Unintelligent Design

I wandered into Tesco earlier, intending to restock the empty fridge. Somehow, I ended up wandering down the video games aisle and glancing at the PS3 games.

Prince of Persia.
Resistance 2.
Tomb Raider: Underworld.

"Hmm", I thought, "I'm getting a bit behind with my gaming - still working my way through GTA IV and Bioshock; haven't even started Fallout 3 yet, and here are three games I was really looking forward to..."

And then I wandered off. An aisle or two later, I idly wondered if this meant that I'd improved my willpower, or just that I wasn't entirely feeling well...?

Ten minutes after that, I reached the checkout and realised that a copy of Tomb Raider was in my basket. Once I noticed it, I did remember putting it there - but I'd blanked it completely in the interval, once it was safely hidden under the multiseed bagels and cavolo nero...

Ooops.

Eek - almost missed this!

http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=8149

So, anyone up for some opera...? Assuming that a few tickets are left, that is...

( Hallgrimskirkja - Iceland's most famous building? )

That's... fairly imposing. The interior looks lovely, too.

(just Googled for images, then felt the need to share this one...)

Another very pleasant (and fairly busy!) weekend in London, visiting souldier_blue and wandering about not-entirely aimlessly... :-)

Friday
( Read more... )

Saturday
( Read more... )

Sunday mostly failed to happen.

( Read more... )

Oh, and while I remember - one of the more intriguing purchases at Utobeer was the Paradox Smokehead beer. I'm something of a fan of Smokehead - and I really like the previous Paradox whisky-aged beer - so this one sounds like a winning combination. Haven't tried the bottles we bought yet, though...

Winter's well and truly here. I have somehing of a love-hate relationship with winter, I think.

Walking through the dark on a beautiful winter's night, with or without snow. Mulled wine and laughter. Brisk mornings with a touch of mist in the air. Frozen ponds, ice lining the sides of a river, bare forests crisp with frost in the daylight. Storms. All of these things are good.

Then there's that feeling that you're trapped in a house with no natural light, which may not be terribly warm, and there's an endless wall of darkness starting at the front door. That tends to make me a little claustrophobic, especially if I'm the only person around.

...and there's the fact that it takes me a while to get it through my head that the appropriate clothing for winter is something warm. Not, for example, a light coat over suit trousers and a thin white shirt. I seem to forget this bit each and every year.

Not having a double glazed kitchen really doesn't help in this respect - on a really cold day I'll just retreat to the rest of the house and make occasional excursions to put the kettle on, if I'm feeling brave.

Generally in a slightly odd mood today. Not an especially good one - partly because of work, partly because of a few of the things noted above. I've got Shriekback's The Reptiles and I looping through my head, I can't quite summon the concentration to read and I'm wondering whether this evening is best spent doing Absolutely Nothing At All.

Spent a very pleasant weekend in London visiting the wonderful souldier_blue. Made it to the Dev (briefly), had a very nice Japanese meal in Poppy Hana and did quite a bit of wandering and shopping.

I now need to think about whether I try to plant my newly-delivered plants (quince tree, gooseberry bush, rhubarb crowns) tonight, in the dark, or wait until tomorrow... tomorrow seems like the better option, somehow.

Just heard Kurt Weill's Moritat von Mackie Messerf in German for the first time.

It's the piece from the Threepenny Opera that's perhaps better known - in English, at least - as Mack the Knife.

Have I mentioned how much I like Mack the Knife? :-)

Who's likely to be at Vagabonds this month? 

I may actually make it this time. Possibly. :)

So. That was Whitby - and a slightly shorter one than usual, Thursday night to Monday afternoon. As it turned out, I did get a Spa ticket after all - but only used it for about ten minutes...

My plan for this Whitby was to sleep a bit, eat regular meals and drink not more than two pints a day.

Anyway, here's how it went:

Wednesday
( Still in Coventry, but attempting to be organised. )

Thursday( Transport, the Elsinore and ballroom dancing... )

David Tennant announces that he's leaving Doctor Who before the next season
(but after the upcoming specials)