April 2025

The A's

ALL IMAGES OPEN IN TECHNICOLOUR

Right - I've done on this page so

Click the button above to go on to a new page for May 2025

30 April 2025

Good Morning.

I woke up at 5:30 am.

Julie is out with the dog.

We got home at 11:30 am yesterday.

The house always looks immaculate when we return.

I think it's because the house in Cyprus is much smaller and more compact.

It was a tiring day made even more so, as when you miss a night's sleep, you have to keep active.

I did a power shop at the Co-op, copped my once-a-week haircut and called round to the post office to see if my Smeg whistling kettle had been delivered there.

It had - along with a load of parcels from Shein... and some bills.

The kettle will come in handy as according to Northern Powergrid, there was another power outage while we were away. A few hours.

This will happen on a regular basis with all this Net Zero bullshit. Hopefully it will be that cloud with the silver lining that brings down what has been the worst UK government ever.

We really need a complete change of direction.

The offsetting of the tiredness was continued by jet washing the patios, weeding the drive (using industrial weed killer), cleaning two of the cars and tidying the shed, the latter of which really needs replacing.

Julie even painted the barbecue.

I also had the lawn mower to bits as it wouldn't kick up which was most unlike it, as it is generally very reliable.

I changed the spark plug and filled it with petrol - however, the rotor blade, which is attached to motor had seized.

Me getting it turning and half a can of WD40 sorted it.

It wouldn't have mattered if it hadn't. The lawn is as dead as disco and is being replaced.

Lewis Arrand - the tree surgeon, is taking four trees down in the front garden on Friday - as it is the trees dropping leaves and blanketing out the light that have killed it.

Although, today is a work day - my day job, I'll stick some animation up later.

Music. Lenny Kravitz's Fly Away was on Radio Caroline this morning, which was the pick from a load of old recycled middle class and middle aged noise.

I came in yesterday - full of muck and dust, and the B2 had been playing music at random, and Old Life by Tess Parks was on. Now, that is a song that you can close your eyes to, and which can take you to that other place!

Although Julie would beg to differ.

"She just drones on and I can't hear a word that she says" is one of the things that she's said about her... that and the fact that she looks and dresses like some crack head!

Talking of musical artistes that you could hardly describe as Top Totty - Louise Distras recently liked a comment that I made on Elon Musk's X.

Her music isn't that awe inspiring - however, a stopped clock is right twice a day, and her Girl in the Mirror is an absolutely lovely track, which, hopefully, I will use in The A's.

The scene: The Hammersmith Vaults - 23 December 2022.

29 April 2025

It is 12:30 am (+2 GMT).

The taxi is due at 2:00 am.

It's been pointless going to bed.

For me, especially, as I am often up until 1:00 and 2:00 am in the morning.

I put the car on the drive and uncoupled the battery around 3:00 pm.

This was after I'd called in at the petrol station in Paralimni and filled up.

It's always best to stick some juice in the car as the next time we arrive could be on a weekend when all the petrol stations are shut - as you can only get fuel by feeding money into a machine at the pumps, which is another ball ache as they all work differently, and all the writing is primarily in Greek.

Waiting for the taxi is like waiting to be hung... Sorry, that's poor English. Hanged!

I'll get a bath in a bit.

The worst part of travelling... is travelling, and a long day beckons.

I have around 550 songs on my phone, so I'll put my headphones on, stick the music player on shuffle, and hopefully manage to chuck out some Zeds on the plane.

I'm currently sat at the kitchen table, looking out through the patio doors, at the swimming pool with its lights illuminating what constitutes our garden.

The automatic timer will knock them off shortly.

*****

It's 3:05 am (+2 GMT).

We are in the Skala Lounge of Larnaca Airport and I've just had two quadruple-shot Macchiato's, which only filled three-quarters of the cup - which in Jenny Mellor's vocabulary, would be 75% or 0.75.

Mason and Gaynor's daughter is quite the boffin when it comes to maths.

I've put a few of animations up opposite - all of the Gaynor character, as I have been indexing old 2D image files on the external drive, that had been saved as .psd files in Adobe Photoshop 2025 a few months ago.

The hotel bedroom one is quite good as I've got her dancing and spinning around; and the Vespa one satisfied my curiosity as I got her to actually straddle the thing.

Dancing is a must, as in Series 1, Gaynor and her crowd are out every weekend. And the Vespa - that is what they ride.

There is also a 20 second animation of Gaynor on the underground.

One of things that I am tasked with is building the fictitious Chiswick Green Tube Station from scratch.

I'll enjoy doing that.

What I should note is that the pro animation software is getting much better. I just wish that it would take bigger files at say 50-100MB.

(Above) A 42 second animation of Gaynor Mellor in the hotel bedroom in St Moritz (Series 1).

The animation was created from an image, again using Adobe Photoshop 2025.

I split the image into five sections (i) head only, (ii) head and shoulders, (iii) legs only, and full body - (iv) blown in, and (v) as is; and created the animation using eight frames of the pro software.

This is the first time I've had Gaynor dancing - using a full head-to-toe body shot and it's worked quite well.

I also have the full body walking, which I seem to have totally mastered now.

I've used video transitions and cross dissolve to move from one frame to the other, but sometimes I have found that there is no need to do this.

It looks well.

28 April 2025

Déjà vu.

It is 8:30 am.

The door is open, the sun is shining and I have a coffee in front of me.

Not the Nescafe Black Roast - the Gold Blend.

I don't think I'm supposed to mention the Black Roast.

Julie went into the cupboard yesterday evening and it ended up smashing on the floor. I would have taken a photo of the coffee and glass everywhere but she was in a right foul mood without me pissing her off further.

Everything got it in the neck, including my newly acquired tan, which she described as stupid and viciously stated that I looked like Bridget Jones's mum's boyfriend.

Bridget Jones was played by Renee Zellweger and is the posh bird who had a diary. And her mum had a boyfriend who was a presenter on a satellite TV station that flogged jewelry. And he had an orange tan.

She's talking bollocks.

I never sunbathe. Ever.

Any tan I get is by walking from A to B, or driving - whereby my arm gets the most of it as it's generally stuck out the window.

And I rarely go in the pool.

A couple of summers ago I had shingles. No idea how or where they came from, just that they annoyed me like hell. Irritable doesn't even begin to describe the fucking horrible things. The only place I felt comfortable was in the pool. I would have climbed in the fridge, but it was full of beer!

That was the best tan I'd had since the kids were little.

I walked into the Red Lion when we got back and totally surprised Cuban Pete. He didn't know wear my tan ended and the orange shirt I was wearing, started.

"That's a right tan," he said.

Well, it certainly wasn't intentional.

The one I'm sporting at the moment is due to walking along the coastline, around the harbour, across the beach and up into Kapparis.

Julie's lost over two stone since 8 February 2025 and she is adamant that it's staying lost - hence the five mile hike to the CoffeeHouse and back every day.

Trivialities aside.

I've chucked up an animation of the Gaynor character asset using four frames - the sultry walk at speed being very Holiday Grainger-esque and something new that I've tried.

The Terminator is due at the house at 10:00 am.

His real name is Bandolis. He is the pest control specialist and sprays the exterior and interior of the property a few times a year to keep the insects down.

After he's done, it'll be a walk along the coastline to the CoffeeHouse as it is absolutely gorgeous outside.

As I said - déjà vu.

27 April 2025

Good morning.

It is 8:45 am and the door is open, the sun is shining and I have a coffee in front of me.

It was the same scenario as the day before, but with the weather forecast predicting a rain that never came.

"It said a 20% chance of rain," Julie told me.

The online weather forecast I looked at never said that - it just said rain.

We had a few clouds and a couple of cracks of thunder over the Mediterranean Sea, but that was about as nasty as it got.

Anyway - the weather now, is lovely.

I've chucked up an animation of a rather conservative looking Gaynor, opposite.

One of the things you may notice about both her and her daughter, Jenny, is that they are both left-handed.

This was something that I decided early on in the screenplay as I was trying to make her different.

She comes over a quite a conscientious person with certain ideals - however, this is often overshadowed by the fact that she is melodramatic and exaggerates.

Her holier than thou conscientiousness often tends to be on a needs and must basis, which means when it suits her. And there are a few times in Series 1 where Mason holds her to account.

The more I work with both Gaynor and Jenny, the more I feel that they look like one another.

"You're pretty like your mam and clever like your dad," everyone tells Jenny.

Jenny is my favourite character.

She possesses similar traits to both her mum and dad but when it all boils down to it she's just a little girl who sees the world through the eyes of a seven-year-old kid.

26 April 2025

Kaliméra

I was up at 7:20 am (+2 GMT).

The door is open and the kettle is on and I've just annihilated a wagon train of ants from between the patio door and the kitchen table.

One of the golden rules in Cyprus. If you drop something, clean it up.

We ate in last night - fresh salmon and salad, and I've been having the odd cereal bar. No doubt, the latter is what they've come in for.

It is glorious outside with not a cloud in the sky.

That said - rain is predicted between 9:00 and 10:00 am this morning.

Take the sun away from Cyprus and you have nothing.

So this morning, we have nothing.

As I said the other week - the weather in April is a bit of a lottery. It can be sunny and 30°c, like it was yesterday, or totally crap like it's going to be this morning.

The pool cleaner came yesterday.

Generally he cleans the pool twice a week, but with it being Easter I've only seen him once. I have to say, he does a good job. Thus far...

Pool cleaners are a breed of their own in that I'm sick of sacking them.

Shiny Dave, Big Eating Face Jimmy and Gavin all got the bullet. The reasoning: They take the piss when you aren't here by not turning up, and when they do - they do a shit job.

"Why hasn't our pool been done?" I asked Gavin.

"I went over on my ankle and I've had a couple of weeks in the UK," he replied - obviously not expecting us to be in Cyprus during January.

