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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Tuesday 14th April – Hoxton Shuffle
It was off to the office in Hoxton today, primarily to facilitate one of the teams who do not normally go there but had some of their equipment for a future event there and wanted to do some road testing over the next two days. It made sense therefore for me to go there instead and then be able to look after them, making sure they all know where the fire exits are, toilets and so on, and then allotting them a space to work with which meant they could just crack on with it. It did also mean that I would be able to do any road testing needed for some of the hardware prior to anything happening.
As we do have an event next week, I’ve also been setting up some of the back end as to what is needed, and on top of that, also ensuring that anyone needing to print will have the correct print client that we use. Thankfully we do have some automated group memberships which do that, so once we add them in, the client gets deployed and all is well with the world there. However, it is not the same process (yet) on the Macs, so there has been a reminder sent that they will need to go to Self-Service and perform the necessary install from there. Let’s see what happens there, but we’re always thinking ahead for prep work – you simply have to.
On the whole, it also proved to be a productive day as I was able to make sure that I had some plans in place for a mailout to some staff. Thankfully for smaller internal only mail merges, we can use Power Automate, which when you do get that set up as a workflow, does work really well with Excel, and ultimately means as well that I can pretty much customise it as I like. It does also break the senders down into small chunks so you do not get accused of mass emailing or spam either, so a definite win there for me without question. We did also do some checks to be sure that the list we had would be correct, and that helped massively with ensuring that when we do send it out, we target the right people.
As much as it is tempting for me to head to the Hoxton Hound after work with the happy hour being a mere £4.50 a pint, which for London is cheap to be fair, it does also delay the journey home somewhat. And after a long day, you do want to just be able to rest, relax and go home and make yourself some tea. It does tempt me though and I think if some of the team I work with were there, that might be a good option to do. The vibe around these parts is very different to central London anyway, and I quite like it. I’d like it more if the Museum of the Home reopened Molly’s, as that café bar was ace, but you can’t have everything in life can you?
I got home later and made some tea, then settled in and had a good chatter with The Love In My Heart. She had been off work today as Little Miss E had stayed overnight, and was off to MOSI in Manchester today in order to have a good time with some of the exhibits, and take her favourite mode of transport – the tram. She just loves the trams and when we’re out in The Love’s car, she spots one (as well as the yellow Bee Network buses) and will point them out. I need to get her into Eccentronic’s Croydon Tram song (make that tune of the day) as after all it is fun, fun, fun, on the Croydon tram, tram, tram.
Oh, and I managed to sort out tickets for myself and one of the family as another diehard Manchester City fan to head to the FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley on the 25th, as City face Southampton in a game already being described as “on next Saturday.” It will not be easy as the Saints are on a superb run in the Championship and may yet sneak an automatic promotion slot, more so after they won tonight and Ipswich lost, so that narrows the gap well, albeit with Ipswich still having a game in hand at present. But still, should be exciting, and will be good fun.
Sunday 12th April – Discoveries and Demolitions
It was nice to have a relaxing morning in with The Love In My Heart, and Brian the cat was of course up and wanting plenty of fusses and cuddles, well because he can. I got up and got showered, so I could then watch a bit of morning telly whilst The Love had a lie in. I must admit although it was nice to see Arsenal losing, I did of course not celebrate too much as it would mean nothing to me (cue Ultravox’s iconic Vienna being tune of the day) unless Manchester City did the business at Chelsea later, so there was that at least.
We did decide with the weather not being so good that a walk was off the cards – a shame really as I would have quite liked a walk down the canal and into the city centre, but it was good to have a coffee and take some time out to work out some future plans for the holiday. One thing I do like to see is if there are any bars or even tap rooms that serve nice beers that are different. When we went to Porto a couple of years back, we had Letraria close by serving Letra beers and a gorgeous hidden beer garden, and also Nortada which was a bit posher, and did nice food too.
