I really wanted Freelancer 2. Star Citizen was meant to be it before Chris Roberts did… well I have no idea what he did, what he is doing or the state of Star Citizen any more, its got so out of hand.

Elite Dangerous just wasnt it for me. The ship and space stuff is amazing but the world just isn’t as fun as Freelancer. I know its come a long way after I played it just after release but it doesn’t seem to quite fill the same niche.

Not exactly a 1:1 interaction but I was really pissed off as to just how late Prince Charles (now offically named King Prince Charles) was to the comissioning of the UK’s new big aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales (also his official title as the heir at the time). Don’t ask why I was there lol, I’m not in the military, long story.

I am absolutely not a fan of the monarchy, I’m a staunch republican, so I was already a bit annoyed by this part of it. So there we are stuffed into these really uncomfortable tiered seating things which were set up inside the main hanger space. Its warm, uncomfortable, and the formal dress code isn’t helping matters.
After sitting there for ages the ceremony starts, speeches from the captain and other higher-ups in the admiralty, music from the Royal Marine brass band, things are ok though.

We were rapidly approaching the bit where royal Big Ears is meant do his bit and theres no sign of him yet. Cue what felt like 2 hours of stalling, the band was running out of material, some filler speeches and stories… we can’t leave the seats because its clear he could turn up at any second and they also don’t want the public wandering around their new aircraft carrier. The chatter and noises of discontent were getting louder, people having to awkwardly shimmy in front of the whole audience to beg to be taken to the heads to relieve themselves…

Finally he turns up, says some superficial crap like he actually gives a shit, the actual commissioning ceremony happens and then he just buggers off again. Then we have to go through with the rest of the programme… just kill me now.

So yeah, not sure what his excuse was, its a massive aircraft carrier in a naval base, not exactly a last second arrangement but apparently it was justified to just turn up last second and still be late, screw everyone else’s time. Fuck the King.

Oh and not mine or bad but on the theme, my mother once shook hands and spoke to confirmed nonce (former Prince) Andrew. She’s no longer proud of that moment.

This is common to a lot of drinks, foods, scents if you haven’t been exposed to a variety over a period of time and all you drink is the same instant coffee each day then yeah, the flavour is “coffee” and all you really notice is the volume dial on how coffee it tastes. If you start intentionally drinking different types of coffee regularly and actually try to notice the flavours then yeah, anyone can start to identify the nuances. Its hard to identify those different components and qualities unless you try different things where they have them in different ratios.

I’m personally really into tea and similarly when people say “green tea tastes like grass” its the same thing. I try loads of different ones and am pretty good at noting the various notes, stone fruit, honeysuckle, muscatel, minerality, milk etc. Yet to most green tea tastes like grass, oolong is that weird weak tea you get in the chinese restaurant and black tea is best served with milk and sugar by the gallon in a Sports Direct mug.

And maybe I’m not entirely oonga boonga on coffee but I definitely don’t drink it enough to be good at being able to notice what exactly it is thats changing between them to be able to point it out.