The sun had got his hat on, hip hip hip hooray. It isn't that everythings going my way (I wish) but rather that Spring is making an appearance. The weather has that cool post-winter sunshine thats such a breath of fresh air in Britain. It affects the mood. You wake up, spot the brightness through the curtains, and just know its going to be a good day.
Even a black cat senses the mood. Walking down to my parents place for a sunday dinner it strolled across the road unconcerned about the black
...On Guinness Draught, yea!!!
I never liked beer. I had about three drops of Honey Brown Lager when I was younger- and swore off beer forever.
But I was determined to find at least one beer that was tolerable. There were a few (like, three) that I really wanted to try. Guinness was one of them.
I had to try three different places to find a four pack of Guinness Draught cans- and pay through the nose for them. But I actually like it! No, love it!
I like the smell, the color, the
Volumes 1 and 2 of Murray Rothbard's History of Economic Thought:
1 Economic Thought Before Adam Smith
2 Classical Economics
This should keep me occupied for a long time.
The doorbell rang last night. Wow, thats a forgotten pleasure. Most people announce their presence by shouting in the street. So I drop my dry sandwich and rush downstairs in a fit of uncool eagerness.
A hopeful adolescent stood in the hallway, looking a bit uncertain at my raffish squalor.
"Is that your Mazda out back?" He asked. Oh no... Don't tell me it's been vandalised again....
Yes it is, I responded.
"You thinking of selling it?" He enquired nervously. I stared for a sec
Somewhere, out there, in the wilderness of the Swindon job market, is an El Dorado of a career just waiting for me. The Lost Warehouse. I'm still searching the rainforests of Darkest Wiltshire for it, machete in hand, coiled whip hanging from my belt. Occaisionally though I come across strange tribes and alien cultures in this urban jungle, and the following job description has come to me attention...
Large Utility Company looking for a Technical Architect with a strong background in Data Wa
Nine people a day in Great Britain die from road accidents. Thats a startling statistic, but one thats being used by all sorts of people to persecute car drivers. The man behind the wheel is the villain. He (or she) knocks down pedestrians, fills our roads with stationary queues, and threatens the climate.
The emotive interviews with grieving parents of those killed on the road are understandable but to some extent it's exploitive journalism. Life after all isn't safe, despite the cossetting
Yep, it's that day of the fortnight. Time to sign on. As it's my number one social engagement this week I thought I'd be fashionably late, and as expected, there was a crowd of bored dole seekers waiting in long queues. Eventually I got called forward, and waited in the secondary queue inside the office. I just love this system of theirs. One queue after another.
In fact, the woman who dealt with my claim wasted no time. "Have you managed to apply for any jobs?" She asked me quizzically. Che
March is an amazing month here in Baghdad-By-The-Bay. The weather is either rainy (but not cold...55'F or so) or gloriously sunny. It seems like we're done with the rain for about a week, so I spent much of the mid-morning and early-afternoon outside. Bella was all too eager to join me, and was ecstatic to be outside again. I don't know who had more fun: her going all over the backyard as I cleaned up the debris from the neighborhood trees, or me playing with her. She took several naps in t
Just now I saw a headline that a drag queen has been sentenced for sending a hoax bomb threat to a warehouse I used to work at. Quite right, but it did amuse me. Some years back the warehouse manager, DG, left her briefcase in the foyer and as an unattended suspicious package, the premises were evacuated and the army bomb disposal called in.
Well, she eventually got the boot. She also presided over another large operation that went bust later. I knew I was right about her. Am I allowed to be
Masters of Art. I finally finished my degree; I've now got a Magister (The Swedish version of a masters). As I should be really happy, I'm not cause I can't figure out what to do now. There is no possibility to get a Phd in Sweden, I'm trying to get something in the UK, but it's difficult even with good contacts there. The USA/Canada would be great too but as I don't even know anyone there...l don't even know where to start. I can't get a job as it is, I tried museums but a masters degree isn't
Yesterday I ran out of space on my job search card so it's down to the job center to ask for another. As expected there was a mass of bemused dole claimants milling around while harassed security guards do their best to sound important. Ok, here we go...
I brush past the lines of ex-car manufacturers and single mothers to confront a guard. Can I have one of these please?
"Wots that then?"
Its a job search record. I need a new one.
"Why do you need a new one?"
Ok. take a close
What a morning. As per my usual ritual, I wander down to the library to log on and contact the world out there. I know there is one. I visited it a couple of times.
As it happened, I was furst up the stairs - the security guard was craeless and opened the gate two minutes early. Right then, choose a PC, enter my number.... password... Number 19 in the queue to log on. What?!!!
I amuse myself by tapping on the desk. Wow... Sir Alan Sugar is sat in the cubicle next to me. Seriously, the re
Last night, during the small hours, I went to the back of the house to answer natures call. Whilst there, I became aware of a loud conversation between a group of lads out the back. The car park is sometimes used by passers-by so I didn't think too much of it... until I realised they weren't walking past.
Open the window... Just a tad...
They were standing beside the corpse of my Eunos Cabriolet discussing events leading up to its abandonment. Not just the car either. Informed opinion wa
This week has been utterly brutal. Actually, the last few weeks have, and it wasn't until Thursday that it all came to a head.
I teach an 8am class 3 days a week, on a campus that's 25 miles away. For us 'round here, well, that's not much of a commute, and I really don't view it as being far away. But an 8am class, that means I need to be on campus by 7:30 to get last minute stuff done, which means I have to leave the house no later than 6:45. Originally I thought I had to leave the hous
A couple of years ago, I watched a tv news report about some idiot in New York who kept wild animals in his apartment. Amongst the exotic beasts was a full grown tiger. Hard to believe, but there it was, on screen.
A policeman was lowered on ropes down the outside of the block to administer a tranquilizer dart through the window. Understandably, police were reluctant to enter the apartment with a live carnivorous cat in a hungry mood. The big cat charged at the window and scared the policema
Yesterday I made my way into town and to do so, I need to cross a busy road junction. There's a pedestrian crossing there so it isn't an onerous task.
I approach the traffic light and looking to my right (We brits very sensibly drive on the left) a car was slowing down to turn left into the College car park just before the crossing. The van behind had nowhere to go. So taking the opportunity I strode across the road, with the traffic lights changing from red to flashing amber (Thats 'You ca
Wheeeeeeeeeeee! Spamalot is coming to San Francisco!!! Oh how I've waited for this to happen! When Las Vegas got a hold of it, the deal was that the producers wouldn't show any version of it west of that happening light-tropolis, so that we would have to go to the desert and get bamboozled just to see our silly English knnnnnnnnnnigits. But no! I did not give in to temptation! (Mostly because Vegas doesn't do much for me.) And now I, like many others, have been richly rewarded--Spamalot w
You know it's a funny thing. Women always say that middle aged men are weighed down with emotional baggage and you know what? We are.
The reason is partly biological. Us blokes go off the boil a little and get steadily lukewarm as we realise out fragile bodies aren't coping with the demands we desperately want them to. Instead, we have to claim we're getting steadily cooler but you just know you're not convincing anyone. It's getting harder to keep hold of the harem. The aggressive young ma
After my daily stint at the library it was time to pop down to the supermarket for a few items to keep my stomach from rumbling. The street was busy as usual - Ooh look, there's that woman sat at the cafe opposite, staring at me again. Either she's an investigator for the Department of Work and Pensions (Ridiculous but these fantasies make my day so interesting) or she's stalking me (I'm going to find boiled bunnies in my flat before long - I just know it). It might just be I got up this morning
