Giving up on the job hunt

The time will soon come when I have to go back to work. The money is slowly running out; leisure activities have been curbed, magazine subscriptions cancelled, and my car's MOT has expired. My car insurance is soon up for renewal. These are not the days of plenty.

Nevertheless, I will hold out for as long as possible. After all, the World Cup only comes once every four years. And then there is Queens and Wimbledon. After all these sporting events , I'll see if I can't find some more excuses.

Going retro

Something strange is happening. It feels as if I am making a comfortable journey back in time.

I have developed a taste for Art Deco designs and for the colour palette of the era. I have also started watching more black and white films, some of which are excellent. I recently saw '12 Angry Men' and it was very good, especially considering that over 95% of the film takes place in a jury room. Today, I saw 'Foreign Correspondent', a very old (1940) Alfred Hitchcock movie and it's a damn fine picture with very sharp script. In fact, I'd say that Foreign Correspondent is one of the best films I have seen all year. When it comes to books, I am still reading contemporary fiction, but I find it more profitable to go back to the classics such as Don Quixote, and modern masterpieces such as Catch 22, rather than to look to the best-seller lists for a good read.

It will soon be time to slide in to my armchair, fill my pipe with tobacco, and reminisce about the good old days, when all this was nothing but fields and children had respect for their parents.