uncleduck

»Monday, March 27, 2006, 2:56:16 AM BST    »1 comments (0 )     »Send entry    

Posted by: uncleduck    in: My entries

The time has come to say farewell to an old friend that's been with us for a long time - the humble floppy disk. Like an old teddy bear, we've grown out of it while we give our attention to our new shiny toys - CD-RWs, Memory Sticks and such like. Just as a teenager wouldn't notice if his mum put the teddy bear in the bin, would we notice if floppies just vanished?

Today, for reasons I'll not bore you with, I needed twenty floppy disks. Foolishly, I reckoned it would be a matter of arriving at the supermarket around eight o'clock, walking in, lifting them, paying and walking out. If only that were true.

Tesco haven't sold them in ages. Asda no longer have demand for them. By 9, the shops in town are opening. One place can get them, but it will be the end of the week. Another place are asked for them by schoolkids most days, but their main warehouse has stopped keeping them. I am horrified at the price Boots are charging - a fiver for ten (or was it £4?). Easons are no better - £5.99 for ten (but with a shiny box). The lady points me to the bottom shelf - the 'cheap' disks. £3.99 for ten.

Reluctantly, I part with £8. Eight quid for floppy disks!. CD-Rs would be cheaper - but they won't do what I want. The floppies are more expensive than they were a couple of years ago. They have become a niche item for which 'premium' prices can be charged - like Vinyl LPs or Betamax tapes. A couple of years from now they'll be all but gone, the preserve of those back-street specialist stores you feel unclean just going into.

Like the teddy bear, I hadn't noticed the floppy going away. When I eventually put my shiny toys away, it was gone.

Farewell, old friend.

»Monday, March 20, 2006, 4:24:48 PM GMT    »3 comments (0 )     »Send entry    

Posted by: uncleduck    in: My entries

I was married in July past, to a wonderful, loving woman. It has all been going so incredibly well - I couldn't ask for more. Well, I thought I could not ask for more. I recieved an email, obviously written by a sensitive, deep-thinking soul. It even links to her photograph. Oh, what should I do? Should I reply to her - share my thoughts, my hopes? Should I let my wife know - and hope she sees my point.

Oh, what should I do? Her email is below - I'm sure you agree, she must be genuine!

Hello my Dear!

I want to start my first letter from a question: "Is it possible to be happy without LOVE?"

I think that you will agree with me if the answer will be "NO WAY". Love is the most beautiful and exciting thing that may happen between man and woman! It inspires us only for doing positive things towards each other.

One very famous writer said: "The beauty will rescue the world" i agree with his words but still i would add : " LOVE and Beauty will rescure the world".

I hope you agree with me that Love is a big notion. There's love to God, to Mother, to a child to the country where you were born, and there's love that joins a man and woman for all their life. That is the LOVE i'm looking for! And i'm seeking for the man who is also eager to have this life long adventure full of surprises and new experience we can share together! Will you join me for this trip?

I do realise that it should be very difficult to say "Yes" from the first letter having no idea about me.

That's why i just offer to get to know each other better though correspondence that will help us to reveal many things about each other whether we mach perfectly or not. In addition you can look at my pictures and read some info about me here http://um4thez1xcsz5f.my-loving-heart.com/

I hope you'll like what you see and read there.

Well closing my first letter to you i just want to thank you for reading it and i really hope that you'll share my point of view on what i said above. I do really hope that you'll answer me soon.

so long

Galechka

»Monday, March 13, 2006, 2:09:04 AM GMT    »2 comments (0 )     »Send entry    

Posted by: uncleduck    in: My entries

I'm researching an evening class for wifey and myself to do together. Maybe an A-level, maybe a GCSE - maybe flower arranging. Anyone want to share ideas on interesting courses thay have done?

»Friday, March 10, 2006, 3:24:11 AM GMT    »1 comments (0 )     »Send entry    

Posted by: uncleduck    in: My entries

Spaghetti Bolognese is probably my favourite meal. The combination of mince, tomatoes, herbs – mmmmmm, lush. Except, of course I rarely eat Spag Bol itself. I'll maybe have the Bolognese sauce with pasta shells or pasta butterflies (as nephew calls the little dicky-bows), but never spaghetti. Even when I tell my lovely wife to take the night off while I make Spag Bol (with my own sauce, before anyone makes a Dolmio comment), I use the dicky bows.

