weekend adventure

The lavatory turned into a real adventure on Friday. The soil pipe joint was leaking, but that wasn't the only leak, the cistern was also leaking at the output joint. It was all boxed in under wood paneling which was nailed, so the plumber had to remove all the wood panelling (with a hammer), the cistern, and the lavatory itself to fix the two leaks. It took more than two hours and cost £200. I wasn't happy. It is however fixed now and there isn't much more that can go wrong with it.

We got a lot done this weekend. I installed the stereo properly and the DVD player and VCR. That means all the cables are off the floor now, and speakers are on the wall. We also finished emptying all the boxes in the spare room, which was being used as a store room. Everything was vacuumed. It looks like a real house almost. I also got my speeding ticket through. I was apparently doing 51 mph in a 40 zone, but I can't work out where. As far as I can tell the road in question is entirely a 70 mph zone. I'm going to ask friend Pete if he knows where it is.

I aslo planted tomato plants this weekend. I've never done this sort of thing before and I'm quite looking forward to it. I have some Chinese white radish seeds too. I haven't planted those because it's too early in the season, but again, I'm looking forward to it.

I've listened to a couple of podcasts from New Scientist, and my initial thought is, don't bother. It's full of childish jingles that make it sound more like a teenager focused pop station. The content is quite good, the production is difficult to stomach. I can still recommend the skepticality podacast, and the SETI institute Are we alone show.

There's an important vote going on today in parliament. The ID card bill is being put to MPs but it has been modified. The BBC reports that it has been accepted that "new legislation would be required to make them compulsory". This worries me. What does "compulsory" mean? The original idea was said to be for non compulsory cards because no one would be required to carry one. It emerged however that one would be issued if one wanted a passport or driving licence. What exactly is the plan now? I hope that the bill gets dumped today, but I fear it won't. The good news is that the PM won't get to vote because he is stuck in South Africa. A stroke of luck indeed for the anti ID card brigade. It will be close.

I just discovered that Nora Jones is the daughter of Ravi Shanka. Who's have thought it? She's half Asian! I have no idea what Ravi Shanka does. I'm going to investigate tonight.