2012 — 10 April: Tuesday
Were I the sort of chap to be struck by odd thoughts from time to time1 I suppose I might just be struck by the odd thought that I spent the first four years and five months of my 'adult' life as an unmarried engineering student apprentice... followed by 33 years with Christa (during which Peter popped up, as it were)... and now I've just spent the last four years and five months of my 'adult' life as a widower and retired gentleman of leisure.
A curious, and not entirely pleasing, symmetry. Though I certainly relish the freedom of retirement. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need some sleep during which I shall be working up an appetite for my lunch date. G'night.
:-)
Being a tech Luddite...
... locked away from the mobile-phones-with-cameras paradigm, the only thing I take from this news is the unhappy thought that the population of the planet seems to be rushing towards the need for daily Ritalin doses:
"We tried to lower the bar for producing awesome stuff, so people can walk around with their iPhones and produce amazing pictures. The network really democratises attention: everyone from celebrities to a random guy in Japan taking pictures of his dog every day can get many thousands of followers. Taking images is the great equaliser."
What is it about random guys in Japan? My own grumpy view echoes the slightly harsher one expressed 15 years ago:
The Internet is a shallow and unreliable electronic repository of dirty pictures, inaccurate rumors, bad spelling and worse grammar, inhabited largely by people with no demonstrable social skills.
I need to get out more.
Though perhaps not so much to Eastleigh — it exudes a lower level of commercial zest and vibrancy than it did on my last visit (if that's possible) and, to add insult, Sainsburys had no trace of any of their well-fired loaves, and the parking fee for less than an hour atop the Swan Centre was an outrageous £1-20. Still, I've topped up the level of dear Mama's chocolate reserves (learning in the process that Thorntons is relocating to an 'outlet' somewhere; don't know when). And swinging by Waitrose on my way back has at least given me the makings of tomorrow's packed lunch, on the not-yet confirmed assumption that my partner in crime will be up for a walk.
And, speaking of lunch... it's already time to nip back out.
One Dog and Crook later...
... which is, of course, just a few hundred yards away from the now-defunct "Wheatsheaf". Plus a side-order of detour on the way back to show Len the Eastleigh Lakes — a potential outing destination for his mother — not helped by the road past the 'Rapids' being closed. Hence an extra 10 miles or so and an unexpected bit of motorway back over to Southampton airport. But we're retired, so who's bothered?
Cuppa and a natter with added file transfers and cats and then back to Technology Towers in bright sunshine. To find a bill from Waitrose, and a pension payment slip from IBM revealing a new tax code (not that I can recall the old one). It's odd still being identified by an Employee Serial Number. "I am not a number..."
Briefly tempted
I wonder if the Richard Preston I mentioned here is the same superb writer who has now completed a techno-thriller ("Micro") left unfinished at the time of Michael Crichton's death? Not that I actually need any more books cluttering my shelves. I walked firmly out of the bookshop, wallet undamaged.
But I've just comforted myself with pancakes :-)