OK – I downloaded the Jane Austen book from Librivox – but found it hard to listen to because the chapters are read by different people – but even worse is that before each chapter they all say the same thing about the book being in the public domain, the fact that it’s from Librivox, and who is reading it – for every chapter! Became rather wearing after a while.
December, 2008:
Rising Fuel Costs
I’ve been trying really hard recently – making sure that things are turned off when not needed. I’ve even been scrabbling under my desk to make sure that my computer, and all the periphery around it, are turned off at the wall. In the UK – which is where I am, all the Power Companies are eager for you to switch to them. I did a while ago when British Gas increased prices once again. Now on a fixed price tariff which I manage online. I can even see graphs of my usage – and it was decreasing. Fine.
Yesterday – a letter arrives telling me that my direct debit payment is increasing by £31.00 per month! I remembered something about companies and cashflow – and I found this on the BBC News website.
I’m not happy about this – especially when the wholesale price of oil has dropped dramatically recently (and we were told that the former high price of crude was one of the reasons for increasing prices). I’m sure that I am not alone in thinking that someone somewhere is making a lot of money on this. I know it’s not me!
Audiobooks for Free
I enjoy listening to books on my mp3 player whilst cooking or working in the garden. Today I came across a site named Librivox, which provides readings of books in the public domain for free. You will be surprised how many there are. Also – if you think that you have a reasonable reading voice, you can volunteer to read a book for the site. All you need is a computer and some free recording software. They also have podcasts – haven’t checked those out yet. I have just got a Jane Austen novel to listen to ‘Sense and Sensibility’. Never really liked Jane Austen when I was at school – more of a Raymond Chandler type – thought I’d give it another try.