Dark Alex's Really Long Post Thread.

[Alex]

Hmm, Boris Johnson's suspension of Parliament has been declared illegal. He hinted he'd quit if the courts came to that decision. Somehow I doubt he will.

Kristi has gotten a wrap thing for me to carry Ash in when I take him down to Glasgow at the weekend. Be interesting to see how it works out. Meeting up with Dave for beers beforehand. He can't go to the gig as he needs his cash for Alice Cooper the following week. Thought about going to that one, but I've seen a lot of Alice Cooper the past few years and I'd like to see someone else for a change.

Plus one of the support acts really was bad enough to put me off going to see him right away (The Tubes).

[Alex]

Ever noticed in history books how leaders often had some addition to their name like Charles the Magnificent or Ethlred the Unready? I think it is a shame we don't do that with leaders nowadays and what titles would people give to them? Not what people's own opinions would be on someone, but a mass nickname applied by a large chunk of the population to whom so ever runs the country.

What is happening in the news today. Boris's attempt to get brexit through bypassing the due processes has been declared illegal. Well I guess it is some comfort that our laws and courts are strong enough to counter a leader who decides just to go a bit rogue and do things his own way. Is it strong enough for one who goes a lot rogue? Trans people are leaving the whole LBGT thing because the other parts aren't accepting or understanding enough of them, so they will be having their own trans prides day. Well, there is irony I guess. Do they take one of the colours out of the rainbow flag now? Since that is all over the news I guess nothing more important is happening out there in the world, no wars, terrorist attacks, natural or man-made disasters and so on.

Tonight and tomorrow left to go at work then I am off to Glasgow for a concert. Taking Ash down with me and he can spend the weekend visiting his gran. Saw that The Hu are playing Glasgow a couple of nights after Ozzy. Since I'll be down there anyway I might just go see them too.

[Alex]

It's not yet 07:00 and I've been awake since at least 02:00. Had an early night though, so got plenty of sleep. Ash crashed out heavily last night and I am hoping he'll sleep a bit later than usual today. He could do with a good nights rest. Didn't nap while I was traveling with him. He was about to fall asleep on the last ten minutes of the Aberdeen train, but swapping trains kept him awake enough and he got hyper after that.

Not sure what time we'll be heading up to Glasgow at today, but looking forward to it.

Damn this being stupidly awake.

[ER]

Ever noticed in history books how leaders often had some addition to their name like Charles the Magnificent or Ethlred the Unready? I think it is a shame we don't do that with leaders nowadays and what titles would people give to them? Not what people's own opinions would be on someone, but a mass nickname applied by a large chunk of the population to whom so ever runs the country.

What is happening in the news today. Boris's attempt to get brexit through bypassing the due processes has been declared illegal. Well I guess it is some comfort that our laws and courts are strong enough to counter a leader who decides just to go a bit rogue and do things his own way. Is it strong enough for one who goes a lot rogue? Trans people are leaving the whole LBGT thing because the other parts aren't accepting or understanding enough of them, so they will be having their own trans prides day. Well, there is irony I guess. Do they take one of the colours out of the rainbow flag now? Since that is all over the news I guess nothing more important is happening out there in the world, no wars, terrorist attacks, natural or man-made disasters and so on.

Tonight and tomorrow left to go at work then I am off to Glasgow for a concert. Taking Ash down with me and he can spend the weekend visiting his gran. Saw that The Hu are playing Glasgow a couple of nights after Ozzy. Since I'll be down there anyway I might just go see them too.

Sir Boris of the Bad Hair. (I like the guy but really, that hair will live on to be breathlessly recalled in saga and legend.)

[Alex]

Ever noticed in history books how leaders often had some addition to their name like Charles the Magnificent or Ethlred the Unready? I think it is a shame we don't do that with leaders nowadays and what titles would people give to them? Not what people's own opinions would be on someone, but a mass nickname applied by a large chunk of the population to whom so ever runs the country.

What is happening in the news today. Boris's attempt to get brexit through bypassing the due processes has been declared illegal. Well I guess it is some comfort that our laws and courts are strong enough to counter a leader who decides just to go a bit rogue and do things his own way. Is it strong enough for one who goes a lot rogue? Trans people are leaving the whole LBGT thing because the other parts aren't accepting or understanding enough of them, so they will be having their own trans prides day. Well, there is irony I guess. Do they take one of the colours out of the rainbow flag now? Since that is all over the news I guess nothing more important is happening out there in the world, no wars, terrorist attacks, natural or man-made disasters and so on.

Tonight and tomorrow left to go at work then I am off to Glasgow for a concert. Taking Ash down with me and he can spend the weekend visiting his gran. Saw that The Hu are playing Glasgow a couple of nights after Ozzy. Since I'll be down there anyway I might just go see them too.

Sir Boris of the Bad Hair. (I like the guy but really, that hair will live on to be breathlessly recalled in saga and legend.)

