Look Up To The Skies And See ...

There's hope yet for all us failed academics. Brian May has completed his PhD thesis and handed it in ... 36 years after abandoning it!

The astronomy thesis is entitled 'Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud' which I guess explains all those 'soaring' guitar chords (sorry for that).

Maybe I should unearth all my half-finished jottings and submit a 'Mister Clive's Greatest Hits' compilation.

'Just Like That.'

I picked up the 'new' writstwatch yesterday in Auckland. Part of the deal was a choice between a Cartier cleaning kit or $100 worth of DVD's (the guy works for the biggest DVD distributer in NZ). So I went with the DVD's - 'Ocean's 11', '12' and '13', Scorsese's Dylan Pic, 'No Direction Home', 'Dead Gorgeous' and, .. dah-dah, 'The Best of Tommy Cooper'.

Of course, it was a no-brainer chosing which to watch but first I had to unravel the mystery of DVD Regions on my computer. These things really do my head in. Why do they have Regions? I've heard all the rationalisation but it doesn't cut it for me. Anyway my computer has now reached it flip-flop limit and is locked at zone 4; I'll have to put the stand-alone player to zone 1 which will lock it also.

The TC DVD runs for 48 minutes and I was crying after 1 minute and 35 seconds as was Michael Parkinson who was interviewing him. 'Spoon, jahr; jahr, spoon.' 'I went to the doctor's today. I said, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this." He said, "Don't do that."'

How can anyone have an audience crying with laughter by simply standing perfectly still?

Dry River: Dry Run!

So, this morning I met Cunning Clint (the architect, but be careful how you say the phrase) at the building site to peg the proposed building area out. We’re going to have to move the garage back to where I’d originally suggested it so you'll turn into the hillside as you approach the top of the driveway.

Anyway then CC and I drove to Martinborough to have a look at another house he’d designed and I then I tried to find Dry River Wines to deliver my Spring Release order.

Dry River Wines are one of the world's most renowned 'boutique' vineyards and I managed to get on their mailing list about six months ago after a year or so of waiting. I missed out on some good bottles last time they mailed me because I was out of town and didn’t get the order in soon enough. Only non-NZ people are allowed to fax orders in and no-one is allowed to order online. It's all done by snailmail. I think they'll have to change but I understand their reasoning, for instance, in the Spring Release some of the varieties are restricted to 100 bottles. Those will go, like, 'zap!' so they have to control and balance the ordering process.

As I was meeting Cunning Clint it sounded like a good idea to drive to Martinborough and hand-deliver the wine order. We (CC and CR) first drove to look at a house he'd designed so I could get a feel for 'value' and then I went in search of Dry River. Could I find the damned vineyard? Could I as hell as like! I found Dry River Rd and drove up it past a gazillion other vineyards but I didn’t see Dry River! At the very end of Dry River Rd is Blue Rock Rd or something like that, so a nice farmer (who had never heard of Dry River Wines!) suggested I keep going in the same direction as Blue Rock Rd forms a loop back to the road out of Martinborough. Off I went, very conscious of my fuel gauge being at blue rock bottom. Bloody hell, I was right in the depths of Middle Earth, Trolls learing out from behind Ents and giant spiders lurking everywhere. I never found the vineyard and I took so long finding the way back to Martinborough (and nearly totalled the crap 'loaner' car on the gravel road) that I had then to hare it over the Rimutakas for golf at 2pm. I was going to drop in to see how Toni was fairing with her baby imminent in two weeks but I was late.

And I lost the golf!