Empire: Total War Heaven

Yeah, RTW doesn't play well with minimizing and switching windows. On my Steam copy, if I alt+tab more than once, it gets stuck and I have to kill it from the task manager.

Bit of a shame.

Plus side, MTW seems to work fine

You would think with all the corona lockdowns and such, people would have more time to visit here and leave comments, both useful and productive, or just plain senseless. But no, not a word.

I too am guilty of this. I have spent most of the last few weeks digging out a pit, lining it with stone, then filling it with sand so our rabbits have a place to pretend to dig without the possibility of escape. Then it was rip up a square pace of grass, destroy it all, build a low stone fence around it, then fill the resulting basket with dirt. Now there is an apple tree, several lettuce plants, several red beets, and a pumpkin vine growing there.

Now I am in the house, replacing doorjambs and doors, a step, and refurbishing the rabbit house, all at once.

I need ale.

Sounds like you've been busy, Terikel. Have you still been going to work/working from home?

My day job is still open. We are classified as 'necessary for life and limb' (as if we Vikings have not chopped off enough of both!) so I have to sail in to work every day, move barrels and crates, fight off pirates and ravagers, go pirating and ravaging if it suits me in reply, and then head home after a long day's voyage to do the stuff in my last post.

I was to be away aviking in the Middle Sea this week and next, but that fell away due to the Crown, whoever that is. Thus this week it is remodeling the rabbit hotel, installing new doors and notwhat, and all the other things mentioned.

I should be on a beach with retsina in my hand, sunshine all up and down my body, and and gorgeous women fanning me with palm leaves, damn it!

After as many plagues as you've seen, I would think you'd get used to them by now

Terikel for me your posts (and only your posts for some reason) have big adverts for women's bodysuits in the middle of them, which is a pretty humorous juxtaposition of my mental image of you.

The gods smile upon me, and from the content you seem to be receiving, they smile upon thee as well.

I've generally only been seeing ads between posts when replying. And it's all for relatively banal stuff.

I find it’s a bit weird which posts it picks - for me it’s always the same ones no matter what but I can’t see a rhyme or reason in regards to length or frequency.

The content of the ad must be personalised though, it’s different now but the other day it was an exact copy of the ones I was getting on Facebook.

I know Google and Facebook track your ads, and the pages you visit, so I'm not surprised that you're seeing the same ones.

I received the distinct impression that I should therefore post more often, that the screen of Jax be bombarded with yet more of these angelic figures.

Just back from a journey to the Limes at Amerongen. There was a nice castle there built by two brothers until the French burned it down in 1673. It was rebuilt as a sort of big house on the foundations of the old castle, and with the moat, was quite a nice place to visit.

Bill the Second of Prussia signed away his throne in that castle, one of the conditions of the Armistice ending the Great War (World War I to you young folks). He was supposed to be there for three days but ended up staying for eighteen months. He gifted the castle owner with a statue of himself as thanks for the hospitality. My shrewd guess is that he was waiting for the sculptor to finish before moving on.

I especially enjoyed the gardens.

Good to have you back Terikel and glad you enjoyed your vacation. I take it you didn't have many issues with pandemic-related restrictions on travel?

Not really. The only odd thing was the restaurant. First, asking politely if either of us currently have corona or a dry hacking cough with a fever. Obvious no. Then the food is brought to a central table, where the waiter points to the one who ordered it. That person rises and brings the tray to his or her own table.

I thought that a pretty clever way to keep the 5-foot distance required by law here.

Were all of the people eating in the same room? If it wasn't outside, that system still seems risky.

Sorry, I forgot to specify the location. We were indeed outside. Our 'central table' was used by four tables and was a good five feet or more from both the waiters and each other. There was another central table for the other group of tables. I don't know what it was like inside- we never went inside.

Vikings love fresh air and sunshine, even the wet kind.

That does sound pretty clever, then.

How's the day job been? Have there been many changes due to the pandemic?

Day job has been the same as always. We are considered a 'critical asset' due to hospitals and governments being our clients. S for me, it was life as usual.

I did enjoy the scarcity of traffic on the roads. Some days I had the entire road to myself. Had I not been suspicious of lurking policemen looking to dish out fines, or spy satellites following my every move, I would have done a few donuts on the highway.

I've also been enjoying the reduced traffic, though now that things are a bit more open here, it's started to go back to being busy, at least around the retail areas.

Same here.

I live about three miles from the beach. Germani prefer our beaches to their own and swarm the place. They do not come on my roads much, so I have little problem with them, but a few lost souls stop at an intersection for long minutes while trying to figure out the route. That can be irritating.

Do you deal much with online meetings, Terikel? Almost all of our meetings are through Zoom these days- which actually seems to work better much of the time. I hope that some of those improvements will continue past this time.

I attend no meetings. Ever since I cut the table in twain with my axe, I receive summaries of meetings handed to me on a pole while the messenger scurries away.

Over here, many are talking about continuing to work from home, on-line meetings (how can you use an axe in one of those? Really!), and doing what they do now even when the crisis has passed. Some feel more productive, others fear a renewal of the traffic problems.

I hope those working at home continue to do so. The roads are safer with them at home. Their bosses still race around like maniacs on the roads in their high-powered cars, but now there is more room for them to do so, thus making it safer for we normal people who still drive.

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the first week after a vaccine becomes widely available...

Also, it seems that the Red Lion Tavern has been affected by the pandemic too- social distancing means posting only every other week these days.

I think we have been social distancing for some time now, not just since the pandemic.

Often it is just us two in here, with the occasional visitor.