I keep wondering if boris and trump are some sort of bad haired half assed clones.

Decided to try and watch a horror film every night. And then I remembered I'll be in Edinburgh, spending the night in the castle on Thursday so that wouldn't work. And then I remembered that Frankensteins is just around the corner from the castle and that I can pop in there. They are always playing old Universal Frankenstein movies in there, so I go there, have a few drinks and keep the challenge going.

Bally's last day in uniform tomorrow. He is having leaving drinks next weekend. I am planning on attending. Then again I attend most leaving do's unless I either don't respect someone, really don't like them,  or if I am just busy doing something else. I might not see any reason to argue with the person or part with bad words, but I am not going to turn up and pretend that I like them either.

Hell when I am leaving, I plan on mentioning it as little as possible to the people I work with to the point where I'd be happy if on my last Friday someone says "You know you'll be working 'Y' shift next week?" and I reply, "No, today is my last day. I am clearing." Never have been one for overly emotional goodbyes.

[Alex]

Heading off shortly. The plan is to go see an old nuclear bunker, then off to Edinburgh Castle for the night. Tomorrow we go see the National Flight Museum (and I must confess I am looking forward to seeing the Komet they have) and hopefully should be back home while it is still evening time tomorrow.

Have fun folks and see you in a few days.

[Alex]

So went to the secret bunker and had a walk around. Impressive bit of engineering, although it made me quite angry that the people who would have been responsible for a nuclear war would have been saved in places like this while the innocents would have died in the millions outside without even knowing it existed.

Got to see parts of Edinburgh Castle that most visitors never get close to. Our rooms were large and impressive. Went out for a few drinks in Edinburgh (started off in Deacon Brodie (if you like Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, google that name) and then wandered down to Frankensteins. While we were in Brodie's a drunk woman in a nice dress tried to chat me up. She told me she'd been at a do in the castle earlier and she'd get into trouble for telling me this but the duchess (and i think she said of Sussex here, but there was a lot of background noise and I wasn't 100% sure, and besides I think she is on a tour of Africa or something at the moment). I looked around at her and said "You are right, you will get into trouble for that. I am staying at the castle tonight and I'm a member of the royal protection unit. You are under arrest."

She promptly fled the bar running out into the night.

Anyway, went to the museum and saw lots of planes. When I have time I'll upload some pictures. Got home to find out that my mum had been rushed into hospital. She'd been at the hairdressers and the woman doing her hair (who has been friends with my mum for decades) got a bit worried about her and phoned an ambulance. Turned out she'd had an aneurism. They took her to the local hospital but were sufficiently worried to transfer her to a larger one up in Glasgow (the same hospital my brother works at) for an operation. They also found some bleeding in her chest and had to operate this morning to stop that. We got up for the first train down this morning and went straight up to the hospital. Got to see her when she came out of post-op recovery. She was still pretty groggy from the anesthetic, but she could talk to us (abet weakly), and recognised that we were there. Tomorrow they'll start treating the brain aneurism from what I am told. I didn't actually get to speak to any of the doctors myself so I got things second hand, but I am led to understand this is a more long term process. My older brother managed to get a flight over from Saudi and he got in a couple of hours after we arrived. I've been given compassionate time off work. I'll be heading back up to see her tomorrow and hopefully we will get a better idea of what is going to happen.

[Alex]

Went back up to the hospital today. Mum was looking much more aware and better today. She didn't remember us being there yesterday and thought it was still Saturday. Hadn't really expected her to remember us though, she was still suffering from the various drugs they'd pumped into her. She asked the nurse if she could go home today. Told her that she'd be staying in as long as the doctors said she'd to stay in and we wouldn't be bringing her home until then.

Sleep would begood at some point. Been a few days since I got some. Ash woke up last night just as we were going to bed so I let Kristi get some rest and sat up with him. Didn't get him settled until after midnight and then I was too tired to sleep.

Mum will get assessed tomorrow and hopefully get moved out the ICU and onto a general ward. Once that happens we'll be able to sort out our own plans and what we need to do.

[Alex]

Heading back up again today. Got a message this morning that mum had been moved out of the high dependency unit and onto the ward, so that is a good sign. She called me this morning and she is sounding better. Hopefully seeing Ash will cheer her up a bit. Taking her stuff to help keep her busy while we aren't there.

[ER]

Keeping your mom in my good wishes, Alex, and your family as well during this time. I'm glad the news seems to be more positive.

[Alex]

Unfortunately, she was only in the ward for a short time. They found a leak inside her that they can't stop. The medics are going to try and put in a drain to it runs into somewhere else in the body where it will be harmless.

She did look a lot better yesterday again and was sitting up in a chair rather than lying in bed.

[ER]

I hope things are going better today for your mother, Alex. You don't have to answer or keep us posted, just I hope she's on the mend.

[Alex]

It's complicated to fully explain, but the short version is that she is getting better. It will take months, and she'll remain in the high dependency unit.

