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1 April 2010 (Thursday) - April Fool's Day
Bearing
in mind the date, over a bit of brekkie I changed my
Facebook status to read “Manky Badger can't believe he's going to be a
grandfather”. I left this bit of bait up for an hour or so, but was
disappointed at the lack of response – I was hoping for more. However at
least one relative would seem to have been taken in. I’m wondering how long
it will be before my mother is on the warpath.
I
then took the opportunity to empty out my letters rack. I really should do
that more often. I found all sorts of offers and money off vouchers which
expired yesterday.
And
so to work , where I spent much of the day in a
reflective mood. Last night I went to what I fully expected to be a very
boring talk at the arky-ologee club. I was wrong.
The subject was dull enough – a computer program to index all the sites of
historical interest in the county. But the chap giving the talk brought the
topic to life. He was keen, enthusiastic, and had a very good PowerPoint
presentation to illustrate his lecture. I couldn’t help but compare his talk
to the one on the Knights Templar a year or so ago – a fascinating subject
killed stone-dead by the world’s most boring speaker who refused to use any
kind of visual aid because it would distract the audience from what he was
saying.
Some
of the talks at the club have been good – Joey on her Roman excavations, the
love lives of King William and Admiral Nelson spring to mind. But they are
more than outweighed by the dull talks. I slept though the drone on the River
Wantsum, the origin of village signs was anathema,
and I still scream whenever anyone mentions Bethersden
Marble.
I’ve
been thinking about the arky-ologee club all day,
and on reflection I think it’s fair to say that I’ve come to expect that all
the talks are going to be boring. But there will be the occasional one that
is good. And it is the chance of getting an interesting talk that makes it
worth the expectation of getting something dull.
Perhaps
if the meetings started with a snappy introduction rather than with a
confused rambling, and perhaps if we had one or two minor speakers giving
five minute presentations on topics of current interest to supplement the
main talk, and perhaps if the speakers used PowerPoint rather than being
boring then maybe the club might take off. But at the moment I find myself
comparing it with the astronomy club. There are so many details I could pick
up on, but I suppose the bottom line is that I would recommend people join
the astro club. In all honesty I can’t say the same
for the arky-ologee club. Which
is a shame.
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2 April 2010 (Good
Friday) - On the Beer
It
has become something of a tradition to go to the Chambers bar beer festival
on Good Friday, and this year was no exception. I can remember there being
fourteen in our party at one stage, and I see from my tasting notes that I
had some of all the beers that were on offer, and that "Spring
Cottage Biscuit Ale" tasted of cat's tiddle.
I see from my photos that rabbit ears were the order of the day, and that we
were in at least two pubs that I don’t remember.
I
can only assume we had a good time – it’s all incredibly vague.
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3 April 2010
(Saturday) - New Doctor Who
I
have felt better than when I woke up this morning. But I wasn’t as bad as “My
Boy TM ”,
who was staggering round the house, asking if anyone knew what time he got
home last night because he couldn’t remember. So I took the opportunity to
claim the moral high ground, and got away with lecturing him on the demon
drink.
After
wasting a bit of time in NeverWinter we set off to town where we met Martin
for lunch. Martin’s been singing the praises of The Gorge for some time, and
today we went there. I had the all day breakfast, and struggled to eat it
all. Definitely somewhere to go back to.
And
then to the Pound Shop – our solar powered garden lights have finally given
up. At 99p each, they’d lasted for over a year, so I can’t really complain.
And then home to mow the lawn and install the new lights. Whilst pottering
about in the garden I finally rigged up a water feature that I bought last
year. It works fine, and looks good with my other seven water features. I
then fed the Koi – they are now really tame. Not only do they take food from
my hand, but they let me stroke them too. At one point “My Boy TM ”
felt he had to point out to me that they are fish, and not dogs.
We
had curry for tea – left over from last night. I am reliably informed we went
for a curry last night, and seeing as I didn’t eat all of mine, I brought it
home in a bag for later. It’s amazing what one misses when one doesn’t pay
attention. And as we scoffed we watched Doctor Who.
I
must admit I’ve been getting very fed up with
hearing from so many people that it’s not going to be the same without David
Tennant, and how people aren’t going to watch it any more because David
Tennant’s not going to be in it. Surely that is the whole point of the
program – that the leading actor changes every so
often. The first time the actor playing the Doctor changed that I can
remember was when Jon Pertwee was replaced by Tom
Baker. I wasn’t sure what I’d make of the new chap, but within minutes I was
hooked. This was exactly my reaction a few years later when Peter Davidson
stepped up, and so on. I’ve now seen the leading character change eight times
(I’m not old enough to remember the first two changes) and it has
always been a change for the better.
I
think Matt Smith is brilliant. If you’ve not seen the episode yet, do watch
it. You’ll love it.
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4 April 2010
(Sunday) - Smarden Duck Race
I
have a pair of walking boots which I use maybe half a dozen times each year.
I get more use from the boots whilst looking for them than I ever do from
walking about in them. I spent an hour trying to find the things this
morning. They eventually turned up where I left them last time.
“My
Boy TM ”
then emerged from his pit and gave me half a bag of chocolate éclairs. Not
because it’s Easter, but because he’s lost a filling to one of them, and
didn’t want the rest. But I’m not proud, and I set about scoffing the things.
Apparently his plan to become self-sufficient in vegetables is well under
way. He’s dug over his friend’s garden, and is wondering what to plant. I’ve
suggested it’s less effort to go to Tescos to buy vegetables, especially seeing how he don’t
eat his veg anyway. But what do I know…
And
so to Smarden where fifteen of us met up at the
farm, and walked into the village to join with the crowds massing at the
Flying Horse. We bought our quacking duck beaks and then (following a
crafty pint) made our way to the river to await the start of the duck
race. Eight hundred plastic ducks were chucked into the river, and the first
one to reach the village bridge would be the winner. Whilst my duck wasn’t
actually the last to finish, it was in last place at one point, and certainly
was in the last half-dozen. Pausing only briefly to demand a re-race, we
popped back to the pub for a medicinal half to calm our nerves, then made our way back to the farm for a barby.
Food
scoffed, we then wandered round the lakes, and took a moral stance with some
real live ducks that were getting over-amorous.
And
then I wasted an hour trying to get photographs of the day onto Facebook.
Sometimes the photo uploader just doesn’t want to work. And then we sat down
to catch up on “Flash Forward”. We were three episodes behind – we
watched the lot and I stayed awake too….
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5 April 2010
(Easter Monday) - Lazy Day
Up
early to waste some time in NeverWinter before the in-laws visited. It’s years since they’ve been over – in the meantime one
way street systems have been introduced, to say nothing of the bollards
blocking our road to all but emergency vehicles. We had a phone call to say
they were on the wrong side of the bollards, and it took them twenty minutes
to navigate a course round. It was good to see the relatives, and I spent an
hour or so in the garden supervising nephews playing “kiss chase for fish”;
a strange game which involves running up and down the garden a lot.
They
left sooner than expected, and I was tempted to go to the Pheasant’s family
fun afternoon, but knowing what I’m like, I wouldn’t have got out of the pub
for less than thirty quid. Perhaps we should have visited the Kite Weekenders
who were having a long weekend at Brenzett, but it
was quite cold this afternoon. Having had quite an eventful Easter so far, I
decided a peaceful afternoon wouldn’t be such a bad thing. So I dozed in
front of SpongeBob, Tom Baker & Cybermen, and
Fagin and the Artful Dodger. After a bit of tea we then watched Star Trek
and Holiday on the Buses.
I
don’t often watch the telly. Today I reminded myself why…
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6 April 2010
(Tuesday) - Problems, Problems...
As
I checked my emails over a bite of brekkie I saw I had an invite to join a
Facebook group. Specifically the Avon Kite Fliers group. I fly a kite maybe
six times a year, and I live in Kent. Why on Earth would I want
to join a Bristol-based kite club? To me this sums up one of the failures of
Facebook – the groups. What are they all about?
Given
that you are a member of a club or group, then having your own Facebook group
makes sense. But joining someone else’s group just because somebody you
vaguely know once met someone else who mentioned the thing in passing… I
don’t see that.
The
same person who asked me to join Avon Kite Flyers also invited me to a kite
flying event in Derbyshire. Surely one person can’t be actively involved with
events in both Avon and
Derbyshire?
