May 2025

The A's

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A new month - a new chapter. Just hit the button above and it'll take you there.

31 May 2025

A very good (early) morning.

It is 3:10 am.

I'm aching a bit as I did 120 minutes cardio yesterday.

This morning, Cyprus and a drive down the dreaded M1 beckons.

I've got a coffee at my desk and I'm just backing everything up on to a 12TB external hub, which I take with me.

Julie is upstairs drying her hair.

These are long days - even more so on the way back as it's an earlier start.

The reason being?

The Wizz Air flight out of Luton Airport is the plane that has come in from Larnaca - and the flight we go home on.

As the jet refuels, the cabin staff just have a nip round with the hoover, and we are herded on and flown away.

Flying from Doncaster was much better as it is a 15 minute drive from the Isle of Axholme.

Fingers crossed, Wizz Air will start flying from there again.

Right. I'm going to switch off.

I'll see you in Luton.

----

It's 8:13 am. We've been in the Priority Lounge exactly 60 minutes.

The drive down was nice and uneventful.

Saturday's are good days to travel with New Years' Day being easily the best.

I've had a couple of Latte Macchiatos and a sausage and egg sandwich, whilst sitting under the speaker, which is knocking out shit music, louder by the minute.

Not anymore.

One hour is enough. I complained.

The lady opposite said: "Thanks for that - it's far too loud."

The taxi and car hire firm we use over in Cyprus - Empire, is a family run business and sometimes we get lumbered with the main guy's youngest daughter picking us up.

Lumbered being the optimum word.

She's built like a brick shithouse.

Her absolute enormity aside, she's also obnoxious and has a gait of secretly turning up the radio via her steering wheel... and if that isn't bad enough, she sings to herself.

I can't even stand her talking, therefore her singing... Very fucking annoying!

What's planned for the week ahead?

The screenplay for The A's.

When I write, I tend to write in a series of blocks from the middle to either end - and working around what I've written.

This means that I don't set out from the start - you know, Once upon a time; and work to towards end - where they lived happily after.

Therefore, there is a lot of infilling and editing to do.

As I now know the characters inside and out, different stories and patterns emerge.

Anyway - we are up on the screen. Gate 31.

30 May 2025

Good morning.

I was up and out through the woods with the dog at 5:50 am.

I said to Julie: "Are you taking the dog out or making the bed?"

"None," she replied. "I'm not getting up at this time."

I came back into the house and the coffee was on.

She obviously WAS getting up at that time - she just wasn't that bothered about walking the dog at THAT time.

It was nice out - the sun rising from the east. According to the Met Office forecast it's going to hit 20°c this afternoon.

It was 39°c in Agia Triada all last week and that's where we are heading tomorrow morning.

We've booked in a carry-on case, which is the first time in a donkey's honk that we've done so. The reason being that I've got a new starter motor for the FTO to take over and half a dozen spark plugs - me indirectly pointing out, there - that it has a V6 engine!

My day job is complete, therefore I'll probably wash my car and get my weekly haircut later on.

Yesterday, I did zero cardio as I wasn't in the mood.

The Bank Holiday weekend has ran into this week and we have been out most evenings and last night was no exception.

As I've said before, it's not the drinking that I mind - as I can do without. It is the social aspect.

This week has been great - but not from a being healthy perspective.

We both agreed that this week has been a one off, so today is the reboot of our detox.

I'll start with 120 minutes cardio this morning.

Animation. I used 39 frames on yesterday's music video, which I enjoyed doing. I should re-edit it as with a music video you need shorter frames and more activity - especially when you have a fast tune as is with Lush's 500 track.

I chuck another animation up later.

Music. Radio Caroline has been on and nothing has really jumped out at me - Badfinger's 1969 Paul McCartney-penned Come and Get It being the pick of the bunch.

I remember watching a Peter Sellers film - The Magic Christian with that as the sort of theme song.

A very poor film to be honest.

A good Peter Sellers film?

The Pink Panther Strikes, Again (1976) is certainly the best of the Pink Panther series, but if you want him at his best - then watch him in The Naked Truth - a 1957 British black comedy film directed and produced by Mario Zampi.

There is a segment where he pretends to be one of the IRA and goes into a London pub to buy some explosives.

29 May 2025

I was up at 4:55 am.

I'd say good morning, but I'm looking out of my study window at the near-dark and the wet.

Christ, it looks miserable. And it'll be me walking the hound through the woods come 6:00 am!

The Met forecast says it will clear and the sun will come out in the evening. 18°c it says.

I've got nothing planned today, bar my day job. The only real thing I have is moving the news around to accommodate the advertisements that are starting to come in, which is a nice problem to have.

Yesterday, I managed 90 minutes cardio.

I'm hoping to do the same again today - or better.

I need to put some emphasis on using the weights - however, after I have done 90 minutes on the cross trainer, the last thing I feel like doing is hard work!

That's me just being lazy.

We walked the dog around 5:00 pm yesterday evening, and called in the Red Lion for a couple, which the dog thoroughly enjoyed.

I always let her off the lead and she darts up through Fountain Court and through the rear courtyard and into the pub shouting (barking) at the bar demanding to be served.

By the time we get there, she's being fussed by either Sue or Lesley and her plate of chicken or fish goujons are on order.

Really!

We picked up a crap curry from the Tandoori on High Street on our way back home, where we rather surprisingly, bumped into John Welsh.

It was his daughter's birthday so he'd come up from Nottingham to cop a meal with her and his son - Stewart.

John is who I based yesterday's animation on - the rather flawed character who is the owner of the 101 Club on Archway, who is a big Faces fan.

If you've never heard anything by them - hit the link below..

28 May 2025

Good morning.

I was up at 6:55 am.

I came downstairs to no-one in the house. Julie was out with the dog.

It's Wednesday.

Dustbin day. The cardboard and garden bins - purple and brown respectively.

Until we get those four trees taken down at the front of the house and a new lawn laid, there isn't a deal going into the brown bin bar some old flowers that were replenished on Friday morning.

The cardboard bin certainly makes up for it though - as it's always rammed.

Yesterday, I managed 120 minutes (two hours) cardio. A 90 minute crack from 7:30 am until nine; and a 30 minute one around 8:30 pm, the latter of which was straight after a fillet steak dinner and a walk around the churchyard with the dog. And that being the case, it was a bit heavy going.

Aside of that, it was a nothing day for me.

Julie, however, had to go into Doncaster as her mobile phone decided to switch itself off and refused to switch back on.

No idea what the problem was, aside of it cost £15 to rectify.

Buzz Mobiles on Duke Street - next to the HSBC.

They could have easily ripped her off by blinding her with a bit of tech, but they didn't.

Impressive.

To be honest, we could do with new phone upgrades.

We used to get new ones every year but Julie stopped it as she claimed they were a waste of money.

She may have a point.

Aside of a text, I never use it, as I fucking hate speaking on the phone.

Animation. Last night one of the two pro software packages that I use was taking an absolute age to render, whilst the other one is continually down.

In fact, I'm currently having continual conversations with some techno-genius at their end.

Opposite is the John Welsh character asset done using the non-pro software.

27 May 2025

I was up at 5:40 am and through the woods with the dog. There were rabbits everywhere. Still no squirrels though - although I did see a couple last week.

It's been a great Bank Holiday weekend.

Yesterday we went to Skippingdale Retail Park, which is located off the A1077 - and called into Matalan and The Range.

The Range is just about the only place you can buy those Vileda Active Max Flat Head Mop refills.

We bought what they had in. All 11 of them.

We also got our Jamie a blender as according to Julie - theirs is on its last legs.

Matalan. Now that is a frustrating place.

"Do you want to use the self service till?"

Er - no.

The staff are downright lazy - that much so, you could think it was run by North Lincolnshire Council.

We took the dog for her teatime walk and called in for a beer at the Red Lion. We ended up staying and having Fish and Chips - which is easily the best meal on the menu.

No doubt Julie will be cursing today.

On Friday she was trying on some white jacket she'd bought online.

"It's a size 10," she said.

"I'm impressed," I replied

I was. She's lost two stone and two pounds.

I did 120 minutes cardio yesterday - 90 in the morning and 30 before we went out.

