It’s another fairly busy day today. Geth and I went to Slimming World in the morning – I maintained this week but I’m fine with that because it’s been a very up-and-down week – and I’m now spending the afternoon getting on with day job work, admin, and housework before our boardgaming guests arrive this evening for the start of our Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth campaign.
A slightly quieter day tomorrow.
OOTD: a slightly more summery weigh-in outfit. Vest top Primark (2018), skirt unknown brand (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2017), trainers Reebok (2017).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Madonna – Vogue Duran Duran – (Reach Up For The) Sunrise Prince – When Doves Cry Carly Rae Jepsen – I Really Like You Duran Duran – Michael, You’ve Got A Lot To Answer For Don Henley – Boys Of Summer
This is another nice example of a K2 – it really brightens up the Greenwich streets. Difficult for councils to keep all those small panes intact though!
It’s been a busy day today. Some urgent work came in from a client overnight, so I spent the morning doing that, and then went to the hospital for my uveitis check-up. The drops have worked perfectly – a lot quicker than for the first attack, probably because I caught it sooner – and all signs of uveitis are pretty much gone. I’ve been given permission to speed up the steroid eye drop withdrawal process, so my new date for the official end of the eye saga is Tuesday 16th July, when I will take my last eye drop. I’m hoping for a permanent respite from the zombie invasion!
I then headed to the centre of town to spend a couple of hours catching up with my cousin Freya. After that, it was time for my ukulele class – the last class proper of the summer term, as we’ll be doing the end-of-term concert next week.
Now for a couple of hours chilling out with music before bed!
Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber – I Don’t Care Duran Duran – A View To A Kill Cast of The Greatest Showman – The Greatest Show Mungo Jerry – In The Summertime The Rolling Stones – Paint It Black Duran Duran – Violence Of Summer [The Story Mix] Bee Gees – Too Much Heaven Elton John – I’m Still Standing Duran Duran – Michael, You’ve Got A Lot To Answer For
I had this drink (along with my body weight in pasta!) in a restaurant in Islington the night before the London Marathon.
San Pellegrino Aranciata.
I hadn’t been hugely keen on the San Pellegrino Limonata that I tried earlier this year, mainly because it wasn’t sweet enough for me. This one was much nicer and tastier though – it reminded me of Orangina! I’d definitely have this again.
Our gardens are finally looking civilised after the in-laws finished with them today!
The back garden surround has all been membraned over and covered with pebbles, meaning the weeds will stay away for the most part! Neither Geth nor I have time to do much gardening, so we wanted something that required minimal care. Geth’s stepmum Helen chose plants that won’t grow too quickly or too big, but will still fill the space nicely.
In the front garden, meanwhile, our feature roundel is looking much better than it did! We originally had two overgrown pine trees in this space, which had become entwined with the two blossom trees that stand outside the roundel. Earlier this year, we had them cut down to give the blossom trees some breathing space, but the stumps had become a bit overgrown with weeds over the last couple of months with the warmer weather. As such, Keith and Helen have membraned this area as well and used some old pebbles and rocks from the garden, as well as some small plants, to create a pretty rockery. I think it looks great!
Otherwise it’s just been a fairly straightforward day at work – I finished a big project for a client that I’d been working on for ages this morning, and have spent the afternoon doing a bit of writing as I’ll be too busy to get much done over the next couple of days.
Looking forward to an evening chilling out with some of the ’80s movies that arrived through the door today!
OOTD: summery outfit in the new garden! Shirt M&S (it’s one of Geth’s from sometime earlier this decade), dress Paradise (2013), shoes BHS (2016).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper – Shallow Shania Twain – Man! I Feel Like A Woman Stormzy – Vossi Bop Sia – Chandelier Will Smith – Friend Like Me Gunship – The Mountain Gomez – Whippin’ Piccadilly Tina Turner – Proud Mary Thought Beings – Hazy Demi Lovato – Confident
I watched this series for the second time this last weekend. I had made use of the month-long free trial of Amazon Prime that Amazon are always trying to push on you when you buy stuff from them, and so there was just enough time for a rewatch before my free month was up!
