Yesterday was succesful. I made it to the pub with Ivor and had a skinful. I did not get home until almost 6 pm, and , as usual, felt first drunk, and then hungover until around 9 pm. By way of a change I walked the last few hundred yards home after detouring via the chip shop.It must be a couple of months since I last had a fish and chip supper, and as usual it was delicious. Once "The Bill" had finished on TV I started to come alive and had a quick play with an old Apple Express modem that Iain and Ivor had given me. It was designed to plug straight into a lap-top using the old style Apple serial ports. Modern Mac's do not have those "legacy" connections, but my old junk has. I was going to try it on my old Powerbook 180c laptop, but that has such a minimal installation (to save on disk space) that it does not have any modem drivers loaded in it. So later on today I'll have a play with getting that working. Meanwhile I did check the spec on the modem. It is a derisory 14.4K modem so surfing the net would be a very slow experience. On the other hand I do not need to surf the net on that old laptop. It will be sufficient just to know I could if I really wanted to.
Even in my dreams I have become very protective towards Nelly, or maybe it it that I am scared she will leave me too. In one rememebered fragment of dream I was in a shop doing some work in it it (I think), and Nelly was sitting on the floor watching the world go by. A rather good looking, attractive, woman came in the shop and flicked the still glowing dog end of her fag at Nelly. I went berserk and called her all the names under the sun before chasing her out of the shop and threatening to break her legs. I can remember I had another dream, but this was about railways. Or at least the bit I can remember was. The bit I remember started with me coming out of a pub that was somewhere in Downham. It was late, there was no convenient bus service, and I was hoping to get a lift home. I then spied a railway station nearby. I hadn't even known it existed so I asked my friend Roger if he knew anything about it, and whether I could get a train home from it. He thought I wouldn't be able to get a direct train, but I went to investigate it for myself. It was like stepping into a time warp. All the trains were old slam door units and they still went to Holborn Viaduct station. The station itself was small with only two platforms, and these were linked by a subway. The subway was kept very clean like the rest of the station, but it was faded and worn. The walls were painted in plain cream coloured paint. The stairs had dark green linoleum on them, and the floor was covered with dark brown linoleum. There was no graphiti and no bad smells.Overall the station gave off a warm welcoming glow that may have come from gas lighting, or perhaps just tungsten filament bulbs. I don't actually remember getting on a train, but I do remember getting off one at some unfamilar terminus. The last impression I got of this terminus was that it shared its service with tube trains. Once again these were of an old style (red painted 38 stock). I think I woke up at that point.
Today the weather seems lousy, but I hope that I'll be going for a lunchtime drink with Ivor. Tuesday didn't work out, but I hope today will. After last Friday I was hoping we could drink in the beer garden, but that is definitely not going to happen today. Or at least not without a miracle. I should have mentioned that Tuesday didn't happen in a lter entry on that day, or even yesteday, but somehow I didn't. So today could be the first bit of boozing since last Friday. I do feel I need a drink after all that time. If it doesn't happen today I must make an attempt to say so in a lter entry today. If it does happen I'll probably be too drunk, or more likely hungover to write anything else today.
During the night I had a couple of incomprehensible dreams. One bit of one stands out though. I was either on a coach, or a boat, heading for Morocco. I had got as far as Gibraltar when I chanced to look up at the sky during the night. The sky was so black, and the stars were so bright and clear. After my eyes grew accostomed to the dark I found that for the first time in my life I was able to see some colour in the stars and a planet or two. I had heard so much about how some stars are reddish, or bluish, but the skies above London are so murky and polluted from stray light that only the brightest stars are visible and their colour alays appears white to me. Yet in this dream it was almost like the pictures you see taken through astronomical telescopes. It really seemed to be a beatiful sight.
My thanks, this morning, to Pam who e-mailed me with her sympathies about Schiba. There are a whole bunch of people out there who know what it can be like to lose a pet, and who understand with far greater clarity than those who have never owned, and spent a lot of time caring for a pet. Until yesterday I had not bothered to mention that effectively Schiba was one half of my family. Nelly being the other half.
Many thanks to Val and Sarah for sending their kind words about Schiba. And my apologies that Schiba's picture was missing on my entry for the 24th. That has now been corrected and his picture should be visible now.
Today I should be called on to help lift Ivor's old printer onto Pauls van. The trouble is that I do not know what time I'll be wanted. Whatever happens I should be having a drink with them lunchtime. I think I could do with a drink. So far I have avoided drinking alone because of Schiba. It would only make me more depressed, but with friends I think it would be a good idea. It will still be a private sort of wake because I would not expect them to understand my grief yet alone share it.