"What - so I'm paying you holiday and sick pay, now?"

He really pissed me off as me and Julie were very good with him and his family as they had nothing when they first arrived here.

Shiny Dave was a lazy bastard who's skank wife was obsessed with marking our movements down on a calendar and used to check the UK flights coming in and out of Cyprus.

Four weeks in the UK; one week in Cyprus.

She had our movements off to a tee until the day she didn't. We arrived and the pool was filthy.

Even Declan, an Irish guy and genial boozer, noticed when he came round to the house early one morning with his two grandkids, as Julie had promised to give them two inflatable pink flamingo's that she had bought for her and Big Scott's ex-wife to float about the pool on the month before.

"What's the matter with the pool?" he asked.

There was an algae-stroke-mildew on the liner.

I got him on the phone. "You're sacked."

Take money away from an expat and they are right fucking cry babies.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you've not been cleaning it, and when you do - it's shit."

Obviously, if I worked for a firm and sacked them like that, I'd be going down the road of a tribunal.

He pissed me off that much, that one Valentine's Day (night) shortly after his dismissal, he came into The Bistro, which was a nice bar and restaurant in Avgorou, with this couple that I'd never seen before, me being the last person that he expected to see.

Julie was sociable enough and found out that early next morning that he was due at Larnaca Airport to pick up his wife's son.

That was it.

I went out into the car park and fully ripped both windscreen wipers off his car.

Big Eating Face Jimmy hid nothing and was exactly what it said on the tin and who like Shiny Dave had our flights constantly monitored until the day he didn't.

He was our pool man during Co-Vid, so he had months of charging us whilst not cleaning our pool.

I quite enjoyed sacking the fat useless bastard.

He lives in a village called Liopetri so there's not much chance of me dropping on him, although we were out one night when this Cypriot came up to me.

"Hello James - how are you my friend - I've not seen you in a long time?"

It was Chris, the owner of The Planet - a bar in Liopetri, that serves probably the cheapest beer in eastern Cyprus and therefore is one of those where the Big Eating Face drinks.

I gave Chris all the runners and riders.

"Jimmy goes in there and if I see him I'll end up giving him a slap," I said.

You have to understand. These people weren't just lying to your face - they were basically stealing from us.

Anyway - enough of that.

Music. Chase The Devil by Max Romeo and The Upsetters has just been on DeeJay 93.5. This is a reggae song from 1976, and one that I've not heard before. It's quite good if you like that type of music.

There's a couple of animations of Jenny opposite, which are possibly the nicest that I've done.

Jenny - like her mum and Auntie Angie, animate very well.

Julie said: "The little girl and Gaynor always seem to be messing with their hair."

It is intentional.

It is a nervous trait passed down from mother to daughter - and is one of several things that she does that her mum does... "And that."

I even put a short piece of music to the extended animation.

(Above) A 25 second animation of Jenny Mellor doing her homework and taking a drink of milk.

This animation was cut from three frames created with Adobe Photoshop 2025 using the non pro software.

If I am being honest with myself - this is a very good animation and good enough for the actual TV series.

The hardest part was trying to design Jenny some sneakers / pumps in 2D through Adobe Photoshop.

Without sounding weird, in 3D you can dress the character with clothes that are already made and rigged, with sneakers being similar to those Converse / All Star brand sneakers.

In 2D, I did over 30 poses of Jenny before I got the sneakers anything like I wanted.

25 April 2025

I got up at 7:30 am (+2 GMT).

The door is open, the sun is out and I have a strong coffee in front of me.

It is the same scenario as yesterday - however, as soon as I mentioned the sun being out yesterday, I never saw the fucking thing again.

It was cloudy all day.

To piss me off even further, when we were over at Litsas (Waitrose) Supermarket in Vrysoulles - which is close to the border with Turkish Cyprus, the car decided not to start.

It was nothing. Just the starter motor. Again.

A two minute repair for someone who knows what they are doing. As for me, I know as much about auto electrics as I do brain surgery.

Anyway - it took two minutes.

I looked on the internet today. I can get a new starter motor and solenoid for less than £150, so they'll be coming with me the next time I'm over in Cyprus, as new FTO parts over here are like rocking horse shit.

An amazing factoid. In the UK, there are only 249 Mitsubishi FTO's left in circulation.

And one of those is for sale at a garage on Doncaster's Wheatley Hall Road, at a fiver less than £13,000, and with over 50,000 more miles on it than ours.

Not that I want another one, however.

Music. We've had the radio on since we got here - DeeJay 93.5. As I've said before, It used to be a decent station which played some great music, but now - and much like politics, it has followed suit with what the other stations play.

Every now and again, however - you get something that you think - Hey, this isn't bad.

Lana Del Rey's Blue Jeans, came on, which is from her Born to Die album, which I'm reliably informed was the world's fifth best-selling album of 2012. It's quite catchy.

Catchy as in the sense of say Irish singer, Andrew Hozier-Byrne's (Hozier) 2013 hit, Take Me to Church.

From a politics viewpoint, Hozier may well be an absolute fucking halfwit, but the song was catchy!

I've put an animation up of Jenny Mellor opposite and I'll put some more up later.

Anyway - we are promised sun all day today.

24 April 2025

Morning campers.

It's 6:45 am (+2 GMT).

The door is open, the sun is out, and I have my coffee.

Yesterday, was one of those days where you do stuff and then look back and realise that you actually did nothing.

I washed the FTO while Julie cleaned around the pool, patio area, and drive. I tried helping her a bit by hosing down part of the front path before she bollocked me for commandeering the hosepipe.

My idea was to jet wash, but I was told that getting the jet wash out with the hose, extension cables, and electricity around the pool, was more trouble than it was worth.

At least it shifts the bird shit. Just hosing doesn't.

In fact, we nipped out to the garden centre in Frenaros and bought two cartons of weed killer, copped a couple of Turkish (Cypriot) coffee's over at Fosis Coffee Shop in Vrysoulles and by the time we got back there was bird shit all over the drive again.

All the houses on Levanda Hills get these white doves on their roofs. They look nice but I have to admit - during spring our drive and balcony are like the floor of a pigeon loft.

It was even worse when we lived in Avgorou as we also had swallows everywhere.

That aside, I learned a new word.

Angelos at the Coffee House franchise on Kapparis Avenue asked me: "How is England?"

"Shit weather," I told him. "Skatá... I'd say 'weather' in Greek, but I don't know what that is."

"Skatá kairós," he told me.

"Nice one," I shrugged.

So, there you go.

Skatá kairós means shit weather in Greek.

Fosis asked me the same question.

The Greeks are just as boring as the English, as aside of politics, all they talk about is the fucking weather.

We went to the Red Ruby last night.

I was in a chopstick mood so we opted for Chinese.

I had Chicken Chow Mein, Salt and Pepper Prawns and Prawns in Black Pepper Sauce. Julie had Duck and Pancakes and Prawns in Sizzling Chilli Sauce with fried rice.

Chinese food is absolutely nothing like the food in China - the same as the food in Bangladesh is absolutely nothing like the Bangladeshi food you get in the UK.

We took the kids to Beijing in January 1997, and me and Julie went to Chittagong (Dhaka) in March 2008 for Omar's wedding.

Omar is of course the owner of the Curry Leaf.

From a preparation point of view, I'm not sure which food was the most gut wrenching.

The hens being garroted and plucked along with the sparrows on skewers in the back streets of Tiananmen Square; or the two cows that were slaughtered and butchered on the spot in Omar's mum and dad's back yard, with all the accompanying blood and guts...

And don't even mention the fucking flies.

I think Omar had me there to test me like on one of those Japanese torture-cum-endurance type game shows.

"Do you want anything to drink," he asked me one morning.

I was gagging for a drink of water so he clicked his fingers and this kid brought me some water in a glass.

"Jesus Christ, Omar - that tastes like shit."

He didn't half bollock the kid.

"He wants water out of a bottle - not the well," he shouted.

Doing what I do, I know a bit about geotechnics and geological profiles in that a well draws water from the aquifer. If there is no foul drainage or septic tank, then everything that comes out of a human body goes into the ground, with any liquids making their way into the said aquifer.

I've had shit drinks before, but that was up there!

Anyway, onwards and upwards.

23 April 2025

Good morning.

I woke up at around 6:00 am Cyprus time (+2 GMT), but tossed and turned for an hour debating whether to get up or not.

Yesterday, was a tiring day. No real sleep and travel.

We landed at 4:35 pm and were in the house around 45 minutes later.

We never take cases, so getting through passport control is very quick. And never believe what the MSN (mainstream media) bullshit you about problems at passport control due to Brexit, because we are out of the UK almost every month, and there are never any problems.

The weather was lovely when we landed. Sunny and 27°c.

The back door is open and the sun is out.

I'm told that is has been windy, but this time of year it always is.

May and September are my favourite months as in between in it gets far too hot.

I may have mentioned this already, but I once remember going into Ayia Napa for my mate's daughter a knock-off football shirt and looking at the thermometer. 57°c.

I was in Bahrain with my day job last year - and the temperature was similar to that all the four days I was there.

I recall sat in a deep shaft one afternoon with the camera, and waiting for the guys in the bottom to start jacking pipes and I thought I was going to die. It was like being in an oven. They were okay as they had the fan blowing on to them. I was on the second or third landing, looking like Jacob Marley with the harness and chains on, and melting.

The next thing I know, there's bottles of Coco Cola and water being lowered down to me on a rope.

"I thought you'd need this," the Site Manager shouted down.

I did. I really did.

When I eventually came out, I looked like I'd been thrown in a river.

Anyway, enough of that!

My sobriety came to an end last night. I fancied a beer and I had one. A Keo. Had I missed it? No.

We called at the Magazaki restaurant in Kapparis and I had baby Kalamari and a Feta Salad, which was sound enough.

