Of Hard Times

I don't remember reading much as a child but I guess I must have for many times now I'll pick up a book and it's very familiar. One such book is "Jane Eyre" which I've just started.
The early part of this novel is largely autobiographical based on her time at school. By any stretch of the imagination it's bleak. She tells a story of constant cold at school with her feet being so cold they swell and become difficult to fit into her shoes each morning. Sometimes at the beginning of a day she gets a wash. Sometimes she doesn't depending on whether the basin of water has frozen over or not. Food amounts to a bowl of often burnt porridge in the morning and slices of hard bread thereafter.
This is a girl who went on to become one of England's greatest writers. If school was bad for her one can't help but wonder what it must have been like for the many others in schools, institutes or work houses kicking around in the early 1800s. Scary really.

Of Day Time T.V

I was laid up in bed all yesterday with man flu. I was capable of nothing except a day watching junk T.V. I learnt only how bad day time television really is. It's dreadful. What makes it sheer torture is that if you don't like one programme you can switch channels but you're only likely to find a cheap imitation of the same programme on the other side.There's an auction programme and then about 3 versions of it on other channels. There's a house buying programme and three other versions. There's a lets-all-go-on-a-group-holiday and fall out programme and three other versions of it and so it goes on.
When the programme is beginning to flag rather than scrap it and try something completely new and adventurous they get the celebs in and run the same damn thing all over again.
I never knew life was so bad...

Of "Solidarnosc Solidarnosc"

I attended a seminar last night delivered by my friend and  Derry Solicitor Mark Reid. I got talking to the head of the Polish Association who asked me if I had ever been to Poland. This set me off thinking about the many times I had been there and the great adventures I had had in the 1980s.
By the time of my second visit I was running banned materials from the Polish Government in exile in London both into and out of Poland. 1n 1984 I attended a rally in Gdansk headed by none other than Lech Walensa and I joined the multitude of people who held up two finders and chanted "Solidarnosc, Solidarnosc! It was revolutionary stuff and really exciting.
But it was close to the wire stuff. On one occasion at Warsaw airport I was given several sensitive documents to take to London. At passport control, to my horror, I could see ahead to customs that everyone's luggage was being searched in minute detail. I had to think quickly. The guy at passport control asked me a question in broken English and I told him I couldn't understand what he was saying. He tried again and I gave him a blank look. I called for a translator which introduced a delay of about 10 minutes. When he arrived I tried to be as awkward and as slow as possible delaying matters by another 10 minutes. The plan was to be late for my plane and it worked. The translator escorted me to customs and instructed the customs officer to let me straight through. I ran up the top of the steps to the plane and gave the Solidarnosc salute to my friends on the balcony of the airport. The translator (who I think may have been a member of the security forces) shouted at me to be watch myself. I turned directly to him and gave him the same salute before rushing onto the British Airways plane hoping he didn't follow.

Of Man Flu

I have the man flu at the moment. Everything I lift be it a razor first thing in the morning or a leg up the stairs in the office feels incredibly heavy. The cough I got shot of earlier this year is back big time as are the empty mugs of lemsip that are queuing dutifully on my desk.

Man flu always seems to strike when you need it least.
I must shoot along to Google and find out if there are any home remedies for man flu...

Of the Chinese New Year

It's the Chinese New Year today and the year of the Dragon. Apparently, lots of Chinese men are due to quit smoking and alcohol and get down the gym this year because the year of the Dragon is a very good year in which to have a baby. Though quite why a dragon is better than a pig or a snake (my year) or a rat I don't know.
I had a neighbour once who was into astrology big time . She had one child who was Scorpio and she was convinced that a second would be fine as long as it wasn't born a Gemini for those two just don't get along she assured me. It must have been my white witch of a spell that I put on her whilst pregnant for child number 2 arrived slap bang in the middle of June. Whether she now has two kids aged about 10 and 12 who have never shared a kind word between them I do not know.
I once went to a mystics fair and got sprinkled with Angel dust. The woman told me I wasn't to worry in life because I had two angels looking after me. I've never felt their presence however. Perhaps one is Scorpio and the other Gemini and they're too busy fighting each other to be helping me.

Of London Calling

I'm at a big legal bash this evening at the Hitlon Park Lane London. They say there's not much money about at the moment but the guest entertainment for this dinner thrown by a private law firm includes top comedian Michael McIntyre and it's paid for taxis home for everyone - including those apparently who live as far out of London as Heathrow and St Albans.
I can't bear comedians on tele for some reason but live and often I can't stop laughing. I'm attending as a guest of an old friend. She knows me as far back as when I used to drink and be potentially quite embarrassing in well chosen company so I think she might be nervous in advance of this evening. But people change. Hope I don't bore her now.

Of Time to Time Manage

I'm now on my third diary/time management system of the year. Google Calender is okay but it doesn't allow you to list or integrate tasks very well. MyEvents is good but it only allows you to list tasks in a linear fashion when I want to put them in a quadrangle and sort them in order of importance and urgency just like Stephen Covey says I should. My third and hopefully finally venture into this world is with Microsoft Office online. This is the system (right under my nose it seems) that can do everything I need and indeed everything the company needs to get really organised and super efficient. Our IT engineer is coming in today to explain the logistics of getting it working online and I'm hoping that he has only good news. Conversations that start "Well I can do it but it will cost several thousand pounds to set up..." just don't seem to work with me anymore.