I'll try for two hours today.

Animation. YouTube emailed me yesterday to tell me that they had put an age restriction on the latest Angie Mellor flick. For some reason it was the one in technicolor and not the one done in monochrome.

Strange, as I just thought it as being arty.

Opposite is Angie being photographed by Astrid Karcherr.

Astrid is in both Series 1 and 2 as a university student and professional photographer, respectively.

Astrid loved photographing both sisters, which is something that you don't really get to know until Series 2.

Music. Apart from listening to what is on my phone whilst I've been hitting the cross trainer - not much has jumped out at me.

Radio Caroline have just played The Way It Is - the 1986 hit by Bruce Hornsby and the Range.

26 May 2025

Good morning.

Bank Holiday Monday.

The sun is out... but according to the Met Office - not for long.

Saying that - yesterday's forecast predicted no rain and around 9:00 am it hounded it down.

I was up at 7:15 am and got downstairs to Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel playing on Radio Caroline.

Make Me Smile (Come up and See Me).

A top track.

No idea what today brings.

Yesterday, I did 120 minutes cardio on the cross trainer with me continually looking out for it breaking.

All the dinner was prepared - however, we ended up going up to the Red Lion with the dawg around 2:45 pm and were joined by Cuban Pete and Broken Arm Sue with theirs. A spaniel called Bobby.

It was then we decided to go to the Curry Leaf for tea.

It was a good decision. It was a nice night.

Big Scott came in with his two youngest kids, therefore we had ten minutes talking to them before we left.

Animation. Opposite I've just chucked up the Film Noir animation in its original state and which I've edited down.

25 May 2025

Good morning.

It's 6:22 am and I'm up and at 'em.

I know that as Julie has just told me.

"And don't forget to say on your blog that Julie's just taking the dog out on a mile-and-half walk," she added.

I won't and I haven't. And it's been raining through the night!

I've no idea what I'm on with today. I'll just see what happens.

Yesterday, was a work day whereby I just about completed an 84-page magazine in record time.

I'm just waiting for copy coming in and some copy approving and I can drop it all in, and that's it.

I managed 60 minutes cardio on the cross trainer.

I noticed a split in the front cross member that the machine sits on. It broke before in the exact place and I had to order a new part from this gym supplies place in Northern Ireland. As with the rowing machine and the wheels beneath the seat - it's a common problem.

I don't think they are used to the hammer someone such as myself has been giving them.

They give a weight restriction of 120 kg - which is nearly 19 stone.

In all my worst fucking nightmares I've never been that fat.

As I've already said - I think they are built for females just content with keeping fit.

I may have to just buy some new kit.

Whilst I was working I managed to render some animation - some of which is shit hot. I was going to rush to chuck it up on here yesterday, but it's too good to do that.

The Angie character animates brilliantly.

Click opposite and you'll see just how brilliantly.

It is a watershed moment.

I love black and white (monochrome) - especially the French film noir's.

Because I'm animating in 2D, 90 % of the time I have the same starting point - therefore, what I need to stop doing is using all the animation I render, and just use the interesting bits.

I also need to use different camera angles.

2025 is the preconstruction - MY learning curve.

I also have the guts for a music video, but I'm going to hang fire on that for a bit.

I think I'll release that on 1 June 2025.

Music. Nothing has jumped out at me on Radio Caroline - and last night I worked from the dining kitchen on my laptop to keep the dog company and I just played a few albums on the B2.

IV (2006), Resolver (2000) andBlow it Out of Your Ass (EP) (1996) by Veruca Salt - and Hi-Ya (2007) by The Juliet Dagger.

All good stuff.

24 May 2025

A belated good morning to you.

It is 9:36 am.

I was up and out with the dog through the woods around two hours earlier - the heavy rain through the night making everything seem more fresh... and wet.

I got in to Radio Caroline playing and a cup of coffee on the breakfast bar. I'm now on my fourth caffeine hit.

Two tracks have stood out over the past couple of days - although I'll have to reserve judgement after another listen.

These were Tom Petty & The Heatbreakers' 1989 track Runnin' Down a Dream and Kasabian's Where Did All the Love Go? which was from their 2009 album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

I remember buying To Petty's 1985 album Southern Accents... the stand out track being Rebels.

40 years old - wow!

As for Kasabian, they are one of the better bands that came out around that time and are one which I don't mind.

Yesterday, we both had a day off.

Why not - it was sunny and it's Bank Holiday weekend.

We called into the Tesco's Extra supermarket on the M181 / A1077 roundabout.

Since we've boycotted the virtue signalling Co-op, we needed some flowers for the kitchen and other bits and pieces.

£250 later.

It was, however - nice to go out and shop rather than do it online.

The tills are very annoying on a morning with only a couple out of around twenty which were open.

And I've never done self-service ever!

I managed 60 minutes cardio and threw four sets of dumbbells around.

Animation. I'm going to have a crack at putting a music video up - sort of extending on yesterday's Angie: The 500 animation - where Angie is showing off her new car.

I think the Angie character tends to get a bit overshadowed by her younger sister, which is obviously due to her being the mother of Jenny and the ex-common-law-stroke-fiancée of Mason Green... And that.

"And that"?

And that is a Gaynorism.

She mumbles it quite a lot - generally at the end of a sentence... and that.

23 May 2025

Good morning.

I was up at 6:20 am.

It's Bank Holiday weekend. Well, we've got Monday off.

Radio Caroline is playing Lenny Kravitz's 1998 hit Fly Away.

Great song.

And the Met Office forecast says the sun is going to out at 5:00 pm hitting a staggering 19°c. Again, how will we cope?

Julie's mum got discharged from Barnsley hospital yesterday evening so she'll no doubt be nipping over to the care home to see her.

Although the NHS staff over at the hospital leave a lot to be desired - and they do, her mum was looked after far better in the hospital than she is at the care home.

And the care home she is at - is one thousand times better than the other care homes we looked at.

Some of them are nothing short of disgusting.

Yesterday, I managed 120 minutes (two hours) cardio - 90 in the morning - 30 at night, and threw some dumbbells around.

I also washed two cars.

We have silver birch trees on both drives, which when it gets to May, they discharge some kind of sap all over the fucking place - the rear drive being the worst as it's a gravelled surface.

Julie backed off the drive on Monday and took half the drive out onto the A161 with her.

I'm sick of sweeping it back in off the kerb.

Horrible stuff.

Animation. Opposite is Angie Mellor with her new car - a Fiat 500.

The idea of the 500 was from the Lush 1996 song that's attached to the animation.

Gaynor passed her test in early December 2022 - Angie in October 2023.

Mason was responsible for both, although he wasn't there to see Angie's happiness.

It's quite sad, as Angie said at the time: "I wish Mason was here to see me."

Mason had sorted Angie's lessons through a female driving instructor by the name of Julie Lemon as some form of quid pro quo for a favour he did her husband, but Angie had some spat with Gaynor and cancelled.

Mason made sure that decision was reversed and she uncancelled.

"Ange' - Freddy Lemon's a serious guy - you can't mess me about on this - be ready for Julie to pick you up at twelve," Mason told her.

Angie and Mason are very close all the way through the series.

22 May 2025

Good morning.

I was up at 7:00 am.

I was actually up on the hour from 4:00 am onwards but cat-napped until I got up.

Julie's out with the dog and Radio Caroline is on - currently playing what I term as middle-class and middle-aged noise.

Mr Mister's 1985 hit - Broken Wings.

Music that is listenable, but which is neither here nor there.

A bit Phil Collinsy, a bit The Eaglesy, a bit Springsteeny...

Not that it's bad - it's just, meh.

It's about as cool as driving a Renault Scenic or wearing a pair of crocs.

Yesterday, I banged my day job. Not as much as the last few days, but I did plenty enough.

I've near-completed an 84 page magazine in just eight days.

I got my cardio out of the way early yesterday morning - wrapping up my 90 minutes by 9:20 am.

---

I'm just back at my desk.

It is 9:50 am - cowboy time - ten-to-ten... you know - the Lone Ranger? and I've just completed my cardio.

And I've just had some female gyppo at my back door wanting to flog me some shit.

