Getting up in the mornings these days is a much more civilized experience than in winter. Getting up in darkness and returning home to darkness is inhuman and puts one in mind of the worst excesses of the Dickensian world of “Hard Times” – and worse!
The lashing rain of yesterday when Barça triumphantly achieved their 1-1 draw against Real Madrid to the accompaniment of thunder and lightening that would have done justice to a camp version of The Ring, has now given way to the brightly dull days that are a feature of Catalonia without rain and without sun.
I am feeling a tad more optimistic today as it is one of my “early” finishes and this extra 30 minutes will give me time to find a present for Toni’s birthday which occurs on a single digit date this month. I am a little hazy about precise details but I have five days left to get my act together and find something.
The light bought for Toni’s sister provoked me into buying one as well and it is a remarkable success. I am not quite sure how it works but it is able to shine in over 600 colours. Not, obviously at the same time, but in a changing pattern of colours or fixed on one. There is a remote control for the light so that, depending on mood or inclination, the light can be adapted to your requirements.
I am not sure how long it will take for the remote to be lost and then for the novelty of having a coloured source of light to fade, but at the moment I am enthusiastic. And it didn’t cost that much.
Really.
But the light bulb looks unlike anything that I have seen, so that I suspect that the “reasonable” cost of the entire feature will be seen in quite another, ahem, light when we have to buy another bulb.
It is a situation akin to that of computer printers where the cost of the ink cartridges is almost as much as a new machine. Indeed in some cases it was worth buying another machine just to get the ink.
Now computer printer companies are wise to such wasteful expenditure and provide new printers with especially partially filled cartridges so that a major purchase of more HP ink (what one electronics expert described as the most expensive liquid in the world!) can only be slightly delayed.
I have started reading a book brought back by Suzanne from her American trip to find out about Project Learning in Operation. This volume is “Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris (author of “Naked”) #1 National Bestseller. I’ve never heard of him, but the series of Thurber like personal reflections are immensely enjoyable. I even delayed taking lunch to finish off one of the little essays.
The drab and uninteresting cover gives no indication of the sparkling, perceptive and droll writing inside. He uses his homosexuality as a sort of distorting lens to give a twist to autobiographical insight. Admittedly I have only read the first 60 pages, but I am looking forward to the rest.
The Hanson novels are still going strong, though now I have reached page 1,000 I am down to the last couple of stories – though god knows when I am going to get the time to read them. When I came home this evening, for example, I read a chapter or so and then lapsed into somnolent repose.
I have awoken because I “have” to watch Manchester United win their way to the final of the Champions League where they will meet Barça in the final. God help!
It would appear that my 2BXT class will disappear at the end of this week which should, in theory, bring my teaching load down to something more reasonable. In practice however my school has a positive genius for finding something else to fill in the tempting space left in my timetable!
One thing that I know is going to happen during those periods is that I am going to be roped in to give an opinion about the English used on the re-written blurb for the website of the school. This is a massive document which is being translated from Spanish and Catalan and then proof read to make sure it makes sense. They will find more!
Meanwhile the series of birthdays and festivities is about to get under way.
So much for relaxation at the weekend!
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