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📚 Sourcery by Terry Pratchett

September 10, 2023August 31, 2023 by Michael Hanscom

43/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Back to the wizards of Discworld. Last time (in Equal Rites) we had the eighth child of an eighth child, this time we have the eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son, all wizards, making them a “sourcerer” — someone who can tap into the very source of magic to create new magic. This does not go well for the Discworld, or for hapless reluctant participant (not really a hero) Rincewind. Once again, somehow, while not necessarily doing much, the Luggage is a standout character.

Me holding my iPad with Sourcery shown on the screen.

Year 50 Day 121

September 1, 2023August 31, 2023 by Michael Hanscom

Me on the couch in our living room, holding a small Lego model of the New York City skyline.

Day 121: We’re home! After three weeks of travel, including a transcontinental railway journey from Seattle to New York City, touring NYC and seeing a Broadway show, a trans-Atlantic voyage on the Queen Mary II, four days in London, the flight back, and a couple nights to acclimate, it’s good to be in our own space again!

Also, during the months leading up to the trip, we found a few Lego sets that relate to the trip in some way. However, we didn’t want to build them just yet, as any photos might have ended up hinting at our travels, and we were having fun planning that without telling most people about our plans. So now I get to build them! First up: The New York City skyline.

Year 50 Day 120

September 1, 2023August 30, 2023 by Michael Hanscom

Me in a the very empty lobby of the DoubleTree hotel.

Day 120: Today was all about napping and adjusting to the time difference. It was also an amusingly quiet mid-week stay at the DoubleTree with nothing else going on at the hotel. I’ve remarked on it before, but after spending so much time here over the past decade and a half during conventions, it’s always a little jarring to see the hotel this empty and undecorated.

Year 50 Day 119

September 1, 2023August 29, 2023 by Michael Hanscom

My wife and I, masked, seated in an airplane.

Day 119: Goodbye London! We checked out of our hotel, caught a cab to Heathrow, and boarded our plane for home. After a long day of flying (two flights, with a brief layover in Calgary), we landed in Seattle. Instead of going straight home, however, we went to the DoubleTree Hotel near the airport (which, thanks to Norwescon, we’re very familiar with) so that we could spend two nights there huddled behind their heavy-duty blackout curtains in an attempt to force our clocks through the eight-hour time change.

📚 Mort by Terry Pratchett

September 10, 2023August 29, 2023 by Michael Hanscom

42/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Death has made appearances in every Discworld book so far (my understanding is that this continues throughout the series), but this is the first where Death is more of a central character — though most of what we learn is through Death’s apprentice, Mort. A neat way to really start to flesh out Pratchett’s cosmology and how he approaches Death (and death) on the Discworld.

Me holding my iPad with Mort displayed on the screen

Year 50 Day 118

September 1, 2023August 28, 2023 by Michael Hanscom

My wife and I outside Westminster Abbey.

Day 118: Today we started off at Westminster Abbey, including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries special exhibit, which has an incredible view of the abbey (but doesn’t allow photos) in addition to the extra artifacts on display. The abbey is beautiful, and it was neat to glance around and constantly be seeing another tomb or memorial with a historical name I recognized.

As we were waiting for our entrace time to the abbey we walked around the blocks surrounding it, getting some gorgeous views of the Palace of Westminster (Parliament) and Big Ben (technically the Elizabeth Tower; Big Ben is the bell), seeing New Scotland Yard, and some statues of famous people — including Abraham Lincoln. So yes, we went to London to visit a Lincoln memorial. ;)

After Westminster we walked over to Buckingham Palace, then took a stroll through Hyde Park to the Marble Arch (which is under renovation, so is currently serving as a Vodaphone advertisement), and then went on to Selfridge’s department store. Which may seem like a slightly odd tourist destination, but we had recently watched a surprisingly interesting PBS documentary on Henry Selfridge and the store that bears his name, so we had fun wandering through.

Finally, we ended the day with a visit to the London Eye ferris wheel and its beautiful views of London.

