.

Damn.

What did take them so long?

Well, my little problems are the axiomatic hill-of-beans today, all the more so since things have been settled, pretty much. And for the better. O how I wish I could just tell you the whole tale, but it’ll have to wait. Bottom line: some tweaks and changes en route, but nothing life- or career-changing. In a way some things will be better; in a way some things will be different. Nothing will be worse, nothing will be lesser, and a year from now the changes will seem minor.

Explain everything? I thought so.

You know, I felt all cool ‘n such using the phrase “Rockin’ good time” yesterday; I’d just watched “Wild at Heart,” the Lynch movie from which the line comes. It takes Nicholas Cage in a snakeskin jacket imitating Elvis to carry that line off.

Well.

And while we’re on the comics page: what the hell sort of monitor is Grandpa Freeman using? It’s a 37 inch CRT from the looks of it.

It’s a beautiful day here – the heatwave rolls in tomorrow, and it’s high perfect summer as we dream it in the cold heart of January. I picked up Gnat from summer camp; we went downtown so I could have another meeting with my employers; she sat calmly in my chair and watched her portable DVD player. (It’s used in emergencies; no, I don’t let her sit in the back seat and suck up Spongebobbery all the time. For long car rides and moments when pacification is required. YOU try and have a meeting with your bosses with a five-year-old present. Then the grocery store; Daddy was in a light and merry mood, so we had fun – right up until the moment when she spotted the new Groovy Girl doll she absolutely had. Last week she spotted a different one, and I explained that we did not get toys at the grocery store. Did we buy steak at the toy store? Well they don’t have steak, she said, quite sensibly. But still, no. Sorry. Otherwise every trip to the grocery store enters the dangerous realm of Potential Toy Acquisition. I’ve already managed to keep the check-out line from being a Sucker Distribution Point – clerks always ask if she’d like a sucker, and I always reply that I’m sure she would, but no. Did I tell you about the guy at Byerly’s who upbraided me for not letting her have a cookie the size of a 33 1/3 record? Why not? She’ll love it! Kids love chocolate! I had to explain that I kept treats and snacks to a minimum, and I felt like some joy-denying control freak. But if every trip to the grocery store starts with a toy and ends with a sucker, you have a spoiled kid with bad teeth and no sense of limits. This is a grocery store. For groceries. We have to find our amusement within the context of their defining purpose, not ancillary notions they have accreted in the name of customer satisfaction.

Yes, daddee. (eyes rolling)

She fell asleep on the way home. I put her on the sofa and caught 40 winks myself, setting the alarm so I’d catch in the inestimable Steyn on Hewitt. I had two segments myself in the third hour, for which I was grateful. And that’s my day: my daughter had a great time in school, various worrisome botherations have turned into an opportunity, I didn’t burn supper, it’s a perfect summer evening, and tomorrow is pizza night. What else could you want in the world?

To know for sure that this England survives. This tune is from Holst's "The Planets" suite, and sums up the England we hope still lives. I will have a Screedblog up about this tomorrow around 4 PM. I'd get it up sooner, but I have a column to write, and I just can't stay up all night working on a screed. Stop by, if you're so inclined. Otherwise have a fine weekend, and we'll see you Monday.

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