October in Review

October 31st, 2020
October in Review
All Hallow’s Eve, and the promise of a more subdued arrival of the winter months as the days shorten dramatically. Clocks change so it gets dark around four o’clock, and mood generally swings towards tired and weary. October began with an evening dog-sitting for Ben and Alyna down the road. We played Catan, watched Mulan (the original) and generally lounged about, whilst missing games night with the boys, which was a shame but a good exchange for Lucy and puppy time. They have the big new Hogwarts castle set, with includes many different scenes, mostly focused around books two and three as far as I can tell.
Friday night was a joyous evening at Will Dunleavey’s new place [REDACTED]
Ryan and I went home for Mum’s birthday on the 6th, and it was wonderful to see them all. Having moved out of Wildwood it was odd and enjoyable to see Ryan, though a little strange. Having gone from spending every day with his voice in the house I found I quite missed him, and do again now while I think on it. Will have to get over soon, to pick up some post if nothing else. Except, Lockdown. Never mind. We played Dominion, the parentals went for a walk, we played more Dominion, then dinner at the Red Lion after a bubble or two, and home for some slightly tipsy mooching about and chit chat.
Back in London I spent the next night at Lucy’s though I was extraordinarily tired and nearly went to sleep at about eight o’clock, pulled through, watched Mulan (the new one) with the whole of her house. General review, a bit of fun, nothing very special, seems like they spent all their budget on getting the stars in. Action scenes far too choppy, not enough cool martial arts tricks, not funny enough, script generally quite poooooor.
On Thursday Will D messaged asking if I’d help him out with a video he was sending in as a submission to a programme being run by Olivia Coleman for new comedy, I think. I cancelled on Friday morning claiming one of my housemates was a bit ill, lie, I just didn’t want to. I didn’t want to leave the house or go out and about or help anyone or see anyone. I have since felt more and more of this, I’m not quite sure what’s set it on. I want to do more no social media days, I think the one we did was good. Regardless, I offered advice, which I gave, on Will’s frankly hilarious video.
Saturday saw the house (plus Lucy) at the Crabtree having pints and dinner, the first night being out and really feeling the cold as we walked the five minutes home from the river. Food was alright, nothing special, definitely not worth the price. We did have fun with a good rapport with the waiter, who we think was Australian, and was very funny, checking in with the kitchen about GF options etc.
Needham arrived on Sunday, for a final stay before he moved to Rostock, so our time in the house became a classical concert for the while as he practised most days, attempting, and for the most part succeeding, in following a regular day schedule, practising from around nine till lunch, then for a little while in the afternoon too, with coffee breaks a plenty of course. I don’t think the cafetière has been used since he left… I interrupted one day of his practising to do some composition work with Will D who came over for a few hours to work through a new year plan. We’re going to put together an evening showcase of our work, performed by a bunch of hopefuls from RCM, Act 1 Sunday Evening Anxiety and others, Act 2 Danger Lais. Not the most productive of meetings, I definitely felt not ‘on it’ as it were. In the evening I went to meet Kerill between his classes ending and a show he was seeing at RADA. We had a lovely catch up and I felt generally positive about life after leaving him.
IKEA was a success as always, we picked up a table on the spur and it’s currently supporting my bare naked feet excellently.

Then Tier 2 (See 22/10/20).

The end of this month has been a whirlwind of stress and strange feeling. I have felt distant from those I love as though a veil were between the world and me. In my writing I connect with you, imaginary reader, whoever you might be. The prospect of impending lockdown has wormed its way through the media and Whitehall into my undiscerning brain. Social media has reclaimed my idle thoughts, with the songs from Tik Tok blurring out all other ideas and spurning the possibility of creativity. On the plus, we’ve been getting really into Taskmaster and some of it honestly hilarious, like belly aching, laugh-out-loud funny. I cooked a wonderful meal last night, the last night of October, for Flood's birthday the day before. Braddy is self isolating in his room while he waits for a COVID test result.