Celebrating your 45th birthday at a time when the German federal state that you live in is also the federal state with the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases (1041 so far, and rising) is a pretty strange experience, I can tell you. Filled with a kind of decisions I wouldn’t have dreamed of a month ago.

Cavendish and I are, luckily, still young enough not to fall into any of the high risk groups; however it’s a different matter with our 75+ parents, especially with my father-in-law, who is terminally ill with colon cancer.

So we are thinking a lot about risk minimising measures these days, for example stuff like cancelling our reservation for the super-nice but also somewhat crowded Indian restaurant where we had originally wanted to take my own Dad on Saturday for a slightly belated birthday dinner. The restaurant owner, who is of the loveliest, helpful and most welcoming type you can imagine, is having a three course takeaway meal prepared for us now, so that we can enjoy at least part of what their sumptuous weekend buffet has to offer without having to consume our food in a room full of people.

Not that I believe contracting SARS-CoV-2 right at this point is all that likely, the case numbers even here in North-Rhine Westphalia are still too low for that. But what I believe in are the accumulated effects of people’s behaviour. Science, mathematics and expert projections. Everything coming down to the inconvenient, unpleasant fact that every decision with potential to slow down the virus’s spread is a good decision and a responsible one.

Thus I’m still rather torn about the Lichtburg Essen’s decision to have their great Star Trek: Wrath of Khan screening on March 11th take place exactly as scheduled. (The theatre usually holds 1250 people but apparently managed to keep the audience under 1000 by cancelling evening ticket sales and not putting any returned tickets back into sale.) William Shatner, in his late eighties now and still very much William Shatner as you know, love, or hate him, is touring Europe with Wrath of Khan at the moment. Movie screening followed by extensive Q&A stage program.

The film, with its opening scenes taking place on Kirk’s birthday, is a wonderful film to see on your own birthday. Especially if you are someone like me for whom Star Trek has been there all their lives. (One of my earliest conscious memories of watching TV is a Star Trek one, my Dad was watching, I was about three years old and sitting next to him on the sofa.)

Cavendish and I had bought our tickets sometime last September, practically as soon as we had seen the event first announced. Very much looking foward to it and learning that, against all odds, Wrath of Khan would definitely take place, we decided to go (The ratio behind this being that it was just the two of us, and it would be several days before we would meet with any of our parents again.)

Wonderful evening, full of fun, excitement and the priceless experience of feeling like the Star Trek loving kid I once was all over again. But a lot of anxiety and scruples before and after.

To quote Mr. Spock: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Our annual Burns Night supper, six guests, so altogether a group of eight. This year, Cavendish and I came up with the following menu:

My Heart is in the Highlands

~Traditional: The Skye Boat Song~

1st course: Traditional Cullen Skink

~Toast to the Lassies: Afton Water by Robert Burns~

2nd course: Black and white pudding and pan-fried scallops with pea and mint puree at the side.

~Traditional: Come by the Hills~

3rd course: Haggis with pumpkin, mixed vegetables and mash at the side

~Traditional: Loch Lomond~

4th course: Apple Crumble with blueberries (absolutely delicious and kindly provided by one of our guests)

~Auld Lang Syne: Sing Along ~

It seldom snows in north-western Rhineland, but the weather forecast says that it might, with the first flakes likely to fall around five o’clock this afternoon.

Current book: Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver.

Anyone else watching The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix?

The show is a very smart, atmospherically intense reimagination of both the Robert Wise’s 1963 black and white genre classic The Haunting as well as the original Shirley Jackson novel.

Somewhat sceptical at first whether any modern day TV adaption could pull off the same level of psychological horror and deeply intense fright, I was soon taken in by the effective story telling (seemingly non-chronologic and elliptical, but in fact revealing itself to be perfectly concentric in a dark, twisted dream logic kind of way).

Also, intriguing characters, well-nuanced and coming with fascinating dynamics. (If you are familiar with their Robert Wise versions, names and depictions will be a sheer delight!)

The show’s ensemble cast is as female-dominated as it is superb.

Yeah, I know. But BimoDad and I have been watching the various Jurassic Park/ Jurassic World movies together ever since the first one came out back in 1993.Thus, no way we were going to miss this latest installment.

A few mostly spoiler-free observations:

• Pure popcorn entertainment and actually great fun, however offering very few surprises since the film displays exactly the same strengths and weaknesses as the previous one.
• Cookie cutter characters, but perfectly likeable, or, in case of the villains, properly despicable.
• Simply gorgeous dino animation, done in a way that really makes you care for these beasts.
• It totally escapes me why Fallen Kingdom’s rather obvious Frankenstein theme (all complete with Gothic mansion, thunder, and discussion of scientific ethics) doesn’t show up in reviews. (I’ve read various ones, none of them cared to mention it.) Fallen Kingdom is Frankenstein, as much as one of its predecessors, The Lost World, was King Kong.
• Oh, and I couldn’t help smiling about the scenes showing Chris Pratt’s character raising young Velociraptor Blue. So reminiscent of training Little Jasper. ;)