I'm on with the screenplay this week. Nothing else.

I will put some animation up later.

(Above) A 17 second animation of 17-year old Jeannie Layne.

I'm still working with 2D, therefore the clarity and the textures aren't that fantastic as the resolution of the Jeannie character asset isn't as good as say the Gaynor and Angie assets.

I have the same problem with a lot of the assets as I am currently working from a 2D photo which is very flat.

With 3D you have every angle of the asset. With 2D you have to turn it (sideways) using animation and what you get is not always what you want. With 3D you can also create better textures and clarity and remove things like glasses and facial hair without altering the structure of the face.

2D has huge limitations, but as yet, I'm not ready for 3D.

Here I have used three frames and parted them into five or six segments.

I think she looks okay.

From start to finish the animation took around 20 minutes.

22 April 2025

It's dark, it's wet, it's 3:00 am.

We are Cyprus-bound and the dreaded M1 motorway with its 50 mph speed restrictions awaits us.

I had the four new Pirelli's fitted on the car yesterday afternoon and filled up with petrol.

Apart from my laptop, and external hard drive there's nothing to take.

I did buy 240 Typhoo teabags from Home Bargains the other week, as the English tea over there is vastly overpriced.

Not that I'm a big drinker of the stuff as I am very pro-coffee. Two heaped spoons of the strong stuff.

However, since I temporarily knocked alcohol on the head, my body has often been in need of a sugar rush, therefore, I drink a couple of cups of tea per day, with a spoonful of sugar.

It tastes like shit, but I drink it.

In The A's the Mellor's drink tea... and Maureen and Gaynor always have the kettle on.

Even Jenny in Series 2 is seen switching the kettle on!

Yesterday, I managed 90 minutes cardio - but broke off a couple of times, one of which was when Big Scott and Edyta called round to drop Julie in a birthday card and present.

That was a job in itself as she'd locked me in the house as I was on the cross trainer with the music on when she went out.

I heard the dog barking her head off and had to let them in through the front door which again, is a job in itself with all the locks.

Cuban Pete had also called around earlier with a card from him and Broken Arm Sue.

Anyway. Enough of that. I'll see you in Luton Airport.

******

It's 8:00 am and I'm in the Priority Lounge at Luton Airport.

The journey down was surprising - all the 50 mph restrictions have been lifted and we didn't hit any real traffic until Newport Pagnell Services. The flight is on time and have just had a latte macchiato and a sausage and egg bap.

I've maybe said it before, but I'm just glad we haven't chucked £40 apiece on it as describing it as average is flattering.

I set off this morning with all good intentions.

I planned to rip two CD's for the journey, as Julie was asleep the majority of the way down; and as stated - take the teabags.

I did neither.

The external CD writer was initially hit and miss and not taking the CD, and then the software was being a pain in the arse and just hanging.

This is one of the things with tech. You should just be able to press a button and everything should work as it should, but it rarely does - especially when you are rushing.

Anyway, I was pissed off so I said fuck the teabags!

To piss me off even more, Gillmans Electrical / APC Delivery have just texted me and said my new sooper-dooper black Smeg stove top whistling kettle will be delivered between 10:45 am and 12:45 pm.

They've had over a week to deliver the fucking thing and they decide to send it when I'm flying out of the UK.

Grr!

(Above) A 20 second animation of 17-year old Jeannie Layne and her 16-year old sister, Jody (Series 2).

Their mum Alice is the cousin of Louisa Pallenburg.

Alice's two kids are much like Louisa's four, in that they are both volatile and they argue.

In Series 1 their dad, Teddy - comes back from working in The Persian Gulf and is "lost".

Jeannie and Jody are just kids but they see their father try to come to terms with being at home and out of work.

The Layne's are great characters.

They live next door to John and Maureen Mellor at 6 Marquis Gardens.

21 April 2025

Not only is it Easter Monday - it is Julie's birthday.

I've been good. I remembered. I bought her a card.

I never forget, I just never go out anywhere to get cards, so Moonpig has come in quite handy over the last few years as they remind you.

"Hey Dickhead - haven't you forgot something? It's only a few quid to avert 12 months of misery."

I nipped round to the Post Office a few doors up from us and gave the postmaster - Richard Haley, some business.

Richard is a top, top man.

He saves our mail when we are away, and I've forgotten how much shite Yodel, DPD, Hermes and the like, have dropped off at the Post Office, and he has brought it around to the house.

I know it's a lot.

I drop him in a box of Quality Street or a tin of biscuits each Christmas as the guy is that good. That good, he was in the 2024 New Year's Honours List and got a Medallists of the Order of the British Empire (BEM) medal. I think it's like a CBE or MBE.

Anyway - Good morning.

I got up at 7:30 am and according to the Met Office there is a 90% chance of it pissing down when the man from Halfords comes to fit the four Pirelli's.

No matter where I am, it always seems to rain on Easter Monday.

"Have you got something to tell me?" I was asked on waking up.

It's one of those questions someone could get when there's something bad behind it, and where divorce papers could be in the post.

"Oh - Happy Birthday," I said.

"When it's your birthday, I'm running round for cakes and balloons."

Just think of the nastiness that would be aimed at me if I'd forgotten her card!

Anyway, at the minute she's out with the dog, walking off last night's meal!

Yesterday, I did 120 minutes (2 hours) Cardio - all on the cross trainer - a 90 and 30 minute shot, and slung the five sets of dumbbells around.

Rather than cook dinner, we had a second night in a row at the Curry Leaf - Tandoori King Prawns, Chicken Tikka and Bombay Potatoes, which made a change from a Vindaloo.

I also wolfed down an Easter Egg - a Rolo one, in the morning, and a full Soreen malt loaf later on.

My Easter treat!

Music. Radio Caroline has been on all day but apart from the Grateful Dead's Ripple, which is from their 1970 album, American Beauty, nothing really jumped out at me and smacked me in the mouth.

It's a very nice song, and one that I often get mixed up with Three Dog Night's 1973 hit, Shambala.

I listened to Veruca Salt's Eight Arms to Hold You and IV albums along with My Bloody Valentine's Ecstasy late last night.

(Above) A 10 second animation of Jeannie and Jody Layne.

I've never been happy about dropping character assets onto pre-generated exterior images as the animation software has too much to deal with and the repro is garbage.

I tried the same animation with the new super-dooper pro animation software that came online last Thursday and again - it was fucking rubbish.

What you see here is better, but it's still only good enough for the bin.

I'll get these two assets on to a plain interior background and see if I can get a more professional render..

20 April 2025

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning; Oh, what a beautiful day!

I've got a beautiful feeling; Everything's going my way.

I wish.

That's Rogers and Hammerstein's opening to the 1955 film Oklahoma - which rather strangely co-starred Rod Steiger.

Not that he sung Oh, What a Beautiful Morning, however.

That was some gadgy called Gordon MacRae - an actor-stroke-singer who appeared in a couple of films with Doris Day in the early-1950s.

As for Rod Steiger - he was a great actor.

As a kid I remember watching him in some 1968 psychological thriller co-starring Lee Remick and George Seagal called No Way to Treat a Lady, which had me on the edge of my seat.

I'm not sure if it would now, but the fact that I remember it must have left an impression.

He also won an Oscar playing the racist copper the 1967 film In The Heat of the Night, which is not too dissimilar to the 1988 film Mississippi Burning starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe.

Both great films.

Well, I got up at 7:10 am and the sun is shining - not.

It's Easter Sunday, which is a great day for the kids, and I'm reliably informed by the Met Office, that the sun IS going to be out all day. Mmm. But not just yet.

It's just a pity I'm 72 days dry.

I could easily chuck on some rags and have a Sunday lunch at the Red Lion followed by eight pints of Neck Oil, and call in at the Curry Leaf on the way home, and top off the evening by having a Saag Vindaloo and four pints of Cobra.

I've done that a few times.

Generally when Big Scott has been over.

It certainly makes the dog walk interesting!

Yesterday, was a nice day.

I did a bit of work on my day job and I managed 90 minutes cardio - all on the cross trainer, and did the five sets of dumbbells... but just once.

We ate out at the Curry Leaf, and met friends at 5:30 pm - Tim and Maggie, and gave their daughter - Jessica, a carrier bag full of Easter Eggs and presents.

As I said - a good day.

19 April 2025

Saturday morning.

I got up at 6:50 am.

It looks like a nice day. Hopefully, it's better than the one before.

Julie has just got in from walking the dog.

She said there were rabbits everywhere.

I noticed that the other day. There was around 20 of them top side of the garden centre. They are probably out delivering Easter Eggs!

It's her birthday on the 21st, so our Jamie and Lianne are taking her to Sheffield's Meadowhall - so they can have their breakfast in Frankie & Benny's.

Frankie & Benny's is a great idea. A New York Italian with great music. Unfortunately, most times that I've been - the service has been shocking.

In The A's, I based Facchetti's on the ultimate Italian Restaurant. You know - one that I would actually like to go to as opposed to any that I've actually been.

Most Italian's that I've been to think that if they play some Vic Damone or Frank Sinatra records in the background, they can fob you off with some pasta-based shite that costs around ten-bob to produce - and the restaurants in the Little Italy part of New York's Manhattan are the fucking worst for it.

Anyway - rant over.

Yesterday was a lazy albeit expensive day.

Julie was having a clear out of one of the wardrobes in the en-suite bedroom and bagged up a couple of black sacks to take to the charity shop for the North Lindsey Hospice.

It was all her mum's stuff, from when she was staying with us - most of which, still had the labels on and which are now too small.

As she pulled her car off the drive, I noticed a cut/split on the joint of the front driver's side tyre of my car.

Nothing malicious, just wear and tear.

I'd already been given the heads-up by the proprietor and mechanic of Hanson Motors of Crowle - Johnny Hanson, as I only had it serviced a few weeks ago, with him telling me, "James, you could do with some new tyres."

