imhilien

Well, Happy Midwinter to those of us in the southern hemisphere. It was freezing last night as it went down to 5 deg C / 40 deg F. I'm a summer person and struggle with cold like that. At least the weather is fine - last week it was wild and stormy.

Sunsets (and sunrises too, apparently) have a lot of bright pink in them these days, that's apparently due to the aftereffects of the underwater volcanic eruption in Tonga a while back. I'm old enough to remember years ago after Mt Pinatubo (sp?) erupted in the Phillipines, we had primary-colour sunsets for months afterward.

My local theater in conjunction with others recently had a French Film festival, so I looked at the catalogue and decided to go to 'Murder Party', which was loosely based on the game of Cluedo. There was a reasonable crowd and most of us were masked, so that was good (my city still has thousands of cases each day so I'm always careful when leaving the house). It was entertaining enough and there was a plot twist I didn't see coming, so that was ok.

I recently watched the two seasons of 'Bridgerton' after each other, I had found S1 a bit boring in places but I adored S2.

Library books and tea are keeping me going right now. I go for walks when I can and I have a cross stitch project I'm working on.

So last week Auckland was under a Level 3 Covid lockdown again; which meant stay inside and avoid people outside of your household bubble as much as you could. One of my coping mechanisms was uh, binge-watching 'She-Ra and the Princesses of Power' which was actually quite good. Nice blend of fantasy and sci-fi. Coping mostly achieved!

Then on Friday, the North Island had two tsunami alerts because of two big earthquakes off the coast. People where I were received warnings to stay away from the water. Nothing too alarming happened though, up in Northland it was reported that the tide was doing the opposite of what it should be doing, but that was really all.

We're back down to a kinder Level 2 lockdown where you can leave your house, but be sensible, etc.

However, signs of autumn are now starting to appear. There's always something!

The weather is up and down. Last week it was nice, hot t-shirt weather but today it's back to wearing more layers.

I recently went to the Armageddon convention and went to hear Jason Issacs talk. He was nice and cheerful, talking about how tricky it was to film 'Hook' in Australia with its heat and having to wear layers of velvet clothing. I went to get his autograph after and saw that he shook everyone's hand who lined up to see him. He shook my hand too (squee!). We chatted for a few minutes and he said he was going to have a holiday down in the South Island, so that was nice.

I also went to hear a talk with Inbar Lavi, an actress who played ( Spoiler ) in 'Lucifer'. She was nice and said how she was looking forward to seeing more of New Zealand after this. She was a bit smaller than me (I'm 5"4) so acting with Tom Ellis must have been interesting because he's 6"3. She said the set was very professional and there was also a lot of laughter and joking. She gave her talk in a smaller hall than Jason's, which was OK as it made things more cosy. It was packed, though. There was a fan who asked a question who had to stand at the back as she was dressed up as a Weeping Angel from 'Dr Who' - very realistic. At the end of the talk we were all gathered together for a group selfie. I went and got her autograph afterwards. The person in front of me gave her some Whittakers chocolate and Pineapple Lumps sweets, which is very New Zealand. Yum.

I saw that the two actors from 'Wellington Paranormal' were there at the convention too, but I didn't have time to see them, unfortunately.

A new season of local quirky police drama 'Brokenwood Mysteries' started up last night. It featured a murder at a gathering of steampunk enthusiasts. Yes, the show's like that. :-p 

I feel sorry for Australia at the moment with it's fires in NSW and Queensland... it's not even proper summer yet. Smoke from the fires have arrived in the South Island and they say the North Island will get some too. :(

It's being quite wet and stormy at the moment, last night there was an intense hail storm that seemed to go on longer than it should have. I found out this morning that some cars had fallen into the harbour and someone thought there had been a tornado.

I've signed up to Netflix for a 30 day trial so I can see moar Lucifer. Ooh look, other shows too. I had this vague idea that signing up involved downloading lots of software, etc.

The trees that have the first spring blossom (bright pink) are out in the neighbourhood and the native birds have been very happily drinking the nectar (and sounding like they've drunk too much?).

Fossils have been found of a long-extinct native parrot in the South Island that was apparently one metre tall (gulp).

It's been getting a bit lighter in the evenings, so that's good.

Well, we had midwinter the other day and it's become colder in the mornings, brr. Yesterday it was a struggle to leave the warmth of bed but I made sure I had some hot porridge as soon as I could. 

Last night was board gaming night, which was fun. I played 'Cards Against Humanity' for the first time, lol.

I went to the 'Tolkien' movie recently with a friend and had a good time. It wasn't completely perfect but still a good watch.

Envy is seeing that your boss had a copy of the 'Good Omens' box set delivered to him at work. I feel like one of the few people who hasn't watched it yet.

Am crocheting a pair of purple fingerless gloves as I lost my previous pair.

Well, the weather is still warm but it's getting darker in the mornings now. I've got a hair cut booked for this week as I'm starting to feel like a woolly sheep.

I've been enjoying watching season 2 of 'The Durrells' on TV. It's based on the book 'My Family and Other Animals' which I confess I've never read. Anyway, it's a quirky comedy about an English woman in the '30's who takes her four children to live on the island of Corfu. Youngest boy promptly goes 'yay!' and starts bringing home animals such as otters and pelicans. There's been a debonair chap with a red sports car who's been charming the mother - who sounds just like Remus Lupin from the Harry Potter movies. So, every time he speaks I keep thinking, 'Remus?' :D

A nice movie I saw recently was 'The Kid Who Would Be King', which is a contemporary King Arthur movie, starring Patrick Stewart (TM) as Merlin (hooray). Alex, a bullied schoolboy, finds a magic sword in a stone at a semi-abandoned building site. It must be a joke, right? But this gets the attention of Merlin and Morgana Le Fey, who was banished underground and has been waiting for the swords return (she believes she's the rightful heir to it). Can Alex rally his fellow students to fight Morgana and her undead army of knights?  Nice scenery of Cornwall and Glastonbury Tor. Some of my ancestors came from Cornwall near Bodmin Moor (where the Lady of the Lake was supposed to reside) so I always throw my money at movies like this. :)

If it helps, the previous movie the director made was 'Attack the Block' (starring 13th Doctor Who and Finn from Star Wars) about a poor English council estate that had to fend off an alien attack.

Well, this year my birthday fell on Easter Sunday. I went out to lunch with my folks to a cafe that luckily was open. I was given some slippers, some skincare products and a butterfly pendant. Oh, and chocolate. I will catch up with some friends this week and next week.

The weather has been fine, but there's that chill in the air that warns it is autumn and will be getting colder.

I've been watching the third season of Brit crime drama 'Broadchurch', with the final episode this Sunday. I just love David Tennant in one of the lead roles, barking orders in his (natural) Scottish accent. The new season of Doctor Who started yesterday... ooh, new companion. Still miss Clara, a bit.

Will be buying DVD of 'Rogue One'. Not sure about buying one of 'Fantastic Beasts' - I loved watching it at the movies, but not quite enough to buy my own copy. I'll see.