JOURNAL | PROFILE | FRIENDS | MANIFESTO FOR 40 | ABOUT THE SITE | CONTACT
Thursday 20 November 2008
Creepy Men
At the risk of sounding judgemental: I've been meaning to mention that I was out in town on Saturday night, and stopped in for a pint on my way home at a bar in Soho. (Yes I know - mistake number one right there.) I was minding my own business, leafing through one of the free papers, and a guy standing next to me started talking to me about an article I was reading.
We got to talking - he seemed knowldgeable on the politics of the situation involved - we talked some more. He was intelligent, seemed quite cultured, mature (in his 50s), and had interesting opinions on various subjects. It was a pleasant conversation, entirely untouched by any sense of 'pick up' as far as I was concerned.
So of course after about half an hour, and with no preamble of any kind, he asked me if I'd like to go home with him, and ideally let him fuck me bareback.
What the hell is wrong with these people? I wasn't even showing any interest in him in the first place. He started the conversation, it was wholly about non-sexual subjects, and at no point did I even suggest that I was interested in hooking up with anyone. What a freak.
The Trouble With Divas
Just a quick note to spread the word - Mike at Troubled Diva has mailed a whole bunch of people to note that as a consequence of some hosting trouble, he's moved the site to a new domain - now with added hyphen.
http://www.troubled-diva.com is the new target for your links, blogrolls, etc.
Stop by - it's the same high quality bloggage it's always been.
Wimbledon Watch
For the last three years I've posted Wimbledon Watches through the Championship, but this year has fallen victim to the timing of work and non-posting. However, I will note the rather impressive performance that Tabby Tim just put in to beat Mark Philippoussis in four sets. After totally overpowering him for the first two, when he lost the third, it looked like this was going to be yet another Henman Chokes year.
The point at which he was serving for the match at 5-2 in the fourth set and lost his serve for the first time in the match only seemed to reinforce the expectation that it was going to be another one of those years.
But no. The Tabby survives to maul another squeaky mouse. Roll on Wednesday - an unseeded opponant in the Quarter Finals? How can you not bet on Tim?
(To go crashing to an ignominious defeat)
I'm So Crap
I know, I know. I have no excuse but the plea of being busy.
There are any number of things I've wanted to post here recently, but lack of time or sheer fatigue have defeated me over and over. I'm actually starting to worry a little about how tired I seem to be the whole time lately. It's not even as if I'm in one of my insomniac phases lately. Okay, I'm not sleeping brilliantly, but nor am I in that state where I'm prowling the flat at 3 and 4am every night.
I'm literally at a point where Saturday afternoon naps are not out of the question, and I'm a bit worried about what that says regarding my slide into middle age.
Let's see if I can get caught up on a few things here over the next day or two and see where we go from there.
Pottered
So as noted I finally saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Quite impressed, though one thing that hit me far more about this one than the first two is the amount that had been shed from the book - there seemed to be large chunks of quite critical explanation that was wholly absent.
Enjoyable though, and there's a lot to be said for the change of director - I think the look of the series needed some refreshing, and Cuaron certainly did that.
Cycling
Been meaning to mention that Dave and Octavia are doing the London to Brighton bicycle ride tomorrow, with a 6am start. That's after they've cycled from their flat to Clapham Junction of course.
Best of luck folks. Rather you than me.
Networking
Courtesy of Dave and some leftover kit, I now have the fixings of a new network for the flat, which before long will be running wirelessly. I mention this for the entertainment of those who've seen my flat and are amused by the idea of a wireless network in such a small space.
Finally
I'm off to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban this evening.
On Becoming Middle Aged
Well, to my own personal dismay and horror, I'm becoming one of those people: Sitting outside the flat right now is a shiny new car with exactly 18 miles on the clock, including the journey home with it this evening.
Yes, I have, finally, taken delivery of my (the horror, the horror) company car.
