2020: the year that wasn't

2020 was one really strange year. It was a year that wasn't. It started well, there were plans. Toni and I did at least manage to get to York in February for my 50th for the Jorvik Viking Festival and Descended From Odin's Jorvik Takeover event. The coronavirus took hold and the rest of the year went on hiatus. 

My company were one step ahead of the UK government as we started enforcing working from the week before the government looked at a lockdown. I started with a desk in the bedroom but once it looked like things were not going to end any time soon we turned the small craft room into an office for me. I started off struggling with working from home but now don't miss the daily commute at all and if all goes well I won't have to spend much time in the office once things start to settle down again.

Lots of gigs were cancelled and/or postponed until 2021. As things stand now I am wondering if those are still going to be viable in 2021 given where we are with the state of coronavirus.

The one things that has become clear is that the UK government have been absolutely shite during the pandemic. They have been slow to react, blurred the guidance and made confusing rules that just starting to piss everyone off. It's no wonder that people weren't really taking it seriously when it looked like our government weren't either. This farce is still continuing with our crazy tier system and schools being forced to go back early in January despite protests and warnings from teaching unions and scientists. 

Here's my harvested data to show how well we aren't doing and where we are right now!

The world changed in a dramatic way as a result of coronavirus and as we head into 2021 you have to wonder what the future is going to be like. It's certainly going to take a long time to get back to a more consistent way of living and I doubt things will never be the same again.

Oh and then there was the Brexit 'deal' but I won't even go into that. Let's just wait and see how that little disaster unfolds........

Bored of my back, reading, License To Kill, and The Gentlemen,

Bored of this now, my back had got slightly worse overnight. Not impressed....

My morning consisted of more reading of Lords Of Chaos and some more Black Metal to accompany it.

Breakfast was bacon sandwiches and we watched some episodes of our new bit of TV crack called License To Kill. This show is hosted by Botched surgeon Dr Terry Dubrow and each episode deals with medically qualified people who are killers.

It's a fascinating yet scary insight into some medical atrocities that are carried by people who are supposed to be following the hippocratic oath.

With dinner we opted for another viewing of Guy Ritchie's awesome The Gentlemen,

Love this film so much, one of Mr Ritchie's best!

Back report, reading, World's Strongest Man and some Mission(s) Impossible

Back report: still improving but not yet 100& getting there though.

I am thoroughly enjoying being off of work and not being disturbed or checking in. 

Did some more reading, watched some more episodes of World's Strongest Man and enjoyed not having to worry about work.

We went into Tom Cruise mode this evening and started on the Mission Impossible films.

Mission Impossible

Mission Impossible II

Mission Impossible III

These films are delightfully silly and far fetched which I guess is the whole point. Bravo for the sublimely ridiculous!

Silly back, Lords Of Chaos and Four In A Bed

My back is still playing silly buggers. My night was mostly OK but this morning it was once again feeling a bit fragile. 

I got up, made a coffee and then started reading my Lords Of Chaos book while listening to lots of Black Metal (just to get me in the mood LOL).

Really enjoying the book, I know the story well but it's interesting having it all strung together in this manner.

The rest of the say was spent in trash TV mode with lots and lots of Four In A Bed.

Intermittent back improvement, World's Strongest Man, Four In A Bed and Botched By Nature

The back improvement is intermittent. Sometimes it feels like it is all on the mend and then suddenly it isn't. On top of that loads of other bit of me are starting to ache on and off. It's most annoying, I just want to get up and know that it has all gone away and I can go about my business as normal.

Not a lot was done today, watched a lot of Four In A Bed and Botched By Nature and consumed some lovely turkey soup made from the remnants of Christmas.

Improving back, Heavy Trip and black metal morning and Sherlock Holmes

Well the good news is that I had a reasonable sleep last night and it feels like my back is now righting itself. I am still being a bit careful as I don't want to risk aggravating it. Other bits of me now feel a bit stiff and achey but I suspect that's other muscles that were overcompensating starting to right themselves again.

I watched the hilarious Heavy Trip this morning. The movie follows Turo, lead singer of Impaled Rektum, a self-described “symphonic post-apocalyptic reindeer-grinding christ-abusing extreme war pagan Fennoscandic metal” band that has spent 12 years rehearsing in the guitarist’s parents’ reindeer slaughterhouse without actually writing a song or playing an actual gig.

After this I went into a black metal morning and watched a couple of documentaries. First up was Until The Light Takes Us

This was then followed by the Vices short interview piece called True Norwegian Black Metal. I might have to indulge in the Lords Of Chaos film again at some point soon.