As it seems, not only does there happen to be some good little beer places close to where we are staying, but venturing out of the centre would mean a bus to two tap rooms close to each other if we fancied it. It also worked out that one of the beer places actually serves many of the beers from one of the taprooms, so we can always give them a go, Gary Eats style, first off, and then if we like it, and say if the weather isn’t at its best, we could venture out to one of the taprooms too, so there are options. I do already know there are one or two places that we will be going back to over time, especially one with a great view of a square, and another that has a nice urban chilled out vibe too.
Later on, we headed out to lunch and decided to head to The Gateway as it meant we would be able to have some decent beer and indeed some food too. In fact, they had the Titanic Brewery Dark Mild, so yes of course I was going to have that one without hesitation, which was very nice indeed. It was also good that the Korean chicken with rice that I normally have was on form too and that would then get me all sorted for the later train journey in the evening. The afternoon went too quickly but as The Love was dropping me off to Manchester Piccadilly station, Nico O’Reilly had scored the opening goal for Manchester City at Chelsea.
Better was to come too, as I got a bottle of water for the train and by the time I had boarded the train, Marc Guéhi had made it 2-0, with a goal a few minutes later from Jeremy Doku making it 3-0. A great win all round and that boosted me nicely as I was heading on the train homewards and had the iPod out again listening to some epic tunes such as The Game (Parts I-V) by Roy Harper, and also the full twenty-four minutes of Octavarium by Dream Theater. Suitably epic and that did make the train journey go quicker too so, like Manchester City earlier, an epic win, and of course all sets up things nicely for next Sunday’s game against Arsenal. That is going to be some game already and I am looking forward to it.
Saturday 11th April – Second Birthday
It was a nice start to the weekend as I was heading up to Manchester to see The Love In My Heart, and we had a birthday party to go to as well. Little Miss O is two today, and their parents had invited me and The Love (well she is their best Nana ever) along with some of the family, for a small little get together with sandwiches, cake, and some Peppa Pig related things too. Now, naturally, I am quite pleased that Little Miss O does enjoy said series, not least because it is all good innocent fun – much better than the likes of the LOL Dolls that Little Miss E wants to try and watch (but her parents say no, as it’s a bit freaky.)
I was on the usual 0813 Saturday morning departure from Euston to Manchester Piccadilly, and although I did take a seat in Coach C to be closer to the shop, it transpired the power sockets had failed, so moved back to D in the reserved seat, and yes, power was working, so yaay on that score. I had the iPod on and so was able to listen to some lovely tunes including Seasons by Penfriend, so tune of the day there and a song that if I ever did get married, I would want to be played at some point because it is so utterly delightful. I had a lovely email from Laura (who is Penfriend) too as we had discussed over email about the song as well. Isn’t it nice when people are nice?
There were no trams this weekend to The Love’s place, but knew I needed to put a bet on the Grand National later today, so walked up to the bus stop and there happened to be a bookies on the way, so sorted that out and then on the bus to The Love’s place, much easier all round. We settled in for the morning and Brian the cat was wanting plenty of fussing and attention, having done his usual wait for Mummy to have a shower and then go in there himself – it’s a thing that he does, as odd as it is, and he always gets used to it. More so if I stay and he gets the option to have two showers instead of one!
We set off and arrived at Little Miss O’s house, and of course bigger sister Little Miss E was more than happy to see us too. We had a nice relaxing time in the front room, with dolls to play with, and some lovely Peppa Pig balloons in there too. It was a nice little lunch of sandwiches (ham of course as Little Miss E loves that), sausage rolls, crisps, meats, and cheese. It was all very nice and did the job, and with the Arsenal v Bournemouth game going the way of all the City fans in the room (and there were a few of us) that set the seal on. The Love’s nephew was also there with his wife so they both got roped into playing all sorts of games with the little ones, which they enjoyed immensely. Does it make them broody, I wonder?
Anyway, it was present time and Little Miss O loved her presents, a nice new coat from The Love, some dolls and soft toys from relatives, including a soft toy unicorn from my Mum, which was very nice of her. I had pulled off a masterstroke and managed to locate Peppa Pig Lego Duplo, with the set being the market, complete with tractor along with Peppa Pig and Pedro Pony. Needless to say, she exclaimed “Peppa!” as she opened it, and later on Little Miss E and I helped her put it all together, although she was quite a dab hand with the Duplo bricks already. That was all rather lovely and definitely meant I had done the right thing.
