In the 2010s I had a Windows Phone which I thought was amazing. I bought the original Surface Pro too, because at the time I thought it was incredible. A full operating system in a tablet form factor that was incredibly fast and touch screen.

In the IT office I worked in, we had a dartboard. It was great for just stepping away from your desk if a problem had stumped you, throwing a few darts to take a break, and inevitably the answer would come to you. It was our rubber duck.

Trouble was, all of us were terrible at the basic maths involved with darts matches. So I thought, what if we mounted the Surface to the wall, and could just tap where the dart had hit, and get scores instantly.

So I wrote this darts score-keeping app that worked on everything from Windows Phones to tablets, and even an Xbox at one point, thanks to the way Microsoft had implemented their cross-device app deployment.

We used it every day in the office. I think in 10 years it’s sold about 3 copies.

Lovely Darts

Can’t wait to watch Scotland beat Texas in the World Cup final.

What melt made this list?

Probably less, but it may well have been roughly similar. I think when they were younger they ended up getting more “stuff” but it was cheaper items. Mostly board games and toys that I thought they might like, rather than specific stuff they ask for these days. Well, I ask them, because I’d rather get them stuff they want/need.

I feel like the pile of presents was bigger in those days at least.

Parent of late teens here - around £200 each (usually clothes or various bits they’ve asked for), unless there’s a big present involved that I’m interested in too (like a new games console), which would be a more expensive year.

I got you. It’s an entry in the Portal franchise, with the “2” indicating that it is the second in the series.

There’s a very good chance that my daughter, who was too young to play games when Skyrim was released, will be long into adulthood by the time TES 6 is released. Blows my mind.

Not my bag, but I reckon hent.ai would be a popular niche.

I’m very sorry

Yes, Jersey obviously has different geography, and I would absolutely take the locals’ opinion on what they’d prefer. This isn’t advocating for it on Jersey, rather a comment on my region, as invariably the holistic “fuck cars” perspective get applied everywhere and I don’t believe it’s ever that black and white.

That said, I’d still rather see Bergerac driving round in his Triumph than riding a bike 😜

I know this will be a controversial take, but I live in a rural town where most houses are hundreds of years old, and like many European towns, car parking was obviously never considered during its construction. Not having a car is, unfortunately, not an option here for most, due to the town’s geographic location, rurality and public transport availability. If I want to take a train to a city here which is a 2 hour drive away, it’s a 5 hour journey during which I have to change trains in literally another country to get there.

That aside, because cars are - for the foreseeable future at least - essential here, everyone has one. And since the houses and roads weren’t constructed to accommodate parking, there are cars parked on roads and pavements everywhere. Some parking restrictions have come into place over the years to prevent obstructions, which has meant cars are often left wherever people can find a space. In my immediate area, most people have at least a 5 minute walk to their vehicle. This sounds acceptable, but there are a large number of elderly drivers that live in the town, which itself is extremely hilly, and is unhelpful for them.

New build estates are cropping up all around the town, and while not all of them have drives or parking spaces, most do, and it makes those areas considerably more accessible.

Yes, this will likely increase house prices, but locally that’s not the major factor. Around here it’s second-home owners that use them as holiday lets, or summer homes to escape from the city. A crackdown on that would have a far greater impact on local house prices without affecting accessibility for locals.

No doubt, but with 2 billion users and 76% of UK adults using it, it’s a welcome addition for those who use it as their primary messaging app.

Yes, it’s a good idea, but in the evenings I’m too busy flicking through Netflix complaining that there’s nothing to watch.

And for at least 250 years. Literally

This is definitely part of it. When we had Game Pass, which would add 3 or 4 new games a week, the kids would spend their time trying them out to see if they liked them. Games that had been on the service for a while got ignored, as they weren’t presented as “new”.

That was one of the beauties of Game Pass to be honest, in that the kids would try out whatever was released that week, whether it was AAA or a small indie, and generally they preferred the novelties of the indies.

Now, with just one huge list of older games, they’ve got that paralysis.

Goddammit, I loved that game too!

X-Wing

Tie Fighter

X-Wing Alliance

Star Wars: KOTOR

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Hogwarts Legacy

The Thing

Aladdin

Blade Runner

And these are just a few off the top of my head that I’ve played.

Although to be fair, I guess we could just as easily reel off a list of garbage equivalents, but I think the throwaway that licensed games suck is a misconception.

I can highly recommend this if you’re any kind of Indy fan. It masterfully replicates the globetrotting adventure vibe and swashbuckling fighting of the movies, and Indy’s voice actor absolutely nails it.

Never folds the wrong way or moves unpredictably during strong winds.

About 2 metres. It was literally where we were having breakfast. The restaurant of the hotel is a long corridor so all guests get the awesome view, and there is a decked area leading off, where you can step outside. Our table was next to the patio doors leading out to the deck.