Music: Rufus
Rufus Wainwright's latest album was released officially this week and he was in town signing copies of it last Monday. Tonight there is a doco on him on Channel 4 as well. He is very popular here and given his talent for songwriting:
An old whore's diet
Gets me going in the morning
Ain't nothing like it
Gets me going in the morning
It is not surprising...
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News: The day that almost never was
Yesterday while it was Friday for most, it was still Thursday at Westminster in what was the third longest day in parliamentary history. As they didn't break the 30 hour session, that means that Thursday never finished and the legislation passes on Thursday (even though it was late Friday by the time it did). This means all sorts of things including the fact that Peers will not get paid for Friday (or get anything for their huge overtime on Thursday)
Quirky parliamentary traditions aside, the fuss was all about the anti-terror legislation and so the parliamentary ping-pong all makes sense with the election looming. All parties need to say enough to get noticed at this point, but the matter of being detained without trial is probably also something many are concerned about.
And the secret the MPs and Peers used to stay up all night? Champagne, beer and pizza.
News: Free travel and technology
This morning the entire electronic ticketing system on the tube was down due to a glitch which by some gross exaggerations will cost £2 million as commuters travel free ... That sounds expensive... It would only be a free trip if you had pre-pay which (when it works) deducts money every time you pass through a gate... Travelcard users pay a flat fee for a weekly ticket.
And technology is failing me more locally. Have discovered that my wifi setup is not correct (as it has rendered my flatmate's computer unable to connect to the internet) so will be offline until the weekend when I get the new bits to fix it... I think I will manage ...
Weather: warmmmmmm
It is a lovely mild seven degrees (c) today. It feels so hot after the last couple of weeks. It also feels hot as the central heating in most buildings still is on "bake" after the last week of snow. I have some potatoes on my desk going a golden brown as I write...
Theatre: A Life in the Theatre Caught up tonight with the latest play starring Patrick Stewart and Joshua Jackson A Life in the Theatre by David Mamet. Told as a series of glimpses through a season of repertory theatre, it was a good chance to see Patrick and Joshua in various stages of undress changing in and out of characters and costumes. Some of the audience members found both Patrick and Joshua in pants to be worth making a noise about. Even wearing glasses I didn't see what the fuss was about. The interaction between the characters change as the season progresses. Initially Stewart sees himself as a mentor to the younger Jackson, but over time, rivalry and jealousy set in. While it is a comedy, it also depicted the life of the theatre as some nighmarish hell is enough to make you feel happy with my day job. Stewart also says "She's a cunt" which has to be worth the price of admission as well. An interesting (if not very substantial) evening's diversion for ...
Where has the time all gone to: The weekend I am back online today after buying a router (that is pronounced, row-ter, which I only mention as I was in a meeting the other day where non-techy people debated the correct pronunciation of this device) and hooking up wifi in the flat. It was a four-hour odyssey to do this as I managed to get my MAC addresses confused. I have no claims to being a techy and am far too impatient to read instructions that are poorly written and can be bypassed in any event, but the outcome is now that I can blog regularly from home once more... I can do this as out of the settlement for being in a relationship - I got the laptop. As it was one of those "desktop replacement" models that were oh-so fashionable January 2004 (before people came to their senses in March) it is a big ugly motherfucker of a laptop and I don't particularly like it, but as I curse it, I can think that it is storing nearly two years of photos and cheap laughs, so that has...
