Dear Diary...
This is my diary. How things are. Or something. Please note that the diary is archived month by month, so feel free to click the links for the archives (which now will go back five years maximum):
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Wednesday 5th March - Absolutely Brilliant, the Disk Version
After a couple of days in the office, one in central London and the other in Hoxton, it was time to get on with some essential maintenance work which meant working at home so I could concentrate on a couple of spreadsheets and be able to get on with what I needed to do - and this would mean looking at a potential mail merge to contact some colleagues. I had an idea of what I needed to do and so it was sensible to effectively get on with collating the data I needed and being able to work things out.
And actually the report I output was useful because it showed a couple of things I may have missed out on when doing a pile of removals. This is thankfully where a couple of useful Powershell commands and scripts come in hand, as they can effectively unlock a couple of previously locked instances so that they can be then amended or deleted as needed, provided you are the overall admin. It actually did what it said on the tin (cue Ronseal advert man of course) and that definitlely helped massively today. Isn't it good when stuff actually works right?
I did have a delivery over lunch and this was one I had been waiting for since I had won an eBay auction at the back end of last week. It was the culmination of a bit of a game hunt, and it was more to enhance my Codemasters collection of Commodore 64 games released by them. It was the first time also I'd been subject to the buyer protection fees (similarish to how Vinted works) since eBay made the change for sellers, presumably because they were losing custom to the other platform. So this now means that I proudly own all four of these - the Commodore 64 disk versions released in this square slipcase type packaging with the disks inside:
In fact, I had owned BMX Simulator since around 1991, when I actually paid £2.99 in a shop for it (as that was the disk price they set for the games back then) but the remainder I have managed to get over time. This also has survived multiple house moves and use - as this was regularly loaded for two player fun back at my Mum's prior to the first house move. As the price tag sticker might damage the packaging underneath, I felt it best to leave it on as some sort of momento to whe I purchased it. Notably on the disk version of Grand Prix Simulator, note how the Ferrari front number is covered by the Codemasters logo - where it isn't on the cassette version, having compared.
Anyway, I went to play it and sure enough, the game loaded from the trusty 1541 disk drive first go and it was time to check it out. I got to my usual fifth track before the computer opponent becomes rock hard and uses a shortcut to win, which if you don't do yourself, it becomes very hard too. Still, all worked well there and showed that everything behaved as intended including the controlled skids around the corner, getting the angle right on the mud to do the 360 degree turn, and that speech. "Car! One! Position! One!" as it barks out very loudly via the SID chip screaming for something better. Nonetheless, all good, and another nice gap completed.
As for tune of the day it has to be The Dance of Eternity by Dream Theater, primarily because of its many time changes, but also because over the last year Mike Portnoy did a drum performance of the song for the Drumeo channel, and Jordan Rudess did the keyboard part for Pianote, a sister channel and both part of the Musora family. It was only going to be a matter of time before a side by side performance was shown together split screen, and it truly is awesome to see both at work at the same time nailing the impossibly hard track. Imagine this on Guitar Hero or Rock Band back in the day? It'd be hardest tier no question.
Sunday 2nd March - Mad About the Boy
The Love In My Heart and I had had a good night's sleep, which I definitely needed after a long day yesterday. We were heading out to the city centre later on as we had booked to see a film, and for a change, trying out the posh Everyman Cinema. We had been in the one on Baker Street in central London, primarily to enjoy the chilled out bar vibe when The Love was getting a present for one of our friends, but we had never seen a film in there, so thought it might be a nice experience to be able to go and watch something.
And with Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy haivng been released a couple of weeks before, and The Love being a big fan of that film series, it made sense to nominate that one and let the audiences die down a bit before taking the plunge. Of course because you get super comfy sofas and the like, it isn't cheap, but we thought it would be a nice treat for us both. We made our way into the city centre on the tram and due to the tram works going on in the city centre, we walked down from Market Street towards St Peter's Square and then onwards to Quay Street where the cinema was at, Manchester St John's as it also faces St John's Gardens and there is an entrance there without going through the art gallery at the front.
We ordered a drink, and as per London, the Purity Ubu ale was my best option as this comes in a 500ml bottle, and The Love got herself a glass of wine. We could take these in with us, and in fact at the side of the sofas were little tables and they had QR codes on, so you could order food and drink all the way up to the end of the trailers, with the staff explaining once the film was on, you had to go to the bar. We were fine with what we had and settled in for the film, with us getting a prime seat in C9 and C10 that we had booked, so all good there.
So what of the film itself? Well, The Love enjoyed it thoroughly and I didn't find it too bad at all to be honest. I did see the first two at the cinema myself back in the day with a female friend, so I get the whole attraction of Bridget Jones and the Helen Fielding novels. It definitely looked like parts of Hampstead were used for filming this time around and the place in Borough Market close to where her old flat was back in the days of the first film. I also spotted Petersham Nurseries and its private house in Richmond, which is delightfully posh and plays host to the swimming pool scene (you will know what I mean when you see it.)
