I have been ...

[wellinghall]

listening to:
- lots of Al Stewart
- Dave Nachmanoff
- Marillion, Real to Reel
- Mott the Hoople's greatest hits
- La Fille du Regiment on Radio 4
- the cricket*
- Queen, The Game

watching:
- Al Stewart "live" in Grace Cathedral
- Some Like It Hot
- Sleeping Beauty on BBC2
- garden birds

burning:
- my finger, taking some toast out of the toaster

reading:
- SM Stirling, "Island in the Sea of Time"
- Pratchett, Stewart and Cohen, the "Science of Discworld" series
- Auden and MacNiece, "Letters from Iceland"
- Armitage and Maxwell, "Moon Country"
- Lindsey Davis, "Saturnalia"

going to:
- a paper on "Operational Risk" at the Institute of Actuaries.

*A colleague wondered whether these broadcasts were like Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds": fictional reports, designed to spread gloom and despondency. If so, they're working.

Comments

[greenwoodside.livejournal.com]

Is Saturnalia out already? I thought it was only being released in February...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

So did I; but I asked at my local Waterstone's, and they got one for me :-)

[greenwoodside.livejournal.com]

Hah! I'll have to try that.

[romancinger.livejournal.com]

Oh goodie, a new Lindsay Davis :) Wonder how long it will be before it comes into our library? (without being permanently reserved, that is!)

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

Le wellinghall will probably lend it to you if you ask nicely. (I'm still waiting v. v. patiently for Silmarillion and HP2 however).

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

wellinghall can you cut for length a bit more often?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Done.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Talking of actuaries, did you see ITV's programme this week about the pensions crisis? To quote a certain Norwegian football commentator, "Your boys took a hell of a hammering". I think your profession came second to Gordon Brown in the list of biggest culprits.

Mind you, I have to admit that most pension scheme auditors (and I used to be one of those) have a pretty low view of the competence of actuaries. Not as low as the competence of fund managers mind...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

No, I didn't see it. Actuaries certainly need to take a share of the blame for not anticipating increases in longevity - but I have to say that anyone who predicted the startling improvements we have seen this century would have been taken somewhere nice and quiet ...

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Quite. Accountants didn't get a mention - part of the reason that listed companies ditched final salary schemes was because of the introduction of FRS 17. Maybe that was too technical for your typical ITV audience.