mintybloggydiarythingy 2.0

Week from Monday 24th July 2023 - I think it would be true to say that EVERYTHING that I treasured and loved about this planet when I was an idealistic, freedom-loving YOUNG PERSON has now been fucked over by greedy selfish bastards. #FortyYearsAgo this month, I was once again living the BEACH BUM life in the Greek Islands. I made this particular trip with my girlfriend of the time, so we stayed in one place, LINDOS on the island of Rhodes. If I had to pick somewhere in the archipelago to 'settle' for a month, that was the place closest to my heart and where I felt most comfortable. My previous 'solo' sojourns had often involved a lot of ISLAND-HOPPING, 'freedom of movement' long before anybody spoke of such things. But for me, Greece was somewhere to go for PEACE AND QUIET. In the summer of eighty-three, we had quite a nice little 'colony' thriving behind the olive trees, where a Swedish lad had built a complete set of furniture out of driftwood, ...

Week from Monday 17th July 2023 - On Saturday, I had planned a change from my usual routine. I was going to hop on a bus to Southampton, to spend a couple of hours at Art Asia's MELA FESTIVAL in Hogland's Park. But a couple of 'YELLOW' WEATHER WARNINGS have put an end to THAT idea! On Friday, Art Asia had tweeted that they would have to CANCEL the day, due to the Health & Safety concerns that would come with the HIGH WINDS. Disappointing, if only for all the traders who have lost out again. A number of other events across the south have taken similar decisions (or maybe the Local Authorities have taken the decision for them!), including a couple of other small music 'festivals', an air show, some birdwatching days-out and a foodie festival on Southsea Common. So it's back to being a NORMAL Sat'day for me, mostly spent "WATCHING THE DETECTIVES" after all! (As it happens, it was a LITTLE bit breezy, but it was a nice sunny day for the most...

Week from Monday 10th July 2023 - This Wednesday, I conducted a sort of TEST. I bought my rail ticket from a machine, using my debit card, to SEE HOW IT GOES. THE REASON? The railway companies have made the decision to close all the TICKET OFFICES at the stations. They say it is to 'free up' staff to do other jobs, but anybody can see that it's just another way to cut labour costs and increase profit to the shareholders. They've made a show of there being a 'PUBLIC CONSULTATION' at the end of the month (there are also the usual PETITIONS flying about), but it's clear that they've already made up their minds. They emphasise that there are 'other' ways of buying tickets ALREADY in place - the aforementioned ticket machines, a rather erratic website and their mobile apps. My own experience on WINCHESTER WEDNESDAYS has shown that the machines on the stations are frequently out of action or in need of attention. And I don't do APPS, it's as...

Week from Monday 3rd July 2023 - Elmo has caused an upset on Twitter again, in his never-ending quest to get people to pay for FREE SPEECH. The entire site broke down for half-a-day, while they added a 'temporary' new feature that limits the number of tweets you can engage with. Unless you rent your own BLUE TICK, of course. You now see regular signs that say "RATE LIMIT EXCEEDED" and all that. It's probably another spiteful ploy meant to stop people from blocking and muting all the adverts. Because we're ALL doing it. Except it works differently on some versions of the app, and not at all on others. Some folks have reported that they've already reached their daily limit just as soon as they've got up at seven or seven-thirty in the morning. Just LOOKING at a tweet counts as an interaction. But if it's a "daily rate" as they claim, why does it come with a notice saying "Please wait a few moments then try again"? Did I menti...

What's on the Jukebox? - A playlist of top stuff that's currently setting the toes a-tappin', the fingers a-snappin' and the ears a-wormin' and generally shakin' my grooved thang to thrillin' effect. (Click on the wee lozenges to link to related YouTube clips, if you're curious.) Frank Zappa "Funky Nothingness ◊ The Monkees "The Definitive..." ◊ Soft Machine "Other Doors" ◊ Olivier Messiaen "Turangalila Symphony" ◊ Eno/Eno/Lanois "Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks" ◊