2012 — 24 July: Tuesday
A sunny morning so we're making a slightly earlier start for our walkies. Which, in turn, explains my exposure to the eight o'clock (you-should-pardon-the-word) "news". I love the way credit ratings agencies — Moody's, in this case — (which I can't remember doing much [or do I mean little?] to predict and avert the global financial meltdown) are still not being laughed at with the scorn and contempt they so richly deserve as they pronounce portentously1 on the economies of entire nations that don't even speak the same language. Still, I suppose we can all relax and rejoice to hear that Finland is now the sole, untroubled, exception.
Nor — somewhat closer to my level — am I quite sure that a Treasury minister branding people as 'immoral' for paying tradesmen in cash for a discount is going to recover anything like the amount of "lost" tax that could be recovered by a determined co-ordinated global assault on the filthy stinking rich with their (reportedly) trillion or so tucked away in various 'offshore' tax havens. Now there's a powerful piece of immorality for you.
"It's the same the whole world over" ...
... as an old song has it. "It's the rich wot gets the pleasure, and the poor wot gets the blame." And if that isn't a neat encapsulation of the purest maxim at the unbeating heart of 'Thatcherism' then I don't know what is.
Thinks: Maybe I'm grumpy because "Just shoot me!" turned out to be so unfunny... Or was it caused by skimming the consumer price indices for 1750 to 2003? Did we even have consumers in 1750? (Amazing source.)
I need to consume some breakfast!
The walk was...
... very pleasant, but not in the least bit cool. Phew! Still, no sign of horsefly nibbles. I now have to nip back out to collect something that was too large to squish through my letterbox, though not before a nice cool shower and a change of clothes. [Pause] Done. So, here I am again clutching...
... a nice, fresh cuppa, the eight DVDs that make up Seasons #1 and #2 of the precursor to "Boston Legal", and a little indie number that did well at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
Before you ask...
... the little design in the top right hand corner is the bottom left hand bit of that most modern of devices... a portcullis:
That's Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), not stem cell research :-)
It's 19:04 and a somewhat sticky 26C here in the living room. Better do something about food, I suppose, though I'm actually never very hungry in hot weather. Besides, I didn't even finish my packed lunch until four hours ago. I expect I can find room for a cuppa, though. [Pause] The film was a delight and, on the evidence of the 'pilot' episode, so too is "The Practice". It's like a grungy version of "Boston Legal", a programme that Christa and I both enjoyed enormously.