@simonvarwell@mastodon.scot
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simonvarwell

@simonvarwell@mastodon.scot

Loves trains, the outdoors, travel, Esperanto, ambient and post-rock music, good food and scrontous beer. Hates car-centric societies, late stage capitalism and courgette. Slow reader, infrequent writer. Day job in education but I never talk about it here. He/him. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Avatar: white 40ish man with black woolly hat and backpack, standing in front of old red phone box and ruined church.
Banner: text saying “Geesperantistoj el la tuta mondo agu energie kontraŭ la internacia faŝismo!"

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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Committing to doing Gaelic daily on Duolingo makes me feel under an diugh pressure.

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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Interesting details in this article that Supermac’s might be coming to the UK. Having kind of fallen for them during my time in Ireland this is good news.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jun/05/big-mac-supermacs-mcdonalds-loses-eu-trademark-fight

timrichards, to Switzerland
@timrichards@aus.social avatar

OK I have finally arrived at my hotel in Interlaken, Switzerland, just in 35 hours since I walked out of my front door in Melbourne, via:

tram
bus
plane
airport shuttle train
plane
airport shuttle train
train
train
on foot

No wonder I'm exhausted! But I approve of the resultant view. :)

simonvarwell,
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@timrichards I’ve often wondered: is Interlaken so-named because it is between two lakes?

simonvarwell,
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@timrichards you can just imagine the committee meeting when they sat down to name the new town.

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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Multaj aliuloj pli bone komentos pri la honto en la eŭropaj balotad-rezultoj, sed klare ĝi estas aĉa tago por paco en nia kontinento: tio estas apud la fakto ke ĝi estas la unua post-britelira eŭropa balotado, kiu estas tristego por mi kaj aliaj skotanoj kaj britanoj. Ke faŝistoj antaŭenpaŝas en pluraj EU-membroj timigas, speciale kiam milito jam venis al Eŭropo. Rezultoj donas esperon en kelkaj landoj, sed zorgon en gravaj landoj kiel Francio la Germanio.

Kien nun?

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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Why are they called bakery patrons and not crustomers?

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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Watching the Scotland-Finland match tonight. A barren wasteland at the edge of Europe populated by morose, grumpy, sun-starved people with terrible diets and serious chips on their shoulders regarding neighbouring countries, versus…

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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I’ve been in Perth over the past twenty four hours. I’ve not travelled that way for a while, so it was nice to see that train line which I know so well.

Mi estis en Perth dum la pasintaj dudek kvar horoj. Mi ne veturis tien ekde longa tempo, do estis bone vidi tiun trajnlinion kiun mi konas tiel bone.

TheBreadmonkey, to random
@TheBreadmonkey@beige.party avatar

I don't think we need any more Marvel or Star Wars films or television for the moment

simonvarwell,
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@TheBreadmonkey yeah it’s messed up my chronological watch through. I had two two-years waits for subsequent series of Bad Batch, though I’m back on a roll now. If something’s not out before I get there I’ll just come back to it another time once I’m finished.

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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A glorious waste of a day.
Glora malŝparo de tago.

simonvarwell,
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@sister_ratched definitely. Just caught up on news about your auntie. All peace to you all.

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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I have a massive soft spot for Red Dwarf - a science fiction sitcom that, like the best scifi, is about the people and communities not the science. And clicking back from a more recent “How we made…” on The Guardian, I landed (like Starbug) on this piece.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/mar/05/how-we-made-red-dwarf-doug-naylor-craig-charles-bbc

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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I love the blog Strange Company and this mystery is up to their usual standards. http://strangeco.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-mystery-of-joe-piker.html?m=1

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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Reach for the… er, clouds.

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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A good piece on the impossible task of stating Inverness’s population - which is rooted in the fact that the city is not actually defined. https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/inverness/6486537/what-is-the-population-of-inverness/

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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A long time ago on a social media platform far, far away (well, October 2020 on Twitter) I began a chronological watch-through of the Star Wars canon. I am barely on Birdville now, so have moved the thread here.

Below is a link to a pdf with a very crude copy & paste job of my entire thread so far, so you can go back to the beginning and read the whole story. I will pick up the thread again below this tweet.

Happy reading, and may the force live long and shiny.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9nmjj0sd7jth1kq4e94q9/Star-Wars-tweets.pdf?rlkey=vyndd40d23y05ph7ng83dwpa3&dl=0

simonvarwell,
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And episode 1 feels slow, but rebuilds Obi-Wan well, and the contrast between the loves of alike and Leia is done well: world that are lush and worlds that are dusty. The inquisitors are suitably baddy-like, and it’s fun to see characters like Senator Organa back. It perhaps feels predictable so far, but mostly enjoyable. Episode 2 has a bit of a Bad Batch feel to it, with a plucky narrow escape, and it’s good to see Obi-Wan start to rediscover himself.

simonvarwell,
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@drnoble 😂 sorry!

simonvarwell,
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And a nice cliffhanger at the end of ep3. Obi-Wan’s vulnerability coming through - some poignant moments, and some fun action.

simonvarwell,
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Episode (or I should say part) 4 takes into cliche a little, with some formulaic stuff that Bad Batch did so often: child in danger, last minute escape etc, but the dynamic of Leia and the Third Sister was compelling, and some old fashioned Jedi-doing/his-thing. Only two left in the series. It’s weird to be progressing so quickly through the stories.

simonvarwell,
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And an excellent episode to follow, with some cracking action, clever nods back to the prequel films to which the series acts as such a neat follow, and a good cliffhanger at the end shifting the balance back from Leia to Luke. I’m just hoping they’re not settling things up for a second series. After my Bad Batch delays I’m not hanging around for that.

fanjo, to random Esperanto
@fanjo@esperanto.masto.host avatar

Se estas tiom da programistoj en Esperantujo, kial la oficialaj Esperantaj retejoj aspektas kvazaŭ el la 1990-aj jaroj? (Mi estas programisto, sed mi ne kreas retejojn. Ne rigardu min.) 😂

simonvarwell,
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@fanjo @shevek vere!

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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What an awful shame for Trump.

Sorry I meant what an awful shameful Trump.

simonvarwell, to random Esperanto
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I’ve finished Daniel Kalder’s Dictator Literature, or as it was titled in the USA (with in my view a better title) The Infernal Library - a darkly humorous dive into the writings of dictators. It’s an often enlightening insight into some horrible minds, and a call for scepticism and critique of our leaders. A big book and a long read, and the first change in my reading list for a while. Not sure I’ll add anything at the moment.

simonvarwell,
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@cmniciosaig an unusual book but quite compelling.

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