My feelings were, that they still looked okay.

Obviously, not.

As we are travelling down the M1 early Tuesday morning to Luton Airport, I've got Halfords to come out on Monday 21 April to bung some new Pirelli's on.

Nearly £894.

Thank God, there was a 20% online discount!

My dad always said: "Having a car is like having another woman."

And I have four of the fucking things.

I managed 90 minutes cardio - all on the cross trainer with no aches or pains from my ankle and chucked five sets of dumbbells around.

I could have done more but I'd been upstairs over two hours and Julie was making a salad for tea and I didn't want it to get cold!

Animation. I got the new pro software finally working, but to be honest it's no better than the stuff I'm currently running with.

Possibly, it is the third-party website that I'm going through.

To be continued.

(Above) Anita Pallenburg and Jenny Mellor totally rule the roost.

This is a re-hashed 29 second animation down at the Upper Mall in Hammersmith.

It is Saturday evening and Mason has been working since 4:00 am and has come in expecting his dinner on the table only to see his wife and daughter surfing the internet.

The first few seconds where Jenny is on her own is shot with the non-pro software.

The problem with shooting in 2D is that you are moving from a standing start each time so everything can look flat.

18 April 2025

I awoke at 7:00 am.

It is Good Friday and the start of the Easter Bank Holidays, which means no work for... one, two, three, four... eleven days.

Eleven? I hear you say.

You do.

We fly out to Cyprus on Tuesday morning.

Easter isn't the best time in our business, as the people who make the decisions tend to extend on their bank holidays and have either a week or fortnight off.

Therefore, if you can't beat them...

Julie is moaning as she has an appointment for her nails at 8:45 am.

She reckons the clock goes around faster when she has to be somewhere!

There might be some truth in that.

"Does Beth actually know it's Good Friday?" I asked.

As I've said before, Beth is our Jamie's ex-Fiancee who owns one of the beautician's in the town centre.

It was Beth (Bethany Hughes) who reckoned Angie Mellor was the best looking character in The A's.

Julie will be taking up a couple of Easter Eggs for her daughter.

We have a table booked at the Curry Leaf on Saturday evening as an old school mate is coming over with his wife and 10-year old daughter.

Tomorrow we are 10 weeks dry.

Our lives have changed dramatically.

Socially, we are a pair of sad bastards, but health-wise - I've not felt this good in a long time.

With me, it's not just the sobriety - but the exercise and cardio.

I did 60 minutes on the cross trainer yesterday and threw five sets of dumbbells around.

I also altered the bench press the other day, which definitely needed dusting down. I'll start small and move up until I hit the 80 kg mark and then I'll keep it there...

From a safety angle more than anything, as there's no-one to spot me!

Animation. The new pro software that I was on about the other day isn't working. Well, it might be - it just isn't working for me.

I've given it several shots and nothing.

This morning I gave it a go with the Jenny Mellor animation you see opposite and had to omit it, as it was shit.

It is obviously a problem at their end.

New technology is always the same, but at the moment I'm in no rush as I have a mountain of other stuff to deal with.

Music. I downloaded a load of albums yesterday, one of which was Twenty Two in Blue by the American rock band Sunflower Bean who are fronted by Julia Cumming - the stand out track being Twentytwo.

The song reminded me a bit of the Stone Poneys Different Drum from 1967 and Merrilee Rush's 1968 song Angel of the Morning, without sounding anything like them.

That didn't really make sense, but the song is in that kind of bracket.

Radio Caroline surprised me and played a track by someone I'd never heard of called Alexandra Savior which was titled Unforgivable, which was very good, and which has certain similarities with Eliza Doolittle's 2010 hit Skinny Genes.

Alexandra Savior looks like some French actress from the 1960's and has knocked out some decent tracks, which I definitely need to listen to a bit more.

It is absolutely weird that I'd never heard of her before.

I'm gonna stick some more animation on here today.

17 April 2025

Good morning.

I got up at 7:10 am.

I didn't get to bed until late as I was watching the Champions League football and trying out some new updated pro animation software that was taking an absolute fucking eternity to render.

The software came online two days ago, so I'm surmising that the traffic for its use is quite excessive.

I went to bed at 12:20 am and it still hadn't done!

In the meantime, I set up Jenny with the character asset opposite that will feature in a dream that she has towards the back end of Series 2.

However, and again without giving to much away, her dad - Mason Green, was building what he termed as the S1 Prototype - Skyhook, at the beginning of Series 2.

Further on, he takes that idea, along with an idea from the Alexa+ AI Assistant, and builds something sort of in between the two, with very funny consequences.

As I keep on saying, absolutely no animation on the website will feature in the actual series - it is just me practicing.

The AI Assistant that Mason creates will probably be the Tin Man that you see, but as yet, and in all honesty, I haven't decided, as I'm still playing around with lots of different ideas.

I didn't do a deal yesterday.

At around 8:00 am, the electric went off in the house for quite sometime, after Northern Powergrid completely switched off ours and the neighbouring town's electric, to undertake some "necessary work".

After boiling up a pan of water on the gas hob a few times for my coffee, I did 60 minutes on the crosser and slung some dumbbells around.

Once the power came back on, which was around 11:00 am, I immediately went online and ordered a black 50s style Smeg stove top whistling kettle as I can see this happening more regularly with all the bullshit surrounding green energy - as me having to boil pans to get hot water is very pissyoffish.

Music. Radio Caroline played a Pulp track - Spike Island.

It had me scratching my head a bit as I can't say I'd heard it before... and lo and behold, I was right.

It's a new release... After 24 years.

Personally, I'm not into "Let's get the band (or the lads) back together" for one last hurrah.

Bands have their day, and they should leave it there.

I loved The Rolling Stones stuff between 1964 and 1973, but after that they were washed-up.

As for now? Don't even go there.

Pulp were a 1990s band that oozed Sheffield.

My feelings. They should have left it there.

16 April 2025

Kaliméra.

For those who don't know, that is good morning in Greek.

If you want a sort of antonym for that - again in Greek, then try, Gamísou.

That means fuck off.

I got up at 7:40 am.

I'd say I was eager for work but I'd only be kidding myself.

Yesterday was as uneventful as the past few days, although I did 90 minutes cardio - all on the cross trainer, and I didn't get so much as a tweak from my left ankle.

No doubt I'll fall over the dog or something stupid later on and break the thing.

I chucked five sets of dumbbells around as well, but just once, as opposed to the three times that I should do it.

Julie came into the bedroom we call the exercise room-stroke-gym, with me still having eight minutes left on the clock.

It was important as it was fillet steak night.

I'd have preferred it with a bucket full of homemade chips and a couple of fried eggs, as the latter goes brilliant with steak - however, it was new potatoes and vegetables.

Still - it made a change.

Whilst having our dinner/tea in the UK we are still on with an episode a day of the American sitcom, 30 Rock starring Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, and are currently on disc 2 of Series 2.

I have to admit, it has got better, although I can't see Edie Falco as anything but Carmela in The Sopranos.

She is definitely the Harold Steptoe of American TV, as no matter how hard they try to recast her... she is totally typecast.

I've never really mentioned actors and who I would fancy playing some of the characters in The A's.

I've thought of some but haven't got too deep into it just in case everything bombs.

As I don't watch TV, I'm not really up to date on which actors are currently in the public eye.

The last (up to date) UK series I sort of watched on DVD was Strike starring Tom Burke as the guy with one leg, and Holiday Grainger, the latter who I really like, hence why one of the characters in The A's - Jenny Mellor's classmate, is named after her.

She'd be sound as she's got a good range of accents.

She also possesses a strange walk, but being animation and therefore just a voice, nobody would see it.

Who could she play?

No idea. Angie Mellor, maybe.

I quite like the voice of Miki Berenyi who is one of the singers the 1990s indie band Lush - and who is another that I've named as a character and a friend of Jenny Mellor's, which is strange as the Dottie West character actually looks like her.

It's strange how all this fits together and I'd not even thought of it! My psyche?

I reckon Miki would make a good Maureen Mellor as her voice and accent is exactly how I see the character.

Anyway - that's enough of that!

Music. I played three albums by Alvvays (pronounced Always) who are a Canadian indie band led by Molly Rankin.

The albums were: their self-titled Alvvays (2014); Antisocialites (2017); and BlueRev (2022).

At the moment, the stand out tracks are: Archie Marry, Me and Next of Kin off Alvvays; Plimsoll Punks and Saved by a Waif off Antisocialites; and After the Earthquake from off BlueRev.

15 April 2025

I was up at 7:30 am.

I did wake up earlier, but it was dark outside... and wet.

I just missed the rain when I took the dog out for her third walk last night.

Yesterday, was a nothing day and it was hard to get motivated, possibly as we haven't booked the flights out to Cyprus yet.

Our Jamie and Lianne look after the dog - however, Lianne's parents are away from 3-12 May and they are looking after their Border Collie, and as the kids have three dogs of their own (and five horses), I can't really leave them with ours as five dogs would be a lot of work.

I certainly wouldn't want five dogs in my house.

Julie said that after our Lucy's gone - that's it. No more.

They are tying - however, I have to say - the house is sad without one.

They are always happy to see you and aside from being a brilliant guard dog, she gives you something to talk to as she understands everything you say.

Our sobriety is driving her insane.

She was used to going to The Red Lion twice a week for her chicken or fish goujons.

Julie would walk up to the pub up the High Street and I'd go the other way and down Belton Road, through the Garden Centre car park and up the path and around St Andrew Church. On the dog getting to the bottom of the church path and into the Market Place she used to wait for me giving her the heads up after we'd crossed the junction of Hollingsworth Lane, so she could race past the flower and veg shop and up the ginnel into Fountain Court and around the back of the Red Lion and bark like hell to be let in.

Last night I did 60 minutes cardio - all on the crosser and threw three sets of dumbbells around.

