mintybloggydiarythingy 2.0

It would be untrue to say that the NEW PEECEE PROJECT has otherwise gone 'SMOOTHLY', but I have at least achieved some sort of success. So Far. I now have a working WINDOWS 11 platform, relatively free of bloatware and any Copiloted interference. Alongside that, I have a fully operational LINUX system running on an EXTERNAL USB DRIVE, thus being free of the kind of cockups that one can get when one tries to DUAL BOOT alongside Windoze on a SINGLE drive. Notoriously, whenever Windows receives a regular update, those dreadful M1©r0$o f T people will overwrite any changes you may have made to 'THEIR' operating system. This, as I already found, includes disabling your Linux's startup files, meaning that your second OS is no longer there as an option. Much better if the GRUB MENU is on a different drive altogether. As Django Bates once said, "YOU LIVE AND LEARN. APPARENTLY." I encountered a number of headaches before getting the LINUX to work at all. Plenty of...

Week from Monday 14th September 2026 - On Saturday, I left home for my HOZZY APPOINTMENT extra early, as I half expected the kind of omnibus delays I'd encountered earlier in the week. In the event, I did get there in PLENTY of time (I arrived at the obstacle just in time to watch the AIR AMBULANCE depart from the helipad for its journey back to Eastleigh). I got dealt with straight away though, and I relaxed UNDER THE DRIP while listening to the previous night's excellent performance of MAHLER #9 off of the Proms. I then spent the rest of the day either waiting FOR or waiting ON buses, hopping about the city. I had to find my way to CURRYS, out on the Ocean Retail Park where the airport once was, so that I could purchase that 'USB-C-to-USB-A-female-converter' that I need for my NEW LAPTOP PROJECT. That involved a slow held-up bus from the hospital to the city centre, a wait for the number nineteen out to the east of the island, a slow journey through traffic to OCEAN...

My appointment with the PREMIUM-PRICED DENTIST revealed that my maxillofacials are AOK and nothing needs fixing. Which is a huge relief, if only for the fact that it would cost a bloody fortune if it did! There has also been a routine BLOODLETTING ahead of my Wednesday FACE-TO-FACE with the docs. SPIN CYCLE... In parallel with LA VUELTA, I've been dipping into the TOUR OF BRITAIN coverage. ITV4 are carrying it live. But I have no vested interest in the results this time around, so I'm just enjoying the scenery! Meanwhile in the Netherlands, the five-day ZLM TOUR is occurring. Typically, when there's a race going on which I DON'T get to watch, 'MY TEAM' does amazingly well, and that's very much the case with this one! The LiDL-TREK lads are hoovering up every stage win, point and bonus second going, especially Czechmate MATHIAS VACEK and mighty MAX WALSCHEID. But I'll have to take soshul meejer's word for it, because there are no tellyclips to be vie...

Week from Monday 24th August 2026 - There's been some more improvements to FIREFOX's anti-AI features, arriving on version 154. Not only can you disable any of the Fox's own robots from doing anything on YOUR browser, you can now stop yourself from embedding any of the BIG ONES from OpenAI, G***le, Anthropic, M!©r0$o f T etc. etc. I'm skipping through this week's episode of Radio 3's "KEY CHANGES" (again), as it is entirely dedicated to the subject of VIENNESE WALTZES (ZzZzZzZz in 3:4)... This week, I otherwise need to spend some of my "MONDAY DOING MONDAY STUFF" time catching up with a couple of WHODUNNITS, which I couldn't fit into my usual SUNDAY session. You guessed it! because I was watching the CYCLING and doing some PROMing instead! "MONDAY STILL DOING SUNDAY STUFF"! LA VUELTA hasn't been particularly exciting so far. In fact, the only remarkable thing that's happened was the cancelling of an entire day's r...

Week from Monday 10th August 2026 - Now that my CYCLE-VIEWING is over for a couple of weeks (a disappointing conclusion to both the Tours I'd been following this week), I've been giving some attention to some BBC PROMS. When I reach that time of day when I can concentrate on some music, I'm less inclined to put on a CD these days, and more likely to strap on the headphones and activate the BBC SOUNDS I-Player doobry for a random selection from the prommy playlist. I'm ignoring any chronology and just picking out anything that looks interesting on paper (well, on screen anyway!). I've learnt from years of disappointment to stay clear of anything performed by the BBC's own orchestras, although I have (of course) listened to the BBCSO doing MAHLER's Sixth, which wasn't too bad! (I came for the KURTÀG and stayed for the MAHLER!) Of particular interest lately have been some of the "PROMS ACROSS THE UK" concerts that are not even at the Albert Hall...

