Saturday...

• There are two new trainers at the gym, both named Caitlyn. Huh.
  
  
• and Pim picked me up after I was through at the gym, and we went to breakfast at Kristy's. Over breakfast, Pim let us look at her shiny new Samsung Galaxy, which she got to replace her dead Blackberry yesterday. It's very pretty. Mostly we were looking at picture galleries of Daniel Craig and Ben Whishaw. I must say, the system works very well indeed for doing this. Also for reading fanfic on AO3. We had a fun breakfast, spending a lot of the time laughing. Not to mention exclaiming when the device did something we didn't expect, like making a lovely picture disappear unexpectedly.
  
  
• As our rather exuberant breakfast was drawing to a close, maaseru said, "You know, they serve Christmas dinner here."
  
  There was a beat, as we each thought the same thing: "Why not?" We always make our own shared Christmas meal, which is delicious and wonderful, but takes a lot of time, money and effort on Christmas day. This will be different. This will be a nice change.
  
  Reservations have been made.
  
  
• After breakfast we were on our way home when we passed by a Dollarama on Somerset Ave. W. that we hadn't seen before. "Shall we check it out?" we said, almost in unison. We then went on one of those little Dollarama shopping sprees that are such fun: I got some Christmas ribbon, parchment paper for Christmas cookies, dishwashing detergent, a Christmas Elf hat, and a small mason jar.
  
  
• I have started doing yoga daily again. Feels good.
  
  
• Tasia came over, and we watched Michael Wood's In Search of the Trojan War, a six-hour miniseries about the history of the eastern Mediterranean around 1200 B.C. Utterly fascinating, especially since there were scenes in places we went to in September: Troy, Istanbul, and Pamukkale. And places Tasia has been to but I have not, like Mikinos, Thebes, Pylos, Knossos, and Berlin; and places I have been to in the UK, like the British Museum.
  
  This was made in 1985, and it was interesting also to see the inadvertent glimpses of modern history: Berlin behind the Iron Curtain, famous historians like Colin Renfrew, or the clunky state of computers and electronic devices in use.
  
  We both loved the show - John Woods is fabulous, and he explains the history so well. Most historical documentaries have me shouting at the screen in ten minutes in frustration: either they sensationalize or oversimplify. This series does neither. Solid information, well explained, about an era I find fascinating. Once again I want to go back and read about Michael Ventris - I believe there's a new biography of him out - Evans, and the Hittites.
  
  
  I was wondering what that thing is, behind Wood's right shoulder.
  
  
• We have seen other Michael Wood miniseries, like In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, but not his first series, In Search of the Dark Ages. I have the book, but the TV series seems to be unavailable on DVD. What a shame!