cliffhanger (although everyone else has probably seen it already)

There was some kind of quiz show on the telly a few days ago and it had a series of questions about spies. Worryingly, I got them all right.

So on Monday evening, after finishing work somewhat late, I decided to flop in front of the box and spotted that I'd recorded two episodes of something called 'Spies of Warsaw'.

It's based on an Alan Furst novel, adapted as straight drama by the mainly comedy writing duo of Dick Clement and Ian la Frenais.

Mysteriously the two episodes were recorded in reverse order, although when I realised and started watching Episode 1, I wondered if it was already part way through a longer series. I quite like things that plonk you into the middle of events, but there were a few extra factors to calibrate here.

Set in 1937 Poland, there's David Tennant playing a French version of a James Bond character, but with an even wider selection of outfits. There's plenty of other nationalities in the melting pot of Warsaw although only the Germans speak in subtitles.

Tennant's character Jean-Francois is a kind of action hero military attache. Never a dull moment for him in coffee houses, swish parties, bedrooms and train corridors between Warsaw and Paris.

It's the period when Germany was testing prototype Panzer IV tanks near to the Polish border. Tennant is obtaining their plans to send back to Paris.

So far he been remarkably lucky, with nearly everything thrown at him being readily resolved. He's smuggled the Russians, helped the plan-stealing mole escape, got the girl and explained his war wounds to a Countess.

Although, at the end of the first half he's been dinked on the head and bundled into a car by some men in black hats.

It's a good cliffhanger moment, and I'm quietly looking forward to Part II on Tuesday evening.

when did hi-fi become A/V?

An unexpected diversion, what with de-snowing the cars and the drive. I was surprised how much time it took, a function of it being an unusual occurrence. Little things like finding the proper snow boots, not seen since last time at Jungfraujoch.

Having abandoned the day's original plans, it was an excuse to practice Being Idle.

I flipped on some music and let the system select the tracks for me, which was perfectly fine, within the limits I had given it.

My idleness led me to doodle a quick picture of what used to be called Hi-Fi (does anyone still say that?) and nowadays is probably called 'Audio Visual' or similar.

So here we are. Probably of no interest to anyone but me, but it somehow illustrates the demise of the Gramophone.

There used to be a simple path from a record shop to a record player and then to a listening experience. I still use that route for occasional purchases.

I still like the artwork of 12 inch LP albums, which could be quite special. Not so with most CDs, which bang a cover shot of the band on the front and big words in the top third that can be read from across the store.

Of course, that's dying out too, with digital downloads. If I'm honest, I used to surprise people quite a few years ago because I didn't keep those little brittle plastic boxes that most CDs came in. I'd always thrown away the outer packaging, just keeping the CD and the booklet.

OK, except for properly created artworks, of which there are still some around. I do still keep that type of CD intact.

So I guess I've been heading to digital for quite a few years.

Cue digital downloads, which signalled the potential demise of HMV and Blockbuster. Canals and railways.

Nowadays even the amplifiers are network attached. My last amplifier came with a little cardboard box in it containing a USB stick with the latest firmware upgrade to be applied before use. Of course I downloaded the more recent one online.

To be honest, I'm not sure how many people even bother nowadays with amplifiers and receivers, instead using little speaker units into which they can drop iPhones and similar.

My scribbly diagram illustrates some of the listening routes available now.

Buy from:

• (a) an independent band or store. Still get physical product, good artwork, usually a download as well and some personal engagement.
• (b) a record shop or store. Harder to find, yet places like Fopp and Rough Trade in London are still jam-packed with people.
• (c) online, from Amazon or iTunes, or via a broker like Last.fm which will point to the cheapest source. Amazon still gives a choice of CD or online product, but increasingly it's becoming online biased on price.
• (d) Supermarkets. Xfactorish. Nope.

Then there's all the cloud services. Everyone wants to suggest that you don't need the physical product at all.

Even with my throwing away of CD boxes, I find this one step too far. T'interweb is strewn with failed companies. It would be a tragedy to see all the licences to listen go up in a puff of Chapter 11. I download everything. And back it up.

What it means, though, is that nowadays, there's both the stuff you own and also a good range of relevant listening suggestions from the likes of last.fm or spotify.

And they do work quite well, suggesting and playing music of the type I like, rather than just blanding me out with 'Top of the Pops' pap.

So I'm with the direction. Even if it does take a bit longer to wire up than an old Dansette.

burlesque pursuits

I seem to be being followed by a burlesque dancer with two red disks.

She seems to be popping up most days at the moment.

Like most, I normally have internet adversing on a low setting.

But somehow she is singularly persistent.

If I was looking for a holiday or flights at the moment, then I'd understand. I did blog about Cabaret, which is more Kabaret than Burlesque, but that was weeks ago.

