Status-Q

Another beautiful National Trust property.

In case you’re wondering, it’s pronounced “item”!

Sheep and lambs on the Fairlawne Estate in Kent. They belong, or at least the grass they munch so assiduously belongs, to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

This image has been doing the rounds - and I think it's wonderful. I'm not sure of its origin, so my apologies if I'm violating anybody's copyright here. Many thanks to Jonathan Jeacocke for showing it to me.

This should help you keep things in perspective...

Friends and family wanting a laugh should have a look here.

A rear view of Bateman’s.

Excellent news. Starting in May, you'll be able to buy some higher-quality DRM-free music from iTunes for an extra 30c. This is an EMI intiative - I wonder if the other labels will follow suit. More info on the BBC and on Apple's site.

I quite like this chap, seen this morning at Bateman's, Rudyard Kipling's former home.

Rose and I had a very pleasant weekend exploring parts of Kent and Sussex. I'll post a few more pics here over the next few days.

A temporary one, but I think it's great... here.

The core of Microsoft Vista is, by most accounts, a pretty solid operating system, though I can't speak from any personal experience. In fact, I've scarcely had any experience of XP, having abandoned Windows for the Mac about 6 years ago; something I've never had cause to regret.

I thought Peter Gutman's excellent report on how the operating system has been crippled to accommodate the whims of Hollywood was a good reason to maintain my distance. Now it appears that it may not be that good even at copying, renaming or deleting files...