Successful Dining

Posted: Sat 30 May, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Getting Organised, Introspective, Single Life, Solo Dining | Leave a comment »

One of my things this year was to get myself being better at going out to restaurants on my own – something I’ve never been keen on, and one of my weaker points when it comes to being single.

So I’d made it a goal – a resolution, if you will – to go out and eat more in places on my own.

Thus far, it’s actually been remarkably successful (He said, modestly) and I’ve been really pleased, if I’m honest.

As well as the ‘proper restaurants’ I’ve been to – Grillstock in Bath, Kitchin in Edinburgh, Meat Liquor in Brighton, and a couple of others – I’ve also been doing the same sort of thing when I work on-site on Mondays.  That’s more pub-restaurant than anything else, but it still applies to the ethos.  Basically, when I’m on-site and it comes to getting home, I can choose to sit in solid traffic for two hours and more, or I can wait in the pub, have some food, and then drive home in 50 minutes.  Really, that’s a no brainer.

All told, I’m getting used to it, it’s not something that causes me a problem per se any more – and that rates as a success in my eyes.

There’s still more places to go, more restaurants on the list, and it’s all good.

Out and About

Posted: Thu 28 May, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Food, M1, Travel | Leave a comment »

The end of this week is another busy one.

Thursday, I’m in London seeing Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer at the Hackney Empire.

Then for the weekend, I’m in Manchester, seeing friends and attending the Grillstock Festival in the city centre. I went last year and it was good fun, so a repeat visit should be entertaining.

Changing Terms

Posted: Mon 25 May, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Advertising, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Milton Keynes, Parking, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »

Last week, Milton Keynes suddenly changed their parking rates. Not by a lot, all things considered – it costs me about 20p a day more now – but it didn’t seem to have been very well publicised.

(Disclaimer : There may have been notices in local papers or whatever, but I don’t get those, so didn’t see anything. But there was nothing I saw on parking meters etc., so regardless of how much it was discussed/publicised beforehand, I hadn’t seen anything. And I’m sure I can’t be the only one)

One of the other changes, though, was that now you have to pay on Bank Holidays as well. That’s not been the case up ’til this week – it’s always been free – and it’s all just a bit sneaky.

Because it’s only happened for the second bank holiday weekend in May. So anyone who’s known it was free from the first weekend would be quite within their rights to assume it would be the same this weekend.

There’s more information about that change – they’ve put stickers on the parking meters etc. – but if someone had seen three weeks ago that they didn’t need to pay, would they even go near the parking meter this time?

I don’t know – but there’s definitely a lot of parking tickets been issued today on the bit outside my office building. Which indicates that my theory may be correct on this one…

Rationalising Things

Posted: Thu 21 May, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Thoughts, Work-related, Writing | Leave a comment »

Over the years, I’ve had a number of random ideas, and then bought up the relevant domain names.  I’ve done the same with business concepts, and also several writing ideas and the like.

When all’s said and done, that means I’m left with a whole bundle of websites and domains I don’t use – or (worse) that I don’t update, becoming the ‘net equivalent of ghost towns and cemeteries. They’re all started with good intentions, of course – but spreading myself over that many sites just isn’t going to happen.  I feel stupidly guilty when I remember one of them, and realise it hasn’t been updated in a year or more.

So over the rest of this year, I’m going to give up some of them completely, merge others, and really just rationalise things into a shape and state I can manage and maintain. Hopefully that’ll then give me some of the headspace I need – or at least reduce the guilt levels a bit – and I’ll see what progress can then be made.

D4D™ will, of course, survive the cull – as will the sites for my writing, and company.   Other than that, there’s a couple I’ll keep because I use them for other things, but over the next year there’s definitely going to be a reduction in the sites and domains I own and maintain.

Single Life

Posted: Wed 20 May, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Single Life, Writing | Leave a comment »

Just a small filler post for the moment – others in the process of being conceived/written – but it’s something I’ve been bouncing round in my head for a while, so what the hell.

This piece in Standard Magazine by Helen Walmsley-Johnson on Single Life sums up so much of what’s in my own head and heart, I just wanted to bookmark it here.

Domestic Simplicity

Posted: Thu 14 May, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Housing | 1 Comment »

As has been pointed out before, I am emphatically Not very practical.  I can do some stuff, but I’m not good at it, and more likely to fuck it up than not.  And usually I’m OK with that – I accept my limitations on that score, and just pay someone to do it who knows what they’re doing, and is infinitely more likely to not fuck it up.

But I’m always happy to have a go, so long as there’s a back-up plan.

This week though, I didn’t have that Plan B, but the simple job worked out OK.

Basically, one of the brackets on the toilet seat gave out, and snapped. That seat’s been there a *long* time, so it’s not a massive surprise.  But obviously it’s something that requires replacing sooner rather than later.

And that’s what happened – I got the new seat, and also some pliers because I had a feeling it was going to be a twat to undo the remaining fittings and screws. It had been there a while, remember. And it’s rusted and nasty. So – pliers.

I got home, used the pliers, got the old seat off, put the new one in the right place, and did it all up. And it’s all gone together fine, first time.

It’s a small thing (story of my life) and I’d fully expect to be told “Jesus, anyone can replace that kind of thing” – and it’s true, they can. But for me, it’s still a nice feeling, knowing it just got handled and replaced with no hassles and hindrances.

That’s all.

Self-Inflicted Damage

Posted: Wed 13 May, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Charm School, Cynicism, News, People, Sport, Thoughts, Weirdness | Leave a comment »

[Note : As always, I don’t actually give a shit about sport/cricket – I’m more interested in the mindset beneath it in this case]

Over the last couple of days, the news has been full of bloody Kevin Pietersen throwing a strop about not being allowed – yet – back into playing cricket for England.

Apparently a while back it was…

suggest[ed he] could add to his 104 England caps if he joined a county and scored enough runs to merit a recall.

(Quote from the BBC story)

Pietersen did this, and fair play to him.  Earlier this week, he scored a personal best innings, something like 350 not out.  So he’s assumed that on that one showing, he should be allowed back into the England team.

He met Andrew Strauss – the new ‘director of cricket’, apparently – who said there was no chance this summer, and that some people didn’t trust Pietersen.  Which is also fair – Pietersen’s always been an asshat.

But now he’s thrown his toys out the pram about it, and has written about how he feels ‘deceived’ and so on in his column in the Telegraph.

Really, all it seems like is a whining brat. Yes, he’s done what was asked, and had one excellent innings. But that doesn’t make a team player, and doesn’t mean he has to be immediately accepted as part of the England team.

Indeed, if anything is now going to make sure he doesn’t get back in, I’d say it’s his own behaviour in this. (Of course, he won’t see it like that, because he’s perfect and no-one else is. Rah rah rah. Standard asshat behaviour)  I would’ve said he might have a chance if he continues to excel at county level – the same criteria as could be applied to any other up-and-coming player.

But really, how can you trust anyone who throws their toys out like this at any opportunity? When they decide to destroy their own chances and credibility, in a fit that looks more like the act of a stropping toddler kicking their feet and screaming in a supermarket than one of someone wanting to play for – and thus represent – a country’s cricket team?

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