[nights] They gave me the best drugs for the drainpipe-up-the-rear session I underwent. Much better than the carpal tunnel general. Needle went in after the usual faffing about trying to find a vein under the layers of manly blubber relaxed muscle I cultivate in my arms, turned on the faucet and the sitar music began almost straight away.

After a fractious meeting or two and some very colourful emails, I have now made sure that the right ticks are in the right boxes for all of our students will be able to do their external English exams (rhymes with STOIC) at no cost to them. It's the small victories, eh.

Not ... the dread Brotherhood of Luxor Death Ticks?

Death Tick
Death ticks are clockwork menaces resembling ticks, but about the size of a man’s hand. They are programmed to seek out a living target, jump onto that target, and siphon the victim’s life fluids. Once the enemy is a dry husk, the tick returns to its sender. Any tick failing to reach the sender in 10 hours releases a corrosive acid and destroys itself.

And you surely can't mean ... the foul Prairie Tick?

Prairie Tick
Prairie ticks are the scourge of the High Plains. These horrid bloodsuckers live in underground burrows and are controlled by a single, giant queen that rules over each nest.

[Stevie] The only ticks I am experiencing are those of the clock marking off the seconds of the exam that I spend thinking of all the ways I could be using this time more productively if I wasn't required to be here watching students do an exam.

Never mind, at least Saturday is open day, an entirely DIFFERENT way of wasting time...

I'm running another episode of the increasingly hysterical Planet Mercenary RPG. You could join us if you weren't doing something else.

[Stevie] Ta verymuchly for the invitation, but I'm already part of two RPGs that never have the time to meet up - three would be an extravagance, I fear. That being said, I can confirm that D&D in French is hilarious when you don't know the right vocab.

Well, May 7th we're back on Mars for some Space 1889. Dead easy Savage Worlds rules. Offer stands. Noon EST. Well, DST I guess.

[Stevie], how easy is it to learn?

[Superman] So easy I can do it. Very, very easy. But don't take my word for it, come and join us and see for yourself. We can fold new players in without breaking a sweat. If they don't want to stay the course, that's OK too. Characters are easy to build. The Savage Worlds core (which is the "engine" under the bonnet) I usually describe as designed to reproduce Indiana Jones movies as a role-playing game. We use the same engine for my friend Craig's Dealands Reloaded weird west game, though I'm using an older version of the rules with some of the really neat new ideas bolted on for Space 1889.

Here is the campaign blog though the last two entries were rushed due to Xmas and Vacations from Hell and pipes bursting and ceilings falling in and life generally sucking.

Well that's a month gone by in a flash. How is everyone doing? Anyone seen a swallow yet?

No swallows, not even a gulp. However, seen on the bird feeder today: sparrow, pigeon, great tit, blue tit, dunnock, nuthatch, squirrel, jackdaw, mouse.

...and having just popped to the kitchen I can add a female blackbird and a magpie to that list. It is all go today!

Oh look, I've got a special 4-legged furry bird that goes miaow.

I'll go out and talk to it

I've spent the day interpreting for a meeting where everyone's second language was English, and I now have a headache the size of a zepplin. Good lunch though!

(nights) My Dad's second language was English. I take your point, though.

I sympathise, used to do the same thing very regularly. Have you tried doing both sides of a German-French conversation? Imagine so, given you location. There's a reason interpreters only do twenty-minute shifts...

Talking of second languages, I need to practice using my Dutch in shouted conversations with farmers across fields. Either that or just shut up and wave when I'm on lunchtime dog walks.

(pen) Could depend rather crucially on what you say, or what they thought you said.

Dunx.org has dropped off the web. And we have not heard from Dunx for quite a long time. I hope this is just because he is too busy to participate in the Morniverse. Is anyone in regular touch with him? MCiOS seems to have a problem also: when I tried to post this there, I got “An error occurred while reading CGI reply (no response received)”.

Can't see anything wrong from here...

~: ping dunx.org
ping: cannot resolve dunx.org: Unknown host
~: ping www.dunx.org
ping: cannot resolve www.dunx.org: Unknown host
And I'm still having the MCiOS problem in the chat game, but not in Room 101.

It took some hours for the error to propagate, but now I see the same as Raak.

dunx.org is back in working order.

Rather feeble thunderstorm this afternoon ym Mhlas Huws. House still standing.

YMA O HYD!

That's Welsh for "The Saints go marching in", isn't it...

(RtG) Nope, not even this lot..

Howdy, folks!

(Phil) Iawn, cont! mode=<cofi>

Howdy Phil! Are you recovered? And aren't you about to move house?

[Pen] That's a disguised threat if ever I heard one.