I'd
arranged to do a late shift today as the surveyor was coming to look at the
hole in my ceiling. He said he'd arrive at 10am - I suppose 10.45 isn't that
late. He had a poke and a prod, sucked air in noisily as builders do, and
then told me what I probably already knew.
The
old flat roof above the bedroom window is knacked - over the years the
leading and the zinc flashings have had it. That's wear and tear & is
down to us to fix. He says that bodging it with a coat of waterproofer
is just bodging, and will last a year at most. Which is
what we've found in the past.
It
needs doing properly, we will have to get a builder to sort it out, and it
will cost us about £600. The internal damage is covered by the insurance, and
they will send us a cheque for what they reckon it will cost to fix, but we
still need to find a builder who will do the work. It’s been my experience
that for all the talk of recession and credit crunch, most tradesmen don’t
seem to want work. In the past I’ve struggled to find builders, plumbers and
electricians. They don’t answer phones, they don’t keep appointments, they even say outright that they don’t want to do jobs
around the house. The surveyor suggested we ask the local builder’s merchants
to see who they might recommend. I might just do that.
And
then to add to my worries, on the way to work the car gave a beep, and a
message came up to change the oil. The chodbin is
still problematical, and the PC is whirring like it’s drilling for oil.
Who’d
be me…?
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7 April 2010
(Wednesday) - Politics
In
what I can only imagine being a fit of jealousy aimed at my car’s oil level,
my iffy chodbin, my leaking roof or my noisy PC (or
any combination of these), the pond filter has joined my list of problems
by blocking up.
At
least that is one problem which is easily solved. It might smell a bit, but
fish poo washes off (eventually).
I
see the Prime Minister has chosen the date for the general election. I
suppose I should apply for a postal vote. But who would get my postal vote?
When I was coming up to voting age the country was on the brink of collapse
through a Labour government powerless to deal with the unions. We all voted
in Margaret Thatcher who kicked the unions “squarr
in the nuts”, then kicked Johnny Foreigner out of the Falklands and generally acted like she was running
the country. Love her or loathe her, we all admired her. Or did we? We kept
voting for her; in retrospect because the Labour party at the time was
nothing short of a bunch of crackpots. Eventually the crackpots picked a
winning formula: that formula being to adopt the policies of the bunch who
were actually in power. And so when we all got fed up with the sleaze
allegations against the government of the mid-nineties, we voted in Labour
because they didn’t come over as a bunch of crackpots – they sounded like the
current government but without the loose morality.
And
so things turned full circle. Labour in power – this time the Tories were in disarray, and they adopted Labour policies. And so
after eighteen years of Labour copying Tory and thirteen years of Tory
copying Labour we now find ourselves with the two main parties all but
indistinguishable from each other. Effectively we have the choice of Salt
& Vinegar or Cheese & Onion crisps. Monster Munch or Hula Hoops
aren’t an option.
Who
will I vote for? I made up my mind when I heard that Brian Blessed was
standing for Parliament. I decided that I’d vote for whichever bunch he was
standing for. But it turns out I was misinformed – Mr B wouldn’t seem to be
standing for election after all.
Having
had a look on Wikipedia to see what
choices I’ve got, I’m rather of the opinion that it will make no
difference who I vote for, since the current MP has got half the vote
already. It will take a swing of twenty five per cent to shift him, and I
can’t see that happening.
I
might just show my disgust for the whole thing by wasting my vote on the Liberal
Democrats or someone else that frankly hasn’t a hope. It wouldn’t be the
first time I’ve done that…
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8 April 2010
(Thursday) - More of the Same
There’s
nothing like a bit of racism to stir up the votes when an election is in the
offing, and the Prime Minister is under fire because apparently during the
tenure of the government, 97%
of all new jobs have gone to immigrant workers. The figure might
be true, it might not. Either way it will cause discontent and swing some
voters one way or the other. All I have to offer on the subject is a question
based on my own experiences. Given that one has a job vacancy (or lots of
them) which has been advertised nationally on several occasions and not a
single UK resident
applies, how should one then proceed?
Meanwhile
matters of actual importance – animals
that live without oxygen and the discovery of a missing
link in human evolution have gone unnoticed.
I
came home to find I’ve had an email from Jesus. That was nice. It had an
attachment which my anti-virus didn’t like, so I suspect it wasn’t the real
Jesus.
Su
Wu also emailed me – she was offering “hotter in bed with ease”.However,
the way my back’s been lately, I suspect she’ll be disappointed. I didn’t
even bother with the scamming emails trying to tell me I was entitled to a
tax refund.
But
I did get the email about my having a postal vote for the election. Despite
still not having the faintest idea who I’m going to vote for, I’ve applied
for a postal vote. If only to see how the thing works.
And
then the roofing man came round. He brought some kiddies who helped me feed
the Koi, and then he had a look at the roof and said he’ll be in touch soon
to come and do the job. On the one hand I feel quite relieved that one
problem looks solvable, on the other hand, the Sky Plus box is playing up…
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9 April 2010 (Friday) - The Wanderer Returns
Whilst
pootling in the kitchen last night I heard the sound of the toilet flushing,
I’ve been chucking buckets of water down it for the last week to get rid of
what I’ve put in there. But “My Boy TM ” has been using the flush.
Apparently if you over-rev the cistern, it flushes. It’s taken me a while to
get the knack, but I can do it. Or that is, I could do it last night. The
infernal thing wasn’t having any of it this morning. Back to flushing with buckets
of water.
An
eventful day at work – first off Science told me that he has invented the AC/DC
chicken. Surely Science must have better things to do with his time.
And then I entered the work’s Grand National sweepstake. Regular readers of
this drivel may recall that I do this every year, and am usually saddled with
a 100:1 three legged blind rank outsider. But last year my horse (Sad Ken)
came in third place and I won a fiver. This year I have a 14:1 shot – horse
#17 named “Backstage”. Fingers crossed – it might pay for the repairs
to the chodbin.
I
hope my loyal readership will forgive me if I appear to get a bit soppy…. In
May 1993 I was in a small way associated with the formation of a sci-fi fan
club. Over the years the group has grown and shrunk and changed, and members
have dispersed to the four corners of the world and returned. We’ve laughed
and cried together, got married, had babies, even buried one, and despite the
fact that so many of us now rarely actually see each other these days, thanks
to the wonder that is the Internet we still all (mostly) keep in
touch.
Tonight
a wanderer returned. I’ve not seen him for over ten years. Once “Little
Steve”, nowadays he’s in the running for the title of “Big Big Steve”. He’s in the middle on the left hand
photo. We once named a Guinea Pig after him because of the haircut. We
couldn’t do that nowadays (!) And he’s moving back from Manchester to
live in Dover so
he’ll be back with us again.
A
shame I have to work tomorrow – we only had three pints together this
evening...
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10 April 2010
(Saturday) - Busying About...
I
had to work this morning, so I thought I’d treat myself to a fry-up at the
hospital canteen. When I arrived I was told it was closed. I asked the happy
cheerful soul behind the counter when they opened. It grunted and pointed at
an obscure sign before walking off, leaving the food drying out for a further
ten minutes before deigning to come back to splat some out for me. Many years
ago when I worked in catering, we were told that when preparing a meal,
presentation is all. No one had imparted this information to the works
canteen. It was all thrown on the plate, with baked beans poured over the top
like gravy.
And
they wonder why the place doesn’t make the money it used to…
Work
was dull, and due to an I.T. crisis I was over an hour late getting home. I
was rather miffed about this, as ‘er
indoors TM was flogging candles at a psychic fair,
and I wanted to go. I do like the psychic fairs – they are so dreadful they
are hilarious. Let’s be honest – if the psychics were actually any good they
would know in advance that absolutely no one would be going to the things.
Instead
I came home, scoffed a quick sandwich, and then I did some bike maintenance.
We bought a bike for a friend in January, and spent three months getting
round to finishing putting the thing together. This afternoon I got it done.
Let’s hope it doesn’t fall apart when it’s put to use next week. Once the
lawn was mowed I spent more time fiddling with the pond. The fountain
attachment in the middle wasn’t pumping as vigorously as it might have been
so I took it apart, gave it a good clean, rebuilt it and then thoroughly
soaked myself. It’s working now, and despite a whole load of commotion going
on in the pond, the fish were still swarming round me trying to get food.
