It is 2.4km to my nearest shop (and most of that to reach a bus stop, as it happens). I have walked there from time to time, but I wouldn’t do an actual grocery shop there anyway: we have the weekly groceries delivered.

I have brought a full grocery shop home in a large rucksack that kind of distance, and more, in the past when on holiday, but I wouldn’t want to do it regularly.

I have also known a couple of other people who do that kind of distance with a huge rucksack for a monthly top up of specific things that their local shops don’t carry, but they are both weird in several ways other ways. Good weird, but still weird. This is not something that the majority of people that I have known would even consider.

I don’t know whether it is ‘the best’ but one that I find springs to mind quite often is a moment with a new Christmas present once. It was one of those walk-along-then-spin-and-shoot robots - a very simple thing, since this was in the early '70s. However, my memory is of utter joy and entrancement as I set it going then leapt out of the way, on to the furniture, before it opened its chest and fired.

It must have been a present from my parents, so they were probably happy that I liked it. Whether they were quite so happy after the first hour or two of the same thing, I don’t know.

I’ve read the books and thoroughly enjoyed them and am now thoroughly enjoying the show. The emphasis of the show is different, certainly, but in this case I am happy with that. After the first episode in which I was all ‘It’s not that way in the book…’ I am taking as it is.

My SO has not read the books and is also thoroughly enjoying it. It is probably her favourite show at the moment.

No - you could get the 81 both prebuilt or as a kit. The kit was cheaper, clearly, and was the only one we could afford.

ZX-81 which my brother and I built from a kit. I was astonished when it actually worked.

Right handed. My wallet is in my left pocket, since anything that I need to do with it will involve holding it with my left and doing the thing with my right.

Both my phones (home and work) are in my right, since I can carry out basic functions on them one handed.

Yes. Why do you ask?

Not specifically for the eyes or posture, but for overall approach and attitude to situations like this:

• Marcus Aurelius’ quote: Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil. - and stoicism in general.
• Imagine them sitting on the toilet. You can’t take them too seriously like that.
• Take a longer perspective: consider whether this interaction will be of any significance at all in 10 years time?

Comments like that say far more about the person saying it than about the person being described most of the time, I’d say.

I’d need to know how good the describer is like in that area before I could make any assessment about the describee.

No. I’m not interested in interaction when I am buying or selling something. Nor playing games, or getting or giving social strokes or whatever. I will do that on separate occasions.

I will pay the price asked or I will look elsewhere.

• Worked for their local team, and was quite happy to challenge/push back on unreasonable top-down asks.
• Quite happy to admit they didn’t know stuff and asked for advice and ideas - and, of course, credited the appropriate team members for things that worked, but took responsibility themselves if things didn’t go well.
• Displayed authentic emotions and enthusiasm for the work, rather that present a bland corporate mask.

A satsuma. The penultimate element of my lunch.

The ultimate will be a banana, in a few minutes.

The 1983 UK general election.

However, since I lived in a Tory safe seat (taking boundary changes into account, the last time that location had been anything except tory was a Whig in the C19th) I spoiled my ballot - writing some pithy comment across it about how meaningless the process was. That showed them!

Checking now, I see that it has continued as a Tory safe seat up to the present day.

1177 B.C. The Year Civilisation Collapsed- Eric H Cline. I think that meets your criteria - although ‘narrator isn’t annoying’ is obviously wildly subjective. I listened a while back and found it very interesting. I will be listening to After 1177 B.C. sometime soon.

Chumbawamba’s discography - or even just this one on repeat.

It’s based on the Hillary Mantel novels - a fictionalised biography of Thomas Cromwell and his role at Henry VIII’s court.

Ripley wins hands down. That would be true if only for the cinematography, but it is for so much more too.

Another comment mentions Slow Horses, and I’d agree on that. Great fun.

Wolf Hall is another with excellent writing and performances.

And Shrinking, which has far exceeded my expectations.

Then a single episode of Agatha All Along stood out. Ep 7, I believe, without checking. Great use of non-linear storytelling. The rest of the season was entertaining, but nothing more.

Baby Raindeer also had a standout episode. You’ll know it when you hit it. Despite the controversy about the events this show was based on, it contains plenty of truth of its own.

Finally, we are rewatching the 1979 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Both this and the more recent film version are excellent from the first scene. This one still holds up fantastically well decades later.

Cornwall. Same group of friends as the last 30 or so years, in about 6 weeks time.

I’m in the UK. I worked at a couple of places in the '90s - sysadmin and IT trainer - where this was considered perfectly acceptable at the time, but I definitely wouldn’t now. I’m no longer in IT at all, but I don’t think that it is seen as acceptable very widely anywhere now.

Read using REadEra, play Forge of Empires - plus Lemmy via Voyager.