2010 — 23 April: Friday

My ploy to get a bit more sleep by going to bed before midnight almost worked. Apart from the rousing chorus of dickie birds at about 05:20 and (somewhat later) the rousing chorus of breaking glass from the (once again overlooked) monthly bottle and glass collection service. It's now a sunny 09:00 and I have breakfast and a packed lunch on the agenda, ahead of a gentle ramble somewhere.

I also have the delightful prospect of a visit from Peter and Peter's g/f on Sunday to keep me on my toes, but that's ages away yet. They threatened to take me to see something about dragon training but my initial response wasn't too favourable. A bit like the reception given to Orwell's masterly Animal Farm in some corners of the world:

In Zimbabwe, as the rule of Robert Mugabe's kleptocratic clique became ever more exorbitant, an opposition newspaper took the opportunity to reprint Animal Farm in serial form. It did so without comment, except that one of the accompanying illustrations showed Napoleon the dictator wearing the trademark black horn-rimmed spectacles of Zimbabwe's own leader. The offices of the newspaper were soon afterwards blown up by a weapons-grade bomb...

Christopher Hitchens in The Guardian


That pesky satire, heh? Gets right up peoples' noses. Mind you, Mr Hitchens may be confusing cause and effect here. Having looked up the proposed film on IMDB I think I may have been too hasty. Spoofs "Top Gun", heh? Might be OK. Oh well, I have a sausage sandwich to prepare!

Is it just me, Doc, or...

... do these bluebells look a bit anemic to you, too?

Anemic bluebells

I've been back for a while, but am thwarted in my ambition of sharing giant choc chip cookies in exchange for a free cuppa or two with Roger and Eileen. I shall just have to gorge alone. It's 15:34 and there's some mighty fine music (Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major) by one of the masters belting out around me up here in the study. Masking the noise from the washing machine downstairs, in fact.

Just found this little bit of tittle-tattle down in NZ tomorrow (as it were!)

Acting on advice received...

... I moved "The Moguls" (bought yonks ago) right up to the top of my viewing list. Good choice. Then, after a power glitch that took out both PCs, I managed to catch up with the episode of HIGNFY that I completely forgot about yesterday. Now (at 22:29) it's back to whatever else I was up to.