2015 — 17 May: Sunday
A nice, sunny morning.1 Junior, who is still clearly thinking about ways and means of streaming music throughout his house, was asking my opinion of something I'd never even heard of until yesterday:
Were I not already pretty well sorted-out in my own multi-room musical requirements I might very easily have been tempted. The various add-on daughter boards (for the Raspberry Pi) brought back memories of the range of ILP modular audio units regularly advertised in places like "Wireless World" magazine 40 years ago. (I'm getting old, Christa!)
More tea, please, vicar. And perhaps a pink flesh grapefruit?
This all looks...
... frightfully benevolent, until you discover that its work includes (among much else) basically promoting tobacco. And one of its directors is that splendid chap who cut "let them off the hook" tax deals with Goldman Sachs, and Vodafone, in his earlier 'life'.
"Thank you for smoking!"
This all looks...
... likely to end in tears before bedtime. This snippet, which is actually from one of the comments attracted by Will Hutton's possibly over-optimistic article, neatly encapsulates what was dear Mama's opinion (at least until her dementia left her unable to formulate such things):
Too many people, informed only by the tabloid press in the debate, will vote against the EU because of fears of hordes of immigrants, mostly Islamic of course, who are 'about to take over the country', because they believe the absurd assertion that
Europe is run by 'faceless bureaucrats' who are 'unelected' (just like British civil servants of course), and that the 'Germans have got through the EU what they failed to get in the 1940s through war.'
It is difficult to win any rational argument with such people and such beliefs, and all we can hope is that there are not enough of them to swing the vote...
I couldn't have put it better myself. And I gave up trying to change dear Mama's various (sometimes bizarre, often amusing, usually ludicrous) idées fixes back in the late 1960s. Being (and remaining) a part of Europe never struck me or Christa as anything but a no-brainer. Sadly,2 we were probably both more intelligent than the average UK politician. Well, she certainly was!
Back from a...
... 31-mile circular "mystery tour" — given that I had no fixed destination in mind when I set off — that turned out to encompass the wonderful crop of multi-coloured Himalayan weeds (aka rhododendrons) in the vicinity of Hillier's, then on through (or past) Timsbury, Kimbridge, Mottisfont, Brook, King's Sombourne, Stockbridge, and thence back almost into Winchester, followed by Compton, Otterbourne, and home.
As Christa often assured me I would, I find driving very liberating.
It's not very comforting to see quite how riskily some people drive when it's not just putting themselves in jeopardy. I have said for many years when asked why I don't drive that there are already enough idiots on the road without my adding to the total. I'm beginning to revise my views. But idiots or not, my incentive to get my licence remains as high as ever. The fact that I'm very much enjoying the process is pure added gravy. And I still find I cannot worry about Christa while I'm trying to stay alive on those byways.
[Pause]
Tea, methinks. And then a spot of lunch, perhaps.
No rest...
... for the Amazon delivery elves. Two of the UK's finest institutions — the House of Commons, and the BBC — are scrutinised here. One is a comedy and the other a documentary. I wonder if I will be able to distinguish between them?
Meanwhile the chap sitting in for Guy Garvey played that amazing theme tune from "The Bridge" by Choir of Young Believers. Isn't it about time for Season #3 of that fine drama? Just askin'.