I found all this in my "working file" and realised you hadnt had the joy of it so here it is in all its glory - I keep saying I will do this more frequently but never seem to manage it. Actually what I really need to do is give you some of it and the rest at an even later date and I need to start a new "working file" as more seems to end up in there than ends up on here...
August 19th
So long, no action. This is primarily due to laziness but also a result of busy-ness. The books I have long since been recording on the “visual bookshelf” element of Facebook, so have no need to record them here. This leaves this area free for my own brand of spit and vitriol.
Yes I am still sick of no-money-dossers. Having explained to one particular idiot this afternoon that I would have put their dog to sleep rather than run up a £700 bill if they had told me, they asked me if I was serious? Of course I was I replied, if that is all you can afford then that is all you will get. I also pointed out that I would really rather have not spent hours pissing about with their dog and making it better if I was not going to be paid. Hopefully some cash will be forthcoming but I am not optimistic.
The computer engineer has been here all day and we have a new server. Rather unusually everything seems to be working fine and I rather think it will remain so. I hope to finish painting the laundry floor tonight. This was a major job over the weekend and I am looking forward to finishing it off.
On top of all the other things a rather nasty feral cat bit a quarter of the nail off my left index finger this morning and this necessitated a trip to A&E to make sure I had adequate antibiotic cover. Scrubbing up is going to be murder for the next while. The offending cat is now frozen.
The laptop suffered a major system crash last week and had to have a complete reinstall of Windows. Fortunately my data was all up to date and I only backed-up 2 hours prior to the crash. Not quite the major issue we had last time but still pretty annoying.
30th September 2008
Don’t seem to be able to get the hang of this at all - I have not touched this document for over a month, but have been active all over various forums on the internet.
These forums provide a modicum of interest but sometimes all they do is wind me up.
The MSE forum is full of people who should never have been allowed access to the internet, being too thick to fully comprehend the topics on which they are passing comment. “Daily Mail” rules OK I fear. If places such as these are representative of the population as a whole then we can be sure and safe in the knowledge that intelligence is firmly in the hands of a very small minority.
The RCVS forum is dominated by one individual and as such appears to be a way of him foisting his ideas and views upon a larger group than he would normally have access to. It is therefore nearly as narrow in viewpoint as the body it seeks to vilify (the RCVS).
The Facebook group “Stupid things pet owners say to vets and vet nurses” suffers from a similar lack of perspective.
All of these provide diversion but I think I will attempt to stop spending time with them. I shall rejuvenate my self posting here and reconnect with the real world.
Facebook itself does at least provide connections with people I know in real life, but could border on obsession.
Things move on and so do I.
But….. Muddled thinking appears to be the norm these days. A recent oration by an itinerant preacher was a good case in point. I am sure the congregation lapped it up but using “child abuse” as a shock tactic to get his point across was a very low point. His kind of vitriol gives the secularists all they need to wage a successful battle against organised religion. I am sure his types are preaching the length and breadth of this land but I for one would like to see the death of this “fundie” claptrap. His view that it was almost “child abuse” to give children the “stories” from the Bible without the “truth” of the gospel and without “bringing them to Jesus”, was a very poor show. I could see a counter jibe at Prof. Dawkins equally vacuous “child abuse” argument but it was pointed out to me that he may not have been intelligent enough to have worked this out and it was more likely an attack on the creeping secularisation of religious teaching in schools. If so then it was an attack from an ill-informed viewpoint and just as valid as anything the “Daily Mail” would concoct.
October 6th
A very depressing day; but at least it was dry. I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of seemingly endless discussions which have only one single root – money or more accurately; lack of money. I want to tell all these people to “sod off” and go and bother someone else, but this would only create further difficulties. I had every single damn variation of the Pet-Aid discussion.
One client claimed that she now owned the dog (as opposed to the actual owner who was presenting the dog) so that she could attempt to use her PetAid certificate for the patient. This was because the patient was suffering from a severe skin disease which would require a lot of intervention (and cost). The dog had been taken on by a young woman in full knowledge of all its various ailments and she had already failed to return the dog to us for assessment of its progress after the previous examination some 2 months ago. The dog is now necessarily so much worse and has been left to deteriorate to such an extent that recovery may be very hard indeed.
