In On Time
Posted: Mon 23 June, 2008 Filed under: Driving, Travel, Weirdness 6 Comments »I forgot to post (due to spending time sorting out and cleaning up the PC I’ve been given for this assignment, so it now runs slightly quicker than the average tortoise) but I got in to the new contract on-time.
Not, however, for want of trying on the part of other road users. It just seems to have been one of those days where simple tasks like merging or changing lanes became a bit of a challenge for people, which led to one part of the journey taking nearly half an hour longer than it should have done.
The prime example of this was the section of the A11 that goes from dual-carriageway to single just after a roundabout. For some reason this morning it was block-full of bell-ends who couldn’t merge lanes. The queue went for a mile, then round the roundabout (exceptionally dodgy) and into the lane merge section. Once you’d got through that, it was plain sailing the rest of the way through the single-carriageway section, and the delay was just caused by fuckwit bastards who couldn’t cope with merging lanes. Unsurprisingly, the word “cunt” sprang forth from my lips on a couple of occasions.
The A14 and M11 were no better – on both, the outside lane came to emergency stops a couple of times for no good reason except people being incapable of the necessary multi-tasking required for a) indicating and b) changing lane.
But all told, I’d timed it so that the journey got me in to the office for 9:02am. Which wasn’t bad, considering the state of the driving that was going on around me…
Holiday Hound
Posted: Thu 12 June, 2008 Filed under: Animals, Travel 2 Comments »One thing I forgot to write about regarding our holiday was Hound, and her adventures.
Where we stayed had several other dogs around, including Shep – a cross-eyed collie who ran diagonally. No idea why he ran diagonally, but I suspect it may be related to being spectacularly cross-eyed. Anyway, on the Sunday, Shep and Hound got on great, and were both chasing after the same tennis ball.
They both leapt for it, Hound leapt highest, got the ball, then crashed heads with Shep – Hound’s jaws descending on the top of Shep’s head. Shep was fine. Hound, however, wasn’t. She started coughing up dollops of blood, with some also running down her nose. As you can imagine, we were more than slightly concerned.
During the evening, Hound settled down a bit, but was obviously still not happy. The bleeding stopped, so we didn’t worry about it too much. We decided to see how she was in the morning.
Come morning she was still being deeply dismal, and while not in pain was also not happy at all, and some more blood had come out overnight. So, on an Irish bank-holiday, we had to go to the vets. The people who owned the place recommended one, we called him, and were assured he was opening anyway, so bring Hound along.
We found the place, and took her in – to find what has to be simply the best vet I’ve ever come across. As soon as we explained she’d got Megaoesophagus, and that she’s now eight years old, he was impressed – dogs with Megaoesophagus rarely get past five years old. It turned out he’d dealt with several dogs over the years with the same issue, and so knew lots about it, including being able to give us some new ideas for a couple of things which we’ll be trying when we need to.
Hound ended up being sedated/knocked-out, so he could see what was going on. While she was out for the count, he also (without being asked) did a full health check on her, looking at all her limbs, teeth, eyes, and checking heart, lungs etc. As you can imagine, on a bank holiday with her already sedated, and being owned by two English people on holiday, the expected total cost of treatment was going up like a taxi-meter in our mind’s eyes… He also cleaned the tartar off her teeth while she was out, saying “Well, you don’t want to have to knock her out too often”.
As it turned out, when Hound collided with Shep, she’d managed to dislocate her jaw, then force one of her teeth through the roof of her mouth. He reckoned that the impact of her landing again had then re-located her jaw back into the correct place. She was fine, just with a bloody big hole in the top of her mouth.
He ended up giving her a long-term antibiotic- one jab for the week- and an anti-inflammatory, as well as four more anti-inflammatory pills for the rest of the week.
So all told:
- Initial consultation
- sedative pre-med injection
- Ketamine sedative
- Full mobility check and health check
- Teeth cleaned
- Antibiotic jab
- Anti-inflammatory jab
- 4x anti-inflammatory tablets
On a bank-holiday.
And the total bill? €50 I don’t know how he does it and stays in business, unless it’s just the repeat trade. God knows, if he were on the mainland (anywhere on the mainland) he’d be our primary vet from now on. Absolutely fantastic.
And Hound was fine after that, no more trouble at all. Thankfully.
Coming Home
Posted: Sun 8 June, 2008 Filed under: Animals, D4D™, Domestic, Own Business, Travel 1 Comment »So after a week away we’ve come back to:
- 1,000+ emails (for me)
- 100+ emails (for Herself)
- Shitloads of post
- Still no fucking mains water thanks to Anglian Water being utter, utter cunts
- Happy chickens
- Unhappy cat (he’s displeased that we’ve brought the dog back with us)
- A total jungle on the veg patch, except for the bits we’d cleared before
- The heavens opened for two solid weeks before we went away
- We went on holiday
- A complete jungle of a front lawn, where I’d forgotten to mow the fucker before we went away
Was the holiday worth it? Yes.
Does it make it any easier to deal with the deluge of crap from while we were away? Kind of.
Is it good to be home? Mostly, yes.
And now back to normality. Work tomorrow, back in Yarmouth for the day. Lucky me.
Back
Posted: Sat 7 June, 2008 Filed under: Travel Leave a comment »Back from Ireland. Driving back from Wales tomorrow.
More later.
Finally Moved
Posted: Wed 4 June, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Travel 1 Comment »I forgot to say a couple of weeks ago when it actually happened, but Herself’s mum and grandfather finally moved up to Norfolk as well.
Looking back through the D4D™ archives, they first had the place in Buckinghamshire sold in June/July last year – that eventually fell through, and all told it took a year for their place to sell, and to get up to Norfolk. But it all happened a couple of weeks ago – completing on the Buckinghamshire place, and then moving up to their new home in Norfolk.
So all’s good – it took time, but in the end the result was the right one. Happy day.
Travelling (Day Two)
Posted: Sat 31 May, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Travel Leave a comment »So after yesterday’s 360+ mile drive from Norfolk to Wales, we’re now on Day Two – the two hour ferry crossing from Wales to Rosslare on a vomit-comet ship, and then the further 180ish miles over to County Kerry.
By the time we get there, my arse should be just about moulded to the shape of the seat in the Mondeo.
I just hope it’ll be worth it. I’m sure it will – but right now, well, let’s just hope.
Travelling
Posted: Fri 30 May, 2008 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Travel 2 Comments »Today, we’re off to Ireland for a week. (Well, we actually get back next Sunday, so it’s about ten days all told, but that includes the driving across from Norfolk to Wales – and back, of course – which is adding another day on either end)
In a fit of dubious sanity, we’re driving across this time, so we can take Hound. How she’ll handle the ferry I currently have no idea. I’m hoping she’ll be fine and just sleep all the way across – it’s a vomit-comet crossing rather than the normal big jobs, so it should only take a couple of hours.
Whatever, it’ll be interesting – and I do think Hound’ll love it when we get to Glenbeigh (on the Ring of Kerry) with all the beaches, hills, and everything to run around. In fact, I sometimes wonder whether we’ll actually see all that much of her…
In The Garage
Posted: Thu 22 May, 2008 Filed under: Animals, Driving, Travel Leave a comment »So today, the car’s getting (yet more) work done on it.
Firstly (actually secondly if we look at the order of work, but well) it’s time for the annual service. I’ve just hit the 80,000 mile mark, so that’s pretty much spot on for getting it booked in and sorted. Besides, I’m happier to have it serviced before we add on another couple of thousand miles taking it to and from Ireland in June.
Secondly (Yeah, firstly in order of work. Blah Blah.) I need to get some bodywork done on the thing, haven’t clattered another deer a couple of weeks ago. Stupid thing had a clear road for a couple of miles in front of me, then my car and the one that was tailgating me, then another couple of miles of clear road. So when did it decide to run out from the nearside? Just as I came up to it, of course. Stupid fucking creature.
So it bounced under the front bumper, and up into the front wheel-arch, dislodging various things and smacking the crap out of the front bumper. Result? The car needs new front bumper, new wheel-arch liner, some pipework readjusting (turns out the air-con cylinder is also on that side of the car) and about £600 of work on it. Bugger.
Still, it could’ve been much worse. If the deer had been much bigger it would’ve done far more damage. If it had hit dead-centre, it would’ve done far more damage. Of course, if the cretinous thing had waited twenty seconds, it would’ve had a clear road and wouldn’t be dead. That’s Darwinism for you.
But anyway, it means the car’s in a couple of garages (fortuitously one right next to the other) for the day, which means I’m in a courtesy car. And what’ve they given me, bearing in mind I’m 6’4ish and built like a brick shithouse? A fucking Ford Fiesta, of course. In which I’ll be doing my normal commute to and from work. Should be good for a few comedy moments, if nothing else…
Upcoming Break
Posted: Fri 9 May, 2008 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Driving, Travel 1 Comment »At the end of the month, we’re going over to Ireland for a week’s holiday – and I’m really looking forward to it.
Getting there will be interesting – we’re taking Hound, and the car, so it’s going to be a matter of driving the 350ish miles from Norfolk right the way across the country to Haverfordwest, staying overnight there, getting up at stupid o’clock to get on the vomit comet ferry across to Ireland, then driving another 190 miles all the way across Ireland to where we’re staying near Glenbeigh, on the Ring of Kerry. All told, about 550 miles plus ferry crossing – and the same on the way back, of course. Bearing in mind it was only about 250 miles to get up to the Lake District, that really is going some.
As it is it’s looking like it’ll be a good week. We’ve got what looks like a stunning house lined up, and then plan to just spend the week going round the Ring of Kerry and just relaxing again. I foresee lots of photos…
I’m also planning on doing a bit of writing while I’m away – although I said that when we went to the Lake District too, and got absolutely sod-all done on that score, so we’ll just see what works and what doesn’t.
But I can tell you now, I’m just about counting the days…
Home again, Home again
Posted: Fri 21 March, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »So yes, we got back from our week in the Lakes just fine. All the predicted rain, snow, sleet, hail, and (possibly) typhoons and hurricanes didn’t appear. Equally, the predicted “nightmare on the roads” didn’t appear (for us, anyway).
In fact, we left Penrith at 8.45 this morning, and got in at 14.30 – which included a diversion due to one horrid jam at Elveden (which we’d expected) and a couple of short stops as well. All told, five-and-three-quarter hours journey time for approximately 320 miles. So an average of about 56mph. Could be better, could be worse.
I’ll write more thoughts about our time away over the coming weekend, but for now suffice it to say that we had a great time, and have come home feeling far more refreshed and energised than when we went up. So it’s been well worth the time and effort.
Off for a week
Posted: Fri 14 March, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »Yes, it’s the time of year when we go off for a week again. This time it’s the Lake District (as it was two years ago) and we’re going to the same place as we did before.
With luck, this time we won’t be driving up there in a blizzard – one of the high points of last time up there.
There’ll be some posts coming up through the week, but they’ve all been written already.
During the week, we’ll be pretty much completely out of contact. No email, no internet access, and distinctly ropy mobile coverage. (unless it’s been ‘upgraded’ in the intervening two years) To me, that’s fantastic.
I’ll still be taking the laptop – after all, it’s going to be useful for processing/storing photos, and I want to use it for some writing stuff as well – but it won’t be connecting to anything. And that’s just fine with me.
MOT – All Passed
Posted: Fri 7 March, 2008 Filed under: Customer Services, Driving, Travel Leave a comment »So yes, the car passed it’s MOT with flying colours – it didn’t need a thing doing to it.
Needless to say, after a year of being thrashed around motorways and dual carriageways, covering about 20,000 miles, and with the prospect of a long drive up to the Lake District in a weeks time, I’m really rather pleased about that.
I know I’ll need some new tyres for it before long, but for now at least they’ve passed the MOT, so *shrug*. We’ll see. Still, now I know it’s not an urgent requirement (bearing in mind that long drive in a week’s time) which is another relief – I wasn’t sure quite when I was going to get time to do it…
Old Dog
Posted: Sun 17 February, 2008 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »When we’re away in the Lake District in March, we’re realising more and more that we’re going to have to take a bit more care with Hound this time round. It was last weekend that really made the point to us, though.
When we took Hound to the beach last weekend, she had about ninety minutes of running around all-told and she was knackered for the rest of the day, and into the day after. A couple of years ago, ninety minutes on the beach would’ve been just the starter, but now it’s more like the main course.
With her throat condition, we always knew that she was going to get old before her time, and that’s what we’re beginning to see. It’s no bad thing, to be fair, but it’s strange to see after so many years of having her running around like a barmpot all the time. Besides, when she was diagnosed with the Megaoesophagus, Herself was told that Hound was unlikely to even get to the age of five. Now she’s nearly eight, so we’ve had a good run with her – and far more of one than was ever expected.
But when we’re up in the Lakes, we’re just going to have to take a bit more care, and keep an eye on her – particularly when we go up to Aira Force, which she loved last time and wouldn’t stop going in and out of the flowing river.
Coastal
Posted: Sun 10 February, 2008 Filed under: Animals, Photography, Travel 1 Comment »Yesterday, we went out on a trip to a piece of Norfolk we hadn’t seen before/yet/so far. While we’ve regularly been up to the North coast around Wells, Blakeney, Holkham and so on, we hadn’t yet been up around the Cromer area, or down some of the East coast.
So we ended up going around Necton, Bacton and Walcott (If this means sod-all to you, this link to Multimap might help) and taking Hound for a couple of plays on the beach at Walcott, which was thoroughly enjoyable.
At the same time, while touring around I managed to stop the car, and start a photography project I’ve been considering for the last nine months or so. I won’t go into loads of details just yet, but for now it’ll suffice to say that I’m pleased with how it’s gone so far, and that the start seems to have been successful. Now I just need to carry it on, of course. (*Ahem*)
All told though, it was a really pleasant and relaxing day. Much, much needed.
Not Going
Posted: Thu 31 January, 2008 Filed under: @Media2007, Domestic, Geeky, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »Today I got an email about the 2008 @Media conference in London at the end of May. Normally, I’d be there like a shot – in fact, I was well on my way to booking a ticket, particularly as it was £355 today (for today only) against the full price of £495. (although until mid-March it’s an ‘early bird’ price of £395 or so)
But there was something nagging me about those dates, 29-30 May. Something… So I checked the calendar. And it turns out it’s lucky I did, because on the 30th we’re going over to Wales before travelling to Ireland the next day.
So it’s good that I didn’t book the place before remembering about the holiday – but it’s still a bummer that I’m going to miss this year’s @Media conference.
Repaired
Posted: Fri 28 December, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Travel 2 Comments »Today I’ve had the headlamp unit on the car replaced, following Boxing Day’s collision.
The damage didn’t look that serious – only the sidelight had stopped working completely – but a couple of bits of the lighting surround and backing had broken too, so it ended up needing a complete new headlamp unit. Joy.
All told, £150 for the repair/replacement. It’s an extra expense I could’ve done without, but it’s still heaps better than it would’ve been if I’d collided full-on with the deer.
Bambi
Posted: Thu 27 December, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Driving, Travel 5 Comments »Last night, I had my first real accident in the car – nothing serious, and nothing overly damaged, but still my first real one.
Driving on one of the local(ish) country roads, I came round a corner and there was a deer crossing the road towards me, right at the white line. Absolutely nothing I could do – even though I was “only” going at 30mph, I didn’t even have time for an emergency stop, let alone to swerve or anything. As it was, I clipped it’s head, definitely killed it, but didn’t damage anything else.
