Alcina

04:57 pm: Does anyone else here have ny of the 'slimline' edition DVDs of ST:TNG? If so, is there a problem with the colour so that all the colours are muted (command uniforms looking a dull burgundy, science a murky dark turquoise, fo example)

03:06 pm: In which I ponder what to do with some VHS tapes
AS Solstice gifts, I was given a couple of series of Star Trek TNG, and since the cost of this has fallen to about L14 per season I intend to obtain the rest, and DS9, as finiances and gift lists permit.

This leads me to a dilemma. I have about three-fifths of Next Gen on commercial VHS tape. What should I do with them? A check on Amazon and ebay suggests that they have no monetary value. I would gladly give them away, but the postage on several dozen VHS tapes is prohibitive, even if I knew someone who wanted to take delivery of an incomplete set of Next Gen tapes. I simply don't have the space to store them long term, in the hope that they may one day be useful to someone again, unless in damp, ambient temperature outbuildings, which would surely damage them. And anyway experience suggests that VHS tape has a limited useful life; many of the tapes I recorded from the TV in the early 1980s are starting to fail. But on the other hand it goes against my nature to send a vast amount of petrochemical-based material to landfill.

Any suggestions what I should do?

11:34 am: Did anyone here send me the opera 'Cyrano de Bergerac' by Alfano as a gift? It arrived yesterday morning without a gift note or explanation...and without me ordering it.

09:20 pm: Oh *&%$! I've just swallowed a lead pellet :(

10:39 pm: Why, just when you have a few days to bird intensively are all the passes over the Pennines blocked and all paths sheets of ice? :(

Oh well. Mean while I have learned that it is strictly prohibited to swim in the municipal litter bins at Pugney's Country Park in Wakefield :



And that when all the bird books say 'very shy and secretive' it doesn't apply when there are bird feeders and weeks of snow...



(scuse the bad quality, taken with an instamatic camera)

09:06 pm: In which I post about my birding in 2009
So, the year ends and in spite of all my efforts, my birding is hardly better than last year: I have seen 242 birds this year, and currently stand at number 30 in the BUBO yar list rankings.

My List: (asterisks signify lifers)

Red-throated Diver, Black-throated Diver , Great Northern Diver , Little Grebe , Great Crested Grebe ,Red-necked Grebe , Slavonian Grebe , Black-necked Grebe , Fulmar , Sooty Shearwater , Manx Shearwater , Gannet , Cormorant , Shag , Bittern , Little Egret , Great White Egret , Grey Heron , Spoonbill , Glossy Ibis, Mute Swan , Bewick's Swan, Whooper Swan , Bean Goose , Pink-footed Goose , White-fronted Goose , Greylag Goose , Snow Goose* , Canada Goose , Barnacle Goose , Brent Goose , Egyptian Goose , Shelduck , Mandarin Duck , Wigeon , Gadwall , Teal , Green-winged Teal , Mallard , Pintail , Garganey , Shoveler , Red-crested Pochard , Pochard , Ring-necked Duck , Ferruginous Duck , Tufted Duck , Scaup , Eider , Long-tailed Duck , Common Scoter, Velvet Scoter , Goldeneye , Smew, Red-breasted Merganser , Goosander , Ruddy Duck , Red Grouse, Ptarmigan*, Black Grouse, Red-legged Partridge, Grey Partridge, Pheasant, Honey-buzzard, Red Kite, Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier, Goshawk, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Osprey, Kestrel, Merlin, Hobby, Peregrine Falcon, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Crane, Oystercatcher, Avocet, Stone-curlew, Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Sanderling, Little Stint, Semi-palmated Sandpiper*, Baird's Sandpiper*, Pectoral Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Purple Sandpiper, Dunlin, Ruff, Jack Snipe, Snipe ,Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Curlew, Spotted Redshank, Redshank, Greenshank, Lesser Yellowlegs, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Turnstone, Red-necked Phalarope, Grey Phalarope, Wilson's Phalarope, Black winged pratincole*, Great Skua, Mediterranean Gull, Little Gull, Sabine's Gull, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Herring Gull, Caspian Gull, Iceland Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Kittiwake, Little Tern, Black Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Whiskered Tern*, Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Roseate Tern, Arctic Tern, Common Guillemot, Razorbill, Black Guillemot, Puffin, Rock Dove, Stock Dove, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Turtle Dove, Ring-necked Parakeet, Cuckoo, Barn Owl, Little Owl, Tawny Owl, Long-eared Owl, Short-eared Owl, Swift, Pallid Swift*, Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, Shore Lark, Sand Martin, Swallow, House Martin, Red-rumped Swallow*, Tree Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Water Pipit, Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Waxwing, Dipper ,Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Nightingale, Black Redstart, Redstart, Whinchat, Stonechat, Wheatear ,Ring Ouzel, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Song Thrush, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Cetti's Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Wood Warbler, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Goldcrest, Firecrest, Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Bearded Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Willow Tit, Marsh Tit, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Red-backed Shrike, Great Grey Shrike, Southern Grey Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Jay, Magpie, Chough, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Hooded Crow, Raven, Starling, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch, Brambling, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Siskin, Linnet, Twite, Redpoll, Crossbill, Bullfinch, Hawfinch, Lapland Bunting, Snow Bunting, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Corn Bunting

