Month: September 2003

Today I shall not be in the office. Instead, I’ll be going to the tax office to try and sort out the Inland Revenue’s incompetence and general failings and get myself a pair of new tax codes so that the debt that I’m steadily building in unpaid tax does not become overwhelming (I estimate that it currently stands at around £700). After that, I shall be relying on Jo to help me relax with a 45 minute session in the hair salon. That’ll be followed by an afternoon back at home, waiting for the gas engineer to come round and give my central heating its annual service, which, in view of the cool nights we have had recently, is timely. After that, I have to head over to the office, pick up various bits of equipment and then head across the road to the mill to give a presentation on the history of the nursery – and break the news to assorted local busybodies that the place will cease regular trading at the end of the year. That’ll start them talking.
If I get back to Chichester early enough, I might amble into the bar to end the day.

One pie in the hole is worth one pie in the hand.

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mark Rothko. Overview of his career here.

I think that this is utterly brilliant, both architecturally and conceptually.

I’ve just had a lovely email from Laura, an aspiring weathergirl (I bet she hates that term!). She has a site here, which I’m linking because she said nice things about grayblog. I’m soft like that.

Good.

I’ve been busy all day making travel plans for my visit to North Carolina next week. The hotel that had been block booked for the wedding guests is fully booked, but I’ve got myself into the Marriott that is right across the street from the venue for the rehearsal dinner (whatever that is). It’s a little more expensive, but I should make up for it in saved cab fees, both getting to and from the rehearsal dinner, and also getting to and from the airport (yay for shuttle buses!). I’ve also booked the other hotels that I need, as well as a hire car, and have looked for ideas for ways to enjoy the Friday morning when en route from Rockingham to Charlotte. A trip to the Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge looks interesting – I’ll pack my boots and plan for a walk for a couple of hours, if the weather is fair.

Proto-rants (i.e. ideas that are half formed in my head that I’m too busy to expand on, but present for discussion):

• Microsoft killing chat rooms to prevent paedophiles gaining access to kids. Well, this is clearly a move by MS to prevent their arse being sued in a big way by some litigious, aggrieved and (most likely) grieving parent. But the logic is akin to saying "kids get killed on roads, so let’s rip all the roads up and destroy all the vehicles! yay!"
• Report will show that Iraq was working on developing the beginnings of perhaps moving towards a programme to investigate the possibility of making some WMDs (I’d link to the news reports about the actual US-led task group that has come up with this gem, but I’ve got a date this evening and don’t want to be late, ok?). Perhaps. Maybe. The evidence? They had bunsen burners! Scary. Mind you, any secondary school class equipped with bunsen burners could, within minutes, wipe out your average small town. My response – WTF?
• Coats on dogs. To quote Dogbert: "It is equally impolite for animals to wear pants as it is for people to be nude". So Brian, please make sure it only happens in the privacy of your own home, or on that beach behind the shingle bank at Brighton, ok?

And remind me to tell you about the couple in last night’s hotel.

Birmingham to Caernarfon is 140 miles (almost exactly), if you start at the NEC and pass through Oswestry, Llangollen, Capel Curig and Llanberis.
Brian wanted to know.

The following was written this morning, in the same place as the post below:

Isn’t children’s TV awful? Still, it’s more interesting than the breakfast news this morning. Although watching teen actors is pretty painful. And must they all wear baseball caps at stupid angles?
Hmm. I think my policy of not having TV at home is vindicated.
Time for breakfast.