2009 — 24 October: Saturday

I'm pretty sure this picture is from a local outing down to Netley country park. Not quite the seaside, but near enough for our youngster at the time:

Family, 1984

I'm guessing 1984, after a good recovery from her first surgery on 27th October 1983. Ho hum. G'night.

The grand old...

... Duke of York tells us that bonuses for bankers are minute in the scheme of things. But then kings and princes probably feel that, if it weren't for their palaces, the mud huts of the peasantry would have nothing substantial to lean against. "Emetic" is a word that springs to mind.

Meanwhile, a senior lecturer in American literature and culture at the University of East Anglia gets a national platform to comment (very amusingly) on the "news" that cartoon character Marge from the Simpsons is to appear in "Playboy"1 magazine. If I'd had such literature teachers I suspect the world of computing would have been minus one minor player...

Lower down the educational scale, this is just priceless.

Pouring with rain

So, just when I feel fit enough to resume some country walks, the weather turns most uninviting. Time for a spot of breakfast. It's 10:03 and therefore time to switch away from the dreadful Woss on BBC Radio. Meanwhile, in the wake of the postal strike, I have two soggy pieces of snail mail, both from Toyota. One thanks me for completing payments on my car, the other warns me to pay its insurance (which I already have done, irritatingly). So much for speeded-up electronic funds transfers. The money has left my account, and is now meandering, electron by electron (presumably) to its cyber destination.

Noon already?

I've just finished Crumb's magnificent "Book of Genesis". What a strange tale. Better re-zap my neglected cuppa.

It's 14:26 and there's what looks suspiciously like sunshine and patches of blue sky starting to appear out there. This bodes very well for a little spot of fresh air and exercise tomorrow. Excellent.

Before you know it...

... it's 19:03, the inner man is (I trust) satiated, and the evening lies ahead. There are some interesting comments (here) about the Pixar film I watched with my son last weekend. And Emma in hi-def later this evening, perhaps?

Peter rang a few minutes ago. He's off to Cyprus for a week with Peter's g/f to stay (I assume) with her Dad. I shall make do with an English autumn!

Yikes!

To my utter, abject, horror, I found myself agreeing with Melanie Philips during the just-concluded "Moral Maze" special debate on university education. Does this mean I must start reading the Daily Mail?

  

Footnote

1  It's worth a click to see the wry headline here.