BALING OUT

After the persistent rain of recent days, it seemed like time to bale out some of the excess water from the garden pond. The sun was shining brightly, as I retrieved the baling bucket from the top shed, welcoming me into the fresh air’s company.

Baled out 100 litres, approximately half the amount that needed transferring to alternative containers but, in the process noticed the gathering black clouds. It was almost as if the heavens were saying, “You displace, we’ll replace”; I don’t really think the heavens understood the logic of my actions!

A couple of hours later, the heavenly meteorologist hasn’t quite determined his course of action. A few raindrops have fallen but, the darkest clouds have been replaced by an opaque milky sunscreen. Occasionally, the sun still manages to burn it’s way through the cloud filter.

At this point, I think of checking the barometer but then, the words of MacNeice spring to mind:

“The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever,
But if you break the bloody glass you won’t hold up the weather.”

[Louis MacNeice – ‘Bagpipe Music’ 1937]

A Sense of Achievement

Today's achievement. I actually managed to get out to a social function this evening, where I remained for over an hour; I can hardly remember when it was I last managed this degree of emotional stamina.

The occasion was a Private View, at Harrogate's Mercer Art Gallery, of 'Songlines: Contemporary Aboriginal Art' and, 'Re-Invisible World: New Work by Christopher P. Wood. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the latter work gelled with the Aboriginal Art. Although there is something quintessentially English about Wood's work, a new feature of tracks through, and a sense of Spirits in the landscape, reflected an antipodean influence. Very much a sense of place.

It was also a good opportunity to renew contact with some old acquaintances and friends.

Shock, horror ... immorality in the arms trade

Britain's biggest arms firm, BAE Systems, has been identified on US banking records as secretly paying more than £1m to General Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator.

What a surprise to find that the military-industrial complex supports Fascists! I seem to remember Lady Thatcher was a keen supporter of the aforementioned General.

A Real Gem

Last night I stumbled upon something very precious, "The White Diamond", a documentary film by Werner Herzog from 2004. A big thankyou to BBC4 for bringing this gem into our living room. In many ways it was a typical Herzog production, the South American rainforest and a quest to overcome obstacles.

Overall, it proved a most uplifting experience in which one shared the "still floating" experience of a jungle airship designer, and diamond miner Yhap, ecstatically laid-back was just a treat and, it was his insight that saw the Airship as a white diamond above the jungle canopy. The dizzying flight of the myriad swifts around the falls was totally mesmerising.

The airship designer's recollections of his friend, Dieter Plage, killed whilst participating in a similar project 11 years earlier, were incredibly haunting. It really is quite rare to get the feeling that one is actually a participant in the events unfolding on screen!

This gem only serves to confirm the high regard in which I already held Herzog as a film-maker.

Further reflections on the ntl upgrade

I've just been checking up further about the ntl speed upgrade. Apparently, the only penalty for hitting your usage limit in any month is a reduction in speed for the remainder of the month. If that is indeed the case, why should their website offer the opportunity (advanced notice required) to remain at the slower speed? To me, it seems as if this option assumes a disadvantage in the speed upgrade.

Anyway, my beloved and I are now assuming that the situation is all gain! We're also contemplating an eventual upgrade to 2Mb.

Thinking aloud about NTL

Decided to uninstall AntiVir Classic from my laptop and, in it's place download and install ntlNetguard (only available to ntl cable broadband customers). This performs all the functions of AntiVir Personal Edition Premium (which is installed on my PC and Helen's laptop) plus pop-up and ad-blockers, as well as a Privacy manager and Form Filler/Password Manager. In common with AntiVir Premium, it has automatic updates and, scans e-mail. AntiVir Classic doesn't scan e-mails.

If I'm satisfied with it, I'll possibly change to Netguard on the two other machines when the AV Premium comes up for renewal. Why, because Netguard is free and, can be installed on up to three machines whereas, AV Premium costs 20 Euros per machine!

It's good to find ISP's starting to take some responsibility for security.

*************************

Further on the ntl front, they're currently upgrading all 300K connections to 1 Mb but, unfortunately they're capping it at 3Gb per month. Evidently, if one goes above that limit you'll have the option of upgrading (2Mb is capped at 30Gb and costs an extra £7 pm) or reverting to a slower speed. I'm not quite sure whether that slower speed will only be for the remainder of the month, starting the next month with a clean slate. The cap is what prevented me upgrading my connection at an earlier opportunity.

