Book of the Month - Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody

This is a book aimed at teenagers, but when I saw it in my favourite local bookshop (Griffin Books in Penarth) I was attracted to the illustrations. The one on the back (below) really made me laugh. So I decided to buy it, justifying it by telling myself that it's worth checking in on books written for a different demographic sometimes. 

Something about this made me giggle in the shop

Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody is written by Patrick Ness, author of A Monster Calls, which I read years ago just before I watched the big screen adaptation (review of the movie included here). The illustrations, which are the main reason I decided I wanted the book, are by Tim Miller. The drawings inside aren't all as charming as the ones on the cover, however I enjoyed having a few pictures alongside the story.

The protagonist of the book is Zeke, the titular lizard nobody, who with his two lizard friends, attends a school full of other animals. They are the only lizards who go and even though they are monitor lizards it is JUST A COINCIDENCE that they are asked to be hall monitors in the school. This is communicated to them in ALL CAPS. But the lizards are sceptical. 

There is also a bully in the school, a pelican called Pelicarnassus, whose mother is a supervillain. Zeke also has a very odd affliction. the result of a family curse, to contend with. But this being a Patrick Ness story, the real struggle isn't with the son of a supervillain or the daft annoyance of the curse. There are in fact two other very big themes within the book.

Firstly, the lizards are from the poorer end of town and are therefore outsiders in the school. It's not laid on too thick, but there's a racialist element to the way the lizards aren't included by the majority. I felt that could springboard some interesting conversations with teenagers. 

The second big theme is dealing with loss and post-loss trauma. Zeke comes from a one-parent home following bereavement and his mother is overtaken by grief and depression. So Zeke has to deal with something he doesn't know how to deal with, and, honestly, it's heart-breaking. Similar to A Monster Calls, Patrick successfully captures the reality of living through a shit situation and aching for things to change, without caring if it's better or worse, just wanting something different. 

I wasn't really expecting that theme to come through so strongly. Like I said at the start, sometimes it's worth reading a book that's not aimed at you. It can still resonate. 

There was also an excellent piece of wisdom that I think will be helpful to anyone navigating social situations. Zeke has a confrontation where someone calls him fat. While unpleasant, he considers the following

"...anyone who made fun of someone else's appearance like that immediately lost the argument; if you called someone "fat", then that didn't say much about the so-called "fat" person, but it said a lot about you." (p.99)

I know that probably isn't going to take all the sting out of being made fun of for anyone, but it's still a very good principle to take on board. Later, in another encounter with a mean character, Zeke reflects that when they say things about you that are true, then, again, they aren't telling you anything you don't know, but they are revealing the kind of person they are. 

So, there was plenty packed in this short book aimed at people a lot younger than me. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. There's a hint there might be a sequel on the way at the end and I will be keeping a lizard-like beady eye out for that. 

2024 football round up

This is my last end of year review of things. The calendar year doesn't really fit for a review of football because seasons start and end in the summer. But, still, aided by the handy Futbology app, I have a nice summary of the games I went to and can cover some other football high points as well. 

I went to more games in 2024 than in any previous year - a total of 68 across the tail end of last season and the start of this one. 

Some highlights from those 68 games...

• The first game between Shrewsbury and Wrexham in a long time when they met in the FA Cup in January.
• Seeing West Ham v Bayer Leverkusen in a Europa League game at the London Stadium while in London for a conference in April.
• A hectic weekend seeing Shrewsbury play at Charlton Athletic on the Saturday followed by Colwyn Bay v Barry Town on the Sunday. The game at Colwyn Bay meant I completed the Cymru Premier League, having seen a game at every ground in the league.
• An odd game in Gloucester, watching Truro City v Torquay United, where both teams were over 100 miles from home and the "away" team had actually travelled a shorter distance than the "home" team.
• Seeing Penrhiwceiber Rangers win the Ardal South West league (Welsh system tier three) with pyro on the pitch and the victorious players performing outdoor karaoke afterwards.
• Three Wales women's internationals, including their two home games in the play off to secure a spot at next year's European Championships. 

I went to 16 new grounds across the course of the year, ranging from Huddersfield to Haverfordwest, Coventry to Seven Sisters, and including the epic views of the Transporter Bridge right next to the ground belonging to Newport Corinthians. (Part of a "Corinthian weekend"!) Here are my new grounds on a map:

2025 has already got off to a good start with a goal-fest, which hopefully augers well for this year!

2024 telly round up

Here is a round up of very short reviews of the more memorable telly I watched in 2024.

