Inventing wheels.

What was it Ken Dodd used to start his act with? Oh what a beautiful day...for doing and then came a list of crazy things like knocking people off bicycles, barking at dogs or picking your neighbour's nose. Well, it's one of those days today, early morning so far, and even though I have no plans to execute any of the aforementioned activities, things like stripping down the car and giving it a wax and polish, finishing off correcting (by far the most of the day I expect) and knocking up some points for tomorrow's speech at the Arnulv Hegstad bash will keep me busy. No teaching today so no need to go to Kongsberg, not that I think that is necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, I like my job very much, as this blog has probably bored any reader with ages ago. So, no guilty conscience about what M1 would call "hemmakontor".
I suppose getting older is not just a matter of feeling stiff in the morning...no need to misunderstand that, OK?...enjoying malt whisky or not enjoying, let alone understanding the latest modern music, not to mention the advent of nasal and aural hair and for some, the loss of the same from the apex of the skull. No, things happen to our perception of life around us. I suppose it all has to do with the fact that as we get older, we realise that we have seen it all before. At least until we get so old that we have forgotten it. And I think this might be what the powers-that-be exploit when they come with the absurdities we experience in life. After having been tricked into buying a new car last winter, by a Kristin Halvorsen who reduced taxes on diesel vehicles with particle filters in a play to get me to part with more of my money in this way, we are told yesterday in the news that new research has blown the environmentally based theories leading to her actions clean out of the water. Now, I am a polluter who must expect to pay more on annual road-tax, which isn't that anyway but that is another story isn't it, to pay for my contribution of nitrogen oxide gases resulting from the filter on my car. This is just the start. What about the schools minister, herr Solgjell/Solhjell?(I should know this) who says he is going to double the number of male teachers in nurseries and infants' schools in two years. He says that small children need male role models as much as female. Who is he kidding? Are they going to force men to work in these places? What about paying the girls who are there now proper wages first? This might help...in the long term. And how does this all square up to the current pressure which seems to be successful and is supported by Solhjell (I'll bet on that version)from the gay/les community that lesbian couples must be given artificial insemination on the state...human rights policy gone mad! What about the role models that these unfortunate youngsters will meet? I'm not talking about love or proper living conditions, simply the role model thing. There is a total lack of logical thinking which defies my belief. It doesn't demand a university degree in joined-up writing to see that the minister is trying to stand on two pieces of ice rapidly moving away from each other. Cold and wet will be the result.
The same can be said of lots of other stories we are being fed with and I notice I am gradually losing interest in news as it is presented now. The personification thing is another side of this of course, and I have neither time nor the inclination to spend on it here and now.
The voice-over job I had on Monday afternoon was interesting though. It appears that the Bosnians colluded with the Serbs and the USA in the massacre at Srbrenica in 91, wasn't it? This was the event where Dutch UN peace keepers did just that. Kept their peace and let the butchers get on with killing innocent people in what was supposed to be a safe area, a Major idea if I remember correctly. These journalists in NRK had unearthed this story and needed my dulcet tones to make the promo understandable for potential buyers at the Toronto film fair. It's jobs like this that keep me going intellectually and it is good to be appreciated by the trade, people who know how to make good programmes in a professional way and who have obviously learned by making mistakes but by not repeating them! That's the core of this I suppose. I hope I can be involved in this project if they sell the programme. And I must remember to send them a bill!! This age thing again. The more things change, the more they remain the same.