I can't work out whether it's an advert that has just paid to be on every search page?

Or perhaps there's something in my profile that means I'm getting burlesque flights and cruises instead of extortionate loan scams, mobile phone services and cycling adverts?

The pay day loans and phone services clearly pay loadsamoney to be featured and the cycling ads are probably accurate based upon my recent hunt for a couple of components.

I decided to see whether the little discussed 'Ads Preferences Manager' in Google would enlighten me. It's one of those pages you sort of have to know about.

I was a little surprised when I looked at it, at just how little information it appears to hold, for someone who has used the web extensively for many years.

I was also surprised that along with around a half dozen or so predictable consumer electronics and entertainment categories, it had chosen the 'Bollywood Musicals' as a particular area of interest - Oh and Laura Ashley interiors. Parp.

Maybe the springs inside the search spy engine are in need of repair? Although I'm not complaining and will probably miss 'Kimberley' at the end of January.

And credit where it's due, the new airline advert does make me smile.

pure as the driven #uksnow

"What's it like out?" I asked the delivery driver this morning.

"Take a look," he said.

I felt a little bit silly because I could see it was snowing.

"...and the main road?" I asked.

"Just the same. It's covering up until they bring more grit along."

I'd been shopping at around 11pm yesterday evening in the local supermarket. The streets were still clear then, but I had noticed that quite a few of the shelves in the supermarket were empty.

I'd idly thought it must be the normal re-stocking night or something, although it was surprising that they'd run out of bread and croissants.

The delivery driver handed me a box containing the bit to replace the broken bit.

"How come you are out?" I asked.

"Yes, they told us to carry on as normal. Although this is only supposed to be the start of it."

Down South we don't get much snow, so many things stop quite quickly. I notice that a Big Meeting today has just been cancelled, without explanation, but I assume it's for the same reason.

We're at 3 cm of snow now. Is that what they call blizzard conditions?

unhinged and unbolted

I decided to put the bits I managed to find into a freezer bag.

I'm not sure I'll be able to do much with them, except maybe one piece where I could try some superglue.

I've checked the specification and I think I could get some replacement bolts, but I think I'd rather replace the whole unit as it is in a rather critical place.

I only just noticed that the old bolts were titanium, but I think I'd actually prefer steel in any case.

When I checked the internet, there's quite a few examples of similar situations, and most people go along the replacement route.

In any case, I can see that I've lost one of the strange shaped spacers. I didn't notice the 10 cm graze on my leg until I got home. Red yellow and purple.

Oh well, I shall stay away from off-road for a while.

tango till we're sore

First time in a bar since the new one started.

Cold crisp night and breath caught in a white sparkle.

Suddenly into the colour. No hide-in-the-back occasion, this one sprawls with us all across a quarter of the room.

Plenty of shared histories, glitter, roar and a few tears along the way.

And now, planning and guessing for the new one.

not just pressing the Paws button?

Another UK High Street bites the dust today, with the potential demise of the HMV record store, unless some kind of improbable further financial rescue is applied.

The HMV logo of the dog Nipper sitting on his master's coffin listening to his master's voice finally gets played out.

The modern looking partial reflection of the dog is also quite reminiscent of an iTunes or Media Player shiny logo. These, and other amazonian retail channels can claim the demise of record stores and now that network bandwidth has increased, the same applies to DVDs.

As an earlier indicator, the once thriving HMV store by Bond Street became a Footlocker. I suppose shoes are still something that many people want to try on first.

And few days ago it was Jessops the camera store and prior to that it was Comet, the electrical store.

The transition from shop to store to mall to out of town store to internet continues with just the rate varying by sector.

Already the USA has whole collections of web-sites depicting defunct malls showing the more pernicious decline of the retail experience. There's another site dedicated to the non retail experience here.

Some of those snapshots of UK High Streets may already be becoming historical artefacts.

not anxious, just pursued by yellow sticky

I sip a black coffee in today's garret. I've got the creature comforts, but it's still a day that I'm supposed to be able to read the papers and slouch around.

Instead I'm grinding out commercial words to get myself ready for Something Tomorrow.

I've inventoried for signs of anxiety, but only find a yellow sticky with a date and a time.

I know it will be easier to have the thing rather than to talk about what the thing will look like.

Maybe a seratonin boost.

Bright light over bananas.

I know the moves. I throw the yellow rectangle into the bin.

snood time on the bicycle

I decided to go for an early-ish morning spin this morning, but the elements are conspiring to provide dis-incentives.

It's not that I don't have suitable clothing, but it just takes those extra few minutes to assemble everything.

I think the technical cycling term for this delay is known as faffing.

