So long fair Pokémon

Woke up this morning to find that I had finally been knocked out of a Pokégym in Sri Lanka that I had managed to stay in for over a year.

I was hoping that I would get to stay longer as it was on a road where people drove fast past it, which meant that I just needed to ensure that it could survive one battle. But alas, the long stay abroad for that Pokémon has ended.

Pokémon GO and trading

Time has been good for trading.  Niantic have increased the distance at which we can trade until the end of month.  And due to COVID, meeting up to trade a Pokémon can carry risk, though this can be done in a socially distanced manner.  Saying that, it has been nice trading from my living room, but I need to be clear about what I am after.

These are the Pokémon that I am missing from my Pokédex

352 - Kecleon

369 - Relicanth

417 - Pachirisu 

455 - Carnivine

476 - Probopass (I do not have a high CP Nosepass with good scores to evolve one)

479 - Rotom

489 - Phione (but I am not sure that this is not available at all)

490 - Manaphy 

511 - Pansage

512 - Simisage

515 - Panour

516 - Simipour

517 - Munna

518 - Musharna

528 - Swoobat (I have yet to get a high CP Woobat with good scores)

538 - Throh

542 - Leavanny

551 - Sandile

552 - Krokorok

553 - Krookodile

556 - Maractus

561 - Sigilyph

570 - Zorua 

571 - Zoroark

582 - Vanillite

583 - Vanillish

584 - Vanilluxe

592 - Frillish

593 - Jellicent

602 - Tynamo

603 - Eelektrik

604 - Eelektross

615 - Cryogonal 

619 - Mienfoo

620 - Mienshao

621 - Druddigon 

626 - Bouffalant

631 - Heatmor

636 - Larvesta

637 - Volcarona

647 - Keldeo

648 - Meloetta 

865 - SirFetch’d

I will see if I can get time to see what other Pokémon I need at a later date.

Scary spiders

Yesterday I was on the carpet watching television with my wife and daughter when a huge enormous spider walked across the floor in front of me.  It, being big, was scared we were going to eat it.  I trapped it in a glass and having been drinking beforehand, when I was a bit more sober, and brave slid a card under it and set it free outside.

However, it was amusing that I, the man, despite being scared of the huge spider, had to get rid of it.  My daughter when younger let a tarantula crawl on her, but could not deal with this one.  At work, I work with a man who has had to get the ladies at work deal with any spiders found in his room, so I know that the stereotype of just women not being able to deal with spiders is wrong.  Of course, we also watched an episode of 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown which celebrated female empowerment.  The irony was not lost on me.

We were meant to have been watching Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, but after my son convinced us to watch it, he disappeared with his iPhone upstairs.  So we watched Strike.

I know that many are abandoning JK Rowling in this Cancel Culture Era, but I think that she is amazing and I agree with the views she has posted a while ago.  It is ironic that in an era where we accept that gender is non-binary that any discussion over it is viewed as a binary one.

Anyway, onto Pokémon GO.  I am looking for the following which are missing from my Pokédex;
Kecleon
Relicanth
Pachirisu
Chatot
Garchomp (though I hopefully will be evolving one later this year)
Carnivine
Probopass
Rotom
Uxie
Azelf
Serebii
Manaphy
Victini
Pansage (and possibly Simisage)
Panpour (or Simipour)
Munna
Musharna
Throh
Sandile
Krokorok
Maractus
Sigilyph
Zorua
Vanillite
Deerling
Frillish
Tynamo
Axew
Cryogonal
Mienfoo
Druddigon
Pawniard
Bouffalant
Heatmor
Vullaby
Larvesta
Keldeo
Meloetta

I am aware that not all are available.
I am also interested in high CP Pokémon as a lucky trade;
Burmy
Duskull
Nosepass
Woobat
Yamask

And a normal form Golem.

I am also happy to do a like for like trade on many other Pokémon, especially shiny ones.  I do not have as large a collection as others, but I am willing to consider shiny like to like trades.

Genesect & Pokémon GO

Time for that update on Pokémon GO.

I am in the market for the following in a lucky trade.  Those in bold are what I am most interested in.