In 27 years of living here that is a first.

The odd ones have come round asking to trim the conifers (the hedge) down the side of the house but never to flog me anything.

Strange!

Now, for some animation.

Opposite (if you're on a laptop) is Jane Mason.

She is a minor character who works in the care home where Maureen's mum - and Angie and Gaynor's granny - Maureen O'Hara, resides.

Granny has dementia and can't speak.

I based the Jane Mason character on my sister-in-law from a story her mum (and my mother-in-law) told me.

They not only have the same name - they even look similar.

There is a big story here - and one I'm not going to tell.

21 May 2025

Morning.

I was up at 6:00 am.

I bunged some washing in, loaded up the tumble dryer, emptied the dishwasher, got the dog's breakfast ready and I'm now sat at the breakfast bar on my laptop with a coffee.

Julie is still out with the dog.

Radio Caroline is playing. Bob Marley and The Wailers' Could it be Love?

Looking through the kitchen window it looks like it's going to be a nice day.

Today will be much like the last, although I need to get my cardio out of the way earlier as yesterday evening it was the last thing that I wanted to do.

"Do you want to go out for a drink?" Julie asked me, on her getting back from the hospital after seeing her mum.

She was just trying to appease me as I was debating not doing my cardio.

I didn't want to go out and she didn't want to go out.

The 5:00 - 7:00 pm watershed.

That is what did us. Me making dinner and us having a drink.

The Lockdown.

A routine we got into that was hard to shake off..

In the end, Julie took two packs of sparkling water down to our Jamie's and walked his dogs with him.

Me? I bit the bullet and did 60 minutes cardio, threw some dumbbells around, had a bath and came down and prepped all the vegetables for tonight's dinner.

When Julie got in I told her: "Thanks".

Her going out made me do my cardio.

"What are you thanking me for - You, doing your exercises has helped lose me two stone," she said.

We are a bad influence on each other.

We know that.

The Lockdown. Never again.

In The A's the lockdown was mentioned by Maureen Mellor a few times, as her husband's business struggled post-Co-Vid.

"While everyone was sat on their backside's getting paid - we weren't," she told her youngest daughter (in Series 2).

"Your dad had just invested in a lot of plant and then suddenly there was no work - and all the new plant still needed paying for. It made your dad poorly."

Maureen is a very good character.

Opposite is a bit of Maureen.

Maureen's relationship with Mason was nothing short of... well, it was a relationship.

Having an I.Q, which was through the roof Mason knew is way around computers and the internet, and certainly knew how online payments worked.

He also knew a bit about how to trick the online stores into handing out discounts - and not just the odd 5 and 10 % off too.

Gaynor flipped when she knew what her mum was up to.

"I'm amongst criminals," was one thing she said.

However, that was the time Mason wiped a parking ticket for Maureen after she's parked in a disabled spot outside the chemist on Chiswick High Street.

"Oh, don't be so bloody melodramatic," Maureen told her. "There was nobody parked in it."

"Yes there was," Gaynor replied. "You."

20 May 2025

It's 6:50 am and I'm up.

I was up at 2:45 am - the dog barking.

As I've said before, you can't ignore it, as when she's in her house she doesn't bark for nothing.

It was one of the near-neighbours cats.

It was nothing!

Anyway, Julie's out through the woods with the dog and the (electric) kettle is on.

Yesterday, I got my 90 minutes cardio done early, went for my weekly haircut, and went up the High Street to D Gravel & Sons grocers to buy the fruit, vegetables and salad as I've boycotted the Co-op.

I can't do with virtue signalling - full stop - but being pro terrorism. Nah.

You reap what you sow. I hope they go under.

Anyway - That lot below. £34.

Extortionate.

I may have to rethink my strategy.

I can't be spending over £100 a week on fruit and veg'.

I dropped back into work and did around four hours, walked the dog, and when Julie got in from seeing her mum at Barnsley Hospital - 6:45 pm, we went round to The Curry Leaf.

I copped a phone call from my son - our Jamie around 5:00 pm, which was nice as he was on a good half an hour.

He's looking forward to going over to the house with his wife, Lianne, next month (17 June).

I think they are on about driving through the border into the north.

Animation. I did what you see opposite.

It is part of the story but if I'm honest it's shit animation.

I was intending on binning it as the structure in the Gaynor character assets face was garbage.

The software has been acting up a bit over the last couple of days and more so last night.

Anyway, this would be at the end of Series 1 - Gaynor is pregnant and she knows she's lost Mason.

Annie is the only friend of Mason's that she had left.

Why?

I can't say as it's all part of the story.

Annie is the wife of Robbie and the mother of Tiffany and Madison.

Annie and her family are also in Series 2.

Great characters.

(Above) A 53 second animation of Annie Coulthard and Gaynor Mellor.

This would be November 2023, towards the end of Series 1.

Annie is a head nurse at St Barts - and Gaynor Mellor, who is pregnant with Jenny - a trainee doctor on placement at St Thomas More Hospital in Chelsea, whilst at university.

I created this with four frames and a few transitions.

2D is garbage to animate at times and here is a case in point.

I'm wanting to turn Gaynor's face to the side and I was continually losing its structure.

Generally her face animates well. Not today, it didn't.

It has to be the software.

19 May 2025

Good morning.

I'm up. It's 5:30 am.

Radio Caroline is playing Creedence Clearwater's 1969 hit - Bad Moon Rising. Top tune.

The black whistling kettle is on and two spoons full of coffee are in my cup waiting for some hot water... and it's taking an age to boil.

We had a power outage last week and I missed it as I was out with the dog, so I didn't get the chance to use the kettle.

Anyway, it's whistling, now. 'Reminds me of the caravan holidays I had as a kid. All three of them!

Cleethorpes twice, and St Ives.

I went to Bridlington and Skegness as well, but I was too young to remember those.

Julie's just gone out with the dog. It's cloudy out, but according to the Met Office forecast, it's not going to rain; and it imperiously states with aplomb, that the sun will definitely come out at 5:00 pm.

I won't hold my breath.

Yesterday, was another work day. I banged my day job again, so much so, that I've had to extend the magazine to 84 pages from the comfortably manageable 76.

I did 90 minutes cardio and then threw some dumbbells around before I went to bed.

Today, I'm having a day off.

I don't think that will actually happen, as I always end up doing something work-related.

Music. Late last night, Starship Trooper was played on the radio. That is the track by the rock band Yes from their 1971 album, and not Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip's 1978 top-ten hit. You know - the one she lost her heart to (sic).

It's the first time that I've ever heard it.

Not Sarah Brightman's. I've heard that hundreds of times.

What I never knew was that Sarah Brightman's hit was written by Jeff Calvert and Max West of Typically Tropical - that's the duo that sung (Woh - I'm going to) Barbados. - a No. 1 that was released 50 years ago this week.

Madness, eh?

Regarding the Yes track, I need to get the album and have another listen.

Another song that came on that was interesting was The Night Train by Those Damn Crows.

So the same goes with that.

Animation. Opposite is Gaynor sporting her new hairstyle in glorious 4K.

This actually happened in Series 1 of the story - Episode 1.

Mason had asked Gaynor out sort of on a second date - to The Water Margin in Streatham, and her mum inferred that she could do with a grown-up hairdo - hence what you see in both animations.

There's obviously a lot more to the story than than that!

18 May 2025

Morning.

I had a late start this morning and didn't get out of bed until 8:45 am.

I've definitely earned the lie in.

Radio Caroline is on and they've just played The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations, Traffic's Paper Sun, Status Quo's Pictures of Matchstick Men and are now playing The Electric Prunes' I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night).

All good songs.

No doubt they'll spoil it by lining up a row of lame ducks next...

And they did - Queen's Radio Ga Ga being one such mongy fucking quack.

If there is a Queen song I can't stand - it's that one.

Very fucking gay.

All I did yesterday was work.

I jet washed the patio earlier on and dropped into work stuff around 9:30 am.

Julie had some medic come around and had her ears syringed around 12:00 pm.

They don't do it around at the doctors anymore - as according to the medic - a lady by the name of Jeanette Spruce, there isn't enough NHS funding allocated for things such as that.

