Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East London & Northamptonshire (I sat through queue after queue on the M25 and M1).

Week 321 Saturday 8^th  until Friday 14^thAugust 2020.

First this week I want to mention Ellis Harold Arthur Melder who passed away in the early hours of Friday 14th August 2020 aged 92. To me he was Uncle Ellis, the last of that generation of our family.  I have many fond memories of him during my visits to Sri Lanka and when he and Aunty Carmen came to the UK several times in the late 70s and early 80s.  A specific memory is of Uncle and Aunty buying fish and chips wrapped in newspaper from a chippy they really liked in Melford Road south London.  They both really enjoyed visiting that chippy and eating the famous UK delicacy.  

 “Uncle Ellis”.

Exactly one year ago my sisters and I were in Sri Lanka and visited Uncle several times.  I had not seen him in a very long time, he wasn’t well but I still saw the twinkle in his eye I remember when I was younger.

“Uncle Ellis and Aunty Carmen 60th Wedding Anniversary”.

Uncle Ellis really was a wonderful man; my heart goes out to my cousin his daughters and their families.  All of the relatives here in the UK send our love and condolences.  Personally I would like to say, thank you Uncle Ellis for always being so welcoming.

 “Personally I would like to say, thank you Uncle Ellis for always being so welcoming”.

Thank you to my cousins Nicola and Rochelle and my sister Helen for letting me use these pictures.

And now Snail Watch…..

 “Sandra is looking better”.

Sandra the garden snail is still living in an old large yogurt pot.  The plan was to realise her back into the big bad world last weekend.  But because of the extremely temperatures, and a small section of her shell that still looked fragile, I decided that she should stay with us a little longer.  The patient is doing well and will be set free very soon.

 “I didn’t sign up for temps like this in London”. 

In other Gastropod news. This week I was asked to relocate a very small snail that was found sheltering inside a garden storage box.  If the squatter had not been noticed it definitely wouldn’t have survived while large heavy garden “things” were moved around.  It was gently taken to another part of the garden.

 “I started out with Three”.

And finally 3 large “juicy looking” slugs were found living under the bird bath when I moved it in order to cut the grass.  All of them were carefully placed in a plastic container and relocated.  Before I mowed the grass I actually searched the whole garden (the grass) looking for other slugs and snails that needed moving before I dragged the large cutting device around the garden (none were found).  After finishing making the garden look nice, I returned to the recycled container finding only one slug left, the other two had slithered off.  The single gastropod was returned to continue to live under the bird bath.

“Only one returned”. 

And Now For Something Completely Different……

 “I know how to party while working”.

This week I had my 7th piece (in nearly 2 yrs) accepted for the Doctor Who Appreciation Society (DWAS) magazine Celestial Toyroom or CT.  I was a little worried it was long and rambley but they seemed to like it and said it will appear in the Sept issue.  I also submitted a doodle related to the piece which the editor has said if there is room (fingers crossed) will also be published (I did have two paintings printed with my last article).  I won’t lie, I get a fizzy feeling when something I thought up is printed, in an alternative universe there is a Dana who makes her living as a writer.

 “I finally found out who has been leaving dirty protest in the garden”.

Over the last couple of years I have had the idea of writing non Doctor Who related articles for other publications and see if I can get published.  Due to current circumstances I know that Magazines and newspapers are suffering with dropping circulations (this is not new; sales have been dropping for a number of years).  Only last month “Q” the monthly music glossy that had been published since 1986 printed its final edition.

 “I always enjoy visiting the dump”. 

After doing a little research, it’s become obvious that magazine websites need more content than what appears in the digital edition.  I am not saying that what they publish online is of a lower quality than in the magazine.  But because they need a lot more “stuff” there might be a small chance that I could be published professionally.  It’s worth a try.

 “Meet the Testicle Brothers, growing in the garden”.

I probably should keep this ramble quiet; I don’t want the blog to influence an editor’s decision to add anything I write to their growing rejection pile.

 “The rain when it finally came, was very welcome”.

