It's Monday, so it's time for my weekly blog, and this week, I have two stories to tell you all. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin . . . .
Limericks
I'm very fortunate that, no matter how bloody awful things get outside it, the stuff going on inside my skull is always pretty entertaining. When my mind is not otherwise occupied, it gets caught up with little tasks and trivia, and I can't seem to stop it. I don't want to seem like some kind of old letch, so I won't dwell
Autumn is making itself felt. Steady streams of yellow and brown leaves are wafting along in the breeze, and it's been threatening to rain all day. You can feel a sort of heavy dampness, an occaisional raindrop, and the trees obey the stimulus in time-honoured fashion.
As autumns go, this one is proving to be a bit more colourful that ususal. Don't know why, maybe it's all that fresh CO2 we humans have been making that has invigorated the trees with autumnal splendour?
Drive a car today.
Last night I succumbed to temptation. For those expecting a steamy account of wild passionate sex I have to say I share your disappointment, but that's the problem with middle age. You 'll see what I mean when you get there.
No, the attraction last night was Swindon Ghostfest 2010: Haunted Swindon, a presentation about the most popular local hauntings from Paranormal Site Investigations, who are best described as a supernatural Time Team. We had a nice cosy evening, sat around in the upstair
You know what? I'm getting a bit fed up with people asking me for money. It's happening more and more, usually from total strangers. It does annoy me somewhat. There's such a thing as being generous, but giving away cash to all and sundry does not strike me as a financially sound policy.
You might have guessed that this sort of thing has happened again. You're right, it did. In a sort of impatient and irritated mood already I was striding across the Granville Street car park. It's nothing s
This morning I had to report at the programme centre for another course on how to do what I've been doing for two years already, just in case I was getting rusty or I'd forgotten how. Another day spent learning the deeper mysteries of seeking employment. The lady at the help desk in the foyer looked a bit confused when I tiold her who I was.
"Is that your name or your title?" She asked somewhat carefully. That's my title dear. She carried on looking confused. I've come to the conclusion that
Okay. I admit it. It's raining. Having moaned about our weathermen predicting wet and windy days for weeks, it finally happened this morning. That said, it isn't the downpour we'd been promised (Don't you just know I'm going to regret writing that?). You could call it a damp squib.
Rumbles In The Night
I was kept marginally awake last night by the rumble of a large diesel engine somewhere in the vicinity of my home. That means either of two things. Firstly it might be that white lorry that
The weathermen keep threatening downpours, they keep on showing amber triangles on the television news, but every day just lately (apart from one exception) starts out fine and sunny. Like today for instance, though that has meant I had to pull the blinds down at the library so that I can actually see what's on the computor monitor.
Pull the blinds down? Lucky for me Dragon Lady wasn't on duty, especially since I'm sat ten feet in front of the helpdesk. That did however provide me with a gra
The arrival on UNRV of news of, (I lost count of how many), new books, highlighted a problem to me. I'm 46 (or am I 47 now? I can't remember) and it already seems like I have enough books backed up to last me the pitiful few decades I (hopefully) have left before my last ever ride in a big car.
To ease this problem, I�ve been experimenting with "multimedia sensory input", as follows:
Medium 1: Good Old 'Ink and Paper'
Having had to call a temporary hiatus to Adrian Goldworthy's "Ceasar
Now and again you see some motorist doing something dumb. Commercial Road is one hazard area. It's a one way street and sure enough sooner or later someone doesn't spot the signs and proceeds against the flow of traffic totally bemused at the agression and 'lunacy' of other drivers.
Just lately it seems Regent Circus is becoming a hazard too. Not because of any chabges, it still remains a busy ring road like it has been for decades, but there's something peculiar. At the bottom of the hill
The local paper said it all. In the arts pages our local music correspondent tells us that "There is no original music in Swindon for saturday night". So what's new?
Back in the days when I was working in local bands original music was as difficult to sell as today. In Swindon, it seemed as if no-one wanted to hear anything other than the same old chart hits they knew and loved. We had a cover-band called Locomotion (who are still going, I think) that cleaned up nicely from playing covers. T
How can it get this cold without getting frosty? Yes, it's another sunny morning with blue skies, and very chilly. I've had to put on a jacket for crying out loud. I've also noticed an increase in the number of hats worn by visitors to the library.
Of course you'd expect a number of baseball caps anyway. Even I wear those occaisionally, usually when the weather is raining. There was a time when youngsters wore the things at all sorts of silly angles, no doubt to communicate their rebellion a
Some of you might have forgotten something. Can you remember what that was? No? Not to worry, I forgot too. Yes, it was Bad Memory Day. Now that the point is made, I can confirm I made two significant contributions to that important event in our calendar.
