2010 — 14 March: Sunday
It's already approaching 00:31 and I've just been enjoying first "Marilyn Hotchkiss" and then "XXY". Unlike the NTSC DVD, my PAL copy of Hotchkiss lacks the earlier short film as an extra. Indeed, it's devoid of all extras. But — yawn — I have a walk lined up for later so it's time for some beauty sleep to make sure I can keep up with young Mike.
G'night.
Cool, but...
... brilliant sunshine — at least, at 08:19. So, breakfast to eat, a lunch to pack, and it's off out into the non-urban jungle somewhere for a whiff of countryside fresh air. And some more ground miles. It will be good to clear out the lungs.
And another thing...
I can find this faintly amusing, but I'm pleased to be unable to relate to it in any deeper way:
A University of London study of 10,000 people, tracked since their birth in 1958, has proved that women have better memories than men.
That seems an awful lot of time and trouble put into something that could have been achieved simply by asking a few long-term couples if you can sit in and observe when they have a row. It is
then that the female memory is to be seen in all its majestic, ever so slightly disturbing, glory.
I simply cannot remember ever having had a row. Life's too short. As for Brenda's hubby — who gives a toss?
It was fun to hear Mike Batt on yesterday's "Loose Ends" programme. I actually quite liked "Hunting of the Snark" (but then I did splash out on the Folio Society / Quentin Blake edition in 1979). And I know my ex-ICL chum Ian committed the whole thing to memory, too. And (sigh) I have Martin Gardner's 1967 annotated Snark, too. But at least I'm not a completeist.
Right! It's 10:06 — time I made myself scarce hereabouts.
Seven-plus miles later
And, after a nice, soothing bath, I've demolished a stale croissant, supped a cuppa, and am listening to "Star Wars" music on BBC Radio 3, for heaven's sake. It was a nice walk around Wherwell in mostly sunshine, though clouds were gathering towards the end. The trip back on the motorway from Winchester after dropping Mike off was quite good fun, too, as people whizzing past me each realised why I was being so law-abiding behind a large red-and-yellow striped Highways Agency traffic officer. I made generally better progress in the inside lane than they did in the outer two. People are funny, but not always in a good way. About half a dozen seemed to want to throw themselves under my wheels this morning.
It's now 16:05 and the afternoon is my oyster. I shall be nipping back over to Winchester for an assorted feast of video and food-based treats later this evening. I have no idea quite what's in store at this point — beyond the roast chicken. I'm sure we'll come up with something suitably challenging.
Good ol' Freak Zone is playing some of Carl Orff's "Musik für Kinder" — lovely stuff. How dare the BBC even think of closing this network? B*****ds! Right. Time to throw on the glad rags and hit the road again...