Calmer Weather

Sunday. 7.00 a.m. Thankfully the strength of the wind has reduced to virtually nothing. It's sunny at the moment but there's still a chill in the air. Any chance of me wearing my shorts is still not really advisable. We are being told on BBC Breakfast this morning that the weather is likely to improve dramatically by the end of the week. I'm not sure if that means we will experience a heatwave, but anything can be better than rain and howling wind. If that's correct, if will certainly follow the patter of 'May comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.'

So, we got nil points in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest held in Rotterdam yesterday evening. The contest wasn't held last year because of the pandemic.  All I can say is, I'm not really surprised, because it would appear that the judging isn't done from an artistic viewpoint (sorry, I can't honestly say there's much artistic in this naff festival of awfulness.), but more likely a political one, most probably because of Brexit and Britain's decision to leave the EU. I think it's about time we just gave up on the whole kit and caboodle and grateful that, because we lost, we don't have to stage it in this country. Our entry was really dire. I had never heard it before yesterday evening. Not that I follow 'pop' music. The whole Eurovision thing is one big yawn, having to listen to several hours of some of the worst music ever written in my opinion, such as it is. I really think we do can much better than this effort. I know it's supposed to unite  us internationally, but I'm sure there is something else we could be doing. I think it does have one thing that's relatively good at the moment, what with lockdowns and pandemics, and that it takes our minds off the awfulness of the last year or so. But as entertainment, I give it nil points. Saturday on any television channel is just awful. Endless gameshows and talent contests and lame drama, which Casualty has become. No wonder people prefer Netflix. Plenty or better viewing elsewhere. Now we have the Diana interview scandal, I think the BBC had better sort itself out otherwise it's days are numbered.

After church I went to Morrison's on the way home. I had precisely three items to buy and I decided I didn't want to queue at a staffed checkout, so I opted to use a self service till. I wish I hadn't bothered. I scanned in each item but when I got to the point where I had to pay with my debit card, the thing just wouldn't accept payment. It took two attempts with a staff member to get the thing to work and a further, third attempt didn't go as planned. There must have been something wrong with the thing, but it did eventually take payment. I just don't like these machines. Or more likely, they don't like me. I'm sure the more we have machines like this, and AI (artificial Intelligence) the more machines are going to take over, in more ways than one. If they got to think for themselves, goodness knows what life is likely to be. Something of a nightmare scenario, like a science fiction film. Remember that scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the on-board computer on the space station won't open a door (or something. I don't remember exactly.) It spoke. We now have voice activated gadgets (think Alexa and Siri.) so it can't be that far into the futur

A Sunny and Cold Day

It wasn't quite as cold as it was yesterday morning. I was expecting there to be quite a hard frost, but only actually a light icing on the car so not as bad as it might have been. As I write this the sun is making a valiant attempt to shine. When it's sunny the lounge can become quite warm, and it is then that you don't need the central heating on.

I was supposed to have gone into the City centre this morning to get my eyes re-tested at Spec Savers. I got my eyes tested by Boot's Opticians a couple of months ago, but then I saw that Spec Savers had a good offer whereby you got two pairs of specs made up for £69. You just take your prescription from one company to another and they make up the specs accordingly. When I got the glasses back around a week later I found that the distance pair were fine, but when I got home and tried the reading glasses, they weren't correct for reading at a fairly close distance, such as a book or newspaper or when working on the laptop computer, as I am at this moment. The pair I am currently using are an 'off the shelf' pair bought from Boots. I managed to book a re-test appointment on line and it was going to be today, but they rang this morning to say it couldn't go ahead as the optician was unwell. It is re-booked for this Tuesday morning. I suppose if a member of staff is ill there isn't much I can do about it. I was offered an alternative appointment but I really didn't fancy driving in to the city centre this afternoon, so I chose to have the Tuesday alternative.

I'm currently watching "The Man In The High Castle," The Amazon series which is available on Amazon Fire Television.  It's one of those series which keeps you guessing, and it certainly has that 'I must see the next episode' feel to it, which I suppose is essential when you have all the episodes available to view 'on line.' You could 'binge' view this quite well, if you were that way inclined. This sort of thing has certainly change the way people watch television. Gone are the days when you had to wait a full week before you got the next episode of a series. I'm on series 2 which began just before Christmas. It is based on a Philip K. Dick novel and takes the 'what if' concept of what would have happened if the Nazis had won the Second World War. They have divided the U.S.A. in to 'zones' and are in charge of the country in partnership, although it's an uneasy partnership, with the Japanese. It is co-produced by Ridley Scott, who is also responsible, in part, for the new BBC 1 drama 'Taboo" which stars Tom Hardy. It makes a change to have some television drama with a bit of bite to it. Not for those of a nervous disposition as this one in particular is dark and grimy. Why on earth is it that the BBC can commission this sort of stuff, yet insist on going on with pap like "Holby City" and "Casualty" which are both well past their 'sell-by' dates? Well, I suppose it gives someone work, even if it's a few actors and writers.