I
wasted a few minutes doing something I meant to do some weeks ago. Last year
we cycled to several pubs, and each time I put up a route and map onto a
certain bit of the Internet to which I am very grateful to have access. I
finally got round to indexing the lot and making a mini-web site
of cycle routes. Having dusted off the bikes, I intend to start
gently next weekend with a trip to Shadoxhurst – look it up on the web site.
Having said “start gently”, it won’t be that gently as the route takes
us up Singleton Hill.
Whilst
planning for the summer, I discovered there’s all sorts of things planned up
at Kings
Wood. I suspect I may well be going to one or two of these over the
next few months…
And
then I spent the evening fishing with “My Boy TM ”. Must do it more often. I
gave up when darkness fell, and left him to it. I came home to watch Doctor
Who on the BBC i-player. A good episode – I like
Matt Smith, but he is very much doing a “David Tennant” impression,
and David Tennant was in retrospect doing a Christopher Eccleston
impression. A shame they didn’t create a whole new persona for each new
incarnation like they did originally…
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11 April 2010
(Sunday) - More Fishing
Despite
not actually catching anything yesterday evening, I really enjoyed the
fishing. Just as I was going to kip last night I had a text from the lake to
say that a fish had been caught, and asking if I’d be back in the morning. So
I made up my patented custard paste bait and put it in the fridge overnight.
I had this plan to get in an hour’s fishing before the rest of the stuff I
had planned for the day and, as always when I have something planned I didn’t
sleep well. At 4.30am I gave up trying to sleep and got up. I was at the pond
for 5.15am only to find everyone fast asleep in their bivvies.
I
feel a word of explanation is in order here. A “bivvy”
to the uninitiated looks like a tent, seems like a tent, and to all intents
and purposes is a tent. But in piscatorial circles, to suggest that an angler
would sleep in a tent is fighting talk. Real men have “bivvies”.
There’s a photo of a “bivvy” on yesterday’s
blog entry – I think it looks like a tent.
So
finding “My Boy TM ” snoring in his bivvy, I decided to set up quietly without disturbing
anyone. Have you ever tried tying a hook in the dark? It’s not easy, but I
managed it in less than fifteen minutes.
And
then excitement – one of the bite alarms screamed. And screamed. It was
apparent that the first fruit of my loin was fast asleep, so I decided I’d deal
with the fish we were catching. I picked the rod up, struck, and immediately
got the biggest tangle of line you ever did see. The mechanisms of fishing
reels have changed since I was a lad. I thought I’d better tidy up the mess
before I got told off for interfering, and despite getting more line all over
the place, after ten minutes I eventually sorted out the knots I’d created. I
hoped that if I reeled the rod in, re-baited and cast out again before I got
caught, he’d never know what I’d done.
Whilst
reeling in, the end tackle seemed a bit heavy. And then it seemed to be
pulling away from me a bit. And then the rod bent double – despite my
spending an age mucking about un-knotting the mess I’d made, the fish was
still on. It was at this point that a voice emerged from the sleeping bag
asking what I was doing up so early. “Catching a fish” I replied. The
monster pictured above (photo taken at 6.15am) is a catfish. Weighing
nine and a half pounds, it’s the biggest fish I’ve ever caught. And it is (so
far) the only fish I’ve ever caught to have poo-ed on me. Catfish are
slippery things – trying to get a grip on it was tricky to say the least. It
was like trying to grab hold of a huge wriggling bar of soap. Needless to
say, “himself” then caught one which was just over double the size of
my one.
I
gave it until 7.30am, and then came home for breakfast. A couple of rounds of
toast and an hour in Internet-land before getting on with the day’s round. It
would seem that today was Streatham Common’s kite festival. I can vaguely
remember mention of it, but from the kite forums it would seem that everyone
else had emails about the event. Perhaps I should check the kiting forums
more often.
Having
returned “Daddies Little Angel TM ” to where she wanted to be for
the day, we then went to the Chips for a ploughman’s for lunch. Chip was
having problems with a jubilee clip. I offered to mend it with a hammer, but
my offer of assistance wasn’t accepted, which was a shame.
Once
fed we set off to the pond shop for Koi food. I’ve bought the cheap stuff
because it’s a third of the price of the stuff I bought last year. This year
they seem to be scoffing so well I hoped they would take the cheap stuff.
They
didn’t seem too keen on it, but they will be when they get hungry enough…
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12 April 2010
(Monday) - Mondays are Always Dull...
Up
with the lark and on with the laundry. Some things remain constant in an
ever-changing world. Today I specialised in socks. Putting the things into pairs
takes some doing. I am told that this was done over the weekend. It may well
have been; however this morning I found a living room strewn with socks, and
very little in the way of pairing done. I sorted out my own and chucked the
rest into the undercrackers basket; you can get too
much of a good thing.
I
had half a plan to go fishing this evening, but “My Boy TM ”
had better things to do with his time. Which was a shame.
I may well take up fishing again – if nothing else it’s rather cheaper than
drinking to excess on a regular basis.
And
then ‘er indoors TM went
off out and left me in charge of supervising the baking of the bread pudding.
A mistake, if ever there was one…
I
don’t like Mondays – after an eventful weekend, Mondays are so dull…
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13 April 2010
(Tuesday) Fish and Chip
As
children at school, we all learn of Brownian motion (named
after the Scottish botanist Robert Brown): the seemingly random movement
of particles suspended in a fluid. The motion of dust seen in sunlight is a
good example of Brownian motion. As is the walking style of most of humanity.
Oh I get so wound up….
The
next time you are out in public, just watch the normal people. Not one is looking
where they are going: they all just blunder along, bouncing off of walls,
parked cars and each other. Every time I’m in a hurry, the world is awash
with these people; pootling along, walking into all and sundry without a care
in the world. If people had to take walking tests in the same way they do
driving tests, I am sure that 99% of the human race would be grounded.
Something
else which wound me up today was an employment tribunal which was called to
rule on a case of unlawful
sexual and racial discrimination. A single mother has successfully
sued the Army. Personally I’m under the impression that soldiers are ready to
defend Queen and country whenever and wherever required. And those with families
are able to leave their families behind to go soldiering. The Army has gone
on record taking the line that they are "unsuitable for a single
mother who couldn't sort out her childcare arrangements". Personally
I tend to agree. I wouldn’t dream of dragging my children into work in a
hospital, much less a battlefield. But as always I am in a minority.
Having
been given the heave-ho , a young mother has gone to
an employment tribunal, and the tribunal has found in favour of this single
mother, who cannot fulfil her military duties because of the need to look
after her kiddy. Said tribunal is now deliberating
how much money she should be given in compensation.
How
about “none at all”, and charging her for wasting the Army’s time?
And
then the Koi smiled to have their photos taken. But I think it’s probably
fair to say they were more interested in the food than the camera….
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14 April 2010
(Wednesday) - Roof Fixed
I
see that yesterday’s blog piccy went up sideways. I wonder what that was all about? Let’s hope that the blog software isn’t going west
too. I had a look at the hit tracking software this morning. As well as
seeing who’s visited from where in the world, it tells me what operating
systems are being used, and what browsers. And what key words people use in
search engines to find this blog. I’m reliably informed that one person found
my blog by typing the phrase “christopher
eccleston motorbike” into Google. I tried it
myself, to no avail; but what do I know?
I
then spent a few minutes totting up my shopping bills this month. I make a
point of recording all my credit card purchases on an Excel spreadsheet. I
know that there are those who point and laugh ant me for doing this, but I
find it useful – it’s amazing what I find that I’ve forgotten that I’ve
bought. Small things add up. Take the last few days for example – on Sunday I
bought a memory stick from PC World and a tub of fish food. By this morning
I’d no memory of buying them, and they came to over fifty quid. And I’ve
spent a total of over sixty quid in Tesco’s this month in small amounts here
and there. It soon adds up.
I
need to stop frittering away cash on little things – especially with various
jobs around the house I need to pay for.
“Roof
Man” came today and re-felted the flat bit above the bay window. Whilst
it was cheaper than I was expecting it to be, I can’t help remember a
conversation I had at school (thirty five years ago) with one of the
teachers. I commented that my friends at the local secondary modern were
learning woodwork metalwork and useful stuff like that. We on the other hand
were learning Latin. Which would probably be useful if ever
I wished to speak to a dead Roman. But so far has never proved to have
been a useful way to have spent five years. The teacher at the time, one Mr
Hooper, told me that in years to come, as an ex-Grammar School boy
I would be paying the working classes to do household maintenance jobs for
me. Such manual labour would be beneath my dignity.
