20.03.08
Cool card trick!
My BookMooch buddy, Rob, has posted a YouTube link to a vid of him doing a fiendishly clever card trick! I can’t fathom out how he does it …
17.03.08
Porridge?
It occurred to me that as my passport ran out over a year ago, and as I imagine it will soon be decreed that we should remove our own livers and send them to the Passport Agency as proof of who we are, or have a barcode tattooed on our arms, or something, I thought I’d better get it sorted.
Which, of course, means the dreaded “passport photo” ordeal.
Now, time was, a Photo-Me booth visit was pleasant and fun. You got four different poses, so at least one of them could be taken up by making silly faces/dragging six friends in with you/getting a pic of a big slobbery snog with your partner. Nowadays, you get three chances, but only one photo. And - and this is a big and - the Passport Agency now forbids smiling. Or, in my case, grinning like a fool, which is what instantly occurs when a camera lens is aimed my way.
“A neutral expression?” I wailed to R. “How the heck am I going to manage that?”
“Well”, he said, “what’s the most bland thing you can think of?”
“Porridge”, said I, confidently, and strolled into the glad bright morning.
Well, the resulting pictures emerged from the slot, and the look of abject horror on my face exactly matched that in the photos. A passer-by would have thought it a pretty good likeness, looking as I did like a woman who had just heard that a race of giant moths had been installed as our new overlords, the Civil Service having consequently been replaced by daddy-long-legs.
So I had another go. Second lot not too bad. I mean, I do look faintly shifty and a little like a woman trying very hard to suppress a daft grin and not to think about porridge, but at least I look human. Human-ish.
In other news - today is my birthday and I am not old. Oh no. Maturing like a good wine, that’s me. Yesterday was my birthday trip to Inverary, a visit to Inverary Jail and yummy food in the George - the weather was (and is) gorgeous, and I can’t think of a better life than the one I have now!
07.03.08
Go and see “Juno” …
… ‘cos it’s really really really good!
(This reviewing lark - it’s a piece of piss, innit?!)
04.03.08
It’s for tax reasons, honestly!
As from 1 April (hope that date is not inauspicious), R. and I will be partners in a slightly more official sense - yes, that’s the day on which we become “Clarke and Houston Language Services”! Bunting will be out across the nation, possibly …
The meeting went well yesterday, in that we managed to struggle through a snowstorm and so did our intrepid accountant. The man looks like he’s wearing a toupee (sadly, he isn’t) and has teeth which arrive in the room a good four minutes before he does, but apparently last year, on 31 January, a client of his had come sneaking into the office at 4.30pm, asking that his tax return be completed and filed. On 31 January at 4.30pm, let me repeat. Bloody hell, and I though I was dilatory on these matters …!
Not to be daunted, our fearless financial whizzkid did indeed complete his client’s tax return.
And went to the local tax office.
At 4.30am.
And climbed a wall in order to post it through their door …
So I figure that, provided we can keep a straight face about his wonky teeth, we should all get along famously.
Next week we’re seeing a lawyer to draw up the partnership agreement - watch this space!