It’s the end of term, which means great busyness at work, plus a hectic weekend as my father came to visit. On the downside, I’m tired, though that is partly my fault as I keep not going to bed early enough. On the upside I’ve done some very enjoyable things, and I’m a lot less shattered than I have been at the end of every term for the past ( Read more... )

My parents have set out for points north once more, a day earlier than anticipated on account of Youngest Sister having broken her upper arm on Thursday evening. I suspect that will prove to be her last ice-skating session… Other than phone calls to various people on this subject, we had the relaxing sort of weekend suited to somewhat tired people ( Read more... )

Cinderella, Scottish Ballet. So it turns out that what I really like in ballet is plot. There were fewer dance pyrotechnics in Scottish Ballet's production than in my recent cinematic Nutcracker, but I know very little about dance technicalities, and all I can say is that the choreography was charming, dancing looked very good to me, the orchestra ( Read more... )

Having missed Spectre, and put off Carol until the Christmas break, I finally managed to get myself to the cinema not only once this week, but twice, indeed on successive days.

Bridge of Spies When I say that this was an excellent old-fashioned film, I mean that in the best way. It was possessed of such old-fashioned virtues as a strong script, ( Read more... )

I have received a gift fic! Traitor to the cause. Vorkosigan fic in which, as the summary puts it, “Miles finally goes too far ( Read more... )

It's decision time, never a good season for me. Having finally got round to upgrading from Windows XP to 7 on Sunday, following a blue screen of death incident that forced the issue*, I have reached the inescapable conclusion that while my 2007 laptop is largely in good nick apart from needing a new battery (not an issue because I use it like a PC ( Read more... )

I went to the Live from the Met cinema broadcast of The Merry Widow yesterday evening. It was a lot of fun, being the sort of production described as ‘lavishly mounted’ on every front, and having Thomas Allen in it. But the memory that will remain most with me is perhaps not the singing, or dancing, or even the decision to shove an extra aria in ( Read more... )

Back home, after the end of the Christmas holidays. It’s been a slightly strange fortnight, with a very disjointed second week as one by one the household succumbed to plague*. I had a very enjoyable Christmas, receiving some excellent presents, and we managed to do quite a bit, but there were various things that didn’t get done and I am not ( Read more... )

After a fortnight in the Bosom of my Family, I am now back in the land of no dishwasher. Once again, Christmas seems to have gone incredibly quickly. There were many presents, much food and drink, and entertaining a cheery baby is an excellent excuse for sitting on the sofa not doing much ("I would lay the table rather than watch Muppets Christmas ( Read more... )