Week 18: Democracy and Hench Lesbians

Another busy week, but at least this had a 3-day weekend at the end of it! And unlike the Easter bank holiday, I didn't actually do more day job work to make sure I stayed on track.

We had the local council elections and Greater Manchester Mayoral elections this week. I voted for the first time in about five years, and voted Labour for the first time in my life. As is typical under FPTP, this was voting against things rather than for anything in particular - in the local elections, a lot of candidates have opposed the council's Low Traffic Neighbourhood which has finally seen a hugely busy junction near a load of schools get pedestrian crossings, and some rat-runs closed to through traffic. And in the Mayoral, people are still complaining about Andy Burnham introducing a Low Emission Zone in Greater Manchester, which doesn't apply to most cars from the last 20 years. I needn't have worried; neither the independents nor Galloway's mob did particularly well in my ward, and Andy Burnham romped home in the mayoral. Still, it felt strange to engage with the political process again, having noped out so firmly several years ago now.

I rented a pressure washer from HSS Tool Hire in town for the long weekend, so cosmolinguist could clean many years of accumulated grime off the patio in time for summer. It was more work than Power Washer Simulator and I ended up getting my trainers very wet and muddy in the process. However, the patio is positively pale now! I tried to blast the moss off the path down the side of the house, but ended up taking up most of the crumbling asphalt along with it, so I've abandoned that plan. At some point that'll need resurfacing, ideally with flags, to make it a safer route for mother_bones' wheelchair.

On Saturday, E and I met up with our friend P at Home to see "Love Lies Bleeding", the new queer bodybuilding crime thriller starring Kristen Stewart and Katy M O'Brian, whom I loved in "Z Nation". P said the film reminded her of a 50s pulp novel which mixes being very hot with a morality tale about how terrible all this lesbianism and steroid abuse is, which rings true. It's sexy, funny, twisted, gritty, and surreal, and well worth a look. One surprise is Jena Malone, who is completely unrecognisable to the point where I was wondering when she'd show up after she'd been on screen several times! After the cinema we had a couple of drinks, which was lovely, but Gary was being a pain for mother_bones so E and I headed home.

( Bulletpoints )