Anyway £20 per ear.

Around 6:00 pm I knocked off and we went to the Red Lion, the Curry Leaf, and the Red Lion again.

A good night.

The animation opposite is of Jenny and her Auntie Angie.

There is a massive story here that never really gets told - and which happens between Series 1 and 2, and that culminated with Gaynor's decision to leave.

For nearly five and half years Jenny was kept away from Chiswick Green, the only contact, Angie, Pat and her parents had with Jenny, was when Mason brought her down on a weekend.

And even then, Jenny was totally unaware who Mason was and what her relationship was to him.

Granny Maureen, however - thought enough was enough and laid down the marker for Series 2.

And everyone's life changed - and the animation opposite doesn't even begin to scratch the surface.

On moving down to London, Jenny started putting the pieces together and all throughout second series those questions never stopped.

17 May 2025

Morning campers.

I was up and out with the dog at 6:00 am.

There were rabbits on the waste ground up to the woods and on the sand path that leads up to St Andrews Church but nowhere near as many as there has been.

And in the churchyard there are generally squirrels - however, for the past few weeks I've seen none.

Obviously, they are falling prey to the owls and foxes that are up there.

I'm at the big PC in the study at the moment as Julie's still in bed.

It's 6:54 am.

On Radio Caroline, Wings have just been knocking out Mrs. Vandebilt, which is a song from their 1974 album Band on the Run.

Yesterday I banged my day job again and caught up with where I should be.

I managed 60 minutes cardio as I did the day before. I'll try to do a bit more today.

Opposite is an animation of Jenny and Dottie.

Jenny is not yet seven-years-old and has made the most unlikeliest friendship with the coolest girl in school - Dorothy "Dottie" West.

Jenny - like her mum and dad, is very clever - Dottie not so.

When Jenny first went to the All Girls school, she was immediately assessed by the teachers and moved up three years - and some of the children... well, they resented the fact that she was academically through the roof.

Jealousy can be a curse.

On Dottie singling her out, however - that soon changed.

16 May 2025

Good morning.

6:45 am and I'm up.

Julie had already been out with the dog by the time I had got downstairs.

I'm sat having a coffee, Radio Caroline is on and a-ha's I've Been Losing You is playing.

I'm looking out through the window and it looks like it's going to be a decent day.

It'll spike to 18°c says the Met Office.

How will we cope (sic)?

I'll try and jet wash and do a couple of jobs in the house today - not that I'm any good at D.I.Y

The car needs a wash too. It also needs a drive as I haven't been out in it since I got back from Cyprus.

I absolutely battered my day job yesterday and I'm hoping to do the same today.

I'm playing catch up as the Easter holidays has put me behind schedule. It always does.

And we are out of the UK on 31 May.

Music. I did in a couple of albums by Holy Wave the other night. Adult Fear (2018) and Five of Cups (2023) and last night I listened to Curve's Doppelgänger (1992).

Great albums to listen to if you like psychedelic rock - dream pop - shoegaze - call it what you will.

Curve's album is really good.

Animation. Opposite - if you're on a laptop or PC - I've tried something a bit different.

On the Jenny animation I have just extended the frame twice without doing a transition.

I'm happy as it is something new that I've done. I'm certainly not happy about the Adidas logo being blurry.

Why?

In The A's the kids are pretty cool and many of them wear branded clothes so I need the logos to stay put.

It is a 2D problem not a 3D one.

On the Mandy Ford animation, I have animated her in 4K, which takes a bit longer but the resolution on the first frame is fucking awesome. And this is the non pro software!

Mandy and her husband David are Mason's godparent's.

15 May 2025

Kaliméra fíloi mou.

That means good morning my friends in Cypriot - sort of.

I was up at 6:00 am and trough the woods with the dog. There were rabbits everywhere.

It's seven bells and I've just got my first coffee of the day in front of me, with Radio Caroline playing in the background - Marianne Faithfull singing
The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.

Whoever told her she could sing - I have no idea!

I think her It Girl popularity was generated in the 1960s through her relationship with The Rolling Stones - Mick Jagger in particular.

Julie's mum's op went okay.

Her and her sister went to see her.

From our end Barnsley Hospital is a right hike - not so much the distance, but negotiating the traffic.

She needs a blood transfusion as she has anemia.

It's shit getting old!

I still haven't signed off the mag as the files haven't been uploaded on to the printers website for me to give them the heads up to proceed.

I was working on the June mag until 6:30pm yesterday evening, so I didn't do any cardio.

Julie got back in around 7:00 pm and we went up to The Industry Bar and Grill and copped a fillet steak surf 'n' turf - with prawns and mushrooms.

Quite nice.

Today, I will do two hours cardio.

14 May 2025

Good morning.

I was up at 7:00 am. I had a great sleep.

T-Rex are being played on Radio Caroline - Get It On.

Julie's mum had a fall in the care home yesterday afternoon. She was taken to Barnsley hospital. She has fractured her hip.

She was always falling. She fell when she was living with us. I had Julie shouting me through the window: "Can you come and help my mam - she's fell and split her head open."

She had just lost her footing and fell on the front drive.

There was nothing to fall over, but she did.

Alzheimer's is such a lousy disease.

It looked bad but it wasn't, as with all the med's they were having her take, there was blood everywhere.

"Why are they making her take Asprin with all the shit that she's taking?" was the question I asked, as her cut was nothing more than a scratch.

And having Alzheimer's she kept on touching it, which made it worse.

The care home's where we live were nothing short of garbage. A place to go to die. The one Julie's mum is in seems good, but that is the second fall she has had in there.

You scrap and scape all your life then they drain you of everything you have until there's nothing left.

£900 a week is what you pay.

That is £3,600 a month - and for what?

Fucking disgraceful.

The reality is that these care homes are nothing more than a place to make money.

In Series 1 of The A's - Angie and Gaynor's granny is in the fictitious Richard Reynolds Care Home on Wellesley Road.

As I've said prior, I wrote that up a long time before Julie's mum was in one.

What I also wrote up was that their granny had suffered a few injuries and had things stolen.

Everything that happened to the fictitious character that is Angie and Gaynor's granny has now happened to Julie's mum - including the fractured hip.

Karma?

She is being operated on at 5:00 pm.

I'm hoping to sign off the magazine today as everything has been uploaded to the printers.

I've put up a couple of animations opposite (if you a viewing on a PC or laptop).

The Harrington's.

Gaynor brings these into the story towards the end of Series 1.

(Above) This is a 28 second animation of Dave Harrington eating breakfast.

I did this animation in literally minutes.

I used three frames and started with a reverse loop and a transition.

2D isn't very good for animating complex things such as eating, but I have to admit - it's not bad.

I created the image using Adobe Photoshop 2025.

Dave is a peripheral figure in The A's - he is however, in both Series 1 and 2.

He is the father of Josh and Jack - and husband to Vonny.

They live in what is supposedly Bolton-upon-Dearne in South Yorkshire, although in the screenplay - the actual village is never mentioned.

That may alter as there is a flashback scene at the train station.

13 May 2025

I was up at 7:30 am.

I didn't knock off work until 1:50 am.

Just as with Sunday - yesterday was a long work day - 18 hours, with only a trip around to the Curry Leaf to break the monotony and have our tea.

I had Maharaja Chicken

Indulge like royalty with our Maharaja curry. Its so rich in flavour that even the British Crown Jewels would be envious. Chicken cooked & marinated with specially selected spices containing tomatoes & peppers in vegetable ghee & cooked in a medium spices sauce.

That's how Omar describes it in his menu for £13.95.

I wonder which PR company he got to write that up?

I have it made into a Vindaloo as anything less than a Madras I feel is like baby food.

It's 10:27 am and I'm at the back end of proofing. I should have everything signed off today.

I'm checking out until this afternoon when I'll chuck some animation up.

2:20 pm and I'm done.

What a weekend.

12 May 2025

I was up at 5:30 am.

Not bad considering I was up until 11:50 pm doing my day job.

Deadline weekend.

The Met forecast says it's going to get up to 23°c this afternoon.

Hopefully, I might get to see some of it.

The animation opposite is of Angie and Gaynor's dad - John.