The reason is obvious – with the exception of spaghetti hoops, there is no dignified way to eat the stuff. And nobody in their right mind orders it in public. On Saturday night past, I was obviously not in my right mind. We had planned for a few days to go to Speranza's Italian restaurant in Belfast – never been before, but it's hard to go wrong with Italian. Hers was a tasty chicken and pasta-shell affair.

I twisted, rolled and splattered, my way round the spaghetti. Painfully slow. Bits that had been carefully rolled up would fall off the fork, dangling like giant strands of cobweb waiting to stick to my chin.

Never again (as I've said countless times).

On a less farting-around note, the Ulster Orchestra's night of John Williams' movie music (Star Wars and such like), presented by Barry Norman, was excellent.

»Wednesday, March 8, 2006, 1:53:58 AM GMT    »1 comments (0 )     »Send entry    

Posted by: uncleduck    in: My entries

An on-going annoyance of mine is the tendency for religious people (or, ultra-evangelical Christians) to spice up archaeology, science and so on in an effort to keep the party line. One such example is the aftermath of archaeological digs in Palestine in the early 20th Century. To cut a long story short, it was a case of “Keep what looks good and ignore/bury/destroy the rest”.

Of course this resulted in the 1950s/60s archaeologists digging deeper and concluding that as far as historical accuracy is concerned, the Old Testament is rubbish. A key point has been the insistence that the Pharaoh mentioned in Exodus (when Moses led the people out of Egypt) was Ramesses. Based on that date, the Hebrews are credited with an Egyptian military/economic recession that happened a few hundred years before they supposedly left; Joshua arrives to find Jericho has been a heap of rubble for a few hundred years (but is later credited with demolishing the place); and so on.

A revolutionary idea (well, I thought it obvious), is that the date of the Pharaoh is in error. Put Moses in the time of an earlier Pharaoh and all that stuff about battles with Joshua fits the record. The Hebrews earlier arrival in Egypt and Joseph (of the many-coloured coat) are in the Egyptian record too, it seems – just a few hundred years earlier than anyone was looking.

Still, many people think that archaeology disproved the Bible in the 50s/60s. It didn't – it just disproved the fiddled results.

Eden to Exile – well worth a read, whether you are religiously inclined or not.

We found ourselves in Belfast yesterday afternoon. Typically, it was crowded with people who had no sense of purpose in their walking. Picture the scene in Primark (for example) - the women's section filled with the brain-dead, looking at things they would never wear, remarking on how wonderful it all was. The men's section - three guys, all buying shirts with a sense of purpose.

And then... WH Smith.

Whilst browsing some obscure title, I heard the faint cry of 'Bogies!'. The call was repeated, but louder. What would I, a respectable thirty year old do? I should report the young hoodlums to the nearest officer, shouldn't I?

Nope, while nobody was looking, I call out, "Bogies!"

The youths laugh - someone has taken their challenge. They reply, with more volume. I cannot back down!

"BOOOOO-GIES!", I call

They respond - BOOOOOOOGGGIIIIIIEEEESSSSS!!!!!

We all fall over laughing and exit....

»Monday, March 6, 2006, 12:00:53 AM GMT    »2 comments (0 )     »Send entry    

Posted by: uncleduck    in: My entries

Saturday morning shopping, as ever involves a trip to Tesco and wandering around town. So, imagine the scene - we are parked outside a slushy supermarket, getting a trolley.

Her: "have you the (clubcard) vouchers?
Me: "In my wallet... oh crap, the wallet's at home!"
Her: "How are we paying for the shopping then? I have no idea what my joint account PIN is"
Me: "Do you have your personal account card?"
Her: "Yes"
Me: "Problem solved!"
Her: "And tea? And your hair?"
Me: "You've plenty of money, haven't you?"

So off we went. As usual, she goes looking for some clothes and I'm the one who effortlessly picks up a pair of shirts and a tie, which I later pay her for!

»Sunday, March 5, 2006, 11:54:37 PM GMT    »1 comments (0 )     »Send entry    

Posted by: uncleduck    in: My entries

Modified on March 5, 2006 at 11:55 PM

There was lots of snow yesterday morning (duh, like I'm hardly stating the obvious).

Whilst I made the breakfast, wifey (aged 27) made a snow-man. Well, more akin to snow-midget. We even took a picture (alas, the camera went whoopsie, so I cannot show it here).

It was beaten only by the snow-lady on the A26 near Ballymena. tall, thin, elegant with a pink feather boa. Very nice work, whoever that was!

»Sunday, March 5, 2006, 11:49:05 PM GMT    »1 comments (0 )     »Send entry    

Posted by: uncleduck    in: My entries