Howard When Tim Hall ‘tagged’ me, my initial, instinctive gut reaction was: God- what an infantile, puerile idea. There’s no way I am going to participate in that ‘meme’. The concept wasn’t new to me as I’d already seen Scoble and those Web 2.0 PR types participate in similar mindless activities which I just chose to ignore. However, my reasons for objecting were slightly different from yours. Normally, I despise being told what to so and what to blog about. Similarly, whenever my various employers announced a ‘Dress down Friday’ which was gleefully received by my colleagues, I would purposefully don a suit and tie. After all, a uniform on a Friday is still a uniform. ...

‘Forgive me Father for I have sinned. It is 25 years, 3 months and 47 days since my last confession.’ According to Feedburner, Tim Hall’s Oracle blog aggregator has 723 avid readers. One of those readers summoned up the courage to send me an email complaining about my continuous off-topic posts. Apparently, the straw that broke this particular camel’s back was my participation in the evil ‘8 things’ Oracle TagFest. Forget the fact, my blog is not currently aggregated by OraNA which is purely a temporary oversight by Eddie and will be rectifed imminently (once my cheque for $250 clears). ...

Reading: ‘Thunderbolt Kid’ by Bill Bryson. Growing up in the States in the 1950’s. This opening (recursive) quote sets the tone beautifully The State Senate of Illinois yesterday disbanded its Committee on Efficiency and Economy ‘for reasons of efficiency and economy’ - Des Moines Tribune, 6 February 1955 Watching: This is England. Growing up in England in the 1980’s. A superb film.

REM - Country Feedback ‘Crazy, all the lovers have been tagged.’

Yesterday, Norma collided with another car in a SW London rat-run. The lady took Norma’s details. I mourned taking out a high excess (£250). We were both thankful no-one was hurt, then I flew to Newcastle and forgot all about it. This evening, I spent 45 minutes on the phone discussing the fact that nothing had happened The lady never called. The insurance company never called. Nothing actually happened. Nothing else was discussed. Why did this call take 45 minutes ?