Well, it's been a bit of a crap week work-wise. It turns out that I brought a little something extra back from Sweden this time - a computer virus called nimda (variants A and E to be exact - in case anyone's interested, nimda is admin spelt backwards, which I guess is the author's idea of a joke). So, I've spent too long this week disinfecting my old system and trying to build a new one.
Gotta consider myself lucky though, as this is the first one that I've been hammered by (hopefully, the last too). So this week has been typical of the experience of many of us when dealing with computer technology - you end up spending too much of your time grappling with the technology itself, rather than using it to do anything particularly useful

Back from Sweden again, having managed to survive the perils of Stockholm taxi cabs. The problem about Stockholm taxi cabs is to do with their GPS systems, which can be more dangerous than you'd imagine.

Basically it involves hurtling down the motorway while the driver gives all his attention to labouriously entering the details of a destination he already knows, fascinated as he is by the new technology. All the while I'm enjoying a white-knuckle ride in the back as the taxi swerves all over the motorway - not to be recommended.

Just been to see "About a boy" - not much of a choice at the local cinema this weekend. As expected, it's all about Hugh Grant being Hugh Grant (this time with a new haircut, and admittedly not a bad wardrobe of T-shirts). It does have all the right messages (i.e. how crap it is to be a kid sometimes, because you don't have that much control over the dumb things that adults make you do, like wear embarrassing clothes) but it is definately a "vehicle" for monsieur Grant, who is a bit of a Cliff Richard cipher. Hmmm - it'd be interesting if he was to do a dogme film, but somehow I think the world's going to be waiting a while (although to be fair, he was in "Bitter Moon", which is a great film, even with Hugh playing himself).

Post-Easter, and a four-day weekend followed by a four-day week (they should all be like this, shouldn't they?).

Back to Sweden I go, and today's in-flight reading is "Your Motor Car, Simply Explained", published April 1942 and bought from a boot-sale for 50p on Easter Monday. Although this little book's 60 years old, it describes my car perfectly, and manages to fill in lots of gaps in my knowlege of how cars work. A bit of a boy's book maybe, but not a bad bargain as I find that it's for sale on the web for £5.

Other boot-sale bargains from the weekend include:
1. Another couple of record players (we have plenty already, as Kate reminds me).
2. A slide-viewer that uses natural light, not batteries
3. Some MidWinter pottery (the Sienna range)
4. Some more Glen Campbell records (+ assorted other artists)
5. A deckchair