The first memory lapse occured while I was at the library, quietly typing the previous blog entry and trawling through the various job websites for something to apply for. About an hour late, I suddenly realised I was supposed to have pres
Jobsearching is getting a bit frustrating. I've just been to the Job Centre to page through their vacancy database and found two new vacancies in the last seven days, for a town the size of Swindon. Both are self employed vacancies requiring own transport, so that rules me out.
With politicians breathing down our necks, the need for paperwork to prove we're all good little jobseekers is getting a bit much. I've been given another pair of forms asking for details of weeks of activity.
T
Looking back on it, it was quite a successful weekend, although it started a little badly. Being the wrong side of 45, I now wake up early every day. Lie-ins may not be a thing of the past, but if I wake up after 7:00am, I consider that I�ve slept late. So, on getting up early on Saturday morning, I turned on my PC for my (now seemingly almost hourly) UNRV fix, and Internet Explorer 8 informed me that it was unable to make contact with the site. A quick sanity check confirmed I had spelled U � N
I woke bleary eyed after the Star Trek marathon on television this weekend. No, before you ask, I didn't have anything better to do. I've been pretty critical of the films by and large, so you have to wonder why I bothered. Put simply, there were one or two I've never seen and it's been a while since I saw the others.
The major thing that struck me was the obvious. The early films try to create a sense of magic which just doesn't work. It's as if just having the old team from USS Enterprise
The warning had gone out last night that clear skies meant colder temperatures. No frost yet, but the drop was significant and it felt distinctly chilly as I strolled down the hill for my daily dose of thrills and spills at the library.
No, really, I had a ringside seat as the librarian ejected a bunch of youngsters from their chosen computers and told them to log on downstairs in the munchkin area. I tell you, it was a tense dramatic moment the likes of which we haven't seen since Maggie Th
DING!
If I'm not mistaken, that was the doorbell. There I was, snoozing happily under my nice warm duvet, and someone has to go and spoil it by ringing the doorbell. It might be important, you never know, though a part of was wondering whether someone had broken my car again. I've reached the point where I don't care too much.
Okay, let's find out what's going on. It dawned on me that doing so meant getting out of bed. This had better be good. Switch the hallway light on so the visitor k
Today I thought I would stretch my legs south of the motorway, something I haven't done in ages, and having realised how short of breath I was getting striding up the hill where I live, I could do with the exercise.
It's been a dull, claggy morning, just on the point of starting to rain but not quite getting there. It's also that uncomfortable temperature. Too cold for lightweight clothes, to sweaty for something warm. I hate that. Luckily my sweatshirt was the perfect compromise.
To my
How many times have you heard it said? Go somewhere - you never know who you might meet? Yesterday was my modest journey to the sports hall, and as chance would have it, my route home took me through a shopping centre nearby. I don't usually expend my cash there - I used to, when I had a car with less ventilation and bits missing, but that was a few years ago.
I spotted a woman at some distance. Not sure why. Maybe her red coat caught my eye. Or perhaps her blonde hair. Whatever attracted my
Ordinarily I hate that song. Both on general principals--I dislike Journey passionately--and the fact that it's way overused for sports teams. The concept is...well...to keep the faithful believing that the Home Team (whoever they may be) will in fact to all the way to become the next champions.
Of course, my Giants, or rather fellow Giants fans, chose this song.
Ugh.
SOOOOOOOOOO many others could have been chosen. Instead, we have this bit of insipid guitar chords and wailing.
Television isn't entirely new. It was after all around before I was born, but the technology has improved over the years and in a way I've grown up with it. I remember the day we got our first ever colour television. We take that for granted now, but back then it was a revelation in entertainment.
Things were never simple though. Poor reception was a fact of life and usually cured by sending someone out to fiddle with the aerial. These days we have cable television and digital broadcasts, so
Autumn is definitely here. The mornings are colder, obscured by mist and fog, and even when the sun breaks through like it has today, there's an oddly feeble quality to it. Oh, and I've noticed a few leaves lying around. Nothing gets past me.
Are We There Yet?
It's already getting into mid-October and the Old College is still standing. Now they did promise us that demolition would be taking place - I even got the official notification through my letterbox in case I was going to get upset ab
By some fluke of economy I was left with ten pounds the other night. A crumpled tenner in my hand is a gateway to pleasure on a scale unimaginable to ordinary dole seekers like me. So immediately I rushed out into the street with a maniacal grin on my face, braving evening traffic and revellers in a mad dash for the kebab shop across the road.
I made it! Safe and sound on the other side of the road, I entered the bright interior of turkish takeaway cuisine. I think I had some vague intentio
