complicat

So back in 2012 there was the first Big Egg Hunt in which there were more than 200 eggs to be found all over London, and then a year later thare was another one and then somehow 12 years happened and now this year it is back! This time with 120 eggs and raising money for Elephant Family again.

( Eggses )

The rest are here. Still one to add because I skipped it when I did the City eggs because it's at Tower Hill, one of the bits of London that I hate the most due to it being Tourist Central, and then it was taken away for repair and several weeks later has yet to return. Only one week to go, so not sure if it will be coming back :(

Had almost forgotten it was back tbh but I guess it is that time of year

( Glitch )

More winter lights, this time at Westfield shopping centre which is a longish way for me and tbh, probably not worth the trip. There were a couple of nice ones, a couple of OK ones and a couple I didn't even photograph because I wasn't sure if they were actually part of it. Bit disappointing but here are the ( nice ones )

And the rest are here

I should type something about 2024 I suppose before it ends. It went by fast again because I am old and summer didn't bother again (but despite that the world is burning even faster). It's still pretty shit and going to get worse.

Here in the UK we had about a week of glorious post-kicking-out-the-Tories almost-hope before all those right wing media owners started pumping out the lies and hate again (funny how they somehow missed 14 years of Tory corruption) and the BBC copied it all and beamed it straight into the brains of the masses whilst breathlessly promoting Farage's every move. I mean we knew that's what would happen but it's still hugely frustrating to see it playing out so tediously predictably.

Labour are of course not helping themselves by continuing to ape the Tory/Reform agenda despite having a massive majority and being terrified of upsetting the ever decreasing number of elderly bigots who decide all UK elections. And also being absolutely shit at communication (ffs why did you not just brand it the Landowner Tax? Why did you not spin the means testing of free money for rich pensioners and wealthy private schools having to actually pay some tax better? You just put these things out there as absolute gifts for the Mail to rile up their demented fanbase and the BBC to amplify it).

Ukraine and Gaza still screwed. Georgia and Syria still in the balance. US utterly fucked and therefore so are the rest of us.

On the plus side, I had a lovely trip to Edinburgh and caught up with a couple of fannish friends after too long. Did lots of singing, petting of cats, eating of chocolate and watching of TV. No major personal disasters.

Same time next year I guess, unless the bird flu gets us first.

Time for this year's Christmas sculpture trail - Penguin Parade, raising money for the WWF

Everybody loves ( penguins )

Some more photos here

Bit chilly out so just as well there's only 12 of them. Also huge amount of building going on in the City so hard to get photos without random construction workers sitting around them having a break

Ahahahah! Finally we are rid of those arseholes. Well, most of them anyway. I mean, things aren't actually going to get much better any time soon (the country is too fucked for that so at least two terms will be needed, plus Labour have already said they won't change a lot of really bad things, and the country is still run by the right wing media barons that fucked it up) but it's still a relief to see them finally kicked out, having taken more than eight years of my life. I was young(ish) then. Now I am ancient.

I never believed the predictions that the Tories could be pushed below the Lib Dems in seat numbers (sadly, the loss of Official Opposition perks might have finished them off) or that Sunak would lose his seat (which would have been hilarious) so was satisfied with them being booted out and several prominent ones losing their seats. If I could only pick one Tory to stand there in humiliation as the results were read out it would have been Rees-Mogg so that was very satisfying.

I almost made it to 5am to see it live despite nasty headache*, but had to go and have a lie down while the rumours of his demise were still swirling. Woke up a couple of hours later to confirmation plus bonus Truss, which I was not expecting. Yay!

Unfortunately Reform also won 5 seats but the highest prediction was 13 so could have been a lot worse. And of course the media is fawning over Farage like they always do and making it all about him, but actually Reform got a similar vote share to UKIP in 2015, so they haven't actually advanced much (i.e. the country is still about 15% bigots/gullible fools), they have just targeted better same as Labour and the Lib Dems and the Greens and put resources into winning seats off the Tories where they are best placed to. So we have identified the 5 most bigoted areas of the country and can decide never to go there.

It feels very much like the last roll of the dice for the UK though. Either Farage will complete his takeover of the Tories, or the Tories will now lurch even further right - it's notable that most of the Tories that lost their seats were the more moderate ones while many of the most extreme held on. I reckon this is because Reform mainly split the vote in areas where the Tory candidate was more moderate - in some areas the incumbent Tory was extreme enough for the racists to get behind them instead of switching to Reform (e.g. Braverman, Patel, Badenoch). So the lesson the Tories will probably choose to take from this is that they should keep trying to out-Farage Farage, and the dwindling number of old rich white men which make up most of their membership will again elect the maddest candidate. Plus there are pretty much no moderate Tories left to stand for leadership.

Either way, we're likely going into the next election with Labour having been unable to improve things much, discontent stirred up by the media and a far right party as the only alternative which can be elected under FPTP. Plus very likely far right governments both across the channel and across the Atlantic. Good luck everyone.

Still, at least we had one night of glee as (some of) the people who destroyed the country finally got their comeuppance. May they now disappear into obscurity or ignominy.



* I frequently wake up with a bad headache after an evening out (and no, I don't drink) and on Thursday I had been to choir followed by pub singalong, which causes me a morning headache about a third of the time (combination of loud environment plus dehydration I think). Usually it gets bad enough to wake me up by about 4 or 5am, so it was kind of interesting (though not fun) to feel it develop while still awake for a change. I had a nap for a hour or two after I got home then woke up a bit before 2am for the results feeling OK, but mild headache started about an hour later and got worse and worse over the next two until it was too much. I guess that's the pattern it usually follows except that I am asleep for the first couple of hours while it's developing. In this case being sleep deprived made it worse I think because painkillers didn't really touch it until about lunchtime.