There was no real pain from my ankle, but I'd felt shit all day so, I'd had enough.

I'll do 90 minutes today.

Music. I had Radio Caroline on and the only track I heard that got my attention was Don't Answer Me by The Alan Parson's Project. Again, it was the chorus more than anything.

Run away and hide from everyone. Can you change the things we've said and done?

The words describe Gaynor in the story, as that is what she always did from being a little girl.

I'll throw some shorts up from the non-pro software later.

Have a great day.

(Above) A 25 second animation of what you would think is a very unlikely friendship between a near-on seven-year old and a 15-year old.

Jenny Mellor and Dottie West in Series 2.

Without giving too much away, both kids needed each other.

Dottie was the cool kid in Year 11, who from an academic point of view wasn't that great; and in a school (Christ Is King), where being average wasn't an option.

Through her 'after school history group', Jenny and four of her friends got the use of the computer room in the Year 11 block, and that is where she met Dottie.

"And you must be Baby Spice, eh?" said Dottie.

"I don't know what you mean," Jenny shrugged.

There is much more to the story, but the name stuck and Jenny loved it, as it was much better than being called "Bins".

But not only that - the coolest kid in school had given it her!

Dottie turning up at Mason and Anita's is quite humorous.

(Above) Last night's meal.

A sobriety special.

Prawns, Tuna, baked potatoes and green salad with strawberries and grapes.

Julie's head is ready for exploding with the repetitive meals!

"I can't do another salad again," is becoming her number 1 saying.

However...

When parcels that get delivered to the house from ASOS, Shein and the like, and don't get returned with a "Fuck You!" label attached, you know something good is happening. There has even been talk of her Karen Millen dresses coming out of cold storage.

She's lost over 20lbs and is looking shit hot.

Click to open in colour.

14 April 2025

Morning.

I was up at 7:10 am.

Julie woke me up - the beeping of the kettle confirming that she had come back in with the dog as opposed to her going out with her.

I'd had an early night - bed at 7:45 pm as I wasn't feeling so good following a crap dinner of chicken in wraps and salad.

Julie reckons she could have co-vid as her taste has gone

Mine hasn't. The chicken tasted like shit.

Yesterday, and after Julie came back from visiting her mum, we did Home Bargains and The Range over at Skippingdale Retail Park in Scunthorpe.

The highlight of Home Bargains wasn't the £236 bill but the fact that Filippo Berio Olive Oil was £5.65.

A couple of months ago you couldn't get it for under a tenner. We bought five.

The highlight of The Range was chasing a migrant shoplifter across the car park, him weighed down with a great fuck off barbecue in a box.

He shifted over that tarmac like a good 'un, me thinking that he was going to either drop it or get in a car and bolt.

He did neither and was still running down towards the A1077 Luneburg Way Roundabout following my sixty-yard burst.

20 years ago I would have most certainly caught him and been on a racially aggravated ABH charge in Scunthorpe Magistrates on the Monday morning, as I would have kicked the living daylights out him for making me chase him.

Julie said: "What would you have done if you would have caught him?"

"Kicked shit out of him, and give the big box back" I told her.

"And what if he had a knife?"

And that is the reality of today's society.

Pre Christmas we were at the tills in Doncaster city centre's HMV when there was shouting by the staff and some guy ran towards me with a stack of CDs in his mitts.

This time a smackhead shoplifter.

I dragged him back into the shop by the scruff of the neck and booted him up the backside.

I was profusely thanked by the staff but Julie again hit the reality button.

"What if the police ask to see the CCTV and want to charge you with assault?"

So, what do you do - nothing?

Too many of us just stand there with our hands in our pockets and look the other way. It is one of the reasons that the country is where it is.

Aside of chasing the shoplifter I managed 60 minutes cardio on the cross trainer, with the left ankle giving me a bit of grief.

I'll chuck up some animation on here later.

(Above) A 34 second (replacement) animation of Mason doing his best to entertain the sabotage-crazy rugrats that were Tiffany and Madison Coulthard.

It's quite a nice animation, too.

Every now and again, Uncle Mason and Auntie Gaynor "sat" Robbie and Annie's two kids.

One occasion was when their father had been remanded to HMP Brixton - another was when Gaynor and her mum took them to have a look at some bridesmaid dresses for the wedding that never was.

There were other times - and all Mason ever did was complain about them.

There was a reason: They broke everything they touched!

"Uncle Mason doesn't mean it," said Auntie Gaynor.

"Yes, Uncle Mason does," said Uncle Mason.

13 April 2025

I got up at 8:00 am and my left ankle is throbbing like a bitch. I'm also tasked with the dog walk as Julie's head cold from the other day has turned to flu.

As for my ankle, it is absolutely nothing to do with the cardio.

Yesterday, I did 90 minutes - 60 on the cross trainer and 30 on the rower and not a twinge.

I went out to wash both mine and Julie's cars and turned my ankle going off a step whilst trying to unravel the high pressure hose on the petrol powerwash whilst I was pissing about with my headphones.

Dickhead!

Anyway, both cars got washed and I ended up with what looks like a sprain.

White cars look brilliant when they are clean - the trouble is, is that they never are.

No idea what's planned for today, although Julie has gone to see her mum in the Care Home, as their Jane - the elder sister, is in Benidorm on a Hen-Do.

I have a Jane Mason and a Care Home mentioned in The A's - and rather strangely it was written up a long time before their mum ended up in one.

The Care Home is where Angie and Gaynor's granny ended up.

That aside, a trip to Home Bargains was mentioned.

Those Air Wick plug in smellies, the big zipper bags and the 30 cm aluminum foil trays is what we go for as well as stocking up on Radox shower gel and bubble bath.

And by stock up, I mean exactly that.

The whole shelf gets slung into the trolley.

I also buy medicated shampoo from there - T-Gel.

Julie calls it my gnit shampoo as it stinks.

Well the brown stuff does - but rather strangely, the clear stuff doesn't. In reality, it's no different to Vosene.

The story is that when we had the house in Avgorou (Cyprus), I was fucking about under the bonnet of the FTO and cracked my head and split it open a bit.

I went inside, looked in the mirror and had the shock of my life and it was nothing to do with the blood.

All my head was red and shiny.

"Am I going fucking bald?" I inquired.

"No," Julie replied. "It looks like dermatitis."

It doesn't help by the fact that I use wax on it, as has I've got older my hair grows at an uncontrollable pace of knots and in any direction it feels.

No idea why.

Anyway, the premature baldness wasn't. It was something that my gran has passed on, that being psoriasis.

I started washing it with T-Gel and it went - thank God.

The last thing I want is a bald head.

I would be fucking depressed.

One of the professional animation software's that I used was being awkward last night, so all I did was the Anita and Jenny animation opposite.

Jenny is a bit Tomboyish and wears pumps, sneakers and after she meets up with the ultra cool Dottie West - Bovver boots, and it's Anita who tends to spoil her.

Music. I went over on my ankle whilst listening to Veruca Salt's 1997 song With David Bowie.

Really good, just watch where you are walking if you listen to it.

I had two albums on by Throwing Muses last night - Red Heaven and University, with the latter, I feel being the better album - the stand out tracks being That's All You Wanted and Crabtown.

It is a very listenable album.

12 April 2025

I got up at 6:50 am.

Julie woke me up shutting the gate on her way out to walk the dog.

I have a guy called Lewis Arrand calling round to the house between 9:00 - 10:00 am.

He is a tree surgeon from Crowle who I am hoping is going to cut three trees down that are in our front garden and which are causing a problem to traffic as well as totally bollocksing the lawn.

We live in a conservation area so it's been a pain in the arse getting permission to take them down even though it was some wanker from North Lincolnshire Council who first started complaining about the size of the trees as we are smack on the A161 junction of the town's High Street.

Things to watch out for.

We have a resident Robin in the garden, but that lives in the 20 foot-high hedge of confers that runs down the side of the property along with a few pigeons that drop twigs and shit over the cars and patio.

This morning I saw a Blue Tit scratting around for stuff for its nest, so I'm just hoping that isn't living in one of the soon-to-be-felled trees.

Whilst I'm on the subject of birds - what is strange is that for as long as I can remember there has been a family of Jackdaw's residing in the chimney of the old Methodist Church next door - however, I have seen and heard nothing of them. And generally they are the noisiest neighbours of them all.

I'll have to watch out for them.

Yesterday, was a work day - my day job so I did nothing with The Project bar chuck some animation up on here.

As for music, I just played a couple albums from Veruca Salt - IV and Eight Arms to Hold You.

Another one of their albums is Resolver - which is a take off of The Beatles 1966 album Revolver, and if you want a bit of history - The Beatles 1965 album Help! was originally going to be called Eight Arms to Hold You.

There wasn't anything on Radio Caroline that jumped out at me, although Groove Armada's 1999 hit At The River has just been on and that was okay.

I can't say I'd ever heard of them before!

It's 7:21 am and the Altered Images Don't Talk to me About Love is one, which is a cracking song from 1983.

Last night I did 90 minutes straight on the crosser and had no twinge from my ankle.

I also chucked five sets of dumbbells around.

Nine weeks dry today.

11 April 2025

I awoke at 6:50 am to an empty house.

Julie was already out with the dog and by the time I'd made the bed, she was back in feeding her.

I came downstairs to my coffee poured.

"It takes five minutes," she said - regarding the morning chores.

And there was more.

"I didn't see you offering to take the dog out this morning for me."

How could I - I didn't even know she'd got up!

When we were in the Curry Leaf the other night - Cuban Pete and Broken Arm Sue were in, with the latter mentioning that there had been some guy hanging about on the dog walking circuit "again".

"Again" meaning there was supposedly one before.

Now here is the story.

There is a married woman who lives up the High Street where it sort of intersects with Chapel Street and the Market Place.