Absol
Axew
Azelf
Bastiodon/Shieldon
Burmy
Carnivine
Chatot
Cryogonal
Duskull
Geodude (normal form)
Goldeen
Gothitelle
Heatmor
Meowth (Alola & Galarian Form)
Nosepass
Pachirisu
Pansage/Simisage
Panpour/Simipour
Probopass
Relicanth
Rotom
Sigilyph
Throh
Uxie
Victini
Woobat
Yamask

In addition to this, I am also interested in certain legendary Pokémon but as I have the non-shiny forms of all of them (so far), I am not too fussed about them for now.  Saying that, I am hopeful that I will get a shiny Genesect.  But considering that I never caught a Shiny Rayquaza, or many other legendary versions, I suspect that I will miss out on this as well.  However, I have been able to take this Pokémon down with two or three accounts.  Today in a battle with two accounts, I lost three Pokémon, but later fighting with two others, I lost four.  I am hopeful that with the smaller numbers needed for this, that I will be able to catch a shiny one.

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

I am after high CP Pokémon.

And just to make it clear, just these ones in any lucky trades.  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
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, some of them being shiny ones!

How I beat Giovanni in Pokémon GO (again)

I have managed to beat Giovanni again.  Learning from my last battle against him, I started with my Rhyperior to face his Persian, my Pokémon being able to last long enough to take down the shields of Giovanni which allowed my Kyogre to take down his Dugtrio.  However, this time I forgot that I would be facing a Zapdos as the final opponent and my Blaziken was pummelled.  But, using a Mewtwo with Icebeam, I was able to defeat him once more.  I just need to save up on the stardust to purify it as I was able to capture it afterwards.

I am after high CP Pokémon, but just these ones in any lucky trades.  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 a Burmy 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 many 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
Chikorita
Clefable
Drilbur
Duskull
Electabuzz
Foongus
Geodude (normal form)
Goldeen
Growlithe
Heracross
Horsea
Klink
Litwick
Magmar
Mankey
Meowth Alola form
Murkrow
Nidoran♀
Nidoran♂
Oddish
Onix
Pidove
Ponyta
Porygon
Scyther
Shieldon
Slowpoke
Squirtle 
Tanglea
Tentacool
Vulpix Alola form
Yamask
Yanma

How I beat Giovanni in Pokémon GO

I am the proud owner of a shadow Pokémon.  And I need some other Pokémon in trades. 

In Pokémon GO, there has been a task set to defeat one of the main villains from the series.  My son has watched Pokémon on TV, DVD and our streaming service and wants to play the latest game on our console.

Needless to say, that while I have gone further in the game of Pokémon GO, he knows more about the world of Pokémon and therefore is better able to counter Pokémon in player vs player battles and in challenges against powerful Pokémon.  Like those that Giovanni has.

On Saturday it was a day for battles against Team Rocket.  I had beaten them enough that i just needed to take down Giovanni, but the problem was finding him.  But I did.  Sadly, just before I had to collect my daughter from a sleep over at a friend of hers.  I tried and failed repeatedly to take him down, using the recommended Pokémon that were on several sites.  But after repeated failures, I listened to my son, and myself.  

The first Pokémon to take down was a Meowth, and I needed to last long enough to make it use its shields so that my Pokémon could take down the next two.  After a while, I remembered that there have been the chance to catch a Rhyhorn, or rather several.  So I used a Rhyperior.  While that is not one of the recommended Pokémon to use, it has the stamina to stand up in combat and dish out punishment as well.  After it fell, I turned to my Blaziken to finish it off.  After that, Giovanni sent out a Dugtrio and it was here that the advice on the net and from my son helped.  Rather than stick with the Gyarados that I had used before with Outrage as its charged attack, I used a Kyogre.  With its health points, it was able to last long enough to use its charged attack of Blizzard.  In fact once it took down the Dugtrio, it was able to last long enough against the Articuno of Giovanni to use it charged attack before it fell and I was back to my Blazkien.  Using Counter and Blast Burn, it defeated the legendary shadow Pokémon and victory was finally mine.  

Though I had lost count of the amount of times that I had been defeated!

Anyway, back to the trades that I am after.  I am after high CP Pokémon, but just these ones in any lucky trades...
Squirtle
Nidoran♀
Nidoran♂
Clefable
Oddish
Mankey
Growlithe
Abra
Tentacool
Alola form Vulpix
Alola form Meowth
Geodude (normal form)
Ponyta
Slowpoke
Onix
Horsea
Goldeen
Scyther
Electabuzz
Magmar
Chikorita
Heracross
Ralts
Absol
Shieldon
Burmy
Aipom
Murkrow
Tanglea
Yanma
Porygon
Duskull
Pidove
Drilbur
Yamask
Foongus
Litwick

The reason I am after high CP forms of these types is that for those that can evolve, I can do so and get more powerful forms with high stats.

Anyway, thanks. 