Oh well. Next year, maybe 250? (Some hope I've never _seen_a worse set of scarce birds in the country than this winter. There is not ONE SINGLE waxwing, for a start...)

And a happy New Year to all my readers...

01:10 pm: Quiz of the year thing
I hope ironlord won't object if I pinch his quiz of the year. Mostly my answers just record that I am incredibly sad and don't have a life.


1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Climbed a Munro. Part of the Annual Caingorm Trip, which I've also never done before. You know the stuff. Wandering around midge-infested woods at 5am looking for crested tits that aren't there.


( 39 more questions under the cut )

12:09 pm: I wonder if this thing actually works...


eta: It does! And apparently my list total updates itself automatically.

10:37 am: In which I cook. A lot.
Here is the annual report on the Winter Solstice feast and celebrations.
(  Food. Lots and lots of food. And wine )
The annual post-solstice game of scrabble...

03:44 pm: The down side of a 13-course meal

OH NOES! Do not want!

The other downside of feeling afterwards as if you have swallowed a whole brick...

10:15 pm: 1 day to go...
Today I... made veloute and espagnole sauce.
Boiled beetroot in stock to become soup tomorrow
Cooked 2 lots of chicken to different recipes
Made game stock
Made dinner
Laid table for tomorrow
Cooked chicken livers in goosefat and mashed them together...(couldn't get ethical fois gras; this is the next best alternative)
Made banana and kirsch bavarois
Done more washiung up than I care to remember

05:32 pm: 2 days to go.
Yesterday I memorised all the recipes I will be using. I ordered the meat. A friend brought round some woodpigeons he had shot for us. I posted a parcel and two cards. I wrote a shopping list.

Today I did the main ingredient shop. I took delivery of the meat. I iced the cake. I wrapped the last 3 presents.

Let's get those stockpots going!

10:42 pm: Hmmm. Interesting thing noticed.

If one searches for 'Killing in the name of' on I-tunes one gets a lot of cover versions, but not RatM's single. Only if one searches for the band does one get the chance to download it. Trying to discourage a download or what?

Corruption? Big companies? In the pockets of the pop producers? Why, whatever gave you that idea?

Go on. Even if you don't like the song or the band, do it on principle. It's only 79p....

10:16 pm: In which I install an expansion pack
Several years ago I bought the 'Battle for Middle Earth 2' expansion pack, but I never got round to installing it until today.

Well, first the plus point. Unlike all the other BfME games, in the main single player game you don't get a choice to play Light or Dark. You play the Lord of the Nazgul as he destroys the North Kingdoms (Arnor's successors)

Now the minus points.