It got worse, it really did. Another new patient was presented requiring surgical intervention and I just knew from the outset that we were going to run into trouble with the financial aspects. On explaining that the cost would be £250 the client calmly asked “how is that going to affect me financially?”. That bears no further scrutiny.
My business manager presented me with an unpaid bill for sorting out the boiler. This bill in itself was not unreasonable but my business partner had asked for a “breakdown” of the labour charge. This had not been forthcoming from the heating engineer and we had not been able to make contact with him to ask for this and he had not returned our calls. On close reading of the bill it seemed quite obvious to me what the labour charge was for and I felt that it was well explained. I really don’t know what my business partner was expecting but I suspect that he just didn’t fancy paying the bill. I struggle to keep going with this person, and am at a loss to know what to do. I suspect my only option is to “walk away” but I don’t think I am quite in a position to be able to do this just yet.
The staff are also suffering quite a lot at the moment, primarily due to the shortage in staff. We lost a full time nurse in July and a part time assistant in September and these were in addition to the member of staff who has been on maternity leave for the last year. This is compounded by holidays and training. This is not helped by those who fail to read their rota and not turn up until much later than they should.
I also had another prescription request. I find it very hard to believe that the profession quietly acquiesced to this legislation. Either we don’t care that much or we are all far too law abiding for our own good. I managed to get the client to take enough medication to cover the remainder of this month until I can at least charge them for the privilege of writing the script. I now realise that I have not given her enough of one of the medications and I will almost certainly need to provide them with their requested script FOC in this case. It is, of course, fairly obvious that the charging period will be finite. At the end of this period we can, at best, expect regulation of the costs and at worst a reintroduction of the demand to allow free scripts. I would wish that at least one member would stick their head above the parapet and demand a charge from someone during the “no charge” period. I guess that I now have this opportunity (see above), but am probably way too “chicken” to actually do it.
We also have the ongoing 24/7 working issue. This is causing much discussion within the profession, as the RCVS is currently giving it some hard thought. The MRCVS discussion group provides a lively debating forum but I feel that some of the ire directed at the RCVS is unfounded. In this case it would be useful to identify what or who they think the “RCVS” is/are. I think the RCVS is not some large faceless organisation; it is the sum of its members and the council they have elected to help with progress in the decision making and policy direction. The employees (such as they are) of the RCVS are merely acting at the council’s direction. Therefore to what or whom are we directing our comment? The logical conclusion of this is that we are directing it at ourselves! In this case we could therefore be held to be “navel gazing”. Perhaps we are directing our comment at the legislation and charter which hold our college together. In this case we would be urinating into the wind as these show no realistic chance of being changed in the near future.
With respect to the 24/7 issue, I really can’t decide where my sympathies lie. I think I would agree with an opening to deregulation in this area: to let the “market forces decide”. I would also like to see a removal of the obligation to make a home visit “on demand”, although on careful reading of the GTPC, it would appear that a refusal backed by a rational and recorded thought process is more than adequate to satisfy the DC.
I despise being coerced into seeing patients, where I have no realistic chance of being paid. I despise the chance of being woken at any time of the night and the stress that this causes. The RCVS council would do well to actually recognise the stresses that these obligations place upon the profession. This of course being a profession where suicide and drink/drug problems are flagged up as very real issues.
The good news was that the results of the Coniston Trail race came through and I managed a place of 104 out of 298 in a time of 55minutes. Given that this was an 11km course and much more suited to the road racers, I am quite happy. 600 had entered for the race but the weather on Saturday had probably put an awful lot of competitors off. The ground was extremely wet underfoot and there were streams to cross and distinctly muddy ground. I had worried that I might have some problems leaving the carpark, as this too was quite filthy. I moved the car from its original parking place as I was at very real risk of sinking deeper into the mire.
October 7th
Have to take the car to the garage once again, as its electrical innards are playing up once again. This is hard on the heels of its previous sensor problem only a few weeks ago. I guess that we are facing a new car sooner or later but that this is the price of running a 6yo vehicle.
October 31st
I wrote a whole load of stuff in this document last night but it has all disappeared – very annoying.
(Update 22nd Feb 09 – I know where it went now – all in the blog posted – cut/paste instead of copy/paste – now there will be duplication – ha ha!)
