2012 — 6 October: Saturday
After last night's dreary rain it's a much brighter start1 that bodes quite well for our planned walk in less than three hours. Assuming I can find something edible to stuff between a couple of slices of bread. Assuming I remembered to take some bread out of the freezer... I did.
The cool is a bit autumnal. Perhaps I should also get dressed. I finished watching Season #2 of "West Wing" just after midnight. That was with the Two Cathedrals episode which has accumulated a 'vote' of 9.5 (out of 10) in the eleven years or more since it was first shown. But the rest of the series, although still mighty fine, doesn't quite ever reach this level again so I will be now switching to other stuff for a while — assuming I can find any time and/or material :-)
Abortion
Not just the subject of my first-ever debate with Christa on almost our very first evening together. (I was trounced, needless to say, and have ever since held an entirely different opinion.) I suspect if our current guvmint's "Health Secretary" were a woman of child-bearing age he would not hold his present (stupid) opinion either on what should be the term limit for abortions (12 weeks!?!). You can probably wait 12 weeks just to get a GP appointment in these straitened times. Although it's only my uninformed opinion, and thus worthless, I somehow feel his name (Jeremy Hunt) says it all. Apart from the unfortunate typo.
Quote: (are you ready for this?) "It is just my view about that incredibly difficult question about the moment that we should deem life to start. I don't think the reason I have that view is for religious reasons."
Well, that's OK then. Besides Downing Street (who knew a street could talk?) has already stressed it's his personal opinion, not guvmint policy. Although I now learn that there's such a thing as the "vice chairman parliamentary pro-life group". Shouldn't everyone be 'pro-life'? Oh, wait, that's not quite what they mean... Silly me. (Link.)
It's a good job...
... I've become reasonably adept at retuning my relatively new hi-def i-Can Freeview box (even if I only use it as a digital radio). I gather the next retuning exercise is now set for 17 October, though even that is not yet the final phase of the channel re-org. (Link.)
I had never even heard of the instrument for which Schubert wrote his Arpeggione Sonata. Sounds lovely.
Include me out!
Good grief. I go out for a simple, albeit somewhat muddy, walk in the countryside with my chum, get home, have a shower, sling the washing in the machine, make a cuppa, settle down to see what's new and interesting in the world, and bang up hard against this insane, ludicrous, stupid, dangerous, cretinous, piece of dim-witted and very ill-advised guvmint "thinking":
I hadn't realised it was still the first of April.
As I laboured...
... slowly towards the top of one of the hills that Mike had assured me were not a feature of today's walk my eye was caught by a brief rainbow flash. I back-tracked for a closer look, then picked up the item and placed it in sunlight on a convenient stable platform while he handed over his Nikon to let me see if I could re-create the moment. Although I failed, we were both quite pleased with the result of my attempt. Click the pic to see the whole thing:
I must say, Jazz Record Requests is particularly fine this afternoon as I rest my weary limbs. I note that St James Infirmary is coming up.
The Butler did it
As I suggested several months ago, though I predicted it would be a tabloid headline, rather than one from the BBC...
