Chris Hansen’s blog

…and many happy returns of the day!

After Ellen DeGeneres announced that she and her partner would marry, and George Takei did the same (they have been together for 21 years) I wonder whether more celebrities (many of whom are based in California) will also take the public plunge.

This may be the best shot in the arm that coming-out has ever had.

• 08:33 Good morning. Off to shower then church. #
• 17:35 back from church, had lunch, went to gym, back from gym. now time for dinner, almost. listening to WBZ-AM from Boston… #
• 22:23 @Shelbycub : unless you sell the pickup truck and get a Mini, you’re condemned to help all your friends move, I’m afraid. #
• 22:24 watched Wild China and Coast, then the BBC 1 News. Ho hum, time to put my pills together for the week and then go to bed. #

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If Madpriest recommends it, I usually follow. This article, about graduation, is really worthwhile. It gives “apostolic succession” a whole new meaning.

The Archdeaconry Service on Thursday night was good; the Archdeacon preached a very good sermon and the Cathedral was packed. There was a bit of confusion over who had been elected Churchwarden at St. Matthew’s which perhaps has not yet been settled. I may say more about this later.

Friday HWMBO woke up in more pain than he had been experiencing previously from his tooth extraction, so we called Kings at 9 am and they advised him to come in. We returned there and the verdict was that the extraction site was infected, so they gave him amoxicillin. He’s still mostly eating soup and soft stuff, but I think the pain has abated and he’s speaking normally. So that’s good. However, it pretty much has made the weekend a drab affair.

Yesterday was the Mayesta (church fair) at St. John’s Larcom Street, where I often preach on Sundays. It never actually poured, but it was stubbornly sodden all day, with mist one minute, small droplets the next, and no rain the next, repeat all afternoon. I was on the door and I think about 200 people attended, which was good. As to how much money they made, I’m sure it was respectable but perhaps not as much as last year. We all had fun, though.

Today we had a confusing day at church, of which perhaps more later. It’s cool, but sunny. Now it’s rest and relax, gym later on this afternoon, and perhaps I’ll mow the lawn again. *sigh* The life of a country bumpkin.

• 07:29 good morning all…coffee’s brewing, breakfast soon. #
• 11:04 getting ready to face the day… #
• 15:53 back from the St. John’s Mayesta…it drizzled the whole time and I’m frozen and soaked, so now to the gym! #
• 18:46 well, no gym; my workout partner couldn’t make it and i was too bushed to go myself. i’m weak. #

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So this statue sold for $15 million. I think it’s the largest money shot in history.

• 02:33 twitter is acting up; i said goodnight to you all but it seems to have lost the tweet. rats! #
• 08:41 good morning. HWMBO’s tooth extraction is playing up so we will probably be back at Kings later today…wish us luck! #

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I met Larry several times during my time in Chicago; he was a great guy as well as an effective lobbyist and state legislator. I didn’t know that he had retired in 2006.

Rest in peace and rise in glory, Larry.

The Chicago Tribune news blog is here (may require regustration)

…comes from Japan. No bananas were harmed in the making of this video…

Thanks to Ashton Cruz for this one, even if he did misidentify the program as Chinese, rather than Japanese.

Congratulations! As has said, get good cakes!

The world is changing, one jurisdiction at a time.

• 06:19 good morning all. breakfast, and to work. #
• 09:13 already bored at work… #
• 09:42 @fj: my gaydar worked in singapore only after an extended period of training…when i first went it was useless: I thought everyone was gay. #

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On Monday HWMBO and I went to King’s College Hospital to get his left-lower wisdom tooth taken out. It was quite efficient and, according to him, better than the service he’d had in Singapore to remove a different wisdom tooth. He is still recuperating, but seems to be OK, and most of the swelling has gone. I am grateful.

Tuesday was the Diocesan Board of Finance AGM. Very ho-hum, except that a sandwich buffet is provided, which is always useful. Nothing significant that can be reported.

Wednesday was our Lodge meeting and Installation. My difficulty was that I got the times mixed up. So I arrived at 4:30 just as the procession was about to enter the Lodge. I threw on my apron and gloves and ended up only missing the initial procession. I felt like such a berk–but in my defence there had been some confusion over the starting time and later on one of our members who is a Grand Officer told off the Worshipful Master for the early start. We will probably not be starting before 5 pm from now on.

