Quite simply put, the greatest football player of all time and an inspiration for many millions. Went from shining shoes and triumphed over racism to win three World Cups and scoring 1,281 professional goals when you count the friendlies, which were often against high-profile European sides.
He is to football what Muhammad Ali is to boxing and Don Bradman is to cricket. His name will never be forgotten.
Rest in Peace.
Wishing this show a happy 59th anniversary. With a new production team in charge and making some good decisions already, the Diamond Anniversary next year should be a good time.
In any event, a lot is riding on it, considering how problematic the current ratings are. But I am confident in the skill of Russell T Davies.
We are now dealing with another war in Europe, the first for over twenty years, fought over much of the same territory where the World Wars were fought. Millions have become refugees, millions more have suffered.
Please remember them and all those who still suffer from past wars.
Decided to do one last bit of the Loop before the clocks changed and the daylight hours became too short for it to be done safely. It was a warmish day and I worked up a bit of a sweat, losing around half a kilo all in all.
Section 9 is a long one at around nine miles and is pretty much entirely level, although it was a bit muddy especially near the end. It includes Bushy Park with a large wildlife collection, including deer (which are being culled now to control their numbers) and coots.
You also go over what is left of Hounslow Heath, which was a notorious haven for highwaymen, but the route is poorly marked here, and the Inner London Ramblers are discussing with Hounslow council about changing the path to follow the River Crane instead. Most of it has now been built on and the only daylight robbery you'll see now are the car parking charges.
As you go through Donkey Wood and the duck boards, you're under the Heathrow 27L/09R flight path, with aircraft passing over you around every minute and you can read the aircraft numbers.
I plan to do Section 10 and 11 together in March next year; when the weather and light is suitable. The aim is to do the other twelve sections of the Loop by the end of 2023, so watch this space.
Today marks the end of the Thirteenth Doctor's era, with her regeneration episode, "The Power of the Doctor", airing at 7.30pm tonight in the UK.
It's reasonable to say that this hasn't been the most successful era in the show's history - ratings have declined, popular interest has gone and the quality of stories has been uneven at best. Chris Chibnall, despite previous good work, was not ultimately suited to the Doctor Who gig.
None of this is Jodie Whittaker's fault - she did the best she could with the material - and hopefully she'll find some better stuff with Big Finish.
So, onto Ncuti Gatwa and RTD2; they've got a big challenge ahead of them.
The fastest failure of any Prime Minister that actually managed to form a government in the first place; Truss was utterly unsuited for a Cabinet role, let alone the top job. She now ends her career as a joke - I wouldn't be surprised if she steps down at the next election.
Hopefully they don't re-elect Boris Johnson. Sunak seems the most competent of that sorry lot.
A general election would be best to clear the air, but why would the Tories vote for Christmas? We'll just have to cope with this shambles as best we can.
I plan to continue the TOS reviews at some point, but I've got modern Trek to catch up on first.
Got to say that I'm highly enjoying Lower Decks, the animated adult-orientated part of the franchise at the moment. A lot of (reverential) humour, some good stories and great characters all round. They're due to make a live-action appearance in the second season of Strange New Worlds and I look forward to that.
After a recent trip to Strasbourg and the Oberammergau Passion Play - post on that will follow at some point - I decided to do Section 8 of the London Loop on Wednesday 21 September.
This is a long section - 8 miles including the station links - but a pretty easy one to do as you're following the Hogsmill River for most of it, a tributary of the Thames best known as the backdrop for some famous Victorian paintings (like Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais, the location shown below) and the route is largely flat, although I am informed it can get pretty muddy. In my case, it stayed dry and was even slightly warm.
Berrylands forms a decent half-way point to stop for lunch, with the pub serving good but rather expensive food. The station building itself looks rather like it was a standard British Rail Southern Region design:
Her Majesty the Queen has died aged 96. We knew it was going to happen at some point, but it is still a deeply sad moment.
For many, she was the symbol of Britain and the Commonwealth. The most travelled, the most photographed, the most chronicled. Seventy years of devoted service to her people, a reign of record length for this country. A woman of deep faith as well.
She was by many, many millions, even hardened republicans.
She will be deeply missed and we will never see her like again.
Rest in Peace, Your Majesty.
The former Soviet leader, who died earlier this week, has a decidedly mixed legacy. His actions in ending the Cold War and allowing the Soviet bloc to peacefully break away made the world a safer place. A different leader would have fought a lot harder, and things might have been even worse.
However, he wasn't a perfect man and some of his actions are more questionable - the Soviet action in Afghanistan, even if he did eventually withdraw, played a large part in creating the conditions that allow that country to be a hotbed of extremism. He did also use force on a few occasions against independence movement.
Unfortunately for him and the world, much of the positive work he did has been completely undone by Putin and we are dealing with the consequences.
This woman is likely to be the next PM, something that should be confirmed tomorrow. She's got a very tough inbox to deal with and I'm not exactly sure she's going to be up to the job based on her past record, which hasn't filled me with confidence.
We shall see.
After a long break due to a) Covid, b) family events and c) the heatwave, I have resumed this walk. However, I am doing another long walk for charity in September and going on holiday, so no Loop post then.
Both Section 6 & Section 7 are short - under five miles a piece. My guidebook in fact recommends combining the two in one walk, so this is what I did. The route takes you from Coulsdon via Banstead to Ewell, crossing into Surrey on more than one occasion and indeed ending there.
I made my last visit to London Bridge for the Loop walks, getting a Thameslink train to Coulsdon South. They run every half an hour on a Saturday and the journey doesn't take that long either as it's a semi-fast service. These trips can even easier on a weekday due to higher frequencies, but you do have rush hour to contend with.
Two pictures from my walk are here:
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I completed both stages in under four hours, including a 40-minute break for lunch. They're pretty unchallenging provided you dress appropriately (I have walking boots) - there's no steep hills, the route is mostly well signposted, and you also have quite a lot of residential street bits that you can complete quickly. The stage also lacks some of the great views of London from previous sections - the best I got was the sight of the TV transmitters at Crystal Palace and Croydon.
The drought also meant that the Mayfield Lavender Farm's fields were looking distinctly wilted and, in any event, they want you to get permission for photography there. You can walk through on the right of way for free, but you have to pay if you go off it.
The lunch bit is difficult if you're doing both stages together. After Oaks Park, there's nothing easily off route until you get to Ewell itself. I had some chicken curry at Oaks Park and left dessert until later as I didn't fancy taking ice-cream around on a fairly warm day.
Once you get to Bourne End Park, there is a free local history museum in the local library. From there, it's a short walk to Ewell West station for the train to Waterloo but bear in mind the older non-air-conditioned Class 455s are still in use until they can get the new 701s into service. Had a 14-minute delay in any event, due to signalling issues.
Curious dog count was four if you're interested. And a half as one was recalled by their owner before reaching me.
So, we have an English football team at another major tournament final. They're the underdogs, but still in with a decent chance.
In any event, they must be highly praised for getting this far. Let's hope they can go all the way.
Brilliant not just in Doctor Who but in everything he was in. He had a hugely extensive career and touched the hearts of millions.
He will be deeply missed.
Rest in Peace.
Just finished this after 23 1/2 hours, albeit on the easiest setting. Truly excellent game and I intend to do some of the DLCs, although I'm not planning to do the main campaign again... because that was hard.
I would highly recommend checking it out.
The composer of the James Bond theme has died aged 94. Quite simply put he's responsible for one of the best pieces of music in cinematic history, one that can be hummed by the majority of the people on the planet.
Rest in Peace.
Good riddance. He was at the end of the day a pretty useless politician with a poor relationship with the truth. It was only the excellent vaccination programme that allowed us to deal with Covid at an "average" level in terms of excess deaths and he didn't really have much to do with that.
Let's hope we get a better PM quickly. It's also notable that he is the first Prime Minister since Walpole forced out through personal scandal.
Watched the first episode of this on Paramount Plus. Has a lot of promise and I intend to get to the others at some point soon. Quite a lot competing for the limited attention of my eyeballs at the moment.
The US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade is a regressive decision that will harm many thousands of women. It needs to be overturned itself - at the ballot box.
I may find the concept of abortion personally distasteful, but the best way to reduce its occurrence is through better contraception and better education, not this.
So, just a warning, this post contains spoilers. Although I'll give you a paragraph or two before I actually launch into them.
I didn't actually join Netflix for Stranger Things back in 2016; I came in 2017 for Star Trek: Discovery, which is no longer carried by that platform in the UK and also Mystery Science Theater 3000, which was cancelled there, now operating on its own streaming service.
I don't actually remember when I watched the previous seasons and since I generally don't note TV shows I've watched in my diary (although films I do), I can't really check.
But it's simply put a brilliant show and the latest season has knocked it out of the park...
Spoilers start here
With a spiked baseball bat, which isn't a weapon actually used by Steve "The Hair" Harrington in this series.
The show has a superb atmosphere, storylines with some real depth to them, great production design and - most importantly - a host of characters you will grow to love, played brilliantly by a talented cast. My personal favourite is Robin, but Nancy is handy to have in a fight.
The scene that everyone is talking about is the conclusion of episode 4 - "Dear Billy":
"Girl saved from demon by Kate Bush song" is a concept that when you type it on the screen, but it absolutely works here thanks for a masterful combination of all departments. I came into the second half of this episode (having watched the first part bit on my commute) seriously concerned for Max and fully prepared to write a Facebook post bemoaning her death. The tension is kept going right throughout, with the four-second cut to black a genius stroke in the edit suite, as that's usually when the credits start. It's frankly up there with Doctor Who regeneration scenes in being that good.
Looking forward to Volume 2 and hoping none of the main characters die. They're all loveable.
I did Section 4 of the London Loop on the May Day Holiday; that resulted in me doing over 30,000 steps for the day and breaking my all-time personal record in that department. It's over nine miles with the walk from Hayes station, although proper stretching resulted in a good deal less pain afterwards than previously.
