Month: June 2003

Busy busy. Not sure what to do first. Ear seems better today though.

Jim the Cat’s on Channel Four Thousand Six Hundred!. Meow. (1.8MB download kids).

Hmm. For the second time in four days, I’ve just been down to the pubs (Nags and W2) and none of the usual suspects are there. Must be something I said.

Wow! Onboard video from the launch of NASA’s Mars robot from Cape Canaveral (requires Real Player).

I’m getting the hang of this laptop malarkey – two documents typed in the seven minute journey between Barnham and Chichester.

I think a job lot of P45s, or the Ghanaian equivalent, will be more useful to Ghana Airways than prayer.

Busy. With matching earache. Ow.

Tim Weber of the BBC gives a plain English interpretation of Gordon Brown’s analysis of the five tests for euro membership. For those that are really keen on learning more, HM Treasury has devoted a whole section of its website to the subject.
No doubt there will be more press coverage and analysis tomorrow. My opinion? The outcome of Brown’s analysis has been driven as much by political motives as by hard economics, and whatever he would have concluded, it is unlikely that the pro-euro campaign could win a referendum in the foreseeable future, sad to say.
My little new business has to run a dual currency accounting system, complete with attendant extra costs, extra accountant fees, extra paperwork, etc. I will have to offer my clients the choice of being invoiced/paid in euro or sterling. Inevitably, I will lose money on currency fluctuations and transaction costs. Adoption of the euro in the UK would simplify my business and save me a lot of money.

Musical discovery of the day is Louise Vertigo (on Musiques Hybrides – en français, mes amis), although I’m not sure about the lyrics of the excellent track Peau d’Ane. My shaky French translates the chorus as "I’m the skin of a donkey" which I’m sure can not be right. Can someone verify this?

One of my old school teachers has just been into the nursery, and told me that Ernie Webb, my former biology teacher, died recently. Mr Webb famously once described Sarah as having "child-bearing hips". These days you’d get the sack for saying that to a pupil.
She also told me that Terry Beaumont, who was once my physics teacher and form tutor, left school for the summer recess one year, and simply didn’t bother to turn up in September. Top bloke!