Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East London (Week 7 of Lockdown the Third).

Week 348 Saturday 13^thuntil Friday 19^thFebruary 2021.

I’ve been unwell all week, not with “The” virus just flu.  Friends and family said “But you had a Flu jab last year”.  Yes I did, I have one most years but still get ill.  As far as I know the flu jab is to help boost our natural defence against flu germs (remember I really know nothing) it doesn’t stop you from getting the virus.  This got me thinking when I was exposed.  In recent weeks I have visited a couple of shops, driving to and from and masked while inside.  I haven’t been strolling around the streets or local parks, though I do pop into the garden to watch the birds and refill the feeders.  As with many people I am being very careful what and how I do things. 

Vaccinations are all-over the news at the moment, I know more and more people who have had their first Covid jab.  I won’t experience that little prick for a long time.  Until then I will continue to do what I need to, to be safe for myself and others around me.  If any good has come out of feeling so ill, I have spent a lot of time in my fave place, bed and asleep (with a number of dreams about the road I grew up in.  A couple set during Crimbum, after one dream I woke up confused, because I couldn’t remember if it was actually Crimbum at the moment.  I really didn’t know what time of year it was, I desperately hope it was the flu and nothing more serious that made me confused).

And Now For Something Completley Different……

It’s very difficult to orbit or land on Mars, I have read a statistic that 50% of missions to the Red planet fail.  This month Mars has been a very busy location with three successful missions dropping into orbit.  On 9^th Feb The UAE “Hope” orbiter reached the 4^th planet.  The next day The Chinese “Tianwen-1” orbiter and rover arrived at Mars.  This week NASA’s “Perseverance” rover landed at Jezero Crater after travelling for 203 days, 293 million miles (472 million kilometres).

I like millions of other armchair scientist watched and listened to the live coverage, with everything crossed that the plucky little (it’s not little, the rovers the size of a large Mini Van weighing 1,025 Kg (2.260 Ib) rover would make it safely on to the dusty surface.  When confirmation was announced I did let out an audible sigh of relief.  My friend next to me was sadly disappointed when she asked why I was celebrating.

I really am so happy for all the scientist around the world that have worked on these three amazing missions.  The difficult work is still to come now they have arrived, the journey there was in many ways the easy part of the mission.  I really will be watching all of them with a lot of interest.  However Perseverance is my personal fave (the rover contains a microchip with millions of people’s names, including mine, MOZ, sister Hel and all my Nephews and Niece) and is packed with science.  One of the most interesting projects is “sample return”.  The rover will drill into rocks and soil identified as scientifically interesting, looking for signs of past microbial life.  Each sample will be about half an ounce (15 grams) photographed, weighed and analysed before being sealed inside a small tube.  Eventually the tubes (approx. 30 of them) will be left on the surface to be retrieved by a joint NASA/ESA mission in the early 2030s and returned to the Earth to be studied for decades.

Regularly I read that human’s first boot prints could touch the Martian regolith during the middle of the 2030s.  Hopefully I will be around to witness this historic moment.  Until then I will watch and read with interest about what Perseverance discovers.  At this moment I must mention that NASA’s Curiosity rover is still active and contributing to growth in knowledge of Mars since it landed on 6 August 2012.  Watching the landing, reading about the missions does also make me a little sad, that I was and am not clever enough to have been a scientist.  Oh well, I’ll let the clever people do all the magic, I enjoy soaking it up and pretending that I understand everything.

(One thing I haven’t mentioned is “Ingenuity”, a 50cm tall helicopter (with contra-rotating coaxial rotors) currently strapped to the underside of Perseverance. The craft once detached is a demonstrator to show that future missions might not need wheels, but hover and fly over the landscape scientist are interested in. I will write more about this incredible flying machine when the first flight takes place.)

And Finally……

While watching something I could have sworn I heard the line “Do you wish you could taste her Cherry chop stick”.  Rewinding and putting on sub-titles the end of that line was “Chap stick”.  I really was not well that evening, but it made us laugh.

