I do not support our government’s inappropriate use of anti-terrorism laws. Our leaders are idiots. Rest assured, we’re going to vote them out at the next available opportunity. I wish that we could vote them out sooner.
All of the real human beings in the UK have sympathy for the real human beings in Iceland. The shit that we are going through is nothing compared to what you are experiencing, and we are all aware of this.
Pete
> Hi there
> *** in *** freecycled her Dyson today, but accidentally gave away her new one instead of the old. She would really like to swap them back, please! Can the man who collected it, please give her a ring on *** or reply to me on this email?
> Many thanks and sorry for the confusion!
I believe that she was momentarily distracted by a volcano in her kitchen.
Today might be my last day of cycling into work in 2008. For one reason or another, I will not be able to cycle into work for the next 12 days. After that, it’s only a week until the clocks change. Based upon my experience from last year, that’s when cycling into work turns from a pleasant activity into a dangerous and arduous one. For the sake of a few days, I might as well just stop after today.
It’s been a good year for cycling. Last year I used a little cycle computer to keep track of my average speeds, but this year I haven’t used it once. I’ve sorted out on-bike storage so that I don’t have to carry a rucksack on my back. And I got a bicycle pump with a pressure gauge for my birthday, so I’ve been able to keep my tyres within the manufacturer’s specified pressure range, instead of woefully below, which seems to be my natural tendency.
Last night I was lying in bed, unable to sleep, trying to make as little noise as possible so that I wouldn’t prevent Karen from sleeping. Eventually I thought better of it, and decamped downstairs and flopped out the sofa bed.
For over an hour I lay there, my brain whirring and bouncing, constantly providing me with stimuli and imaginary matters to keep me awake. This often happens when I am a bit poorly. On more than one occasion, I remember seeing that there were new replies to a post of mine on an internet forum, so I had to check to see what they’d said. All of this was in my imagination, of course, but it was highly disruptive.
Eventually I took a short break, went to the toilet, had a glass of water, and told my brain to behave itself. I went back to bed and made a conscious effort to stop thinking. Apparently this worked.
But the reason why I put fingertips to keyboard is this: at some point during my ceaseless thrashing, my brain came up with an awesome band name. Or maybe it would be an album name. Either way, at the time it seemed like the best band name ever, and I would have switched the light on and written it down, but I felt that it would be counter-productive in the whole “getting to sleep” project.
This morning, I managed to remember the band name without too much head-scratching, which came as something of a surprise. Even more surprising, it still seems half-decent in the cold light of morning.
And what is this band name that you are teasingly withholding from us? I hear you say.
No Bears At All
Now I just have to figure out what it means.
*UPDATE: Google tells me that this phrase exists in a book called The Bears on Hemlock Mountain – maybe I picked it up subconsciously at some point? More likely, it’s just a coincidence.*
> My kids desperately need a Working dishwasher, as they are fed up being the manual alternative.
>
> And I must admit I fed up with yelling at them, when all I get back is I’ll do them later.
“Kids, do the washing up.”
“No.”
“I said do the washing up!”
“No. Buy us a dishwasher.”
“Yes, master.”
“And we’re bored of tidying our rooms. Build a robot to do it for us.”
“Yes, master.”
“My books seem to be scattered all over the sitting room floor.”
“I shall hire a cleaner, my liege.”
The oldest version of this site on archive.org is from January 2003, more than five and a half years ago. Of the 42 sites on my “blogroll” back then, 15 of them are still active. And a further 4 of them were written by people whom I happen to know are still blogging, albeit at a different location.
This is a higher percentage than I was expecting.
> Hi, I am looking for a bigger TV say from 28″ upward. My small TV is too small for living room!
I was tempted to reply to this with “Hi, I’ve got a 42″ plasma screen that I don’t use very often, about once a day at most. I’d be willing to give you that for free. You can have my Blu-ray player as well, if you think you could find a use for it.”
Included as part of a “various items” posting:
> An item that l cannot describe except it is something that you can buy in clinton cards or birthday. It is basically a plastic thing that you give as a little present for a friend – Hope this makes sense
Also known as: a piece of plastic tat.