The Last Big Weekend of The Summer

Last week, I left you with a couple of posts on flame graphs and that was your lot (BUT HEY, somebody might find them useful!). However, in the background, many things happened. I’ve started a new position at Kogentix, and I spent last Friday getting divorced (a relatively painless procedure involving a somewhat sassy judge).

I had fully prepared to spend Labor Day Weekend locked up in my room watching Thames TV idents from the 1970s (I do have worrying form for this, you know), but thankfully that was not to be. Tammy made a surprise visit to the area and that led to food trucks, baking, and time-travelling bigamy. What more could you ask for in a Bank Holiday¹ weekend?

If I move away from this area, I will definitely miss the food truck rodeos. We have them so often that it’s easy to get jaded; indeed I don’t think I’ve been to one for over a year. I remember when it was just 13 trucks and everybody was excited about the ill-fated Grilled Cheese Bus. These days, it’s over 50, including Food Network winners and people attempting to charge $14 for three tacos. Ah, Durham.

Then more people! We met up with Christie and Ashley and had a great day wandering the rodeo, eating everything from fried cauliflower to bulkogi cooked in Cheerwine. And then my first visit to Ponysaurus, which seems like a great place and if I actually drank beer, I’d probably go more, considering it’s about four minutes away from home (GENTRIFICATION IS COMING).

Although I did not spend the weekend watching idents, there was a theme of British television. Just somewhat more recent. People watched Very British Problems and laughed as they recognized me far too often, along with me having to point out who Vic Reeves is. Which led to me doing a grand showing of this classic segment of television:

After that, it was time to catch up on the new series of Great British Bake-Off, whereupon I shouted loudly at the TV. “HAVE YOU NEVER HONESTLY NEVER SEEN A JAFFA CAKE IN YOUR LIFE?” may have been a refrain during certain parts.

And then. “Would you mind if we watched this British comedy?” Given that the last time I suggested something for a group to watch, it ended up being Jubilee, I am astounded that people said yes. And that’s how I ended up having to explain the backstory of Goodnight Sweetheart to an incredulous American audience. “Wait, the main character is a bigamist? And this was a popular show in the 1990s?”

Britain: A Strange Country.

Anyway. Yes, it was corny. Yes, about 73% of the jokes fell flat while the studio audience sounded like they had been exposed to nitrous oxide for a few hours before taping. Yes, the show deeply misses Dervla Kirwan². And yet, the revival had something. The mixture of the past catching up in the 60s with the plagiarized songs being released and the cultural shock of 2016 was interesting. Perhaps I relate to the cultural shock of returning home every year to find things have changed in subtle and not-so-subtle ways each time. In the case of Bicester, that normally means more houses, but sometimes you go back to find out that the bus stop you used for around seven years to get to work has turned into a giant Sainsbury’s and when I get home this Christmas the Big Tesco will have gone…replaced by the visage of a Tesco Extra standing on the countryside like a monolith from 2001. Or at least that’s what I’m told, anyhow. So, despite all the corniness, I’d be interested in seeing another series of that.

So, a great last Summer weekend. Unfortunately, I’ve spent this week drinking Lemsip by the case and fighting some sort of infection. It is mostly cleared now, but I’ve gone through three boxes of tissues in less than two days. Hopefully next week will finally see the back of it!