Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East London, Northamptonshire and Suffolk.

Week 383, Saturday 16^th until Friday 22^nd October 2021.

This week it was Mum’s B’day.

And a year since Spike passed away.

Earlier this week I learned a valuable lesson.  After work I needed to drive 2 hours north to my mums because the next morning I was taking her and my sister a couple of hours east to meet up with other members of the family also driving in that direction to spend the week together beside the sea.

Due to not being in a hurry and because I won’t be home for about 10 days, my friend and I wanted to finish a ghost story series we had started the day before.  This type of drama will be available to view for years to come but we had binged episode after episode and only had 3 left.  So we did the only thing we could do but watch the rest.

About 20 minutes after leaving home when I joined the M25 my heart sank because on an Illuminated sign overhead I read that there were not one but two sets of road works resulting in diversions.  Each time I came off the London orbital motorway I took a risk and followed large lorries, hoping that they really were going my way (there were diversion signs, but the ones standing up were not clear).  Luckily they were, I genuinely have no idea where I was, as you can tell I am not a Sat-Nav driver I prefer an old school paper map.

Once I reached the M1 to head north almost immediately I spotted a sign informing of another set of road works that covered 2 adjacent junctions, my third division during this journey.  This time the route twisted and turned through dark country roads (previously I squeezed down residential streets not made for that amount of traffic especially at night).  As before I followed large vehicles with fingers crossed.  When I eventually saw sign informing of my return to the motorway, I was so pleased to finally be on the way to my mums.

My journey didn’t get better, once off the Motorway as I reached mums sleep village.  One road from her cul-de-sac I had to stop because of road works blocking the road.  This extra diversion my 4th was not a problem, I knew where I was going.  The only issue was negotiating and zigzagging the badly parked cars of sleeping residents.

I arrived at mums just after 2am; a journey that should have lasted 2hrs became nearly 4.  All because I wanted to finish the last few episodes of an ok(ish) ghost story that had some nice jumpy moments but if I am honest was a bit of a disappointment in the end. Especially as my friend and I sat there for a number of minutes as the credits rolled chatting aspects of the story that confused us.

If I had been sensible and left in the early evening after eating, 3 of the 4 detours wouldn’t have affected me because the motorway closures take place at 10pm.  Yes, I really have learned a valuable lesson this last week, watch less rubbish on the box and knuckle down and do what I should do.

And Finally……

I have written before how my friend and I are proud adopted parents of a Hamster.  A few evenings ago we spotted him asleep in a clear tube that leads to and from his main house/nest.  His eyes were closed; we spoke in hushed tones not wanting to disturb him because he looked so cute.  We hoped that when he woke up he would want to come out and have some contact with us before we turned in.

We both turned away for less than a minute distracted by something shiny on the TV.  Looking back the little sod had scampered back deep into his home.  I suspect he saw us coming, so pretended to be asleep just waiting for us to turn our backs.  We didn’t see him for the rest of the evening.  We really do seem to be living with a moody teenager.

Next Week will be the annual family visit to Southwold.  I am excited, are you?

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have watched:

“Adam Savage Meets Neil Armstrong’s Apolo 11 Spacesuit!”, (YouTube)(TX: 31/07/19).  “Alias”, (S1, ep 1).  “Another Life”, (S2, ep 1 & ep 2).  “Blake’s 7”, (SB, ep 12 & ep 13).  “Fort Salaam”, (S2, ep 3 & ep 4).  “Gardeners World”, (2021, ep 28, TX: 08/10/21)(ep 29, TX: 15/10/21).  ”Guilt”, (S2, ep 3 & ep 4).  “Have I Got News For You”, (S62, ep 2, TX 20/10/21 ** cancelled from 15/10/21)(ep 3, TX: 22/10/21).  “How It Works: Spacesuits On The ISS”, (YouTube)(TX: 12/12/18).  “It Chapter Two”, (2019).  “Late Night Mash”, (S1, ep 8, TX: 21/10/21).  “Only Murder In The Building”, (S1, ep 9 & ep 10).  “Spitting Image”, (Britbox)(S2, ep 6)(TX  16/10/21).  “Stargate Atlantis”, (S3, ep 4 & ep 5).  “Star Trek (Original Series)”, (S3, ep 18).  “Star Trek Lower Decks”, (S2, ep 10).  “Taskmaster”, (S12 (S3 on C4), ep 5, TX: 21/10/21).  “The Bureau Of Magical Things”, (S1, ep 15).  “The Bureau Of Magical Things  – Totally Wild”, (YouTube)(TX: 06/07/18).  “The Curse Of The Nun”, (2018).  “The Golden Girls”, (S5, ep 13 to ep 20).  “The Graham Norton Show”, (S29, ep4, TX: 15/10/21).  “The Great British Bake Off”, (S12 (S5 on C4), TX 19/10/21).  “The Great British Bake Off An Extra Slice”, (S7 (S5 on C4), ep 4, TX: 14/010/21(ep 5, TX: 22/10/21).  “The Haunting Of Bly House”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 9).  “The Haunting Of Hill House”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 10).  “The Orville”, (S1, ep 11 & ep 12).  “The Ranganation”, (S4, ep 3, TX: 17/10/21).  “The Sarah Jane Adventures”, (S1, ep 3).  “The Sokol Suit And The ‘Seal That Keeps You Alive”, (YouTube)(TX: 14/12/12).  “Van Helsing”, (S5, ep 5 & ep 6).

