(no subject)

[turps]

We had a nice day on Wednesday.

As it was so beautifully sunny we went for a walk at the Wetlands, we're members there so it's free to get in and they have a motorised scooter James can use, meaning we can go around the full site. I did kick him off on a flat path and take charge of the scooter so he could do some actual walking too. But mostly I walked, he drove. We were a few weeks early for the ducklings but there were so many goslings, plus, I got to hand feed the geese, which was slightly terrifying as those things are fierce. They'd eat the corn, then hiss, eat some more, hiss and so on. Some of the otters have been sent to other places so there are only three left, but we got to see them be fed and they posed for some photos.

Home after that and I put some more clothes up to sell, some of which did within hours, and then we had theatre tickets to see Club Tropicana on the night. Before our belt tightening due to the holiday we'd booked a few shows to see, and that night was the first of them. CT was fun, Joe McElderry was the main guy and he was good, funny, and I really enjoyed it was based around cheesetastic 80s music. At the end of the actual play part they had a mini concert with the cast and all the audience could get up to dance. That was fun, too.

Thursday we went to see Aladdin at the cinema, and it was better than I expected. Yes, a blue Will Smith is weird but I actually didn't mind his take on genie, and the songs were nicely upbeat, a bonus was the main cast being very easy on the eye. We also went to Costco to buy some pop and for once only came out with two things, the thing we actually went for and one extra.

Yesterday we went to see Rocket Man, which was okay. Taron Egerton always plays a good part, but my main issue was, I'm not really a fan of Elton John, I like some of his music, but as a person I'm indifferent to him, so there was no emotional connection. After we were talking to one of the cinema staff about the new Odeon that's going to open at Durham in a few weeks. It'll become our closest cinema by quite a distance and it sounds nice, if small. It's going to have six screens, all the Luxe kind with reclining seats. But, no Costa attached to it. So much woe! Admittedly there are plenty of coffee places in Durham itself and sometimes I don't even buy coffee, just taking in water or pop. But still, woe! Having a skinny latte or coffee frostino is part of my cinema going process.

Also woe, somehow in-between buying my shopping and getting home I lost a jar of peanut butter and a carton of soup. I realised about the PB last night but it just clicked I'm a soup down today. We drove to two different places so all I can think is it fell out of the boot in the second carpark. That or it'll turn up in the house months from now and I'll have a bloated soup bomb to deal with.

To end

I can well remember watching the very first season of GoT when it was broadcast, and as soon as the last episode finished needed to know what would happen to Daenerys and her dragons. So I bought the books, and spent the next year ploughing my way through them. I can also remember posting about getting the books and getting comments about not getting attached to any characters, and yeah.

I've issues with this last season. It's been rushed and really needed more episodes to flesh things out. It's like, I can understand why they did things because the hints and threads were there, but everything happened so fast. I mean, I was convinced Arya would take Jaime's face and kill Cersei, but no, all those years of training all for a moment killing the Night King and then nothing. And all the years building up to the battle with the white walkers, the discovery that dragon glass kills them, finding the dragon glass, forging it, and then in one episode the walkers were finished and the NK killed.

As for Cersei being killed by rocks. Seriously? Seriously!? She deserved a much better death. I do have to admit it made sense that Jaime was with her at the end because as wrong as their relationship was, and as evil as Cersei was, they did love each other. Even so, rocks fall, power couple die. Come on! And neither are battered and bloody when revealed by Tyrion. This is the show that shows people's eyes be popped out, guts being spilled, heads lopped off and you have those two looking perfect after being squashed to death.

Also, fuck off Bran the Broken! Stupid useless blank wooden idiot with his 'why do you think I came all this way'. Again, I get why it happened, but why did it have to be him?

Saying all that, I'm actually mostly satisfied by the ending. For me it was always about the Stark sibs, and I include Jon in that. I championed Sansa from the start, think Arya is amazing, enjoyed Jon -- mostly, and was gutted when Robb and Rickon died. Okay, I can take or leave Bran, but he's still a Stark sib so I'm glad he survived. Mostly. When I'm not shaking my fist at him being utterly annoying.

And of course, Ghost. I can forgive a lot for that Jon and Ghost reunion. I was also happy that Tyrion survived, and Brienne and Ser Podrick.

I love Sansa being queen in the North, and Arya going off to explore, and Jon off with Ghost and the freefolk. I think they were ends fitting for them all, though I do wonder why the other heads of house didn't have reservations about Starks pretty much ruling the whole country, Jon in the far north, Sansa the north, Bran the six kingdoms, and goodness knows what Arya gets up to.

So yeah, goodbye GoT, you had your faults but I'll miss you.

Comments

[dine]

the Wetlands sounds like a great place to spend a little time!

I'm amazed you escaped Costco with just two items - normally one gets (most of) their list, bc at least one item is almost always forgotten, plus a handful of unplanned but somehow essential other things. good, job you!

