Well it is late afternoon on Xmas Eve, so this seems like a good time to make the Xmas post on the blog.

The preparation for Xmas has been rather stressful and hard work this year, for more than one reason (although the one main reason happens to be Amazon.co.uk, which I may expand on after Xmas). Until pretty recently I have actually been dreading Xmas, probably for the first time ever. With four kids, this time of year is usually the best...hopefully it will be now.

Anyway everything is now prepared and bought, the girls are bouncing off the walls in excitement and the boys will be back from their father's on Boxing Day. I even managed to get myself back into +VE on Titan, after having two weeks of getting my 'Junk Grabbed' as Dr Pauly would put it.

So all in all....yes I am now looking forward to Xmas after all. Hope you all have a good holiday season too.

Okay, this level was very easy (once you understand the silence):

Gur fvyrapr va dhrfgvba, jung pbhyq gung eryngr gb? Fvyrapr pna zrna abguvat, gur ynpx bs fbzrguvat. Jryy va guvf pnfr vg vf abg abguvat ohg fbzr nqqvgvbany nccneragyl rzcglarff gb or sbhaq ng gur raq bs gur ugzy fbhepr. Abj nccneragyl guvf qbrf abg jbex haqre Sversbk (V hfrq VR sbe guvf ohg nccneragyl Xbadhrebe jbexf gb) ohg vs lbh ybbx ng gur fbhepr bs gur jrocntr, lbh zvtug svaq dhvgr n ovg bs nccneragyl rzcgl fcnpr nsgre gur /UGZY gnt. Vs lbh uvtuyvtug guvf fcnpr va lbhe snibhevgr grkg rqvgbe, lbh jvyy svaq gurer vf n cnggrea gb gur fcnpr.Abj vs lbh pbhag gur ahzore bs fcnprf cre yvar nsgre gur /UGZY gnt naq gura pbaireg gurfr vagb olgrf, lbh raq hc jvgu n fubeg OM2 nepuvir. Rkgenpg guvf nepuvir naq jr trg gur grkg 'Vfa'g vg pyrne? V nz lnaxrrqbbqyr!' naq lnaxrrqbbqyr vf gur fbyhgvba gb guvf yriry.

Well this level was certainly easier than the previous level, although there were definate similarities between them. Solution below:

Jryy jr fgneg jvgu n jrocntr jvgu n cvpgher (oryy.cat) naq uvagf bs 'Znal Cnvef' naq 'Evat Evat Evat'. Svefgyl gur Evat uvag vf nofbyhgryl nccnyyvat! Nalbar jub fcrnxf Ratyvfu nf n svefg ynatnhtr jvyy whfg abg trg vg, evat evat qbrf ABG fbhaq yvxr Terra, vg fbhaqf yvxr Teva ng n chfu. Naljnl gur uvag yrnqf hf gb gur Terra punaary bs gur oryy.cat vzntr. Vs jr 'fcyvg' gung punaary njnl sebz gur erfg naq gura 'trgqngn' sebz gung punaary, jr trg fbzr qngn jvgu n irel vagrerfgvat cnggrea. Vg jbhyq nccrne gung rirel cnve bs olgrf r.t. N1N2O1O2P1P2 rgp rgp ner qvssrerag ol 42. Yvxr N1 = 42 naq N2 = 84. Abj, abg nyy bs gur cnvef ner yvxr guvf naq vg vf gurfr qvssreraprf jr ner nsgre.Vs jr rkgenpg gurfr qvssreraprf naq qvfcynl gur erfhyg, jr trg gur zrffntr 'jubqhaavg().fcyvg()[0] ?'. Pelcgvp nlr? Jryy gur svefg gubhtug, nsgre zhpu ybbxvat nebhaq ba clgubapunyyratr.pbz vf gung gur chmmyr jnf frg ol gurfnzrg, nygubhtu jr ner vasbezrq gung guvf abg gur nafjre. Fb vs jr ner hfvat Clguba gb fbyir gur chmmyr, jub pbhyq or uryq erfcbafvoyr? Thvqb iba Ebffhz? Gur fbyhgvba sbe guvf yriry vf thvqb.

This was one TRICKY level. I need to thank Ibis for his hints and help in solving this level.

