Trains

A man walks onto a train holding a dog on the end of a lead in one hand, and a pint of beer in the other.

There’s no punchline here, just one of the daily marvels that can be witnessed on the English train network. Even that could not detract from the absolutely stunning rose and orange sunset  on my weekly Bridgwater to Cardiff commute.

I found it odd seeing the extent of drinking on Welsh and English trains, coming from the much more conservative Northern Ireland Rail where the consumption of alcoholic beverages is strictly forbidden. Commuters regularly open cans and pull out bottles stashed in bags and coats, which I have no problem with (and considering the state of the rail network and the cost of tickets, I couldn’t possibly blame them) but I draw the line at pints. They’re entirely impractical, and a tad vulgar. Stick to cans, man.

 

Gaming these days

Gaming hasn’t been top priority for me recently, though I’ve been following Sarah’s thousandth play through of Skyrim. She now owns the game on PC, Xbox 360, and PS4. Just the PS3 and Nintendo Switch to go for an Elder Scrolls flush! I did download the Android version of Streets of Rage 2 for my Lenovo Zuk Z2, and though it plays beautifully, I’m not a fan of the soft buttons. They’re too close together on the screen, and inferior to a physical controller. I’ve got a tiny bluetooth gamepad that might do the trick, but for now I’ll give it a miss. I do like that game, but not enough to suffer for it. Having said that, I did once play through half of Metal Gear Solid on a PlayStation emulator on my Motorola Atrix 4G using only onscreen buttons. I had too much time on my hands back then. I played a little Uncharted 4 over the weekend too, though “played” is perhaps too strong a word. It’s a great game, but I spent a significant chunk of time watching cut scenes. Jamming the cut scenes together would make for a halfway decent movie.

I’m on the hunt for Halloween games in the run up to the spooky season. My first video is going to be on that subject, but I’d like to do something a bit different. JonTron already took Clock Tower, but I might have a certain something up my sleeve, if I’ve got enough time.

Have you got any favourite Halloween-themed games? Or any horror classics? Suggestions for another video? Let me know in the comments below.