AWOL

My son has decided yesterday to go absent without leave.

The kids returned on Wednesday and as my son had left his job of putting away the drying, we had left him it, along with more.  He had decided not to fully stack the dishwasher on Thursday morning despite refusing to unstack it the night before (the rule is that if the dishwasher is full because it has not been unstacked) leaving it for his mother.  I am not sure if he relented, but yesterday, despite not having permission to do so, he decided to meet up with friends.

To be honest, if he had asked, I would have let him go so long as he had done his chores.  But he had not.  Needless to say, I am not pleased.

Shadow in the Cloud

Not sure what to make of this film.  It was good in places, but not as good in others.  The best bit was the end credits, not because of signifying the end of the film, but the credits included film footage of the subject of the film.

Basically, I know that Sergeant Norman Jackson climbed onto a wing to tackle an engine fire in World War II, but I am not sure how a similar event was portrayed in this film.  It did show that women served in the war, though were forbidden from active combat roles outside espionage.

Overall, I would have to say that I would have been annoyed if I had spent time and money to watch this in the cinema.  

The pack unite

Leia is ecstatic. She has the pack back again.  From being depressed and looking in the sitting room for the rest of them she now has the pack together.  She went crazy when she saw them.

Our journey back with the children was an interesting one.  We had decided to take them to COSTCO but the traffic there was terrible.  Several hours later, we got home having got close to the store, but giving up when we encountered yet more traffic.

One child has stepped up since being home, the other has not. Maybe they, or one, needs more time away from us.

Bill & Ted Face The Music

Quite simply, this is nothing compared to the original two films.  However it is okay to watch and you have to remember that the original two films were amazing.  It has been one of the better films that I have watched recently and I probably would have been okay to watch this in the cinema as being a fan of the other two films, this was a must for me to watch.  While it fails to live up to the preceding two films, it does not fall flat on its face in the way all the sequels for Blade did.  I would not describe it as "most excellent" but it was great to see the potential for sequels/spin offs.  It is unusual, as for me, the best characters were not Bill and Ted, but I will not spoil it in case you watch it yourselves.  

If you are a fan of the franchise, this is a must watch film, and while it is not as excellent as the originals, you will not be left wanting. 

The best bit of the film was watching it with my wife, and our depressed dog.  I know that my children would not have liked this however.

The Comeback Trail

Predictable, but enjoyable.  This was a tale with no real surprises, told well.  Though with the stars present, I would have been surprised otherwise.  I loved some of the characters, others were okay.  I have to say I did enjoy the film, but it was surprising that a film which mention that there should be more women directors, did not have one itself. 

Yesterday without the children was interesting.  The house does feel empty, but it is right that they are away.  Leia appeared depressed at times yesterday as she does not understand where half the pack have gone to.  But she will see them again on Wednesday.

Taking bribes

Tommy Corbyn has said it best.  I cannot believe that a prominent member of the anti-vaccination movement would take a bribe when the movement is alleging corruption amongst the medical profession for vaccinating people.  

There is no excuse for what Piers Corbyn did.  I am not allowed to take bribes in my job (which is quite right), in fact I cannot think of a job, or cause where it is right to take a bribe.  And while many will argue that this was a donation, it was not.     

Just a reminder if there is any doubt about COVID.

 1 - COVID kills. I have treated people who survived as well as too many who died. A nursing home I am involved in looking after has yet to become full again after COVID killed many of the residents there last year. I have seen nothing that killed so many so quickly before. 

 2 - Face masks save lives. Not just by reducing the risk of spreading it if you have no symptoms, but as seen by those working in healthcare, myself included, face masks prevented many from catching this when treating those with COVID. 

 3 - Funeral homes were overwhelmed over the wave of infections seen in the winter surge of infections. I know as I had to visit a few. One had issues coping despite the increased capacity that they had built. Speaking to someone who works in a funeral home, they said that they had never been busier during the winter wave. 

 4 - People with no symptoms can spread COVID. We saw that with the super spreader events held by President Trump last year. 

 5 - Just because Boris has dropped restrictions, this does not mean that we can act like we did in 2019. Our local hospital is under pressure again, though not let to the point like they were this winter when things were limited to life and death operations only. 

 6 - Vaccines work. We have seen that in the USA. The states where vaccination rates are lower have the highest numbers of COVID.

 7 - There are those who have spoken out against vaccinating people who have changed their minds once infected. 

Ashes to Ashes

Today was interesting. We travelled to London to spread the ashes of my father.  We met my mother and brothers and instead of travelling to South London, we drove around trying to find somewhere to spread them. We did find one place, but the tide was out which meant that the water was too far away.

Tempers were an issue in our car but in the end we arrived in our original destination of Woolwich and got to release the ashes of my father in the Thames.

It is ironic, as this is where I lived when I was younger.  The down sides of this was that my mother wished my brothers and I to forgive him before his ashes were spread.  My father the atheist I doubt would have cared what we thought, but she managed to get some religious elements in his departing.  My son was instructed to help spread his ashes but apparently my daughter was not good enough to do so, which begged the question of why she had to be there.  

The thing is, my father who had three sons wanted a daughter and if he met my children now, as amazing my son is, I suspect that he would favour my daughter just because he never had one.

The kids are with my mother-in-law (and father-in-law) for a few days.  After the television incident, we felt that we needed a few days with them.