I slept a little better
last night, but was still awake before the alarm went off. I came
down to find my dog fast asleep. I then had a minor fight with the
SkyPlus box; it wouldn't switch on. Eventually, after pulling the
thing's plug twice, I got it going. What's the point of recording
all-new episodes of South Park if you can't watch them?
Off to work. As always I
listened to the radio. There wasn't quite so much annoying drivel
today; instead the airtime was (frankly) wasted on an
interview with the artist David Hockney. Mind you there were a few
snippets of note. The Sir John Cass school in London has
been visited by OFSTED. In one fell swoop it has gone from being
"outstanding" to needing "special measures".
How can a school go
downhill so far and so fast? I can't help but feel that either it was
never "outstanding" in the first place, or that the
current need for "special measures" is nothing but a
silly political publicity stunt.
I was pleased to hear
that the Government has brought in legislation to do away with the
"beer tie"; at the moment landlords of pubs owned by
large breweries are forced to buy their beer from said large brewery.
Thyis is why I tend to avoid any pub owned by Shepherd Neame; the
beer is OK, but it is the same beer in every pub. The abolition of
the beer tie will hopefully bring variety to the hand pump.
Or so I thought. The
pundits today weren't so sure. Apparently the beer tie (if nothing
else) guaranteed the breweries an income. The
feelings expressed this morning were that the abolition of the
beer tie won't actually increase the types of ale available. With the
advent of market forces only the cheap will survive. Greene King IPA
all the way?
And to add insult to
injury the Enterprise chain were quoted as saying that they get far
more income from premises they run as corner shops than those that
they run as pubs.
I got to work, did my
bit, and got rather cold during my lunchtime sax practice. Being
Thursday I had after-work sax lesson. I figured out why my rendition
of "Hello Dolly" was a tad squafty; it's all in the
F#. And from sax lesson I went round to Chiquitos where the family
had gathered for a birthday meal.
Today was Lacey's eighth
birthday, and she likes Chiquitos. They aren't bad. To be fair they
are quite good really. But the bill for just me and "er
indoors TM" was forty quid. And the bill
comes with a tip already charged for; which I think is a bit of a
cheek. When it's my birthday, Lacey will be celebrating with me in
McDonalds for a quarter of the price...
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