John - a geotechnical engineer, set up his ground support business when Gaynor was just three years old.

John - just like his wife, Maureen, is a lovely character.

When the story starts - September 2022, he is quite poorly and all the Mellor family are pulling together.

This isn't realised straight away as the Series doesn't want you to think that.

It is only as you get into the story do you find out why.

Possibly my favourite part of the story is when Gaynor gets worried about Mason having too much free time on his hands and John asks him if he wants to have a week working with him - sort of May-June 2023.

By then, Gaynor is living full-time with Mason.

I enjoyed writing that.

Music. If I'm being honest, I've been too busy to listen to the radio, and the only stuff I've listened to is on my headphones when out walking the dog...

However - John Welsh WhatsApp-ed me to tell me that the Prefab Sprout song, Cars and Girls was playing on Radio Caroline and told me it was a "great song".

I have the band's 1985 Steve McQueen album on the B2- my favourite track on it being Faron Young.

Whilst having Sunday Lunch, Steve - the chef up at The Industry Bar & Grill had some indie music playing in the background, which was good.

Supergrass, Lush, Sleeper, Oasis, Radiohead and Longpigs.

When music was music, eh?

11 May 2025

I was up at 5:35 am and out with the dog.

An early one this morning.

It's supposed to get up to 24°c this afternoon.

I'll be working - but breaking off to get Sunday lunch at the pub - The Industry.

It's had some good reviews so we'll try it.

We had a barbecue last night - lamb steaks, sausage and a beetroot salad.

In my opinion it is the best way to eat both and much better than a grill or pan.

That means I'll be jet washing at some point today.

I did 90 minutes cardio yesterday - all on the cross trainer.

The nylon wheels and 8mm Ø bolts came for the rowing machine, but unfortunately, they are too big.

If you ever want any advice about a rowing machine - I have some. I've had a few and everyone of them has been a waste of money.

The wheels always wear down.

I think they are tailored for the eight stone female.

Talking of females and weight, Julie had her wedding and engagement rings fall off her hand last night - me having to get the torch out on the patio to find them.

I wouldn't have thought by losing a bit of weight that your fingers would be part of that - but there ya go.

Beth (up at Bethany Hughes's Beauty Salon) mentioned to Julie the other week about losing weight from her hands and arms.

Beth is our Jamie's ex-fiancée.

We treated Beth as a daughter and Julie still has that attachment even now, after what has been 14 years.

Last night she was talking to her over Facebook and they were bitching about this woman who is the mother of someone Beth went to school with, and who after a succession of relationships, now has a new beau in tow who is quite a bit younger than her.

Christ knows where she digs them up.

Animation. I had an hour putting together the Gaynor character asset on the Yoga mat, as in Series 1 of The A's, she goes to Yoga classes a couple of times a week, with her best friend, who is Clara Margieson.

Afterwards they tend have a meal - generally at Judy Knock's restaurant - Facchetti's.

In the clip they are sipping Martini Rosso's in a flashback.

The animation is the longest that I've ever done as a one-er. and the quality of Gaynor on the mat, is absolutely spot on.

(Above) At 242 seconds - four minutes and two seconds, this is the longest animation that I ever ever undertaken.

And the quality - even though I have used both the pro and non pro software - I feel, is quite exceptional.

Here, Gaynor is on the yoga mat deep in thought towards what would be around summer 2023.

The animation has been created using 16 new frames with around eight or nine reverse loops and the odd video transition.

Not to make it boring, I added flashback clips of Galway, St Moritz, Heathrow and in the flat, along with a song to depict the character in thought.

The track is Suffer the Fools by Belly (Tanya Donelly), which is an appropriate song given with what happens in Series 1.

____________________________________________________________________________

I've got my coffee and Radio Caroline have Com5 playing The Future's So Bright, I've Got To Wear Shades.

It looks like it's going to be a great day, even though I'm working.

I'll try and squeeze 120 minutes cardio as I've missed the past two days. Thursday as I had a niggle and last night because we went out.

Four pints of Neck Oil in The Red Lion and a couple of pints of Birra Moretti in The Industry - the latter of which is a new pub-stroke-restaurant that has morphed from what was originally an Indian Restaurant when we first came to the town and which has had different owners, none of who have ever managed to do anything with it.

A poisoned chalice?

We saw a few people we know - one of which was Johnny Welsh's ex-girlfriend, Maria, who I've not seen for 14 years.

I have to admit. I'm shit with faces.

"Who's that?" I'd ask Julie, post conversation with someone in the street.

"How do you mean - who's that? You were his best mate in the pub the other week."

It was the same with Maria.

"I've been to your house before," she told me. "We were playing records."

It was then it clicked.

"Shit - Maria."

She's not from the Isle of Axholme and the last I knew she was living in Thorne.

A great girl, if I'm being honest. It has me scratching my head why John split up with her.

It was nice to go out, but I have to admit - I haven't missed it.

The animation opposite (if you're on a laptop or PC) is of Mason shadow boxing with Gaynor, sort of at the end.

As I have said, with the exception of the exterior of Boelyn Mews, nothing that is animated on the blog will appear in the series. It is just me getting au fait with the animation process and the huge amount of software.

9 May 2025

I got up at 6:30 am.

Thank God it's Friday.

The weekend begins.

Well it did do before 8 February.

If it was boring last night, it's going to be ten times as boring tonight as by 4:00pm it's supposedly going to be 20°c and sunny.

That is definitely going to the pub weather.

It could also be having a barbecue weather, but I'll hold off on that as I only jet washed the patio the other day.

Last night I'd totally had enough.

I didn't do any cardio as my lower back and my left ankle are aching, so that's pissed me off a bit.

"Do you want me to put some eggs on?" I was asked.

"No."

"What do you want, then?"

"Nothing."

It's hard for me to comprehend the lives of people that I know actually being happy sat watching crap TV and drinking cups of tea.

We've had some minced steak in the fridge since I did an online Tesco's shop the other day, and which has been burning a hole in my soul as it definitely needed eating by the weekend.

It's a versatile meal if you don't give a fuck about the intake of calories. Tagliatelle, Bolognese, Chili Con Carne, Steak pie, chips and mushy peas... the possibilities are endless.

The idea was to make beef burgers and have them with a salad when I left it out. Last night it was gearing towards being getting chucked in the dog.

"I'll do us a chili," I finally said.

A slimline one (sic) with a tub of Mascarpone cheese dropped in the tomatoes.

"I was going to have some Malt Loaf with my cup of tea," Julie said whilst sat up in bed later on. "That was until I found out there are 120 calories in a chapati... and I've had three."

That's a small chapati. We had the great big fuck off ones at 300 calories each - although, I didn't tell her that.

Christ knows how many calories was in the actual chili!

A lot, is my guess.

Music. I uploaded seven albums and an E.P onto the B2 yesterday.

Five by The National - the New York-based rock band fronted by Matt Berninger. These are: High Violet (2010); Trouble Will Find Me (2013); Sleep Well Beast (2017); I Am Easy to Find (2019); and First Two Pages of Frankenstein (2023).

The other two were House Tornado (1988) and Hunkpapa (1989), with the extended play being The Fat Skier (1987) - all by Throwing Muses - the Rhode Island band who were originally fronted by two (step)sisters, Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly.

I listened to The National's First Two Pages of Frankenstein (2023), with the stand out track being the very catchy Tropic Morning News, with the album itself being sort of okay-ish; and The Holy Wave's Freaks of Nature (2016), Interloper (2020) and Five of Cups (2023) - all of which are very listenable albums.

Texas-based Holy Wave are a psychedelic rock band who are extremely good. I just didn't realise how good!

Animation. I had another go at animating Angie - this time, it's more basic - just sat on the floor drinking tea and talking on her phone.

She is in Series 2 mode with the heavy Bob haircut.

I've not really done her younger sister in Series 2 mode as yet.

The reasoning, being, is that I'm not entirely sure on how far I am going to let her go - appearance-wise.

In Series 1, she's slim and pretty. At the beginning of Series 2 - she's clubbed on weight and looks dowdy.

8 May 2025

I got up at 7:00 am.

Another work day.

I have to worker harder than I did yesterday, that's for sure.

