Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East & Central London and Essex.

Week 376, Saturday 28^th August until Friday 3^rd September 2021.

My friend and I seem to be living with a teenage boy.  Let me explain, the Hamster recently has hardly comes out showing his face.  I know he is naturally nocturnal but he used to come out during the day even if only for a short period of time.  All our previous Hammy’s would make an appearance at each day, some wanted more contact than others but we saw them daily (in reality I know all these little creatures have really been in control inside the house.  I have seen and read “The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy” enough to know that the Mice are really in charge on this planet.  And they would have asked other small “so-called” domesticated animals to keep an eye on us in our homes and report the results of their experiments).

Aries the little girl that we had before our current boy would make it very clear when she wanted to come out.  Sometimes she would keep climbing the wire walls of the cage and watch us until we noticed her.  Or occasionally she could be found hanging by her tiny paws, monkey barring across the top of her huge enclosure/cage/home.  She absolutely loved the contact with us.

Our little boy couldn’t be more different, he likes attention but on his terms.  Over the last month we have seen less and less of him during the day, this could be possibly because the temperature has decreased recently or is he just getting older.  He really is in my mind acting like a teenager staying in his bedroom for days at a time (we know he comes out during the night as all the food left has disappeared in the morning).  His favourite place is the penthouse on the top of the cage; occasionally we catch a glimpse of him through the Perspex walls as he nudges food around completely ignoring us talking to him.

The difference with our teenager and boys of a certain age is he doesn’t smell.  I say this as over the years I have known a number of teenage boys who don’t come out of there pits for days at a time.  When they do emerge from the room the first thing I/you want/need is to open a window because of the stale smell.  Its lovely having a small creature in the house I just wished we had more contact.  We adopted him on the day that the first lock down started in March 2020.  Personally he has really helped me over these last 18 months.  These little creatures don’t live long, all any human can do is make them happy and enjoy them more than I can express.

And Now For Something Completely Different……

Last weekend I did something for the second time ever.  All bank holiday weekend Trafalgar Square was turned in to an open air cinema showing films set in London or filmed in or near the capital.  The film I saw was “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” (which I first saw with my parents when it was originally released here in the UK in 1978).  The continual threat of rain couldn’t dampen mine or any other person’s excitement at seeing this classic once again.  What made this even more special was a video message from Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill just before the film commenced.

This has nothing to do with the pandemic, but I really want to see more films like this.  Going to the cinema is always exciting and special, but watching a movie outside feels even more of an occasion.  I bet the new Bond film, “No Time To Die” would be even better outside with the sound cranked up to eleven.

And Finally……

While watering plants after work mid-week my sense of smell was working overtime.  Not because of the flowers, but because of the neighbours.  On one side someone was also enjoying their garden; I knew this because of the fruity smelling smoke drifting over the fence.  From another house a neighbour was cooking something spicy and exotic smelling.  While at my feet in the grass was a lump of something deposited by one of the regular feline visitors to the garden?

The scent that interested me was the one that made my large wobbly stomach rumble (part of me hoped the neighbour would notice me standing sniffing the air and bring me a plate or a tupplewear container of the food they have cooked.  Maybe next time).

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have watched:

“Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled”, (S6, ep 5, TX: 24/08/21).  “Bea Arthur Interview (“This Morning”, TX: 7 July 1995)”, (YouTube)(04/07/17).  “Blake’s 7”, (SB, ep 5).  “Chris And Meg’s Wild Summer”, (S1, ep 1, TX: 29/08/21).  “Colony”, (S3, ep 6 & ep 7).  “Cruella”, (2021).  “Entourage”, (S1, ep 7 & ep 8)(S2, ep 1 to ep 14).  “Farscape“, (S4, ep 21 & ep 22).  “Gardeners World”, (2021:, ep 19, TX: 30/07/21)(ep 20, TX: 06/08/21).  “H20: The Molecule That Made Us”, (S1, ep 1, TX: 25/08/21).  “Ladybaby”, (BBC Three Pilot)(TX: 24/08/21).  “Late Night Mash”, (S1, ep 1, 02/09/21).  “Money Heist”, (S5, ep 1 to ep 3).  “Mortimer And Whitehouse: Gone Fishing”, (S4, ep 1, TX 29/08/21).  “Rue McClanahan On The Casting Of The Golden Girls”, (YouTube)(TX: 10/06/10).  “Stargate Atlantis”, (S2, ep 10 & ep 11).  “Star Trek (Original Series)”, (S3, ep 9).  “Star Trek Lower Decks”, (S2, ep 4).  “Snowpiercer”, (S2, ep 9 & ep 10).  “The Bureau Of Magical Things”, (S1, ep 9).  “The Golden Girls”, (S2, ep 19 to ep 26).  “The Golden Girls At PaleyFest LA 03/10/06″, (YouTube)(TX: 13/05/20).  “The Last Leg Of Tokyo 2020”, (ep 5, TX: 28/08/21)(ep 6, TX: 29/08/21)(ep 7, TX: 30/08/21)(ep 8, TX: 31/08/21)(ep 9, TX: 01/09/21)(ep 10, TX: 02/09/21)(ep 11, TX: 03/09/21).  “The Umbrella Academy”, (S2, ep 6).  “The Walking Dead”, (S11, ep 2).  “Van Helsing”, (S4, ep 3 & ep 4).

This Week I Sat In Trafalgar Square And Watched:

“Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope”, (1977)(1997 Special Edition).  

This week I have listening to:

“30 Animals That Made Us Smarter”, (S2, ep 10, 30/08/21).  “Box Of Delights”, (S3, ep 1, 04/02/20).  “Brian And Roger: Summer Special: Fishy Business”, (01/09/21).  “Coronavirus Global Update”, (BBC World Service)(28/08/21)(29/08/21) (30/08/21)(31/08/21)(01/09/21)(02/09/21)(03/09/21).  “Doctor Who”, (The Incomparable/TeeVee)(S11, ep 6, 12/11/18).  “Mystery Hour”, (02/09/21).  “NASA’s Curious Universe”, (30/08/21).  “NASA Houston We Have A Podcast”, (ep 211, 03/09/21).  “Nick Abbot Whole Show”, (28/07/21)(29/08/21)(30/08/21) (03/09/21).  “Rachel Johnson’s Difficult Women”, (ep 16, “Ruby Wax”, 23/08/21).  “Radio Astronomy, (The Sky At Night Magazine)”, (01/07/21) (19/07/21).  “Rob Beckett And Josh Widdecombe Parenting Hell”, (S3, ep 15, 31/08/21)(ep 16, 03/09/21).  “Smersh Pod”, (01/04/18).  “Space And Things”, (STP49, 05/08/21)(STP53, 02/09/21).  “Space Soliders Podcast  – Flash Gordon’s Trip To Mars”, (Chapter Twelve, “Ming The Merciless”, 28/08/21).  “Talking Bottom”, (03/09/21).  “The Adam Buxton Podcast”, (ep 158, 28/08/21).  “The Audio Guide To Babylon 5”, (ep 43, 27/12/15).  “The Friendship Onion”, (S1, ep 15, 24/08/21)(ep 16, 31/08/21).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (30/08/21).  “The Space Above Us”, (130, 01/04/21)(131, 15/04/21)(132, 29/04/21)(133, 13/05/21)(134, 27/05/21)(135, 10/06/21)(136, 26/06/21).  “This Week In Time Travel”, (16/11/18).  “Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels – Indefinable Magic”, (1.9, 30/08/21).  “WTB”, (s3, ep 3 (ep 46) 03/09/21).  “What’s Your Problem With Nick Abbot And Carol Mcgiffin”, (30/08/21).  “Wolf And Owl”, (ep 39, 01/09/21).

Songs I enjoyed this week, were by:

“Morrissey”,  “ABC”,  “ABBA”(Classic Songs).  “Crosby, Stills & Nash”,  “Duran Duran“,  “ELO”,  “Fergal Sharkey“, “Frans Ferdinand”,  “Jane’s Addiction”,  “Lush”,  “Men At Work”,  “Mental As Anything”,  “Muse”,  “Pet Shop Boys”,  “Pixies”,  “Saint Etienne”,  “Shed Seven”,  “Soft Cell”,  “Sugarcubes”,  “The B-52’s”,  “The Cure”,  “The Lightning Seeds”,  “The Rolling Stones”,  “Throwing Muses”,  “Toto”.