It was a nice relaxing day after that. Toni and i stripped down the turkey carcass and put it into a large pan to make a load of stock ready for soup. 

We fancied some Sherlock Holmes in the evening so we watch both the Robert Downey Jr movies.

Sherlock Holmes:

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows:

We never get tired of watching these. Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law make an excellent Holme and Watson. Can't wait for them to make the third instalment although that is currently on hold due to the coronavirus situation.

Back trouble continues, Wonder Woman 1984, Joker, Soul and Ice Age

My back is still playing silly buggers which is most inconvenient. I had been hoping it would all pass quickly but sadly it seems it does not want to. I had a disturbed night although thankfully not full of pain and this morning I feel stiff and in slightly more discomfort than yesterday. Back on the rum today I think, it might not help but it does at least mask things!

Breakfast of kings today with toast and turkey dripping, perfect. We decided to be brave and check out the newly released Wonder Woman 1984. The last one was OK, one of the better DC movies so we were interested to see how this one would stack up.

The verdict is that DC should stop making movies! That was not good. I wasn't a big fan of the first Wonder Woman and this one is no better. Patty Jenkins can be forgiven for the first one as she did not write that but she wrote and directed this one so there is no excuse. I hope that Lucasfilm don't let her write the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron movie and she is just taking on the director role. That end credits scene though!

To wash away the bad taste we watched the only really good current DC movie, Joker, 

Now this film is one that was deserving of a sequel although suspect it won't happen sadly. It does have a natural end but could easily be expanded to take the story on further. Sadly it too gritty to really fit in with the rest of the current DC universe films unless they go down a multi-verse route. 

Following some good reports we had heard we decided to check out Pixar's new movie Soul on Disney+.

It was a heart warming film although I'll have to watch it again as I did snooze through some of it LOL.

Sticking with Disney+ it was time for some Ice Age.

Back trouble, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Grinch, drinks, Christmas Vacation, Polar Express, Home Alone and A Christmas Carol

Well today did not start as I had hoped. The back problems continued in the night and when I got up I was still very fragile. I felt stiffer and more sensitive around the offending area and there was much more discomfort than I’d had yesterday when pottering about. I tried being useful but everything was a struggle but did at least manage to take the recycling and rubbish out. 

We started off out traditional Foodmas (Christmas) viewing with The Muppet Christmas Carol. Charles Dickins, Michael Caine, good songs and muppets, it's a winner every time!

Next up on the list was How The Grinch Stole Christmas

It was soon time for a Christmas drink courtesy of those nice chaps in Rammstein. It was RUMmstein for me and GINstein for Toni!

Drinks in hand it was time to embark on some giggles with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

More drinks? Oh go on then! Sam made himself an Old Fashioned.

The turkey was prepped and in the oven and there was some chatting and mum called for a quick catch up so we played pass the phone.

The Polar Express was next to roll into our Christmas station

More food prep to get the veggies and cauliflower cheese ready and then it was into the oven with them. It was all coming together slowly.

It seemed quite fitting that with the current state of the nation that we chose Home Alone as our next movie to watch.

With our Christmas feast it was back to Charles Dickens again this time with Disney's A Christmas Carol.

Frohe Weihnachten, Merry Christmas, Yuletide Wishes & Season's Greetings everybody

Frohe Weihnachten, Merry Christmas, Yuletide Wishes and Season's Greetings to all my family and friends. I hope you all enjoy your holidays and time off no matter how you celebrate! However you celebrate (or even if you don't) have a fantastic day. Peace, light and love to one and all.

Twas the night before Christmas

It's that time of year again and so on this Christmas Night I bring you my annual tradition of posing some of my favourite videos related to the time of year (sort of).

I have to kick things off with my favourite Star Wars related Christmas video.


Mr B maintains a worthy place in the Christmas video chart with the excellently naughty Oh Santa...


I'll round things off with this lovely classic from The Muppet Christmas Carol


Morgen kommt der Weihnachstmann

Destination fucked, baking, ION gifts, Love Actually and The Nightmare Before Christmas

Well it's not quite the Ozzie Man style disaster but 'Destination Fucked' is what I feel about my back right now. Last night was not great. I did manage to get some sleep but there were times when a slight movement would cause sharp shooting pains across the base of my back. Moving or turning at all was a challenge although I did find ways to do this albeit very slowly. I feel very tender and fragile this morning which is most inconvenient as there are things I want/need to do.

I got up (ver carefully) and got my baking groove on to make sure that Toni had enough rolls to take her through to next week. 