I want to ride my bicycle

Since my last post about the family, we have been to Bluewater twice.  And I still forgot to buy a replacement coat!  Last week, on Sunday, we took my son to watch How To Train your Dragon, the hird instalment.  We had promised him this for some time and had to keep the promise while it was in a cinema. My daughter wanted to watch Bohemian Rhapsody and we needed to get a few things.  I got a Valentines present for my wife, my daughter got some clothes and then my wife and I took one child each to watch the film.  I got to listen to loads of Queen covers and enjoyed a very moving film about Freddie Mercury in a theatre that my daughter agreed was very dusty (our reasons for tears coming to our eyes).  My son loved watching his film and I think my wife enjoyed it was well.

Valentines was a day early for my wife and me as I was working on Thursday so was not able to meet for dinner.  Instead we went to a local steak restaurant which we had meant to go to for a while.  While the meal was okay, for the price, I doubt that we will be going back.  We did not get to go out on Friday as my wife went out with some friends.  They came round afterwards and I dropped her friends home in the early hours of the morning.

And today we went back to Bluewater.  It was another Pokémon community day and my son and I had decided to take time out to catch Pokémon, but my wife asked if we could do this in Bluewater instead today.  So I drove them down and while my wife and daughter shopped, my son and I bonded over PokémonGO and junk food.  

And after getting back this afternoon, my son and I went for a short bike ride.  He needed the practice and quickly picked up most of his skills.  But he has grown a lot since I last adjusted his seat.  So much so that we can get some mudguards for his bike now.

400 days

A quick PokémonGO post. On Christmas Day 2017, I was I Sri Lanka and placed a Pokémon in a gym there. Today, after 400 days, it was knocked out. The gym appeared to have been malfunctioning for a month (as you can see from the picture).  But I hope to travel back later this year to put myself in it again.

PokémonGO & Cyndaquil community day

Today was busy we had a drive in the morning to get and deliver presents, breakfast and then a drive back.  My daughter had an appointment to meet some friends and my son and I were keen to play PokémonGO. It was another community day and while my son and I missed a lot of it, we did get to meet up with Matthew, a friend of his and his mother.  The kids had fun catching Pokémon and then had some fun in the playground.

After Matthew left with his mother to go to a birthday party, my son and I left Castle Park and went into town for lunch.  I had promised that after this, if he was good that we would go to Kaspa's and as he had been brilliant, he got to have the rest of his lunch there.

We met up with my daughter in the library where my son got a book out and walked back.  She had enjoyed the afternoon with two friends, though she will not tell me why she was kicked out of McDonalds.  The kids did snap a bit at each other, but overall have been great today. Anyway, we are watching Harry Potter & the order of the Phoenix and are soon to go to bed. 

Pokémon GO and Gengar Day

I spent a great day out with my son today.  It was a day for PokémonGO and today he got to walk about Colchester catching them.  And he walked and walked and walked.  I would like to think that he had fun.  While my wife hates the game, it has had the effect of making him want to walk, something where I remember literally dragging him about.  When in town on the last day he got to spend time in the park and made friends.  Today we met up with one of mine instead.

He did get to meet them on Wednesday when we went out for Hallowe'en where he came back with loads of sweets (which I have not been stealing). My daughter went to visit a friend but did not come back, or worse, answer her phone which meant that I spent Wednesday night wandering about Great Horkesley trying to find out where she was (tracking her iPhone location on mine).

And today the kids have been getting on well.  I have not seen them do this in a while and it is really nice.

Anyway we are to to go to a wedding reception where my wife is trying to get me to learn how to Salsa!

Moltres Day

Today, my son and I went out for a long walk.  Since he has been playing this, he has started to walk a lot more.  Before we played this, we did not walk that much, in fact, he would always do his best not to walk.  While I credit PokémonGO with encouraging him to walk a lot, he has improved when it comes to exercise in many ways, an example being how he is playing cricket.

Anyway, this was something that we had been looking forwards to for a while, as we had missed the previous days which dealt with two other legendary Pokémon.  My son called a friend, whom we had been out with on another day before, and he in turn woke up his mother and dragged her out of bed (she had the option to have her first lie in for a while due to her work) to take part in this.  Anyway, we all had fun catching them and he was amazing with how far we walked.

Afterwards, we had lunch near Ipswich, bought some non-alcoholic beer and on getting home relaxed watching Strictly Come Dancing, and we watched the end of a disappointing episode of the X factor.  While it may not look like we did much, I do think that it was an enjoyable day for all, it just does not appear so when I type it up!