Today I have no plans beyond trying not too eat too much. I want to feel very comfortable tomorrow because I have volunteered my services to help lift a heavy bit of printing machinery onto a van. I don't know yet whether I will be called upon to do the lifting, but if I am it should be worth a pint or two.
I did quite a lot yesterday, but did nothing. I forced myself to try and keep busy and avoid moping around too much. It was partially succesful, and yet I achieved very little. I haven't a clue what to do today.
My thanks to "Steve@sheddy" for his condolences about Schiba. I'm sure I must know you, but your exact identity is a mystery. For some time I assumed you were someone else, but I am sure that person would use a more familar e-mail address for something of such importance.
It is now the third morning that there has been no sign of Schiba, and I am worrying about him. On past record he will be fine, but there is always that nagging idea that he is laying injured somewhere, or something, and I can do nothing about it.
Today looks as if it could be a repeat of yesterday - weatherwise. I am not anticipating spending hours in a pub beer garden. Instead I think I'll mainly be pottering around the house for most of the day. Shame really as yesterday, judging by the redness of my arms (and probably face) I have the start of a bit of a tan.. It has certainly taken away some of the winter paleness.
 |
| The mystery of
Schiba's disappearance has now been solved. A short while ago a brief
duplicated flyer was popped through my letter box askong if anybody had
lost a cat. After ringing the number I was told that a cat matching
Schiba's description had been found in a nearby garden. He appeared to
have died in his sleep and was taken to a local vet. The vet could find
no obvious injury, or reason to explain the death. I never knew how old
Schiba was when I took him in as a stray so it was even possible that
he died of old age. I just hope his last few years with me were better
than living rough. |
It looks as if it will be another dry and sunny day. It is rather cool at the moment, but I believe the weather forecast suggested it could get up to over 20° C, and tomorrow could be even warmer. It sounds as if today could be an excellent day to go for a pint or two with Ivor at lunchtime.
After a mainly dull day yesterday it feels nice to wake up to sunshine. Apparentlt tomorrow should be an even nicer day. Today I could be tempted to have a drink with Ivor, but I am meeting someone this morning and will not be able to get away in time. In fact the "morning" may well turn out to be sometime after midday.
During the night I had a weird selection of dreams. One seemed to have a French theme. It was probably inspired by watching "Allo, Allo" on the TV. It seemed to start when I was walking down the road where I used to live. I was heading into Catford town centre when this large coach approached. So I ran towards a bus stop and it stopped to let me on. It was an exceedingly large coach and was used for a route hundreds of miles long. Within minutes we were at the terminus and I got off without having been approached by the conductress to pay a fair. So I asked the driver why not. The driver who was the splitting image of Rene (from "Allo, Allo") said that for such a minute part of their total route they could not work out such a small fare. I followed him into a very small bar where I ordered a Heineken lager. They only seemed to have two other drinks that were not in bottles. One was an Abbey Beer which had a strength of 17% alcohol, and the other was something very strange called Tweegy (if I rememeber correctly). I don't know what that was, but it was dispensed from a very strange dispenser. It was a pale orange coloured liguid that had orange particles in it. They were constantly agitated and there was a strong lamp underneath that seemed to make them sparkle in the light. I think it was alcoholic, and was probably orange flavoured, but the only other thing I remember was that the illuminated part was actually quite small - perhaps 3 inches high and about 6 inches long. Thinking about in the cold light of day I suppose there was no real reason to believe that the illuminated liquid was actually the same stuff as the tap would dispense. It may just have been an elaborate eye catching display. But, back to the bar. The actual bar room was very small, and it had a large coal fire in it. I found that it was too hot to stand near it, yet there was a woman there standing fairly close to it, but facing away from the heat. I think I knew her, but she may have been a waitress. I asked her, in all innocence, if her bottom was too hot. She turned towards me, grabbed me, hugged me, and said her bottom was always hot for me while grinding her pelvic area into mine ! Which was rather nice !!! Her character was obviously based on that of Marie, once again from "Allo, Allo". She spoke in a French accent and had the same size and shape as Marie, but had long blond hair. I can't really remember what happened after that, although I do rememeber what was probably another dream set in a similar place. The only fragment I can recall was sitting opposite another woman who was running her fingers through my long hair and saying she wanted to brush it. That too felt nice, but perhaps not as nice as the first encounter ! I did have more dreams, but they are dull in comparison, and I can't be bothered to try and recall them.
