Good Cop, Bad Cop

Louise Hickman is the only detective in Eden Vale, Washington, USA. She pleads with her father, Hank, the Chief of Police to hire another detective. Henry left Eden Vale seven years ago due to a disagreement with his father. He's been working as a police officer in Seattle, but is lurked back with the offer to become a detective.

Both Lou and Henry are good detectives in their own way. Lou is the touchy-feely one, who has hunches. Sherlock Holmes is Henry's hero, and he emulates him. He's also autistic. (Sadly the autistic traits shown are played for  laughs, and 'isn't he odd' moments a few too many times for a television program released in 2025.)

At first, I wasn't too sure whether I liked the program, but the characters grew on me, and became very relatable. The stories were non-convoluted and enjoyable. Then I learned the show had been cancelled after just one season.

I watched, and watched, then Netflix  took me to a movie. It was confusing as the story had not been completed. "Ooh, noes! You can't just stop there! These characters need some form of resolution." ... "I can give them this desperately needed completion. I can tie together the flapping story lines." And with that, I started thinking up satisfactory endings for the season and the whole story.

Whilst on a walk with the Offspring, I was explaining all of this and started coming up with story ideas. Then, when we got home, I discovered there's another episode that I haven't seen, the last episode the season. I want to watch it, but I also want to try my hand at writing as if I was one of the writers on the show, and I knew it was the end.

Pocket Chocolate

Back at the dim and distant dawn of time, I met my Beloved, and we experienced great joy on sharing our first box of chocolates. The Beloved enjoys the dark chocolates, and the ones with nuts or nougat. On the other hand, my preference is for the orange and strawberry creams. We meet in the middle ground of caramels, both hard and soft.

Every so often I will buy a box of chocolates. These are bought with the understanding that any of the chocolates I don't want will be shared with the Beloved. 

Recently a new twist has been added to the sharing. It's 'pocket chocolate'. The a chocolate unwanted by me is hidden in the Beloved's pocket. It's not an every day thing, and sometimes it takes him ages to find the pocket chocolate. For a while, the longest from hide to consume was the one put in a pocket of his rucksack. It was about 10 days. However, it took over two weeks for the one secreted in his dressing gown pocket to be found. 

It's just a silly, fun way of distributing chocolates. The Beloved never knows when one is going to be found. It's always a surprise. 

It's always a surprise, even when he is wearing the hoodie when I'm hiding it. We know how to play. 

I would walk five hundred miles

 

The Proclaimers sang about walking 500 miles, and 500 more. There's a route around the north coast of mainland Scotland, the North Coast 500. It got me thinking, how long would it take me to walk 500 miles?

Currently, walking 500 miles is beyond my capabilities. But would it be possible?  This week, I've managed 500m on Sunday and Monday, and 1km today. At that rate of 2km over three days, it would take me three years and four months. 

I suspect I would need to increase my walking distances to at least 5 miles per day (100 days) before it would be a viable option.

Walking On Sunshine

The weather was appalling yesterday, and that resulted in a great deal of pain. I set myself all sorts of goals, and forget I have chronic pain. At the start of July last year, I decided to keep track of the number of days I have had without pain. so far, we're cruising  along at a nice steady zero. There has not been a single day I have been pain-free.

March's goal of exercising every day seemed a distant dream. However, The Offspring drew my attention to my time in town shopping yesterday. I managed to walk 1/2km, at a very slow pace, but I managed it. Today, I've also walked a much faster 1/2km. 

Now, the sun is out. The air pressure is looking good for tomorrow. My hope is I can do a full, huge 1km. 

Goals for March 2026

This month's goals are to exercise every day (when possible) and to make two items for my wardrobe.

The exercise consisted of half a km of very painful and slow walking. There are times when the body just does not want to co-operate.

My current wardrobe make is a cardigan/jacket made from King Cole Tints, in the colour 'Neptune'. It's a glorious combinations of teal and purple, and will be able to be worn with so many items in my wardrobe. There are some summer clothes it will clash with, but it's a thick super chunky yarn, and it isn't a summer yarn.

Books read or listened to in February 206

Fortunate Son - Caimh McDonnell

The Family Jewels - Caimh McDonnell

Firewater Blues - Caimh McDonnell

Dead Man's Sins - Caimh McDonnell

Angels in the Moonlight - Caimh McDonnell

Systems collapse

Fugitive Telemetry

Network Effect

Bastille Versus the Evil Librarians

Alcatraz Versus the Dark Talent

Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens

Alcatraz Versus the Knits of Crystallia

Alcatraz Verses the Scrivener's Runes

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Orange and Poppy Seed Muffins

Ingredients

1 medium orange

1 Tsp chia seeds

3 Tsp cold water

2 medium bananas

120g SR gluten-free flour (1 cup)

200g sugar (1cup)

120ml oil (1/2 cup)

Method

Place the orange in a pan of boiling water. Reduce to a simmer, and simmer the orange for 20 minutes. Let the orange cool.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C.

Put the chia seeds into the water, and leave for a few minutes. The seeds will swell and produce a gelatinous goop.

Place the orange and the bananas into a blender, and blend until smooth. Add the oil and chia seeds. Then add the sugar, flour and poppy seeds. Mix well.

Line a muffin tin, and add the batter to the muffin liners.

Bake for 18 minutes until the top is golden brown, and the muffins are risen and bounce back when gently depressed.

Notes
The original recipe called for an un-simmered. Unfortunately, this can result in a bitter muffin. By cooking the orange the bitterness is removed.

If you don't want to use chia seeds, replace the chia seeds and water with one egg.

The gluten-free flour could be substituted for white SR flour.

The quantities make nine large muffins.