) agrees that the 2024 sailing season was terrible. If it wasn’t storm this it was storm that or storm
Category: Stuff
Blogathon 28/25: End
Well, it’s the last day of February in 2025 and that means it’s the end of this year’s Blogathon. I didn’t drop any days so
Blogathon 27/25: Bikes
I keep a reasonably keen eye and ear on motorbikes in films and the TV, you’d kind of expect that, really. I’ve just finished watching
Blogathon 26/25: Bump
A few days ago, during one of the very many dogwalks I do each day, I was walking past two lads who live on this
Blogathon 25/25: Films
I’m a sucker for ‘based on a true story’ action films. I’ve recently watched ‘Close’ (a 2019 British-made, internationally-financed, Netflix-released film which is worth a
Blogathon 24/25: Will
A couple of days ago a letter came flooding in from not my solicitor. The letter said that my company of solicitor(s?) has been taken
Blogathon 23/25: Books
My world, in the last few years, has become dominated by books. Paperbacks and eBooks in about equal quantities. But when I make this sweeping
Blogathon 22/25: Poster
This afternoon I went to a meeting in the Boardroom of the Broadway Cinema (yes, on a Saturday) in the centre of Nottingham. It was
Blogathon 21/25: Honestly
Last night’s rehearsed play reading in Newark was an interesting experience. The play was a three-handed affair called Honestly. It was presented by Dogwood Productions,
Blogathon 20/25: Out2
In a rare occurrence the world hasn’t experienced since my teens (probably), I am out again this evening, in Newark this time. Two back-to-back nights
Blogathon 19/25: Out
We are in a public house. We’ve come for tea. There is a dog at the next table. A collie. A very well behaved collie.
Blogathon 18/25: Bike
I took the Ninja out for a little bit of a trundle yesterday. The weather was bright, sunny, and there were hordes of brass monkeys
Blogathon 17/25: Leftovers
Every other Sunday lunch we have a roast chicken dinner/lunch/tea (delete as appropriate to one’s upbringing). Every other Monday evening for tea we have Chicken
Blogathon 16/25: Cursive
I’ve been working on documenting my family tree for about three years. It’s been, frankly, one step forward, one step back except for the times
Blogathon 15/25: Smart
All our dogs are clever. More competent than the current President of the United States that’s for sure. They’re not all equal in this regard.
Blogathon 14/25: VD
Well, it’s Valentine’s Day. Again. The good lady wife her indoors and I have a standing agreement we don’t ‘do’ Valentine’s Day. I’m sure the
Blogathon 13/25: Cables
This is only being covered by the mainstream media as a peripheral item, but there’s a lot going on in Scandinavia. There’s a GPS jamming/spoofing
Blogathon 12/25: Spanglish
When I’m writing I usually have the radio, a podcast or the TV playing in the background. If it’s the radio or a podcast playing,
Blogathon 11/25: Infra
An organisation I do a little unpaid governance for expects people in my position (there are a few of us) to use the organisation’s basic
Blogathon 10/25: Pub
Last night (Sunday) I threw caution to the winds, left the house at 18.45 and walked to the pub. The special occasion to get me
Blogathon 09/25: Voiture
The Insignia has been with us for 6 years. I’ve played with the notion of replacing it for a while, but I think about it
Blogathon 08/25: Enterprise
I was busy having a post-lunch doze while one of the many Star Trek films was on’t telly when, about 40 minutes in, the Starship
Blogathon 07/25: Speeding
Towards the back end of last year a call went out for volunteers to run the village community speedwatch scheme. The volunteers would go out
Blogathon 06/25: Bumped
I took the car to the Romanian lads in the next town, slipped them a couple of tenners (not tenors, that’s something quite different) then
Blogathon 05/25: Passed
There are people we encounter who seem to be giants. Larger than life they make an impact – leave such an impression that a little
Blogathon 04/25: Mud!
The spanners have been nocturnal buggers lately. Kipping well until the very early hours and then having a burst of energy where they dash downstairs,
Blogathon 03/25: Smart?
We have been smart metered. Not smart metred, that’s something quite different. Anyway. Our electricity and gas meters were replaced with devices that have SIM
Blogathon 02/25: It’s Groundhog Day. Again
(It wouldn’t be Groundhog Day if I didn’t repeat this one again) I could write a detailed academic essay on the film Groundhog Day, but
Blogathon 01/25: It’s here!
I know you’ve been on tenterhooks and it’s finally arrived. The first of February. After a January that seemed to last a little longer than
Broader band
Well, TalkTalk and Openreach conspired to do their stuff and despite the fact we live in a small rural village in the arse end of
Poor comms?
For *months* the 18yo has complained about poor WiFi reception in her room. The symptoms she has been reporting include: Alexa has been playing up,
Subscription
I’ve been closely following the WordPress war that broke out a couple of months ago and is still going strong. The whole WPE vs Automattic
Media tart
On Thursday just gone (that’s 19th Dec 2024 to you) I somehow appeared in the online and print versions of the Daily Telegraph. The online
Soopahdoopahquick
Openreach are delivering FTTP and tell us our new broadband speed, when connected, will be 1Gb/s down and 220Mb/s upload (depending on which tariff and
We went to Wales!
Well OK, as a headline this isn’t terribly unusual, but we went to Lampeter, home of University of Wales, Trinity St David’s, which is where
Tempest series info
OK, so. I have been busy. Or at least I think I’ve been busy. On the writing front the manuscript for book #4 (the final
Vauxhall 2
A quick recap, or you could read the whole of part one here. A couple of weeks ago my neighbour accidentally clunked the front of
Home Alone (not)
I’m the only human in the house this weekend. The 18yo is moving in to student accommodation at the University of Wales and that means
That time of the year again
The Insignia’s MOT, Service and insurance are all hitting the wire in the next 30 days. MOT and insurance costs are mitigated by using the
The big breakfast
A couple of days ago Young Masher and I finally had our occasional ‘meet up for a brew, a chew, and a (insert rhyming word
Smart? Meter?
Our energy supplier (Ovo) has been writing letters and calling me, telling me that we need to get a smart meter installed because the radio
The results are in!
Yesterday morning the 18yo was at her sixth-form place of education bright and early to collect her A-Level results. I’m so pleased to be able
Safety thirst
While I sit here sipping a delicious hot chocolate (I don’t know how she does it, but my good lady wife her indoors makes better
You know you should reboot your router when…
Before: After:
A big day out
Yesterday we went to Newark Book Festival.