Bang! Yawn

Exchange for reporters?

It's like a matter of principle for war reporters. They stand there with bombs going off just to the left, grenades exploding just to the right, and bullets flying about their ears, and play it all down.

“The guerrilla attack (BANG) continues unabated while the insurgent forces (BIGGER, LOUDER BANG) make inroads towards the imperial palace where we believe (BANG)...

...sorry for the hesitation, it seems my leg's just been hit by some shrapnel, apologies for the blood on the camera lens, here (WIPES LENS WITH HANDKERCHIEF, REGAINS COMPLETE COMPOSURE)...

...I'll continue until the loss of blood become too great...

...the imperial palace where we believe the last remaining members of the government are holed up.

Imagine the war reporter reassigned to the sports desk:

“Nothing much happening. United are not playing so well. The tall chap with the big hair's having a good game for Everton. I would mention van Persie but he's not actually playing. Throw to Everton in their own half.

Now imagine the football reporter in the war zone:

“An amazing missile there. Wow. What a shot that was. (BANG)...

...(followed by the sound of the mike hitting the ground and rapid departing footsteps).

Don't panic

There's no music during working hours. There used to be, while driving long distances. Long drives, with handsfree and almost total cell coverage, are now just one long phone call. Short drives are a short call. There constantly seems to be a call coming in.

I realised tonight that needing to get some music on makes me panic. I rushed to start cooking because everyone was hungry. I thought I'd just start things going, then organise some sounds. There's work to do after the food can be left to fend for itself. My hands were on the point of shaking and I was getting into a proper funk, a real bad mood. There's a lesson there. Get the music on first. That's the thing to do. Everything else becomes a little less fraught with some music playing.

Restored Rotring pens

The de facto standard technical drawing pens for decades, mine have lain unloved and untouched for...well...probably about a decade. So robust in design, however, that without any specialist kit, I've managed to restore them (and my ineptitude at restoration is epic in proportion). Water didn't work. Time to go ballastic. The Internet said isopropyl alcohol. We were all out of that, but did have the remaining vinegar from a large jar of pickled gherkins. Slightly diluted, that got rid of the really dried on gunky ink solids. Then hot water and washing up liquid, and some agitation. In an empty sparkling water two litre plastic bottle. Three doses of that, a rinse, a dry on kitchen paper, refill the ink and they were working again. Relatively simple in design, but that's properly robust.