The World According to Gio

I had my first manual lymph drainage massage on Wednesday( cut for details )

Today we were swimming in the morning, then we drove to Durham for a brief walk and then on to the Odeon to watch The Long Walk, which was good, but pretty bleak. I'd read it was different to the original Stephen King novel, so I looked up the changes, and they're quite big. So while I enjoyed it, I'm not sure what the book lovers will be thinking.

The uni freshers have been arriving at Durham lately, so there was a nice vibe and market going on in the square when we went for our walk. There was a DJ set going on from the back of a Red Bull wagon and lots of giveaways. James nabbed himself a notebook and pen, and is now apparently an honorary fresher *g*

Houghton Feast starts tonight. The fair is in town, there's the official opening show and ceremony, but storm Amy has also arrived with driving rain and strong winds, so I'm assuming some things will be cancelled. Which is such a shame, as it's been such lovely autumn weather this last week until now.

This looked better in my head and got a bit lopsided, but I am declaring it done. Maybe I'll still shorten the fringes a bit at some point.

It was inspired by a beautiful sunrise I saw a while ago, and is supposed to brighten up the in all aspects dark season coming. Maybe it will also help making not every sound in the living room quite so easily heard outside the appartment, though probably that is expecting too much of this little density.

(It is on my living room door, to the left is my hallway, to its right with the cat posters you see the kitchen door.)

Sadly Bluey has had her first bump.

Driving down a road in town that's terrible for people illegally parking on both sides so they can easily get to the nearby Greggs, we were driving behind a lady, who stopped, and then reversed, when a car going up didn't stop, taking up all the available space in the middle of the road. How she didn't see our car behind hers I don't know, but apparently she didn't.

Thankfully, the damage is cosmetic only with a few scratches, and if it wasn't a mobility car we'd probably just leave it or try and get some matching car paint. But, that's not an option, so an insurance job it is.

Pauline's 80th birthday party went really well yesterday. We picked Corey up at 2, and were at the venue for 2:30, Pauline wanted a late afternoon/early evening party so she'd get home in good time, and it worked out nicely. All her family was there, and my aunt and uncle came too, the first time I'd seen them for over a year.

The catering wasn't the best as the chef at the pub we were at had walked out a few weeks ago, and they'd had to arrange outside catering, and instead of the big buffet that was paid for, there were only platters of sandwiches, crisps and cut up cheese. So, Pauline had to buy extras herself, arranging for people to bring 5 large cakes, sausage rolls, cheese rolls and quiches. But, at least the hot beef sandwiches were provided as ordered, and while there wasn't a huge variety the cobbled together buffet was tasty. Plus, we got to bring leftovers home, and is it even a family party buffet if you can't do that and eat slightly stale leftovers on the night/next morning?

If you're interested I posted a couple of photos of us and the kidlet on my instagram here

Unsurprisingly, my brother didn't turn up. He did send a beautiful bouquet but I wish he'd realise Pauline would always appreciate seeing him more than an actual gift.

It was great spending time with Corey, and he was telling me he and his girlfriend have managed to get MCR tickets which made me so happy for them. If I can't go, at least I know they are and will have a great time.

By the time we'd taken him back to Gateshead and got home it was getting toward eight, and it took me about five seconds to get in my pjs, get under the heated blanket with the cats and watch Strictly. After all, it's what Saturday evenings are made for.

shana tovah to my fellow hebs! may you be inscribed in the book of life for a good year. i'm seeing in the new year with an excess of honey cake so it's definitely been good for me so far. :D (my sister had people over for dinner on tuesday and i made a honey cake because i always do and almost no one ate it! cousin a took two pieces home with her and my sister kept some and i brought like 3/4 of a honey cake home with me. wtf. it freezes well but the freezer kind of dries it out so i don't know if i want to do that.)

more things i did in the two months i wasn't posting that i forgot to mention:

took my car to be inspected (it failed)
took it back so the garage could fix something in the exhaust system which is why it failed (it passed)
went to cousins j&m's for dinner and to say goodbye to their twins before they went off to college
went out for dinner and saw jaws with the aforementioned cousins j&m and my sister
went candlepin bowling for writer a's birthday (she used to be in writing group but left and is now back in town but not back in writing group) (yet)
admired writer a's t-shirt which advertised luthen's antique shop (andor. you know. :D )
did not however ask where she got it so i might acquire one of my own
maybe something else? it was a while ago. i don't remember.

candlepinning is fun but i am not good at it. writer e (who is still in writing group) and her wife and kid also came and we ate pizza and were social and it was a good time.

i have now finished andor s2 and am really annoyed it's not available on dvd so i can't buy it in preparation for the day disney yanks it off streaming. because you never know! i really enjoyed it altho it's kind of a rocks fall, everyone dies kind of show. i mean, maybe "enjoy" isn't the right word. but it's very well done. i watched it over discord with other star wars fen which actually was enjoyable because sometimes you need to watch tv with other people and sometimes those other people are in your computer and not in your living room.

in other tv news apiphile pointed out that the show with keira knightley and ben whishaw and the spies and assassins is black DOVES. black swan is the weird ballet movie with natalie portman. >.<

curling starts on sunday (i go on the ice at 8:30 and i am NOT BEST PLEASED) and i am emotionally if not constitutionally prepared. *flex*

The gym was offering free Personal Trainer taster sessions this month, so I did one yesterday. ( cut for exercise and weight talk )

I've an ongoing situation atm where someone is fly tipping bags of rubbish near my house. The way things are set up, you walk out of my garden gate onto the public path, on the other side of the path there's a metal fence, then a steep bank with mature trees that goes down to the dual carriageway. For ages now someone has been coming and dumping rubbish at that spot, probably because between the trees on one side and the thick ivy on my fence, it's a place that's relatively hidden from view.

At first, it wasn't much, but lately it's been multiple big black bags full of rubbish, and pee'ed on puppy pads. I've had to add signs on the gate, and my neighbours has too, saying no flying tipping, CCTV in operation, and if it doesn't stop I'm seriously considering actually getting another ring doorbell for the back of the house.

I've talked to many neighbours about it, and we're all pretty sure who's doing it, it's just getting proof. The rubbish gets reported every time, and last time the council said they'd check through it to see if there's anything identifying. Hopefully, there is, as it's just scummy behaviour.

We went to see A Big Bold Beautiful Journey at the cinema a few days ago. Coming out the cinema guy asked people if we'd liked it, I said, it was okay, another woman said, that it was interesting and yeah, that sums it up.

James is back at work today, just a four-hour shift today, then two four-hour shifts next week, then gradually increasing time as the weeks go on. I'm walking to meet him at Home Bargains at lunchtime as we need cat litter, and I'm not about to carry a sack of that home by myself. But first, a catch-up on here.