12 April 2011 (Tuesday) - Stuff

Bearing in mind what a lovely clear evening we had on Sunday, the plan for yesterday evening was to get the telescope out and have a go at photographing the moon. A shame the sky was all clouded over. And then it rained. But to be fair, I was warned when I got my scope that clear nights are (relatively) few and far between. In the meantime there are always other hobbies. Such as fishing.

When I was a lad I would use a quill float. Made from birds’ feathers (traditionally geese) these floats were really good. Far better than the plastic rubbish that is touted out these days. But no one sells quill floats these days. There are one or two second hand ones available on eBay, but they are obviously second hand.

As “My Boy ^TM ” once told his teacher, if you want a job done, do it yourself. Making a quill float can’t be that hard: all I need is some fuse wire, varnish and enamel paint. Oh – and some quills. I have most of the ingredients, but if any of my loyal readers should find any bird’s feathers lying around (ideally about six to eight inches long), please pick them up for me. Or pull them from the bum of a passing bird (if you’re feeling brave enough…)

I emptied my locker at work today – it was absolutely full up with books. I have a small locker which fills up with books so quickly. And my house is much the same. For all that I like a book – it’s feel and it’s smell, I have no room for any more.

I’m beginning to think “Kindle”: with a storage capacity of three and a half thousand books, are they the future of books, or are they just today’s Betamax?

Would I be better off getting a NetBook? I don’t really know.

Yesterday I mentioned "The Great Fishing License Swindle": the bank phoned me back today. Whilst they admitted that I had (probably) been conned into buying a fishing licence for fourteen quid over the going rate, I paid that money of my own free will. As far as they were concerned it was akin to buying a telly in Argos only to find it cheaper in Comet. They were very apologetic and very polite, but "caveat emptor", to coin a phrase (for those of my loyal readers who, like me, have an "O" level in Latin).

However on the plus side it transpired that in the work's Grand National sweepstake, I'd backed the horse that came in fourth. Which netted me a fiver. So offsetting this against my pound stake and the fourteen quid I lost in "The Great Fishing License Swindle", I'm only ten pounds down the pan.