Hiring
Posted: Sat 3 March, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Travel Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I’m going to be up in Nottinghamshire, and as we haven’t yet got round to buying Car 2 , I’m hiring one again.
No idea what I’ll get, but I’m sure it’ll be fun. And considering that I’ll be covering at least 350-400 miles, well, at least it’ll be in someone else’s car… Heh.
Update, once I’d collected the car : Ha! It’s a Peugeot 407. The thing’s fuckin’ gorgeous. It’s going to be a fun weekend.
Quotes
Posted: Fri 2 March, 2007 Filed under: Charm School Leave a comment »Now this is the way to do it…
Lady: You think wearing the skin of a dead cow is cool or something? You’re promoting murder by wearing that.
Leather jacket guy: I don’t wear this because I like leather. I wear this because I hate cows. My father was gored to death by a bull. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to Burger King.
MOTB #2
Posted: Fri 2 March, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, MOTB Leave a comment »Isn’t it fascinating just how difficult it is for cyclists who insist on using footpaths to steer around people?
In fact, you could almost think they try to intimidate pedestrians into getting out of the way, rather than having to steer at all. And it really befuddles them when someone (can’t think who, of course) refuses to move aside for the bell-tinkling fuckers.
However, no matter how pissed off that cyclist may get, it’s really not a good idea to then try swiping said pedestrian with the handlebars as the cyclist goes past. It really buggers up their ability to steer forwards, and tends instead to result in said cyclist wobbling all over the place, then coming off their bike completely.
All together now, “Aawwwwww, shame“. *grin*
MOTB #1
Posted: Thu 1 March, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, MOTB 3 Comments »Ah, Month of the Bastard has started well…
Getting on the train this morning, one nong had got his stuff spread across the table of an entire 4-seater, and showed no signs of moving or doing anything.
So I sat on the chair diagonally opposite him – i.e. about as far from him as possible, in order to be fair about space allocation and so on – and got out the laptop. To be fair, he moved his paper across a little bit, so that there was room for it. Why he couldn’t pick the sodding thing up I have no idea. Maybe he only had intermittent use of his arms. He certainly preferred to keep them down by his side, with the paper on the table, along with all the files that he didn’t even open. But I had a plan…
Come the next station, there’s another surge of people getting on, and one pair ask whether the other seats at the table I’m using are free. Yeah, no worries. So I have to scoot across, and now sit opposite MonkeyBoy. Still using the laptop, of course. So he should move his shit from taking up all the space. Only he doesn’t. (And I was pretty sure he wouldn’t)
So having given him the opportunity to move his crap (which wasn’t getting looked at, remember) I just plonked the laptop on top of his files (and some of the newspaper that was also spread out, and that he couldn’t/wouldn’t pick up) and carried on.
Annoying? Hell yeah. Funny as chuff. Even more so.
Month of the Bastard (MOTB)
Posted: Thu 1 March, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism, MOTB 6 Comments »I’ve decided that for the month of March, I’m going to feed my inner bastard. Any number of things that normally get on my tits will be dealt with in a very different manner to usual. This includes, but is not limited to :
- People who have walked past four display screens telling them where the train is going, get on the train, and then ask “Is this the train for Ely / Norwich?”. The answer in March will be “No”.
- Couples walking arm-in-arm towards me and blocking the entire path, with no intention of seperating or moving, as if they’re actually physically joined at the hip. During March, I will not be avoiding them, or stepping into the road to go round them.
- In a similar vein, the chuffwit tosspots who ride their bikes down the pavement, ringing their bell so the pedestrians get out of their way. Steel-toecapped boots will be used in enterprising ways on these doughnuts during the month
- On trains, the nongs who sit in the outer seat of a pair (i.e. the one closest to the aisle) with no-one on the inner seat, then sigh when someone wants to sit in the empty seat. These people may be sat on…
Hail, Ceasar
Posted: Wed 28 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism Leave a comment »I love this – the multi-billion dollar Space Shuttle, whose next launch has been delayed because of a hailstorm.
In fairness, golfball-sized hail is fairly impressive, and 7000 dents/impacts isn’t to be shrugged off either, but all the same, Hail halts Shuttle. Bloody marvellous.
Pissing Down
Posted: Tue 27 February, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic 2 Comments »It looks like I actually got home just in time. Since getting back, it’s been pissing down, and we’ve now had thunder and so on too.
Which means that Hound is fairly stressed, and is currently laying on my feet, so I can’t go anywhere. All very domestic, but not great when you really need a piss…
The Meeting
Posted: Tue 27 February, 2007 Filed under: General Leave a comment »Well, that all seemed pretty interesting.
I’ve got to knock up a little document about the costs and necessary work, as well as some other odds and sods, which they want by the end of the week. Hardly a challenge.
I should know next week whether I’ve got the work, though. All a bit promising, really.
Green
Posted: Tue 27 February, 2007 Filed under: Thoughts, Weirdness Leave a comment »You know how belly-button fluff is always that manky dark blue colour?
Is it just me that finds that the gunge that builds up on the back of the nose-piece bits on glasses is always green?
Disk Space
Posted: Mon 26 February, 2007 Filed under: Geeky 3 Comments »Now that’s what I call storage…
1TByte (for the non-geeky, that’s 1,000 Mb Gb (feck)) for about £300. Not bad at all. Hell, it might even hold all my MP3s if I decided to get efficient and rip every single one of my CDs to it…
Canine
Posted: Sun 25 February, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Thoughts 5 Comments »Following on from all the recent guff about ‘dangerous dogs’ , and the latest “No Shit, Sherlock” advice that children shouldn’t be left alone with dogs, I wonder how long it’ll be before some politician or other says
“I know, why don’t we have a licence for every dog and dog-owner in the country?”
You know, like we used to have.
In theory at least, it would actually be pretty easy to manage.
First, you make it a legal requirement to have every dog microchipped at birth. (well, by the age of 8 or 16 weeks) The chip would be read only, and loaded with a unique identifier along with (possibly) information about the dog, its breed, etc. If a dog were found, or needed to be identified, the chip would be read (using already existing equipment) and queried against a national database.
In the database, you’d have the unique identifier, again the information about dog breed, age, blah blah, and also the owner details, address, contact details. Similar to vehicle license stuff, if you move, you would have to register that information with DogBase, so that information was up to date. This should be free – there’s no point making people pay to change the details, or they just won’t do it.
Any dog could be checked at any time – particularly when out in public – and if that information is out of date, or the owner is incorrect, then the owner can be fined. If the dog is out of control, or whatever, it can be held somewhere, and the owner contacted.
Is it me, or does that make sense?
Organising That Health-check
Posted: Sat 24 February, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Health, House Purchase 1 Comment »So yes, the healthcheck that finally happened on Friday was an utter nightmare to organise.
It started off with being told that I needed to sort one out, and that the insurance company had engaged a third party who would contact me to organise an appointment at my convenience.
Yeah, right. What actually happened was that the company called me up and said “We’ve made an appointment for one of our nurses to come and see you at home on Tuesday at 4pm”. Which is hardly at my convenience. So I called them back and told them so.
Them : “But why don’t you want an appointment at home on Tuesday at 4pm? We’ve made all the arrangements”
Me : “Because I’m not going to be at home at that time. I’ll be at work. If your company is willing to pay me to take half a day off work to come and see you, I might consider it”
Them : “No, we can’t do that. But we don’t understand what the problem is with this appointment, it’s at your home at 4pm”
Me : “Amazing as this may seem to you, I work. Maybe I’m the only person you’ve ever dealt with who works, but there we go. So 4pm on a weekday is not convenient. I’m home for about 7pm, if that helps”
Them : “Oh no, our nurses only work 9-5”.
At which point I ended up going back to the insurers and telling them they could stuff their business. The people they engaged would have problems discerning between an arse and an elbow, and there was no way I was using them. So they promised to organise something else, a proper medical at a proper doctor’s surgery. However, it would still be organised through a third party.
And then I got another call about a week later, from the first third party, still trying to make a ‘convenient’ appointment for me on a workday at 4pm, and which for an appointment ‘at my convenience’ was strangely immovable. This time they got told to sod off.
When the second third party finally called, the first thing they said was “So, you need an appointment in Norfolk?”. At which I think I growled. The woman at the other end certainly seemed surprised. I re-explained the situation (actually, that’s probably more like re-re-re-re-explained, but there we go), and they finally discovered a surgery that was close to the workplace. Halle-bloody-lujah.
But all told it’s still taken four weeks to organise a poxy medical. But if my blood-pressure is too high (I doubt it will be, but still) I’m going to blame it all on the poxy fucking insurance company and their medical third parties. So there.
Right Place, Right Time
Posted: Fri 23 February, 2007 Filed under: News, Photography 1 Comment »While I think the story itself is more than a little hysterical, every time I see the image involved, I just think “Wow”. The photographer, Martin Rickett was so obviously in the right place at the right time. It’s just a brilliant shot.
Patronised
Posted: Fri 23 February, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Health 2 Comments »Ah, the joys of being patronised by medical ‘professionals’.
“Well, Mr Lyle, you’re really rather overweight, aren’t you?”
which really should get the response “Really? And there I was, hoping to climb Everest tomorrow“, instead of the one I gave, which was “Yes. And?“. To which the twat had no answer.
Health Check
Posted: Fri 23 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, House Purchase, Sweary Leave a comment »One of the real pains (and one I haven’t yet written about on D4D™ – believe me, it’s coming) with our house-buying process at the moment has been that as part of the entire mortgage malarkey, we’ve both been advised to get some proper life-insurance, that’d cover the whole amount of the mortgage should one of us suddenly develop a ‘critical’ illness or drop dead. Of course, that also means having to deal with another load of financial scumbags – insurers.
Back in Jan 2005, I got one lot of cheap-ass life insurance on Herself’s insistence (in fairness, she got some too) which became not-such-cheap-ass insurance when the insurance scumbag underwriters at Norwich Poxybollocks Union decided I was overweight, and whacked an extra amount on my premium. Not a lot, to be honest, but still rather more than the initial quotation had been. Bastards.
Since then, I’ve lost a fair amount of weight, although (as I’ve commented many times) I’m still never going to be 12-15stone without going through at least one limb amputation. That’s a fact of life. I’m not unfit – OK, I’m not fit either, but there we go – and… oh, chuff it, you all know the score by now.
Anyway, with the mortgage application and insurance guff, the scumbag insurance underwriters have – again – thrown a wobbly. And they’ve insisted that this time I don’t just pay extra, I have to have a ‘health check’ too before they might deign to take my money.
So while you’re reading this, I’m in a random doctor’s surgery, having a basic medical and healthcheck for scumbag dirtwad insurers . Whoopee Doo.
Charming
Posted: Fri 23 February, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism, Travel 2 Comments »It’s not just me who can be charmless, of course.
On the train last night, the two people opposite me were talking about whether they’d make their connecting train from Norwich. Now, the XDA phone has it’s uses, and the mini-version of IE is one of them. So, being in a fairly mellow mood, I checked the arrival time of the current train, and when their connecting one would go.
And I let them know that they’d be OK, and would have about ten minutes between trains.
The response? Absolutely chuff all. Not a word of thanks, just a nod of the head in acknowledgement of the information.
Tossers. And then people wonder why I end up being rude to them…
Calamari
Posted: Thu 22 February, 2007 Filed under: Animals, News 1 Comment »And in other news, Holy crap, that’s one big bloody squid.
Desperate
Posted: Thu 22 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Depression, Domestic 2 Comments »(Kind of following on from my earlier post about programmes, cancellations and the like.)
Oh dear God, no, please.
[TV Show ‘Desperate Housewives”] creator Marc Cherry has just signed a four-year deal with US TV network ABC, ensuring the future of the suburban comedy series.
Trade paper Variety reports that the key members of the cast, including Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman, will remain with the programme as long as Cherry is involved.
The writer indicated that the show would end in 2011, saying: “I think that at the end of my deal and after seven seasons it will be a good time to call it quits.
As if it hadn’t already become dire enough, another four years?!?
Fuck me dead, there’s just no justice in the world.
Suckers
Posted: Thu 22 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism 1 Comment »Do people really fall for shite spam like this ? (and it’s a direct copy/paste, so don’t blame me for the spelling mistakes etc.)
I started looking for opportunities to make money on the internet about a year ago.I knew with the massive increase of people using the internet, there had to be a way of making a good income online.
I spent the next 6 months trying every business opportunity online.I was scammed by about 50 get rich quick schemes
and lost over $5000 in 6 months.All these making money programs said the same thing, “They were gonna help me make a lot of money with out any experience”.Out of the 50 programs I tried, 47 were complete scams and just took my money.Only 3 of the programs actually worked for me.Check out this site: [DELETED]
On this site you will find reviews of the top 3 opportunities that actually work.These programs guarantee you online success.
