Sunday is possibly my favorite day of the week. A day where I never work, and get to put my life in order; a great portion of that order stems from reflection on the week passed. And there is no better reflection than honey and banana on toast, with the Formula One to watch.

Certainly, the broadcast could be better; it could be an HD transmission, and if still broadcast on the BBC, I’m sure it would be. It’d also be nice if we could see the race uninterrupted by the plethora of adverts that seem so pop up at the most inconvenient of times, such as right in the middle of pitting. But such is life.

At the end of it all, I still get to watch a race and take a chance to zone out just a little. These are the days I cherish, the days that I wish would last just that little touch longer, a sort of reversal of long dark teatime of the soul. Days like these, the cold, overcast ones, are the kind to share with people you love. And while it’s not always possible to spend it with those special people, when it happens, it’s worth it.

Long cold mornings, fresh coffee, pancakes, and those you care about around you. It’s the perfect start to the day. I hope to have that pleasure again soon.

Last Friday didn’t end quite as hoped. When I’d gotten to work that day, I’d fully expected to leave late, after starting on an Open Directory migration. Instead, at about 15,30 I fainted. Out cold, and getting intimate with a printer on my way down. Naturally, I’d hoped to shrug it off after fifteen or so minutes, down a cup of hot sweet tea and get back to work. 

My employer however, had other ideas. Within four minutes of my newly found affinity for the ground, I had paramedics by my side, and a fantastic little portable machine for telling them that my heart was still beating. Being wheeled out of work on a squeaky chair will forever be one of the most embarrassing moments of my working career to date, right up with addressing a young lady who turned out to in fact, be a young man. 

In the ambulance, they took an ECG, and concluded that my heart was 1) still beating, and 2) not subject to a heart attack. For this privilege, my legs and chest were shaved in odd spots, so as to get the little Skintact pads to stick and get a reading. After that, we took a trip to St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. While there, two further ECGs were performed, and 15ml of blood drawn for miscellaneous testing via a clumsily applied cannula. Near six hours later, after being given the all clear, I stumbled back to work, picked up my things, and then dragged myself home.

Four days later, I’ve done nothing but sleep most of the day and be irritable. The visit this morning to the doctor revealed a pretty boring diagnoses. Mono, Lyme’s or “something viral”. We’ll find out Friday about the “something viral” and mono, and a little later for Lyme. Now until then will be spent at home, catching up on all the things I’ve meant to do for months, and never quite got around to. The man on AA99 still has a story to finish.

Reading the BBC on my late evening rounds, I caught the very sad news that Neil Aspinall passed away earlier today at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Neil, commonly called the fifth Beatle, was until last sumer, Chief Executive of Apple Corps, the Beatle’s music label. Aspinall was the driving force behind the Beatle’s sales after the band split, and also was pivotal in ensuring that the 1987 release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on CD (the band’s first CD release, and a massive rework of the original Mono recording) was surrounded by a media and publicity frenzy.

In the time I spent working with Apple Corps, the few times I dealt with Neil were all wonderful. Likewise, working with his wife Suzy was always a pleasure, and I would look forward to the calls. Neil will be missed, but his influence on one of the greatest musical acts of our time will not be forgotten.

Between this, and the passing of Geoffrey Quinn (alias Paul Raymond, another former employer) it’s been a sad month. Here’s to hoping that the next is somewhat more cheery.

My birthday, having passed on Monday, I decided to treat myself to a new toy. After years out in the cold with film SLR cameras, I’ve finally moved on and bought myself a new SLR, a Digital SLR. Specifically, a Nikon D80 – the object of my desire for the last eighteen months. So, while I get to grips with the camera, I’ll also be managing my pictures for once and moving from iPhoto (where I have been for a scant few weeks, after a move from Finder windows and large icons) to Aperture 2 in order to better take advantage of RAW images and cataloguing. Thankfully, Aperture now also works far far better with iLife than the previous incarnation, syncing to AppleTV and my iPhone for displaying my new fancy pictures on both big and small screens without hassle.

Look out in the future for a few pictures to start making their way back into posts here, and trips to to actually have pictures with them.

Busy doesn’t quite cover my last week. I’ve been doing nothing but waking up, going to work, and then passing out when I get home. Hopefully the next week ahead should give me some time to recover to some small degree. I’ve been a busy bee. Today (coincidentally my birthday) is the first day I’ve had to rest up properly in about two weeks.

Wednesday saw us being evacuated from work for three hours, after some poor unfortunate soul get himself electrocuted after drilling through a power line and a gas main.

And then on Saturday, Camden Market went and caught fire. Most of the market has made it out without too much damage, but around forty odd stalls and a fair few homes have been reduced to shells. I’ve not been to Camden in the best part of a year or more now, but I expect it’s going to feel rather different next time I step off the Northern Line.