A weekend of surpassing ordinariness

This is probably going to be a fairly dull post, but I am conscious that I haven't updated my Journal in a little while.

Yesterday was (buy our standards) a long lie-in - we dind't get out of the house until 10! Then it was the usual round of shopping (we are very lucky to have a good butcher in our village), washing, ironing - varied by hanging the washing out to dry, which is something we haven't had much chance to do over the last few months!

In the afternoon, a walk & swim, followed by Creatrix's chicken in white wine, and then pear pie - mmm! We ate this while watching "The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey", which we can highly recommend - although DVDs of it do seem to be very hard to come by.

Today, another lie-in, for me at least. Most of the day will follow yesterday's pattern, with chores, a walk (weather permitting), and a swim / sauna.

This evening will involve something different - a trip to London, to have dinner with didiusjulianus, tj_pantera / progelatinous, and ExLibrarian, on their way back from the AGM & Dinner in Canterbury.

I've needed this weekend to recover from my weeke at work - back-to-back conference calls on Thursday, and one more on Friday, each of which contained at least one shocker.

A birthday meme, from sammee42

Go to Wikipedia and look up your birth day (excluding the year). List three neat facts, two births and one death in your journal, including the year.

OK, my birthday is 18 March (1966):

The events.

1909 - Einar Dessau uses a short-wave radio transmitter becoming the first to broadcast as a ham radio operator.

1915 - World War I: Massive naval attack in Battle of Gallipoli. Three battleships are sunk during a failed British & French naval attack on the Dardanelles.

This one is not "neat" in any sense of the word, but I do think that Gallipoli needs to be remembered. (Personal connection: my mum used to work for someone who had fought there).

1922 - In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience. He would serve only 2 years.

The births.

1905 - Robert Donat, English actor (d. 1958) Well-known for the Hitchcock-directed "The 39 steps", based on John Buchan's book.

1936 - Frederik Willem de Klerk, President of South Africa, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

The deaths

1584 - Tsar Ivan IV of Russia (b. 1530)