1 November 2011 (Tuesday) - Backup
Being the end of the month, I backed up October’s blog entries to my backup site. I set it up some years ago (with the assistance of the nice man at energize-group) since at the time I understood that some of my loyal readers couldn’t access the main blog page. I sometimes wonder how much use that backup site gets these days. But even if no one looks at it, it’s a useful backup to have. I had a phone call today: one of my job applications has paid dividends. One of my applications was to be a (trainee) mortgage consultant. The chap at the mortgage company phoned me. Unfortunately the job wasn’t what I was expecting: it would involve a lot of cold-calling. And at the moment that’s not something I want to do. But if the cost of petrol goes up any more, it’s something I might have to do. Driving to Canterbury every day isn’t coming in very cheap. I received a message through the car sharing website I mentioned last week. “Phil” had mentioned that he travels from Ashford to Canterbury every day and was up for car sharing. But since he went on that website, things have changed. He’s now got himself a bike, and cycles every day. It’s something I’ve (vaguely) considered, but with a round trip of forty miles every day, I’m not keen on the idea. The bus is looking to be a possibility, but with the last bus home leaving at 6.20pm, getting home after an 8pm finish is looking tricky. And so to Folkestone, where after a really good episode of Star Trek I fell asleep. I wish I could sleep at the right time…. |
2 November 2011 (Wednesday) - Stuff
This amazes me - it's not enough that fossil fuels cause no end of pollution and global warming. Now there's evidence that drilling them out causes earthquakes too. Surely the sooner that electric cars become de rigeur, the better. Meanwhile no end of personal data has been obtained by "socialbots" - computers pretending to be real people, and asking for people to be their friends on Facebook. There’s a lesson to be learned there. I know who’s on my Facebook list. But does everyone? Somehow, I doubt it. On a more personal note, I see the government has made some concessions with regard to proposed changes to public sector pensions. A shame that they are only giving grace to those within ten years of retiring. I miss out by three years. Or that is I miss out by three years if I stay with the NHS. If I manage top organise myself another job, I suspect I shall be working until I’m nearly seventy. But they say that a change is as good as a rest. I wouldn’t say that I’d go at the first opportunity, but I’m seriously looking at what else is available at the moment. And if you look up into the night sky it’s just possible you might see the unmanned Shenzhou 8 craft, (launched earlier this week), docked with the Tiangong-1 space lab. The Chinese have succeeded in carrying off an orbital docking. They will be on the Moon soon – you mark my words… |
3 November 2011 (Thursday) - More Stuff
Perhaps someone in America read my blog yesterday. The Chinese space agency would seem to have a race on its hands. But whilst the Chinese are sticking to traditional rocketry to get into outer space, the new American plan is a series of airships to get progressively closer to space, thereby obviating the need for rockets. There's a trial airship which has (today) beaten the previous altitude record for such vehicles. I wonder how practical balloons will turn out to be...After all is said and done, it’s not an original idea – the Romanians were trying it a couple of years ago. Some of my loyal readers tune into this drivel on their iPads. I wonder if this iPad will ever look in my direction – customised with gold and diamonds it has a frame of ammolite and even fragments of dinosaur bones. A snip at a mere five million quid. For those of my loyal reader who aren’t quite so flush for cash, perhaps a pair of Queen Victoria’s undercrackers might be a more realistic purchase – only ten thousand pounds. What on Earth do you do with a pair of undercrackers that are over a century old? And as I type this, next door are shrieking at their dogs. Their dogs clearly have no intentions of doing as they are told. I can’t pretend to be a dog fan: neither am I particularly anti-dog. But it strikes me that a rather vital part of having a dog is the ability to instil some control. Perhaps that’s where I go wrong when I take Fudge for walkies… |
4 November 2011 (Friday) - Mars 500
A very restless night – it rained so hard, the noise of the rain against the window kept me awake. As I walked to my car this morning I saw the traffic wardens were out and ticketing cars. They were writing parking tickets at 7.15am this morning. Am I alone in thinking this is somewhat harsh. I have never seen a traffic warden in my road at what I would call “office hours”: they are either lurking whilst people are having breakfast, or are up to evil whilst people sleep. I’ve seen them outside my house at 12.30am (that’s half past midnight) before now. Have I missed something, or has autumn happened very suddenly this year? Last weekend it was business as usual; this weekend the trees are full of glorious colours and there are fallen leaves everywhere. I can’t remember autumn happening quite so fast in previous years. And today’s news: carrying on the space theme, I see the crew of Mars 500 have landed. Regular readers will know that I’ve been following the Mars 500 mission. Or that is I’ve been trying to follow it. I’ve subscribed to their blog, but bearing in mind it’s written in Russian I don’t think I’ve got as much out of it as I might have done had I been able to understand it. For any of my loyal readers who’ve missed the news, Mars 500 is (was) a simulated mission to Mars, conducted in a mock-up spaceship in a warehouse in Moscow. Six astronauts have spent the last five hundred days in the simulation, and have now simulated the return to Earth. It speaks volumes about the future of space explorations that he crew contained Europeans, Russians, a Chinese chap, but no Americans…. |
5 November 2011 (Saturday) - Fireworks
Today was the weekly weigh-in. I’ve lost four more pounds. And since I started this lark I’ve lost an inch from round my neck, four inches from my waist and three inches from my hips. And talking of weight loss, it would seem that there’s a furore building over the apparent fact that you can lose more weight through commercial schemes than through NHS weight loss clinics. I wonder if that’s because people who actually go to the expense of paying to lose weight are more dedicated to doing so. For a long time I naively though that the secret to weight loss was obvious – the urge to lose weight had to be stronger than the urge to eat pies. But now I know it’s not that simple. The trick lies in counting calories. Somewhat obvious really; but for one who’s (up till now) had no real idea what a calorie is, it’s come as something of a revelation. For example this morning for brekkie I had two slices of jam on toast and a cup of coffee. The calories in that are equivalent to those used up in one hour’s gentle walking. So in the past I was kidding myself when I’ve walked to the town (ten minutes away), had a full English fry-up and thought all was fine because I’d walked to the café. It’s come as something of a shock that for years I’ve led a very active lifestyle, but wiped out all the benefits by eating far too much. I then had a look on eBay: about a year I set my eBay account up to let me know whenever a Pierson roller kite came up for sale. I don’t know quite what I did, but for the last year, ebay’s been emailing me telling me about all sorts of stuff that “matches my search”. Hair rollers, roller blinds, roller skates and steam rollers. Oh, and very occasionally I get told of a very expensive kite. So I deleted the search from my eBay. Let’s hope the emails now stop. I looked out of the window: the day was rather wet and yukky. So rather than going out, we stayed in. I alternated between NeverWinter and Worms before giving up and going to sit downstairs whilst ‘er indoors TM played on the Nintendo dance mat. “Mr Bean’s Holiday” was on the telly – I don’t think I’d seen that before. It wasn’t bad – I’ve seen worse telly. And then we went round to Steve and Sarah’s for fireworks. The weather wasn’t quite as bad as it had been, and a couple of dozen of us met up and had a great evening. The fireworks were good, Steve’s box was impressive, I was pleased with the huge rocket I’d got from “Hopeless”, and we had an interesting five minutes when one of the Chinese lanterns got stuck in a tree. It didn’t quite burst into flames, but we turned the hose pipe onto it just in case. A smashing evening was had by all. Roll on next year’s fireworks…. |
