2010 — 29 January: Friday
If the Beeb's feather warcast is to be believed1 it's going to be cold and wet (and, possibly, even white) today. Pah! Worthy of a second "Pah!" was the electioneering leaflet shoved through my letter box today. I have not, and will continue not, to vote for the party involved.
I find a little Morton Subotnick goes quite a long way at this time of night... Late Junction is being eclectic again. "Silver apples of the moon" indeed. Wasn't that nearly a Ray Bradbury short story title? :-) (Come to think of it, the piece also probably 'inspired' whoever did the 'music' that accompanied the 1973 BBC radio dramatisation of Asimov's original Foundation trilogy.)
G'night...
Still driving me nuts...
That hauntingly-familiar film music starts at 54 minutes into this episode. Is it from E.T.? Or Cocoon? Aaargh! It's in the background while Brian Sibley is asking David Puttnam whether a failing movie can be turned around during production. (Short answer: "No".) My fickle memory is now suggesting it's from Starman — that wonderful alien visitor film with Jeff Bridges. Tonight's choice, perhaps?
There's an ominously thick dark cloud out there to accompany my second cuppa. I've also popped the black (recycling) crate of glass bottles out for the first time in over six months. Well, it is nearly one third full. It's 09:58 and I think breakfast is the next item.
It seems I can afford...
... to wash more frequently. My latest bill from Southern Water tells me that, even with my recent drippy radiator, I've used only 16.00 m3 of their chlorinated stuff in the last 187 days and still have just over £14 credit with them. Contrast with my sorry non-metered state nearly two years ago.
Time I wasn't here for a bit. It's 12:31 and my feet are getting itchy.
Later that afternoon
What wiv it bein' Friday an' all... I decided to treat myself to lunch out at Brambridge, followed by a trip down to Hedge End (where Currys and PC World are both currently closed, I now learn, while merging into a digital superstore re-opening on 11th February) and then back for a cuppa in the bungalow and a chat setting the world to rights. Again. As usual.
Meanwhile, it seems Toyota wants to examine the accelerator pedal on my Yaris (and the one on Junior's Aygo). This is going to cost them a penny or two. I remember when my Dad drove a Triumph 2000PI back in 1973 (KPH592K — how's that for memory?) its pedal stuck once or twice. Very scary and dangerous it was, too. Almost as bad as being fined for blowing your nose. (Source.)
It's a mad world, people.
Words, words, words
This tickled me more than somewhat:
It's just a word cloud built from today's diary jotting (not including this last section itself, of course). There's a rather more poignant one here. Right! Definitely time for another batch of calories. It's 18:17 already. And pitch dark out there. Yuk.
Despite having bang up-to-date Java, I've found a nasty tendency for my equally bang up-to-date Firefox to fail to quit cleanly after a visit to the "Wordle" site. Indeed, there have been several Windows restarts and more than a few unkind words in the very recent past. Software has become ridiculously complex.
Tomorrow is another...
... day, and we're tentatively planning a walk now that two separate weather forecasts have agreed on sunshine. Of course, they could both be wrong. Better take some more bread out of the freezer while I remember. And some butter out of the fridge. Done. You know what? I'm turning into a domestic god! It's 21:04 and I've been very much enjoying this concert. Christa was much more familiar with Berlioz than I am, but I thought the Ravel (whom she also liked) left-hand concerto was quite something. So was the interval piece on Dies Irae come to that.
Did I mention the world is mad?
Homeopaths say that water retains a memory of the substance, which has a therapeutic effect, although most scientists claim that such treatments are no better than placebos or sugar pills.
"To see a homeopathic doctor explaining to MPs how many times a remedy had to be tapped before it would imprint the water was just surreal. And for the spokesman of Boots to explain that they were happy to sell customers pills for which they have no evidence of effectiveness was an insult to many people."