These walks vary between large parks where there are plenty of people (and their dogs) about and more remote wooded areas where you might be the only person for half a mile or so. There are patches of civilisation though, sometimes outright suburbia.
Had a very good lunch at the Surprise Inn, where the waiter/manager noticed and remarked on my book. "I've walked from X" never fails to impress.
The route was a challenge in places, especially once you're into the fifth hour of walking, and I was glad when I reached the road that marks the end.
Section 4 ends at Hamsey Green, a village you haven't heard of and without a railway station, so you need a bus to get to one. That will be East Croydon if you're going a longer distance due to more frequent and faster trains. There is a Wendy's there and yes, I did post something about that on Reddit.
Some reflections on the recent spate of renewals, cancellations and orders etc.
Went to Victoria this evening to see the farewell tour coming in. I wasn't quite expecting that many enthusiasts. I wasn't expecting that many young and loud enthusiasts. I wonder what the security guys were thinking!
I can't begrudge them enjoying it though - it's nice to know that the hobby has motivated newcomers.
So, that's the end of the 455/8s on Southern. We've got the SWR ones still left going for a few months and I may try to do their farewell tour.
So, we have our 14th Doctor. Wasn't quite expecting it to drop that suddenly around Sunday lunchtime, but it is what is.
Having never seen Sex Education, which I will now have to do, I wasn't familiar with him, but checking out clips in and out of character on YouTube, he seems like he'll be an excellent Doctor.
Welcome to the franchise, Mr Gatwa. Your life will never be the same again.
I backed this on Kickstarter and have seen the first three episodes that have been previewed for backers. Got to say that I thoroughly enjoyed them, including the Q&As afterwards. Personal favourite so far is probably Beyond Atlantis, with some great jokes and an original song that deserves to go on a soundtrack alarm.
He died so our sins might be forgiven and that we would have eternal life.
Thank you, Jesus.
He knew what was coming. He could have easily avoided it or made it go away. But he did not because of his love for us.
I thought I'd written something about my Section 2 journey, but clearly I didn't. I did that particular section (Bexley to Petts Wood) back in November, which involved around three hours of walking including getting lost in Acorn Wood, an expensive lunch and crossing three major transport routes.
I then took a break over winter, except for a five-mile walk through my local area on New Year's Day, which happened to be a warm and pleasant one, but my route was altered when the path in front of me turned into a literal marsh.
Keeping a close eye on the weather forecast - rain on the day or the day before is a no-no, along with general coldness, today proved to be the first suitable day I had availability.
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Section 3 is a much different beast to Section 2. You're talking steep hills, the occasional bit over country roads and paths that are still massively muddy two days after a downpour. It's also over nine miles when you add the links to the stations at either end.
Petts Wood, accessible by Southeastern trains from London Bridge (not my favourite London station, because it's a long walk to the Tube) is not the starting point for the section - you must walk into the country park and then start. Jubilee Country Park had a lot of dogs and their humans.
Then after a walk through the suburb of Southborough, you end up in Crofton Wood. Einstein's comment about relativity very much applies; it felt very much like an hour when I was in there around 30 minutes. Deep unrelenting mud on the main path and the extra path off to the left is still not great, poor signposting not helping either. I have no intention of going back there in a hurry.
I did over 28,000 steps today or over 21km, due to all the other walking on the journey. That is a personal record for me.
In any event, I am planning to do Section 4 next month. Expect a post on that.
At the beginning of 2020, I arranged a trip to Bavaria planning to visit Munich and attend the Oberammergau Passion Play. Then Covid happened; the play was put back to 2022 and while Munich looked a possibility for September 2020, increasing travel restrictions made my plans increasingly hard and I eventually shelved the whole thing.
Fortunately, the international travel situation has improved to the point that a fully vaccinated traveller can go to much of the planet with some extra bureaucracy and costs, most notably around testing. Remember when we were told not to stick things up our noses? I know all this stuff is necessary, but I don't think many of us enjoy it.
With some changes to my original plan, I decided to go on the second of my long-distance international train journeys.
First, some context.
Nightjet is the brand name for the overnight trains operated by ÖBB, the state operator of Austria. The operation was created in 2016 when Germany's Deutsche Bahn decided to stop running its sleeper trains and ÖBB took over those services, combining them with its existing EuroNight operations in a name designed to go with their Railjet express services.
They successfully arrested a decline in European sleeper trains and have indeed expanded their services to other countries including the Netherlands earlier this year after a Covid delay.
The Nightjet service consists of three types of carriages:
Unlike the Caledonian Sleeper (which I went on in 2016, although they now have new carriages) or Night Riviera services in the UK, the compartments can be converted between day mode and night mode with the beds lowered down and put back when you want them. This is something that the attendant does for you and shouldn't be done yourself.
Safety isn't an issue if you take the normal precautions; you can bolt the door to your compartment from the inside and are provided with a keycard for when you pop down to the restroom or shower.
Nightjet also provide a car-sleeper service where you can transport your car on a double-deck wagon on some routes, although not all year round. This is something that could do with reintroduction in the UK; it would help reduce CO2 emissions.
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