An interesting meme via Doctorvee:

Go to Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org/). Type in your birth date (but not year). List three events that happened on your birthday. List two important birthdays and one interesting death. Post this in your journal.

Birth date: May 20

Events:

• 1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a US patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
• 1896 – The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others.
• 1902 – Cuba gains independence from the United States.

Births:

• 1806 – John Stuart Mill, English philosopher (d. 1873)
• 1970 – Louis Theroux, British television presenter

Death:

• 1996 – Jon Pertwee, British actor (b. 1919)

As alluded to earlier, I was in London at the weekend. Long train journey down and a long train journey back.

Delivered hundreds and hundreds of leaflets, visited Blackheath (right) and had a great time at a quiz night run by Lewisham LibDems. The weather was “changeable” – sunny one minute, spitting with rain the next. Sadly it was raining a little which stopped me taking a photo with my phone of a van I saw covered with grocers apostrophe’s: it was advertising work on “Lock’s, door’s, kitchen’s” etc.

On Sunday afternoon, while finishing a delivery round, I got caught in such a torrential downpour that I got completely soaked through. I don’t think I’ve ever been so wet – not fully clothed anyway. With no spare trousers or shoes – and my trainers in particular were drenched – I decided to spend an extra night in London to let my things dry out, as preferable to spending 8 hours travelling in dampness. Monday was a write-off, then, with most of the day spent on a crammed service north.

Despite consuming a fair amount of alcohol over the weekend, I did feel virtuous from all the leafleting and walking, so, as it’s a bank holiday in Edinburgh on Monday, I’m flying back down to the smoke tomorrow to dispense more leaflets.

As today is both the second anniversary of this blog and the first day of the new tax year, I’ve decided to make more an effort to improve my lifestyle, with the aim of making myself healthier and wealthier.

• First off, no more Twixes. I’ve got into a bad habit of buying a Twix at Haymarket in the evening if I feel peckish. No more. That’s 286 calories and 48p saved each time (65p for a King Size).
• Start exercising again. Target: an hour a week in total on the exercise bike.
• Walk more at weekends. Go out of the house at least once, rather than vegetating in front of the TV. Even if Doctor Who is on.
• Cut down on bottled water, although continue to replace snacks with water. Instead, fill a bottle with water from a tap. Potential saving of over £100 a year.
• When it’s a bit warmer, walk up Arthur’s Seat.
• Eat more fruit.
• Deliver more LibDem leaflets.

I’ve also applied for a short course in Mandarin, as you do.

Reuters: Man held as terrorism suspect over punk song:

The taxi driver had become worried on the way to the airport because Mann had been singing along to The Clash’s 1979 anthem “London Calling,” which features the lyrics “Now war is declared — and battle come down” while other lines warn of a “meltdown expected.”

In other news, Sir Tom Jones has been shot in the head by police who suspected him of carrying a “Sex Bomb”. The IPCC labelled it a run-of-the-mill killing, saying, “It’s not unusual.” (Via.)

Update: I see from my sidebar (at the time of writing) that London Calling was one of the last four songs I listened to. Man the barricades!