A clear blue sky. Utterly devoid of any cloud whatsoever. that's a rareity in Darkest Wiltshire, but I notice the natives are taking full advantage of the summer sunshine. Draped over a stone wall is one youngster, probably sleeping off last nights attempt to pull a girl, in a state of comatosed oblivion. A few people stand back a little, not sure whether he's dead or requires an ambulance. My guess is he'll need some cream for sunburn later on.

Funny thing is I woke this morning at some early hour with light intruding on my normally darkened bedroom. Shall I get up? Erm.. No. So I pulled the duvet back over me and continued this procedure at regular intervals until mid-morning. Sleeping in? That's not like me. But as they say, only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun. In my case that's only because they can't be bothered to get out of bed this morning.

Today I think I shall take a wander somewhere. It's too good a day to be stuck indoors, even with an afternoon of Star Trek episodes playing on cable television.

Notice Of Works

It seems the redevelopment of the old college site is to go ahead. I received the official notice card in the post, which not only says the site is to be demolished, but also mentions the erection of a shopping mall and cinema.

We used to have cinemas in the town centre. One across the road from where I'm typing this now, later a bingo hall and currently disused, though I notice someone has taken posession of the property. The other is just around the corner, now split between a pub downstairs and some strange christian cult upstairs. I'd better not say too much - one of the library staff is a worshipper there. She even tried to recruit me a little way back. Ahem. There was even a cinema in Rodbourne, an area of Swindon next to the railway that I used to live in once. A modest building, now a commercial premises.

In recent decades all we had were those multiplex places situated in big car parks situated where no-one wants to go. In a year or two I'll be able to pop next door to take in a feature film or two, instead of making an arduous journey to some frontier of the outside world on the outskirts of Swindon. That's almost worth putting up with the noise, aggrevation, and derisive comments from the builders. Plus they intend cleaning up the alleyway behind the yard. Have they met our local fly-tippers? Good luck.

Builders Cleavage

I notice there's a fashion for wearing trousers so that they cling to your hips instead of being securely fastenend around the waist. When I was working at that department store I trained up a youth who wore his otherwise smart trousers in that way, and it looked daft. I think the idea is to look cool. Streetwise. To me it looks like you don't know your own waist size, but there you go. I mention this because a tall gangly youth has just climbed the library stairs in a typical swaying gait. Somewhat less typical is his trousers. So cool and streetwise is this young man that his trousers are on the point of falling off him. Worse still, his builders cleavage was clearly visible and betrayed his lack of underwear.

Dear Minister of Parliament...

Please be aware that youths of our country are not being taught to wear clothes properly, and there are signs of increasing inability to don trousers in public. Please bring back proper school education and give miscreants six of the best. That'll teach them to cover up.

Disaster Of The Week

My bathroom light isn't working. Neither the kitchen or the toilet cast any appreciable radiance into the little cubbyhole where my bath resides, so not only do I look like a caveman these days, but experience life in a cave as well.

If it was a simple matter matter of changing a light bulb, I could handle that. What I can't handle is this futuristic and inert assembly screwed to the ceiling. Sooner or later I'll have to succumb to the inevitable and contact the letting agent. Then again, in two weeks time, when they've forgotten I contacted them in the first place. Eventually I'll get a visit from a handyman who'll fix the thing in seconds, literally because he gets paid for the number of jobs he does in a day. Also, I suspect, he has an innate fear of cavemen. I don't know what he's worried about. My trousers are securely fastened in place.