Two quick things…

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…because I don’t have much time today.

1. Because we were (I was) talking about rain:

Do submarines have windows?

And 2. This song by Ann Erhard. Botanical Garden:

(I’ll put the official video in here when it’s available.)

Featuring the lyrics:

He rates two out of five stars
For the botanical garden
because the plants were dry
There was no space for parking

The peacocks looked depressed and
He thought they’d be more majestic
And also not enough koi carps
And that’s why he rates two out of five stars

Shameless pop. Droll words. Amusing.

Making hay

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I’m crossing off a lot of jobs while the sun shines – and it really is still shining, albeit for a shorter period each day, we’re on 10 hours and 21 minutes of daylight at the moment, and we’re losing almost 90 seconds a day.

Tasks that have been hanging over me for weeks, maybe even months have been completed, or at least begun. I’m not sure why. Just a period of Getting Things DoneTM, and while I really don’t understand the reasons behind it, I’m still embracing it.

I’ve even done some homemade soup and baked some homemade wholemeal bread for tonight’s dinner, which will definitely be after dark, given parental commitments. We might have a new driver in the household, but it’s still a steep learning curve between passing your test and heading out solo into the crazy world of Claremont Main Road at rush hour. We’ll get there.

In the background, I’m working on a weird and personal tale for an upcoming blog post, but it might be a) too personal and boring to publish, and b) too long to fit in a single post.
More on that when (if) it comes. Save yourselves: don’t get excited.

Right. And now I have to put on my Big Boy Pants and brave that very same Claremont Main Road.

Wish me luck.

Southern Suburbs Store Music Watch

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Popped into a few shops on a whirlwind tour of a local mall this morning.
Here’s what I was serenaded with while I was there.
(Just in case you want to make a playlist of limp, middle-of-the-road, inoffensive, nothing songs.)
(Please don’t.)

Clicks
Something Got Me Started – Simply Red
[advert for adult nappies]
Letters – Watershed

PicknPay
The Living Years – Mike & The Mechanics
No Regrets – Robbie Williams
End Of The Road – Boyz II Men
[all merchandisers to the manager’s desk, please]
Speed Of Sound – Coldplay

Woolies
She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5
The Shape Of You – Ed Sheeran
Mama – Spice Girls

An absolute maximum of 1/9 for me there (ok, 2/10 if you include the nappy ad), and only that because Neils Hannon and Tennant sang backing vocals for Robbie Williams.
I presume that each song is aimed specifically at the likely demographic visiting any given store (this doesn’t make me feel great about myself). And obviously they’ll be vetted for content and tempo.
I mean, I would love if they popped a bit of Slipknot on occasionally, but obviously it’s not going to end well for the tannies in the bakery queue when the whole bread aisle turns into a trolley-filled mosh pit.

Still: headphones next time.

Winter: “I’m not in this week”

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News from Chez Seasons today is that Winter is knackered after all its hard work last Friday, when it chucked 30mm of wet nastiness our way.

Apparently, a leave form was submitted and approved late on Friday evening, and thus, Winter will not be in this week.

Look, while every employee is entitled to annual leave under the
Basic Conditions of Employment Act [No. 75 of 1997], it’s really awkward that Winter has chosen the busiest time to not come in for the next seven days.

And quite why its line manager (presumably God or some other pencil-necked desk jockey?) chose to ok it is a little beyond me.

Still. Not my business to be telling other deities what to do. Not my circus, not my monkeys, not my problem.

Might as well enjoy the sunshine.