The ceremony itself was quite good, with one exception: I forgot almost everything I knew about my new office of Junior Warden. I gavelled when I shouldn’t have, I didn’t gavel when I should have, and exited my pedestal from the wrong side. I continued on this route by getting the customary ritual wrong during the Festive Board, where I flubbed the walk up to the Master’s place by quickly striding instead of slowly walking. Oh well. I shall be Junior Warden for a year (4 meetings and many more Lodges of Instruction) so I should have it down pat before the next meeting in September.

Things I enjoyed:

— I was very happy to hear my friend Nadeem’s name read out as a candidate for initiation during the ceremony.

— I was asked to give the Toast to the Visitors. Last year a person who gave this toast at another meeting managed to tell a smutty anti-gay joke, for which he was duly rebuked. This time I was asked to give it, and I thought of a short joke that could be used to edify rather than break down. I used it in a sermon last year and thus I knew it would be innocuous. My toast was:

“A GP was sitting in his surgery at night when all of a sudden a woman rushed into the room towing a man in her wake and said, ‘Doctor, doctor, you have to help my husband! He thinks he’s a moth!’

“The doctor looked at her and said, ‘Madam, I’m a GP. If your husband thinks he’s a moth he needs a psychiatrist, not a GP. Why did you bring him here?’

“The man burst out, ‘Your light was on'”

“At one point in our initiations we are asked what the predominant wish of our hearts is. We answer, “Light”. In our lodge we have light, and we are honoured and delighted to share it with our visitors. We welcome them, and we hope they will return to share it with us again. Brethren, please be upstanding to drink a toast to our visitors.”

After the toast and Masonic Fire, as I sat down there was a smattering of applause. I have never heard applause for a toast before at the Festive Board. I was dead chuffed.

Tonight is the Archdeaconry Service at the Cathedral, in which I have a small part as Lay Chair.

Friday night, finally, I’ll be able to spend time with my honey. It’s always inconvenient when evening activities bunch themselves up in one week. Next week I only have one evening activity so far, so I’ll be able to devote all my time to HWMBO.

…and many happy returns of the day.

• 11:33 morning all (just barely) waiting for lunch, feeding the squirrel…the usual. #
• 17:24 Waiting for the Worshipful Master to (installed. #

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I’ve often wondered how one could join the Mile High Club without too many people noticing. The gentleman who flew JetBlue who is suing them for $2 million probably knows.

What would he have done if they hit turbulence? And on the landing approach–did they open the door and hand him a seat belt?

Enquiring minds want to know!

I belong to a Yahoo! group named “shep” in honour of the late, great, radio humourist Jean Shepherd. We have been getting lots of SPAM[tm] over the years because the owner, sadly, has died and the security settings on the group are the least restrictive you can get.

Now, I have two questions:

1) If I had the login name and a password cracker, what are the odds that I would be able to crack the account and change the security settings as well as appoint a new owner(s)? Anyone have experience in this? I think it’s probably illegal so I probably won’t do it, but it’s always nice to enquire.

2) Does anyone know of a way to download the messages from the group archive so that we can save them and transfer to another group?

We are currently discussing this within the group, but the general drift seems to be that unless we can take the posts with us, a new venue is probably not worth the trouble.

Note that this is not really a Y2K spinoff problem per se, it is a problem of a system running out of room to store a value that no one ever thought would need to be stored.

…comes from Mrs. Jennifer Edwards, to wit:

Apostolic Greetings !!!,

God will grant you the willingness and interest to digest this humble narrations though it might be so surprise and strange to believe my story but i knew by the reason of the almighty you will humbly understood and accept to proceed with my proposal though we have not met or seen each other before.

My name is Mrs. Jennifer Edward a widow to Mr.Edward G. Robinson who was a competent business man here in Abidjan Cote d’ivoire , we were married for many yrs without any child till his death in October 2005 after a brief illness. Due to the promise which i revered to him on the alter at the day of our church wedding i decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which is against the holy bible.

