Amazing! Did you program it to do anything in particular?

Airfix and models may be the next thread!

I'm intrigued by sad Tris and happy Tris, they seem to be stand out with two portraits!

I recall colouring a lot too, but also letraset rubdown transfer books, where you'd get a sheet of stencil characters in various poses, and rub over with a pencil to "stick" them to the scenes in the book. Loved these, my favourite was a Spider-Man one

I'd forgotten about Tonka! And marbles. Jacks even made a comeback when I was in yr6!

I do love a good crackling display of nature!

I realised that my other highlight came across a bit negative, it was a good thing! I felt good for helping someone. Another great highlight was watching the recent thunderstorms. I didn't take any pictures, but I opened the back door, sat on a dining chair and just watched the lightning and listened to the torrential downpours. Very soothing!

I'm taking up more regular walking for my health (physical and mental), going through nearby farmer's fields and nature reserves but of course I much prefer tramping through a forest in the middle of nowhere, as long as there's no people at all.... Recent walk to a nearby park with Tudor hall.

My musical tastes are quite eclectic, I don't really have a favourite band, and going to live gigs has always been a bloody nightmare for me (although I'm going to see Sleeper in October, by myself, which will be a test, but it's a small intimate affair, so hopefully won't be too overwhelming!). I like what some would call goth music, but I also enjoy 90s rock (grunge, indie, alternate - Foo Fighters, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins), film scores, britpop (Blur); 90s music in general really.. More than happy to share my Spotify playlists, try these for finding some different music, or getting to know me. Matt's Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5BbONW1UWaWmJ7ra35DklF?si=b5aaf13e54a74b44(https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5BbONW1UWaWmJ7ra35DklF?si=b5aaf13e54a74b44) Dark and Spooky https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0SXOo9FopxeFYAHsaru7hf?si=82444b3443764555(https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0SXOo9FopxeFYAHsaru7hf?si=82444b3443764555)

I do wonder whether modern life has decereased people's empathy. But there's always good people around, generally. I'm pleased someone had the compassion to check even if the overarching group collective had the thought "oh, it's just her having a seizure, again.". Which is a little disheartening. Pleased you stood up.

This may seem a bit glib, but I think that climate change is cyclical, in that it happens regularly over eons, and today's modern world has more interaction over the globe, and more ability to see changes. But if you take that progression into the past 500 years, 1000 years, 2000 years, I think that the people in those times would have seen or reported on climate changes as much as we do given our ability to in the modern world. But because humanity was very secular and did not see the whole picture our understanding of previous changes, and how the entire globe and ecology was affected by cyclical alterations, we have no history to go on aside from what is evident in testing of ice cores or previous scientific records. I do not disagree that climate change is happening, and that modern humanity has not escalated these changes, but I feel that it is all a global process that has happened time and time again, as a way of ensuring that the ecology has a 'refresh' for want of a better phrase, over eons. Evidence suggests that high soaring temperatures often precluded an ice age from my very basic understanding of the science, so are we just seeing first hand what happened millenia ago? But I'm no scientist, and don't pretend to be, but I am not overly worried and await the purge if you like, the world will turn again. And as humans we have to understand that our selfishness about the planet and our place in it should come from a place of accepting possible near extinction as part of a process that occurs, in the grand scheme of universal millenia, quite regularly... Perhaps that's a little depressive, but humans are not the be all and end all of existance. We're a mere blip, when you look at the reign of the dinosaurs. That being said, I don't think we can look away from the effect humanity has had in such a short existance on the planet, and as we made rapid changes, we need to affect a rapid response. But of course what is 'rapid'? 50-100 years to a human is a nanosecond to our planet. As long as the right steps are taken now for the future, we can rest easy. Not in our lifetime, or even our children's or even their children's children. But I certainly hope that the small changes that are being made now will continue and selfishness will recede. If not, perhaps global extinction, and then a fresh start.. After all, life.. uhhh... finds a way.