6 November 2011 (Sunday) - Leeds Castle
We had the boiler serviced a couple of days ago – is it really a year since we had it replaced? And I’ve noticed that since Friday, the central heating comes on when the thermostat is set to a lower temperature. It never used to come on at all if the thermostat was set below 22oC. Now, even when set as low as 15oC, there’s a gentle heat coming from it. I wonder what that’s all about. Whilst my mind was on thoughts of boiler, I checked out my meter readings. A year ago my gas meter read 9074 – now it reads 9405. Is that good or bad? And I read the leccie meter too, and tried to put the numbers into the on-line read your own leccie meter site. “Tried” being the operative word: the web site wouldn’t have it. My night rate for electricity shows I’ve used a negative amount of electricity since I did my last meter reading back in May. Regular readers of this drivel may recall that I’ve had leccie meters go wrong in the past. It looks like another one has gone west on me. Which is a pain. And then to Leeds Castle. Regular readers may recall that I’ve been there twice this year with the kite club: we flew kites as an attraction for a couple of events that Leeds Castle were running. Today we were flying kites as a prelude to the firework display. So we flew kites. Which was easier said than done with the wind varying from hurricane to perfectly still on a regular basis. In between kite flying (and rescuing kites from trees) I had a mooch round the various stalls. All of which were selling food. Or that is they were offering food for sale. But they weren’t giving it away. With a bag of chips costing £2.50 I was glad we’d taken a pic-nic. And we attacked some passing Star Wars stormtroopers. I’m not sure what they were doing, but they seemed fair game to be attacked. As the light faded we flew spirit kites (which look like Dementors from Harry Potter) before sitting down in front of a huge open-air screening of Toy Story. And once this was done the fireworks started. They lasted for half an hour, and as part of the show there was a spectacular light show which illuminated the castle, and the whole thing was set to music. Don’t get me wrong – it was a very good show: especially for us as we’d got in for free with the kite club. But the general public (all several thousands of them) had paid eighteen quid each. And in all honestly I think I would have expected more for my money when you bear in mind that the show probably wasn’t that much better than fireworks and music I’ve seen at local displays (admittedly on a smaller scale). Coming home was fun. We made our way to the car and sat in the car for fifty minutes whilst everyone else queued to get out. Inching forwards imperceptibly, blasting hooters at each other, tempers got very frayed in the car park. We just sat and waited, and once the queues had mostly subsided, we drove straight out. Same time next year…? If it’s another freebie. I wouldn’t pay for it. |
7 November 2011 (Monday) - Dog Poo
Over the weekend I was rattling on about my diet. I do that quite a bit these days. Whilst the weight loss seems to be working, I seem to spend most mornings in a state of total and painful hunger. So I had some of my lunch for elevensies – that seemed to do the trick. Having said that, I need to do something about brekkie - two bits of toast isn't filling. Last night was the last episode of Downton Abbey. I’ve not heard that any of my loyal readers have been watching it, but I’ve been enthralled. And we’ve been left on a cliff-hanger. Can’t wait till the Xmas special. Talking of which, I wonder if there will be a return of Upstairs Downstairs as well? And talking of Xmas, I wonder how many children will get the latest novelty game “Doggie Doo” – the winner being the person who accumulates the most dog poo. What will they think of next… |
8 November 2011 (Tuesday) - Stuff
Next door’s dogs were staging a riot at 6.30am this morning. I’m not anti-dog in any way, but they are such noisy creatures. If only they could woof quietly. I then updated FireFox: I say “I updated FireFox” – to be honest it updated itself. So far I can’t see any difference. I had a voice message on my mobile phone today. Nathan was wondering if I’d made any progress on the matter we’d been discussing last week. Having no idea who Nathan was, or the matter I’d discussed with him put me at something of a disadvantage. I wonder if I should ring him back. Perhaps I won’t Then I checked the news. As well as a load of dull stuff happening, fans of the film “Ice Age” might be interested to know that sabre-toothed squirrels did live alongside dinosaurs, just like “Scrat”. Whether or not they spent a lot of time pushing acorns around has yet to be determined though. Meanwhile in America a spokesman for the White House has denied any evidence for the existence of aliens. Such a denial will be taken (in some circles) as evidence that aliens are real. And following on from yesterday’s whinge about the diet, it’s been suggested that I monitor my fibre intake. Apparently eating loads of fibre helps with the hunger. And fibre would seem to run against common sense in the same way that the calorie content of food does. For example (it would seem) there’s more fibre in tomato soup than there is in a jacket potato. I wonder what I can have for brekkie that is especially fibrelicious whilst still being very cheap…. |
9 November 2011 (Wednesday) - More Stuff
This morning whilst rooting through the cupboards I found a box of Tesco’s Bran Flakes. So I had a bowl of that for brekkie, and was remarkably less hungry than I have been in the past. Yesterday I applied for a job as a fitness trainer (yes – I know!!) And today I was offered that job. All I have to do is pay them two thousand pounds for their training course and they will supply me with a list of gymnasiums in which I might try to tout my trade. That’s a really good job(!) Meanwhile the Russians have launched an interplanetary space probe. Intended to land on the Martian moon of Phobos and then return to Earth with some Phobos-rock, the probe has apparently fallen at the first hurdle, and is stuck in Earth orbit. With only three days of battery power remaining, hopes aren’t high for salvaging anything from this mission. Embarrassingly the Russians were also planning to use the rocket to deliver a Chinese probe to Mars as well. I predict that within a few years the Chinese will be offering space on their rockets to highest bidders. And here’s a sign of the times. In Hastings there is a sad individual who is lurking around various school gates in his car, attempting to entice children in. He seems to move from school to school, and it would seem to be difficult to pin down the movements of this fellow. A friend of my cousin has got herself into trouble with the police about the matter. Apparently she shouldn’t have alerted the parents to what the police consider to be hearsay and rumour. From what I can determine, the authorities would rather wait until a child has been hurt before they infringe the civil rights of those who lurk around schools for no apparent reason…. |
