Today's news

Two news items caught my attention as I drove to work this morning.

The first concerned a lady who had her four CD players forcibly removed from her home following a series of complaints from disgruntled neighbours. Despite court injunctions, police cautions and probably sore ear drums she had resisted all efforts to curb her penchant for loud 'power ballads'. The reason it caught my attnetion was that the given example of a 'power ballad' was Europe's 'The Final Countdown'. Since when was that a ballad? Of any description!

The other item was the tragic (if somewhat apt) death of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. Not only do I now have a healthier respect for all flatfish but I also felt genuine sadness that he is no longer amongst us. I am not a great fan of his work, although I have occasionally sat entranced as he performs a stunt involving a toothed/fanged/clawed/venomous/irritable animal, I do find it somwhat voyeuristic. However, I do think he's a modern day eccentric, akin to Victorian explorers who went over a mountain range simply because it was there. I was always impressed by the enormous respect he clearly had for nature in all its poisonous forms and he made this side of nature ("red in tooth and claw") accessible to many. I will miss him, although until today I didn't know it.

Anyway, Monday night is games night so there's probably a floor I should be vacuuming....