Unfinished Tales

On the trip to Amsterdam where I missed my outbound flight, I almost missed the return too. Schipol is twenty minutes from the Centraal station, we reasoned as we headed to the area for after-work beers. I left the bar at the last possible moment and my train sat in the station, going nowhere. I met Elvira, Richard and David because they were sitting nearby and I'd just rushed three beers. Richard took a group photo but didn't e-mail it to me yet. He said all hope of catching my flight was lost but I was derermined to try and, luckily, my plane was delayed more than my train. I think I was the only passenger smiling about that.

A long weekend with Alice was the cherry on the top of my vacation last week. I invested in a second controller for the PS2 and several two-player games. We had a blast with Rayman: Raving Rabbids, shooting rabbits Time Crisis-style. Alice says she concentrates better when she doesn't breathe. She cut my hair again, because she is patient and it was due. The end result is blatantly too short but we didn't quarrel over it (though I'm gonna need a month before I go out in public again).

We watched The Sinful Nuns Of Saint Valentine which was like an Italian Hammer Horror film with more boobs and flagellation. It was hilarious. Redemption titles are dirt cheap from certain online vendors, so I think I'll have myself a little "phase".

Rome has been good too. They aged the character of Octavian by bringing in an older actor who carefully bases his speech patterns and mannerisms on the original. I bought the transition. Pullo is still comedy and Vorenus has been better since his annoying wife (Suzie from Torchwood) died.

I was banging on about the true meaning of 'decimate' last month. It's often confused with 'dessicate' or 'exterminate'. When a Roman legion lost a battle, one tenth of the survivors were ritually stripped of their armour and beaten to death by their fellow soldiers - decimare, in Latin. The Paranoid Mod thought I would find this Photoshopped cover of The Amazing Spider-Man amusing, and he was right.