All you have to do is follow there expert advice.
I mean, really, how stupid would you have to be?
Cyclist
Posted: Wed 21 February, 2007 Filed under: Charm School Leave a comment »Sometimes, my temprament and charm (stop laughing, you at the back) can be severely tested.
Today, walking along the path, a cyclist came up behind me, and just started ringing her bell so I would get out the way. As she eventually got past, she tutted, which following the bell is just like a red rag to a bull.
“Well, if you decided to ride in the road instead, perhaps you wouldn’t find so many people getting in your fucking way. Idiot.”
Depressingly, she didn’t answer back…
Drink?
Posted: Wed 21 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Weirdness 15 Comments »The other night, I went to make a drink before going to bed, and decided on a raspberry milkshake. (cue memories of Alberto Frog and his amazing animal orchestra. Or is that just me?) No idea why, but I actually like them just before bed. Weird, but true. Anyway, the conversation went something like this :
Me : I’m just going to make a drink [does so]
Herself : That’s not a drink, that’s a milkshake.
Me : Um. I’m going to drink it. It’s a drink.
Herself : No, that’s milk. Drinks are mainly made of water
Me : Ooookkkkkkkkkkk then.
So, who’s right?
Phone History
Posted: Tue 20 February, 2007 Filed under: General 1 Comment »Inspired by Lori’s post on the subject, and following on from my comment there, I thought I’d do a list of the mobile phones I’ve owned over the years along with (where possible) the years. Once you click on more, it’s going to be a very sad post…
Read the rest of this entry »
Bleurgh
Posted: Tue 20 February, 2007 Filed under: General 2 Comments »(via Gordon)
I have to say that Marmite Guinness (or Guinness Marmite, whichever) manages to combine two of my least favourite things into one convenient jar.
Blech3.
Shrove
Posted: Tue 20 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic Leave a comment »So, today’s Shrove Tuesday. AKA Pancake Day.
And what are you going to be giving up for Lent?
On current evidence, we’re going to be giving up
- Money
- the current house in favour of the new one, assuming some efficiency from solicitors etc.
Mass Market
Posted: Mon 19 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Thoughts 5 Comments »Recently, I’ve noticed that I seem to have developed a really nasty habit of liking the TV series that America hates. By this I mean that – if I’m lucky – they get cancelled at the end of one season. If I’m unlucky, they’re cancelled halfway through, and we never get to find out what’s happening.
Recent/current examples of this have included
- Threshold – I know, I’m a late-comer on this one, and it’s already been on Sky One, but there we go. All the same, for the subject matter of alien invasion it’s pretty intelligent, and so far hasn’t had any dodgy monster suits. Cancelled at the end of Season One.
- Commander in Chief – OK, this one’s more of a “let’s try and beat West Wing” matter, but it’s been OK, if slower than frozen sludge. And cancelled
- Jericho – again, so far this is a pretty smart (if paranoid) vision of a nuclear war, and its effects. No word yet on whether this’ll be saved or cancelled
- Reunion – OK, I hated this one, but Herself liked it – cancelled mid-season
They’re the main onesat the moment, although there’s at least one (I’ve now remembered it was Reunion, now added to the list above) that I’ve forgotten, which didn’t even make it to a full season, and instead folded without mention – most annoying.
What’s even more interesting (to me, anyway) is that I find I really don’t like a large percentage of the stuff that makes it to multi-season status. Currently on this list (from American imports) are things like Ugly Betty, which the US raved about, and I can’t help but be distinctly underwhelmed by the entire thing. Admittedly there are exceptions to the rule (Stuff like ER, West Wing, etc.) and there are certain programmes where I liked the first season, but then just can’t be arsed with them after that (24, Lost, Desperate Housewives, etc. etc.).
I’m sure it’s of absolutely no relevance, and no interest to anyone else, but I still find it interesting – and somewhat reassuring, if I’m honest- that (again, in general) my taste in TV is pretty much a polar opposite of what mainstream America is keen on. And long may that situation last…
Fuuuuck
Posted: Mon 19 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, House Purchase, Sweary 3 Comments »Well, we got the mortgage offer through this weekend, so that’s the first big hurdle out of the way, at least.
But Jesus, when you look at the details, it’s fucking offensive.
For every pound you borrow, you pay back £2.30
Fuuuuuck. That takes the piss. How does anyone get away with that?
Basically, for a £200,000 mortgage, we get to pay back the princely sum of £440,000. If nothing else, it reinforces my opinion that the financial industry are, in fact, an utter bunch of cunts.
Compeed
Posted: Sun 18 February, 2007 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I bought some more Compeed®™ plasters, this time for the poxy burn on my hand. I’ve used Compeed plasters before, and I think they’re absolutely marvellous.
However, they’re also deeply strange. I can’t explain how they work, but the material in the body of the plaster is a sort of semi-liquid gel, which ends up forming itself into the wound, and forming almost an inverted mould of whatever you happen to have done to yourself. For me, the plaster itself becomes a source of fascination, it feels so odd as the gel solidifies with body heat, but it’s also good to know (and feel) that they’re actually doing some good.
Dock Green
Posted: Sun 18 February, 2007 Filed under: General 2 Comments »As a matter of course, I try to avoid buying anything from Dixons, Currys, PC World and the like – mainly because of their insistence on getting your postcode for every purchase, and sending out shite product insurance and warranty extensions etc. all the time.
There’s a couple of other reasons as well, to do with preferring to use stores where the staff actually know what they’re talking about, and don’t charge top whack for their products. (Yeah, yeah, price guarantees etc., but still, I find them in general to be damn expensive)
During the week, I ordered a new ‘carry all the time’ camera via Amazon from Pixmania – a wee Panasonic Lumix TZ1, which should fulfil all my requirements. Anyway, it normally retails for about £270, but Pixmania had it listed for £155. All well and good. I know the TZ1 is being phased out and replaced with the TZ-2 and -3, but this one will be more than sufficient, so I figure I might as well take the discount.
Anyway – what I didn’t know is that Pixmania is actually owned by – you guessed it – Dixons Stores Group. *sob*
Beep
Posted: Sat 17 February, 2007 Filed under: Travel 2 Comments »Of all the really annoying things when it comes to public transport (and trains in particular) I still think mobile phones have to pretty much at the top of the list. I don’t mind the devices themselves, and I don’t (in general) have a problem with people taking/making calls on them. I mean obviously there’s exceptions to that (super-loud ringtones going off repeatedly, and constant ‘I’m on the train’ calls, like it’s some newly invented miracle)
Yesterday, though, I was reminded of one of the things I really, really loathe. Key-press sounds. Particularly loud ones, but any phone that’s set to fucking beep every time you press a key – that’ll drive me crackers every time.
And it’ll definitely send me crackers when the owner of said phone is sending a text message, and doesn’t even have predictive text on.
BeepBeepBeep BeepBeep BeepBeepBeep BeepBeep
That’s what it takes just to type “fuck”. (and probably some others as well, but it’s definitely ‘Fuck’) As it is, I’ve no idea what the woman beside me was typing, but it went on for what seemed like hours. Whatever, it took her from Cambridge to Ely to send what looked like one message. Thankfully, she got off at Ely. Otherwise there might’ve been some truly gory murder on the 17.12…
Holmes Place
Posted: Sat 17 February, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Weirdness Leave a comment »You’d think I’d have had enough of Holmes Place over the last year – and you’d be right.
Yesterday, though, I got a call from the Wokingham gym, telling me that they’d been bought out by Virgin Active, and would I like to go for a free visit there, and take a partner with me?
Me : How blunt do you want me to be?
HP/VA Person : As blunt as you want. (Ooooh, that could’ve been a bad move…)
Me : OK then. I wouldn’t rejoin Holmes Place, regardless of who owns you. I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone, even my worst enemy. In fact, I’d go so far as to actively encourage anyone thinking of joining to not do so.
HP/VA Person : Oh.
[there followed an explanation of all the old crap about contracts, HP being unable to provide a gym at all, and threatening me with a bailiff if I didn’t pay the entire remaining sum.]
Me : So overall, I wouldn’t trust HP as far as I can throw them, nor their new owners. And in my opinion, they’re scumbags.
HP/VA Person: OK, well, thank you for being so honest in your response.
Now, I have to say, I think that she actually handled the call really well, and there was nothing nasty about the entire thing. An apology would’ve been nice, but now I’m done with them, I know it’d be too late for one anyway – and so did she.
All the same, though, you’d think they might’ve taken me off their ‘to call’ list…
Wide Open Vista
Posted: Fri 16 February, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Geeky 1 Comment »When it was released, I wrote a small post about why I had no intention of moving to MS Vista® – and from the news stories etc. that’ve followed on, I have to say I’m pretty cool with being right about it.
This piece from The Register demonstrates my case nicely.
The basic summary? Wait at least until Service Pack 1 is released.
Spoons
Posted: Fri 16 February, 2007 Filed under: Writing 2 Comments »I love this : a writer who can go off on a wave of wrath about the simple subject of wooden spoons in the kitchen.
A definite addition to the links on the right, methinks.
Ouch Redux
Posted: Thu 15 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic Leave a comment »Note to self : When you have a burn in the palm of your hand, many things really hurt.
This is particularly noticeable with shower-gel, and shampoo – particularly when they’re both citrus based…
Brithday
Posted: Thu 15 February, 2007 Filed under: General 2 Comments »Oh, and Happy Birthday to Mr Dragon.
It’s obviously not a good day to be him – he’s feeling Old. Heh.
VD
Posted: Wed 14 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, D4D™ Leave a comment »Oh yeah, the header image up at the top of the page today (and for one day only)?
It’s a heavily cropped and buggered-about-with image of Al Capone’s infamous “Valentines Day Massacre”.
Very á propos
Reasoned Argument
Posted: Wed 14 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic 12 Comments »Gordon, in a comment on yesterday’s *Barf* post, says
Why is he a wanker? Come on, gimme a reasoned argument!
So here we go…
- First off, he’s a wanker for wrapping the house. OK, supposedly it’s romantic. But what the hell is he going to do with 500metres (1,650 ft, give or take) of paper now? The git had better be recycling it…
- Buying a house for Valentines Day. The woman’s not even his wife. Personally, I hope she ditches the twat tomorrow, and keeps the house. Fair play to her. A stunt like this means he’s just begging to get screwed over.<cynicism>
- A direct quote from the article : “Last year, I just took her out to dinner which wasn’t much of a present, so I thought I’d better do something special to make up for it“.
Need any more evidence of wankerdom? - Directly related to the point above, this guy is the kind of knob who has to outdo himself every year. If he’s spent £500,000 this year, what’s he going to do next?
- At the end of the day, this has been done for Valentine’s Day. A marketing fest for overpriced cards, flowers, and sentiments. Buying a house? Kind of over-stepping the mark, me thinks
- Finally, another direct quote: “I can paint beautiful scenery and wildlife from my own balcony and Maria can enjoy the fruits of the private spa.“
I need say no more.
In other news, more sentimental cack for your delectation.
Taking the Piss
Posted: Wed 14 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Weirdness 1 Comment »I was looking the other day at the Interflora website – as you do – and couldn’t help but check out the extortionate prices for roses etc., bearing in mind the proximity of Valentine’s Day.
Anyway, I had to laugh when I saw this particular bouquet, and particularly the price of it. One hundred red roses for £500!
So yes, that’s £5 per rose.
Some people have more money than sense…
And in the meantime, Happy Valentines Day. Or something.
*Barf*
Posted: Tue 13 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism 2 Comments »There’s only one word for this ‘romantic’ man, who bought a £500,000 ‘waterside cottage’ for his girlfriend and then wrapped it all in paper, as a present. (Like she couldn’t figure out what it might be)
Wanker
Mind you, seeing as the story is on the news today, at least the surprise has been blown. Which makes me smile.
Spam Blocking
Posted: Tue 13 February, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Geeky Leave a comment »Since installing WP2.1, there seemed to be some fairly major issues with the set-up I’d got to combat comment spam. This is a geeky post, and if you don’t care, don’t click on the more…
Read the rest of this entry »
Bullying in Action
Posted: Tue 13 February, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic Leave a comment »Last night, Psycho Cat came in out of the rain, to be faced by Hound, renowned for trying to bully Cat whenever possible.
However, Psycho Cat was not in the mood – so he sauntered past Hound, and on the way past, bashed Hound on the nose, and stalked off, with Hound running after him, utterly shocked at being battered by the Cat.
It was enormously bloody funny.
L-Plate
Posted: Mon 12 February, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Sweary Leave a comment »Related to the post on Saturday about that box junction in Cambridge:
Today, I saw a learner-driver, in the instructor’s car, do exactly the same thing. Just stopped, in the path of an oncoming bus.
