Posted: Fri 28 February, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Charm School, Writing |
I’ve been made aware today of the perfect/correct terminology for a collection of bank people.
It’s a Wunch.
Meaning you can describe a crowd of bank people as a Wunch of Bankers.
You’re welcome.
Posted: Fri 28 February, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Creativity, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Project 42, Thoughts, Work-related, Writing |
Over the years, I’ve often thought about finding a nice remote cottage, and ending up as a hermit, more or less. Shunning human contact for the most part, and being able to spend the time doing something creative.
Of course, as most of my nature and work is also pretty techie, the idea of a remote cottage in the middle of the moors somewhere is a bit of a stretch, there not being likely to be decent broadband anywhere nearby. If I were primarily doing writing, I could probably do it – but that particular aspect is still very much a pipe dream, albeit one that I’m still working on when I get the chance.
I still like the idea of it though – it’s still something that sticks with me, and even more so when I do travel up to the North-East and North-West, or Somerset/Devon. Maybe one day – depending on how everything else works out.
In the meantime though, it occurs to me that a lot of my current existence is quite hermit-like in many ways. I don’t interact with people around me all that much – I do with colleagues, to a degree, but in general prefer not to – and I’d rather be in my little house and spending time with my own company.
I have enough broadband (although I’d prefer more, but such is life at the moment) so really it’s the best of both worlds. Or at least it is for me – I suspect it would drive most people mental.
Things may change over time – there’s some things I’d like to change, and others I’m not bothered by – but in quite a number of ways, I’m actually really quite content at the moment. It’s a strange state of affairs.
Posted: Thu 27 February, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel, Work-related |
One thing I’m ridiculously bad about doing is taking holidays. I should be better at it, but for a number of reasons I’m just not.
Part of it is that I regard time between contracts as a bit of a holiday. Slightly more stressful holidays (with repeated sending out of CVs etc., and potential interviews) but still, a break from the normality of work. I know it’s not a holiday as such, but in my head it counts.
When I’m in a contract, I’m getting paid on a day rate – which makes a week of holiday an expensive proposition. I know, I can sort out my time/money so I have ‘paid leave’, but it still jars in my head, that I’m not getting paid when I could/should be.
I know I should book breaks – even if it’s “just” when I know a contract is coming to an end, and booking a week or whatever before I start a new one (or even extend the current one) but it’s never a priority in my head, so I don’t bother booking them in.
Finally there’s my own mind-set and cynicism, telling me that I spend my time on my own anyway, and that a holiday would just be more of the same, so what’s the point?
I do plan to get out and do some more ‘holiday’ stuff this year, but sometimes those hurdles feel pretty challenging, almost insurmountable. We’ll just have to see how things work out, I guess.
Posted: Wed 26 February, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, News, Thoughts |
In the news yesterday, there were a number of stories about the arrest of Moazzam Begg – an ex-detainee of Guantanamo Bay – on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism offences.
Of course, the apologists will say “See, he’s been charged again, that wouldn’t have happened if he’d stayed locked up”, but that is – perhaps – missing a rather relevant point.
Because let’s face it, who else is going to hate a country as much as someone who’s been wrongfully interred by that country?
Posted: Tue 25 February, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: A428, Commuting, Domestic, Driving, Travel, Work-related |
On my commute, there is one road that is always a pain in the tits – the A428 between St Neots and Cambridge. It’s single-carriageway (i.e. one lane in each direction) and thus is the main sticking point on the entire journey (the rest of which is dual-carriageway). Because it’s also the quickest/shortest link from Cambridge to the A1, it’s prone to use by a lot of heavy vehicles – trucks, lorries, and even cranes.
On the journey in this morning, there were a lot of cones by the side of the road, all laid out and ready to be deployed. Oh bollocks.
It turns out (not that you can tell from the Highways Agency website, which is unutterably fucking shit, and a nightmare to get information from) that there’ll be work going on there for the next month. They don’t say what’s going to be done, or whether it’s limited to non-stupid hours (it won’t be) but it may just make the commute a bit more interesting.
I’ll know more tonight once I’ve done the drive home, and see how it all goes. Alternatively, it’s going to be a case of finding alternative routes for the next month…
Posted: Tue 25 February, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Getting Old(er), Thoughts |
A brief inkling of time’s march came to me over the weekend.
Looking back, I realised that the twin babies I shared a house with in Oxford (well, with their parents, technically – but that’s outside the scope of this) are now 21.
Twenty-bloody-one.
(And by further use of That There Maths, that also means I must’ve been Twenty-One at the time. Which had kind of passed me by. How time flies)
Posted: Mon 24 February, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Driving, People |
I saw this last night, and it made me laugh. I’m not usually all that fond of personalised number plates, but at least this one’s amusing…