10 November 2011 (Thursday) - Even More Stuff
A second day of Tesco’s Bran Flakes for brekkie. Again I was remarkably less hungry this morning than I have been in the past. But this will be very short-lived: we’ve run out. I was under the impression that the Bran Flakes had been lurking round the cupboard for years. But it turned out that ‘er indoors TM has been scoffing them on a daily basis, and I’d polished off the last of her brekkie. I would have known that if I had been paying attention to what has been going on in her diet diary. Work’s not going well at the moment, and I’m continuing to apply for jobs at a serious rate, ones I think I could do; ones I think I might like, ones I haven’t a hope of getting. If I don’t try, I’ll never move on. Right now, any job would do… Meanwhile if any of my loyal readers have a Nokia N8 like me and “Daddy’s Little Angel TM ”, whatever you do, don’t update the software. Apparently doing so stuffs the phone up. Which really proves my point about upgrades. Upgrades should be left alone. If you want an upgrade, buy a new phone. And here’s something on which to ponder. There is a school of thought in Israel which feels that women should not sing in public. Apparently their doing so conjures up lustful thoughts. One lives and learns… |
11 November 2011 (Friday) - Rhinos
I went to bed at my usual time of 11pm last night, and slept right through to 5.30 am this morning. I was quite pleased about that. I’m beginning to dread going to kip because I know I will probably be awake from 3am to 5am, and start getting tired just as it’s time to get up. And then I got up for my bran flakes. Regular readers of this drivel will know I’ve been spouting on about dietary fibre lately. It turns out that scoffing more fibre in your diet reduces the risk of bowel cancer. That’s nice to know. Whilst we’re on toilet matters, did you know that the country’s energy shortages could be countered by using your very own tiddle? Apparently human urine could be used as the cathode half of a battery to produce loads of electricity. One can’t help but wonder what goes into the anode. I got myself a Morrison’s loyalty card today: if I’m getting petrol from them (which I am), I might as well get the loyalty points that go with it. I don’t know when I’ll actually get to spend the points though – I suppose I’d better make a special journey. After all if I’m in the petrol station, the supermarket is quite close. Closer that Asda ever is to any journey I make. With ‘er indoors TM flogging candles this evening I set about some ironing, and watched a movie – the 1950s version of “Mutiny on the Bounty”. A classic; and I stayed awake for most of it too. And in closing today, spare a thought for the African western black rhino; it’s been declared officially extinct. |
12 November 2011 (Saturday) - Rye Bonfire Parade
The weekly weigh-in: three more pounds have gone. That’s got my weight heading in the right direction, and perhaps at a slightly better rate than it has been. Perhaps laying of the beer has helped. Laying off the beer might have helped several villains up north. Having evaded the law for some time, they were suckered by a phone scam. The police phoned them up, told them they’d won free beer, arranged a time and place for delivery, and when the villains were expecting to get free beer, they got arrested. I can’t help feeling that was a bit mean. To town to the bank and a bit of shopping, and then we called in to visit one of my grand-dogs. Fudge isn’t feeling very well at the moment. He’s been off his food for a few days, and apparently has been dull and listless. I was worried, and when we visited he did seem somewhat off-sorts. Whilst he was running around, he was nowhere near as excitable has he had been in the past. And he still wasn’t eating. However whilst we were with him, he noticeably chirped up, and drank a bowl of milk. I suspect he’s eaten something he shouldn’t: maybe he’d swallowed a bit of something he’d been chewing (a fragment of his bed, perhaps?). I’ve asked for regular updates on the pup, and we left him (and his entourage) to it. We came home, and I spent an hour or so applying for more jobs on-line. Sometimes I wonder if anything will come of the applications, but one thing is certain – if I don’t apply, then nothing at all will happen. Whilst applying like a thing possessed, I had an email – over on Twitter Arthur StJames has started following me. I wonder who he is. If he’s following my tweets, he’ll be disappointed – I don’t do many. And so to Rye for the bonfire parade. Rye bonfire parade has featured as a blog entry every November since I’ve been blogging: and the first ever entry concerning the event mentioned the previous year’s parade, so tonight was at least the seventh time I’d been along. And tonight was a bonfire parade with a difference. Usually I treat the Rye bonfire parade as one big booze up. This year, circumstances have conspired against me, and with the need to economise being paramount, for once I treated Rye bonfire as an evening out and not as a session on the beer. Admittedly there were flasks of mulled wine and mulled Pimms going about, but this time a fortune was not tiddled up a wall. And we had a wonderful time. Four of us drove down to Rye; there were eight by the time we reached the chip shop, and a dozen as we watched the parade. We shared sparklers and we cheered the procession. And in another break with tradition we didn’t watch the fireworks from the Gun gardens. Because you can’t actually see the fireworks form there. Instead we walked down to the bonfire and watched the celebrations at the fire, and actually had a really good view of the fireworks for a change. Having driven down, we drove home. There was no mad rush for the train, and no being squashed like sardines onto the train. We came home in comfort. And so the fireworks season is over for another year. It seems to have been a very short one this year: I suppose having missed the events in Eastbourne and Shadoxhurst it would seem so. I’m already looking forward to next years’ events. |
13 November 2011 (Sunday) - Walkies
I had rather a late night last night; not going to bed until 1am. I was thinking of friends who’d gone on an all-night ghost hunting trip as I dozed off. And I was thinking of them when they texted me at 5.45am to say they were on their way home (!) I spent some time applying for more jobs on-line. Today I’ve filled out twenty applications for jobs ranging from surgical sales to fitting cavity wall insulation. If any of my loyal readers know of any job vacancies, please do let me know. I’m open to applying to absolutely anything. Yesterday I mentioned that my grand-dog Fudge was poorly. He seems to be on the mend now, and this afternoon me and ‘er indoors TM took him for a walk. Quite a long walk. There’s a new road which had been opened up in Ashford which bypasses a lot of the residential areas, and I was feeling nosey, so we walked along it. For those who know the town at all, it goes from the International station to Matalan. There are loads of industrial outlets and businesses along there that I never knew existed. We then walked round Singleton Lake – I haven’t been there for years. We met quite a few other dogs on the way; some friendly, some not so. Perhaps I’m making a sweeping generalisation here, but it struck me that the older the dog owner, the more disagreeable the dog. And here’s an amazing statistic. Today’s blog entry is my nine hundredth entry here on Blogger. Add on the thousand that I did over on Yahoo 360 (until it packed up), and I‘m sure that you’ll agree that one thousand nine hundred blog entries is quite an amazing feat. Or that is, it would be if they were actually the gems of literary merit that I’d like them to have been. Personally I can’t see the fascination of listening to me rattling on about weight loss and wanting a caravan, and generally watching me squandering my life in a rather tedious series of ordeals. But I can see from the stat counter that over the last week between thirty to forty different people tune in every day to see what I’ve been getting up to. Perhaps we might organise a meet-up of my loyal readership in one hundred days’ time to celebrate the two thousandth blog entry which (by an amazing co-incidence) will be on my 48th birthday. |