Yesterday I was intending to go up into my workshop and do a little work. That never happened, but today I really must do it. Yet there could be a further distraction. Jodi may be popping over to watch an episode of that totally uninteresting TV programme "Frazier". Last week she called me up in a panic saying that she had gone out without settting her video to record that programme, and could it do it for her. I did, but used the same tape that I was recording "The Bill" on while I was in the pub. I have warned her that I may use the same tape tonight if I am in the pub, and that Frazier may be overwritten tonight. So she had better watch it by today at the latest. If she doesn't make it today I'll probably find another tape, but I'd prefer it if she could stick to the schedule and not muck me about.
This afternoon, at 12.15 I have an appointment at the Job Centre to discuss my job searching. The letter ordering me to attend comes with all the usual threats about stopping my dole etc. I thought they were supposed to be helping me not threatening me ! I had better go and prepare for the ordeal.
Yesterday was such a dreary day, weather wise, and yet this morning the sky is mostly blue and the sun is shining. I'm not sure how I passed the time yesterday. I went to Tesco for food. I ate. I listened to the first third of the 3 hour tribute to Spike Milligan that I had recorded from BBC 7. I did some reading. The rest of the time was probably spent buggering around with PC's. I did have a good dream last night. A very sexy dream indeed (even though it featured someone from my best forgotten past - Marion). I shan't go into details. It is enough to say that for that type of dream it was the most satisfactory for years ! (Which is not to say it couldn't have been slightly better - a few minutes longer maybe !).
Today I should put the PC's down and get into my workshop. I have a couple of things to do that may be worth a beer or two.
During my "real" sleep I had a very inventive dream. As always the details of the dream are sketchy, and I cannot recall all the actions taking place in one linear scenario. It was more like a film where the action cuts from scene to scene. This is obviuosly becuase it was actually a series of short dreams that I have remembered as if it were just one. It started at my workplace, although where that was, and what I was doing is a mystery. I decided to leave and go on a journey. I have to explain it like that because I think it was actually to try out a new form of transport (or something). I started from a bus stop and got on something that was like a cross between a train, tram and bus. As I recall it was a 54. It was probably closer to a tram than anything. It ran on rails that were laid in the road, but the interior was fairly spacious and laid out like a train. It seemed to be semi-automatic in operation, and even though we were on a public road the driver was not always looking out the front. I was sitting next to a window and this young woman came and sat next to me. I think she was Indian with a pale brown skin, long black hair and dark eyes. She asked me to move over a bit, but I said that I was already pressed up against the window. To which she replied "you are too fat", and then apologised for say it. She then started looking at some cuts I had on my face and hand (Yesterday I gained a small scratch from the inside of a PC and one from Schiba's sharp claws - both on my hand and none on my face). She was concerened for these cuts and said I ought to get them treated. I asked her if she was a nurse, but she replied that she was a teacher and was going to a job interview at Twickenham. I told her this tram (like thing) was only going as far as Beckenham, and that the route hadn't gone as far as Twickenham for over 20 years. It was already late in the afternoon and she decided that there was no point trying to get to Twickenham today so we got off in Beckenham. She offered to buy me a drink as an apology for her earlier insult. So we went into a pub and drinks were ordered, but when I looked around she was not there. I asked the barman where she was and he said she was actually in Australia and had never been here (!). The last thing I can remember of the dream was commenting that there was no chance of a shag then !
Today I must get out and do some shopping. I'm out of food, and so are the cats. It's a shame that it seems to be continuous drizzle outside. It would have been so much nicer to go out in some sunshine. Once I am back with some food I'll have some "breakfast" and then take a listen to a radio programme I recorded yesterday. It was on BBC 7 and was called "Goodbye Spike". It was a 3 hour tribute to Spike Milligan which featured at least 3 shows he appeared in (The Goon Show being just one), and probably a load of other waffle. My dilemna now is whether to archive it as a complete programme or cut it to the individual parts. Maybe I'll do both, but until I have actually listened to it I can't really make a valid judgemenet.
I am still here ! I have
re-installed Mandrake Linux 10.0 and some things are not working quite
how I like them, and some things are working better. The main
improvement is that I can now use the onboard network adaptor. In fact
the reason it was not working before was that it was turned off in thr
BIOS. This is strange because Windows XP found it during installation
and decided to use it, but Linux couldn't ! One improvement I am hoping
for is better handling of the USB interfaces. Alledgedly kernel 2.6 has
it down to a fine art, whereas kernel 2.4 could do it - "sort of "!
