Every day a little bit older

So, Nick Harper then. All I can say is it was a very enjoyable evening. He was playing in the Central Studio, in Basingstoke, Hampshire (England for my overseas readers.) This is an intimate venue, probably only seats a 100 people. He plays an electric acoustic guitar, which with the addition of an effects pedal, gives him a huge range of sounds. As the gig was so intimate, he talked with the audience, some of whom were obviously regular attendees. His music was sort of electric folky rock. My favourite "Magic Feather".

But enough about the gig, I was struck by something far more important. When in the toilets I went to dry my hands, pressed the button on the hand drier, but it didn't work. Pressed it again, then read what it said "Automatic". Sure enough when I put my hands under the drier, it worked fine. It made me wonder though, why have a button. Then I noticed a switch above the drier on the wall labelled neatly "H-drier". Handy I thought, but then spotted that next to this switch was another switch, neatly labelled "Spare". "Spare what?" I asked myself! I was itching to turn it off and see what happened.

Today we went to Eric and Ivy's 170th birthday party. Eric was recently 90 and Ivy 80. I was amused to find that Ivy was the younger sister of Alf (92) who waxed lyrical during the afternoon about his life and times (helped by a few pints of lager I am sure.) It seems there is a gene in this family that gives them longevity, good luck to them all. Alf was an eye opening experience, he has just moved in with his girlfriend (nearly 20 years his junior). I was slightly concerned she might have been a gold digger, I am reliably informed she isn't ;-) I was fascinated by the clarity of his memory of times before the war, I struggle to remember what happened last week. I look forward to Eric and Ivy's 190th party, when (I am sure) I will be able to finish my chat with Alf!