2015 — 8 July: Wednesday
Last night's meal? A simple thing of my own devising. I shall call it a "chicken salad". Washed down, as it were, by a glass of "The Ned's" finest New Zealand 13.5% Pinot Grigio, 2014 (in my case) and, erm, the rest of the bottle in Big Bro's. Still, it went on my John Lewis card so at least I'll get a boost in my "points". As did the large bottle of gin he's presenting to an old oppo up in Congleton1 later today. By contrast, I will only be following him up the A34 as far as Hurstbourne Priors in search of very congenial company and another spot of homely Thai food for my lunchtime treat.
Last night's entertainment? A double bill of Blu-rays — with an interval refeshment of a punnet of rasp/blackberries — Anton Corbijn's marvellous Euro-thriller "The American" followed by the noisy nonsense that is "RED2". Both new to him. I skipped the apparently inevitable nightcap.
Harari's book...
... is, so far, proving very entertaining. I always like it when that happens. [Pause] I shall be investigating a better keyboard in the very near future. This Ryos II MK Glow is showing too many signs of premature keytop wear. The problem being that as the tops wear, so the underlying LED backlighting blurs and obscures the letter shapes. I really should have stolen one of those built-like-a-tank IBM office keyboards of my earlier years.
Oh, good grief!
Big Bro won't be worrying overmuch as he fills his new suitcase:
Admittedly I am a nervous flyer, so while I'm packing there is always a corner of my brain wondering what my belongings will look like hanging from a tree on the television news. But that's far from the only reason packing is stressful.
If you've packed your own case, surely you would know what its contents look like, Ms Willis?
Between a rock...
... and a hard case place. The Director of the FBI says: "To protect the public, the government sometimes needs to be able to see an individual's stuff, but only under appropriate circumstances and with appropriate oversight." I say: "MYOB." But then, I'm neither a criminal nor a terrorist. Circumstances alter cases places.
[Pause]
Right. Places to be. Time to go. TTFN
And home again
The north-bound M3 was tolerable at noon — whereas it had been showing a "50 mph" limit at its Chilworth entrance an hour earlier when we were returning from Soton, our business smoothly transacted. The A34 was also fine. However, I was feeling a bit more risk-averse later in the afternoon,2 so I made a last-minute decision to dodge round the motorway, and was duly rewarded (on looking down from one of the bridges over it) to see three full, slow-moving, south-bound lanes after Winchester.
My next keyboard...
... is now on its way, though the predicted delivery date is a month away. I expect I'll survive. I'm getting another DAS Model — very similar, I hope, to my previous excellent one that Peter somehow "absconded" with. Fingers crossed. It's time for my next infusion of tea.