Hogwarts Legacy

I'm quite tempted to get the Hogwarts Legacy game for PS5.  The reviews have been really good.  But then I have second thoughts.  Nothing to do with JK Rowling's controversial statements - using those as an excuse to boycott the game is ridiculous.  No, my concerns are more to do with the simple fact that I don't really play many video games nowadays.  And particularly not the kind of immersive and open-world RPG that Hogwarts Legacy is.  But then the temptation to rekindle the Harry Potter magic might be too much.  Can I resist...       

More Rodents

Goddamn it, how many mice are there under my house?  I checked the mousetraps this morning, and I caught another one overnight.  But during the afternoon, had perhaps the most annoyingly persistent scrabbling behind the wall so far.  It got so bad that I had to resort to desperate measures.  I started playing a YouTube video that emits a high frequency sound that supposedly acts as a mouse/rat repellent.  It didn't seem to make all that much difference.  Like I really expected it to.  Let's see if the mousetraps have any more success over the next few days, but if the scrabbling continues then it might be time to bring in the landlord's help.  There is no way he will pay for some pest control professionals - he'd rather deal with it himself - but if the mousetraps don't work, then I don't know what the next step is.      

Rodents

I have a mouse problem.  Again.  I've been hearing that infuriating scrabbling sound behind the wall.  So the mousetraps have been brought out of retirement.  In fact, there were some mousetraps still under the house from last time - and one had caught a mouse.  Judging by the accumulation of dust and the deterioration of the mouse, that was not a recent capture.  Yuck.  But I redeployed the mousetraps yesterday, and checked them today - and I managed to catch one last night.  Nice.  I thought that might be it for the time being, but then I heard the scrabbling sound again today - so there must be at least one more mouse under the house still.  The little buggers.  So the mousetraps have been primed again.  Judging by the continued scrabbling sounds through today, the remaining mouse hasn't taken the bait so quickly this time.  Hopefully the temptation of peanut butter on the traps will be too much.      

Man Utd 2-1 Palace

I think it's fair to say that I am officially worried about Palace.  I can easily see us being dragged down into a relegation battle.  We're not scoring many goals, Zaha is injured (and hasn't signed a new contract) and we're not getting many points.  Although I think there are worse teams than us, the relegation fight seems wide open this year with any number of teams below us liable to string together some results or pick up points against each other.  The next run of games could be decisive: Brighton, Brentford, Liverpool, Villa, Man City, Arsenal.  All teams above us, all teams that could (and should?) beat us (arguably, and shockingly, Liverpool might be our best chance of getting some points!).  By the end of March, we might be in the thick of a relegation battle - and I'm not sure we've got the backbone to survive it.     

Bothell

While waiting for my car windscreen chip to be repaired, I took the opportunity to have a quick wander around downtown Bothell.  I've walked the Sammamish River Trail a few times, which starts near here, but I've not really explored the downtown area before, despite it only being about 10 minutes drive from home.  In fact, it was even closer to where I used to live before.  There definitely seemed to be some decent places to eat and drink that might be worth checking out if the opportunity arises - particularly if I walk the river trail again.  But I don't think the downtown area has fully recovered from the massive fire that ripped through the area about 7 years ago (and probably never will).  I remember that - it was a big one, and destroyed loads of businesses.  I thought there was a British pub here as well, but I couldn't find it - and subsequently have found out that it closed pre-pandemic (but it didn't seem to have particularly good reviews, so I don't feel I missed out on anything!).  But Bothell is the the kind of place I wished I lived within walking distance of - I don't really have anything like that where I am now.  I encountered some murals and street art, but this is the only one I photographed (mainly because it struck me as odd, because Woodland Park Zoo is not in Bothell, and is not really that close to Bothell!).

 

Royal Rumble

It was the 2nd most important wrestling event of the year over the weekend - the Royal Rumble (behind, obviously, Wrestlemania).  I have a particular fondness for the Royal Rumble because it's one of the few WWE events that I can remember watching on TV in the UK many years ago (at the time, I think it may still have been called WWF - which just goes to show how long ago it was).  Traditionally, this has been a PPV event in the US - and I absolutely refuse to cough up any money to watch wrestling (apart from the one time I went to see a live event in San Diego), so I don't get to see it.  But these big wrestling events are now on a streaming service that I subscribe to (or, more accurately, comes with my cable TV service).  So I watched this year's Royal Rumble over the weekend.  Or, more accurately, I tried to watch the Royal Rumble over the weekend.  I couldn't get through it.  It sucked.  Professional wrestling sucks.  I think, shockingly, I may be over it.  Professional wrestling is not a sport, it's sports entertainment - the nearest America has to pantomime.  And I think, finally, I may be too old for it now.  That's probably about 30 years too late.  But better late than never.  So although I might still occasionally scan the wresting headlines, I don't think I'm going to watch it on TV ever again.     

TV Theme Tunes #15

Since I'm currently watching the 3rd series of the Channel 5 remake of this show, it seems appropriate to revisit the original BBC theme.  Which is a classic.