??Tuesday Update??

It rained this weekend. I basically just talk about rain and bananas this week.

The Headlines

• When it rains it pours- Many of us in England and Wales woke up to soggy scenes outside our windows yesterday morning and my neighbours AFC Wimbledon were faced with a particularly grim sight. Overnight their pitch was transformed from a green carpet to an aquatic beach resort with a sinkhole appearing on the eve of their sold-out Carabao Cup clash against Newcastle United. With Wimbledon finding themselves in the fourth tier of English football, the prospect of a fixture against a renowned Premier League side captured imaginations and was one myself and thousands of others were looking forward to. Sadly it wasn't to be and the game has been rescheduled to next Tuesday in Newcastle. One thing which couldn't be dampened was the spirit of the football community. A Just Giving page was set up by supporters of the fan-owned club to help cover some of the repair costs. In just 24 hours an enormous ￡50,000 has been raised- including ￡15,000 from Newcastle United. It's easy for some to say football is just a game- but when something like this happens and there's an outpouring of support from all corners, it shows it is so much more than that.

• X marks the spot (and keeps digging) - It seems every week there's another reason to walk the plank and never look back at the sinking ship formerly known as Twitter. The latest news from Musk Towers is the app is set to remove the block function. This effectively means everyone with a public profile will now be visible to once blocked users. The block will still stop anyone you've blocked interacting with your posts, but instead of a previous blocked screen, they'll have access to the chamber of secrets where your Tweets once peacefully resided (are we still calling them Tweets?). The troubled app has been in hot water since Musk's takeover in October 2022 due to its significant drop in quality, pointless new features, lack of security, and seemingly relaxed view on harmful and hateful content. If this comes to fruition it will be another nail in the once great app's coffin. Full story here.

??Just a Thought??

I was walking to the tube on Sunday for my weekly game of 7-a-side football. I had just left the flat when I suddenly remembered I hadn't checked the Underground was running on time. I normally check each week and there's never any delays. With hindsight, I should have checked there and then. I resisted and kept walking. Fifteen or twenty minutes later I arrived at a closed tube station with no sign of imminent activity. "Ah.." I thought. Scrambling around on my phone for alternative passage out of South West London to Shoreditch, I realised it was too late to walk back in the direction I came from to get an overground train. I had no option other than to get an Uber or a taxi. No joy with either so subsequently I missed football.

Later that evening, I thought "I should really take the bin out tonight." I resisted and decided I'd take it out first thing in the morning. With hindsight, I should have taken it out there and then. I resisted and sat down with a cup of tea. The next morning as I went to take the bin out I was met with knee-deep water in the car park and no way of accessing the bin store unless I swam or bought a canoe from the middle aisle of Lidl. "Ah..." I thought.

The lesson? Don't just leave things to chance or put things off or you'll just end up disappointed and stuck in a flat with a very out of date banana stinking the bin up all week.

I actually found this article about why throwing out old bananas is imperative to your success. I think it's really just one big clever metaphor and not about actual bananas, but in my case I decided to take it literally- I really should have just thrown that banana away when I had the chance.

Film & TV

• Mr McMahon (Netflix)- They never make Netflix shows about nice people anymore do they? It's always just villains and monsters- By this point it's clear audiences would rather watch a show about someone so dreadful it makes them feel better about whatever shortcomings they might have than watch something like David Attenborough and Sandi Toksvig cleaning up a turtle beach. Anyway, this starts streaming tomorrow and it will probably be all anyone can talk about for about a fortnight until we move on to the next horrible human.

• Agatha All Along (Disney +)- The follow-up to 2021's Marvel series WandaVision. It carries on the story of how Agatha Harkness (a witch) lost her witch powers. Not sure if that's a spoiler to the events of WandaVision because I can't remember any of it other than some of it being in black and white. In this she tries to regain her powers- like Austin Powers when he lost his Mojo. Two episodes available at the moment and more arriving each Wednesday until October 30. I'm now so lost with the Marvel timeline that I fear re-entering will be like trying to pick up Hollyoaks again and asking someone what I've missed over the last 17 years.

The End

That's all for this week's edition. I had something else to say about how Katy Perry's new album and promotional activities were a thinly veiled attempt at relaunching a pop career using a tired, watered down, and less subtle version of what she was doing at her peak and it wasn't a huge surprise that it hasn't worked. Then I realised I'm essentially doing exactly the same thing with these updates so I'm keeping my nose out of it.

Have a great week!