As with the other films and something that The Love herself touched on, the music really does play well in the films and no exception was made here either. From joyous pop to more reflective soul, and the rather lovely It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be from Olivia Dean at the end, which just has that sense of uplifting that you need at the end, so understandable why people love that one and tune of the day because I know The Love will adore it. It was just nice being cosy in the cinema, enjoying our drinks and watching the film, and felt special, the sort of thing we definitely will be doing again.
We headed over to the Old Wellington for some late Sunday lunch, and The Love had a roast and I had fish and chips, and being sat above close to the old Shambles Square was nice, and it just felt a good way to round the weekend off before I headed on my train back to London from Manchester Victoria, going via Leeds due to engineering works and so on. In fact it was nice just to relax on the way back and take it easy, knowing how lovely the weekend had been together.
Saturday 1st March - The Magic of the Cup
It was a relatively early rise for me this morning as I was off up to Manchester to spend the weekend with The Love In My Heart and also to see Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth round against Plymouth Argyle, who had knocked out no less than Liverpool in the previous round, so not to be taken lightly at all. I had booked the train for this morning as it was on the rail sale a month or so ago where the fare was a mere £28, which wasn't too bad all told and meant that I could at least chill out on the Friday night instead of taking the train.
So it was up and about and on the 0753 departure to Manchester Piccadilly, with me getting a breakfast meal deal from Sainsburys in Euston station along the way - and that did mean sausage barm, hash browns and a Costa coffee from the machine for £3.75, which is way cheaper than anywhere else on the station itself. Handy hack there of course. The journey was really quiet as well which meant I could chill out and relax with the headphones on and just blast out some Dream Theater - so Sacrificed Sons is tune of the day and helped me pass the time well.
After taking the tram over to The Love In My Heart's place, it definitely was nice and relaxed with Brian the cat all sleepy and then waking up for a stretch and having his usual tummy tickles as he loves to have. I settled in for Crystal Palace v Millwall and saw a rather horrible challenge from the Millwall keeper which needed VAR intervention to dertermine it was red card challenge, despite Jean-Phillipe Mateta for Palace being concussed down and needing oxygen - oh, and having lacerations to his ear that needed multiple stitches. And the Millwall fans as ever showed why they are disliked so much in that moment, I'm afraid.
Thankfully common sense prevailed and Palace did the job and won 3-1, and as Manchester City and Palace fans go back with respect for each other, most of us Blues would have been cheering them on anyway regardless of that incident. The Love's sister had come over and we all had a good natter before she headed home to avoid the football traffic, and The Love and I headed to Marks and Spencer to get something nice for tea later, as she had a gift card for there and thought it nice to use it for a posh meal together. And why not?
I went over to the Etihad later on for the football, and Manchester City certainly were taking no chances. Even with a changed side it was lots of regulars starting and with the likes of Erling Haaland on the bench, just in case. Plymouth Argyle brought their masses of fans with them and made a good noise supporting their lads, and considering the distance travelled, huge respect to them all for that. The game commenced and although City were attacking most of the half, the opposition looked dangerous when counter-attacking and at least were not content to hang on all the time.
This proved to be the case around thirty five minutes in as a cross from the left was cut out by Vitor Reis for a corner to them. The cross came in and up popped Maksym Talovierov to head home powerfully and send the Green Army into rapture, and fair play. It was even more so when you saw the post match interview with him on ITV4 and what he was going through: you could not begrudge his moment one bit, and in a week where the UK showed they stood firm with Ukraine and behaved like adults (USA take note) having the support from everyone here was huge for him, and well done all round.
I did figure that City needed a goal before half time and in the one minute of stoppage time we got a free kick. Kevin de Bruyne took it, and Nico O'Reilly headed it into the bottom corner, although you could argue the Plymouth Argyle keeper Conor Hazard may have been able to do better to stop it. Mind you, he was on fire for the rest of the game, repelling many City attacks and getting their fans hyped up with each excellent save he made. I was just relieved to get to half time and 1-1, and as I contemplated at half time, I hoped we could get the breakthrough.
City pressed on in the second half with lots of pressure, and some excellent saves from Conor Hazard, from a cross shot from Kevin de Bruyne tipped over to a close range stop to deny Erling Haaland, who had come off the bench an hour in. When moments like that happen, you think it is going to be your day and I am sure that the Plymouth Argyle fans thought that. City got a succession of corners and from one excellent cross from Phil Foden, Nico O'Reilly ghosted in at the far post to head home for 2-1. VAR did check it for any fouls but all was good - O'Reilly was just physically stronger to get to the ball and wanted it.
I did feel City needed a third to put the game to bed, especially with our current knack of conceding late goals, and for once we got one late. The ball was released spot on for Erling Haaland to run on to, Hazard saved well first time btu Haaland composed himself and put the ball across for Kevin de Bruyne to finish from close range for 3-1 and to seal our passage into the quater finals. I did feel relieved but every single Plymouth Argyle fan shoud be proud of their team for giving it a good go, and their win over Liverpool a few weeks back, plus the new impetus with their good manager Miron Muslic (way better than Wayne Rooney!) seems to have the team together. Can they now stay up I wonder?