I’m shortly going to go
I'm shortly going to go and try for any kind of a night's sleep - this should be entertaining.
Damien is clearly trying to cement his status as a 'diamond geezer', as I've just received a package from him containing a Four Star Mary CD I haven't been able to get for, well, for money, basically. Cracking stuff.
I notice that Chris R has referred the massive readership of his site here, so for anyone newly arriving and wondering who the hell I am, 'Welcome' and be assured that you'll get the hang pretty quickly - all of my depths are pretty close to the surface.
Election is one week today, and it's all still as dull as something very unshiny indeed.
Insomnia – is that state
Insomnia - is that state in which the world looks quite interesting at 1am, when most of the lights are out, and the night is disturbed only by a few late returners; looks less interesting at 3am, when all the lights are out and all you can think about is that everyone else is getting a decent night's sleep and you're not; and looks positively hateful at 5am, when all you want to do is crack your head against the wall, because even plain unconsciousness must be better than the screaming frustration of not being able to get to sleep.
Which on a lighter note, reminds me of an old Victoria Wood sketch - two women in an office, discussing their woes:
"I could *not* get to sleep last night. I even had Dick throw a brick at my head to stun me, but...."
"Have you tried jamming your head in the tumble drier and switching on?"
"Does that work for you?"
"Well it did for a while, but then of course the body becomes accustomed."
"Ah - like deodorant. You can be perfectly alright for a while, and then Bang!: People are backing away with handbags over their noses."
My God, but there's some rubbish floating around in my head.
Random quotations….egad I’m getting good
Random quotations....egad I'm getting good at hacking other people's code 
Had my last full day at the Hampshire office today - I've got to go back on Tuesday for my exit interview, but apart from that, I'm scarily close to being out of IBM. For good? Well, I was told today that I'd be welcome if I wanted to go back.....
It should be noted, by
It should be noted, by the way, that if you're viewing this in any earlier version of Internet Explorer than 5.5, including earlier version 5s, you're not seeing it quite right - the links on the right will probably be defaulting to system standards. How annoying *is* browser technology.....?
Well, allís back where itís
Well, allís back where itís supposed to be, more or less when I said it would be, last-minute Blogger glitches notwithstanding, and with a brand-spanking new look too. Sorry for the interruption to the service, but Iíve blogged throughout, so look at all the lovely catching up you can doÖ..
Thanks must go to all those authors of online CSS tutorials whoíve helped me to make up for my previous lack of knowledge. (Look at this ñ no tables!) I *never* though Iíd get all that lot over on the right to ëfloatí in the right place. Thank you too to the redoubtable Chris Raettig, for the tip on how to display the ëdoesnít work in your browserí message. (If you canít see it, thatís thanks to Chris )
Also note that Iím not a geek, so I only have Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Opera installed on my machine, and therefore have only tested it on those browsers, and only on a PC at that. If youíre looking in anything else and it doesnít work, then you clearly *are* a geek, and *must* also have one of those I have installed, so please use itÖ. Mac users (if there are any looking at this thing), I have no idea what youíre seeingÖ so my apologies if itís horrible.
Right - time for a stiff drink, I think.
About that ‘not-judging people’ thing
About that 'not-judging people' thing - we took the visitors out for Indian food last night, because they like it but don't often get it, and there's a really good Indian place near home. Unfortunately, just after we got there, another party, a man and two women, arrived, and proceeded to behave exactly like the stereotype English people getting lagered up and going for a curry: Demanding extra chillies with everything, farting and burping both long and loud, being sick but then challenging each other to eat more, peeing all over the toilet floor, and just generally being loud and obnoxious. I didn't know what to say to these poor people we'd taken there for a civilised evening.
As I said to Chris on the way home - "I don't even feel like I belong to the same species as people like that."
Anyway, the visitors are now gone - it's been another lovely day, and it's time to eat and settle in to catch up on Friday's Buffy and Angel.
So another Bank Holiday weekend
So another Bank Holiday weekend is upon us, and the sun is shining again. This can't be natural. It's probably the end of the world or something.
Some friends of Chris's (or strictly-speaking, a friend of Chris's and her fiance) arrived in town last night. Veronique is Belgian, but I met her previously when she was living in Amsterdam. Now they're doing a two month course in Birmingham - poor buggers. We took a really nice walk along the river to Tower Bridge with them this morning, which was really cool. Veronique shamed me for my taking the river for granted by being immediately struck by how the smell reminded her of being by the sea. It's true, much as I say I love living close to the river, I may as well not for all the advantage I take of it.
Chris and I then went on into town, as I wanted to buy a digital camera for the new company so that I can photograph potential office space, though I returned without one - I know what I want, but I couldn't get it. I'll try again before the weekend's out. I did, however, return with a lovely new Sony Clie PDA. It's a sad but true fact (not that sad, actually) that I'm a total Sony Queen.....
Taking the visitors to Canary Wharf this evening for tapas outside by the dock - which strikes me as a very pleasant way to pass a Saturday evening.
So is Oscar Wilde supposed
So is Oscar Wilde supposed to be having a bit of a revival and nobody told me? This morning I spotted the fourth person this week reading The Picture of Dorian Grey on the tube, and it just seems a bit too coincidental.
London seems very quiet this morning - I even got a seat on the tube. I guess it's because people have taken an early start to the holiday weekend.
Rant Warning: Okay – I
Rant Warning: Okay - I was (a bit) wrong just now - there is an interesting(ish) item of election news. The ProLife Alliance have had their election broadcast refused an airing by the BBC on taste and decency grounds. The BBC think we (or specifically the people of Wales, where it was due to be aired) have a right not to have images of aborted foetuses broadcast into our homes while we're eating dinner. I think they're quite right - and I'd go further: I think we all have a right not to have the scaremongering ravings of (have you ever noticed this?) an almost-overwhelmingly male fringe with a grudge against women who dare to exercise control over their own bodies foist upon us at any time of the day or night. I'm all for sensible debate about any issue, including abortion, but hysteria and anger have no place in that.
PS - Check out the link to the story for a picture of their (female) candidate. How rabidly scary does she look? And their spokesman is called Bruno Quintavalle, which has to say something....
Sorry - getting a bit crazed and demob happy.