I've got a cold.

And it sucks.

Fishmongers' Livery Concert

Ah, bliss!

It was a black tie do. We started with Champagne and nibbles, courtesy of Stephen Pini. Then it was off to listen to the Forte String Quartet from the Guildhall School of Music for some Haydn and Tchaikovsky. A break for more drink and nibbles (I had proper lemonade). And back for a piano recital by Anton Lyakhovsky and Toms Ostrovskis who played pieces by Rachmaninov and Lutoslawski. Piano music isn't normally my cup of tea, but the two pianos together made a real difference. I was surprised at how loud they were, even though I was right at the back.

And then we had a buffet supper. Top quality food.

This ticket is cursed!

I've a spare ticket for a do tomorrow and no-one wants it!

So I have a spare ticket

I've two tickets for a concert on Weds. And no guest. Poo.

Torchwood finale

Crap, wasn't it? It was so bad that I couldn't watch it all the way through but switched over to other programs then switched back. And the big baddie? I'm sure they've used him before.

Predictions for 2007

Happy New Year to my one reader.

Now, Misty's made her predictions, I'm going to make mine.

January: Nothing of significance happens; the press get distracted by twin badgers.
February: I get fixed up for a blind date on St.Valentine's Day with a blind Russian shot-putter; being a gentleman, I get her drunk and put her in a taxi home.
March: Excitement about Tony Blair's resignation reaches fever-pitch; TB tells them to fuck off.
April: Showers. The badgers are doing well.
May: Gordon Brown succeeds Tony Blair and calls a quickie election. The skunks topa BBC poll and get proposed as candidates.
June: Elections. Who cares who wins? They're all after my wallet. My MP's a tosser, so I'll probably vote for her best opponent. Round here that would probably be the Monster Raving Loony Party. The badgers almost get elected.
July: Sunshine! My nephew's 5. Damn the rest.
August: More sunshine!
September: Prime Minister Cameron announces that Britain will leave the EU but remain in EFTA.
October: Cameron announces that the UK is negotiating membership of NAFTA.
November: Georgina celebrates her first birthday. Yay!
December: The badgers do what Guy Fawkes failed to do: blow up Parliament. Everyone thinks it's part of some celebration and nobody notices that all the MPs are dead. When it is finally noticed, nobody really cares.

Merry Christmas!

I had a wonderful Christmas. I hope you all did too.

I've been banned by Samizdata.Net!

So for the first time in a long while I try to post a comment to Libertarian Samizdata and get the message that I've been banned. I've no idea why; I've had no email from them. I can only presume some previous user of my IP address was a spammer. But I've been on NTL for 3 years now, with mostly the same IP address, so they're a bunch of tossers for keeping the ban so long.

A tale of two carol services

I attended two carol services this week. One at work and one at St Magnus Martyr in London with the Fishmongers.

The one at work was given by children from a local school and they sang while we had mulled wine and mince pies. The wine was dreadful. The children sang really well, and the carols were a mixture of traditional and modern 'happy-clappy' carols. The traditional carols were excellent, but the modern ones did not take my fancy at all. The music teacherdid a couple of solos and he was crap. He didn't take into account the acoustics of the building at all. And he sang in the happy-clappy manner.

The service in London was excellent: it was full blown service with choristers and traditional carols. The congregation (i.e. us) sang most of the carols but we paused a couple of times and the choristers sang. And they were excellent. Then we repaired to Fishmongers' Hall for nibbles and wine. Lovely.

Her name is Georgina

Welcome to the world, Georgina! There are such wonders in store for you.

I'm an uncle again

Isn't she gorgeous?

I flew to see her yesterday, and back today. I spent a long time simply sitting and holding her in my arms and when you're like that, you know that despite the bad weather outside, there's nothing wrong with the world.

Bill's back!

And he's written a long one.

Idiot cyclist

I saw a cyclist get bumped today. It was about 17:30 and dark, and the moron was wearing dark clothing (no high-visibility jacket or anything), had no helmet,was weaving around the traffic, and was riding far too close to the cars. He tried to undertake a car and got brushed. Fortunately it was only a little bump, but had he been run over, I'd be willing to stand up in court and say it was the cyclist's fault. Hopefully the idiot has learned his lesson.

Halloween: nobody came.

There was me all togged up with plenty of chocolate to disburse and nobody came. Not one trick-or-treater. Well, it looks like all that chocolate's for me!

New toy alert!

I've gone and got myself an Inverto PVR. I ordered it from Boots' website on Sunday. I was less than impressed when it only came today.

Eating out

Just had a gorgeous steak at The Wyvern. Lovely meat, lovely sauce. Pity they default to chips; their mashed potato is so much better.

And I've a new toy on the way.

Paging Misty

Look ye here! Very cool.

Ofcom replied

And I wasn't fobbed off. It was a well-written and thoughtful reply, with which I thoroughly disagreed.

Holiday!

Three weeks away from work! Well, it would be nice if my aged aunt weren't seriously ill. Still, I've got loads to do around the house.

Digital radio

About a week ago I purchased a cheap DAB radio. It's very good. The best feature: the alarm that operates weekdays only.