Weeknotes for week 20, 2023

The week of May 15th.

Thursday was a Swedish holiday (Ascension Day) and I took Friday off.

We went to Alton Towers on the Thursday. The ruins were stunning. The gardens were rather nice. The theme park wasn't quite to our tastes, and the food I had was impressively bad, but Wicker Man was great! Well themed and good intensity.

We picked up some KFC and McDonald's apple pies on the way back. My partner noted in the KFC parking lot that everyone leaving the services were nibbling something. Then as we left, she couldn't help but nibble a pie.

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The Friday was a quiet day.

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The Saturday saw a road trip to Fully Charged North with a friend who's in the market for an electric car.

I haven't really been to a trade show since I went to some outdoorsy one as a kid (I remember panning for gold in a fake stream), and I rather enjoyed it. The Microlino was fun to see (and sit in).

Had some tea and pet petting when dropping my friend off, then went home and spent several hours in the swing chair up the back garden – most of it under a blanket with our outdoor cat Pluto in my lap. We saw a deer, quite close. I had more tea. Good times.

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On the Sunday, I caught a train to Halifax for an errand before heading to Sweden next week.

I stopped by an antique store that relocated from our town years ago – they still remembered me. They had a toy horse my partner has wanted for decades; I bought it.

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I've been reading Geometry for Ocelots for a while now.

It's not unputdownable, but it is fascinating.

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I watched:

  • Aliens (1986). Very different from the first one and not nearly as good.
  • When the Raven Flies (1984). I think every Swede of my generation watched this in school. Revenge-based spaghetti western in Viking-era Iceland. A little dull.
  • Porco Rosso (1992). Not the best Ghibli movie but quite enjoyable.
  • Silo (2023–). Mixed bag so far. Started out feeling meh, but it had very good tension-building in one instance, and sometimes rises above the standard fare. I've read the books but don't remember much.
  • Barbarian (2022). Didn't know what to expect. Enjoyed it!
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I also enjoyed: