2009 — 23 October: Friday
Tonight's picture — taken in Croton-on-Hudson in the late summer of 1996 by our friend Carol — is one of the very rare ones that show all three of us on holiday:
We were, I believe, about to set off for Manhattan (An Englishman in New York, and all that). G'night.
Sunny, so far
It's 08:59 and I'd been expecting to be swept away by floods of rain. The sun is shining; it's cool and clear.
Should I be even remotely surprised about reaction in America to the film version of Sendak's wonderful "Where the Wild Things are"? People are funny, but not in a good way. Meanwhile I'm listening to the author (Jan Pienkowski) of the equally wonderful pop-up (with sound effects) book "The haunted House" as he makes his Desert Island Discs choices.
Fast-paced world
An hour ago the "Guardian" lead story (if that's the top left-hand one) on the web had a silly headline saying something like "Today Britain leaves recession". Now it says we're in the longest recession on record. In a similarly perverse twist, I learn that I should "tolerate the inequality [of bonuses] as a way to achieve greater prosperity for all". Coming from the vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs, that's a bit too rich for me. (Source.)
The lure of the supplies trail beckons, ahead of my lunch-time companion. Off we go.
You can never go back
It's many years since I gave any thought to "Ring of bright water" and its troubled author Gavin Maxwell. I got back just in time to catch the end of the Terry Nutkins tale.
It's bad enough driving around just trying to dodge the other road users...
A statement released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said: "The crew stated they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and lost situational awareness."
Arrived back from lunch to find the Amazon Home Delivery people had not found my venetian blinds any obstacle to the latest Robert Crumb tome. Excellent.
I've been browsing through the 2009 Congressional Pig Book summary. It's mind-blowing.
Later
Even the "News Quiz" stalwarts are finding it hard to satirise the news at the moment. Oh well, the inner man has been fed; time for a spot of visual cortical stimulation — or, on with the "Carnivàle".