It's been raining constantly since the start of September. And I've been feeling cold some of the time. Tcch, I've not felt cold for months. Truly these are the last days! (of summer ( Read more... )

Exciting pub quiz triumph by Roger on the tiebreak ("How many times was the US flag changed because of new states joining?" or something; answer: more than 5). Hibs' abject 6-0 defeat by Barcelona was on the tv in the pub, empty stands and all. Another day in the office avoiding work. I'm not even celebrating Labour's byelection defeat because I ( Read more... )

We won the pub quiz hurray. One question was on the countries in the world with the best representation of women in their parliaments. Costa Rica and Rwanda score very high. Rog got a Darius Danesh question, and I got an incorrect Duran Duran question (Who sung Ordinary Girl in 1993? Almost.) Someone in one of the other teams spent about 10 ( Read more... )

Yay pub quiz victory. It went to the tiebreaker, which was "What is the atomic number of krypton? Closest guess wins." Roger said 36. I muttered something in the 60s but followed his advice. The other team went for 97. The correct answer was 36. Afterwards I asked if Rog had memorised the periodic table but he explained that atomic numbers ( Read more... )

Last night in a dream I had the best idea for a National Novel Writing Month novel: plot, characters, everything. But I'd forgot it when I woke up. So I'll have to hope it was one of those dreams where you think you have the secret of the universe, rather than one of those dreams where you realise the chemical structure of benzene. I also woke ( Read more... )

"A coach carrying the jury for the inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales has crashed outside the Ritz Hotel in Paris." (Sky News.)

On the other hand, this is a spoof:

The Happy Endings Foundation - rewriting children's books ( Read more... )

Have you ever had the thought that you should phone up everybody you know of the opposite sex and declare your undying love to each of them in turn, just to see on the off-chance if any would say yes? And if that fails, look into the legalities surrounding acquiring an otter ( Read more... )

Another pub quiz triumph. Closely fought to the end, but we got 6 out of six on the music round (who sung Since Yesterday, Heartbeat (in 1992), Where Is The Love? and similar historic discs) and five out of five on liqueueuers ( Read more... )

In the clepsydra of our imperfection, steady drops of dreaming marked the unreal hours ( Read more... )

I can't decide if I should go to Carlisle this Friday to see Johnny Boy? Come on! It'll be fun. It's Carlisle, home town of Belinda Carlisle*. It's outrageous that they're playing Carlisle AND Preston but not coming to Scotland. Or more locally Rog is going to see post-crusty outfit the Levellers in Edinburgh the same night ( Read more... )