Finally I hope I can install Flash Player into Mozilla again. I once
succeded, but wrecked it when I upgraded from Mozilla 1.3 to 1.6. Now I
have a fresh installation of 1.6, without bits and pieces of an old
installation left behind, it might work again.
I had a comedy dream last
night. The humour was very loosely based around that of the film
"Airplane !", but this was from my perspective as a passenger. Some
parts of the dream almost featured lucid dreaming where I was aware
that it was a dream and able to change, or redirect, some of what was
going on. Sadly I cannot remember more than 1% of the total
dream, but a few things linger. Getting from the check-in to the
aircraft was by a moveable chair. At some points the chair (with me on
it) dropped down by 30 ft , or more. It was on brass runners that made
a delicious singing sound - a bit like a shrill skweel but more muted
and tuneful. I seemed to be the only passanger travelling this way. The
others were on large open sided pallets that were fork lifted into the
air craft. These pallets were big - around 30ft long and 10 ft wide.
The plane itself had railing around the outside, a bit like a large
passenger ship, but it was definitely plane shaped. As the plane was
taking off I went outside to have a fag. The speed built up, but we
could not get airborn and passed the end of the runway. Eventually we
were going down a main road, but got stopped by traffic lights. At some
point I fell off and had to chase after the plane until it was stopped
at more traffic lights where I was able to get back on. I realised that
the reason we could not take off was because I was standing on the
rudder ( I called it the rudder in the dream, I think, but it was
actually a control surface on the tail plane - I can't spell it, but I
think it is called an aerilon - I think !). I moved away from there,
but we still could not leave the ground so we turned towards a small
hillock and raced at it as fast as possible. After bouncing off the top
we were airborne, but at that point Nelly woke me up.
So the plans for today
include trying to get flash animation working in the Mozilla web
browser, and maybe a bit more tinkering with this Linux box. After
that, or even inbetween that, I have no real plans for today. If the
sun comes out for any length of time I may take a wander around the
local shops, or I may do some more spring cleaning !
Last night I dreamed I was watching Motorhead play. For some strange reason they had set their gear up on a traffic island. I can't really remember what they played, but I think Lemmy did some sort of bass solo before launching into "We Are The Road Crew". Although that song does itself start with a few notes played only on the bass (I think).
Today I am torn between several things. I am quite curious about playing with ethernet adaptors, and would like some time to see if I can get my one working with Linux. On the other hand it is supposed to be a nice warm sunny day and I think I could get out to a pub with Iain lunchtime. A drink sitting by The Thames at Spice Island does have a lot of appeal - especially if the day does turn out to be (almost) hot and sunny. Perhaps I ought to get washed and dressed and then try and make my mind up.
The day did not end on (or in) a vacuum because I did meet Kevin, in The Ram, for our usual Wednesday night drink. These Wednesday night sessions are nothing spectacular, but are good for some beer and a natter. There was one little highlight last night that was a bit unusual. The Winter Warmer has now finished until late autumn, but I spied that there was still a little thin folded cardboard advert for Winter Warmer behind the bar. So I asked the governor if I could have it. He readily agreed and handed it over to me. It was just a little trivia that I thought I could perhaps scan into the PC and use to illustrate my next writing in praise of the effects of Winter Warmer. (Which I will probably do later today). 10 minutes later the guvernor of the pub came over to where we were sitting and said "you'll be wanting this as well" as he handed over a Winter Warmer hand pump label. That was a very nice gesture and I owe him a pint next time I'm drinking there. I'll probably put a picture of it here later today.
After the pub I was still pretty sober as I had only been drink ordinary bitter. I watche "The Bill" that I had recorded while in the pub, and then went to bed. I still felt alert, and not very sleepy, so I was reading until gone 2 am. I don't think I have really had enough sleep and I may go back to bed again soon. I was woken up from a dream by the dustmen somewhere in the local area. At least I think it was them. I can't blame Schiba this morning because he was out. In the dream I was back at school. At least I think it was school, but a couple of my classmates seemed to be characters from the TV series Porridge. I think Ivor was there as well. It was exam time and I had handed in a huge novel size piece of work that was some sort of term project. We had had to write a long essay (or maybe even a thesis) on one of 5 subjects. I can't remember what the choices were exactly, but one was computers/technology which was the subject I had written about. Another was home, and the rest I can't remember although sport may have been another catagory. I was shocked to discover that we could not use then same subject for next terms project. Then I applied some lateral (or even twisted) thinking and decided that I would write on the subject of home, but that it would be about designing a home using computers and the wiring neccesary for full networking in the house. I then woke up.
