2010 — 6 June: Sunday
Now it's suddenly 01:45 (still pretty warm, too) but at least Humpty Dumpty is nearly all stuck back together1 again. Well, with the exception of the iMac because I now need a slightly longer digital audio lead to plumb it back into the CD player's digital input. I know I'll find such a lead in one of the boxes of bits under Peter's bed but it occurs to me that maybe (yawn) I'd better get some sleep first.
G'night.
Things that go bump
My main co-pilot tells me there were some odd railway-related goings on going on in the middle of the night. I thought I heard some stuff at about 3 a.m. but I certainly didn't bother going out to see. (I figure a group of people at that time is unlikely — for any number of reasons — to wish to be disturbed by a chap in jim-jams and may well take unkindly to a chap's gentle inquiries. Nor do I particularly want the police "hammering round like a shot", frankly. I prefer my sleep.)
It's cooled all the way down to a mere 24C here in the study, and is certainly sunny out there as of 10:32 or so. The first cuppa has worked its magic and I'm now firing on several more cylinders. Besides, Cerys is playing some lovely music. I wonder how long it will take the BBC Trust to come up with some face-saving way of reversing the BBC's so-called management decision to close this channel? Longer than it will take me to prepare breakfast, that's for sure.
What a world of irritation...
... lurks behind not one, but two, partially-unplugged hdmi cables dislodged while manoeuvring the subwoofer and the iMac back into their new homes. Still, I managed to finish breakfast two minutes before it would have been re-categorised as lunch. It's now 13:04 and (after upgrading the level of "Network Magic" on the iMac which once again enabled the industrial strength software on that giant iPod to see the rest of my network) all is now sweetness and shared music folders. Ho-hum.
I'm sure I can find enough loose stuff to fill a further batch of cartons this afternoon. Much as I like BBC 6Music, I'm currently listening, yet again, to that 40th anniversary King Crimson music. Fantastic job of re-mastering.
Just about enough time (it's 15:40) to get the next batch over to the warehouse before Jarvis Cocker fires up his 6Music show.
What a world of irritation...
... also lurks behind my apparent inability to take a satisfactorily exposed shot of a couple of stacks of almost exclusively dull black metal boxes:
- The giant iPod with my entire collection of non-classical CDs stashed as MP3 files on the disk beside the subwoofer (#9)
- The AudioLab 8000AP multi-channel pre-amplifier
- The Sony MDS-JE770 minidisc recorder (which makes a useful audio switchbox in its own right)
- The NAD C-565BEE CD player (used to resample the iMac's digital audio)
- The Panasonic DMREX77 Freeview DVD PVR
- The Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray (& DVD) player
- The AudioLab 8000X7 power amplifier
- One (of many) frogs scattered around the house
- The Kef PSW2010 subwoofer2
- The Maplin SP-19 box with rotary switch that controls the analogue audio sent up to the study
- The DVDO Edge video scaler and hdmi switcher
- The Humax Foxsat hi-def Freesat PVR
- The Humax HDCI2000 hi-def satellite receiver (permanently tuned to NPR worldwide!)
- The Denon DRM-555 cassette tape deck
Since taking the picture, by the way, I've moved the external hard drive away from the subwoofer, and also powered all the iMac kit from a separate ring.
Time has ticked along to the point where I need to think (not very hard) about an evening meal — that's the beauty of the crockpot... not much thought required, but tasty and nutricious meals more or less on demand. It's 18:31 and the "Freak Zone" is in full flow. (I tried the "freakier" late Friday night version for the first time, too, after the late John Peel's son had strutted his stuff. Not bad at all.)
Later
Having looked up "Michael Clayton" — a film I missed from 2007 that's coming up on the BBC's hi-def channel in less than an hour, I reckon it's worth stumping up £3-99 for a DVD copy. So I shall catch Guy Garvey's finest hour live and gently potter around. I've packed and shifted into storage 138 cartons and tried to make the house just about as plumber-friendly as I can for Brian to do his thing. I now hope to get back to some serious country walking and careful consideration of how to redecorate and re-assemble my little cave once the job is finished.