Daily life in Dorktown

18 May

My Office subscription ran out at the start of the month and this morning when I opened it, it wouldn’t play anymore. So I had to bite the bullet thingy and pay for it, not cos I wanted to, but because I needed access to all my documents already created in Word and Excess. But that is the last time I shall be paying for it. Later today I shall be copying everything to Open Office and next year I won’t be bothering with MS Office.

Anyway, Jan said to go for the five PCs version and she could get an updated version too. So that’s what I did. I’ve sent her the receipt so she can sort out her package and now she can’t use it, and from she has just said, it’s working, so that good enough for me.

There was only one letter today, yet another invite for me to join in on a research project to test the effectiveness of an additional treatment find out if it might actually help statins work more inefficiently. All well and good I suppose but the project takes place in Brum somewhere and although they say they will pay expenses, it can go on for three to five years. Well, right now I have enough health related appointments as it is, without having to try to fit in any more. So I won’t be taking part.

There is the argument of course, that if the trail doesn’t go ahead then a more effective treatment might not come into use. It’s a persuasive argument; but I would possibly be 73 when this one comes to an end, and by then my day to day health needs might have increased considerably by then. I don’t think my voluntarily increasing such appointments is all that a good idea.       

As most of you know I’m a Parry Hotter fan, and no, I’m not ashamed to admit it either. Anyway, I’m reading Prisoner of Azkaban for the third time. I friend of mine once said that life is far too short to re-read books. That’s OK as far as it goes but what I’ve found is that no matter how many times you read something, you will find things you’ve missed before. Last night I came across another one while reading HP3. On page 145 of my copy, Harry has just been given a Magical map of the castle by the Weasley twins and he remembers something their dad said to him; Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can’t see where it keeps its brain. When you think about it, that’s not bad advice is it? So fiction can speak to us in the real world.

It was good to get out yesterday for a couple hours on me scooter. The weather was fine and dry and with a fresh fully charged battery I had no worries about getting stuck and having to call Jan to come and pick me. There was no real need for me to go into town other than for just getting out of home, but I did manage two things I wanted to do. One was making an eye test appointment at Specsavers so I can get the 2 for 1 offer on a free pair of shades, my old ones are around 10 years old now.

After that I went to the Works and looked at their 3 for £5 offer on paperbacks. My TBR pile has now grown again with a McDermid, a Baldacci and a new writer for me, A Sarah Crossan. But even that wasn’t the end, oh no. Costas for plain black coffee and slice of a sponge cake I hadn’t seen before. I thought it was cherry but no, it was even nicer, it was blueberry cake. I can hear the moans and groans here you know, ‘Why Costas? Go to Starbucks or Café Nero or …’ I go to Costas because I like their coffee, simple as that.

Monday evening of course we did our shopping but some of it we didn’t get because Asda didn’t have it in stock at that time. So I called in to Dave Caves, a grocer in town and picked up the bits Asda didn’t have. I also picked up and punnet of nectarines for £1.65, not a bad buy really seeing as there was 11 in it, Asda had some in, but at £2 for 5, I wasn’t buying.

And then as I made my way home, getting mixed up with a loads of Bratislava from Higham Lane School. Kids haven’t changed have they? There they were a huge great wodge of them spread across a fairly wide footpath, but do you think they would give way for me? Now don’t be silly, of course they won’t! I’ve been caught in that lot before so yesterday I went down onto the cycle lane on the road so I didn’t get caught up. But I did hear some prat shout out about me not being on a bike but being the cycle lane anyway.

Has all this bored you? If you have read this far then perhaps not. So why do I write so much mundane stuff. Well, the simply answer is that by doing so I am still writing, even if I am not working on Arathusia, and all would-be writers need to write every day. I hope you will stick with me when this happens.

Today’s photo …

Bikers taking it easy.                      

Today’s funny …

What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter?
Pumpkin pi.