The rest over the next few days - buena suerte mis amigos
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Thursday, 29 January 2009
This is a piece of shameless plagiarism and lazy research in that I nicked it from a post on a forum I frequent, but found it funny and I think you might:
Here are the winners of this year's Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter,and supply a new definition:
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who is both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
13. Glibido: All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets intoyour bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. And the winners are:
1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one hasgained.
3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.
6. Negligent, adj.. Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
7. Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence, n.. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle n. A humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation withyiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul fliesup onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent, n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn byJewish men.
I have managed an 18mile run, which was a bit of an effort as I haven't run that far since October last year. A weekend on call looms so apart from gym trips I will be limited for physical acticity over the next few days. I do need to get out and play some golf but the weather is very variable - I might get some action tomorrow if the rain holds off for long enough.
Here are the winners of this year's Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter,and supply a new definition:
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who is both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
13. Glibido: All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets intoyour bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. And the winners are:
1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one hasgained.
3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.
6. Negligent, adj.. Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
7. Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence, n.. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle n. A humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation withyiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul fliesup onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent, n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn byJewish men.
I have managed an 18mile run, which was a bit of an effort as I haven't run that far since October last year. A weekend on call looms so apart from gym trips I will be limited for physical acticity over the next few days. I do need to get out and play some golf but the weather is very variable - I might get some action tomorrow if the rain holds off for long enough.
Saturday, 24 January 2009
warning: ill tempered ramblings
As I said, right at the beginning, this (blog) was started to record the minutiae of my life, and was intended as a way for me to keep a record of these events in the very likely event that I go nuts and lose the ability to think. Facebook took over a bit, especially for the books, but there is still a place for my musings. I dont expect anyone to agree with me and I may change my mind next week but a least it will give me an idea of what was exercising my brain at the time it was posted. It has been very sporadic, but that is just because I rarely remember to keep it up. The following is very typical and although intemperate, is currently representative. I really do need to get out more...
A Storm is brewing over the showing of the anti-Muslim film “Fitna” by Geert Wilders http://www.mediawatchwatch.org.uk/. This site is very useful for pointing out what is happening and it always pays to be aware of the atheist / humanist fools, as much as it does to be aware of the fundies.
Maybe this makes me a sit-on-the-fence neither-here-nor-there person without a definitive view but I don’t really care as I think it might just give me a more balanced viewpoint. I would not like to be packaged to any of the narrow-minded bigot groups and I would resent the limited philosophical outlook this would allow me to have.
Here: http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/, you can see what happens when opinions are allowed to run freely. The site points out the loonies who frequent the BBCs Have-Your-Say website – it is truly amusing and quite worrying in equal parts. This: http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/the-twat-o-tron/, can provide almost endless amusement.
Back to the point in a round about sort of way and bringing together the above. The MWW website is attracting comments about the cancelled showing of “Fitna” and I can only conclude that they are reaching the depths previously only attained by posters to "Have-Your-Say". You can easily see this happening here: http://www.mediawatchwatch.org.uk/2009/01/23/house-of-lords-fitna-show-cancelled/#comments
I fail to understand why such vitriol is required by "atheists/humanists", or anyone for that matter, in order to make their point, they just look a "bit stupid".
A Storm is brewing over the showing of the anti-Muslim film “Fitna” by Geert Wilders http://www.mediawatchwatch.org.uk/. This site is very useful for pointing out what is happening and it always pays to be aware of the atheist / humanist fools, as much as it does to be aware of the fundies.
Maybe this makes me a sit-on-the-fence neither-here-nor-there person without a definitive view but I don’t really care as I think it might just give me a more balanced viewpoint. I would not like to be packaged to any of the narrow-minded bigot groups and I would resent the limited philosophical outlook this would allow me to have.
Here: http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/, you can see what happens when opinions are allowed to run freely. The site points out the loonies who frequent the BBCs Have-Your-Say website – it is truly amusing and quite worrying in equal parts. This: http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/the-twat-o-tron/, can provide almost endless amusement.