In a lot of ways, it was just luck. Five seconds later, I’d have hit it straight on, and done a lot more damage to the car. Five seconds earlier, I would probably not even have seen the deer, or been able to easily avoid the stupid creature.
But instead, I came along at just that time, and killed it. I’m not happy about it, but I know there’s nothing else I could have done.
Not knowing the procedure, I called the police this morning (No, not on the 999 number) to check whether it needed to be reported, but apparently if it’s a deer it doesn’t need reporting. Dogs, cattle and the like yes, but not a deer. (The actual list is “horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog.” according to the Road Traffic Act). So I don’t need to report it.
All told, “just one of those things”. But still, I wish it hadn’t happened.
Foglights
Posted: Thu 20 December, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Driving, Thoughts, Travel 11 Comments »Ah, you knew it wouldn’t be long ’til this one happened (again).
This morning I was driving in to work, and the weather was fairly grungy – lots of freezing fog, and not much fun at all. However, it has to be pointed out that this was at 7am this morning, while it was still completely dark. You can see where this is going, can’t you?
Fog-lights are only supposed to be used in thick fog when visibility is abysmal. They’re not meant as “It’s foggy, use your lights” – there’s supposed to be some application of common sense. In this case, because it’s night, I can see cars half a fucking mile away. There’s no need for foglights if you can see that fucking far, you bollock-minded individuals!
Yes, of course, the foglights came on, and stayed on. Even in the clear bits. Hell, most of the twunts will still have them on this evening when I drive home, I’m sure.
The highway code is a bit wishy-washy on this one – again, I assume, because of the necessity hope of using common sense in these situations – but still it makes it pretty clear that foglights should only be used in poor visibility. Of course, common sense is a commodity in short supply at the moment, so maybe it needs to be re-written in light of that.
Personally, I think that car manufacturers are (slightly) to blame on this one as well – you get a warning light on the dashboard when you put the lights on, but there’s no extra warning/reminder to tell you you’ve put the foglights on. (Well, in Ford cars anyway. I can’t be certain if the same applies to all/most other car manufacturers) But then, if a driver hasn’t got the memory-span to remember they’ve turned the foglights on, should they really be allowed to be driving in the first place?
Drink Driving
Posted: Wed 12 December, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Driving, Festering Season, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »While I’m not usually a great proponent of the entire “User-generated content” thing, sometimes it can be interesting and useful. One example is this BBC piece about drink-driving, and this year’s advertising campaign to make people think again about drinking and driving. After the piece, there’s a whole set of stories of personal experiences of drink-driving, and being banned, and it makes for interesting reading.
Personally, I don’t drink at all if I’m driving. It doesn’t bother me, and I don’t see the point of the entire “Oh, I’ll be OK if I just have the one” point of view. I could probably get away with one (or even two) because of my size, but to be honest, why risk it?
Night Driving
Posted: Wed 12 December, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Driving, Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 6 Comments »As the nights have drawn in, I’ve found myself repeatedly thinking about driving standards. In particular, with regard to the way people now use their headlights.
When I was younger, and also when I was taking (lots of) driving lessons, I always thought that before you used full (or even dipped) headlights, you first used sidelights only – kind of a “for being seen, not for seeing by” thing. They got used ’til you needed to turn on the headlights/dipped headlights in order to see.
Now though it seems like the majority of people just switch straight to full headlights, without ever really using the sidelights at all. The Highway Code suggests that it should still be done with the sidelights first, then headlights – but it just doesn’t seem to be the done thing any more.
Now when did that start happening Or is it just something I hadn’t noticed until recently?
BBC Good Food Show – Birmingham NEC
Posted: Sat 1 December, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Travel Leave a comment »Yesterday we went to the Good Food Show at the NEC, despite me feeling like someone had buried me, resurrected me, added some voodoo, and left me as a shambling revenant version of my normal self.
We’ve been a couple of times before, so we know that the show is a good one, and that didn’t change this time round.
Personally, I still find that the shows are too busy, and/or that the aisles are too narrow – you can’t afford to have massive traffic jams around whole bundles of stalls/stands where they’re either giving loads of stuff away or doing endless demonstrations. It’s not like the NEC hasn’t got the room to handle some extra space between stands either – to me it just shows a complete lack of understanding when it comes to customer flows and so on.
Anyway, that’s a bugbear I have with most trade shows and their ilk, so it’s nothing related to just the Good Food Show.
We did do pretty well this time though – got some supplies from our favourite places (Snowdonia Cheese Company and Lime Tree Pantry, I’m looking at you in particular) along with decent discount packs from a few other places, and generally had a really good time.
The Good Food Show is something that (in my opinion) is always worth going to. It’s not cheap – somewhere around £17 per ticket for the basic entry – but it’s worth going. Well, so long as you’re into food, anyway.
Good Food Show
Posted: Fri 30 November, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »I’m not in work today – instead we’re off to the BBC Good Food Show at the Birmingham NEC.
So don’t expect much in the way of anything from D4D™ today. (Not that you do anyway, of course. But well, that’s life)
1 Month to go…
Posted: Mon 26 November, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, Domestic, Festering Season, Travel Leave a comment »
Just think, this time next month the Festering Season will be over, and we can all go back to “normality” once more.
Of course, the coming month is one of ridiculous work levels and travelling – on Friday we’re at the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham, on Saturday we’re down in Esher for something for Herself, and on Sunday – hmm, what’s Sunday? – oh yeah, Herself is doing a craft show locally. Then in a couple of weekends time we’re down in Reading for the Saturday night – being sociable etc.
There’s also a whole bundle of other things going on, but that’s the main stuff I can recall for now.
Still, one month to go. Not that I’m counting or anything, you understand…
Oral Fixation
Posted: Fri 23 November, 2007 Filed under: Travel, Weirdness 3 Comments »I think I may have written about this before, but it happened again today so sod it, I’ll write about it again.
On my commute, there’s a guy who also regularly catches the same train. He is – let’s be tactful – slightly odd. He’s probably the same age as me, maybe even a bit older. Throughout the journey, he will sit, using his Blackberry phone/email thing. Well, I say using it – but most of the time he appears to just sit and read whatever’s on there. No replies, no real interaction that I spot, just (I assume) reading whatever’s on the screen. I suppose it could be a film or whatever – I don’t know if you can play videos on a Blackberry, for one thing – but equally he’s playing music through headphones from his iPod, so I kind of doubt it. I dunno.
But all the while he’s using the Blackberry, he’s also sucking his thumb. And that, to me, is definitely odd. It jars, seeing a grown man sucking his thumb. Sure, it’s a harmless thing to be doing – and far less offensive than the other people I see picking their noses or whatever – but the thumbsucker is (for me) a stand-out in the day-to-day routine and oddnenss.
Well Timed
Posted: Mon 12 November, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Travel Leave a comment »Oh, well done, One Railways. On the first sub-zero day, with frost all over the place, let’s use a train at 7am where not only is the heating off, but the air-conditioning throughout the train is jammed on.
I swear, it was colder inside the train than it was on the platform at Cambridge.
I’ll write more when my fingers have thawed…
Moving Around
Posted: Sun 11 November, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Introspective, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »In one way (OK, at least one way) the last three years have been quite odd, in that I seem to have gone back down the ‘town-size’ ladder. I think some people (mainly estate agents and the like) call it downsizing, but that’s not true either – this is about the size of the place we live in, not the house we live in. Ah, I know what I mean, anyway.
The basic premise is this – I grew up in a small market town. Not a bad place to grow up, I admit, if boring as hell. But since then (and we’ll cut out some of the jogging about) in order I’ve lived in…
- Woburn : (Another) Small market town
- Rugby : Large Town
- Whitstable : Small Town
- Burnham Beeches : Village
- Worcester: Town
- Weymouth: Large Town
- Oxford : City
- Manchester : Large City
- Bracknell:
Utter fucking dumpLarge Town - Attleborough : Small town
- Current Location, just outside Attleborough: Village
So all told, I’ve lived in most types of city/town/village. Those are just the main places, I’ve done a lot of shorter terms in places as well, so they’re just the bullet points really. (Now there’s a phrase I never thought I’d see myself saying) But definitely the last four places have been a defined order towards living somewhere like where we are now – and it suits me just fine.
In a lot of ways, I feel I’ve kind of “done” my entire city-living thing, and now while I don’t have the things I used to love about city living in easy reach, instead I have other things that really work for me now – peace, no traffic noise, proper darkness, lots of cracking photo locations, and all that jazz. Oh, and also the gardenm and all the potential that holds.
Would I go back to living in a city? Probably not, unless I absolutely had to. Circumstances may change over the years, but I definitely far prefer being in a village for life things in general.
Away Again
Posted: Sat 10 November, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Photography, Travel Leave a comment »This weekend I’m down seeing the parents, and also taking them to see Kew Gardens, and the Henry Moore sculptures that’ve been put there ’til March ’08. It’s quite a happy confluence (for my parents, anyway) as my dad loves sculpture, and mum loves gardens.
Because of buying the chickens last weekend, it means we’ve had to replan things a bit at home, so that it’s just me going down this time, and Herself will deal with The Girls, and I’ll be back on Sunday. In fairness, she was away earlier this week and I looked after all the animals, so it all works out fine in the end. It means I’m going to be leaving home at about my normal week-day time (i.e. around 6.15-6.30) to drive down to Oxfordshire, pick up the parents, and go to Kew. By the end of the day it’s fairly likely that I’m going to be knackered.
I’m actually quite looking forward to seeing the Henry Moore stuff – I’ve never been an epic fan of his work, but the combination of the work and the setting should be pretty impressive. And, of course, I’ll be taking the camera too – it’ll be good to be able to add some more stuff to the ‘Sculpture’ section of the online portfolio…
So anyway, posts are likely to be a bit thin on the ground this weekend, for the reasons above. There’ll still be a couple, I’m sure, but not loads.
Digital Water Pavillion
Posted: Wed 7 November, 2007 Filed under: Geeky, Travel Leave a comment »I think that this idea for the Expo ’08 in Zaragoza, Spain is an absolute stunner.
Basically, a curtain of water coming through a whole load of computer-controlled nozzles, allowing messages to be written in the water. Fantastic. It’s enough to make me want to go and see it live at Expo ’08. Even the prices don’t look too bad – although of course you’ve still got to get over there, I suppose.
Collecting Birds
Posted: Mon 5 November, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »Well, we now have three chickens, as well as the coop, food and so on.
We kept them in the coop overnight, so we’ll be letting them out properly for the first time this morning, introducing them to their new home. Oh, and introducing Hound (and perhaps Psycho Cat) to them to see how they all react. That should be amusing, if nothing else.
Collecting the birds went fine – I’d rented a long wheel-base Ford Transit for the day, so we went over, got everything in, and came home. Pulling into our own drive, I managed to put a scratch down the side of the van, so we’ll see how much that’s going to cost me when I talk to the rental company today. Ah well.
All the same though, driving the van was fun, and (other than that one minor interaction with the gatepost) no real problem at all. The change in driving position was weird to start off with, as was the difference in the gearshift – seriously long throw with it still being floor-mounted, rather than the dashboard-mounted shift you see on most transit-type vans now. (Turns out that it’s on the new ones, just not the one I was driving, which was an ’04 plate) Still, it was fun to drive.
So there we are. I’ve turned thirty-six today, and we’ve got new chickens. Funny the way things work out.
Train Seats
Posted: Tue 30 October, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, MOTB, Travel Leave a comment »There are some occasions where being a bastard really amuses me – and one of those occasions is when I can upset selfish tosspots on the train.
Yesterday morning was a prime example – the train was busy, with no free pairs of seats. Not that I need a pair of seats particularly, but if there’s a free pair, you sit in one of them rather than cramming in next to people. If there isn’t, hey ho, you just have to sit next to someone. No big deal one way or the other, really- or at least, that’s my attitude.
However, there were a couple of tables where two people were trying to fill up the entire four seat with their stuff, and that always annoys me. If you’re going to do that, pay for all four tickets. Or pay to sit in first class – there’s no other sod in there most of the time, so just go for it. But just trying to block up the seats with a bag, or a jacket, that’s always going to be a target for me, I’m afraid.
So that’s where I sat. I was polite, I didn’t intrude into their conversations, I just sat and got on with stuff on the laptop. But man did it annoy them to have their nice plan to secure some space ruined. As the man said, “My work here is done”.
Get Up And Go
Posted: Wed 24 October, 2007 Filed under: Introspective, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »Or the last couple of days, I’ve been thinking (again) about the way my body and brain work in the mornings. It’s interesting to me because the way I work just doesn’t appear to be the way most other people do when it comes to this early morning guff.
First of all, I know that my body-clock is deeply screwed. ‘Twas always thus. The main part of it seems to be that I actualy get proper sleep between the hours of 7am and 9am – which is obviously fairly unfeasible with regard to work, for obvious reasons. If I get to sleep between 7 and 9, I’m pretty good for the rest of the day. On the other hand, if I’m woken up in that time, I’m like a bear with a sore head for the rest of the day.
As a result, I tend to get up earlier than 7am. About 5.30, for the most part. In many ways it actually suits me – I get the 7am train to work, I’m in just after 8am, I leave at about 3.45pm, get home for about six, and all’s good. In some ways I would say I’m on autopilot for the first few hours, but that’s not really true. Admittedly when I’m getting up I do use/need some form of routine, so I can do stuff while gradually waking up.
But the thing is, the alarm goes off, and bang, I’m awake and moving. I don’t do this thing of lying in bed, I just get moving. I’ve always been like that to some degree – even at school age I would get up ad go, rather than trying t stay in bed. It’s just the way I’m wired. It shifted up a gear when I was running shops, pubs and hotels, because of having to be able to deal with alarms in the middle of the night, and all that joy.
I’ve never really lost that ability. I’m sat on the train while writing this, going to work. It’s 7am, and a good 80-85% of the other passengers are asleep while I’m writing stuff for D4D™, and also doing other stuff for clients, writing web pages, database migration bits and the like.
I was thinking about this yesterday morning too, while driving to work. I’d woken up at half five, and was on the road by six. Not tired at all – although God knows, I should’ve been- and absolutely fine to drive. Admittedly, I stopped off for a quick break at about eight, just for breakfast, but that was it – no tiredness and no hassle.
I don’t know why I’m wired this way, but given the choice of sleeping an extra hour on the train, or getting work and writing done, I know which I prefer.
On The Road (Again)
Posted: Sun 21 October, 2007 Filed under: Travel 1 Comment »Today is another big drive – seeing friends up in Middlesbrough. The AA routefinder reckons it’ll be about 4-4½ hours all told.
Ah well, I’m sure it’ll be fun. Honest.
Driving Hours
Posted: Thu 11 October, 2007 Filed under: Travel 1 Comment »Yesterday turned into one hell of a long day, what with fixing the problems at work first thing in the morning, and then driving to and from London. It meant I covered about 400 miles all told, and drove for abut 7½ hours.
OK, it was spread out – an hour to Cambridge, then 3 hours there, and an hour back. Later on, three hours in the car (thanks to a nasty accident in Whitechapel meaning a diversion) so we arrived at about 6.15, then leaving That There Lunnun at 10.45, and finally arriving home at 1am. The drive home was a pig, with fog on the roads, and an accident on the A11 meaning we had to do a small diversion, but we still made good time all told.
It made for one hell of a long (and knackering) day, and I’m still recovering today – I must be getting old, the recovery speed just isn’t the same as it used to be – but it was well worth it all the same.
