Munchkinly

Yesterday libellum persuaded me to buy Munchkin, a game I'd heard of from many different people but didn't really know what it was (and had never played, obviously). We played two games last night and I think it's safe to say that I am pleased with my purchase :) Much fun was had.

Helen won both games. This was partly because some of the other players weren't nasty enough about killing her off when she was 3/4 of the way to winning, but to be fair to her she did weather a particularly vicious attack from all three other players on her final turn in the second game, emerging victorious against three high-level monsters and every curse and monster-augmenting card we could find between us - an impressively well-deserved victory.

I imagine we'll be having Munchkin-playing gatherings at any available opportunity from now on... watch this space :)

The upper-middle class poverty line

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article1719509.ece

The author borders on insufferably self-involved, but the core point is worth discussing... I know plenty of fairly 'well paid' professionals, mostly geeks, who are living in grotty shared housing and/or still sliding into debt. Why? Because housing is so stupidly expensive that just 'well paid' isn't enough any more... if you want to live 'comfortably' in London, you either have to be paid in the sort of brackets the financial sector waves around, or you simply don't make the grade.

I'm bemused by the article's conclusion that this is all due to 'globalisation'. I'd have pinned the blame squarely on a combination of city bonuses driving the housing prices in London up at a stupid rate, and buy-to-fucking-rent doing the same thing across the whole country (albeit somewhat more slowly).

If you can't afford to rent or buy somewhere halfway nice to live, everything else you can do about your quality of life is pretty much window-dressing.

Discuss?

Potential picnic

There may or may not be a picnic this Saturday... it will depend on how people are feeling after Planet Angel. If it's nice and warm out and a lazy few hours in the park seems like a good idea, then something might happen - probably in Finsbury Park. However, if the outside world seems like a complicated and scary place, or it's at all cold, then we may well stay hidden behind the sofa or something instead.

So, no pre-organisation happening this time, as I can't guarantee that I or anyone else will be there. If you'd like a shout on the day if we do end up doing something, let me know and I'll try to send out some text messages at the time. No promises here - this one is going to be a bit flaky, if it happens at all :)