What the...?

Why is it that when you leave the country for a few days, something totally unexpected happens back home? I'm currently staying with friends in Paris and learn that not only has it been snowing a home in late October (and we turned the heating off completely when we came away!) but that a completely avoidable crisis has hit the BBC.

Now, I'll admit that I don't know the full story and I haven't had the chance to read up on it so I'm not going to say anything about the prank itself. I think the bigger questions revolve around how the show was ever aired without the offending parts edited out. How is it that no one was sacked for gross negligence or something similar? The BBC has not come out of this looking terribly good. And I'm usually a supporter of the corporation.

Something Munchy

The phone in my pocket starts to ring. On the other side of the train door the weather is pretty awful and my hopes are raised at the prospect of a lift home.

The number on the phone is unknown, which means the call is coming from home rather than the car. Those hopes begin to fade.

"Hello?"

"Can you get me something munchy on the way home?"

The hopes are lying in tatters around my feet right about now. "Pardon?"

"Can you get me something munchy on the way home?"

"Erm, okay. Any particular sort?"

"No, you know what I like."

"Right."

"Get two."

I manage not to say anything about how this conflicts with certain efforts to be good. "Two?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. See you soon."

I put the phone back in my pocket. Looks like I'll be getting damp, then.

Blimey, the lengths you need to go to to hide a chocolate craving from a three year-old.

Comments, Layout and Stuff

If you followed CBS in its last incarnation, you'll have noticed some changes around here. Most obviously, there's the new template. Not terribly original, I know, but better than the last and I may actually play around with it much more this time.

Secondly, I've given up on the old comments. They were too full of spam and didn't quite feel right any more. So, I'm afraid you'll have to make do with the Blogger comments for the moment. Again, I may change this if I get the time.

Which brings me on to some expectation setting. At the moment, life is very busy so I must be mad to want to take this up again. It means that I will have to fit blogging around everything else so updates may well happen mainly at weekends. If I don't post for a week or two, don't worry. If I'm going to hiate again I'll tell beforehand.

So, content will probably be much the same as it used to be, i.e. no set style, or theme. I hope you enjoy it.

Credit Crunch Silver Linings #1

No more awful ads featuring a crab saying "What's in your wallet" in a dodgy oriental accent.

Hello... Er... Again.

I was sitting on the train a week ago thinking about the various crises facing the world at the moment and suddenly felt the urge, in a way that I haven't for about three and a half years, to have my say on them (and many other things).

So here I am, clearing away the clouds that have obscured the view around here for so long.

I can't promise it will last very long. I can't promise to write frequently, either. But, for now, I can certainly say that I am back.