2010 — 22 June: Tuesday
The day got off to a relatively poor start when a) I woke up at 04:00 or so, dozing only fitfully (strange word) after that, and b) the plum I was stewing (no differently from any I've zapped in the microwave in the past) to top off my breakfast cereal chose to explode. But days can only get better, and this one improved rapidly when the dentist (after an inordinate amount of opportunistic poking and prodding and a couple of X-rays) cheerily said "Fine. Have a great summer. See you in six months".
That buoyed me up sufficiently for me to swing by Peter Green on the way back, to select, and pay my deposit for, the kitchen vinyl and the ("Cocoa") carpet for hall, landing, stairs, and new "library" room upstairs.
I got back just as Brian was labouring his way downstairs with the hot water tank, step (thump) by step (thump).1 It was amazingly caked up with limescale. I've been wasting a lot of money over the years it seems. I must say it will be good to have a fresh start in the house. But what a messy upheaval and what a lot of expense and work!
My next task is to research the Zanussi cooker so Brian can, if need be, properly prepare the space it's going to occupy before the thing is delivered. It's 11:01 and I currently have no water.2 [Pause] Done. Click the schematic to see the real thing:
Right. It's 12:11 and my inner man seems to be getting peckish...
Somewhat later
I treated myself to lunch at the (totally refurbished) Bridge Inn at Shawford. And followed that by a minor-league pootle back the "pretty" way through Twyford so as to give the Yaris a bit of a blast — eventually — on the motorway. It's had a string of short hops in recent days. Then, pausing only long enough to admire Brian's efforts,3 it was time to whizz out with my main co-pilot for a cuppa or two at Brambridge. And, in my case, innocently admire the remarkably trim figure of the young mother playing with her toddler on the slide.
I'm quite sure Christa was similarly observed and admired there in decades past :-)
Not only is it now past midsummer, but it's also 17:10 and I need another cuppa. Plus, sadly, the pollen count appears to have soared to some horrid level. Sniff.
Oops! Having busied myself bringing a second PC online (the one I prefer to use for CD-ripping as its Core 2 Duo does the job very speedily) down here in the living room, caught up with the latest batch of audio goodness, and backed up the files, I've just realised I forgot to have anything to eat so far. It's 20:08 so I'll get right on it. Still, my appetite is always less on hotter days, and it's certainly warmed up considerabubble hereabouts.
I can now confirm, by the way that (despite the manual denying the capability) the Oppo Blu-ray is perfectly happy to display the legend "HDCD" and play those two King Crimson discs I bought yesterday. Excellent sound, too. It's 23:02 and I'm thinking it may not be a bad idea to call it a day soon. I have accumulated a bit of a sleep deficit.