Less mash and fewer peas

"Listen: I am ideally happy. My happiness is a kind of challenge. As I wander along the streets and the squares and the paths by the canal, absently sensing the lips of dampness through my worn soles, I carry proudly my ineffable happiness. The centuries will roll by, and schoolboys will yawn over the history of our upheavals; everything will pass, but my happiness, dear, my happiness will remain, in the moist reflection of a streetlamp, in the cautious bend of stone steps that descend into the canal's black waters, in the smiles of a dancing couple, in everything with which God so generously surrounds human loneliness"
- from the short story "A Letter That Never Reached Russia" (written in the period 1924-1939) by Vladimir Nabokov.

"[Chas] expresses a theory, heard or read somewhere, that television transmissions, like radio waves, never die - they simply travel further and further into space. This being the case, the missing episodes aren't missing at all, merely out of reach. All that's needed is the appropriate funding and technology to zip yourself to some far corner of the galaxy, armed with a VCR, blank tapes and a decent aerial, and snatch them back. Of course, timing of such expeditions would be crucial, to avoid the crushing disappointment of obsessive fanboys being blasted into the cosmos, only to return with a fuzzy 'Coronation Street' and a couple of 'Jason King's"
- "Single White Who Fan: The Life & Times Of Jackie Jenkins" (from a 1998 column reprinted in this 2011 collection).

"If we can hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"
- Zapp Brannigan

NT and I saw the musical "Mary Poppins" at the Capitol Theatre and found it to be, as the song goes, "practically perfect". Couldn't fault the cast - kudos to the actresses responsible for the magical MP and winsome Winifred Banks - or the staging, and the strong numbers made up for the less catchy ones. Although I'm always wary about high-wire harnesses since wrestler Owen Hart's tragic demise, the aerial sequences in this show were wowing. Not that any of the special effects compared to Mary's perma-smile or her funny mannerisms such as gliding up stairs. See it if you can.

My UFC 136 wagering was on Zhang, Pettis, Guillard, Sonnen, Aldo and Maynard, for a 3-3 finish and a net loss. MMA betting is hard. Caught the PPV at Grumpy's Inn, Hurlstone Park with MR, SH and a bunch of dudes I hadn't previously met.