Weekend Chatterbox

Well this is fuckin' weird:

Don't worry amipal. They can tell you all about it when you meet up in 'early January'

Proper Chatterboxers? What kind of oxymoron is that? Probably mainly morons anyway.

Hello Improper Chatterboxers. I've returned to these shores on Thursday night, walked into the kitchen and found a jobbie of feline origin on the floor as well as a puddle of cat sick. This may or may not have been a dirty protest against the substandard services provided by Mr Tent Rooster. The cat had refused food and medicine and was therefore not in good shape. She has calmed down a bit, but yesterday she was still sticking to me like the world's fuzziest sticking plaster. She obviously blames herself for letting cat service staff and experienced smoochers escape so easily and will not let it happen again.

Mr Tent Rooster was in slightly better shape. Daughter had dropped by over Xmas with the non-contagious granddaughter and the twins, and they had a good time. He particularly enjoyed drinking his ale, holding the glass with one hand whilst supporting one of the twins sitting on his knee with the other. Both him and the baby were making their satisfaction known through gurgling noises.

He managed to knacker the desktop computer I managed to get going in the summer. Needs a new hard drive. Another project for the new year.

On the flight to Germany I was sitting next to an elderly lady who was visiting her twin sister who is married to a German. We met again on the way back, discussing how lucky we'd been to get away before an electronic fault grounded flights at Birmingham Airport. The flight back was unusually speedy and uneventful, and she told me that she now regards me as her lucky travel companion. I will make an effort and acquire a proper Tent Hen mascot outfit for next time.

Had a good time at Christmas with my mother and brother. I introduced both of them to the concept of the Christmas Cracker. I had the challenge of translating Christmas cracker jokes into German, and let me tell you, it's very challenging indeed. The effort blew some kind of fuse in my brain and for a while I was incoherently babbling in random Christmas cracker jokes like Babyfark high on eggnog.

I got a hilarious book on German architectural eyesores as a present from my brother. Really, it's beautiful in a way I can't explain. Also a lot of homemade biscuits, sweets and jam.

My brother and his partner had bought a digital TV receiver for my mum because a few weeks ago the digital switchover had reached her island. They guessed that because of the age of the television set a SCART connection was most likely. They guessed wrong. It was HDMI, and although the local supermarket has a well-stocked electronics section everything is closed at Christmas as well as Boxing Day. I had to leave at lunch time to embark on the four hour (currently five hours because of rail works) train ride to the airport. So I only had limited time to buy the correct cable, install the receiver and still teach my mother how to use it. Since the receiver took absolute ages to scan for channels the last bit turned out to be too much. There was also the issue of excessive pixellation affecting the local news channel. My mother managed to watch some program in the afternoon but is now quite despondent as she can no longer switch the television on (no idea what she's doing wrong, but there are many possibilities).

SIGH.

Games? Only a bit on the train and plane, although I was so exhausted that I slept for most of the journey. Once I returned to civilisation I was able to read the Christmas Box, but the internet was too flaky to post.

"Skyrim 133 hours"
Is there a zero missing off the end of that?

Oh, and amipal,

Limni and the cool guys (and guyesses) send their regards. Apparently your WhatsApp invite got lost in the post.