mintybloggydiarythingy 2.0

Week from Monday 16th June 2025 - For once, I have no actual NEED to go anywhere this week; no pressing MEDICAL or vitally important FINANCIAL visits. Which is nice. But the WEATHER is rather spiffing at the moment, so it would be a shame to waste it. A DAZE-OUT to a 'different' shopping centre is called for. I hopped on a train to EASTLEIGH. Not the most picturesque of settings, I'll grant you. But I do recall that there are a goodly number of CHARITY SHOPS on its streets, so the browsing's often good. It is also the home to one of the best "FURNITURE & ELECTRICALS" branches, so plenty to ponder over. RESULT!!! I now have a 'new' CASSETTE DECK, a PIONEER CT-S609R, to replace my dead Yamaha. It's packed with interesting features that I'm probably never going to use, but most importantly, it SOUNDS splendid through my amp. I have a couple of quality cassettes that I usually favour for 'testing' tape machines, namely RICHARD THOMPS...

Week from Monday 2nd June 2025 - My INTERNET connection was working appallingly S-L-O-W last week, so I reported it to the TALKTALK concern. They "guarantee" speeds of never less than 10Mbps, but a few days ago it dropped as low as two-and-a-half for a while! It didn't affect my activities TOO much, and it didn't make any difference to the landline phone (Yes! we still have a landline!). But we shouldn't have to put up with it, considering how much we pay them every month! Several text messages were exchanged and I think that they eventually fixed it from their end (I also did the "try-turning-it-off-and-then-on-again" thing with the router). It's now a lot more stable than it had been... but today, a man from OPENREACH came and checked things over anyway. I'd planned on doing a 'BITS'n'BOBS' shopping trip into town, but I stayed in for his visit. Just as well really, 'cos the weather's horrible... I spent a day failing ...

Week from Monday 26th May 2025 - Going into the third week of the GIRO D'ITALIA, it's still pretty unpredictable (GOOD!). The GC has been changing on a daily basis. PRIMOŽ ROGLIČ has lost far too much time to be a contender now (STOP PRESS: He's abandoned!). Our own GIULIO CICCONE was involved in a bigly crash over the weekend, so sadly he had to retire. With over a hundred points lead over his nearest rival, MADS PEDERSEN already has the CICLOMINA JERSEY competition pretty much sewn up anyway (hasn't he?). But with little else to ride for, the LiDL-TREK lads are free to just aim for individual STAGES. CARLOS VERONA went successfully 'solo' on Sunday. With SIX stage wins in total (so far), the squad must surely qualify for some sort of BEST TEAM EFFORT award if there is one...? Generally though, by the final (anticlimactic) week of ANY Grand Tour, I've stopped caring about who's winning it and I just enjoy the spectacle. (In this case, I'm doubly en...

Week from Monday 19th May 2025 - The BBC was celebrating a "WELLBEING WEEK", whatever that's supposed to be. As is my habit, I tuned in at seven o'clock for the "RADIO 3 MIXTAPE". It's usually a nice place to 'wind down' for half-an-hour, but I was bombarded by something from a bloody awful STEPHEN SONDHEIM musical, immediately followed by a BAGPIPES version of "Auld Lang Syne". I dived for the off-switch, for the sake of my own 'WELLBEING'! Besides, whenever the Beeb pretends to get all new-agey-touchy-feely, who are they trying to convince?!? I've ordered a MEMORY UPGRADE for my ageing laptop. The old girl has just passed her TWELFTH birthday (she's the same age as m!©r0$ø f T Windoze EIGHT!) and is beginning to struggle with the newer Linux OS's updates. I'm hoping that a doubling-up of Random Access Memory will make things run a little smoother. I've watched the instructional video, and switching the m...

Week from Monday 5th May 2025 - I dug out a bunch of CDs which, although they "HAVE THEIR MOMENTS", don't get played much at all these days, and rarely all the way through:- Turn-of-the-seventies stuff like ANDWELLA'S DREAM, COLOSSEUM and LOCOMOTIVE... So before I add them to the "LET OXFAM HAVE IT!" pile, I'm compiling an all-encompassing mix CD of 'THE GOOD BITS', with the working title "SONGS FROM THE GREAT PURGE". Only one necessary outing this week... The GP PRACTICE invited me (via a TEXT, as is their wont) to take an "ANNUAL" BLOOD TEST, even though I've explained that I already do a couple of tests every month as it is! Anyway, I conceded to give them another armful. I think it's mainly to ascertain ones CHOLESTEROL levels, but that should also save me another visit to the hospital before my next PAMIDRONATE fix. On Friday, just for the heck of it, I went for a bus ride to Portsmouth. I spent an hour or two ...

Week from Monday 21st April 2025 - Back-to-back visits to the ho's spittle, including plenty of footslogging... On Saturday, I spent half of my BIRTHDAY getting my routine armful of PAMIDRONATE, then on Tuesday, I finally had my (scheduled six months ago) visit to meet the RENAL DEPARTMENT, located in the distant top-left-hand corner of the hospital labyrinth. By the way, "Check-up With The Kidney People" sounds like a great title for a piece of music! Also: "SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING, SURELY THEY'RE TAKING THE PISS?", as I had to provide some URINE samples, on top of all the well-documented multiple bleedings of a previous week's visit. Anyway, some sort of STABILITY has been achieved and the overall verdict is pretty much "As Well As Can Be Expected". So I thought I might TAKE IT EASY for the rest of the week. But the earlier daylight prevents me from having any 'LIE-INS'. I find that I wake up well before six o'clock, wheth...

Week from Monday 7th April 2025 - I think it's taking me a little longer to get back to "NORMAL" health this time, following Saturday's COVID needling. I was still feeling some of the side effects several days later, such as the LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE causing achy extremities and the persistent CHEMICAL ODOUR, which may be real or in my own head. But I take it in my stride and try to DO STUFF regardless... PROJECTS, PROJECTS, PROJECTS... It's the start of a new FINANCIAL YEAR. As a 'BURDEN ON SOCIETY' old person, I'm no longer legally required to do all that wretched SELF-ASSESSMENT malarkey, but I keep my accounts in order anyway, for my own satisfaction. On top of this week's PENSION payment, I've also had some interest accrued on one of my SAVINGS accounts (more than I'd guesstimated!) and a £50 'Thank You Bonus' appeared in my CURRENT account. Which Is Nice. On Wednesday, I hopped on the 'DEATH VALLEY 69' to Winchester...