Bluey - The Sign / minisodes

I love Bluey. It's one of my favourite TV shows. The big thing this year was the release of a half hour episode called 'The Sign'. The big plot point is the impending sale of Bluey's family's house and the family moving to another city. Meanwhile Bluey and Bingo and their cousins Muffin and Socks are preparing to be flower girls at their uncle's wedding. Things go slightly awry and the four flower girls become part of a last ditch attempt to make sure the wedding goes ahead. 

There is a big emotional ending that I'm willing to admit made me cry, and the overall message - that you don't know how things will work out in the end until you reach the end - was positive without being wishfully optimistic. There was also an interesting sub-theme of parents trying to do what is best for their children, but not really knowing the best way forward and reconsidering decisions.

This year there have also been several 'minisodes', very short tales from the Blueniverse. I've found them very entertaining. 'Burger Dog' is probably my favourite. (The way Bandit's eye twitches as he is forced to listen to a terrible song makes me laugh every time.)

Wallace & Gromit ~ Vengeance Most Fowl

We watched this on Christmas Day and laughed a lot. It was packed full of jokes, saw the return of the evil penguin, Feathers McGraw, and managed to find a suitable replacement for the vocal talents of the late Peter Sallis, the original voice of Wallace. I think this is the best one off programme I saw in 2024. 

Ludwig

David Mitchell stars as a puzzle-setter who takes on his twin brother's identity as a police officer when his brother goes missing. Of course, he soon proves himself rather good at solving murders. I found this highly enjoyable and some of Mitchell's lines really made me laugh.

A Man on the Inside

This Netflix comedy starring Ted Danson was written by Michael Schur, whose previous credits include Parks & Recreation, Brooklyn Nine Nine and The Good Place. Those are all shows I enjoyed and I enjoyed this too. Ted Danson is a retired college professors hired by a private detective to go undercover in an elderly care community to try and solve a theft. Stephanie Beatriz, one of my favourite actresses, is the manager of said care home who suspects something is up. There is a deeper theme about loss and continuing to love those we have lost, and learning to live without them, that elevated this above other comedies. 

Nobody Wants This

Another Netflix comedy, this time starring Kristin Bell (who was in The Good Place) and Adam Brody. She's a sex and relationships podcaster, he's a rabbi. They meet. They fall in love. Worlds collide. There are some very funny moments, particularly from their supporting cast. One thing I noticed was the cinematic way of filming, especially in some scenes set at a youth camp. The series ended on a cliffhanger and there was a reassurance that a second season was coming. 

Star Wars: The Acolyte

This was supposed to be the big 2024 reboot of Star Wars. I found it boring. Some Jedi are being held to account for something they did by someone who feels wronged. I found it hard to care. I gave up watching. 

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew

This has been dubbed 'The Goonies in space' and so far it has been brill! (Half the episodes were released in 2024, there are still a couple yet to drop.) A bunch of kids find a crashed starship and accidentally fire it up. They end up on the run from murderous pirates searching for lost treasure. It's silly and goofy and fun and what Star Wars is meant to be! (In my opinion as someone who has been a fan for over 40 years now!)

Doctor Who

I watched the series with Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor. It was okay. I feel like I say that a lot about Doctor Who these days. 'Dot and Bubble' was the most interesting episode. The overall story arc for the series seemed to be a whole lot of nothing. Literally. The Doctor's companion, Ruby, was 'special' because she was so ordinary, seemed to be the big reveal. It felt like a cop out. I suspect the showrunner Russell T Davies wrote himself into a corner and then couldn't come up with a satisfactory way out. I haven't watched the Christmas special but haven't heard much positive about it. 

Old stuff...

In addition to the series released this year, I've watched a lot of older stuff. This included:

Both seasons of Gravity Falls - a cartoon about two kids who go to stay with their great uncle (grunkle) who runs a 'Mystery Shack' roadside attraction in Oregon. Started out very funny, then became a story about averting an apocalypse.

All three seasons of Amphibia - a cartoon about some tweens who accidentally get transported to a world of talking frogs, called Amphibia. Again very funny, but the final season was about a war to free Amphibia from an evil hive mind.

The four seasons of Never Have I Ever - a Netflix series set in high school about a girl who is terrified she might never lose her virginity. This actually became quite a sweet story of finding love and growing up. 

All 6 seasons of Spin City - a comedy from the 90s that hasn't aged well and had to go through a hard re-casting when the star, Michael J Fox, had to leave due to health reasons. He was replaced by Charlie Sheen and the show went rapidly downhill. 

All 8 seasons of Psych - a comedy-drama about a guy who pretends to be psychic and help his local police force solve crimes. The pilot for this played it fairly straight, but it quickly became very silly indeed. 

