Lathany

Yesterday, Dom and I visited Krystyna, Chris, Emilia and Arya. It was great to see them all in person, eat lasagne (made by Krys), talk and hang out in the garden. It was a really lovely afternoon.



I hadn't realised how much I had missed talking to Krys, until then. Also, I now have a honeysuckle cutting planted in my garden. Fingers crossed it will survive!

Today's window was a postbox by a tree.

This was the first day of the train strike and it went OK for me. Both my trains took longer - around 15 minutes longer which upped my overall commute time to well over three hours. However, I got a seat in both directions and so wasn't too bad overall.

Also, Kim is back. She's a friend who also commutes to and from Ashford. It was her first day in a new job today. I suspect her cats (Calvin and Hobbes) are going to miss having her in the house, though.

It's been a while since I did an update post and I have a few bits and pieces to cover.

Firstly, although it happened before my last update post, we went to see quisalan and baby Emilia.



It was one of the really hot days, so the drive was a bit grim. However, it was lovely to see Krys and meet Emilia. We went out for lunch at a place nearby.

On a quiet evening when the twins were away, we watched the 2014 Robocop film (I've never seen the original). I found it a bit disappointing, particularly given the cast. It was OK, the action sequences were good, but I didn't care about the characters so never really engaged with it.

There have been two games which finished recently. The first was The Magnificent Sven, set in the Warhammer universe. In general the game, very wargame rather than character-driven, was decent with a suitable plot. The downside was that Alistair had assigned the different characters goals with points and the idea being that the character with the most points at the end won. However, the points were not as balanced as was really needed for that sort of approach and some characters (mine included) required other players to mess up to stand a chance of winning (actually I did win - as the character in question was an NPC for this run-through, although Alistair maneuvered the demon so that the NPC had good odds of winning - but that's not the same as winning through my own clever play).

The other game was bateleur's Earthforce series. This was a superheroes game, with rotating players (myself excepted - I played the acting head and was in all the sessions). It had standalone sessions, but with an overarching plot. There were (counts) five sessions in total and all went well. I liked the games, particularly because the changing players meant that they all felt different, and enjoyed the overall plot. It's prompted me to get back to my own game prep.

I met a friend who was a former work colleague for coffee after work today. However, I ran into a slight snag - where to go for coffee on the West side of St Pauls that isn't a Starbucks? Because, I feel there should be plenty of decent places, it's just that I don't know them as I never go for coffee! (I was expecting her to want alcohol and I had an idea for a pub!)

Anyway, we ended up in Pret and I had a Mocha. We discussed politics (she seemed very relieved when I expressed the same reactions to both Brexit and President-to-be Trump as she felt - we'd never really talked about politics at work). We exchanged news on colleagues we both knew, on families and on career choices (ours and our kids!). It was really good to see her again.

condign and Pallavi came over for dinner. It's been a really long time since I last saw them. We talked about pay and laws and blogs.

glittertigger and zandev stayed over last night following the birthday pig. This morning we all rose rather late (except bateleur who was on duo duty). At a suitably civilised hour we settled down to coffee and pastries and chat.

This afternoon, Bea and I redid the tree. The old lights had broken and so bateleur had bought a new string of a hundred lights. The tree now has lots of little lights instead of fewer big ones. It still looks satisfyingly Xmassy though.

glittertigger and zandev came over. We played Small World (which Bea was very happy to win) and lots of Bridge. We also ate food, drank wine and discussed life.

I received my first Christmas card today. It was from an old university friend who now lives in Hong Kong. I was surprised and rather shocked to read that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, after a mastectomy, she recovered completely. However, she's the first of my friends who is my age and has been diagnosed - it's odd to think of it.

I also opened my first Advent Calendar window as the title to this entry implies. Lovely calendar, rather unexpected window.

February - it's cold and dark and I alternate between busy period at work and trying to hibernate back home. I want spring to get a move on.

