Noticed the first blossoms on the tree in our front garden yesterday. What a difference a year makes - in 2011, following the harsh winter, the flowers didn't appear until sometime in March. It made me wonder just how plants are able to sense that it's the right time to flower; is it an autonomous response based on a period of favourable conditions or, more sinisterly, do plants have an as yet undiscovered ability for long-range weather forecasting, sitting stuck in the ground laughing at us humans (I'm sure plants can laugh - in that old episode of Tales of the Unexpected, they could certainly feel pain and let out unearthly (if inaudible to human ears) screams - so it would be an unjust world where they were bereft of joy) and our hit-and-miss predictions. I think the Met Office should carry out extensive, expensive, and likely fruitless investigations into this phenomena. Either that, or just point the camera at a tree during the weather forecast.
Our telephone went on the blink again last night, only a few days since it was last fixed. I call shenanigans - it's clearly some sort of evil conspiracy (though one which left my broadband untouched - thanks conspirators!) to reduce our fixed line phonebill and massively overspend on mobile calls.
The boys' swimming lesson was an extended affair this week. Last week's lesson was curtailed by a fire alarm (more evil conspiracy, no doubt!) which meant the kids at the lesson spent half their time shivering and out of the water (though, you'd think they'd have been safer in the water, eh? Well, unless the roof fell in or something.) Thankfully, it was a false alarm caused by someone smashing the glass on one of the alarm switches (although it's perhaps more scary to think that there was someone skulking around a darkened school building setting off fire alarms like some kind of vandal Michael Myers or something). Anyway, the kids got an extra 15 mins added to the lesson this week, and the swimming instructor's wife was there. He's made numerous comments on how strict she is, and that any misbehaving children would feel her wrath. He wasn't lying. For a small woman, she had a big voice and asserted her authority over the kids with a rod of iron, although she was equally forthcoming with praise when she saw it was deserved. Both my boys did well and got a sticker.
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Monday, 9 January 2012
New(ish) Year, New attempt to blog
Whenever I attempt to regularly do something such as this, it always collapses like a house of cards a short time after. While I doubt anyone will read my boringly unambitious blog anyway, if you do, prepare for the disappointment. So, after that auspicious and optimistic preface...
It's been three days now since we had to have one of our cats, Chippy, put to sleep. He had a history of problems with polyps growing inside his ears, resulting in regular ear infections, but this time the infection was serious and got deep into his ear canal, and from there affected the nerves in the side of his face, meaning he could barely eat due to the discomfort. As a result of all this he lost loads of weight and would find it difficult to maintain his balance. After lots of attempts to make him better with various drug treatments, it became obvious that there was little we could do to resolve the infection and that the kindest thing would be to let him go. He was the friendliest cat I've ever known, and we'll miss him a lot.
My first day back at work today after a couple of weeks off. Unfortunately, the first thing I was greeted with was a computer fault meaning I'm limited in what I can do until it's fixed and the first port of call for the day was a phonecall to the helpdest to try and get it fixed. The first person I spoke to gave me some rather long-winded advice suggesting I unpug all the leads from the computer, then remove the battery, and then plug it all back in and try again. I was somewhat dubious about this course of action, and so rang the helpdes again, only to get some different advice (though no solution). Now I have to wait for a callback that may not come until tomorrow. While for some this could potentially offer opportunity for skiving, in reality it just means the things I need to do are made more difficult. Bah!
Spent some time during my lunch-break continuing my project to reformat an e-book into a state that is readable on my Kindle. The book was delivered as a PDF which, while it opens ok in the Kindle, features fonts so small as to be unreadable. After a few attempts to find an acceptable compromise, the only workable solution has been to copy the full text into MS Word and then re-edit it it all before using Calibre to convert it to a .mobi file. The first, partial, attempt proved fruitful, so now it's just a case of editing a few chapters at a time until I get the whole thing done.
Today also saw the start of the 'big diet'. I reckon I need to lose a couple of stone at least, so that'll be fun... Still, if I can stick it out for the first couple of weeks, all should become easier. First target - the ability to wear my smaller sized jeans without fearing that I'll sever my legs from my torso when sitting down.
It's been three days now since we had to have one of our cats, Chippy, put to sleep. He had a history of problems with polyps growing inside his ears, resulting in regular ear infections, but this time the infection was serious and got deep into his ear canal, and from there affected the nerves in the side of his face, meaning he could barely eat due to the discomfort. As a result of all this he lost loads of weight and would find it difficult to maintain his balance. After lots of attempts to make him better with various drug treatments, it became obvious that there was little we could do to resolve the infection and that the kindest thing would be to let him go. He was the friendliest cat I've ever known, and we'll miss him a lot.