Back to the point in a round about sort of way and bringing together the above. The MWW website is attracting comments about the cancelled showing of “Fitna” and I can only conclude that they are reaching the depths previously only attained by posters to "Have-Your-Say". You can easily see this happening here: http://www.mediawatchwatch.org.uk/2009/01/23/house-of-lords-fitna-show-cancelled/#comments
I fail to understand why such vitriol is required by "atheists/humanists", or anyone for that matter, in order to make their point, they just look a "bit stupid".
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
This Is a test to see if the system will work . I was quite keen to work out how to use all the features of this new phone . It took me a bit of time to get the email to work. I have even had a very long distance chat over the internet to sort out connection issues! This Is all very exciting (I know I need to get out more) but I have to be able to use every possible phone feature.
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Masters of Creation
Ripped from Orbital who ripped it from Russel Davies; just about sums it all up I think:
“You are becoming gods. There's a new master of creation; and it's you! You've unraveled DNA, and at the same time you're cultivating bacteria strong enough to kill every living thing. You think you're ready for that much power?”
"You Lot,?”
”You Lot ?”
”Cheeky bastards... You're running around science like kids with guns, creating a new world, while the world you've got is stinking, but, hands up, hands up; anyone who thinks you've got it right?”
”Yeah, there's always one. I can see you.”
”If you want the position of God, then take the responsibility!”
“You are becoming gods. There's a new master of creation; and it's you! You've unraveled DNA, and at the same time you're cultivating bacteria strong enough to kill every living thing. You think you're ready for that much power?”
"You Lot,?”
”You Lot ?”
”Cheeky bastards... You're running around science like kids with guns, creating a new world, while the world you've got is stinking, but, hands up, hands up; anyone who thinks you've got it right?”
”Yeah, there's always one. I can see you.”
”If you want the position of God, then take the responsibility!”
Sunday, 16 November 2008
panem et circenses
The alien anthropologists admitted they were still perplexed and
On eliminating every other reason for our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death…
Roger Waters: Amused to Death
This seems strangely apt in the face of a rash of advertising for the rather-less-than-erudite “Zack and Miri make a porno”. We truly have reached the peak of human achievement in that case; haven’t we? I would also like to think that it rather weakens the case for evolution as it would appear that we are taking deleterious steps rather than making progress.
... iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli
uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim
imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se
continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat,
panem et circenses. ...
Richard Dawkins might like to think we are developed to such a degree that we no longer have need of religion and that the power of rational thought will carry us forward to a glorious new future but I give you “Zack and Miri make a porno”.
On eliminating every other reason for our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death…
Roger Waters: Amused to Death
This seems strangely apt in the face of a rash of advertising for the rather-less-than-erudite “Zack and Miri make a porno”. We truly have reached the peak of human achievement in that case; haven’t we? I would also like to think that it rather weakens the case for evolution as it would appear that we are taking deleterious steps rather than making progress.
... iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli
uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim
imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se
continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat,
panem et circenses. ...
Richard Dawkins might like to think we are developed to such a degree that we no longer have need of religion and that the power of rational thought will carry us forward to a glorious new future but I give you “Zack and Miri make a porno”.
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Catching up
12th June 08
Try this – marvellous!
http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf
This is going to be one-of-those-days. No-one here seems capable of performing even the smallest task without requiring my input – very frustrating. It would also appear that a person who left a couple of months ago, did not leave adequate instructions for certain of their tasks and this is creating significant confusion.
I am still not managing to keep this up. It would appear that it takes up too much of my time. I do actually have better things to do. Reading other peoples blogs can be quite fun. There are, I discover, some people who do this on a semi-professional basis. This, as I have said before, is strictly for my own consumption. Anyone else who reads and is offended or otherwise can just “Jog on”.
This is now the 5th of July and I have just watched “Control”. The film is just excellent and whether you like the music or not, or whether you know the ending or not, are just irrelevant. As a biopic with bias (Its based on Deborah Curtis’ book so you can work it out), it works very well indeed. I felt that it appeared to deal fairly with both Ian and Deborah.
Last Sunday we had a climatologist here for lunch. He was here to represent the A-Rocha charity for the church. I think I may no-longer be in global warming denial. I am slowly ploughing my way through the IPCC 4th Report. It is very convincing. We’re all doomed so live with it.
