2009 — 24 March: Tuesday

Just finished sorting out details of the walk later today. Good grief, it's 00:39 already. Oh well. Tonight's picture of Christa is another one of her working on the new kitchen curtains back in October 2007:

October 2007

Again, her cheerful smile...

G'night.

Fonts? Layout?

A discussion of road and motorway signage at this time (08:53) in the morning on national radio? Cool!

Sunny, quite cool, and a bit of a breeze. Ideal walking weather. First, breakfast and a packed lunch to prep, of course. The Retail Price Index is "expected" to show its first fall since 1960, powered down by the drop in mortgage interest rates. Call me an old cynic, but isn't it odd how components of the Index come and go in ways that suit the desired end result? Here's another amazing surprise:

The UK public sector spends over £16 billion a year on IT. Over £100 billion in spending is planned for the next five years, and even the Government cannot provide an accurate figure for cost of its 'Transformational Government' programme. Yet only about 30% of government IT projects succeed.

Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Executive Summary


Later, dude...

Dear ol' Dad used to say "everything comes to he who waits". I mentioned here the amusing novel by Ken Kolb and its film version. I've recently returned from a lovely six mile hike around the edges of Winchester along the Itchen, not to mention a foody top-up at Waitrose, and have just learned that the film is (finally) out on DVD in the U.S., so my order has just been placed.

Remember the old saying "If you owe the bank £100 you have a problem; if you owe them £1,000,000 they have a problem"? Well it seems China, which holds a rather mind-boggling $2,000,000,000,000 has suggested (via an essay on the People's Bank of China website) it's time for a new international currency to replace the US dollar. (Source.) Interesting times.

A while back I mentioned Christa's unerring ability to burn the fried egg part of the traditional "cookie"... I have to say, seventeen months on, I am no better at this black art than she was. I also forgot to renew the baking foil lining of the grill so that's a nice greasy bit of washing-up waiting for me later tonight. But that will have to wait until after the "Desmo" Carrington show, won't it? I gather the clocks change this coming weekend — it's certainly been noticeably lighter for the last couple of weeks. My, how Time flies.

But if you're reading this, Mike, that splash of fluid under the car did not come from the Yaris. The garage floor is pristine, apart from the odd leaf and cobweb. That's a relief. Now, on with the evening.