I guess this isn't a highlight for the lady it happened to, but I guess it was for me. I was travelling to work on the tram (I don't drive so public transport is my only option, and every day is a struggle, thank god for earbuds). As I was nearing work a lady collapsed, just fainted straight to the floor by me. Now I work in a hospital, so there were lots of nurses and medical staff on the tram. But only two of us stood up to help, me and another nurse. The lady regained consciouness quite quickly thankfully, but thew up all over herself and the floor. We reached a stop and the nurse and myself helped this lady off the tram into fresh air and the safety of the stop. We did our assessments together and ensured the lady was alright. I stayed with her while the nurse went off to get some sugars and fresh water from a nearby shop, leaving me to continue assessing the lady in case she collapsed again, and there wasn't anything more sinister going on for her. Thankfully she was alright; hadn't eaten, blood sugars were low, heat of the tram etc. had caused her to faint. She recovered quite well and I went on my way to work. A strange highlight I guess, but it bought home to me the importance of being a human and looking out for people, why I became a nurse years ago and still work in healthcare. Reflection immediately after was that I was very angry at the people on the tram who ignored the lady, but then I realised that not all of us have the confidence to step in (even though the majority were medical staff...). So I'm glad me and the other nurse were there, to do the right thing.

My son just started a few weeks ago at an online shcool. Kings InterHigh. Nothing but praise for this school and the teachers and admin who have helped them settle in. I know the school are not new to the process but my son feels so much better and settled and actually WANTS to learn and interact, and feels valued and listened to by both the teachers AND students he is learning with. It was a difficult year long decision to take them out of mainstream, but having the ability to try it we took the chance. I co-parent with his mother who I am divorced from, and in fact the whole process has bought us all together more again, and my daughter who had a horrific time at school, now 21, is actually engaging with my son's education and the family again (she has ADHD and is agoraphbic and has very high levels of social anxiety). So it has been nothing but a good experience. I strongly feel that home education is a far more viable option for many people than mainstream now (one of the good things to come out of the pandemic). It's more affordable now, and better supported by LA (in my area anyway) and there's certainly not the stigma or stereotyping there was 5 -10 years ago. I can see it becominig more of a norm going forward, and aside from the "social" (I use that term very loosely, and you might detect my sarcasm) side of mainstream school, I wholeheartedly support any parent/carer who is looking at home education as an option.

Create a Character, and away you go!

The attached might be useful. And signing up to Roll20 is good for online playing Roll20: Online virtual tabletop for pen and paper RPGs and board games, but you don;t HAVE to. Zoom or even WhatsApp is fine to play. Roll20 is good for those who like to be more of a top-down view of their adventure, but I can run what they like to refer to as "theatre of the mind" . Here is a pdf of the Player's Handbook, and I can send pdfs of a Character Creation sheet too. That's a ood start. REad the manual. Roll Up a Character using the sheet and what youfind in the maual g; Half Elf Wizar, and then you are ready to drop into a game! I am more than happy to run a couple of 2-3 hour intro session on a good evening for people, Tuesdays or Wednesdays, or even a weekend afternoon.

It's not, really. Have had some health issues, and just lost a lot of impetus.

I am a bit of a film buff. Hard to pin down favourites up but I'll do a top 5 like everyone (in no particular order). 1. Shaun of the Dead 2. Howls Moving Castle 3. A Knights Tale 4. Ghostbusters 5. The Thing As for TV series 1. Buffy 2. What We Do in the Shadows 3. IT Crowd 4. Toast 5. Bobs Burgers These are all that i could watch over and over. Honourable mentions to Star Wars, Star Trek, indiana Jones, Marvel and DC franchises too...

Id be happy to try and organise something.

Shamelessness is contagious https://www.redbubble.com/people/DarkThingsAre/explore

I regularly go. I like to cosplay, as then I'm not going as ME. I can then handle my social anxiety a little better, and often actually hide behind a REAL mask. Cons can be quite busy, and as with anything with lots of people crammed into a space, can be very triggering. I do go with my son, who is similar. We plan ahead, and go a little later in the day to avoid main queues and rush. The good thing is, cons attract like-minded people, so many con goers and traders are fully aware of people who aren't 'Normies'.