Saturday, April 14, 2007
This post courtesy of your local library
I am deeply ashamed of myself.
Not for any nefarious acts recently committed. My conduct of late has been little short of exemplary, I could give any parfait gentil knighte a run for groats in the chivalry stakes. The reason for my shame is in the header.
I was obsessed with libraries as a child, and they played no small part in my almost complete sequestration from my peers, preferring as I did to bury my fizzog in a book. I even went so far as to fundraise for my local one when at school in cornwall (the form of fundraising, a 24 RPG extravaganza, so upset the local methodists that apparently, on the day in question, prayers for my soul were said from Bude to Newquay; a comforting thought to know you've got that much goodwill with the Almighty banked, thugh I suspect I may have spent a great deal of it since). Then I moved away, and found that the university library fulfilled my needs amply. Then I left university and discovered the joy of disposable income, so my bibliomania switched to the building of my own library. I never got round to joining the ormskirk one.
Until yesterday, that is. Regular readers will doubtless be aware that the quorate figure at Coastal Towers has reduced somewhat in recent weeks, and concomitant internet kerfufflage has led to yours truly being without access for a bit whilst the previous ISP insist the line is clear and the ISP in waiting insist there's nothing they can do cos it isn't. What with email becoming annoyingly essential to one's day to day business this is clearly an unsatisfactiory state of affairs. So i joined the library, and within a matter of seconds was wondering why I hadn't done so before. This may be stating the obvious, but it's clear that I'd forgotten this important fact in the intervening years: libraries are one of those wonderful resources which are easily taken for granted (a little like the NHS in that regard). This shit is free.
And here I sit, ashamed that it's been eleven years since last I took advantage of the wonder whch is beng able to go into a building and walk away with a bunch of books for, and I cannot emphasise this enough, free. And they have the internet now, too. Libraries. Aren't they great?
Not for any nefarious acts recently committed. My conduct of late has been little short of exemplary, I could give any parfait gentil knighte a run for groats in the chivalry stakes. The reason for my shame is in the header.
I was obsessed with libraries as a child, and they played no small part in my almost complete sequestration from my peers, preferring as I did to bury my fizzog in a book. I even went so far as to fundraise for my local one when at school in cornwall (the form of fundraising, a 24 RPG extravaganza, so upset the local methodists that apparently, on the day in question, prayers for my soul were said from Bude to Newquay; a comforting thought to know you've got that much goodwill with the Almighty banked, thugh I suspect I may have spent a great deal of it since). Then I moved away, and found that the university library fulfilled my needs amply. Then I left university and discovered the joy of disposable income, so my bibliomania switched to the building of my own library. I never got round to joining the ormskirk one.
Until yesterday, that is. Regular readers will doubtless be aware that the quorate figure at Coastal Towers has reduced somewhat in recent weeks, and concomitant internet kerfufflage has led to yours truly being without access for a bit whilst the previous ISP insist the line is clear and the ISP in waiting insist there's nothing they can do cos it isn't. What with email becoming annoyingly essential to one's day to day business this is clearly an unsatisfactiory state of affairs. So i joined the library, and within a matter of seconds was wondering why I hadn't done so before. This may be stating the obvious, but it's clear that I'd forgotten this important fact in the intervening years: libraries are one of those wonderful resources which are easily taken for granted (a little like the NHS in that regard). This shit is free.
And here I sit, ashamed that it's been eleven years since last I took advantage of the wonder whch is beng able to go into a building and walk away with a bunch of books for, and I cannot emphasise this enough, free. And they have the internet now, too. Libraries. Aren't they great?
Monday, April 09, 2007
Something for everyone.
Mrs Coastaltown has been away for a few days, so I've been pretending that I'm not a grown man with responsibilities but a petulant teenager away from home for the first time who gets to stay up late and drink. Gaaah. I do need her around, she stops me acting like a complete berk.
That said it's been handy from the point of view of getting some writing done. I work best at night, I find, however it is hard to do so when you're feeeing guilty about not already being in bed. Or too tired from being up with the lark an a vain attempt to prove what a solid and worthwhile citizen you are. I also came to the conclusion that it was high time I updated here, and so here I sit and type, despite the fact that I nearly lopped the end of my right index finger off on saturday night whilst making a pear and fennel salad, and my normally fluent keyboard skillz are thus somewhat hampered.
So, by way of addressing most of Coastalblog's personal concerns in a handy digest, it is incumbent upon me to get with the BULLET POINTS
That said it's been handy from the point of view of getting some writing done. I work best at night, I find, however it is hard to do so when you're feeeing guilty about not already being in bed. Or too tired from being up with the lark an a vain attempt to prove what a solid and worthwhile citizen you are. I also came to the conclusion that it was high time I updated here, and so here I sit and type, despite the fact that I nearly lopped the end of my right index finger off on saturday night whilst making a pear and fennel salad, and my normally fluent keyboard skillz are thus somewhat hampered.
So, by way of addressing most of Coastalblog's personal concerns in a handy digest, it is incumbent upon me to get with the BULLET POINTS
- Mrs Coastalblog's scan revealed a small indeterminate shape which lack of credible alternatives leads us to believe is a foetus. We were grinning like idiots. The photo is precisely the same as anybody's twelve week scan, except coastalblob appears to have a wi-fi connection.
- Unlike Jimmy, who since packing his bags and departing Coastal Towers has been living in the dark ages and making do with dial-up, what with his broadband connection period including the longest weekend of the year. Stay strong.
- Fort William FC's recent games have included a narrow 3-2 defeat to mighty Lossiemouth, who gained revenge for the Fort's magisterial 2-1 reverse at theirs earlier in the season, one of (and I may have mentioned this already) TWO (2) wins already this season. C'mon the Fort!
- Terms and conditions apply. Business plans moved a step closer when the useless estate agent (after approx six months of pestering) finally delivered the terms of lease for the new gaff. Matters are now entirely in the hands of licensing and planning committees, so time to make with the briefcase full of greasy tenners (allegedly).
