Perfect

My first day of leave and despite checking what time the chaps were due to turn up today to fit my new boiler, I was still in bed when the builder turned up – because he was arriving separately to the boiler people. I chatted to him a bit in my night clothes and made him a cup of coffee and then went and had a shower. I did feel a bit weird about that, what with him being a stranger and me not having a lock on my bathroom door, but he seemed like a nice enough chap and I figured that as my hot water will disappear today for a few days, time was of the essence in having a shower. Three of them are now here and standing looking at my boiler coming up with their plan of action

My plan for the day is to do some work in the garden, put down loads of weed killer and take some pictures to a local place to try and get them framed and other such things. The chaps who are here were commenting that it seemed a bit of a waste to have taken the week off for a boiler, but I told them that I was just so pleased to have some time off work and one of them was advising me on where to go in Cornwall as, over the weekend, G and I booked a cottage to stay in for a week in July.

I read a couple of articles on the BBC last week and was surprised to learn that typewriters are still a reasonably big seller in the UK. I could believe that some people still use old ones, but that there are still thousands sold every year is quite surprising, but given how unreliable my computer is being at the moment, perhaps I might be better off with one.

The BBC also reported on some research into the ‘perfect voice’. If you look at the article, they have samples of the (computer generated) perfect voice. I have to say that I’m not sure that I agree that I think they are really great, particularly the male one. I think a richer, deeper voice is what I would see as more appealing. Years ago a chap called Michael Hordern used to narrate Paddington Bear and I used to think he had the most amazing voice. It’s maybe not one that was likely to be that common though I suppose. Perhaps they are the perfect voices, but I’m not convinced and maybe it just proves that no matter how much research is put into such things, it is all subjective really.