Monday 21st March 2016

Those of you with sharp eyes, and sharper minds, will realise that today's (Monday's) date means it is the spring equinox. Although, due to the way our planet as it hurtles around the sun, does so at different speeds, the year is never the same length. The upshot being, this year, was that the equinox was just past four on Sunday morning. Quite how they work that out is beyond me, but there you go. So, Sunday was the date when day and night were equal. And that is something to celebrate, seeing as from now on until 21st (or 20th or 22nd) the days will get longer and the nights shorter.

Sunday

Sunday; last day of my brief holibobs, and on the morrow I shall return to the world of work. But before then, a day of rest.

A cup of fresh coffee. A recording of the Saturday's football. More coffee. And listen to yesterday's radio shows. As you do.

With the weather dull and grey, we sat around and did our hobbies, drank coffee and generally did very little. Just as Sunday's should be.

We have an early lunch of pork pie and more shortcakes. As you do.

I was going to visit my friend, Gary, in the afternoon. But he having just recovered from a three week cold/flu thing, and me still feeling rather chesty after my cold/allergy thing, we both thought it best if I didn't go round after all. This meant Jools went to visit Nan and the old folks up Whitfiled, now that they were back from Jen's bother's funeral. Their Mu, Bet, is 96 and still alive, but getting peculiar and even shorter than ever, no Mother should ever have to see their child buried, really.

I stayed home to listen to the radio; more football sadly, what with there being so darned much of it at the moment. The Tyne-Wear Derby, which ended in a 1-1 draw, which meant the team that won was, in reality, Norwich. But those us us long in the tooth know there is still much football to be played this season. Bey you're happy with that news? Following that was the Manchester Derby, which ended in a 1-0 for United, but in reality was a poor game played between two poor teams, the winning goal well out of the class of this sort of match. And to think a few years ago, these used to be the best two teams in the county.

Whilst the Manc game played on, I prepared roast beef and all the trimmings, filling the hosue with fine cooking smells and much anticipation of the fine feast to follow. Indeed, it was rather splendid, Jools arrived home at half five with tales of funerals and piles.

We sat down for dinner as dusk settled outside, the forecasted dull day had instead ended with the clouds magically clearing, and us getting some late afternoon sunshine. Quite beautiful, really.

We rounded off the weekend with the season finale of The X Files, a somewhat overblown description if you ask me, of a 6 show run. However, it all left a bad taste in my mouth as the usual suspects ran round trying to figure out the alien/human hybrid thingy and what it means and trying to save the world as it seems a vaccine shot had doomed the planet to due of all diseases except those with the alien DNA. Would M&S save the day? We may never now as the show ended as Mulder lay dying in a car on a bridge. On this evidence, I have no idea if it will return, but on this showing, I don't really care. The stand alone episodes have been fine, but this storyline has already been done to death, do we want to see more, unless they tie all the loose ends up and move on. Or stop.