2011 — 7 October: Friday
Glowing with the virtue of one who has already imbibed the first1 in the shape of pure orange juice, I'm now admiring the sunshine and contemplating the wisdom of getting dressed. I take a more relaxed attitude to such things these days. It is, after all, already 09:12 but where's the hurry?
A gentleman just phoned and tried to tell me, in broken English overlaid with a heavy Indian accent, that every bank in the UK now owes me and Mrs Mounce a refund for the mis-selling of payment protection insurance, and was I aware of this? (I was.) Could he tell me the name of my bank? (He ignored my question, even though I had made answering it the condition for my continued attention.) I hung up. Of course, were it not for one teensy little detail2 he could well have been right.
It was much more fun...
... finding and ordering the BBC Radio 3 "Essential Classics" CD of the week. Took me over two minutes. I hope I found the right one:
I actually only want it for track 15 ("Prayer" by René Clausen) but will certainly be prepared to give the rest a listen. In a moment of associated weakness, I also added a bargain price Blu-ray of "Thor" to my order, several pounds cheaper than its current price in Asda.
Further proof...
... of the stupidity of astrologists. (Link.)
And this is just wonderful! (I agree with the comments on the likelihood of this being fictitious, but it still made me laugh.)
Mid-afternoon pause
I'm back from Soton, where I managed to find — and fit — a decent beaded car seat cover, some interesting videos, and a book of paperback artwork with a completely irresistible title.
- Breathless homicidal slime mutants is a title that can obviously sit proudly alongside my copy of "Young lusty sluts" by Michael Goss :-)
- Pina is a celebration of the late choreographer and dancer Pina Bausch by Wim Wenders
- Mr Magorium was recommended to me by Chris and Gill
- Withnail and I on Blu-ray, for £3, and with 283 minutes of extras, was a no-brainer. 25 years old? Amazing!
- Home features the stunning aerial photography of Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Christa and I caught an outdoor exhibition of giant posters of his work on one of our very last visits up to London together a few years ago
- Love and other impossible pursuits is a film about which I know absolutely nuffin'
I also discovered, on deciding to make myself a simple lunch of poached eggs on toast, that this is — oh, the shame! — the first time I've actually used the hobs on last year's new cooker.
I'm predicting the dial will be firmly fixed on BBC 6Music this evening for reasons that will be fairly obvious. But now it's time (17:08) for my next cuppa.
"Home" is (as I expected) ravishing to look at, but very depressing to listen to.