Today I initially though would be boring, but I just remembered that it is New Scientist day. So that will keep me occupied for the morning. After that I was considering transferring more old programme tapes to the PC. This is potentially quite important since I told Patrick I had a particular show already in mp3 format, but I seems I do not. I am sure it exists so it must still be on tape somewhere.
It seems to be starting out to be a wonderful day. It is not just because I am getting a VIP visitor, although that would brighten any day, but the sun is shining and the sky is blue. If it keeps up like this the temperature will rise and it will be a perfect spring day.
Thinking about all I have written over the last few days it sounds as if I am suffering from some sort of cleaning monomania. It is not quite like that, but more a sort of spring cleaning with a deadline attached. Although today is starting off rather grey it is definitely spring. Or even late spring - my daffodils have flowered and gone already. I have to admit I don't know the exact date of the official first day of spring. I know that mid-summers day is the 21st of June, and that the 21st December is the winter solstice, but what is the first day of spring ? Not being in work, I do not have a current diary which I can consult. Perhaps last years diary has the information I want. Bear with me a moment........ It seems that spring officially began on the 20th March. That explains my daffodils then ! I must keep that diary handy as there are more significant dates coming up. They include St George's day ( April 23rd), and two bank holidays ( May 3rd and 31st). Now who, or what, is St Mark's day (April 25th) ?
This is Ben sitting in one of his favourite spots during the winter months. It is on the gas fire. After some time he would appear to be cooking, but it didn't seem to worry him.
This is a better shot of him. The fire is not on at this point, which is just as well as his tail is hanging directly over the vent at the top. It was not unusual for his tail to droop down when the fire was on and for his fur to be almost singed.
The other favourite place for the cats was on the TV. This ran nice and warm and it was not unusual to find both cats sitting on it as there was slightly more room than on the gas fire. This is Vicky hoping someone will turn the TV on so she can have a hot seat.
The name Vicky comes from Queen Victoria. Both cats were wild kittens rescued from a builders yard. The mother (who we also rescued) was very wild and taught both kittens to shy away from humans. Ben, named after Benjamin Disraeli, was fare less scared than Vicky was. She would shy away from contact and turn her nose up at any attempt to play games. She appeared to be "not amused", hence the name Queen Victoria. Benjamin Disraeli was named in consequence of Vicky gaining her name.
Today I am really going to clean up my living room - yes really. I am sure of it. I am not going to sit down and watch TV all day on my newly repaired and (hopefully) working TV. There is nothing to catch up on........... I had this strange and bizzare notion during the night that I might even wash the curtains and clean the windows. HELP I need a pill !
Today I start my "spring" cleaning. In fact in a small way I have made a start already. Not that you would notice any different, but there is some new rubbish in the dustbin.
With all the mucking about with the TV I did not get very far with my "spring cleaning", but assuming that TV is now working perfectly, I can install the TV in its proper place, instead of in the middle of the living room, and finally tackle the cleaning, and tidying, of the room. If that goes well I might tackle the fault on my emergency 14 inch TV. I think that is suffering from a warped speaker. As the set warms up the sound gets rougher and rougher. If it is not the speaker itself then there are a few other things it could be, and fixing those should be fairly simple. That will just leave my main, proper, TV. I am not sure that I will ever be able to fix that. At least not without buying a few spare parts and trying them in the hope that one cures the fault. I don't think I could really justify the expense of that. If it was not just pure speculation as to the possible parts, and I could really pin it down to one definite item I might go for a little expense, but there seems no way of doing it.
Another thing I did yesterday was to vist Tesco's early in the morning - about 08.45. It was nicely quiet in there and I was out again, with three heavy bags of shopping, in double quick time. Amongst all the stuff I bought I got a bottle of "Febreze". This is the well advertised fabric deoderiser. I tried it on the curtains here in my back room. Initially it was sort of pleasant, but after half a day, and still the same this morning, it nows smells like a cheap brothel in here. Is it my curtains ? Do cheap brothels really smell like this ? These are not easy questions to answer, but I do know I am not impressed with Febreze.
Today, at around midday, Patrick will be picking me up to use me as an assistant when he interviews "Bear" up near Stevenage. It should make for an interesting day out. I have a lot to do to get ready for that so I had better get a move on.