My happiness is that my late husband lived a life of a true & worthy Christian and he has this plan before his death which he pleaded with me to appropriate it to accomplishment. He took this decision with me to use this fund in building an orphanage in his name that will accommodate thousand’s of children, and also to use part of this fund in helping the less fortunate and to spread the gospel of the lord to the remote places of the world.

He made this deposit of $(3.9Million)USD Three Million nine hundred thousand U.S. Dollars in a Finance Security Company here in Abidjan . Recently, my Doctor told me that i would not last for the next 5 months due to cancer & stroke illness.

Having known my condition i decided to seek for a competent and reliable God fearing person or church to entrust this fund to utilize this fund the way i narrated above as my late husband desired.

The Bible made us to understand that “Blessed is the hand that giveth”. I took this decision because i don’t have any child that will inherit this money and my late husband’s relatives are not Christians and I don’t want my late husband’s efforts to be used by unbelievers.

I don’t want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly way. This is why I am taking this decision. I am not afraid of death hence i know where i am going. I don’t need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health hence the presence of my husband’s relatives are around me always. i don’t want them to know about this development.

As soon as i receive your reply i shall give you the relevant documents that will legalize you to have access over this fund. I will also issue you an affidavit that will proove you the present beneficiary of this fund in the Finance Security Company. I want you and the church to always pray for me because the lord is my shepherd.

My happiness is that i and my late husband lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that Wants to serve the Lord must serve him in spirit and Truth.

Please always be prayerful all through your life and pray to God to forgive me my sins. Contact me on my private email bellow, any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing for another church or a God fearing person for this same purpose.

Please assure me that you will act accordingly as i stated herein. Hoping to receive your reply.

Your’s Sister In Christ,
Mrs Jennifer Edward

I thought that Edward G. Robinson died in 1973 after having made that immortal movie, Soylent Green. I guess that he survived to live to that great age of 111 and died in the Ivory Coast. AND, he was a competent business man? Who knew?

…and HWMBO has one less wisdom tooth. We arrived around 1 pm and waited in a very small waiting room until 1:35 or so, when they called out his name and he disappeared into the examining room. By 2:20 pm they were calling me to join him in the recovery room. He was the first one to be able to get up and go, but we had a hard time finding a taxicab (it took them 20 minutes to send one) and the cabbie was one of those who WOULD NOT SHUT UP. Neither would his satnav, which was quietly giving him the wrong directions.

Kudos to the hospital, which was very efficient: HWMBO said that when he had a wisdom tooth out in Singapore it was much more difficult. No kudos to the cab company, which might have sent a less verbose taxi.

HWMBO is now resting on the sofa and watching BBC News 24.

We had a very stress-free Saturday, mostly. We decided to go out and sit in the park, as the weather was so good. So, we collected two Subway sandwiches (a BMT and tuna, as it happened) and sat in the park and read and listened to our iPods, as well as watching the cute men walk by. Lots of very casually-clothed guys, as it was the first really nice day of the year.

After that, went to the White Cube at Mason’s Yard to see the Gregory Crewdson photo exhibition. His photos remind me of stills from The Twilight Zone, except they’re photographed someplace in Massachusetts (I couldn’t tell where, exactly). Whoever wrote the exhibition notes was NOT from Massachusetts as he referred to “upstate” Massachusetts. There is no such place. Massachusetts has some areas: North Shore, South Shore, Boston, the Cape, the Berkshires, but no “upstate” unless they’ve added something since I lived there. Perhaps he was referring to New Hampshire?

Edit: I did a Google on one of the businesses shown in one of the photographs, and it’s in Pittsfield, so the note should have said “Western” Massachusetts, or perhaps “The Berkshires”..

Then, we walked to Old Compton Street and had dinner at the old Pollo Restaurant, across the streed from Ed’s. I can’t remember what they call it now but it’s some combination of pig and cock…HWMBO had cuttlefish risotto (black with ink…his mouth was starting to look very Goth by the time he was finished) and I had a calzone, which was absolutely huge. I didn’t remember it being that big the last time we were there. I ate the middle but left the ends. I had an Italian beer (Messina, it’s forgettable [could be its advertising slogan]) and when that was finished I asked for a Diet Coke, but she brought another beer. When I protested that I’d ordered a Diet Coke, she just said, “Really?” Then off to the Number 1 bus and home–they’re grubbing up New Oxford Street so it’s pretty well impassable, in case anyone is around there.