I'm also due my weekly haircut.

I used to have one in Cyprus by Tony who has a barbers shop next to Fosis Coffee Shop.

The words used to, meaning that I don't now.

I love the guy but it got to be a bit like the barbers in the Eddie Murphy film, Coming to America, where you can see and hear the scissors clicking around your head and ears, but no hair is actually being cut.

Tony does cut it... but not much.

Basically it is so I'll go back again before I go back to the UK.

The barbers I use in Epworth is a guy that I've known for over 20 years - Dean Bramhald.

Dean served his hairdressing apprenticeship with Toni & Guys in Doncaster - however, he was also an ex-pro boxer with 163 fights under his belt, winning 42, meaning that he has took some fierce blows to the head.

Google him.

He twitches a bit, but he's a cracking kid who brings me up to speed about what's happening on the Isle of Axholme (the area where we live).

I based a character in The A's on him - Brian Ramage a.k.a Brain Damage, who is a peripheral character in both Series 1 and 2.

Damage is one of the crowd that go in the Hammersmith Vaults.

I managed 60 minutes cardio yesterday - all on the crosser.

I would have done more but I wasn't in the mood.

Music. I listened to two albums by Belly - Dove (2018) and King (1995).

They are an alternative rock band fronted by Tanya Donelly.

They are both very listenable albums with the stand out track from Dove being Suffer the Fools., which is probably one of the nicest loves big mistake-songs since Nothing Compares to U.

(Above) A 19 second animation of Jacob Gotleib and Jenny Mellor.

This was created with just one frame using a reverse loop and no transitions.

The white background and the closer shot helps define the animation better than the other animation at distance with the dark background.

Just look at the photo in the video frame.

There is a resemblance between Jacob and Jenny.

What should be noted is that Jenny is sat on a stool as she is definitely not that tall!

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7 May 2025

I got up at 6:50 am.

Another work day. My day job. I need to work harder.

I'm on dog walking duty this morning!

There are rabbits everywhere. The most I saw was the other night. There must have been a couple of dozen of them on the waste ground to the rear of the garden centre, which is an area that leads up to the woods (coppice).

As soon as they see the dog they all retreat under the blackberry bushes.

She's caught a couple. She just picks them up and puts them down and picks them up and puts them down again. To the dog - chasing them is just a game.

The other year, whilst walking down the path from St Andrews Church, a large fox ran in front of me and leaped over the wall to run across Jubilee Park. It was quickly followed by the dog.

It would have been interesting to see what happened if she had caught it.

I did 90 minutes cardio after work. All on the cross trainer. It is getting easier and easier, every time.

Animation. I rejigged some frames I'd rendered yesterday and created a few more from Adobe Photoshop 2025, and Gaynor opening the garage door opposite, is what you see.

The problem with animating 2D is that you are working from a flat standing start every time you animate and the best you can do is to split the flat 2D image into three or four segments.

With 3D, everything is possible.

Music. I uploaded all those eight albums on to the B2 which I'd prepped the day before along with two CD's by Lana Del Rey that dropped through the letterbox .

These were: Born to Die (2012) and Ultraviolence (2014).

I bought them off the back of hearing the track, Blue Jeans, which I heard on Deejay 95 the other week when I was over in Cyprus.

You have to an open mind with music and that means you have to endure listening to some right garbage.

I listened to the three albums by Cranes last night. Wings of Joy (1991), Forever (1993), and Loved (1994).

Dream pop, shoe-gaze - call it what you will. It takes you to a very different place - especially with Alison Shaw's eerie vocals.

Eerie as in spooky!

I am absolutely loving listening to music again and I love it when I drop on something that I feel I could use in The As.

6 May 2025

Kaliméra fíloi mou.

I'm in Cyprus mode.

A countdown of 25 days.

Tick, tock.

It is 7:30 am and I'm up. I didn't get to bed until 1.20 am.

I need to do some hard work today and play catch up.

I did nothing all Bank Holiday weekend. It was brilliant.

Our Jamie called in for his breakfast yesterday.

Four poached eggs and sour dough bread. All part of a 12 week plan to coincide with his training at the gym.

Very dedicated.

He had two hours talking about a whole range of topics including, music, politics and Cyprus, as they will be going over to the house straight after us.

I cracked an hour on the cardio yesterday - all on the cross trainer.

I would have spent some time on the rowing machine - however, it needs some new nylon wheels (with the accompanying 8mm Ø screws), which I am hoping will come this week.

It still works, but the seat runs down the runners like it's on a set of square wheels and it's very fucking annoying.

I finally jet washed the patio after the skip fire (barbecue) on Saturday night. To be honest, there wasn't that much mess.

There wouldn't be. All the dust landed on our cars!

Last night, was a hard one.

Julie said "Do you want me to go to the Co-op and pick up some stuff for a salad?"

Hardly. I was in Bank Holiday-mode. The last thing I wanted was a salad. I fancied going to the Red Lion and having a few beers and calling to get a shit takeaway at the Tandoori on the way back down High Street.

Did we?

No. We went round to the Curry Leaf instead and just drank sparkling water.

I'm glad I didn't break.

On another note, Julie came downstairs looking like she'd been rifling through Anita Pallenburg's wardrobe.

"What's up?" she asked.

The dress style in The A's is something else.

Matthew Weiner's Mad Men has nothing to come!

Music. I've prepped eight albums to be uploaded on to the B2 later.

Three by Belly who are / were an alternative rock band fronted by Tanya Donelly.

Star (1993), King (1995), and Dove (2018) - with the track Suffer the Fools from the latter, being one which I'd love to use in The A's.

It's that good.

Three by Cranes who are / were Portsmouth-based shoe-gaze-type rock band who were fronted by Alison Shaw.

Wings of Joy (1991), Forever (1993), and Loved (1994).

And two others: Cuckoo (1993) by London-based alternative rock band, Curve, and What If (2021) by Worthing-based Rock band Moonlight Parade.

I can't wait to listen to them all.

In other music, a female singer that has been getting a lot of negative attention online got a bit from me.

I'd heard her name, but I wasn't sure of who she was and what she actually did. Therefore, I gave her a google, and wallop.

One of her songs used to play on the Cyprus radio station DeeJay 95. It was the 2008 hit, Hot N Cold by Katy Perry.

It goes against the grain but as soon as I listened to it I got and idea. A good one as well.

I'm not sure if the writers - Katy Perry, Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald, and Max Martin would let me use it however.

5 May 2025

Good Morning.

I got up at 7:00 am.

We have no rain forecast today.

A point worth noting is that we had none forecast yesterday - but we got it!

The Met Office tells me that we are to have sun all day - the best of it coming around five bells with temperatures tipped to hit 14°c.

How will we cope?

Climate change, eh? Total bullshit.

Julie booked our flights to Cyprus yesterday.

We go on 31 May, which will give Julie time to stock up for Jamie and Lianne, who are going over on 17 June.

It will also give me time to go and get the FTO serviced and the new starter motor put on.

It will also need insuring as well.

When the FTO was in the UK - 2007, the last insurance was £1,300 third-party only. In Cyprus it is €250.

We would have probably gone over earlier, but the price of flights are through the roof, as it is half-term for the kids.

These airlines don't half rip off families.

It is very wrong.

I did 120 minutes (two hours) cardio yesterday - all on the cross trainer and slung five sets of dumbbells around.

Am I feeling a difference?

A bit.

As I've said before, the idea is to just keep with it.

I did 74 days dry and apart from the odd beer or two when we were away, I've not felt the need to go to the pub or curry house to have a proper drink.

I miss the social aspect. I think we both do.

However, we are coping.

Music. Radio Caroline was on all day and there was a couple of songs that stood out, whilst I was in and out of the kitchen - both of which were like chalk and cheese.

Moral Dread by The Darkness, which is off their new 2025 Dreams on Toast album..

I've never been a fan of the band, but I have to admit it is very 1970's in an Elton John-cum-Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting kind of way, and is quite good.

Nick Drake's 1969 track River Man was played, which I can't say I've heard before.

