Derailment

A very unsatisfactory day today.  I got up nice and early intending to take the light rail into downtown Seattle.  I wanted to do some shopping, plus take a short ferry ride to Bainbridge Island - somewhere I haven't been to for ages.  But I thought I'd check for any service alerts before I set off - and I'm glad I did because that's when I discovered the big news.  A train had derailed in downtown Seattle last night, and they had shut down all the downtown stations.  So the line was only running to a certain point, and then you had to take a shuttle bus.  That's a big nope from me.  And I didn't really feel like driving downtown and finding somewhere to park.  Especially knowing that without light rail the traffic would be horrendous, even for a Sunday morning.  So I never went in the end.  What bad timing.  So apologies for anyone I might be staying with on my trip back to the UK, since I wasn't able to get you a souvenir.   

Lists

I've got a list of things I need to do before I fly to the UK, a list of things to do when I'm back in the UK, and a list of things I need to do after I fly back from the UK.  I do have a habit of making lists.  Am I just trying to be organized?  Is this a symptom of ADHD or autism?  Or is this a symptom of OCD?  Who knows.  I wouldn't say I compile or complete lists compulsively, but I do like the focus, control and satisfaction of checking off things on a list.  And if I write something down, then at least I don't have to stress about trying to remember it. 

AFL

We are nearing the end of the regular season of Australian Rules Football.  And I am so disappointed with the US coverage.  They are showing maybe 3 or 4 live games every week.  Which is great.  But the choice of games is so bad.  I am missing out on so many games between contending teams, because they are not being shown in the US.  Instead they are airing games featuring teams who are not in post-season contention, and so who are not playing for anything.  It is nonsensical.  Perhaps it is intentional, perhaps it is not, but I don't recall this being an issue earlier in the season.  But they really should be airing the marquee matchups.  Mind you, I'm going to miss the final 3 weeks of the season whilst I'm back in the UK.  I think I'll try to still record any of the better games, and watch them when I get back.  Unlike English football, it shouldn't be a problem avoiding the AFL scores.     

Busy

With only a few work days left until my vacation, it is a bad time to get busy.  And a load of stuff has come up recently at work that needs to be dealt with before I go.  Which means that the next few days are going to get incredibly busy - both with work, and with everything I need to do before I fly out.  The last thing I want to do is work during my holiday, something that most Americans wouldn't think twice about, so I'm going to force the issue by not taking my work laptop back with me.  That might not go down well with some colleagues, but I don't care.

Count Binface

Yes, the 2026 Clacton by-election has even made the news over here.  No surprise really when the only serious contender to Nigel Farage is a guy with a trash can on his head.  It is ridiculous, but quite amusing - and extremely confusing to an American audience who don't get these joke candidates in their elections.  Of course Farage will win the by-election, but I think he is already a big loser in the court of public opinion.  Even more so than he already was.  I note that Nigel Farage has stopped accepting Cameo requests - I wonder if the video clip I got from him (I hasten to add this was something a friend paid for and got for me as a joke, since it is definitely not something I would do for myself) is still available?  

Commonwealth Games

It has only come to my attention recently that the Commonwealth Games is going on.  An event that has exactly zero coverage over here.  And frankly, I don't why it's still a thing.  It just seems like an expensive waste of time.  So expensive, that the original 2026 hosts (Victoria. Australia) withdrew due to financial concerns.  And isn't this a really watered-down version of the Games with just a handful of sports?  This sure is no Olympics.  It is just an outdated relic from the British Empire.  Something we maybe shouldn't honor any more.  

Travel Bug

Because I've been trying to make some plans for when I come back to the UK, I've been thinking about travel a lot recently.  I think I lost the travel bug a long time ago.  And that's a real shame.  Lots of reasons for that: age, a lack of travelling companion, a lack of vacation days.  There are still so many places in the world I would like to see.  I've always said to myself that I would love to take a sabbatical from work and do some traveling when I turn 50.  I'm almost there.  But will I actually follow through with that?  I doubt it.  It's one thing to get laid off, but it's another to quit.  And I'm not sure it's in my best interests to quit my job right now given the state of the job market.  Perhaps I need to make better use of the vacation days I currently have.  Most of them tend to get used up from trips back to the UK.  But I think I need to be a bit more selfish and take a holiday for myself.  To somewhere I want to go to, somewhere I've never been to before.  It may be somewhere within the US, it may be somewhere abroad.  I doubt it will be anywhere particularly exotic, because it's somewhere I have to be comfortable going to and doing stuff by myself.  That is surprisingly restrictive.  Maybe it's time to start completing my goal of going to every single National Park in the US.  Particularly before Trump shuts them all down so that they can be ruined by mining/drilling/data centers.