Cold. (Viral rather than meteorological.)

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If I ever get rid of the respiratory complaint, the arthritis is waiting to step up to the plate. Heaven forbid I should actually be healthy.

On returning home early from pub devilled chicken liver crostini considerably less tasty than hoped for. Having to wash out mouth with last of Laphroaig.

Realised this morning I had completely forgotten about the Derren Brown show which in a fit of weirdness I booked at Christmas. Missed it now.

Oh god, nobody told me he was on here.

[posted in wrong thread]

Bugger.

Surely stick to wine.

Someone here is masquerading as my cat

v

I put $20 on the card I need to use the washers and dryers in my apartment building...and it vanished, necessitating the purchase of a new card from a machine that takes only $10 bills when I had only a $20, meaning I had to go out of the building to the Chinese take-out to ask them to break a $20 and then, when they refused, to the liquor store, which cooperated.

Rick Stein

Old hat I know, but he was particularly annoying on a show on UK Food last night

He was giving it all his " when I look at fresh prawns it always makes me think of that poem by T S Elliott" schtick.

I normally don't mind his so much, but all that sitting on the cliffs while gazing at the stars and thinking about razor clams bollocks is getting really old really quickly

S

The invasion of the stag beatles Every time I get rid of one, another comes roaring in - or maybe it's the same one each time.

Well at least it seems to keep the little cat entertained

v

It must have been the same one as I let the cat demolish it (not unlike Omni with a langoustine, but with more foreplay), which put her in a very good mood, and no more stag beetles for the evening.

More serious annoyances:

Work

Not cooking

v

'96 Chave.

Corked.

Asia de Cuba, the St Martin's Lane Hotel. No, of course I didn't eat there. But I thought it might be an entertaining place to have a drink.

1. the 'bar' area consists of a grid of tiny tall, thin tables, like a lightning field. Very pretty and hopeless to drink in. One sofa/table setup, which we grabbed.

2. the 'bar' consists of a big display of bottles in a pretty open cabinet. The actual drink making happens somewhere offstage, perhaps because it's inept.

3. the 'bar food' runs around 20 quid an item.

4. if you ask, they do actually have olives and nuts. These come in massive tapas dishes, suitable for groups of 10. We passed ours on when we were done. If the ladies who received them did the same, they could have lasted most of the night.

5. the drinks were boring, weak and badly made.

6. they were ten quid each.

7. plus nibbles and service makes 30 quid for one round for two people. The drinks were very far from justifying this.

What's a "quid"?

don't ever eat in asia de cuba, either

G'damned, no-good, lying, low down dirty, fucking cops. argghhhhhhhhh!

Ok, I feel better now.

Ron, did you get arrested AGAIN??


There was a blood drive in my neighborhood on Sunday. I waited 1/2 hour, only to be turned away because my hemoglobin level was a fraction under the acceptable minimum.

Hey, my blood may be iron-poor, but it's nonpartisan.

I am sick of security over-kill and metal detectors.

Last night I damn near got myself arrested going into the courthouse for night-court.

The sheriff's deputy told me he needed to search my briefcase because the scanner showed that I had a knife in it. I told him politely that I enter this courthouse through this metal detector no less than 20 times per week and my briefcase had never been searched before. At this point deputy #1 called for back-up. A rather husky (well fat) and bald deputy began ransacking my bag chucking my escrow checkbook and other rather important documents all over the security station. I asked very nicely, "is there some reason security is so much more stringent at night?"
Deputy #2 looked up at me like I had just insulted his mother. He turned beet-red and started yelling, "You want to go, you want to go!"
I replied, "Go where?"
At which point he said, "To fucking jail!" rather loudly.
I told him that I would love for him to tell me on what grounds he planned on arresting me.
Then he said, "what in the hell are you here for anyway?"
I replied, "I am an attorney, I work here, I represent my clients here."
At this he did seem to calm down some, and then triumphantly held aloft a small nail trimmer that I forgot was inside one of the interior pockets of my briefcase.
Holding this lethal weapon in front of his face, he said, "I told you there was fucking a knife in there. You can pick it up when you leave."
I let him keep it.

Folks, this is getting out of hand.

Weather: 27 today, 29 tomorrow (don't ask me about Fahrenheit equivalent).

Living in a 60's greenhouse, this is no joke. The only upside that at least this year I am in an air-conditioned office during the day, and not a portakabin.

v

Smarty Jones losing the Belmont.

The TONYs and The Sopranos being on at the same time

The Sopranos episode is on again tonight...

Air-conditioning at work has now packed up as well due to, well, complicated reasons with new buildings that don't work properly

v

DC is shutting down on Friday to host the Gipper so I lose a day of work as I had planned to bus it to NYC on Friday... leaving for NYC on Thursday evening to avoid the Friday mess. Perhaps a good thing in the end, but it leaves me less time to pack for India, finish work, and get my affairs in order.

No water in the building tomorrow between 9:30 and 1pm. 90 degrees and a nine month old baby. No problem.

Having the company I interviewed with tell me I'm their first choice, if they fill the position. If they've bothered to make up their minds, they haven't told me.