TubaOrNotTuba

Dull, dull, dull. The baggage industry has very little imagination, when it comes to the design of bags for lugging your portable computer from place to place. I mean, you could place your machine in anything; an old potato bag, if you have one handy, and you shake out the spud-dust first. Or that new fancy bag that doubles as a tote for the yogurt and breadsticks from the local supermarket would suffice, in a pinch. But when it comes down to the suitcase for your expensive new laptop, the industry has the imagination of a sloth.

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I read somewhere that nature abhors a vacuum. Well, my nature abhors the vacuum of a day without some computer challenge. Some people like things to simply work; that’s not how I see the world. Today, my new laptop arrived, and within the first hour I managed to change its working model to something that more closely fits my way of doing things. Multiboot.

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Some people are unable to avoid being noticed. Take our mayor, with a guitar (please!). Last weekend, the police in a small town north of Montreal wondered why one of the local fire trucks was “wandering” around town, with the siren and power lights on, when they’d heard nothing over the radio. They gave chase (at low speed), and when the big red tanker was finally immobilized, the driver jumped out (hurting himself from the fall) and then ran away with the forces of law and order in pursuit. I didn’t see it, I didn’t hear it, but I can imagine the scene. (Taken from a CP story).

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I’d just begun reading my novel of the day. Topic, street scenes in New Orleans just before the landfall of a major hurricane (trivia hint for today). Outside, a sky that was getting heavier and darker by the minute; a colour scheme involving swirls of gray, navy blue and light black (that is a colour,  you know). My overactive imagination was fertile for weather like this.

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I wish I was a better judge of flow. In other words, how much time does it take to transfer a given amount of water from the city mains to the top (or bottom) of our backyard pond. This evening, I noticed that the levels were a little low (evaporation) so I heaved in one end of the garden hose and cranked the valve to full, and then promptly forgot all about it.

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Since it’s quiet where you are, and you have a few minutes to take care of things that otherwise might not get done, might I suggest taking out your wallet. No, I don’t need anything from you; this is more a wakeup call. If you lost your wallet tomorrow, would there be enough data inside for someone else to cause you great financial worry, or perhaps a small crisis in your identity? Are you sure.

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Act Two always started with the sad phrase, “Where did the summer go to?”. This is my last day of vacation, so I’ll hum the melody as the evening fades to sleep. Not much else to do. Mind you, even today was handled as if I didn’t have a care in the world. Bring on the ice cream.

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This afternoon, after making THE arrangement for the next place we will live, we headed over to the shops to see what might have been invented in the world of technology since the start of the summer. Not much. However, the enticement of an extra 10% removed from any purchase at one store, because we muddle in the world of education, was too good to let slip away.

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Sometime during a weak moment (I was on vacation), the grungy state of two radiators at home (out of sight, out of mind), took on an importance. It didn’t matter that the radiators had been serving us, day and night, all year long for over two decades. They didn’t look good. In my lessened state of mind, I agreed that this was a problem, somewhat less than world hunger or war between the states, but one that I would resolve.

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… all you have to do is listen. A quote suitable for the efforts of Paul Horn or John Cage; less so for a movie out of Hollywood. Nevertheless, miracles of writing do take place, both in dialogue and music, and our film for today fits the coat perfectly. Or is it the scale? This is a movie about the urban soundtrack.

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