Let the train take the strain
Posted: Tue 9 October, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Travel Leave a comment »I saw yesterday in the news that apparently the route I use to get to work is a huge success, with 35% more passengers on it per year than originally predicted. Which is great in a number of ways – although not so great in a number of others.
Last year saw the route take 670,000 passengers, which isn’t bad for a fairly rural/provincial service.
But, if the route is so successful, and (if you average out the costs of travel at £10 per passenger – which I reckon is probably a conservative estimate) has already repaid the original investment would it be too much to ask to have trains of three or even four carriages, rather than the current standing-room-only rigid-in-peaktime trains of only two carriages? It’s not like the platforms can only cope with two carriages, and it would probably persuade a lot more people to use the service on a regular basis.
As it is, the service is OK – depending on when and where you get on the train. In the mornings, I’m lucky now to get a free table, although on the way back it’s not to bad (for me, anyway) as I get on the train as soon as it pulls in, rather than trying to jam myself in at the last possible second. But for many people that’s how they see the peak-time service – as one equivalent to a commuter train to London, jam-packed and standing room only.
If One Trains repaid some of the customer/passenger investment by adding an extra carriage or two, the service would be just as well used – and probably more so – but with a considerable lessening in the number of customer complaints.
You’d think that would make sense, wouldn’t you?
iPlayer
Posted: Sat 15 September, 2007 Filed under: Geeky, Travel 1 Comment »One of the good things about getting back to commuting by train is that it’s given me the time to catch up on some of the programmes I’d downloaded on the BBC iPlayer. Despite a number of pain-in-the-arse bits in the program, I’m still far more impressed with it than I was with Channel4’s 4OD offering. Maybe I just watch more stuff from the BBC, I don’t know.
This week, though, I’ve caught up on a lot of the third series of Doctor Who – or at least the ones that I can get at the moment. There’s still a couple more I need to get (and that I’ll watch while travelling next week) but I’ve been pretty impressed with the series. Funny really, because when the series was on TV, I wasn’t at all interested in it, and even stopped recording it on Sky+. Maybe I just stopped recording it when it was about to get better – certainly the episodes I’ve seen on iPlayer have been a massive improvement on the first few. Of course, it’s still a load of old rubbish – but at least it’s watchable rubbish.
As for the iPlayer itself, it’s a decent bit of kit. I’d rather it weren’t (currently) Windows-only, and I’d definitely be far happier if it weren’t also Internet Explorer-only, but for now that’s the way it is, and it’s a case of either use it with the limitations, or don’t use it at at all. Maybe I shouldn’t – after all, why would any company invest in developing a better solution, if people are using the ropy locked-in version? – but I’m going to stick with using it for the moment.
Long-Term Residents
Posted: Wed 12 September, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, Customer Services, Cynicism, Travel, Weirdness 1 Comment »I must admit, on my first reading of the story yesterday of the couple who have been living for 22 years in a Travelodge hotel (and I use that term very loosely) my first reaction was “Why?!?”, closely followed by “Freaks.”
It’s taken me a good 24 hours to get past that reaction- and if I’m honest, it still comes back to that on occasion. Personally, I couldn’t stay in a Travelodge for 22 days, let alone 22 years. I’ve written before about staying in one, and about their dodgy booking practices (although that appears to have stopped now) – but I have to admit that they’re comfortable to sleep in, if nowt else.
However, seeing one of the quotes from the couple, I can understand their motivation a bit more.
“The Travelodge room suits us so much better than our first-floor flat in Sheffield, which has no disabled access for Jean. It’s important as she now suffers from a bone disease and uses a wheelchair.”
Now yeah, fair enough – their disabled access isn’t bad at all, usually.
But still, twenty-two years in a Travelodge. Fucking hell. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
Overtaking
Posted: Fri 7 September, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, Driving, Travel, Weirdness 3 Comments »Over the last few weeks, as I’ve said before, I’ve been doing a lot of driving – commuting between home and Cambridge, roughly 110 miles per day. In that time I’ve also seen a huge dollop of bad driving. I’m not saying I’m a perfect driver – Gawd knows, I’ve made enough mistakes as well in that time. But there’s a couple of things that drive me mental every time I see them, and they both involve overtaking. Just for reference, this is usually done on motorways and dual-carriageways, rather than single-carriageway roads.
First, I don’t get the entire thing of starting an overtaking manoeuvre and then indicating. It drives me potty. OK, it’s slightly better than the tosspot BMW drivers who all appear to have their indicators turned off by default.
Second – and this is the big one – is the people who pull out to overtake, and then either stick at 5mph above whatever vehicle they’re overtaking (and so take forever to do it) or even worse, slow down! Why? What’s the fucking point? Well, except for being the sort of selfish festering bell-end who enjoys blocking up lanes and screwing things up for other road-users, of course.
Taxing
Posted: Mon 13 August, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Getting Organised, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »I’ve now had my car nearly six months. Which, of course, means that it’s also coming up to the expiry of the six month road-tax I got with it.
I got the reminder for the road tax last week, and decided to have a go at the entire Road Tax online thing – and it all went really painlessly. Herself had tried it last month for her car, and hadn’t been able to get through the process, so I was wondering how good it would be, but yeah, the entire process was easy – and a lot less time-consuming than going to get the disc at the Post Office!
Amusement
Posted: Fri 10 August, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, BMW Drivers, Cynicism, Driving, Travel 2 Comments »As I’ve said before, if I drive in to work, I have to go on the pox-ridden bit of single-carriageway road on the A11 between Barton Mills and Thetford. If you’ve ever been to the Center Parcs at Elveden Forest, you’ll know the bit of road to which I refer.
Either side of this section is decent fast dual-carriageway road. But this one section is single-carriageway, and slows everything down.
Now, I admit, I do drive fast. In that way I’m totally a “Type A” personality. Couldn’t deny it if I tried. But I only drive fast when I can. If I can’t, then hey ho, I’ll go with whatever speed everything else is going at. And at that level, I’m far more Type B. Go figure. Mr Paradoxical, and all that jazz.
What this means, though, is that when I get to the poxy bit of road, I’ll go with the flow, which normally (well, normal for 6.30/7am on a weekday) amounts to about 40-50mph. Still not bad, so what the hell. However, this enrages the full-on 100% Type A drivers. Yes, you guessed it, I’m talking about BMW drivers. Why are you not surprised?
Today’s example really amused me, though. Mr BMW 5-series had come tanking up behind me, already doing several dodgy overtaking manoeuvres. He then came out and blasted past me, going round a blind curve on the wrong side of the road. Utter, utter tit. (I know, synonymous with “BMW Driver”)
For once, though, the blind curve didn’t knacker him. It was the next overtaking manoeuvre, while he obviously wasn’t being aware of what he was passing. Blasted past four cars, then tried to slam the brakes on in order to get into a gap before the oncoming truck greased the road with BMW oil.
What everyone else saw, though, was that one of those four cars just overtaken was – yes! – a police car, in full regalia. Hi-vis side bars, lights on the top – you know the drill. And so those lights started flashing, the plod pulled out, caught up with Mr BMW, and pulled him in to the next lay-by.
At which point all the other, rather more Type B drivers who’d just accepted that this bit of road is always shit just cruised on past while Mr BMW was sat up, getting a very solid telling off from Mr Plod.
For some reason, my mood is rather good this morning after that. Maybe there’s a connection?
Whisky Galore
Posted: Mon 30 July, 2007 Filed under: Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »Blimey, there’s a whisky distillery just down the road from where we live. Who knew?
I even see the place every day when I travel on the train. Fantastic. Now I may have to go and visit at some point – even if none of the whisky will be sold before the end of 2009…
Oh Dear
Posted: Fri 20 July, 2007 Filed under: Travel 1 Comment »Thirty seconds after leaving Cambridge station, on the train towards home. We hadn’t even got past the river when a little voice piped up from the seating section behind me
“Are we there yet?”
“No”
“How long is it going to be?”
“An Hour”
“I’m bored”
And on. And on. And on.
Thank Christ for having a) headphones and b) plenty of (legal) MP3 files.
Virgin on the Ridiculous
Posted: Tue 10 July, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, News, Travel 1 Comment »All I can say is ‘And about time too‘.
I’ve ranted long and hard about Virgin’s shitty cross-country rail service. And now they’ve lost the franchise. Boo-bloody-hoo.
Still, I bet Arriva make just as much of a pig’s ear of it…
Servicing
Posted: Tue 12 June, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »I forgot to say earlier, but today my car is in the garage.
It’s recently gone over the 60,000 miles – which means I’ve done just under 4,000 in the poxy thing already – so it was time for what Ford term “a major service”. I’ve no idea what that entails, but it’s about £225 to do.
As it is, I’m faintly optimistic that that’s all I’ll have to pay – I haven’t had any calls saying “Oooh, we found that the kajoogly sprocket is nearly frubscotched, that’s gonna cost you £xxx” (or words to that effect, anyway).
Still, I’ll know more when I get there at about 5:15…
On the way home…
Posted: Fri 8 June, 2007 Filed under: @Media2007, Travel 1 Comment »So, that’s @Media done with (for me) for another year, and I’m off back to deepest darkest Norfolk.
More thoughts will follow…
Ouchy
Posted: Wed 6 June, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Domestic, Thoughts, Travel 2 Comments »A couple of weeks back, because of moving and so on, I shoved a safety razor in a pocket in my bag, so that if/when I got too stubbly, I could have a quick shave when I got in to work, and look at least vaguely human.
I then forgot about it.
Last night, on the train, I was looking for my headphones and shoved my hand into the pocket on my bag. Suddenly, I remembered the safety razor in there. But only after I’d managed to shave a layer off the pad of my little finger, which is now suspiciously flat.
It bled like a bastard, unsurprisingly, but is all OK, except for being extremely painful on occasion. It’s got a poxy big plaster over it, so it’s safe, but does get knocked all the time. And just before going to @Media tomorrow, as well. Typical.
My name’s Lyle, and I can be a right twonk sometimes.
Thithles
Posted: Wed 23 May, 2007 Filed under: Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »On my commute to and from Cambridge, there’s a field where I’m sure they’re just cultivating thistles. Whole big dead straight rows across the entire field, and the only things apparently growing in those fields are 2-foot-high thistles.
It looks very odd.
New Environments
Posted: Mon 21 May, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Getting Organised, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »Over the weekend – and on other occasions recently – I’ve been taking Hound out for walks around the place we’ll be moving to, and I have to say, it’s going to be a massive difference from either Bracknell or Attleborough.
The new place is really quite rural – we’ve got fields within 50 yards of the front and side of the house – and we’re precisely one house from the end of the village. When I take Hound out round the fields, there’s no traffic noise, and hardly any noise of other people. All you get to hear, really, are the occasional tractor, a lot of birdsong, and the occasional peacock. (There’s a colony of them somewhere in the village) When we’re walking, we usually get to see pheasants, partridges, loads of rabbits, and various less interesting birds. On occasion we’ve already seen jays, hares, and a green woodpecker.
In some ways it seems amazing to me, the way I’ve changed in the last couple of years, having lived in Manchester for five years, then moving to a far smaller town (Bracknell) at the start of 2006, then to a market town (Attleborough) at the end of ’06, and now to a village that has – at most – 100 houses all told. And all in the space of eighteen months.
Truth be told, I don’t mind at all. Manchester was great for the life I had at the time, particularly being able to go to concerts pretty much when I wanted, with no real need for planning, and for general access to stuff, it was never somewhere I could see myself staying long-term. If I’m honest, I think even five years was a bit of a shock, and went past the expected timescale for being there. As for Bracknell and Attleborough, they’ve both always been more ‘stepping stones’ than places to make into a home. Again, I didn’t mind – I’ve never had a problem with being a bit transient, and knowing I was going to be moving on again.
In fact, in some ways the new place is more of a change for me than anywhere else has been. It’s more permanent – it’s the first place I’ve owned (well, joing owner, but you know what I mean) as opposed to renting, and because of that it means I don’t have to see things any more in six-month installments. We’re making massive changes to the place, and that’s good – it’s a lot of work at the moment, (as my back is telling me this morning) but we’re definitely getting there – and in the long run, it’ll be worth it.
As always, there’s still a long way to go. But with the current changes, things feel like they’re beginning to settle into the way they should be, and into the way I/we want them to.
And of course, with walks like that all round us, and the expanse of garden in the new place, there’s no way Hound’s going to object, either.
Invisible
Posted: Mon 14 May, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Driving, Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 5 Comments »One thing I did notice this weekend while driving, thanks to the shitty weather, was how certain cars just disappear in particular types of weather. (And yes, yes, I know, every time I do a long drive, I do a post about driving standards – or lack of them – afterwards. Live with it) With road conditions the way they were – heavy rain, lots of water on the road surface – there was a massive amount of spray in the air, and I realised that white and silver cars just disappear in those conditions.
On the way up, I saw the aftermath of an accident where a silver-grey car (unsurprisingly, a BMW) had obviously been driving with no lights on, and another car (amusingly, another BMW) had come up behind it at speed, and just stoved in the entire back end of the car, run straight into it. I’ve no idea about injuries – by the time I went past, it was only the police directing drivers round the wreckage- but it was impressive.
On the return journey, in the really heavy rain and spray, I was amazed by how many people still didn’t have even sidelights on, let alone headlights and/or foglights. Yes, OK, it was daylight – in theory – so lights didn’t need to be on, but the visibility was so bad, it was worth having lights on so you could be seen, even if they weren’t necessary to see. And the majority of the cars with no lights on were – you guessed it – white or silver. And they just disappeared. You be going along, knowing there was something ahead because of the spray, but you couldn’t see the car at all.
At some points, I even used the fog lights – although I had enough of a memory-span to remember they were on, and turn them off when visibility improved again- because the range you could see dropped right down to about 30 feet max. at some points. And still drivers didn’t turn their lights on. Bizarre. I swear I’ll never understand the mentality of some drivers.
Driving Progress
Posted: Mon 14 May, 2007 Filed under: Driving, Getting Organised, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Happily, the drives to and from Manchester this weekend were smooth and problem free, despite the weather being utterly fucking horrible both times. On the way up it was fairly wet, with some semi-heavy rain in parts, but it wasn’t too bad. On the way home, though, it was nothing short of torrential. In fact, it only really cleared up when I got to Cambridge.
Both journeys also involved small traffic jams caused by accidents in the foul weather, (I’m going to write a bit about that later on) and caused delays of about ten to fifteen minutes each time. But I managed both journeys in under four hours. Going up, that four hours was from Cambridge, because I’d chosen the wrong time to try and set off, so it took three quarters of an hour just to get out of the city (which normally takes about ten minutes), but then it was just a smooth journey.
The return leg was the full Manchester – Attleborough run, which TomTom reckoned would be 3hrs 50, and pretty much was – it was four hours dead once I’d stopped off and topped up the car at the end of the journey, which made for pretty good speed.
What did interest/please me, though, was my own endurance, and how I’ve got used to driving without really noticing it. Eighteen months ago, when I’d just passed the test, and we went up to Manchester, I could only manage two hours of driving before seriously needing to take a break. If I’d driven any longer than that, I would’ve been dangerous – that’s only happened once, where I’ve driven too far, and been utterly knackered by the end, to the point that once we did swap over, I just went to sleep in the car for an hour, which is something I do about once every five years.
This weekend, though, I was able to do a four hour stint without a break, and with no serious issues at all. OK, by the time I got home last night I was tired, and had a mental blank for about ten/fifteen minutes when I got in, but that was it, no really lingering effects at all. More importantly, my right foot – which, on that first long journey, ended up being cripplingly painful for the entire weekend- was absolutely fine, no pain at all, even when we then went out for a (roughly) four or five mile walk on the Saturday.