Several seasons of vintage Doctor Who. These are now all available on iPlayer. I started watching them semi-accidentally, and watched a series with the Daleks in the era when Jon Pertwee was the doctor. I then carried on watching Pertwee's final season, then into the Tom Baker era. It's actually great fun seeing actors and trying to work out where I know them from. I spotted Camp Freddy from The Italian Job, but I had to look up the guy who played Chief Bast in Star Wars. (I could have kicked myself for not working out who he was before I googled him.)

New Year's Goalfest

At the very start of this season, back in July, I watched Oxford City thump Barry Town in a friendly. The score was 9-0. I had a feeling that would be the highest scoring game of the season. Since July I have been including my season totals on Futbology in my monthly round ups. That 9-0 has been on every one.

Today it got wiped off, in my first game of 2025!

The game I went to was Cardiff Draconians against South Gower. I was expecting the game to get called off because of the cold weather but apparently they had some club volunteers going over the pitch with snowblowers to thaw it out a bit and that meant game on! 

Although there was a minute's silence first.

The surface was still quite slippy, but that didn't matter to the Dracs as they notched up an 8-2 win. That might seem like a hammering, but South Gower made a game of it. Their heads didn't droop and they were creating chances of their own right until the end. 

The additional bonus - for me - is that the ten goals I saw today meant this became the highest scoring game of the season. And here is the proof!

I closed out 2024 with a 0-0 draw on New Year's Eve, so this was also a tonic to wash away the memories of that frustrating game. My goals to games ratio for 2025 is now on 10, which is unsustainable in the long term but makes for a great screengrab for 2025 so far. 

2024 Cinema trips - all the 'quels

It was a case of all the "quels" in 2024. I saw sequels, a prequel and an interquel. In fact, five of the seven films I saw in the cinema were "quels", and the other two were adaptations of books. Here's what I watched on the big screen:

Dune Part 2 - sequel (although they split the source material in two for the movies so this was a continuation sequel rather than a second story in a franchise). Full review here. 

Inside Out 2 - sequel. I really liked the first Inside Out film, which took a complex concept and explored it in a very accessible way. The sequel continued the story of Riley and her emotions, which have multiplied as Riley grows up. This is probably one of the best depictions and explanations of how anxiety is a protection mechanism that can go into overdrive and become harmful. 

Besides Anxiety, the other new emotions include, Embarrassment, Envy, Ennui and, my favourite, Nostalgia, who pops in and is promptly dismissed for being too soon. Although I think I felt nostalgia as a teenager - certainly I found myself looking back to things I had done a few years previously and having a new appreciation for them. Nowadays I agree strongly with Douglas Coupland's comment that "nostalgia is a weapon" and I know it gets weaponised against me. That's why I end up with things like an A Team van made by Playmobil...

The film has a happy ending for Riley and her friends as they navigate the emotions around changing schools, establishing new friendship groups and playing ice hockey. I like the mix of joy and anger that fuels Riley's in-game activity. There's a good explanation about how our beliefs about the world and about ourselves shape our lives - another deep topic that I felt the film-makers summarised well. 

Harold and the Purple Crayon - the film version of a popular kid's book. So, not totally original but technically not a 'quel. Full review here. 

Alien Romulus - an 'interquel' that was apparently set between Alien and Aliens, the first two films in the franchise. Not the greatest movie in the Alien franchise but I enjoyed it. Full review here. 

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! - a "legacy sequel" released decades after the first film. Full review here. 

Transformers One - a prequel of sorts. I'm not sure where in the Transformers franchise this animated film fits, but it was expanding on the in-universe lore and would act as a prequel to just about any other Transformers movie. 

It's the origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, and why they became bitter enemies. I thought it was very well done despite leaning hard on some over-used tropes - the people in charge don't have our best interests at heart; best friends become implacable enemies; there is a quest for a lost artifact that can save civilisation. 

However, within those well known story arcs, the script was lean, the film was fast-paced with several action sequences that all served the purposes of the plot, and there was plenty of humour in the dialogue and situations but it never got silly. It felt like a grown up kid-friendly cartoon. It also added some depth to other long-established characters, even those with limited screentime like Starscream, who in this was more than just a whining minion of Megatron. 

The Wild Robot - another film based on a book. I watched this with Cathy on her birthday in a cinema that was experiencing temperature issues. It was freezing. At one point in the story an ice storm hits - at that point it felt like we were in a 4D film experience. 

The basic plot was of a robot booting up on a remote island and looking for tasks to carry out. Being a robot it works out how to communicate with animals and gradually develops its self-awareness to become the protector of the wild creatures. This includes teaching an orphaned gosling to fly - which I found was a surprisingly moving storyline. 

