Count

Saturday 10th of October.
Pick up at the Airport.
Drive home.

Phantom

To badly paraphrase George Orwell - everybody is equal but some are more equal than others. It is certainly the case the world over. There can be no disputing that. That is why a revolution is needed but that is an entirely different posting.

I read incredulously that the Italian PM Berlusconi and his lawyers are trying to suggest that as PM, he is not equal to everybody, rather that he is above everyone; so much so that he should be immune to criminal proceedings regardless of the apparent crime commented. That was their whole defence. That he is above everyone else. Imagine you or I went to the highest court of law and said that you or I were above everyone. We'd get slapped down or worse!

Granted, it's a different country and a different culture and it would be wrong of me to castigate a sovereign nation but I am making an exception. The cheek of him. He is not above everyone else. He's a knobhead who thinks he can get anything he wants. He's no statesman. He's only interested in himself. Money, power, woman /young/. He thinks he's a new age caesar. He is a criminal. There, said it. If you are reading and want to sue then go ahead but remember that I am more equal than most.

FIne

That last posting has scared me. Not so much the fact that I might or might not get to the 1000 post mark but the fact that in 80 odd days, the 00's will be up. Just like that. The 00's started with me being ill as anything, hardly able to get out my bed which was something of an inconvenience given that a. it was New Year and every single computer and digital system was going to crash rendering the entire world helpless and b. that I was due to leave Scotland in early January to travel around the potentially helpless world.

I digress. The 10's actually scare me. The 00's were the years of boldness and carefree abandon. Relatively speaking of course. The big reason why I'm scared of the 10's is that I could do without the 10's actually ending. I never what the clock or time to get anywhere near '19. What am I saying, I don't ever want the clock or time to get to '15. That would see me approving 40 and, frankly, I just don't want to deal with that at all. I'm content being this age. It's fine. Anything more would be too much to bear. The worst part is the notion that I would be 'half way'. Oh dear. I'm terrifying myself even further. OK, i'll just bury my head in the proverbial sand and hope it goes away. That would be the best option. For now.

Next

913 posts in total since it's conception.
1000 posts by the end of the year?
Possible?
87 more in how many days?
Think I might just be short?!

Penguin

I thought I was quite a calm person. I tended not to get too upset or bothered about stuff and never really had the urge to lose my temper. I didn't really see the point.

I do wonder if that has all changed though?

I was quite surprised with myself when I tried to look over the past month and see if that 'theory' had some evidence to back it up. There have been instances where I have been bothered by 'stuff'. I have not been clam and I have come /relatively/ close to losing my temper. It seems to happen with shocking regularity.

The first incident must have been the seat changing thing when I flew home and the ensuing kerfuffle that lead to the VP 'intimidating and bullying' tactics. I was raging, that's for sure. I wonder if that was more to do with the fact that I had 6 hours on the plane to ponder it which invariably made things worse.

I appear to get frustrated by other drivers. I don't let them in or anything now. I go slow just to annoy others when they get right up behind me. In fairness, I was warned that driving in Dubai would turn me in to 'an a*sehole' and that has partially happened. It's nothing to be proud of.

And just last week whilst playing football I nearly had a mini-fight. Not a real one, but I did mouth off. The ball was passed to an opposition player. I was perhaps a metre away from him. He stopped the ball so I went towards him in order to get the ball. Before I got near him, he had fallen over the ball. The ball was therefore free so I got it and ran off, only to get called back. Seemingly I had tackled this guy and fouled him. At least, that's why the game had been stopped. I actually shouted that I had not touched him and that he fell over the ball. I even pointed at the guy who fell and told him he was a cheat. I was asked to calm down. What the hell!

Then just yesterday some policeman at work - we have to pass through an X-Ray machine to get in to work - commented on the fact that my ID card was pinned onto my trouser pocket. He was suggesting that it should be pinned onto my shirt. I pointed out that I did not have a shirt pocket on which to pin it. He said it was 'my mistake'. Eh, what? My mistake? What, for stupidly buying a shirt that didn't have a pocket on which to pin my ID card? Strangely, when buying the shirt I did not think 'oh, I can't get that because some bored policeman might stop me and question it'. I don't think it was a mistake. I liked the shirt, that's why I got it. Simple. I told him that it was a question of style and walked off.

Now, I could put all this down to me being short tempered, or the summer heat taking it's toll /it still is 37C!/ and I should try to counter that. But, other people annoy me - their stupidness!

I should just bite my lip and not say or do anything. That would be the sensible and in all likelihood save me from getting whacked. But sometimes you have to say something just for peace of mind or indeed get a sly dig in to make you feel as if you've 'won'.

Must shut up. Must shut up. Must shut up. Repeat.

Fitting

I may have mentioned that I'm getting a very, very special guest coming to visit Dubai next week. I'm very excited about it and I fully expect it to be a wonderful week filled with fun, laughter, booze and perhaps a certain amount of sunburn. To be expected.

In preparation for this, I've taken it upon myself to sort my room out. I've got clothes, for example, that I brought with me to Dubai yet have never worn. I have other 'things' that are just taking up space, just in case I might need them at some random time in the future. All, have now gone.

I daresay other things might be getting thrown out in the next week but it's all for the greater good, indeed, it's definitely been a good exercise just throwing stuff out. A spring clean in October if you like. I should do it more often.

An update on the guest and what happens may or may not occur in due course.

Noise.

I can't be doing with it. Not early in the morning. In fact, I might just extend that to 'before 12'. I'd further modify that to say 'on weekends'.

I'm not a complicated person. I quite like the simplish things in life. A long lie on the first day of the weekend is one of life's little luxuries as far as I'm concern. This is set against a backdrop of starting work at 7am each morning thus requiring me to up and around at 5.30am. Even just a long lie to 9am is bliss. If 'noise' gets in the way of that, it wakes me up and if it continues, gives me a dull, throbbing headache. I feel groggy with it as well. I hate that. It just doesn't bode well for the day ahead. I like to sleep or at the very least, stay in bed until I want to get up. In my own time and on my own terms.

I don't turn the TV on in the morning. I really play music in the morning. I just like ambient noise. From outside or whatever.

That's all I really would like.