14 November 2011 (Monday) - Minesweeper
Can I start off today with a warning to my loyal readers. One the right hand side of this page is a list of other blogs to which I subscribe. One of them, the blog over at queensheadrye.com, would seem to have become a hot-bed of computer virus and malware activity. And in becoming so has had this blog become flagged up as being a bit dodgy too. I’ve removed the offending blog from my blog list so it won’t appear any more, updated my anti-virus and malware gubbins and scanned my computer. I *think* this blog is now once more as safe as it ever was, but if you haven’t done a scan on your own PC for a while, might I recommend that you do so (just in case). Regular readers will know that periodically I whinge about insomnia. It would seem that I’m not alone in doing so. For some reason I don’t find this news in any way heartening. Perhaps my latest obsession might tire me out enough to get some kip - I would seem to have got hooked playing “minesweeper”: such a simple game has kept me quiet for hours. And can I apologize for not having more to say today – I’m trying to guess where the mine is…. |
15 November 2011 (Tuesday) - Doctor Who
I had an email telling me my leccie bill was available on-line. So I clicked on the link which would take me to my account. It didn’t. Complete password failure. So I clicked on the link to remind me of the password, and I had memorable date and question failure too. I shall have to phone them up. I’ll do that later. ‘er indoors TM posted some photos of me on Facebook today. Here’s one of them. And looking at that photo, I can’t help but notice how fat I look compared to what I see in the mirror at the moment. That photo is from seventeen years ago, so I reckon I must now be at the thinnest I’ve been for (probably) the last twenty years. I wonder what I did with all the clothing I got to be too fat to fit into. Talking of Facebook, I had a laugh this evening. The Kent Therapists and Pamper Events group are having problems with an event they are planning: they urgently need to obtain the services of some stand-in mediums and tarot readers to cover for unforeseen circumstances. And being Tuesday, the tribes gathered. This time in South Willesborough. Normally I’d drive, but half an hour’s walk there was a good bit of exercise. We had a good chin-wag, and then watched “Doctor Who” – the first episode with Christopher Ecclestone. I can remember watching that episode when it first came out in 2005 on the big screen (at Chris’s house), but I don’t think I’ve seen it since. It was really good. And then home via Asda to get some bread. I was reliably informed that we were running short. Talking of Doctor Who, the news today was rife with stories of a new Doctor Who movie being made. I say “stories” – there was no more actual information than that there is talk of there being one or more movies. I wonder if anything will come of these rumours… |
16 November 2011 (Wednesday) - Spoke, Jim and Jogging
Last night I had a stroke of genius. I get them from time to time. Rather than going to bed at 11pm and waking far too early, I had this plan to go to bed later, and maybe waking a tad nearer getting up time. It sort of worked – I wasn’t awake for as much of the night as sometimes I have been, but it did leave me tired for most of the day. Something I’ve mentioned in the past, and something which annoys me is how I’ll go from one room to another to do something, only to completely forget what I had in mind when I get there. I’m not alone in doing this, and science has an explanation. It would seem that the average mind sees walking through a door as being a subliminal instruction to wipe short term memory. That would explain an awful lot. Last night I mentioned that I walked to Chippy’s house. And (daft as it might sound) I actually felt as though I had less weight to carry about. So tonight I went for a bit of a run. Just up the road and back, alternating running with walking. And I didn’t do too badly for a start. I might try running again tomorrow. I have a long term plan to take the train to work in Canterbury, and to run to and from the train station at both ends. So I need to work on my running a bit. We then went to Matalan for a nosey – they’ve got all the Xmas bling up: usually I’m an Xmas nut: tonight I found it vaguely depressing. And then home – over a cracking bit of tea we watched the latest episode of “Terra Nova”. Like most TV, it doesn’t hold up to serious consideration, but I’m finding it to be quite watchable. And for something set in pre-history, they aren’t over-playing the dinosaurs. Which is good. And then we watched an episode of “the Spoke and Jim Show”, or “Classic Star Trek” as it is known in some circles. I was quite pleased that I successfully identified the four members of the landing party that were going to die, and the one that was going to get goosed. Much as I love “the Spoke and Jim Show”, it can get a bit predictable sometimes… |
17 November 2011 (Thursday) - Stuff
Another night of going to bed a bit later. It seems to have me sleeping for longer, but there’s a limit to how long you can kip for. The pedestrians do start getting a bit noisy shortly after 5am. They seem to swarm up the road in droves, and have the need to shout to each other; rather than to whisper. Work was work; and then I came home again. Some things never change. On the way home I had a phone call from Beth from one of the employment agencies: we chatted for some time. I had a text from Karen from another employment agency – she’ll phone tomorrow after the farrier has dealt with her horse. I don’t know if anything will come from all of this, but I live in hope. The home learning college phoned. I’d contacted them yesterday about the possibility of doing some courses in web design. They phoned back. I told them that all I wanted to know was the cost. They wouldn’t give me a straight answer - they flannelled and hedged, and couldn’t seem to grasp that cost was my only deciding factor. Why can’t people be up-front about these things? I had a vague plan to go and look at the meteor shower tonight. But it was cold, so I didn’t bother. After all, I’ve seen meteors before. And here’s a sign of the times. Have you been watching the BBC’s series “Frozen Planet”?. I haven’t, but it would seem that the Beeb are dropping the episode on global warming to increase the chances of selling the program overseas. Meanwhile I received an email this evening telling me that “Cockzilla” is the word, and it had details for improving various dimensions. I could be wrong, but I don’t think that “Cockzilla” has much to do with chickens… |
