2014 — 3 February: Monday
I evidently needed more sleep than I've been getting recently as I was unusually zombie-like by 10 pm yesterday. Naturally1 I initially woke up at 4 am but I wasn't having any of that — I'd end up drifting into a night-life cycle — which is why it's now a much more civilised 7:30 or so. Not that the radio news suggests there's overmuch civilisation around.
I shall be trying...
... one of the Wheatsheaf's monthly pie nights tonight. That's definitely a 'first' for me. What larks, Pip, ol' chum.
Breakfast is still a thing of the future, and I'm not yet convinced I can escape the need for a spot of fresh supplies. I've also become aware that I need to check the credit on an M&S giftcard. It seems to work on the "use it or lose it" principle. I took it with me down to Soton shortly before Xmas... perhaps you can spot the flaw in that plan?
"Petroc" has just played...
... a bagatelle by William Walton, performed by Julian Bream. Odd that I should have seen Walton for the first time just yesterday afternoon; Mike had been playing me some fragments from a double DVD he'd imported from the US of 'Sounds of the Sixties' music performances from various BBC programmes as he sought my help in identifying some of the presenters and guests on the wide array of material. I was able to identify Robert Robinson and Julie Felix among others. Walton was a studio guest on one such fragment. Kit Lambert (then manager of The Who) was apparently his godson or nephew or some such.
Good grief! Lloyds Bank (which, as a stupidly law-abiding tax payer, I own about 33% of) has now set aside very nearly £10,000,000,000 in total as potential compensation for mis-sold payment protection insurance misdeeds in its past. No wonder there's such a growth industry in outfits offering me unsolicited help in claiming such compensation (fictional or otherwise). I suspect I could manage quite nicely on 33% of the interest from that...
Clearly, the shock...
... of discovering that I had already cleaned out every last drop of credit on my M&S giftcard tipped me temporarily over the edge of sanity during this morning's enjoyable little two-hour trot around Soton. How else to explain my arriving back here in time to make lunch and then contemplate two of these three DVD TV shows?
"Joan of Arcadia" was waiting for me on the doorstep. Annoyingly, "some music has been changed for this home entertainment version". Just as annoyingly, Paramount demonstrates its continued lack of understanding by saying (a) the material is a widescreen version enhanced for 16:9 TVs, and (b) the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen are normal.
Lovely to see the late Kathryn Joosten (Mrs Landingham, of course) playing Old Lady God!
Alas, the...
... prediction of an 80% chance of heavy rain by 9 pm proved all too accurate. But it's the company that counts, not the weather.