On the Road

I was watching a show on TV yesterday evening called Russell Brand on the Road, in which British comedian Russell Brand and a friend of his travel across America from New York to San Francisco to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the classic novel On the Road by Jack Kerouac. They start off in Lowell, Massachusetts, which is where Kerouac was born and spent his formative years, and they interview people who knew Kerouac and see the original scroll the book was weritten on. Kerouac wrote the book in three weeks on a long scroll of tracing paper (120 feet long) which he taped together and fed into his typewriter. However most of the show seems to be devoted to Russell Brand himself and his fascination with the book and the effect the Kerouacian road trip has on him. It was very interesting actually.

I also saw some more episodes of The Twilight Zone. Last night's episodes were: "Little People" in which two astronauts crash land on a seemingly desolate planet, only to discover that there are intelligent life forms the size of ants who have developed a miniature version of 1960s America. "Four O'Clock" about a man who occupies his life with compiling detailed notes on anyone he encounters and attempts to ruin their lives if he believes they are 'evil', and soon becomes obssessed with a plan of revenge on all the evil people of the world. The other one was "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" about a boastful shopkeeper whose main interest in life is telling wildly improbable stories about how wonderful he is, which attract the attention of a couple of gullible aliens who believe that he will make a perfect addition to their zoo.

I stayed in late at work today. I hadn't intended to, but I spotted a mistake and had to stay late to fix it and so I was feeling very stressed when I left (since I was robbed I've been really on edge about making my way home in the evenings).

My brother telephoned me this evening wanting me to get a Crabtree and Evelyn gift box for him to send to mum as a Christmas present. I had been thinking my shopping was over, but I phoned dad and one of us will get it for him at the weekend.

It's the office Christmas party tomorrow night at a bowling club in Musselburgh, which is a few miles out from the city, so I'm not going, because getting home would be a nightmare (or a very expensive taxi rode). I've really not had a big party night out for a while, and I can't honestly say I've been really missing it.