An
admirable sentiment I’m sure, if you can afford to subscribe to that school
of thought. Whilst I’d rather pay someone to do the roof than do it myself,
it don’t come cheap. I can only suppose that Mr Hooper was prepared to pay
far more for his dignity than I am. With the outside now done, I’m inclined
to let the inside dry out and have a go at doing it myself….
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15 April 2010
(Thursday) - Stuff
Being
on a late start again, I had planned to do all sorts of things this morning,
including…. Well, I don’t know what I had in mind. Last night I had a mental
list of things I needed to do, and I can remember it being a rather long
list. I thought about writing it down, and decided against doing so, because
what I needed to do was so obvious. But this morning my mind was a blank. All
I could remember was that I had a long list of stuff last night.
So
with nothing better to do (that I could recall) I decided to watch “V”
that I’d recorded onto the Sky Plus last night, but “Daddies Little
Angel TM ” had things to watch, so I was left to my
own devices. We spent a few minutes wrestling the Sky Anytime into action.
I’ve never used it before – I wonder if it’s free. I hope so.
Last
week I commented that the “change oil soon” alarm had come up on my
car. Today I arranged to have the thing serviced and MOT-ed in a couple of
week’s time. Arranging it was painless – I suspect paying for it won’t be.
Talking
of paying for things, the insurance cheque (for the damage caused by our
leak) came today. I’d better bank that. Having had a leak, I’m now
wondering if I ought to re-felt the flat roof over
the top of the bathroom. It doesn’t seem to be leaking at the moment, but
maybe preventing a problem might be better than curing it?
I
finished work at 8pm, and together with ‘er
indoors TM , I went to Toys R Us in Chatham to get
her a new bike, as the old one would seem to have been co-opted by “Daddies
Little Angel TM ”. We got a new bike, and also a
headache. The too loud in-store music was competing with the din from the
Play Station games to make pure unadulterated noise.
I
know someone who works for that firm – I shall have a word, because much as I
like their shops, I certainly will not shop there again with that volume of
racket going on.
And
as the weather gets a tad colder, spare a thought for those camping out
in East Anglia this
weekend. The Kelling Heath Star
Party is an annual event in which people from all over the UK camp out, and sleep
during the day time so’s that at night they can see
the UK’s
darkest skies and photograph all sorts of astronomical objects to their
heart’s content.
Much
as I’m into astronomy, I can’t see the attraction of travelling hundreds of
miles to shiver to get a photograph which (it has to be said) won’t
come close to something you could call up instantly on Google images.
I
suppose that, like all hobbies, it’s something inexplicable – you love it or
you don’t. Me – I’ll let the Hubble Space telescope do the photography…
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16 April 2010
(Friday) - Little Bit of Politics...
One
of the girls at work collected her cat from the vet’s last night. A week ago
the thing had staggered (literally) home, having broken its leg
somehow. After surgery and a week in cat-hospital, the moggie
was ready for collection. The bill - £1,700. I would suggest that any of my
loyal readers with pets seriously consider pet insurance.
Last
Saturday I mentioned that I had the cooked breakfast at work. Today one of my
colleagues was boasting that he’d just had the breakfast. That gave me the
taste for it, and so I had some. And I spent the day wishing I hadn’t. I’ve
had guts ache ever since. Being in a bad mood, I phoned Toys R Us and
complained about the headache that I got from the noise in their store last
night. The girl on the phone listened politely to my rant, but clearly
couldn’t care less.
And
then home to assemble the new bike. It seems to be together properly, but in
the absence of any instructions I’m left hoping I did it properly. It all
seems OK, but the acid test will be tomorrow when the thing is ridden in
anger for the first time.
I
see the whole world watched the big
political debate last night. I didn’t. Despite having applied
for a postal vote, I am fast coming to the conclusion that there is little
point in my voting at the upcoming general election. For all the hot air the
party leaders spouted last night, we don’t get to vote for them. Having done
a little research, I can’t believe how sucky
the UKelectoral system is.
There
is not “a” general election. There are 650 elections for local MPs, and it is
then a count-up of MPs which determines which party forms a government.
But
it’s not as simple as that. These 650 mini- elections don’t all have an equal
number of voters. And in each election, all that any MP has to do to win is
to get more votes than anyone else. Which means that given that Party A wins
in one town with a majority of two votes, and Party A also wins in another
town with a majority of three, then they have two MPs. Party B might win
somewhere else and so would have one MP. However the fact that Party B might
have won their one seat with a majority of fifty thousand is irrelevant. It’s
quite possible (and actually happens) that Party B has more votes, but
actually has less MPs than Party A.
A
“first past the post system” makes no allowances for the amount of
votes cast for the losing parties, which is why I am seriously considering
not voting. At
the last election my current MP got more votes than all the
other candidates put together. It’s going to need over a quarter of the local
voters to change their minds to unseat the chap, and he’s the only one for
whom I’ve seen any election posters.
I’ve
heard it said that by voting for those who are clearly going to lose, I could
send a message to the floating voters, but I don’t see that somehow. How many
people even bother to vote, let alone show an interest in the mathematics of
election?
And
as a P.S. to all this, if you feel your vote isn’t quite the wonderful thing
you once thought it was, spare a thought for the voters in Buckingham.Their current MP is the Speaker of the House
of Commons, and it is a tradition that whoever is Speaker stands
for election unopposed by any candidates from the other main
political parties…
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17 April 2010
(Saturday) - On Yer Bike !
Despite
a late night last night, I was wide awake at 6.30am because “My Boy TM ”
got up silently, and was delicately loading his fishing gear into his car. For
some inexplicable reason, the phrase “as quiet as a mouse” didn’t
spring to mind. As I was wide awake, I spent a few minutes (an hour)
having an avuncular perusal of one of my student’s friend’s post-graduate
work.
This girl isn’t one of my students. The
chap who should have been doing this mentoring doesn’t do it. He does what
the hell he likes, when he likes, and if he doesn’t like, he just doesn’t do
it. If any manager dares question him, he just rants about various random
employment laws and legislations and everyone kow-tows to him on the
assumption that he knows what he’s talking about. Over the years he’s lodged
so many formal grievances and complaints that nobody dares upset him because
of all the paperwork he generates. I can’t say I like the fellow, but I have
to admire his stance. He always gets his own way.
In
the meantime I’m spending my Saturday morning doing what he should be doing.
Who’s the daft one? But his students (more than one) have asked me for
my help and advice. And have (on several occasions) asked me for
tutorials in their own time. I can’t really say no to them, can I?
Yesterday
I ranted about failings in the UK political system. Today I
find it’s got worse. In the constituency of the Cities
of London and Westminster it would seem that the pirate vote has
been split. There is a candidate for the“official
” pirate party
(a
bunch who are out to legalise free downloads for everyone). And there is
a candidate for what I can only describe as “proper pirating”; the chap who
runs International Talk Like A Pirate Day – Mad Cap’n
Tom himself. I know who I’d vote for – after all, “he has policies, he has
experience, he has a duck on his head”.
And then on with the business of the day. Last year
we started cycling early. In the snow in January. This year we left it
somewhat later, and an entertaining few minutes were spent tightening nuts,
loosening screws, adjusting brakes and attaching trailers (!) before seven of
us cycled off to Shadoxhurst. There was a minor hiccup when the
blossom-tandem capsized, but that was nothing that couldn’t be put right. And
I’m sure that Singleton Hill has gotten steeper over the winter. But despite
two chains coming off, we eventually made our destination where the motoring
contingent met up with us.
The Kings Head in Shadoxhurst is (usually) too close
to home for a weekend cycling destination. It’s somewhere that we call in for
a crafty half on the way back from another pub, or somewhere that me
and ‘er indoorsTM visit
on a mild summer’s evening. The place is unusual for a Shepherd Neame pub in
that it always has a good selection of ales, and we’d heard reports that it
had won awards for the food. We weren’t disappointed – the food was
excellent, and a couple of pints of “Dragonfire”
(brewed for St George’s Day)
slipped down well.
The plan was to come home via Great Chart for a
crafty pint, but somehow we missed that one. So on
the spur of the moment we got the barby out and
cooked up some burgers and sossies. A wonderful way
to spend the evening.
And then we sat down to watch Doctor Who. A week
ago I commented that Matt Smith was too similar to David Tennant. I stand
corrected – he’s great. Tonight’s episode was good; I liked daleks being
relegated to just one mid-season episode. But weren’t the daleks great? If
you’ve not seen the episode, activate the BBC i-player.
