Good morning on a reasonably pleasant morning in beautiful, downtown Byfield. In fact, it was gloriously glorious at about 7.30 this morning when the bright, bright sunshine came streaming through the bedroom window onto Penelope’s face (due to a fortuitous alignment of the celestial bodies and our bedroom, Ms Playchute always has the pleasure of streaming sunshine in her face whereas my portion of the bed remains in shade, much to my satisfaction). Indeed, the mornings this week have been pretty glorious with lots of bright sunshine and very pleasant, Spring-like temperatures and, while most days have clouded over to some extent during the afternoon, it has still been very pleasant and certainly the birds and flowers reckon Spring is here.
I was somewhat surprised to have an e-mail from Dad this morning indicating that those of you in the States (apart from Arizona, I guess) have moved on to Daylight Savings time somewhat earlier than normal. I was surprised because we generally move to Summer Time about a week before the US and we’re not due to meddle with our clocks for another three weeks or so. Fortunately, the BBC web site revealed all – this is part of an energy conservation measure approved two years ago – demand for electricity will fall in the evenings if it is still light. As well as coming three weeks early, it will also last until 4 November, apparently, which is, I gather, a week later than in previous years.
From the BBC web site:
| Representatives Edward Markey and Fred Upton, who sponsored the amendment to the original bill, said it was expected to save $4.4bn in energy bills by 2020 and avoid the need to build more than three large electric power plants. They said it also would save 279 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and avoid nearly 10.8 million metric tons of carbon emissions. "The change in the beginning of daylight saving time is just one step towards making our country more efficient in its usage of energy and conscious of our environment," Mr Markey said on Wednesday. "Not only will Americans have more daylight at their disposal for four additional weeks in the year, but we will also see wide energy saving, less crime, fewer traffic fatalities, more recreation time and increased economic activity. |
It’s that last bit that always amuses me – “Americans have more daylight at their disposal….” which, of course, is nonsense. The amount of daylight is exactly the same as there would have been if the clocks had not been changed.
What I want to know – do your computers know that the clocks have changed? My bet is that they don’t so, presumably, you need to change them yourselves. Then, what happens in three weeks time when Daylight Savings Time should have begun – will they jump ahead by themselves? I shall be interested to hear.
The attached are for the benefit of Adam who we spoke with on Google Talk yesterday (as, indeed, we do most weekends). He was very keen to see the “finished” lounge – I was going to wait until it was, in fact, finished, but he was insistent so here it is, a couple of photographs of Ms Playchute’s newly re-decorated lounge along with the two, newly re-upholstered sofas. It’s very nice and very comfortable. The only problem now is that Ms Playchute quite fancies the “minimalist” look, i.e. she prefers it when the usual clutter of junk and rubbish is not in the room. Hmmm. Where to put it all now is the question. At the moment, the “Library” is our junk room.
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And finally, this also from the BBC web site a few days ago. I was reminded of my affection for the little furry creatures when reading about one German man’s efforts to eradicate a mole from his garden:
| January 2007, Germany | A 63-year-old man's extraordinary effort to eradicate a mole from his property resulted in a probable victory for the mole. The man had pounded several metal rods into the ground and connected them to a high-voltage power line, with the intent of rendering the subterranean realm uninhabitable. Incidentally, the manoeuvre electrified the very ground he stood upon. He was found dead at his holiday property on the Baltic Sea. Police had to trip the main circuit breaker before venturing onto the property. The precise date of the sexagenarian's demise could not be ascertained, but the electricity bill may provide a clue. |
Love to you all,
Greg
In preparation for St Patrick’s day on Saturday, Donna very kindly sent along a collection of anecdotes disparaging the Irish. Some of these we’ve had before but they bear repeating.
Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey!"
Miraculously, a parking place appeared.
Paddy looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one."
Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal, and says to the first man he meets, "Do you want to go to heaven?"
The man said, "I do, Father."
The priest said, "Then stand over there against the wall."
Then the priest asked the second man, "Do you want to go to heaven?"
"Certainly, Father," was the man's reply.
"Then stand over there against the wall," said the priest.
Then Father Murphy walked up to O'Toole and said, "Do you want to go to heaven?"
O'Toole said, "No, I don't Father."
The priest said, "I don't believe this. You mean to tell me that when you die you don't want to go to heaven?"
O'Toole said, "Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now."
Paddy was in New York .
He was patiently waiting and watching the traffic cop on a busy street crossing. The cop stopped the flow of traffic and shouted, "Okay, pedestrians." Then he'd allow the traffic to pass.
He'd done this several times, and Paddy still stood on the sidewalk.
After the cop had shouted, "Pedestrians!" for the tenth time, Paddy went over to him and said, "Is it not about time ye let the Catholics across?"
Gallagher opened the morning newspaper and was dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best friend, Finney.
"Did you see the paper?" asked Gallagher. "They say I died!!"
"Yes, I saw it!" replied Finney. "Where are ye callin' from?"
An Irish priest is driving down to New York and gets stopped for speeding in Connecticut. The state trooper smells alcohol on the priest's breath and then sees an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car.
He says, "Sir, have you been drinking?"
"Just water," says the priest.
The trooper says, "Then why do I smell wine?"
The priest looks at the bottle and says, "Good Lord! He's done it again!"
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