I was going to cover many things today - the film we saw yesterday, the restaurants that were selfishly fully booked and with ridiculous waiting times, the imminent house move - but today is a milestone blog, and milestone blogs dictate a full post reserved for them exclusively. It's just how it's done.
So this post, marking my 800th blog post, is on its own a tribute to my own blogging. And how I've done so 800 times over the last 8-and-a-bit years.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Everything's Changing
One of the things that's hard to measure is whether your tolerance is increasing, or whether what you're trying to tolerate is actually becoming more tolerant.
This sounds like a deep and meaningful point but I say this, of course, thinking about music. I was listening to the radio on the way into work yesterday - as I usually do, but this came about yesterday hence the focus - and realised that the Keane song I was listening to was actually rather good, and that was the second time recently I'd thought that. I've always associated Keane with depressive dirge, a similar vein to classic Coldplay where nothing should be upbeat on pain of pain, and moaning melancholy was the favoured note.
Now this means one of two things; either (1) I've mellowed significantly, which is always a possibility, or (2) the more unlikely option that Keane have actually cheered up. I'm not sure which is scarier. I've linked the two songs beneath - have a listen, let me know if it's just me.
Keane - Higher Than The Sun
Keane - Won't Be Broken
Is it really just me?
This sounds like a deep and meaningful point but I say this, of course, thinking about music. I was listening to the radio on the way into work yesterday - as I usually do, but this came about yesterday hence the focus - and realised that the Keane song I was listening to was actually rather good, and that was the second time recently I'd thought that. I've always associated Keane with depressive dirge, a similar vein to classic Coldplay where nothing should be upbeat on pain of pain, and moaning melancholy was the favoured note.
Now this means one of two things; either (1) I've mellowed significantly, which is always a possibility, or (2) the more unlikely option that Keane have actually cheered up. I'm not sure which is scarier. I've linked the two songs beneath - have a listen, let me know if it's just me.
Keane - Higher Than The Sun
Keane - Won't Be Broken
Is it really just me?
Friday, January 24, 2014
Electrical Choices
This morning I had a ridiculous journey to work - my car was being particularly tempremental, but in new and unusual ways.
I was leaving slightly late, but while it started without issue - and went around the two right turns at the foot of the road without issue - when I went to turn right into the main road, I realised I'd utterly lost my power steering. This had happened once before, and I was hopeful that it would clear up. As I was in traffic queueing up to the roundabout, I was able to turn off the engine and turn it on again - that age-old solution - in the hope that this would do the trick.
It did! While I was greeted with an ominous beeping upon reengaging the ignition, when I got to the roundabout I was able to steer around it without incident. I was able to proceed happily on my way. Except as I came off the roundabout and glanced down at my speedometer, it was still registering 0. I was definitely not doing 0. Hoping this was a minor glitch, I continued - I had little choice but to do so at that point - and navigated the car carefully for the next 6-7 miles. It is surprising how much you need to look at your speedometer, and changing gear by ear was trickier than I'd realised. Judging speed by how fast other cars are going and what gear you're in equally so.
Unsurprisingly, when I came to a point where I could turn off I decided to stop for petrol. This allowed me the option to turn off the engine, leave it for five minutes to get out of its sulk (ten minutes when you include walking slowly around the shop), and hopefully it would be behaving better on my return.
It wasn't. Admittedly I could register speed again, but the steering had disappeared to compensate. Following the best example of parents everywhere, I pulled over to the side by the garage and sat down for a stern 'we're not going anywhere until you behave yourself' lecture. After a fifteen minute wait, I decided to give it a go again. The steering was sulky but almost could be persuaded to work; the speedometer was fully engaged. I made it to work without incident.
The evening home my drive was fine. Whatever funk it was in had cleared up. I have no idea quite what it was or for that matter wasn't doing, but I have booked a long-overdue service for Wednesday. This should hopefully soothe it back to full health.
I was leaving slightly late, but while it started without issue - and went around the two right turns at the foot of the road without issue - when I went to turn right into the main road, I realised I'd utterly lost my power steering. This had happened once before, and I was hopeful that it would clear up. As I was in traffic queueing up to the roundabout, I was able to turn off the engine and turn it on again - that age-old solution - in the hope that this would do the trick.
It did! While I was greeted with an ominous beeping upon reengaging the ignition, when I got to the roundabout I was able to steer around it without incident. I was able to proceed happily on my way. Except as I came off the roundabout and glanced down at my speedometer, it was still registering 0. I was definitely not doing 0. Hoping this was a minor glitch, I continued - I had little choice but to do so at that point - and navigated the car carefully for the next 6-7 miles. It is surprising how much you need to look at your speedometer, and changing gear by ear was trickier than I'd realised. Judging speed by how fast other cars are going and what gear you're in equally so.
Unsurprisingly, when I came to a point where I could turn off I decided to stop for petrol. This allowed me the option to turn off the engine, leave it for five minutes to get out of its sulk (ten minutes when you include walking slowly around the shop), and hopefully it would be behaving better on my return.
It wasn't. Admittedly I could register speed again, but the steering had disappeared to compensate. Following the best example of parents everywhere, I pulled over to the side by the garage and sat down for a stern 'we're not going anywhere until you behave yourself' lecture. After a fifteen minute wait, I decided to give it a go again. The steering was sulky but almost could be persuaded to work; the speedometer was fully engaged. I made it to work without incident.
The evening home my drive was fine. Whatever funk it was in had cleared up. I have no idea quite what it was or for that matter wasn't doing, but I have booked a long-overdue service for Wednesday. This should hopefully soothe it back to full health.
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