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Grey Morning, but a good weekend
Monday, May 14th, 2012 11:00 amJust general stuff I think, for my first post of the week. Not that I have been too specific on many topics recently, with the possible exception of boring you all with gardening natter, but what can I say? There just aren’t the regular personalities on the morning commute, like those I could observe back in my Whetstone days.
First up is to record the fact that I have just introduced my out going (as in soon to be elsewhere, as opposed to gregarious, though he is that, too) Deputy Director to the verb, to Gove, meaning to stare with incomprehension, which cheered him immensely and sent him off considering the state of the British educational system with starry-eyed nostalgia.
It’s been a quiet weekend and all the more beneficial for that. Saturday did not go in anyway as expected. I logged on the World of Warcraft to do a few daily quests and both Furtle and I ended up on a Heroic Dungeon Raid with some of our guildies, in which we as a group finally prevailed after rather longer than you would expect. Suffice it to say that you know that you have been in the dungeon for too long when, on your umpteenth resurrection because it’s all gone horribly wrong, you find yourself having to fight your way past the respawned mobs that you killed right at the outset. Neither Furtle or I know why, but we are both absolutely rubbish in the damage stakes in WoW – this is particularly embarrassing for my main alt, which is a hunter, and therefore technically at least, a damage-dealer. There’s something wrong when you are doing half the damage being dished out by the team’s tank, but I can’t fathom out what I need to change and neither can Furtle. Some better kit would help, no doubt, but the stuff I have is, in theory at least, capable of packing a wallop. Oh, well: it took some time, but we managed in the end.
Sunday was up and going early for me on a Sunday. We had decided to go and see The Avengers, or as its title has transmogrified into for UK audiences, Marvel’s Avengers Assemble (presumably so that no one turns up expecting to see the further adventures of Steed and Mrs Peel – assuming anyone much under the age of 35 can even remember who they are). We decided to take in the matinee showing at 11.00am at the Vue in Westfield, Stratford. This is clearly the time to visit the place. It had only just opened and was, as yet not crowded beyond belief. It was also cool – as in temperature, not vibe (man), which was pleasant. I’m not sure that any other context of the word ‘cool’ could ever be applied to such a cathedral of rampant consumerism, as Westfield, at least without artery-endangering levels of irony.
I shan’t discuss the movie as there may still be those of you who fancy watching it and who haven’t been yet, I shall simply say that it is vastly enjoyable even if it doesn’t quite live up to the hype. It is also the first time in any screen portrayal, that you truly get the impression that Bruce Banner is a bona fide genius. There is a fair amount of humour, a lot of action, the relationships between the characters are nicely judged and there is even a moment of pathos. I’d be surprised if Joss wasn’t asked back for Avengers 2 (or Avengers Reassemble, in the UK, I guess).
When we got home, we ended up in the garden feet up, drinking cold booze and eating cheese toasties, whilst watching our community of Great and Blue Tits plus their fledglings eat their way through the fat balls and seeds we’d put out – at least until they were bullied by the resident squirrels. We may have a chaffinch too, but he or she was there and gone so quickly that we weren’t certain. Hopefully it will be back.
After such a busy day, I felt the need for a late afternoon nap and then we cooked up a very tasty roast dinner and settled down to watch an ancient BBC costume drama on DVD, co-starring Seen Bean (or Sean Born -you CAN’T have it both ways) in the unexpected role of a rakish cad of loose morals. Who’d a thunk it?
First up is to record the fact that I have just introduced my out going (as in soon to be elsewhere, as opposed to gregarious, though he is that, too) Deputy Director to the verb, to Gove, meaning to stare with incomprehension, which cheered him immensely and sent him off considering the state of the British educational system with starry-eyed nostalgia.
It’s been a quiet weekend and all the more beneficial for that. Saturday did not go in anyway as expected. I logged on the World of Warcraft to do a few daily quests and both Furtle and I ended up on a Heroic Dungeon Raid with some of our guildies, in which we as a group finally prevailed after rather longer than you would expect. Suffice it to say that you know that you have been in the dungeon for too long when, on your umpteenth resurrection because it’s all gone horribly wrong, you find yourself having to fight your way past the respawned mobs that you killed right at the outset. Neither Furtle or I know why, but we are both absolutely rubbish in the damage stakes in WoW – this is particularly embarrassing for my main alt, which is a hunter, and therefore technically at least, a damage-dealer. There’s something wrong when you are doing half the damage being dished out by the team’s tank, but I can’t fathom out what I need to change and neither can Furtle. Some better kit would help, no doubt, but the stuff I have is, in theory at least, capable of packing a wallop. Oh, well: it took some time, but we managed in the end.
Sunday was up and going early for me on a Sunday. We had decided to go and see The Avengers, or as its title has transmogrified into for UK audiences, Marvel’s Avengers Assemble (presumably so that no one turns up expecting to see the further adventures of Steed and Mrs Peel – assuming anyone much under the age of 35 can even remember who they are). We decided to take in the matinee showing at 11.00am at the Vue in Westfield, Stratford. This is clearly the time to visit the place. It had only just opened and was, as yet not crowded beyond belief. It was also cool – as in temperature, not vibe (man), which was pleasant. I’m not sure that any other context of the word ‘cool’ could ever be applied to such a cathedral of rampant consumerism, as Westfield, at least without artery-endangering levels of irony.
I shan’t discuss the movie as there may still be those of you who fancy watching it and who haven’t been yet, I shall simply say that it is vastly enjoyable even if it doesn’t quite live up to the hype. It is also the first time in any screen portrayal, that you truly get the impression that Bruce Banner is a bona fide genius. There is a fair amount of humour, a lot of action, the relationships between the characters are nicely judged and there is even a moment of pathos. I’d be surprised if Joss wasn’t asked back for Avengers 2 (or Avengers Reassemble, in the UK, I guess).
When we got home, we ended up in the garden feet up, drinking cold booze and eating cheese toasties, whilst watching our community of Great and Blue Tits plus their fledglings eat their way through the fat balls and seeds we’d put out – at least until they were bullied by the resident squirrels. We may have a chaffinch too, but he or she was there and gone so quickly that we weren’t certain. Hopefully it will be back.
After such a busy day, I felt the need for a late afternoon nap and then we cooked up a very tasty roast dinner and settled down to watch an ancient BBC costume drama on DVD, co-starring Seen Bean (or Sean Born -you CAN’T have it both ways) in the unexpected role of a rakish cad of loose morals. Who’d a thunk it?