9 April 2015 (Thursday) - This n That

I had a terrible night's sleep. I blame my dog. When he sleeps at the foot of the bed all is fine. When he decides to try to push me out of the bed then that's a different matter. Perhaps he should start spending the night in his basket?

Over brekkie I watched the latest episode of "Raised by Wolves" in which Grampy refused to watch "In the Night Garden" and baby Maria got her revenge by filling Grampy's pockets with custard. Aretha then helped Germaine out of the closet.

The show is actually much better than it sounds.

The morning's haul of emails included one from St Helena asking me to reconsider my decision not to spend a year on a rock in the South Atlantic. I must admit part of me is still tempted to take a sabbatical.

I then had another look at my geo-map problem. Perhaps I've been spoiled by having the (perhaps illicit) use of decent maps for a couple of years. I've figured out how to get the use of OpenStreetMaps. I suppose I should make the most of these maps; everyone else seems to manage. But then from discussions I've had it would seem that few people can actually read what I would call a "proper map"; most people are happy to have an arrow pointing in a certain direction and blindly follow it. Unfortunately I am not. Given a decent map I can see hills and valleys, churches and windmills, all sorts of features to help me find my way around. I've often said that so many people seem to make hard work out of geocaching; without a functional map I'm beginning to see why this is the case.

I shall give OpenStreetMaps a go before I dismiss them out of hand; but with no contours or landmarks and only a fraction of the detail shown on a "proper map" I can't see them working for me.

As I drove to work through thick fog the news wound me up. There are plans to replace the UK's nuclear-capable submarines. Apparently with 17000 nuclear weapons in the world it is vital that the UK have a nuclear deterrent. As a lad I was a member of the campaign for nuclear disarmament. At the time the whole argument for having nukes seemed daft. And it still is today. The whole concept of a nuclear weapon being a deterrent didn't deterred the attack on the New York Trade Centre in 2001, or the July attack on London, nor does it deter anything at all, as evidenced by the ongoing war against terrorism. If Islamic State were *really* a concern, why not nuke them? Environmental concerns because nukes are so bloody dangerous? Then why have nukes at all?

I got to work, and whilst there did several wet ones (it's a serological thing) and then over lunch practiced my saxophone. "Moon River" doesn't sound at all like a wet one any more. Talking of sax, I didn't have sax practice tonight; the music school was closed for Easter. Instead we had our walk round the park rather earlier than we might have, and "Furry Face ^TM" got told off for being willful. Some times that dog can be a handful.

Once home the postman had been. Our new router has arrived. It plumbed in reasonably easily but the ChromeCast seems to be having issues. Nothiing ever is straightforward, is it?