History

November 5th 2008: an historic day; the 403rd anniversary of the last time a man entered Parliament with honest intentions. Let’s all hear it for Guido Fawkes, the demolitions expert who fluffed his last job and led to a greater number of annual safety warnings than any other man in history.

Apart from a couple of minor exceptions, there haven’t been many fireworks let off ahead of time in our area at least, this year. Tonight, however and I suspect, over the coming weekend, I shall have to keep Furtle well equipped with Bang-Hats as bonfire parties take off in earnest (rain permitting). I suspect that we shall be watching telly with the sound up and the blinds drawn tonight.

Yesterday we nipped down to the Vue cinema at East Finchley to watch Quantum of Solace. Hugely watchable, particularly the action sequences, but remarkably hard to follow as the plot is thinner than Parma Ham. Other than for the reason that it is a Bond movie and therefore obligatory, I find myself at a loss to see precisely what made the entire baddie base explode toward the end of the movie.¹ Five out of ten, I think, largely because Daniel Craig is hard as nails and the action was good.

I didn’t stay up to watch the US election results come in this time. The previous two have been interestingly close. This time around, it was all over bar the shouting a couple of weeks ago. Once it became clear that even McCain thinks Palin is mad and he had had a senior moment in picking her as Republican Veep nominee, that was pretty much that. No-one wants a blinkered fundie just one heart attack away from the nuclear button.

Of course, if Hollywood and Morgan Freeman between them have taught us nothing else, and I think we know that they have, anytime after January’s inauguration, some horrible natural phenomenon will loom to endanger the world. Will it be related to global warming, an asteroid strike, or a problem with the earth’s core?


¹I do not count this as a spoiler and am therefore not inclined to hide it. If I had suggested that the baddies’ base hadn’t exploded, that would have been a spoiler!

History

November 5th 2008: an historic day; the 403rd anniversary of the last time a man entered Parliament with honest intentions. Let’s all hear it for Guido Fawkes, the demolitions expert who fluffed his last job and led to a greater number of annual safety warnings than any other man in history.

Apart from a couple of minor exceptions, there haven’t been many fireworks let off ahead of time in our area at least, this year. Tonight, however and I suspect, over the coming weekend, I shall have to keep Furtle well equipped with Bang-Hats as bonfire parties take off in earnest (rain permitting). I suspect that we shall be watching telly with the sound up and the blinds drawn tonight.

Yesterday we nipped down to the Vue cinema at East Finchley to watch Quantum of Solace. Hugely watchable, particularly the action sequences, but remarkably hard to follow as the plot is thinner than Parma Ham. Other than for the reason that it is a Bond movie and therefore obligatory, I find myself at a loss to see precisely what made the entire baddie base explode toward the end of the movie.¹ Five out of ten, I think, largely because Daniel Craig is hard as nails and the action was good.

I didn’t stay up to watch the US election results come in this time. The previous two have been interestingly close. This time around, it was all over bar the shouting a couple of weeks ago. Once it became clear that even McCain thinks Palin is mad and he had had a senior moment in picking her as Republican Veep nominee, that was pretty much that. No-one wants a blinkered fundie just one heart attack away from the nuclear button.

Of course, if Hollywood and Morgan Freeman between them have taught us nothing else, and I think we know that they have, anytime after January’s inauguration, some horrible natural phenomenon will loom to endanger the world. Will it be related to global warming, an asteroid strike, or a problem with the earth’s core?


¹I do not count this as a spoiler and am therefore not inclined to hide it. If I had suggested that the baddies’ base hadn’t exploded, that would have been a spoiler!

Normal Service Resumes

Now that the US election is over for another 18 months or so, we can look forward, I hope, to getting back to business as usual and deploring the state of the world and humanity in general and any one of dozens of pet annoyances in particular.

When all is said and done, the question of who governs a country is pretty esoteric. Unless the government is bent on radical reform,there is little beyond semantics to distinguish them. Even radical reform is only noticeable in certain areas. Other than being intellectually messy and operationally lazy, Labour's so-called constitutional reforms in the UK have made very little day-to-day difference for most people. The Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish now have additional tiers of government to pay for and complain about, but on a daily basis, what has changed? Similarly, at a National level, the 'I'll sort it out one day' approach to Lords' reform has stalled at a point that focusses more power and patronage in the hands of the Prime Minister, so don't hold your breath on that one. But then that has little if any day to day impact upon Fred Bloggs now, does it?

No, we're all buffeted by forces beyond our control, including politicians. The only difference is that they do it on telly and in the newspapers, like celebrities, but without the moral authority.

Ah, cynicism my old friend. You're back and you're well.

Normal Service Resumes

Now that the US election is over for another 18 months or so, we can look forward, I hope, to getting back to business as usual and deploring the state of the world and humanity in general and any one of dozens of pet annoyances in particular.

When all is said and done, the question of who governs a country is pretty esoteric. Unless the government is bent on radical reform,there is little beyond semantics to distinguish them. Even radical reform is only noticeable in certain areas. Other than being intellectually messy and operationally lazy, Labour's so-called constitutional reforms in the UK have made very little day-to-day difference for most people. The Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish now have additional tiers of government to pay for and complain about, but on a daily basis, what has changed? Similarly, at a National level, the 'I'll sort it out one day' approach to Lords' reform has stalled at a point that focusses more power and patronage in the hands of the Prime Minister, so don't hold your breath on that one. But then that has little if any day to day impact upon Fred Bloggs now, does it?

No, we're all buffeted by forces beyond our control, including politicians. The only difference is that they do it on telly and in the newspapers, like celebrities, but without the moral authority.

Ah, cynicism my old friend. You're back and you're well.

Ouch!

On Sunday I pulled a muscle in my back, just beneath my ribs on the left hand side. It wasn’t bad, but it slowed my already unspeedy self down somewhat. Luckily it was late evening, so I went to bed. The next morning, on account of having somehow kicked the duvet off me, I woke with a general backache brought about by having a cold back. I’ve had that before and once it warms up again I am generally fine.

The application of some ibuprofen gel did much of the work on the pulled muscle so that I barely noticed it yesterday and it was only a minor twinge this morning.

This afternoon, however, I have pulled the brute again, shifting files for sending back to registry. It is currently uncomfortable to sit or to stand, though if I stand on one leg facing Mecca it doesn’t seem quite as bad.

I have just had a couple of ibuprofen capsules. They haven’t kicked in yet…

Ouch!

On Sunday I pulled a muscle in my back, just beneath my ribs on the left hand side. It wasn’t bad, but it slowed my already unspeedy self down somewhat. Luckily it was late evening, so I went to bed. The next morning, on account of having somehow kicked the duvet off me, I woke with a general backache brought about by having a cold back. I’ve had that before and once it warms up again I am generally fine.

The application of some ibuprofen gel did much of the work on the pulled muscle so that I barely noticed it yesterday and it was only a minor twinge this morning.

This afternoon, however, I have pulled the brute again, shifting files for sending back to registry. It is currently uncomfortable to sit or to stand, though if I stand on one leg facing Mecca it doesn’t seem quite as bad.

I have just had a couple of ibuprofen capsules. They haven’t kicked in yet…