My first day back at work today after a couple of weeks off. Unfortunately, the first thing I was greeted with was a computer fault meaning I'm limited in what I can do until it's fixed and the first port of call for the day was a phonecall to the helpdest to try and get it fixed. The first person I spoke to gave me some rather long-winded advice suggesting I unpug all the leads from the computer, then remove the battery, and then plug it all back in and try again. I was somewhat dubious about this course of action, and so rang the helpdes again, only to get some different advice (though no solution). Now I have to wait for a callback that may not come until tomorrow. While for some this could potentially offer opportunity for skiving, in reality it just means the things I need to do are made more difficult. Bah!
Spent some time during my lunch-break continuing my project to reformat an e-book into a state that is readable on my Kindle. The book was delivered as a PDF which, while it opens ok in the Kindle, features fonts so small as to be unreadable. After a few attempts to find an acceptable compromise, the only workable solution has been to copy the full text into MS Word and then re-edit it it all before using Calibre to convert it to a .mobi file. The first, partial, attempt proved fruitful, so now it's just a case of editing a few chapters at a time until I get the whole thing done.
Today also saw the start of the 'big diet'. I reckon I need to lose a couple of stone at least, so that'll be fun... Still, if I can stick it out for the first couple of weeks, all should become easier. First target - the ability to wear my smaller sized jeans without fearing that I'll sever my legs from my torso when sitting down.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Scheduling shenanigans...
In this modern era of digital telly, with the marvels of time shifted viewing on your Sky+, TiVO etc. (other brands are available), it seems that the broadcasters have become somewhat less than precise where timekeeping is involved. On more occasions than I care to remember, I've fired up a recording only to discover that it started minutes earlier or later than the scheduled time, sometimes leading to the start of a show being missed (you bastards!).
So, how in the name of Jesus H Christ were Yorkshire television able to stick to such a ridiculously precise schedule as this one (from the morning of October 21st 1985)? It's down to the minute! I can envisage teachers fratically pushing and pulling the big telly on a stand into the school hall so that the kids wouldn't miss a single second of Let's Go Maths at preciselt 11:08am*. I can only assume (because I certainly can't remember) that schools programming wasn't bothered by the vagaries of advertising.
* Unless the school budget had stretched to a massive de rigueur Ferguson Videostar VCR, in which case, time-shifted viewing here we come!
So, how in the name of Jesus H Christ were Yorkshire television able to stick to such a ridiculously precise schedule as this one (from the morning of October 21st 1985)? It's down to the minute! I can envisage teachers fratically pushing and pulling the big telly on a stand into the school hall so that the kids wouldn't miss a single second of Let's Go Maths at preciselt 11:08am*. I can only assume (because I certainly can't remember) that schools programming wasn't bothered by the vagaries of advertising.
* Unless the school budget had stretched to a massive de rigueur Ferguson Videostar VCR, in which case, time-shifted viewing here we come!
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
The Great God Pan by Arthur MachenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I found this to be an interesting story, albeit one that diddn't deliver as much as I'd hoped. The influences on authors such as H.P. Lovecraft are plain to see in it's dealing with unseen forces and 'old gods' and the tale manages to build a nice sense of unease as events unfold via a series of recalled incidents. The first half of the story works best as I felt the latter portion relied somewhat on coincidence to the extent that it detracts from the story a little, but nevertheless it's a worthwhile read and interesting to consider how it caused quite a stir back in the day.
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Inappropriate adverts #1
Ahh, the good old days, when advertising made it perfectly clear what you were going to get.
Who, for instance, back in 1984, could have mistaken a crude drawing of a beret-wearing frog in a stripy sweater for anything other than an invitation to take a relaxing camping holiday on the French Riviera? All that's missing is a string of onions and the sterotype would be complete.
vive la différence indeed.
Monday, 10 October 2011
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell
Who Goes There?: Seven Tales of Science-Fiction by John W. CampbellMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've been meaning to read this for over twenty years (ever since I discovered it was the story that gave birth to The Thing from Another World, and the superb John Carpenter remake, back in the 80s). Now, with a sequel to Carpenters film about to hit cinemas, I decided it was about time I got stuck in. The story is entertaining and it's clear how close Capenter stuckl to the tale for his film version, with his version of the creature much closer to Campbell's original beast than the Howard Hawk's produced version in the 50s - several scenes from Carpenter's adaptation are remarkably true to the source, and many of the characters keep their names (if not always their fates). It's also interesting to see the period setting of the story, with steam tractors and airplanes instead of the snowcats and helicopters of the 80s. There's also that stalwart of period SF - Atomic Energy!
All in all, a story worth visiting wheteher you're a fan of the film(s) or not.
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Friday, 7 October 2011
Mile 81 by Stephen King
Mile 81 by Stephen KingMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an enjoyable Stephen King short story, the style of which harkened back to the Night Shift / Skeleton Crew days. In fact, the story is very reminiscent of The Raft (a story featured in Skeleton Crew, and which was also filmed for the movie Creepshow 2) in the way that the victims in the story meet their ends. A fun little story, and one which may make you wary the next time you squeeze betwwen parked cars...
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