A Member of the Club...But Not By Choice

Recently we've been having classic Kanto Plain winter weather, i.e. cold and bone dry. The forecast called for a bit of rain on Sunday, but otherwise all clear.

I guess one of the weather demons bumped a switch or something. This evening, totally out of the blue (no pun intended), it just started pouring down rain. It squalled on and off for a couple of hours, and then it cleared up again. Now the stars are out as clear and beautiful as ever (considering the haze content of the air around here). Not only that, but going outside gives another fringe benefit: the wonderful smell of freshly-fallen rain.

If only it weren't so cold. I just hope it doesn't turn to black ice tomorrow morning...

***

Well, I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. Google decided to take off the gloves and start throwing sucker punches. For months now every log-on to the Blogger dashboard to write a new post earned me a sales pitch, first for "beta", and then for "new Blogger". I carefully ignored both of them. Tonight, however, I wasn't given a choice. When I logged on to write this post I was told to click an "accept terms of service" box and log in again. It was the only option available (besides leaving the site). Going through with it brought me to a page in which I was told either to log in to my Google account or create one. I logged into the one I made a few weeks ago, and a dialog opened saying my blog sites were being converted.

I guess I'm on "new Blogger" now whether I like it or not...and I have to start learning my way around all over again. Oh, well. I was thinking of making the switch sooner or later anyway. Still, it's the principle of the thing. I don't really like having this "choice" forced upon me without any prior warning.

(Was there any prior warning...?)