rich_jacko

...or, bits of my life according to my posts on Facebook, anyway!

9 January at 21:06:
Snow Nessie was 8 years ago! That was probably the last really big snow in Hillsborough. We need more!

17 January at 18:33:
The pavements were covered in slush this morning, so I wore my snow boots for the walk into work. I'd forgotten how cosy they are - toasty toes! :o)

26 January at 22:26:
A long day at work today, but I did get to go to the top of the Walkie-Talkie, which wasn't bad. :o)

29 January at 18:48:
"Problems" it's nice to have: I have a week's holiday I need to use up by the end of February. Any ideas for how I should spend it? Anyone got any exciting plans for half term or anything?

3 February at 12:29:
Hmm, I think the parkrun results must've got one token out of sync at some point this morning. I was faster than that, and there definitely wasn't 13 seconds between me and the guy just in front at the end. There wasn't 5 seconds between Dan and Bryony's photo finish either!
Ah well, it happens. It happened when I was on token duty too. Still a big thank you to all the volunteers!

6 February at 21:25:
Go Falcon Heavy! :oD

9 February at 23:15:
"Old Macdonald had a Farm" in the style of Tom Waits; "We're All Going on a Brexit Holiday"; a death metal version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"; "Smoke on the Water" played on cow bells - Bill Bailey, you brilliant, utter loon. A great evening's entertainment at City Hall. At times I was struggling to breathe! :oD

10 February at 10:43:
Yeeeah... I reckon I can do a half-marathon... Ran 17k this morning in about 1h25m (or 2 hours including breaks) - Concord parkrun plus the journey there and back. Pleased with that, but boy it was cold and wet though! Clearly a level of insanity going on here!

October has been a fairly culture-intensive month, or at least the second half has.

First up was a theatre trip on the 16th to see The Company's hilarious tongue-in-cheek take on 'The Dunwich Horror'. The Company are always at their best when they do comedy, and this was no exception. So much so that I insisted roleplaying be abandoned the following Sunday so that we could play Arkham Horror instead.

Next on my calendar was the first of four Off the Shelf lectures I went to: Simon Singh revealing 'The Mathematical Secrets of the Simpsons'. This was an entertaining look at the Simpsons makers' mathematical backgrounds and many of the maths-based references and in-jokes that appear in the show. Plus taxi numbers in Futurama.

On the 23rd was my second theatre trip, to see 'The Winter's Tale' at the Crucible. This was a Shakespeare play I knew nothing about (apart from the immortal stage direction: "Exit, pursued by a bear"), so it was a thrill to watch all its many twists and turns and outright silliness.

The 24th was a day to learn more about local small industry and sample its wares, at the Steel City Beer Festival. Okay, that one's a bit of a stretch.

Then came a triple dose of local history with three Off the Shelf events on consecutive days:

Firstly, last Saturday I went to 'Sheffield in Tudor and Stuart Times' with David Templeman (from the Friends of Manor Lodge). This focussed on everyday life and lesser-known parts of the 17th Century town rather than just the more famous Sheffield Castle and Manor Lodge. I learned a lot, although from the audience I did feel as if I was in a WI meeting at times.

On Sunday I hiked up to the Cholera Monument (which I'd somehow never been to before, despite living in Sheffield for the last 17 years) for 'The Sheffield Ghost Walk' by Loose Theatre. It was a very windy day, especially up on Park Hill. This made it quite hard to hear the actors at times, but they struggled on valiantly and put in a convincing performance what life was like during the Cholera epidemic of 1832.

Finally, on Monday I went to see Roy Hattersley talk about 'The Devonshires'. The rest of the audience seemed better informed than me, but I certainly learned a lot about our local nobility and the parts they played in national history over the centuries. Despite his claim that, as an egalitarian socialist, he'd sooner be rid of the lot of them, Roy had an obvious affection for his subject and gave a very informal and fun lecture.

This evening I will be eating takeaway and watching Ghostbusters.

The view from my window this morning:

I seem to be extremely busy of late. Partly this is because the run up to April is always busy at work (I put in an extra five hours last week, which is normal at the moment). Partly it's because I keep filling my evenings with fun stuff, like yummy Thai buffet with Lard Club at ChaoBaby, an experimental (and well-attended) FFS at The Ball, and seeing The Company's version of Maskerade. But it was also quite nice yesterday to just sit in my living room watching the snow fall.

So, who's up for going out to play in it today? :o)

EDIT: Met up with the Chiverses in the park. The Goblin and I christened the circular sledges. The Bug was unimpressed.