zoned out

Victor arrived this morning. He'd been in Milan yesterday with Annalisa, and flew out on a late flight. There had been a baggage handler dispute so he didn't get into London until around midnight, although today's start was deliberately late to give him some time to recover because he is really still on Boston time,

My day was rammed and by the evening we were in need of some cameraderie so Victor and a few of us headed to a small nearby pub to drink some English beer, some New Zealand wine, some pleasant potato and garlic soup and to spend a couple of hours chatting before breaking fairly early to go our separate ways.

H5N1

This morning I was listening to a radio report from the Netherlands of the bird flu preventative measures now in operation. The chickens have to be kept in doors so that they can't catch anything from wild fowl. And tonight there were two birds in Hampshire,UK being examined by relevant authorities.

Most of us continue to go about our business unaffected by these often scare-mongering stories. However, it is interesting to observe the slow march of this avian flu and the related story across Europe, from July 2005 in Russia as reported in the Moscow Times. And the original diagnostics seem to go back as far as 1997. If you want the full background check out the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Tag: avian flu, bird flu, H5N1

bafta mountain

BAFTAs this evening and Jake Gyllenhall, here with Charlize Theron behind the scenes after picking up the award for Brokeback Mountain.

Ang Lee also collected one for this film in a ceremony hosted by Stephen Fry at his most oleaginous.

Tag: BAFTA, movies, Brokeback Mountain

adorable

Well, its official. I'm occasionally adorable, according to the TTLB (The Truth Laid Bear) ecosystem. As a matter of fact, for the last two weeks, I've fluctuated between flappy bird and adorable little rodent, but today I thought I'd mark the event with a picture of Dangermouse.

As we all know, DangerMouse is the World's Greatest secret agent, a mouse of many talents. Apparently born halfway up Mount Everest, he displayed his exceptional nature early in life, completing the climb to the summit of the world's highest mountain when he was only a few hours old. In spite of his foreign birthplace, DM is a true English gent, and was educated at Eton, Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, the Sorbonne and Würtembery, picking up his B.A., B.Sc., M.A., M.Sc., and Ph.D along the way. Naturally, he used these varied skills to become a government agent, defending Queen and country. He set up residence in a red pillar box located outside 221B Baker Street, London, home of another famous British hero. When danger threatened the world, he was contacted by his superior Colonel K, who would issue him with his mission.

Then DangerMouse and his trusty, if improbably incompetent assistant Penfold, would set forth in their distinctive flying car and save the day. His recurring nemesis was the toad Baron Silas Greenback and his crow lackey Stiletto; however he also faced the vampire Count Duckula, the mad composer Wufgang, the extra-terrestrial JJ Quark, Mexican El Loco, mad scientists Professor Crumhorn and Dr.Frankenstoat, and DM's own evil doppelganger, among others.

With DM, Mickey and Jerry, I am in august company.

Tag: TTLB, adorable little rodent, dangermouse

house wine

A few glasses of Bordeaux with John as we put the world right.

The bar was rammed with people, but we had a reserved table and watched as one group moved out and the evening replacements moved in.

Back at John's house I could see the effect of his major house project which has come to fruition, with a mix of Polish and Brazilian help. The descriptions reminded me of that film with Jeremy Irons as the Polish builder- Moonlighting, I think it was called. Georgina has been project managing the changes worthy of a television documentary. Georgina and Jessica arrived back shortly before I was to jump into a taxi and head for home.

