For some time now the weather has been dry but cloudy. Sometimes the breeze has been a refreshing change, on other days a dull humidity has made the day uncomfortable to some small degree. So far we haven't had any sign of the blazing summer our global warmers have predicted.

The library has been unbearably stale, air conditioning or not. After a quick visit yesterday lunchtime, I'd had enough of it, and went home via the alleyway behind the Old College site. I'll miss the unkempt foliage when it all gets redeveloped. What I won't miss are the piles of detritus that humans habitually discard when they can't be bothered to take it anywhere else. I certainly won't miss the glowering teenagers hanging about in the seclusion of garage entrances.

Finally I walked into the yard behind the house. From there, on a sunday, there was only a couple of cars parked and one was my own Eunos cabriolet, looking a little sorry for itself and if I were honest, a little more sorry than usual. It wasn't that the hood was looking tatty as the black tape I used to repair the holes ripped into it by thieves is waving in the wind. It wasn't the bird pooh, nor the verdigris of abandonment. It was the doors.

Well that explains the noise a few nights ago in the wee small hours. Another thief has poked around and discovered the car isn't going anywhere. Thieves seem to visit the same place repeatedly, trying out the next car another night, until they run out of vehicles to enter and move their attention to the next likely spot. Since one of my neighbours got their car broken into, I received a letter from the police telling me how to avoid car crime. Are they kidding?

As much as the registration number has fond memories for me, even I begin to see the folly of keeping that chassis there, especially since I'm no longer eligible under current regulations to retain the numberplate any more. It's going to feel like parting company with an old friend. Funny how we become so attached to material things for no logical reason.

People I Know

There's a guy I sometimes see here and there. He's unemployed like me, and strangely enough, usually at the library the same time too. Always in the exactly the same white baseball cap and blue windcheater. Come rain and shine he's always dressed the same. There he is again. Chatting amongst the moaning claimants awaiting their turn to sign on. And there he is again, at the library afterward.

Today however I bumped into FR. I used to know him from my days in local bands, playing on stage with him, or helping him with PA hire and light shows. Thanks to his good graces, I used to earn a few quid doing light shows in the theatre at a sports centre in West Swindon. That was pretty dull to be honest, but going up on the catwalks to assemble the lights was fun for someone as nervous of heights as I am, and on one occaision the ladder fell away with me on it, though I didn't come to any harm.

Anyhow, he's getting into film music now. No contracts yet, but some encouraging interest from production companies. I hope that works out out for him.