Year 50 Day 117

September 1, 2023August 27, 2023 by Michael Hanscom

My wife and I at the Tower of London, with the White Tower visible behind us.

Day 117: We kicked off our day at the Tower of London, heading in as soon as the gates opened and starting by going straight for the Crown Jewels (which, phrased that way, sounds much more heist-y than it actually was). It’s a great way to make sure you can better appreciate them — it wasn’t much later at all in the day when we saw lines forming, where we were able to head right into the exhibit. Once done with those, we spent the rest of the morning just slowly working our way through the rest of the Tower exhibits at our own pace.

Once done with the Tower, and after taking some time to rest, we headed off for a Jack the Ripper walking tour of Whitechapel run by and ending with a visit to the Jack the Ripper Museum. This was a fun way to see a lot of the back streets and areas that we wouldn’t have wandered into on our own, all while getting an amusingly sensationalized (and occasionally conspiracy-theory-enhanced) account of the Jack the Ripper murders and mystery.

After that, since we didn’t have anything else planned and figured we could both use some more time to rest, we just settled into our hotel room and watched Mary Poppins, which seemed like a perfect choice after a couple of days exploring London.

Year 50 Day 116

September 1, 2023August 26, 2023 by Michael Hanscom

My wife and I at Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London. We're in one of the upper galleries overlooking the stage and floor area. Other audience members are finding their spots for the performance behind us.

Day 116: Our first day of exploring London!

We started with a visit to the British Museum, which is a huge, gorgeous museum packed with ~~loot~~ artifacts ~~stolen~~ acquired from across the globe. It’s also so popular that I found it impossible to really enjoy the visit — there’s absolutely no opportunity to actually stop and appreciate anything, because there are simply so many other people crowded in, pushing through, and all to often either stepping directly in front of you or physically pushing you aside so that they can see whatever you’re trying to look at. Honestly, as gorgeous as the museum is, and as impressive as its collection is, the actual experience was something of a disappointment. That said, we made the most of it, and did see a lot of neat stuff.

Once we finished with the museum, we came back to the hotel to rest for a while. Then we were off again! We took a cab up to Shakepeare’s Globe, walked across the Millennium Bridge and around St. Paul’s Cathedral (sadly, there was no old woman selling crumbs to feed the birds for tuppence a bag), saw a rainbow over London as we came back across the Millennium Bridge, and then watched an incredibly good performance of Macbeth at the Globe.

Year 50 Day 115

September 1, 2023August 25, 2023 by Michael Hanscom

My wife and I in front of the window of our hotel room in London. Behind us is a gorgeous view of Tower Bridge.

Day 115: We’re (finally) off the boat and in London! The QMII docked in Southampton this morning, and we were very ready to move on. While the trans-Atlantic crossing was a really neat thing to do, with a lot of fun ties to history, we’re now pretty sure that that’s not a thing that we’d be intereste in doing again. Seven days at sea is a long time, and when you factor in the obviously high risk of getting ill…well. It was worth doing and the first half was a lot of fun; the tedious latter half, though, we’re happy to see the end of.

So, we disembarked in Southampton, caught a cab to the Southampton train station, a train to London Waterloo station, a London black cab to the Tower Hotel, and checked into a room with the most incredible view I’ve ever had in a hotel room.

After getting settled in, we walked across Tower Bridge and got dinner. Once we got back to the hotel, my wife (who was hit much harder by the bug that I was) needed rest, so I went out and took a two-hour walk enjoying the London evening and taking photos before finally coming back and heading to bed.

Year 50 Day 114

September 1, 2023August 24, 2023 by Michael Hanscom

Me seen from behind, looking at the TV in our stateroom, showing the title card for the film Titanic.

Day 114: Another day of holing up in our stateroom to concentrate on resting and trying not to let whatever bug bit us get any worse. I almost forgot to get a picture, but then remembered that I’d planned ahead and made sure to include some thematically (in)approprite viewing choices for us, including this one on the history of the Cunard Line.