That might be a long-term fix to the problem : either
- let all the shit instructors get killed by their pupils
or - teach the pupils properly in the first fucking place
I think that’d do it. Eventually.
Recovery
Posted: Mon 12 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, House Purchase Leave a comment »OK, most of the panic and potential stress has been alleviated – and thank chuff for that.
I’m sure I’ll explain more about the causative events at some point, but for now well, I’m just happy that things appear to have been sorted out without too much in the way of hassle, bureaucracy, or fighting.
Chaos
Posted: Mon 12 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic Leave a comment »Due to a variety of events over the weekend, today is likely to be quiet here while I sort out lots of domestic crap, and deal with solicitors, estate agents and the like.
Depending on how all that goes, I may or may not be posting here – only time will tell.
Or, of course, I could just end up having a huge rant…
Ouch
Posted: Sun 11 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic Leave a comment »Note to self : it is unwise to pick up a knife whose handle has (unknown to me) been in the flame on the gas hob. Particularly when that handle is plastic. OK, metal wouldn’t be much fun either, but plastic is fairly high on the “not good” scale.
Mainly because, once it’s hot, it’s also sticky. So the bloody thing sticks to the area of hand it’s burning, which rather prolongs the fun.
All in all, Ouch.
It’s not a serious burn, or anything, but bloody hell, ouch.
Missed Opportunities
Posted: Sun 11 February, 2007 Filed under: Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography 3 Comments »Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve missed the chance of taking some photos that would’ve been beautiful. Needless to say, this is invariably bloody annoying.
To me, there are two main problems – first is that I’m sat on the train, and the windows are invariably disgusting, which would probably add some gunk and nastiness to the final image. But the second problem is simply that the SLR isn’t the right tool for the job. As with Problem One, I’m sat on a train, and I don’t want to be sat there advertising the fact I’ve got £1,500 of gear with me – along with the corollary of ‘if he’s got that camera there, what else is in the bag?’.
I love the SLR, it’s a fantastic bit of kit, and I wouldn’t change it for anything. But I’m coming to the conclusion that I do need to have a small extra camera, one that I can carry everywhere, with a decent resolution, excellent zoom, but small and compact enough that it never leaves my bag/pocket – oh, and doesn’t look like I’m some well-off bastard.
It’s a pain in the arse – and I’d like to start earning some money from the photos in order to balance out some of the costs…
Unlit
Posted: Sat 10 February, 2007 Filed under: Driving, Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 1 Comment »Driving in to work yesterday, I was absolutely amazed by the number of idiots out there who hadn’t even turned on their headlights.
OK, this was primarily close to Cambridge, so it was around 8:30 or so in the morning. But all the same, it was pretty foggy yesterday morning, and the visibility was pretty shit. So it’s still surprising (for me, anyway) when I see other drivers – and particularly those in light-coloured cars that blend into the fog even more) without lights or foglights on. I know that I’ve written about this before – and quite recently but it still shocks/surprises/scares me when I see it happening.
Of course, the even scarier thing in Cambridge is the cyclists. Yesterday morning, not one of them had any lights on at all. Again, still cold, grey, misty/foggy, yet they all seem to believe that they’re either indestructible, or that the dozy little twadgers have some god-given right of way so that they won’t suffer any collisions or accidents.
Yes, yet again, I find myself worried by other road users. I suspect that this may become a standard mantra.
Box Junction
Posted: Sat 10 February, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Thoughts, Weirdness 6 Comments »Just down the road from where I work, there’s a big four-way crossroads, which is invariably snarled up and jammed. There are actually two reasons for this :
- It’s been designed by an utter tosser
- People are tossers
Reason One is fairly standard – after all, it’s just a four-way crossroads with a nightmare of traffic lights.
Reason Two, though, is different, although it’s related to Reason One. Because the traffic lights screw things up, the planners/designers decided to make it ‘safer’, and covered the entire junction with yellow cross-hatch markings. It’s a box junction.
Box junctions aren’t difficult to deal with – well, unless you’re a BMW driver – and the simple rule is At signalled roundabouts you MUST NOT enter the box unless you can cross over it completely without stopping.. Not rocket science, is it?
But the reason this junction is a nightmare is because everyone ignores that concept completely, and instead buckets into the junction, try to turn, and then realise they can’t get out of the junction. And oooh, look – suddenly they’re blocking the next flow of traffic, which invariably includes a sodding big bus. Oops.
I have no idea how this can be fixed, and nor do I have any idea how you can get drivers to look ahead and figure out that there’s nowhere for them to go. Personally, I can’t see a problem with a car that detects the road markings, and if you stop on a box junction, it gives you a small electric shock. That’d soon stop it. Just call me Mr Pavlov…
Mind you, if I could come up with the answers to either of those things, I’d be a very wealthy man.
Chicken
Posted: Fri 9 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Travel 2 Comments »So, did I go to Brixton last night to see Massive Attack?
No, I didn’t.
I can’t deny it, I chickened out. Instead, I just ended up going home, and curling up with a laptop and a website that needed some work. Not the most productive, and definitely not as much fun as seeing Massive Attack would’ve almost certainly been.
But I gave up. I looked at the road maps, and the traffic reports, then at where I needed to go, and combined it with my usual cynical attitude towards people, and figured I couldn’t be arsed.
Mind you, looking at the roads this morning, and the fact there were three or four abandoned (i.e. had slid/skidded off the road) cars this morning on the bit I’d have been driving on at roughly 1am, I don’t think I was being too stupid to figure it was just not worth the hassle.
Self-Promotion – revisited
Posted: Fri 9 February, 2007 Filed under: General 3 Comments »A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about starting to do more work to promote my own stuff, and I’m pleased to say that it’s all going quite well at the moment.
I’ve been accepted in to the Guild of Accessible Web Designers (GAWDS) and my UK Webdesigners Association (UKWDA) profile has been updated, my Linked In network is slowly growing, and the portfolio website is beginning to look pretty good (in my own humble opinion, of course) although I’m not going to link to it just yet, as there’s some basic stuff that needs to be reconsidered/redone before it goes live. I’ve also hoyed out some letters to various places in order to see whether I can get permission to do photos’n’stuff at them
I do, however, still find that this is the thing I hate the most. Hard as it may sometimes be to believe, I’m really not good at just standing up and saying “Me? I’m bloody great, I am”. It’s still extremely rare to hear (see, read, whatever) me saying something like that, although I’m kind of getting better at it. Gradually.
Plotting
Posted: Thu 8 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, News Leave a comment »I don’t know if it’s just me that finds this amusing, but there’s a certain juxtaposition in the media at the moment that makes me smile.
In Box One, we have this story, about an alleged ‘plot’ in the UK to kidnap a Muslim member of the UK armed forces, and behead him, a la the Iraq kidnappings of Ken Bigley, et al.
In Box Two, we have this, where UK police are warning people to be on the alert for suspect packages being sent in the mail.
So – we have one ‘terrorism’ plot, which could’ve been lifted from pretty much any Tom Clancy type thriller, that was detected before it even (supposedly) happened, and the media says “Oh, that’s terrible, good old security forces”. We have another ‘terrorism’ scheme – this time which is already happening, and which is harming people – and the police haven’t got a bloody clue who, where, when, why, how, or whatever. Yet the media stays quiet, rather than asking “Eh? How’s that happened?”.
In short, yet again I’m being brought to the conclusion that these alleged plots are an utter, utter load of old bollocks, custom-designed to keep people scared.
Automatic
Posted: Thu 8 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Travel 3 Comments »Oh God, this is going to be interesting.
While I’m still undecided about London tonight, I’ve collected the car I’d booked from Avis for the journey. Well, I’d booked it, and it’s paid for, so bugger it, might as well use it.
And what’ve they given me? An automatic. Never driven one before. Ever. So – this should be fun!
Snowed
Posted: Thu 8 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Thoughts 1 Comment »So, it was supposed to snow heavily last night. Only when we woke up this morning, not even a flake of the white stuff. Which is fine.
Of course, by the time I got to Cambridge, there’s maybe (optimistically) two centimetres of it laying around, and so things are starting to go tits up. It truly scares me how many people can’t drive in the stuff – even on fairly clear, if soggy/slushy/mushy roads, I’ve already seen three cars slide to a stop. And it really isn’t that dodgy.
Then again, most people appear to be unable to walk in the stuff either. Just on the walk from the station, there were countless people either slipping and sliding along, or taking little tiny baby steps in order to keep their balance. Maybe I’m missing something – OK, I didn’t walk at quite my normal speed, but at the same time I didn’t have any problems with loss of traction, and was fine to overtake the massive majority of people.
What does concern me, though, is tonight. I’m supposed to be going in to London to see Massive Attack at Brixton Academy. The car’s booked, and everything’s in place – I’ve even brought in the satnav, so I can stick it in the car and get through London without any problems – but the idea of driving home to deepest, darkest Norfolk at midnight and gone is currently rather unappealing.
So I don’t know whether I’m going to go or not. It’s not going to be for want of trying, but I do think that a healthy dose of realism may be the primary deciding factor…
Forewarned is…
Posted: Thu 8 February, 2007 Filed under: Thoughts Leave a comment »Recently, I saw the film Kinky Boots, which was OK, but had one thing that really annoyed me.
In fairness, it’s not just that one film that does it – it’s almost a staple cliché of the film industry – Dirty Harry did it for sure, and so have many, many others.
The sin? Lazy writing. When a film – or anything else, in fact – relies on something relevant being repeated. In the instance of Kinky Boots, yes, it’s amusing when the boot lands on the microphone’s activation switch, and thus the entire factory hears what is being talked about in the office. It is NOT as amusing when that self-same device is then used again towards the end of the film. It’s just lazy. Find something else, some other way of doing what is essentially the same joke.
In the other example I used, Dirty Harry repeats his trademark line – if he’d only done so once, at the end of the film, it would have had far more impact than it does at the end when it’s already been done before. It’s dull, and makes the character – previously ruthless and decidedly unconventional – repetitive and unimaginative too. Which isn’t how it should be.
I don’t have an answer, I don’t know how to fix it. It’s just something that really annoys me.
It’s fun to stay at the…
Posted: Wed 7 February, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Weirdness 1 Comment »via Stuart ‘KitchenTable’, I just couldn’t resist this…
It’s fun to stay at the…
Daylight
Posted: Wed 7 February, 2007 Filed under: Depression, Domestic, Travel Leave a comment »Over the last couple of weeks, its been really noticeable the way the days are getting longer, and brighter again.
I’m no longer travelling to work in darkness, and when I leave the office to come home there’s still some light in the sky – and that’s only going to keep on improving over the next few months. I’m enjoying the daily commute more now, although sometimes it can be very distracting, being able to see outside, the fields, the woods, and the animals that populate them.
I particularly love seeing the unexpected – a flash of movement in the peripheral vision can become a fox or deer when I focus on it.
But really it’s just having more sunlight that lifts my mood, and makes me happier.
Not Getting It
Posted: Tue 6 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Geeky 2 Comments »Sometimes you just have to laugh at the way the government just doesn’t get the entire internet and chatroom thing. In this instance, the story about registered sex offenders having to provide details of their email addresses and ‘chatroom identities’ (no, I’m not making this up)
Anyone who’s actually used Internet Chat (whether it be MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, whatever) will know how easy it is to set up email addresses, profiles, IDs, the lot. God, if I think back a couple of years to when I haunted Yahoo chat, I had a couple of hundred IDs.
So it amuses me when they’re talking about registering ‘paedophile IDs’ – it’s so easy to set up another one, this really is either a) an attempt to say ‘look how on top of things we are’ or b) a proper display of knowing chuff-all about anything technological and/or internet based.
Or c) both. Which I guess is the most likely…
Comments and anti-spam
Posted: Tue 6 February, 2007 Filed under: D4D™ Leave a comment »If anyone commented over the weekend here, and it hasn’t appeared yet on the relevant post, then you’ll probably need to re-do it.
Because, like a numpty, I went and clicked the wrong button, and deleted all the ‘spam’ comments I might’ve needed to double-check.
Ooops, sorry.
Mac vs PC
Posted: Mon 5 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Geeky 1 Comment »Charlie Brooker in blinding form (you may need to do a dumb free registration thing, I don’t knowCheers, Jann, for the reg-free link!) about Macs…
I hate Macs. I have always hated Macs. I hate people who use Macs. I even hate people who don’t use Macs but sometimes wish they did. Macs are glorified Fisher-Price activity centres for adults; computers for scaredy cats too nervous to learn how proper computers work; computers for people who earnestly believe in feng shui.
It’s all in regard to the new set of ads from Apple about PCs versus Macs starring Mitchell and Webb.
