Sign Language

Surprises me that a fashion for Makaton or some other sign language hasn't come hand in hand with iPods etc. Could have been a boon for the deaf. I certainly can't untangle my listening equipment in time to respond to anyone who mouths stuff at me when I'm travelling.
Although it's autumn, I found myself thinking about the north-eastern mama's habit of slicing the toes out of the uppers of the summer shoes to make them last, if your shoe size increased during the summer holidays. I heard that in Scotland it was the toes that got cut off....
I went to Old Work yesterday to do an 'exit interview'. Funny looking at my Old Office (the grey box) through its window. My light-switching-on-device was still suspended from the industrial-chic pipery across the ceiling. Some brainy architect installed movement-sensitive lighting in all the offices, which is not remotely sensible in a place of learning where people should be sitting still and studying. You used to have to stand up and wave your arms around every ten minutes to make the lights go back on, which did absolutely nothing for your gravitas. There was a particular student who was extremely strange, and I didn't like being shut in the box with him at dusk and beyond. So I stuck a plastic halloween bat to a length of garden twine with plasticine nicked from an illustration lecturer, looped it over the pipes and stainless-steel struts that crossed the office ceiling and when the lights went off, you could pull on the string from your desk; the bat would jump up and down in front of the movement sensor, switching the lights back on. So there.
I'm looking forward to playing in Brighton tomorrow. Who will be there? Everett True has offered to DJ, which he did last time I played in Brighton. I love the music he plays, so I hope he does.