gaudium

I hear the rhythm of the rain begin
A shining broadcast on the silver wind
Will you receive these programmes deep within your soul . . ?
The moon is melting in the blazing sky
I hear the flames sing, but I don't know why
I hope that only shadows see me cry (for you)

As I wandered in to my local, quite a few members of the English department were there having been there for a fair while. Several may have already been less than sober. Patrick, the previous landlord of my other local, sitting on another table, wanted to say hello and shake my hand (such a Gentleman). I knew his drinking partner too. His mate is a "friend" of one of our neighbours who happens to be an older single lady (say no more, nudge nudge). Anyway, these two gentlemen shook my hand and said hello. All of a sudden I seemed to be trapped in a Carry On film: "Phwaar, you and all that crumpet*"; "If you need a hand, give us a call" etc, et al.
Anyway, there I was with the English Department - I've been the only male member** of the department for many years now. We left after a while to go for our Christmas do - late/early (delete as necessary) - to another restaurant. Truth to tell, I had planned to leave early as Mrs Dave and I were supposed to go for a walk around a part of Suffolk we didn't know well. Well, gentle reader, as you may be able to guess, that didn't happen.

Up around the bend . . .

Mrs Dave woke feeling a little "under the weather" whereas I felt a few centimetres above her. Just about. Suffice to say, we didn't wander around Woolpit and I think she's going to have an early night between you and me. However, I was afforded the opportunity to wander down to the beach - well, the bit at the bottom of our road - and realised that after all the rain and poor weather buffeting the land, it was actually a rather nice day. The photo is a quick snap of the end of our road looking away from the beach. A bit breezy, yes, but still glorious.
Whilst allowing normality to seep in we have taken the day easily - a wander up to the butcher here, a drive to Waitrose there and a steady attempt at a chore here and there. Real Ale, keg bitter, white and red wines from various suppliers doesn't really work as a game plan. But hey! Who cares? Gradually the day has unfolded into one of absolute joy.
Yep, I'm not joking. I, unlike many of you lot out there, am not really a member of the "Digital Revolution". I find the whole digital experience to be a difficult one - I'm Sgt Howie to your Lord Summerisle, I tell you. However, today I managed a feat that many before me have slipped upon:
That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,

That's right. Moving your whole iPod library to another computer and then synching it all together.
Oh yes, I have actually managed it. I ain't even lyin' or nuffink. I'm not joking, I really did spend ages - months - trying to learn how to move an iTunes library from one computer to another. Evidently, it's impossible - or very difficult. I kept reading about free software that would do it, but they never seemed to work. But I chose to download everything onto a hard disk and go from there.

Now, gentle reader, I'm not sure if you feel that anything you ever did for your parents was worthwhile (and I'm struggling as to whether or not anything I ever presented to mine was worth a sh . . .) but Third born sorted it all out so easily. Hang on! I did manage to get all of my 7600-odd songs from the iTunes library on the old computer to save on to a hard drive and then transfer on to the new one.

Now, I was going to come over all technical but to be honest, I'm so happy that I can't be bothered. When my son told me that the laptop would "wipe out everything on your iPod and then replace it with what you've put on" I'm sure you could empathise with me when I felt that if it all goes t. . . up then me and the digital world need to part company forever. But . . . it only bloody well worked!

No downloading of crap free software that doesn't work or lead you anywhere beyond madness or self-loathing. It works and can be so easily rectified that I wonder why I've spent so much time checking it out (to no avail) when I could just get on with it and save months.
Suffice to say, I've spent most of the evening uploading "new" albums on to iTunes. And just in case you're wondering, yes I do have a glass of red wine in the other hand.
The digital world can go on unabated but the Old World is still there in the background. Hmm, a bit like the Wicker Man, then.
*Yep, "Crumpet" was the term used
** phnaar phnaar - yes, you're the only person who noticed

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