   

A happy son

Since the last post, the family have fallen in love with the new car.  Last weekend we drove down to London to see my mother and the parents of my wife. I had to attend a course, and my son was away on a camping weekend.  My daughter therefore got alone time with her grandparents, who while glad to see her, were a bit sad to only see one grandchild.

My son has a weekend of activity planned.  He gets to play cricket tomorrow and on Saturday gets to go out onto the River Blackwater.  This meant that I did not get to collect him from school this weekend as my wife had to get him some cricket whites and apparently he was sad as this meant that I have not collected him from school for a while.  But later in the day, he proudly showed us his work when it came to his Celebration Evening at his school. My daughter found that school was smaller than it was when she left it and got to meet some of her old teachers as well.

Back to my son, the downside for him and his day at the Blackwater is regarding his love of PokémonGO as it means that he has less time to catch Pokémon. But he went to bed very happy today as he managed to get a rare Pokémon. One which I do not have, and I am not jealous at all! And on that topic, I still have a Pokémon in Sri Lanka!  

Most importantly though, I have my fingers crossed for the first competitive match of cricket that my son has to play.  Considering that he hated it when he was first taken to play it by my wife, this is a big step for him and I do hope that he does not lose the love for the game that he has developed.

All weekends are equal, but some are more equal than others

Today, we decided not to do the sensible thing, which was to stay at home and work on the garden.  Instead we went out for a trip to Southwold.  We have been here many a time and the children do not seem to mind the drive there, as now they have control over the music that we listen to.

Once there, we were lucky to find a parking space, but it was a bit colder than we had expected.  After some time on the pier where he had some lunch, enjoyed the sun, and gazed at the sea, it was a walk into town.  My son was amazing as he was willing to walk quite fast, though this was related to Pokémon Go.  This has been amazing for him when it comes to exercise and I have to say I was impressed with his endurance.

After that it was a drive home where my wife fed us some amazing pasta and we snuggled up on the sofa to watch a film.

I got one!

Since my last post about the family, my daughter has left.  She is away on a school trip for the next few days, and for now, my son does not seem to miss her, though my wife and I do.  Today was interesting as I got back from dropping my daughter at school to return home, finding that my son annoyed his mother, so I cooked him breakfast, and then, when he refused to eat it, made him eat it.  For the evening, we went to see Isabel and Tony were we ate dinner and then home.  A new hob was fitted and then it came to putting a draw back which had to be removed to fit it.  That was fun, though my wife and I made up after the slight discussion on now to perform this task!

Anyway, when it comes to Pokémon GO, on Tuesday, I had to go to the doctors.  On the way, I was able to attend an EX raid, where someone kindly caught my son another Mewtwo, and also, after it was defeated in battle, helped me catch it.  Which meant that it was third time lucky for me.  But he is ecstatic that he has two of these rare Pokémon while only have one.  But, I can boast that, for now, one of my Pokémon is still in a gym in Sri Lanka!

What a day

Today has been a busy day.  Last night we had gone to a party and thanks to Victoria and Adam, we had fun, but we did not get back until the early hours of the morning.  The downside was that we were meant to take my son out to play cricket this morning.  So when he sneaked into our room to say that he did not want to play cricket today, we were relieved.  To be honest, I suspect that I would have still been over the drink drive limit if I had driven this morning.  Which would have meant that I would not have been able to take him, or would have had to take a cab to get him there and hope that my wife would be able to get me back at the end of it all.  It is a shame, as he had wanted to go.  His desire to play cricket is amazing and is a change from how he started.  I had thought that today, he would not want to go, but instead would want to take advantage of the Pokémon Go community day.  We had agreed to take a friend of this out for this who had not been able to take advantage of this before.

So this morning, after breakfast, leaving my wife in bed, we went to collect Matthew before walking into town and the kids were great.  When there was a glitch with Pokémon Go which prevented them from taking part in it fully, they were okay and instead played in the playground in the park.  Things started to work later and both were glad that they had caught several Charmanders and also had evolved them into Charizard's.  For Matthew, this was a big thing as he had not been out on a day like this before and is a keen fan of Pokémon.

But going out meant that we missed the Royal Wedding, and watching the highlights on our return, it has brought a tear to my eye.  It is interesting though to see the different views on this.  And while I respect the views of those who are against the monarchy, I disagree with them.

