TV Theme Tunes #7

So why am I choosing a theme tune that I'd never heard before until this week, from a TV show that aired before I was born and that I've never seen?  One reason - John Barry.  Who just so happens to be the composer of the James Bond theme, so you know this is going to be a good one (which it is).  And, not uncoincidentally, the show happens to feature a certain Sir Roger Moore - in what looks to be a great precursor and/or audition for his role as James Bond.  Now I want to watch the show.

More Animal Action

Apparently my trail camera is not very good at picking up animal activity in wintry conditions.  I can see all kinds of animal tracks in the snow around my house (deer and rabbit for sure, but definitely others), but my camera didn't capture anything.  Which is extremely disappointing.  But here are a few more pre-snow images:

Team-Building

I braved my very icy driveway to go out for some team-building events today.  In fact, my driveway is the only problematic part of my getting anywhere - once you're on the roads, they are fine.  It's quite interesting to see how quickly the snow disappears when you head south just a short way - just goes to show how localized the heavy snowfall was, with my neighborhood taking the brunt of it.  We first met up at a place called Topgolf - which is essentially just a driving range with golfballs that are electronically tracked, so you can play these different golfing video games.  Like a slightly more real version of Wii Golf!  This wasn't my choice of places to go - and frankly I'm surprised it won the vote because most of my colleagues don't play golf and don't know how to hit a ball - but it was quite good fun and after a shaky start I did quite well.  I would consider going back.  And then we went to a Brazilian steakhouse - I think only the second time I've ever been to one of these - which was absolutely delicious (but not the kind of place I would normally go to, as it ain't cheap!).  I'm not sure how much actual "team-building" we did - most of my manager's team was there, including a couple of remote workers who are in Seattle for a few days, but then my manager couldn't make it because she tested positive for covid!  I'm back home now and absolutely stuffed after all the meat I consumed at lunch today!          

England 3-0 Senegal

For about half an hour I was nervous - England were ponderous and sloppy, giving the ball away and Senegal having all the chances.  But then England scored, and the rest of the game was a breeze.  We have an uncanny ability to turn it on suddenly, string a few passes together and score a nice team goal.  It's unexpected, and impressive, how good we look when we play with confidence.  We're going to need to do that to have a chance against France.    

More Snow

It snowed again last night.  Less than earlier in the week, maybe about 3 inches, but still enough to cause me all kinds of grief.  I had to clear the driveway of snow again, which with the size of my driveway is exhausting and a hassle (I managed to break my snow shovel as well, which isn't good).  Fortunately no more snow currently in the forecast before I go back to the UK, but now it's subfreezing overnight temperatures to deal with.  All the snow melt freezing up is going to be a big issue.

   

World Cup Group Stages

So, we've finally got to the knock-out stages of the World Cup.  I might actually start watching more of the games in their entirety now.  4 games in one day was and is far too many, so at least that's over with.  I wouldn't say there have been a lot of good games, but there have been a lot of tense games.  And we've had some shocks (notably Germany and Belgium not progressing), a lot of controversy and some very weird results.  A lot of big teams surprisingly lost their last group game but qualified for the knock-out stages (France, Brazil, Spain, Portugal), and it's going to be interesting to see if this affects them going forward.  If you're going to lose a group stage match you would rather it was the first game, like Argentina.  Talking about Argentina, they definitely top my list of least favorite countries - they truly are the masters of the dark arts of football.  That's why it was so good to see another of those teams - Uruguay - get knocked out today.  I think I have a bias against Spanish-language and Portuguese-language countries - I don't want to see any of them lift the cup.  It's also noteworthy that Palace's only 2 players to feature in the World Cup (and only having 2 in itself is kind of insulting) have both been knocked out - so now I don't even have a second country to root for.        

Snow

I'm stressed.  It's been a nightmare since Tuesday, when I got hit with about 8 inches of snow, mostly overnight.  The snow was really heavy.  One of the more disturbing experiences was standing in my front doorway watching the snow coming down in the darkness, with the only sound - and literally the only sound - being the breaking of tree limbs under the weight of the snow.  Indeed, a big tree limb came down and blocked my driveway.  The only tool I had to deal with this was a little hacksaw, which was entirely inadequate.  My landlord is currently in Hawaii, but fortunately one of his sons was around and was able to bring out the chainsaw.  Perhaps I need to get one!  In many ways, I was lucky to only have my driveway blocked - there were thousands of people in the area affected by power outages (indeed, I briefly lost power overnight), and the only way this could have been worse was if I had lost power and was trapped in a freezing house.  The amount of snow was way more than forecast, and the temperature hasn't warmed up enough for the snow to melt away yet.  And indeed the overnight lows are going to be well before freezing, so the roads and my driveway are going to freeze up.  I could be trapped for a while if the daytime temperatures don't get high enough to melt the ice and snow - I had an opportunity to get out to do some shopping this afternoon, but I didn't take it and I hope I don't come to regret that.  It's already started affecting my plans - if it doesn't get better next week (and the forecasts seem to suggest there will be more snow events) then I might have to pass on a team-building event and a holiday party.  And I am very nervous about what the weather will be like when I'm due to drive to the airport and fly back to the UK.  Lots of flights out of Seattle have been canceled over the last few days, so this is somewhat troubling.  And to top it all, I've also hurt my back from all the snow I shoveled.  And I've been so preoccupied with the weather, that I haven't been able to get any work done.  Next week could be even more stressful...