Now!!!
And then having said goodbye to everyone, I went to
work for two hours to deal with more problems. Work owes me three hours for
today. I wonder when I will get my time back……
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18 April
2010 (Sunday) - This n That
Whilst
having a spot of brekky I noticed that Gary Mark had commented on something
I’d put on Facebook. Gary Who?
Yes – I thought that. I’ve some friends in common with him – his website is
interesting. I’m sure he’s a decent chap. But I have no idea who he is.
I have
Facebook set so’s that only people on my friends
list can comment on what I post. I had a look at my friends list today –
there are thirteen people on it that I don’t know. Who are these people? How
do they get on my list?
The plan
for the day was kite flying with the Friends of Kings Wood. We arrived to
find very little (if any) wind, but we thought we’d give it a go
anyway. Until we saw the flying area. The kite flying was to take place on an
area of heathland which has obviously only recently been cleared of brambles.
I say “cleared” – had it actually been cleared of brambles I might
have been inclined to have persevered despite the low wind. In fact the
brambles had been hacked back, and then left lying about on the ground. Any
kite landing anywhere in the designated flying area would have been ripped to
ribbons. The Kent Kite Fliers were there, and after exchanging pleasantries,
we left them to it. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to fly a
kite when it is patently obvious that there isn’t enough wind to do so, and
knowing there is nowhere safe to land the kite if you do get it airborne.
We gave up,
and went for a mooch round Ashford instead, and then
came home. I mowed the lawn and then had this idea to paint the front of the
house. I spent half an hour looking for my wire brush, but couldn’t find it.
I made do with a plastic one instead. Having scraped down the paintwork I
opened the tin of masonry paint. A few months ago I had naively assumed it
would not be a problem to leave the paint tin outside over the winter. I was
wrong. Somehow the tin had filled to the brim with rain water, leaving the
paint useless.
So I fed
the fish. They are slowly getting used to the new brand of fish food. Which
is probably for the best – I’m not getting them the expensive stuff again.
Whilst feeding them I noticed that the clean water wasn’t gushing out of the
filter with its usual vigour. That was because water was leaking out of the
top – the thing had blocked up again. There’s no denying that with the finer
filter mesh the pond is certainly clearer than it has been in previous years.
However, it’s only eleven days since I last cleaned the thing out.
Pausing
only to put ‘er indoors TM best
coat in the washing machine (I have no idea how it got covered in fish poo)
I then spent the rest of the afternoon asleep in front of the computer.
After tea
with the house to myself I sat down to watch the re-make of the sc-fi classic – “V” which is currently airing in the SyFy channel. One has to totally ignore the premise on
which the entire program is based: namely that the aliens are reptiles
disguised as humans for no adequately explained reason. After all, given the
level of technology the aliens have in the show, why do they need to gain
humanity’s confidence in any way? Clearly they could just ride roughshod over
any objections and do what they want, but if you forget about this minor plot
hole, it’s not bad. I’ve seen the first two episodes and despite
having “Wash”
from Firefly as an alien, and a Cyclon as possibly
an alien, I quite like the series so far. I’m hoping it will turn out to be
better than “Caprica” – I’ve given up
bothering with that…
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19 April
2010 (Monday) - Sheep? Pig !!!!
When not on
a late shift I always wake early, and so I watch DVD boxed sets. (It’s
either that or lie wide awake waiting for the alarm). Today whilst
ironing my work shirts I finished watching “Space: Above and Beyond” –
it’s “Top Gun in Outer Space”, but was watchable. A shame it only ran
for one season: I liked it, and it was far better than that drivel “Caprica” which is being touted on Sky at the
moment.
Talking of
which, is it just me, or is there something seedy about the cover for the “Caprica” DVD which has recently been released,
featuring a nudey girl?
And then,
having checked two different weather forecasts, for the first time this year
I pegged the washing out on the line. And as I drove to work, the radio
predicted showers. Oh how I laughed.
I then remembered
something I hadn’t done from the weekend. During our cycle ride on Saturday,
“Daddies Little Angel TM ” had staked out a chap doing his
gardening, and eventually got a photo of his bum. I put it up on Facebook as I said I would –
only two days late.
Yesterday I
mentioned about washing a coat that somehow got smothered in fish poo. I
think I got away with the fishy element, but the thing is (apparently)
noticeably creased from a vigorous spin drying. I’ve ironed the thing – let’s
hope that’s done the trick.
And in
closing, does anyone fancy a trip to the Tropical Wings Zoo in Essex? A few years ago whilst driving along, ‘er indoors TM saw some pigs in a
field. They were woolly, and made “Baaa!!”
noises. But the Zoo has obtained some Mangalitzas (furry
pigs). Perhaps that’s what we saw all those years ago?
Posted
by Manky Badger at 8:31 PM 4 comments
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20 April
2010 (Tuesday) - Painting, Ranting
Whilst going
to my car this morning I saw signs had gone up in our road. Apparently the
council were coming to scrub the gutters, and would like people not to park
up the road during the day. I would have thought they might have given us
more notice, but what do I know?
On Sunday I
mentioned my masonry paint was broken, so being on an early finish today I
popped into B&Q to get some more. And seeing how lovely the evening was,
I made a start on painting my wall. The paint tin says it comes with a
fifteen year guarantee. Fifteen years? I painted the wall last September, and
it’s flaking already. I make that seven months. But the wall looked better
once I’d finished, and as the evening was still so lovely, I then carried on
and painted the front of the house. Painting the house was originally
supposed to be the plan for tomorrow, but I expect I’ll find something else
to do. Finding somewhere to park the car might be something I could do
instead…..
Regular
readers of this blog might remember a rant I published on 15 October 2006
when I attended the Annual General Meeting of the British Kite Flying
Association. At the time it looked like there were going to be all sorts of
restrictions on the flying of kites in the UK (especially the big
ones), and the BKFA had been formed to stand up for the man in the
kite-flying field. At the time I thought the BKFA was getting bogged down
with trivial paperwork and was losing its way. But at that meeting four years
ago I was firmly told to get stuffed and to mind my own business. They knew
what they were doing.
Today they
emailed me “News Update #13”. They have put a lot of effort into
developing a child protection policy (why?) and into developing an
incident reporting scheme (reporting what to who?).
They are still trying to undermine local kiting clubs by offering cheap
insurance, and they are now attempting to form a gallery of other people’s
kiting photographs for which they can take the credit. In fact the only thing
they’ve done which is in any way related to what I thought they were formed
for was to organise an Edwardian Kite Competition which will take place in
three weeks time. There’s nothing like being given enough notice of these
things, is there?
Interestingly
neither “News Update #13” nor any of its predecessors have ever
carried news of bans on kite flying having been lifted. The phrase “Still
fiddling whilst Rome burns”
springs to mind.
Still
bitter? – Me?......
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21 April
2010 (Wednesday) - A Day Off Work
‘er indoors TM has been abducted by aliens and has been replaced by a replica.
This replica isn’t very good, and hasn’t fooled me for a minute. Not only did
it let take stuff to the tip, it even gave me stuff to take to the tip. I
hope ‘er indoors TM is all right, wherever she is.
After the
tip I went to Tesco for more petrol (that’s expensive stuff now) and
then to B&Q for small tins of masonry paint. For some time I’ve had this
plan to paint the front of the house like a liquorice allsort,
and now it’s done I’m not sure I like it. Some of my paintwork isn’t as
straight as it might be – once it’s dry I’ll go over it with a fine brush. Or
that is I will when I can find one. I want a kiddies painting brush – the
sort of thing I used to use with watercolours all those years ago. I can’t
find one anywhere.
Whilst
doing the painting someone parked his car outside my house. Right in front of
the “please don’t park here” sign. He asked me if he could park there,
and I told him that it was a matter of the utmost indifference to me where he
parked, but I did point out the sign. The nice man then got a bit cross and
asked me where he was supposed to park. I replied that I’d got up early and
parked my car three streets away, but it was entirely up to him where he
parked – neither his parking nor the no parking sign were anything to do with
me. As the nice man reached the beetroot red stage, and the vein on the side
of his head started to throb, I suggested he spoke to the council, and I got
on with my painting.