I like the ads, although I have to say, personally I’m not a fan of Macs. Maybe I should be, but I’m just not. My personal opinion is that they’re expensive, over-branded, over-iconified (it’s not a word, but bloody well should be) and a nightmare to upgrade.
Sorry, but I’ll stick with PCs for the moment, regardless of whether or not I supposedly should want a Mac.
Portfolio
Posted: Mon 5 February, 2007 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Photography 2 Comments »About four or five months ago now, I bought up the domain I wanted for use as a portfolio for my photography. I did some basic development of it, then got distracted by other things.
And so it remained.
However, over the weekend just gone, I’ve finally got working on it again – and even better, it’s now got some photos on it! There’s still a way to go, and I need to re-do some of the styling and programming (well, that’s what the train journey to and from work is for, after all) but it’s one hell of a way further on the way to being a decent portfolio site than it was, say, three days ago.
Of course, once I’ve got everything sorted, I’ll add in a link here (and in the meantime there’s always a small selection on my ImageKind page) and hopefully be able to do some promotion and so on in that way too.
Foggy
Posted: Sun 4 February, 2007 Filed under: Animals Leave a comment »The weather here has been utterly manky – we were going to go to the beach with Hound, but the visibility was so bad, it just wouldn’t have been worth it.
Instead, we went to Knettishall Country Park, which we’d heard about, but not got round to visiting.
Anyway, Hound is now happy, having run round like a prat for 1½miles, including diving in and out of the waterway on the walk. In short, she had a great time, so all told, very successful.
Clocks
Posted: Sun 4 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Weirdness 3 Comments »Since moving, I’ve been sleeping a lot worse than I was in Bracknell. We had a new clock in the (en-suite) bathroom, and I knew that when I woke up, I could hear the poxy thing ticking, which then kept me awake.
Anyway, about ten days ago I finally lost the plot with the poxy thing, and moved it out of the bedroom.
We’ve replaced it with a (thankfully silent) water-powered digital clock (don’t laugh – it’s an interesting idea) and since then, I’ve slept a lot better.
I hadn’t realised just how much that ticking was keeping me awake, but it’s obvious now that it was. I’m just glad we’ve realised, and been able to change the situation. Plus it means I’ve been able to catch up on some much-needed sleep.
Upgraded
Posted: Sat 3 February, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Geeky Leave a comment »Blimey, that went smoothly. Most unexpected, I have to say. All took less than an hour, which is a lot easier than it was when I was working betwen the 1.0 and 1.5 versions, for example. Colour me impressed.
So, I’m now running on WP2.1, and will see how it all goes from there.
New Media
Posted: Fri 2 February, 2007 Filed under: Own Business, Photography 1 Comment »Had an interesting conversation today with a media company up in Manchester.
Following on from the photographs I did for a charity up there back in November ’04, they now want to use those photos in a TV advertisement. I’m not quite sure what they plan to do, but it’ll be interesting to see once they’re done.
Oh, and yes, I still retain copyright on the images, and I’ll get a copy of the TV ad as well to add to the portfolio.
I have to say, I’m really quite chuffed about the entire thing…
Upgrading
Posted: Fri 2 February, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Geeky, Getting Organised 4 Comments »So, the time has finally come.
Over this weekend, I’m going to be upgrading to WordPress 2.1 on D4D™. Yes, I’m nervous about it. Although I’m not going to go the whole hog and re-rationalise everything at the same time, as mooted a while back when I considered removing the older sections of the site ( to a deafening silence and dearth of comments!) but that may well happen over the next couple of months too.
If I’ve been really organised, I’ll have used a trial site in order to check things out and see what it all looks like, getting the templates in order, making sure I don’t end up with a fucked-up abortion of a site for two days.
If I haven’t been organised, then it’s going to look like a dog’s dinner here for a while as I go through and fix the problems as/when they occur.
Should be interesting, if nothing else.
Handwritten – an Update
Posted: Thu 1 February, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Security, Technology 1 Comment »About a week ago, I wrote about the cashpoint (ATM) machine with the handwritten notice on it – which (to my surprise) garnered no comments at all.
Anyway, walking past the same pair of machines today, I noticed that this time the same one was out of order, but had up the machine’s default “Out of service – please use another machine” message on the display. No handwritten sign was in evidence at all.
I wonder if anyone’s noticed yet that they lost money last week?
MicroSD
Posted: Thu 1 February, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Geeky Leave a comment »About three weeks ago, I lost the 512Mb MicroSD card that sits in my phone. I didn’t really know where I’d lost it, just that the poxy thing wasn’t there any more.
Fortunately, there wasn’t anything overly important on it – some files that would have been useful to have back, but nothing earth-shattering, and nothing like passwords, site names/logons or anything. So I kind of shrugged my shoulders, thought something along the lines of “Ah Well”, and got on with it.
Anyway, earlier this week I suddenly realised where I had probably lost the card – I’d dropped the phone when I got out of the car at home. All the same, nothing relevant.
But this morning, while bringing the bin back in (Oh, the domesticity) I spotted a little fleck of gold on the driveway. Sure enough, it was the card, still intact – if a little bit soggy. Dried it off, figured I’d got nothing to lose, and slotted it back in the phone. And it still works.
This card has been soaked, frozen, and driven over at least twice a day for three weeks. It’s survived it all. I have to say, I’m quite impressed.
Homeless
Posted: Thu 1 February, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Thoughts 1 Comment »Most people won’t be surprised by this, but on occasion I can be very uncharitable. Not just when watching things like Relocation Relocation (and Dear GOD, Relocation2 brings out the uncharitable bastard in me) but also when faced with – in particular – Big Issue sellers.
I don’t know why – I think that the Big Issue is a fantastic idea- but I just never give money to the people selling it. I’ve done work with a charity for the homeless, and I do a fair amount of work with other charities, with more coming up over the duration of this year. But when it comes to actually giving money to people who are homeless, I just don’t.
A lot of it is that I really don’t like the idea of paying people to remain homeless – of giving money to someone because they’re homeless, and perhaps of contributing to a tax-free income. At least with the charities I deal with, I know that the people who benefit truly are homeless. When someone is just on the street, well, you don’t know. I’ve seen a couple of “homeless” people, even in Cambridge, who pack up their begging gear, stick it in a car, and (I assume) then go home. It’s a tax-free income based on peoples guilt.
So I don’t know. In some ways I feel like I’m really cynical and uncharitable (and OK, I am) but not all the time. And at least I try to balance that out by doing some good stuff with places where the money and work will go to the truly deserving people.
Bizarre
Posted: Wed 31 January, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Weirdness 6 Comments »When I moved to Attleborough, I discovered there was another blogger in the town, Mr Lionel Rarsh. Hardly a shocker, knowing there’s another loon in the same small market town. After all, I suspect there were several in Bracknell, except no-one would dare admit it. Coming from there, I mean.
Anyway, in an email today it transpires that he lives exactly three houses away from me. And in a street/road of about 30 houses, those odds are pretty fuckin’ high, it has to be said.
Bizarre indeed.
Vista?
Posted: Tue 30 January, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Geeky, Thoughts 2 Comments »So, today Microsoft launches its new Operating System, Vista™. Whoopee-Doo.
Will I be going for Vista™? Hell no – and there’s a few reasons why.
First of all, I’m just not one of those people who simply has to have the latest greatest newest versions. Hell, I only started using XP on my home computers last year. Until then, Windows 2000 had done me very nicely indeed, thank you. In fact, I still don’t like a lot of XPs ‘features’, although I’m getting used to them.
Secondly, as with every other Microsoft OS, the first release will be a bug-fest. It’ll be horrific, and it’ll piss off a lot of people – particularly those who’ve paid to be able to ‘upgrade’ (I use that term *very* loosely!) as soon as Vista is released, and then find that various odds and sods Just Don’t Work. In my opinion, you’re always best to wait ’til at least the first Service Pack has come out, which will fix most of the major bugs. But I also despise the Microsoft attitude where you pay for software, and are still effectively a beta-tester of the OS. That just sucks.
Thirdly, there’s all the DRM (Digital Rights Management) that’s built in to Vista – and that’s something I really object to. In fact, that’s a whole different rant, but basically why the hell should I have limitations on something I’ve bought, and decide I want to listen to on my PC, or MP3 player, or wherever – and why the hell would I buy a piece of software that enforces rights management on items I’ve legally paid for?
So, three good reasons why I have no intention of upgrading to Vista until its absolutely necessary for me to do so. Which, by my reckoning, will be somewhere around 2011.
Fencing
Posted: Tue 30 January, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic 2 Comments »When we moved into the current place, we realised that the landlords had a rather different idea of what a “dog-friendly” or “enclosed” garden was than we did. By which I mean that we discovered that the fence and hedges had a number of holes in them that would allow Hound to explore the gardens of our neighbours.
She’s had a great time exploring, as you can imagine. About a month ago, we bought some wire fencing and posts, and put them up in the places where she was getting through to the neighbours.
So she found other places. Cowbag.
Over the last two weekends, we’ve bought more bloody wire fencing and fenceposts. The entire side and bottom of the garden is now pooch-proofed, and the other side is a stream, so she’s not going to escape that way. Well, she’d fucking better not, anyway.
So we’ve spent about £100 on extra fencing and posts. Of course, we can take it with us when we move to the new place, but it’s still a pain in the arse at the moment.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see where Hound escapes to next.
Gotcha
Posted: Mon 29 January, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Green Leave a comment »Ah, the joys of seeing someone hoist on their own petard – in this case, a former environmental advisor to President Blair, who now commutes 500 miles weekly by plane, going from Gloucestershire to Edinburgh.
To coin a phrase from the Government’s rulebook
Do as I say, not as I do
New Links
Posted: Mon 29 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Green Leave a comment »Somewhere over there on the right, I’ve added a new category of links – Organic Gardening.
It’s something that we’re aiming to be doing a lot of in the new place, growing our own veg and plants, so it seems like a good plan to be building up some links, some back-up, and some ideas.
Dog Timekeeping
Posted: Sun 28 January, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Weirdness 1 Comment »I’ve written before about how Hound is very time-driven, which is always a bizarre experience. While I know she’s actually fairly autistic, and has her patterns that she gets twitchy if they’re not fulfilled.
But at the same time, she’s still time-driven. Last night, she was wanting to go out for a walk at 8:15. For a variety of reasons, it wasn’t oing to happen ’til half eight. So I told her to wait 15 mnutes, and then we’d go out. (Yes, I know the insanity of talking to one’s Hound like this but he, there we go) She went off to lie down. The next time she got up to nag for her walk was…. 8:30.
However, I do wish that she understood about weekends. Weekdays, we leave the house at about 7.30, and Hound goes for a walk once Herself has dropped me off at the station. Weekends, well, it’d be nice to have a lie-in, but Hound usually thinks that it’s still time for her walk at 7.30, and bounces on the bed.
I have to say, getting dog-breath in the face as a wake-up call is so not a good first experience of the day.
Cat Fun
Posted: Sat 27 January, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic 2 Comments »Ah yes. another tale of the Psycho Cat.
A while back, the stupid little fluffy git fell off the kitchen worktop, and bashed his eye on a cupboard knob on the way down. It blew up like a football (well, a cat-sized football) immediately, and resulted in a feline black-eye that took about a week to recede. But after that all was well,
He came in earlier this week, and the same eye was all squinty and closed. It wasn’t causing him pain or anything, and in fact he didn’t even object to us touching the area around the eye. And that is how we knew he really wasn’t well. So Herself took him to meet the local vet.
He had damaged his eye, but it’d got better. Then he did something else to it – obviously no-one knows what – and now it’s ulcerated. Roughly the size of half a 5p piece. (probably about 5mm across, for non-UK readers) Nasty, in other words.
So we now have eyedrops for the fuzzy little fucker. He’s supposed to have them twice a day. This has led to some great fun, as you imagine. Psycho Cat is NOT a happy cat. And because of this, he’s stalking the bed at night, waiting for any sections of flesh to fall within range of his claws and/or teeth. My leg looks like a pin-cushion.
Comedy Moment
Posted: Fri 26 January, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism 2 Comments »Lunchtime yesterday, I saw one of the more amusing things of recent times.
Two cyclists, riding abreast so they could talk to each other, and not paying any attention to what was going on.
The innermost of the two, facing his mate to talk to him, rode slam into the back of a parked car. The car was parked perfectly legitimately, with no problem. It’s just that the cyclist didn’t see it.
He was fine. His bike, on the other hand, looked rather bent.
Sympathy was not forthcoming, from anyone who saw it.
Post of the Week
Posted: Thu 25 January, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, News 1 Comment »
As mike says (and, as withGordon’s post,from where the bulk of this post has been lifted) Post of the Week is ready, and open, and waiting for YOU.
