2014 — 23 June: Monday
I'm listening to one of those disgustingly-patriotic World War I recruiting songs1 "We don't want to lose you but we think you ought to go" sung by Edna Thornton. King and country? Yeah, right. What was that about Lions led by Donkeys?
It's a mere 24.4C here in my living room — positively chilly.
A worthy...
... list of challenges...
- Antibiotics
- Flight
- Paralysis
- Dementia
- Water
- Food
... though I would tentatively suggest that the sheer weight of humanity is surely the greatest single cause of the multiple stresses we're foolishly imposing on the only planet within reach that actually supports us. I recall a delightful letter in the Grauniad:
Twenty-five years ago I wrote to you to say that the country was over-populated and that people ought to have fewer babies.
You didn't publish my letter. Now look what's happened.
J.G. Riddall.
Bradwill, Sheffield.
Author George "Game of Thrones" Martin took a similar stance in one of his stories of "Tuf Voyaging".
Nice to see...
... a developing spat on occasion. "Nobody was ever castigated by a kestrel" is not a phrase I ever anticipated typing, that's for sure. (Link.)
When it's...
... this warm — gasps the mighty hunter-gatherer, back from his pre-lunch raids on the food and entertainment supply emporia within convenient striking distance — I find the only thing I really miss after a Quarter Century of cubicle wage-slavery in IBM is, erm, the air-conditioning. And, depending on the age of the building within the Hursley site, even that was by no means a "given".
R.I.P. Felix Dennis
He had, in his later years, become a fine poet.
Not to mention, amassing the largest collection of Eric Gill art in private hands.
My foray...
... into Asda was a lot more entertaining than the earlier food acquisition in Waitrose. Mr Postie added the Clint Eastwood film (which I've actually never seen):
The "Matthew Mahogany" collection struck me as particularly good value; three films for £15. Spike Jonze is a 'quirky' director. I've been waiting for his latest title since first reading about it last December.
Right. Time for a spot of lunch before it (the weather) gets so hot as to put me off food altogether. [Pause] Well, it's no longer so sunny out there, but the digital mercury (what are liquid crystal digits made of?) in here is saying my living room is now at 26.4C — time to bring a fan into play, methinks.
If I had to...
... pick an argument against so-called Intelligent Design, I think I'd call as my prosecution witness the ghastly tick I've just carefully but ruthlessly expunged from my leg after it betrayed its presence by an increasing itchiness. Whatever came up with that one is a bit too Intelligent for its own good. That should teach me to wear long trousers for any future treks through swathes of long grass like yesterday's, dagnabbit.