She's a nice enough lady but I'm not so sure about the validity of anything that she says.

Not too long ago she reckoned her husband was going to do her in, as she had supposedly caught him banging prostitutes at the Purple Door in Kirk Sandall, as well as having them back at the house. She allegedly told the police that he had threatened her and was going to dispose of her body in some incinerator.

The validity of that?

She's still with him now and according to Julie, she and her husband are renovating her dads old house for their daughter.

Trivialities aside, it was her who set the alarm bells ringing about the guy hanging around the churchyard, who she said "jumped over a wall" and made her run away.

Within days I copped him.

I went up to him and took his photograph on my phone and passed it on to Humberside Police.

Nothing happened. Why?

Possibly because she sees things that aren't there.

I spoke to the guy - who could have looked Arabic, with his beard, and he just has a walk up to the churchyard with a Costa Coffee and listens to some music on his phone.

Why?

To get out of the house while his "wife gets the kids ready for school", is what he told Julie.

So another man hanging around?

There has to be a first before there is another, although I will keep my eye out.

Last night I did my 90 minutes cardio - 30 on the rower the rest on the crosser, and slung the five sets of dumbbells around.

I got a twinge on my left ankle but it is nowhere near as bad as it was.

Julie told me around 5:00 pm that I was looking well.

Nine weeks dry tomorrow.

By 9:30 pm, however - I was a greedy fat bastard.

We had two boxes of Celebrations left over from Christmas, and she fancied one, however, they had both gone.

I did them in over three days during deadline for the magazine, and the other day when I was bored.

Talk about nasty!

I'll stick some animation up later.

(Above) Violine Agumanu had seven children and lost her eldest in a road accident.

Violine lived in the block of flats in Hammersmith that would come to be known as Hong Kong Garden and was quite friendly with Mason's gran, Ana Reung..

As with Isobella Facchetti, she had a huge affection for Mason, and from time to time she also had Gaynor around teaching her to cook.

Now, why would two old ladies be enamoured with a 17-year old boy?

_____________________________________________________________________________

10 April 2025

Good Morning.

I was up at 6:50 am.

Julie was already out and through the woods with the dog.

My remit: Make the bed; Get the dog's breakfast ready; and get the coffee's on.

The Stage 4 of my remit is also to empty the dishwasher - however, we went round to the Curry Leaf around 7:45pm last night, therefore there wasn't any pots to put away.

Our Jamie and Lianne did well out of that decision, as Julie ran them a takeaway down!

I did 60 minutes on the crosser last night without much grief from my left ankle, and slung five sets of dumbbells around.

I'll go for a 90 minute shot of cardio later.

I'm on with my day job at the minute: specialist civil engineering.

A massive £3 billion (€3.54 billion) expansion of Luton Airport has just been given the heads up by the Secretary of State, so I'll do that first. I've absolutely no idea how they are planning to raise the finance for it, however.

Animation. I was looking around in what was in my sort of archives on the non-pro software and at some animation that I haven't really used, so I'll chuck some of that up today, as I know I'm going to be busy.

Music. There was a couple of tracks on Radio Caroline that jumped out at me - but nothing I would use in The A's.

Addicted to You by When Rivers Meet was interesting, in that the chorus is very good.

When you put films or TV series' together, it is very rare that they use all the actual song outside of the intro and ending - so who knows?

Right. Onwards and upwards.

9 April 2025

After having zero sleep and coming back from Cyprus with a head cold and my nose leaking like a broken pipe, I got up at 6:50 am (UK time) to Joe Cocker on Radio Caroline.

Delta Lady, I feel is his best song, but he was banging out The Letter.

Joe Walsh is on now. Life's Been Good. A top song. It's sort of the original life of a rock star type song which was the precursor and not too dissimilar to Nickleback's more recent Rock Star.

Good songs nevertheless.

Yesterday evening, I managed 60 minutes on the crosser, we had our tea - opposite (below), and I went to bed at 8:00 pm and missed Arsenal beating Real Madrid 3-0.

I should go to bed early more regular!

I've put some Series 2 animation up of the Jenny Mellor character in school.

I have to admit - the intensity of the storyline along with the characters I have created feels very, very real.

And the love she has for her family knows no bounds and she fully expects that reciprocated and is as funny as hell when it doesn't always happen.

As I've mentioned before, she can be very manipulative.

Getting Jenny to put her glasses on herself was actually a great feeling.

(Above) The story of Jenny Mellor moving schools is for want of a better word - "moving".

Blessed with the same gift as her father, she is moved up three school years and initially struggles to adapt with the older girls, some of whom ridicule her due to the huge glasses she wears.

However, as the school is a 5-18 years all girls school, and Jenny loves to learn, some of the much older girls take an interest in her - one of who is Dottie West, who Jenny describes as being "Dead cool" - mainly due to the black lipstick, short skirt and Doc Marten's she wears.

8 April 2025

It's stupid o'clock in the morning.

The taxi is picking us up at 2:15 am to take us to Larnaca Airport.

We fly at 6:10 am.

These are very long days.

Yesterday was a nice day.

I did a lot of work on The Project and spoke to both my cousins who I have used as characters in The A's - that being Mrs Tracy Westcott and Mrs Karen Rowland.

I saw our Trace on 30 November 2024, prior to some school reunion and our Karen, maybe four or five years prior to that when her and her husband, Robbie, came through to The Red Lion on the night of the Christmas Lights being switched on.

It's a shame that I don't see more of them really, as in the main, I have one hell of a family.

Time goes so quick.

Speaking of The Red Lion, Julie received a text around 4:00 pm (GMT +2) yesterday. It was the owner of the pub/hotel - Bev Smith.

Bev was just checking in on us to see if everything was okay as we obviously haven't been in, which was nice.

Today is 60 days without alcohol.

As stated, it is some achievement, as the social aspect is a big part of our life.

Yesterday, we did a bit of running around.

Up to Paralimni Town Hall to pay our water bill; over to Litsa's Supermarket (Waitrose) in Vrysoulles to stock up on some shopping; and back to Paralimni to fill up the FTO at the garage and to get some new windscreen wiper blades fitted.

I bought some highly concentrated 1:100 blue screen wash too, and stuck it in the car, which was a right fucking ball ache. It was like glue.

It's strange, as I can't recall ever putting any screen wash in the car whilst it has been in Cyprus - which is 17 years.

We had a couple of coffee's in between all that.

A Macchiato in the CoffeeHouse in Kapparis and a lousy Turkish / Cypriot coffee up at Fosis Coffee Shop in Vrysoulles.

If ever you want a poor man's Espresso then the Turkish / Cypriot coffee is definitely that drink.

I had one the other day at the Salamis bar in Avgorou, which is owned by a great Cypriot lad by the name of Anthony.

His Turkish coffee was just as rank.

We were intending to eat at the Bulgarian open kitchen, but the owner Svetlana, explained that the Bulgarian butcher that they use had undergone some minor catastrophe and they'd not received their meat supplies etc., etc.

I have heard this story from more restaurant owners than you could shake a tree at.

It's called bullshit

We jumped in the car and went down the main street of Protaras and went to a restaurant that my son recommended, and which they went to when they were here last year. Hippo Campus.

I thought it was named after the American Indie Band who get played on Radio Caroline, but no - it is Greek for Seahorse and is a part of the human brain.

You learn something new everyday.

Apart from a dog which is Skylí; the only animal I know in Greek is a Methysméno Gouroúni, which means a drunken pig.

We shared an Italian Rocket salad for a starter and I had Octopus, whilst Julie had crayfish Risotto of which the crayfish weren't crayfish but a pair of Langoustines - which are the most fucking anorexic of shellfish.

It is 3:40 am and we are in the Skala Lounge in Larnaca airport and I am on to my second Macchiato.

There's been a change going through Passport Control this time as they wanted all the laptops and electronic gear out of my bag.

That's the first time they've requested that in 18 months. No idea why.

7 April 2025

I didn't get to bed until 2:00 am as I was working on the screenplay.

So, I am up now. 9:00 am. (GMT +2).

The back door is open and the sun is shining. It looks like it's going to be a lovely day.

I'm just putting the kettle on.

Julie has just bunged the bottom sheet and mattress protector in the washing machine as we head back to the UK at daft o'clock in the morning.

Yesterday, I did a few animations of the Christ Is King All Girls School in Chelsea along with a few characters.

Here are another two opposite: Dottie West and Mrs Rowland.

Jenny Mellor is extremely honest and possesses an innocence that hopefully will have you in stitches.

As I've said, she is moved up three school years as she is academically both at, and above that level - however, in reality she is still the age that she is, and suddenly she is part of conversations that no little girl should really be part of - especially once the bigger girls such as Bethany Angle, Miki Berenyi and Dora Panicek befriend her.

As for Jenny, she loves being part of the in crowd.

Which little girl wouldn't.

There are huge similarities with her mum when she was at school, so hopefully that will reproduce on screen.

We went to the Red Ruby last night.

I ordered meat samosas, tandoori king prawns and chicken tikka, and ended up with chicken tandoori.

The prawns were good and the chicken tender - So no complaints there apart from the wrong order and the chicken having too much tandoori paste on it.

I'm starting to feel like Margo Martindale's character in the third series of the TV series Dexter; the one who is on her death bed trying to find the perfect Key Lime pie before she cops it.

In reality, the two south-east Asian chef's have left and you can tell.

(Above) a 30 second animation of John Mellor, at work and running the geotechnical company he owns - AGM MellorTech.

John set up the company when their Gaynor was around three years old.

Without giving too much away, he nearly lost the business post-Co-vid, which brought with it a lot of problems.

Then one day his youngest daughter invited her new boyfriend into the house...

Mason Green lost sight of who John and Maureen were and what they did for him.

_______________________________________________________________________________

(Above) This is Mrs Karen Rowland - Head of Year 11 at the Christ Is King All Girls School.