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have mainly been watching:  

“Click”, (TX: 08/08/20).  “FOX 26 Houston: News at 5pm (Central US) With Tom Zizka”, (FaceBook)(TX: 08/08/20)(TX: 09/08/20).  “Horizon: 2018 – Mars –  A Travellers Guide”, (TX: 12/09/17).  “Killer Women With Piers Morgan”, (S2, ep 1, TX: 22/06/17)(ep 2, TX: 29/06/17)(ep 3, TX: 06/07/17).  “Lucy And DiC: DiC Does MMA”, (YouTube)(TX: 07/08/20).  “Maleficent 2 Mistress Of Evil: Behind The Scenes, Clips And Bloopers”, (YouTube)(TX: 12/10/19).  “Mandy”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 6).  “Miriam Margolyes: Almost Australian”, (S1, ep 3, TX: 07/08/20).  “Motherland: Fort Salam”, (S1, ep 9 to ep 10).  “Netflix Film Club: Why The Matrix Is A Trans Story According To Lilly Wachowski”, (YouTube)(TX: 04/08/20).  “Orphan Black”, (S4, ep 1 to ep 10)(S5, ep 1 & ep 2).  “Semi-Detached”, (S1, ep 2).  “Space Force”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 10).  “The Inbetweeners Movie”, (2011).  “The Mike Skipper Saturday Lockdown Quiz”, (FaceBook)(TX: 08/08/20).  “The New Legends Of Monkey”, (S2, ep 1 to ep 10).  “The Sky At Night: Mars Special”, (TX: 09/08/20).  “Van Helsing”, (S3, ep 1 to ep 3).                                     

Doctor Who Watched This Week:

“The Happiness Patrol”, (S25, Prod Code 7L)(ep 2, TX: 09/11/88)(ep 3, TX:16/11/88).

“Silver Nemesis”, (S25, Prod Code 7K)(ep 1, TX: 23/11/88)(ep 2, TX: 20/11/88)(ep 3, TX: 07/12/88).

“The Greatest Show In The Galaxy”, (S25, Prod Code 7J)(ep 1, TX: 14/12/88)(ep 2, TX: 21/12/88).

This week I have mainly been listening to:  

“13cast ep 8 – Summat Who Pilot”, (28/03/19).  “Anti Social Show”, (ep 83, 02/08/20).  “Coronavirus Global Daily Update”, (BBC World Service)(08/08/20)(09/08/20)(10/08/20) (11/08/20)(12/08/20)(13/08/20)(14/08/20).  “CNN, Coronavirus: Fact Vs Fiction”, (ep 117, 10/08/20)(ep 118, 11/08/20)(ep 119, 12/08/20)(ep 120, 13/08/20)(ep 121, 14/08/20).  “Doctor Who: The Missing Episodes Podcast”, (ep 7, 01/08/20).  “In The Village”, (ep 7, 10/11/17).  “Lazy Doctor Who”,(ep 168, 10/03/19)(ep 169, 14/03/19)(ep 170 to 174, 16/03/19)(ep 175, 17/03/19)(ep 176, 02/05/19)(ep 177, 05/05/19)(ep 178, 08/05/19)(ep 179, 11/05/19)(ep 180, 20/05/19).  “Mystery Hour”, (13/08/20).  “Nick Abbot (Whole Show)”, (08/08/20) (14/08/20).  “Poppy Hillstead Has Entered The Chat”, (ep 4, 13/08/20).  “Rob Beckett And Josh Widdecombe’s Lockdown Parenting Hell”, (S1, ep 31, 11/08/20).  “Space Boffins Podcast”, (ep 100, 12/08/20).  “Sue Perkins: An Hour Or So With…”, (S2, ep 9 (ep 21), 12/08/20).  “The All New Angelos And Barry Podcast”, (11/08/20).  “The Bomb”, (BBC World Service)(Prologue, 23/07/20)(ep 1, 01/08/20)(ep 2, 08/08/20).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (10/08/20).  “The Offcuts Drawer”, (ep 10, 11/08/20).  “We Will Get Passed This”, (ep 16, 24/05/20)(ep 17, 25/05/20)(ep 18, 26/05/20)(ep 19, 27/05/20)(ep 20, 28/05/20)(ep 21, 29/05/20)(ep 22, 30/05/20)(ep 23, 31/05/20).  “What’s The Problem? With Nick Abbot And Carol McGiffen”, (S1, ep 29, 10/08/20).  “Morrissey”,  “Biffy Clyro”,  “Texas”,  “Kate Bush”,  “Kate Nash”,  “The Killers”,  “MGMT”,  “Fleetwood Mac”,  “The New Radicals”,  “The Artic Monkeys”,  “Oasis”,  “Blur”,  “Pulp”.