Tag: wine, house renovation

thursday Thirteen (V12.0)

1. Didn't realise it was Thursday;
2. Meeting John tomorrow - I suspect a drop of wine may pass my lips;
3. Had the car back in the garage yesterday. They have fixed the thing I didnt know was broken but still need to work on the door lock, which still goes flippy of its own accord;
4. Havn't had a light in the room where the bulb blew a week ago because it uses a special transformer gizmo and the fuse holder has sort of melted; Illumination is via laptop screen;
5. I am carrying around some big sheets of paper with 'important words' which somehow need to transfer into my computer; usually I'd just take a photo, but somehow I forgot;
6. Last weekend I round tripped to Lancaster again; this week I shall stay local;
7. Getting prepped for Victor's visit next week; but I hear he is now visiting Milan first;
8. Attended a lunchtime meeting a couple of days ago (Malaysian curry) but I only ate a couple of mouthfuls because we were talking so much; I find that often happens to me;
9. There is something very weird happening to my Windows PC; something new was installed and now it has long thinking pauses;
10. At least my car is very clean now; each time it goes back to the garage, it gets a full valet service, inside and out;
11. Promised to send a Christina Nott demo to someone in Germany; will prepare it at the weekend;
12. Left home late (in daylight!) for the first time in ages;
13. I wonder why it is always difficult to think of item thirteen!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Leanne's Thirteen!
2. Ivory Frog's Thirteen!
3. Running 2k's Thirteen!
4. Uisce's Thirteen
5. Chickadee's Thirteen!
6. Judy's Thirteen!
7. Raehan's Thirteen!
8. Lunchtruck's Thirteen!
9. Janne's Thirteen!
10. Andrea's Thirteen!
X. (leave your link in comments, I'll add you here!)

Get Leanne's Thursday Thirteen code here!
Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! Leave your link as a comment and I will link to you and you can continue the chain!

Tag: Thursday Thirteen

purple reign

Prince blasted a hole in the Brits with a rocking and bluesy guitar set including Purple Rain. Surprising that the television coverage didn't actually comment on the set. Here's another moment from the Brit set and from a similar moment in the days of big hair.

I never meant 2 cause u any sorrow
I never meant 2 cause u any pain
I only wanted 2 one time see u laughing
I only wanted 2 see u laughing in the purple rain

Purple rain purple rain
Purple rain purple rain
Purple rain purple rain
I only wanted 2 see u bathing in the purple rain

Want more?

Oh, yes, and pleasing that KT won something.

Tag: music, guitar, Prince

little russians

Another coffee related post today, this one showing a few little people going about their business in Russia. The full set of these pictures from Очень живой журнал или Блог в стиле дзуйхицу are entertaining and I spent amused minutes browsing through them. My original source for this involved...

chocolate and...

vodka.

Tag: russia, chocolate, дзуйхицу

cloud

How sweet to be a cloud, floating in the blue.

Lying awake, late the other night
Heard above me a trembling,
I looked up, it was a little cloud,
From which a gold string was dangling;
You know, I gave the string a little pull,
Just to see what was on the other end.

Just then a voice came down to me, says,
"Hey, now, don't you want to be my friend,
And float with me to distant lands,
wondrous and fair;
Float with me to distant lands wondrous and fair?
You see I'm just a happy little cloud,
I laugh and float and sing my song,
But the other clouds don't like me none.
They say I am behaving very wrong.
You see a cloud's supposed to be sad,
To cry and weep and tear its hair and all,
And don't matter how hard I try,
I can't get the first little tear to fall."

And float with me to distant lands, wondrous and fair;
Float with me to distant lands, wondrous and fair;

Incredible String Band

latte

Sitting down for a few minutes today with a grande skinny latte, I flicked into rashbre central and noticed the ego measure had plummeted to 3000 (!)

What could I do, but quickly re-run the counter, just to prove to myself that the original count was not a mistake.

And how pointless is that!

However, what was more interesting was spotting some of the references that google found to old comments which I have left sprinkled around the internet. I'm sure we all forget the varied trips into other peoples' worlds and lives and the smiling exchanges that take place. I found a rather strange debate about Maya Gold chocolate, which I'd entered and then had others debating the merits of different chocolates.

I shall stay away from the ego dial now. What is it the police say, "Stand Away!"?

thrills

Well it is Valentine's Day.

ego

Today's amusing entry is the googlometer ego dial. Just type in your name and blog and let it calculate your poptastic ego rating. Or click here to see it in action!