Week from Monday 27th July 2026 - That's it! I managed to get through three weeks of TOUR DE FRANCE highlights, without once having to listen to the scintillating dialogues of Rob Hatch and Sean Kelly! Of course, it was always going to be 'THE POGGY SHOW' (previously known as 'THE POGGY & VINGO SHOW', but THAT ended abruptly a week ago!). Mathieu van der Poel clinched the coveted CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES sprint (m'eh!), but now that the Montmartre climb is now a permanent(?) fixture, the whole 'finale' was spectacular. It was a fairly good Tour for the LiDL-TREK lads in the end. MADS PEDERSEN sealed the deal in the GREEN JERSEY competition. He now joins a select handful who have taken the Points in all three Grand Tours. JUAN AYUSO and MATTHIAS SKJELMOSE both figured in the GC top ten. LiDL-TREK took the overall TEAM PRIZE, although I'm still not sure how THAT gets calculated! QUINN SIMMONS also received some sort of Combative SUPER-BEST Team-Mate Award ...

Week from Monday 13th July 2026 - 'MONDAY DOING MONDAY STUFF'... Got off to a start a bit late this morning, but my routine selection of RADIO PODCASTS was more condensed this week! "LE SHOW" and "NO SUCH THING AS A FISH" were business as usual, but... "STRONG MESSAGE HERE" is taking a summer break, so no episode at all this week... "FRIPP@80" on YouTube wasn't nearly as verbose as some of his previous 'episodes', so that didn't take very long... I gave this week's episode of "KEY CHANGES" a miss altogether, upon finding that it was entirely dedicated to the music of GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL. So that all saved me an hour or so, better spent catching up with yesterday's TOUR DE FRANCE highlights. #OnThisDay #FiftyYearsAgo 13/07/76, I saw GRYPHON play a terrific gig in CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL. They were at the peak of their powers and made full use of the amazing acoustics of the cathedral. I particularly rem...

Week from Monday 29th June 2026 - Whoops! here we go again! It's already Thursday and I haven't thought about anything to DIARISE about yet! It's hasn't been QUITE so haht 'round these parts (or 'round MY parts!) this week, but I've still endured a few hot'n'sticky sleepless nights, and I prefer to stay in the shade with the fan blowing during the day... However, I am obliged to step outside on FRIDAY, because I have another BLOOD TEST to undergo, plus I will be visiting the moneygrabbing DENTAL PRACTICE, in order to pay them a DEPOSIT, ahead of my six-monthly check-up in September ('cos I don't like to do that sort of thing over the phone!). My smile is stuck, so I have to go back to yr POUNDLAND as well... My VISA CARD expires this month, and I was starting to worry because they hadn't yet sent me a new one. While I was in town, I checked in with my bank to find out the score. The chap told me that the new one SHOULD be in the post....

Week from Monday 15th June 2026 - I finally got around to the happy task of turning CBQ's naughty recording of the SOFT MACHINE gig at The Green Hotel in Kinross into a SINGLE DISC LISTENING EXPERIENCE, and pretty atmospheric it is too. As is usual with latter day Softies, once you cut out the banter and dead air between numbers (and abbreviate the drum solo!), it NEARLY all fits on one seventy-nine minute disc anyway! In this case, I also needed to omit "Joy Of A Toy", which will go on a future "HOT TICKLES" compilation instead. Week from Monday 22nd June 2026 - I dipped in and out of the Sky Arts coverage of the ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL, but for the most part, none of it was for the likes of me! I did however stay up to watch Shelfy's favourite band THE CURE in all their glory. I don't think that the HIGH DEFINITION close-up cameras did them any favours though. Nobody needs to see geriatric goths squinting in the unaccustomed light through badly app...

Week from Monday 1st June 2026 - I did one of those L-O-N-G phone calls to the ELF CENTRE to organise my next rounds of pre-HORSEPICKLE blood tests. You have to wait until after eleven-thirty on a Wednesday before you can book an appointment these days, and then you have to listen to twenty minutes of terrible electronic Mozart before you can get through to a person to make your arrangements. But at least I shan't have to TAKE A GAMBLE the next time, going all the way to the general obstacle, only to find that I can't be seen to on a 'WALK-IN' basis... The LiDL-TREK ladies have been having a better time of it in their version of the GIRO D'ITALIA... ELISA BALSAMO sprinted three-for-three in the opening stages, thus wearing the PINK JERSEY. But she lost it by quite a few minutes in the Stage Four TIME TRIAL. However, she's still leading the RED JERSEY points competition by a comfortable margin and keeps winning everything that isn't too hilly, thanks to the...