We did also then turn over to ITV to watch the Grand National, as most of us had put a bet on. Little Miss E loved the horses of course but wanted to make sure they all got back safe and sound, perfectly understandable. None of us won, with I Am Maximus taking the second win in three years and joining the likes of Red Rum, Manifesto, and Peter Simple who regained the National after losing it. And I Am Maximus’ record is excellent, three runs, two wins and a second. Not many horses have won twice, with Tiger Roll the only other modern day back-to-back winner, with Abd-El-Kader doing so in 1850 and 1851, The Colonel in 1869 and 1870, and Reynoldstown in 1935 and 1936.
Thursday 9th April – Absolutely Brilliant!
As some of you may know, over the last few years I’ve been attempting to get a complete run of Codemasters game releases, in the single cassette editions at present, for the Commodore 64. I did own a considerable number of them back in the day, and some of which I still own now, so at least did have a starting point. The main stumbling blocks are that some of the later releases, especially those around 1992, did not sell as many copies, and as such, not just original releases, but tested and working original releases are not so easy to find. There are 105 of these in all, to put into context, and before today I had 104 of them.
The arrival in the post of the 105th and final one I was after was met with some excitement. After all, if this did load, then it is a complete and working run of them, but also nice to close a chapter off and then seek to get the remaining boxed releases (more on this later.) So out came the Commodore 64 and trusty C2N tape deck. I was going to use my DC2N hardware to create a backup tape image, but the Micro USB connector came off the board the other day, and I am no good with a soldering iron, so will be awaiting to order the version 5 of that hardware as a replacement. The game showed the loading screen, which is always a positive, and within a few minutes I had the title screen on with some nice music from Gerard Gourley which is tune of the day.
I had a quick play of the game to make sure that it all worked, and actually this took up about an hour or so, as I mastered the controls, which does become a joystick waggling affair when you do grapple with the opponent. Notably, which did make me chuckle, your main character is called The Darling Dude, which surely has to be a nod to one of the Darling brothers who founded Codemasters. Absolutely brilliant, as the pack graphics would often say. The game is not the best, but it is passable and did make me wonder if the wrestling federations did not sue based on the cover art – hmmmm don’t these look like some of your favourite 1990s wrestling icons?
I was very pleased though. That means that I do have all 105 single cassette releases, of which 5 are the Cartoon Time Series, 14 are Quattro game compilations (with Quattro Megastars being the hardest to find I think) and a few of them are budget re-releases of either those in Codemasters Plus (mid-price) or Codemasters Gold (full price). I averaged out a spend of around £3.19 per game, which when you consider that I only paid £10 plus for five of them, and only one over £20 (Robin Hood Legend Quest, which was £21 – Wrestling Superstars was £19) I did not do too badly – more so when you see what some of the later Spectrum and Amstrad releases sell for these days.
To give you an idea, Sergeant Seymour Robotcop C64 cost me £2.10 as part of a five game bundle which also included DJ Puff and Soccer Pinball. That game on the Amstrad CPC sold for £80, and on Spectrum, £60. Steg the Slug C64 cost me 96p as part of a bundle, whereas the Amstrad CPC version sold for £71. Oh, and DJ Puff C64 mentioned above for £2.10 as part of a bundle? Try £200 for the Amstrad CPC version. Yes, really. All of those are certified eBay sales when you search for sold items and does go to show that the average price I paid actually does not seem too bad at all..
Anyway, what next? Well, I do have the four Commodore 64 budget price disk releases in their little wallets (BMX Simulator, ATV Simulator, Fruit Machine Simulator and Grand Prix Simulator) so that’s good. I also have three of the four Codemasters Plus releases too (Pro BMX Simulator, Jet Bike Simulator and Super Dragon Slayer) so only need The Race Against Time there. I have the disk version of 4 Soccer Simulators on Codemasters Gold, and it’d be nice to get Rock Star Ate My Hamster, but I know that fetches a shed load of cash, then any boxed compilations I don’t already have. On that front, I do have Smash 16 which was a bargain even at £20 considering how much that now goes for…
Sunday 5th April – Easter Sunday Roast
It was nice to have a relaxing lie in today, with Brian the cat happily snuggled up to his Mummy. He purred contentedly and was more than happy to have some tummy tickles and cuddles too. We were at least being fed later today as Mum had invited us over tor some Sunday roast, together with my brother and his girlfriend. It wouild also be good to catch up anyway, saves us any cooking, and would be a good relaxing Sunday overall. We got ourselves ready later on and The Love In My Heart looked lovely in her dress, so we were all set.
