You can have too much of a good thing. Kyle Minogue said so. And so did the former me, Wine Western Wotsit Staying In Si, a fortnight ago.
It isn't that I've become fed up of Western movies (they are the sad casualty in all of this), but Wotsits and Red Wine I'm afraid so. Time for a change, a 78th minute substitute to put it in football terms. (#WWWSI will return at some point, probably when SuperRona 4.0 batters the country next autumn).
We're still in lockdown. I await my first vaccine. Pubs reopen indoors on 17th May (as things stand). BRAPA will return then, not before (this thing where I go around Good Beer Guide pubs and write lovely* things about them, chat to strangers, urinate a lot and drink ESB with a cauliflower before the train home).
But how to amuse myself from March 5th until then, hopefully amusing you too, my dear reader?
Along similar lines as #WWWSI, we welcome Si-Fi Pie Fi. Starting this coming Fri. It all ties (in).
I must admit thinking of weird ideas to amuse myself during Lockdown 3.0.2, I do feel a bit Patridgesque.
'Pray Si, tell thee, what are the main changes?' I hear you ask. Luckily, I was going to tell you anyway.
Instead of a Western, I will watch one of the top 100 Science Fiction movies according to Slant magazine's online list. Sci-Fi has never done anything for me as a genre, strikes me as cold, metal, harsh and distant, but I want to be open minded. What I like about this list is that it is a varied mix of famous Hollywood blockbusters, cult classics and obscure artsy things.
Instead of Wotsits, I will be eating my new favourite snack, Pom Bears. Light, crispy, ready salted, so should be lower impact. Again, a regular dice will help me determine how many bags.
Instead of some random cuisine recommended by my Red Wine Bible, I'll be having a random pie. Different each week. With peas. Probably mushy. And mint sauce? Is that wrong? My friends think so when I go to Beer Festivals with them and daub it on. Maybe I'm just too Yorkshire for words.
And instead of red wine, craft beers. I'll call it spacecraft beer, see if it catches on. It won't. Canned or bottled. Cask would be nice. Watch this space. Deep space. A wise man last week said 'the main sign of too much disposable income during lockdown is a burgeoning supply of craft ales' (a slight misquote, but you cannot deny the truth in it) I can't wait to spend £70 on a taxi round trip from Northampton to Old when all this blows over. I will pin a list of six beers (plus 2 subs) to my fridge on the lunchtime before SiFiPieFi night, and roll a dice to determine which 3 or 4 (or 5 or 6) beers I drink on the night, as I did in #SADCASE on the off chance you remember that little cleaning adventure!
Music wise, hmmm, not sure I own much sci-fi inspired stuff, maybe something will come to light. Dress Code will be the usual smart jacket, I have a new yellow alien tee shirt, and space/universe bucket hat on the way. I thought about ordering some silver trousers, but decided against it!
With thanks to pub ticker and football ground ticker Eddie Fogden for helping me come up with the original concept, thanks to Joe Wedge at work for the encouragement, and Daddy Pom Bear for convincing me Sci Fi isn't all aliens and spaceships, though it probably helps.
So, my pie is in the fridge. My film is en route from a Czech Republic dealer but probably won't arrive on time. The Pom Bears are bulging out of my cupboard. And the beers are on my spare room floor burgeoning by the day. All set for Friday, quickly followed up the following Monday as I'm off work.
See you on Friday, Si