2014 — 3 September: Wednesday
The main item of news1 being another apparent beheading by Islamic State, as retribution for US air strikes, one has to wonder what the next sane move will be. The Middle East has never for a moment featured on my (non-existent, but growing) list of likely holiday destinations.
I shall be...
... flitting hither and yon like the proverbially blue-arsed fly in my newly-serviced little non-blue-arsed car today. Even unto the wilds of IBM Hursley. Briefly. [Pause] I hadn't heard, but find I certainly agree with, this:
"Analyzing humor," E.B. White wrote, "is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies."
(Link.)
Actually, the frog doesn't always die. Consider the Sam Gross cartoon "Try our Frogs' legs", that appeared in "National Lampoon". (Example.)
Now here's a...
... near-perfect example of one of the reasons I had in mind when I gave up buying a daily Grauniad quite soon after Christa had died:
Don't get me wrong. Jennifer Lawrence is a very good-looking young lady whom I enjoy watching.
The blue-arsed fly...
... having first unsuccessfully scoured the bargain shelves of Asda, then delivered a DVD, picked up a file, made an appointment to see Dr Fang next week, ferried Pauline from and back to Hursley after a simple lunch and a delightful catch-up chat here in Technology Towers, and even managed to intercept Mr Postie with today's little lump (280 minutes' worth) of Zone A Blu-ray goodness from across the Great Divide...
...can finally stop flapping his wings, and kick back with Beethoven's Missa Solemnis for a while. And a cuppa, of course. This being retired lark can be quite exhausting.
Thanks, Uncle ERNIE!
Every little helps; even just a £25 minimum prize. [Pause] Diane Rehm is chatting to Gail Sheehy. Inevitably, there's a new book involved. I wonder when I culled "Passages" from my little library? It was some time before 1994. Now I discover that the Library of Congress regards it as one of the ten most influential books of our times. Crikey.