Sunday we had Pentecost at St. Matthew’s, and the Rector decided to put everything but the kitchen sink into the liturgy. There was more there than there was at Easter. This is pretty annoying, really. It’s as if the more stuff he puts in (there was an anointing, a kind of rededication liturgy at the end, and various other bits in the middle) the better the liturgy is. That’s not what liturgy is about.

Lazed around in the afternoon until Mark Ch. called–we should meet at the gym as early as we could, so I trotted off there, had a good workout, then we walked back to the Elephant and had Chinese food at the Well with HWMBO before Mark went off up North.

Today is pretty nerve-wracking: HWMBO has to have a wisdom tooth extracted, and I have to accompany him as he’ll be pretty heavily sedated and anesthetised. Hopefully it will go well but I foresee a couple of soft-boiled eggs in his dining future tonight. I shall bring the newspaper and a good book.

If you’ve just robbed a bank, and decided to destroy the clothing you were wearing at the time so as to put the police off the scent, where do you stash the loot? This criminal had an answer to that burning question, but seems to have gotten it wrong…

…and many happy returns of the day.

… and I have a question about it. Is there any way to “install” it on my router rather than on my computer? That way I could use my internet radio on stations in the USA which bar reception outside of the US. Currently I use it on my computer by clicking on the icon and letting it start up. “Install” might not be the right word…

I’m not very bright about such things, but if I could do that it would be an advantage for me.

Back to my regularly scheduled programming…

…and many happy returns of the day! We are thrilled to have you as our neighbour.

When I was baptised, it was a white gown event; you still see them occasionally, although many nowadays choose to put something quite different on their little munchkin.

I do think that this baptismal attire is a bit OTT, though. I suspect that a certain Trawna ailuropod will covet it, though.

Thanks to Ramsey for this one…made me laugh so much I nearly peed my shorts. Into which I had gotten, one leg at a time!

…comes from the BBC News website:

Great tits cope well with warming

Has anyone told Dolly Parton?

…is that many people in the US are clueless about almost everything.

Hello! {knock, knock!} There are no such people as wizards!

Thanks to for alerting me to this asshattery.

You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and say,

I cannot say how this makes me feel. I haven’t lived there in 38 years, but I’m still 100% from Massachusetts. Yay me!

Thanks to Snickollet for the link.

Best quote:

“Most hunting accidents are caused by not identifying your target,” he said. “Mistaking a man for a turkey is definitely a case of misidentifying the target.”

The rest of the story.

If you don’t like heights, perhaps you might not want to look at this one. It’s “El Camino del Rey” and you may have to change your underwear after watching it.

Sorry I’ve taken so long to do this, had lots of little things to get out of the way.

First, here’s two pictures of the Saturday night dinner.

, HWMBO, and me on one side of the table.

Me, Nicky, and HWMBO.

Sunday morning we had a small breakfast (thanks, Novotel, for the coffee fixings and shortbread in our room), then went with Nicky to the Trafford Center. It’s said to be the largest shopping center in Europe. It is certainly larger than Bluewater. By the way, that Bluewater site needs a major redesign. It looked like a placeholder web page for a minute, and not a good placeholder at that. We bought shirts, trainers (for HWMBO), shorts (for Nicky), and lunch at this restaurant. The burger was only fair and the service was, well, forgettable.

We then went to Nicky’s place to meet his housemate, Martin, and see the house. It’s a boardinghouse, with high ceilings and great decor. It’s almost all new and is very well done. More and more of it is being done as the landlord gets time and funds. We had a coffee and a long chat, then back to Manchester, to dinner with !

I only knew Glenn from his blog, but he turned out to be a really great companion. He steered us to a good restaurant where we could eat and talk without much interruption. Then we went along to a bar on Canal St. (I don’t remember the name) where we sat and talked for hours, nearly closing the bar! I haven’t closed a bar in decades and this weekend I came very close. He loves music, his car, and the cello, but doesn’t care much for Manchester or the UK…sob! We parted and we hope to see him again either up there or down here in the future.

Monday we got packed and checked out. The hotel kept our luggage and we walked around downtown, and walked, and walked! I was quite footsore by now. We had lunch in a restaurant called Tampopo, near the Orbis museum. Good, but the service was only fair and they charged us for something we had ordered but they didn’t bring.