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have mainly been watching:  

“0121”, (Comedy Threesomes)(BBC Three)(S1, ep 1 to ep 3).  “Click”, (13/02/21).  “Death In Paradise”, (S10, ep 8, TX: 18/02/21).  “Farscape”, (S3, ep 14).  “Have I Got A Bit More News For You”, (S58, ep 6, 25/11/19).  “Money Heist”, (S1, ep 1 t ep 6).  “NASA: Perseverance Mars Rover Landing”, (NASA TV)(YouTube)(TX: 18/02/21).  “Not Going Out”, (S3, ep 3 to 1 & ep 8).  “Pretty Little Liars”, (S2, ep 6 to ep 25)(S3, ep 1 to ep 3).  “Rhod Gilbert: Stand up to Infertility”, (TX: 25/01/21).  “Star Trek”, (S1, ep 20).  “Superstore”, (S2, ep 15 to ep 22)(S3, ep 1 to ep 6).  “The Last Leg”, (S21, ep 5, TX: 12/02/21).  “The Rangernation”, (S3, ep 2, TX: 14/02/21).  “The Tomorrow People”, (S3, Secret Weapon, ep 1 Lost And Found, TX: 26/02/75).  “Z Nation”, (S3, ep 2).  “Zapped”, (S2, ep 1).                                          

Gerry Anderson Watched This Week:

“Space 1999”, (S2, ep 9, TX: 28/10/76).

This week I have mainly been listening to:  

“A legitimate Salvage (The Expanse)”, (ep 12, 28/10/19)(ep 13, 04/11/19)(ep 35, 15/02/21).  “Coronavirus Global Daily Update”, (BBC World Service) (13/02/21) (14/02/21) (15/02/21) (16/02/21) (17/02/21) (18/02/21)(19/02/21).  “CNN, Coronavirus: Fact Vs Fiction”, (ep 242, 15/02/21)(ep 243, 16/02/21)(ep 244, 17/02/21)(ep 245, 18/02/21)(ep 246, 19/02/21).  “Betamax Video Club”, (ep 46, 02/05/19).  “Daddy Look At Me”, (S4, ep 16, 18/02/21).  “Dear Joan And Jericha (Julia Davies And Vicki Pepperdine)”, (14/02/21).  “Doctor Who”, (TeeVee)(S9, ep 9, 15/11/15)(ep 10, 22/11/15).  “Game Of Thrones”, (S5, ep 3, 27/04/15).  “Game Of Thrones, Rewind”, (Teevee)(S1, ep 9, 30/09/18).  “Griefcast”, (S7, ep 3 (ep 129), 17/02/20).  “I Don’t Believe It’s Not Buddha”, (S1, ep 23, 17/02/21).  “Mystery Hour”, (11/02/21).  “NASA: Gravity Assist”, (12/02/21).  “NASA: Houston We Have A Problem”, (ep 182, 12/02/21).  “Nick Abbot (Whole Show)”, (13/02/21) (14/02/21) (19/02/21).  “Rob Beckett And Josh Widdecombe Lockdown Parenting Hell”, (S2, ep 8, 16/02/21)(ep 9, 19/02/21).  “Soundtracking With Edith Bowman”, (ep 233, 12/01/21).  “Star Trek Discovery”, (TeeVee)”, (S2, ep 4, 08/02/19)(ep 5, 19/02/19).  “The Adam Buxton Podcast”, (ep 148, 14/02/21).  “The Audio Guide To Babylon 5”, (ep 13, 02/11/14)(ep 14, 16/11/14).  “The Froth With Rhod Gilbert And Sian Harris”, (S3, ep 2 (ep 26), 16/02/21).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (15/02/21).  “The Skewer”, (BBC Radio 4)(S3, ep 6, 18/02/21).  “Toby Hadoke’s Happy Times And Places – “Timelash, ep 2, (10.2, 15/02/21).  “WTB”, (S2, ep 2 (ep 24), 19/02/21).  “What’s Your Problem With Nick Abbot And Carol McGiffin”, (S1, ep 54, 15/02/21).  “Wolf And Owl”, (S1, ep 12, 17/02/21)(Bonus #4, 19/02/21).  “Morrissey”,  “Arlo Parks”,  “Natalie Imbruglia”,  “Fleetwood Mac”,  “Bob Marley And The Wailers”,  “Artic Monkeys”,  “Guns N Roses”,  “Starship”,  “Bloc Party”,  “Ash”,  “ABC”,  “Erasure”,  “The Cure”, “Massive Attack”,  “David Bowie”,  “Jamie T”,  “Viola Beach”,  “Tears For Fears”.