Harness On The Left Nape

First day back at work after the hols. Get up at 6:30, to give myself time to make a flask of coffee. Leave at 7:15. Make it to Canley at 7:29. I wonder for a moment which platform my train arrives at (yes, I know). Catch train at 7:31. Get off at Cov. Walk to platform 2. Put backpack on ground. Hear an audible crack. Turns out flask has broken. I feel like I should be aghast, but feel nothing. Take flask to bin. Train to Leam arrives at usual time. However, message on side of train reads “Nuneaton”. Board it anyway - I am on the correct platform for Leam, at the correct time. Hide in toilet, away from potential ticket inspectors. Stare at myself in mirror. Notice hair is strikingly bouffant after being washed last night. Arty shirt under crimson sweater is a good look. I do up top shirt button a la Bill Evans, but it looks a little contrived with the shirt not tucked in, so I undo it. Do it up again, undo it again. I look into my sad eyes. There’s a determined coldness about me. Train...

Sitting on a blue couch in Coventry, thinking about a tattoo parlour in Exeter. Funny how the more time I spend on music, the more it makes me want to do other things. Except that I suppose it isn’t. Music is meant to have that effect on people. So it makes sense that it has that effect on me, my own captive audience. The last time we visited said tattoo parlour was in December 2001, around 23½ years ago. It wasn’t a tattoo parlour then - it was a retro games shop. By the ages of 16 and 14, my brother and I had spent £345.00 at this shop, with only 11 Saturn games and a memory cartridge to show for it. Now, of course, that collection is worth considerably more. More importantly, though, my brother and I got hundreds of hours of enjoyment from those games. It would be a little sad to think that today, people would seemingly rather spend their money on beautifying themselves, rather than indulge in the creative act of retro gaming. But thinking about it, that isn’t true - it’s just that...

I have recently purchased a new membrane for my ZX Spectrum +48k. It was bought from one of two(?) of the big manufacturers of these modern membranes. According to the seller, they have been making them for over 20 years, and have never made a bad one. However, once installed in my Spectrum +48k, the following keys did not respond unless pressed with significantly more force than was necessary to activate the others: True video Inv video Break Delete Graph Extend mode Edit Caps lock Full stop Semicolon Inverted comma Left arrow Right arrow Up arrow Down arrow Comma Video demonstrating unresponsive keys If my understanding is correct, activation of these these keys requires the third layer of the membrane to make contact with the other two. I messaged the seller about this, and he was fairly certain that the fault was due to improper installation on my part. He helpfully sent me a list of instructions. However, after reinstalling the membrane, following his advice to t...