Week 213: in the pocket of big tumble dryer

Monday 17 April 2023

• Some work. One of the features of MRSK is a rollback command, which, I learnt in the most dramatic way (not very dramatic) I didn’t know how to use, still don’t.

• While I was looking for pegs, my freshly laundered pillowcase blew off the balcony into a car park, to entertain everyone queueing interminably to leave the car park.

  Coincidentally, a “polite reminder” later appeared in the lobby, politely reminding us that “UNDER THE TERMS OF THE LEASE […] NO WASHING/LAUNDRY SHOULD BE HUNG OUT TO DRY ON THE HAND RAIL TO THE BALCONY” – I hadn’t known, but it strikes me as political correctness gone mad, someone’s in the pocket of big tumble dryer. “WASHING/LAUNDRY” is unfortunately broader than “clothes”, but it’s had me googling “is airing different to drying”, I think that might be a loophole.

  The reminder also says keeping pets isn’t allowed – a small dog has overnighted here a few times, which I hope falls outside the definition of keeping, and also who’s to say a given animal isn’t livestock? And someone with a ballpoint pen has written “Liars! Pets in cages are allowed”, which, written down like that, is a bit jarring, like what kind of sicko keeps a goldfish in a cage.

• Last week they were working on a local telecommunications mast, 5G I presume, with a cherry picker on the back of a Unimog which fitted comfortably on the pavement but still they’d closed a lane of traffic and set up a temporary signal-controlled crossing. So I went to cross the road to buy some quiche or something, and waited for the green 🚶, and was nearly mown down by cars so I guess they’d wired up the lights wrong. When they left, the strip of grass beside the pavement was all churned up. This isn’t very interesting.

• To Ipswich to see Frankie Boyle (+ special guest Christopher Macarthur-Boyd), the largest theatre in East Anglia. Unusually, there were signs up forbidding going to the toilet during the show, fair enough (maybe ableist?), he’s clearly got sensitive hearing and is easily distracted by people coughing and coats rustling. Heard some murmurs of almost disappointment on the way out, the word “tame” was used, I think it’s good that these days he’s careful about punching up not down, but not the horrible people of Ipswich I suppose.