Really, I just find it interesting to see how much I’ve got used to driving – particularly since buying the Mondeo. I’m comfortable in it, which makes a lot of difference when it comes to these things, but also I just don’t find that type of drive stressful at all. Yeah, sure, the roads are full of tosspots (usually driving BMWs) but they don’t worry me at all. I kind of just take tosspotism into consideration.
In fact, I might actually be coming to like driving – which was something I really didn’t see happening, back when I passed. Progress indeed.
Away
Posted: Fri 11 May, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »I’m away this weekend, seeing friends up in Manchester. Which means that right about now (ah, the joys of being able to post-date these posts!) I should be somewhere on the M6, and I’ll be back home on Sunday.
By the time I get back, I’ll have gone over the 3,000 mile ‘guarantee’ period from when I bought the car, which is pretty good going too.
In the meantime, there’ll be a couple of updates on here, but just one or two per day – yes, I’ve been very sad and organised…
Motorway Energy
Posted: Wed 2 May, 2007 Filed under: Green, Travel 2 Comments »There’s an interesting idea talked about here, creating a windfarm in the middle of a motorway (sorry, freeway) that uses the draught created by passing cars to generate power.
In this instance (in New Jersey, USA) they reckon it could power a light railway, thus enabling more commuters to get to work in a greener fashion.
Dropping Calls – Redux
Posted: Thu 19 April, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Travel 1 Comment »About a month ago, I wrote about people who can’t cope with calls being dropped while on the train.
There’s one person who regularly gets the same train as me on the way home, and she drives me barmy.
Every bloody day, she’ll spend the journey talking on her mobile (fair enough, doesn’t bother me), but every bloody day when we get to Thetford, and the Land of No Coverage, she loses the call, and looks in absolute amazement at her phone, as if its never happened before.
You just have to wonder whether she thinks the cellular network will upgrade itself if she just keeps on trying…
One Month On
Posted: Wed 18 April, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Having looked back, I’ve just noted that actually, I’ve had the new car for just over a month now. Scary, the way time flies when you’re having fun.
Oh, and it’s now done just under 2,000 miles – not bad, all things considered.
I’m still pleased with the car (despite the additional scratch) and so far it’s performed well on all the things that’ve been required of it. Over the next couple of months there’s going to be a couple more long journeys, as well as a whole bundle of shorter ones between current place and new one, and all that guff.
But yes, so far it’s turned out to be a pretty good buy. (Just wait- now I’ve said that, things’ll start falling off the sodding thing)
Stupidity 1 : Border Crossings
Posted: Mon 16 April, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Travel Leave a comment »via Cryptogram, I came across Tom Kyte’s story of a border crossing – it sounds like it should be from a script of “Some Mothers Do Have Them”.
Brilliant. Funny. And just slightly scary…
Five Year Plan : 10% done
Posted: Thu 5 April, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Introspective, Own Business, Photography, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »So, back on November 5th I turned 35, and started what I semi-laughingly refer to as a five-year plan. I’m only working on it year-to-year, and doing it mainly through non-new-year ‘resolutions’ – although they might as well be a to-do list, really. In my head I hold what is pretty much the full development curve of what to do and when, but really I’m working on it on that year-at-a-time basis. It makes for something vaguely resembling a sane approach to the entire thing.
The final goal? Making enough money that I can make my own choices, and do my own things, rather than being tied to a job for the next thirty years. (Twenty-five, by the end of the project). There’s some other stuff in there as well, but that’s the bottom line. One of the things about me is that I have loads of ideas that could, should, or might make money, but for various reasons over the years I’ve failed to follow them through and see how they did in reality instead of theory. Since last November 5th, I’ve been working on making them into reality, and seeing how I do. With most of them, the initial costs are pretty low (and intentionally so) so that if any of the ideas do take off, it won’t take a lot to knock them into profitability.
We’re now six months in, so I thought I’d jot out a little progress statement, just to see where things are going…
- Photography
Get a Macro Lens- Get a Wide-Angle Lens
Finish the Portfolio website– completed, and with extra uploads when necessary- Sell/Publish some stuff – working on it
- Join a local club
Get a decent flash– Done, a Speedlite 580EX- New : Start aiming to get work and projects – Started, and ongoing
- Writing
- Finish at least one piece of writing – working on it
- When a piece is finished submit it to the right people
- Just see how things go
- Write more on d4d™? Maybe.
- Work / Websites
- Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head – working on it, and getting some of them sorted
- Work (as always) on smaller sites, and do as many as possible – so far, three new sites launched, as well as the photography portfolio
Sort out permanent job for the first part of ’07 while we’re house-buying etc.– All done, and no need to get that nasty ‘proper’ job after all- Redesign d4d™? It’s about time…
Merge lots of hosting accounts into one reseller account, and onto one server– done- New : Start getting better at invoicing for work done – in progress, and all being done a lot more efficiently
- New : Develop some ideas in partnership with others, and see how they do
- Education
Sign up with Open University– initially for a refresher course, and work from there- Look at an official course/qualification in Photography?
- Other
Restart the Archery once we’ve moved– booked, but not attended yetComplete the move to Norfolk– all done- New :
Buy a car– git it insured, all that.
So actually, the first six months has been very productive. All the foundations have been laid now, the website hosting agreements rationalised and merged where it’s necessary or beneficial to do so. In fact, just doing that and merging most of them into one reseller account has saved me £150 over the year, which is pretty impressive. In addition to that, the invoices I sent out at the end of last year amounted to a few hundred quid, which was also surprising – they were all for small amounts, so I hadn’t really thought about the way it all added up. Actually, though, D4D™ is going to be moving off that reseller server, though – it needs a space of its own, and it’s just taking up too much of the space and bandwidth available on the reseller server, so it’s going to go back to being a seperate entity. And that actually makes some sense, keeping D4D™ seperate from business sites etc.
In addition, I’ve been able to average at getting one solid site out per month, as well as a couple of smaller basic designs and/or amendments to existing stuff. There’s a whole lot of new stuff and new connections coming through at the moment, and that’s all going to start coming together over the next six month period, I think. That’s the plan, anyway. There’s some initial steps that need to be taken in order to make sure that everything has the potential and stability to get through (sorry, I’m sounding enigmatic, and while that’s not really the intention, at the moment it’s certainly the necessity.)
Photographically, now that the portfolio site is completed, and being regularly updated, I can start getting in touch with publishers, agencies and the like. I’m also considering doing image-library stuff, but it’s about making sure the photos get the best use made of them. I’ve also got a few projects in mind that have a lot of potential commercially as well – although the main thing about them is that they’re things that interest me – otherwise, if I’m honest, there’d be no chance of me going through with them. And of course there’s going to be lots of pictures of Hound over the summer…
Oh, and let’s not forget, within that six months we’ve also moved to Norfolk, bought a house, gone through all the bureaucratic nightmares of that little endeavour, and come through it intact. Over the next 10%, we’ll be moving in, and sorting the new place out too.
It’s been a good start. There’s still a long way to go – 4½years, to be exact, but the initial steps have been promising. Long-term I’ve no idea whether my goals and plans are realistic or not – but this way well, there’s no way I’ll be able to say “I wish I’d tried xxx” – because I’m trying it all. As time progresses, I’ll get ruthless, and if the ideas aren’t working out, they’ll be culled. Darwinian business – the good ones survive, the bad ones fall by the wayside.
Accompaniment
Posted: Fri 30 March, 2007 Filed under: Music, Travel 2 Comments »On the subject of the drive in this morning, I have to say (yet again) that for me, there’s just nothing like driving along with The The’s Mind Bomb album on the stereo.
I just love it.
Trying to Die
Posted: Fri 30 March, 2007 Filed under: Driving, MOTB, Travel Leave a comment »This morning, due to a work-related fuck-up of epic proportions (which is too depressing and dull to bother going into) I had to drive in to work, in order to get here for 7.30. And for the first time, I really thought I was going to see some idiot die on the roads.
No, not me. And no-one because of me.
I was driving along the single-carriageway section of the A11 around Elveden, which was pretty foggy. On a ‘clear’ section of road – bearing in mind the visibility of maybe a hundred feet at best, although I’d probably reckon on maybe half that – I saw in the mirror the idiot in a Subaru coming belting past the three cars behind me.
Looking forwards, I could see the headlights of a truck coming the other way…
Dickhead did manage to survive – just – because in a distinctly anti-MOTB moment, I slowed down, so he could cut in ahead of me, without splattering himself across the front of a 40-odd ton artic. Of course, in the next gap, he decided to do the same thing again – no idea of mortality, or just how close he’d actually come to being a statistic.
Mileage
Posted: Sun 25 March, 2007 Filed under: Travel 1 Comment »In the ten days since picking up the car, we’ve already put 1,500 miles on the damn thing. Impressive, particularly as the warranty from the sellers is for 3,000 miles, or 3 months.
Ah well, all part of the fun. Mind you, I don’t think I’ve got any other big journeys in the diary for at least a couple of weeks now…
Dropping Calls
Posted: Thu 22 March, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Travel, Weirdness 2 Comments »Sometimes you just have to wonder how people have managed to live so long.
It’s amazing to me, the number of people who still seem amazed that calls to/from their mobile phones drop out when they’re on the train. Every time the call drops, they take the phone away from their face, and look at it in amazement, as if it’s never happened to them before. Ever. Not even ten seconds ago.
And even then, they don’t get the concept. They call back, start talking again, and bong, the call drops. You’re in an area of shit reception, you moron – it won’t change in the space of ten seconds. (OK, in fairness, it might – but the odds aren’t good, let’s be honest) As always, it’s not rocket science – but it might as well be.
Even more traumatic, of course, is when they call back, and the phone won’t connect. It has no reception, you moron – look at the little icon with the radio mast, it’s got no fucking bars on it! But that’s a horrific concept straight out of the eighteenth century, isn’t it. No mobile coverage? Where are we, the moon? No. Norfolk. The county that motorways forgot.
Mondeo Man.
Posted: Wed 21 March, 2007 Filed under: Getting Organised, Sweary, Travel 2 Comments »The car? Oh, that’s fine. The drive both to and from Devon was fine, and there’ve been no problems with it at all.
Well – that’s not strictly true, but the two problems we did have were so minor, it’s hardly worth commenting on. But all the same, I will…
First, the power-socket (AKA Cigarette lighter, except neither of us smokes, so it’s just a power socket) in the centre console was knackered, and I didn’t realise. Obviously it’s one of those things, and the car’s three years old, so hey ho. But we didn’t realise until the TomTom satnav started bleating that its battery was low, once we’d done a six hour drive with it plugged in to the power socket. Oops.
Still, it’s been fixed now (a quick visit to the local Ford dealership, and one fuse later, all sorted) so that should be fine. That little bit may eventually need replacing, if it keeps on coming adrift (it was loose as well as no power going to it) but for now it should be fine. Even better, it somehow didn’t cost me anything – not quite sure how that worked out, but hey ho, I won’t complain.
Second, well, we got stuck on a single-track road in Devon, and I had to reverse the car back down to the nearest passing place. (the other driver was in a Ford Ka, and obviously far more local, but wasn’t going to move one fucking jot) Unused to the length of the car, I got it wrong, so the nearside rear wheel arch and bumper now have a bloody great scrape along them where I interfaced the car with a wall.
I haven’t yet decided whether I’m going to bother getting it repaired. I probably should (and the brother-in-law – well, brother-in-semi-law – is going to recommend it, I know) but it’s not serious, and I can’t be chuffed. Besides, it was always going to happen at some point, so *shrug*, I dunno yet what I’ll do. It’s not serious, and its not affecting anything, so pah.
But little things like that aside, it’s proving (so far) to be a good buy. And we’ve already put nearly 1,000 miles on the poor bloody thing.
Early return
Posted: Wed 21 March, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Travel 1 Comment »So yes, as some observant people will have noted, we’re already back in civilisation. Well, Norfolk, anyway.
The break was OK, but did get curtailed early for a couple of reasons. First of those was bloody horrible weather, which shows no real signs of abating. Secondly, the place we’d picked was OK, but just not what we’d expected. By a long way. So rather than coming home more stressed and pissed off than we already were, we elected to leave early, and come home, having a holiday at home instead. Expensive option, but well, better than enduring a week that one or both of us wasn’t enjoying.
So that’s what we did.
Blackhawk
Posted: Sat 17 March, 2007 Filed under: Travel 4 Comments »Bizarre sight on the train journey home the other night – a bloody great Sikorsky Blackhawk helicopter, just hovering over the woods.
I know that we go through STANTA, (The Stanford Training Area) as well as having both RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath around – which also goes to explain the number of F15s flitting about the place and flying over the house, as well as Chinook helicopters and the like, but all the same, I think it was still the first time I’d seen a Blackhawk in use.
*shrug* I know, it’s of absolutely no interest to anyone else, but well, I thought it was cool. *grin*
Away
Posted: Fri 16 March, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »From today, we’re away for a week.
First of all, though, we get to go and pick up the new (well, new to me/us) car, now it’s also been insured.
Once it’s been collected, come back home, pack up the car, and then leave to go down to Devon. Oh, on the way, we also have to pick up a new supply of happy pills for Hound.
Anyway, while we’re away, D4D™ will still have updates, as I’ve been writing a bundle of posts just for you, my beloved readers. They’re larger/longer than usual, so that should keep up the wordcount too.
Enjoy.
Insured
Posted: Thu 15 March, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Getting Organised, Travel 3 Comments »I have to say, I’m really rather impressed with Tesco’s car insurance.
First of all, because I’ve been a named driver on Herself’s policy, it worked in a way similar to a no-claims bonus (which I don’t have) and meant that my insurance was shedloads cheaper with them than with anyone else I looked at.
Second, I needed to get a copy/confirmation of the policy over to the place I bought the car before I go and collect it, so that they can sort out the six month’s road tax, and all tht guff. And while they initially managed to get the relevant fax number wrong (twice) once they’d got the number right, everything went through fine.
And yesterday all the paperwork came through, after having organised it on Saturday. So I’ll have that with me as well when I go to pick the thing up tomorrow.
Now maybe this is just the norm for insurance companies, I don’t know. But for now, well, I’m impressed.
Crosswords
Posted: Tue 13 March, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Travel, Weirdness 2 Comments »When I’m travelling on the train, at least once a week I sit near a person who does various crosswords. They’re nothing heavily brain-straining (Actually, that’s just my estimation of the things – I’m sure other people do find them more difficult) as we’re talking about the crosswords in magazines like ‘Take A Break’, ‘Bella’, or whatever.
Anyway, what makes me think every time is that this person gets out a crossword-solving thing (Kind of like this device) where they type out the letters they’ve got, and it returns a list of possible words. And they do this for a good three-quarters of the crossword.
Now maybe this is just me, but where’s the fun in that? If you’re going to do the crossword, fine, do the crossword. If you’re at the end, and completely stumped, fine, use something that’s supplemental to your own vocabulary, brain and/or literacy level.
But somehow using something like that device to answer all the questions, rather than figuring them out for yourself, well I don’t know, but to me that just seems like cheating. But maybe that’s just me, I don’t know.
Rep-tastic
Posted: Sat 10 March, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Travel 4 Comments »Well, there we go. I’m now a car owner.