I then
spent a few minutes chatting with the bloke next door. Relations have been
strained in the past, and it’s good that we are chatting again. He was
telling me that at the weekends there are a lot of low flying aeroplanes
coming over – apparently our area is being used by trainee pilots. He’s
written to our local MP about the matter – apparently no one owns the air
rights to Ashford, and anyone can fly overhead. I didn’t know that.
I then got
an email – my latest eBay purchase has been delayed by volcanic eruptions
in Iceland.
Last night a friend was telling me that her friends are stranded half way
round the world, and that they are now booked on a flight home on 11 May.
That’s ages away. I hope my shopping don’t take that long.
And having
slept in front of the telly for the afternoon I brought offspring home from
college and then I set off to Wadhurst. As part of
a co-operative venture between local astronomical societies an exchange of
speakers has been arranged. The people at Wadhurst
were given a list of the talks we’d had at our astro
club over the last year, and they asked for me to talk about the ice giants.
I’ve not
been to any other astro clubs, and wasn’t sure what
to expect, and as the evening started it was rather odd. At the Ashford astro club there’s over seventy people, with ages ranging
from seven to seventy, and we have a very wide cross section of the public.
Tonight at Wadhurst there were twenty two people (including
me & Jason who’d come for the evening). With an average age of (about)
mid-fifties, there was no one aged under forty there, and everyone was rather
well to do. Having said that, they were very friendly and welcoming, but all
were just a little bit normal. What would they make of me?
Having
prepared my presentation it was too late to change it. I had two chances –
they would laugh, or they wouldn’t ask me back again. I needn’t have worried
- I had them all in stitches several times, and afterwards several people
commented how no one’s ever been brave enough to admit they think that
Ur-anus is a brilliant name for a planet. And several more said they agreed
that Herschel should have gone the whole hog and called the thing “planet
bum hole”.
After the
meeting I went over the pub with a dozen or so of the members of the club,
and I had a half of Finchcocks whist we waited for
(and saw) aniridium flare
. The people there were so
welcoming. I’ve offered to do more talks for them, and I’d go to more
meetings; if only it wasn’t such an awkward place to get to.
I
got home at 11pm to find that neither ‘er
indoors TM nor “My Boy TM ” had noticed what I’d done
to the front of the house….
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22
April 2010 (Thursday) – Paperwork
Despite
a late night last night, I was still up with the lark, and watching episode
three of “V” at 6am. So far I like the program, but bearing in mind it’s a
remake, and the remake of “The Prisoner” started earlier in the week,
I can’t help but wonder what’s next to come back to our screens.
Off
to work, which was the same as ever, and then home again, having acquired
some fine paint brushes to touch up the stripes I’d painted on the front of
the house yesterday. It was a lovely evening to be pootling about in the
front yard doing my painting.
And
then I settled down with a cup of coffee to sort my post. I see I have a
parcel waiting at the post office. I’m assuming that’s my latest eBay
bargain. I’m told that the postage has been underpaid. Not quite the bargain
it might have been, perhaps. I shall find out tomorrow.
There
was a flier from the Conservative party – “Three Reasons to vote for
Damien Green”. I’ve blogged before that I’m convinced that Damien Green
is going to retain the parliamentary seat of Ashford. No other politicians
have gone to the trouble of sending anything through the post – perhaps the
other parties have already conceded defeat locally. I did notice yesterday
that as I drove to Wadhurst I drove through four
different parliamentary constituencies, and I soon lost count of the “Vote
Conservative” banners and placards I saw. There must have been well over
a hundred of them. I didn’t see a single one for the Labour party, and there
was a solitary poster for the Liberal Democrats just outside of Biddenden.
I
also saw my voting card has arrived. I shall have to phone the council
tomorrow – I have applied for a postal vote.
I
had a letter from the Renault dealer with an offer which seems too good to be
true. For a limited period (next week) they are offering a deal where
I trade in my car for a brand new one, and they guarantee my monthly payments
will stay the same, or be cheaper. And they will chuck in a free flight for
two of us to somewhere in Europe.
I’m
not keen on the free flight. I think those things are a con. After all, it’s
only the flight that is free – you’re still saddled with hotel bills and
holiday expenses. But I’m intrigued by the idea of a new car. I’ve still got
two years of payments outstanding on my car. Do they actually mean they will
pay off the outstanding loan on my car? I wonder how they can do this deal. I
might just phone and ask them.
I
then had a stab at the monthly accounts and was pleasantly surprised. I’ve
had a pay rise. Only two per cent, but in today’s financial climate, that’s
better than a poke up the Herschel with a sharp stick.
And
I wasted a few minutes going through the forthcoming dates for the diary
section of this blog. Milwaukee kite festival is much earlier in
the year than I first thought, so that’s probably had to be scratched from my
itinerary, which is a shame. Dieppe kite festival is also looking
dubious for me – I’m told that the astro club may
well be something that weekend. And while I’m scrubbing kiting events from my
diary, I’ve still to hear any confirmation of the Sumner’s Ponds. I’ve
emailed the management to find out if that one is still going ahead. And I
need to make up my mind about when we are going to the Brick
Lane curry extravaganza.
4 comments
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23
April 2010 (Friday) - St George's Day
I
didn’t sleep well last night – the letter about Renault’s new car deal was
preying on my mind for some reason. I phoned Renault this morning to ask how
it worked. Effectively they say they will buy my car off me for how much I
still owe on the loan, and then sell me a new(er) car. And because of the interest rates being a
lot lower these days than when I bought the car, the monthly repayments on
the loan for the new car will be less than what I’m currently paying.
I
then spoke to the loan people. So long as the garage offers me five grand for
my car, I shall be laughing. Having done a bit of research on-line, I think
that figure might be a bit optimistic, but we shall see. I’ve booked an
appointment with them tomorrow afternoon.
After
mucking about with a very laborious automated switchboard, I asked the
council about the ballot card I received yesterday. I eventually got through
to someone who assured me the paperwork for my postal vote will be with me
tomorrow. I’m quite excited about having a postal vote, even though I’m still
not sure who to vote for. I’ve half a mind to just draw a picture of a knob
on the ballot form and send that in.
My
children are decided on their political stances though. One is voting “Send
them all back on the next banana boat”, the other is voting “Tree
Hugger”. Oh well, as I’ve mentioned before, the vote in Ashford is a
foregone conclusion anyway.
I
then called into the post office to collect the parcel. It wasn’t my eBay
bargain after all – it was a letter for “Daddies Little Angel TM ”,
who now owes me £1.19 for the extra postage I had to pay. And again the post
office didn’t ask for any proof if identity before giving me the letter. They
never so when I have my passport with me. But when I leave my wallet at home,
they always insist on seeing I.D.
Whilst
I was in the area I thought I’d have a mooch in Kent
Wool Growers to see if they did guinea pig food. They did, but before I could
look closely a passing normal person started haranguing me about tack. I told
him I didn’t work in the shop, but he wasn’t having any of it, so I beat a
hasty retreat.
Seeing
as I might be selling the car tomorrow I took it to be cleaned. It’s now
sparkling inside and out. And then I popped into Tesco to get some doughnuts
for work. After all it is St. George’s Day, so I thought I’d treat
everyone.
Maybe
half the people I spoke with today knew it was St. George’s Day.
Several stared at me blankly, clearly with no idea what I was talking about.
And one person commented that she liked St George’s Day because
that’s when everyone drinks Guinness…
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24
April 2010 (Saturday) - Buying Blue Things
For
once I slept well, and wasn’t up with the lark. So I was understandably
miffed to be woken by a furious hammering on the front door. I get annoyed
when people bang on the door – after all, there’s a perfectly serviceable
doorbell there. So I got up and trotted downstairs to find some normal people
thundering on the door of the house next to us. “Did we wake you?”
they asked. I gave them a sickly smile, and then made my brekky.
Then
another noise from the front door. I thought the thing was being kicked down.
But no – the postman was putting letters through. How can you make so much
noise posting letters through a letter box?
My
postal vote has arrived. And with it was a separate letter telling me that
I’d been allowed a postal vote. Which was rather obvious, and a waste of a
letter. And then I did a little research. There are 45.2 million people
registered to vote, according to Yahoo Answers. Of these, the Electoral
Reform Society claims that 12.1% will use a postal vote. So I am one of five
and a half million people who will use a postal vote. That’s far more than I
thought. And every one of us has had a totally redundant letter telling us
we’ve been allowed a postal vote.