While I'm putting up a couple of pictures here's a couple of the cats today.
Today I will have to grit my teeth, if needed, and do some shopping in Tesco's. I hope it will not be as crowded as when I walked out in disgust yesterday. This time I really do need more catfood ! I tried an emergency tin of Tesco's own brand "meaty" catfood yesterday. Both Nelly and Schiba looked at me as if I was trying to poison them. The one plate of it I put out was still untouched this morning. Nelly often sneaks down for a bite to eat during the night of food that she has hardly touched during the day, but this time she elected to go hungry. I reckon that Tesco's own brand "meaty" catfood must be from the pits of hell (or something).
Yesterday was a pretty good day. It really started when I met up with Ivor at midday. This was somewhat earlier than I had originally thought it would be. Even better was that I was able to meet up with him in Forest Hill which saved a longer, and usully tedious, bus journey. He was visiting the Forest Hill branch of Maplins so I had a wander round there to drool at all the stuff I can't afford at the moment. From Maplins we adjourned to the pub opposite, The Railway Telegraph, to quickly wet our whistles before going back to his workplace. Then it was on to The Herne for a few more pints, and then back to his workplace.
I am getting a little ahead of myself here and have left out a few details. It is worth noting that before I got on the bus to Forest Hill I posted off another job application. So there is, once again, the possibility that I might be "rich" again. Another bit I left out was that the first time I went back to Ivor's workplace I had a play on his G5 Mac. It maybe that it is still suffering from a bad crash a little while ago, but I came away rather unimpressed. It seems a little slow considering that it was , until recently, billed as the fastest desktop computer on the market. I must time one of my PC's sometime to see how long it takes to transfer a 1 GigaByte file from a DVD rom to the hard disk. The Mac took a full 5 minutes which seemed like a long time. There was worse to come. It refused to play a DVD video and even refused to play one of the files on that video when renamed as an mpeg file. While Ivor busied himself elsewhere I had a good play with that Mac. It is the first time I have had a go at driving an OSX computer. It was fairly easy - up to a point, but I don't think I was sold on it.
As I type this I am transferring the same file from the same DVD onto my hard disk on this PC. Linux is predicting that it will take 6 minutes. Now this PC is nothing exceptional. It is using a lowly 1.3 GHz "Duron" processor, a pretty old CDRW/DVD rom drive that is not noted as being a speedy item, and an ordinary ATA66 hard drive. By contrast the G5 Mac had dual 2.? GHz processors, serial ATA hard drive and, presumably, a more modern and faster DVD drive. It would seem that those Mac's, on the face of it, are not that fast when it comes to moving vast amounts of data around. Where the Mac would probably score is in things like renderring an AVI file to MPEG 2. That needs real grunt ! I have just renamed the VOB file from the DVD to an mpeg file and on this machine it plays perfectly, which is quite understandable as it is an unencrypted home made file. That leaves little excuse for the Mac not to play it. I think Ivor has some serious issues with his Mac that need addressing. Maybe a fresh installation would cure some of the evils left behind from his mega crash of a week ago.
Back to the story of yesterday. Having had more beers in The Herne and gone back to Ivor's workplace I was able to get a lift home - which was great. During that drive, and a few of the earlier ones we listened to a compilation CD that I had made up of old stuff. My choice of music got praised, as did my artwork on the CD packaging. As a further boost to my ego I allowed Ivor to see the preliminary artwork for another two complilations that I am putting together. Both got the nod of approval, with the one I am most proud of being judged to near professional standards. So with my ego riding high I came indoors and got ready for more booze with Kevin later in the evening. That drink was most pleasant, but not exceptional. I gave Kevin a copy of my compilation and he was most impressed with some of the rare tracks I had included. Now I can't wait to see the face of the person the compilation was originally devised for.
Having got back from the pub I was furher delighted to receive two emails. One was from Rik who I have had no contact with for 30 years, and the other was some photos from Pam. The edge was slightly knocked off the delight in receiving them as it took the best part of 30 minutes to download ! The last thing I did before turning in was to watch The Bill that I had recorded while in the pub. (Pam's photos actually finished downloading halfway through The Bill). By the time I got into bed I was feeling really knackered. It had been a long day after a short night (see yesterday), yet at first I didn't think I was going to get to sleep. About 5 minutes later I fell into a deep sleep and woke feeling fairly refreshed at 08.30. Luckily Schiba was out all night so that sleep was totally uninterupted.