- To highlight great writing on personal blogs.
- To draw attention to blogs that you might not have heard of before.
- To point you to one absolute guaranteed humdinger of a blog post, once a week, every week.
Finally, and almost a year after the idea was first mooted, Post of the Week (Dot Com, no less) is ready for public display. I bet you never thought you’d live to see the day, did you?
Absolutely everyone everywhere is heartily recommended to do any or all of the following:
- Nominate cracking good blog posts for inclusion, via the comments box in the “Call for nominations†section.
- Volunteer their services as a guest judge, for one weekend only.
- Publicise the site on their own blogs. Pimp it, kids. Pimp it HARD.
For those of you who don’t know, Gordon “One Man Designs” had the privilege of designing the site, and I did some helping out and bug-fixing (</modesty>) on the PHP in the back-end. Oh yeah, and in a fit of generosity I’m also doing the shortlisting this week. You have been warned…
So, what are you waiting for, get over there and get involved!
Reserved Words
Posted: Thu 25 January, 2007 Filed under: Geeky, Own Business, Sweary 5 Comments »On occasion, I really hate SQL. (This is a geeky post. Don’t bother reading on if you’ve no interest in databases or PHP/SQL)
Read the rest of this entry »
Self-Promotion
Posted: Thu 25 January, 2007 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business Leave a comment »Over the last week or so, I’ve started working harder at doing a bit of self-promotion. This hasn’t been the easiest of things – for one thing I’m not a great self-publicist – but I’m getting there.
Not least among The Things Wot I Done was registering my business name/site with both the UKWDA (UK Web Designers Association) and GAWDS (Guild of Accessible Web Designers), which has been interesting, and brought about some interesting conversations (well, interesting in a geeky way, anyway) about markup and how websites ‘should’ be written.
In addition I’ve been getting myself more organised with regard to billing, and I sent out a couple more invoices this week – it’s one of those things that I know I should do, but I still sometimes forget. I really do need to get better on that one.
And at the same time I’ve also been working on gaining permission to get access to a couple of locations where I really want to take photos. I’m still waiting for the responses on those requests though. Still, see how it all goes.
But yes, it’s all coming together, and so far it’s all looking pretty promising…
Progressing : 2
Posted: Wed 24 January, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, House Purchase Leave a comment »So, we’ve now engaged a solicitor, and all that paperwork has gone off, including copies of all our ID. I know they need some kind of proof that we are who we say we are, but still, it seems a bit odd to be able to send copies of ID documents – surely that’s no real proof of existence?
Paperwork has been flying around the place – solicitors guff, estate agents guff, mortgage guff, insurance guff, and payment protection guff.
And we see the architect about our potential plans for the new place on Friday, which should be fun.
Also, supposedly the mortgage company sent out their valuing surveyor yesterday to check the place out, make sure that the building exists and so on. It’ll be interesting getting their report – I’ve paid £560 for a ‘Homebuyer survey’ so it should tell us about anything medium-to-major on the property.
So yes, things are coming through pretty smoothly so far.
Handwritten
Posted: Wed 24 January, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Cynicism, Thoughts Leave a comment »In my opinion, some people just deserve to be ripped off.
Picture the scene – two cashpoint machines (ATMs to the Americans) side by side, in the wall of a bank. On one, a handwritten notice saying “This machine is out of order. Please use the other one.“. And the other machine has a queue of about six people using it, complaining that this one’s a bit dodgy too.
Me? Maybe I’m paranoid. But there’s no fucking way on earth, even if it were the only cashpoint in town, that I would use that machine. And it’s for the following reasons.
- It’s outside a bank, thus making people feel psychologically more secure. (“Oh, no-one would mess with this machine, it’s right outside the bank”)
- The notice is hand-written, you pillocks. Surely the bank would have either
- some pre-prepared properly printed notices
or - just turned the damn thing off, and let it display the ‘out of order’ notice
- some pre-prepared properly printed notices
- The second machine is obviously slow, as there’s a queue
- People are audibly complaining that the second machine isn’t giving out money either
To me that’s a whole list of reasons that would generally add up to “this machine has been tampered with, and is currently recording your card details, and repeated attempts to type in your PIN” and as a result I just wouldn’t use it.
And let’s bear in mind, I’m talking about Cambridge. It’s not like there aren’t (quick mental tally) at least six other cash points within three minutes walk.
Like I said, some people just deserve to lose their money.
Smarties
Posted: Wed 24 January, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts Leave a comment »Many moons ago, I wrote about Nestlé ‘rebranding’ Smarties, changing the classic tube and plastic flip-off cap. Yesterday, for the first time in ages, I had a real craving for Smarties (no idea why, I just go with these things sometimes) And yes, the rebranding’s been done.
And somehow it’s just not the same. The cardboard tab just doesn’t have the same poppability (if there is such a word) as that old plastic cap. Even the colours have changed, and while I don’t have an objection to removing artificial colours- in fact I think it’s a good thing – I would perhaps rethink the brown ones, which now look (to be blunt) exactly like shit.
But when you get inside, well, Smarties® are still Smarties®. So it could be worse.
Green Olympiad
Posted: Tue 23 January, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts Leave a comment »So the 2012 Olympics are going to be the greenest ever, are they? I don’t think so.
You see, when people start talking about “ever”, they’re wrong. After all, the original Olympic games were held in a stadium that wasn’t purpose built for them, thus not using shitloads of non-green cement, steel, concrete, and the like. The athletes didn’t travel in planes, buses, coaches and cars – they either came on foot, or on horseback.
The original games didn’t have a new set of stadia built every four years in some place or other, along with all the radical changes to infrastructure and environment. And they didn’t have millions of people watching worldwide on TV, thus also contributing to CO2 emissions etc. etc.
So, the greenest ever? I don’t think so, not at all.
Dogs and Health
Posted: Mon 22 January, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Health Leave a comment »In general, I can’t say I’m surprised at the ‘revelation’ that Dog owners (and, I suspect, pet owners in general) ‘lead healthier lives’. Particularly in the case of dog owners (or at least responsible ones) part of that is due to the enforced exercise regime – also known as “dog walking”.
Currently I’m not as good on this score, because Herself takes Hound for its morning walk while I’m sat on a train going to work – although on weekends Hound decides that it’s back to being my job. Which is fair enough.
Once we’ve moved, though, I suspect we’ll also be back to doing a lot more Hound-related exercise. In the current place, we mis-assessed the situation, and we’re actually not very close at all to anywhere that’s good for Hound-walking. There’s one small area that’s semi-close, but for a border collie it’s just too small. In fact, I’d say the designated ‘dog walking’ area is actually smaller than our garden. Once we’ve moved, though, there’s just fields all round, so I’m sure we’ll be doing a lot more, even in the evenings.
It’s also well-known that stroking one’s dog or cat is, in general, good at reducing stress levels, blood-pressure etc., and as such is usually quite healthy.
Then again, the people who created this report had obviously not met our two, as Hound is great at inducing heavy levels of stress when she’s in irritating (AKA “Barky twat”) mode, and Psycho Cat is great at guessing when you’ve just relaxed while stroking the furry little fucker, and then biting your fingers at the opportune moment…
Jesus Loves You
Posted: Mon 22 January, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Geeky, Sweary Leave a comment »I can’t help but be deeply happy when I see that I’m number one on Google for the phrase
I know, it’s SO childish, but when I saw that someone had done a search on it and come to D4D™, I just had to find out where I came on the results…
Progressing
Posted: Mon 22 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, House Purchase 2 Comments »Tonight, we’re filling in the second of the really big forms regarding the house purchase.
First came the mortgage application, and all the joys that come along for the ride with that one (three hour appointment, shitloads of paperwork, all that guff) and we’re still waiting to hear the results from that one. (Which reminds me, really must give the IFA a call today or tomorrow)
Tonight is the stuff for the solicitors – we’ve appointed some, but we now need to fill in all their forms, provide copies of ID (although quite what that proves, I don’t know) and all that shit. So that’ll be fun, then.
Developing
Posted: Sun 21 January, 2007 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Geeky, Getting Organised Leave a comment »Today, my head is completely elsewhere.
In fact, it’s in Geekworld completely. I’m currently developing three websites at the same time, which can get pretty confusing, it has to be said. But it’s going well, so I’m hoping to have made a fair load of progress by the end of the day, and to be pretty much completed on at least two of them by the end of the week. Should be interesting.
And just to make life that little bit more complex, the site list I’m working on doesn’t include the one for my own company, nor the CV. However, as well as the sites I am working on, I’m also working on a framework idea, so that I’ve got all the basic stuff in place for any of the other new sites that’re still on the planning schedule.
Anyway, that’s where my head’s at today. There may be other updates today, but I really wouldn’t count on it!
Winded
Posted: Sat 20 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, House Purchase Leave a comment »We went over to the new place this morning – we’d made an appointment, so that Herself’s Mother could see the place, and we could do a full second viewing and so on. In addition, well, following on from Thursday’s foul weather and wind, it was best to check whether there’d been any damage to the place.
As it turned out, we’d only lost six fence panels, which was a lot better than we’d expected. Even better news was that the flying fence panels hadn’t destroyed the greenhouse, and everything else was pretty much intact. Even more impressive was that the pile of leaves and junk in one section of the garden hadn’t moved one bit, despite the winds – which is quite a stunning achievement.
As for the place itself, yes, we’re still cool with it, and loking forward to getting everything sorted out so we can (touch wood) get started with it all. And we’re back there on Friday, seeing an architect this time!
Temper
Posted: Fri 19 January, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, General 2 Comments »Something that might surprise a lot of the people that read D4D™ is that on occasion I can actually be quite nice. I’ll help other people with their questions, fix techie problems, and generally be quite a decent human being.
Lunchtime today, though, was not one of those times.
I had to go into the city centre in order to pick up a couple of things, and the streets were full of twats. You know the type, people who can’t conceive that anyone else wants to walk past them at more than the snail’s pace they’ve set themselves in order to walk three-abreast along the path, with no room for anyone else. People who just suddenly stop for no good reason. People who have major ethical/conceptual problems with troublesome concepts like crossing the road, or traffic lights.
So once I’d got in, and was faced with a fuckwit on a bike who’d decided to come off the road onto the path, and block it completely while deciding where it was he wanted to go, unfortunately the inner-Touretter made an appearance…
Oi, open your fucking eyes, bollock-jockey!
I have no idea where I got the word “bollock-jockey” from, but by God it’s a good one to use.
Racism?
Posted: Fri 19 January, 2007 Filed under: News, Thoughts, Weirdness Leave a comment »Before I start, I just want to say that actually, I’ve no idea what was said on Big Brother that’s caused the racism hysteria , and to be honest I don’t really care. From what I’ve heard, neither Jade nor t’other one who’ve been accused are exactly laden with brains, and thus it’s more (as Gordon says) an indictment of ignorance and stupidity. But all the same.
What really pisses me off about the entire thing is that somehow it’s enabled bigoted hate-rags like the Daily Mail and the Daily Express to get all snotty and holier-than-thou about racism.
These are the media Andrex that are forever harping on about asylum seekers (Mail example, Express example), immigrants (Mail example) and a general ‘send them back where they came from’ attitude to life. Oh, not forgetting the odd dollop of sneery ‘told you so’ smut and gossip, just for ‘balance’.
So how do hate-mongering pieces of shit like that end up being “OK” , while Celebrity Big Brother is castigated by those self-same racist, arrogant bunches of media-whoring tossers?
Applications
Posted: Fri 19 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »The appointment with the IFA last night went pretty well in the end.
We got there late, due to the fact that the road we were on was suddenly blocked by a fallen tree, and then the detour route we took also involved a flooded road – which made life interesting, and just a little bit dodgy – but still got there fine. If nothing else were to prove that we want the house etc., yesterday should’ve done it. Bearing in mind that :
- I hired a car to get home in time for the appointment, once the trains were obviously stuffed
- We’d got to the appointment despite the aforementioned
- shit weather
- blocked road
- flood
- Dereham’s unutterably shit one-way system
Anyone sane would’ve given up at B
Anyway, everything went OK. It took two and a half fucking hours, but it all went OK. All bits of paperwork and bureaucracy completed, including paying for some kind of surveyor’s report for the mortgage company. (As you can tell, I really know what I’m on about. *cough*)
So it’s all still going ahead, and I’ve now no idea what the chuff step comes next.
Well, actually I do – we’re meeting an architect next Friday at the property to discuss our plans, and tomorrow we’re taking Herself’s Mother to see it. But bureaucracy-wise, not a clue…
Wind and Trains
Posted: Thu 18 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »Getting home was – hmmm – interesting. Yeah, that’s a good word.
