Who says time travel is dead? I always wondered what it would be like to live in 1920s Britain, and after today’s cuts in welfare,  I’ll probably get the chance. Actually, my gran worked downstairs in 1920s London. She said it was great if you didn’t mind the streets being ruled by violent gangs and safety was only to be found on streets with an occupied sentry box. A different image to the popular “gay 20s” image. Speaking of troops on the streets, I thought it was a good idea for the cost-reduced police to back away from dealing with the kind of “anti-social behaviour” that goes on in Britain. It’s actually civil unrest, and that’s a job for the cost-reduced army.

Just to prove I don’t like anything alternative just for the sake of being cool, when moving house, I went through the CDs and I’m sure I decided to get rid of Antony and the Johnsons and Belle and Sebastian thinking how forgotten and uncool they now were and that it was finally safe to quietly ditch them. Now I regret it because they’re both ubercool again, ie they’re getting a re-run in every weekend magazine. Cool, not cool, cool again. God it’s so difficult. If I actually have given away these “masterpieces”, I don’t regret it. I tried to like them and I didn’t. I don’t hate them. I like the idea of them. I would even say I’m a fan of the idea of them, but I just don’t like the music.  Okay maybe I’ll see if I just buried them under the Cherry Ghost and Badly Drawn Boy CDs. Cool, not cool, never going to be cool again, or will they?

It’s back to the novel which is struggling to exist amidst the paint pads and rollers and wood filler. I liked my mouse swap idea in yesterday’s blog. I think I might try to develop that. Anything’s got to be easier than writing a novel. Descaling the insides of a hot water cylinder by hand is easier than writing a novel. Yesterday’s major distraction was the shower not switching off. Oh yes, the water went off, but when I went downstairs, the pump was still spluttering away. So after registering on handyman.com (a site for repressed mechanicals)  I discovered all sorts about my shower, except how to stop it. Lots of info on how to get the reed flanges, pressure widgets and PCBs going, but nothing on stopping it. I decided to switch it on and off a hundred times until it got the message but many thanks to all those who contributed online to solving the problem.