I named the character as I did with Mrs Westcott, after one of my cousins of the same name.

However, whereas I got a pretty much like-for-like with the Mrs Westcott 3D character asset and the Mrs Tracy Westcott in real life; the Mrs Rowland 3D character is a like-for-like with one of my auntie's.

The aunt being my Auntie Liz (Elizabeth Durose), who won the UK Miss Pears children's beauty competition in 1961.

_____________________________________________________________________________

6 April 2025

I got up at 8:30 am.

I went to bed at 11:15 pm and slept the whole way through.

It is what holidays should be about, but rarely are.

The back door is open, the sun is shining and I have a coffee in front of me.

Day 58 of my sobriety and Day 100 of the preconstruction process.

Two days to go until all the alcohol restrictions on me are lifted, and I'm now in the now and on the 100-day watershed that I gave myself to move on to 3D.

My personal feelings are that I am ready for neither.

Julie's just tested her BP which is 109/70 and the lowest that I've ever known it.

I have tweaked and re-tweaked an early part of Series 2 whilst I have been here to the point that everything has moved, and much needs changing.

I wouldn't describe myself as a Once upon a time kind of person, as when I write, I never start at the beginning - ever. Therefore, I always come across this problem.

Yesterday, was a nice day weather-wise. We ate at the Bulgarian open kitchen-stroke-grill again, but this time we had a mixed grill. My opinion? It was mediocre with a capital 'M'.

It was cooked well enough, and there was certainly enough of it, but it was badly thought out and the meat was inferior.

Pork on a skewer, lamb off a skewer, a couple of different sausages, a burger, and a chicken breast with some chips, toast, and a bit of salad.

Rule number one if you own a restaurant. Make sure you serve good food. Compared to Friday night's offering it was anything but.

Music. I have been on and off all week with music on the headphones. I dropped around seven or eight albums on my phone before I left the UK along with around 270 songs I already had on it, so I've been listening to those.

I'm still quite enamored with the band Veruca Salt in that the more I hear of them, the better they are.

There is a lot to say about the A&R and PR guys (and girls) who work for these record labels and who saddle us with the shit that is rammed down your throat on a daily basis by the mainstream radio stations.

Hopefully, if The A's kicks off as I hope it will, there will be some decent music in it.

Perfect Love by Veruca Salt is similar to Sherena Dugani's Accidental Angel, which was on the soundtrack to the 2000 film Saving Grace, which was of course the precuror to the TV series Doc Marten starring Martin Clunes and the annoying fat bloke.

I'll put some animations up shortly.

5 April 2025

I got up at 8:00 am.

I slept well.

It is absolutely glorious outside. The back door is open and the sun is shining and I have my first coffee of the day.

The pool maintenance guys are here cleaning the swimming pool. They are also going to have to reset the timer for the lights as there must have been a power cut whilst we have been away as the lights aren't coming on until daft o'clock at night.

Power cuts happen all the time over here.

Yesterday was a lousy day.

It hounded it down sort of on and off until around 6:00 pm with regular bolts of lightning flashing over the Mediterranean from the afternoon onwards.

Rain is depressing enough in the UK.

Out here its ten times worse, as when you take the sun away from Cyprus, there is absolutely zero draw other than sat in a bar drinking.

To pass an hour, Julie tidied up the spare (Third) bedroom, and dumped two sacks of shoes.

I'd done my bit the day before by taking four 225 by 18 inch Wolfrace alloys up to Andri's Bazaar just off the main Makarios III Road in Frenaros to make some room for her to get the vacuum cleaner and mop bucket in there.

I didn't sell the wheels - just gave them away, as experience tells me, you cannot get blood out of a stone.

As I've said before, the majority of British expats over here are some of the biggest wankers you could ever meet and although you can regularly hear them bragging and boasting about what they have - literally none of them have any money.

There are some good ones, but they are far and few between. And trying to get money out of a Cypriot. Christ - don't even go there!

Last night we went to the Bulgarian open kitchen-stroke-grill house on Paralimni's Protaras Road (next to The Lionheart bar) - which is called Mister Food and had a great meal.

A cabbage salad, an egg salad, two plates of pan fried shrimps (prawns), and grilled pork liver that melted in your mouth, along with eight cans of soda water - €44.

It might not sound a lot of food - but it was.

It's only a small place but it was packed with their own people eating and drinking... and smoking like chimney's.

The best meal I've had in Cyprus in years.

At 9:30 am Julie checked her Facebook page.

A friend of the family had messaged.

She had a C-section to have her first child on 1 April.

This morning we found out that the baby had passed away.

How cruel is life?

4 April 2025

It is 6:30 am (4:30 am UK time).

I was woken by the rain. And when it rains here. It rains.

April in Cyprus is always a lottery when it comes to weather and is always a bit hit and miss.

Some friends once came with us one April and we were in Fosis Coffee Shop and it absolutely hammered it down, the tables and chairs outside being blown on to the street the rain was that heavy.

I was working on the screenplay until late.

The reason I've not been sleeping is the amount of coffee that I'm knocking back. Well, according to Fosis it is.

My alcohol substitute.

We've been calling into the coffee shops as opposed to bars.

Two Macchiato's in the Coffeehouse in Kapparis, two Espresso's up at Mezzo Coffee in Paralimni, and two shit Turkish coffee's in Fosis Coffee Shop in Vrysoulles, as well as the half dozen Nescafe Black Roasts I knock back each morning... all double-bubbled as I can't drink weak coffee.

No wonder I'm bucking fuzzing.

We ate out at Yiannis Restaurant in Vrysoulles last night.

I really needed a shit meal to offset my miserableness and certainly got one.

By shit meal I meant something bad for me as opposed to the other - my idea being a fillet steak, chips and mushrooms.

Yiannis asked me - did I want onions with it? Me thinking that a couple of onion rings in breadcrumbs would be very high cholesterol and most welcomed.

Not so. My steak came out covered in the fucking things - all fried and sloppy.

If you ever want to ruin a fillet steak, that is a great way of doing it as everything tastes of onions.

It was utter garbage and I had a face like a badgers arse all the way home.

I've had three meals since I've been here and none of them have been any good.

There's a lot to say about being sober.

Just lately, no food is appeasing me and this feeling started with the roast chickens last week.

The non-drinking must be bollocksing up my palate as when I'm drunk everything sort of tastes alright.

I have to snap out of it

Anyway, the rain has stopped, so let's see what today brings.

3 April 2025

I awoke at 7:00 am after a lousy sleepless night - the gardener opposite with the vacuum-stroke-blower waking up all the street.

I've not been this tired in ages.

I think everything is catching up with me. Lot's of late nights and a hellish weekend, and more to the point - no alcohol to knock me out.

Still, yesterday was a nice sunny day - as is today.

I've just been outside to do a minor job on the FTO and to top up the windscreen wash and radiator.

I gotta admit, and as I told our Jamie over the phone last night - it looks like a new car.

It certainly doesn't drive like one, but it looks well all the same.

The back door is open, I have a coffee - two spoons full of Nescafe Black Roast, which for some reason, you can't get now in the UK, and am at the table on the laptop.

Another thing that they also have over here that they don't have in the UK is Heinz sweetcorn.

In the UK it is the wanky 325g or a 198g Jolly Green Giant-sized tins as opposed to the standard Heinz 415g tins.

No idea why.

Dead annoying for the man with the O.C.D when he's stocking up his cupboards. Especially, this one as he's quite partial to sweetcorn.

If you are over here in September and are in Fosis Coffee Shop there is a farmer that comes round touting his wares - a carrier bag full of fresh sweetcorn - €5.

Well it was, the last time I bought it.

Generally he comes in the day we are going home!

I've forgotten how much shite I've bought in there from the man in the van, when I've been pissed.

From tomatoes to potatoes - to combat shirts to sunglasses, and in one instance a battery operated neck massager which if truth-be-told resembled something out of a Japanese porn flick.

We called in to see Fosis yesterday, and I had two Turkish coffee's and two tonic waters to wash down the horrible taste.

There wasn't much happening - just a card game on one of the tables and football on a TV.

We ended up at the Red Ruby in Ayia Napa where we copped a curry - Julie's being rather uninspiring.

Mine was okay, as I know that I'm never going to get a Sheffield or Bradford-type curry.

I think today - I'll be back on the Feta salads and prawns.

Yesterday was a nothing day with The Project as I just worked on the screenplay side of things.

Julie's blood pressure today is 108/79, which is the lowest I've ever known it.

2 April 2025

My body clock is bollocksed.

It is 3:30 am in the morning (Cyprus time GMT +2) and I'm up, sat at the table with a cup of coffee.

Yesterday, we landed in a storm - the turbulence on the plane as we dropped into Larnaca being quite aggressive.

Cyprus supposedly has over 300 days of sunshine. Yesterday certainly wasn't one of them. It pissed it down

We had Chris from Empire Taxi and Rentals drop us a car off at the house on a 3-day hire, as I need to pick up the FTO from the body shop in Derenyia this morning.

We got to the house around 6:00 pm last night, dropped our bags off and went to the Red Ruby restaurant in Ayia Napa.

We had Chinese.

I had Chicken Chow Mein, Salt & Pepper Prawns and Beef in Black Bean Sauce... and a big bottle of Perrier water.

Today is 54 days of sobriety.

I struggle around the weekend mainly Friday's as there's nothing I'd like more than knocking back six or seven beers on an evening and getting a crap takeaway from the Tandoori on High Street.

Julie says she's not so much bothered about that - just that she misses having a glass of wine with her meal, when we go out to a restaurant - which, we did maybe 15 times a month.

I think she's lost 18 or 19lbs, and you can definitely tell.

In fact, everyone can.

I broke off from work on Sunday evening for us to nip round to The Curry Leaf for tea and Big Scott was in there with his girlfriend, Edyta and straightaway he noticed the difference.

