This is my pointless page

The point of this page is to give vent to my stupid notions.

For example, I very much dislike being thought of as "professional".

And the words I hate most in these times are

Why do people like showers in preference to baths? It baffles me. For a start, it is so difficult to clean your toes thoroughly -- you are balancing on one leg and a soapy foot; whereas in a bath you are lying down and can bring your foot up close for thorough cleaning and inspection (though long gone are the days when I could bite my toenails). And showers seem to miss out those out-of-the-way areas (such as under the arm) which need more cleaning than others, whereas in a bath they are soaked for most of the time so all the bad things are drawn out. Showers are so exhausting - I need a lie down to recover after one; whereas a bath is invigorating and I leave it refreshed and ready to face the day

Shoenberg (in Blue Rider) said that Words did not add to music. That as soon as he read the first few words he knew the rest of the poem, and the music he wrote fitted it perfectly. !
So how would the words fit the sound? (I think he exaggerated.)
He said he understood the poem Schubert set by the music alone. (I can just give him that - but only at a stretch.)

We have just had a new bathroom put in. The taps on the bath and basin are weird:
(1) They only turn a small amount to turn the water on and off. So fiddley. (And with our plumbing it makes the pipes go "clonk" when you turn them off.)
(2) The cold is the normal clockwise on and anticlockwise off, but the hot is anticlockwise on and clockwise off! So in an emergency you instinctively turn and turn it on rather than off - and with such a small turning adjustment it makes matters worse causing the tap itself to turn in its location.
(3) It seems that these are ceramic washers (or "cartridges"). I know of someone who had them years ago and after less than a year had to change them and their price was enormous! I looked at taps which were full turning but even these were somehow ceramic. The closest place that I could arrange to view a tap with a proper rubber washer was in Birmingham. Living around London this seems bizarre. And very depressing.

And here is a page of opinions (opinions.html)

And here are my "reviews" (reviews.html)

I have just watched a DVD of Dame Joan Sutherland's guest appearance (with Luciano Pavarotti an Marilyn Horne) in Die Fledermaus at Covent Garden. This was her last appearance on stage. I was very tearful as we will never see such wonderful singers again. Nobody we can revere so highly. That together with the view of the old Covent Garden Theatre with its wonderful memories: the days of the 15 or 20 minute interval (in those days there were four bars where water could be easily got - or a drink, and where beforehand one could actually afford (on occasion) a smoked salmon sandwich - and one which tasted good; where we up in the upper slips or Amphitheatre felt a bit special having our own entrance, where the hoi polloi from downstairs could not intrude; where getting in and out of the house was easy compared to today's congested passageways. So sad.

Why has nobody asked me my view on the in-out Europe debate? I hear of all these surveys but who gets asked? I suspect they are just made up to in order to influence people.