Sunday 2 January 2011

Tired and sober.

I am having a booze-free day today. Yesterday I drank somewhat more than usual so today I'm still pickled. That's the trouble with getting older. It's not so much that you can't drink as much (although there is an element of that), it's more that it takes almost all of the following day to recover from it. So, for today, no booze. Tomorrow, most likely, business as usual. Some say 'never again'. I say 'not today'.

I have caved in and ordered a Kindle. Well, I had to buy a new chair because my office chair is broken. The piston that adjusts the height has popped out of the bottom and if I lift the handle while sitting on it, the piston drives onto the floor and tips the chair over. What's the connection? I bought both on Amazon. For a bookseller they do a nice line in chairs. I thought I'd get them now before the VAT rise.

The holiday goes on until Tuesday and then it starts getting back to normal. Well, normalish. The snow came back today and the forecast is for more of it. I'm just hoping those crocuses survive but I suspect the lawn-circle with be a bit of a disappointment this year. I also suspect I'll be replacing a lot of plants again.

Too tired to concentrate tonight, and too sober for a good rant so I'm going to finish sleeping this off and get back to proper raving lunatic mode tomorrow.

It was a hell of a party though.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Last night, New Years Eve, went to local. Disgusting! Full of people drinking alcohol! Could not stand the disgusting sight or put up with all the second hand alcohol being breathed out by this mass of drunkards, to say nothing of the third hand alcohol on my clothes and hair and that. And the stink! Had to go home.

Tonight I went again. Much better! Hardly anyone in at all and no crowd of filthy smokers poisoning the air outside the door! Ordered a pint. What is that, Mr Barman? Last orders is 10.30pm?! But you always serve till midnight on Saturdays! What? You mean that you are closing early because there is nobody in? But I am in! I want my two pints a month! I can have another pint, but I must drink it outside? Are you joking? Its freezing outside. What do you mean....live with it...move on? What do you mean..What stink? Third hand stink? But I do not stink!! What!!! Fourth hand stink? The stink that I left behind last night? But I wnt home early! What do you say....it doesn't matter because the quantity of stink I left behind may be the that little bit that kills someone? In that case, Mr Barman, I will take my business across the road to the Labour Club. What!? It is closed? But I paid my subs five years ago! Damn it! It is (was) a 'public place'! Public places cannot be allowed to shut! Ah well, never mind, I'll go home and have a drink there. What? Drinking in my flat has been banned because of the risk of second and third hand alcohol? Who said so? The Local Authority? Oh....well that's alright then...they know best.

Anonymous said...

I've had my Kindle about a month and have to say I love it. The bits I really like are downloading the first chapter of books free to see if you like it and the thousands od free books, the reading is bloody good as well.
BTW I took part in a You Gov survey recently and right in the middle of totally unrelated questions was, 'Do you smoke', followed by, 'Are there any children in your house'.
As it happens its yes and no for me but I wonder what they are conjuring up next.

JuliaM said...

"I have caved in and ordered a Kindle. "

If the prevalence of this particular model on my morning commute is any guarantee, you've made the right choice! I've seen far, far more of them than I have iPads.

Anonymous said...

I like this post because I could use a new desk chair and a Kindle myself. My desk chair is perfectly sit-able, but the arms are made of uncomfortable wood and the cushion fabric leaves something to be desired (the chair was at least a decade old when I got it). To be honest, I don't think it's even meant to be a desk chair.

As for the Kindle, well, who wouldn't want one? Load a thousand or so of your favorite books into one portable square and that's that. Then again, I still wonder about straining the eyes by reading off a screen constantly. Nothing is ever going to beat good old paper (except audio books, which are way too easy to pass up - I mean, they read right to you!).

PT Barnum said...

I have the free Kindle PC app and it's as close to reading a book on paper as I've ever seen apart from a book on paper. And that's without the Kindle hardware. A very clever thing designed by someone who actually likes reading.

Oldrightie said...

Booze and age are very strange bedfellows, UBU!

Mac said...

(Bournemouth Evening Echo)
Mrs Irene Graham of Thorpe Avenue, Boscombe, delighted the audience with her reminiscence of the German prisoner of war who was sent each week to do her garden. He was repatriated at the end of 1945, she recalled; "He'd always seemed a nice friendly chap, but when the crocuses came up in the middle of our lawn in February 1946, they spelt out "Heil Hitler."

RobT said...

Happy New Year LI. May your glass be never empty.
I've had a Kindle for about two months and think I now prefer it to print on paper for ease of reading. Only problem being that not all the books I'd like to read are available. Just great to have a library in such a small package.
I shouldn't worry too much about your crocuses, I lived in Canada for twenty years, in a "snowbelt" area with lows dipping to the -30s each winter. Every Spring the crocuses would push their way up through the snow or ice cover.Even if it was like steel! It never ceased to amaze me.

