A Bug's Life

I've had a few good walking days recently - stroll in overgrown foresty country park, another in recreational park with nice planty garden, walking back through Greenwich after visiting someone (river! Cutty Sark! tiny beaches! great big herringbone skies! foot tunnel under the river with Victorian techno-dome!), and on Saturday I walked through London to Waterloo instead of getting the tube and most of my route was along an organised bike ride - many happy people of all ages, Hell's Angels on Choppers, people waving on the corners. Today's walk will be mostly in the gym before physio, tomorrow's is around the glow worm chalk pit but in the daytime, and tomorrow (as I have a few days off work this week) I plan to do the thing where I get a train to Ely and walk back. Should be a nice quiet day for it. I last did the walk in November 2012; FitBit handily reminds me of the day I got my most-steps-in-a-day record, and perhaps this time I will beat 44,100 and do a couple of laps of the block to get to 45,000 in a day.

On Saturday I will lie around in the garden reading a book.

On Thursday I will charge my iPod and work out how to get podcasts onto it. And find my plasters and moleskin.

Ooh, also on Thursday evening I have nice home beauty lady coming to give me a manicure and pedicure. She will ask what colour I want my toenails painted. Given my plans for Friday I might see if she has any colours that resemble "blood blister".

Books read (9-10)
The Martian, Andy Weir (2013)
Partial Eclipse and Other Stories, Graham Joyce (2003)

Films watched (101-120) (12 at the cinema, 5 DVD, 2 tv, 1 stream Mubi)
Big Hero 6
Slow West
Magic Mike XXL
The Hunt
Love and Mercy
Jurassic World
Step Up
Spy
Penguins
Song of the Sea
The Salt of the Earth
Step Up 2 The Streets
Two Days, One Night
Cube 2: Hypercube (rewatch)
Ant-Man
Inside Out
Minions
LSFF Documentaries by women directors
Reel Women short film programme
La Jetée

Gigs, comedy, clubs etc (15-16)
Exilicon (geek convention, Cambridge)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (theatre, Cambridge, open air Shakespeare Festival)

So many good films this month!
At the cinema: Slow West (coming of age Western by chap out of The Beta Band, great young boy/old hand performances), Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, Paul Dano immerses self in role (and pool), lots of scenes showing how studio recordings work), Spy (funny), Song of the Sea (selkie animated story from Tomm Moore of The Secret of Kells, so beautiful, buy on DVD for your kids at Christmas even if they're grown up), Reel Women monthly Cambridge shorts (animation this time, loads of amazing/funny/sad/punk/beautiful things).

Unfortunately I have now watched La Jetée and will feel compelled to make some trite film-schooly knockoff.

I did not mean to rewatch Cube 2; I didn't like it, and must have erased the traces of it from my memory quite efficiently.

On Wednesday I saw glowworms! S and J invited a few friends round for delicious gluten free dinner, timed to coincide with peak glowworm and the Wildlife Trust's survey.

After dinner we headed out to East Pit Nature Reserve. I have passed it on my way to work almost daily in the last few years, but had no idea it was there. It was astonishing at night; a near full moon lit the chalk cliffs like a lunar landscape. There were maybe a couple of dozen people there when we were, wandering on their own or with the guide, and every so often there was a bright greenish spot looking entirely like an LED, which as you got closer to it nestled in some plant had little black stripes on. I saw 6-7 glowworms, other people saw up to a dozen, and other years have been better populated, but it was an interesting and unusual nocturnal exploration. I'd like to go back in the daylight, to better see the plants.

Here is a more interesting link which talks about the development of the pit as a nature reserve, and the wild flowers which now grow there including the rare Moon Carrot. Article which contains the words Moon Carrots.

Also I would like to take again the opportunity to say the words Moon Carrot.

Glowworms are nothing like the fireflies I saw in New York back many years ago, they have a steady glow and don't whuff on and off.

Moon Carrot.

"They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but that doesn't mean it's any better over there."

Perhaps the grass on the other side of the fence has slightly different micronutrients due to the different environment, and after a long time on one side you need a nibble from the other side to keep you well balanced.