Week from Monday 11th May 2026 - Meanwhile In Blooskyland, a couple of SOFT MACHINE recordings have exchanged hands... I posted a picture of the CD cover that I did for the recent SWISS WEBCAST, so naturally I had a few replies from the curious. It appears that the original broadcast is no longer there, so opportunities for 'acquisition' have now been lost (It hasn't yet appeared on the SUGARMEGS archives either, surprisingly - although there is ANOTHER recent show in Portugal that will no doubt need hearing at some point!). Luckily, I captured the "CONCERTO-JAZZ" broadcast on the night and I do have THE FILES! I sent a link to my Scottish chum "CBQ" and he in turn has sent me his own 'naughty' recording of the Softy gig in KINROSS, which I look forward to getting into. But I have a couple of other "PROJECTS" to do before I give it my FULL attention. I recently got sent some rather good soundboards from BRAND X's 1978 "M...

Week from Monday 4th May 2026 - I had my COVID JABBING over the weekend, which naturally led to a couple of daze ZONKED OUT with the "Spikevax Fever" - including all the fun stuff like nauseous retching, reduced appetite and crashing headaches, as well as spending most of the ensuing day-and-a-bit in fevered semi-consciousness. It's a CATCH-22 sitch... I get FREE priority vaccinations because I'm "IMMUNO-COMPROMISED", but that is also the probable reason for my reacting so badly to the drug itself! Meanwhile, I have a chat with the HAEMO-ONCOs on Tuesday, so I made sure to get my relevant BLOOD TESTS in earlier, before all that was in my system! TUESDAY PHONECHAT... Indications are that certain critical blood 'NUMBERS' are creeping upwards again ('Free Light Chains', 'Serum Free Lambda' and all that sort of hoohah). But they are nowhere near the 'UP IN THE THOUSANDS' count that they were when I was first diagnosed with MYELO...

Week from Monday 27th April 2026 - ...in the end, the only way I was able to save a copy of THIS MONTH's bank statement was to do a screenshot of the account page. To recap, since the new "improvements" to the bank's website, previous months statements are there as PDFs, but not the latest one, even several days after I got the notification that it was! Sorry to bang on about this, but ill-advised "improvements" to bigbiz websites are a particular bugbear of mine, along with most forms of advertising... FIREFOX has now released as version 150. A lot of the 'fixes' apply just to WINDOZE and MAC, and I'm not that fussy about any improvements they might incorporate for the management of multiple TABS - 'cos I don't roll that way! - but I did notice a couple of the new features in my own LINUX and ANDROID versions. The built-in PDF EDITOR has all that you could possibly want from a PDF editor now, and they've upgraded the built-in LANG...

Week from Monday 6th April 2026 - I don't think I fell for too many APRIL FOOLS' DAY hoaxes, although one of my daily GEOGRAPHY QUIZZES had all the answers refer to non-existent fictional places from books and movies, thus impossible to find in yer regular atlas! They also tricked me into thinking that I'd forfeited my twenty-something days' WINNING STREAK and had to start from scratch! Yes, OF COURSE I have been following the ARTEMIS II space mission in all its geeky detail, staying up late into the night so that I can catch everything LIVE, tuned into Mission Control and the voice of CAPCOM, and taking naps with my headphones on! I feel like I'm that nerdy eleven year-old kid all over again! Besides, it's all a lot more compelling (and comprehensible) than anything that's happening on THIS planet currently! On Tuesday morning I did my 'accounts' for the beginning of a new FINANCIAL YEAR. It didn't take very long! I don't have to file a S...

Week from Monday 16th March 2026 - I thought it might be nice to have a "TWIN PEAKS"-a-thon, so my Sunday evening was spent watching the "FIRE WALK WITH ME" movie, followed by the 'international' version of the PILOT EPISODE (the one with the alternative ending). I think this may well become my new SUNDAY THING, so I'll continue with the first actual TV episodes next weekend... This week's YOUTUBE-ing project... I revived the recording of the occasion when I, posing as "Eamonn Fitzquackahoot", performed the "EUROVISION SONG" in public, accompanied by The Artists Formerly Known As JUMP, Formerly Known As LOUD FARMER, Eventually Known As TV BY TEARS. I isolated the vocals for better clarity (paying special attention to RABBITHOLE's MC-ing). I also pasted in some bits of my original 'primitive' demo tape... It's a 'LIVE COMEDIC EVENT', the sort "YOU [DEFINITELY] CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE"!...