• Lunch with Alistair - Despite meeting on a weekly basis in places such as the rogues' camp, Kurast and Hell, we decided to meet up in person and in London as it turned out we only work about ten minutes apart. The conversation covered Dragon Age, Torchlight and Mass Effect with occasional updates on the lives of mutual friends (such as verlaine's about-to-be-daughter). We compared our opinions of (PC) classes, reminisced about Baldur's Gate and I was again urged to play Planescape Torment. And the best thing of all? Turns out that I'm not the only person in London who likes a dessert course to my lunchtime meal.
• The Gift (very mild spoilers) - Having just finished the first Pellinor book by Alison Croggon, I got onto the internet and ordered the other three. It's been a while since I found myself so absorbed by a new author and there's not been enough fantasy in my life. Although it's hard to read on the train because the various meal descriptions make me hungry! It's not flawless - the heroine reeks of special (and suffers from the problem I think someone else raised recently - the difference between writing books about ordinary people being heroic and those about people doing super-human things because they're powered). Also, I liked the Lord of the Rings feel, but I know it's annoyed other readers who see it as plagiarism. One final comment, a word of warning to anyone who was caught by The Wheel of Time - I don't know if four books ends the sequence.
• Jigsaws - I received an envelope from venta about a week ago and opened it to find a mystery child's jigsaw. About half an hour later, a pair of pandas gazed up at me - Bea loves pandas, so I'll be passing it on to her next. Following this, I made the 455 piece one that my parents-in-law bought me. That was hard as all roads and houses look much the same from a certain height. However, I finally finished it and can now see Ashford from, I assume, a light aircraft height.
• Duplicity - Last Friday's film may be my favourite Julia Roberts film (although I was also fond of Pretty Woman). It's fast, funny and has plot. She's also great in it (I'm not usually a huge fan of her).
• Blood - Last weekend, for the second time, it turned that my blood doesn't have enough iron in it (an irritating score of 123 when 125 would have been OK). This was particuarly annoying as it was ro have been my tenth donation. I'm hoping to be back over the limit in the spring when I'm next able to go. Fortunately, I hadn't taken the duo along this time - it would have really confused them.

It's been just over a month since I posted a general update on stuff. A fair few things have happened:

• Afternoon tea - Having consistently failed any sort of meet-up for several months, I finally got in touch with venta and Chris C and we arranged to meet for afternoon tea one Sunday at Bake-A-Boo. This seemed like a solid plan, but I failed to take into account the London transport system which tries to pretend that North West London doesn't exist on a Sunday. Consequently, instead of the Jubilee line, I got to experience the Bakerloo line and the replacement bus service for the overground. I was nearly an hour late for venta and Chris, which I think is a personal best (but not in a good way). It was also, of course, the time at which I discovered that I didn't have venta's mobile number (and she doesn't have mine). However, tea was there when I arrived and was still very fine. There were crustless sandwiches (tuna and cucumber plus egg mayonnaise), scones with cream and jam, little pink fairy cakes with hearts in the middle, banana cake, white chocolate shapes, thin biscuits shaped like teapots and chocolate-dipped strawberries. I went for the slightly boringly-named (but lovely) "Afternoon tea" (after being offered a long and exciting tea list) and drank my way through the teapot-full (about five cupfuls). I had my tea bought for me, so I don't know how much it was, but I'd fully recommend the venue. Afterwards we went to a nearby pub (which I can't remember the name of) and I came home via the Northern line (which was working).
• The Godfather, Catch Me If You Can and X-Men 2 - LoveFilms has made three offerings since I last posted and I enjoyed all three. I've not see The Godfather before and I got slightly lost amongst some of the more minor characters, but I enjoyed it and have had the second one recommended. Catch Me If You Can was something I'd seem adverts for at the cinema and wondered whether it would live up to its trailer (Stargate didn't); fortunately it did. I thought both leads were excellent, as was the storyline (although bateleur was more taken with the intro sequence). Finally, X-Men 2 was blockbusterish and looked suspiciously post-Halle-Berry-Oscar-win due to her much expanded role on the first one. Again, enjoyable and we thought it was better than the first X-Men.
• Solitaire Mystery - Having read Sophie's World some years ago, I thought I would try this offering also from Jostein Gaarder. It's similar to Sophie's World in many ways - philosophy with a toe in the weird but, sadly, I found it was also similar by having a somewhat inconclusive ending. I think it's worth a look for anyone who likes the author and it has some nice concepts which it bases around a pack of playing cards, but ultimately was unsatisfying.
• Cardiff - We (as in work) had a visit planned to Cardiff Civil Justice Centre. However, it was a nine-thirty start, so I stayed overnight beforehand. Due to the offers available through the civil service booking system I ended up at the Radisson Blu which had opened last month and was walking distance from the station. The hotel was decent, attractive and the room was lovely (the view from the eighth floor was very good). The restaurant wasn't really open, but the bar menu was available and good (I had Welsh dragon sausages on a bed of mash followed by cheesecake). The following day was very interesting but, sadly, I can't talk about it as it was confidential. As the court would not usually have observers, I can't talk about the cases I saw either (heard by a District Judge). All I can say is, I always find the judiciary visits fascinating and I'm gradually learning more about how it works.

Work has been comparatively quiet, although I have a lot to clear next week. I'm looking forward to my summer leave now and have a number of computer games lined up for the occasion (such as Glass Rose) and also a Kew visit.