Today I have mainly been v3

[Joe Hutch]

Had mine last week. No queue, but somewhat unnervingly the vaccine candidates are routed into the health centre via the underground car park, so it all seems a bit like a Cold War espionage movie. You get to the first bod in a tabard, who silently directs you to a second bod in a tabard, who ticks your name off a list, then directs you into a corridor, then the jabbing doctor silently beckons you into the room where he jabs you.

 

[blossomchris]

Flu jab last week, Covid jab yesterday, short wait but all before our allotted times. They seem very efficient

 

[Big Tabs]

The Wife has sold me on the idea of seeing Bruce Springsteen, so far Wife likes the London, Hyde Park gig.
I really cannot abide Springsteen, but this compromise will be worth diamonds at some point.

Wife also has aspirations to go see Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, it seems a bit much to me. We did see Billy at Wembley a few years ago, glad we saw him once but awful acoustics.

Wife is in a ‘planning things to do’ mood. Best that I keep my head down.

 

[gintonic]

London, Hyde Park gig.

we've been to a few. They are crazily expensive if you actually want to see the artist with you own eyes. Otherwise you may as well watch on a TV.

 

[canonman]

Wife also has aspirations to go see Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, it seems a bit much to me.

Great stadium but only seen ice hockey there.

Be careful if you choose hostility at Hyde Park gigs. Wasn't worth the dosh, complained and got a refund.

 

[paulfromcamden]

Flu jab last weekend at the GPs. When we booked we were offered precise appointment times three minutes apart. This is very efficient we thought - we'll be in and out in minutes! When we arrived the queue was right down the street. Ah well. Good weather for it, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves ("is this the queue for the Queen?") and we had a nice chat with the woman in front of us. Practise staff patrolled the queue escorting the infirm to the front of the line ("oh you've been upgraded!"). Took about 45 minutes in total and to be honest I've had worse Saturday mornings.

 

[gintonic]

Great stadium but only seen ice hockey there.

Be careful if you choose hostility at Hyde Park gigs. Wasn't worth the dosh, complained and got a refund.

I don't think the BST gigs are worth the money with or without hostility. Also factor the time and inconvenience getting out at the end. We always stayed at a hotel on Park Lane for convenience.

 

[Big Tabs]

we've been to a few. They are crazily expensive if you actually want to see the artist with you own eyes. Otherwise you may as well watch on a TV.

We have been before - Paul Simon - Graceland Anniversary gig with Jimmy Cliff. Had great seats and an excellent view - I have some photos somewhere.

 

[Jamie]

Got the jet washer out this morning to clean up the patch on the block paved drive where the now departed Focus had leaked loads of power steering fluid. Once that patch was clean, it was obviously much cleaner than the surroundings, so had to carry on and do all of the section in front of the left side of the double garage. So now means I will have to continue and do the right side, plus all the bit across the front of the house.....

The stained patch still seems to have a bit of residue, can't tell until it is dry, but I have some detergent stuff for oily drives in the garage somewhere, so will give it a soak with that for a week, then go over it again.

Off out in a bit for the boy to do his open water swimming bit of his lifesaving course. Gonna be a bit chilly, rather him than me. He has his shorty surfing wetsuit to wear though.

 

[Marchbanks]

Flu jab last weekend at the GPs. When we booked we were offered precise appointment times three minutes apart.

Three minutes? Luxury - we only got two! I had chosen the last appointment of the day (I thought the nurse would have had a suitable amount of practice by then) at 1556. I turned up five minutes early and there were only two potential jabbees waiting in front of me - I was quite impressed.

 

[Seeker_UK]

Must get my 'flu jab booked.

 

[paulfromcamden]

Be careful if you choose hostility at Hyde Park gigs. Wasn't worth the dosh, complained and got a refund.

I didn't realise you had to pay extra for the moody bouncer ;-)

 

[Bjork67]

On the bus on the way to the beer shop and busting for a cakk

 

[Bob McC]

LMFAO for the last forty five minutes…

and the next.

 

[Marchbanks]

Harvesting the first of four bags of la Ratte potatoes. Not tried growing them before, but have eaten them in France and been quite impressed. Looking a little scabby but then so are they, ha ha. The scabs will peel out though, and as the seed potatoes were a parishioner’s gift I’m not complaining!

 

[cctaylor]

Christmas cake 2022 by Cecil Taylor, on Flickr

Been baking this year's Christmas cake. Start of preparations for my first Christmas on my own. All a bit emotional, I did it last year but felt that Heather was at least supervising from the bedroom and was of course going to share in the result.

My mum was a great baker and used to produce around 20 cakes each year to give as Christmas presents and her cakes and bakes were seen on the sales tables at local events. She made the wedding cakes for 4 family weddings including that for Heather and myself. I hope I have inherited some of her skills, something satisfying about home baking. Edd Kimber (Bake Off) has a new book out "Small Batch Bakes" which interests me as I would like to do a bit of baking, but most recipes produce too much when you are on your own. I have a good stock of tins and trays so shouldn't need to buy much to get going.

 

[gintonic]

We have been before - Paul Simon - Graceland Anniversary gig with Jimmy Cliff. Had great seats and an excellent view - I have some photos somewhere.

Strangely got a pre-sale invitation to Billy Joel BST gig at Hyde Park this morning. Adult tickets in the pre-sale are £101 to £324 per person.

 

[Big Tabs]

Strangely got a pre-sale invitation to Billy Joel BST gig at Hyde Park this morning. Adult tickets in the pre-sale are £101 to £324 per person.

Wife isn’t bothered now…

 

[Big Tabs]

Wife isn’t bothered now…

Specifically, because The Wife really likes New York, so if we ain’t going there, Billy Joel is off.

(The Wife used to have to travel to New York as part of her job, so has been many many times )

 

[Rosewind]

Finished sorting out my 9 square-meter study which meant binning my teacher's hoard of copied texts and copious notes, plus reshelving many English books in the small library room next door. Now my study is a temple of music listening, tv-watching, poetry writing and DIY hifi dabbling.

I feel quite my old self these days and it only took 6 months or so. I am now officially on sick benefit while unemployed. In 10 days I will begin a 3-month-long subsidised job stint at the newspaper section of the Danish Royal Library in Aarhus to have my work ability assessed.

Here are a few photos of my study with two stereos, one for listening to vinyl and hi-res streaming (into "hovering" Quad ESL 57s), the other for tv-viewing and background listening (into Dynaudio Contour 1 mk. ii) while on the computer. On my desk are two projects - a much-delayed FirstWatt F4 project and a Thorens 115 that I will pull apart and assess the functionality of. It won't keep the speed stable. The small desk is a writing desk for writing when I get in the mood again. I have all my poetry notebooks and assorted notes at the ready in the closet + all my favorite books as inspiration. There's even room for my Maltese dog, Sky, who is only calm when lying next to me here. If she is not in here, she will patrol the 200 square-meter premises and bark at the slightest noise from the neighbours or passing cars.