Admittedly
councils using franking machines get their postage cheaper than usual. A
second class stamp costs me 32p. Let’s be generous and assume the council
gets it for 20p. That will still cost the country just over a million pounds
on sending out these unnecessary letters, to say nothing of the cost of the
paper, envelopes and people’s time in producing them. I might just write to
my MP, pointing out the saving the government might make, and asking if I get
a reward for spotting this.
(And
they claim there is a recession on!).
Then
I got really angry with the PC – I couldn’t access anything in Facebook.
Nothing at all. After half an hour I decided my browser was at fault, and
tried using FireFox. That wouldn’t work either.
Facebook itself was not working properly.
Facebook’s
not what it once was. It’s a typical example of today’s IT philosophy:
something is working well, so let’s fiddle about with it. As opposed to the
typical engineering maxim “If it ain’t broke,
don’t fix it!” I wasted a lot of time trying to use Facebook to send a message,
which in the end I sent by email anyway.
To
town for shopping. First of all to buy breakfast. Having been to The Gorge
with Martin a few weeks ago, we went back. A good old fry-up is always
appreciated. With grilled tomatoes and black pudding too. We then wandered
through the market stalls where I got a bandanna. In years gone by I had
loads of bandannas. These days I can’t find that many. I have my suspicions
where they might have gone….
I
had been told that I could buy pink crocs for a fiver in the shop which once
housed the Co-op. I was misinformed. Whilst they had pink crocs in my size,
they were thirty five quid. A tad expensive. I found a pair of black crocs in
Peacocks for a fiver, and went with those.
Over
the last few weeks, everyone has been buying new cameras. Whilst I am very
pleased with the camera on my phone, the battery doesn’t last more than a
day, and my old camera is nearly ten years old, and is starting to creak a
bit. I had a look in Colourscope Cameras. The one
I’d had my eye on was rather expensive, so I looked at what else was on
offer. I decided that since I didn’t use the video camera I’ve got much, I
didn’t need one that did HD videos. All I wanted was something that took
photos. The Fujifilm A170 took 10.2 megawotsits
photos, and was on a bargain offer. And it also took AA batteries. I like a
camera that takes standard batteries I can buy anywhere, so I bought the
camera. The chap in the shop tried to sell me a case and a memory card, but I
was talked out of buying those. They sounded expensive.
We
had a look in Cheesy Computers (GZ to the normal people) where the
assistant was very helpful. Not only were his memory cards half the price of
the ones in the camera shop, he refused to sell us the biggest ones until
he’d checked on the internet that our camera would take a 16Gb card. And he
was right – it would only accept up to an 8Gb card. So we bought one of
those. As we paid, the chap in the shop was saying how in the past they would
sell the bigger memory cards, and then have people coming back complaining
because the bigger cards didn’t work in most digital cameras.
On
reflection, with each photo being about 2.5Mb, an 8Gb card can hold just over
three thousand photos. How big a memory card do I need?
I
came home via the tattoo shop. Dan the Tattoo Man had asked me to pop in so’s he could photograph my new tattoo once it had calmed
down a bit. He was very pleased with it (as am I!).
Once
we were home I spent a few minutes playing with my new camera. It can take
videos after all. Having mucked about with it for a bit, I’m quite impressed
with what I’ve got. I had a look on eBay, and I think I’ve got a bargain, as
the eBay price for my camera is thirty quid more than I paid for it. I’ve
ordered a sexy case for it which hopefully should be here mid-week. Let’s
hope so.
And
so the the Renault garage to check out their deal
which sounded too good to be true. It was – partly.
We
had a good chat with the salesman, who gave my car the once over. And it soon
became apparent that my getting a brand new car wasn’t going to happen. He
asked what sort of car I was after. I was very clear on that – the same as
I’ve currently got, only newer and with comparable mileage. They had two cars
which would suit my (and their) requirements. I ended up going for
another Grand Scenic (same as I have now) which has done just over
twenty thousand miles, and is two years newer than my current car. I pick it
up on Friday, and having given them my car in part exchange I will be paying
a quid less each month on my car loan. Admittedly I’m starting with a new car
loan, but I was planning to do that when the loan was paid up anyway.
The
only drawback is that grey roof bars and top-box will look a bit spazzy on a blue car, but I only have the box on for two
months of the year anyway.
We
then settled down to watch Doctor Who – another excellent episode. Having
watched the last two years of David Tennant’s tenure out of a sense of
feeling I had to, I’m really liking this year’s
season. I then wasted what remained of the evening in NeverWinter.
All
things considered it was quite a constructive day, but I had planned to do
loads of laundry, mow the lawn and paint the fascia boards today as well.
Maybe tomorrow…
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25
April 2010 (Sunday) - Cycling to Aldington
Last
night just as I was getting really cross in NeverWinter the phone rang.
Work’s I.T. had gone west and the chap who was on duty couldn’t remember how
to rig the apparatus to back-up mode. It was one of those things that I don’t
do very often, and it would have been quicker for me to show him face to face
rather than tell him over the phone, so at 11.15pm I was on my way to work. A
bit of mucking about, and I was back home by 12.45am and asleep by 1am.
At
2.30am I was woken by “My Boy TM ” coming home quietly.
He’d been on the razzle with some mates in Maidstone to celebrate a
birthday. Their plan was to go to a tasteful establishment where refined
young ladies get their kit off for the titillation of young gentlemen. But
having been to a “wiiiiine bar” where
the cost of a round of drinks was weighed rather than counted, they found had
no money left to spend on flaunting floozies. Which was
probably for the best.
With
a few minutes spare this morning, I figured out how to take the roof rack off
of the car. It was quite simple to do – I shan’t leave the racks on the new
car when I’m not using the top box. If for no other reason than that the
colour would be wrong.
Despite
the drizzle we got the bikes out, and the weather soon perked up. Seven of us
cycled to Aldington to the Good Intent, which is a semi- regular destination
when out cycling. Four well kept ales on the hand pumps, good food and
friendly service. Cycling on a Sunday was a change from usual, and in
retrospect a starter followed by a roast dinner probably wasn’t the best of
ideas when one has to cycle home again. So we broke up the journey home by
calling in at the Queen’s Head for a pint of Summer Lightning.
We
were home relatively early, so whilst the guinea pigs ate the dandelions I
topped up the pond, emptied the car of all sorts of
tat and fell asleep for half an hour before mowing the lawn. I was told the
lawn didn’t need mowing, but the trick to keeping a lawn looking like it
doesn’t need mowing is to keep mowing it regularly. I still haven’t got the
fascia boards painted. Maybe in the week at some time….
And
now I really ache….
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26
April 2010 (Monday) – Stuff
I
read the news this morning over breakfast. I know I shouldn’t. Sometimes I
wonder if I am really the only sane one in a mad world (and that’s a scary
thought!). Take today’s news for example. Apropos of nothing, one of the
greatest minds of the age, Professor Stephen Hawking has announcedthat he thinks that
intelligent aliens have exhausted the natural resources of their own world,
and are on their way to Earth in enormous spaceships to take ours. Has anyone
told the Professor that “V” is a program on the Syfy
channel, and is make-believe?
And
then another genius professor has discovered that the sun goes through phases
of more intense and less intense activity. And the phases of less intense activity correspond
with our getting harsher winters. What can I say? Dur!!!!!
Isn’t that patently obvious?
I
had got a service booked on the car I’ve just sold. So I phoned the garage to
check that they’d cancelled it, and to speak to them about my service
account. Each month I’ve been paying fifteen quid into an account to help
meet the costs of having the car serviced. Seeing I’m getting a new car I’ll
need to have the account transferred to the new car. After all, I’ve been
paying into this thing for two years and haven’t touched that money yet. It
would be a nice little amount to put towards future services. Or so I
thought.
It’s
not that simple. These things never are. The service deal wasn’t with the
garage. It was with some third party that the garage was dealing with two
years ago. Whilst the garage can get money out of them to pay for services,
they were pretty sure the funds would not be transferable to another car. It
would be easier all round if I cancelled the service plan, got my money back
and started a new one. Or so I was told. The garage suggested I contacted my
bank to ensure the direct debit was stopped, and they said they would get
onto this third party to get me a refund. They warned me there would be an
admin fee. I phoned this third party myself to find the admin fee is forty
quid. Forty quid!!!
I
won’t be taking out a service deal with the new car. I shall just stick
fifteen quid aside each month and I will have the interest and admin fees for
myself.
