Further ramblings of a self-made pauper

Any minute now I am going to crack on with writing another NWO character. I am. Definitely. Absolutely.

I have put it off all morning and so far this afternoon, but nothing will prevent me from launching at it this afternoon with gusto. Indeed not. I am about to become Mr Focused, and I shall brook no distractions. Not one. I do not know the meaning of the word prevarication.

Which reminds me; what is it with Freeview (free digital telly for those of you not of the UK bent)? My digibox keeps telling me that it has found new updates and demanding that I retune it. I oblige and find that nothing has changed. Except this morning, when it stated grandly that it had found additional services, but a quick retune tells me that in fact I have lost 9 channels including More 4 (though not, bizarrely, More 4 +1, which is the same channel broadcast an hour later...).

Problem is, see, that despite living atop a hill in north London, no more than twenty minutes from the Alexandra Palace transmitter, all the digital signals slink northward across the smog-bound depths of central London from the Crystal Palace transmitter which is nearer thirty miles away. This shouldn't make too much of a difference, but there is simply not enough digital left over by the time it gets to me. It's all been sucked up by the antennae of all those houses between me and it, and as it's raining and windy today, what's left gets water logged. This means that the signals are too wet and heavy to get up the hill to me and my digibox. Later, when it dries out and the signal loses that additional watery weight, I shall have the channels back as they should be, but for now, I am not getting my full range of rubbish digital telly. Actually, that's not strictly true. Whilst ITV4 has temporarily disappeared, QVC, Price Drop TV and Bid-Up TV remain as strong as ever, providing further evidence for the theory that the channels no-one wants or watches do not have the strength sucked out of them by over-viewing between the transmitter and me.

Oh well, I shall retune in a few hours and I shall be back up to 55 channels, of which I really only want about 12.

I suppose I'd better do some writing now, before I get distracted.

I am focused today, see.

My second day off ends and the weekend proper beckons. I have the place to myself until late Sunday afternoon; Beastie, armed with a bag full of kit, pictures of Lily Langtree and my Stetson, has headed for points north for a weekend's western role playing. I aim to get some writing done this weekend, but I've said that before.

This afternoon, at the second time of trying I managed to register with a local quack. A rather nice lady in her mid thirties took my details. Of course any mood that might have developed was squelched when she handed me a sample bottle and told me I'd need to bring that back when I see the nurse in a fortnight's time. Where's the romance?

My enjoyment of The West Wing was spoilt this evening by the continued frequent pixelation and sound interruption we get on digital freeview when the weather is anything other than still. I am wondering if this is because we are using an old On-Digital box and not something a little more up-to-date. If this is the future of UK telly, viewing will be very drab when the analogue signal is switched off in London in 2008. If the analogue signal is switched off in 2008... I think I might look at the prices of newer digiboxes on Empire Direct, with a view to a purchase if they are not too expensive. It would be better if we could have a satellite dish, but quite apart from the thought of sinking a portion of my salary directly into Murdoch's pocket, we are precluded from having one by the terms of our lease. It's not the priority it would once have been anyway, now I torrent the stuff I really like.

For those of you keeping count, I now have 101/2 TARDISes, though two have yet to arrive. A man can't have too many TARDISes, I say.

Few people agree with me.