Toblog

We’ve had Mary to stay for the weekend. Kate’s cold has been improving, and we’ve had a jolly time.

On Saturday we watched “Remembrance of the Daleks” in the morning — nothing like a bit of classic Who to start the weekend. Beth enjoyed it a lot. She was amused at the Special Weapons Dalek. The afternoon was spent at the Bonkers playbarn in Cupar where Beth was attending Felicity’s birthday party. On the way home we dropped in on Ian & Liz’s tea and cake party; good company and good cakes. Beth had fun meeting another Beth, and young Elliot. We spent the evening watching “The Nine Tailors”, drinking wine, and eating cheese.

I assisted Andrew with some shopping this morning, then he cooked us lunch. A splendid veggie-sausage casserole, with sundry extras, following by a condensed-milk syllabub to Andrew’s personal recipe (see http://qidane.livejournal.com/175999.html). A triumph.

Then we came home to watch “The Twin Dilemma”, a slice of 1984 not-quite-so-classic Who (although there are worse stories — “Time-Flight” for instance, or “Arc of Infinity”). Now we’re on to another Carmichael Wimsey: “The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club”. Beth has been hosting a tea party for her toys (soft toys and her inflatable Dalek), which involves her eating all the (real) sarnies, jellies, and jam tarts.

Ian Carmichael has died, aged 89. I suppose it is one of the great benefits of acting that one can continue working long past normal retirement age; I was surprised to learn that he was still appearing in television drama in the last year.

Although he is known for his film work, and for playing Bertie Wooster on television in the 1960s, I know him best for playing Peter Wimsey in several 1970s BBC adaptions of novels by Dorothy L Sayers. I grew up knowing Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter Wimsey in the 1980s productions, and Petherbridge perhaps captures the Wimsey of the books, but looking back at the earlier productions, Carmichael’s Wimsey is full of charm and character.

We’ll be watching “The Nine Tailors” this evening.

On Monday, Beth’s class dressed up as penguins and were visited by the granddaughter of Sir Ernest Shackleton. Obviously this made the headlines, so I direct your attention to the newspaper coverage of the event:

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2010/02/02/newsstory14481305t0.asp (with a photo)
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Pupils-relive--penguin-.6041427.jp

kateaw and I are both suffering with a grim cold at the moment. We went off to the new community hospital for a doctor’s appointment just before lunchtime. There wasn’t a free parking place, and waiting cars were sitting with engines running through the car park. Kate tells me that it is often full to overflowing during the day. I wonder how they managed to build a new hospital without providing enough parking — surely they must have run some numbers ahead of time to work out the demand?

Anyway, we parked in the Morrison’s car park across the road, and popped in for lunch in the café before heading home.

I’ve just dealt with the big decision of the evening. A mug of hot squash helps to relieve the cold symptoms, but will it be Rose’s Lime or Vimto this evening? Today I chose lime. But what do you drink to relieve a cold?

[Poll #1521344]

This afternoon I developed an urge to watch “For Your Eyes Only”, my favourite Bond film, so now it’s playing on the Blu-ray. I’ve watched it more than any of the other Bond films; I think Roger Moore is at his best in this film, and the supporting cast (including Julian Glover and Topol) are excellent. I find there is more to see in this film every time I watch it.

There are also downsides; the pre-credits sequence is possibly the worst of the lot of them (although deftly executed), and the best thing I can say about Bill Conti’s score is that it is of its time. But the title song — and the opening title sequence — are excellent.

John Glen’s direction is effective; without flair, but very good in the action sequences, especially the sinking of the St Georges. The locations are gorgeous — the Havelocks’ yacht in Greece, Gonzales’s villa in Spain, the ski resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo, and the mountain-top monastery of St Cyril’s.

There is less reliance on gadgets than in previous and subsequence films; perhaps a reaction against the excesses of “Moonraker”. Bond’s Lotus is symbolically destroyed near the beginning of the film, which is followed by a chase with him driving a 2CV.

Walter Gottel, as General Gogol, is a joy, and Charles Dance has a small but memorable role as a thug. And Carole Bouquet has beautiful eyes.

What a film.

A day in Dundee today.

After watching another five episodes of the Doctor Who story “The War Games” this morning, Kate, Beth and I went to Dundee with Andrew. We lunched on salads and shared a cheesy-bites pizza at Pizza Hut, before a brief shop at Toys “R” Us. Beth bought a turntable for her wooden railway, and we got presents for Jill’s son Keith, whose second birthday party we then attended at Kidzworld, an indoor play establishment on Old Glamis Road.

After a fun time at the party, we got back to St Andrews in time for a quick shop at the new Nisa Extra supermarket on Market Street, before home and rolling Beth into bed.

More veggie haggis for tea tonight. It makes an excellent baked potato filling. Unfortunately we’d consumed so much HP with the haggis on Monday that there wasn’t much left tonight. Haggis is at its best with brown sauce.

Kate was given a Dundee cake today. We felt obliged to eat it this evening after watching Portillo’s train prog. Cadbury’s chocolate in 1080i, then cake on our plates. Yum yum.

New toy. Want! Want! Want!

I’ve started playing Echo Bazaar, a browser-based RPG set in ‘Fallen London’, an alternative past. There are the usual stats to build up, and ‘storylets’ are unlocked by the stats reaching certain levels. Cards are added to the ‘opportunities’ deck every seven minutes, as is the ability to perform actions. The story lines and artwork are quite appealing, and it used Twitter usernames to handle multiplayer aspects of the game. (It can also post to your Twitter stream, but this isn’t required for the games, and it makes it clear that it won’t post anything without your permission.) It all seems quite fun and appealing so far; I’ll see it it maintains my interest.

Andrew pumped air into Beth’s inflatable Dalek yesterday. It is standing by the dining room table looking at us. It’s about the same height as Beth, and is the “movie” style of Dalek, with big lights on its head and a pincer arm.

A pizza is cooking in the oven for tea tonight.

Last night kateaw mentioned that she really liked a song called Northern Lights by a prog rock band called Renaissance. It had been a hit back in 1978. I found it on Spotify, and we listened to it a few times. Not bad at all; later I’ll be listening to the album it’s from: A Song for All Seasons.

This morning we rolled out of bed and headed off to Morrisons to have breakfast in the café and then do the weekly shop. qidane joined us as usual, and all four of us had the veggie cooked breakfast — not bad in execution, and very reasonable at just over three quid each. Then we went to the Fairmont for a swim in the pool; the water was quite chilly today. That was followed by lunch at Andrew’s — a veggie Irish stew followed by an “impossible pudding” (a pleasant coconut and condensed milk concoction).

We bought a veggie haggis ready for tea tomorrow. Mmm I like veggie haggis, especially with brown sauce.

Kate is riding a Segway on the Wii Fit Plus at the moment.