Talk about practical – it’s a Ford Mondeo, 2 litre turbo diesel, estate. All the standard bells and whistle, 56,000 miles. I know, it’s a pretty standard car, nothing glamourous, but at the end of the day, I want it to be able to get me from A-B repeatedly for the next couple of years. This thing should do that, and then some.
And I got it for the princely sum of £6,950, including 6 month’s road tax, 12 month’s MOT, and two new rear tyres.
I pick it up on Friday, and then we go off on holiday down to Devon in it. That should let us know if there’s anything wrong with it!
Cars and Stuff
Posted: Sat 10 March, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »I promise, I absolutely promise I’m not going to become a car bore. Promise.
But anyway – for today, before I go off and most likely buy something, a few things.
- Thanks to those who made comments yesterday – the feedback was much appreciated
- No, I won’t buy a BMW. I doubt I ever will. Don’t like them, and don’t like a large majority of the people who do drive them.
- No, I most likely won’t buy anything French, Jann. Although I do love the Laguna 2 Estate (sorry, Sports Tourer) it’s currently way outside my practical budget
- I’m taking all the costs into consideration, believe me. Anything I’ve prospectively looked at, I’ve been checking what the insurance will cost, and wading through vehicle licensing bollocks in order to attempt to figure out what road tax it’d be likely liable for
- I’m working to a budget and payment method – it’s one that works for me, and means I’m not screwed financially, nor lumped in to 18% APR finance deals for 3 years, or whatever. Which, to me, sounds like the best option
- The type of car I’m looking at is disturbingly practical. Gone are the days when a little two-seater coupe or whatever would’ve been of any interest at all. (Actually, if I’m honest, they were never really there in the first place. But well, you get the drift)
- Unfortunately, all the cars I’d really like to have are currently way outside the budget. Also, well, it’s a first car, so getting something I’d really like is unfeasible.
- Thank God for being a named driver on a Tesco car insurance policy already – it’s saved me a hefty whack compared to most other places
And that’s it for now.
Ponky
Posted: Fri 9 March, 2007 Filed under: Health, Travel 2 Comments »I don’t know what someone (I suspect it was the guy opposite me, but I’m not certain) on the train had been eating last night, but fuck me dead, they smelled nasty.
This particular someone had farts that could stun a donkey at 50 paces – they smelled like something that’d crawled out of the colon of a long-dead dung-eating mammoth. Truly, truly unpleasant.
Of course, they may have been improved slightly by the addition of warm air in the train carriage, and the fact it’s a pretty much sealed environment. But bloody hell, it was unpleasant.
Automotive
Posted: Fri 9 March, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Travel 6 Comments »So, this coming weekend it looks like I’m finally going to become the owner of a car. How scary is that?
Up ’til now I’ve been able to resist such a thing. Firstly because I didn’t drive (’til eighteen months ago, give or take) and then because, well, I still didn’t need one of my own. If I did need one of my own for anything (like going away for the weekend, say) I hired one.
But now, it’s (hopefully) coming close to the time when we move to the new place, out in the arse-end of nowhere. No, not Norfolk – we’re there already. But this is more ‘arse-end of nowhere, even for Norfolk’, which is a pretty scary concept in itself.
But that also means that yes, it’s time to buy a car. So I’m off to see and test-drive a couple I’ve got my eye on over the weekend, and we’ll see what happens. In the meantime, well, be afraid. Be very afraid…
Changing Lanes
Posted: Thu 8 March, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism, Driving, Travel 4 Comments »I know, I know, every time I rent a car, I end up having a rant about bad drivers.
And this time is no different, you’ll be pleased to know.
But for once it’s not about those tossers who sit in the middle lane and never fucking move.
No, in this case it’s all based around roadworks. Now I suspect the roadworks is something that most people could rant about – particularly the fact that you can go past entire sets of roadworks and not see one single bloody person is working, or even visible.
But what gets me – unsurprisingly – is certain people’s driving ability. Or lack of.
I just don’t understand the mind-set that comes up when one lane is closed – and signposted as such from a good two miles off – and people still drive right to where the lane is coned off before trying to pull in to the still-open lane. It screws up the traffic flow, and leads to those self-same tailbacks that they’ve just cruised past. Cunts. But of course, that’s not their problem, so long as they’ve managed to get past all the other drivers.
Mind you, it’s bloody funny when some smeghead scrote BMW driver who’s gone roaring past everyone is then blocked entry by all those same drivers…
Ooops
Posted: Wed 7 March, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Now this is enough to make any man cry. Well, that and snigger smugly too. Schadenfreude (and Month of the Bastard) is alive and well, after all.
A beautiful Bugatti Veyron crashed into a tree. Personally, I couldn’t ever spend £800,000 on a car – but all the same, the owner of it must be bloody livid right about now.
Catching Up
Posted: Wed 7 March, 2007 Filed under: Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I had quite a strange experience.
Many moons ago (Many, many, many moons ago) I worked at a hotel in Rugby, Warwickshire. Every so often, I’ve thought about getting back in touch with the people who’d been there, or alternatively just going back for a revisit. (Yes, I’ve thought about revisiting other ex-workpaces as well, but haven’t previously mentioned this one)
Anyway, when I got to the hotel I was staying at on Saturday, I leafed through a magazine that was in the room about good food and drink in the area – and in there, the general manager of the Rugby hotel has a column. It turned out that he was working for another hotel in the area – well, about 40 minutes away from where I was.
So on the Sunday morning, I drove over, on the off-chance. I figured why not, I’m in the area, blah blah.
Anyway, it turned out that he’d left just before Christmas – but then his father, who had been the owner of the one in Rugby, walked in instead. He owned this place too, and so his son had been the general manager. But we caught up, and talked for about half an hour all told.
It was a really pleasant time, and was something I’m glad I did. But all the same, weirder than weird!
Hire and Return
Posted: Mon 5 March, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Travel Leave a comment »I took the rented Peugeot 407 back today – it’s been a good weekend, and all told that car had about 600 miles added to it, which it handled on one tank of diesel – not bad at all.
While I’ve enjoyed driving it, and it’s made my life a lot easier over the weekend, I have to say that I don’t think I’d actually buy one. I’m not even completely sure of why, which is annoying – it’s been a fun drive, and it’s a fantastic car, but something just didn’t click somehow. I wish I understood myself sometimes.
When I was at the office on Friday, I asked what they’d decided to let me play with this time, to which the answer was “Well, you’ve had the Laguna already, so we decided to give you this one instead.”
Anyway, when I took it back, they asked how it’d been. I said it’d been great fun, and was an enjoyable car to drive. At which point the guy smiled, and said “Yeah, we thought you’d like that one“.
I’ve been going there too often, obviously, but that really is some good customer service…
Hiring
Posted: Sat 3 March, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Travel Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I’m going to be up in Nottinghamshire, and as we haven’t yet got round to buying Car 2 , I’m hiring one again.
No idea what I’ll get, but I’m sure it’ll be fun. And considering that I’ll be covering at least 350-400 miles, well, at least it’ll be in someone else’s car… Heh.
Update, once I’d collected the car : Ha! It’s a Peugeot 407. The thing’s fuckin’ gorgeous. It’s going to be a fun weekend.
Charming
Posted: Fri 23 February, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism, Travel 2 Comments »It’s not just me who can be charmless, of course.
On the train last night, the two people opposite me were talking about whether they’d make their connecting train from Norwich. Now, the XDA phone has it’s uses, and the mini-version of IE is one of them. So, being in a fairly mellow mood, I checked the arrival time of the current train, and when their connecting one would go.
And I let them know that they’d be OK, and would have about ten minutes between trains.
The response? Absolutely chuff all. Not a word of thanks, just a nod of the head in acknowledgement of the information.
Tossers. And then people wonder why I end up being rude to them…
Beep
Posted: Sat 17 February, 2007 Filed under: Travel 2 Comments »Of all the really annoying things when it comes to public transport (and trains in particular) I still think mobile phones have to pretty much at the top of the list. I don’t mind the devices themselves, and I don’t (in general) have a problem with people taking/making calls on them. I mean obviously there’s exceptions to that (super-loud ringtones going off repeatedly, and constant ‘I’m on the train’ calls, like it’s some newly invented miracle)
Yesterday, though, I was reminded of one of the things I really, really loathe. Key-press sounds. Particularly loud ones, but any phone that’s set to fucking beep every time you press a key – that’ll drive me crackers every time.
And it’ll definitely send me crackers when the owner of said phone is sending a text message, and doesn’t even have predictive text on.
BeepBeepBeep BeepBeep BeepBeepBeep BeepBeep
That’s what it takes just to type “fuck”. (and probably some others as well, but it’s definitely ‘Fuck’) As it is, I’ve no idea what the woman beside me was typing, but it went on for what seemed like hours. Whatever, it took her from Cambridge to Ely to send what looked like one message. Thankfully, she got off at Ely. Otherwise there might’ve been some truly gory murder on the 17.12…
Unlit
Posted: Sat 10 February, 2007 Filed under: Driving, Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 1 Comment »Driving in to work yesterday, I was absolutely amazed by the number of idiots out there who hadn’t even turned on their headlights.
OK, this was primarily close to Cambridge, so it was around 8:30 or so in the morning. But all the same, it was pretty foggy yesterday morning, and the visibility was pretty shit. So it’s still surprising (for me, anyway) when I see other drivers – and particularly those in light-coloured cars that blend into the fog even more) without lights or foglights on. I know that I’ve written about this before – and quite recently but it still shocks/surprises/scares me when I see it happening.
Of course, the even scarier thing in Cambridge is the cyclists. Yesterday morning, not one of them had any lights on at all. Again, still cold, grey, misty/foggy, yet they all seem to believe that they’re either indestructible, or that the dozy little twadgers have some god-given right of way so that they won’t suffer any collisions or accidents.
Yes, yet again, I find myself worried by other road users. I suspect that this may become a standard mantra.
Chicken
Posted: Fri 9 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Travel 2 Comments »So, did I go to Brixton last night to see Massive Attack?
No, I didn’t.
I can’t deny it, I chickened out. Instead, I just ended up going home, and curling up with a laptop and a website that needed some work. Not the most productive, and definitely not as much fun as seeing Massive Attack would’ve almost certainly been.
But I gave up. I looked at the road maps, and the traffic reports, then at where I needed to go, and combined it with my usual cynical attitude towards people, and figured I couldn’t be arsed.
Mind you, looking at the roads this morning, and the fact there were three or four abandoned (i.e. had slid/skidded off the road) cars this morning on the bit I’d have been driving on at roughly 1am, I don’t think I was being too stupid to figure it was just not worth the hassle.
Automatic
Posted: Thu 8 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Travel 3 Comments »Oh God, this is going to be interesting.
While I’m still undecided about London tonight, I’ve collected the car I’d booked from Avis for the journey. Well, I’d booked it, and it’s paid for, so bugger it, might as well use it.
And what’ve they given me? An automatic. Never driven one before. Ever. So – this should be fun!
Daylight
Posted: Wed 7 February, 2007 Filed under: Depression, Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »Over the last couple of weeks, its been really noticeable the way the days are getting longer, and brighter again.
I’m no longer travelling to work in darkness, and when I leave the office to come home there’s still some light in the sky – and that’s only going to keep on improving over the next few months. I’m enjoying the daily commute more now, although sometimes it can be very distracting, being able to see outside, the fields, the woods, and the animals that populate them.
I particularly love seeing the unexpected – a flash of movement in the peripheral vision can become a fox or deer when I focus on it.
But really it’s just having more sunlight that lifts my mood, and makes me happier.
Wind and Trains
Posted: Thu 18 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »Getting home was – hmmm – interesting. Yeah, that’s a good word.
There are no trains running to Attleborough – none at all. Quite how One is expecting people to get home, I’ve no fucking idea. But I’d lay money that all the customer services people (all two of them) fuck off home before 5pm tonight.
Luckily, I’d opted to leave early so that I could be certain of being back in time for the appointment with the IFA. So I left the office at half two, got to the station, discovered that basically there’s no trains going at all – reduced service my arse, bunch of cunts.
Then I got lucky for a second time. I called Avis, who I’ve dealt with before, and got the last car that they had available. Ten minutes later, I was at their office, hiring a Ford Focus. Nowt special, but it suited my needs. I got home just after four.
There may have been a bit of speeding. I blame a tailwind.
SatNav – Initial Thoughts
Posted: Sat 6 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Reviews(ish), Travel 2 Comments »Well, in general I have to say that I’m pretty impressed with the TomTom. It’s got some idiosyncracies -including, at one point, directing me through a couple of very dodgy little side-roads in order to go round a church one way when there’s a perfectly good A-road going round it the other way – but it’s successfully navigated us to the three houses we were looking at today.
The set-up of the entire thing was dead easy too, and so far I’ve been impressed with the entire thing. Well, except for those little routing idiosyncracies, of course.
Anyway, that’s the first day of proper use for it, so I’ll write more about it once we’ve got used to it (and used it) a fair bit more.
SatNav
Posted: Sat 6 January, 2007 Filed under: Geeky, Travel 2 Comments »Over the weekend, swearwords may be issued. (I know, that’s hardly a shocking revelation)
We’ve invested in a TomTom 710 Sat-Nav for the car. Lots of people we know have recommended TomTom products, so we’ll give it a thrash, see how things work out.
Oh, and that RRP of £350? Nope, didn’t pay anywhere even close to that – Amazon had it on for £100 less so we got it there instead.
As we get used to it, I’m sure a review will follow…
Price Rise
Posted: Wed 3 January, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, General, Travel Leave a comment »Ah, the joys of a New Year, the time when a train operating company’s thoughts turn to a) profit, and b) gouging customers. And thus, yesterday’s objectionable New Year price increases – always above inflation, usually for no good reason, and most certainly not indicative of any improvements in the service.
However, you can tell that I’m now out in the sticks.
My month’s season ticket for travel between Norwich and Cambridge has gone up from £240 to £250. For once, that’s “only” a 5% increase.
Last year, when I was in Berkshire, it went up by 8%, so a “mere” 5% increase isn’t too bad at all, although obviously it’d be better to not have a price rise at all…
Visiting the US?
Posted: Tue 2 January, 2007 Filed under: Security, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »In the Telegraph, there’s a very interesting story about what the USA does when you book a flight to visit them. The short answer? It’s probably better to pay cash
By using a credit card to book a flight, passengers face having other transactions on the card inspected by the American authorities. Providing an email address to an airline could also lead to scrutiny of other messages sent or received on that account.
Quite honestly, with attitudes like that, what on earth makes the US expect that people would still want to visit them?
Londinium
Posted: Sun 24 December, 2006 Filed under: Own Business, Reviews(ish), Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Well, we’re back home. Knackered, but it was worth it.
I’ll write more about the St Martins Lane Hotel on Where’s Good (and add a link here when I’ve got round to it – ooh look, there it is) but well, while it was OK, I can honestly say I wasn’t overly impressed. It’s OK – I’ve certainly stayed in far worse – but the overall impression is one that can be summarised as “Trying way too hard”.
Sound of Music, on the other hand, was bloody marvellous. I must be one of the very few people in the world who has never seen the film, so I didn’t really know what to expect – yes, I’ve seen clips, and know most of the songs, but I’d not seen the show in its entirety.
Anyway, it was absolutely great. On a techie front, the set is stunning – the way scenery changes and moves is brilliant. The rest of it, cast etc. is great too – well worth the price of the tickets, and definitely something worth seeing.
Yodel-eh-i-ooooooo
Posted: Sat 23 December, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Festering Season, Travel 1 Comment »Yes, that’s right. We’re away in London tonight, seeing – and I don’t believe I’m saying this – Sound of Music at the Palladium. You just couldn’t make it up.