Look, I'm not proud, but at least I went for the option with the lowest emissions of those available, and it's not like I'm planning on using it to drive to and from work every day.
And you should see how shiny it is :-)
Saturday Working
One advantage to spending nine hours in the office on a Saturday is that if it's a sixth floor riverside office with a balcony and it's the day of the Tooping Of The Colour, you get a great view of the fly-past. Dave and I allowed ourselves five minutes away from our desks to watch the various planes fly by. Pretty cool.
Remembering Reagan
As an old man with little grasp of reality is laid to rest (and I'm talking about back when he was 'the leader of the free world'(tm), not in his later years), I'd like to offer my own reflection and reminiscence:
I'd like to reflect on the President whose grand plan to deal with the AIDS crisis was to pretend it wasn't happening.
I'd like to reminisce about the man of whom Barbra Streisand said:
"I will never forgive my fellow actor Ronald Reagan for his genocidal denial of the illness' existence and for blocking adequate funding for research and education which could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives."
And I'd like to offer the view that we know everything we need to know about Reagan from the fact that that evil old bitch Thatcher says she'll miss him.
Stating The Bleeding Obvious
""There is clearly a strong protest vote, and we have to take account of what people are telling us.""
That would be Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, responding to what is, by any standards, a pretty damning night for Labour in the local elections.
My Democratic Privilege
I actually managed to get out of work at a reasonable enough hour to vote this evening (having been in work before polling opened this morning - work is once again my reason for being quiet round here by the way).
And now, election junky that I am, I'm obviously going to sit and watch as much of the BBC's coverage as I can stay awake for.
I couldn't help but be amused by reports of complaints about the London Mayoral election process. Apparently it was too complicated for some people because of the first and second choice system not being clearly enough explained.
What a load of bollocks - how much clearer could it be than "Put a cross in column 1 for your first choice and a cross in column 2 for your second choice". Some people just need to find things to moan about.
Food Review
Top. That's what the food was.
And the wine.
And the company.
Good evening all round in fact.
Smart Dress
Well, smart-ish for a Saturday night anyway.
Fancy dinner looms at a Conran in the city - it's a surprisingly close kind of day, warmer and more humid outside than it looks, so the chance to sit out in a roof garden for a pre-dinner drink or two holds significant attraction.
And Lara's going to be there, which is very very cool, because I haven't seen her in two years.
Food review later.
Gay Marriage Again
This worldwide momentum that has continued to swing behind the recognition of gay marriage is, no matter how you look at it, pretty astonishing.
It's as if someone threw the same switch in the collective consciousness of half a dozen widely disparate countries at the same time.
Today, France is starting to get into the act. It's almost certainly no more legal than a number of those 'marriages' that took place in various US states in the last few months (not including the really legal ones in Massachussets of course), but it's absolutely part of a pattern that's spreading around the world.
I've already said that I'm no fan of marriage anyway, but anything that destroys the barriers of intolerance and inequity (all of them), will certainly get my support.
Many Happies And All That
So both Dave and Barnaby turn 30 today, so many happy returns to them both, and here's hoping they're neither of them too delicate from yesterday's excesses to enjoy this latest step on the road towards death maturity.
And..... They're Off!
Most unusually for me, I've been gambling this afternoon. The work summer outing was to Epsom for The Oaks day. Seven races to gamble on with someone else's money, free food and drink all afternoon, and a lovely sunny day to boot. (Too sunny in fact - I'm *very* red.)
I had a small win in the second with the fabulously-named Uhoomagoo (how could you not bet on a horse named that?), bet the winnings and lost them, but then managed to extract £65 from the seventh race-winning Makfool, which made for a very satisfying end to the day.
But my word I'm red....
Edit - and I notice they've ejected radical feminist lesbian Kitten from Big Brother - the day just keeps getting better.
'Sleb Again Again
And today's winner is.... (with some actual Hollywood Celebrity status for a change)
..... Keira Knightly