Useless weather forecasts. Today - 0% chance of rain so we decided to build our new shed. Half way through and torrential downpours on and off all afternoon. Fuckin' waste of time reporting weather in the UK. We started at 10am and only finished at 6pm.

This Winter Machine - A Tower of Clocks (LP, 2019)
SPO


Generated at awesomeprog.com

Prog for Peart

A two day music festival in Abingdon, Oxfordshire set up in memory of Neil Peart of the band Rush which donates all profits to brain cancer research.

I've just found out about this. A bit far to me, but I'm tempted - especially the Friday.  Friday 12th July & Saturday 13th July.

https://www.progforpeart.com/

Slift - Ummon (LP, 2020)
BC, SPO


Generated at awesomeprog.com

A few years back I was using Powerline adapters but kept getting issues, so I bit the bullet and wired my house with Cat6. My router/BT socket is in the middle of my house so I had to run 2 feeds around the inside of my living room then out through an air brick, around the outside wall of my house then drilled 2 holes (one down and one upstairs) and fed the cables through those. I've got my own termination kit so did all the RJ45s myself. It made it easier with my CCTV system too which is in my loft as I just had a feed out and down through a soffit and through the hole in the wall to a switch. The only wifi devices I have are phones, alexas and internal cameras.

We began watching Fallout last night. I know of the game from when I watched my lad playing it when he was younger. This TV series is a blast: humorous, gory, action-packed, a good story - definitely our sort of show. 2 episodes of 8 watched so far - brilliant.

We've had 24 hours of dry weather. It's the first time I've seen my patio totally dry this year. My wife and I managed to dismantle and dispose of an old wooden shed. But now we're waiting for a longer spell of decent, dry, still weather to build a new plastic one that's still sat in it's box under the gazebo. I'll need my son too as it looks like a twat of a job going by the reviews.

Slift - Ilion (LP, 2024)
BC, SPO


Generated at awesomeprog.com

Amplifier - The Octopus (LP, 2011)
BC, SPO


Generated at awesomeprog.com

Arena - Contagion (LP, 2003)
SPO


Pure Reason Revolution - The Dark Third (LP, 2006)
BC, SPO


Big Big Train - The Likes of Us (LP, 2024)
BC, SPO


Generated at awesomeprog.com

Not anymore, since I've retired I've never felt the need. I treated myself to a Tag Heuer Aquaracer analogue when I left the RAF in 2008 and wore that until 2019 when I finished. A battery replacement required the watch to be sent off to Tag to service and replace. That was £150 every 5 years or so. I couldn't be arsed doing that anymore either so it's sat in a draw ever since. I've never wanted a smart watch - a phone is enough for me.

We only managed the penultimate episode last night of 3BP as the missus was nodding off. Turns out there is a Chinese version of 3 Body Problem from last year too which I'll watch (30x 1 hour episodes though opposed to the Netflix 8 episodes - wow). I'll reads the 3 books too - if I really like a TV show based on a book I'll always go and dig out the book to read - my wife doesn't understand that at all as she thinks it's daft to read something you know what's going to happen. Me, I just like the detail a book gives that a TV show/movie can rarely provide.

Playing some new vinyl today. The 2018 remix PF press is quite spectacular:

Pure Reason Revolution - Above Cirrus (LP, 2022)
BC, SPO


Pink Floyd - Animals (LP, 1977)
SPO


Generated at awesomeprog.com

The Sea Within - The Sea Within (LP, 2018)


IQ - Dark Matter (LP, 2004)
SPO


Generated at awesomeprog.com

I've just watched episode 5 of 3 Body Problem. Just wow - brilliant. If you do start watching it just accept the first 4 episodes as scene setters, even if they seem a bit weird and silly. It will make sense later on. This episodes also has one of the best scenes/effects I've ever seen, just stunning.