Week from Monday 9th March 2026 - It's been a curious season for the LiDL-TREK lads. MADS PEDERSEN hasn't even started his, having sustained several broken bones on the very first day. SKJELLY didn't start the PARIS-NICE due to wrist trouble ("TENOSYNOVITIS" - I had to look THAT up!). THIBAU NYS has also been hospitalised ("Prepatellar Friction Syndrome"). JUAN AYUSO managed to get a yellow jersey (and the white) in the PARIS-NICE, but then crashed out the next day (Nothing broken, but he's retired bruised and battered). JONNY MILAN hoovered up all the points jerseys in Saudi Arabia and the UAE earlier, but then he's entered in the TIRRENO-ADRIATICO ("The Race Of The Two Seas"), a mostly hilly stage that generally doesn't favour a sprinter AT ALL... with the exception of the final SAN BENEDETTO DE TRONTO stage. Which he DID win. Because he could. For the third year running! So THAT's why he was there...? It's been an i...

Week from Monday 2nd March 2026 - The start to ANOTHER NEW MONTH... Already? why! that's three in as many... It's also another one of those 'IN-BETWEEN WEEKS' when I ALMOST forgot to post anything to this bloggydiarywotsit AT ALL! (It's just past dawn on THURSDAY when I'm writing this little segment.) I had my monthly armful up at the horsepickle last weekend, and I've done the required paperwork and phone calls in preparation for my NEXT appointments. I popped to the shops for such essentials as cereals and a TV GUIDE. I get up, take my meds, do some puzzles, make coffee and watch some cartoons. After that, who knows? All part of life's rich tapwasher... As I've suddenly regained an enthusiasm for STEVEN WILSON's music, I paid a visit to the Bandcamp of INSIDE-OUT MUSIC, the leading vendors of yer so-called "PROG ROCK", to stream a few more items of that ilk. With yet another BANDCAMP FRIDAY imminent, I ask myself the question ...

Week from Monday 23rd February 2026 - I'm putting the finishing touches to another "HOT TICKLES" sampler. These are compilation discs of whatever 'proggy-but-mostly-King-Crimson-related' odds and sods I might have sitting around on the hard-drives. They don't come quite as frequently as they once did, but I've now reached VOLUME 169! It includes the last three or four "STORMY'S MONDAY SELECTIONS", some leftover 21st CENTURY SCHIZOID live tracks, the Bandcamp-only bonus tracks from the last SOFT MACHINE album, a couple of ambient soundscapey things and a PETER GABRIEL live track from WOMAD 1982, concatenated in a tastefully flowing manner... T-SHIRT WEATHER IN FEBRUARY...? brr! wot a scorcher! I ventured out on Wednesday, orf up the horsepickle to get yet another BLOOD TEST. There was a lot of folks in the 'queue' ahead of me, and they eventually split us up and dragged some of us upstairs for a leeching on LEVEL C... By the time I e...

Week from Monday 2nd February 2026 - I've been exploring some of the lesser known backwaters of BRAND X history, especially around the time of the lost album "MANIFEST DESTINY" (1997) and when Gong drum-meister PIERRE MOERLEN joined them for a tour at very short notice. Needless to say, I've been doing this through the medium of some pretty dodgy b***legs, but the music shines through ne'ertheless. On the last show of the European tour they even played cracking versions of a couple of MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA toons! I've also been digging (into) some of PERCY JONES's solo material from the nineties. I liked what I heard, but it's very much 'OF ITS TIME' (quite a lot of electric drums - there was one bit that even reminded me of SQUAREPUSHER!). There's also a few weedy vocal tracks that are best left on the shelf! I've dug out my quarter-of-a-century-old copy of COREL-DRAW to see if will run on m'LINUX lappy, via the magic of W.I.N.E...

Week from Monday 5th January 2026 - A few days ago, my bus hop into town encountered a great deal of near-stationary and logjammed traffic. An entire section of the MOTORWAY has been closed off, which meant that all of the local transportation, in both directions, has been diverted through FAREHAM itself. I therefore planned my Saturday journey 'UP THE HOZZY' with this in mind, allowing plenty of time for hold-ups. But I OVERCOMPENSATED and got to the check-in desk an hour early! 'PATIENT WAITING', even before I got 'seen to'! No worries, of course, because I had my TRUSTY TABLET with me and was able to listen to the whole of the BBC comedy serial "THE ISLAND" in one sitting. My project continues of dragging a few choice GRIDLING BAND ditties into the 21st Century, cleaning them up and posting them on THAT YOUTUBE THEY HAVE NOW. The third item is "ALDMONKSTON ROCK". Once again, I've isolated Snilt's voice, using clever modern secret...