Brexit day

Happy Brexit day!

Those in favour of it think that other nations will offer our nation of 66 million, the same terms and conditions that we had when we were part of the EU with a population of over 500 million consumers.

Well today, 2300 was celebrated across many parts of the UK.  But we should remember that companies like Fiat, Seat and Peugeot are hoping that we have a hard Brexit with a clean break from the EU, so that they can decimate our car industry.

I do hope that Brexit is the success many feel it will be.  But I doubt it will be for most.

Ill in stereo

The kids are ill.  In tandem.  But they were better earlier this week.  How they survived in the same house together eludes me considering how they bicker. But I do hope they get better soon.

One bright side of when they are well is spending time with them.  On Sunday, I got to spend time walking into town with my son.  His stamina has improved since he has been cycling to school and I have to say it is a real pleasure doing so.  I do bribe him with a packet of sweets and he allows me to play Pokémon.  And on that note, I was knocked out of one of the Pokégyms on Sunday.  I thought that I had a chance of being in it for a while when I passed it as it was empty.  But in the days before, I noted that someone had been trying to take it down.  I did not think that they has much chance due to its location, but they must have stopped the vehicle they were in to take me out.  Which means that I may not break my record of staying in a Pokégym...

What is haggis made from?

Walked to work today, a long walk.  On the walk, I took a detour and walked through some fields.  And when I saw a big pile of poo, well, manure, I thought of a friend of mine, took a picture and sent him it.

So he sent me a poem.

A nice one.

Full of love and compassion.

Muse 18.

Let me compare thee to a summers poo.
Thou art more stinky and flatulent,
Rough wind may shake the darling buds of may,
And your stink may linger all too long a date,
Sometimes your farts make too foul the room,
And in turn my complexion greened,
And every stink and smell sometimes declines,
By chance, or a chickpea curry untrimmed,
But thous eternal stink shall not fade,
Not lose possession of that foulness thou ow’st,
Nor shall death want you, cos you smell,
When in eternal lines thou grow’st,
So long as men must wear pegs to breath, or avert their eyes,
So long lives this and gives stink to thee xx

I like the poem.

Anyway, we are to have some friends round for Burns night.  My son has eaten haggis in the past, but had refused to because it has fish in it. We told him he was wrong, but when we refused to tell him what was in it, he still refused to eat it.

Blocked again

I got blocked again on Twitter.  This time it was for the crime of being subject to abuse.  When I am subject to such abuse, I often try to ignore it and engage in a civil manner.  But some do not appreciate that!

What Happened to Monday

First of all, I got to have a great day with my son yesterday.  Yes, it was Pokémon related, but we went for a long walk.  He played it a bit, and I did buy him a treat, but we have not walked like this in ages.  I have been for walks with my daughter and have enjoyed them, but I have missed these walks.

I also have spent time with my daughter we have been watching The IT Crowd.  My son and I have been watching it, but she has joined in and enjoys it.  We started to watch it after watching an ‘interesting’ film.

When it comes to the film, it started off slow, but was engrossing, and considering the climate crisis we face, very relevant.  Different to most science fiction films I have watched due to the all female line up, it was very well written, directed and acted.  Netflix have a gem with this.  I think that it this film while under appreciated now, should be discovered by many in the future.  It would be a shame if it was not.

And they fell one by one

There are times that my kids amaze me.

The imagination that they show astounds me at times.  Although they way they bicker can be frustrating.

But when my wife rang me during a break at work to comment about the kids, I had to laugh.  While eating dinner, my daughter decided to annoy her brother by naming all her carrots after his friends before eating them one by one!

Films

I have been working for three days now.  And I did not want to go back to work.  Workload issues have increased since 2010 and I have to be honest, I am not sure that I would decide to work in a regular basis in a GP surgery now.

Anyway, onto more light issues.  My wife and I watched the second season of Bancroft.  And we enjoyed it.  Like the first season, it had an actress from Game Of Thrones.  Charlotte Hope played her part very well, but her character was quite similar to the one she played in Game Of Thrones (and was just as likeable).  Faye Marsay though had the opportunity to shine as her character was unrecognisable from what she played in Game Of Thrones as well as Fresh Meat.  And shine she did.  Anyway, we have got some friends who had not watched either to watch it.

I have also watched Bad Moms and it’s sequel.  I liked both and while the writing was corny and very predictable at times, the acting of the actresses seemed to rescue both films.  And I actually think that I need to watch the first again but with my wife this time.

And the film I have just watched today is Extinction.  This I loved.  It looked boring, but was something I had looked at several times.  I understand that it had bad reviews, but this was probably from those who do not like science fiction or apocalyptic films.  Or aliens.  If you like any of the three, watch it.

And last of all, I am glad that Arsenal won on Monday.  I have yet to watch the match and while we were very lucky to have what appeared to be a very biased referee, I hear that we were lucky that our opponents did not make the best of the many chances they had against us.  Bournemouth next!

Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want (January)

I am after lucky trades for a Virizion, or a high CP Pokémon from the list.

I managed to get one today in my one and only Virizion raid (as I have not been able to do any due to being in Sri Lanka).  That was when I was taking a break at work.  But it is not as powerful as I would like, hence it being added to my list.

Just to make it clear, I am after these ones in any lucky trades.  I am happy (on certain occasions) to do a normal trade, but I want my Pokémon to have good statistics.  I am aware that I may not be able to get some of them, such as the Alola forms of the Meowth or Vulpix, or Klink, but I guess my view is if you do not ask, you do not get.  I do have some high CP forms of some of the Pokémon that are on the list but the actual statistics that they have are wanting. 

Sadly, I do not have as many shiny Pokémon as I would like, and those that I have tend to be those that others have anyway.  Which means in general that I am after like for like trades.

Abra

Absol

Aipom

Burmy

Clefable

Drilbur

Duskull

Electabuzz

Foongus

Geodude (normal form)

Goldeen

Growlithe

Heracross

Horsea

Klink

Magmar

Mankey

Meowth Alola form

Murkrow

Nidoran♀

Nidoran♂

Oddish

Onix

Pidove

Ponyta

Porygon

Scyther

Shieldon

Squirtle 

Tanglea

Tentacool

Virizion

Vulpix Alola form

Yamask

Yanma 

However, after the December Community Weekend, while I do not have many, I have a few evolved Pokémon with community day moves available to trade. 

We like driving in the car

It has been a busy day.  We were to see my mother early in the morning but due to a few ‘issues’ this could not happen.  Instead, we travelled later on.  My Mum loved seeing the kids, especially as we missed her birthday and she did not get to see her over Christmas.

After that we drove for lunch and supplies and due to traffic we had to take a huge detour on the way home.

My daughter was shattered and quickly went to bed, but my son happily played Pokémon Sword and Shield, a game that he has got with the birthday money my Mum gave him for Christmas.

Instead, my wife and I binge watched Bancroft. The second series is on ITV but we had not watched the first one.  We were very impressed and we are looking forwards to this series. But we are undecided if we should watch it after all the episodes are available so that we can binge watch it again.

And when it comes to Arsenal, I have now watched the highlights of the game against ManUre.  And I was very impressed with how we played.  I have yet to watch the Chelski loss, but if all goes well the performance of the team against ManUre will be repeated for the rest of the season and we may get to play European next season as well!

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

The kids are in bed and are still knackered.  They woke up early and while I was also awake, I waited until both went downstairs before I did the same.  While my son watched cartoons I sat and made comments to my daughter who was watching Scorpion about how they got the science wrong.  I do like the characters in the series, but the extremely sloppy science annoys me and I like to share my annoyance if I see my wife or daughter watch it.

Later though, we went to watch Star Wars.  And I loved it.  To be fair, the last really good Star Wars film was Revenge Of The Sith.   It still came up short compared to the holy trilogy of Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.  But episodes seven and eight, while enjoyable, have had a few issues.  However this film was the best of the new trilogy.  Seeing references to the original films was great and all four of us liked the film.  I do not want to say too much as I do not want to spoil the film for others.

Later, Nick and Lyndsay came round bringing her son, Hamish in tow.  We owe them lots for keeping an eye on the house while we were gone.  It was great to see them again.

Anyway, time for bed!

Day sixteen in Sri Lanka. The journey home.

We are back! We spent the evening of New Years Eve in a Thai restaurant with the family of my wife’s cousin.  And after packing, it was off to the airport where we got to celebrate New Year’s Eve by being in a queue!  But once through the gates, my wife and I were able to have a glass of champagne.  Over this time my son fell asleep and when it came to the time to the time to get to the plane, moving him reminded me of moving a sleeping cat.  At least he did not scratch!

On the plane from Colombo to Dubai, I watched Thor as well as catching up on sleep.  I have wanted to watch it for a while but have missed out on chances in the past.  I was not impressed at first, but the film did improve and was very enjoyable over all and told the back story of Thor and Loki quite well.

Dubai was a lot more relaxed compared to before,  we rested, the kids ate and I drank (soft drinks).

On the way back to the UK, I watched two more films as well as sleeping at times.  We flew on the Airbus A380 which I have always wanted to fly on.  Auggie was a slow but great film.  Similar in some ways to The Circle it was a disturbingly good film.  The other film was The Dead Don’t Die.  And I actually liked it.  In the limited time available it allowed the viewer to click with characters, hoping some would die and some live.

Anyway, we are at home.  Everyone else is asleep and I am watching Dr Who.  I not going to be able to stay awake to listen to the Arsenal match.  But while it is unlikely, I do hope we win.  While we have not a proven defensive mastermind as a manager, I hope Arteta is going to be able to sort out our defence.  As great a manager that Wenger was, he had a habit of ruining defenders such as the then German international Mustafi.  Now we have sideshow Bob in defence.  I can only cross my fingers and hope...