(no subject)

I imagine that at some time or other, most of you have experienced the onerous task of moving house. So you should be able to apprehend, if only vaguely, the sheer Sisyphean horror of doing all that, and then moving it back in, in order to end up exactly where you started.
Not the best weekend ever, in other words.
Many thanks are due to Robin, vivid_blue and my dear parents, without whom the situation would have moved from arduous to impossible. Thanks also to fugitivemotel, catbo and the artists formerly known as half of System Addict for providing weekend entertainments to distract from the horror. The opposite of thanks go, predictably enough, to footballism (though at least we lost), but also (more surprisingly) to Philip Pullman.

Now the results are in, I see this is the first time I've ever voted for anyone who got in. Democracy's much more fun this way.

(no subject)

Just so we're all clear, and because yesterday I was accused of keeping this quiet: I voted UKIP for the European elections. Because I think the EU, as currently constituted, is an undemocratic, bureaucratic mess. It was a panic reaction to the Second World War rather than a considered political project, and it should never have gone any further than a free trade area. I'm not optimistic about our chances of withdrawal but the more sand gets thrown in the gears, the better. I have nothing against any of the other member states, nor do I believe there is in any sort of conspiracy against Britain; if anything, I think the administrative echelons of the EU are conspiring against all member states equally, as is the natural bent of most bureaucrats towards those over whom they wield power. Though I doubt any of them would see it as 'conspiring'; like most villains in the real world, bureaucrats tend to think of themselves as the heroes.

Which reminds me, tangentially: has anyone heard from the Romo Embassy to the Lake District yet?