An empty fridge is

I now appear to own one of these -

http://tinyurl.com/2hpzjv

...and I didn't like it much. The atmosphere out there leaves something to be desired.

I seem to be 100% normal this evening and not at all eccentric, so this is more of a diary entry rather than a bolge as such.

How many more days can I keep up this level of normality for?

Is this/life/bolging a contest?

It seems incumbent upon the bolgers to bolge at least once a day.

What if I am not in the mood for bolging for a week or so, what then, eh Jonesy?

...of course, it's not bad to be at a loose end at 11.20pm as it's nearly bedtime.

Vermillion Flycatcher (apparently).

No picture yet available.

Which is the Wise Man's Glue of Choice?

I had a friend who went through a Swedish girl craze during the late 80's. We were sitting in a cafe when he suddenly decided to pounce on a Swedish girl at an adjacent table (metaphorically, not literally). The upshot of it was that we were both invited back to her place.

It was a most pleasant evening as I recall it.

We were served tea and cake and invited to help to write a poem (in English rather than Swedish) about one of the other girls living in the house. There were about six of these Swedes sharing a rather nice house in a suburb of London (I think, Golders Green).

It was a long and rambling poem. We were fed the info for each stanza in broken English prose and had to 'poeticize' it line by line.

The girls had struck lucky really as my friend had written song lyrics (at least one of which was close to getting into the charts) and I am a bit of an orthodox poet with a knowledge of anapest, hexameter and other such things.

Sadly, the poem has been lost to posterity, but at least now there's this blog posting.

I have been enjoying watching the epic Irish film Angela's Ashes this evening (on PVR). A Dichotomy of tragic subject matter, but shot and acted so beautifully and convincingly that it finishes with almost as much of a high as a feelgood-factor film.

The (musical) theme running through the film is based on a tune by Grieg (the 1st movt of his Piano Concerto) - John WIlliams develops this into a real 'cinema classic' of a film theme.

...so I can go back to work! It was quite an odd experience having a day off.

...but I did it with style.

Wad some power the giftie gie us
To see ourselves as others see us

(The two above are the only two Burns items I can quote off the top of my head).

The first applies to a mouse and the second (believe it or not) to a poem (initially at any rate about a) louse.

"Wad some power..." is well known in literary circles and is seen as a profound (and possibly completely original) idea.

I've been here a year now - and as is traditional on this website, I am going to repeat my first blog:

Welcome to my little World

Another busy day at the office. Drank some coffee, shouted at a few children and considered getting someone else to mow the lawn.

I've wanted one of these all of my life!

I am working on a composition for my former Academy colleague David Johnstone (Cellist) who is now based in Spain. He plays in a trio for Piano, Clarinet & Cello and heard a piece of mine that he really liked in a version for orchestra.

Now I'm trying to take that work and reduce it to the dimensions of a trio! Not exactly straightforward, but an interesting task nonetheless.

According to this story from BBC News, it looks like fees will eventually rise from £3k to £6k and maybe even to as much as £10K (per year) for some science subjects.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6273959.stm

Good evening visitors to the wonderful world of Znethru. It's been a chaotic day over here at Mozart House and a lot of progress has been made on the music front.

I think I have also clocked up my record number of visitors in a single day today... also, I am 'touching' comment number 3000 so it will be fun to see who leaves the landmark comment tonight!

It looks like winter has finally arrived. brrrr!

I wonder how many people are likely to 'get' this one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=140077467310

I have just eaten a hybrid of spaghetti and linguine which should be known as spinguine. There are currently 22 Google hits on this word, so someone else might have already had this idea.

Znethru Earth rule No.111a

A 'thank you' card is nice, but a 'thank you' card with a score in it will be treasured forever.

I just received a new enquiry from a lady that sounded like Margarita Prakatan. I think her extremely talented 7-year-old great-nephew wants to take up the Piano. Should I go for it?

OK I'm now in the market for a CD player recommendation - I don't think I'll go the multiplayer route as they are frowned upon in serious circles.

...bedroom radio for under a ton and we are talking dab-dibitty-dab here.

I have found a ticklish webpage today that some of you may enjoy glancing at and/or bookmarking for a longer browse when time permits.

There is also the opportunity to submit your own original Collective Noun should inspiration hit.

http://www.ojohaven.com/collectives/

Miss U. asked me to think of a fitting simile for this well-known English expression:

giggling like a ?

(My answer is somewhere in the 'comments' below, several blogs down... but don't look at my answer yet, fill in your own blank first!)

Ski-ing. Zing!
Ski-ing. Schwing!
Pling, Pling, Ka-ding.
Ski-ing. Ga-bing.

Oh yes, ski-ing’s the thing!
Ski uphill and down again! Fring!
Tell your friends on the telephone.
Ring, ring!

Yes, Ski-ing is like fine Ming!
Just ski and you feel like a King!

Or get a life instead.

One of my compositions (for solo Piano) is entitled "Service Not Included". It consists of around 240 bars of music laid out as follows:

10/8 bar of music followed by 1/8 bar of silence (repeated 120 or so times).

Anyone getting the joke yet?

OK. So we hear 10 beats or units of music (a medium sized phrase). Then a tiny gap or hiccup as one commentator describes it. The 1/8 bars are always silent (this is meant to represent the tip or gratuity not being included by restaurateurs on a bill).

Half way through the music a theme is introduced into some of the 10/8 bars. This theme actually fits the words: "Ser - vice - Not - inc-lud-ded!" Which is indicated to the Pianist in the music score although the words are not actually sung out loud, that is a further 'in joke' for the Pianist to realise.

A bit elaborate for some people's tastes perhaps, but then not everyone listening to the music will 'get' the joke.

Why?

Oh Yes, call me a Killjoy - but what Great Man has ever achieved anything by learning how to ski? Did Beethoven, Leonardo, Van Gogh or Shakespeare ever go in for the Men's downhill (or uphill come to that?)

Putting sticks on the bottom of your feet and going up mountains in ski-lifts purely for the sake of coming down the self same slopes in a whizzing sort of manner is surely the idle pursuit of the rich (/overdrawn).

1.45 a.m.

1: The whole world has been ganging up on me for the last forty-n years forcing me to bang my head against brick walls for year after year (on every front).

...and at last, the walls are beginning to crack (so I must have been made of strong stuff).

2: Flightless birds are really fish. Why? (Is this a conspiracy?)

3: All tasty food is bad for you. (Now you've got to admit that's a good one!)

4: Whenever you need a red pencil, you can't lay your hands on one.

Probably; (and even more so with hindsight).

definitely a late night posh emergency nibble. One of my aims is to buy something new every time I visit the supermarket. Quite a fun goal and breaks you out of the habit of always buying the same stuff.

Anyone else suffering the wind this arvo?