I felt happy enough with her condition to come home for the night. I'll be going for my tattoo tomorrow and then heading back down until Sunday. Popped into work and they said if I need more time off just let them know.

How about the next three and a bit years?

Thinking a lot about work and my last three years. I've asked Kristi to think about some stuff and then we will make some decisions on where I go next.

[Alex]

Got up early this morning. Everything I am taking back down the road I've already packed, but I wanted to shave my head, and the part of my chest that's getting done. Could have left that to the tattooist, but I don't trust other people with blades that close to me lol. Had started shaving my head last night but got bored half-way through and figured what the hell. I was home alone and not planning on going anywhere so I wandered around the house looking like Hawk or Animal. I can never remember which one was which. Hell, they could have swapped hairdo's around and I might never have noticed.

I'll be heading out in around an hour. Until then I am just relaxing and watching a couple of bad movies (what else?). Currently, I have Humanoids From The Deep is playing.

[Alex]

Got a surprise when I heard mum had been moved out of the high dependency ward, especially as I'd been told she'd be there for weeks. She is showing good progress though and has been up for a short walk. She is hoping to get moving around more on a ward. Before we go to see her tomorrow I've arranged for all of us to go to a Brazilian restaurant for a meal before we go to see her tomorrow. Mostly because I've been feeling Kristi has been left out of things and I wanted to organise something that included her. Plus Kristi really likes Brazilian.

One of the TV channels (The Horror Channel, which seems to show more sci-fi than horror but whatever), has started showing Space 1999 from the first episode. Used to be essential Saturday morning viewing back in the 70's. They've also been showing Star Trek: Voyager and the original series which I was watching and thinking what a terrible CO James Kirk actually is. Despite a fairly high rate of attrition amongst his crew he never reviews his procedures or refines orders. There is no way any military or even quasi-military organisation would sustain those kinds of losses without an investigation. Chances are Kirk would have spent a lot of his five-year mission being recalled to his nearest Star Base while a full-scale investigation was carried out into each fatality. Even if you excuse the losses given the more dangerous nature of an exploratory mission there is still the failure to properly review standing orders and attempt to cut down on those losses. I remember not long before I joined up there was a big thing in the news at an army barracks where several people had died over (I think) a couple of years. New recruits were terrified of being posted to this place as the media were hinting that the deaths were murders being disguised as suicides. I remember one girl bursting into tears when she heard she was posted there. I could imagine news of a posting the Enterprise being greeted with a similar reaction.

I guess when Star Trek first came out it was a simpler time. Hell, I wish I could go back to time when I could just watch and enjoy it without thinking of all these things. Now I am wondering how many crew losses Voyager sustained in its travels back to Earth compared against TOS.

Maybe I'll pick up a copy of Star Trek Attack wing and just blow some ships up instead. Mind you, the ships for that kinda look like they aren't quite up to the same quality as the X-Wing figures which is a shame. Trek always did have some lovely (if impractical) ship designs.

I wonder how an X-Wing Vs Attack Wing game would go? Actually, now I seem to remember someone doing one of those and putting the results up online.

Assuming nothing changes up at the hospital we will be heading back home Sunday. Not sure when we'll be back down, possibly for Yule, but I still kinda want to stay home for that one. Tragedy are playing in Glasgow the day before Ash's birthday and I am pretty sure we'll be down at my mums' for that one. Heard that the Ozzy concert is being rescheduled. That's a bummer. We were going to come down and catch three gigs that week, but I don't think the other two are worth coming down for by themselves.

Now I've started counting the number of crew who die in Space 1999. They ended the pilot episode with 311 people and other than new children being born, or recruiting aliens they have no way of replenishing those numbers. So far in this episode, they've lost two more.

I think my brain needs something to keep it occupied.

Yesterday when I was in Inverness I went to get some money out of a cash machine. There was a woman using the machine, so I waited for her to finish and then went to put my card in after she'd walked off.

Lo and behold the dispenser opened up and what I'd guess was a couple of hundred pounds came out. I looked around for the woman, but she'd disappeared into the crowd. A receipt then printed out. I picked up the money and the receipt, took them inside the bank and handed the money over, explaining the situation. The woman inside seemed amazed at my honesty and thanked me for it several times. When I went outside the woman was there asking if anyone had seen her money. I told her to go inside the bank as I'd just handed it in. Anyway, having done my good deed I walked back to the train station (having picked up the money I needed from my own account). The expected rush of endorphins for doing something nice didn't occur. Indeed I am still waiting for that rush even as I type this.

And yes I did seriously consider just keeping the money. I didn't examine the receipt closely, but I couldn't help but notice it said she had over £11,000 in the account, so a few hundred was small change to her I guess and I could have used the money, but it isn't like I really need the cash. We aren't short of food and we have money to spare and have fun with, but a bit extra never hurts.

Oh well. Now damn you brain give me that chemical rush!