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Frank Cavil

@frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy

6 followers 3 following 189 posts

Beginner with potential [bridged from mastodon.scot/@frankcavil on the fediverse by fed.brid.gy ]

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Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2026

Believe it or not, this is a relevant image for my next submission to #OfDiceAndMeeples, an APA on #boardgames The ignorable theme is "Essen Spiel and other conventions", and you've got 3 whole weeks before the submission deadline if you want to share a #zine […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Photograph of a room within the Guernsey Museum at Candie, unknown photographer. Standing out from the information boards on the walls is a waxwork Bronze Age family sat atop a rock, the mother holding an infant, the father a spear and shield.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2026

Three and a half years after first hitting the streets, Tetris on the Game Boy is still worth completely forgetting about your duties for a quick game. I hope someone in The Bill is this enthusiastic about the PSP in ten years time...

Still from The Bill. PC Dave Quinnan and WPC Cathy Marshall attend a break in to find out that it was a kid having gotten locked out of his own house. While having a look around, Quinnan appears to take great interest in all the tech this kid has. Electric keyboard, CDs, and Tetris on the Game Boy, which is immediately turned on for a game that doesn't stop until the scene does.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026

A burgler in The Bill has three of his fingers chopped off by the homeowner. CID are phoning the local hospitals to keep an eye out. "What about the Masonic Hospital?" asks Tosh "You tried them yet?" "Yeah, he's not there, it's private." answers DC Alan Woods […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Still from The Bill. DC Jim Carver scrunches up his face and pinches the bridge of his nose in response to DC Alan Woods' hilarious quip about a burglar not knowing the Masonic handshake on account of having recently lost some of his fingers. Evidently, I thought it to be a funnier line than Carver did.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026

PC Garfield is adamant that he can prove who the burglar is by reverse engineering a tachograph, plotting out a likely lorry route on a map using nothing more than the squiggles on a paper disc. Naturally, CID are having none of it, but who turns out to be […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Still from an episode of The Bill. PC Garfield is sat down at a desk in CID surrounded by colleagues who don't share his enthusiastic belief that he can interpret the squiggles on a tachograph to plot out the likely route a burglar took on his crime spree. Anyone who has seen any amount of television knows whether or not this will turn out to be a worthwhile envdeavour...

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

PC Reg Hollis is disappointed in not being voted as Federation Rep in this episode of The Bill, losing out to PC George Garfield. So what the hell happened to former fed rep PC Barry Stringer then? And not just in regards to the position, but as a character. Where has he been recently? […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

5(ish) days left until the next #OfDiceAndMeeples zine, with the theme "Games you wish you had the time and/or table space for", which could be quite a list for many of us... I like to respond to the zines I read within the next issue of ODaM, so if you've previously contributed or if you're […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 28/09/2026

I'm an on/off wrasslin' fan, mostly 'off' recently. I hear AEW All In was worth a watch, so I watch it. It was alright. See some familiar faces, see some new ones. Can't say I've suddenly found a reason to reinvest. Then the algorithms get updated and the wrasslin news starts trickling in […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

[Assisted suicide debate] You can always rely on The Bill to have storylines that reflect the times. This episode "An invalid is found dead in bed, and the wife is suspected of aiding and abetting a suicide." As the story develops over 20 minutes we get […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Still from an episode of The Bill. D.S. Danny Pearce and D.C. Tosh Lines are sat at their desks in CID discussing assisted suicide.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 19/09/2026

It's cold. Just in the space of a few days it has gone from pleasant enough to "That's it. That was summer. Hope you had fun. Drizzle and wind from here on." I mean, I can always hope for sunny spells and gentle breezes, but come on, this far North, in this climate? Nah. Dust off the thick […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 19/09/2026

I hate coming here to complain about the job hunt, but if you're the first to apply for multiple night shift roles stacking shelves, and complete online assessments that come back saying that "Your skills suggest you are adaptable and take responsibility for your work", only to then be told - […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 15/09/2026

If you want to know how my day's going I've just spent LITERAL HOURS backtracking through an adventure journal looking for something - anything - that would help me get back on track with my current quest, only to find that my problem wasn't that I hadn't talked to someone, or didn't find an […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 14/09/2026

Three weeks before the submission deadline for the next #OfDiceAndMeeples issue and this is my current mood. Any #BoardGames you wish you could get to the table? I keep discovering new ones thanks to folks like you cobbling together zines talking about games […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

A heavily stylised image of some board game components. A playing card depicts a creepy "Warped One", whose plastic miniature is nearby, all gangly limbed and ghostly white. Both sit on another card whose text reads in block capitals "You are going insane". Fitting, for there is a robed skeleton superimposed in here as well.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 12/09/2026

Second appearance in The Bill for Alex Walkinshaw, but he still isn't Smithy yet.