I am not sure what I will be doing today beyond a little shopping. I have several things I could get on with, but I'll just take it as it comes. What I do know is that Saturday could end up a good day. I forgot to mention that I had a call from Patrick before I went to the evening session in the pub with Kevin. He is filming an interview with "Bear" on Saturday afternoon and asked me if I'd like to assist him. I readily agreed to be "best boy" (!) in his film unit. In fact there will only be the the two of us so my exact job description is open to a multitude of possibilities. I enjoy working with Patrick and it should be good fun. (It would be even better if some TV station bought his documentary for hundreds of thousands of pounds because I could probably argue for a couple of quid share in the profits for my input. As it is, I know that Patrick is liable to run at an overall loss for what is really just a labour of love - this time).
Today has been an odd
sort of day. It seems to have passed really quickly, yet I do not seem
to have done anything at all. I went out around lunchtime to buy a
magazine and to pop into Tesco's. I didn't stay long in Tesco's, and I
didn't buy anything. The place was heaving with people who were panic
buying for the bank holiday because Tesco's is open normally tomorrow.
That is not a lapse in grammar. They are definitely open beween 08.30
and 20.00. Why then are people panicking to strip the shelves bare of
all and sundry ? I hope that tomorrow will find the place quieter, but
somehow I am not so sure. As it is a bank holiday it will be closed on
Sunday so I suppose that is good reason to buy a months worth of food.
You never know, they might just forget to open again. It probably
happens all the time in your nightmares.....................sigh !
I had some excellent news today. I
may well be getting a VIP visitor sometime next week. I feel very
excited about it, and yet it will mean a lot of hard work. Hard work,
but a very powerful piece of inspiration to do a lot of stuff I should
do more often. I wonder if the hoover still works ?????
Although it is 21.00 it feels strangely both early and late. Late because I should be thinking of winding things down prior to getting to bed at a reasonable time. Early because I feel like playing computers again. That would be silly though. When I did this on Tuesday night I didn't get to sleep until past 2 am, and in consequence felt lousy in the morning. Yet I am talking about yesterday when after that lousy start I did go on to have a good day without feeling tired until very late at night. There is no reason why I should not work all night and sleep all day except that if I do get the job I have applied for I will have to adopt my normally preferred hours of getting up at 6 am and going to bed at 10 pm. It would only take a week to get back into the swing of that, but it would desperately hard work for that week. Maybe I'll leave the computer until tomorrow. And even then, after I have done at least a little of the housework I need to do.
Although it is 21.00 it feels strangely both early and late. Late because I should be thinking of winding things down prior to getting to bed at a reasonable time. Early because I feel like playing computers again. That would be silly though. When I did this on Tuesday night I didn't get to sleep until past 2 am, and in consequence felt lousy in the morning. Yet I am talking about yesterday when after that lousy start I did go on to have a good day without feeling tired until very late at night. There is no reason why I should not work all night and sleep all day except that if I do get the job I have applied for I will have to adopt my normally preferred hours of getting up at 6 am and going to bed at 10 pm. It would only take a week to get back into the swing of that, but it would desperately hard work for that week. Maybe I'll leave the computer until tomorrow. And even then, after I have done at least a little of the housework I need to do.
Apart from going to bed at 2am, I was also up again at 5am to feed Schiba, let him out, and start burning a disk on this new dodgy machine. I was back in bed half an hour later and woke again at 9am. I feel sort of knackered now and I have a headache. Later on today, not necessarily lunchtime, I may be meeting Ivor for a pint or two. This in itself could be tricky as I should also be likely to be having a drink with Kevin this evening. At some point today I am going to need a nap or two.
As a footnote to the stuff about processors. I have now dug out a copy of a useful utility called WCPUID that interogates the processor. It says that my processor is definitely an AMD K6-2. Unfortunatelt that is as far as it goes. It only reports the actual bus speed, and not what the processor is rated at. Maybe the fact that I cannot run the processor at the correct speed is more trouble with the motherboard. At some point I shall try the processor in another board and see how it fares. If it works correctly then I am inclined to junk the current motherboard.
I feel a little rough at the moment becuase I slept badly. I was so aware that I had to be up, and ready, early today, that I kept waking up in the night to check my clock. I did that at least 4 times in the night. I could have got to bed earlier if I had not, at the last moment, decided to rewrite my CV from scratch. I have not stripped it to the bone and it all fits on one side of A4 paper using 12pt type. Right must dash now. Maybe more later.
