A Change of Season

The car's service didn't cost me anything like as much as I feared it would, so maybe things are looking up.  I mean, I wasn't electrocuted over the weekend by my faulty laptop mains charger cable - the insulation on the end which plugs into the laptop had split, exposing the wire inside.  There were, quite literally, sparks flying off of it when I picked the laptop up to move it on Thursday evening.  Pretty scary stuff.  But as Lenovo have changed to using a USB-shaped connector for their charger cables none of my other chargers was compatible.  So, after ordering a replacement charger on line, I wrapped insulation tape around the split and carried on using it over the bank holiday weekend.  Sure, it crackled every time I moved the laptop, but it held and I didn't get a shock.  I like living dangerously.  Anyway, the replacement arrived this morning, so everything's OK now.  I also managed to put another coat of paint on the ceilings of both the kitchen and spare room today - both projects are inching towards completion.  It will be particularly gratifying when the spare room's refurbishment is complete, as I'll be able to start setting up the model railway in there again.  Believe me, the problems of track geometry, gradients and signalling can provide a welcome relief from the crap I deal with at work. 

But enough of the domestic updates.  With everything going on, both in my life and in the outside world, it feels as if we're about to embark on a new 'season' (to use US TV terminology).  So, perhaps this is a good time to look forward to what I'm planning for the near future here on Sleaze Diary.  Basically, more of the same but with a greater emphasis on the obscure and arcane films.  Of late I've been watching an insane number of such movies and I'm planning to watch a lot more.  Whilst I'll continue discussing them here, I'm thinking more and more of setting up a new site devoted entirely to schlock, cinematic or otherwise, where I can look at this stuff in greater detail.  I'm also coming around to the idea of producing that schlock movie podcast I piloted over at the Overnightscape Underground recently, on a regular basis.  There's even an outside chance that I might finally crank out another episode of 'The Sleazecast'.  As to where I'm going to find the time for all this, well, after last week's developments, I intend adjusting my work hours - no more late working and unpaid overtime.  But before we can do anything else, we've first got to get through the general election on Thursday and its undoubtedly messy aftermath, which, I suspect, will keep me occupied for a while.