Still from The Bill. Little of note, a suspect played by Alex Walkinshaw is being interviewed in an interrogation room. Alex will eventually be cast as police officer Dale Smith, I just don't know when.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

Part of a comic boo- sorry, 'Graphic Novel' collection has been stolen in The Bill. Inventorying them for the paperwork is going about as well as you would expect...

Still from The Bill. Four officers of CID are sat at their desks reading comic books, presumably shocked that they can fetch a few hundred pounds each - or perhaps would have done, if they weren't stolen, thrown off a block of flats, and left within arms length of these four blokes in CID...

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 08/09/2026

If you want to know what's going on in this image, you're going to have to get stuck into issue 5 of #BoardGame APA #OfDiceAndMeeples, where I wrote up my process of retheming a 9 card nanogame into what you see here. I thoroughly enjoy the slow zine-ing […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

A photograph of a game of Bullet Run in progress. 3 cards depicting an X-Wing cockpit sit below this round's target card, showing a bunch of TIE fighters ready to be shot out of the sky... At least that's the plan. Dice and cubes are scattered across all four cards to track hits, misses, damage, score, and special abilities.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

What is it about eBay that *always* results in customers buying the cheapest Royal Mail postage despite me providing all the weight and sizing information in both the front and back ends of the posting? It really rustles my jimmies.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 30/08/2026

The Bill has me questioning my marbles this evening. A couple of episodes ago I caught a cameraman reflected in a window. Now, I'm convinced I'm seeing the camera car reflected across the street, but cannot fathom exactly what it is I'm seeing. It looks like […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Still from an episode of The Bill showing PC Garfield driving one of the police cars, filmed from the passenger seat, effectively. Through his window we can see a reflection over the street of the car he is driving, a frankenstein's monster of a camera car whose shape is boggling my mind. Hiding cameras was harder back in 1993, but not impossible, and I'm struggling to work out what I'm even looking at.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 25/08/2026

We've got a story about binmen using their run as cover for a spot of thieving in The Bill. I've done a similar thing, as in I went out on bin rounds, not theft. I can't imagine it working as cover but I suppose they do say a high vis jacket and a clipboard […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Still from The Bill showing the back of a dustcart (or bin lorry, or rubbish truck, take your pick) where an irate binman fishes a cardboard box out of the back that was mistakenly put there by his young colleague. I was going to comment about how it was clearly empty, what with it being a prop that needed carrying, but I'm not entirely sure it was meant to be full to begin with. It might have had an address on it that the irate thieving binman used to rob the entire house later in the episode, I'm not sure - I was too distracted with how clearly empty it was. Made for a good joke/cover story about recycling cardboard instead of binning it, though.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 21/08/2026

My #OfDiceAndMeeples issue 5 submission currently clocks in at a chonky 12 pages, which is surprising given that I'm talking about some of the smallest Print & Play #BoardGames in my collection. You're all good with 12 pages, aren't you? I can probably cut, ooh, a word or two, here and there […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 19/08/2026

One of these men will get a spin off series and the other is my favourite character quiting the force after 10 years in The Bill, since the start (effectively). DS Ted Roach knows wrong from right, but that doesn't stop him from doing wrong in an attempt to […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Still from The Bill. Two colleagues are about to part ways. On the left is the best character of the series since its inception, DS Ted Roach, about to resign from the force rather than put up with an investigation into his actions (the episode is called 'Punch Drunk', punches are thrown and Ted has drunk whiskey, you work it out). On the right is his superior, DI Burnside, another character who skirts the letter of the law, bending it to his will - even in an attempt to help Ted out of this very situation. But only one of these characters will get a spin off series in 2000. The wrong one, in my book.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 19/08/2026

Every Wednesday, the local Facebook group allows the posting of adverts. Every Wednesday, I get to see the see the exact same AI templates being used to advertise cleaning services, take away food, sporting events, taxis, handymen... Every Wednesday, I make my already heavily filtered with […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 16/08/2026

"Why do you watch The Bill? Surely it's the same stories again and again and again... hardly must watch TV. Wait, what's that?" "Hmm? Oh, that's just Community Liaison Officer Derek Conway having the time of his life on the log flume at Chessington World of […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Still from The Bill. Community Liaison Officer Derek Conway sits in the front seat of a log boat at Chessington World of Adventure as he and other officers escort a bunch of kids through the park. He looks like he's just waiting for the day to be over. He's also about to descend the flume. Probably shouldn't have picked the front seat...