Oh, and then staying overnight at the über-swanky St. Martin’s Lane Hotel. As you can see, I’m being paid way too much.
Reviews of both will be provided when we return.
Brrrrrrr
Posted: Thu 21 December, 2006 Filed under: Travel 1 Comment »Sometimes I think that the world of logic has completely deserted us – and in particular, it’s deserted train companies.
This morning in Norfolk, it was bloody freezing. BBC Weather reckoned it was going to be around -4°C overnight. The maximum temperature for today? 1°C.
So of course this morning it made absolute sense to be on a train for the cold air to be blasting out, and the heating to be turned off (or, possibly, broken)
Frost and Fog
Posted: Wed 20 December, 2006 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 3 Comments »Last night, I did the drive back from Poole to Attleborough. I left at 5, which was already a bad move – it took an hour just to get to the M27. Absolute nightmare.
Anyway, I got home at 9.30 in the end – so once things got going, I actually made exceptionally good time – the Laguna was an absolute joy to drive, and had some decent speed, which made the journey a lot easier as well.
What was surprising, though, even to a cynic such as myself, was how many drivers seemed to forget that
- they had fog lights on
- they had full-beam headlights on
and on a couple of memorable occasions - that they really should put their lights on once they’d left a services area.
Considering that the weather was foul – although I definitely now have no problems driving in fog – it was amazing to me just how many fucking idiots there are on the roads. I know it shouldn’t, but it did/does.
This morning it was the same thing – the entire drive was pretty much blanketed in fog, and in some areas ice/frost as well – and yet there were people (mainly in white cars/vans, which didn’t help) who didn’t even have lights on, so their vehicles just disappeared into the fog. Very scary.
All went well though, and that’s another set of ticks in the “Done That” list – but jesus, people scare me.
Drive
Posted: Tue 19 December, 2006 Filed under: General, Travel Leave a comment »Well, the drive down to Poole actually went really smoothly. Met up with colleague in Cambridge at 9.30, and we were in Poole by midnight.
Of course, we then got lost, and couldn’t find the hotel.
So we actually got in to the hotel at 1am. Knackered.
Another of those things where I can sit back and say “Yeah, I did that, and managed it just fine”.
The training course went well too (well, the first day of it, anyway) and things seem like they’re coming together at last. Then a very pleasant evening in a fantastic little restaurant – a whole seven tables, in what could almost have been the front room of a house – that I’d just come across while wandering (sounds familiar from my Amsterdam trip last year!)
Of course, there’s now the drive back tonight….
Chilly
Posted: Mon 11 December, 2006 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Travel 6 Comments »Look, dear, if you’re really cold enough to be wearing a big long fluffy scarf, and Ugg® boots, don’t you think it might help to not be wearing a top that’s leaving your belly and both shoulders bare, and no jacket?
After all, how shall I put this delicately, it does make you look like a bit of a fuckwit.
First Class?
Posted: Fri 8 December, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »Can someone tell me, just what is the point of buying a first class ticket when you’re on a regional train?
I can understand it (up to a point) on the big long cross-country jobs – I used to take advantage of club class, first voyager, or whatever the feck they called it when I was travelling reguarly between Manchester and Reading, because most of the time it was the only way to guarantee getting a seat. Even better, it was normally a seat that wasn’t dead opposite a squealing child, or some mad git trying to talk to everyone. And you make sure you take advantage of the free snacky things and so on that come as part of the “benefits” of ‘first class’ when you have to pay that much extra, so it kind of works out. (well, it doesn’t, but if you get enough freebies off them, you can almost convince yourself it’s worth paying double the price – and having a seat for four+ hours is a definite advantage over standing for the entire journey.)
But when it comes to the small regional trains, the only difference between first and standard class is that you’re in a different spot on the train. There’s absolutely no extra benefit. Well, maybe again you get a seat – but on all the services I’ve used of late (whether it’s London – Bracknell, Cambridge-London, or Cambridge-Attleborough) have all had free “normal” seats.
So what is the point of the first class bit on these little local services? Other than, of course, to fleece egotistical twats who think it makes them special, and to fill the coffers of yet another train company? </cynicism>
Moving – Stage 2 – Redux
Posted: Mon 4 December, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel 2 Comments »Oh jesus, I was right, it was a really long day. We left at 6:30am, got to Bracknell for about half eleven – although that did include a break for breakfast. There’d been an accident on the M11, and the M25 was solid from Junction 25 to 16, so we thought “Sod that” and went via the North Circular Road instead, which (while longer) at least meant we were moving.
Having picked up the animals – both of whom were fine – we drove back, leaving at about 12:30, and getting home by 3pm. In fact, the journey back was incredibly smooth.
They’re now both settling in – Hound is cool, thinks the new place is great, but Psycho Cat is seriously unimpressed, both with the journey, and with having to stay Indoors now he’s in the new place. There’s abso-bloody-lutely no chance that he’s going to stay indoors for the recommended two weeks…
Well, not unless we also want to visit the vets, with a severely beaten-up Hound…
Moving – Stage 2
Posted: Mon 4 December, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »In an effort to reduce our stress levels slightly, we’ve had Hound and Psycho Cat in kennels while we move. Life would’ve been irredeemably more complex if we’d also had to keep an eye on those two while removals men traipsed in and out all day, as well as the presence of the Outlaws, etc.
However, the down side of this idea is that now we’ve done the main bit of the move, and all is ensconced in the new place, today we’re driving back down to Wokingham to pick up the animals, and then have two-and-a-half-ish hours (being optimistic) coming back with both of them in the car.
It’s going to be a looong day…
Moving
Posted: Fri 1 December, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Travel 1 Comment »If I were you, I wouldn’t expect too much from D4D™ this weekend – we’re moving from Berkshire to Norfolk, and while we’ve got a a removals company doing most of the hard work (well, they’re moving it, but we’ve packed it all up) we’re still going to be doing a lot of moving stuff about and getting it all in the right places.
And for some reason I very much doubt that Herself will see connecting broadband as being a priority…
In Progress
Posted: Thu 30 November, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »Well, according to Herself, the removals men turned up by 8:30 this morning.
It’s now nearly 12 noon, and they’re just leaving.
It’s all happening, and tomorrow we’ll be unloading all our shit into a new house…
Life Tech
Posted: Thu 30 November, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Geeky, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »As I’m coming to the close of the “working away from home” period, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the stuff I’ve been doing, and the way I’ve been living over the last couple of months. While I can’t deny that in many ways I’ve been depressed and demotivated, I know I’ve also been able to get a lot of things done that I wasn’t expecting, or wasn’t necessarily planning on doing. Oh yeah, and I’ve been able to get started on some plans for the next 12 months as well, which is always a good thing, considering that it’s bloody December tomorrow.
Anyway, of all the stuff I’ve been thinking about, there’s been two – OK, probably three, but only two are ‘recent’ additions – things that’ve made my life one hell of a lot easier than it could have been in other circumstances.
Of course, being a geek, they’re both/all techie things, but really that shouldn’t come as any shock.
First, and this is the one that’s not ‘recent’ is just a mobile phone. It’s meant I’ve been able to keep in touch with Herself, as well as sorting out a lot of stuff that would have been far, far harder (and far more expensive) in the days before mobile communications.
Second, and probably the saddest, would be the little USB Freeview dongle thingy. While it was initially shit, and is/was utterly crap with the supplied mini-aerial, once it was connected to a proper “real” aerial, it’s been bloody marvellous. In honesty, I’ve watched some unutterable shite, but again it’s also kept me up to date with the things I do want to watch, and keep up to date. (Which reminds me, Torchwood is improving in leaps and bounds – and it was pretty good to start with!)
And the top thing that’s made my life a lot easier? The new laptop that I got just before starting this job. No, it’s not cutting edge, but it’s a fairly decent spec, and it’s been great over the last two months. The previous one, while it had a shit-hot battery life, was pretty slow, and would have been next to useless for a lot of the things that I’ve been doing – even the simple stuff, like watching a DVD, or the USB Freeview dongle.
All very sad, but it’s some of the things you never really think about unless you’re in the same situation.
Headlong
Posted: Wed 29 November, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »The big move is trundling along nicely.
Sky have confirmed (twice) that they’ll be doing the install at the new place on the day we arrive, which is a bonus – considering I was initially told that there were no available slots on that day, or for the forseeable future in the new location.
BT are still insisting that the switchover from Bracknell to Attleborough will happen with no problems, and will all go ahead on Friday. I’m still unconvinced – but who knows, they may decide to be impressive for once.
Removals people arrive in Bracknell at (roughly) 9am tomorrow, get everything loaded, then trundle up to Norfolk, and then it all gets unloaded on Friday morning.
It’s going to be weird – but great – to be back to going home in the evening!
Mondays
Posted: Tue 28 November, 2006 Filed under: Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »I wish I knew why Monday nights at the moment were such a complete pain for me.
For some reason I just seem to invariably have a shitty night’s sleep (well, lack of sleep) on a Monday – I don’t know if it’s the results of the day, or of the travel, or just being in a new bed (although I’ve been in the same room at the B&B for the last month or so, so that shouldn’t be relevant really) but Mondays are always bloody awful.
Packed
Posted: Sun 26 November, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Currently, the living room is a maze of boxes. So’s the kitchen. So’s the office.
Why is it that as soon as you pack everything into boxes, it all seems to expand to fill all available space? You wonder how you’ve managed to accumulate so much crap – and yet when it all comes out at the other end, it’ll all revert to it’s normal space allocation.
Bizarre.
But it does have the side-benefit of making me realise (again) how much stuff we have accumulated, while also working as a bit of a rationalisation exercise (again) to reduce those levels of stuff, or at least re-allocate them off to
- a local charity shop
- recycling places
- a skip
or - the local tip, as a last resort
Diet Coke
Posted: Sat 25 November, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Travel 2 Comments »Why is it that the following phrase has so many problems being understood?
A Diet Coke, please, with no ice or lemon
Over the last two months, I’ve been eating in restaurants four nights out of seven. Some places have become regular haunts, some have been one-offs, some are just irregular “when I feel like it”s. But the commonality with all of them is that it’s incredibly rare to get what I ask for.
- Drink with ice, but no lemon. Common
- Drink with no ice, but lemon. Equally common
- Drink with both. Worryingly common
- Drink with neither – i.e. what I ordered. Depressingly rare
I just don’t get what the issue is with that order…
Rental Car – Again
Posted: Thu 23 November, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »I’ve just gone through the process of sorting out a rental car for next weekend, which should make life a lot easier.
Basically it means that on the Thursday, I can pick up the car, sort out stuff in Cambridge, then I either go up to Norfolk on the Thursday night, or I can get up to the new house directly on the Friday morning.
The bizarre bit, though, is that it is only costing me about £5 more to rent the car Thursday – Monday than it is to rent it Thursday – Friday. My brain can’t quite process the logic of that one, I’m afraid…
All Quiet
Posted: Sat 18 November, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »Over the weekend, all is likely to be pretty quiet here.
Because of the utter insanity of our timescales and lifestyles, we’re going to be doing a lot of the packing up, and general sorting out of the house this weekend. Yes, there’s still another weekend between now and Moving Day, but in that one we’re up in Birmingham at the Good Food Show, and – um – doing something else that I can’t quite remember right now.
But anyway, it means that this weekend we have various people round to help with shifting stuff about, getting it into boxes, slinging unwanted/broken stuff into a skip we’ve hired, and generally just getting ready all the stuff that we can get ready.
Hound is away in kennels for the weekend – she’ll enjoy it, and there’s no point in stressing her out while there’s loads of people around and moving stuff. She’ll be freaked out enough when she comes back to find her house mainly boxed up and ready to go.
Obviously there’s some bits that’ll wait ’til the removals people arrive on 30th November, and they’ll do all that, but all the fun stuff like books, DVDs, CDs, techie crap, desks, non-essential furniture and the like is all getting done this weekend.
I’ll be glad to get back to work on Monday for a rest!
Sorted
Posted: Tue 14 November, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel 1 Comment »So yes, Saturday was successful. We’ve now got a place lined up, and it fulfils all the requirements on cost, location, availability, size, location, the lot.
It feels like we’re getting somewhere – and about time too.
As an extra side benefit, it means I’ve only got three weeks more of using B&Bs all week. And while it’s been an OK way to do things, being able to go home in the evening is going to be a really good thing. Yay, and indeed Woo.
Bleh
Posted: Mon 13 November, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Travel Leave a comment »Ah, you can tell it’s Monday 13th.
It’s 8am, and I’m still at home. By now I’m supposed to be in London, and pretty much on my way to Kings Cross in order to get my arse on the Cambridge train.
Only I feel like crap, having developed a cold and cough, and slept through the alarms. And now, well, I’m going to be late.
Still, it means the trains won’t be as crowded, with luck…
House Hunting
Posted: Sat 11 November, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »So today we’re going to be up in Norfolk, looking for a place to live. Well, to rent initially, and once we’re done with that and moved, we’ll be looking for somewhere to buy.
Currently, Herself has organised no less than six places for us to look at, so we should have something sorted by the end of the day, with luck.
It’s all coming together at last!
Schadenfreude
Posted: Thu 9 November, 2006 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »I can’t deny it, there is something very satisfying about being a witness on some occasions. This morning’s walk to work proved to be one of those occasions.
At one of the sets of traffic lights, I got to see one cyclist ignore a red-light, go belting into the junction, only to collide with another cyclist who was also ignoring the red-light on their section of junction. Neither cyclist had checked to see if there was any other road-users, and both had just assumed that they had right of way.
Neither was hurt in the clash, but I think it brightened up the day of several drivers and pedestrians…
Long Weekend
Posted: Wed 8 November, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Photography, Travel 1 Comment »So, a brief list about the weekend…
- Happy Hound because of
- Quiet nights
- Quiet village
- No fireworks
- Daily visits to Dunster beach, at least an hour each time
- Visit to Tarr Steps on Saturday
- Daily walks in the local park, which also had a stream
- Happy Us because of
- Happy Hound (see above)
- Being less than 300 yards from the village pub
- Fantastic weather
- Nice cottage through English Country Cottages
- Peace and Quiet
- Being able to turn off for a few days
And that just about sums it up.
Oh, and lots of photos that I need to do something about at some point soon.
Back from the Wilderness
Posted: Tue 7 November, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »Well, we’re back, following a really good weekend.
Hound had a fantastic time, involving at least two hours on the beach every day, and Saturday also involved a large amount of time at Tarr Steps, which she loved.
And now of course we’re back in the war-zone formerly known as Bracknell. Well, I was back for one night, and now I’m off to Cambridge for the week. Last night was back to normal for the war-zone, with Hound on sedatives for most of the evening.
We so need to move…
Away
Posted: Fri 3 November, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »Things are likely to be quiet this weekend. We’ve gone off down to the wilds of Somerset. Primarily this is to keep Hound away from the worst ravages of fireworks (ravages? Barrages? Either works) by being in the arse-end of nowhere.
Personally I still quite like fireworks, although I’m sure some of that’s also down to being born on Fireworks Night, but at the same time I do hate the way they seem to be everywhere for about a month either side of November Fifth now, and I hate the way they affect Hound.
I would still like to see fireworks completely banned from sale to the public – and with some heavy fines to anywhere that did sell them. However, that doesn’t mean I want to see fireworks banned. I just want to see them only used in properly organised public events, rather than being set off by people in their back gardens without any real safety or consideration of others. I’d like to see public displays, but not displays by the public, if that makes sense.