It is very Leonard Cohen but certainly not as depressing, and is orchestrally backed up with a sound that in my humble opinion, is very reminiscent of say Ennio Morricone's - Barbablu (Opening), crossed with John Barry's The Girl With The Sun in her Hair... or Midnight Cowboy.

It is very good.

I also played Real Estate's 2014 album, Atlas.

To be honest - in comparison to the three I listened to the other day - it isn't that good, and absolutely nothing jumped out at me to convince me otherwise.

Julie's best friend's auntie's died yesterday, so I think she is calling down to see her this morning.

(Above) A 39 second animation of Anita Pallenburg at work as the Group Procurement Director at Greenford.

I created this animation using just three frames, with no transitions and half a reverse loop.

I should have used a transition to be honest!.

Anita is a great character.

At work she is ultra professional and very matter of fact and to the point, and at home she's brilliant.

She absolutely adores her husband and his daughter, Jenny, and she is also the best friend of Angie Mellor.

It can appear a strange relationship but it's not.

The wicked stepmum is how Mason refers to Anita when he's having Jenny on.

Everyone bar Mason, refers to her as Nita.

4 May 2025

I got up at 7:00 am.

It's sunny and cool - however, I've checked the weather forecast and it's shite. Cloudy all day.

I should have stayed in bed.

Yesterday, I did 120 minutes (two hours) cardio and threw the dumbbells around.

My heart's still not in it.

I heard the dog barking downstairs, which was the excuse to call it a day.

It was my replacement six spark plugs being delivered by the Royal Mail, which was quickly followed by Julie coming back from our Jamie and Lianne's.

Julie did the ironing, cleaned the upstairs, whilst I took some rubbish down to the dumpit - or recycling centre as they like to call it.

I've no idea why, as I rarely recycle there. Everything I take gets chucked in the skip.

The gardener came to prepare for a new lawn putting down, which has now been put back a bit due to the bollocks with the council regarding the trees and us living in a preservation area.

Anyway - we barbecued again last night, which wasn't the best idea that I've had.

When we cleaned the shed out I found two bags of coal-stroke-briquettes and rather than sling them, I thought I'd use them.

It was a mistake of epic proportions as we'd bought them during Co-vid - like five years ago, and as soon as I opened them they reacted like Dracula in the light, and turned to dust... well, coal dust.

I slung plenty of wood on and got it burning, but the fire didn't like what was on it and there was smoke everywhere, so much so, Julie went inside to close all the windows.

Me? I persevered.

It resembled a skip fire and got to be a right fucking pea souper on the patio. Christ knows what the traffic thought as they queued up at the lights.

In the end, Julie drove down to Epworth Petrol Station and bought four bags of charcoal.

I slung a pint of lighter fluid over it and it eventually started burning.

It was an awful lot of aggro for six pieces of chicken and four beef burgers. Still, the chicken breast was a lot better done on the coals than it ever is in the pan. Very tender.

I gave the dog her fourth walk of the day, got back in the house and had a bath as I stunk like a kipper.

Music. The pick of the songs from Radio Caroline was Anywhere the Wind - which is new single by Dutch rock band Supersister, who - like their aged counterparts from the land of the windmills and tulips - Golden Earring, have been around like a thousand years.

(Above) A 42 second animation of Maureen Mellor.

The character is the mother of Angie and Gaynor, and the only surviving grandmother of Jenny Mellor.

Maureen has the same nervous trait as all of them, in that she touches her hair when speaking and when she's agitated she often taps her fingers, which totally annoys her husband, John.

The animation was created using three frames - top, bottom and full body, and one reverse loop and no transitions.

The close up frames were done on the non pro software and the at distance frame was done using the pro software.

This is the first time I've opted not to use a transition on a video of this length.

Maureen is an extremely pretty lady.

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3 May 2025

I woke up at 7:20 am but didn't drag myself downstairs until 7:45 am.

As the political landscape continues to move, England appears a far brighter place this morning.

It's sunny outside too - and Kid Rock's All Summer Long is playing on Radio Caroline.

The Met Office has offered its take and they reckon that will be short-lived and it's going to cloud over shortly

I managed to get some cardio yesterday.

90 minutes on the cross trainer and I threw some dumbbells around.

It's hard to get back into it, but at least it's a start.

I'll do some more today.

Julie finally managed to get in touch the the arboricultural officer at the council and he apologised for the bullshit surrounding our request to remove the trees and sent us over the relevant doc's to fill in.

And the auto parts company, who's package was trusted with DHL as its delivery provider are sending me another six plugs out - this time with Royal Mail.

I tried something different with the animation last night - and used Jenny and her dad as subjects.

Using the Mason character asset in Series 2 isn't the best as until I get into 3D, the resolution for the Series 2 character is pants, and he doesn't animate as good as Jenny, Gaynor or indeed Angie - therefore I've had to bin the odd frame.

Music: I listened to three albums by the New Jersey-based indie rock band Real Estate last night. In Mind (2017), The Main Thing (2020) and Daniel (2024).

They are an exceptional band.

Stand out tracks?

Stained Glass and Darling from their In Mind; Somebody New, Haunted World and Water Underground from Daniel.

If I'm being honest all three albums were very listenable.

On Radio Caroline, I heard Moses by Coldplay, which wasn't half bad and certainly one of their better tracks as Chris Martin wasn't as fucking whiny as he is now.

The track came in 2003, around the time of their A Rush of Blood to the Head album - again which is very good.

2 May 2025

I got up at 5:30 am and took the dog out through the woods. It is another nice morning.

They were a couple of dog walkers just starting their walks as I walked through the churchyard and down the path into the Market Place to finish mine.

I hope today is going to be better than yesterday.

Yesterday was a dog of a day from an annoying point of view.

DPD delivered the starter motor for the FTO - however, a parcel that was being delivered by DHL got given to someone else.

Six NGK spark plugs (again, for the FTO).

This happens a bit. Especially around Christmas.

The last missing parcel was £170 worth of presents Julie had ordered from ASOS.

That was Royal Mail.

The delivery driver lied through his back teeth yet the photo he'd taken wasn't our property.

ASOS reimbursed Julie, but that's not the point.

The delivery people are charged with your trust and whoever got the delivery has basically stolen it.

It is the same with these spark plugs.

Yodel dropped off a package at our door last summer. Some 1980s retro training shoes. I knew that, as I started opening the parcel. They certainly weren't mine. I looked at the name, gave him a search on the Electoral Roll and walked down the street and dropped them off.

I was thanked profusely. They must have been well over £100.

So, now I've got to chase up the missing parcel through both eBay and DHL.

To compound the annoyingness, the tree surgeon was due to come this morning and now isn't.

I put in a request to the council on 14 October 2024 to take four trees down. I had the confirmation and got given a reference number. Seven months later, no-one has done anything about it.

Typical council.

Remember the elections yesterday.

Don't waste what your great grandparents and their parents fought and died for.

Go out and vote.

I did. Julie did. And our Jamie and Lianne did.

Our votes counted.

The shite was voted out.

There is a change happening.

That aside, I did the barbecue last night, but in doing so forfeited my cardio.

I did some animation yesterday and trialed some new pro software which is supposed to be the dogs bollocks.

I set about giving it the task of animating the Gaynor character asset at distance and having her walk across Mason's bedroom floor without any shoes.

It is better, but the resolution is still a bit washy.

As I keep on saying, these software providers need to start accepting larger files - between 50-100MB.

Opposite is the close-up of the animation.

Music. Radio Caroline was on all day, but apart from Final Exit by the Newcastle-on-Tyne-based alternative rock band, The Pale White, nothing really jumped out at me.

A very good track!

(Above) An animation of Gaynor - rigged out in her college uniform -using the supposed high-end software of an 11 second walk across the bedroom floor.

Although this is possibly the best animation at distance, the resolution is still washy, and there are no shadows as she walks.

At the moment it is still better to cut the image into three separate frames and make the character asset walk towards you.

The software is getting better, but it needs to be able to take bigger high resolution files.

1 May 2025

I got up at 6:30 am.

I can't believe it. We are in May, and today, says the ultra-not-so-reliable Met Office - is going to be even better than yesterday - hitting 27°c in the afternoon.

Wow.

Julie's out through the woods with the dog.

