900 miles? The ISS is /way/ below this team. Go Artemis II!

Artemis? Loved the launch: but no fingernails left. Going to pop outside and look at the Moon. ...Because I'm old enough to recall 1972. It's been /a while/.

#caturday Bandit, flaked out after a bowl of Whiskas this Saturday evening. It's hard work, being a cat.

Personal record! (Photographed at a petrol station).

DO go watch Project Hail Mary. "Words of enthusiasm."

Cathexis. ...Great word. I'm selling my boat. She's both got me into danger, and saved my life from that danger, and I love her to bits. A hoot to sail. But it's time to part.

It's a day off. It's sunny. I have boxes of brake pads and disks for the front end of the car. Right now? I'm going to gather the tools and set-to. I remember the last time I did this, the first wheel took 2+ hours, the second <15 minutes. There will - no doubt - be much swearing later.

The dynamic is still off-kilter. Django was buried a week ago. The three cats left are confused and upset: they're creatures of habit, for sure...as are we.

I moved to Scotland in '94ish. To a house a few miles from Dunblane. 2yrs later there was a mass shooting at a school there. "Dunblane: How Britain Banned Handguns" (BBC doco) is a wake-up call to those who think regular school shootings and twats with guns should be accommodated &/or normalised.

Had an interview today at work, for a new role. It feelingly boils down to "does my face fit"? ...probably not. I'm ancient and foreign.

Buried a cat. ...Never the best of days.

Bad day. 8am this morning we found our cat Django dead on the kitchen floor. Heart attack after a couple of rough weeks, following a vet's "bad ticker" diagnosis made last August. Our biggest, meanest (and cleverest) bruiser is gone after 10yrs. Burial later - the 9th cat in the garden.

Caturday? Got it covered! Bandit sleeping after a hard session on World of Warships.

I have met, in my life, 3 Iranians to talk to. The 3rd was a regular customer at a store I worked at. Fled Iran in '79. Hugely educated. We talked politics in the 2010s. The 2nd was a Professor of Economics. Fled Iran in '79. Became a car dealer (!). Got his family out through circuitous methods.

"What's the job?" "Bung medals on a few people. Mention your illegal bombing of Iran, if you've time." "Can I talk about the doors? Beautiful doors! Tax-free doors!" "...Whatever."

I'm sixty-three. Just made #welshcakes for the first time ever, not least for St. David's Day, but also to expand my repertoire of "traditional, cheap, sugar, flour, egg, with spices and dried fruit" recipes. Bangin' #asthekidsmightstillsay

Wordle 1,716 6/6 I woke up at 4am, thinking vaguely "hey, I bet Wordle is *this* word, and I get it in one!" 👍🏻 👍🏻 ⬜⬜⬜ 👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 ⬜⬜ 👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 ⬜⬜ 👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 ⬜👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 ⬜👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 ...No. It wasn't.

Just back from pounding the streets delivering flyers. It's the start of the long road to the Scottish elections in May. I like doing this, trudging around in the rain, avoiding bitey dogs, and scoring people's front gardens out of 10. Today I learnt there's too much artificial grass out there.

"Ghost Stories", 2017. I rather enjoyed it. Bandit didn't, and Colleen was hiding behind a cushion for much of it, but there you go.

Suella, Reform's 'Equalities Minister', says: "if elected, I'll scrap the Equalities Act on the 1st day". So, if you've an age, race, disability, religion or belief, a gender reassignment, are in a civil partnership, and/or sexual orientation that Doesn't Fit Reform's plans, watch out. #fuckReform

Hey! My birthday! Birthday film tonight was Terrance Malick's "A Hidden Life". I'd've gone for something lighter, maybe, were it my own choice, but a fine film, nonetheless.

Minus six. Scraped two cars free of ice. Brr! I'm ready for some 'Spring', I think.

Big, long, day. Making a carrot cake. It might just be edible.

Fun Zeppelin fact: every German military rigid airship had a bow gun emplacement with usually 3 Maxim machine guns. This might well have been the worst job in the entire First World War. They had to fight cold, 90kph winds, altitude sickness as well as interceptors.

Parked up for work. On the radio, it's Professor Michele Dougherty on Desert Island Discs. Talking about the end of the Cassini mission to Saturn. Curses ... There's ... there's something in my eye! 😭

Last week, Bandit, The Cat Who Ought Know Better, freaked out during our watching of Rogue 1. He literally fled when Darth Vader turned up. Today? He stuck around, barely, for Ridley Scott's Prometheus.  But was photographed like this during the scary bits. Still Wuss. ...Puss. = Stillwusspuss.

Rogue One on the TV. Bandit, previously asleep on the sofa, woke up just as Darth Vader made his appearance, seemed genuinely concerned, while staring at the TV for a minute, and has slunk off into the kitchen. It's clearly too scary for him. Wuss. Puss. ...Wusspuss.