18 November 2011 (Friday) - TFI Friday...
‘er indoors TM stuck an extra blanket on the bed last night, and I slept a whole lot better. It’s amazing the difference not being cold can make. And being on a late start probably helped at all. If I know I need to be up for something in the morning I always wake far too early: if there’s no need to be up early I always seem to sleep better. Mind you there was a minor panic: having convinced myself that it wasn’t recycling blue box day today, it came as a shock as I heard the bin men outside. But I charged out of bed and got the bin to them in time. And went back to kip for a bit. After a while I hauled my carcass out of my pit and fiddled about going through my post. Whilst doing so there was a bit of a commotion downstairs - “Daddy’s Little Angel TM ” and Sid had arrived to visit. Sid seems to be getting more excitable as he gets older. A bit like his mother, really. And so to work. Being on a late shift I had planned to pop into the home brew shop on the way to work. But I completely forgot. I’ll do it tomorrow. Work was work, and over my lunch break I had two phone calls about jobs I’ve recently applied for. Whilst nothing’s come up so far, the agencies both sounded keen, and both suggested that this time of the year is traditionally slow for the kind of jobs I’m applying for. The market apparently picks up in January. Let’s hope so. And so home, where I set the washing machine going. It’s very noticeable how quiet the washing machine is now it’s had its bearings replaced. And after a decent bit of tea I ironed a week’s worth of shirts whilst watching “Yes Prime Minister”. I do like that program. Meanwhile I see that neutrinos are still going much faster than science says they should. Did Albert get it wrong? One cannot help but wonder exactly what E is now equal to…. |
19 November 2011 (Saturday) - Fires, Reindeer, Narnia
The weekly weigh-in: I’ve shifted two more pounds. That’s two and a half stone since I started this diet, and (probably) still under half of what I need to lose. Mind you, I must question the validity of weigh-ins. On this morning’s first weigh in it looked like I’d gained weight. So I had a shave and weighed again afterwards, and in that time my weight had dropped by four pounds. I’ve noticed that I can get different readings out of the scales by moving the scales to different points on the kitchen floor. I then spent a little while playing “Worms” – rather mindless fun, but fun nonetheless. I can remember there being a concrete donkey in the game some years ago, but haven’t found one lately. I wonder if it’s still there? And then seeing how tomorrow is the smallest member of the family’s birthday, we went to the reindeer farm as a birthday treat. The event started rather embarrassingly: this was our first meeting with “My Boy TM ” ‘s girlfriend’s family. The plan was we would all meet up in the car park of the reindeer farm. We arrived, waited a bit, and sure enough the prospective in-laws arrived. And as they pulled up, so their camper van burst into flames. Literal flames. There was fire coming out from underneath the camper van, and when they opened the engine compartment, it was ablaze. Having your vehicle spontaneously combust isn’t something that you expect, so there was a worrying few seconds before the gravity of the situation was realised. But the on-board fire extinguisher did the trick, and the reindeer farm staff were soon on hand with a fire extinguisher too. What a way to meet someone (!) With fires extinguished we made our way inside. We started with Santa’s grotto. It was done up really well, and Santa was really good. Littlun got a present well worth the cost of two people’s entrance tickets. And then we moved on to the animals. Lots of reindeer, obviously, and meerkats, wallabies, llamas, donkeys, ducklings, emus, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, guinea-pigs. There was a snow-blower which periodically covered passers-by in fake snow (foam). And you got to feed the animals with carrots. Personally I think it’s a bit of a cheek charging people to feed your own animals, but it was something which was obviously popular with the punters. Getting spat on by the llamas wasn’t quite so popular, but as a spectator I found it to be far more entertaining watching people getting spat at that it was watching donkeys eating carrots. I had no idea that the reindeer farm even existed: I shall certainly go back whenever there’s any other events going on. As always there’s an album of photos of the event on Facebook. Once home we borrowed Fudge and went for a walk to the home brew shop. We could have driven, but walking is good exercise. For us and for Fudge. We took rather a tortuous route there, but we eventually found how to cross the train tracks and get round the high fences. I thought the journey would take forty minutes: it took fifty-five. Mind you, coming home was quicker. We took virtually a straight line all the way. By the time we’d dropped Fudge off at the Fudgery and got home we’d been walking for two hours. That took care of six hundred and seventy four calories. That sounds a lot, but wasn’t quite as many calories as was in all that I’d eaten out of the smashing packed lunch that Cheryl had made for me today. In fact the walk only shifted sixty per cent of the calories that were in lunch. Which is exactly where my diets have gone wrong in the past – underestimating the calorie content of food, and overestimating the efficacy of exercise. Being Saturday night, it was film night. We made or way to Chris’s where we had a Narnia double bill First of all “Prince Caspian”, and then “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”. Both excellent films. I quite like this Saturday films night lark. I just need not to scoff crisps and sweeties whilst I’m there… |
20 November 2011 (Sunday) - Brewing, Painting
