April 2025

A bit of a delay in getting this out this month as I was out camping as the new month came in, but I’m back home and here we are.

This month my child has been home from school due to their operation, so my day to day life has been a all over the place. Over the month they have regained most motion in their left arm, the swelling and bruising has come down (although is still quite visible), and for the most part made a good recovery. They are absolutely dreading leaving the house in fear of somebody bashing their face though which is making getting them out of the house to be quite a bother. However, the school set them up with homeschooling via the Academy 21 website which is absolutely fantastic and helping keeping them up to date on the core subjects (Science (why is that a core subject?), English, and Maths). They were rather reluctant at the start but they’ve grown to enjoy it and just get on, it also only runs during the morning so they get the afternoon to themselves, which is nice for them. Due to this it’s allowed us to visit the cinema to watch SIX the Musical at Odeon, which they were determined to watch with me after they’d watched it at the West End with their Mum.

Six the Musical was something that I surprisingly enjoyed watching this month. At the beginning I was a bit ‘meh’ about it but as the show went on I rather enjoyed the musical numbers and the format of it all. Anne Boleyn’s number was rather humourus and flirty, but it was from Anne of Cleves and onwards that I really got into the music. Catherine Howard’s solo was one that will stick with me and haunt me; I’d heard the song before but seeing the performance that went with it was harrowing, it was so well portrayed and made me feel very uncomfortable - which is what I hoped it aimed to do. There was a lot in the show that didn’t hold to the actual history of the wives and didn’t really focus on how much of victims they really were, how little impact they had on their own life in those times, in some cases making it seem like the women made the choices. However, as a show piece, it was well worth the watch.

This month was also my child’s birthday; 12 going on 21! Last year I baked them a gluten free rainbow cake which they loved, this year I took it to the next level and baked a Rainbow Pinata cake filled with skittles and mini eggs which was great fun and they thoroughly enjoyed it! I did end up spending the entire day baking it though, so I think next year I deserve a break and will buy something in instead!

I managed to complete two blog entries this month; one on Minimalism and the impact it’s had on me while I was in London with a limited amount of stuff, as well as my first gear review based on the Osprey Farpoint Wheels 65L and my experience with the bag over the years, and more recently for my trip to London. I’ve a lot of outdoor gear which I would like to write up reviews on in the future, and as we’re heading into camping season perhaps I’ll get around to it.

With the change in the season I’ve been spending some time in the back garden getting it ready for fairer weather. We were blessed with a short period of nice weather where I got the barbicue out, did a bit of clearing, set up the hammocks, and did a general tidy so that we could enjoy being outside - however the weather made it’s expected change the day after so there wasn’t much of a chance to utilise this space, but it’s ready for the sun!

I also went up to Reading with Min to celebrate their Mum’s 80th birthday! We did a little trip to Aldworth and had some lunch at The Bell Inn, then a little stroll to St. Mary’s Church, which is where Marianne Faithfull was burried. It was a nice church to visit and have a look around, Min and I did a little hunt for witch marks but didn’t come across any (it looked like the walls had been rendered at some point, so that would have covered any up). After this we had a chinese at her house, Min and I stayed the night then Min drove back the next day. It was a nice little celebration, but took a lot out of Min with all the driving and walking over a 24 hour period.

A big topic this month was the Supreme Courts ruling on the Equality Act where they ‘clarified’ that in regards to the law a ‘woman’ is determined by biological sex, meaning a cis woman. This has meant a lot of focus has been on the single sex locations and how they should be based on biological sex and nothing more, so trans-women with a GRC who were legally a woman are no longer classified as a woman and would be breaking the law using a female toilet. Particular women (TERFS) have been hailing this as a huge victory for feminism (with JK Rowl in particular lounging on her super yacht with cigar and drink in hand looking very Bond villain like), when for all I can see it’s a massive step back for all women, CIS and Trans. Firstly it has a massive impact on any trans wo/man who are a minority and far more vulnerable than a cis woman. Second any cis woman who doesn’t conform to what society states a woman should look like (which frankly is governed by the white old aged men in power) are now open to be legally ‘checked’ to make sure they are a woman; if they are suspected to be a trans man then a -male- officer must legally body search the cis woman. Thirdly, and I think this is a big one, if we are establishing locations based on biological sex then it’s not just toilets that are impacted, but changing rooms, medical facilities, service locations (Army, Navy, RAF, Police, etc.), single sex dorms, single sex schools and colleges, these must all adhere to this law. Trans women will now have to use the mens toilets putting them at greater risk, cis women will have to use facilities with trans men. Basically every single sex location is now going to be unisex, only with a different sign on each door. The Supreme Court have stated that the Equality Act is in urgent need of being updated.

