Hedgecutter

Fixed for me. That said, I've only ever seen the 80s films and JJ Abrhams' character assassination efforts. Never bothered to watch the original series despite having Paramount. Tbh, I wouldn't bother with the Mandalorian even if it was free on my Fire stick, despite knowing the original trilogy almost word for word. I always see spin-off series as being for the type of folk that got past the first half hour of the Matrix 2 (whatever it's called).

Mac n' Cheese There have been multiple occasions whereby I've actually fancied it off the menu, but not ordered it because of the M n' C wording. Yes, I'm that petty. Petty, but principled.

Another storming of the Capitol Building probably isn't the best way of encouraging democracy and political stability elsewhere tbf.

Have they not invoiced the SFA for the Celtic game yet, or did they blow it all on an epic night out after beating the Broch?

Hmmm. Too discrete, huh. Well fear not, for I have passed 10 mins of nightshift boredom by tastefully designing a prototype club crest for any near-future club merger: In it is the Kessock Bridge; the critical piece of infrastructure that links the Fortrose & Strathspey areas. This crosses some wavy waters which ingeniously doubles as an outline for Nessie. The latter pays homage to the Loch Ness FC heritage, whilst the thistle-turned-football reflects the Strathy Jags legacy. The acronym represents the club's ambition by preparing for the arrival OF fans who may struggle to read the surrounding text.

Hence the catchy acronym.

It's really quite incredible that you still can't get your head around this. Clubs: pitch looks playable enough, everyone here's in agreement. Ref: Naw it isnae. Clubs: What's the issue? Ref: That soggy patch there [points finger] Clubs: What if you give us an hour or so to treat it to the overly-high standard you're after, saving everybody a whole additional midweek evening & night? Ref: I acknowledge your chronic backlog, the several thousand collective road miles the away fans/players have already made, and the extra time & considerable expense this will entail, but my tea might get cold. Clubs: Aww come on. ...

Badenoch And Strathspey Thistle And Ross District FC The merchandise alone would make them a minted global sensation. You know it makes sense.

The inconsistencies in the Sky updates. Example below where Annan get their Athletic, but Dunfermline don't. The length of the Annan v QoS line above shows that space isn't an excuse. Scandalous.

@StJohnstoneFC

It humours me that Buckie seem to avoid their Twitter feed whenever the opposition score. Not quite as much as this though: ETA: aye, I know it's an old post, but effectively pinned.

He's make Fury look like a bit of a c*** there, hasn't he.

BOOM!!!

FWIW, my mum was a childminder for about a decade and got fed up with it, persevering mainly for the flexibility and ability to work from home and not require a childminder herself. The final straw for her was them wanting qualifications to carry on. She essentially told them that if they prefer to have youngsters with a certificate over a mum of three then they could stick it. She promptly moved into the candle selling business instead, selling overpriced lumps of wax to those probably complaining about the cost of childcare. I strongly suspect that worked out better for her financially.

Aye, it's a decent period of certainty. After all, there's a general election in the pipeline and I don't fully trust the British electorate not to vote in the MRLP. ETA: looking at it a bit more, if I went for the 2yr option then I'd need the rate to have fallen to <3.94% by 2026 to make it worthwhile paying 0.4% more for the 2yr fix. Probably worth settling with the 5yr option for security, instead of gambling in the hope of saving ~£20pm. Anyone else find themselves being a little bit flippant about such things and then opting for a different brand of beer because of a 20p difference?

The above chat has prompted me to look at my own options through Nationwide. Regarding the automatic renewal talk (which is June for me), they're currently saying I'd go into a variable rate of 7.99%. That's in contrast to 2yr @ 4.84%, 3yr @ 4.79%, 5yr @ 4.34%, or 10yr @ 4.9% A tricky choice between the 2yr and 5yr option I'm thinking seeing as there are murmurings of a fall to 3.X% later in the year.

As a general observation from my social circle at least, there seems to be a tendency for folk to go straight to the 'forever home', rather than going up the 'housing ladder' (which you hear about near-daily, but seems to be a lost concept to the under 40s). I don't ask about their finances, but when you have even modest interest rises on what's probably upwards of 200k debt on a house early on in the term, then that's going to fairly hit the drinking kitty.

I did actually

I still remember being in a pub in Durness when there was a tidy Czech barmaid. When I asked her tongue-in-cheek "where's the party tonight then?" at closing time, the whole bar sharply perked/sobered up when she replied "in my bed". Turned out she justed wanted to go to sleep after a long shift.

I had a similar experience once, although I ended up having what felt like a date across the table with the waitress. Far preferable to having her lingering around just for me. Was a midweek effort and there was nobody else the entire time. PTTGOYN for me though is when waiting staff insist on doing every little thing for you, e.g. pouring drinks with a hand behind their back, despite me saying they don't need to bother. I just find that whole servant thing a bit archaic and uncomfortable. The nightclub toilet guys who evidently think you can't wash your hands on your own take the biscuit though.

There's something strangely familiar about a story in which some dressed-up Scots inadvertently become box office worldwide after starting up a dodgy money making scheme.

Dune (1984 one), largely because I went to see Dune 2 the other day and had little idea what was happening because I kept falling asleep in the cinema (after coming off night shift). Having seen the cinematography of the new ones, the old film seems more of a gingerphobic comedy. Never saw the bit I wanted to though because I, err, fell asleep.

Called off at 2:20 here. Raging.

I still think there's potential for a Spock spin-off film/series in which he wanders around learning how to use those 'colourful metaphors', maybe in a Malcolm Spocker fashion. What d'ya think? @scottsdad