2 Tobys

Before I fell asleep last night, I tuned into the Neighbours 24/7 stream on YouTube to see which storylines were going on.

I surmise it was 1990 or so (the feed keeps going so far before starting back in 1989ish). Anyway, to cut a long story short, the scene I caught had Kerry and Toby Mangel watching Kerry's wedding to Joe Mangel on a video cassette.

The TV was playing actual clips of the episode. We didn't see much. Kerry commented to Toby something along the lines of 'look how nice you looked in your suit'.

It made me laugh out loud because it felt like an inside joke because the actor portraying Toby in those current scenes was not the actor who played him at the wedding.

I had to make sure, so checked out a video of the wedding immediately after watching that scene.

It turned out to be a good guess on my part.

The earlier version of Toby Mangel was played by Finn Greentree-Keane. He was in the role between 1988 and 1990. His replacement, Ben Guerens, took over in '90 and remained on the cast for three years.

I always recall seeing the then new Toby on a Children's BBC show. The programme  (I cannot recall what it was exactly) was in Australia on the Neighbours set and they showed some of the actors filming their scenes. One of the things being filmed was had Joe and Toby Mangel in their kitchen and it more or less gave away that a new Toby was on the horizon.

At the time, there was a huge gap between the Australian and UK screenings. I believe it was something like eighteen months at one point. If not more.

Other than last night's dip into the stream, I'm more or less done watching the feed. It's difficult to stick with it knowing that everything will repeat within a week or so.

It was fun while it lasted.

Reacting To My Prediction From Yesterday

I am actually quite surprised with myself.

In yesterday's post, I predicted that the Champions League Final would be a draw in regulation and Paris Saint-Germain would end up lifting the trophy.

It went that way.

With that said, I feel quite sorry for Arsenal.

In my vision, I had Arsenal on the backfoot but making it a draw. I didn't envision them leading for the majority of the game before a slip.

They were very unlucky.

Champions League Final 2026

To make up for missing the FA Cup Final post, I'm going to share with you the team I'd like to win the Champions League later today.

The game will see Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal battle it out for the trophy. I've had a look at the odds and, unsurprisingly, PSG are 7/5 favourites. Their opponents are 2/1 and the draw, in 90 minutes, is 23/10.

To be fair, if I had a gun to my head and was forced to pick one of those three, I'd go 'Draw'.

As for the overall result - well, it's another case of me going with the underdogs. Yep - I'm going with Arsenal.

I think a few people I used to know back in my misspent youth will be looking for that result as well. I'll root for the Gunners for them as well.

I Try Ice Cream Flavour Irn Bru

I had to take a look at old blog posts from Christmas 2025 yesterday. I did so in search of a post in which I wrote about how vile a Christmas-themed Irn Bru flavour was.

Luckily for Barr's, the drink's makers, I actually forgot all about writing a post about Irn Bru Winter Bru which had a spiced ginger and cinnamon flavour. Unluckily for me, I had a few sips before handing the can off to somebody else.

I had flashbacks to that dreadful drink a few days ago, when I found out that there is now an Ice Cream Irn Bru flavour out there in the wilderness. 

Undaunted, I had to seek it out..

 Voila!

First things first, I have to admit, the label does look brilliant. You'll notice it has a bit of ice cream and a cone/wafer imagery.

To be fair, after writing the last paragraph, I have to applaud the Winter Bru labelling as well. It did give off festive vibes. Ironically, it reminded me of an ugly sweater, which should have been a warning in itself. Anyway, I digress.

I tried the new Irn Bru yesterday during the mini heatwave we're having. It was refreshing. But that's all.

The flavour didn't feel as strong to me as I had anticipated. I didn't sense much 'ice cream' nor 'Irn Bru'. It was just.. a refreshing drink to have in the warm climate.

At least it was better than the Christmas edition.

Carnies. Everywhere.

I have just watched a video of WWE wrestler - Rhea Ripley - opening a packet of Topps WWE cards.

She managed to find a rare, signed, Roman Reigns cards in the promotional clip plugged by the trading card firm.

What are the odds?! And for it to be caught on camera nonetheless. 

Who's working who here?

Spider-Noir Drops, Now 'Make Your Choice'

Today is the day a TV series, I've been waiting to see ever since I knew it was in production, has finally dropped.

Amazon has released Spider-Noir. It's a Spider-Man series set in the 1930s. The 'Noir' in the title gives it away - yes, it's a film noir crime detective series with Spider-Man the lead detective.

Well, that last bit is speculation on my part. I surmise the person who becomes Spider-Man is the detective.

What I do know, because I've seen the graphic novels for it many years ago, is this: Spider-Noir is based of comics/graphic novels with Spider-Man fighting crime in 1930s New York.

The main character is played by Nicolas Cage. I cannot think of anyone more suited for a role like this because he brings star power plus he's a GIGANTIC comic book guy. 

One unique selling point of this series is the ability to watch it in black-and-white (like film noir is meant to be viewed) or in what Amazon describes as 'True-Hue Full Color'.

It's brilliant to be given these options, but there is only one choice for me. It has to be black-and-white.

Too Hot

Here's the annual 'it's too hot out there' blog post.

It is, though.

Yesterday was worse, though. I had an Amazon parcel delivered in the early evening and, after receiving the package, I couldn't close the front door. I had to wait a couple of hours for the door to cool back down before it was a size that would fit the frame. Insane.

It was humid overnight, but - to be fair - it wasn't as bad as Sunday-into-Monday.