Go See Pride and Prejudice in Scarborough

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As everybode kno I consider myself a very cultured person. I’ve watched most of the Marvel movies and I know the numbers and pilots of all the Thunderbird craft. Last night I went to the theatre to further burnish my cultural credentials. We saw Pride and Prejudice at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.

I did a bit of due diligence before we set out and, after discovering that the story does not include any aliens, car chases, superheroes or “14 minutes to save the earth” moments, I took the precaution of ordering beer and ice-cream for the interval. At least that way I would have something to look forward to during the evening.

As it turned out I needn’t have bothered (although the beer and ice-cream was very nice). The play was awesome. The production was enthusiastically acted and imaginatively staged. The best thing about the way it was done is that it was definitely not the “Lizzy and Darcy Show”.(showing knowledge of the actual plot - go me).

All of the accompanying characters were very well rounded out and you got an understanding of how difficult it was to make your way through those times if you had made the mistake of being born without any money to your name. Lots of great lines from the book made it onto the stage, and the casting was inspired, including a few of the actors “doubling up” on characters which worked incredibly well.

If you think that classic literature, or plays aren’t your thing you really should go along to see the play and have your mind changed. It won’t cost you much more than going to see the latest superhero reboot (which will be on telly soon anyway) and you can order beer and ice-cream for half time. Win win.

Thunderbirds are Go - ish

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Over the weekend I thought I’d show a young guest the joys of the Thunderbirds TV show. They were suitably impressed (or very polite). However, I wasn’t able to show the higher quality version with the better sound and pictures, even though I remember watching this just after I bought the TV series from Apple TV a few years ago. All that Apple TV serves up now is the original 4:3 version with the mono soundtrack.

I’ve had this before with digital media. An album that I bought will lose tracks, or they will change into different versions. Or a service will vanish leaving me with nothing for the money I spent with them. Such is modern life I suppose. In the meantime I’ve spent thirty quid on a Blu-Ray version of the show. Come the digital apocalypse at least I’ll still be able to watch the adventures of Scott and Virgil and the rest of International Rescue.

South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum is awesome

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We didn’t really set out to visit South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum, we were really on the way to Doncaster Gaming Market. But we had tickets for the 1:00pm entry and some time to spare so we went along to look at aircraft and helicopters for a while.

They’ve got a lot of stuff under cover, plus a whole bunch of aircraft and helicopters outside.

There are also loads of exhibitions and displays, including an aircraft control room. There’s also lots of material about the blitz and what it was like to go through. Thought provoking stuff and well worth a look.

Tidying up the home page

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I’ve done some tidying up of this site. I’ve got rid of the word cloud thing, which served only to remind me that I’ve written lots of posts about things that no longer exist. In its place I’ve put some links to things that are ongoing and folks might find interesting.

If you think there are other things I could do which would improve “The Rob Miles on-line experience” please let me know in the comments.

Update: I’ve put the tag cloud back. You can now find it on the top menu. I’ve also added a “Bad Jokes” link.

Current Flow

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You know that feeling when you put a teacake in the toaster, push down the lever and everything goes out. I do. It happened at teatime today. Turned out that a wayward raisin had bridged the gap between the element and the case of the toaster causing a current flow (yay!) which tripped the circuit breaker. It took me three goes to fix it, but now I can make toast again.

Sci-Fi Scarborough is great fun

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We went to Scarborough today to visit Sci-Fi Scarborough. It was super. I took the big camera and grabbed some pictures.

What a welcome committee

The town was looking good too

They had some amazing film props and costumes

The spa is a great place

They had stuff for sale, authors, illustrators, props, cosplay, talks and tabletop gaming. We had lunch at the restaurant at the Spa and it was superb. Pro tip - have the fish and chips.

The event is open tomorrow (Sunday 27th). You really should go..

Get to sleep using your kitchens

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If you are having bother getting to sleep, spend some time walking down memory lane thinking about kitchens. Works for me. Thinking about stuff that hasn’t happened yet gets the brain whizzing with plans and things to do. But thinking about stuff in the past is quite different (at least for me). So at the moment I’m working my way through the various kitchens we’ve had over the years. The memories are all good ones - like when we used to have a high chair and baby food all over the floor.

if you’re having trouble getting to sleep think about something that you liked doing in he past and see if it works for you..

Mad Software

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For the last six weeks the car has been asking me to accept a change in terms and conditions covering the software in it. A cheery reminder pops up after five minutes of driving. But it won’t let me see the conditions of course. Because I’m driving.

So today I waited for the reminder in the car outside the house before I set off. There were several pages to be gone through and I didn’t read any of it. Mainly because I wanted to drive somewhere. I just clicked on OK and NEXT to get me through to the end and out. I’m pretty sure that the changes are so that when I drive past a Starbucks the car can tell me that latte is on offer at the moment.

I’m not sure how we got to this place, but something tells me it is not a place I want to be in.

Daleks can't see red

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The invisible dalek?

Back in the sixties I was reading a Dr. Who annual, as you do, and I happened upon the “Dalek Defence Guide” which gave helpful tips for surviving a Dalek invasion. Daleks were the number one science fiction baddy of the time, so I reckoned these tips were worth taking seriously. One of them was that, since Daleks can’t see the colour red, you should wear red clothes and hide behind a red post box if you see a Dalek going past.

This caused me all kinds of problems. If they can’t see red, how does this work? Does red appear black (in which Daleks would see you as black) or transparent (in which case the Dalek would see what was behind you). If they see red as transparent, how does the view of what is behind get through you for the Dalek to see. And how does the universe know to show the world behind you to the dalek, and not you behind the red thing?

Yep, I started over thinking things pretty early in life….

Update:

Thanks to the wonders of the internet I’ve found the original reference. You can read the entire Dalek World from 1965 here. I actually think the description makes a kind of sense. It’s not that red stuff is hidden, just that the dalek brain does not notice it as such. But I might be overthinking again….