What price a toothbrush?

At 10.30 p.m. last night when picking up an antibiotic prescription for my son from the local night pharmacy, the next in line was a pair of elderly ladies who had driven three miles from the next village to buy a toothbrush.

What was so urgent that they needed to go out, at that time of night, to a relatively insecure area that they did not know? Surely they could have survived with furry teeth for just one night, getting up and going to their local shop at 9 a.m. this morning.

As for the price - 6 euros! That's 4.50€ for the brush, including its protective cap(!) and 1.50€ night pharmacy fee. Daylight robbery, I thought. They could have gone to the local supermarket, which closes at 11 p.m., and bought a three-pack for that price, in relative security and closer to home.

There's nowt so weird as folk, as we used to say back home.

Pie or not 2 pi?

Anybody who knows me or my family of mathematicians will know of our recurring quandary - what do you get when you divide a pie (or cake)? Four slices (for instance) each of roughly pi/2, since 360º is 2pi in radians.

So imagine my glee when this morning, over breakfast, The Adventures of Billy and Mandy on Cartoon Network came up with the same problem. We are not the only weirdos on the planet. I went off to work with a little grin - badly misjudging the day ahead...


(this post dedicated to my godfather - another mathematician, I'm afraid)

The Whither Blair Project

Apparently the EU and the US are having another competition - what to do with Tony Blair.

There are forces within the EU that want him as the first president under the new EU constitution (better not say that too loud - the French and the Dutch might get upset). Just a minor problem - the French (again) and the Germans are pissed at him because of the Iraq war. Fortunately it's not a pressing issue, as that post will only be ready for occupation in 2009. They can hang on till then with mostly-harmless Barroso heading up the EU.

Meanwhile, the US wants Blair as a special envoy to the Middle East, also quite an amusing concept. After all, he has recently waged war against a major Arab state, so you would expect him to get a good reception. Who has it in for him, I wonder?

Not that I can see a better job for an ex-PM. Why not just let him disappear from sight, and do us all a favour.

CD of the Month (5)

Another easy-listening CD - Secrets by Toni Braxton. A very calming influence when facing hellish traffic.

Apart from a number of rather explicit, seductive tracks, there is the classic grammatical screw-up: Un-Break My Heart. The confusion lies in the word unbroken. Anything, once broken, cannot be un-broken, it can only be repaired. Something that is unbroken, has never been broken.

Of course, Toni can claim to be at the vanguard of development of the English language. The word is intuitive - nobody has any doubt what it means, but it's wrong (gets out panda outfit, goes on a shooting spree...).

Enough of that, just listen to the music and relax.