Anyway, we’ll be back on Monday, and while there’s almost certainly going to be some updates over the weekend, it’s going to be quieter than usual.
Have a good one.
Tidal
Posted: Thu 2 November, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »You know, it really comes to something when you find yourself checking the tide times for the time you’re away, so that you know whether you can take the Hound to the beach at decent times…
Constant Motion
Posted: Wed 1 November, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »Tonight is my last night this week in Cambridge. Tomorrow I’ll be back in Bracknell, then we’ve got three nights in Somerset, then I’m back for one night in Bracknell, then back to Cambridge.
Next week I’m in Cambridge Tuesday to Thursday night, then I’m either in Cambridge or Norwich (depending on what we decide) on Friday and Saturday, and then probably back in Bracknell for one night before coming back to Cambridge for another week.
In short, over the next fortnight we’re running round like blue-arsed flies…
Awake
Posted: Tue 31 October, 2006 Filed under: Health, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Why is it that even whem I’m utterly knackered, having been awake since 5.30 this morning that my body wakes up again at about 9.30pm ?
It’s now half midnight, and I’m not even vaguely interested in going to sleep.
Grrrrr….
The Return Drive
Posted: Mon 30 October, 2006 Filed under: Getting Organised, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »Well, the return drive from Bracknell to Cambridge went OK in the end.
It didn’t start off well, as at 6 in the morning I couldn’t start the fucking car, and ended up having to call out the breakdown people. Turned out that the steering lock had engaged, and locked the key barrel of the ignition too, although it only took the AA man a few minutes of wiggling the wheel and swearing before it all worked. Fucking thing.
Finally left Bracknell at around 6:45, and got in to Cambridge for about 9, 9:15 – so not too bad at all, considering the M4 and M25 were starting to get busy. If I’d started off much later, I think the entire thing would’ve been a nightmare.
Would I do it again? No, probably not. It was more expensive than the train, more hassle (bizarrely) and saved me about 20 minutes all told. So no, not really worth doing. But it’s the first time I’ve been able to rent a car since passing the test, and it answered a lot of questions for me, so in that context the entire thing was a success. It means I know now that if I need to, I can rent a car easily – and in the next month or so it’s likely that I’ll need to do so at least once in order to go and check out rental places in Norfolk (far easier to do from Cambridge than from Bracknell) and so on, so yeah, it’s good to know that I can do it with no problems.
Mind you, I’m fucking knackered now…
Rental Car
Posted: Fri 27 October, 2006 Filed under: Getting Organised, Travel 1 Comment »This weekend, I’ve gone for a different plan to the usual one for travelling to and from Cambridge. It’s kind of an experiment, although even if it works out OK this weekend, it’s not one I’m going to be making use of a lot, I suspect.
Anyway, rather than travelling home (and then back here on Monday) by train, this weekend I’ve rented a car from Avis. Purportedly it’s going to be a Renault Megane, but that’ll only be confirmed when I get there later today.
Bizarrely, it’s actually costing me slightly less to rent a car for the weekend, than it does for the train ticket (£59, vs. £65) but that’s not including the extra for bringing down the insurance excess to something sane. However, the real test is going to be down to time and convenience. At the moment, the train journey takes me roughly 2½ hours door-to-door – and a maximum so far of 3 hours, including a delay because a bunch of little bastards all set off the emergency alarms in four carriages. The AA‘s route planner reckons it’ll take me two hours by road, but that also includes the M25 Orbital Car Park on a Friday afternoon (although I’ll be leaving Cambridge at about 2pm, so *touches wood* I shouldn’t hit the M25 at a bad time) so we’ll see.
Of course, there’s also the journey back on Monday morning – and I suspect that may rapidly become nightmarish. Partly because the thing I failed to include in my calculations of when to do this little experiment is that this week is half-term, which means that Monday is likely to have a lot of people travelling back to university/college/school/whatever. Still, I’ll be leaving at some ungodly hour of the day, so I don’t know what it’ll be like – and I’ve already warned work I may be horribly late on Monday, so *shrug*
Whatever happens, it’ll be fun, I’m sure.
Getting Off
Posted: Thu 26 October, 2006 Filed under: Getting Organised, Travel, Weirdness 1 Comment »I was reading Diamond Geezer’s post about how people get on trains this morning, and remembered something I’d been going to write about a while back.
Basically it’s quite similar to DG’s post, but I still find it fascinating that when it comes to trains and platforms, so many people
- Just get to the entrance to the platform, and simply stop, making no effort to move down the platform, and having no consideration for other people. (I know, it’s London, and I really shouldn’t hold out any hope of consideration for others, but there we go – sometimes I’m an optimist)
- Don’t know where the exit they’ll be using is at their destination station.
I find this particularly odd on the train from Waterloo to Bracknell, where tons of people just cram on to the train and find a space anywhere – then you see the same people walking all the way along the platform when they’ve reached their destination. To a bunch of people so obsessed with wasted time, delays, and anything that interrupts their little routines, I find this really weird.
When I’m using that train (or in fact any train where I know the route, the destination, and where I’m likely to end up) I try and get a seat at the place where the exit is closest when I get off the train. When I was going from Reading to Manchester (or vice versa, actually) I knew it was best to be at the front of the train, because at each end it’s the final stop, so the front is going to be closest to the exit. Conversely, when I’m going from London to Cambridge I stay at the back of the train, because that’s where the exit will be at Cambridge.
Maybe it’s just something far too logical for most people, I don’t know. It just seems weird to be in such a hurry all the time (in the example of London commuters/people) yet not be organised about things at the same time, so that you don’t have to keep on fucking about walking the length of a platform.
Sounding the Alarm – Additional
Posted: Wed 25 October, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Thoughts, Travel 2 Comments »Following on from here, Gert made a comment saying, effectively, that I could use my phone as an alarm.
And yes, I could – and indeed I do while I’m away- but I prefer to have a stand-alone device to work purely as an alarm clock. And there’s one very good reason for this, which I re-discovered this morning. It’s pretty simple, but still very relevant.
If the phone is on silent (and even more so if it’s on ‘silent mode, but not vibrate’) then the alarm effectively doesn’t go off. It’s muted.
And I have a habit of muting my phone while either a) at work or b) in a restaurant, and then forgetting it’s been muted, so the alarm doesn’t work the following morning.
And that is why I don’t use my phone a lot as an alarm. Because I’m a fuckin’ numpty.
Travelodge and Watchdog
Posted: Wed 25 October, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, General, Travel 1 Comment »One thing that interested me last night was to catch BBC’s Watchdog programme, which featured Travelodge being shitepots. Nothing new there – but I didn’t know about this particular policy of Travelodge’s.
Turns out that despite offering a “guaranteed” room when you book with them, they have a policy of overbooking, so you could easily find yourself still without a room. They call this a “last man standing” policy – although it might as well be called a “last man sleeps in his car” policy. Of course, they can then say they’ve got a room at another Travelodge, but if you head off there (assuming that you can, have a car, and all that jazz) and someone else gets there before you, you can still not have a room.
And even better, because you can’t get a room at the original place, you don’t check in. Which means that the devious scumbags then get to charge you a full room rate for not turning up!
Now that is briliant. In a sleazy scumbag way, of course, but it’s still brilliant.
Bag vs. Bike
Posted: Tue 24 October, 2006 Filed under: Travel Leave a comment »One thing I discovered last night – or rather, that went from “theory” to “practice” in one brief swing – was this :
The Big Yellow Bastard Bag provides a very rapid method for decelerating a bike that someone is riding towards me instead of around me. This deceleration method is very effective, and works nicely on the bike, although not as well on the rider of the bike, who carried on moving forwards for a short, but decisive, distance in a very neat parabola.
I’ll leave the rest to your imaginations…
Defecation’s what you need (if you wanna be a Record Breaker)
Posted: Mon 23 October, 2006 Filed under: Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »
I have to say, there’s something ineffably gross about this story of a man who has been smearing shit over train carriages in the South-East.
So far he’s done this on about thirty trains, which has cost about £60,000 in cleaning costs and damages.
Really it just makes you wonder how some peoples minds work, doesn’t it?
Watery
Posted: Fri 13 October, 2006 Filed under: Thoughts, Travel 4 Comments »Every morning this week, the hotel I’ve been using has done scrambled eggs. It’s another buffet-style breakfast thing, similar to last week’s Travelodge effort, but with some kind of attempt at being better than a Travelodge, of course. After all, it was £30 more per night – there must have been something to define it as better. (Although I have to admit to being slightly stumped as to what that improved index of value perception might’ve been. Lack of rattly air-conditioning, perhaps?)
Anyway, scrambled eggs are – in general – fine. But this place somehow managed to make them watery. And I just don’t know how. I’ve made scrambled eggs on many occasions, and on at least a couple of those occasions I’ve made a complete bollocks of them. Burned is possible. Squash-balls of scrambled egg is possible. Bits of shell is possible, if unlikely. Undercooked is possible, if even more unlikely than the bits of shell.
But watery? Nope, never managed that. These were cooked OK, there was no possibility of under-cookage (is that a word? You know you’ve been involved in marketing departments for too long when you find you’re making up words, or not sure whether it’s a real word or not. Impactful, I ask you. Feh. Still, that’s a rant for another day) and I’ve never used water in the production of scrambled eggs, so where the chuff did it all come from?
Is there some kind of catering invention that’s like ‘instant’ scrambled eggs – just add water? Is that even remotely feasible?
Friday 13th
Posted: Fri 13 October, 2006 Filed under: Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 1 Comment »Friday 13th? And I’m supposed to be travelling?
Oh dear…
Away Day
Posted: Tue 10 October, 2006 Filed under: D4D™, Travel Leave a comment »I’m away from the office (and indeed any form of useful connectivity) all day today, so don’t expect any more updates now.
I’m sure I’ll write more tonight when I get back to the land of the living. ‘Til then, though, D4D™ will go quiet.
Seeya tomorrow.
Wrong Trains
Posted: Mon 9 October, 2006 Filed under: Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »I’m sure I’ve written about this before, but I have to confess that I still find it amusing when people get on entirely the wrong train.
This morning it happened to two people in the same carriage as me. The service was a non-stop train from Kings Cross to Cambridge. It said so on the platform boards that list all the trains, times, platforms and destinations. It said so on the individual platform displays that tell you where the train currently at the platform is due to go, and when. It said so on the tannoy system on the train, before the doors closed and it pulled off (giving idiots time to get off the train first)
But no, still these two numpties had got on the wrong train. One of them wasn’t even going anywhere near Cambridge. The other thought it was a stopping service.
Really, how dim do you have to be to make that kind of mistake?
Back to Normality 2
Posted: Sat 7 October, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Travel 1 Comment »Oh yeah, another thing about coming back at weekends – Hound thinks it means I have to make up four days of playing with her.
I keep on getting nagged to go outside and throw tennis balls for her. Strangely, while I’m away, apparently she doesn’t get Herself to throw balls at all. That’s my job, according to Hound.
Back to Normality
Posted: Sat 7 October, 2006 Filed under: Geeky, Getting Organised, Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »One of the geekier things that’s currently good about coming home is the ability to get back to a wireless network. (Obviously there’s a lot of other good things about coming home from the week at work, but I’m on a geeky thought process here)
It’s been very odd over the last couple of weeks, not being available online after work, and not having the connectivity I’m used to. (God, this is sounding more pathetic by the minute, isn’t it?) Admittedly not entirely a bad thing, as it’s given me the opportunity to catch up on some letter writing and so on, but all the same, very odd to not be able to mooch about online the way I’m used to.
Still, that’ll change from here, as I’m getting somewhere very posh in the coming week, and then the B&B I’ll be staying in will be letting me use their network, so all’s going to be cool on that score.
It just means I’ll need to be slightly more disciplined, and still keep up with writing letters etc. (and all the other writing projects I’m thinking about) as well as working on the websites and so on.
Desperation
Posted: Thu 5 October, 2006 Filed under: Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »Another thing I watched on TV on Tuesday was a documentary on Channel Four about mail-order brides from Russia. It was an interesting thing, but dear God, I hve to say that I felt the blokes were pretty desperate.
And yes, I know, there’s similarities between my feelings about it and the stuff in the previous post. But for me, I just don’t really get the entire “must get married” thing, let alone being so determined to get married – to anyone – that you’ll go to another country in order to find someone/anyone. Mind you, I also simply don’t get how someone could go through that route, trying to find a bride in Russia, and not make any effort to learn anything in Russian at all. That, to me, is just fuckin’ weird, and shows some major levels of selfishness, and – rudeness. If I were to be in that situation (and I truly can’t see that I ever would be) I would at least make some effort to learn. But then, I suppose the difference is that I would want to have conversation with a partner – and conversation, or companionship, didn’t seem to be the primary goal for the men in the documentary.
Just bizarre, really. Well, to my mind anyway.
Travelodge 2
Posted: Wed 4 October, 2006 Filed under: Cynicism, Travel Leave a comment »Well, the advised fix for the air-conditioning actually did work – and it’s amazing just how much difference it makes, not having that bloody thing rattling in my ears all evening.
The place is still a money-gouging extortionate sinkhole, though.
But at least it’s not rattling.
Next Week
Posted: Wed 4 October, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »So yes, after the Travelodge mistake, I’ve booked somewhere very different for next week. But at least it has broadband and wireless across the entire place. And my commute/walk looks like it’ll be about five minutes at most between hotel and office.
Mind you, they’ve got a fucking horrible website, and the booking procedure’s been a nightmare. Like I’m going to send my credit card details (particularly when they ask for card number, expiry date, and the security number off the back) through email. Dullards.
But still, it should be pretty swanky for a week’s stay. I love this expenses lark…
Mind you, following that I’m going to be back in the B&B I started with, and I’ve managed to wangle access to their wireless network now (Not something they offer as standard, it has to be said) so that makes it more likely I’ll stay there for the rest of the duration. They’re not the greatest place, but it does fulfil all the requirements – the only one it really missed out on was the internet connectivity, so now that’s sorted too, it should be fine.
The Travelodge Rant or Mistakes I have made (Part One)
Posted: Tue 3 October, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Reviews(ish), Travel 1 Comment »Well, I can honestly say that booking myself into the Travelodge this week was a mistake. An epic mistake, in fact. OK, I can write a lot of it off as “a learning experience”, which roughly translates to “Things I intend to only ever do once in my life”.
Put it this way – I now understand why they charge you upfront for the rooms. If they left it ’til the end of the stay, they’d be losing money.
Obviously, I understand that the entire thing is a business, and thus is there to make a profit. I’ve been in the hospitality business, and have been strongly considering going back into it in the long run. But that’s a post for another time. However, running a profitable business doesn’t – well, doesn’t to me, anyway – mean gouging every available penny from one’s customers. It also doesn’t mean “annoy the shit out of them with stupid unnecessary stuff”. Oh, and it does mean “get into at least the 20th century”.
Bear in mind, this Travelodge that I’m using is brand new. It’s been built less than four years – and I think, only in the last couple of years. But because of the “gouge as much as possible from customers” ethos, they still try to charge a minimum of 50p per minute for phone calls. And more if they can get away with it. Calling a local-rate 0845 number that should be dead cheap? 50p a minute please. Calling an 0800 (or whatever the bloody code is now) freephone number? 50p per minute, please. Yes, even freephone calls are charged. So internet access is chargeable, and at rates that would’ve been extortionate five years ago, let alone now.
