Custard Coloured Mouse

With politics hurtling along at breakneck speed, it's difficult to find time to stop and think. I have been somewhat bemused by Theresa May's choice of cabinet ministers, but the trajectory is clearly favouring Brexit, meaning that the best us Remainers now have is to campaign for as soft a departure as possible. Either that or hope that the Brexit supporters who have been given responsibility for clearing up the mess they created realise that it is going to be far harder than they thought and ultimately fail. In an attempt to be constructive, I have already written to my MP urging him to back a deal most like the current ones of Norway and Switzerland which include access to the Single Market and some element of free movement. While I accept that this may dismay many Leavers, I believe that the views of the 48% should also be considered to some degree, particularly if the aim is to unite the country after the most divisive campaign in our history. In addition to this, retaining free movement would preferable for my company and also would enable me to pursue my dream of moving to Germany at a later date, which is more favourable based on my current circumstances. Since writing my piece on Monday, I have concluded that leaving the UK now would not be a wise decision due to the lack of guarantees of rights for EU citizens in the UK and vice versa. I may move there only to be sent back again in a matter of months. While I understand the reason for this uncertainty, I do think it's morally despicable, particularly as this is already acutely affecting some of my friends and colleagues. I can only hope that a positive solution can be found that is best for both me and my business, and one which would not necessitate the catalysation of my move away from these shores. Don't get me wrong, I yearn to leave the UK but I need to do it at the right time and unfortunately I don't think this is now. My hopes aren't high though and, effectively, I think I've missed the boat. However, judging by my oscillating mood, I may feel differently in the morning as I seem to be experiencing a concentrated form of the five stages of grief even three weeks after the event. One thing that has surprised me is the strong negative feelings I have towards this country, which have manifested themselves as intense anger and bitterness. This hasn't been constructive and if I am to stay here, then I am going to have to deal with this, particularly as I feel a little bad for Wolfie having to deal with my bad moods. I knew I wasn't a fan of Britain, but I didn't really think I was this hostile. I do need to change my outlook, however difficult that may be, and the only positive I think I can take out of all this is that at least now I am more confident of expressing my views, probably because I am less bothered what people think of me. Again, this attitude probably needs to be managed lest it gets out of control, so hopefully things will even out at some point.

The only other thing that's happened this week was on Tuesday night, when we met up with Oracle for a few drinks. It was a welcome distraction from politics and a feeling of frustration that I had bought my currency for my forthcoming international trips at precisely the wrong time, when the value was at its lowest before May was appointed. Of course, I couldn't predict this week's events at the end of last week, but I was kicking myself for not being patient. Anyway, we ended up having a few drinks in Shuffledog before going to Marvin's Pizza Parlour opposite the Arena. This is a new place with an unlimited salad bar and a system where you order any pizza for £12. You are given a card and if you want another slice of any pizza on the menu after your main meal, you flip it from red to green and it's given to you for free. We didn't take them up on this though as the pasta in the salad bar was divine, but it was good value and a good concept too. After this, we went to the Turk's Head, which was the former function room in real ale bar Whitelock's, one of the oldest establishments in Leeds. The Turk's Head has a Victorian apothecary feel to it and is very hipster, but it does serve an excellent range of craft beer, with the friendly bearded gents behind the bar particularly friendly. It was definitely a good place to visit and one to add to our list. We spoke with Oracle about a range of things and prepped him to run the Leeds Meet in August when we are at EF. After this, we walked him back to the station while Wolfie and I tried to go to a few new bars we had spotted off Wellington Street. Alas, being a Tuesday, they were all largely closed but we did end up in Toast, where we got to drink their own lager and I got to tell the bar staff all about Untappd. This saw us off to our last bus, which ended a rather pleasant evening.

On Wednesday, we had planned to go and see The Secret Life of Pets with Arc, but the plans were postponed as the latest showing was at 17:40, which was cutting it a little too fine after work. I was reticent about seeing the movie because one of the main characters is a rather fat snake, which scared the shit out of me when I saw it for a limited amount of time in the trailer before Zootropolis in March. I wish I didn't have this terrible phobia of snakes but considering it's based on the way they move, my brain doesn't rationalise the difference between a real one and an animated one so I knew I would struggle with TSLoP. I felt very uncomfortable watching the trailer and without someone next to me who had seen the film and so could warn me when the snakes would appear, I knew I would be on edge throughout the whole movie. Consequently, with a heavy heart as I didn't want to let down my friends, I decided I couldn't go and watch the movie before the decision was made to cancel going.

Finally, earlier today, I relented and got Pokemon Go for my phone. Regular readers will know that I am not a huge video game fan, but the augmented reality concept of this one is quite good plus it will encourage me to walk around town, thus boosting my step count and fitness. Primarily though, I didn't want to miss out on the party, what with around two-thirds of my Twitter timeline being Pokemon spam anyway. I admit it has gotten annoying, so I thought I might as well join them, particularly after a number of people at work were also playing too. I must admit that the software doesn't work that well on the iPhone 5s and I think there are some bugs in the program, but I am enjoying it so far, particularly because while I have been playing it, I have spotted a load of other people playing it too. These bonding experiences with my fellow countrymen are exactly what I need right now to persuade me that perhaps the UK isn't so bad after all, so in that regard it's really helping. The main fear I have is the sucking of my limited data though, so I will have to play sparingly, but hopefully I can do some more over the coming days.