Of roads and lakes

It's been raining a lot lately. Well, to be entirely honest, not a lot. But a fair bit. Although that's probably a good thing, all things considered. A bit of rain now might help later on in the summer. Then again, it might never get nearly as hot as last year anyway, and then I'd be left thinking this has been a terrible summer :). Meh.

Been driving around a bit recently though! After being good residents in the land of brown cheese and attending 17th of May celebrations and barbecue parties for the last few years, we decided to escape to Sweden for the long weekend this time :). Actually it was more of a lack of concrete plans added to the realisation that this year one cannot just up and head off on a road trip whenever, because, you know, day job :).

We were initially thinking about Stockholm, 'cos, basically, why not. But that would have been too far to drive in an evening. Then we noticed Kristinehamn, neatly halfway between Oslo and Stockholm, on the coast of the largest lake in the EU. Pretty place by all accounts, and to top it all, there was a seemingly perfect little cottage available for the weekend! So that's where we spend a few days, enjoying the sunshine, lazing around.

One of the interesting things about Kristinehamn is the Picasso sculpture. On the perfect sunny day with an amazing breeze to keep things from getting too warm, the walk along the edge of the water as the river emptied out into the lake definitely added to the experience! The sculpture stands at the river mouth. And unless you read the blurb about how Picasso's wife served as inspiration for the sculpture, a woman is not the first thing that it brings to mind. The whole sculpted concrete thing is kinda cool though!

Since then it's been mostly the occasional walk when the sun's been out, but otherwise a quiet start to the summer. One proper big positive though was the 10 year visa for the UK! Don't need to worry if Brexit happens or not, or what that entails, for at least a decade! Of course, they might still not have figured that out the way this is going, but oh well. We'll keep politics out of this blog :). Definitely cause for celebration though! Although, as someone I was sharing my joy with wondered: what would the world even look like in 10 years?!

Probably not that different to be honest. In some ways. In other ways probably a bit different.

In the mean time, another month another Malazan book of the Fallen :). I'm pretty much out of superlatives at this point! The only thing is that now that we're properly in the thick of things, I'm beginning to wonder if I should persist in ignoring the Malazan Empire novels. Hmm. Bit of a moot point though, I have the book eight of the Fallen series, none of the Empire novels.

Things to look forward to then. Back to Darujhistan in Toll the Hounds. And finally hopefully some more direct involvement from Anomander Rake. The trouble with that of course is, if a character is involved, he or she might end up dead! But at the same time, if they're dead, they could always come back to life... Then there's the Champions' League final this weekend. The cricket world cup is under way and so's the French Open! Exciting times :).

Goodbye Avengerland

Yes, unusual as it is, I shall break the habit and actually post during the month rather than right at the very end :). And the reason for such upheaval? Well, Marvel, in short! For the last several years I've more or less stopped watching films very often. Oh, there's the occasional re-watch at home of something on regular TV (nope, I've yet to succumb to Netflix et al :D). But not a whole lot of new stuff at the cinema.

Except that is, the MCU films. Yes, the majority are more a case of: hmm, maybe this one will be fun! Which then leads to: weeell, it wasn't bad :). Of course, there have been exceptions, the first Guardians of the Galaxy for example. And more recently Thor: Ragnarok. But when Infinity War ended with the wholesale decimation of superheroes, yet, left more or less all the Avengers from the first one alive and well (sort of), I must admit to a greater than usual level of anticipation for Endgame :).

And boy, does it deliver!! I don't think I've been as immersed into a film in some time. But then again, I have watched the entire lead up over the years (bar Captain Marvel). Putting aside that this is an amazingly clever marketing strategy by Marvel and all that, it is definitely an awesome bit of storytelling!

The day before we went to watch Endgame, more or less on a whim, we decided to re-watch the first Avengers. I think that really underscored how this film ties up so many disparate threads, but at it's heart (for me anyway) remains a case of finding closure on the first Avengers :).

There's something to be said about endings. Beginnings bring such promise, but as in life so also in stories (whatever the form of the telling) in the course of its meandering through existence, things get complicated, entangled. And getting those complications and entanglements sorted out ends up taking up a whole lot of time and space.

As an aside, that for me is a pretty good summary of the plot of Endgame. :D

With stories, the teller has something of a choice in the end. Do all the threads get neatly sorted out, a happily ever after? Or is there some room for less than perfect? Redemption, or maybe only attempts at - perhaps not wholly achieved? The trick is I suppose to tug at the heart strings enough, but no further. Allow said hearts to then move on, so to speak :).

And I guess that's what I found the most satisfying with Avengers: Endgame. After a decade of following these characters and stories, I can finally move on. For me the story is finally done :). And much as I'll miss it, that's worth celebrating.