It was nice to see them.

Not drinking, means not socialising - as we can't go out with anyone and not drink!

I said that I'd give it 60 days.

I am very close, but the thing is - is apart from me wanting to throw the two roast chickens through the window on Friday night in a fit of misery, is that I am feeling much better in myself.

What a boring bastard!

Anyway. I've got a week to work on this screenplay as I move towards the prospect of working with all the 3D assets that I have.

I'll put some animation up on here through the day.

First up two from the United Kingdom Security Services.

The guy - Jonty, takes a bit of flak from the rest as he was a copper who used to work in The Met.

1 April 2025

The alarm went off a 2:00 am.

We are up.

I'm in the study now and have just approved the pdf file and signed off for this month's magazine.

76 pages of toil.

My fault as my preparation for it was fucking pants.

I'll have my coffee, chuck my laptop, headphones and external hard drive in my bag and nip back upstairs and get a bath.

Oh yeah - I bought some gear from M&M Direct during the week, so I've got that in a sort of Duty Free bag.

The Wizz Air Stasi in the UK love it if you have an extra bag, as they can charge you. However, if it's Duty Free - you're okay.

Well, we have been the last half-dozen times!

Strange - as when you fly out of Larnaca - no-one gives a shit.

I filled up the car on Sunday night so it's a straight drive down the M1 and through those dreaded camera's to Luton Airport, without having to stop off for the overpriced motorway petrol.

The flight is at 9:55 am.

Yesterday was a horrible fucking day.

Hopefully, I don't get another one like that for a while.

I'll see you in the Priority Lounge.

In the meantime, there's some nice animation opposite that is my sort of yardstick.

--

7:00 am.

We are in the priority lounge in Luton Airport, now.

The drive down was uneventful - Julie missing all the traffic as she was asleep most of the way, just waking up every now and again to moan about it being cold.

Still, it gave me chance to listen to Lush's 1996 album Lovelife on the way down, which went around twice.

A point of note as that I only actually have three CDs in the car!

Heavenly Nobodies and I've Been Here Before are cracking tracks with Ciao! (featuring Jarvis Cocker) easily the worst.

Strange that - as I quite like Pulp - their 1995 Different Class album being very good, the lyrics to the track Something Changed being very 'sliding doors'.

Speaking of music.

I managed 60 minutes cardio last night.

Due to work commitments and me being knackered, I did none Saturday and Sunday.

Anyway, I dumped a load of music on to my phone from the big computer that I set the magazine on, and just let it play.

After 40 minutes on the crosser - some Irish song came on.

When I'd been writing up Mason and Gaynor shooting off to County Galway for the weekend, I needed some inspiration, therefore, I downloaded every number one from the Irish charts, between when the charts started in the early-1960s, to the mid-1970s.

I have to admit - I played none of them as The Mekons' song - Mudcrawlers was enough to get me inspired (if you like).

I'm digressing again...

Anyway, I was on the crosser and this song came on and it definitely got me thinking, so much so, I had a lump in my throat.

Dermot Hegarty and The Plainsmen had a No. 1 hit in 1970 with 21 Years.

I definitely have to use that, both whilst they are in Ireland, and for Angie and Gaynor's mum, Maureen.

It's an awesome song in the mood of say Porter Wagoner's 1965 country song and international hit, Green Green Grass of Home, or maybe the Bee Gees 1968 No. 1 I've Gotta Get a Message To You.

A song to slit your wrists to?

Not really - it's just a nice song.

Speaking of Porter Wagoner.

He is a character in Series 2 (Skyhook - PS1 Prototype) and had already been written up.

Well, I've Just had a sausage, egg and bacon sarnie and a latte macchiato from one of the three coffee machines at the bar, and Julie has just come back from the Duty Free with a pair of £168 Rayban sunglasses for our Jamie.

I reckon, that's me done for the day.

I'll hopefully see you in Cyprus.

NO PART OF THIS WEBSITE MAY BE REPRODUCED OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS.

APRIL 2025

The A's

ALL IMAGES OPEN IN TECHNICOLOUR

Right - I've done on this page so

Click the button above to go on to a new page for May 2025

30 April 2025

Good Morning.

I woke up at 5:30 am.

Julie is out with the dog.

We got home at 11:30 am yesterday.

The house always looks immaculate when we return.

I think it's because the house in Cyprus is much smaller and more compact.

It was a tiring day made even more so, as when you miss a night's sleep, you have to keep active.

I did a power shop at the Co-op, copped my once-a-week haircut and called round to the post office to see if my Smeg whistling kettle had been delivered there.

It had - along with a load of parcels from Shein... and some bills.

The kettle will come in handy as according to Northern Powergrid, there was another power outage while we were away. A few hours.

This will happen on a regular basis with all this Net Zero bullshit. Hopefully it will be that cloud with the silver lining that brings down what has been the worst UK government ever.

We really need a complete change of direction.

The offsetting of the tiredness was continued by jet washing the patios, weeding the drive (using industrial weed killer), cleaning two of the cars and tidying the shed, the latter of which really needs replacing.

Julie even painted the barbecue.

I also had the lawn mower to bits as it wouldn't kick up which was most unlike it, as it is generally very reliable.

I changed the spark plug and filled it with petrol - however, the rotor blade, which is attached to motor had seized.

Me getting it turning and half a can of WD40 sorted it.

It wouldn't have mattered if it hadn't. The lawn is as dead as disco and is being replaced.

Lewis Arrand - the tree surgeon, is taking four trees down in the front garden on Friday - as it is the trees dropping leaves and blanketing out the light that have killed it.

Although, today is a work day - my day job, I'll stick some animation up later.

Music. Lenny Kravitz's Fly Away was on Radio Caroline this morning, which was the pick from a load of old recycled middle class and middle aged noise.

I came in yesterday - full of muck and dust, and the B2 had been playing music at random, and Old Life by Tess Parks was on. Now, that is a song that you can close your eyes to, and which can take you to that other place!

Although Julie would beg to differ.

"She just drones on and I can't hear a word that she says" is one of the things that she's said about her... that and the fact that she looks and dresses like some crack head!

Talking of musical artistes that you could hardly describe as Top Totty - Louise Distras recently liked a comment that I made on Elon Musk's X.

Her music isn't that awe inspiring - however, a stopped clock is right twice a day, and her Girl in the Mirror is an absolutely lovely track, which, hopefully, I will use in The A's.

The scene: The Hammersmith Vaults - 23 December 2022.

Day 121

Angie Mellor: The Model

Rendered at 2160p 4k, 16:9 Widescreen

(Above) A 56 second animation of Angie Mellor modelling.

I set this using seven different pro software frames - two frames of which were using a different software.

The animation was created from an image, again using Adobe Photoshop 2025 - with Angie's hair and clothes in Series 1 mode.

In Series 2, her hair will be in a longer and more thicker bob-style as to age her by seven years.

Food

(Above) Last night's dish.

Fresh salmon and prawns, with strawberry and raspberry green salad and cous cous.

We are barbecuing tonight, which will please the dawg!

Julie's just called at the butchers. Lamb Chops, Beef Burgers and Sausages.

(Above) Integrating the Smeg whistling kettle with its new mates - as power cuts (outages) - in my humble opinion, will become the norm.

29 April 2025

It is 12:30 am (+2 GMT).

The taxi is due at 2:00 am.

It's been pointless going to bed.

For me, especially, as I am often up until 1:00 and 2:00 am in the morning.

I put the car on the drive and uncoupled the battery around 3:00 pm.

This was after I'd called in at the petrol station in Paralimni and filled up.

Waiting for the taxi is like waiting to be hung... Sorry, that's poor English. Hanged!

I'll get a bath in a bit.

The worst part of travelling... is travelling, and a long day beckons.

I have around 550 songs on my phone, so I'll put my headphones on, stick the music player on shuffle, and hopefully manage to chuck out some Zeds on the plane.

I'm currently sat at the kitchen table, looking out through the patio doors, at the swimming pool with its lights illuminating what constitutes our garden.

The automatic timer will knock them off shortly.

*****

It's 3:05 am (+2 GMT).

We are in the Skala Lounge of Larnaca Airport and I've just had two quadruple-shot Macchiato's, which only filled three-quarters of the cup - which in Jenny Mellor's vocabulary, would be 75% or 0.75.

Mason and Gaynor's daughter is quite the boffin when it comes to maths.

I've put a few of animations up opposite - all of the Gaynor character, as I have been indexing old 2D image files on the external drive, that had been saved as .psd files in Adobe Photoshop 2025 a few months ago.

The hotel bedroom one is quite good as I've got her dancing and spinning around; and the Vespa one satisfied my curiosity as I got her to actually straddle the thing.

Dancing is a must, as in Series 1, Gaynor and her crowd are out every weekend. And the Vespa - that is what they ride.

There is also a 20 second animation of Gaynor on the underground.

One of things that I am tasked with is building the fictitious Chiswick Green Tube Station from scratch.

I'll enjoy doing that.

What I should note is that the pro animation software is getting much better. I just wish that it would take bigger files at say 50-100MB.

Day 121

Gaynor Mellor in St. Moritz (February 2023)

Rendered at 2160p 4k, 16:9 Widescreen

(Above) A 42 second animation of Gaynor Mellor in the hotel bedroom in St Moritz (Series 1).

The animation was created from an image, again using Adobe Photoshop 2025.

I split the image into five sections (i) head only, (ii) head and shoulders, (iii) legs only, and full body - (iv) blown in, and (v) as is; and created the animation using eight frames of the pro software.

This is the first time I've had Gaynor dancing - using a full head-to-toe body shot and it's worked quite well.

I also have the full body walking, which I seem to have totally mastered now.

I've used video transitions and cross dissolve to move from one frame to the other, but sometimes I have found that there is no need to do this.

It looks well.