We arrived at Mum’s on time and she already had the roast in the oven, and it smelt very nice indeed. There would be some roast lamb, well done, with roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, carrots, Yorkshire pudding, cabbage (not for me that) and gravy. Mum had also made sure she got some alcohol free wine, and the McGuigan Sauvignon Blanc at that, which is decent, for The Love, knowing that she would be driving. That was really appreciated by me, and there was also some soft drinks too. The roast itself was really nice with the lamb well cooked and there was plenty enough to go round for all of us.
In fact, my brother went back and had an extra Yorkshire pudding, and although I was tempted to have more meat, with lamb being red meat and me needing to be careful about how much of that I consume, I sensibly declined, saving some room instead for dessert later on. This was a choice of three, and I could have had any of them, but went for the almond and cherry tart with some ice cream, and that went down very well. It was not too heavy and did at least taste nice, so can’t complain. My brother went for the apple and pear pie as did his girlfriend, and The Love isn’t a dessert person so she let me indulge myself a little instead.
After that we settled in the front room and were able to chatter for a while, with High Society being on in the background, and I recalled the album of Cole Porter cover versions including one of Well, Did You Evah? – performed on the album by Deborah Harry and Iggy Pop, that was originally from this film and so tune of the day. I’ll need to locate that cover album sometime as it has a superb version of I’ve Got You Under My Skin by Neneh Cherry amongst others, and I think was to raise awareness for AIDS. I checked it later and it was indeed that, the Red Hot and Blue album. Good to see my memory is still very much working and intact!
After a while we left and headed off to Wallop (formerly Wine and Wallop) in West Didsbury for a drink, and they had the Brightside Sup ale, which was a dark mild. Finding any sort of mild beer these days is a rarity, so it was nice to be able to have that, and sit in the upstairs mezzanine and just have a good natter. Later on we settled back at The Love’s place, and we watched the latest episode of Grace with John Simm as the title character. I do like this series and The Love is a fan too, so it was good to watch that and wind down for the Sunday evening.
Saturday 4th April – City, Tearing Scousers Apart, Again
It was an early rise for me and time for a lie in for a bit for The Love In My Heart (well that is if Brian the cat would allow her of course) and for me I knew an impoirtant game of football lay ahead, with Manchester City taking on Liverpool in the FA Cup Sixth Round (aka the Quarter Final, as these days some seem to prefer it.) I knew after we had beaten Arsenal in the League Cup Final that we needed to keep going, and any pressure we could place on their game later at Southampton by executing a good win would be nice. I knew it was not going to be easy, I mean it is Liverpool after all!
The Love In My Heart did have her sister coming over for a bit, and I did not want to leave til I saw her either (as it was only ;polite really) so spent some time chattering first and then set off for the Etihad. The excitement was in the air, but also way too many half and half scarves around for me. I did wonder if some Liverpool fans may be in the City end, despite the fact they had a bigger allocation in the away section because it was the FA Cup, but all was good in the third tier of the East Stand where I normally sit, and was able to get my usual good view from the front row.
The teams came out, and both sides were at full strength, and it showed. Liverpool did have some chances early on, with Abdukodir Khsanov stopping Mo Salah well, and a shot from Hugo Ekitike being skied over the bar. City should have had a penalty mid way through the first half but this was not given, much to the unhappiness of the home end. Jeremy Doku had shot wide and Matheus Nunes had a shot straight at the keeper, but I suspected a goal would come sooner rather than later, And soon it did.
