From the Orient

So, I was making a cup of coffee and wondering how long it would take for me to save up for an “Apple”:http://www.apple.com/uk/hardware/ of some description and wondering if I could get an “ipod”:http://www.apple.com/uk/ipod/ with a “voice recorder”:http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore?productLearnMore=T7419 because I’d lost my voice recorder somewhere in the house, and my wife will let me buy a new one (hey look at this fancy voice recorder, only £40 and you can get this great attachment that plays songs) and I was wondering what the difference was between an ipod for windows and an ipod for Mac and whether it was a hardware or software difference and if I got the voice recorder and got the ipod that made the voice recorder work, and the ipod for the mac, I would have to get a new Mac to make the ipod work, and as I thought about what my wife might do if I did this, I emptied a spoonful of coffee into the sugar bowl.

So, it ended up snowing, and with perfect timing, it started just before everyone left to go home for the day.

Any, boy did it snow. I’ve never heard of a thunderstorm in snow before. The snow went sideways. I remember a time when my Dad was driving us back from Maccesfield after seeing my mad aunt, it was snowing heavy flakes that came at us like the starfield in the Millenium Falcon; just before hyperdrive. It was thrilling, exciting. I was seven. It was slightly less thrilling when we crashed; I don’t remember the details, just the starfield suddenly stopped and we all lurched forwards.

The windows of our high quality, sealed, air conditioned office rattled, the noise was quietly intense. At least I wasn’t outside having a smoke like my friend. Apparently, the perspex of the “shelter” moved so much, he was expecting to land in Oz.

This meant road chaos, but bizarrely only directly outside my office. It took 30 minutes to get onto the main road and only 30 minutes to get home. Reading town center was busy, but only slightly worse than normal. Of course, there should have been no reason for the traffic to have been worse, but that’s Britain for you.

The children danced in the snow, but I missed it.

Just a test post to make sure everything is working (and to see how quick it is) on the new server that Orient is now hosted on.

yep, works fine and is much quicker too, thanks Aq.

Some days you are so busy that you have no time to blog.

Some days are even busier, and you have to blog just to relieve the stress. That was today.

Trouble at Old Trafford as a couple of Irish “gentlemen” try to tarmac over the Old Trafford pitch. No, I mean, try to tarmac over Alex Ferguson. No, I mean, put him under tarmac. No, I mean, put one over on him.

Why do Magnier and McManus want to cause so much trouble at Manchester United plc?

Is it because they are after a takeover?

Well, they are not making themselves very popular with the fans.

bq. “We are embarrassed about the problems these Irishmen are causing Manchester United.”

bq. United’s Supporters’ Association accused the club’s biggest shareholders of running a “dirty tricks campaign” against Ferguson.

So if they do take over they will be treated like Rupert Murdoch, not Michael Knighton (maybe they’ll get a horse to take a penalty in front of the Stretford End or something). Ferguson would leave, and half the team with him. It wasn’t easy to think of a replacement when we knew it was coming. I was happy for him to retire, but not for him to be forced out.

Are they trying to get back at Ferguson? Most likely. Maybe Fergie will send Roy Keane round to end a few more horses careers in revenge. If true, is what they are doing legal?

Fergie was stupid to get involved with trying to get money out of this pair, and I didn’t think he really should have gone for the money in something that appeared to be a gentlemen’s agreement. Now it is clear these are no gentlement, and I hope Fergie gets every single penny from them.

Plus, if they sack Ferguson (surely the reason for them wanting a shorter new contract) it will be the biggest unfair dismissal ever. A bit like the Devil getting a major shareholding in Heaven and getting rid of God. Sure you made Heaven and Earth, built it up over seven days, won over everything going. But we’ve fallen out over that snake business and now you’ve gotta go.

I’d almost like to see them try. Imagine the scenes at Old Trafford matchday. Martin Edwards had it easy.

Once again the press have escalated this. Why do newspapers/websites report what the tabloids make up as news?

I’ve reorganised my blog roll into loosely defined categories, entitled by loosely related proverbs. See to your left, or come out of your aggregator for a second and look to the left.

Your task is to work out what the categories are from the proverbs and the blogs held within.