A much better reason to try Amazon Prime than free one-day delivery!
Earlier this year, having heard that this TV adaptation would be coming out, I read Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens novel for the first time. Geth has owned a copy since before we met, but despite being a fan of both Pratchett and Gaiman’s work, I’d never got round to reading it until this year. The story, in which a demon and angel team up to stop their respective realms from unleashing a world-ending war via an eleven-year-old Antichrist, was an enjoyable and funny read and I’m glad I was able to read it so close to seeing the TV adaptation.
Although I loved the book, though, the TV series blew it out of the water – largely due to the spectacular cast, with a plethora of recognisable faces from both sides of the pond. The show belongs to David Tennant and Michael Sheen’s stunning double act as Crowley and Aziraphale, but there were so many other performances I loved – Jon Hamm’s hilariously arrogant and ignorant Angel Gabriel, Bill Paterson’s irritable neighbourhood watchman, and Miranda Richardson’s dotty courtesan-slash-spirit-medium were favourites, but it’s tough to choose. I’m not a fan of Jack Whitehall’s stand-up but I really liked him as Newton Pulsifer, to my surprise!
Also, the cameos! I loved David Morrissey as the cruise ship captain who picks up the inhabitants of the lost city of Atlantis, and it was brilliant when Benedict Cumberbatch showed up as the voice of Satan – not to mention when all three of the League of Gentlemen appeared in the already-infamously-long cold open in episode three (would it be insulting to point out that Mark Gatiss makes a wonderful Nazi?) – but my personal favourite was current Doctor Who Sontaran go-to Dan Starkey, whose character passes by purely to tell Aziraphale, ‘You’re better off without him,’ after the latter has yet another shouting match with his demonic best friend.
The story was really faithful to the original novel as well. From what I’ve read, this was partly because Gaiman was adapting it because Pratchett had asked him to do so before he passed away a few years ago, and so it was important to stick to the original story. There were only two major changes I noticed – first, in the book, the supernatural Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are followed around by a group of four human bikers who decide that they are going to be sort-of assistant Horsemen. These characters don’t appear in the adaptation, presumably because there just wasn’t room. Secondly, there was a whole extra sequence in the last episode that was new to the story, where Crowley and Aziraphale are taken away and put on trial by their respective authorities. It was a good addition and fulfilled its objective, which was to ensure that viewers who had read the book would be able to enjoy a twist that was new to them.
As I mentioned above, it’s the two central characters that really drive the story in the adaptation. This really is down to Tennant and Sheen’s wonderful performances and chemistry as actors – I enjoyed their friendship in the book version, but after watching the TV version, I’m really invested in their story and would love to see another series. I’d even be willing to pay for Amazon Prime next time!
In the meantime, I’m looking forward to the BluRay release so I can watch this yet again.
I’ve had a good, productive day today – lots of day job work finished, lots of admin done, another dance class ticked off (I’m already getting the hang of it again better than I was last week). Also, the in-laws have been here sorting out our garden, and I’m really excited for it to be finished tomorrow!
Geth is out boardgaming this evening, but once he gets back we’re going to finish off our Good Omens rewatch.
Looking forward to a similar day tomorrow.
Not an OOTD: another Monday spent in workout gear, another Monday where I didn’t remember to take a photo of it before showering and changing back into my pyjamas! Instead, here’s our garden, with the decking looking all clean and treated. On the fence there’s a bonus sighting of two of the enormously fat pigeons who hang around our garden (next door’s cat isn’t much of a hunter, probably because of the constant racket he makes miaowing all the time).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Gunship – The Mountain Aerds – Deadline Duran Duran – Do You Believe In Shame? Andy Taylor – I Might Lie Duran Duran – (Reach Up For The) Sunrise Loreen – Euphoria Tyler Lyle – Lost And Found [The Midnight Remix] Duran Duran – The Edge Of America Duran Duran – (I’m Looking For) Cracks In The Pavement Duran Duran – The Reflex Sia – Chandelier Lauv and Troye Sivan – I’m So Tired
