w/e 2024-12-15

Back at home all this week. The usual routine of a day or two of constant delight at being home, with all our own spaces and things and routines, followed by, well, less delight. Stupid head.

We had a local decorator in for three days painting the walls and woodwork of a couple of bedrooms. I’ve done a lot of decorating here myself but these walls, once Mary had stripped the wallpaper, weren’t in great shape so it seemed better to get a professional in.

Despite it only being one, nice, quiet person, and only for three days, I still find it awkward and slightly tense having a tradesperson in the home. Hard to relax.

This week I’m looking forward to several days of not seeing any neighbours or strangers at all. No small talk.

§ After several years of the amplifier we use for our TV – a NAD 3020i – occasionally having the left speaker go silent, I decided it was time for it to finally retire.

We bought a Denon AVR-X1800H which, despite being cheaper than the alternatives I’d talked myself down from, is still more than we need at the moment. Our “new” TV is old enough to have two SCART sockets so we’re not making the most of all the receiver’s features. But we can adjust the volume on this new gadget using a “remote control”. How modern!

But I mainly mention this because the machine’s set-up process was so good. A really clear series of step-by-step screens on the TV to guide you through adding speakers and input sources, run the speaker calibration, etc. I’m so used to the software on devices to feel disconnected from the hardware, like an afterthought (see: cameras) this was great.

§ If you’re using the new Mozi app – like Dopplr of old, but annoyingly not a website – and we know each other, feel free to friend/follow/link me or whatever they call it there. I don’t go many places but you never know.

The “only add people whose phone number you have in your Contacts” idea feels very awkward. There are people in my address book I haven’t been in touch with for 30 years. And people I’d love to serendipitously have a coffee with while traveling whose number I’ve never had.

§ We finished watching season four of For All Mankind this week and it was good. It continued to avoid too much of the soap-opera family drama that made season two drag and built up to a satisfying finale.

Ed continues to demonstrate what a selfish, spoiled piece of work a “hero” can be. In fact, I realised that despite the show ostensibly being about individuals working together for the good of humanity – it’s even the title, obviously – almost everyone acts only out of self interest, Ed only being the best/worst example.

§ Not much doing things this week, but there we go.