For a bit of silliness I started watching World's Strongest Man 2020. Who doesn't enjoy a bunch of large men manhandling impossibly heave objects? Right now I would struggle to bend and lift a feather!

I received an unexpected parcel in the post today which turned out to be a Christmas gift pack from my company. Some nice little bits in there.

Various chocolates and nuts, some nice coffee hot chocolate and some interesting olives 

There was a also a nice branded thermal cup too

Christmas viewing was resumed with Love Actually.

We also took in A Charlie Brown Christmas courtesy of Apple TV+

Christmas movie viewing continued with The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Our Foodmas prep was underway as Toni cooked off the ham tonight. The smell was amazing! Is it tomorrow yet LOL.

We finished off the night with Willow which we haven't watched for ages

Podracing, Fireball, Nailed It, Botched, pain and Hogfather

I woke up this morning and just did not know what to do with myself. I fancied playing a game on the PS4 but couldn't decide what. Went through various options and nothing appealed, most annoying. In the end I settled on Star Wars Episode I: Racer. It was brief but fun. This is pod racing!

Having a quick browse though Netflix it looked like there were a number of shows that have new seasons out but as we always watch stuff together I had to not indulge and wait until we were all gathered. That was a pain LOL.

Decided to check out what was on Apple TV+ and found an interesting documentary called Fireball: Visitors From Other Worlds which explores how meteorites have impacted our planet’s landscapes and cultures. It was pretty good and had some stunning visuals.

The afternoon was spent mixing up Nailed It and Botched. 

Then disaster struck as I suddenly started experiencing some really uncomfortable feelings gourd my lower back and hips. I thought maybe it was due to lack of exercise so went and did twenty minutes on the treadmill but that didn't help. Toni give it a massage, I drank loads of water but still it continued. Ended up diving into the bath for an hour where i got some reading done and drank loads more water. It felt much better when I got it but continued to feel tender afterwards. I am putting it down to dehydration for now so we shall see how things are tomorrow.

It was back to more botched before it was time for another Christmas movie with dinner. Tonight we watched the wonderful adaption of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather.

...and relax! TLC, Tattoo Fixers, Four In A Bed and Scrooged

Woke up this morning and was not disturbed by work escalations. Bliss! My morning was my own! Watch WWE Table Ladders and Chairs PPV which had an interesting main match but the rest of it was pretty meh. I think maybe I have fallen out of love with wrestling which is a bit of a surprise. Let's see how I feel when they can get back to doing proper shows with audiences once again as it might be a combination of the product and the lack of live crowd noise...... or maybe it's just the product LOL Still, there was fire!

I moved on to some Louis Theroux and nis Scientology movie. It was a fascinating insight into this very closed, secretive group. 

A bit if housework, YUK, was then followed by some Tattoo Fixers.

I dug out some old crack in the afternoon and indulged in some Four In A Bed as it's been a while!

We started out Christmas movie viewing tonight with the Bill Murray classic, Scrooged.

Day off (ash), Harry Potter and Wizarding World goodness and the Book Of Boba Fett

Well today was supposed to be the first day off until New Year. It didn't quite work out like that though as I pretty much called into a disaster as soon as I woke up! Thankfully it didn't take too long to resolve. I was also on call this evening but thankfully that was quiet.

It was a Harry Potter day as we made our way through the last of the films. First up was Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince

It was then into the final straight with Deathly Hallows Part 1.......

..... and then Deathly Hallows Part 2

Carrying on the Wizarding World theme we then moved onto Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

Our viewing concluded with The Crimes Of Grindelwald.

This little gem popped up on various Star Wars/Lucasfilm/Disney social media pages today so it was great news to have it confirmed that The Book Of Boba Fett is a spin-off from The Mandalorian, set in the same timeline, It will be a short series leading into Season 3 of The Mandalorian. The Book Of Boba Fett launches in December 2021 with The Mandalorian kicking off again on 25th December 2021. this little surprise was kept from the Disney Invetor's call and was kept as a surprise in the credits of the info episode of The Mandalorian.

Winter Solstice Blessings

Blessings to all my friends and family on this wonderful Winter Solstice.

Baking, Louis, Botched, Goblet Of Fire and Order Of The Phoenix

After a lovely long sleep it was up and backing for me. Toni's gluten free keto rolls with a slight change to the recipe. Today I was experimenting with the recipe and mixing in some lupin flour with the almond flour, one part lupin and three parts almond. The mixture was a lot thicker and slightly hard to mix. They seemed to bake well though.

Toni said they tasted really nice and the texture had improved (it was more dense and spongy) and was even ore like bread. Result!!!!!!

A bit more Louis Theroux was followed by more Botched! 

