Let's get Christmas finished first, please

Wandering round our local park this evening as we walked our dogs, a friend of mine pointed out an advert for a confectionery item (no I'll not give them a free plug) which is basically aimed at Easter. I reckon this is just a little on the early side....

The Beagle Has Landed?

It's really starting to look a bit bleak for the Beagle 2 space probe. It should have landed on Mars in the early hours of Christmas day, but as yet nobody's been able to contact it.

There are two American probes due to land during next month. I hope they are more lucky...

So this is Christmas...

This is quite a difficult time for me. I'm not the biggest Christmas fan, partly because my Dad died on Christmas Eve.

I will enjoy the festive season I'm sure, but I think we ought to spare at least a thought for those whose Christmas won't be so merry.

Every Little Helps ?

We had the unenviable task yesterday night of popping along to our local Tesco supermarket to buy the last of our Christmas supplies. We'd only gone in to buy a couple of perishable items, having done the bulk of the shopping a week ago and it was just as well we did. It was mayhem!

Even before we'd gone into the place we were absolutely astonished to see another would-be shopper in the carpark, arguing with a member of staff. Apparently, he hadn't been able to find a shopping trolley, so on spotting a column of them being shepherded along, he approached the trolley-jockey to grab one. The Tesco's oik, to our amazement, wasn't having any of it and I thought they were about to come to blows.

Once we got inside the place, things were no better. We only needed a basket for our purchases but they didn't have any of those, either. Clearly the Durrington, West Sussex branch of Tesco weren't expecting to be busy just before Christmas !

POSTSCRIPT
Looks as if I'm not the only person who reckons that Tesco's is a bit of a letdown. Just after I wrote this posting I found this.

The Fourth Plinth

Driving up to London over the weekend to see my family, I was quite interested by a discussion on one of the radio stations. It concerned the empty plinth in Trafalger Square and what sort of statue should be placed upon it.

There were all sorts of suggestions, basically from the great and the good - though these definitions in a lot of cases would depend on one's political stance. Why not, though, go for something a little different ?

My proposal would be for something to commemorate the archetypal family, man & wife, 2.2 kids and a labrador ,as the saying goes. Make it as symbolic as you like and then it should be able to represent all of us.

Built-In Obsolescence ?

I remember when CDs first came out back in the 80s. At the time, one of their virtues which was often extolled was their longevity, to the extent that I seem to remember at least one review describing the things as indestructible.

Well, they ain't !

Of course I know that it's easy to damage discs by scratching them, but being careful should take care of that. What's just annoyed me was discovering yesterday that the silvering is coming away from one of the first CDs I ever bought. It's actually a double CD, and the problem does affect both of the discs.

In fairness, it has to be said that I bought the album in question (Seconds Out, the Genesis live album, if you were wondering) back in 1985 so I suppose it's lasted a fair while. All the same, if the bulk of my music collection is going to start decomposing, I will not be a happy bunny...

I'm Dreaming ...

As is traditional, people now seem to be speculating about the chance of us getting a White Christmas. In all my forty years, I can only remember one Christmas day where I saw snow on the ground - never mind what's on the roof of the London Met Centre, that's MY definition - and I was quite young, so I don't suppose that the chances are all that high. It would be nice if it did happen ...

Do the Wright thing

Tomorrow sees the centenary of the first ever flight by a powered aeroplane, the Wright brothers having first achieved this at Kitty Hawk with their kite-like device, the Flyer.

It's strongly rumoured that in a speech to mark this anniversary, George Bush will announce that American astronauts are to venture beyond Earth-orbit, perhaps back to the Moon or even on to Mars. What more fitting way to mark this occasion could there be?

Crimbo Blues

As the tone of at least one earlier posting of mine probably suggests, I'm not really a huge Christmas fan. One of the good things about the festive season, though, is that it does encourage one to make some kind of contact with various family members and friends.

To this end, I'm busily writing out our Christmas cards, which if we're honest I find a bit of a chore. Licking yet another envelope, the perfect way to encourage the like of me to get on with this task has occurred -

BEER FLAVOURED ENVELOPE GLUE !!

Saddamned ?

The future, such as it is, faced by Saddam Hussein seems to be causing widespread differences of opinion, thus continuing the pattern of reactions to the invasion of Iraq. The Iraqis most certainly want to put him on trial and it now appears that the Iranians would like him to face justice for war-crimes committed during the Iran-Iraq war of the early 80s. Additionally, I have read that the Israelis would also like Saddam to be tried for the 1991 Scud attacks against their cities.

