All entries for June 2007

So what happened to June then?

This time last year, it was blazing hot. Temperatures continuously in the high twenties for three whole weeks. Shorts, vests, and sandals all round. Sleeping out in the garden all day because it was warm enough to do so. Waking up every morning to the sun’s rays on your bed.

Why are there floods everywhere now and why am I shivering on my way in to work in the mornings?

: 28 Jun 2007 22:58 |  Comments (5) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Little sister

My little sister turns 20 years of age today.

My God that makes me feel old. Worryingly old.

: 24 Jun 2007 03:11 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Two sides of the same coin

Pain. Every movement feels like climbing a mountain. Each breath just can’t quite be long enough. The limbs are numb. Even when still, there’s pressure on the body. The brain is confused. The future is known, but it can’t be imagined. The present is far too much a weight to bear.

Strength. There is a sense of total awareness, universal focus. Not an ounce of doubt. Not a stone too heavy, nor a reach too far. The power comes without effort. This present is insufficient. Hunger is abound. Thirst is unquenchable. No resistance is felt. Oppression is silenced.

: 20 Jun 2007 23:08 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Three professions

A biologist, a statistician, and a mathematician are sitting outside a cafe on a sunny morning, enjoying a cappucino, and geneally watching the world go by. Across the road from them is a large building in clear view. A man and a woman walk along the pavement, and enter the building through an open door. A short while later, a man, a woman, and a child emerge from the building. The three coffee-goers look at each other in bewilderment.

“It is simple”, says the bioligist, “I can explain what we have just seen. The man and the woman have obviously reproduced whilst in the building”.

“No”, says the statistician, “what we have seen is just an example of observational error – on average there were two-and-a-half people both entering and leaving the building”.

“Nonsense”, says the mathematician. “The situation as it stands does not require explanation for it is very simple. The bottom line is that if one more person goes inside, then the building wil be empty”.

: 13 Jun 2007 22:36 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Gone without a trace…

Just like that. Disappeared. No advance warning, no signs, and no aftermath.

And it took me three hours to work out why.

: 11 Jun 2007 22:00 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Lewis Hamilton…

...is a legend. Finally there is something to cheer about in the world of motor sport for the first time since the days of Damon Hill.

Button, Coulthard, Irvine, Davidson – eat your heart out!

: 10 Jun 2007 23:55 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Street performers

Wasn’t doing anything yesterday afternoon so headed down to chill on the South Bank for a bit since the weather was good. Full of tourists as ever. Lots of street performers. I stopped over to watch a couple of shows. Typically, they all mention money before they start their act. Typically, everyone laughs. Typically, they re-iterate that they are really serious, this is their full-time job and so they expect the public to pay. Typically, everyone laughs again. And then when the act is over, everyone leaves. Mostly without paying.

I’m not gonna have a rant at the public – after all I didn’t pay either, but this is not an uncommon occurrence on the streets of London. Which must say something about the level of demand or street performers. Which begs me to question, what keeps them in business? Surely over an extended time period, there would be little incentive for them to retun and perform their acts again, as the public is repeatedly unwilling to pay for it. So what funds them?

Of course, they are all passionate artists and enjoy doing what they do, so there is more to it from their perspective than putting bread on the table. They like to entertain. But in that case why kid the public. If they are not truly desperate for tourist donations to make their living, why try and scrounge a few scraps of change off an unsuspecting victim, when in the grand scale of things what little they do rake in actually makes a very small difference.

: 03 Jun 2007 14:55 |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Spectacles

I have lost my glasses. For the second time in my life. This is at best slightly irritating, but more realistically a total hindrance to everything I want to do since I can’t see jack shit without them.

The first time I lost my glasses was two and a half years ago, almost to the day. I believe that I left them in a hostel in which I was staying abroad, but when I rang the hostel to check afterwards they could find them nowhere. Cost around £60 to get a new pair, not much by today’s standards but probably more now.

Could be a blessing in disguise, since my eyesight has deteriorated recently and I needed new specs anyway, although I’ve been ever-postponing the requisite visit to the opticians. So in the meantime I’m walking around like an (almost) blind man.

: 02 Jun 2007 19:31 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem