It was the best of times, it was, err, slightly irritating..

[Muddypause]

Had a frustrating 10 days - but it's turned out nice again.

Last week I shut the computer down (from Windows) and the shutdown process locked up. This is not unusual, and is a bug that has been plaguing my computer for a few months now. The only thing to do is turn the machine off at the switch, and then when you start it next, wait for ScanDisk to check the disk drives before it boots. We're always warned never to shut a computer down like this, because it can damage things stored on the hard disk drives, but there is no other option in this circumstance, and it's never been a problem, just an inconvenience. Except on this occassion. The next morning ScanDisk reported faults, and Windows wouldn't boot.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I ended up reformatting the hard disk. Twice. Re-loading and reconfiguring everything from scratch. Twice (I got something wrong the first time, nothing else for it but to start again). Several 4am mornings, much shouting at the screen... I dunno about anyone else, but I find this a miserable business - it's no fun at all, not helped by the fact that I don't know half of what I'm doing.

But things are pretty much back to normal, now. And it's a minor crisis, really, isn't it?

Then, Thursday morning, I found that my car had been graffitiised. So had the car next to it, and the one next to that. Someone had sprayed their 'tag' on them (5 times on mine - three doors and the bonnet) and about a dozen other cars in the street, too.

After various attempts to remove the paint, I was pleased to discover that Evo-Stick Adhesive Remover got the stuff off completely. I've been advising my neighbours to try it too.

I was thoroughly hacked off to discover the graffiti - I put a lot of effort and care into keeping my 20 year old car in good condition, so that it doesn't just become more scrap. But it's another minor annoyance, really, isn't it, relative to what half of humanity has to deal with on a daily basis? And really,what does it amount to when you think that whoever had tried to be so mean, had that meanness so easily and completely wiped away by something as banal as glue remover?

But then a friend of mine phoned; she and her partner are moving onto a narrowboat, and are busy trying to give away a lot of stuff, because they won't have much room on board. Would I like some of her CDs? OK, I'll come round and pick them up.

I don't know what I was expecting - maybe 50 or 100 CDs.

At a rough estimate I was given over 1200 - 13 crates of them are now sitting on my living room floor. She wanted me to have them because she knows I enjoy music, and we seem to have pretty similar tastes.

I'm gobsmacked. I have (or had) a collection of a few dozen CDs, plus a lot of archaic, pirated tapes, some old vinyl (but no record player any more) and a lot of mp3s and albums on the computer. But I've never known anyone have quite such an extensive collection and just give it away. And to me. It's decent stuff, too - Frank Zappa to Nina Simone; Djiango Reinhardt to Tom Waits; Billy Bragg to The Penguin Cafe Orchestra; Ladysmith Black Mambazo to ...umm... The Bottle Rockets?? The Sugar Cubes; Sinatra; The Band; Ani DiFranco; Santana; classical; jazz; spoken word... Name it - I've probably got it (though it might take me a while to check).

At an average price of, what, £10 per CD ..? Well you do the sums. It's probably going to take me years to listen to all these albums. I'm completely bowled over by this.

I think it's important that we don't get too hung up on minor inconveniences; good stuff happens too. It's just that sometimes we struggle to remember that.

[Wombat]

Well said Stew!

and congratulations on being a CD recipient! (no dots!)

Nev

[The Chili Monster]

Yes and well deserved, too.

[Millymollymandy]

Happy listening, and glad you got the computer sorted!

[Thurston Garden]

As always, where there is bad, there is good.... lucky you on all them CD's!

I considered a clean install on my pc but am scared to! Too many things to go wrong and I just don't fancy them 4 am morning that you had!

How many 4am mornings are you gonna have listening to your new cd collection though hehe....

[Tigerhair]

Yep, good and bad! Good on you (and your friend!) - enjoy the music.

[Milims]

See - every cloud does have a silver lining!! BTW - I'm exceptionally envious of your CD collection!! You really are a spawney get!! lol. Thats the stuff that makes life worth living!

[red]

Frank Zappa eh? been a while since I listened to him... thanks for the reminder.

[Cheezy]

I agree with you Muddy, computers are a real pain. THey work for ages, you become dependant, and routine-ilised.

Then one bloody thing tips the balance, and all of a sudden you've gotta become some sort of IT expert to solve it yer sel.
THese things are meant to free up time, but become a time sink.

Sorry to hear about the vandals, but result on the music. I have a lot of the artists you meantioned, so if you find the collection ust too much ,I could free you of some of it

[Shirley]

timely reminder to all of us to back up our computers really - small inconvenience that could have bad results if you've got all your records on there with no back ups.

Nice one with the CD collection - if you listen to anything really good do tell us about it so that I can napster it