I was hoping for a lie-in this morning: I woke about 7am and lay awake for an hour or so before giving up and getting up. ‘er indoors TM was off on a mission, so whilst she was out I started off the beer kit I bought yesterday. In theory it should be ready for Xmas. There was a minor mishap whilst making the beer: - I managed to lacerate my right thumb on one of the tins, and it wouldn’t stop bleeding. I bodged it up with kitchen roll and carried on, but it was all a bit awkward. And with beer made and in the fermentation bucket I had a go in the garden. I got the leaves raked up, but doing it all one-handed was a tad tricky. I didn’t even attempt to mow the lawn with only one non-bleeding hand. For some reason my hand just kept bleeding despite being bandaged up. So I had a rather quiet afternoon. I played worms for a bit, and seeing no blood I went back into the garden, only to set the bleeding off again. So I got the washing in off of the line (which hadn’t dried) and I got my paints out. I did a couple of paintings the other week and was quite pleased with one of them: not quite so chuffed with the other. Today’s painting’s not turned out too bad really. It’s a shame that photography never seems to do the paintings justice. I wonder how I might get round that problem? I enjoy painting: I wonder if I might sell them? The canvases aren’t too expensive, and the painting takes about an hour to do. I wonder how much I could realistically charge for one? If any of my loyal readers would like to give someone a unique and individual Xmas gift and is stuck for an idea, why not commission an individual oil painting. Mind you, you’ll have to commission a landscape. Landscapes is all I can do… If any of my loyal readers are up for it, why not drop a line to “Badger Original Landscapes”. And for those of my loyal readers whose houses are already graced by a “Badger Original Landscape”, please feel free to write a testimonial… I then had a bit of a backup. I copied two months’ worth of photos to my stand-alone hard drive. Two months’ photos are over 1Gb worth. That’s a sign of the times. |
21 November 2011 (Monday) - Badger Original Landscapes
We’ve had a minor disaster with the Koi: Dave has died. On 28 May 2007 I blogged about what a bargain Dave was. He’s been the chunkiest fish in the pond for all the time we’ve had him. He looked a bit peaky the other day; with what looked like a growth on his head. And this afternoon I got the message that he had croaked. He weighed in at 8lb, which is heavier than any carp I’ve ever caught. Fortunately “My Boy TM ” was home to act as undertaker. He’s a good lad really. That is “My Boy TM ” is a good lad. Dave isn’t any more; he’s gone to that great pond in the sky. Yesterday I mentioned “Badger Original Landscapes” as a business venture. At the time I wasn’t serious; but then I thought that if nothing is ventured, nothing is gained. Buying a web domain name for two years has set me back seven quid. The redirection is now running. It took a day to get going, but they say that patience is a virtue. Mind you, the email account was free. The experimenting I’ve done with the email account is a tad worrying – it sees all the emails I’ve sent it as spam. But at least they’ve got through. I knew that I could design a web site for the business myself – they don’t need to have fancy graphics and Java stuff all over them. So I designed one. It didn’t take long. I even have a Facebook page and a Twitter account for the business. And so I now just sit back and wait for the orders to flood in. So far they aren’t flooding very fast. So if any of my loyal readers would like an original work of art at a very reasonable price, or would just like to subsidise me, please get in touch through the website. |
22 November 2011 (Tuesday) - Stuff
It is a commonly held belief that one shouldn’t believe what one reads, Regular readers of this drivel will understand the veracity of this statement. I was amazed to find out that viewers of Fox News are actually less informed about world events than those who watch no news broadcasts at all. Mind you I am still trying to work out whether this is casting aspersions onto Fox News or their target audience. I spent a little while fiddling with my business venture this evening. I removed a whole load of hyperlinks that should never have been there in the first place (woops!) and I’ve now added a price list: I wonder if the public were being put off thinking that art is expensive. It certainly isn’t expensive at Badger Original Landscapes. Cheap at twice the price (!) And before long I shell have the option to accept payment by credit cards (via PayPal). All I now need is paying customers. I’ve also tweeted again from the business venture’s twitter account. So far no one is following it, but one day someone might. I then looked at running an advert for the thing on Facebook. They wanted thirty five quid. Per day!! So I thought better of that. Seeing how it’s Tuesday, the tribes gathered. This time at Chris’s house. We got there perhaps a bit too early, but gossiped for a while, and then watched an episode of “Being Human”: I’ve only ever seen the first season, but what I’ve seen is good. I understand the Beeb have made three more seasons. I hope someone or other has them on DVD… |
23 November 2011 (Wednesday) - PC, Post, Telly
A phone call – a possible job. A shame it would be in Burgess Hill. Travelling a round trip of forty miles a day is quite enough to be getting on with. I wouldn’t mind a repping job in which the travel is part of the job, but driving to work is something that costs me. And talking of new jobs, I’ve added a mention of Badger Original Landscapes onto my C.V. – website design, sales experience, it’s all good gravy. My PC is playing up – the fan is noisy. I phoned PC World to see about a fix. PC World don’t do in-store fixes any more. They said they’d arrange to collect it and have it returned within ten days. I can’t say I like the sound of that. I’ll see if I can’t sort the fan; either myself or with the help of a willing volunteer (he smiled hopefully). And then I went through my post. I have a new debit card which I should activate immediately. Amongst the descriptions of various ways to activate the thing, I was told that it would automatically activate the next time I used it anyway. So I can’t help but wonder what all the fuss was about. And then I saw that I’ve been billed a fiver for “product support”. I was billed a fiver for this a few weeks ago, and the bank got me a refund. I’ve asked for another refund, and to be told what product it is that is getting supported. We then sat down to watch some telly. Terra Nova was good, as was “the Spoke and Jim Show”. This week was the unforgettable Assistant Chief Engineer De Salle betting credits to navy beans. They don’t make telly like that any more. And talking of not making telly like they used to, Doctor Who is forty eight years old today. And looking at the TV critic archives it’s amazing the show lasted past the first episode… |
24 November 2011 (Thursday) - Stuff
Yesterday’s blog entry attracted a comment. The comment was “Thanks for sharing the idea ....nice post”, and then gave a web link to someone flogging dental treatments. I’ve not published the comment – I’ve tagged the comment as spam; if someone wants to hawk their products, they should do it openly. Like I do. (Did I mention that I’m selling paintings?) I had a minor shock at tea break today. When I sit I tend to slouch in a chair, and use my not inconsiderable belly as a table. Either to support a drink, or to rest my Kindle on. And today as I slouched, I struggled to find anything on which to prop my Kindle. I’ve still an awful lot of weight to shift, but this served as a nice reminder that I’ve shifted quite a lot of bulk so far. Yesterday I mentioned about making monthly payments to “Product Support”, and having no idea what “Product Support” was all about. Yesterday I also mentioned that PC World don’t do in-store fixes any more, and I’ll have to send my PC away to get its fan fixed. Today I found out that this fiver each month is the warranty on the PC with the noisy fan. I’ll see if we can fix the fan ourselves before cancelling the monthly fivers. Here’s something of interest. Astronomers have published a list of the top ten moons an planets which are most likely to harbour life. Unsurprisingly the planet Earth came out in number one place. What I found amazing was that the same article which placed the planet Gliese 581g in second place also cast doubt on the existence of the planet Gliese 581g. And in closing, did you know that today marks twenty years since Freddie Mercury died? No – neither did I. That’s been kept quiet… |
