2015 — 12 November: Thursday
Today's planned adventure? Assuming the autumnal mist isn't too troublesome, I'm currently predicting another walk in what passes — in these days of rigged vehicle emissions — for fresh air hereabouts. Toot toot.
I await my...
... next pleasing thought. After yesterday's Internet-delivered firmware upgrade to my Oppo Blu-ray player who knows what could happen? The player's main use last night was to load and play a few tantalising exploratory bursts from a whole series of my home-recorded DVDs from over a decade ago to help me catalogue exactly what lurks1 on them in sufficient detail for Kodi input purposes. So I've been working systematically through the CaseLogic folders on a sort of physical stock-taking exercise.
Most of the transient stuff I captured in those distant days derived from broadcasts in the previous millennium (originally captured on VHS and S-VHS tapes). But I seriously doubt much of it will feature large (or even register at all) in any of the more "modern" online TV show databases, so there's going to be more than a tad of hand-editing of supplementary XML-like tags for Kodi's further edification in due course. Hobbies, heh?
The evening had quite an archaeological feel to it.
Close study...
... of a portion of yesterday's diary entry will reveal the, erm, depths of my cultural taste on occasion. So today's apology (read on arriving back from a pleasant walk) from Mr Amazon — who, after deliberating for several months, has finally admitted that which I had long suspected: viz, that he can't actually supply an imported copy of "Road House" on Blu-ray after all — shouldn't be too much of a shock. And a marketplace seller I've used many times before is perfectly happy to step into the breach, for less money than the original order.
In between mouthfuls...
... of my delicious sweet (fruity compôte) and savoury (pancake-and-roast-chicken) mélange for my late lunch I've also just unwrapped a fiver I found paper-clipped to this photo...
... of five air race handicap officials at Hendon or Brooklands in the 1920s. My 'compensation' from its author for having paid him too much postage for two further copies of his excellent biography of Geoffrey de Havilland. Nice!
I've yet to find...
... any audible trace of, or web information about, the much-trailed "pop up" BBC digital radio jazz station that supposedly fired up about 40 minutes ago for the next few days. But my existing audio backlog means I shan't grieve over-much.
In fact, I was just hanging up today's laundry when I heard Mara Caryle playing2 something that stopped me in my tracks, as it were. A familiar 'round' I mentioned several years ago. (It's a simple traditional ditty called A' Soalin', apparently — I'd not actually heard it given that title before.) And why's it familiar? Well, Christa and I had both learned it as children and would sing it (she harmonising in German, me in English) on our regular overnight road-trips to and from her parental mansion in Meisenheim in the mid- to late-1970s to help keep ourselves awake.
Small World :-)
Speaking of...
... parental visits, Peter's just rung to check out my opinion of a visit from them this weekend. Good job I've just cleaned the kitchen sink and its worktop. But I probably don't now have time to clear out the dining room, dagnabbit.
How often...
... can one expect to find, not one, but two, Blu-rays that one was unaware of? And both by excellent directors:
Though, I admit, I'm a little dubious about some of the spelling in the phrase "This taught thriller..." on the back of "Last Embrace". <Sigh>
And I can digest my evening meal to these CDs:
Though, until I'd read the accompanying booklet, I was puzzled by the thinking behind 'pop music' covers that are so incredibly authentic they are tricky to distinguish from the originals.