The third act of the movie dragged a bit. The most intriguing part was seeing the wider world, with humans living in large hi-tech habitats, with hydroponic farms, hovering over the drowned ruins of cities (San Francisco to be precise). It's a world after the climate apocalypse and the survivors seem to be doing OK with an army of robot servants undertaking menial tasks. Somehow, that felt like the most unrealistic part of the film compared to a robot learning how to talk to a gosling and teach it to fly before its fellow geese migrated and left it behind. 

Looking ahead to 2025, I'm sure there are more 'quels to come. I have set myself a challenge to try and watch more original films next year. 

Well, that was 2024

Time for a round up of a very busy 12 months. I squeezed in a lot! 

January 

I had two trips to Shrewsbury - for football and for family birthdays. I also went to London for work and visited the newish shopping centre in Battersea Power Station, mainly to visit the Lego Shop.

February 

Our building work on the house started - with a new roof in the wettest February on record. (At least we knew immediately that it didn't leak!)  I was mugged on my way home from the city centre and had a swollen blacked eye for a couple of weeks. But I also got to see my first ever international ice hockey games. 

March

A month of travelling! Mother's Day in Shrewsbury, journeys to Cambridge (and home via Oxford), work in London and a Wales C International in Llanelli (on the anniversary of my dad's death - a fitting tribute to him, I felt!) On Easter Sunday at the end of the month, Cathy and I went to our first gig of the year to see Tony Wright, in Abertillery.

April 

My brother, sister-in-law and their four kids visited Cardiff for the Easter bank holiday Monday (and my birthday the next day!) Work began replastering the hall and landing, which involved chipping off the hideous Artex that I have wanted to be rid of for 30 years! I spent a week manning a stall at a conference in London - and afterwards got to visit the Moomin Shop. 

May

The plastering was completed and we thought we were close to finishing the work in the house (little did we know....). We had a bank holiday trip down to Torquay. The men who attacked me in February pled guilty and were given prison sentences. And the Prime Minister at the time, Rishi Sunak, called a General Election. 

June

I went to the Major League Baseball game in London. We spent a week in North Wales with my Mum and our friend, Ella. I watched a lot of the European Championships on TV!

July 

A super- busy month! We had a visit from my sister and her three kids and took them to Techniquest. England reached the European Championship final. The UK got a new government in the General Election. We saw Frank Turner play at the Tramshed in Cardiff. The new football season started with a thrashing for Barry Town in a friendly at Oxford City. I went to a model railway exhibition. After being messed around by an electrician, we finally got the electrics sorted and could book a decorator to come and paint the house... in September. 

August

The big event for us in August was seeing Billy Joel play live at the Principality Stadium. It was a spectacular gig. I also had a big football awayday, watching Shrewsbury play at Huddersfield Town. We also acted as witnesses at a wedding for a couple who had put out an appeal for witnesses on Reddit. 

September

We spent the week of our wedding anniversary in Shropshire, and went to see Terrorvision play KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton on our actual anniversary. The hall, landing and upstairs WC all got painted! 

October

More work in the house - this time carpentry with a new little cupboard in our hall to hide the fuse box. I spent two days filming for work in Barry - and we were blessed with some great weather that made Barry look spectacular. 

November

It was World Diabetes Day, and I spent a weekend in Northern Ireland with the local team over there (and got a selfie with Mr Tayto!). A few days later it was Cathy's birthday. We had a chilled day out and went to watch a movie, in a cinema with a lack-of-heating issue so, literally, chilled! Shrewsbury Town appointed a new manager and I was there for his first game in charge - an unexpected win against Birmingham City. The final bits of work in the house started and we had new flooring!

December

In the first week of December, we finally finished the home improvements we started in February! I felt incredibly relieved that the mammoth undertaking was over after ten months. I had work events in London, Bristol and Port Talbot. Then it was Christmas - starting with seeing Mary and Steve and visiting The Longest Yarn in Tewkesbury, followed by nearly a week in Shrewsbury. I concluded the month with a football match on New Years Eve.

And that was a wrap for 2024!

Monthly round up - December 2024

Happy New Year! What better way to welcome 2025 than a long post about the last month of 2024?

Our Christmas decorating was delayed because we were getting a new floor and carpentry work done in our hall for the first week or so. However, we were able to welcome 'the Boys' who were dressed up ready for Christmas! 

Rather than add to the semi-permenent upheaval of stuff everywhere due to the building work, we decided not to bring the tree and decorations down. Instead, we bought a small rainbow tree to brighten up the front room.

The branches soon filled up with decorations.