RobT

Furor Teutonicus said...

THIS;

http://www.berliner-kindl.de/home.php

Is the only Kindl I will be buying.....what the HEL is it, besides a beer?

Furor Teutonicus said...

Follow ups to...

Anonymous said...

Talking of flowers.

From Fausty's blog, and the comments are still coming in.

Europe to ban hundreds of herbal remedies
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/europe-to-ban-hundreds-of-herbal-remedies-2171781.html

So if there's anything anyone couldn't live without, get the plant and the instructions on how to use it, before May 1st.

May Day - how's that for adding insult to injury?

Rose

Anonymous said...

I have been trying to tell friends and relatives to grow things they couldn't do with out for some while now.
But I can't seem to make them understand.

They can't recognise that even the herbs on their take away pizza 'restores, corrects or modifies physiological function'

I don't think that the general public understand the enormity of the threat.


"The THMPD is a part of the existing Pharmaceuticals Directive, currently being amended to widen the scope of drug classification.

According to the amendment, anything that 'restores, corrects or modifies physiological function' in the body will be deemed a drug."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2004/feb/29/health.shopping

Quite rightly, they think classing such things as drugs is too preposterous to contemplate.


Rose

Richard said...

"it takes almost all of the following day to recover from it"

Enjoy it while you can, old chap. I never knew what a hangover was until I was 21, despite some serious liver abuse. By my 40s, I was taking a whole day to recover from a good session. These days, a real blaster can take me a week before I feel human again. So much so that I have cut back my consumption - I now drink to the point where I am happy and confident, and then stop. The penalty isn't worth it.

microdave said...

@ LI - Is this a picture of you at the Smoky Drinky?

http://thegrimreaperwrites.blogspot.com/2011/01/needing-cigarette.html

Chief_Sceptic said...

No sympathies mate - due to an attack of the "black squitters", I had my soberest Hogmanay, since I was 17 ! …

The Kindle is just great - bought my first one, several months ago - now on my 3rd. (my two oldest kids 'sequestered' the others) - get your own books made available via Kindle !!! …

fikyokel said...

Lots of water,lots and lots of water to flush the system and rehydrate.Stomach queasy drink a foul coke.
With me the more I drink the more I can tolerate.I used to love the Aberdonian New Year.
Can you only read Amazon bought e books on Kindle,that's all that's put me off buying one.Have seen another type on e buyer that just says reads pdf unless protected.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Leg-iron

Rant material:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20110102/tuk-uk-britain-bonus-fa6b408.html

Not only should those greedy bankers be taxed for charity, but also need guidance on how greedy they should be. At least they are asking the right people who know exactly how greedy to be*.

"Stephen Bubb, chief executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO), ... "

Next: The Association of Chief Executives of Associations of Chief Executives (ACEACE).

Naturally it would need a chief executive.

Happy New Year to you and all your readers.

DP

* Very

moriarty said...

They can't recognise that even the herbs on their take away pizza 'restores, corrects or modifies physiological function'


Hells bells - not just the herbs, that is so losely worded it includes water.

Leg-iron said...

JuliaM - they are far, far cheaper than iPads. But then they aren't full computers, just file readers.

Furor - it's a gadget. I love gadgets. I'll have to try the beer version though.

I'm told it can read PDF files, and I download scientific papers as PDFs. This thing could store them all!

The book on Lulu is a pdf (link at side, free download) and the one in April will reach Kindle before it reaches print.

I still prefer print but if these kindles are anything like they're hyped up to be, they'll have a big impact.

And if I buy books electronically I'll have a lot more space.

Leg-iron said...

Rate of Dissent - as far as I know, the screen doesn't strain the eyes like a computer screen. I'll have a better idea when it arrives.

Leg-iron said...

Rose - I'll need a bigger greenhouse...

Leg-iron said...

Microdave - that couldn't happen in this country. Nobody could afford that many.

Chief Sceptic - the only time I get blackwater bottom is after overindulging on red wine. The dark tannins make it all the way through and they mess up the gut bacteria for a day or so.

Hope you've recovered. I'm back on the Black Bottle tonight.

Easing myself back into the routine.

Leg-iron said...

DP - this obsession with money from all quarters must all connect together somehow. No matter the problem, the answer is always money.

No mention of what the money is supposed to buy. The money itself is the solution.

That's going to take some thinking about.

Chief_Sceptic said...

Kindle - the screen is a joy, not at all like a PC screen - has a very long battery life - holds thousands of books - also handles .PDF and .MP3 files ! ...

I started with the white '2', moved to the white 'DX' (larger screen), and now use a black 'DX' (the black versions have a bit better screen and more storage) ...

Mine gets used virtually every day now ...

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