Where's it gone?

It's been quite warm these past few days: warm and sunny. For several nights it has been so warm that going to bed has simply involved sleeping with the duvet to one side. That's something that doesn't normally happen until rather later in the year.

Last night even Furtle noticed and we put the fan on (lowest setting, but on) to blow some cool air around the place. I think the fan overdid it. This morning it is grey, cool and shows signs of having rained. I shall have to drag my jacket out of my bag and wear it to work for the first time in a while.

The fan has blown away the warm weather.

Where's it gone?

It's been quite warm these past few days: warm and sunny. For several nights it has been so warm that going to bed has simply involved sleeping with the duvet to one side. That's something that doesn't normally happen until rather later in the year.

Last night even Furtle noticed and we put the fan on (lowest setting, but on) to blow some cool air around the place. I think the fan overdid it. This morning it is grey, cool and shows signs of having rained. I shall have to drag my jacket out of my bag and wear it to work for the first time in a while.

The fan has blown away the warm weather.

Monday morning musings

I am a bit soggy.

There was light rain when I exited Victoria tube station, so I left my bag on my shoulders, hunched over a bit and strode out. Shortly thereafter the heavens opened and I got drenched. It was one of those occasions when stopping, taking off the rucksack and digging around for my brolly would just have made things worse. On the bright side, of course, there is virtually no pollen around today, so I can actually breathe.

Thus starts my last week at work before the trip to St David’s, which I am looking forward to greatly, though I don’t know everyone else who is going and am on a little more than polite nodding terms with the rest. Still, I am sure they are all fine people and we shall have a splendid time. I am pretty self-sufficient anyway, so if it turns out that we have little in common (which I doubt), a good book or two, my iPod, laptop and a drawing pad will give me what I need to pass the time. Anyway, it’s on the Welsh coast and, I am told, quiet and scenic, so the quiet and sea air will perform their usual resuscitative magic.

I don’t have the hair or boots for the full Heathcliffe thing, (though I do have a huge floppy shirt) but I can still stride across the cliff tops taking in the air and staring out to sea in a properly moody fashion. Maybe I should get myself a stick? I can look the part in my head if nowhere else.

I am distressed to hear that the local aquarium is long since closed. I would have given anything to see the large, empty tank holding a single huge and ancient one-eyed fish that Furtle talks about, and the bucket of crabs. I shall get her to show me where it used to be, so I can place the story in context. It is Wales after all, so there is bound to be an element of the surreal still in situ.

Monday morning musings

I am a bit soggy.

There was light rain when I exited Victoria tube station, so I left my bag on my shoulders, hunched over a bit and strode out. Shortly thereafter the heavens opened and I got drenched. It was one of those occasions when stopping, taking off the rucksack and digging around for my brolly would just have made things worse. On the bright side, of course, there is virtually no pollen around today, so I can actually breathe.

Thus starts my last week at work before the trip to St David’s, which I am looking forward to greatly, though I don’t know everyone else who is going and am on a little more than polite nodding terms with the rest. Still, I am sure they are all fine people and we shall have a splendid time. I am pretty self-sufficient anyway, so if it turns out that we have little in common (which I doubt), a good book or two, my iPod, laptop and a drawing pad will give me what I need to pass the time. Anyway, it’s on the Welsh coast and, I am told, quiet and scenic, so the quiet and sea air will perform their usual resuscitative magic.

I don’t have the hair or boots for the full Heathcliffe thing, (though I do have a huge floppy shirt) but I can still stride across the cliff tops taking in the air and staring out to sea in a properly moody fashion. Maybe I should get myself a stick? I can look the part in my head if nowhere else.

I am distressed to hear that the local aquarium is long since closed. I would have given anything to see the large, empty tank holding a single huge and ancient one-eyed fish that Furtle talks about, and the bucket of crabs. I shall get her to show me where it used to be, so I can place the story in context. It is Wales after all, so there is bound to be an element of the surreal still in situ.

Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy from Company C*

Every now and then I am reminded just how much speaker technology has advanced since I was a kid. It's not something I think about often, but now and again...

When I first came to London back in 1984, I was convinced that I'd only be here for two years, three tops, so I didn't bother bringing anything like a hifi or records (yes, it was that long ago). I did have a twin tape radio ghetto blaster, though. After a few years, I upgraded to a CD-tape-radio ghetto blaster and that lasted me for some time. Then, of course, I purchased a proper CD hifi and that was that. I always remembered that the speakers I had at my parents were much bigger than those that came with my new hifi and one day I resolved to lug the brutes down to London.

Awkward on the train.

Any road up, I duly got them down here and faffed about a bit setting them up and wiring them in only to find that my memory had lied and that the sound that had taken me happily through my teens and early twenties was in fact awful. Big the speakers may have been, but technology had moved on. For some years they remained as very large bookends and then got thrown out once space became a problem. That was the first time I realised how much things have changed.

Since we are going to St David's for a long weekend next Saturday, I decided that now would be the time to purchase portable iPod speakers. This mI have duly done and acquired something called StreetParty III, from a brand called Gear4. Thus:



I have to say that I am very pleased with them. Once again, technology has moved on and it sounds marvelous. And loud. Furtle did point out that the bass is a bit poor, but then the speakers are not that big. But the sound is clear and I don't think they will take much getting used to when used on the move.

*I couldn't think of a title, Okay?

Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy from Company C*

Every now and then I am reminded just how much speaker technology has advanced since I was a kid. It's not something I think about often, but now and again...

When I first came to London back in 1984, I was convinced that I'd only be here for two years, three tops, so I didn't bother bringing anything like a hifi or records (yes, it was that long ago). I did have a twin tape radio ghetto blaster, though. After a few years, I upgraded to a CD-tape-radio ghetto blaster and that lasted me for some time. Then, of course, I purchased a proper CD hifi and that was that. I always remembered that the speakers I had at my parents were much bigger than those that came with my new hifi and one day I resolved to lug the brutes down to London.

Awkward on the train.

Any road up, I duly got them down here and faffed about a bit setting them up and wiring them in only to find that my memory had lied and that the sound that had taken me happily through my teens and early twenties was in fact awful. Big the speakers may have been, but technology had moved on. For some years they remained as very large bookends and then got thrown out once space became a problem. That was the first time I realised how much things have changed.

Since we are going to St David's for a long weekend next Saturday, I decided that now would be the time to purchase portable iPod speakers. This mI have duly done and acquired something called StreetParty III, from a brand called Gear4. Thus:



I have to say that I am very pleased with them. Once again, technology has moved on and it sounds marvelous. And loud. Furtle did point out that the bass is a bit poor, but then the speakers are not that big. But the sound is clear and I don't think they will take much getting used to when used on the move.

*I couldn't think of a title, Okay?