I still believe that the Iraqis should be the ones to try the former dictator. It would appear likely that they will want to impose the death penalty. This is a difficult issue for me, as I'm opposed to the idea of capital punishment. Nevertheless, if this did come to pass, I'd shed no tears for the departure from this world of this odious monster. Double standards this may well be, but in this particular case my conscience would, I'm sure, rest easy.

Gottim!

I'm not remotely sorry to hear that the former Iraqi dictator has been caught. If anything, I'm a little surprised, though, as I tended to assume that if they did find him, he'd most likely be shot whilst "resisting" arrest.

I think that Saddam's capture does raise a couple of very important points:

1. What will happen to him? Reports seem to be saying that he will be tried by the Iraqis. This seems the best outcome and must be preferable to some long drawn-out spectacle of trial in America for example.

2. The future of the country. I'm not naive enough to think that everything will magically and suddenly settle down in Iraq. However, it's definitely needful that governance of the country is returned to its people as soon as is practical.

Bill Gates Beware !

Out of curiosity, a few days ago I tried running Knoppix. This is a version of Linux - a unix style operating system for PCs. The clever thing about this particular version is that you don't actually need to install anything on your PC - just stick the CD in the drive, boot off it and away you go.

I really was rather taken with this operating system. It's very configurable and has a good graphical interface. I reckon that it's no harder to use than Windows and it could very easily mature into a very capable desktop PC system. There's even a plugin called Crossover Office which allows you to run MS Office on a linux machine.

Microsoft's next version of Windows, currently called "Longhorn" will reputedly feature all sorts of clever bells and whistles. The problem is that it's likely to include some fairly stringent digital rights management and security systems, which could stop me from choosing exactly what I wish to use my computer for. It's still a few years away and by then Linux might well provide a very attractive alternative...

Road Pricing

Later today, Britain's first toll road will open. It parallels the existing M6, which is a horrendously busy stretch of road and ,if it would cut out the traffic jams, I'll be tempted to use it next time I'm heading that way. Presumably, there will be more such roads to come and, as long as there's an alternative route for those who can't or don't want to pay the tolls, I've no objection.

In fact, why not extend this principle of user pays? I can't see why the car tax we currently buy once or twice a year couldn't be replaced with a levy placed on petrol and diesel. For a start, it would catch the parasites who regard tax discs as an optional extra, and in addition those who use the roads the most would pay the most. It might even encourage people to choose more economical vehicles...

Time to lay this organisation to rest

There's a diplomatic furore currently ongoing regarding the expulsion of Zimbabwe from the British Commonwealth. Personally, I see nothing wrong with this - even by the standards prevalent in one-party circles I reckon that the Mugabe (mal)administration is a particularly odious regime.

Looking at the slightly wider picture, I find myself asking if there's any real point left to the Commonwealth anyway. For sure the countries making up its membership account for a little under one third of the world's population, but does it really achieve anything very much beyond allowing various politicians a platform upon which to preen and posture? Maybe it's time to dissolve it...

Why do we do it?

Whilst everybody else seems to be preparing for the Christmas season, I'm up to my neck in decorating. We moved into our house a little over seven years ago and we've been renovating and decorating ever since. Why do we do all this?

It can't be for showing off - we don't have that many visitors, and passing by outside you can't see in to tell the difference between our place and anybody else's. In any case, are we all really so shallow that we'd judge people by the colour of their walls or what sort of furniture they have?

Although the house isn't finished, we've already redone some of the decorating we first did just after we moved in, so I guess that this will remain an ongoing project...

Those TV makeover shows have a lot to answer for !

It's still not time for Christmas

Being off work today, this morning saw me accompanying my wife Michele to the local supermarket on our regular fortnightly trip to stock up. We were neither of us very pleased to see that the world and his wife were there, loading up their trollies like mad.

It appears that everybody's frightened that, as we get nearer to Christmas, the shops will run out of their favourite brand of toothpaste/cornflakes or whatever. To forestall such a catastrophe, they buy two or three times as much as usual - thus making shortages self-fufilling prophesies.

Come on everybody - there's nearly a month to go yet!

What will they think of next ?

On my way back from the supermarket this morning - I do know how to enjoy a day off(!) - I was rather amused by a van I saw pulling into somebody's driveway. The firm to which it belonged to was called " The Plastic Surgeon - Homecare".

I imagine this was some form of diy/decorating business, but the vision of a cosmetic surgeon popping round to give one a facelift in the comfort of one's own home left my mind rather boggling!