My regular Sunday roast accompanied Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.

We then followed this up with Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix.

Relaxed day

It was quite a relaxed Saturday. Got up, watched some Louis Theroux and had breakfast. Toni and I put up some additional festive things. We watched the final of Hell's Kitchen and many episodes of Botched.

Our government announced a new tier to try and contain the coronavirus pandemic but change the 5 Christmas meet-up window to one day (Christmas day only). Another move that was too late and smacks of even more incompetence. Scrap the tiers, lock the country down for 2 to 3 months and get the new cases number right down to zero (or as near as you can get). The message from the government has been really awful and the rules unclear and the adding of tiers just compounded things. You jut can't trust the public to do the right thing. Just tell them what to do, properly! None of this really impacted us as we didn't have plans outside of our own household but I really feel for those that did who now have to make changes.

A good meme did pop up as a result of all this though, thanks to Chris Rea! Well played!

We also got a a good Spinal Tap based one

Last day, Chamber Of Secrets, Prisoner Of Azkaban and The Mandalorian

Today was my last office full working day until January! It wasn't particular manic and I had lots of time to close out tasks that I didn't want to carry over. Fingers crossed I don't get any escalation calls between now and the new year.

We continued our Harry Potter quest with Chamber Of Secrets......

....... followed by Prisoner Of Azkaban.

Today was also the last episode in season two of The Mandalorian. What an episode that was! Loads of fan service. If you watch it, make sure you watch all the way to the very end of the credits, it's worth the wait!

Good day, The Rise Of Skywalker and The Philosopher's Stone

Today was also a good day. Despite going to bed really late due to a critical issue popping up I woke in good spirits. I got up, had some breakfast and a coffee and watched an episode of Louis Theroux. Work is now at a level manageable state and I am slowly killing off as many outstanding tasks as I can so I can go into my holiday break with nothing to worry about.

We finished our Star Wars marathon with The Rise Of Skywalker bring the saga to an end. 

I had a brief interruption with a minor work issue. A variant of last nights critical but much quicker to resolve so not much if my evening was lost.

We rounded things out starting our Harry Potter marathon which is also a Christmas custom now. Starting at the very beginning it was Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone.

I won't be drawn into the J.K. Rowling debate, I enjoy this films very much and will continue to watch them. If you don't like that then you know where the door is!

Beautiful sky, work easing off, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi

There was a beautiful sky this morning, a great way to kick things off.

I am pleased to say that things are easing off a bit not the work front already. Don't get me wrong, I am still busy but the pressure is of and the stress is gone. It's a really nice state to be in as I work my last few days of this year. Hopefully tomorrow and Friday will be the same.

You've heard of Elf On A Shelf? Well this is what happens when Grogu (The Child/Baby Yoda) meets him!

The Star Wars saga continued tonight with The Force Awakens....

...and then The Last Jedi

Farewell Uncle Richard

Very sad to receive the news that my Uncle Richard passed over today after a fight with some illnesses. My thoughts are with Auntie Robbie and cousins Sarah and Jim at this time 

Worky day, more festive stuff, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi

Today was a little more worky than I would have liked but at least one potential set of stress was moved to next week so now it is someone else's problem LOL Things are slowly easing up so hopefully the rest of the week will stay calm.

The living room is becoming even more festive and is looking lovely now. 

The Star Wars run continued tonight with The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. This time we were back to the full movies and not the Hal9000 fan edits.

Most excellent day, Rogue One, A New Hope and a partially festive living room

Today was a most excellent day. All the migrations are now done until mid January and so the normal working schedule can be resumed again. Sunday into Monday was our last migration of the year and despite some initial teething problems it went well, It will be nice to have some weekends to myself for a while! I even had decent breaks and finished on time so that was a great improvement over the last few weeks.

Tonight we watched Rogue One and A New Hope to continue our December Star Wars viewing.

The living room is now staring to take on a partially festive feel with the fireplace and altar now kitted out. Still more to come though :) 

The tree will be next and then we will be full on ready for festive frolics.

Baking, Marvel's Avengers and Tattoo Fixers

It was baking day today and this batch came out beautifully.

As it was early and nobody else was up and I decided to get on the PS4 and spark up my Marvel's Avengers game. I had wanted to get this game when it was released but it was way too expensive for my liking and some of the reviews just didn't justify the price. I decided to bite the bullet when I saw it on sale for more than 50% off. So far I am very happy with this purchase. Spider-Man set the bar fir super hero games really high so I was not expecting a miracle. As it stands though it a fun game, nice switching between various Avengers and it is great to have an introduction to Ms. Marvel who will soon be appearing in her own TV shows and the upcoming movies. It's certainly no Spider-Man on the gameplay from but the story is strong, the graphics are really good and it's an enjoyable Marvel romp.

