Lathany

Ryan and I were to Kew today and got to climb the Pagoda.

A trip to Kew with Bea.



Holly Walk.

We visited London Aquarium for Bea's birthday. Our last visit was Al and Kate's wedding.



It's probably apparent but favourites were turtles, jellyfish and rays.

In Nottingham on 26th July 2024.



:-)

Friday evening we went to Annie's Burger Shack and had amazing burgers. Saturday we were a bit hampered by the lack of trams (all day fault) but made up for it by walking everywhere.



Saturday afternoon we visited Warhammer World. For the evening we went to Pizza Express for nostalgia reasons, where they impressed us with the speed and friendliness of the service, despite being very full. And, best of all, I got to spend time with Bea.

Last week, well the three days I was working, was unexpectedly hectic. Mostly because the majority of my team were away so I picked up tasks that wouldn't usually fall to me. So it was a relief to get to the Jubilee weekend.

It's been quiet, relaxing and very welcome. Bea and I did excellent milkshakes on Thursday and then rather less good ones with Dom and Ryan on Saturday (same place, but different server and I think she was rather new and less good at adding enough flavouring). There have been various walks and a lot of bunting seen.

I've finally finished Kentucky Route Zero just over a year after I started playing it. It's only about ten hours of gameplay, but it's very intense (a separate post about that to come). I've also played a fair bit of Monster Hunter World (dual blades) and generally lazed around. Peaceful times.

I collected Bea on Friday. The drive to and from Nottingham included two accidents and various tailbacks. I was shattered by the end, but pleased to have her home. It then took me the weekend to recover, not helped by a bout of insomnia.

This is a picture of me at six months pregnant.



It's also about four days before I give birth, but I didn't know it at the time. We'd planned to take pregnancy pictures during the last trimester... and then it didn't happen. Therefore I think this is the only picture showing the bump.

Various things from the last few days:
- I told work that I was planning to make spag bol on Friday evening. A said she'd looked up the recipe, wondering what sort of exotic thing it was and then realised. "Doesn't say much for my Italian roots," she commented ruefully.
- In Monster Hunter World, for the first time I played for an hour or so without Mr Fox as I had some catch-up to do. Half-way through his Palico (NPC sidekick) turned up to help me. And talked to my Palico about how great his Monster Hunter was.
- Bea and I tried nail varnish from A-England (with thanks to Antonia). Hers is purple and mine is blue. So far the colour is lovely, but both needed multiple coats.
- I've proof-read nine short stories this weekend (three of them mine) as my writers' group is going to print them in a book.
- Dark Fall: Ghost Vigil is rather good, and I plan to write a review now I've finished it. It's an indie game involving ghost gadgets, general creepiness and an OK plot/concept.
- XCom Chimera Squad is both rather different from standard XCom and rather awesome.

Today's window was an owl. This went well with the full moon and less so with the Advent theme.

We went to see Ryan as the title character in his school pantomime of Robin Hood. There was an archery contest, the gathering of the Merry Men, the cake baking scene, the jail dance and then the wedding. So, not entirely traditional. However, there was also ice cream.