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27
April 2010 (Tuesday) - An Afternoon Off
Some
days I feel like I am running round like a headless chicken at work. Other
days we seem to have more staff than sense. Today, with seemingly double the
staff we had last week, I thought I’d take the opportunity to use up some of
my lieu time and I took the afternoon off.
I
came home to find my camera case had arrived. I do like buying stuff on eBay.
Although it can sometimes be a bit of a gamble, just lately everything I’ve
ordered off eBay (except one item delayed by Icelandic volcanoes) has
arrived within a couple of days. It’s a good camera case – it’s very pink.
“My
Boy TM ”
was clumping round the house whilst bellowing into his phone. He was planning
to take a bird to the seaside. I did tell him that there were plenty of
seagulls there already, but he wasn’t having any of it.
Totally
by chance, the bank phoned – would I like to borrow a squillion pounds? By
one of life’s many co-incidences, one squillion pounds is exactly the amount
of money I need to borrow to pay for my new car. So I told the bank I would
like a loan, which completely flummoxed the poor girl. She was obviously so
used to being told to get knotted that she simply wasn’t expecting anyone to
say yes. She then passed me onto someone who claimed her name was Kelly. If
her name was really Kelly, then from now on I should be known as Rashid. “Kelly”
started her standard spiel. I stopped her and asked her my most important
question - how soon I could get my hands on the money? That flummoxed her.
She said it depended on where the money was coming from. I might have it in
savings, in bonds, on deposit. I asked her what she was talking about, and
she admitted she didn’t know. She then put me on to somebody who spoke both
scripted and impromptu English and I asked my questions.
She
gave me her figures, and I trotted round to the garage to see how much money
I could save on the car loan. Despite my being a valued customer entitled to
the premium rate loan reserved for the bank’s most valued customers, it was
still no cheaper than going with the deal that Renault had already offered,
so I shook hands with the salesman, and spent a few minutes looking at my new
car. I realise that (apart from the colour) it is pretty much
identical to my current car, but it’s still quite exciting.
This
car will be my tenth motor vehicle, and I’ve just amazed myself that out of
the thing’s nine predecessors, I can only recall the registration numbers of
four of them. My DAF, my mini, the Maestro – what were their numbers? My
motorbike “Zoomy Petal” – what was
his number?
I
then mucked about adding an RSS feed to my blog. I have absolutely no idea
what an RSS feed is, but if you look at the very bottom of the screen you’ll
see there’s a link to it. I was actually trying to blag
an animated header similar to that which one of my loyal readers uses on a
certain kiting forum, but I got this instead. I wonder what it does….
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28
April 2010 (Wednesday) -Arky-ologee Club
Let’s
hope my PC lasts long enough for this blog entry to reach cyber-space. On
booting I had some message which dribbled about an unregistered anti-virus
being installed. So I employed my standard I.T. fix #1 – I rebooted, which
seemed to work. But we shall see.
Being
the last Wednesday of the month, we set off to Lenham to the arky-ologee club. More often than not the meetings are
dull, but tonight’s speaker promised to be good. Her previous talks had been
on the saucier exploits of King William IV and Admiral Nelson.
Tonight
she lived up to expectations, digging the dirt on the seedier aspects of the
lives of the six uncles of Queen Victoria. With two of them being kings
(George IV and William IV) and four of them being dukes (of York,Cumberland, Sussex and Cambridge)
they were (with one dull exception) a lively lot. Between them they
were involved in several illegal marriages, had several mistresses, fathered
at least fifty-six illegitimate children and ran up debts of millions of
pounds (each). The speaker read from letters and eye witness accounts
written at the time, and brought to life a subject which thirty years ago my
history teacher had killed stone dead.
Following
her talk we had a celebrity guest. Or so I first thought. My mistake – the
poor lady who told us of her excavations bore an unfortunate resemblance to “Tiddler”
from “The Riddlers”. She waxed
ecstatically about some medieval duck pond she was digging out, which was
apparently remarkable because it was built on the wreckage of an earlier
medieval duck pond. I suppose there are those who get over-excited at the
thought of double decker medieval duck ponds, but I must admit I am not one
of them…
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April 2010 (Thursday) - This and That
When
not on an 11.30am start I always get to work far too early. There are all
sorts of reasons for this. Avoiding the rush hour traffic is one, getting a
parking space within fifteen minutes walk of the hospital is another, as is
getting a few minutes peace and quiet to read a book before the day starts.
And being in at work early has the advantage that should the person rostered
to be in early not turn up for whatever reason, I am there already, can step
into the breach, and so can go home early. Which is what
happened today.
We
had an interesting and intellectual discussion at work on the subject of who
is the lamest super-hero. Despite the utter rubbish-ness of Elastic-Man, the
Green Hornet and all of the X-Men, the title of lamest super-hero went
to Matter Eater Lad – a
particularly useless hero whose sole super talent is to eat everything and
anything. One can only hope that Matter Eater Lad has solved the problem of
chronic flatulence.
I
then phoned the garage – which took some doing. All is well with my new car,
but it occurred to me that with the switchover of TV and radio broadcasting
to digital format in two years time, perhaps I should be considering a
digital car radio. The garage said not to worry – they have had no direction
from Renault about digital radios whatsoever. Further research on the internet would seem to show I needn’t worry. I’ve got until 2020 to
get a digital radio in my car. Hopefully that will be several new cars down
the line.
And
then home – I mucked out the pond filter. It didn’t actually need doing. Or
that is, it hadn’t started leaking yet. Every other time I’ve cleaned it out
this year was because it was leaking, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to be
pro-active. Hurt – no. Smell of fish poo – yes. But you can’t have
everything.
And
then I had a look in my letter rack. The leccie
company had sent me a letter. I get my leccie and
gas from them, and because I get both, I get a discount. Or that is I used to
get a discount. They have a new system, and my details differ between the two
accounts. Unless I phoned them immediately to tell them to make the accounts
have the same details they were going to discontinue my discount.
So
I phoned them, and asked them if they thought (as I did) that their
writing to me to tell me to tell them to correct their own error was a bit
dumb. The chap on the phone was helpful (being able to speak English
helped, and was a novel development for a call centre), and he said that
whilst their new system is good and has cost millions of pounds, apparently
they cannot change my details on their system without my permission. Even if
they’ve typed them in wrongly themselves.
All’s
well now, but I resent wasting my precious time on drivel like this. Which is
odd – it’s taken me twice as long to type up what happened, and I don’t mind
that at all…
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April 2010 (Friday) - New Car, Astro Club
Last
Saturday night I went into work for a couple of hours. Which
(in the end) worked to my advantage. I took two hours out of
work today to collect my new car. I had some qualms about saying goodbye to
the old car, but the new one is virtually identical in everything but for the
colour and one extra gear. Back to work via Tesco’s for doughnuts to
celebrate.
After
work was somewhat rushed. Tonight’s astro club
meeting was an outing to Cranbrook to
meet up with CADSAS (Cranbrook
and District Science & Astronomy Society). Four of us set off
hopefully, only to find one other person sitting in a car park hoping he was
at the right place. Having found him, five of us then sat in a car park and
hoped we were in the right place. After a while our numbers grew to double
figures, and we found the people from CADSAS who led us to where we were
supposed to be. It was at this point that we heard a car hooter, and saw some
of our members driving toward us in their car. And behind them was a
veritable convoy of a dozen or so cars full of club members. All of whom had
found each other, but not found where we were supposed to meet.
Having
said that, I feel I should point out to my loyal readers that history is
written by those who take the time to write it. There is a conflicting school
of thought that maintained we’d parked in the wrong place….
Eventually
over thirty of us met up with the Cranbrook people.
We went specifically to see their huge telescope. And it was quite a whopper,
although still in the throes of being rebuilt. Fortunately some of our number are quite clued up with thing telescopic, and some
helpful suggestions were made. I was part of a small number of people
congratulated for coming up with the idea of springs. Perhaps I should say
that I didn’t have any conception of what possible use springs would be in
the telescope. I merely overheard it being said, and so I just repeated the
word “springs” like a stuck record, and people seemed to think I knew
what I was talking about.
To
be honest I don’t really know anything about telescopes, and (not being
rude) I have no real interest in them. I am after all very much an
armchair astronomer. But having said that, I can appreciate the passion that
some have for telescopes, and a really good evening was had tonight. I got to
chat with friends I only meet once a month at the astro
club. But there were a lot of faces I didn’t recognise. I need to get to know
more of the membership.
And
then home. I really should do my packing for next week’s holiday……
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