There are no trains running to Attleborough – none at all. Quite how One is expecting people to get home, I’ve no fucking idea. But I’d lay money that all the customer services people (all two of them) fuck off home before 5pm tonight.
Luckily, I’d opted to leave early so that I could be certain of being back in time for the appointment with the IFA. So I left the office at half two, got to the station, discovered that basically there’s no trains going at all – reduced service my arse, bunch of cunts.
Then I got lucky for a second time. I called Avis, who I’ve dealt with before, and got the last car that they had available. Ten minutes later, I was at their office, hiring a Ford Focus. Nowt special, but it suited my needs. I got home just after four.
There may have been a bit of speeding. I blame a tailwind.
@Media 2007
Posted: Thu 18 January, 2007 Filed under: @Media2007, Geeky, Getting Organised Leave a comment »I had an email when I got home last night from Vivabit saying that the registration for @Media 2007 is now open.
I went last year, and it was well worth it. However, I doubt that my current workplace would stump up for it, even the £400 plus VAT for an “Early Bird” ticket. So I’ve paid for it myself. I might get it back at some point, I suppose.
But regardless, it’ll be worth going to. So I’m not worried either way, I’m just happy I’ve got my ticket…
Paperwork
Posted: Thu 18 January, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Organised, House Purchase Leave a comment »So, tonight we’re going to be meeting back up with the IFA, so we can get the finalised mortgage application under way. And we’re going to be taking one hell of a lot of paperwork with us. This includes :
- Proof of ID (Passport)
- Proof of Address (Driving Licence – both parts)
- Property Address
- Solicitor’s Details/Address
- Estate Agents Details/Address
- 3 months of payslips, plus last P60
- Bank Details (for both of us)
We’ve already got the Agreement in Principle (AIP), so it shouldn’t be too much hassle to get the main thing. However, I’m still not convinced – after all, there’s a lot of paperwork to go through, and I still think they’re going to shit all over us for me being a contractor, regardless of everything they’ve said leading up to this point.
In addition, we’ve sorted out to meet an architect at the new place a week on Friday, so we can discuss the plans we’ve got, and see what’s going on. That should be quite interesting – I’ve spoken to three or four now, and the one we’ve gone with (initially) appears to be quite cool, and not too up himself. Which, in my opinion, is always a good starting place.
But basically there’s going to be one hell of a lot of paperwork and bureaucracy over the next couple of weeks, and I’m not looking forward to any of it.
Still, at least I’ve got Inland Revenue out of my hair.
Oops – Update
Posted: Wed 17 January, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism 1 Comment »Following on from yesterdays “Oops” post, I got a call from the estate agents today.
Things are not looking good – the house has been taken off the market.
Solicitation
Posted: Wed 17 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, House Purchase, Thoughts, Weirdness 1 Comment »Maybe it’s just because I’m new to this property-purchasing lark, but I find myself utterly gobsmacked by the charges from solicitors.
OK, the majority of the bill cost is actually the stamp duty for the property purchase, which amounts to £2,400 , but still, the quotes we’ve had so far have all added another £1,100 or so to that price.
Mind you, it does make me glad we didn’t go for Property One (as discussed here) where the stamp duty would’ve been £7,800 or so because of going over to the 3% band – so all told, including solicitors fees it would’ve added about another £10,000 to the price.
Oh, and then let’s not forget the estate agent’s fees too. No idea what they’ll come to yet…
All the same, it just seems like more fuckin’ expense. We can handle it, but jesus, this process gets damn expensive damn quick.
Spending
Posted: Wed 17 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »As we’re now stepping out onto the mortgage route, I figured that I’d best do a quick check on my spending habits at the moment. Yes, it’s time for that much-mooted “spending diary”, as recommended by all the experts.
I only started on Monday, and so far it’s all going OK – and thankfully not too depressing.
Although it does rapidly demonstrate that I drink (and thus spend money on) WAY too much Diet Coke. In fact, it amounts for about 70% of my daily spending.
Maybe I’ll reduce my spending on that – but maybe not. After all, if that’s my only real spending ‘sin’, I dunno, I can think of situations that would be far worse.
Ah well.
New Taglines
Posted: Wed 17 January, 2007 Filed under: D4D™ 3 Comments »I’m getting bored of some of the taglines for D4D™ – those little things way up there at the top of the window, where it says “D4D™ – ” and then some ‘witty’ comment. They change every time the page reloads (or that’s the theory, anyway)
I’ve decided that I’m going to change some of them. And add some new ones, for variety’s sake.
So – any suggestions?
Unexpected
Posted: Tue 16 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), House Purchase, Thoughts 5 Comments »I used a phrase today that, quite honestly, I’ve never expected to say.
Yes, we intend to borrow £200,000.
It hit me just afterwards, that’s one fuck of a lot of money.
Oops
Posted: Tue 16 January, 2007 Filed under: Charm School, Domestic, Thoughts, Weirdness 2 Comments »Whoops. I think that we’ve unintentionally dropped some people right in the shit. I hope we haven’t, but well, if we have, that’s life.
Basically, one of the houses we viewed a couple of weeks ago now was fantastic. We both fell in love with it, but had some questions that needed to be asked. Questions about things like planning permission – which we’d been told had been granted to the previous owners, but had lapsed as the current owners hadn’t done anything. There was also a small matter of a shared wall that needed repairing.
So I contacted the local council, and asked them what the deal was. Oops.
Turns out the property has never had a planning application made against it – since at least the 70s. And that shared wall is – um – part of a Grade 1 listed building. In short, “Oh, bollocks”. They also dropped in the little fact – which the current owners hadn’t divulged – that there were a number of trees on the property that were covered by a Tree Protection Order (TPO)
And I’ve just had another email from the council, saying that they’re going to be sending out an inspector today, to check those trees, and the property in general. OK, that’s all well and good.
Except, um, I think that the current owners have cut down two of those trees that’re covered by the TPO. And that could drop them right in the shit, with fines of up to £40,000 if I’m right.
So we didn’t intend to drop anyone in it, but in fact we may have done so. Oops.
Getting Involved
Posted: Tue 16 January, 2007 Filed under: Getting Organised, Thoughts, Weirdness 2 Comments »Now here’s something to scare the pants off most people : I’ve often thought about whether I should get more involved in political stuff. After all, I’m forever griping about stuff, and then don’t do much else about it except rant on, so maybe I should do more than that.
Anyway, that made this piece by Greg Hartnett about ’12 ways to get involved’ quite interesting to me. Who knows, maybe I’ll start angling to do more once we’ve moved, and are slightly more settled into the village…
On the Way
Posted: Mon 15 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, House Purchase Leave a comment »Fucking hell.
They’ve accepted our offer. £5,000 less than asking price, so it’s come in at £240,000. But blimey, it’s all going ahead.
Backing Up
Posted: Mon 15 January, 2007 Filed under: General Leave a comment »Way back before Christmas, I bought myself a 320Gb Western Digital ‘MyBook’ external hard drive, mainly as a backup dumping ground for data, but also to hold backups of the important stuff that I have and do.
And I did do a manual back-up every so often. But then I read the Lifehacker feature about automatically backing up your hard-drive, and figured that an automated back-up is far better than just ‘when I remember’.
So last night I went through and did it all – downloaded the SyncBack software – a whole £15 all told! – and now all the important stuff on the PC gets backed up regularly, and automatically. Oh yes, and then I do FTP it off to an off-site place as well, just in case. All very useful.
Self-Generating
Posted: Mon 15 January, 2007 Filed under: Getting Organised, Green, Thoughts Leave a comment »Over the weekend, Dragon was questioning why people talk about saving the planet and so on.
Personally, I don’t talk about “saving the planet”. However, I do believe in working to live ethically, and as greenly as possible. With the new place, we aim to get some solar panels and/or solar tubes for hot water, and (if possible) a wind turbine for some electricity generation as well. We (well, mainly Herself, but I’ll be involved along the way) will also aim to be growing a fair amount of our own vegetables again too, and even possibly some chickens too. Who knows?
But I’m not doing any of it to “save the planet”. I do believe in lowering my impact, and doing what I can. But there’s a variety of reasons, and “saving the planet” isn’t one of them.
I like the idea of being more self-sufficient. I like the idea of generating our own power, so that we’re less reliant on the National Grid, and also on getting power from non-renewable sources. In a selfish way, I don’t want to see us in the shit as and when the power-stations start to run out of fuel, and I believe in being an example. If we start up our own micro-generation stuff, and (if necessary) fight the battles with planning officers and the like, that’s fine – particularly if it makes life easier for other people who come along afterwards.
I also like the idea of getting paid for any spare electricity we happen to generate. We’ve already made some contacts with a local electrician who is cool with our plans, and has the knowledge for doing it all. That’s a promising start. And if we can get the solar panels and/or wind turbine connected in to the National Grid then they pay us for any power we put in to the system. Again, I reckon that’s worthwhile.
Saving the planet? Nope. Helping our own little world along with a minimum of hassle – well, probably with a lot of hassle along the way, but you know what I mean – and also live in a way that allows us to be at least fairly ethical about things, that’s good with me. Really it’s about trying to find a way to live in balance, and maybe finding ways to give things back as well as just taking.
Decisions Made?
Posted: Sun 14 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Green, House Purchase Leave a comment »So, we ended up seeing two ore properties today, even though we’d already made a decision about the place we’re going to make an offer on. Why did we still see other places? Because by the time we’d seen the one we wanted, it was too late to cancel today’s viewings, the relevant estate agents had closed, and so we decided to be decent human beings, and still go see them.
Thankfully, neither of the properties today changed our minds about the ones yesterday.
However.
Now, I could gloss over this, and make out it never happened. But I won’t.
So, yesterday we saw two properties (Well, we saw way more than two, but we saw two particular ones) that we really liked. We’d made a decision on one, a fantastic place we both loved. We also had a second choice, which would be a bit more of a project, needs more work, but also ticked all the boxes. The difference between the two?
Property One is the more expensive one, by about £15,000 at the max price – but that puts it over the £250,000 stamp-duty threshold – which means we’d pay £7,800 in stamp duty instead of £2,500 on Property Two. Property One would need a small amount of work, but it would’ve been done quickly, whereas Two needs a lot more work – it’s fine to live in, but there’s a lot we’d want to do. Property One is an old place, whereas Porperty Two is 60s/70s, and has all the ‘character’ of a dead sponge. Oh, and Property One’s garden is OK, but small – and Property Two’s one is feckin’ huge, and sits on a plot of about 1/3rd of an acre…
We revisited both properties today, and did a lot of thinking.
And while last night it was Property One that was going to get the offer made on it, it’s now going to be Property Two. With it we get a huge garden, and a massive potential to expand on the place, increase its value, and make some serious changes. It also gives us the opportunity to add in some green energy stuff, as well as doing a lot more of our own vegetables etc., which Property One just wouldn’t have had.
So yes, we’ve made a decision, and Herself will be making the offer in the morning.
Back
Posted: Sat 13 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised Leave a comment »And, seven properties later, we’re home.
Amazingly, we think we’ve found something. Some more research on the area is needed – we’ll be doing that tomorrow – and if it still works, then an offer’s going to go in on Monday.
How scary is that?
Out
Posted: Sat 13 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic Leave a comment »Out.
House-viewing.
All Day.
Mortgage Pay-off
Posted: Fri 12 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »With our current situation of starting off on the mortgage trail, one other thing that’s coming back to the forefront (for me, anyway) is the entire aim/aspiration to pay off that mortgage as quickly as possible. So it was interesting last night to see the return of the BBC’s “Pay off your mortgage in two years” programme.
The project is now at an end, and the first one last night – now titled “Did they pay off their mortgage in two years?” – was a good start. As it turned out, the couple had just about achieved their target (although to complete it, René Carayol (the presenter/mentor of the programme) had to buy one of their HotPod stoves) which was impressive. It’ll be interesting to see over the next few weeks how many of the other families involved in the project were successful.
Personally, I found it quite inspiring, and could (to a degree) identify with the couple in the programme, who had a lifestyle that was pretty relaxed and laid-back in general, and seeing how they came through in the end. I always find I can identify far more with that lifestyle than with the entire rat-race oriented people you so often see in this type of programme,(Relocation, Relocation drives me potty with the entire ‘Tarquin and Suzanne have worked in London, but now want to sell their townhouse and get a country getaway as well as a city crashpad’ crap, which appeals to me about as much as being repeatedly booted in the balls) I also love the fact that their main source of the income that paid off the mortgage was those HotPod stoves that they’d designed and made themselves.
