2009 — 13 September: Sunday
Well, by the time I'd stewed my next delicious batch of plums, chilled down the rest of the crockpot, and removed most of the limescale from my kettle, it was just about time to call it a day. Not without another picture of Christa, of course, on that day back in August 2007 when the cousins from Brum came to say — basically — "goodbye" to their favourite German cousin-in-law (if such a term exists):
Leigh, Christa and Ann, August 2007
That was a hot day, but one into which we still managed to squeeze a fair amount of smiles and laughter!
We're planning a wander around the vicinity of Mottisfont — three men and a dog, on this occasion — so, as I said, I'm going to call it bedtime. G'night.
A false start...
... at about 03:30 but a nice, sunny one now at about 08:40. On with the kettle; on with the show. In with the breakfast.
Another one gone
Dr Robert Spinrad, one-time director of Xerox's Palo Alto research lab.
Flying between Norwalk, Conn., and Palo Alto frequently, Dr. Spinrad once recalled how he felt like Superman in reverse because he would invariably step into the airplane's lavatory to change into a suit for his visit to the company headquarters.
Nearly time for me to step into my new boots.
Some 8 miles later...
It's 15:53 and the half pint of chilled fizzy water with lemon disappeared without touching the sides at the "Bear and Ragged Staff" at the end of our meanderings. There were several contour lines in evidence, too, but the boots are doing well.
(Mike's photos. I can see I need to work on the evenness of my hair-trimming!) Nor did it rain. Though that didn't stop our mad canine companion from getting wet:
I'm on the verge of making a decision! Instead of irritably trying to make the originally Vista-powered HP Media PC back into an Ubuntu-powered Media PC, and losing digital audio from it every time I patch or upgrade it (possibly a slight exaggeration, but that's certainly what it feels like), why don't I just relocate the massively under-used iMac downstairs and use that instead? Sounds almost like a plan to me. With luck, I can also use it to drive the plasma screen at 1920x1080 as its second display since I've had the necessary mini-DVI to DVI adapter for my "ordenador Mac" for nearly 30 months. That will give me immediate unfussy access to all the DVD cover artwork I've just finished scanning. But where shall I be able to place the keyboard and mouse? At least the HP machine uses wireless kit. More headaches.
It's 20:01 and the BBC 6Music "Freak Zone" has just wound down. I'm working my slow, painstaking way through the gaps in the DVD artwork, and have also unearthed a cache of batteries for my little strap-on torch for eventual inevitable use in the loftier corners of the loft. I have yet to finish the rewiring of the extra lights that I was fitting back in October 2007 just before my life went completely pear-shaped. Mind you, I do now have three low-energy bulbs up there where before (for very many years) we had only one. Every little helps.
Beyond satire
Tom Lehrer said "Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize". I wonder what he'd say about this "rebarbative kack"? Tony Blair, recall, is the chap who took us to war on highly dubious "intelligence", handed over schools to religious fanatics, and is now (it seems) taking his instructions from an imaginary entity. "Strewth" indeed!