|
Wednesday, October 24, 2001 13:40 I've just realised that this is almost impossible to read if you have a big monitor. At home I have a 600x800 and I like that just fine, although it's not too good for looking at the artwork. Does anyone think I should increase the font size on the site so that we can all read it? To be honest, this whole site was designed to be viewed at 600x800 so I don't see why I should bother. You can always use your View menu to increase the font size. I can even do that at work. Rode home in the dark last night. It's very peculiar. I was quite tired because I went to the gym (I know, I must be mad). The weather wasn't so good so it was very dark. Even my big 20watt headlights didn't seem to be very bright, although they must have been because I could see this big ring of light where the broad beam was lighting up the side of the road. Cars dipped their headlights and everything. You can't see hills when you ride at night, and you are very focused on that little patch of light that sits just in front of you and wobbles ever so slightly from side to side with the pedalling action. You can't see the speedo, so there is no looking down and feeling like you are being slow. Cars give you plenty of room, as long as you are wearing EA high viz and have the turbo thruster Cat Eye TL-LD600 on the back (two of them on the new trailer). it's quite cold, your breath would be steaming if you could see it. It's not lonely, as such, but it is almost surreal. Highly recommended. I'd be more poetical and prosaic if I didn't have to get back to work. I've been thinking about mobile phones as well (bit of a non-sequitur that). I had to go to Birmingham on the trian for a course a few weeks back. I like reading magazines on trains so I bought this Organic Style magazine, ro something like that. You'll know it if you see it. It's like the Good Life done for Margot rather than Barbara. Homespun for those who prefer their homespun to have designer labels. Vogue done in pastels. Not terribly organic at all, and certainly not nearly as environmentally friendly as they were making out (most of the cosmetic products advertised were tested on animals, too). Anyway. In this magazine they had a piece on yoga, and the chap they were interviewing pointed out how we are all conditioned to answer the phone when it rings. One always reacts when the phone rings, which is silly. He said there's no point deciding not to answer it, because once you have had that almost startled reaction, you might as well answer it. The trick is to relax enough that you don't react and then can choose whether or not to answer it. That got me thinking about mobiles. Not only are you conditioned to react to phones anyway, suddenly you are being blackmailed because your phone has your distinctive ring that somewhere you think everyone must know is yours. So when the phone goes off there is this hurried, almost panicked rush to answer it before anyone accuses you and your distinctive ring of disturbing them. And that's just horrible. Everyone is at the beck and call of anyone who has their mobile number, simply because of that guilty feeling you get when the phone starts beeping the Darth Vader theme song or Flight of the Bumblebee while you are standing in the queue for the loo. Sure, you can choose to ditch the call, press the cancel button, but you have already experienced that sudden pang. I've gone right off my mobile. Currently investigating aluminium behaviour in marine waters, so if anyone reading this happens to be an expert, do get in touch. Please also mail me if you happen to know anything about getting planning permission for straw bale houses or similar.
|