The Labour Government, which I regret voting for, are not Labour, every party seems to have shifted more to the right. I’m really disappointed in the direction this country is going. It’s really hard not to dwell on the negative things happening in this country at the moment, or even around the world, we are trudging through the darkest timeline, it would be so easy to get swept up in all the negativity and let it bring me down. The bad things going on at the moment shouldn’t be dismissed, they shouldn’t be forgotten, and they should be addressed, but there must be room for positivity, hope for the future.

The first camping trip of the year has been booked for next month, Min and I are taking the van out for some wholesome outdoor time, and I have plotted a short route to walk in the area which I am really looking forward to. There’s a lot of social events planned for next month, and a trip for my child and I back up to London but to watch a West End show.

Games

Atomfall - Rather steep learning curve but you very quickly become a force to be reckoned with. Great story, enjoyed all I played. Spawn rates of mobs were rather frustrating though. A lot of British humour found throughout. I sided with the druids, but it seemed to glitch out in the cutscene at the end saying I destroyed Oberon.

Diablo IV - A fun pointless game filled with carnage. I enjoy Diablo games but find them to be idle games to play when I have a bit of time and fancy some mindless killing on mass levels. This said, it was nice to play the necro again and explode corpses.

South of Midnight - An enjoyable story and the traversal was lovely, however, I found the combat to be rather clunky and annoying - I would have preferred to play without the combat aspect of the game. Gave up on it in the end.

Second Life - I’ve played Second Life on and off since 2006 and I’m enjoying it quite a bit at the moment as I’m doing a lot of fishing and farming, which is keeping me relatively entertained. It’s something casual I can do while I work on other things.

Crime Scene Cleaner - A fun little game that I do recommend, in some ways it was quite relaxing cleaning the scenes. Very short game though and not a lot of replayability.

Oblivion Remastered - My first introduction to The Elder Scrolls was Morrowind which I played a bit of, then I got older and Oblivion was released which was my first TES to sink a huge amount of time into. The remastered version of Oblivion is beautiful to behold and it is a fantastic game, however I found my interest waning as it is essentially the same game only looking prettier… but saying all this, I keep finding myself drawn to it!

Books

They Came To Slay - First part of the book was rather interesting with the origin of D&D which I didn't know about. However the majority of the book was common sense to anyone who had played D&D.

Sacred Sex - Started reading this and am thoroughly enjoying what I’m reading so far. It’s very sex positive and open about it, rather than making sex this thing we shouldn’t really talk about. I’m interested to see where it goes.

Movies & TV

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 14 (Show) - Finished the season and the reunions. I’m glad to see Garcelle gone, she hunkered down with Sutton, then kept stirring the pot. Just need Sutton and Kyle to vanish now.

Rookie Season 7 Episodes 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (Show) -

The Minimalists (Movie) - A fascinating movie that interested me after my trip to London, aspects of what was shown really appealed to me, but I don’t think I’d want to live quite as extreme. The core concept of consuming for joy and not finding that joy is something that is currently vibing quite strongly with me.

Sons of Anarchy Season 4 - 7 (Show) - Min and I binged this show this month and it was very slow. The final season felt like it was filled with filler episodes to bulk it out. However I really enjoyed the show on a whole!

SIX (Musical at Cinema) - A great show piece, the history is highly innacurate, but some good numbers, and relatively entertaining.

Minecraft (Movie) - A fun movie packed with silliness; if anything it’s left me wanting to play some Minecraft again.

The Illusionist (Movie) - Fantastic movie filled to the brim with a great cast. I’d forgotten everything to do with the movie so it was great to re-watch and see all the twists unfold.

Groundhog Day (Movie) - If you haven’t seen this, why haven’t you seen this? It’s a classic that is worth watching many a time through your life.