Try as I may after yesterday’s hissy fit (I’m sorry about that, and deeply grateful for all the supportive messages) I simply can’t finish the bit of a poem I posted the day before. It’s a good bit, though, with some promise, so I’ll return to it some time in the future. For the moment, though, it needs a title, so:
~~
PORLOCKED FRAGMENT
And so the old men go to war
each approaching his end
in his own way and in his own good time
no matter the means, in flame, in soil, in lime,
dissolution, final or otherwise, is our last wide smile,
“Oh, yes!” our last flesh-based word.–John Bailey, December 2009
West Glamorgan, Wales
~~
Hey ho.
We were sort of planning to go out today to fetch DIY supplies for Graham but in the event an earlier than expected delivery of floor and other stuff persuaded him to stay home and resume work on the tiling he’d been obliged to suspend for lack of adhesive. Some products under-estimate the amount needed for a job, which seems a strange approach when the reverse policy, if not carried too far, would result in enhanced sales.
So the tiles advance row by row, laid carefully on freshly applied adhesive that looks like the contents of a baby’s nappy, and smells faintly like it, too. Dolly does not approve, and has decamped up stairs to take over a bed for her own.
Tomorrow the cable guy comes to fix us up with fibre-optic broadband, supposedly at 50mbs. It will probably come in at less, but anything will be an improvement after our present 0.75mbs connection speed. When it is up and running, and providing we find it reliable as well as fast, it is our intention that I should cancel our account with BT for both broadband and telephone. We both of us have mobile phones and I typically make no more than four or five calls a quarter, so there’s no justification for a landline connection. Apparently many other people are doing the same, so hopefully BT will get the message and start improving their service. I’d like that to happen.
Why do we need more speed? Mostly for online video reception but also so that surfing news, information and research material is smooth and uninterrupted. We shall have to see how it all pans out.
So now I need to catch up on blog reading. My mind was toxified yesterday, obliging me to turn off for half a day.
Funny old world, isn’t it?
My hands must of been turned off today. I just got back with few photo’s I could keep. ;-(
Glad you’re feeling better (and that Graham has his adhesive). Fie on the bullies and their screed.
Oh good. We’re in business again. Party on, John and Graham. Party on. As for Dolly, she’ll come around soon enough. (grin)
Welcome home!
Wait, where are the pics?
No need to apologize, you were entitled to throw a hissy fit. Glad that you’re back.
I don’t think that’s really a fragment, you know. If you ….third line down, get rid of the and, then move the rest of the line down to a place of it’s own.
It’s really a powerful Porlock.
Glad you are better today. We too have fits.
We do have a land line. After 9/11 when the cell phones didn’t work, we decided to keep it.
Good plan to get rid of the landline, John – I see our beloved government is planning to slap a tax on landlines to pay for something or other they think is a good idea.
No doubt it’ll be as good as all their other ideas – but at least you won’t be paying for it.
I wish I could do the same, alas, no fibre where we live – (even further) out in the sticks!
I knew you’d decide to stay! We couldn’t live without broadband, since we use the computer for work as much as play. And we haven’t had a landline in 6 or 8 years now. We each have a personal cell phone and then a house cell. Cheaper for us than even one cell phone plus a landline.
Glad you didn’t stay away long and that many of my fellow readers stepped up with support and wise words. The fact is, we can’t please everybody and there is always someone who thinks s/he has the right to judge and criticize. Some people just don’t know when their opinions matter only to themselves, and when they should keep their mouths shut. It’s too bad us sensitive and gracious souls have to put up with them, eh John? Even if it’s not for long, they sure can spoil a day.