In A New York Minute

Today's P&L: GBP 150.00

Today's Booze: 2 pints of Stella Artois, 1 large Rum Coffee

Today's Soundtrack: Don Henley / The Eagles


Another boring day, I am beginning to see why I drink so much. Christ, if regular, sober life is so boring maybe it would be better if someone put me out of my misery now. When I was a youngster I used to do so much that drinking used to be something I had to fit in my life. I was in a band, I used to write, I fancied myself an artist, there were lots of girlfriends.

What am I supposed to do now, get a hobby? Playing with trains, stamp collecting, classic cars? I don't need to go out looking for girls, I already have a stalker and anyway, whats another girl going to mean to me, I am forty after all.

In line with the music off the day though, everything can change in a New York Minute. What a great song that is. Of course to people like me, the lyrics are fantastic.

"Harry got up,Dressed all in black
Went down to the station And he never came back
They found his clothing Scattered somewhere down the track
And he won't be down on Wall Street in the morning"

"He had a home, The love of a girl
But men get lost sometimes, As years unfurl
One day he crossed some line
And he was too much in this world
But I guess it doesn't matter anymore"

For me, this is one of the most perfect songs ever - not the whole Wall Street thing, my mother used to say to me I was too much of this world and that was when I was being relatively spiritual and I do wear a lot of black.

Maybe its time for some change in this world, we seem to be continuing down the same sorry path. Economically, America is still swaggering around like a heavyweight boxer that has taken too much punishment but is likely to make it through the next round. GM has decided to start talking tough about closing Saab in Sweden, the same GM that was on its knees crying for state aid a year ago. I don't know why the Americans think closing Saab down will bother the Swedes above and beyond the inevitable sting to national pride. Sweden isn't like the UK or America. These workers will be taken care of by the state. Almost all Scandinavians have, by our standard, an impossibly high social safety net. Britain is likely to be moribund until the election and probably afterward, because if there is any justice there should be a hung parliament, so I will have to reconsider my EUR/GBP trade. I am a bit surprised that China finally managed to overtake Germany as the worlds export engine. Perhaps it signifies that the world loves the kind of "cost effective" tat The Chinese make instead of the slightly higher quality stuff made by our German friends.