View from the weekend

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We went away and then we did very, very little.

Save, of course, from enjoying the views, the hot tub, the pool and the pizza oven.

On Saturday morning, I went out on a bit of run that then turned into a bit of a hike, and ended up climbing up onto the koppie 250m above our accommodation, leaving me with this view down the Breede Valley:

Not bad at all. New phone camera doing the business.
And I only nearly died a couple of times.

Right now, it’s back to reality: picking up kids from school and making dodgy salads for dinner.

But… it was a fun weekend.

Live in a church

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Appropriate for a Sunday.

I’m not religious. I don’t go to church.

But I could live in one. If it was this one.

At £995,000, it’s a little out of my price range right now, but it is gorgeous.

Apparently, it featured on Grand Designs. I’m a fan of the show, but I haven’t seen this one yet. I’m sure I’d remember.

I’m not sure how long that link above will last, but maybe I’ll be able to find the listing on a archived website once it’s gone. <- NOTE TO FUTURE SELF.

Back again

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I did mention that this was going to happen, but I also said that I would have some reservations unless certain criteria were met:

And look, if it is correct, then this is clearly great news, but… so much of the original MTW was good because of the regulars and especially Hugh Dennis and Dara O’Briain. Without them, you might as well just make a different show. 

Well, things are suddenly looking up:

Yep. The “new” MTW presenter is: Dara O’Briain…

And, what’s more:

Joining Dara in the studio throughout the new series is a stellar line-up of top comedy talent, including Rhys James, Sara Pascoe, Angela Barnes, Ed Byrne, Ahir Shah, Milton Jones, Katherine Ryan, Hugh Dennis, Sarah Keyworth, Lou Sanders, Glenn Moore, Ellie Taylor and Russell Howard – with more names still to be announced.

This sounds almost too good to be true. In fact, it seems that the only big change they have made (aside from it not being on BBC2 anymore) is that the show will be 60 minutes long.

Will that work? 30 minutes always left me wanting more, but maybe that was a good thing.

I think that the proof of the pudding will be in watching the first few shows. And given that they are just a couple of weeks away, I’m pretty excited.

This could be amazing.

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Or…

Look, let me preface this by saying that I won’t be going along to this anyway. But as a 90s raver and a long(ish)-time resident of Oxford, I might give it a go if I was still there.

Because it could be amazing.

The words “Tribute to” could be doing an awful lot of heavy lifting here. But they seem to have lined the best tribute acts up for the four weekend shows this summer, and if it wasn’t terrible, and if you were in the right frame of mind for some potentially iffy music and some fun, AND you had nothing else on that weekend – well, I’d probably give it a go.

I mean, how bad could it be? OK. It could be very bad.

But equally, it could be amazing.

Kevin and Perry is a bit of an odd inclusion, as is “Special Guest – Gladiators Jet”:

Jet from Gladiators to host a millennium barn dance at Yeovil Aerodrome.
Properly policed. It must not, repeat, not turn into an all-night rave.

IYKYK.

Jet will be 56 years old when this event happens. It’s 30 years since her run on Gladiators ended. That’s over half her life. She’s a fully-qualified pyschotherapist now. It won’t be the same.

But the whole thing? Overall? It could be amazing.

Get a few friends together. £40 gets you 18 hours of entertainment with full weekend access, and… well… it could be amazing.

Need to send a letter?

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Of course you don’t. No-one sends letters anymore.

But let’s just suppose that you did need to send a letter.
And that you were unlucky enough to be in the United States of America, under the control of Adolf Trump and his evil minions.

Sending a letter is going to cost you an absolute minimum of $0.78.

78¢. That seems a lot to send a letter.

Thankfully, here to help is website Postal Arbitrage. They’ve compiled a list of things that you can order via Amazon which cost less than 78¢ to send.

But how does that help?
If you want to send a letter to someone, how will sending them a 25¢ lime substitute for that?

Because included in that price is a gift message. And so rather than sending a boring old envelope with a bit of paper inside, why not rather organise for a LA MODERNA, Vermicelli Pasta, 7 oz (Pack of 1) | Enriched Durum Wheat Semolina | Kosher, Non-GMO, Iron and Vitamin-Fortified | Thin Vermicelli Noodles for Soups, Broths, and Quick Meals to be delivered, and include your message on the attached gift tag?

They get the message (and the noodles), you save 28¢.

What’s not to like?

I saw this idea described as:

One of those things that makes you laugh. And then makes you think.

And I can’t disagree. Something is wrong with the system… somewhere.