Bxnl, svefg bs nyy jr fgneg jvgu n uvag va gur jrocntr fbhepr fnlvat fbzrguvat yvxr 'be qb jr zrna TVS'. Guvf cbvagf gb n mvtmnt.tvs svyr juvpu jr arrq gb cebprff.Nabgure uvag sebz gur jrocntr vf 'Orgjrra gur gnoyrf' naq gur mvtmnt va gur cvpgher. Gur gnoyrf ner gjb ryrzragf bs qngn jvguva gur tvs svyr; gur cnyrggr naq gur cvkry qngn. V hfrq yvfg(vz.trgqngn()) gb trg gur cvkry qngn naq vz.trgcnyrggr()[::3] gb trg gur cnyrggr qngn. Jr gura arrq gb perngr nabgure gnoyr sebz gurfr gjb ol vaqrkvat gur cnyrggr gnoyr ol gur cvkry qngn. Vs jr abj pbzcner guvf guveq gnoyr ntnvafg gur cvkry qngn, jr pna frr n cnggrea va gung gur cvkry qngn vf gur fnzr bssfrg ol bar, jvgu gur bppnfvbany cynpr jurer guvf cnggrea vf abg gur pnfr. Vg vf gurfr cynprf jr ner vagrerfgrq va.Hfvat gur sbyybjvat ehyr, nyybjrq zr gb trg gur erdhverq vasbezngvba:
vs cnyrggr[qngn[v]] != qngn[v+1]: fnir gur qngn[v+1] olgr
Ehaavat guvf ehyr guebhtu gur jubyr bs gur qngn fubhyq tvir lbh n om2 svyr gung yrnqf gb gur arkg cneg bs gur chmmyr.
Gur arkg cneg bs gur chmmyr cebirq gb or irel rnfl. Jr trg cebivqrq jvgu n grkg svyr bs gur jro nqqerff sbe gur arkg yriry naq ybgf bs xrljbeqf. V nz cerggl fher jr jrer fhccbfrq gb pbzr hc jvgu n clguba fpevcg gb pbzcner guvf grkg ntnvafg gur xrljbeq yvfg pbagnvarq va xrljbeq.cl jvguva gur Clguba Yvof qverpgbel ohg V sbhaq vg jnf rnfl rabhtu gb qb ol hfvat gur Ahzore 1 rlronyy. Lbh ner ybbxvat sbe xrljbeqf va gur grkg gung ner abg pbagnvarq va gur xrljbeq.cl svyr. Gurfr ner 'ercrng' naq 'fjvgpu' juvpu ner gur hfreanzr naq cnffjbeq erfcrpgviryl sbe gur arkg yriry.

I had my first experience as an actor today....I was Santa Claus at my youngest daughter's nursery school Xmas party. Now don't scoff, children are probably the hardest people to please in the world. This was also tempered by the fact that Aimée is a right know it all and we wererather worried that she would recognise it was me.
So after finding the biggest white wig and beard available (I was Gandalf the Santa) and a quick change in the storage area at the back of the hall, it was time for my grand entrance.
I nailed it! Now I know a little of what actors feel when they do a good performance in front of an audience. The adrenalin flowed but it went SO well. I cannot say I would like to do it as a career (I think I will stick to Engineering) but it certainly was an experience.
Oh and no, Aimée did not realise.

With Xmas just around the corner, the period of present deliveries is upon us and one of our largest has apparently just arrived on the back of a truck. The thing is though, why do companies put obvious pictures of the item on a box that will generally never be seen by the customer until they received the item. I understand it for packaging that needs to sell the item but for the 'just a container' type there seems little point.

The problem we have now is, one of the presents (shh - don't tell Aimée. It's a Scooter) is currently hiding in the downstairs toilet because it has such a picture on it, waiting for me to get home and hide it in the loft.

One of the best things about kids can be the interesting way they see the world. Today our car got a puncture in one of the rear tyres and when Tracy and Aimée got out of the car, an audible hiss could be heard coming from that wheel. So Tracy rings me at work to tell me that she needed me to come home and change the wheel with the spare.
Diverting from the tale for a moment, it turns out Renault do not give you 'spare' wheels, they give you 'emergency' wheels, which are smaller in width and limited to 80kph (somewhere between 40 and 50mph). Grrr!!!
Anyway, back onto topic, Tracy puts Aimée on the phone.

'Dad, you need to come home and fix the snake.'

'Snake?'

'Yes, snake on car Dad.'

Finally Tracy comes back on the line and explains the relevance of the snake to the hiss coming from the tyre. Damn I love my daughter.