Will

If she can keep things sensible then I totally agree. There is the old issue of “you can’t win an argument against an idiot” and Trump will just continue to spout utter drivel that is hard to come back against because you just can’t prepare for it. That being said, at this point I don’t think any of it matters. Trump supporters will vote for Trump and Democrats will vote for Harris. The selections on each side are now very interesting as each will galvanize the other to go out and vote in huge numbers to keep the ‘wrong’ side out. This is probably the first bad move of Trump’s campaign, I’d have said he was pretty much certain to get in before this but now he’ll have a real battle on his hands.

Feels like a weird one for me, I don’t particularly consider any form of dance to be something I’d expect to see nor be interested in at the Olympics. I’m not sure I could tell good vs. bad if I was watching it which basically takes away any reason to watch. I do understand trying to bring in younger more diverse sports but I’m not sure this is the right one. Also, I believe they’ve already dropped it from the next Olympics so seems like a bit of a waste if they want to make something of it.

I’ve always loved the Olympics, I think with Tokyo I managed to watch pretty much everything and I intend to do pretty much the same again this time. It would definitely be on in the background the whole way through. From that BBC site the things I’ll actually make an effort to watch will be: Opening ceremony: 26 July, River Seine Archery: 25 July to 4 August, Invalides Athletics: 1-11 August, Stade de France (track & field), Trocadero (race walks), Invalides (marathons) Beach volleyball: 27 July to 10 August, Eiffel Tower Stadium Boxing: 27 July to 10 August, North Paris Arena & Roland-Garros Stadium Canoe slalom: 27 July to 5 August, Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium - White water Canoe sprint: 6-10 August, Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium - Flat water Cycling track: 5-11 August, National Velodrome Diving: 27 July to 10 August, Aquatics Centre Fencing: 27 July to 4 August, Grand Palais Marathon swimming: 8-9 August, Pont Alexandre III Modern pentathlon: 8-11 August, North Paris Arena (ranking round), Chateau de Versailles Rowing: 27 July to 3 August, Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium - Flat water Sailing: 28 July to 8 August, Marseille Marina Shooting: 27 July to 5 August, Chateauroux Shooting Centre Swimming: 27 July to 4 August, Paris La Defense Arena Triathlon: 30 July to 5 August, Pont Alexandre III Weightlifting: 7-11 August, South Paris Arena Wrestling: 5-11 August, Champ-de-Mars Arena Closing ceremony: 11 August, Stade de France Actually that makes me realize just how much of it actually interests me. As a showcase for sports that don’t usually get much attention the Olympics is great.

We’re at the hospital to have the baby, it’s not coming just yet though. Everything still seems to be total chaos, no idea what is going on but one thing I do know is that there is no sign of a baby.

I don’t carry cash around at all anymore. I don’t even carry any bank cards, just do everything through my phone/watch nowadays. The only place I’ve actually needed cash in the last couple of years has been the Japanese Embassy (of course!) but other than that not worrying about taking anything out makes life much easier. I’m in the hospital at the moment (wife is having baby #2) and it’s absolute chaos. Nowhere can take any payments, they can’t get any test results, appointments are a mess etc. etc. We had to wait 3 hours to start being seen and everything is massively delayed. They’re doing all they can though and everyone is lovely. Interesting watching all of it play out, as has been said it’s amazing how one small issue can grind the whole world to a halt.

I have to say I’m super happy this upgrade has finally happened. Should have done it years ago! I’ve not been around much lately but I will try and stick around for a bit now I see you have this lovely new software.

I just got my order processing notification! With a bit of luck it will have been delivered by the time I get back from my next trip.

As @Fierce_LiNk and @Hero-of-Time already said I think it's very sad for the family, though I’m sure they will find much happiness looking back on her legacy. From the coverage last night it seemed he was in the country but didn't make it up there before the end. Yeah, this. There are not many people around that have known anything other than The Queen. It's going to be very odd for the next few years... New money, new stamps, new national anthem, a whole load of other stuff too I'm sure.

Anyone watching the Artemis launch today? Super excited to watch this mission progress - should be the start of something amazing.

Great to hear everything is progressing well. Sounds super promising for the future.

Looks brilliant and I’m super tempted to buy it for myself. The problem right now is that there are a ton of awesome things. I want that pyramid. I want the anniversary castle. I want this. I want the rollercoaster. I want the new trains. Godamnit Lego!!!

Which to be fair, is how our system has worked for the hundreds of years it’s been around. We’ve also generally had an election pretty soon after a new idiotic Tory leader is elected in recent years. I imagine this will be no different. The biggest problem right now is that we have no electable opposition. Generally, the country has become so partisan that the lack of a strong alternative means we’re doomed to an early election that the conservatives will win and then we’re just back at square one. As happy as I am that Boris is gone, I’m not feeling super enthusiastic about our near-term future.

I thoroughly recommend boycotting everything about this thing.

The prices are insane! Double (at least) what we paid for Wrestlemania a few years ago. I know people will be desperate for this as we haven’t had a big event for so long but it really seems like they’re taking the piss a bit with the prices. I’m still kind of tempted though…

Great fun tonight, thanks all!

Do you have any idea how to form a group for the weekly challenges? Every time I start one it gives me no options other than starting on my own and I can’t find any way to add people to the group. I still enjoy this for what it is but I feel like there is so much more they could do with it. I really wish they’d do more of this group stuff and maybe add a few multi-level collection things. The ‘game’ as it is is really very limited.

It’s cool but honestly I think the pyramid is one of the best things they’ve done in a while: Definitely day one for me.

Yes that’s me!

I finally have my Switch unpacked and am actually available tonight - is there room to join?

It’s done! Firstly this nice man removed my radiator: Capped off the pipes: Left this lovely blank wall: Then this nice young man came to fit the TV: Woohoo! Sooooo thin: Passed the Cars test: Just need to get something to go under the TV and to clean up the holes/marks from everything. So nice to finally have a decent TV again.

That looks great, @MindFreak! We had that damn radiator removed today and I have the TV installers coming over tomorrow to quote to sort out the TV for me. They’ll do the work immediately if I’m OK with the quote so, with a bit of luck, this time tomorrow I’ll finally be able to play some video games for the first time in months.

So the move went extremely smoothly in the end. It was a super busy day of things being delivered and trying to get everything in a decent enough position before I went away for the week. Since then we’ve been slowly picking up a few bits and pieces and making lists of things that need to be sorted out. Overall I’m REALLY glad we went with the new build. The issues are minimal and there is nothing that really causes us a big issue. Probably the biggest one so far is a bit of a bubble under the hallway floor. Having all new stuff and a fresh feeling to everything is also really nice. The insulation is also insanely good. When I was staying with my parents/sister we’d have the heating on to just about get comfortable and then we’d feel cold less than an hour later. Here we lose barely anything and it’s never got cold enough to feel even slightly uncomfortable. Now I have a week to try and get some things done before my next trip. Probably won’t manage much but with a bit of luck I can plan for a few things to happen while I’m away.

Did some test fitting for the TV with all the junk mail we had waiting for us. This was the 65 inch which was way too big so we've gone with the 55 inch instead. The radiator will be removed and the TV put a little lower than it is in this picture.

Got an LG G1 OLED TV for our new place. Comes on Friday but will need to wait a while to get it installed properly. Can’t wait to finally have a decent TV again.

Turned this: Into this: Not much but it's a start on making our place a nicer home.