I read Jpod by Douglas Coupland. This is a most strange book. Quite compelling in its organisation but the story was shallow and uninspiring, and despite the component parts to create a truly excellent ending from the material, Coupland fails to do this and seems to be happy with an ending more worthy of a secondary school literature student.
“Dogs” by Ray Coppinger, is a much better read. Being non-fiction does not stop its content being challenging and surprising. I would love every “dog-breeder” to read it and be chastised, and you can add all those idiots who think that dogs descended from wolves. This book turns a lot of those ill thought-out notions on their head and looks at it from a more logical and biological perspective with less basis on emotion than fact.
27th October 2008
This is not being kept up – all sorts of reasons really – I have lost focus with it and only have a limited length of time to devote to it. It would, perhaps, be better if I spent less time surfing the net and a bit more time recording the minutiae of my life. Who knows – I might even reward myself with a broader overview of what I am actually achieving.
I am, however, using Facebook a lot more and I do like the “Status updates”. This is a helpful way of cataloguing the ongoing bits and pieces.
30th October
Another load of nonsense:
Today I decided that if I had to write my autobiography it would probably be titled “As if anyone was really bothered”. The Evening Mail would probably get very excited about it so I would suspect it would sell well (in Barrow). I could therefore suggest a second title but I'm not going to put it here.
E4B (Electricity for Business) have gone into administration and we are one of the 40,000 customers. BG have taken on the book and by a spot of luck they are able to offer us a very similar deal to E4B. Looks like we might not lose out too much.
Totally random things happen here. So far this week I have seen:
The opening of a new estate agency (In this economic climate??)
The opening of a large leisure / home store (in this town???)
Threats that a charity has had made against it to burn down the kennels because the person was refused a Rottie Puppy. This is an undesirable person to own such a dog and I would suggest that the threats are further evidence of the unsuitability. The person also claimed to have links to Al Qaeda. If such an organisation were active in Barrow I am sure that they would not like their name used in this way. How thick do you have to be?
A puppy called “Nigger”. Neanderthal doesn’t quite do these people justice.
That said, I have tickets to Quantum of Solace on Saturday night and those at short notice as well. I have not got tickets to AC/DC or Metallica. Bit sore about both of those but I’ll get over it in time.
15th November
Another couple of weeks have slipped by. For my books you can keep abreast of the Visual bookshelf on Facebook.
Had a night out at the Apollo in Manchester last night – Danko Jones, Saxon and Motorhead – all extremely loud and all very good. Lemmy was in good form and you knew it would be pretty good after the second track on their set he asked if we would like it “a bit louder”. Dano Jones played some good numbers and very solid rock n roll stuff it was too. The only problem was the lead guitarist / singer who rather let himself down when he opened his mouth. That was almost embarrassing. Saxon were also very dependable stuff , no baldness issues in that band apart from the lead guitarist who has not a hair on his head. I can see why Spinal Tap was based on them – I even thought as much when they came on the stage.
There was a slight amusement as Motorhead appeared – a pint of beer came flying over the top of me and I was somewhat drenched –all part of the enthusiastic experience. Josh caught the drummers’ towel – we had survived the front row for the whole evening. It was very good value for money in that Danko Jones came on at 7-30 PM and Motorhead left the stage at 11-15.
Today we have been very relaxed. One of our neighbours appears to want our discarded bathtub. We have had the plumbers in to do the main bathroom. They have made a start and are beginning to reinstall already. The Electrician comes in to start his work on Monday and the plumbing work should be under control by the end of the week and then the tiler can start to do his bit.
I made another trip to the gym and my legs have largely recovered from the 20+mile run through Grizedale on Wednesday. That run was very entertaining as I saw a very rare red squirrel run across the path in front of me.
Try this – marvellous!
http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf
This is going to be one-of-those-days. No-one here seems capable of performing even the smallest task without requiring my input – very frustrating. It would also appear that a person who left a couple of months ago, did not leave adequate instructions for certain of their tasks and this is creating significant confusion.
I am still not managing to keep this up. It would appear that it takes up too much of my time. I do actually have better things to do. Reading other peoples blogs can be quite fun. There are, I discover, some people who do this on a semi-professional basis. This, as I have said before, is strictly for my own consumption. Anyone else who reads and is offended or otherwise can just “Jog on”.