“Doctor Who Watched this Week”……

“Nikola Tesla’s Night Of Terror”, (S12, (S38 since 1963) ep 4, TX: 19/01/20).

“Fugitive Of The Judoon”, (S12, (S38 since 1963) ep 5, TX: 26/01/20).

This week I have listening to:

“30 Animals That Made Us Smarter”,(BBC World Service)(ep 17, 18/10/21).  “Anglophilia”, (S3, ep 3, 04/06/19).  “Brian And Roger”, (S5, ep 4, 20/10/21).  “Clinton Baptiste Paranormal Podcast”, (S4, ep 3, 19/10/21).  “Coronavirus Global Update”, (BBC World Service)(16/10/21)(17/10/21) (18/10/21)(19/10/21) (20/10/21)(21/10/21)(22/10/21).  “Doctor Who”, (The Incomparable/TeeVee)(S12, ep 6, 02/02/20)(ep 7, 09/02/20).  “Don’t You Want Me?”, (S1, ep 5, 21/10/21).  “Farscape: Muppets In Space”, (The Incomparable)(20/10/21).  “Griefcast”, (S8 ep 3,(ep 151) 20/10/21).  “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buddha”, (ep 1, 16/09/20)(17/10/21).  “Maximum Power – A Blake’s 7 Podcast”, (SA, ep 5, 17/10/21).  “Mystery Hour”, (21/10/21).  “NASA: Gravity Assist”, (22/10/21).  “NASA: Houston  We Have A Podcast”, (ep 218, 22/10/21).  “Nick Abbot Whole Show”, (16/10/21)(17/10/21) (22/10/21).  “Radio Astronomy (The Sky At Night Magazine)”, (06/05/21)(15/05/21) (21/10/21).  “Rob Beckett And Josh Widdecombe Parenting Hell”, (S3, ep 29, 19/10/21)(ep 30, 22/10/21).  “Smersh Pod – Live And Let Die”, (Pt 1, 01/06/20)(Pt 2, 02/06/20).  “Smersh Pod – The Man With The Golden Gun”, (Pt 2, 19/05/20).  “Something Who”, (ep 12, 06/02/20).  “Space And Things”, (STP13, 26/11/20)(STP60, 21/10/21).  “Space Soldiers Podcast – Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe”, (Chapter Four,“ The Destroying Ray”, 16/10/21).  “Talking Bottom”, (10/09/21).  “The Adam Buxton Podcast”, (ep 165, 19/10/21).  “The Audio Guide To Babylon 5”, (ep 50, 05/04/16).  “The Friendship Onion”, (S1, ep 23, 19/10/21).  “The Froth With Rhod Gilbert And Sian Harries”, (S4, ep 4 (ep 40) 19/10/21).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (18/10/21).  “The Old Doctor Who Show”, (ep 119, 20/10/21).  “Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels -Too Much Information”, (2.2,”The Survivors”, 18/10/21).  “WTB”, (S3, ep 11 (ep 53, 22/10/21).  “What’s Your Problem With Nick Abbot And Carol Mcgiffin”, (18/10/21).  “Wolf And Owl”, (ep 46, 20/10/21).

Songs I enjoyed this week, were by:

“Morrissey”,  “Baby Bird”,  “Coldplay”,  “Cyndi Lauper”,  “David Bowie”,  “Death In Vegas”,  “Doves”,  ”Erasure”,  “George Harrison”,  “Keane”,  “Louis Armstrong”,  “McAlmont And Butler”,  “Manic Street Preachers”,  “Paul McCartney And Wings”,  “Soft Cell”,  “Sonny & Cher,  “Suede “,  “Suzanne Vega”,  “The Foo Fighters”,  “The Jackson 5”,  “The Lemonheads”.