I'm pretty sure summer happened on Thursday, about 6:45pm

Yeah, so, it's the last day of August and it's grey and yicky out. Apparently, the UK just had the coldest summer in 18 years, after the warmest spring since the dawn of time. I read a Guardian article recently that said that people would take a lot more notice of climate change if it were called "global weirding" rather than "global warming", people would take a lot more notice. Unless Jesus got involved, in which case the conversation would drop to the intellectual level of puppies, but that's another story.

Anyway.

Much hand wringing has occurred since the riots. There are still some windows boarded up here and there, and the occasional burned out building, but does it really feel like anything profound has changed? No, not really. For about a week there was a lot more police presence (though it never felt overbearing, as I imagine it would in the USA), and we saw things like Welsh police around here "Heddlu", I think they are called. They throw sheep at you if you misbehave or something.

Robin just walked up and said he would like me to say that he just got invited to an "exclusive" sex club. I've never gotten invited to an exclusive sex club. I'm terribly jealous now and hope that he gets crabs. Big hairy ones.

So yeah, police - I suppose there are some more of them about, but it really does almost feel like nothing happened, which, in a way, kind of reinforces the general feeling that the riots, while they may have, at their origin, been about something, were really, mostly, just about getting stuff. Not much different than mugging at the street corner really. An opportunity was had. Interestingly, Hackney made a real effort to clean things up, very quickly. Walworth Road, down closer to where we live, not so much. Still lots of boarded up windows. There was one area, outside of London, where the riots were described as causing "£10 million in improvements". Kind of amusing. One other things that I found interesting, and that was actually reported fairly well, is that while the initial impression of rioters, in London, was that they were predominantly black, this changed as they moved outside, as they moved north. The northern riots were mostly white, which is, not so surprisingly, very much a reflection of the ethnic makeup of the lower classes in these areas.

Right - so, tomorrow I have an interview for the business analyst position, which would initially be for six months. Truth be told, I'm not all that hugely thrilled about the whole thing, mostly because I really couldn't give a rat crap about business processes or project management, but it would pay a lot more and would give me more time to look for something I really wanted. What I really want is to climb volcanoes or model climate or do something that involves science, and not bureaucracy and people and local governmental bullshit, but I think I kind of missed that bus.

Funny enough, I finally, after all these years, came up with a degree idea that actually has to do with geography and local governmental bullshit - did I mention this before? Can't remember and I'm too lazy to check. Anyway, it has occurred to me that it would be really interesting to look at how the overly bureaucratic and now-focussed culture of local government is reflected in the built environment in this country (as local government is, generally speaking, responsible for planning decisions). I ran this idea past work, as they do sometimes pay for degrees and as I think it is kind of theoretically important and unexplored, and as if to prove my point, they said no, because they don't see any way it can directly relate to my job. Yeah. I need out of local government, but I'm just not sure how. That is the current plan. Somehow.

Oh, funny story - I went to a friend's moving-out party the other night. I show up in shorts and t-shirt on my bike, and discover that the part is very "A-Gay" (fashionable and pretty). So - already feeling a little bit like a dork. Then this white cat wanders into the flat. My friend had never seen the cat before, and, this being a room full of gay men, no one seemed to know what to do with this wandering pussy. So, being the hero, I walked over to the cat, bent over and scooped it up. Surprisingly, the cat was fine about being picked up. My shorts, however, were not. The button, which was on its last legs anyway, gave up, popped off, and flew across the room, and my shorts nearly ended up around my ankles. Yeah - definitely looking really cool. Fortunately, my shorts, being A&F, had an internal draw-string. Still though, if the ground could have opened up and swallowed me...

House - the house is looking even more houselike. We're finally replacing the god-awful bare bulbs the previous owners left hanging from the ceiling. We got a dining table and some really cool green chairs. And the back yard actually looks not bad. We had a bbq on Sunday - big success - first time we trashed the kitchen! Yay!



Apparently that's Mexico's national car or something... ;-)



Robin smoking a ciggie in the rain. How butch.



Our front hedge reminds me of "The Thing", with its little whip tendrils all over...



A field of poppies.



View from the North Downs.



It's a purple tree!



My bday - milk in champagne flutes. How fabulous! (And yes, Robin does actually occasionally wear a shirt...)



The Shard - ever higher, ever uglier!



Justin...



Justin and Luke



Yeah, that's not tacky at all!



David launches Sputnik in the kitchen...



Our new front light.



Sputnik again, or the stair light.



A very helpful street sign!



Back yard - looking lush!



Marigolds in place of ivy...



Rainbow on Thames