No. 15 Thursday 22 September 2011
I really must concentrate on details of what I'm buying!! In my last blog (No. 14) I mentioned that I had ordered six CDs of dance music. When they all turned up I discovered that the total was actually eleven - one double CD and two packs of three CDs and three single CDs. This is, in fact, all to the good because it widens my repertoire even more. I even have a smallish blank spot in my shelving which will become their home. In addition to the two occasions next month for which I will be providing music, I have also been asked to come up with some music for a firework gathering which the Quaker Meeting (to which I belong) are having on, or about, firework night. I must check my classical CDs to see if I have the famous 'Music for the Royal Fireworks' - and, to display my ignorance, I have no idea who is the composer although I suspect it may be Handel.
There was a small matter I needed to discuss with HMRC so I got their 'phone number from their very easy-to-use web site, and 'phoned them yesterday. After working my way through the recorded choices I contacted a helpful agent who was obviously well versed in his subject because he explained everything clearly so that I was able to make the necessary calculations. These completed, I rang them again and spoke to another agent who was equally on-the-ball. She took my figures and cleared the whole matter up by adjusting my tax code. There have been many complaints about HMRC but my, admittedly limited, experience shows that they can be very helpful as well.
In sorting out some CDs for my talk 'Humour on Record' I was reminded that Gilbert & Sullivan had the occasional dig at people in high places such as the Admiral in 'HMS Pinafore', the Major General in 'Pirates of Penzance' and the Judge in 'Trial by Jury'. It set me wondering what they would have done to the RAF if it had existed in their time!! It is a little surprising how much humour there is recorded. It is mostly very gentle humour, and some is quite subtle but some takes everyday situations and expands the possibilities a little for example 'The Gas-man cometh' by Flanders & Swann or 'The Driving Instructor' by Bob Newhart.
As you can see, from this and previous blogs, music plays a large part in my life - as it always has done. It isn't that I actually play an instrument, but I have very wide tastes in the various fields. I don't have a lot of classical music and I thought I had no modern jazz (deliberately) until I found one CD which I must have bought by mistake thinking the artist played traditional jazz. The variety that I have makes filing the CDs is some sort of recognisable order quite an undertaking. However, I developed a system which worked when I was using vinyl records so I adopted it for CDs as well. I won't bore you with explaining it, but it works - for me at least.
One little thing puzzles me. Why are things sometimes dearer when bought from the manufacturer than when bought from a large supplier. I was looking for printer paper to replenish my stock when I saw that the supplier also sold printer inks. I checked the price of those which I am using on my printer an found that they (black and three colours) are nearly £10 cheaper than those I bought from the maker of the printer. It was exactly the same ink in the same packaging so I can only assume that either the supplier was able to get a special bulk purchase deal or that was prepared to take a smaller profit - or a bit of both. It's a funny old world!!
Mike
Loss, music & computing.
No. 14 Saturday 10 September 2011
Another longish break since my last blog, but a (sort of) excuse for the delay. Nevertheless I can be expected to deviate from my intended weekly schedule and produce these somewhat erratically!!
This excuse is that last week, on Thursday, I went into the city and replenished my stock of hearing aid batteries. This involved the usual bus journeys. On the very next day, on returning home from shopping, I lost my right hearing aid and didn 't discover the loss until bedtime (when I take them out and turn them off). An immediate search through the house proved that the loss had not happened there, so I had to think back over the day and work out where it might have occurred. Eventually I realised that, going over a slightly rough section of footpath (in windy conditions), the wind noise through the hearing aids changed but I had put this down to a change in wind direction. That must have been when I lost it.
The next day I made a thorough search along my journey to/from the supermarket, with special attention to the area where I thought the loss had occurred, but no luck there either. The following Monday I reported the loss to the firm which provided the hearing aids and later in the week received a claim form from the company with which they had insured them. This form presented me with the usual problem of filling in forms in that I cannot write well enough (due to my limited hand use), so I indulged in my usual tactic and sent an explanatory letter answering all the items on the form in the same numerical order. Now all I have to do is wait for a response.
The club which I go to once a week is having its 'birthday party' next month and asked if I could provide the music. At first I told them I hadn't much music suitable for dancing i.e. which was annotated on the CD with the type of dance. Only one CD in my collection does that so I searched on the Internet for something suitable - and as is the case, found it easily. So I ordered six CDs of which two have already arrived and I have told the vice-chairman that I can cope after all. The club have also asked me to give my talk on 'Humour on Record' towards the end of the month so they will get a double dose of my eccentric taste in music in the month!! At least I have some good quality portable equipment for playing the music. One problem with adding six CDs to my collection is where to put them. A certain amount of shelf re-arranging will be necessary to fit them in the appropriate place.
The fact that nights are beginning to draw in is accentuated by the dull weather we have had recently. I have just turned the sitting room lights on and it is only 1700hrs (5pm). This is so that I can clearly see the computer keyboard to supplement my one-finger typing. On the subject of computers, I recently bought a few USB memory sticks to save important information onto and remove it from the computer's hard drive. The reason for this is that, despite my very good anti-virus program, I feel that there is a remote risk of an outsider downloading such information from it via the Internet. Now all I have to do is to sort out what goes on these sticks which will then be hidden away.
Mike
Another longish break since my last blog, but a (sort of) excuse for the delay. Nevertheless I can be expected to deviate from my intended weekly schedule and produce these somewhat erratically!!
This excuse is that last week, on Thursday, I went into the city and replenished my stock of hearing aid batteries. This involved the usual bus journeys. On the very next day, on returning home from shopping, I lost my right hearing aid and didn 't discover the loss until bedtime (when I take them out and turn them off). An immediate search through the house proved that the loss had not happened there, so I had to think back over the day and work out where it might have occurred. Eventually I realised that, going over a slightly rough section of footpath (in windy conditions), the wind noise through the hearing aids changed but I had put this down to a change in wind direction. That must have been when I lost it.
The next day I made a thorough search along my journey to/from the supermarket, with special attention to the area where I thought the loss had occurred, but no luck there either. The following Monday I reported the loss to the firm which provided the hearing aids and later in the week received a claim form from the company with which they had insured them. This form presented me with the usual problem of filling in forms in that I cannot write well enough (due to my limited hand use), so I indulged in my usual tactic and sent an explanatory letter answering all the items on the form in the same numerical order. Now all I have to do is wait for a response.
The club which I go to once a week is having its 'birthday party' next month and asked if I could provide the music. At first I told them I hadn't much music suitable for dancing i.e. which was annotated on the CD with the type of dance. Only one CD in my collection does that so I searched on the Internet for something suitable - and as is the case, found it easily. So I ordered six CDs of which two have already arrived and I have told the vice-chairman that I can cope after all. The club have also asked me to give my talk on 'Humour on Record' towards the end of the month so they will get a double dose of my eccentric taste in music in the month!! At least I have some good quality portable equipment for playing the music. One problem with adding six CDs to my collection is where to put them. A certain amount of shelf re-arranging will be necessary to fit them in the appropriate place.
The fact that nights are beginning to draw in is accentuated by the dull weather we have had recently. I have just turned the sitting room lights on and it is only 1700hrs (5pm). This is so that I can clearly see the computer keyboard to supplement my one-finger typing. On the subject of computers, I recently bought a few USB memory sticks to save important information onto and remove it from the computer's hard drive. The reason for this is that, despite my very good anti-virus program, I feel that there is a remote risk of an outsider downloading such information from it via the Internet. Now all I have to do is to sort out what goes on these sticks which will then be hidden away.
Mike
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