There is a Ferrris wheel around the corner from the restaurant. It seems that every world-class city now has to have a Ferris wheel after the success of the London Eye. There is one in Singapore, and there is about to be one in Beijing.

We also strolled around Manchester Cathedral (C of E). Quite a cute little building, squat really. Not very long but quite wide. Some nice modern stained glass.

Got a picture of HWMBO that I thought was characteristic:

Then we struggled back to the bus. We got there in plenty of time, got our luggage stowed, and sat in the empty front seat (there were lots of other empty seats but we thought this would be nice). The driver, after everyone else had gotten on, came on board and told us that we couldn’t sit there. We then had to sit separately for the entire trip. Of course, after the rest stop (we at least got a rest stop here) a lady got up and moved to the front seat, and the new driver didn’t say anything. I was really annoyed.

To Victoria Coach Station, where I managed to drop my Oyster card and not discover that until I had paid 20p to use the restroom. Back out to find the card on the floor, but I had wasted the 20p. Finally, home!

I haven’t had a Big Mac in years, but the gentleman in this video seems to have ensured that my share hasn’t gone to waste. Thanks to Ramsey for this one. Make sure you aren’t eating while you watch it.

We had to have the garage door repaired. The Sears repairman told us that one of our problems was that we did not have a ‘large’ enough motor on the opener. I thought for a minute, and said that we had the largest one Sears made at that time, a 1/2 horsepower. He shook his head and said, ‘Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower.’ I responded that 1/2 was larger than 1/4. He said, ‘NO, it’s not.’ Four is larger than two..’

We haven’t used Sears repair since.

My daughter and I went through the McDonald’s take-out window and I gave the clerk a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25, so I also handed her a quarter. She said, ‘you gave me too much money.’ I said, ‘Yes I know, but this way you can just give me a dollar bill back.’ She sighed and went to get the manager who asked me to repeat my request. I did so, and he handed me back the quarter, and said ‘We’re sorry but they could not do that kind of thing.’ The clerk then proceeded to give me back $1 and 75 cents in change.

Do not confuse the clerks at McD’s.

I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the DEER CROSSING sign on our road. The reason: ‘Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don’t think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore.’
From Kingman , KS .

My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for ‘minimal lettuce.’ He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg lettuce.
From Kansas City

I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, ‘Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?’ To which I replied, ‘If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?’ He smiled knowingly and nodded, ‘That’s why we ask.’
Happened in Birmingham , Ala.

The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it’s safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine. She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, ‘What on earth are blind people doing driving?!’

She was a probation officer in Wichita , KS

At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker. She was leaving the company due to ‘downsizing.’ Our manager commented cheerfully, ‘This is fun. We should do this more often.’ Not another word was spoken. We all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare.

This was a lunch at Texas Instruments.

I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself and for the sake of her life, couldn’t understand why her system would not turn on. A deputy with the Dallas County Sheriffs office, no less.

When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver’s side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. ‘Hey,’ I announced to the technician, ‘it’s open!’ His reply, ‘I know. I already got that side.’

This was at the Ford dealership in Canton, Mississippi

STAY ALERT!
They walk and drive among us… And the scary part is that they VOTE and they REPRODUCE

and many happy returns of the day.

We decided on the spur of the moment to visit Manchester and our friend Nicky this weekend. So, I got two tickets on Megabus for

A rare triple LiveJournal birthday. Many happy returns of the day to you all! You’re great friends.

HWMBO and I often go to Starbucks for a coffee after a long afternoon at an art gallery or museum. I hope that we have never been to this branch, though…

It seems that the lowly tubeworm has a relative that has the unfortunate Latin name of Chaetopterus pugaporcinus, which means Chaetopterid worm that looks like the rump of a pig. Read all about it here

Those of us who work in the software testing biz know that one of the sorest points in software development is localisation. That is, making sure that local variations on items such as spelling, font, alphabet, time and date, and the like actually appear correct to the people who are using it. Easy examples: Dates in the US are usually showed as mm/dd/yyyy (04/29/2008). Dates in most other places are shown dd/mm/yyyy (28/04/2008). On the 20th of April it is not too difficult to tell what date is referred to, but try it on May 2nd. This is localisation at work.

