Her skirt, blouse and clogs were her only items of clothing. It was not that she did not own stockings -- and purses -- and makeup -- and rings -- and perfume -- and other "women's things;" it was just that she was in too much of a hurry that morning to bother with them, for she had work to do. The French government had not given her a state fellowship to study at the International Space Institute so she could spend all morning getting dressed.

Overall, enjoyed it a lot. Not for the faint-hearted though.

What I'm Watching
Saw Micmacs at the cinema. Latest film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet who also did Amelie and Delicatessen.

Not a bad film: as you'd expect has a full complement of eccentric characters. Did find my attention wavering at times though: could have done with a bit more narrative drive.

The plot concerns the hero getting revenge on arms manufacturers whose products have done him harm, so might be more appealing to someone more pacifistic than me. Oddly, there's a somewhat sympathetic portrait of one of the factory workers. Not sure if we're supposed to ponder the ethical ambiguity of the heroes throwing all the factory workers out of their jobs, or if we're not expected to think that far.

Overall: OK, not unmissable.

Exhibitions
Saw the Paul Nash exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Bit disappointed. He's mostly famous for one painting: "Totes Meer", a sea of scrapped bombers. However, a lot of his other output seems to be fairly scrappy landscapes which didn't seem that interesting to me. There are a few atmospheric drawings though, some of them with a kind of calm equilibrium.

Took nebbish's advice and got the bus this time: much easier than the allegedly faster but hopelessly unreliable train system.

Me: driving
Considering starting driving again. Won't buy a car but might try one of these car club things like City Car Club, Streetcar or Zipcar. They're just rentals, but you book online, get in with a smartcard, and they're parked all over town. Streetcar has about five car within half a mile of me, mostly Golfs; City Car Club has fewer, mostly Corsas, but one's an automatic.

Have booked a refresher driving lesson for Saturday morning. Haven't driven in 9 or 10 years. Haven't driven a manual in closer to 20. If I kangaroo-hop too much might join City Car Club, otherwise Streetcar seems to have a better choice.

Not sure if I'll actually use it though: in London the Tube's faster for most destinations and minicabs aren't much more expensive. Could be handy if my Dad's health takes a bad turn though and I need to get up North in a hurry, or help run shifts to the hospital.

Passed the practice theory tests with 46/50 and 49/50 so I still seem to be OK on that front.

Web
3D museum artefacts. Don't over-medicalize stopping smoking.

Politics. Sectarianism undermines far right in Scotland: the hooligan firms haven't united there. Matthew Parris on a hung parliament:

A minority government will be seen as a caretaker until another dissolution of Parliament can be precipitated.

All minds will be cast forward towards that point, and daily politics will be overshadowed by manipulating for moral advantage in the coming second election. The electorate and its news media will be viewed by both partners in government as a kind of marriage-guidance counsellor, in front of whom each party manoeuvres to present itself as the responsible one: the injured party.

Alas, the same two faults we witnessed with central planning were reproduced in "central markets"... even well-motivated" abstract investors", owners of funds who shuffle claims on a wide variety of enterprises and rely only on accounting data, and not the local and tacit knowledge of those on the scene, cannot really know what actions will make production more efficient at using resources...

Random. Roddenberry's original Star Trek pitch document. T-shirt artist.