As Time Goes By
Not the TV show, just that general sense of time flowing past like hair in the wind. Or something. I skipped a week. It is a thing of regret, but it was for the best. The week before last week was not… good. The week that followed was troubling, but had many excellent things (most particularly the weekend). However I live painfully in the present alone and the end of that first week and beginning of last were just fucked all to pieces in my head. It was pretty clear early on that writing was just not going to happen. We shall skip the vileness and move swiftly to the significant bits (in my head).
Evenings Out & About
Since I’ve now got two weeks oddly concatenated in my head I can’t really tell which is which… We had a fine Gorilla Burger, and David and I reprised our Bitchcock Kerfuffle twoprov at the end of the evening. It remains one of my most enjoyed team ups. Sadly twas his last Gorilla Burger (for the time being at least) as he’s moving to Bristol to do amazing sciencey things. Since he was buggering off that clearly called for a number of farewell drinkings in some of the nicest pubs in town – The Ned Ludd, Fothergills (very nice food, sorry about my mood), The Roundhouse and the ever reliable The Salutation Inn. There is nothing quite like time out with beloved people.
Lego Trip I
It had been a good long while (gosh, almost months) since our last micro-pilgrimage to Meadowhall’s Lego Shop. It is a place of wonder, and Tuesday’s are excellent days to go. It’s quiet and relaxing. As usual we enjoyed the minifigure building, the pick-a-brick (more about this all during the week) and I acquired what I’ve been saving up for… Captain Metalbeard’s Seacow. Fuck yeah. Plus, The Lego Movie has just come out on DVD. It’s like Christmas in July.
♥Last Week’s Scribbles
This Week, Monday 7th July 2014 – roses and music. What else would you buy?
Lines To Live By – a very satisfying line from the book I was reading.
Lego Blog: The Mixels – Cragstertastic – a very late Lego blogging
An Immense Weekend
All the crap and horror of the daily grind were tossed into flames on Friday when I (finally) went to stay with my brother and sister-in-law and excellent housemate way oop North in Manchester. It started with a very pleasant train journey; I like trains, they are comfortable (mostly) and have tables: this is better than most transport. Admittedly I did little except scribble and play Minigore 2, but it’s the principle…
Marilyn’s up there doing 2.8 Hours Later again, scaring the crap out of people running away from zombies, so we were all together during the day and I was left to my brother’s mercies in the evening. Friday night was just delightful – superb Japanese takeaway and beers in the garden while cats bounded around our heads and ankles.
Saturday was the main event, our cause: MCM Comiccon Manchester. I’ve never been to a proper comic convention, though it felt a lot like a bigger Alt-Fiction with a much larger market of stalls. I’m terrible for forgetting to take pictures and this was no exception. We did see hundreds of great costumes, in particular these ace Jawas and many, many, many anime characters I didn’t recognise. I also never saw the guys in the pantomime horse-style AT-AT. A shame.
Never mind – comics! art! badges! things! We spent a shocking sum between us. Even though I didn’t worry about getting autographed pictures I instead bought lots of fun and interesting comics and tiny prints from independent comic artists and writers. I think meeting and enthusing with them about their cool stuff was my highlight. We saw the Red Dwarf cast chatting in a panel, and a bit of the Game Of Thrones talk, which will make a lot more sense when we’ve watched the show.
Some of the most exciting things there were seeing the trailer for The Boxtrolls, adapted from the sublimely brilliant novel Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow. We’ve been waiting for that to come out for years. Really though, the most consistently wonderful thing was being with my hilariously enthusiastic and excited friends. It was awesome. I’ll have to do some future posts about the comics and stuff we acquired.
After that we went for delicious drinkings in Manchester, followed by an ecstatic ‘California Screamin’ burger at Almost Famous. I cannot rate their food highly enough – I had a burger that made me think I’d died and been returned to Earth because Heaven don’t make good enough burgers. They also have insane cocktails mixed by dedicated and lovely people. Go there. Ah more drinks…
Sunday was mainly a trip into the Lego Shop in the Arndale Centre. They had very different things and I may have accidentally suffered from impulse purchase disorder. It was nice to introduce my brother and sister-in-law to the joys of make your own minifigure!
A spectacular weekend.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2dFVnp5K0o?rel=0&w=640&h=360]
