I Really Need to Write a Proper Post Soon...

...but my faith in human (and pig) randomness has been restored... oh and it also amused me because it looks like pigs fly afterall...

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A Profitable Use Of My Time

I keep reading BBC news magazine in quiet moments... and today there was a familiar name in the mix.

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The Joy of Local News

This caught my eye this morning, however, I am disappointed they didn't show more of Bath...

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Something has been bugging me about commuting to work... or rather something about commuters: people who get on trains to go to work very early in the morning and with very little spacial awareness or consideration for other people.

The buttons for opening the train doors light up when they are active, which means that pressing them when they are not lit up does no good whatsoever. It may be a simple thing to grasp, but not aparently to practically ANYONE who gets on the trains I get on. Before the buttons light up I have watched these idiot people jabbing repetatively and inpatiently at the button, to no avail. I just want to whack their hand away and tell them off like they are children. What is so difficult about the concept of waiting a fraction of a second. That way, no energy is wasted, they don't get frustrated at the apparent lack of the door opening (one person muttered this morning that the door was F***ed), and I will not get angry with them... benefits all round!

And now I'm off to catch a train.

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Canine Chance to Shine and a Spooky House

...for Pip and Gromit maybe?! Take a look at this delightful report. I feel that mans best friend is getting a chance of a lifetime... If only there was a chance of being able to train the dogs I know to do ANYTHING on command! For treats... now thats a different matter!

On a totally different note, I am currently incredibly nosey when it comes to peoples front gardens. This all stems from the fact that to get to work I walk along a fairly bog-standard residential road, all bland, mostly well-kept semi-detached houses. The main difference between any of the houses is what the owners have done to the front gardens... But there's one that stands out as disturbing. Imagine, if you will, a 1930s semi-detached house with no garage. The white paint on the bay windows has turned grey and the wooden window frames are completely wrotten. Parked down the side of the house is a VW Camper van which looks like it was silver, but due to being parked under a tree for what I assume has been at least 20 years, is a patchy sludgy green colour. It leans to one side as if the tyres are completely flat. It looks like it's there to stay, or at least until corrosion turns it to dust. The whole of the front of the house is shrouded by an overgrown knarled and knotty tree. The net curtains in the windows hang crooked and yellowed. The strangest thing of all though is the driveway; there is just a thick carpet of white, green and blue broken glass leading up to the front door step... a rudementary security measure perhaps.

It made me wonder about what has happened to someone to make them create such a hostile looking facade to their house. Are they deeply paranoid and reclusive? Is it the house of someone who is desperately trying to preserve an older time and doesn't want change? Is it an art installation? Does anyone actually live there? Then the other day as I walked to catch my train I noticed there was a man in the front, tending to the broken glass, picking up any stray shards and chucking them back with the rest. It was a warm day and most people weren't wearing coats, but this man was wearing a thick anorak and a black wooly hat. He seems totally harmless, and most likely to be a lonely introvert. The VW van and all the other things just make me wonder about him... what kind of life has he had, and was he always like this? I think probably not. The hostile look of the house certainly puts me off even looking at it for too long, let alone going up to the front door. The quiet intimidation certainly has its desired effect.

Maybe I should respect his wishes and not notice the house. But I can't be the only person who looks at the house and wonders.

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First of all...

I am very very very sad about this. He was awesome.

An secondly, I think this is a point for discussion, being a musician and all... Musical gender Stereotyping... I'll write about it in a bit.

I'm so gutted about Mark Speight though. He was one of the great ones.

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Brain Soup

Keeping ones' brain occupied is something I'm very interested in. I like the feeling of being mentally agile, able to leap through thought processes and arrive at nice, sometimes philosophically charged conclusions. I am a thinker... and I don't really stop thinking even though what I may look like I'm doing is vegetating.

I'm blogging from work again... It's just a quiet moment, and I will be training this afternoon. And it's kind of lunchtime...ish... Just in case you think I'm perpetrating some kind of terrible idleness related crime... (I'm feeling guilty)

At this point in time my task is manning the phones, as there is not much else to do... and there has only been one phonecall in the last hour.

Yes, occupation of the brain is something I'd really like to use productively... So I'll read BBC News... again...

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Good Day! I am posting form work... yes WORK! I have just started a new temp assignment at a building and surveying company. I'm only due to be here for 4 weeks, which is a nice chunk of time to temp for... and then I can leave with no further worries... apart from where I'll be working next... Ah, it's a chopping and changing world here in Southampton, or rather Eastleigh which is where I find myself... It is a 20 monute walk from the station here... so early mornings are back on the menu... 6:30Am get-up time to be precise.

There's not a lot going on really. It's so laid back I'm not sure what to do with myself. My manager is currently ordering a Pizza for everyone. Several people look like they are working, but if they're not, then I really wouldn't know. As far as I know, no one is ever stressed here... It's quite nice...

Anyway, I have no doubt I will be blogging more in future weeks...

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