The latest in solar and wind technology being used to dry our washing. It’s so important to keep up with this stuff for the sake of the planet.
Environmental
Tag: home
Mine the craft
I know it’s ridiculous to play video games in your retirement, but hey, I like ’em. What you forget is that the first generation of gamers is well into their 60 now. Sir Clive Sinclair and the mighty ZX and ZX spectrum. Cassette tapes to load a game… maybe 15 minutes… then it crashes and you have to start over. Oh, the humanity! For those who have a 5 minute PS update or the tedious load screen that’s on for 30 seconds let me tell you back in the day games didn’t even have graphics!
My 8 year old niece was fascinated to see my house in minecraft. For officionados it’s a mixture of cobblestone and glazed terracotta in a right old mix of colours and texture. Even the carpet tiles don’t match. I keep a number of virtual cows, sheep and clucks (half chicken half duck no one really knows) but no pigs, llama or horses (yet). I’m one of those irritating players who transport all manner of trees and flowers from every biome and just plant bamboo next to oak next to tulips next to acacia…. just like a Victorian really. Obviously, being game rich means you can build several homes. Usually a day’s travel apart so the zombies don’t get you … or the skeletons, spiders, illagers (in-game baddies).
But I digress. The thing about this ‘useless’ pastime is that it’s not useless. This is how to train a surgeon or send in an airstrike or calm an autistic child. There are more products associated with games than films or music these days. In face many films (movies for my Amercan chums), and much music is now released based on games. Even TV! TV is dying in its traditional episodic form. Binge watching The Last of Us on Amazon Prime is how it’s done these days. Fortunes have been mad on ‘video games’ even the social media moguls are losing their pull but the games go on. Sorry Mr Z, your Mehtaverse is not going to replace playing Mario Kart and laughing IRL (That’s ‘in real life’) with my friends and family. I can play my own D’n’D adventure alone with an RPG (role playing game … think Tomb Raider) too.
Maybe I should tell you about the board game collection, which fills six small IKEA crates, sometime. Play, in all its glorious forms, is a basic human need. Have fun.
Manky veg soup
For those of you not from the north of England, ‘manky’ is a description of things not at their best. Frankly, past their sell by date. It applies to all things, not just food. It can apply to people.
You can make soup from pretty much any food…. not that I think ice cream soup sounds good, but.. our local supermarket has begun to sell boxes of the less attractive fruit and veg cheap. Sometimes, the bag split. Sometimes, it’s close to their sell by date. Food that would otherwise go to waste. Either way, it’s £1.50 for a box you might pay up to £10 for in the normal run of things. They are available most days but in limited numbers. Lots of people ignore them. Others are embarrassed to admit that cheap food may be exactly what they want. Now, I retired, and my monthly income was cut in half. I’m still doing OK, but I dont mind sorting through the veg boxes, and soup is always a simple,quick food option
Today, it’s root veg. Carrots and parsnips and a bit of onion mixed with the schmaltz from our last roast chicken. Pinch of salt, little bit of pepper. That’s four each servings for two people for a bit of time. Of course, some excellent bread with a thick slathering of butter.
I’m making myself hungry now.
Decorated (still no medal)
Well, more, in the process of decorating. Over the pandemic we began ‘project renovate’. one of the things people were still allowed to do here in the UK was have building work done. So the kitchen was refitted and a new garden scheme with raised beds to grow food became a reality. The log burner went in … then things kinda stalled. Between the holiday season and a sort of hibernation mode very little was happened over the last weeks but with the arrival of more spring like days and the utility bill came the realisation that something needed to happen to stop us heating the whole house and inhabiting easier to warm spaces. The kitchen table serves as an office and the living room as my den, which is nice because its south facing and catches even the slightest sunlight and warmth. I do have to say that once the curtains were removed it got a lot cooler in here.
