Sunday Summary | You be my lighthouse, honey, and rescue me ...

Dear FOQ

How are we all?

Somehow in the excitement of reporting on the 1970s Disco last fortnight, I managed to omit two very important milestones:

1) The 15th Anniversary of having moved into QB Heights (which I plan to celebrate retrospectively by treating QB Heights to one of these bad-boys):

{Bar cart, baby, yeaaaah!}

and

2) Ma QB's birthday

We celebrated in retrospect last weekend as Ma and Pa had been away, and then – well done, Monarch, the CAA, French Air Traffic Control ... – stuck at Porto airport for 24 hours over Ma's birthday proper.

Let us move on ...

---

This fortnight, I have mostly been ...

Reading 📕

... and finishing, woot woot

then picking up

{I am David | Anne Holm}

Watching 👀📺💿

{Jane Eyre}

{Poldark}

and because I needed some weird, lighthearted fluff ...

{Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23}

Possibly the least possible effort has gone in to writing this programme's theme tune but ... the programme itself gets addictive. Especially when it involves this guy

{James Van Der Beek, for the uninitiated}

ripping himself to shreds.

Also, it has Dean Cain. You remember Dean Cain, right? TV's Superman in the 1990s?

Ohhhh yeah.

Listening 👂🎵

Also ... These albums. 💓

I do like a wistful hipster ...

Celebrating the birthdays of ...

1) Ma QB

The Fam (Ma, Pa, Sis, Sis' partner Ceri and moi) went for a magnificent lunch last Saturday at the Poacher and Partridge in Tudeley, where we ate our respective body weights in tapas and starters before we even began Lunch Proper; where the ambience was friendly and the Shiraz was infinitely drinkable: the flatbread with caramelised onions and mozzarella blew my Friday night Prezzo offering

out of the water (sorry, Prezzo ...) and the Cajun chicken tortilla (which I managed not to wrap but ate like a pizza) was immense and spicy.

In a good way.

We passed on dessert, and headed back to Harwood Heights to see the parents' Portugal holiday snaps (blue sky ... blue sky ... blue sky ...) and force down a slice o' birthday cake. Good times!

2) Ms Jess

{Bay-oo-tiful birthday girl on t'left there, with Ms Charliepops}

There were welcome drinks, nibbles, and – eventually, but not for want of trying with a few technical hitches – karaoke; weirdly the Lucky Voice allowed all the Voicerox songs to play through, then started to cut off any non-choir songs. There's a conspiracy at play here, I tell thee.

Party shout-outs to Jess, of course, Charlie, Al, Alun and Steve aka "Bisto" (and Marie) with an honorary shout-out to Alun's Christine, for driving over to the party three times!

Happy Birthday, Jessie J! xxx

Roaming ... 🛒

... the vast and spacious aisles of the newly-reopened über-Sainsbury's in town. 🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓

{artist's impression but pretty close already | via}

Sweet mother of chocolate, it's enormous.

A little overwhelming, in fact, but I'll get used to it.

The kitchenware section is gorgeous and copious, and, why oh why, Sainsbury's, is so much of it mint-green or red, or enamel, thus guaranteeing that I'll want to buy it for it matches my decor, you wicked tempters, you? Egads.


Pinterest Pins of the Fortnight 📌

Fortnightly Web Finds 🕸🔎

Making up for several link-free weeks ...

Serious-ish 😑

• This is an interesting/useful writerly read: How to Keep Track of All Your Novel's Details | on Writer Unboxed | via SfEP on FB | They advocate Excel. I always advocate Excel.

• Mystery solved! | Introducing The IKEA Dictionary: a guide to the meaning (or lack thereof) of the names of IKEA products.

Now you can find out exactly what BUMERANG means, Maz!

(Boomerang, obvs!) | on Lar5 | via Present & Correct on FB

KALLAX is however missing. 

Perhaps it just translates to "Get out more, QB, seriously" ...

• Marriage is no longer the norm – being single is | Oh goody, I'm Norm ...

on Bolde via Feminists United on FB | Taken as intended with a ma-hu-sive pinch of salt – quoth I:

7. WOMEN CAN CLEARLY SEE THAT MANY MEN AREN’T WORTH OUR TIME. 

Not only does this trend of staying single prove that women aren’t settling, but it also proves that women can look at the pool of guys out there, cringe, and realize we really don’t need any of that in their lives.

Pool? What pool?

• How My So-Called Life changed TV forever | in Guardian (Guide)

• Love this advert for Technics cassette tapes (Japan, 1978) | YouTube | via the exquisitely curated Things Organized Neatly Tumblr

Silly 🤡

• ... but also a bit awesome: This Origami Penguin | on Laughing Squid | via Edd

• Photoshop 'troll' James Fridman takes requests for photo fixes literally | on MyModernMet

{via }

and turns out to be a nice guy who will call people out on any unnecessary edits.

• These unphotogenic (but rather adorbs) animals | on BoredPanda | via Clare G

{Yer, I'm kinda warm ... I ain't lion ...}

{"The hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiills fill my heaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart ..."}

{"Waaait, lemme take a selfie ..."}

I'll stop now ...

{"Ah, yeah, ma posture's never been better ..."}

OK, now.

• This KFC advert. Just ... clucking brilliant. | via Ma QB

And just plain ...

Sensational 🌟

• Jeff Lynne's ELO ... as LEGO. | on YouTube by user tedblight | via MM and via Charlie | Sorry, Ma QB, this year's animation won't even come close to this for sheer awesomeness ...

And that's all for now.

Stay stable in the face of storms with very unassuming names ...

qb xx