25 November 2011 (Friday) - Astro Club
The last Friday of the month – astro club. We got there early to set up, as threats of imminent baby was worrying the usual set-up stalwart. As always we weren’t sure how many chairs to put out. We set up for sixty five people, and ended up with standing room only. The main talk of the evening was Stevey lecturing on extra-solar planets. A brilliant talk – really good. There was an interesting question after the talk in which one of the punters seemed not to believe in the principle of friction. I really don’t know how you should proceed when you explain a patently obvious scientific principle, only to be told “Well, I don’t believe it!” And then those of us with vested interests exploited our positions to extol the virtues of paintings and literature. I hawked the raffle as always, and for once I actually won the constellation game myself. That tenner will come in handy. Meanwhile Steve hawked the recently obtained club clothing. We’ve got a range of T-shirts, hats and fleeces. We sold over three hundred quid’s worth this evening. And then we did some stargazing. For all that I have a very good telescope (that wasn’t cheap), I rarely stargaze. Tonight was great – we looked at Jupiter and the Pleiades and Andromeda and all sorts of things. I even managed to get a photo of Jupiter and its moons with my camera. Regular readers of this drivel might recall blog entries from four years ago when I was very sceptical about how the fledgling astro club was doing. In retrospect it would seem that I had nothing to worry about: the club’s turned out all right…. |
26 November 2011 (Saturday) - Rather Busy
I was rather late to bed last night. Before going to bed I wanted to tally up the money from last night’s astro club meeting. No matter how I counted the money, I was exactly twenty four quid short. After what seemed like hours of frustration, I got up to make myself a cup of coffee. As I got up, I noticed a bowl of coins by my side that I’d put there to count later. And in that bowl was exactly twenty four quid. Oh how I laughed when I finally got to bed shortly after 2am. And despite a very late night, I was still up and about shortly after 8am. With ‘er indoors TM of on a candle-related beano, I was left to my own devices for the day. I started off with the weekly weigh-in. And again, I can’t say I’m sure exactly how much weight I’ve lost. By moving the scales to various points on the kitchen floor I can vary the readings by over four pounds. So I took an average reading and it looks like I’ve lost another two pounds this week. I then went up to the bank to pay the astro club’s money in. Nat West look to be having something of a re-build: the place wasn’t what it once was. But the staff were a lot more helpful that the last time I went in, so I shall be grateful for small mercies. I then went shopping for some canvases for Badger Original Landscapes (did I mention I’m doing it commercially?). It certainly pays to shop around: the same thing was available in three different shops; prices varied by up to five pounds. I came home with five blank canvases. I wonder how long it will take to shift those? And once home I had a go at doing a painting. Something with yellows and browns and contact paper and coming out of the circle. I’m not entirely happy with the result; but then I never am. Whilst I was painting, “My Boy TM ” came home with a beach-casting fishing set he’d got from the market. He was rather anxious about the shed: apparently there’s been a spate of robberies from sheds in some of the nearby roads. Fortunately we were OK: sometimes it helps not having rear access (oo-er!). I then realised I’d used the last of my tear-off palates. So I wandered back up to town to get some more. More expense – but as its business related it might be tax-deductible. I wonder how tax-deductible works? I then watched a couple of episodes of “The Joy of Painting” over lunch. That counted as research. And then I syphoned the beer from the bucket into the pressure barrel. Hopefully it will be ready for Christmas. I had a sip whilst syphoning: it tastes very much of liquorice. But I remember last year’s having a similar taste at the barrelling stage. And then with beer barrelled and paintings painted I set about the ironing. There was quite a lot of it. About two hour’s worth. That kept me out of mischief for much of the afternoon. I then had a bit of a fiddle about with Badger Original Landscapes. I’ve put the links at the tops of the pages where they are immediately obvious; rather than at the bottom. And I’ve put up a page of paintings that are currently available for sale. It might be easier for people to choose from a selection rather than having to muck about planning out one from scratch. ‘er indoors TM eventually returned home from flogging candles, and after a quick sossige sandwich (who says I can’t cook!), Jose drove us round to Chris’ house. We played Top Trumps with the nutritional values on the crisps, and once I’d realised I had the same crisps as Jose and couldn’t possibly beat him, we settled down to watch films. “Minority Report” and “I, Robot”. Both excellent films: I can’t believe I’ve not seen them before, and I can only wonder how many other good films I’ve missed. And I’ll close today with some bad news. Regular readers may recall that a few months ago there was uncertainty about the future of one of the highlights of my year: Teston Kite Festival. The word is that the festival planned for June 2012 has been cancelled. There will only be one Teston Kite Festival next year, and that will be on the weekend of 11-12 August 2012…. |
27 November 2011 (Sunday) - Rather Dull