Today? I couldn't find a book I *know* I have. In the attic I found myself surrounded by twenty+ years of accumulated junk. I know it must be there. Dear readers, in my upcoming week off, I shall be tidying up the attic-dump. Last time? It was Covid days, I was on furlough, and I hired a skip.

It's "Tidy The Shed" Saturday... Me, having speed-dialled Heracles: 'Remember the Augean Stables?' Heracles: 'NEVER AGAIN. That was a tough one, by Zeus! 3000 magic cattle crapping themselves in a shed for 30 years.' Me: 'So...you're not up for a re-run?' Heracles: 'βάλλ' εἰς κόρακας, Andy.'

Two days off coming up. And the Shed of Woodwork is calling for a blitzing, with Project X in need of work. Project X, along with Y, will be vastly aided by a week's leave starting on the 24th. Yes! Need My Shed Time.

Just replied to a poster on a forum who was aghast at the 60% mortality rate for the Black Death. Edward 1st* lost 50% of his 17+ children /without/ the Black Death. *That's Edward "Rich, warm, well-fed, best of 13th century medicine available" the 1st. #timeswerehard

It is five months since I sailed a boat. It is at least three months until I can sail again. The dark is interminable. The ice is thick. The ennui is palpable. #sickofwinter

Back from The Thursday Late Shift. Got two hours to eat and turn in before sleep and tomorrow's shift. Checking the fridge for edible stuff: Twenty veggie no-pig in blankets! ...I shall attempt to scoff the lot!

Third 8-5 in a row, and it's becoming a bit tedious: "7.15 - scrape the car windows for ten minutes". Only -1°C, today though. Virtually tropical!

Day, uh, 22 with but two days off. Another 5 working days before my next scheduled day off. I'm at work; cold, knackered, surrounded by some twattish customers, and vaguely aware that this is really rather unsustainable. Bleugh.

Mark Jenkins's "Enys Men", a retro-Cornish-folk-horror was the TV choice last night: and I enjoyed it. Slow, repetitive (except when it isn't) and multi-layered. A slow, creepy, burn. ...More like this, please.

Nobody #2. "Never bring a machete to a katana fight" was moderately funny. The rest? Not really so. Is this cinema for the current generation? ...if so, please count me out.

Oh no! Whilst recently immersed in The Orbital tracks from the 90s, the YouTube demon has somehow flung me into the KLF's... "It's Grim Up North." ...like I didn't know.

1992? ...I had a dream. In it, in my kitchen in a house in Derbyshire, I was talking to my daughter, aged about three. She asked a question, and I realised (in my dream) that it would take a long and detailed answer that a three-year-old might just be able to understand. 1/3

'tis the night before Christmas. And I'm oh-so-ready for the *ghost story* in an hour-forty-five. Thank you, BBC. Do not let me down. This is the highlight of my TV/time off year!

(Checks rota) My shift tomorrow is 0800-1900. At which point the shops are basically shut. So I suspect no-one's getting nowt from me for Chrimbo. I'll be knackered anyway. Hard luck, everyone. (Checks rota, part 2) Just 38 hours between shifts, to sleep (x2) and guzzle sprouts. #RetailSucks

Got just seventeen hours of working Retail Hell before (hallelujah!) Christmas Day. A short evening of ghost stories on the 24th, then a day of sprouts...and then back to work for an eleven hour shift on Boxing Day. #NeedABetterJob

Ooh! It's nearly almost Christmas, as we slide towards the solstice. My Xmas Cheer is, however, not present: got an 18-23 shift today. (Who goes Xmas shopping at eleven PM on a Sunday?) So to try to ignite any sort of Festive Mood, I'm revisiting the rather lovely: www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...

I am a Retail Worker. Today I'm expecting a Christmastsunami. Be nice, if you're shopping. We try our best!

I'm sixty-two. The Orb's UFORB's 'O.O.B.E.' track is the third best piece of music, quite ever.

Christmas in Retail! ...Got 19 hours of shifts over the next 29 hours. Jeez.

Late night film. 'The Blue Lamp'. Jack Warner. The UK in 1950 was a very weird & distant land.

At about 5am this morning, my brain decided that privately-owned islands in films and TV were only bought by: 1/ Criminal masterminds intent on world domination. 2/ Wealthy businessmen eager to tinker with dinosaur DNA. 3/ Rescue organisations with an international scope.

A day off. And so, after dusting, clothes' washing, and vacuuming, I turned to Wikipedia. Here? The War of the Beams - a totally fascinating and oft-undermentioned element of the air war in the early 40s. Some very clever Boffins absolutely pushing the boundaries of the barely-technically possible.

Most sequels suck. There are exceptions - 'The Godfather 2', 'Aliens', 'The Empire Strikes Back': each way better than the originals. Et år ago I reviewed the Norwegian monster film 'Troll' and declared it 'insane'. And so I naturally looked forward to the sequel, the admirably named 'Troll 2'.