In Turkey, orthography is much different from that which we who speak, write, and read English expect. There are many accents and other letters which do not seem important to us but which make a huge amount of difference in Turkish. This is similar to the ano/a

My sister keeps horses, and I was bitten by one as a child (don’t try to feed a hungry horse with an apple), but it seems that some horses are quite discriminating in their propensity to mate.

We had a very busy weekend. On Friday, I decided with HWMBO that we needed to get away for Bank Holiday weekend next weekend, so we booked a trip to Manchester. We’re leaving on Saturday morning on a coach, not a train (the trains are FOOBAR this coming weekend because the train companies decided long ago that the best time to do lots of maintenance work was on weekends when the majority of the population wants to travel, natch). Staying until Monday afternoon. If anyone is in Manchester or environs and wants to dine with us, we’ve got Saturday and Sunday evenings open for bookings. Friends may actually meet other friends of ours that they don’t already know. I hope that is fine.

Saturday we lazed about until early afternoon, when we got our arses in gear and trotted over to Tate Modern where we met Daniel and Pei (Daniel is my former boss when I consulted at Morgan Stanley, and Pei is his partner, a Taiwanese musician) for the Duchamps, Man Ray and Picabia exhibition. It was OK, if perhaps a bit crowded, and we then walked to the Cantina Vinopolis for a really great dinner. We have only known each other for less than a year but I think we are drawn to be firends from common interests, including the fact that we are both long-term biracial couples.

Sunday we went to The Well after church, accompanied by Derek, , and Chris W. Enjoyed it tremendously.

posted this meme and asked that we post it in our own blogs so he could reply. Any additional replies will be duly noted.

Tell me 36 things about yourself.

1) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
A.

2) What was your dream growing up?
A.

3) What talent do you wish you had?
A.

4) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
A.

5) Favorite vegetable?
A.

6) What was the last book you read?
A.

7) What zodiac sign are you?
A.

8) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.
A.

9) Worst Habit?
A.

10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
A.

11) What is your favorite sport?
A.

12) Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude?
A.

13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
A.

14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
A.

15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
A.

16) Do you have any pets?
A.

17) What if i showed up at your house unexpectedly?
A.

18) What was your first impression of me? (hmmm…careful!)
A.

19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
A.

20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
A.

21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
A.

22) What color eyes do you have?
A.

23) Ever been arrested?
A.

24) Bottle or can soda?
A.

25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
A.

27) What’s your favorite place to hang at?
A.

28) Do you believe in ghosts?
A.

29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
A.

30) Do you swear a lot?
A.

31) Biggest pet peeve?
A.

32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
A.

33) Do you believe in/appreciate romance?
A.

35) Do you believe in God?
A.

36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?
A.

I awoke this morning to the news that Humphrey Lyttelton, the host of I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, died in hospital last night after an operation to repair an aortal aneurism. He was 86 years old.

You may remember this post from a month or so ago, where I mentioned how lively he was (even from Row Z, where we were). I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue is one of my favourite radio shows, and he will be missed. His BBC obituary is here.

For those of you who aren’t in the UK and who don’t know of Humph, you might want to look at I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue’s website, which does not as of Saturday morning, have the news of his death. His own personal website does have the news and a great picture.

Samantha is inconsolable, but her gentleman friend is keeping her busy; she’s delving into his record collection of jazz recordings and will likely be listening to Humph blowing away at his trumpet and wishing he were still blowing.

Humphrey Lyttelton, 1921-2008

It’s a Basque Country TV show, I think, but in Spanish, and funny nonetheless. Forgive me, for I have sinned…I laughed at this video!

…and many happy returns of the day! You share a birthday with Her Majesty the Queen, by the way. She’s 82 years old today.

I have never before had hay fever. In the spring I blithely went out and frolicked around, secure in the knowledge that no pollen was a match for my respiratory system.

A few weeks ago my nose started running and this week I began sneezing quite a bit. I think that at the ripe age of 55, I have finally succumbed.

As if I had no other health worries!

After a night of drinking, when you get home you naturally want to get some shut-eye. But if you argued with your drinking buddy, you might find sleeping a bit difficult.