Pokémon and Bluewater

Again, it is time for a post from my son

My day was just amazing- until the time of me writing a blog post 😭

After I woke up I found out that in Pokemon GO there is now a professor’s challenge and if you collect all the stamps you catch a legendary Pokemon or an invisible Mew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  

Afterwards we went on a perilous quest to Bluewater and went to the cinema to watch the film A Wrinkle in time! It was a bit scary when the cute, intelligent brother turned evil, but it all ended happy ever after.

Today I went to Waterstones where I looked up Pokémon cards I bought a shiny Darkrai GX box. It contains 4 Shining Legends booster packs a non-promo jumbo and normal shiny Darkrai GX .

Then we went to YO! Sushi where I ate 5 whole plates ! I mainly ate sushi and I thought I might explode/implode . Then I went trampoline bungee jumping.

And now for my recollection...

In the morning, while I was giving my son a massage, we watched Blackadder.  Our aim, well mine, was to travel to Hendon to visit the museum there, an important time to go considering the RAF is 100 years old.  But, we did not do so.  Instead, after a discussion on the way, we ended up going to Bluewater to watch a film and do some shopping.  As my son has mentioned, we watched A Wrinkle In Time, which was a good film.  At times, it moved too fast and this meant that the film did not flow properly, but it was great to watch.  Following this, it was lunch at Yo Sushi, we had not eaten there in a while and we all loved our return there.  My son had loads of fun playing Pokémon and also getting some cards, and I was very impressed at how much he walked.  He is hoping to #FindMew, and I wish him good luck in this quest.

Pokémon & Bulbasaur community day, a blog post by my son

Today was Bulbasaur community day. First of all today was Sunday the 25th. Community day on Pokémon GO is when a Pokémon appears more frequently. You also get shiny Pokémon which are much rarer and here are some images.


Today we walked into Castle Park when when we were walking I caught a shiny Bulbasaur, my father however did not. He was very annoyed since he did not get one at that point. The walk was quite long as my father kept on annoying me

When we got into Castle Park I got another shiny. I saw quite a few are the children. The adults did not get as many Chinese as children seem to. I had got 100 Bulbasaur candy which meant I could of of a powerful Ibiza. My father persuaded me to save my candy so then I saved 125 candy and a vault are powerful shiny. I was ecstatic since my father had not got one shiny. I battle the gym at Castle Park and put my shiny Venus saw. Afterwards my father finally caught shiny at the end I had six shiny Pokemon and my father only had three. I kept on rubbing it in his face as it was very funny

And then it was gone

The snow has almost gone which means that the children should be back to school tomorrow. They were essentially off over Thursday and Friday, though my daughter did have school for a few hours on Thursday. And while there was a lot of snow yesterday, which meant no cycling for me then, it was clearing and today most of it has gone here.  What we did though yesterday was to have another snowball fight.  And once again, both kids ganged up on me.  Due to the weather, the snow was more compact compared to what it had been before, which meant that the snowballs were easier to make, and travelled further.  And yes, both kids got me in the face again.

Today we did go for a walk in Castle Park and this involved a walk down a very ice ridden path. My son was not too keen on this, but to be fair to him, he did what his sister wanted, which was to walk down the path.  She in turn let us spend some time to do a Pokémon go raid, something she appears to hate now.

Anyway, the kids are in bed, and now I have to sleep after watching the final episode of Requiem.

Apparently I am crazy

Apparently I am crazy.  Well according to my daughter.

Last night, my wife had some friends round, and I was working late, very late,  So I was not too willing to get out of the warm bed this morning to cycle to a course to learn about hips, shoulders knees and toes.  But I did, and the cold wind that was blowing certainly woke me up on by bike ride.  The course was a good one and I hope put my new knowledge to use soon.  And the view was great with the sun being out.

On getting home, my wife was not feeling too well so while she rested in bed, the rest of us went out to get some shopping (and forget one item).  While in ASDA though, the kids convinced me to buy them some chocolate brownies.  When I asked about helping them eat them, I was told by my son that this was not an option for me as I have a weight problem!

Later (after the kids ate the food), while my daughter stayed at home, my son and I walked round to a friends house and then later, into town.  There was an event for Pokémon Go, but sadly, when we got into town, my son and I realised that we had missed this.  He made the most of this with a trip to the playground where he had fun, and my wife had got better with rest and drove into town to collect us, something we appreciated as it was freezing.

After a trip to the supermarket again, to buy the milk that the rest of us had forgotten, it was back home to eat and relax before watching The Voice.  And it was over this time that my daughter, after over ten years disclosed her view that I am crazy.  Not sure how she came to this conclusion though...