Gloves are a case in point. I have some of those ones with cut off fingers, which are small enough to fit compactly into my jacket pockets. Today I'd hardly gone outdoors when I realised I'd need proper ones that covered my entire hands. Something about the need to actually feel that I am gripping the handlebars.

Then there was the special form of rain that I don't have a word for. It was a kind of hybrid drizzle with intermediate lumps of white heavy rain included.

It was like being gently dabbed on the face by a cheese grater.

Now the bicycle thing is supposed to be fun. I found one of my 'free gift' screwed-up stretchy cycling snoods in the same pocket as the cut-away gloves. It had pictures of cogs on it. I plonked it over my head and then pulled it up across my face.

I know, it wasn't a great look, but I did find myself grinning.

Then for some actual cycling and after a few miles I was both smiling and warm.

Now I'm back indoors I've just checked the week's mileage. Just over 100, of which maybe a third involved the snood.

such stuff As dreams are made on

I couldn't resist a few minutes of google time to check out some of the dreams stuff from my last blog entry although the field of cigarettes didn't get a mention.

The interweb versions have an aspect that's quite like magazine horoscopes, appealing to a kind of pop-psychology. A few examples are:

• Being chased: avoiding something often emotional - very common
• Naked in public : vulnerable
• Snakes: Being threatened (apparently the most common threat animal in dreams)
• Spiders: weaving webs/ deceit
• Falling: things not going so well
• Flying: superior and sexy
• Lost: er - being lost in life
• Water: renewal and purification
• In an out-of-control vehicle: anxiety - ambition obstacles
• Late for something: anxiety at work/school/life
• Unprepared for a show: afraid of under-performing
• Hot and steamy: apparently it's only 8%-11% of dreams for most people - but everyone will always claim it to be top
• Being shot: Apparently more common in America to get this dream?
• Can't use phone: can't communicate
• With celebrity: may reflect low self esteem
• Paralysed: going no-where, something holding back
• Feeling of frustration: Commonly used as a threat rehearsal

What strikes me is that nearly all of these popular dream fragments have an overt downside.

I think I may have to be somewhat more elemental in my own outlook so I'll propose the fun going forward of:

• Earth : expansion, success and happiness;
• Water : Purification and renewal;
• Fire : Cleansing and warmth;
• Air : Freedom, exhilaration.

How does it go?

Earth water fire and air/ met together in a garden fair/ put in a basket bound with skin/ if you answer this riddle/ you'll never begin?

Cue Montage/ Dream Sequence.

more ballads for the brain keeper

I've been driving around to various meetings this week and have so far clocked around 350 motorway miles in the process.

I decided to create a smart playlist for the car before I started and just typed in "2012" as the album year and hit shuffle.

My original plan was to see which of the 2012 albums stood out to me for travelling in a sort of 'maybe I could do a list for the blog?' kind of way.

Instead, I found myself having an interesting dream in a hotel on Monday night, most of which seemed to take place in the short time before awakening again.

I really should find out about the timing of dreams in sleep patterns. I know about Rapid Eye Movement and the the safety shutdown of the body during REM to avoid acting out the dreams (sleepwalkers take note, your brain superhighway pons might be differently configured), but I think there must be some more stuff that would be useful to know.

Anyway, my dream was one of those ones where you kind of know you are dreaming and there was a bit in it that was getting rather tricky, so I baled from that dream into another one (sort of like Inception, that film with di Caprio).

Phew. The next dream found me in a field (I know, I should dig out that dream meanings book - I used to use it for brainstorming sessions) - It was very supersaturated colour and there were cigarettes growing in amongst the grass.

Now I worked out the cigarettes in a few seconds. Breaking Bad Series 4 middle episodes. I've just been watching it.

But for the rest I might need some help. I didn't need that group of Mumford like folk singers and a combine harvester at getting up time. It was beginning to go like a margarine commercial. So I woke up instead.

Then I realised the tracks I'd been listening to in the car the previous evening may well have included a subliminal message. I'd flicked through some of the albums quite quickly (unsuitable for motorways) but pretty much listened to every track on one excellent album.

It was by Hannah Louise Clark's "Foe"

And the name of the album?

"Bad Dream Hotline"

January's emerging challenges

I will be setting the alarm for an early start tomorrow.

I've also booked some hotel nights away and filled the car with fuel ready for the start of a busy week.

My calendar shows I'll be partly around Westminster and partly further afield. January always seems to be a long month after the accelerated speed through December and has the other joys of 'Debt Day' around the 14th when all the bills roll in.

That's ahead of Blue Monday - which this year is the 23rd January - the pseudo scientifically derived low point of the year. It's a blend of poor weather, maximum debt, time since feel-good factor of Christmas, disintegration of resolutions and general low motivation.

I'll class it as hokum, but it's best to be prepared to side step it in any case.