This is now the 5th of July and I have just watched “Control”. The film is just excellent and whether you like the music or not, or whether you know the ending or not, are just irrelevant. As a biopic with bias (Its based on Deborah Curtis’ book so you can work it out), it works very well indeed. I felt that it appeared to deal fairly with both Ian and Deborah.
Last Sunday we had a climatologist here for lunch. He was here to represent the A-Rocha charity for the church. I think I may no-longer be in global warming denial. I am slowly ploughing my way through the IPCC 4th Report. It is very convincing. We’re all doomed so live with it.
I read Jpod by Douglas Coupland. This is a most strange book. Quite compelling in its organisation but the story was shallow and uninspiring, and despite the component parts to create a truly excellent ending from the material, Coupland fails to do this and seems to be happy with an ending more worthy of a secondary school literature student.
“Dogs” by Ray Coppinger, is a much better read. Being non-fiction does not stop its content being challenging and surprising. I would love every “dog-breeder” to read it and be chastised, and you can add all those idiots who think that dogs descended from wolves. This book turns a lot of those ill thought-out notions on their head and looks at it from a more logical and biological perspective with less basis on emotion than fact.
27th October 2008
This is not being kept up – all sorts of reasons really – I have lost focus with it and only have a limited length of time to devote to it. It would, perhaps, be better if I spent less time surfing the net and a bit more time recording the minutiae of my life. Who knows – I might even reward myself with a broader overview of what I am actually achieving.
I am, however, using Facebook a lot more and I do like the “Status updates”. This is a helpful way of cataloguing the ongoing bits and pieces.
30th October
Another load of nonsense:
Today I decided that if I had to write my autobiography it would probably be titled “As if anyone was really bothered”. The Evening Mail would probably get very excited about it so I would suspect it would sell well (in Barrow). I could therefore suggest a second title but I'm not going to put it here.
E4B (Electricity for Business) have gone into administration and we are one of the 40,000 customers. BG have taken on the book and by a spot of luck they are able to offer us a very similar deal to E4B. Looks like we might not lose out too much.
Totally random things happen here. So far this week I have seen:
The opening of a new estate agency (In this economic climate??)
The opening of a large leisure / home store (in this town???)
Threats that a charity has had made against it to burn down the kennels because the person was refused a Rottie Puppy. This is an undesirable person to own such a dog and I would suggest that the threats are further evidence of the unsuitability. The person also claimed to have links to Al Qaeda. If such an organisation were active in Barrow I am sure that they would not like their name used in this way. How thick do you have to be?
A puppy called “Nigger”. Neanderthal doesn’t quite do these people justice.
That said, I have tickets to Quantum of Solace on Saturday night and those at short notice as well. I have not got tickets to AC/DC or Metallica. Bit sore about both of those but I’ll get over it in time.
15th November
Another couple of weeks have slipped by. For my books you can keep abreast of the Visual bookshelf on Facebook.
Had a night out at the Apollo in Manchester last night – Danko Jones, Saxon and Motorhead – all extremely loud and all very good. Lemmy was in good form and you knew it would be pretty good after the second track on their set he asked if we would like it “a bit louder”. Dano Jones played some good numbers and very solid rock n roll stuff it was too. The only problem was the lead guitarist / singer who rather let himself down when he opened his mouth. That was almost embarrassing. Saxon were also very dependable stuff , no baldness issues in that band apart from the lead guitarist who has not a hair on his head. I can see why Spinal Tap was based on them – I even thought as much when they came on the stage.
There was a slight amusement as Motorhead appeared – a pint of beer came flying over the top of me and I was somewhat drenched –all part of the enthusiastic experience. Josh caught the drummers’ towel – we had survived the front row for the whole evening. It was very good value for money in that Danko Jones came on at 7-30 PM and Motorhead left the stage at 11-15.
Today we have been very relaxed. One of our neighbours appears to want our discarded bathtub. We have had the plumbers in to do the main bathroom. They have made a start and are beginning to reinstall already. The Electrician comes in to start his work on Monday and the plumbing work should be under control by the end of the week and then the tiler can start to do his bit.
I made another trip to the gym and my legs have largely recovered from the 20+mile run through Grizedale on Wednesday. That run was very entertaining as I saw a very rare red squirrel run across the path in front of me.
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