Wednesday again

It's been a bit of an odd day today. Nothing special, just a mixture of free time and work, and both mixed up a bit with delayed appointments (not by me, I add). I factored the photos in the time before I started, followed by the fire as reported, only a 1/10 on the excitement meter, and then spent the time between appontments sending said photos to as many news services as I could think of (not a sqeak in reply, if they use them I bet they don't tell me).

I only have trivial or non-urgent jobs to do now, all the big ones are done and I'm pretty well free. I have my little list for the future, which consists of possible replies from: Microsoft, someone I met on holiday in 1972, the latest article I sent, and various other friends who email at their leisure. Then the crucial TV schedules which are my personal light at the end of a tunnel that's been far longer than I'd have chosen. And finally my list of female invitees has now reached 4. I doubt 3 will be up for it even if they pay a visit eventually while we are both still alive (at this rate this is doubtful) but I'd be very happy with any one of them.

So unless something crops up the rest of the week's free now. Not too much or too little work this week. The TV begins in half an hour, I missed one programme while I was working and recording something else, which I can live with, and then it's who knows. I still come across more and more people of both sexes living alone who all agree they're not really living while alone. So it's not just me, it's like living without a leg. We can all use crutches (ie talking to yourself) but we really need a real leg/person ideally. And unlike amputations we can get people at any time having lost them, but not at will (unless you invest in the Phillipines, my plan at 50). If I could trust them 100% I think I'd do it now, but besides the money you have to pay the agency and the flight costs, let alone the possibility of having to go to the godforsaken place yourself with a 'get dysentery free' card all inclusive, I would really rather do it the easier way.

Finally, fire rarely destroys British buildings. Unlike America most of ours are stone so only the wooden roofs collapse and the rest remains to be repaired. But this effort today was a mystery. It was a 6 storey shell of a block of flats half built, and went up in less than 30 minutes (I saw it from my window, and then on TV). There was literally nothing left of it. Now modern buildings usually have steel frames filled with breeze blocks. Not a beam in sight. This thing was going like a Guy Fawkes fire, yet technically nothing should have been flammable. Unless I spoke to the builders I couldn't know, but it remains a mystery. The shame was the adjoining road is a real slum area and a major fire (again where no one was harmed like this one) would have regenerated a disgusting area. The road this happened was purely industrial, containing the Hendon Police College (all 2500 members evacuated), and student halls of residence. It was a very unremarkable road that will be none the better for any changes, but the one next to it could only be improved as it is nothing but Victorian slums. So the moral is if you want something done properly, do it yourself. I'll be starting a major fire around the corner and do it properly... (yes, I was joking...).