I go on a long walk just about every afternoon. I’ve become addicted to it and wouldn’t miss it for quids! On Thursday I ‘won’ an ebay auction for a handheld colour TV - a Casio TV970. Yesterday, near the end of the walk I saw what could have been an important piece of paper or booklet in the grass by the side of the track. I pick it up. It turns out to be one of those large pieces of paper folded this way and that into a compact little bundle. It is the non-English version of the instructions for a Casio TV970.
Last year I picked up a couple of Zane Grey books, just for something to read. One of them featured a cowpoke with the nickname Kalispell. It was one of those names I’d never heard before but it was also one of those names that sort of got into the mind. Probably because each time it was read, there was also the accompanying thought: ‘that’s an odd name’. Anyway two or so weeks after I finished the book there was a story on the news of a light plane crash from which the survivors walked away through the brush and cold and so on. The TV news did a flyover of the hospital they were taken to … the Kalispell Regional Hospital.
I’ve taken to buying cheap videos. Boxed set of ten on four DVDs. Some could be worth having - the Alfred Hitchcock set consist mainly of his 1930 work. But they look as if they have been recorded from a projection on a bed sheet. The production values of the DVD leave a lot to be desired. Some of the sets are simply awful. It’s a way for movies that lost at the box office to at least make a small return.
Last night I watched “Crash Dive 2″. A Russian nuclear powered submarine is hijacked by Russian terrorists. What makes the situation dangerous is that the sub is carrying a nuclear missile which did not do too well in its trials. The warhead is unstable.
Time to call in a washed up Navy medical officer (ex Navy Seal) and his beautiful sidekick who gets onto the sub somehow (I must have drifted into a stupor at that stage). I’m not going to describe the whole film. I’ll just relate the main character the corkscrew.
Turns out the corkscrew is the only weapon available and just happens to be in our good guy’s pocket. When the good guy gets shot in the leg he uses the corkscrew to extract the bullet. He heats it up with a cigarette lighter, carefully puts the lighter away, screws up his face in anticipation, takes three deep breaths, braces himself, takes careful aim and thrusts the corksrew into his leg. After a bit of huffing and puffing and wincing the corkscrew is removed from the leg with the bullet neatly impaled on its tip. Oh, please!
Bern
Got three books from the library last week, all by Bill Bryson.
Bill Bryson’s African Diary
A slim volume with all proceeds from the book going to CARE. The diary outlines some of the work being undertaken by CARE teams in Kenya.
A Walk in the Woods
Recounts the author’s walks along the Appalachian Trail. The AT is a purely walking track that meanders down the eastern mountains of USA through 13 states over a distance of more than 2000 miles. The author recounts some of the folklore of the trail, some of the events that led to its origins and some of the characters. He also touches on some of the environmental folly that has resulted in loss of variety in the woods. There is also threaded through it a realisation that much of walking the trail has to do with emotion and not just physical ability.
Notes from a Big Country
A series of short column articles written for a British audience about the idiosyncracies of American culture.
All the sub-editor had to do was read the first paragraph to learn how to spell it.
What’s on TV?
I assume that this won’t be on next week then?
