Weekend End, Weekstart Start

...and I find myself back at the Weekstart having a massive sense of Dejavu no least because I doing exactly the same thing this week as last week. Pah!  I wonder if I'll get to see Gravity this week?  If it's anything like last week, then no chance - however, I am more determined to this week, so maybe. Challenge partially accepted.

The weekend, short as it was, was also - as predicted - jammed full of stuff, which was mostly fun.

Friday night was just great. Daughter came round for the evening. We ate and drank and caught up - which was normal in a way that was perfect. Felt like the week in the city fell away and real life crept back in. The boyfriend situation is getting serious, with it looking like he's going to be moving in before long and even a joint bank account in the offing. All very sensible if you ask me - was never like that when I was a kid...  Oh dear, I must be getting old. He's a lovely fella though, and he's been warned, so time will tell.

Saturday I managed to legalise my driving, sample a new dining experience in the city, stop the apocalypse in 3D and buy a new set of saucepans. I know, incredible isn't it. I mean, I really know how to live...

First up the driving situation. Much to my annoyance, my photo driving licence has expired. This never happened in the old days either. Before photo driving licences your licence just carried on until you were 70 odd - or too old to drive. Nowadays you apparently have to have a new one every 10 years. So this was the first of my renewals. 25 quid for the privilege of having your photo taken in the post office and fired off to DVLA for them to issue a new one. And if you don't do it, there's £1000 fine waiting for you. So it's basically a form of legalised robbery. I'm starting to think driving is a mugs game - but then that'll spoil my Christmas treat - still in the planning phase, but coming together.

The new dining experience was ChimiChanga's in the docks at Gloucester. I know it's a chain, but it's a good one, and being such a fan of Mexican food I couldn't pass it up. Mrs G and I had cycled into town, so we felt like we'd earned the right to it and damn good it was too as you can see here:



Afterwards we took a wander into the Le Creuset store, and almost on impulse bought a new set of saucepans.  Hopefully the last set for quite a while too. These aren't just any saucepans, these last forever - kind of. I'm not one to get over excited about cookware, but these are feckin awesome saucepans - seriously.

On the way back through the docks it was pleasing to note that they'd finished the work on the clipper that had been in dry dock for the last six months, and had felt confident enough to let the water back in and see if it floats - which apparently it does.  If that was my project, getting it back in the water would scare the bejesus out of me...  but I suppose there are methods and tricks that I'm unaware of that make this a lot safer than it appears.



By mid afternoon we were back home, and while Mrs G nipped into Cheltenham for some other odds, I managed to catchup with Pacific Rim in 3D glory and mightily impressive it was too.  The thing is, I wasn't expecting much. I suppose this is because what comes of a glut of robot type movies that have been little more than OK. It still has the loud brash robotty fighty scenes, but it also has a bit of a plot to it, and some decent acting too. I really enjoyed it, and have come to the conclusion that 3D BluRay (when movies are released in 3D) is the correct format for my collection (for now) - not least because all 3D BRs include the 2D version by closing off one "eye" of the 3D version, so why would I not buy the 3D version and have the extra functionality. This week has also seen the release of "The Great Gatsby" and that lead me into Sundays discovery....

Sunday involved a trip to the station in preparation for today, a visit to the latest addition to our already overcrowded list of supermarkets, and the discovery of a bunch of blu ray bargains.

Once more I climbed aboard my trusty two wheeled steed and whizzed over the hill to the station to collect my ticket. As usual I took great pleasure in chaining my bike to the railings next to the sign that says "Do not chain bicycles to these railings" - my small piece of rebellion I suppose. On the way back, I decided I'd take a look for the Great Gatsby - with the following results - Sainsburys £16, Asda £17 and Morrison's....  We have a brand new massive Morrison's built on the railway triangle. So how much is GG in there?...  Ah, well... Turns out they haven't got it. In fact they're entire offering is poor at best. I mooches around the rest of the shop. In summary - it's rubbish.  I'm so fed up of supermarkets. They're all just pah...   Even Waitrose seem to be slacking of late. I'd rather go back to local shops that specialise...

So with that in mind, I decided to drop into Blockbusters - purveyors of all things, DVD, CD and BluRay shaped both for rental or purchase, only to find that they are in severe dire straits. So bad in fact is their financial situation that they're closing down and as such selling all their stock off with discounts of up to 40%. My lucky day!  However... No sign of the Great Gatsby. On the other hand I did pick up all 3 Lord of the Rings (classics if long), all 3 Predators (classic in places), Transformers (the start of the fighty robotty things), Ronin (which is of course just brilliant) and Anchorman (good ole Ron Burgundy). That's 9 pristine BluRays for the princely sum of 25 quid....  Now that is a bargain.....

...and so to Monday Morning and back on the bloody train to London.  This mornings journey has the added entertainment factor of being delayed due to "vandalism" in the Stroud and Kemble area. Something to do with the trackside equipment - probably someone trying to steel the copper cabling again - wouldn't be the first time. For my part, I get to watch another episode of Wallander, (might have to seek out the rest of these now) and I need to fill the time that I'm not writing with something.

And here comes Paddington again.  Until next time....

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