I want someone to help me with a spot of role play.
You be my physio/personal trainer, say you have to cancel this session and reschedule.
I say "I will go to the gym as planned anyway for a workout."

How hard can it be?

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted, there's plenty going on and I'm off out to the cinema shortly so might catch up on more things this evening.

Last Saturday was a bit odd; ( minus hamster )

So that took up my morning instead of getting to the con early. I had cleaned out the temporary tank to nurse Humphrey in, then of course I had to thoroughly clean his proper tank then the temporary tank again, then it was Matilda's turn for cleaning (large hamster who looks like a Friesian cow but also does not like to be handled). Gave all Humphrey's dishes and toys a good soak in Milton and put them away.

Instead of getting to the con in the late morning/lunchtime, it was burying time. I obviously wasn't quite ready yet; I just needed to pull up a bit of bindweed from hamster cemetery corner and dig the hole. but spent an hour doing a thorough weeding of the whole back third of the garden, digging down and pulling up bindweed roots (even though this is a futile effort against the incursion), untwining the new tendrils from the other plants.

After shower and some lunch and a couple of errands in town I got to the convention at 3, chatted with some people and got to a couple of talks.

But it was a bit strange.

I'm not planning to get a second hamster, instead I will put my cardboard robots in the tank, so they can be seen but can't get out to go rampaging. I don't know what the cat will make of that.

Maybe Matilda will like getting slightly more attention.

Books read (8)
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (2014)

Films watched (90-100) (4 at the cinema, 5 DVD, 2 tv, 2 LoveFilm)
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Strawberry Shorts Film Festival
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Leaving Las Vegas
'71
Machete
The Look of Silence
Mr Holmes
Night Watch
Plenty
Sleuth

Gigs, comedy, clubs etc (11-14)
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy (art, London)
Stewart Francis: Pun Gent (comedy, London Bloomsbury Theatre)
Alex Horne: Monsieur Butterfly (comedy, London Soho Theatre)
AK/DK (gig, London)

Books read (6-7)
Mort, Terry Pratchett (1987) (reread)
Tiny Pieces of Skull, Roz Kaveney (2015)

Films watched (69-89) (11 at the cinema, 7 DVD, 1 tv, 3 LoveFilm, 2 other)
I Heart Huckabees
August: Osage County
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
Intacto
Fargo (rewatch)
Mad Max
Mad Max 2
Force Majeure
Mad Max: Fury Road
About Time
Mad Max: Fury Road (rewatch, IMAX)
Clouds of Sils Maria
Girlhood
Pan's Labyrinth (rewatch)
Pitch Perfect 2
Um, Mad Max: Fury Road (rewatch)
Far From the Madding Crowd
The Wolf of Wall Street (rewatch)
Shutter Island (rewatch)

Gigs, comedy, clubs etc (10)
Fylm Club, Simon Munnery (comedy, London Soho Theatre)

What a month for films! I liked Mad Max (obv), also strongly recommend Force Majeure, Clouds of Sils Maria, Girlhood, Pigeon Sat on a Branch. It was interesting revisiting Far From the Madding Crowd since I read it at school, and understanding much more of the complexity of the characters. I have sprung for the Infinity card at my very local cinema, £16.95 for as many films as you like, but it doesn't seem to be stopping me from going to the Arts Picturehouse too.

Books read (5)
Not a one this month!

Films watched (49-68) (5 at the cinema, 8 DVD, 3 tv, 1 stream, 2 LoveFilm, 3 other)
Pretty Woman (rewatch)
The Kids Are All Right
The Brothers Bloom
The Wind Rises
The Darjeeling Limited
Blade Runner: The Final Cut (rewatch, kinda)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (rewatch)
John Wick
So I Married An Axe Murderer (rewatch)
American Hustle
The One I Love
A Little Chaos
Child 44
The Great Beauty (rewatch)
Irma Vep
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Capote

Gigs, comedy, clubs etc (8-9)
The Hard Problem (NTLive theatre at cinema)
Omid Djalili (talk at Cambridge Literary Festival)

Ok, let me adjust my morning routine so that Put On Intensive Hand Cream always comes after Brush Cat.

Signed,

Furry Hands