It turned out to be a bit of a draining day for one reason or other but it did bounce back and then we went to Tattoo Fixers for some relaxation.

Star Wars movies, working, Hell's Kitchen and more Star Wars

Last night we watched the Hal9000 fan edit of The Phantom Menace (Cloak Of Deception) in the start of our Christmas Star Wars movie watching. 

With breakfast today we watch Attack Of The Clones (The Approaching Storm) (also the Hal9000 fan edit)

After the breakfast and movie I had to go and work for a couple of hours. This was the last of the migrations for 2020 so I am really looking forward to getting my weekends back until mid January when we start again.

A quick Hell's Kitchen catch up was followed more Star Wars, on to Revenge Of The Sith (Labyrinth Of Evil)

We finished off the evening with Solo (The Coaxium Heist) fan edit.

New Star Wars and Marvel

So yesterday Disney did an Investor's Day 2020 thing and there were lots of wonderful announcements for upcoming things.

First up we have a size real for the new Cassian Andor series:

Clone Wars stin off The Bad Batch:

Rogue Squadron:

They have announced ten new Star Wars shows being made The Mandalorian Season 3 plus these nice little beauties:

On the Marvel front we have WandaVision:

What If......

Loki:

Calm and productive day, Minions and Botched

Well today was uncharacteristically calm and productive. There is still so much to do but slowly but surely things are moving in the right direction. Spent a large chunk of time try to sort out all the cover that will be needed over the Christmas period without me having to compromise my much needed time off. It took a while but I actually managed it!

More meme stupidity came along in the form of this dad joke level image!

No apologies! LOL

More Minions mini movies with dinner before a chill with coffee, a chocolate cookie and more Botched.

Busy day and Miami Ink

It was a busy old day today. Stress levels rising, the lost of things to do seems never-ending and me wondering if I'll ever wrestle it to the ground.

This little beauty came along today which was most amusing!

The evening was spent chilling out to Miami Ink. We have now completed Season 1. Next please...

Troubleshooting, Minions and Botched

Well today was a vast improvement over yesterday! Not a MEH in sight! There was hassle and stress but it was just good old troubleshooting and getting shit done in a constructive way. The rest of the week is going to be busy as will the weekend but then thing will tail off as we head towards Christmas and two weeks off!

We watched a number of Minions mini movies for some giggles

The evening was rounded out nicely with a few episodes of Botched.

Odd day, meh!

Today was odd, it didn't seem stressful or chaotic bur it ended with me feeling very drained and as if it had been a total disaster. No idea why but it wasn't great to feel like that.

Meh!

Farewell Cupid

Our little Cupid (AKA Fluffy McFatbutt) scurried off over the Rainbow Bridge in the early hours of this morning. He went to sleep while having cuddles and drifted away. He was such an affectionate little dude. We will miss him.

I have to be honest that I wasn't overly fussed when Zoe first got the rats. I've owned them before and at that time I was done with pets. They were really quite and I would occasionally look in on them. Thingss ask change when zoe went to stay with Jade and Aaron. I quickly became the primary feeder and fell in love with all of them, often singing and chatting to them. It was me that first found Cupid in a bad way so it was incredibly sad to see him deteriorate. He was loved to the very end though and certainly lived the best life!

A friend sent us this (she was sent it when she lost her rat)......

Lend Me A Rat

I will lend a rat to you - for awhile, God said. 

For you to love him while he lives, and mourn him when he's dead. 

Maybe for twelve or thirty months - Or maybe two or three. 

But will you, 'til I call him back, take care of him for me?

He'll bring his charms to gladden you; and should his stay be brief, 

You'll always have his memories, as solace for your grief. 

I cannot promise he will stay, since all from earth, return. 

But there are lessons taught below, I want this rat to learn.

I've looked the whole world over, in search of teachers true. 

And from the folk that crowd life's land, 

I have chosen you. Now will you give him all your love, nor think the labour vain, 

Nor hate me when I come to you, to take my rat again?

Then it was that I said: 'Dear Lord, thy will be done.' 

For all the joys this rat will bring, the risk of grief I'll run. 

I'll shelter him with tenderness, I'll love him while I may. 

And for the happiness I've known, forever grateful stay.

But should you think to call him back, much sooner than we'd planned, 

I'll brave the bitter grief that comes, and try to understand. 

When this faithful soul departs this busy world of strife, 

We'll have yet another rat, and love him all his life