Over
3 September

Well, that's summer done and dusted once again.

Bank holidays are all over. Schools are going back. The time for teeshirts is drawing to a close. Sooner or later the central heating will go back on again.

I spent last week out at Edge Hill with Phil and another colleague Jane delivering a course to 24 sundry souls from Universities around the country. There were some down sides but mostly it was a success. But it was tiring. And halfway through the week I learnt, via a phone call to Ross that I'd not been shortlisted for a job for which I had applied.

Life at home is better than it has been. I'd like to report strong improvements but that would be over-egging the pudding. And talk is cheap. I'll continue waiting to see what happens.

I've been learning a little about botox - a phenomenon which had so far passed me by. It's a treatment injected into the face which reduces wrinkles and thereby gives the impression of a more youthful visage. The treatment wears off and has to be repeated and it's costly.

However, when you know more about it, the treatment sounds really sinister. The injections do their stuff by paralysing the muscles of the face which are used for laughing, smiling, frowning and crying. And furthermore Botox is the brand name of botulinum toxin A, which is a neurotoxin - literally a nerve poison. It's closely linked to botulism - the potentially fatal type of food poisoning. My god, what people will do to avoid truths.

Here's one of my favourite quotes from modern oratory. It felt appropriate a while back when Connect ceded from the University to become an independent commercial company. We've just been told that there will be a celebratory party in three weeks time. That's seven weeks late.

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity."

Jawaharlal Nehru
on the birth of modern India
14 August 1947

Here is another little quote for you.

windows(win-doze) (n.):32 bit extensions for a 16 bit graphical shell for 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor by a 2 bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition.

And some thoughts on the Nature of Cats.

Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will pee on your computer.
Bruce Graham

There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast.
Unknown

Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.
Anonymous

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.
Jeff Valdez

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.
English proverb

As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat.
Ellen Perry Berkeley

One cat just leads to another.
Ernest Hemingway

Dogs come when they're called; cats take a message and get back to you later.
Mary Bly

Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.
Joseph Wood Krutch

People that hate cats will come back as mice in their next life.
Faith Resnick

There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats.
Anonymous

I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.
Hippolyte Taine

No heaven will not ever Heaven be; Unless my cats are there to welcome me.
Unknown

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.
Albert Schweitzer

The cat has too much spirit to have no heart.
Ernest Menaul

Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God.
Unknown

Time spent with cats is never wasted.
Colette

Some people say that cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel. True, and they have many other fine qualities as well.
Missy Dizick

You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats.
Colonial American proverb

Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.
Joseph Wood Krutch

I got rid of my husband. The cat was allergic.
Unknown

My husband said it was him or the cat ... I miss him sometimes.
Unknown

Dogs have masters - Cats have servants.
Unknown