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Virgin Media very kindly decided to give me no internet at all this weekend. Checked the service status online (via my mobile) on various occasions over the weekend and the fix date kept moving onwards. As law of sod would have it, checked again this morning now that I am back on works' computer with interwebs and its "allegedly" working again!
Whilst this meant I could get on with my sewing and baking plans with no distractions, I do think I should get some compensation for not receiving a service I'm paying for; however there no longer appears to be a way of sending VM an email via their secure service (and they don't answer specific customer enquiries via their Contact Us page). Can I really be bothered to speak to some script-reading numpty in India just for a few pounds in compensation, probably more stress than its worth. *shrug*
We did have a lovely chilled out weekend though. Friday night we decided to forego Inferno to make the most of the summer evenings and go swimming at Parliament Hill instead. Sadly it wasn't quite as sunny and warm as forecast but managed to get a good swim (to keep warm!) and did 17 lengths or 1k in distance. :-) Then undid any good by going for meal at the Wetherspoons in Highgate! I did have all intentions of ordering something relatively healthy, however was a little chilly after the swim and all the pub patio doors were open, so comfort food was in order, oops! :-)
The evening was finished by a midnight grocery shop in Tescos, so that i had ingredients for the next day's cake baking plans.
Saturday we went to a barbeque at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
motodraconis' place. Knowing there would be a lot of meat :-) I offered to bring along desert instead. Spent the morning making lemon, elderflower and gin cupcakes and banana flapjacks. Had a slight crisis mid-way through the latter as the weighing scales flew from my butter coated hands and crashed across the kitchen. :-( Had slightly gooey flapjacks as a result, as the wet ingredients were measured with broken scales and dry ingredients with emergency replacement scales.
The barbeque was very enjoyable. We sampled lots of exotic meats (zebra, camel, springbok) and demolished a couple of (very) fresh crabs. these were complemented by some fantastic salads brought byninshubur and giggly_teapot. So a lovely few hours were spent eating until we burst and talking about everything. And quite a novelty to just have a 5 minute journey home after it all!
Sunday we stayed at home so that i could get on with making the skull and roses dress that I intend to wear for Rob's birthday picnic next weekend. Made really good progress on it and am very pleased with the result so far (just the zip and hem to finish now, my least favourite parts of sewing!)
In the evening we decided we needed to catch up on our film viewing, so went to the cinema to see The Worlds End Its no Sean of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, with not so much in the way of laugh out loud moments; however still very well scripted, suitably silly in places and with a fantastic soundtrack. the main character is a rather unflattering portrayal of a goth, as a sad loser clinging on to the past; however his friends in contrast are all "grown-up" with miserable "grown-up" lives. Although the soundtrack did make me reflect on whether I was the target audience as such, I like to thing that I (and my friends in general) have the balance about right - not clinging to the past with rose tinted spectacles but still maintaining our own identity!
There was also the amusement factor of it being filmed in very familiar locations. The fictional town of Newton Haven actually being Welwyn Garden City. A town strange enough you could well believe it's been taken over by aliens. ;-)
Whilst this meant I could get on with my sewing and baking plans with no distractions, I do think I should get some compensation for not receiving a service I'm paying for; however there no longer appears to be a way of sending VM an email via their secure service (and they don't answer specific customer enquiries via their Contact Us page). Can I really be bothered to speak to some script-reading numpty in India just for a few pounds in compensation, probably more stress than its worth. *shrug*
We did have a lovely chilled out weekend though. Friday night we decided to forego Inferno to make the most of the summer evenings and go swimming at Parliament Hill instead. Sadly it wasn't quite as sunny and warm as forecast but managed to get a good swim (to keep warm!) and did 17 lengths or 1k in distance. :-) Then undid any good by going for meal at the Wetherspoons in Highgate! I did have all intentions of ordering something relatively healthy, however was a little chilly after the swim and all the pub patio doors were open, so comfort food was in order, oops! :-)
The evening was finished by a midnight grocery shop in Tescos, so that i had ingredients for the next day's cake baking plans.
Saturday we went to a barbeque at
motodraconis' place. Knowing there would be a lot of meat :-) I offered to bring along desert instead. Spent the morning making lemon, elderflower and gin cupcakes and banana flapjacks. Had a slight crisis mid-way through the latter as the weighing scales flew from my butter coated hands and crashed across the kitchen. :-( Had slightly gooey flapjacks as a result, as the wet ingredients were measured with broken scales and dry ingredients with emergency replacement scales.The barbeque was very enjoyable. We sampled lots of exotic meats (zebra, camel, springbok) and demolished a couple of (very) fresh crabs. these were complemented by some fantastic salads brought by
ninshubur and giggly_teapot. So a lovely few hours were spent eating until we burst and talking about everything. And quite a novelty to just have a 5 minute journey home after it all!Sunday we stayed at home so that i could get on with making the skull and roses dress that I intend to wear for Rob's birthday picnic next weekend. Made really good progress on it and am very pleased with the result so far (just the zip and hem to finish now, my least favourite parts of sewing!)
In the evening we decided we needed to catch up on our film viewing, so went to the cinema to see The Worlds End Its no Sean of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, with not so much in the way of laugh out loud moments; however still very well scripted, suitably silly in places and with a fantastic soundtrack. the main character is a rather unflattering portrayal of a goth, as a sad loser clinging on to the past; however his friends in contrast are all "grown-up" with miserable "grown-up" lives. Although the soundtrack did make me reflect on whether I was the target audience as such, I like to thing that I (and my friends in general) have the balance about right - not clinging to the past with rose tinted spectacles but still maintaining our own identity!
There was also the amusement factor of it being filmed in very familiar locations. The fictional town of Newton Haven actually being Welwyn Garden City. A town strange enough you could well believe it's been taken over by aliens. ;-)