Holiday snaps

Expect to see a few photos over the next few days from our holiday in Devon.
a garden bench covered in lichen
A garden bench, covered in lichen, at Rosemoor gardens.

Rare groove

In a rare event, last seen back in May (I think), I treated myself to two CDs today. One, obtained second-hand for the princely sum of £2.99, is Land of the Lost by Greyboy – definitely suitable for dinner parties in polite company (assuming said company has good taste, of course) or, as we did this evening, for listening to whilst flopping on the sofa. The second, obtained from my favourite record store in Brighton (Edge World Records, for those in the know), is Seasonally Affective, a retrospective by Piano Magic – they wonderfully describe their music as "romantic and square", which is a fair description of tracks like The Sharpest Knife In The Drawer but doesn’t really cover the bleeps and bloops of For Engineers AA. Recommended.

I *so* need to get back into listening to music properly.

EDIT: you know, I can’t help but think that someone like Vaughan would enjoy music that is "romantic and square". Particularly a track that had a title like "I am the Sub-Librarian".

Rockard

On this day 50 years ago, the Admiralty announced the annexation of Rockall – the last expansion of the British Empire.
Surely there must be something laying around that we could annex now? We need more useless lumps of rock.

Crowning glory

I went to the dentist this morning. Unlike my last appointment, I actually remembered.
This was my first visit to this dentist, a friendly chap of Middle-Eastern origin who has a stereo playing rather good Persian-type music in his surgery (I’m not an expert on these things, so please use your imagination). There was some form filling to be done (Q: Are you pregnant? Y/N) and then he poked about in my mouth with the usual implements of dentistry.
"Hmmm. Very good!"
Encouraging, thought I. I’m proud of my teeth – no fillings have gone into my mouth other than those that go into pies. (Speaking of which, go sign Scary’s Bring Back The Breville Pie Magic Petition).
In fact, what he meant was "Very good! I see a way to extract money from your wallet!"
About eighteen months ago, I chipped one tooth from the front of each jaw. I’m not sure how I did it, probably biting on a nectarine stone or something. However it happened, my last dentist was not too bothered about it, but this one thinks differently. He says the upper incisor can be filed down to remove the rough corner, but the lower incisor needs a crown. I can either have an NHS crown, which is not of high quality, for around £95. Alternatively, I can have a really high quality crown, 90% white gold with porcelain finish, for the regal sum of £275. Ouch.
Thankfully, given the current state of family finances, he agreed that the work could be deferred for the time-being. But it looks like I’m going to have to bite the bullet at some point and have it done (maybe I caused the chip by biting a bullet previously?).
And can I confess to something? Having never had any form of "serious" dentistry going on in my mouth before, I must admit that I’m a little nervous at the prospect. Words of reassurance welcome.

Why I think that PR is not a good idea

Germany faced with days or weeks of political uncertainty after CDU wins election by only three seats.
Meanwhile, half-way around the world, New Zealand faced with days or weeks of political uncertainty after Labour Party wins election by only one seat.
In both cases, we see either a situation where a minor party representing a tiny minority of voters holds the balance of power (with the result that their policies become the policy of government) or two major but diametrically opposed parties attempt to create a government together (resulting in impasse and conflict).
In a society reliant on personality and soundbite, consensus politics seem unlikely ever to be successful. Whilst first-past-the-post is seriously flawed, I think it offers a better option than the forms of PR employed in the above two nations which are leaving them with weak government or power disproportionately offered to the smallest minorities.

Yarr!

Avast ye! Tis ye Official Talk Like A Pirate Day, so be sure to answer ye telephone with a loud "Yarr!", ye scurvy scalliwags!
Meanwhile, congratulations to our friends David and Andi who are now proud parents to Kate, born last Monday. Ah-arr!