2007 — 6 May: Any road up, as they say where I come from...

Today's theme is (earth)-moving.

Chalvington Road is to be resurfaced. The department concerned with such matters has posted local notices to that effect, warning us of the road closure as far as the north bit of Trevose Crescent. They estimate it will take from 8 to 10 May, but have allowed themselves three months of potential road closure. It occurs to me that their time estimating is not really any more advanced, therefore, than that of UK government software development projects. But then, they're probably just a bit messier and noisy (and smelly, though I quite like the smell of hot tar1).

It's a kind of magic

To celebrate my next pension payment which, with luck, is now redirected to my new account, let's take a look at one of the three poppies that are currently "out", as it were, in the back garden.

Magic poppy

And here's a close-up of my first piece of Photoshop 5 magic!

Totally cool gadget

I've treated the iMac to a Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 3000 with built-in magnifier. (The "Mighty Mouse's" scroll button not only felt too much like the awful ThinkPad trackpoint,2 but it has lapsed into an annoying "upward scroll only" modus operandi that has pissed me off once too often.)

After an initial hoot of disbelieving dismay (caused by the need to restart my OS X system in what can only be described as a totally familiar [but completely unexpected] Windows fashion), I'm now gobsmacked and delighted by the ability to casually zoom in and out of anything on the screen, keeping the pointer at the centre of the action. Dammit, I'm almost tempted to say "Well done, Redmond!" But a 10MB driver, and 30MB during installation? Come on, I ask you, is that elegant?

"Whatcha got there...?" department

What, these? Oh, just a couple of DVDs and books:

And now, I really must put some clothes on (after a shower, after a large amount of pea-shingling — read on) as it's time for supper with our neighbours, the foster parents of all those fish...

There yesterday, gone tomorrow

I must say, driving a mouse gently around the screen sure beats shifting pea-shingle into a fishless, waterless pond. Speaking of which, I thought it fun to offer a couple of photos from much earlier in said pond's family history. It was, after all, originally a joint Anglo-NZ excavation:

Gang of four

Prime pair

Compare and contrast today's forlorn, ex-lawn, state:

Forlorn on the ex-lawn

Day 184  

Footnotes

1  My Welsh grandmother was firmly convinced putting a lump of the stuff under your pillow would clear the most recalcitrant cold overnight. Must have made the pillowcase a bit mucky though.
2  You love these (like my chum Christopher does), or you simply hate 'em, like I do. I grant their cleverness.