I really would like to have done something with the day today, but it was so cold I didn’t fancy going out anywhere. So I wasted a few hours doing a writing test. One of the jobs I’ve applied for was as a medical writer, and one of the agencies sent me a test. I had to summarise a medical research paper, write a synopsis for a magazine, and produce a PowerPoint presentation about it. That took three hours. Following yesterday’s weigh-in I then had a measure-up. My neck’s stayed the same, but my waist has got an inch smaller: that’s five inches thinner since September, and my hips have also lost an inch: also five inches thinner since September. Yesterday I mentioned that “My Boy TM ” had bought some beach fishing gear: today he put it to use, and came home at mid-day with a fish he’d caught. It was a rather small whiting, but he had plans to have the fish for his tea. Neither ‘er indoors TM nor I would prepare the fish for him, so he phoned my brother who gave him instructions. From what I could see, the main instruction was to put the fish into a bowl of water and leave the thing there. But after an hour or so he took the fish round to his girlfriend’s house. I’ve since been told that it got as far as the oven, but I’ve had no further news than that. I had an email - dianpresley459 is following me on Twitter. dianpresley459 would seem to be a porn-monger. He, she or it can follow me as much as he, she or it fancies: I’m not going to reciprocate. And I spend a couple of hours this evening applying for various jobs. Maybe some of the agencies might pick up on my C.V. and find something for me. Or maybe they won’t…. |
28 November 2011 (Monday) - Rather Cold
It was cold this morning: I had to shift ice from the car’s windscreen. Is it just me being soppy, but I’m finding the cold dark mornings rather depressing at the moment. Regular readers of this drivel may recall that I went to the Battle of Hastings re-enactment a few weeks ago. The re-enactment was in the village of Battle, and was on the actual site of the original battle. Or so we thought. It would seem that there is some controversy about the subject, and there is a school of thought that the battle was actually fought a few miles away in Crowhurst. There was a nice man on the telly today expounding on the matter. Apparently he’d proved it with his divining rods, so there was no need to actually dig up the field and bother looking for any hard evidence. I wonder what I could prove with my divining rods. I might get them out and have a go with them. I’ve realised that I didn’t run a plug for “Badger Original Landscapes” yesterday. What was I thinking of? Talking of which… I’ve had a few enquiries about doing custom paintings – if any of my loyal readers would like a painting specifically to be given as an Xmas gift, it might be worth getting me going on the painting soon if you want the thing to by dry by Xmas. Otherwise there’s always the stuff I’ve got in stock. They are dry. Mind you, a painting being damp isn’t a problem (as long as you don’t try to wrap it). And in closing today, I’m sure that my loyal readers have been waiting anxiously for news on “My Boy TM ” ‘s fish. That is, the one he had for his tea last night – not one of the Koi. I’m told that it cooked up according to plan, but it wasn’t as nice as he expected it to be. However it “wasn’t too sad”, so all was not lost. Personally I think that fishing for your tea is a lot of fiddling around, but what do I know? |
29 November 2011 (Tuesday) - Teston Kite Festival
I was feeling a bit iffy last night, and so had an early night. I slept for the best part of eight hours. I do hope I’m not sickening for something. A minor disaster – the “My Boy TM –mobile” has failed it’s MOT. As is always the problem with cars, when one needs to take a car to a garage and leave it there, how does one get home again? This morning before work I collected “My Boy TM ” from the depths of Kingsnorth after he’d dropped his car off for fixing, but I had no idea how he will collect the thing later. I hope he sorted something out. A couple of days ago I mentioned about the recent news that the June kite festival at Teston has been cancelled. I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about what’s been going on lately. Reading some of the postings on the Internet kite forums, I think the general feeling in the kite flying community is one of frustration with the County Council. Many kite festivals are subsidised by local councils because they are a fun event for the public. However Kent County Council seems to want to have a fun weekend put on for the public, and those who are putting on the event will be charged for doing so. Apparently last year KCC wanted to charge Teston kite festival’s organisers hundreds of pounds for putting on the event (but they didn’t get any). Something similar happened with the kiting event at Capstone a few months ago. Much as I like the kite festivals at Teston, I’ve commented in the past that the attendance of kite-fliers has been dropping off. A lot of kite fliers have not been going to Teston for a few years because it is quite a way off the beaten track: it’s in no way a central location. And reading the forums, it would seem that the attendance at next year’s only Teston kite festival will be even less because the rank-and-file kiter doesn’t like the council’s greedy attitude. The organisers have said on their website that rather than having a weekend-long event next June, people might just turn up for an informal kite day. I don’t think people are going to travel the distance just for a few hours. I certainly don’t want to. I can’t help but feel that the event has had its day. Best to let it be a happy memory rather than being something which will slowly fizzle out as more and more people become disillusioned with a greedy council. |
30 November 2011 (Wednesday) - On
Strike (?)
The “My Boy TM –mobile” is now fixed. It wasn’t fixed
cheaply, but then cars rarely are. Yesterday I mentioned that I was feeling a
bit iffy. I seem to have developed a bit of a sniffle. That’s a pain. I don’t
do illness very well. And so to work. I suppose I should really
have gone on strike today like so many other people did. But I remember the
strikes of the seventies and eighties. People were on strike for months and
achieved very little. Having said that, I support the principle
of today’s strike. There is a school of thought that the nation cannot afford
the public sector pensions. That may or may not be the case. I’ve seen
evidence from both sides of the argument; evidence that looks convincing for
both sides of the argument. However from where I’m sitting, the bottom
line is that having let me pay for my pension for twenty nine years, it’s a
bit late for the government to now announce that they can’t afford it. They
should have priced it up right all those years ago. A bit like my mortgage
endowment, really(!) And (to
all the nay-sayers) yes – you did read that
right: “pay for my pension”. There
is a perception that public sector pensions are a freebie. They are not. If
you want a public sector pension, you have to pay for one. They might be a
better deal that the private sector pensions, but in my experience that is
because a lot of people in the private sector don’t bother to spend out on
one… |
