2013 — 12 July: Friday
Shock, horror. Civil servants themselves are apparently not confident that their outsourcing management skills are their strongest point.1 There have been, are, and will (in all probability) continue to be numerous hints at this astonishing state of affairs to be found in recent (and not so recent) issues of "Private Eye". However, this important topic has only just made it on to BBC Radio 4 in the few minutes available between the emetic non-secular "Thought of the Day" (doubtless from someone giving credence to the controlling wishes of an imaginary friend) and predictions of what the weather might be. (Cool and cloudy hereabouts.)
Arboreal propagation
I never previously suspected Big Bro of taking an interest in the thorny question of how trees make new trees (in this case, in "B/C", the precise geographic location of which he has failed to vouchsafe to me) but he has been kind enough to send an image of one possible theory:
Perhaps Tolkien was right after all? How ent-ertaining. [Pause] I had some hope of BBC Radio 3 being less annoying than its "news"-based sibling. However, the discussion of the frantic preparations for a "Doctor Who"-based Prom concert is not encouraging.
Five years ago...
... to the day, I see I made a prediction. It seems Civil servants are equally adrift in other areas:
It's eight years since "it's an Equitable Life, Henry" and we're about to see the official report from the Ombudsman of who was to blame. (Fix the problem, dammit, not the blame.) Total estimated cost of compensation attributable to regulatory incompetence? A mere £4,000,000,000 or so (to come, no doubt, from the guvmint — that is, the tax payers). That is, me.
I received my eventual compensation payment two months ago — long after I'd given up worrying about it. It was for 22.4% of my estimated loss — a rate agreed by the guvmint to be "fair" to other tax payers who were footing the bill. I still smile at the surreal irony of helping to pay myself to (partially) compensate myself for a loss caused by guvmint incompetence. Only in the UK, perhaps?
Christa and I...
... agreed that the film made from one of Dan Brown's books was a waste of two hours of our lives. Clive James nicely eviscerates a new book from Dan the Man while still managing to plug, very gently, his own new translation of Dante's epic poem. Source and snippet:
As for the author himself, he will probably go on taking every course there is, in his heroically studious search for a new subject. Dante was a bad choice, I think. Most of Brown's huge audience won't have a clue what he's talking about. If they want to find out, I recommend my new translation of The Divine Comedy, which Brown was mischievously shown by the American newspaper USA Today. The author of Inferno said of my translation that it was "kind of clever." I want you to know this because if even a tiny percentage of the audience of Inferno chooses my translation to find out more about Dante, I might come closer to being rewarded for years of labour.
Like Mr James, I'm now old enough "to find pretentious absurdity a diverting spectacle".
10 days from now...
... it will be precisely 30 years since I bought my first three CDs (top row) in HMV in Soton. They cost me £31-97. I've just bought another two, and Mr Postie dropped off a third while I was still out. (Bottom row.)
Today's trio cost me £19-36 which, after inflation during those 30 years, is rather less than a tenner in 1983 money.2 It was nice to find some new stuff from Roger Waters; I shall reserve judgement on the Scott Walker until I've played it all. It's pretty weird so far. Still, it was half-price. [Pause] Nope. It's been removed from the CD player. It won't be re-inserted.
Having supplemented...
... my experimental prawn, rice and mango salad lunch with yesterday's new pack of prawns3 I caught some of the Kermode and Mayo film reviews programme before heading out for an overdue visit to the Roger & Eileen tea'n'biccy shoppe. Then it was back to Technology Towers in time for a light evening meal and the "News Quiz". Which, so much news being aggravating at the moment, is so far proving not very funny.
A phone call...
... a while ago from my "son and heir" was simply to ask if he and Peter's g/f could arrive earlier tomorrow morning than originally planned. They are both in need of some serious relaxing, it seems. Since that's my main occupation these days, what could I say but "No problemo"? I wasn't too keen on their suggestion of a seaside picnic, however, as I'm having rather a battle with high pollen levels at the moment. We shall see (or, maybe, sea).