1) I really had thought that the one positive result of the Peter Jackson films was that the common mispronouncition of the (insult) name of the Lord of Mordor, in which the first syllable was a homonym for a device for cutting wood, was at last overcome. But no, here in the mid-20000s is a voiceover in the intro to a New Line authorised game which uses that old mispronounciation. *facepalm*

2) The throne and crown of Angmar are refered to, as a matter of course as' The Iron Crown'. To me, this is presumtuous beyond belief, and bordering on blasphemy from the point of view of the Witch King.

3) The standard vocal response when the player clicks on the Lord of the Nazgul is for him to say 'I am the heir of [the Lord of Mordor] (using the offensive name.)'

No no no no no NO!
Never ask a servant of Light to write a computer game about a servant of Dark. Get you a Dark consultant!

The servant of [the Lord of Mordor], fine. The Regent of [the Lord of Mordor], better. The slave of [the Lord of Mordor], accurate and descriptive.

The Lord of the Nine knows that Tar Mairon will return, and knows that he exists only to do His will.

Tolkien. Read you some....

04:38 pm: Deep breath. 5 days to go...
Today I have made the Solstice cake.

I have bought raw beetroots in the market. While I was out buying same, a parcel was (not) delivered. That will be a trip to the post office then.

I have cleaned the silver. This is one of the least favourite bits of preparing meals using what Kit used to call my
Slytherin stuff

I have blu-taced up all the cards which my mother has received so far.

I have turned out the kitchen cupboard, rendered urgent by the fact that I could not find the nutmeg grater. I found it, and several other things that I have missed, but not the rolling pin, which has been MIA for 2 years now.

There are a number of other things which I cannot find, like the silver grape scissors and the blasted crystallised fruis which I bought for dessert. Bother.

Must wrap presents for Aunt's dog now...

05:08 pm: Oddbins 'rare and vintage' webpage has just suggested to me that a suitable food to go woth a bottle of the Warre's 1977 is 'strong cheese'.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

07:55 pm: I didn't get the job.

Oooh, surpise...

09:09 pm: I has been to have a look at a Derelict Steel Toen near Sheffield where I am about to begin teaching. I has seen the inhabitants. If I saw people looking and dressed like that in a TV drama I would be indignant about unreasonable sterotyping of the unemployed in areas of high unemployment.

Help! I'm going to die! I suspect it may just surpass that establishment described by me in this journal about 6 years ago as 'a school in Norfolk' in terms of horror...

12:14 pm: Well, booting my puter in Safe Mode and rolling back everything to the way it stood on Nov 10th has managed a quick and probably temporary fix.

Yay! I has work, probably for the remainign 2.5 weeks of term, starting tomorrow. Unfortunaetely, it is in... a local town which used to focus on the production of steel and now focusses on the production of unemployed people. :( I think this may be rather different from the two weks I did last month at an expensive girls' private school...

08:07 am: My puter is dying!
Recently, my computer has been crashing with worrying rgularity, almost always when first started up, occasionally when left unnattended for long periods, but never when I am actively using it. The crash takes the form of everything freezing up, except that I can still move the mouse pointer around the screen. This seems particularly to happen if I start the puter and then go away while it finishes starting up.

The only recent change I've made is that I have updated, and then uninstalled AVG (the new version didn't seem compataible with my system), and so am now only running my ISPs security software. However this problem was occurring before I did that.

The only rather odd thing I notices was a rather excessive number (well, about 8) of copies of svchost running. And the fact that every time I start Firefox, it starts up in a tiny little window, irrespective of the last size I used.

Running XP, service pack 3.has taken 6 reboots to get this text posted :( Anyone got any ideas?

05:05 pm: Well, that's finished. This morning at about 8am I finally finished reading all of Tolkien's published works.

What shall I do with my spare time now?

According to a news release, one of the top 10 Google search terms used this year was 'Google'.

The words. They fail me. Just ????!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????!!!!!!!!!