The programme is definitely designed more for the ‘self-starter’ type of person, rather than the ‘quick-fix’, and I just find the entire thing fascinating. It’s certainly part of my own goals over the next few years – I acknowledge that I can’t just get a mortgage and then start paying it off immediately at well over the odds, but I can still aim to get it done as soon as possible, even if that in the end takes five or ten years, instead of the god-awful thirty that is likely to be the term of the loan.
I don’t know, maybe I’m unrealistic – but seeing programmes like the one last night make me realise that at least I’m not the only unrealistic or unreasonable person out there, and also that just because most people do choose to pay off their mortgages etc. over the allotted time, it doesn’t mean everyone does.
For now, that’s enough to keep me going at looking towards what I’m doing and what I want to do, while keeping that final goal/ aim/ aspiration in mind.
Viewing More
Posted: Fri 12 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts 1 Comment »Another three properties viewed last night – one was a definite no, one was a probable, and one was fantastic and would’ve been a definite yes if the price were lower. And not by just a couple of thousand.
While we do have a ridiculous upper limit on our basic mortgage offer, we don’t want to go anywhere near that figure. Partly that’s because it’s based on the fact I’m getting paid stupid amounts as a daily rate, which works out as some fucking extortionate amount per year, which then skews up the max amount on offer.
So yeah, if the property we saw were about £40,000 lower in price, it’d be a definite yes. But as it is, we would be looking at repayments of £1,500 per month, plus council tax and all the normal expenses. Yes, we could manage it, but it’s a fair amount more than we’d like to be paying back in an ideal world (and particularly when you see about interest rates going up again)
The first really great property we saw is beginning to look like it’s a lot of hassle, and I can’t deny that I’m getting cold feet (and some major reservations) about it now.
As it is, well, we’ve got about another ten properties to view between now and Sunday. We’re doing well at the moment, but there’s still a long way to go…
Warning Signs 2
Posted: Thu 11 January, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Weirdness Leave a comment »On the way in to work this morning, I noticed another great sign at Ely station…
Warning : This heater gets hot.
Definitely one to file under “No Shit, Sherlock”
Warning Signs
Posted: Thu 11 January, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Weirdness 2 Comments »I normally find some amusement from the warning signs and notices that currently seem to be appearing everywhere.
Yesterday, I was looking in the local M&S, and had a look at one of their prawn mayonnaise sandwiches. Impressively, it had the warning
May contain shellfish
What gets me, though, is the “May”. It’s a bloody prawn sandwich – if it doesn’t contain shellfish, I want to know why! After all, at that point really it’s just a mayonnaise sandwich.
Houses and Bureaucrats
Posted: Thu 11 January, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Organised Leave a comment »Over the last few days, we’ve seen a whole bundle of houses. There’s still two more tonight, one on Friday, and about another eight over the weekend. By the end of that, though, I’m kind of hoping we’ve found a couple that we really like.
Actually, that’s not fair – we’ve already found one that we both really like: it’s just that it’s got a lot of questions around it. And that’s the problem – finding the answers to those questions is going to involve the local church diocese and the local council’s planning department.
In short, fucking bureaucrats.
I’ve already been waiting two days for the tosspots in the diocese to come back to me – if they haven’t contacted me by lunchtime today I’m going to chase them up again. As for the council (coincidentally, the council I nearly ended up working for) I’ve spoken to their ‘Customer Contact Centre’, who told me that I can’t speak to the planning department on the phone, everything has to be in writing.
Which, as an indicator of the future, isn’t all that promising. Still, I’ve emailed them now, and we’ll see just how long it takes the tossers to come back with any form of answer. Although I suspect that the answer will take the form of
Don’t know, don’t care. Next question
Scammed
Posted: Wed 10 January, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism Leave a comment »I had to chuckle at the story on the BBC yesterday about Oldham’s residents having fallen for a large number of scams in 2006.
Having worked there for two years, I really can’t say that I find this surprising. A lot of the people in Oldham are at the lower end of the economic scale, poverty scale, whatever you want to call it, and will jump at any chance to get something for nothing.
Waiting
Posted: Tue 9 January, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic Leave a comment »Today I’m working from home, waiting for a couple of deliveries. Both are furniture-size, although small-furniture, so it should be OK.
Of course, they’ve given no indication whatsoever of what time they’ll arrive. It could be anytime between 9am and 6pm.
Oh yes, and even though it’s all coming from the same place, for some godforsaken reason it’s going to be two deliveries, unless common sense has broken out at the despatch department. And let’s be honest, what’re the odds of that? (Low to sod-all, in my humble opinion)
Still, it does mean I get to be at home doing some work, instead of sat in the office.
VAT
Posted: Tue 9 January, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts 3 Comments »I figure that the moral of this story from the BBC is :
If you’re going to do it, do it properly
£54million. Now that’s what I call fraud…
DVLA
Posted: Mon 8 January, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Festering Season 1 Comment »Since we moved, I’d kind of forgotten (and it worked out for the good, as I needed to rent a car during December anyway) to send off my driving licence in order to get the address changed on it.
Anyway, I sent it off between Christmas and New Year, and it came back on Saturday, all well and good.
I think it’s pretty impressive, to have taken less than a week to get the address changed and both parts of the licence returned within a week even during the Festering Season.
Week One – Additional
Posted: Sun 7 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised 2 Comments »As it turned out (I’d written the original “Week One” post on Friday, knowing we were busy yesterday) there were/are some alterations to make to the post about the last week.
First of all, because we were viewing three houses today, I didn’t end up going to the Archery. Just one of those timing things, it simply wasn’t to be. I’ll go next week instead – checking out houses was more important.
Secondly, the IFA called up on Saturday morning to let us know that we now have an Agreement in Principal on a mortgage – and that the maximum that they’ll loan us is an amount that is frankly so ridiculous I can’t believe it. In fact, the maximum amount is roughly double the amount we were actually looking at getting.
Obviously that doesn’t mean we’re going to suddenly be looking at places at the top end of the bracket, because we’re not looking at doing anything that involves hocking ourselves to the hilt, or making life more hectic. But all the same, it was pretty surprising, being told that we were quite that eligible… We’re now waiting for some more information about just how much the repayments are for the amounts we’re talking about.
Anyway, this weekend we’ve now seen six (I think) houses, with one ‘probable’, two ‘possible’s and three ‘yuck’s. Could be worse, I guess.
The ‘probable’ is fantastic, but has some questions that need answering. We’ll see what happens over the next few days, as those questions get asked. But everything’s coming together, and Week One of 2007 is looking like the start of a year that’ll become more and more promising.
Week One
Posted: Sun 7 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised 2 Comments »So, that’s the first week of 2007 over and done with.
In that time, we’ve started the entire mortgage application process, and yesterday we went to see the first house we’ve been interested in. Yep, proper viewing and everything. Most bizarre.
One piece of good news, according to the IFA there’s several mortgage lenders who don’t see the fact I’m a contractor as being a major problem – and in at least one case, they don’t see it as any kind of issue at all – which is fantastic news from the perspective of our application etc.
And this afternoon I’m going to be off to suss out a local Archery club – time to dust off that compound bow I’ve got and get back into it all properly.
So yes, all things considered, it’s not been a bad week at all.
SatNav – Initial Thoughts
Posted: Sat 6 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Reviews(ish), Travel 2 Comments »Well, in general I have to say that I’m pretty impressed with the TomTom. It’s got some idiosyncracies -including, at one point, directing me through a couple of very dodgy little side-roads in order to go round a church one way when there’s a perfectly good A-road going round it the other way – but it’s successfully navigated us to the three houses we were looking at today.
The set-up of the entire thing was dead easy too, and so far I’ve been impressed with the entire thing. Well, except for those little routing idiosyncracies, of course.
Anyway, that’s the first day of proper use for it, so I’ll write more about it once we’ve got used to it (and used it) a fair bit more.
SatNav
Posted: Sat 6 January, 2007 Filed under: Geeky, Travel 2 Comments »Over the weekend, swearwords may be issued. (I know, that’s hardly a shocking revelation)
We’ve invested in a TomTom 710 Sat-Nav for the car. Lots of people we know have recommended TomTom products, so we’ll give it a thrash, see how things work out.
Oh, and that RRP of £350? Nope, didn’t pay anywhere even close to that – Amazon had it on for £100 less so we got it there instead.
As we get used to it, I’m sure a review will follow…
Insolvency
Posted: Fri 5 January, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Festering Season, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »
According to the BBC (and accountants Grant Thornton), overspending during the Festering Season could mean that up to 10,000 people will declare themselves insolvent/bankrupt over the next three months, as well as 20,000 other people who will declare, but for longer-term reasons than just Festerous overspending.
Now, discounting the fact that it’s a report funded by accountants, and thus dedicated to drumming up their own business, I really don’t get the entire overspending thing, regardless of whether it’s related to Festering Season or not. Over the last few years, financial institutions seem to have been promoting the entire ‘debt is good’ culture, and in the twelve months to the end of November 2006, the UK’s personal debt (including mortgages) had risen 9.5% to £1,278 billion.
While I acknowledge that I’m utterly crap with money (Well, I was ’til last year, when I got a lot of stuff sorted out) I don’t see the point in buying things simply for the act of buying, or just to amass posessions. If you can’t afford something (or can’t afford the repayments, if you’re going to get something on credit) then simply don’t get it. Or save for it. But no, the ‘instant gratification’ thing seems to bite people instead, and they work on a ‘get it now, and deal with the bills eventually’ mentality.
Over the last year, yes, I’ve bought some things on credit (new laptop, new computer, and all my work-related expenses, for example) but I’ve always known I’ll be able to repay them ASAP, without a problem. And that’s what I’ve done.
Personally, I find it hard to feel any sympathy for people who’ve got themselves into this situation, as it’s primarily a self-inflicted thing. “But it’s the fault of the banks, advertising loans and cards”, some of them cry. But you don’t have to apply for them all, do you? There’s a thought process involved here – or at least there should be – where if you know you can’t afford it, you don’t fucking do it.
That said, though, I do also find the practices of the banking community to be pretty objectionable too. Every lunchtime in the last month, I’ve walked past the local Lloyds bank, which in every window has had a promotional poster saying (I’m paraphrasing slightly, but not enough to worry about) “Don’t get hit by the Christmas spending snowball. Take out a loan with us”. And I suspect it’s people who’ve taken ‘advantage’ of offers like that who are the ones who’ll suddenly find themselves in the shit over the next three months.
Me? I just find it scary when I realise that I’ve possibly got a far healthier attitude to money than I ever thought I had…
Dancing On
Posted: Fri 5 January, 2007 Filed under: B&Q, Cynicism 1 Comment »As someone called Chris pointed out, it really is quite surprising in some ways that I haven’t yet mentioned about B&Q’s Norwich store, and their bizarre interview techniques. (Except of course, I now have – and was planning to anyway)
Mind you, I think it’s actually pretty apt that they’d ask prospective employees to dance and pull funny faces. After all, B&Q have always appeared to have a preference for employing clowns…
CBB (Complete Bag o’ Bollocks)
Posted: Thu 4 January, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism 1 Comment »So, New Year, new Celebrity Big Brother. Oh goody.
Worryingly, I know (or can at least connect a name and face) about half of them this year – OK, I only knew one when DG provided their alias as well, but still, knowing 50% of the so-called celebrities is pretty scary.
The Guardian had a wonderful piece about the entrants, which made me chuckle too.
But in general, well, it’s a pretty good reason to avoid the majority of Channel 4‘s output for the next month or so.
Status Quo
Posted: Thu 4 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Festering Season 2 Comments »In the house, normality has returned. (Well, as close to normality as we ever get, anyway) This is A Good Thing.
Herself likes having a tree, but that’s gone now – it came down on New Year’s Day, (her choice, not mine, I should point out) all the decorations are in their boxes, and the tree has been dropped off at the local tip to shed needles there instead.
All the cards have gone into the recycling bin, and the other small bits of christmas decoration that had appeared around the house have all been hidden away ’til next year. (Due to Herself’s common sense, I have no idea where these bits have been put – otherwise I’d do my best to lose them when we move at some point this year)
So now we’re back to normal. We’ve been in the new place for a month, Psycho Cat is pretty much settled (and I suspect that the local wildlife is being gradually decimated) and Hound is – well – quite relaxed, for Hound.
Welcome to 2007.
Over and Done With
Posted: Wed 3 January, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Festering Season 1 Comment »How can you tell that the Festering Season is finally over and done with?
Because now all the adverts on TV are for either :
- sales
- diets
- stopping smoking
or - holidays
Now we’ve got rid of the materialistic crap of new posessions etc., we’re on to the ‘resolutions’ and ‘future plans’ bits of the marketing maven’s bible.
Price Rise
Posted: Wed 3 January, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, General, Travel Leave a comment »Ah, the joys of a New Year, the time when a train operating company’s thoughts turn to a) profit, and b) gouging customers. And thus, yesterday’s objectionable New Year price increases – always above inflation, usually for no good reason, and most certainly not indicative of any improvements in the service.