City played the ball well and as Nunes headed towards the box, the ball went to Nico O’Reilly, who was fouled from behind by Virgil van Dijk. This time a penalty was given and up stepped Erling Haaland to score the opener, burying the penalty in the bottom corner. Just before half time, a good move down the right with Rayan Cherki saw the ball go to Antoine Semenyo, and his cross was perfect for Erling Haaland to head home for 2-0, right on the half time whistle. The City announcer had us all chanting his name and that set us all into raptures come the break, and a goal that really did make a difference.
City came out in the second half and continued the good work from the end of the first half. Antoine Semenyo got to the through ball from Rayan Cherki, and was onside despite the usual whining from Virgil van Dijk. He dinked it over the Liverpool keeper for 3-0, and that was a case of the first chant of the day to the Joy Division classic Love Wil Tear Us Apart (so tune of the day) as the fans sang “City, tearing Scousers apart, again..” which went down well. Even better was that a move down the left saw Nico O’Reilly unselfishly pass the ball across to Erling Haaland, who smashed it off the underside of the bar for his hat trick. 4-0. Get in!
Liverpool did get a penalty but Mo Salah’s attempt was well saved by James Trafford – another confidence booster for him after a great performance in the League Cup Final. The Liverpool fans were leaving with twenty five minutes left, and the City fans were doing the Poznan, all round the ground, and that was special to really rub it in. It was a great win all round, and as the game concluded, said Joy Division classic played and again a mass of us singing “City, tearing Scousers apart, again” which really did put the seal on it. Oh, and Arsenal lost at Southampton which just made the day even better. Get in!
Friday 3rd April – Happy Birthday, My Love
Little Miss E and Little Miss O woke up and they were all happy faces, and came in to see The Love In My Heart, and many hugs followed, with them both singing happy birthday to their Nana. Yes, it is The Love’s birthday today, and it was nice for her that she had the girls there with her. We all soon got up and made sure Brian the cat was all good with his food, and Little Miss O helped me feed Brian some Dreamies too, she loves him to bits. It was just so nice to see her gently drop them by him and then say “cat cat” as she does all the time around Brian.
We went to the front room where a number of gift bags full of presents were there for The Love to open. She did really well, with some of her work colleagues doing her a little basket of all sorts including some coffee, some relaxing candles and chocolates, and even a little gift card for Costa Coffee so she could go and have a chilled out coffee during lunch. There were some nice bunches of flowers, and lots of lovely cards. Little Miss E and Little Miss O had helped their Mummy make a picture frame with hearts around the outside and inside had a collage of pictures of them with The Love, which was really nice.
Amongst the other nice presents she got was a posh necklace that several of her nieces and nephews bought between them (a nice idea), a charm for her Pandora bracelet, and a gift experience for aftenoon tea for two on a classic train, as well as gift vouchers for a retreat place we have stayed at before, and enjoyed, so we’ll need to see about booking that in the future. She also loved the presents from me – one she knew about, which was the bracelet from Pandora based on the Bridgerton series she loves, with silver and some light blue stones looking majestic. I also got her the final Downton Abbey film on Blu-Ray so she could enjoy that in her own time and she had been gutted no one got it her for Christmas, so best to sort that – the theme of which is tune of the day – after all it is her day today.
The parents of Little Miss E and Little Miss O arrived later on and they were so happy to see the girls but also spend some time with coffee and a chat with The Love, and see how happy she was with their presents. I think it also shows how much they value and love her too because they were behind the surprise of having family and friends there for the birthday meal last weekend and making it such a lovely time. Seeing how much she means to them shows me how wonderful she is too, and it is something that I really appreciate. We were able to give them some Easter Eggs on their way too, and I know that they were so happy.
After getting changed and ready later on, with The Love looking beautiful in a dress, tights and boots, we headed out for the late afernoon and early evening for some quality time together. We went to The Bank first of all for a drink, a place we do like a lot, and that was just nice to chatter about all sorts and spend time to be able to do that without the two little ones around us. We then walked past Albert Square and on to Lloyd Street for a walk down to Gusto, an Italian place we’d been to a good few times, with always lovely food and a nice vibe too. Years ago when it was one of the lockdowns and you were able to eat outside, we went to the one in Cheadle Hulme for my birthday, so good to be able to go back.