06:01 pm: Memage
What did you last eat?: McCoy's flame-grilled steak flavoured crisps

What kind of books do you read?: Right now, I am reading my way through every word Tolkien ever wrote. I have been at this task for 2 months now...

What are you reading right now?: Would 'lj' be too obvious an answer? Unfinished Tales

If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?: Mordor. Oh, somewhere that exists? Why didn't you say that? Cambridge

What's really creepy?: Things that glow in the dark

Latest obsession? Battle for Middle Earth II. I can't stop playing it, for some reason, even though the gameplay is dire: all you have to do is hold off the enemy yill you've made enough money to build Nazgul. Then send them in by air to smash enemy biuildings. The fact that all enemy troops always run after the Nazgul when they depart, right onto the automated fire-arrow-firing fortress I told them to hide behind isn't stellar. Why are melee attackers running after flying Nazgul anyway. What do they intedn to achieve?

Name one odd item within five feet of you: A plastic lightsaber

What did you really want to do today that you didn't?: Finish reading Unfinished Tales

What are you most excited for?: ? Does this question make sense to anyone here?

What websites do you always visit when you go online?: BBC news, Birdguides (a twitchers' info service)

What was the last thing you bought?: A belt. To wear around my waist

If you could have any pet, what would it be?: the super sized python that lives in the Cambridge Zoology Museum foyer. He's sweet.

What do you want right this minute, off the top of your head?: Vodka

Where is the place you like to return to in order to calm down / relax / etc.?: Teh Intawebs

If you could go on a cruise anywhere, where would you go? Probably round the Meditteranean, and see all the interesting archeolgocal stuff

Are there any bits of childhood that you miss?: Taking exams.

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter?: Winter.

Food I'm not craving that I thought I would: ?

05:23 pm: It occurs to me that Amazon wish lists are only any use if you tell people about them. So: http://www.amazon.co.uk/wishlist/ZI11J56ENAA9

Just in case of the unlikely possibility that anyone is ever in the mood to buy me shiny things...And also so that I can point persons like my Aunt at its whereabouts easily :)

12:23 pm: Note to self. I must not lose my spectacles while drunk.

(eta: Aha! Gill has just found the spectacles behind the sink in the bathroom!)

07:56 pm: If I read one more late essay on Elvish etymology my head is going to implode.

Seriously, you could have been...oh I don't know... writing down your ideas about the voyages of Earendel, which you imagined in 1917 and never once bothered to write down between then and 1973? And you spent your time writing this **** instead?????

But my reading of the whole of Tolkien systematically and carefully, that I was bound by oath to spend all my free time doing is drawing at last to something like a close...nearly.

06:23 pm: Amusing information on a new purchase
On a belt I bought today:

'This belt is meant to be worn around the waist'

Just warning yoou, kids. It's very dangerous to wear your belt round your neck...

11:36 am: In which I read one of Tolkien's linguistic essays
OK. Here is a passage explaining the possessive in Quenya

roma Oromeva: a horn which is currently in Orome's possession if he only has one
Orome roma: a horn currently in Orome's possession if he has several
roma Oromeo: a horn which once belonged to Orome but doesn't any more

And there are people who are actually trying to learn this language from the remaining writings???!!!???!!!

08:54 pm: Mmmkay. Naming your kids after characters in your fandom...really sad and a Bad Idea.

Giving kids the name of a Vala (Valie, whatever)...rather presumptious, no? Not acording to the parents of those I am teaching.

Clearly poor 11-year-old Yavanna's parents don't think so... *sigh*

05:13 pm: In which I poke about on the Tolkien Wiki
On the Tolkien Wiki I have just come accross one of the most interesting pictures attempting to show the Lord of Mordor in his fair form. I'm not too convinced by the Sith eyes, but the 'you seriously do not want to mess with me expression is rather good.

What do you guys think?

08:03 pm: In which I am amused
My mother has just marked an exam paper of a candidate called Weng Chiang. Yesterday, she marked the paper of one Mohammed, son of Fart.

I swear I am not making this up.