Burger Crawl

Posted: Mon 27 April, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: BurgerCrawl, Day Trips, Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, London, Reviews(ish), Sociable, Travel | Leave a comment »

Over the weekend, I took part in a very silly event that I’d discussed and come up with – a Burger Crawl in London.

It started off with a conversation about alternatives to pub crawls – I can’t even remember why it came up – but it seemed like a fun idea.

Originally it was going to be four of us as a trial run, but two dropped out, so it ended up just being one friend and me doing it, but that was fine.

Because it was the first one, and my idea, it ended up being my plan for where to go. So I made the choice that it was going to be all new places, nowhere we’d been before, and all in a similar area of London, rather than roaming all over the place.

As it turned out, it almost started badly. The place I’d picked for the first one – breakfast at Honest Burger‘s place near Liverpool Street – wasn’t open, they only do breakfasts Monday to Friday.  So, a bit of a trip on the first hurdle, but we had other places on the list of possibles, and went for one of those instead.

So the final list was

We did well – much more food and it would’ve involved exploding stomachs – and was a brilliant day with all the new venues being excellent. I plan to return to all of them – just maybe not all in one day again.

Oh – and we covered a fair amount of distance as well, which probably helped in dealing with the amount of food…

Distance Covered

There will be more BurgerCrawls in the future – and we’ve had a couple of other related ideas too – but for a first go, it all went really well, and definitely a success.

Edinburgh Trip

Posted: Tue 14 April, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, Solo Dining, Thoughts, Travel | Leave a comment »

All told, the Edinburgh trip was fantastic. Thoroughly enjoyed all of it, even though I’m knackered by the end of it.

The travel itself was exceptionally smooth – and all on-time, which made it even better. Coasting past jammed traffic on the M1 (which I would’ve been using otherwise) was a particular high point.

The hotel was great (with the minor exception of a 2am fire alarm on the Saturday night, but these things happen) and everything generally went well.

Over the weekend I walked about 25km around Edinburgh – including being too lazy to wait for taxis and buses, and walking from Leith to the City Centre (and back) – as well as visiting two galleries, which was the kind of thing I wanted to do with the weekend.

Finally, the restaurant was absolutely brilliant. I really enjoyed the entire thing, and really want to go back (as well as going to other similar places) for a different menu and different choices. It also helped that the first person I saw as I went in was Tom Kitchin himself, which I figure is a pretty auspicious start.

So yes – a great weekend, and a great break. More will follow.

Travel Time

Posted: Fri 10 April, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Public Transport, Thoughts, Time, Travel | 1 Comment »

The trip to Edinburgh this weekend is also pretty much the first time I’ve taken a long-distance train journey since I lived in Manchester. I was considering driving, but looked at a minimum of six hours each way, as well as the consideration of fuel costs etc., and thought “You know what? Eff that”.  (Which is pretty novel in itself)

So I checked out the train costs – the journey’s about 5 hours each way by train, and the ticket price is pretty much on a par (within £10 or so) of the expected fuel costs. Plus it’ll mean I get to read, write, or just look out of the window, rather than being stuck having to concentrate on driving the entire way.

All told, it’s really been quite a sensible decision.  I’m not sure how it happened – I normally see a sensible decision and run in the opposite direction.  I’ll write more about it once I’m back, and know how it all went.

Month of Madness

Posted: Wed 8 April, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Sociable, Travel, Weirdness | Leave a comment »

This month is actually quite busy for me outside of work.

Last weekend, I ended up doing a daytrip to Somerset.

This coming weekend I’m in Edinburgh – I may have mentioned that before

The weekend after, I’m in Manchester.

The weekend after, I’m in London.

And then it’s May.

I’m not quite sure how that’s all happened, but it’s going to be fun.

A Coming Calm

Posted: Mon 6 April, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Work-related | Leave a comment »

With any luck, this week will be the end of a generally madly busy first section of the year.  Work has been ridiculous – and will still be busy – but should calm down after Friday.

It’s actually coasting down this week, although I’ve got some things to finish, but one of the big projects is out the way for the moment, and the other is finishing this week.

As a result, I’m all booked in – and greatly looking forward to – for a break this weekend, travelling to Edinburgh and coming back on the Sunday.

It’s a long time since I’ve been to Edinburgh (current calculations make it about fifteen years) so it’ll be interesting to see the place again.  It’s been one of those places I’ve always felt I could live – although it would put me a long way from all friends, family etc. – and I kind of want to see whether I still feel like that about it.

Work-wise I’m still secure ’til mid-June now, but the next phase should be a much easier piece of work than the last three months have been. (I hope so, anyway – there’s been far too much complex maths and codifying of guesswork in this bit)

Going (More) Digital

Posted: Tue 31 March, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Geeky, Getting Organised, Music, Technology, Television, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »

Over the last month, I’ve upgraded and/or invested in a couple of new bits of hardware for media, and it’s been an interesting journey so far.

The first bit happened once I’d bought the new TV, and has been the addition of an AppleTV – which gives me far better access to various streaming services etc., and lets me watch them on a decent screen instead of on the laptop or phone. So far I’m pretty impressed with it – although the initial setup was a pain in the bits, until I’d finally figured out one thing that wasn’t mentioned anywhere except on the first screen.  If you’re on that first screen – or if you’ve reset the bloody thing so you can see that screen again – you can touch an iPhone to the AppleTV and it gets all the settings across automatically. Wifi details, iTunes account details, etc. – which makes things very easy indeed.

There hadn’t been any real point in getting the AppleTV ’til I’d got the new TV screen – the previous one wasn’t that great, and once it had been knackered, I was more interested in replacing it, rather than in showing AppleTV/Streaming stuff on a knackered screen.  But it’s good now.

I’ll write more about it at some point, as my use of it gets more advanced and more noteworthy.

The second thing is more for the office than for home (although as and when I give up the office, it’ll come home and be used there instead) and that’s a digital radio. Yes, I could’ve just bought a normal radio for less, but I was actually interested in the channels that are digital-only (including BBC Radio 6 etc.) as well as the ‘normal’ ones.  And yes, I can listen to those stations via t’internet and streaming, but it still takes up bandwidth, and means the laptop is working harder, with less decent sound quality.

I’ve only used the radio for a couple of days so far, but I can’t deny, I like it. Set-up was an absolute doddle – turn it on, let it scan, job done. I’ve set up some favourite stations and so on, but in general it’s just a decent bit of kit with better sound quality, and it’s nice to use. And it’s good to have some music to work to, as well.  Sure, I’ll probably also set it up so I can play stuff from phone/laptop into it, but for now it’s good just to have the radio going.

 

Bloody hell, I’m entering the 21st century…

Missing Limb

Posted: Mon 30 March, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Domestic, Getting Organised, Stupidity, Technology, Thoughts, Weirdness | Leave a comment »

This morning I somehow managed to leave my phone at home. (Well, I hope it’s at home – otherwise I’ve done something really stupid with it)

It’s quite an odd feeling really – you only realise how much you use the damn thing when it’s not there. The ubiquity of a smartphone for simple things is suddenly noticeable.

Already today I’ve had several thoughts of “Oh, I’ll just get the phone and…”, followed by the realisation that I can’t.

Calling it a “missing limb” is a bit hyperbolic, but it’s definitely a feeling of something missing, something you’re used to having around that’s not there any more.

I’ll be fine – it’s not like I’m surgically attached or anything – but every so often something will jar, and I’ll think “Bollocks” again.

Let’s just hope the damn thing is at home.  I’m sure it is, but there’s that nagging ‘what if you did something dumb?‘ mental voice going on…

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