I'm not really sure how one calculates the usage!

Just the two of us ...

Apart from one or two minor glitches, today has been a really good day. Truth be told, any day I spend considerable time with my beloved is a good day; at heart I’m an incurable *sentimental romantic (* though those who know me well may suggest fully-mental!).

Apart from downloading Zone Alarm upgrades, for a PC and two laptops, I’ve had a totally lazy evening … in fact the download and installation is part of the lazy evening. In the early part of the evening, I completed a DVD recording, which already contained performances by Ella Fitzgerald, from both 1965 and 1974, with a 1982 performance by Betty Carter. It’s a useful exercise checking through old VHS recordings as, I’d forgotten ever having captured some of the programmes.

After the VHS to DVD transfers, it was time to settle down to watch some TV (the joys of couch-potato-dom!).Having just watched an episode of CSI: Miami, a repeat of a CSI: New York is currently showing so I’d better get back to Helen’s side, to jog her into a state of alertness!

It's just not cricket!

Radio 2's obsession with cricket has carried over into today. It gets a mention in the religious slot, the news (with reference to the victory parade of the England team), and on the Jeremy Vine show a discussion on the scandal of TV coverage of future Test matches going over to pay TV. The strange argument was presented that, somehow ball-by-ball coverage on terrestrial TV would lead to more interest in the game.

It's my suspicion that the one-eyed monster is to a large extent responsible for the lack of interest, as it seems more focussed on the 'video-bite' rather than any protracted active viewing that cricket would seem to require. When I was growing up, lots of children and adults would participate in the game at local level yet, very few of these participants had any access to TV! Nowadays that's a very rare sight.

Anyway that's enough moaning about cricket mania, no doubt it will be short-lived. The England players have become today's "celebrities" and, we all know how long celebrity lasts!

Suddenly, on my return from a hospital visit, switched on my laptop only to find I couldn't access Internet Explorer ... Runtime Error and all that jazz ... "This application has requested the Runtime to terminate in an unusual way .... blah! blah! blah!" Never had thiss problem on my old PC so, it's something new to try and troubleshoot. At least I've got Firefox in the meantime.

********************************************

P.S. 5.35pm Grateful thanks to HP pavilion notebook e-mail support. Runtime error issue has now been resolved, simply by removing the 'Google' toolbar although, they did give quite comprehensive instructions for re-installing IE and it's Service Pack should this action not have provided a solution! Thankyou HP.

The Joys of Achievement

It's quite amazing how a little (weather-assisted) acheivement, by a reasonably good England cricket team, can be made to sound like a matter of vital national importance. ITV News took the trouble to speak to Sir Michael Jagger in New York for his middle-England response. Being sickened by this excessive gloating, decide to switch on Mark Radcliffe (Radio 2) and guess what that git chose to keep talking about ... this amazing cricketing achievement! Strange, I'd enjoyed his programme until now! Anyway, I'm currently enjoying Radio 3 ... hope I'm not soon going to be in for a fall!

News bulletins talk of England rejoicing/celebrating; I'm not, it's a game for god's sake. [For once I wish I was Australian; at least they won't want to talk about it!] I can remember times when the game hardly got a mention; let's hope those days soon return.

Actually, there's an impressive "Folk"programme on Radio 3 at the moment. Didn't know such a programme existed so, I suppose I should be grateful to the cricket twaddle on the Mark Radcliffe programme.

My Lost Years

This morning, two health related pieces of mail fell on the doormat. Opened the first one, from my GP's practice, headed INFLUENZA IMMUNIZATIONS: AUTUMN 2005, which invited me to receive the immunisation this autumn. The letter continued by stating that "it is now recommended each year for everyone aged 65 years or older". A quick bit of mental arithmetic disclosed that I was only 61 years of age so, had I slept longer than I suspected last night?

An accompanying page soon clarified the issue, it could be that my immune system isn't as effective as it should be ... that seems to be the primary contender for this honour, alongside throat problems.

The other health related epistle came from the Senior Physio (Mental Health) who will be calling to see me to assess "the fatigue and physical symptoms you are experiencing". Strange thing is, some of the physical symptoms have not beens as much in evidence since I came off the anti-depressants although, I'm not sure that there's any correlation between these two factors.

I've got to admit though, it was a relief to realize that I hadn't suddenly aged by four years. That's one less ailment to deal with!