[turps]

The Wetlands is great. I like that is has a smaller circle route that goes past all the main areas, or you can branch off and walk the much bigger outer circle route that includes lots of hides, most easily accessible. As long as you keep out of the cafe at the end, it really is a very cheap visit.

I have to admit, it's not often we come out of Costco with just two items. It's the sample tables, they bewitch you. I still can't believe we came home with a huge bag of pancake mix a few months ago. I can see it still sitting in the cupboard years from now.

[dine]

if you don't anticipate making that many pancakes yourself, possibly you can bag some of the mix up to share with others? copy out the instructions and give everyone brunch *g*

[shadowhive]

The wetlands sounds like a lovely place to go 🥰

That sounds like fun!

Oh no! Losing things like that sucks! Hope they turn up soon

I’ve not watched GOT but I’ve seen a lot of people post about it and it seems that there’s a general consensus about this season (I’ve seen most of your criticisms about it elsewhere, so it seems like they messed up with them)

*hugs*

[turps]

The wetlands is lovely and so full of floofs.

All I can think is the groceries ended up in Sainsburys carpark somehow. And I keep wanting some peanut butter on toast :(

It really does feel like they tried to cram too much into too few episodes this last season of GoT. It's a shame as some parts were stunning, especially visually. But that's overshadowed by the rushed feel of so many other plotlines.

[ephemera]

Walking in the wetlands sounds like a good thing - weather willing our plan for tomorrow is very similar ;)

[turps]

I hope you get your walk. There's something very calming about strolling through the wetlands.

I suspect I'll have mostly a home day tomorrow as it's James' last day at work before he's off for nearly 3 weeks of annual leave. So I'll be stocking up on some peace *g*

[turlough]

I wonder if everyone had lovely weather on Wednesday because we had it too! The Wetlands sounds like such a lovely place. Not the least because of the OTTERS!!

Good to hear you're getting to enjoy yourself despite the self-appointed famine :-)

I've seen several positive reviews of Aladdin in the papers here.

I was going to ask how on earth you manage to loose a whole jar of peanutbutter but yes, it might have fallen out when you put in the things from the second stop. I'll keep my fingers crossed you won't have to deal with a soup bomb sometime in the future.

[turps]

Wednesday really was a standout of the year so far in terms of weather. As always I thought of you when I saw the otters. It was shame the youngest had been sent away but it means the breeding programme can expand and more people see them, so that's a plus.

We're lucky that we have things to do despite the famine, and there's always the beach.

Aladdin was fun. I'm glad it's getting good reviews as I saw some negative predictions about it.

It falling out of the boot is all I can think of in terms of the soup and peanut butter. Because you're right, it would be almost impossible to lose otherwise.

[sperrywink]

You went to Costco and didn't spend 200 pounds? You are a sorceress!

*g*

I did like Aladdin too. Will Smith was fun. Maybe not as exuberant and larger than life as Robin Williams voice in the animated one, but he worked it well.

[turps]

I know! I was very impressed with myself. We did have a close shave with a huge pack of sausages. James sampled them and loved them and had the pack in his hand until I reminded him I didn't like sausages and we really didn't need hundreds of the things shoved in the freezer for the next year or so.

He did work it well. I liked that he didn't try and mimic Robin's genie but put his own slant on it.

[frausorge]

That sounds like a lovely walk. I'm impressed by your courage in feeding the geese! There are often geese wandering around the buildings where I work, which have a pond in the middle between them, and I try to avoid getting close to them rather than otherwise. The image of them taking the corn but still hissing in between made me laugh.

Alas for your soup and peanut butter! What a disappointment something like that can be, when you were looking forward to having them.

[turps]

That sounds like a lovely walk. I'm impressed by your courage in feeding the geese! There are often geese wandering around the buildings where I work, which have a pond in the middle between them, and I try to avoid getting close to them rather than otherwise. The image of them taking the corn but still hissing in between made me laugh.

Geese can be terrifying! I don't blame you for keeping out of the way.

I think the ones at the wetlands have been tamed a little, at least enough to take food. But as soon as they eat remember they're actually evil and start hissing again.

[brandywine28]

You're a book reader! Good, that's good, 'cos it means I can let my GoT ramblings get WEIRD and SPECIFIC when I'm talking to you! Like for example:

I did kinda like one thing about Cersei's death, and that's the subversion of the valonqar prophecy. After all that paranoia and dread, the "hands wrapping around her throat" thing ended up being a tender, consoling gesture! She wasted so many years choking on her own fear -- for nothing! (Cersei's slowly ratcheting nervous breakdown is one of my favorite ongoing book plots. She's a wreck in Book 5 and I love it!)

But yeah, Bran isn't even really Bran anymore. Which means they basically offered up the kingship to some kind of all-knowing, parasitic, mystery entity. Which -- good luck with that, guys.

But the Stark sisters are happy, so I'm happy. More or less.

:)