2011 — 8 February: Tuesday
Clawing back up through the multiple "Inception" levels to some form of consciousness1 I've made a cuppa (to fight off the morning fog and frost out there) and have been reading my overnight email from Amazon.
Something wicked (and welcome) this way comes
Yes! Not only have they refunded the full cost of my original order. They have now already shipped a replacement "Complete Larry Sanders Show" boxed set, and a) paid the extra for expedited international shipping and a customs deposit and b) written that off as a further $25 "goodwill refund". They merely ask me to tell them if the original package ever shows up and then either contact them for details of how to airmail it back to them or simply keep it and pay2 up.
Almost as impressive as being sent a free copy of "Braveheart" (from Jeff Bezos personally) even though I promptly handed it over (unopened) to Mike to give to Bryan, as he's such a fan of Mel Gibson. I submit that my bookcase nemesis (Staples) could learn a helluva lot about how to keep a customer happy. As, for that matter, could the Anglian double-glazing cowboys.
It's 09:06 and there's breakfast to eat and a lunch to pack before setting out on today's video adventures in the wilds of North Hampshire. A "Gecko" beckons. Let's hope the morning mist burns off soon.
The interview...
... with Laura Linney (here) finally gives me an incentive to watch some broadcast TV (tonight). Not that it's a barrel of laughs, obviously.
Time I wasn't here, if I'm to be in time there...
A bit later
Adventures aplenty. An interesting demo of the latest, if not greatest, 3D projection system. Not for me,3 ta awfully. News of a smaller, newer, cheaper, better?, Steinway audio system. Still a bit rich at £50,000 or so, but moving in the right direction. Demos of various Blu-rays, two of which I've just been over to Hedge End to buy (without success) so my co-pilot cheered me up with an ice-cream cone from Carlo's instead. It's still (16:21) gloriously sunny, but f-f-freezing (nearly). Vast change from the early morning's freezing mist.
Where's that steaming hot kettle?
The (unsurprising) news that "British banks are livid" about an unexpected tax leaves me with a nice, warm glow.
Remember that Haldane quote?
You know? The one about the Universe being queerer than we can suppose? My chum Brian has just gleefully pointed me to the BBC story lurking behind the pull quote:
God bless 'em, and their little iPhones.
My cunning plan...
... to work systematically through my video collection (begun, last night, with two of the "numeric" titles) has been derailed by today's postal droppings:
I've just paused the sublime "Notting Hill" while I make myself a cuppa and contemplate a croissant for supper. Mike had reported some visual artefacting on his system with his own Blu-ray copy yesterday but I've seen no trace of anything awry so far. Remember the good old analogue days when things just worked?
Minor (un)grace note: I did have to delay the audio by 80ms to fix a consistent lip-sync error, but no big deal. Good film.