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 16/08/2026

Well you don't see that kinda facial hair style any more, do you? Hell, I don't exactly remember seeing that kinda facial hair style back in the 1990s either. Is this guy a wrong'un? What's he been up to? Dunno yet. Got sideburned. Sidetracked, sorry. Sidetracked.

Still from The Bill. A man is being questioned at his place of work regarding something or other he's been doing, I don't really know what, I got distracted by his facial hair. "Friendly Mutton Chops" so a quick search tells me. Not something you see every day - certainly not nowadays.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 15/08/2026

What's the German word for knowing how to describe a music video in terms of detailed visuals, but remembering very little of the actual piece of music (genre, title, artist - you know, useful things) such that no amount of search terms actually get you anywhere? Is there then another German […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2026

Harry Hill once parodied an episode of The Bill the featured a criminal escpaing thanks to the power of parkour, back when it was all the rage. Don't worry, I'll bring it up when I get to it, but it has nothing on this episode from April 1993. Alright, its […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Still from an episode of The Bill. In 'Cat and Mouse', an athletic thief, seen here clambering over a fence to get out of a building site along the riverbank, has to be followed by the police helicopter because he's just too evasive.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2026

The world we live in means the BBC Website has "How to watch the Eclipse safely" articles in the run up to said event, and "Key signs you may have damaged your eyes after looking at the Eclipse" articles afterwards. All you had to do was keep hold of the pair of Eclipse glasses you got as a […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 11/08/2026

Apparently my partner and I have both lost the skill that is "the ability to put an ink cartridge into a fountain pen" at some point over the past two decades. We've made quite the mess with two such pens now, where in both cases they are successful at puncturing the cartridge and freeing the […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 09/08/2026

The next #OfDiceAndMeeples issue has the theme 'Print and Play', which is clearly all the incentive I need to finally wade through the files and folders I've downloaded over the years to find the next project. Question is, am I mad enough to start with the 'Not So Simple' folder, which includes […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 08/08/2026

Sunny periods, chance of rain, oh yeah don't forget about a timely evening Partial Solar eclipse on Wednesday, the best since that one and only Total Solar Eclipse you've seen in your life back in 1999, remember that one? Won't see another one as good as this for decades, unless you go chasing […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 05/08/2026

I've not had this Linux Mint laptop set up for very long, but already I am going to have to look into uninstalling KPatience. I don't know why I find solitaire dangerously addictive, but 'a quick game' usually turns into 'another one' with frightening alacrity. Good for testing the touchscreen […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 03/08/2026

My Chromebook is notifying me that I am on the Final Software Update it will ever get, as they are only supported for 10 years. I bought it 9 years ago, almost to the week, but who's splitting hairs eh? It ran a good few Android apps until that was forcefully stripped out; Gemini was installed […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 01/08/2026

This video is in real time. Name me another sport where this happens. Go on, I'll wait. Now name me a sport whose governing body is just as utterly inept when it comes to promoting this sort of thing to a wider audience. We've finally, after two years or so, got news of a new promoter taking […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 01/08/2026

I hope the Royal Mail have easy access to their parcel locker cameras for use in training purposes or whatever, because they need to be aware of what an abysmal user experience that was for me just now - and I'd like to think I am at least average when it comes to being computer literate. I […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 31/07/2026

The blue jumpers are a plot point! I repeat, the blue Police jumpers have been made into a plot point in The Bill. Sun Hill have been getting a load of complaints about officers being heavy handed, only it turns out that a new private security firm are kitting […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Screenshot from an episode of The Bill. Steven 'Not So' Bright, a security guard from Pointon Security is being interviewed with regards to an attempted burglary. His uniform is essentially that of a police officer, which has lead to a number of complaints already.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 29/07/2026

"It's called WYSIWYG" "Come again?" "It stands for 'What You See Is What You Get'" "Oh." "Now, press that one." Sgt Kendall pokes a finger onto the keyboard, and like magic a sheet of paper is spat out of the printer. "Voilá." That's it, really. Some […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Still image from an episode of The Bill. DS Greig stands behind Sgt Kendell, seated at a computer, and explains to her what 'WYSIWYG' means. Magically, at the press of a single button, the printer spits out a sheet of paper. Why are they such a nuissance these days?

