Just now I have been watching a flock of birds feeding in my garden. This is a rather unusual sight as the most I usually get are 4-5 starlings, maybe a single sparrow or a couple of blue tits passing by or a marauding magpie.

This morning it was different, a whole host of birds arrived all at once. They were mostly sparrows (which itself is unusual here) but in the host was at least one robin and a couple of birds I can’t identify. Alec, you may be able help out here:-

Size: Approximately the same as a sparrow.
Colour: Slightly countershaded light grey, darker on top.
Shape: Slight. Rather more streamlined than a sparrow with a sharply pointed head and a thin beak.

All the birds enjoyed searching through my honeysuckle for spiders and insects, along with my budlea(sp?) which has large number of old flower spikes which are now brown and probably full of insects.

OK. so, it’s been a week.

Actually, there’s been little point in updating the journal as pretty well nothing’s happened in the intervening time other than work and that’s been nothing to write home about, or even write about in a journal. Basically it’s been lots of little things which have not mounted up into anything which can be shown to have been done.

Happy Hour at work last night was the only social event. I was feeling too tired to go off to find food with the rest of them afterwards. Even so I wasn’t home ’til 9pm-ish.

Today I thought I’d treat myself to a hedonistic pleasure. Well, sometimes you have to do this sort of thing you know.. So, I went down to the cinema and watched Terminator 3. I even ate a very over priced small tub of strawberry ice cream. As you can see, I was being very wicked and totally over the top.

I’m currently sitting here on the sofa with the laptop on my, erm, lap, typing away with the light and the telly switched off, watching cotton wool clouds wander by in the dimming blue sky. All I can hear is the ticking of a clock and the very slight hiss of the hard disk drive.

Quark — You are subtle and mysterious and people
know very little about you. You like hanging
out with small groups of friends (usually 3)
who you are very close to. You are usually
friends with other quarks like yourself.

What kind of subatomic particle are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Now, what exciting things have I been up to this weekend, chaps and chapesses?

Well, other than getting series 1 & 2 of Coupling and watching most of series 1 last night and the “extras” on the second disc of series 2 tonight, I’ve mostly been fighting off a bad sinus attack and losing.

Last night I tried hard to not take Anadin tablets as they upset my stomach but unfortunately they seem to be the only pain killers which have any effect on the sinuses.. At 9:15 I gave in and took a couple and went straight to bed. Almost immediately I fell asleep, which was a good thing.

This mornign I thought that I’d got lucky and didn’t have the standard 2nd day of sinus headache, but during the day the tell-tale signs of pressure behind the nose started to appear and tonight I’ve again had to settle for Anadin for any relief.

That’s really been my weekend.

Still, it has meant that with the early night I’ve caught up on the sleep I lost last week from the strange dreams.

And now, it’s time to go to bed, ready for another week at the office. I don’t know why I bother sometimes. Life can be such a grind.

Just in case any of those out there who do happen across this journal want to know, Virgin Megastore in Oxford are currently selling series 1 and 2 of Coupling as part of their 3 for £25 promotion. The only problem is finding another DVD that you haven’t already got, that’s watchable and is worth the £8.33 it will effectively cost you.

More nights of strange dreams where I wake up more tired than when i went to bed have left me in a semi-dream world of dozey brainlessness.

I wish that my brain would just turn off and recharge at night rather than trying to entertain itself with virtual reality games.

This evening I’ve been listening to Pink Floyd’s Meddle.

Once I got to the opening of track 6, Echoes, it reminded me of an early 70’s BBC popular science programme, the name of which escapes me, which used that opening sequence from the track as backing music for quite a lot of the shots. It made me remember how those science programmes used to make me feel. They instilled a sense of wonder and beauty.

I think that’s what’s missing from today’s cynical, sensational, in your face science programmes.. a sense of beauty and wonder.

I’m not sure that if I grew up today I’d have the same sense of curiosity and willing to try to understand things. Firstly, there are these awful current crop of science programmes and secondly there are no Open University programmes on inthe mornings, especially Sunday mornings, which I used to enjoy looking at and trying to understand.

I’m sure it’s a lot harder for people growing up these days to get a sense of awe from the Universe and the endeavour to understand it from the media. I can sort of see why media studies is becoming a more popular ‘A’ level and the sciences are becoming far less so. If there’s no wonder or beauty where’s the fun?

Well, it’s been a while, I s’pose I’d better write an update of things I’ve been doing.

Well, my parents came up last Wednesday and stayed until yesterday morning.

In that time I worked, we went for trips out and I got a replacement battery for the iMac I rescued from the crusher after being drowned.

That just about covers it.

Many, many years ago I remember having a dream where my Dad, myself and my Dad’s brother and wife went for a walk starting from my childhood home in Houghton Conquest, up Ampthill hill and eventually to the outskirts of Luton (which was about 20 miles away) and then returning.

Last night I had a revisitation of this dream, except that in this case it was a journey back to Houghton Conquest from my parent’s house in Cornwall and this time it was only my Dad walking with me.

It’s very strange how dreams which are so separated in time can be serialised on such a way, don’t you think?

OK, OUCH!!!!!

I got my car serviced today. 30,000 mile service (even though my car’s only done 19,800 miles) plus I foolishly told them that if the front tyres needed changing they should do so…

£643 !!!!!!!!!!!

OUCH!

Next year, seeing as the car will be out of warrenty by then, I’ll be joining the SAAB owners’ club and finding a non-main dealer SAAB specialist for my servicing. Maybe then it will go from extorsionate down to merely down right expensive.