My job? Making the bed, getting the dogs breakfast ready, and getting the coffee on.

It would also be emptying the dishwasher - however, we didn't barbecue yesterday, we went round to the Curry Leaf around 6:45 pm instead.

I had Maharaja Chicken made into a Vindaloo hot; and Julie had King Prawn Shashlik made into a Madras hot.

Post-Cyprus-post-Easter blues, I think.

It's hard to get back into things.

Bar the dog walking, I've done no cardio since I've been back.

I'll do it today.

Two hours. 120 minutes.

And I'll sling the full set of dumbbells around too.

I'll also do the barbecue.

Today is interesting as we go out to vote for the local council elections.

People think that it's not important.

It is.

Council's piss away money on shite - ours (North Lincolnshire Council), in particular.

I owned a gym in Scunthorpe town centre and I saw the garbage that paraded as council employees at first hand - as I did with the populous who conned money out of them for the so-called diversity projects.

As we are in quite a high band, we pay close on £3,000 a year council tax.

It is money that funds them.

Go make your vote count.

The only thing I did yesterday, bar the two dog walks - one with Julie at tea time - and a long night time walk, was to drag the Karcherr and extension outside and vacuum the boot of the car and wash inside the grooves of the boot lid.

This has been nagging me for a while, but it's a big fucking car to clean, and being white - it gets filthy.

Oh yeah - I also went on eBay and ordered a starter motor from Schmitz Rotary for the FTO. £77.49.

They are thorough - they even wanted the VIN number.

I've chucked two animations up opposite - opposite meaning if you are viewing on a PC or laptop, as opposed to an iPhone or android.

These mirror a very important part of the story.

Music. Radio Caroline was on all day but nothing jumped out at me although, this morning they did play a track by the weird looking glam rock band that are Gyasi.

Snake City, I think they called it.

It's the first time that I've head the radio station play anything by them.

I downloaded two albums yesterday.

Pomegranate by Tess Parks (2024) and Hi-Ya! by the Juliet Dagger (2014).

I'll listen to them later.

That's me done for the day.

(Above) A 36 second animation of Angie Mellor doing late night shopping in a supermarket.

I created this animation using only three frames of the pro software and from an image that I created in Adobe Photoshop 2025.

And look at the colours. Wow.

The hardest part of creating an animation is to do one that doesn't interfere with the actual storyline.

In this animation, Angie is happy and acting quite carefree both eating and juggling oranges in the supermarket aisle. This is actually a part of the story that occurs just after Series 1, but is shown in Series 2 as a flashback.

It is a very important part of the storyline.

This actual piece of animation won't be in the series, but a similar one certainly will be.

(Above) A 46 second animation of Angie Mellor in the spare bedroom drinking hot chocolate.

This animation was created from four frames using the pro software - and using loops with minimal video transitions.

As with the juggling oranges animation - this is actually a part of the story that occurs just after Series 1, but is shown in Series 2 as a flashback and follows on from the "oranges".

It is a very important part of the storyline.

To make the room look like a room, I hung a picture on the wall. The Beatles' 1968 film, Yellow Submarine.

We have a clock over at the house in Cyprus with a similar theme.

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

MAY 2025

The A's

ALL IMAGES OPEN IN TECHNICOLOUR

A new month - a new chapter. Just hit the button above and it'll take you there.

31 May 2025

A very good (early) morning.

It is 3:10 am.

I'm aching a bit as I did 120 minutes cardio yesterday.

This morning, Cyprus and a drive down the dreaded M1 beckons.

I've got a coffee at my desk and I'm just backing everything up on to a 12TB external hub, which I take with me.

Julie is upstairs drying her hair.

These are long days - even more so on the way back as it's an earlier start.

The reason being?

The Wizz Air flight out of Luton Airport is the plane that has come in from Larnaca - and the flight we go home on.

As the jet refuels, the cabin staff just have a nip round with the hoover, and we are herded on and flown away.

Flying from Doncaster was much better as it is a 15 minute drive from the Isle of Axholme.

Fingers crossed, Wizz Air will start flying from there again.

Right. I'm going to switch off.

I'll see you in Luton.

----

It's 8:13 am. We've been in the Priority Lounge exactly 60 minutes.

The drive down was nice and uneventful.

Saturday's are good days to travel with New Years' Day being easily the best.

I've had a couple of Latte Macchiatos and a sausage and egg sandwich, whilst sitting under the speaker, which is knocking out shit music, louder by the minute.

Not anymore.

One hour is enough. I complained.

The lady opposite said: "Thanks for that - it's far too loud."

The taxi and car hire firm we use over in Cyprus - Empire, is a family run business and sometimes we get lumbered with the main guy's youngest daughter picking us up.

Lumbered being the optimum word.

She's built like a brick shithouse.

Her absolute enormity aside, she's also obnoxious and has a gait of secretly turning up the radio via her steering wheel... and if that isn't bad enough, she sings to herself.

I can't even stand her talking, therefore her singing... Very fucking annoying!

What's planned for the week ahead?

The screenplay for The A's.

When I write, I tend to write in a series of blocks from the middle to either end - and working around what I've written.

This means that I don't set out from the start - you know, Once upon a time; and work to towards end - where they lived happily after.

Therefore, there is a lot of infilling and editing to do.

As I now know the characters inside and out, different stories and patterns emerge.

Anyway - we are up on the screen. Gate 31.

Day 151

The 50,000 Club

Rendered at 2160p 4k, 16:9 Widescreen

(Above) 51,431 views of this morning.

I've no idea why, but certain videos on YouTube get more exposure than others. Maybe I should do a paid subscription!

I have a whole series of this scene. Maybe eight clips.

(Above) 50,690 views of this morning.

This was rendered around 20 days in.

Again, I have a whole series of this scene. Maybe eight or nine clips.

Food

(Above) Last night's meal and Day 1 of our second detox.

Fresh salmon, Tesco's finest fishcakes - Thai inspired Salmon - I think, Jersey new potatoes - definitely worth £3 as they are very creamy, and a rocket and watercress-less salad - or more to the point - what was left in the salad drawer in the fridge.

30 May 2025

Good morning.

I was up and out through the woods with the dog at 5:50 am.

I said to Julie: "Are you taking the dog out or making the bed?"

"None," she replied. "I'm not getting up at this time."

I came back into the house and the coffee was on.

She obviously WAS getting up at that time - she just wasn't that bothered about walking the dog at THAT time.

It was nice out - the sun rising from the east. According to the Met Office forecast it's going to hit 20°c this afternoon.

It was 39°c in Agia Triada all last week and that's where we are heading tomorrow morning.

We've booked in a carry-on case, which is the first time in a donkey's honk that we've done so. The reason being that I've got a new starter motor for the FTO to take over and half a dozen spark plugs - me indirectly pointing out, there - that it has a V6 engine!

My day job is complete, therefore I'll probably wash my car and get my weekly haircut later on.

Yesterday, I did zero cardio as I wasn't in the mood.

The Bank Holiday weekend has ran into this week and we have been out most evenings and last night was no exception.

As I've said before, it's not the drinking that I mind - as I can do without. It is the social aspect.

This week has been great - but not from a being healthy perspective.

We both agreed that this week has been a one off, so today is the reboot of our detox.

I'll start with 120 minutes cardio this morning.

Animation. I used 39 frames on yesterday's music video, which I enjoyed doing. I should re-edit it as with a music video you need shorter frames and more activity - especially when you have a fast tune as is with Lush's 500 track.

I chuck another animation up later.

Music. Radio Caroline has been on and nothing has really jumped out at me - Badfinger's 1969 Paul McCartney-penned Come and Get It being the pick of the bunch.

I remember watching a Peter Sellers film - The Magic Christian with that as the sort of theme song.

A very poor film to be honest.

A good Peter Sellers film?

The Pink Panther Strikes, Again (1976) is certainly the best of the Pink Panther series, but if you want him at his best - then watch him in The Naked Truth - a 1957 British black comedy film directed and produced by Mario Zampi.

There is a segment where he pretends to be one of the IRA and goes into a London pub to buy some explosives.

Give it a watch. Very funny.

Day 150

Food

(Above) Christ, I must have been pissed.