The staff were as ever lovely in there, and we had a nice table for the two of us. The food, as we expected, was gorgeous. I had the calamari to start with a lovely garlic aoili, and that hit the spot, and The Love’s meatballs in a gorgeous sauce were ones I could have easily had myself. She went for the chicken milanese for the main which comes with spaghetti and a nice sauce too, and that was stunning – the chicken was crispy on the outside and the pasta really soft and luscious. I went for the truffle and mushroom pasta and that was also really good, with the mafaldine pasta working well with the soft truffle sauce and mushrooms just being delightful. I did have the tiramisu for dessert too and that just was gorgeous – even The Love who isn’t a dessert person had some and admired how good it was.
That was a lovely meal, and not the cheapest, but well worth it for the time spent together, the vibe, the ambience and the fact I was with such a wonderful person. I am so lucky really, and it is at times like this I really appreciate it. We then headed to Founders Hall for a drink, and it was nice to sit by the window and people watch everyone heading via Albert Square, with tourists aiming for selfies with the Town Hall behind, then realising a construction fence was behind them and so not making for a good picture. We got the tram back home, and snuggled in for the likes of Gogglebox, and was a lovely way to end the day togerher. I just was so pleased she’d had such a good day, and that made it all worth it.
Thursday 2nd April – Pizza and Playtime
It was an early rise for me this morning as I was heading up to Manchester for the Easter weekend. With Euston out of action for several days after today, it made sense for me to be able to use the time off I had booked, and avoid the later rushes for trains after work. I got to Euston in good time and it was on the 0833 departure to Manchester Piccadilly. The train was pretty quiet on the whole and it just meant I could relax and enjoy the scenery pass by outside on the way up. The train arrived into Manchester on time and before long I was on the tram to The Love In My Heart’s place.
I had unpacked everything and it was not long before Little Miss E and Little Miss O arrived with their Mum, whose birthday it was today. She was heading off later to a gig so we had the girls overnight, which would mean that they would be able to be there for their Nana’s birthday tomorrow. It was good to catch up and chat and with The Love’s nephew and wife coming over later to spend time with the girls, that would mean a good and busy day ahead. We had plenty of books and toys at the ready, and Little Miss E had brought a Lego Friends set which she wanted me to help her build. We did that together and it looked really good when it was finished, so she was happy.
The Love’s nephew and wife arrived – the latter did have some remote work to do so we were able to leave her for a bit to work at The Love’s place, and head off to the local park. That does have swings and slides, and Little Miss O loves the slide because she can climb up the stairs, walk along the little bridge (and have me pretend to be the one preventing the Billy Goats Gruff from crossing the bridge, which makes her giggle, and then slides down. She loves it if one of us catches her at the end of the slide and lifts her up in the air so I did that a few times to be rewarded with more giggles.
After all that playtime we headed back to \The Love’s place and it was time to head out later on. I had booked Pizza Express in Piccadilly because the kids eat free deal was on, meaning that we were able to then take them out and they could enjoy a nice meal. We got the tram and because the tram stop is close by to where we were going, that made it a lot easier. For the little ones, their three courses had some dough balls with garlic butter as well as tomatoes and cucumber, then a small pizza or pasta main, and ice cream sundae for dessert. Little Miss O scoffed the lot and she enjoyed herself, and Little Miss E were gently encouraged to have the pizza by me and The Love’s nephew to earn the dessert – which she loved.
We said a fond farewell to the nephew and wife, and headed back on the tram homewards. It was a nice relaxing early evening as The Love gave the girls a bath with plenty of happy giggles and as they had a Baby Shark bath toy, of course they were singing the song (so tune of the day because it was adorable to be fair.) Once they had settled, Little Miss O fell asleep and so went to her new little kids air bed (which has nice sides to stop you falling out) and Little Miss E watched the first episode of Race Across the World with us before she called it a night and headed off to her little bed, complete with Hello Kitty bedding. The Love and I relaxed with The Apprentice before we decided that getting some sleep ourselves wouid be a good move.