No Joy Whatsoever

I had an almost brilliant day out with my mother today in Peterborough doing our bit for the British economy and I she gave me my birthday presents in anticipation of tomorrow. I got a skirt (ideal for the honeymoon), "1066 And All That" (kewl) and a mug (which is also kewl). What was not kewl is that I've managed to lose my mobile phone, I think I left at the Costa Coffee and some fuck wit half inched it instead of doing the decent thing and handing it in to the staff. The phone is now off when you the number. I know I was stupid to leave it there but still, I hope he or she gets no joy out of it whatsoever or the fiver they'll get from selling it to their fence, or the drugs they buy with that fiver. No Joy Whatsoever.

Almost fact free science reporting

From the BBC website... yet again. This time it's about left handedness: Scientists at Oxford University have identified a gene LRRTM1 that appears to be linked to left handedness, but there's a hitch according to this article the gene is also linked with schizophrenia. Except for this idea seems at the moment only an idea which hasn't yet been investigated there are too many mays and nothing definite - the article says the risk is only slight, well how slight, 1 in 1 000, 1 in 10 000, a million? and the killer quote for me is.

We don't yet know the precise role of this gene.

If the BBC reported the arts or politics in such a slapdash manner there would be uproar, questions in the House of Commons and general carpeting of the editors but science it doesn't matter as long as they can twist something sensational out of it.

Arrrgh!

It's not fucking news!

There Are Times

When I wish that I had chosen to have an anonymous blog so I could rant, moan or dish the dirt on some of the things I've seen, done or had done to me but wouldn't wish to associate myself with in a public forum such as this. But I choose to be fairly open about my identity, told my mother and aunt about my blog so every now and then, they check in on it to see if I'm still typing. I made the decision not to blog about what I do because it is not intrinsically interesting to most people but there are times when I wish I could without fear of comeback. Now is one of those times but I made my choices and I have to abide by them.

Road Rage

I've got another driving lesson tomorrow, the thrills and spills of Thursday didn't put me off or drive the instructor into early retirement so we are going to scare the residents of Fenlandshire once more. I am sort of pleasantly surprised at how much I can do already after one lesson but I'm also very aware that I've still got a way to go, I'm doing the typical learner drivers trick of driving too slowly, my speed sense is woeful at the moment, 20 miles an hour seems plenty fast enough, thank you.

Just to make it more challenging for the other road users the instructor took the advertising box off the top of the car once he had seen my licence and had reassured himself that it was a full licence. I was quite happy with this until I realised that it meant that there was no warning to other drivers that there was a non-competent driver at the wheel. It was the car behind almost right up my jacksee when I was doing about 29 in a 30 mile an hour zone that gave me the clue, if there had been learner stickers on the car he would have stayed well away :D

I really enjoyed the lesson and driving again, it was exciting and thrilling. But that night I had reoccurring nightmares about being attacked by invisible aluminium monsters - very Freudian I'm sure.