Sunday, Mar. 22, 2009 - 00:01

It's been a busy week at work. Not, in some ways, as bad as previous headless chicken weeks, but at times I've had quite a bad mood too. Just too much to do at times, and issues resulting from the fact that extra work 'on top of' my normal responsibilities will negatively impact the staff bonuses, perchance.

Have had my hand forced on a couple of occasions where I've had to pull rank as I felt my requests were going unheeded. Was a bit funny to have to say "No, you WILL do as I ask, otherwise I'll have to go to your team leader and inform them that you are being obstructive" to one bloke who is incredibly thick.

Finshed that Will Self book ('Liver') that I was reading over the past few weeks. I'm far from certain whether I would recommend it or not - it was very interesting, had some excellent language in it, will certainly bring further entertainment when I re-read it and get new from it each time, but.. I just think I wanted more of a coherant narrative at times.

It's been brought home by the fact that the book I am now reading (Beverley Barton, 'Close Enough to Kill') has been the definition of 'a page-turner', and has proved a lot less difficult to read, easier to pick up and harder to put down at times. It's just a standard sorta crime thriller with a bit of gore and romance in it too, but is proving enjoyable.

Not a great day for Middesboro' in the league today, conceding an 84th minute winner against Stoke. Blackburn got a point against West Ham, West Brom drew 1-1 against Bolton, Pompey beat Everton and Newcastle lost 3-1 to Arsenal.

At the other end though, some excitement in that Fulham beat Man United 2-0, with Ferguson's team having Scholes and Rooney sent off. Chelsea couldn't take advantage though, as they lost 1-0 to Spurs. Let's see if Liverpool can take advantage of the slip-ups when they play Villa in the morrow.

Thursday night (I think it was Thursday - could've been Wednesday) was interesting in the sense that I came home and watched 'The Bill' as usual, but followed it up by watching 'Taggart' for the first time in fifteen or more years. Was quite funny to compare the softer, soapier, more 'by the book' policing of The Bill with the grittier, grimier, more violent post-watershed policing in Tagrrat :-)

This was bookended neatly (OK, so I just wanted to use that word, even it doesn't mean the right thing) by a documentary about Arthur Shawcross. This was interesting for a number of reasons, not only because of the fact of hearing an 'evil' but apparently normal man talk about his crimes, but also for some of the questions raised by the programme. Questions about if prior abuse or insanity is an 'excuse' for crimes, about whether psychological evidence to back up such pleas of insanity is ever enough..

Then there were various thoughts brought about by the seeming nuttiness of an illegitimate daughter (of a whore?) of his coming into his life whilst he was imprisoned, and bringing his grandchildren too. There must be ways in which biological relationships like that should be seen to be meaningless and best avoided, yeah? People seem to be obsessed with roots and history for some reason, when essentially there's no scientific proof or reason to suggest that the daughter or the grandchildren should/will have any reason or benefit from knowing the man.

Ireland managed to sneak past Wales (17-15) in a tight defensive game, and hence win both the Six Nations Championship and the Grand Slam. Fair play to them - nice to see a 'new' team winning for the first time in a few years. In the other games today, France dicked Italy, and England were OK against Scotland and won 26-12. For such a disappointing championship (for the first half, at least) it wasn't bad for Martin Johnson's team to finish second in the table.

DRINKING:- a nice enough Chilian Cabernet Merlot (what? Perhaps it's a mix of two different grape types? I don't know enough about wine varieties to say really) from Stowells. It's quite nice - a lot lighter than most red wines, it feels more dilute and less rich (fewer tannins?) than some of the wines I've drank recently.

LISTENING TO:- The cover CD off The Word magazine (dated Apr 2009), which has a few good tunes on it so far. The Decemberists sounded interesting when I read an article about them recently, and I'm getting to like Vetiver too.

Factual, I know. I've had little time for thinking, as I've been too busy doing - and when I've not been doing, I have been stressing. Got next week off though, so I should be chillin'