Today I must put the computers down and get into my workshop. Although the priority for this morning is to empty Nelly's litter tray. To say it is a bit stinky would be an understatement !
Its nice to wake up to a
bright sunny day after a storm last night. Last night some gusts of
wind sounded realy strong and I was thinking I would wake up with no
roof on the house ! For some reason Schiba decided to go out in the
middle of the storm. The poor old thing must have been desperate !
It was while I was
waiting for sleep to take hold that I suddenly realised that it was the
first Saturday of the month. The significance of that was that I should
have been drinking with my old work colleagues at lunchtime. I was
really looking forward to it - a) because I didn't go last month, and
b) I was hoping to discuss the finer points of my dead TV set with my
old Senior Engineer. I doubt he would come up with any radical ideas,
but just having someone to talk to, who understands at the same
technical level, can help a lot to think up new perspectives of the
problem. It is probably the case that having to explain what is going
on forces me to think more carefully at what I am doing. It has helped
many times in the past, and even when he has suggested x, I have come
away sure it is y (and been right).
I spent a considerable time yesterday designing the jewel case insert for a new CD compilation. As yet I have no concrete ideas as to what is going to be on it, but I did come up with a strong idea of what I wanted it to look like. The end result (although it is not neccesarily finalised) took a lot of work, but is looking good. It is by far the most professional design I have ever attempted on the PC, but I can't help feeling it could have been even better if I had done the cut-n-paste using real paper and scissors. If not better then it may have been quicker ! All I have to do now is develop the tracklist, burn the CD, and then design the back label. I don't think I'll be doing that today because I have a few other things to do first, but maybe I'll spend a little time on it this evening. First thing this morning it's the old story of shopping for cat food, and some human food would be a good idea as well. After that I ought to get up into my workshop for some electronic construction.
I spent a considerable time yesterday designing the jewel case insert for a new CD compilation. As yet I have no concrete ideas as to what is going to be on it, but I did come up with a strong idea of what I wanted it to look like. The end result (although it is not neccesarily finalised) took a lot of work, but is looking good. It is by far the most professional design I have ever attempted on the PC, but I can't help feeling it could have been even better if I had done the cut-n-paste using real paper and scissors. If not better then it may have been quicker ! All I have to do now is develop the tracklist, burn the CD, and then design the back label. I don't think I'll be doing that today because I have a few other things to do first, but maybe I'll spend a little time on it this evening. First thing this morning it's the old story of shopping for cat food, and some human food would be a good idea as well. After that I ought to get up into my workshop for some electronic construction.
I spent a long time yesterday playing with Paint Shop Pro. I was doing some designing for a CD cover and I think I have learned a few more tricks. In particular how to manipulate text effects. I still can't quite achieve one of my goals of bending text to the shape I want, but I am, at last, getting close to it. I am also now able to work with masks and layers a little better than I could before yesterday. There is still much to learn about Paint Shop Pro, but I am getting there slowly. At the current rate of progress I'll be an expert in another five years time. It is just a shame that as an artist I am on par with a blind man !
When I woke up this morning I was having difficulty deciding if today was a Friday or a Saturday. Well I know now that it is definitely a Saturday. Not that this means much to me at the moment. The greater relevance of a Saturday is that there is bugger all on TV tonight, cable channels included, so I will be doing something else to amuse myself. What that will be I don't know, but the idea of making a compilation CD of my favourite prog rock tracks is a possibility.
Yesterday the sun came out a few times. It was not very strong, but it was there. The sky looks very grey at the moment, but maybe the sun will break through today. I hope so.
Sometime this morning (but I bet it will be early afternoon) I am expecting a visitor who has a little job for me to do. It is only a tiny job, but it should be worth a pint, maybe two. So I had better get up soon in case he defies all expectations and comes early.
I think I got a reasonable nights sleep last night. Schiba (being full of the joys of spring) elected to stay out al night so he didn't disturb me. Nelly is no trouble at night. In fact she will often sleep on my bed for much of the night. It was me who disturbed her sleep with another totally forgotten dream. The only thing I can remember of the dream was that I was searching for something under the bed clothes (and you of the dirty mind can stop sniggering !). It seems I was doing it with my feet for poor old Nelly got kicked. Not kicked as in a direct kick, but very disturbed by my feet thrashing about under the duvet. I think it was only her leaping out of the way that woke me up. That was about three in the morning.
And so on to today. I'm not sure what I will be up to today. I need to do a little shopping, and tonight I hope I will be in the pub with Kevin. Beyond that I'll just make it up as I go along.