We’ve gone mad and decided that this is not a cash cow but a home. Ignoring the current TV fads for flip and resale beige nightmares we decided we are living here so mad colours it is then. the living room will be purple. First coat applied and second on it’s way. This development has been somewhat slowed by my having sprained something in my wrist making holding a paintbrush a short term proposition at best. I’m good at the fiddly edging bits though so it can be done in short bursts. Certain parts of the room need to be finished first so the build in seating can be fitted. We’ve booked the carpenter so a line has been drawn.
Better get back up my ladder then.
Eurovision
Well… It’s 100 days away. My lovely wife is at the handover this evening being on the Pride board and more than a little bit responsible for the whole Pride thing. Long story. I’m just hoping for a sweatshirt!
Jet Lag Sucks
But I’m.sure you already knew that. Some 30 odd hours after leaving for home we have arrived. More tales of the past month’s adventure when I wake up properly.
The Queen is Dead
This is, by now, old news. Its been 11 days or so at time of writing. Most of us in the UK and even the rest of the world have never known another monarch in the UK. I’ve a tendency toward republicanism but I’ve also met the Queen and several other royals in the course of a lifetime through school, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme and the Guide movement. Its a strange feeling. On the one hand I’m sorry for the family who have not been able to process this in private and on the other I think that this is the price of their privilege. Am I sorry she is gone? Not at a personal level, she was 96 it was hardly unexpected. I do have many fears for the UK though.
Charles is a different character. He has opinions which he has been known to express in public (I guess I should say ‘the King’ not Charles). These seem to contradict the current right wing leanings of the UK government on issues such as the environment and deportations to Rwanda. Technically he can stop these at any time by refusing to sign any Bill into law. I wonder if he would? I wonder what the consequences would be? I’m extremely concerned by the conduct of the current government and wonder how many more losses the British people will stand before someone stands up and throws the first brick. Martin Luther King described a riot as the voice of the unheard. What will it take? I’m fairly certain that it is coming. Elizabeth II is dead and the stability that her presence brought to the nation is gone.
Watch this space.
Solstice
We love a travel show
To be fair I mean the kind with a host who goes gently and with an open mind into all manner of places and accommodation. I’m definitely not talking (Judith Chalmers…you have to be a Brit of a certain age but think leather skinned journalist sampling up market package tours). Inspired by a live performance by one Sandi Toksvig we spent a happy evening catching up on some of her exploits around the UK this evening. Together with her chums she shows us around splendid, and often isolated, places where you could stay with a group or as a pair (if you had a lot of money) and pretend to be a knight or lady of the manor. There’s history and weather and non of it stops one from having fun.
Joanna Lumley does a mean travelogue too. Though these tend to be lengthy and exotic as do Sue Perkins travels. Notice that all of these are women. Obviously being accompanied by a film crew and fixer make things go more smoothly (or less dangerously) but the commentary from a female presenter is on a different scale. Even the great Michael Palin could be a touch epic. Its the little things which endear these women to you. I mean when did you last see a blokey travel host make dinner for his chums?
In other news I have just passed my Ham exam and will soon be licenced for the airwaves. My voyages around the world may be virtual for now but we shall see.
Of Course
Lockdown was a strange (and wonderful) experience. I know that we were quite content not to have to be around people we didn’t want to see. We were sad not to see friends though. After a while…you get bored. I started taking courses online. In particular Domestika. Art courses. 🎨
I’m not claiming this is a new career. It’s fun. At school I did Latin. Art was for wasters according to my parents…both of whom have had creative careers (mum wrote a newspaper column. Dad was a house painter and still makes art). I’ve always written and I’ve always drawn but not consistently. I take photos too. What I’ve learned is to relax. It’s for fun. Lots of my friend are doing this too. And I enjoy sharing (@ushiedraws on Instagram if you’re nosey)
It has made me look at things more closely. I use my phone less as a distraction. I’m not as bad as I thought might be, in fact I have a style. Faces are hard. Feet are not.
Be thankful this is not a video of my ukelele playing.
