A Change To Your Scheduled Programming

I had intended, while staying with my folks over Christmas, to jot down a few bloggable notes and put them online when I got back home...

...But then, I also intended to leave on Boxing Day.

In the end, I stayed till the morning of the 27th, and there really wasn't much of anything to report. My main present - the new PC - was at home, unattended for the duration, and I only got two other presents: from my sister (etc.) I got the DVD of Arsène Lupin (a French action film - of all things - starring the excellent Romain Duris, Kristen Scott Thomas and - gasp - a pre-Bond Eva Green), from my Grandmother, the latest Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals.

My hamper was well-received, though it shed a sticky mess on my jacket (and, I later discovered, onto my old Microwave, where it had sat since I brought it all home). The mixture of sweets, cheese and booze went down well (though, thankfully, not all on Christmas Day) but, by sheer coincidence, my sister had bought a case of three types of cider from the same maker as mine. Not the same type - hers were a selection of normal ciders, the bottle I added to the hamper was mulled cider - but it was interesting that we'd both picked up the same kind of cider.

The Shirley Bassey CD was also well-received... and ended up getting played via the TV/DVD player sometime on Boxing Day.

Out visit to my grandmother was challenging... Her Alzheimers leaves her repeating conversations (or remarks, at least) several times over. I did start counting the number of times a certain theme cropped up, but suffice it to say we were in no doubt that it was quiet in her block, because almost everyone had gone away, and the flats opposite hers were empty because no-one would buy them... When night fell, it was certainly "almost black out there" (and the reasons for the lack of obvious light were explained several times)... And I should hope she now knows what day I go back to work.

As long as the conversation kept going, she was OK... but she felt the need to fill any and all extended silences, and couldn't remember the attempts she'd already made. It tended to be the utterly inane thing she forgot, as she was quite capable of remembering her first job (and her mother's reaction to it), though she did come out with a complete flight of fancy about an uncle who moved somewhere foreign. The closest factual thing we knew about was a cousin who moved to South Africa, then came back.

Dinner was OK, as far as Turkey and Gammon go. Cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon are a bit of a Christmas staple with my mother. Christmas Pud was served with custard rather than cream which, to be honest, I think I preferred. Shortly after finishing the washing up, we left to head back to the house and carry on with that other Christmas Tradition, the Doctor Who special.

What can I say?

It made very little sense. From the Master's bizarre resurrection (Did Russell T. think he was writing an episode of Merlin?!) through the Doctor's teary-eyed reminisence with Wilf, to the improbable resurrection of all of Gallifrey, punctuated by David Tennant's grimacing jogs around the quarries and docks of Wales, I found nothing of any merit in the story so far. It concludes tomorrow evening but, with Russell T. still at the helm, the glimpses offered by the trailer do not bode well.

I look forward to the new series, despite the new Doctor being even younger than Tennant, because the guy at the helm has created some of the best episodes in the series so far.

Not a great deal has happened since I got home. I've larked about on the new PC a little more, installed a couple of games - Neverwinter Nights, it seems, does not require an internet connection to validate, after all. It relies instead on some completely bonkers code printed on a sticker in the box.

I spent Tuesday pottering about the flat with a splitting headache that would not shift till the evening, and yesterday had a brief visit from a friend, finally able to trade Christmas presents with me, having been snowbound before Christmas, and whisked off due to a family emergency afterward.

I now have a telescope, and am hoping for clearer skies this weekend to give it a try. She now has the Revenge of the Fallen version of Ultimate Bumblebee... who's just about cool enough that I might pick one up for myself... if I can figure out where to put him. He is rather large.

Right now, I'm debating whether or not to watch Jools Holland's annual Hootenanny... Not sure I've ever watched one before, but it always sounds like a cool show.