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Clear sky tonight and it was possible to get a good look at Jupiter in the night sky near a full moon. What was super-exciting was seeing the four Galilean moons of Jupiter – Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – through a telescope. It gives an incredible sense of the…

Incredibly, the first episode of Doctor Who was aired on the 21st November 1963. As I’ve been a fan of the classic series from childhood, I thought I’d go back and watch the first season. The adventures of the First Doctor and his companions are the ones I’ve watched the…

Alice bought me the new Daniel Clowes graphic novel, Monica, which is excellent and so so SO heartbreaking.

Managed to hook up my old PS3 controller to act as a controller for the Kodi media centre I’ve set up on the Rasp Pi 4 I had knocking about in a box upstairs. All working really well. I’ve got longer-term plans to develop this with decent speakers (maybe a…

Found a secondhand copy of Riddley Walker in our local Oxfam Bookshop. It’s an apocalyptic SF nove set locally here in Kent. This copy’s got an intro by an enthusiastic Will Self. It’ll have to go on my tsundoko for the time being as I’m wirkinh my way through the…

Somehow our switch was dropped (probably not the first time) and started malfunctioning. The issue seemed to be one connected with power. It was pretty straightforward to open the switch up and take a look inside. I made what repairs I could and cleaned off the dust and… it was…

Went for a walk around the ruins of Thurnham Castle today. It’s the remains of a Norman earthworks castle. I enjoyed the ruins much more than I expected and the area around is full of twisty paths through woods and sharply descending steps. Jan and I explored some of the…

Phew! Finally put a new battery in my iphone. Made a couple of mistakes – and lost one miniscule screw – but all seems well. Phone is working. It was something that HAD to be done as the old battery was lasting about an hour between charges.

Visited the Devil’s Kneading Trough near Wye today which has a lovely view of southern Kent from the Downs. It was exactly the right length of walk for the kids. Alice picked blackberries.

“Frodo was alive but taken by the Enemy.” So ends The Two Towers. My slow read of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings now advances into The Return of the King. Gandalf returned. The Ents laid siege to Isengard. Saruman’s power was broken. Gollum led Frodo and Sam into a…