Posted: Mon 11 August, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Own Business, Thoughts |
This morning, Motley Fool emailed me about a new story on their site, “How to stop falling into arrears [on your mortgage]”.
It’s not a bad article, but to me point one on anything about “How to not fall behind on your mortgage payments” should be just
1. Make your mortgage payment on time. Pretty much all the others can wait a bit, or a payment plan can be organised if you’re in schtuck. But for Christ’s sake, keep the roof over your head.
(Note : Rule 1a would be just “Make sure you pay everyone on time”)
In business, the rule should be
1. Always, always, always make sure you pay HMCE (both tax and VAT now come under this title). Everyone else comes second to HMCE.
To me, if you keep those rules in place then the rest is (in comparison) easy going.
Posted: Mon 11 August, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Driving, Own Business, Work-related |
Another week starts off with me driving to Cambridge each day.
In fairness I don’t mind the drive – I object to the time I have to get up, but it’s still better than driving down to Essex.
Posted: Thu 7 August, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Geeky, Own Business, Work-related |
Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed that my laptop is slowly but surely dying. It may just be time to start thinking about a replacement.
In fairness, this one has lasted two years of really pretty abysmal treatment. It’s been dropped a couple of times, and survived with no more than a couple of cracks. (One by the cd-drawer, one on the back) and a couple of dents. If nothing else, that’d be impressive.
However, it’s also spent most of its life being lugged about in a backpack (I make it a matter of principle to not bother with laptop bags) and is generally scuffed, beaten, and it looks like it gets used every day. Which, of course, it does.
But now the keyboard is also dying, the keys are getting more temperamental, and more than a bit worn.
It’ll last me a while yet, I’m sure – but I think it’s time to start thinking about a new one. Which is a bit of a pain – but at least this time it’ll come in as a business expense, which is a bit better for things in general.
Posted: Wed 6 August, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Own Business, Work-related |
At the moment, my workload is slightly crazier than it really should be.
I’ve still got the contract based in Essex, although the work from that is currently best described as “intermittent”.
However, I’ve also got a full-time (i.e. 40 hours per week) piece of work for the next month or so, based in Cambridge, so I’m doing that as well.
And just to top it off, there’s two other sites that have suddenly come up where I’ve got plenty of work on them.
So yeah, all told it’s just a little bit crazy right now.
Posted: Wed 9 July, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Driving, Own Business, Travel, Work-related |
Driving today was utterly horrible – particularly on the M11 – with heavy rain and spray for the entire duration, and visibility down to maybe thirty feet at some points.
What gobsmacks me in these conditions though – and I know I’ve mentioned it before – is that there are so many people who don’t put their lights on. Sure, they don’t need to be on full-beam, but even sidelights and rear lights add massively to your visibility.
Now, the car I drive is silver, and I know how silver cars just disappear into the spray, they become virtually invisible. So when the weather gets like it did today, I always put the lights on – it’s about being seen, not about seeing – but that logic has obviously avoided a lot of the drivers out there.
In fact, it seems to be primarily the drivers of white and silver cars that couldn’t be arsed to turn on their lights at all, let alone something that might mean they got seen at a decent range – you know, like foglights.
Personally, I suppose that I just don’t understand the mindset that means they allow their safety to be reliant on the observation and driving skills of other people on the road. But maybe that’s the control-freak side of my personality coming out again…
Posted: Tue 8 July, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Own Business, Travel, Work-related |
I have to say, on the evidence of yesterday and today, that I’d made the right choice by staying in a hotel close to the office in Essex while I’m there, rather than doing the commute on a daily basis.
While the journey yesterday was ‘only’ 2 hours each way, that’s still four hours of driving in addition to the eight hours of working, which amounts to what is effectively a twelve-hour working day. It’s also meant that in spite of the journey being twenty minutes shorter on the way in today – a frankly gobsmacking 1hr 40 to do the 110 miles, an average speed of 65mph – I’m still utterly knackered. And I’ve still got to drive home.
Thankfully, tomorrow I’m not in the office, as I’m seeing another client about some work. It’s still a 60 mile (ish) drive, but I’m not seeing them ’til 10am, so that’ll be a dead easy run, and not having to start ’til two-ish hours later than the current run.
I know I couldn’t do this on a daily basis – I’d be dead within the week.
Posted: Sat 5 July, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Own Business, Travel, Work-related |
Apparently, Hound has been an utter pain for the last few days while I’ve been away. She really hasn’t handled the change in routine caused by me being away four nights during the week.
As it is, during the week she’s been anxious and stressy, and generally just a pain.
Today, with me home, she’s lying in the doorway of the office, fast asleep. One of her other primary stressors, the washing-machine, is on in the kitchen, and she’s still fast asleep – most uncommon.
It does seem that she’s relaxed because I’m home. Which is a good thing in general – although it does make life a hassle for Herself if I’m going to be working away from home a lot.
Hound truly is a bizarre creature…