A slight case of overblogging

A short list of things

• My mum's gall bladder is safely removed, hopefully good riddance
• My phone has died again, and is on its way to Giffgaff to hopefully be fixed under warranty
• I have a startlingly old-fashioned dumb-phone to keep me in calls and texts in the meantime - usual number
• Am considering buying a new phone in the New Year anyway
• I've booked the eye test Specsavers have been reminding me about since March - now only £7.50 instead of a tenner :)
• I dyed my hair purple, coincidentally the same shade as 10 years ago, in just the week people are comparing old and new photos - it doesn't look quite as bright as it did on bleached hair of course
• The Christmas tree is up and we have some lights in the garden too at Matthew's request, and a decorated office door at work
• I have printed out the Christmas card list, ready to start writing cards, late as usual
• I *think* I just did the last bit of present shopping, I gave in and did it online, couldn't face the shops

Any phone recommendations welcomed - current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, and I like the size and the general look and feel and so on. I'd like something with a little bit more power (mostly for Pokemon Go). Looking to spend around £200 again sim-free, or find something on contract for around £15 a month since that's roughly what the Samsung has worked out as over 24 months (including a fiver a month on 500MB of data, and the occasional top-up for calls and texts).

And if you'd like a Christmas card and are not on my usual list then drop me a line with your address!

Friday I cooked dinner for Mike, we sat in the garden in the sunshine, and watched the silly recent Starsky and Hutch film on DVD. A lovely relaxed evening.

Saturday we decided to get out on the bikes, despite the heat. Didn't want to spend too long out though on account of Mike's hayfever, so in the end we just cycled out to Waterbeach along the river and back on the road through Horningsea and picking up the river again on the other side just after Fen Ditton. A short and very pleasant ride. We came home via Tesco and Mike cooked the most lovely lamb shank in a red wine and rosemary and garlic gravy, mmmmm. Spent the afternoon and evening watching the football, with a break in the middle for the tennis instead. And then Mike introduced me to Dungeon Keeper 2, which was rather fun even if I don't think I was actually very good. Still, it's nice to find games a challenge.

And on Sunday I'd intended to make it to Kate's to wave her off to Cheltenham, but when we got up at 11 I just thought I'd play a bit more first, and the next thing I knew it was 5pm and we weren't even dressed. So we had pot noodles for breakfast and pottered about a bit more before I had to head to the Junction to see Regina Spektor.

And well, she was *brilliant*. Support from Only Son was OK, but well, it would have worked better with a band rather than just a backing track. The audience were polite enough but when Spektor came on they were simply spellbound. She must have played for about an hour and a half almost non-stop. A couple of a cappella numbers, two in the middle on the guitar, but the rest of the time just her and the piano. I only knew a couple of tracks in advance "us" and "on the radio" both of which were excellent and tempting to sing along to if I hadn't felt like it would only spoil things, so I sang silently and smiled and grinned. It was just lovely, and a lovely surprise to find that Owen, Jan, Tom and I were also being joined by Lucy. Great performance, great company, great way to end the weekend.

Quiet day yesterday, dancing tonight, union meeting on Wednesday lunchtime, #tropic party on Saturday - not much happening this week but it should be a nice one. Oh and my hair currently has a blonde streak in the front, it'll go colourful at some point and the rest will probably go black, but for the meantime it looks quite cool in its own way.