I just don’t understand the ethos. If you let that kind of stuff go through, it’s not costing you anything as a business – and in fact it’s going to increase your business, as people will stay there because it’s allowing through the internet access without gouging you for it. But oh no, instead they’ll charge through the nose for things that people usually now take for granted.
In the same context, I don’t really get the “charge extra for breakfast” ethos either. The place I stayed last week was a flat rate, including breakfast (although still no internet access – can’t have everything) and still cost less than the Travelodge’s room-only rate.
Oh, and when you get to the room, you have to use your key-card to turn on the power, lights etc. And it turns on the bloody air-conditioning too. Not that I normally object to air-con. But in October? Is it really necessary? It’s incredibly loud too – and you can’t turn the fucking thing off. I spoke to reception about it, and got told “No, it’s not something you can turn off. It’s automatic”. (It turns out that there is a way to do it – if you have a spare card, or piece of plastic, or use the cardboard wallet the keycard comes in, fold it in half, and slot that down the left-hand side of the slot. Apparently, this turns on power etc. without activating the air-con. I’ll be trying it tonight, you can be sure) The only other way to turn it off is to pull out the keycard from the power box. Which, of course, means you don’t have any power or light. That’s OK when you want to sleep, but not during the evening!
Ah yes, power. For a hotel only built in the last five years (at most) you’d think they’d take things like power-points into consideration, wouldn’t you? But oh no, Travelodge don’t want to waste power costs on nasty things like customers. So there’s precisely one available power socket in the room. Nothing near the beds, it’s over on the desk. How tight-fisted can you get? Of course, you’re not going to want to , I don’t know, charge up a mobile phone overnight. Or use a laptop. Well, you might – but you can only do one at a time. And you won’t be able to charge anything overnight because – yes! – you’ve pulled the power card, so that the fucking air-conditioning doesn’t keep you awake!
In short, Travelodges are probably fine for a one-night stay, as just somewhere to crash and burn. For a prolonged stay, they’re just fucking horrible – and will try to charge for absolutely everything. Needless to say, I won’t be staying at Travelodge next week…
TV through USB
Posted: Tue 3 October, 2006 Filed under: Geeky, Travel 3 Comments »Well, the USB Freeview thing works – just not very well. I’m not sure quite what the problem is: it finds channels, but not many of them, and then has real problems with displaying them. I think it shows maybe one frame in three, and just doesn’t seem able to update fast enough.
So I don’t know what the issue is with it, and it may just be that where I am is in an area of dodgy reception – but it could also be that the bundled software is ropy as fuck. I don’t know yet.
More investigation needed, I think, but in the meantime, well, I’ll just have to use the standard channels.
Yellow
Posted: Mon 2 October, 2006 Filed under: Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »Oh yeah, I was going to write a bit about my holdall, wasn’t I? (Well, I said I would, although that doesn’t necessarily mean it was going to happen)
The holdall I use is probably one of the best buys I ever made. It’s made by Caterpillar (whose boots I swear by), and is bright yellow ripstop nylon. Nothing fancy, not even a solid base or anything. But it’s tough as old boots, and has now seen me through eleven years of use. It’s fantastic. It’s been used along the way for laundry, general luggage, up to two weeks away from home, as well as being a general carrier of crap, clothing, CDs, DVDs, shopping, and anything else that can get stuffed through its zip.
But the best use for it at the moment is – to be blunt – scaring the shit out of people in London. Particularly on escalators. So many people flinch when they see this big yellow bag coming into their eyeline as I belt down the left-hand side of the escalator, it’s really funny. Mind you, I’d probably flinch at the same sight, if I didn’t know it was my bag…
Wheels
Posted: Mon 2 October, 2006 Filed under: Sweary, Thoughts, Travel 2 Comments »Following today’s journey, I’m now fully convinced that everyone who uses a small wheeled suitcase should be summarily executed.
I don’t mind (as much) with the big “two weeks in Spain” type wheeled suitcases, but the littler ones that seem to be deemed “carry-on” are just a pain in the arse. Or ankles. People just seem to drag them without any thought or consideration, and definitely don’t realise that they’re suddenly three times as long as they normally are, and thus can’t squeeze through the same gaps in the crowd.
I find now that if someone does hit me with their poxy little pull-along toy, a hefty kick seems to get the message across. (Kicking the pull-along, not the person, I should point out) But all the same, summary execution seems to be a better bet. After all, if it’s only that size, the lazy fuckers can carry the poxy things. I’m carrying a week’s worth of clothing etc. in a holdall (of which more later, I suspect) and have no problem. In fact, I suspect that half the problem with these pull-along things is that actually the solid handle, base, and wheels actually make the things so heavy that it is hard to carry them. Whereas a backpack, or simple carry-on satchel type thing would be fine.
Evenings
Posted: Thu 28 September, 2006 Filed under: Geeky, Travel 5 Comments »One thing I think I’ve done more this week than I have in ages (and get your minds out of the gutter – pervs) is watching – or at least listening to – some really bad TV. The two B&Bs I’ve stayed in this week – the first one was already booked solid for Wednesday night, so I was in another one for that night – have both had the strangest set-ups of TV I’ve ever come across, with the channels all messed up (Channel 1 was actually Channel 4, Channel 2 was ITV, Channel 3 was BBC2 and Channel 4 was BBC1 – in both places!) and only four channels anyway. Channel 5? Not a chance.
So I’ve ended up having on some background noise, and it’s been bloody awful TV. Things like Channel 4’s “How Clean Is Your House” , and whatever the thing is with the poo-inspecting obsessive fuckwad twat Gillian McKeith, for example. It’s amazing just how much really really bad TV can be made to fit into four channels.
Anyway, I’ve ended up making a decision, and ordering myself a little USB TV/Freeview receiver which should at least allow me to a) get more channels and b) record them if I want to. I’ve just had the email from Amazon telling me they’ve sent it out, so I should be able to install that on the laptop this weekend, and then we’ll see how it works out next week. Should be interesting, if nothing else.
Gideon
Posted: Thu 28 September, 2006 Filed under: Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 1 Comment »What on earth makes the Gideon people believe that people in hotels or B&Bs will want a bible to look through?
It’s something that’s always befuddled me, and the point is just getting reinforced yet again this week. I’ve never wanted to read a bible while in a hotel. OK, come to that, I’ve never really wanted to read a bible.
But if someone’s enough of a believer to want to read a bible in a hotel room, surely they’re more likely to have brought their own one with them?
Or am I missing something?
Trains
Posted: Mon 25 September, 2006 Filed under: Travel, Weirdness Leave a comment »Amazingly, the journey to Cambridge today went really smoothly. Although I have to say, I was right when my now-ex-employers moved to the London office, and I really truly couldn’t handle the commuter train to get in to London before 9am. OK, getting on where I do helps, as there’s normally still seating, but then halfway through the journey it’s still jam-packed like the Black Hole of Calcutta. Fuckin’ horrible.
All the same, though, it was OK. I got to Waterloo, onto Tubes that were busy but nowhere near full, in to Kings Cross, and then up to Cambridge. All on time, (in fact I even got an earlier train to Cambridge, and thus arrived at 9.30 instead of the planned 10.00am) and no problems at all.
No-one is more surprised than I.
Travelling again
Posted: Thu 21 September, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Travel, Work-related 1 Comment »Depressingly, I need to go into London tomorrow in order to finalise a couple of things with work. Bit of a bummer, although it does mean I can go and have a drink with the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) who’s become a good friend over the last year, as it’s his last day with the company too.
It’s actually been quite surprising to me just how much my stress levels and so on have dropped this week since sorting out leaving the company. This week has been almost a holiday, particularly in comparison to the last couple of months. I’m still getting up at the same time and so on – no point getting in to bad habits when I’m only doing this for a week, after all – and I’ve still been doing a lot of work, but at the same time, wow, it’s just nice to not be stressed or annoyed by dealing with idiots.
And yes, having Hound around has (in general) been quite relaxing too. OK, she can be a barky pain in the arse on occasion, but for the most part this week she seems to have quite enjoyed having me around as well, and she’s been calm, sleeping under the desk or in the corner of the office, and been very little trouble at all.
Organised
Posted: Mon 18 September, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »Ye Gods, this domestic lark can be a bit worrying sometimes.
I’ve just booked a holiday week for us. In March next year. That’s just scary, planning stuff for six months time.
I know, maybe one day I’ll grow up enough that planning six months ahead doesn’t faze me, but for now, well, live with it.
Bureaucracy
Posted: Sat 16 September, 2006 Filed under: Getting Organised, Sweary, Travel Leave a comment »Because of the work I’ll be doing in Cambridge, and the fact I’m going to be there from Monday-Friday for at least the next three to six months, I was looking at joining the library in Cambridge, rather than lugging books around all the time. Saves weight, time, and money. So I check out the page on the local authority’s website about the requirements for joining the library. OK, groovy.
You can join the library at any age if you:
- are a permanent resident of Cambridgeshire
- work or study in Cambridgeshire
- are visiting Cambridgeshire
Great, I’ll be working there, so that’s cool – and I fill in the online form to get it sorted before I get up there. Blah blah, Section Two “For those not living permanently in Cambridgeshire” – so is this address the same as my permanent one, or for where I’ll be staying? Not much point being the latter, as it’s only a B&B…
Get a response back from the library service…
Dear [Lyle]
Thank you for your application to join Cambridgeshire Libraries
I regret to inform you that we cannot process your request owing to the fact that you are not resident in Cambridgeshire or one of our adjoining counties
I refer you to our web page “can anyone join the library?”
No shit, that’s why I filled in the fucking section called “for those not living permanently in Cambridgeshire”.
Needless to say, I’ve sent back a snotty reply explaining this. Should be fun to see the response…
Apologetic
Posted: Fri 15 September, 2006 Filed under: Charm School, Customer Services, General, Travel 1 Comment »One thing that brightened my day this week – I got a full and unreserved apology from the council for the utter fuckup that was made of the recruitment process.
I sent off a letter last Friday to the chief executive of the council, and copied in the head of HR, and the guy I’d been dealing with at the agency. The reply came back within the week, and was exceptionally apologetic, explaining that the guy who had caused the problem has been off sick, and has been replaced by a new interim Head of IT, and that the entire process is now under investigation within the council.
So it sounds like Mr Sensitive is in for a major kicking at the hands of the HR department, and frankly it won’t be anything he doesn’t deserve. And because of the letter, the agency are now going to send an invoice to the council for their recruitment costs, as they got the right person, and got the job offered, but then everything at the council turned to ratshit. Which ain’t the agency’s problem, and as such they might as well see whether they can get anything out of it.
So, a bollocking, an apology, and an agency that’s very happy with me even though I’m not currently working for them. Can’t be bad!
Autumn Fair
Posted: Mon 4 September, 2006 Filed under: Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography, Travel Leave a comment »Well, the Autumn Fair yesterday was pretty good. Knackering, and the usual NEC extortionate food charges etc., but still pretty good.
Herself was able to get some of the stuff she wanted, as well as a whole bundle of ideas, and I was able to sound out a few photography companies, and see what kind of stuff they were looking for. Additionally, I was able to check out a few others and realise the ones I didn’t want to work for, which can be just as useful when all’s said and done.
And the main thing I really need to do? (And should’ve thought of a long time ago, but never did) Build a website for my stuff, and market it from there. Doh!
Drivers
Posted: Sat 2 September, 2006 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »(Note : In this post, I aim to use Anna’s Swearword of the day – Pisswit)
Yesterday, due to the vagaries of a) trains and b) traffic (having had the interview, I was waiting for Herself to drive down and meet me in Cambridge after her interview in Norwich finished) I had plenty of time to sit around and just people-watch. It’s something I haven’t had a great deal of time for of late (well, except on the commuter trains, of course) so I had a thoroughly fun, and very lazy, day following my interview, and just spent a couple of hours at Cambridge station, watching people, and drivers, and the weirdness that is the Cambridge station forecourt.
It’s really hard to describe the area at the front of the station. One thing’s for certain though – it was designed by a total pisswit who had no idea about human nature. First it can only be approached by one road, which is fairly narrow. This funnels all the traffic for the station : bikes, cars, taxis, buses, and delivery vehicles – all of it down one narrow road. Brilliant.
At the end of the road, there’s a lay-by for the buses, and a turning circle. Actually, it’s almost two turning circles, because while there’s one for traffic that’s still moving, there’s also a wider area up a small kerb, where drivers are supposed to pick-up/drop-off people. Human nature being what it is, though, the driver’s mindset is that you’re supposed to never drive over a kerb. So most drivers don’t use the proper pick-up/drop-off points, and instead stop in the turning circle. (There’s also an offshoot road where there’s a few short-term parking spaces – but to get to that you’ve got to a) go up the kerb still, and b) it’s a pain in the arse, as half the time it’s obscured by open-top tourist buses). Oh yeah, and there’s a stopping spot for the tourist buses, opposite the layby for all the normal buses.
So all it takes is for drivers to not use the proper up-the-kerb stopping point, and the entire thing paralyses. The main buses can’t do the turn, particularly if some shitwit parks up on the apex of the curve, once the turning circle’s finished, but before it’s the proper road. Then you have the open-top buses reversing and nearly hitting cars/cyclists. The cyclists have no regard for any other road user – I’m amazed more don’t die, if yesterday was any example. The taxi-drivers pretty much get it, but they’re still nightmares on the stopping circle, and then you’ve got just general every-day drivers who’ve rarely (if ever) seen the layout before, and get epically confused by it all.
In fact, it’s not difficult to handle. It’s just that the stopping circle should’ve had its own seperate traffic lane, rather than being reached by going up a kerb, which is paradoxical to all of a driver’s normal “learned” experience. And as such, the entire thing was obviously designed by an official pisswit.
Away yet again
Posted: Fri 1 September, 2006 Filed under: Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »I’m away today (well, actually since last night) back up in Norfolk, and attending an interview in Cambridge.
The agency involved has been bloody useless on this one, and other than “Web Developer” I’ve got no job description, list of required skills, or anything. Despite repeated requests, the only information they’ve given me is “You’re seeing [x] at [time]”.
Helpful or what?
Commuters
Posted: Thu 31 August, 2006 Filed under: Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 2 Comments »One thing I do find really amusing while commuting to London is the other people on the trains, and on the Underground.
I have to admit, I just really don’t understand the drive and rush that surrounds these people. On the way home last night there was one guy who was about two points short of a coronary (or stroke) on the Tube – OK, he’d obviously got a train to catch, but at every stop he was swearing, sighing, checking his watch, swearing, sighing, checking his watch, and once the train got moving it’d always be “About fucking time too”. To me, it was very, very funny. To him it was obviously some kind of “life or death” thing to get on the train. And when we got to Waterloo, he shoved his way through the people, ran up the stairs, ran up the escalators. And still missed his train.
I know, because I was on the same one he got on – a whole ten minutes later, going to the same place as the one he’d just missed.
So I have to ask, “Was it worth it?“. No, I didn’t ask him – obviously it was all a bit stressful, the poor dear. But what’s the point of getting so stressed and apoplectic about that kind of thing?
Admittedly, I’m on the other end of the scale, and truly don’t give a shit what time I get in to the office. So I can stroll through the platforms and tunnels etc. of the Underground, and it’s no problem. (Although I should point out too that my “stroll” still ends up overtaking most people) But I just can’t be arsed to get stressed about missing a train – and definitely not about missing a tube train, as they run every couple of minutes anyway.
I just don’t get the entire “rush everywhere, every second is important, time-is-money” crap that so many of these people seem to spout.
Like Bueller said, “Sometimes you just have to slow down and look around“. It’s much more fun.