mintybloggydiarythingy 2.0

Week from Monday 21st August 2023 - The COVIDian Bugs done got me! Sore throat, coughing, shortness of breath, fatigue, joint pain... you can see where I'm going with this. I don't think I'll be doing any travelling THIS week... I haven't taken a test, 'cos it's already fairly obvious what it is, without paying out (coughing up?) for something that is a fairly hit'n'miss procedure anyway (plus I'd have to go out in public in order to get one!). Those home-testing kits have an equal chance of giving you FALSE POSITIVES or FALSE NEGATIVES, especially with any new strains and variants that are about, for which they were never designed to detect. I know of a married couple who both recently went down with EXACTLY the same symptoms. Both took the test at the same time. HE was "negative", SHE was "positive". Go figure. Anyway, I think I shall be STAYING IN even more than usual, if that's at all possible! I might dedicate the tim...

Week from Monday 14th August 2023 - The UCI CYCLING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS up that Scotland have now drawn to a close, with Sunday's brutal but exciting ELITE WOMEN'S ROAD RACE being a fitting finale. Real pro-cycling FANATICS (i.e. folks who are willing and able to watch everything on Eurosport and the like) won't have time to suffer any withdrawal symptoms though. This week, there are at least five different stage races going on somewhere in the world, all at the same time! Of course, I'll be content to follow the 'stories' on Twitter. In particular, the DANISH contingent seem to be having a right old time cycling in their own 'TOUR' on home soil. There's yet another 'new' version of the KCrim's "LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC" album coming out. This is where I must draw the line. I mean, it's a bit special and all, but how many times do they want us to keep buying the SAME music in different formats? As far as I'm co...

Week from Monday 7th August 2023 - I spent a thoroughly thrilling Sunday afternoon watching the ELITE MEN'S ROAD RACE at the World Championships in Glasgow, although I didn't get the result that I'd hoped for. MADS PEDERSEN had to settle for fourth place - all that effort and skill, never putting a foot wrong for the whole day, and he just missed out on getting a medal for his trouble! He deserves some kind of "COMBATATIVE" award, at least! (The top three were Van Der Poel, Van Aert and Pogacar.) I opted to watch the whole race coverage UNINTERRUPTED via the RED BUTTON channel, as the Beeb being what it is when there's a number of events going on at the same, keeps jumping about in an 'attention deficit' manner on its terrestrial channels. Just as you're getting into a really important race - Whherpp! over to another venue where there's some BMX stunts going on! They do the same thing at the OLYMPICS. The BBC programmers SEEM to think that: ...

Week from Monday 31st July 2023 - Dearest (X)Twitter users: It's come to my attention that a vast majority of you do NOT welcome Elno Skum FORCING his ugly great Xs all over your nice blue and white Twitter. I mean, even the City of San Francisco has objected to his wanting to turn a not-too-unattractive old listed building into something resembling a sex club. Well, I don't know much about planning permission regulations in the State of California, but here's how to stop the little blue birdie from turning into the sinister 'X' on your Android phone... HOW TO PREVENT THE SINISTER UPDATES 1) Turn off automatic updates on your phone. Open up PlayStore > Click on your 'my account' avatar > Go to 'Settings', then 'Network Preferences', then 'Automatic Updates' > Select the 'Don't Automatically Update' option. 2) You will still receive a notification whenever updates are available, but you must manually ins...

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.) P.A.K.T. "Live in NYC" ◊ Maurice Ravel "Daphnis et Chloé" ◊ Various Artists "iNDEX08 (DiN80)" ◊ Soft Machine "Other Doors" ◊ Goat "Live Ballroom Ritual" (a.o.) ◊