Author | Lightnews

Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 7h

We could have offered you a beef for the night, but we're on the same line, just an hour in the opposite direction

(And by now, you have actually got there)

Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 7h

That's a bit after WW2 though, when he was adept at killing Nazis silently before they knew he was there

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 1d

In that case, that's saved by the context

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 1d

A good reason to keep your speed down on those roads - if you can't see ahead, assume there may be cows

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 1d

It's when a man calls his spouse 'Mom' that I start having problems

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 1d

For those following along, it took me years to realise that that user name makes you 'Auntie Kate' - I had to say it out loud

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 2d

There was a recent thing about which side cats curl up on, and I even saw a poll for left or for right

Our Toro wire like any future such polls to include the option of both and neither. I've seen him curled up both ways tonight, and also stretched out on his back for the neither

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 2d

And only by the fact that the moon's highest point may be at any point of the day or night, depending on where it is in its cycle

Great, you need to carry your tide tables

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 2d

It being Brighton, I can't imagine there aren't any decent yarn shops, but it not being my hobby, I can't tell you which ones actually are good

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 3d

At first I thought it was Allo, but it seems it was Stego

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 3d

Like going to a Novacon. That's where I caught it

(I've been on a dozen cruises over the years, and never come anywhere near a norovirus outbreak. Hotels, on the other hand, don't tend to have such high standards of cleanliness as passenger ships)

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 3d

That's why I do this too (UK, so different orga but same principle). Also, they have a much better idea of what is actually needed

What I sometimes do is buy a multi pack of something nice, like chocolate bars, and leave that in the donation bin, because why shouldn't they have some luxuries

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 3d

A rather fine present from #Bristolcon. It's a model of the Andy Bigwood Speedbird in its landing dock

Now we have to get it home

On a wooden table, with various items in the background, a tall glass dome. Under the dome, there is a painted starship attached to a gantry. The starship itself has a spindly fuselage, with three engines around its stern, and a ring outside those. The ring is supported by pillars on the gantry

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 3d

Oddly enough, I guessed she was about to sing "I will survive" before the clip started playing. That was quite a performance

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 3d

Over here, they're known as courgettes. Note the ending of that word - that's because they're harvested young and not allowed to grow to their full size. Full grown ones we Brits call marrows, and the record size for them is over 100kg. Being hit with one of those probably requires a crane

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 4d

So we gathered. We've had a lovely evening, and have now gone to bed, safe from karaoke

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 4d

Given the GoH is dressed as a dinosaur ...

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 4d

Ah, you were at the next door table to us both in the restaurant and in the bar, but you've gone!

Sleep well

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 4d

That's more than current models do - sometime recently the cheap kettles stopped being reliable

Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 4d

Ah, I think we may have been through there without visiting it per se

Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 4d

And will it last out the year?

We've ended up with a Bosch that has temperature control (so we can heat to 70, or 80, or 90 rather than boiling, which works better for many teas), and it's much more robust than the cheap and cheerful plastic ones you get from the supermarkets

Vimes boots time

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 4d

OOC, whereabouts are you? We have a friend in Falmouth/Penryn

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 4d

I hate the whole change thing. At least (for me) this is when I get the hour back that was stolen back in spring. I hate it being dark in the morning

With the days getting shorter, we end up with dark mornings *and* evenings. That's what we get for living this far north

Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 4d

One wonders how he managed to escape if the conditions were so bad that boats were being overturned

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Alan Bellingham @bellinghman.bsky.social · 4d

I remember driving him over to Leixlip, I think it was, to check out a gravestone. He finds that sort of thing fascinating

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