September 2025

General…

First day of September was a busy one with an early morning appointment with a dental specialist, which wasn’t as bad as I expected and once home made for a good laugh with both Min and my child when I tried to speak - I had about 7 injections in my mouth to numb it so you can imagine how I sounded! I had to take antibiotics for a period after this which caused havoc with my body for some time, I also had to take this horrible mouth wash which made my mouth feel so furry and slightly numb. It’s a strong incentive to use all the interdental brushes in the future, I do not want to go through all that again!

Later in the day we went into Gunwharf to watch Colorful Stage! The Movie A Miku Who Can’t Sing. It was great turning up there and finding lots of people dressed as Hatsune Miku, it really added to the atmosphere and made it feel really wholesome and friendly. The movie was okay, I didn’t find it the easiest anime to follow however as it progressed I started to get the gist of it, and the music was a lot of fun. After the credits it had a bonus performance with Hatsune Miku and some other characters, this was possibly the highlight of the show as many who had dressed up got out glow sticks, there was lots of cheering and seat dancing going on. It was a really happy show.

My child had an appointment in London at GOSH to see their physio so we went up by train which was rammed, this obviously put my child on edge as they really don’t like crowds - however they survived and did really well. Straight to GOSH and into the appointment which was about 75 minutes long and they really flagged by the end, but they did really well with the new exercises given to try and teach their new muscle to start the process of smiling. As a reward I took them shopping and they wanted to try Animetal, they loved it there however found the prices insane! Especially as they found their first Hatsune Miku figure in there for £75 when it cost them £22, this put them off the store entirely. We went to Forbidden Planet (their favourite store) instead, where they picked up a red and black Kuromi plush, which was really cute. A little walk to Waterloo and back on the train which ended up having a fault and being cancelled in the end. This would normally trigger my child but they dealt with it with maturity and we got another train which they ended up watching anime on Crunchy Roll (I’d just set it up for them) for the whole journey - however this ended up being delayed and we missed our connecting train! All in it was a good trip and I felt a strong connection with my child after, we had some good laughs once home, and they are doing really well with their operation recovery.

It’s been on the books some time but this month I collected the Yaris Cross which is in a lovely shade of green, forest green I believe it’s called, as a result this car has been dubbed Yoshi. It’s a lovely looking car and such a massive upgrade from my 2007 VW Golf ‘Amanda’ which has been a good run around. I did a tip run with her then took her in to WeBuyAnyCar and they bought her for much more than I really expected, that helps towards a few bits I wanted to get for Yoshi, and covers the admin fee of cancelling Amanda’s car insurance.

Min and I took Yoshi for a drive up to Harting Downs where we went for a little stroll to look at the views and where I took a few photos of the area. While up there I spotted a ruin which turned out to be the Vandalian Tower which was built in 1774 by Henry Keene for Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh to celebrate the founding of the colony of Vandalia. This was a short-lived colony covering the now West Virginia and North East Kentucky. In the 18th Century it is said that Emma Hamilton would often watch for Lord Nelson’s ship arriving from here which led to it being referred to by the locals at Lady Hamilton’s Folly.

There was a lunar eclipse this month which I managed to watch the tail end of as the moon rose. It was fascinating being able to watch the eclipse across the moon slowly turning into a full moon. I did manage to get some photos which you can find down in the photography section.

Two years ago my Mum passed away and it just so happened to be the lunar eclipse day, so during the eclipse I did a tarot reading with a firepit and thought about my Mum. I realised earlier in the day that having the distance from not living in Battle anymore meant I did often think that she was still a phone call away, before realising that’s not true.

The first full week of school went well and my child got into school up until Wednesday when they started to struggle to get out of bed, however they still got in and did really well, a positive first week! They also auditioned for this years school performance which is The Addams Family, they got the role of Grandma which they are rather chuffed about.

Min set up a Letterclub for friends which I really like the idea of, it’s a nice way to stay intouch without having to use social media, which it seems so many are moving away from, part of the reason I set up my website and monthly recap was for this reason. It’s a lovely little thing which they tested by doing an early release, so we all wrote a little in it and when it came out it made for a good read and brought some happy feels.

I spotted in the local Facebook group that there was a free photography course running at my local college so I enrolled in that which I’m rather excited about. More on that in the Photography section of this post.

On the 18th I went to watch Warrington Runcorn perform at The Wedgewood Rooms which you can read more about in the Music section of this entry.

I’ve been having a lot of issues with my right shoulder, it’s an old injury from back in 2009 that gets aggrevated quite easily. In 2022/23 I started going to a physio who really helped with it, but this year it’s been resurfacing and triggering some rather nasty migraines. So I’m back to the physio which has been helping a lot, although leaving me very tender after! I also contacted the GP about it, back in 2009 I was told I could be referred to a physio but it was a 1-2 year wait! So I didn’t bother. This time around they made me a phone appointment and I went through my history, he seemed rather concerned about the pain I get in the right temple and behind the eye, at which point he started going on about Giant Cell Arteritus, which did give me a bit of a startle, then he said I’m not hitting any red flags, but watch out for this and that. He booked me up for an actual physio at the GP though so hopefully that will help.

Next Month…

It’s a big month for me as I turn 40! I’ve booked myself in for a few pampering sessions and a Wheel Throwing Taster which I’m really excited about. The main event isn’t until November though as Min and I are doing a ‘fancy pants’ 40/50 joint birthday celebration at a posh spa place, which I’m so excited for!

I’ve also got a gig to go to next month, the start of my photography course, a few social events, and a spooktacular halloween camping event. I love Autumn.

Gaming…

Still playing Warhammer 40k: Darktide and loving it, the loading screens are a bit boring and I could do without as I’ve heard the speeches so many times. I’ve been enjoying experimenting with different weapons and builds on my Ogryn and also ramping up the difficulty to see what I can actually manage.