Work was busy in the run up to the Christmas break, including travelling to London, Bristol and Port Talbot. In London I posed with a film star at the station.

I also saw this Lego model of the new station that is effectively going to replace Paddington station when the HS2 project is completed. (The model had 14,000 pieces.)

Meanwhile, in Bristol, two famous people associated with the city had left their marks on the pavement.

The best part of Christmas is meeting up with people. We had a great afternoon in Tewkesbury with Mary and Steve. (Selfie outside the Abbey where we saw 'The Longest Yarn'.)

Between Christmas and New Year I met up with Connor briefly in Birmingham. We got to pose with Ozzy the Bull.

We also had a great time spending nearly a week with family. Cathy's sister was in town just before Christmas and my sister drove down from Edinburgh for the day on the day after Boxing Day!

The December weather (including Storm Darragh) interrupted the football. However, I set a new record for going to games in December - managing six. There were three before Christmas and three afterwards.

I saw Barry play twice before Christmas - a cup semi-final defeat to TNS and a come-from-behind league victory over Cardiff Met. My other pre-Christmas game was watching Caldicot Town just round the corner from my house when they played Canton.  My friend Ben, who plays for Caldicot, had just become a dad for the first time so it was nice to see him and say congrats. 

I also got a Futbology badge when I checked in at the Caldicot game as it was the 10th time I'd seen them.

The games after Christmas were two Shrewsbury home games, on Boxing Day and the 29th December, and Barry's game away at Briton Ferry on New Year's Eve. On Boxing Day, Shrewsbury battled to a win against Lincoln in murky midwinter mist. On the 29th, they drew against Northampton (in much milder weather). I've now seen four Shrewsbury home games this season and they haven't lost any. 

And so to my final game of 2024, which ended 0-0. This was my first scoreless game of the season and ended a run of 49 games since my last goalless game back in March. 

Here's how my season stats look at the end of December:

And that, as they say is that. We had a quiet New Year's Eve, building Lego, watching comedy on Netflix, and then it was midnight and 2024 was done!

A return to the Christmas Carol Audit

For the first time in a while I went to several carol services this Christmas. I've previously blogged about which carols are most likely to be sung - my most recent post was in 2019. I went to four carol services this year, so felt that gave me a useful number of data sources. There was some significant variety as well.

The four singalong events were:

1. Carols in the Pub, at The Grange Pub in Cardiff, organised by Grace Church 
2. The Grange Gardens Carol Service, organised by the Cardiff Council Park Rangers in conjunction with Friends of Grange Gardens and other community groups. Music was provided by the brass band of the Grangetown Corps of the Salvation Army with input from Grace Church and Eglwys Anghor.
3. Christmas Eve midnight communion service at Christchurch, an Anglican Church in Bayston Hill, near Shrewsbury (where I was spending Christmas)
4. Christmas Day service at Barnabas Community Church in Shrewsbury

Carols in the Pub at The Grange

Services at Christchurch and Barnabas have featured in previous audits, so there is some consistency there. The formats were a bit different. Carols in the Pub featured an online song sheet, played in request order, with a reprise of the most popular songs. 

Grange Gardens

There were some new songs featured in the combined set lists of the services. These were mainly popular Christmas songs, like We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Jingle Bells. However, the Anghor church led a carol in Welsh at the Grange Gardens service, called Hwiangwrdd Mair (Suia'r Gwynt), which translates as Mary's Lullaby (Gentle Breeze). There are now over 40 carols and songs on my database, with 21 only featuring in one service. 

Christmas Eve midnight service

Joy to the World was a popular choice this year, featuring in three of the services. On Christmas Day we sang an 'updated' version with an additional chorus that was completely unnecessary. There were also a few more added lines in a 'bridge' in the song which borrowed the melody from Ode to Joy. This may have been an homage to the climactic scene at the end of the well known Christmas movie, Die Hard, but it irritated me. It's bad enough when people take it upon themselves to 'improve' classics, but then to cheat and use someone else's tune seems insultingly lazy.

Christmas Day service

Yet again, the most popular carol, featuring in all four services, was O Come All Ye Faithful. This was already the leading song in my little audit and has now extended its lead. In fact, of the 13 services I have listed on my spreadsheet, there was only one service where O Come All Ye Faithful didn't feature. 

Here is the top ten table, with this year's carols included:

Good Christians All Rejoice is a mainstay of the Christchurch midnight communion services - I have three of these services listed in my audit now and it has featured three times. In the Bleak Midwinter is my least favourite carol in the list. With any luck, some other carol will get really popular and replace it in the top ten!

See previous Christmas Carol audits along with over a decade of Christmas Card Audits on my dedicated page!