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 23/07/2026

Two weeks until the next #OfDiceandMeeples deadline, but I couldn't go and subject anybody to an Alpha player at board gaming this evening: was invited t' city for a quiz instead. The quiz didn't actually exist. When 'Board games and takeaway' was suggested as an alternative, folks started […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 22/07/2026

I do hope this YouTube recommendation comes as a result of the Baader Meinhof phenomenon, and not some nefarious background snooping of my boredom browsing on what I think was a completely different device... The future has me paranoid, you know.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 21/07/2026

New technology in The Bill alert: Jan 1993 brings us coloured pins in maps to track burglaries. One colour for residential, one for business, and - get this - stickers to ammend each pin with info gleamed from SOCO. Imagine all that data revealing patterns […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Still image from a 1993 episode of The Bill, titled 'Supply and Demand'. DC Woods and DC Lines stand in what used to be the DCI's office, now knocked through to make CID bigger to accomodate the new anti-burglary initiative 'Operation Bumblebee'. They aren't yet sold on the idea of a map of Sun Hill on the wall behind them having a bunch of coloured pins and data tags being helpful in solving crime.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 13/07/2026

Update on The Bill, and it's a biggun. It is December 1992 and the police constables are finally allowed to wear fluffy blue jumpers. It's not a plot point, it's just the only folks to have worn this type of thing up until now were the firearms officers […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Still from an episode of The Bill titled "Fireworks". Federation Representative PC Barry Stringer is sitting in a meeting with Chief Inspector Derek Conway, with Stringer wearing the navy blue woolen (I assume) police jumper, which is apparently an event I thought was worth highlighting on Mastodon.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 12/07/2026

First draft of my next #OfDiceandMeeples submission is ready. I've got the rest of the month to question whether I should try to unknowingly subject players to the Alpha player phenomenon or not - for science or something, obviously. I'm going to have to go through our co-op #BoardGames first - […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 07/07/2026

Well timed, @effinbirds and @medieval_illuminations. Well timed.

Two well timed posts in my Mastodon feed result in a humourous image of an Effin Bird reacting to a Medieval Illumination. A poor man has bloody diarrhea, and a bird quips "That shit was not great".

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 06/07/2026

A few months ago I moaned that I might just have bricked a Chromebook I was trying to put Linux on. Every now and then I wonder whether I should press the power button just to see if it has decided to co-operate, or, you know, actually turn on, even if only to an error screen. Today I pressed […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 05/07/2026

October '92 and 'Crack Of Doom' becomes the most Wire-like episode of The Bill. We've got drug dealers with smarts, we've got obbo's complete with binoculars and cameras, we've got community informants and mobile phones.... all we're missing is the notion of a […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Screenshot from an episode of 'The Bill' titled 'Crack Of Doom', showing a man sat on a bench on his mobile phone as seen through the viewfinder of the photographic camera the police are using to observe him.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 03/07/2026

The YouTube algorithm has recommended me three videos on the subject of "what to do when you're alone and choking" in as many days now. What the hell kind of data have I given to the machines? Should I be concerned?

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 03/07/2026

Achievement get! I'm in first place on the Board Game Arena Hall of Fame - first of the 59 thousanders, at least... I don't get up to much #boardgamearena these days. I'll check in on the beta titles to see what's incoming, and I generally won't say no to […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

A screenshot of the Hall of Fame ranking on Board Game Arena, showing me at the top of the table, albeit in 59,001st place overall.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 01/07/2026

According to The Bill wiki, "Sympathy For The Devil" is episode 471 (so I've still got a looong way to go) but it's the first episode to warn me about the content. Did it air this way back in 1992 or was this added by ITV or U in the years/decades since? I […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

A text message appeared before a 1992 episode of The Bill to warn viewers of the themes. White text on a black background reads "Includes storylines related to issues of race and contains some racial language." Such a warning probably should have been played on a great many episodes prior to this instance, too.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 30/06/2026

Well that's an unfortunate icon for what I guess is a crashed webpage. What that has to do with the poor bird I don't know.

An icon for a crashed webpage is that of a black sheet of paper, its top right corner folded over, featuring a white silhouette of a knocked out bird at the bottom.

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 29/06/2026

eBay's 'Ready to resell?' section sure is something, isn't it? "Hey, remember that second hand piece of crap you bought just last week and gave prompt 5-star feedback on as soon as you opened the parcel? You're ready to relist it on the platform to give us another cut, aren't you?" What gave […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 26/06/2026

Issue 3 of the big digital book of #boardgames zines, Of Dice and Meeples, is just over a week away. The ignorable theme, should you want to submit something, is 'Cooperative games', and as I've not got much to say on the popular games that spring to mind, you'll soon to get read some of my […]

Original post on mastodon.scot

Frank Cavil @frankcavil.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 18/06/2026

I'm sorry, I have to intrerrupt your day to tell you that Mark Heap, comedian from Spaced, Green Wing, Friday Night Dinner, got started in film 'browned up, juggling with Roger Moore' (his words, not mine) in 1983's Octopussy. I could easily confirm this through IMDb or Wikipedia, but no, one […]

Original post on mastodon.scot