I have pre-ordered every Borderlands game and although some of them haven’t been as great as others, I’ve loved them in some way or another, so pre-ordering Borderlands 4 was a no brainer. I’ve played some of it with Min in coop and I’m really enjoying playing it alongside them, they are playing Vex the Siren and I am playing Amon the Forgeknight which is working really well together. I’ve also been playing as Rafa the Exo-Soldier in solo play which has been a lot of fun with his automated shoulder turrets!

The game is not without bugs, but the bugs aren’t gamebreaking and in most cases there is a work around. The navigating around the zones is a lot of fun and the gunplay is chaotic as you’d expect from a Borderland game, it does feel like it could potentially be one of the top Borderland games - but my rose tinted glasses will always rate Borderlands 2 first.

On android I’ve been playing a lot of Sudoku Club which I am really finding a lovely thing to do through the day, it keeps the brain active a bit unlike the other games I was playing on android previously. I recommend checking it out.

Movies & Shows…

Colorful Stage! The Movie A Miku Who Can’t Sing (Cinema) - A really fun movie that took some time to figure out in the first half, but was very fun by the end, I still have no idea who all the characters are though. Post credits was great at the cinema as all the cosplayers had glow sticks and it became a mini-concert.

West Wing, Season 5 - A much stronger season with a lot more depth and goings on, this season held my attention much more than the previous.

Now You See Me - I watched this ages ago and enjoyed it, although it had poor reviews so I was wondering if it was going to be another rose tinted Bad Boys, but it was good fun and filled with great actors.

Now You See Me 2 - This one I hadn’t watched before and I really enjoyed it, however I felt the first one was much more ‘magical’ and ‘theatrical’ while this was a little more action oriented. It was still a lot of fun to watch!

West Wing, Season 6 - Such good acting in this season, especially from Martin Sheen, you can see the show unwraveling, but it had to come to an end eventually and it feels this season is starting to prep you for that. It’s interesting seeing the candidates on the road, and because of all the backstory you know what would be happening in the White House without seeing it.

West Wing, Season 7 - What a fantastic ending to the show, it all fell into place, every story was complete and they didn’t push for more seasons. There was an ending. So many emotions throughout the season and the entire show. This is a show I am so glad I watched and have no regret about going from season 1 to season 7 back to back!

Podcasts & Books…

Stag Dance by Torrey Peters - I started reading this last month as part of the Queer All Year Book Club, it’s three short stories and a novella apparently. The first short story “Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones” which put me off quite a bit, it felt like it had no real story to it (I may have missed the sub text?), the main character was full of red flags, it felt like it was slamming polyamoury at one point, and it did annoy me that you never learnt the POV characters name (perhaps that was to try and make it feel more personal?) The second story “The Chaser” which was a much more ‘enjoyable’ reading experience and I found myself curious as to what was going to happen next, however that took a turn for the worse and highlighted a toxic relationship without any communication, I also feel it really painted the ‘trans woman’ (as I believe they were hinting towards) in a really bad light. I’ve got a novella and one more short story to read, but I am really struggling to want to pick the book up… I may end up donating it to charity.

Music…

The Last Dinner Party - ‘Nothing Matters’ is a song I’ve adored for some time, the ‘Prelude to Ecstasy’ is a fantastic album, but courtesy of Spotify I noticed ‘From The Pyre’ with some pre-release tracks which I’ve been thoroughly enjoying along with my revisit to the Prelude to Ecstasy, so this month I’ve been listening to a lot of The Last Dinner Party. I also may have bought the Prelude to Ecstasy vinyl and pre-ordered the From The Pyre one…

I went to see Warrington Runcorn New Town Project at the Wedgewood Rooms, it was great to get out to a gig and was quite an experience, the music was enjoyable but rather loud (insert witty joke about being nearly 40) for me. I’d listened to his stuff in the past and enjoyed it as ambient background music, but live it didn’t appeal to me so much, I’m glad I went though. The supporting acts were Secret Self and Marina Moore, which didn’t do much for me. Marina Moore I would have preferred to have listened to her just playing full pieces on the violin without the looping, she also looked fantastic in the lights with the smoke, it was an almost haunting image. Loved it.

Photography…

As above I enrolled in a photography course, at the moment I mostly use my camera in auto mode which is taking some superb photos, I meddle with the manual settings here and there, mostly when taking astro shots, but I don’t really know the technicalities of what I’m doing, only that it looks better or worse. Back in college I did do photography as an A level but I bailed out of that course as it was more to do with digital than it was dark rooms - which was what I was interested in, the romantic ritual of creating a photo. In hindsight I should have stuck with it as basically the course I’ve enrolled in is the same sort of thing. It’ll be interesting learning more about how to do things with my camera, but also using software to adjust photos, and more than that, connecting with people that have the same interest. What I also noticed when looking into this course was that my local college (literally 5 minutes around the corner) offers a huge selection of mini arts and hobbies course for free! So I may end up falling down that hole in the future.

Harting Down Album - We took the new car up to Harting Down to see how the car performed, this also gave me an excuse to bring the camera and take a few photos.

Lunar Eclipse Album - Taking photos of the moon with the big lens and on the tripod has made me realise that although my tripod is fantastic for travel, using binoculars, and smaller lenses, the larger one does make framing a lot more difficult. So I’ve started shopping around for future tripod buys, at present I’m considering a Peak Design tripod to stay within the PD eco-system, it’s a big expense though so I’ll see how I feel about it in the months to come.

I also had a visit from the local fox who was lounging at the bottom of my garden, with my storage set up for my camera now it was so easy to get to and switch between lenses; here’s a couple of photos.