However, you can tell that I’m now out in the sticks.
My month’s season ticket for travel between Norwich and Cambridge has gone up from £240 to £250. For once, that’s “only” a 5% increase.
Last year, when I was in Berkshire, it went up by 8%, so a “mere” 5% increase isn’t too bad at all, although obviously it’d be better to not have a price rise at all…
Visiting the US?
Posted: Tue 2 January, 2007 Filed under: Security, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »In the Telegraph, there’s a very interesting story about what the USA does when you book a flight to visit them. The short answer? It’s probably better to pay cash
By using a credit card to book a flight, passengers face having other transactions on the card inspected by the American authorities. Providing an email address to an airline could also lead to scrutiny of other messages sent or received on that account.
Quite honestly, with attitudes like that, what on earth makes the US expect that people would still want to visit them?
Darwin
Posted: Mon 1 January, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism Leave a comment »One thing that’s a joy to read is always the Darwin Awards.
Dedicated to the stupidity of people, it invariably makes you either laugh, or despair.
The 2006 finalists are just as good as usual…
Resolutions
Posted: Mon 1 January, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Festering Season, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »Well, today’s the day that we’re supposed to do all that guff about resolutions etc.
Except, being an awkward old bastard, I started mine back in November.
So there’s no list of ‘what I plan’ for ’07, because it’s all back there. And so far, the progress is going pretty well, thanksk for asking…
New Year
Posted: Sun 31 December, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Charm School, Domestic 1 Comment »Bloody Hell, is it really New Years Eve? Maybe I’m getting old, but it really doesn’t feel like it, does it?
And chuff, that means I’m back at work in two days time as well. (Along with the rest of the world, I know, I know)
Anyway, New Year is another of those things that we don’t really do much for here. Partly it’s because we’re both fairly anti-social, and for me I just don’t see the fun in being in a pub or club with a bundle of other people just to celebrate midnight. Again, maybe I’m getting old, but New Year is just something else I’m not into. Ah well.
The other excuse, though, is a far better one – Hound. Of course, we don’t yet know what the firework situation is going to be like in the new place, but last year we had fireworks from about 6pm through ’til 2am, which meant a very stressed Hound by the end of it. And as this property is rented, well, it’s probably better that we stay in, and she can sit at our feet, or under the bed, while we just get on with it.
Other than that, though, Happy New Year, and all that toss.
Paid Off
Posted: Sun 31 December, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Getting Organised Leave a comment »Having paid the smug twunts at Inland Revenue their 88p, I’ve just checked my online banking, and can confirm that the payment has now gone out of my account.
This was the main reason I paid using my debit card – (well, apart from just so that it cost them more money – what can I say, I can be incredibly petty myself) so that there’s no way they can say “Oh no, we haven’t received that and/or paid it in”, which I’m certain is what would have happened if I’d sent in payment by cheque.
In fact, from the evidence of previous submissions to the incompetent keffers, even if I’d sent it recorded, and been able to present them with proof of receipt, they’d still have lost it. And then it would still be my fault that payment had been delayed, and would thus be liable to that £100 penalty fine for not paying by 31st Jan 2007.
At least this way payment has been processed by the scumbags themselves (can’t you see how much I love them really?) and there’s no way they can make out they haven’t received it.
So in theory (I’m still expecting some shit to hit the fan at some point) the last three years’ farce with the Inept Revenants is now drawn to a close, and we’re all sorted.
Scary
Posted: Sat 30 December, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »This week, another part of my general domestication process has started happening.
We went in to a couple of local estate agents, and got ourselves added to their mailing lists. As if this wasn’t scary enough, we’ve also now seen an IFA with regard to what we’ll have to do in order to obtain (sit down before you read this) a mortgage. Yes, yes, it’s happening.
Anyway, it all went quite successfully. The IFA seemed to think that because I’ve actually been a contractor for a long time (i.e. more than six years) I can get away with classing it as a full-time occupation, and thus not prone to the risks that there would be if, for example, this were my first or second contract, and I’d only been doing it briefly.
So – and now we get to the really scary bit – she’s putting in a general application (I think it was an Application or Approval in Principal) to some mortgage companies. We’ll know what they say come the start of the new year.
How fucking scary is that?!?
Amnesia
Posted: Sat 30 December, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Getting Organised Leave a comment »Arses, I knew there was something where I’d forgotten to change my address details. Yesterday I found what it was…
One of my credit cards. I’d obtained a new one just before moving, and while it was arriving, kept the registered address as the old place, so as not to confuse things (well, not too much, anyway) by swapping addresses halfway through the process.
Yesterday, I needed to call them and sort out some other stuff on that credit card account, and – of course – gave the wrong address as verification. Oops, and indeed bugger.
Ah well, it’s been changed now, so that should be all of them.
I think.
Hmmm, redesign?
Posted: Fri 29 December, 2006 Filed under: D4D™, Getting Organised, Thoughts 4 Comments »Over the christmas break, I’ve been thinking a lot about whether or not to upgrade and redesign D4D™ to WordPress 2 (the last upgrade was a pig, so it’s going to take some deliberation)
At the same time, I’m also thinking about whether to keep the old content – the rants, thoughts, etc. – as they’re all at least two years old now, if not three, and thus are fairly old and out-of-date.
So it could be that I don’t redesign per se but do reorganise, or I could do all of it. I just haven’t decided yet which I’ll do.
I think there’s definitely going to be some upgrading of WordPress etc. – I’ve been getting a butt-load of weird spam over the last couple of weeks, which seems to be slipping through the older plugins etc. – and probably some redirection of old pages to new locations etc.
Obviously I’ll keep everything as up-to-date as possible, and do the redirections etc. in order to keep everyone’s links working and the like. As for the rest of it, wait and see…
Negligible
Posted: Thu 28 December, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Getting Organised, Weirdness Leave a comment »Back at the end of October, I got a letter about how much money I owed Inland Revenue for the tax year 2005-06, which was sent to me first class (and cost about 58p to send) along with a postage-paid response envelope.
Just before Christmas, I got a “statement of account” from Inland Revenue, again sent first class, again with a postage-paid reply envelope.
The amount that all this paperwork and postage is for?
88p
I’ve paid it today, by debit card. (Which should cost them even more) All told, I reckon it’s cost them about £2.00 to process £0.88. Which is impressive in anyone’s book.
Zeroed
Posted: Thu 28 December, 2006 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business Leave a comment »On the credit card I got back in July, the interest-free period expires on 31st December.
And, I’m pleased to say – not that this will mean a sod to anyone else – I’ve paid off the lot. This has been the next step in what I wanted to do – having the credit card, using it (lots) for expenses, equipment and so on, and then having it completely paid off by the time the interest-free period expires.
I’ll use it now for a couple of small purchases per month, and pay it off. Maybe a slightly larger purchase every so often that gets paid off over two or three months, with a little bit of interest. That’ll keep everyone happy.
It’s all part of the plan, building up my credit score, generally making myself out to be a ‘responsible’ person. And so far, everything’s going to plan. Even my current account, having just got through the Festering Season, is in credit – and I’m still due for December’s pay, so that’s healthy too.
And I hae to say, all things considered, that’s a pretty good feeling.
Away again
Posted: Tue 26 December, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Festering Season 1 Comment »Ah, Boxing Day. A day for travelling back down to Buckinghamshire, and staying with Herself’s family overnight ’til tomorrow.
It’ll be a slow day, as we’ll be in an area where even mobile coverage fears to tread.
Me? I predict a lot of dog-walking…
Festerous
Posted: Mon 25 December, 2006 Filed under: General Leave a comment »To quote a great sage (and friend of mine)..
Merry Christmarse to all the readers of D4D™
Thank Christ, it’s nearly over
Posted: Mon 25 December, 2006 Filed under: Festering Season 1 Comment »Bah fuckin’ humbug.
Still, that’s it over with for another year. So not entirely bad then…
Londinium
Posted: Sun 24 December, 2006 Filed under: Own Business, Reviews(ish), Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Well, we’re back home. Knackered, but it was worth it.
I’ll write more about the St Martins Lane Hotel on Where’s Good (and add a link here when I’ve got round to it – ooh look, there it is) but well, while it was OK, I can honestly say I wasn’t overly impressed. It’s OK – I’ve certainly stayed in far worse – but the overall impression is one that can be summarised as “Trying way too hard”.
Sound of Music, on the other hand, was bloody marvellous. I must be one of the very few people in the world who has never seen the film, so I didn’t really know what to expect – yes, I’ve seen clips, and know most of the songs, but I’d not seen the show in its entirety.
Anyway, it was absolutely great. On a techie front, the set is stunning – the way scenery changes and moves is brilliant. The rest of it, cast etc. is great too – well worth the price of the tickets, and definitely something worth seeing.
Unexpected Gift
Posted: Sun 24 December, 2006 Filed under: Festering Season, General Leave a comment »I’d just like to say “thanks” to whoever sent me the Mallrats DVD and “Magicians Guild” novel.
Of course, something saying who it was from would’ve been useful…
But anyway, thank you – the book looks interesting, so I’ll give it a go over the next few days.
Not Informed
Posted: Sun 24 December, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Thoughts Leave a comment »Currently, I’m a little bit annoyed.
While I was returning the car to Avis the other day, I saw a little leaflet on their desk, talking about making a booking and getting Tesco Clubcard points for how much you spend with Avis. Having booked three lots of cars with them now, and having just spent £300+ on this one (although it’s on expenses, so it’s OK on that score) I was a bit narked to have lost those 300 points, plus t’others.
Now, I know that Clubcard and the like are cynical marketing ploys that allow the card owners (by which I mean ‘people who issued the cards’ as opposed to ‘people who carry the cards with them’) to track people, and target offers to those people with ever more efficiency and effectiveness (I wanted to type effectivity there, but I know it’s a made-up word) but at the same time, I don’t object hugely to them – and I allow my data to be used in that way.
(I used to do a clubcard swapping programme, so that their marketing data went to shit, but haven’t done that in a while – maybe I should restart. It always used to confuse them when a 30 year old man started buying tampons or whatever…)
Anyway, it annoyed me. Not because I’d missed out per se but because actually, it’d never been mentioned when I booked the cars – nothing on the site at all. You really had to search to find this page about it – and fortunately you can reclaim those points afterwards if you want to, by way of that same page but still, it’s just not a great promotion if no bugger knows about it…
Yodel-eh-i-ooooooo
Posted: Sat 23 December, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Festering Season, Travel 1 Comment »Yes, that’s right. We’re away in London tonight, seeing – and I don’t believe I’m saying this – Sound of Music at the Palladium. You just couldn’t make it up.
Oh, and then staying overnight at the über-swanky St. Martin’s Lane Hotel. As you can see, I’m being paid way too much.
Reviews of both will be provided when we return.
Music
Posted: Fri 22 December, 2006 Filed under: D4D™, Festering Season, Work-related 2 Comments »The last day in the office, it’s pretty quiet except for the fact that someone has decided to bring in a sound system, and put on a bloody Christmas CD.
I could cry.
Bah, fuckin’ humbug indeed.
Still, at least the header image on D4D™ automatically changed today, so that worked. *grin*
Dump
Posted: Fri 22 December, 2006 Filed under: Weirdness 4 Comments »Walking to the office from the station this morning, I couldn’t help but notice this.
Someone – some weird, utterly fucked up human being – had decided to have a crap in the middle of the path.
Now, I’ve now idea how fresh it was – all I can say is that it wasn’t steaming (and no-one had yet stepped in it) – but all the same, what on earth would drive someone to drop their pants in public, take a shit on the street, and then walk off?
The mind boggles.
Finishing Off
Posted: Fri 22 December, 2006 Filed under: General Leave a comment »Amazingly, I’ve now been working in Cambidge for three months. Today is the last day of my initial contract, and it’s the last day of 2006 that I’ll be working.
Yes, after 1pm today, I’m finished ’til January 2nd.
Of course, because I’m a contractor, it means ten days without pay – which works out (if I just count the ‘working’ days) as costing me about £1000 or so. Still, once I’m back at work, the Festering Season will be over for another year.
And if nothing else, that’s cause for celebration…
Brrrrrrr
Posted: Thu 21 December, 2006 Filed under: Travel 1 Comment »Sometimes I think that the world of logic has completely deserted us – and in particular, it’s deserted train companies.
This morning in Norfolk, it was bloody freezing. BBC Weather reckoned it was going to be around -4°C overnight. The maximum temperature for today? 1°C.
So of course this morning it made absolute sense to be on a train for the cold air to be blasting out, and the heating to be turned off (or, possibly, broken)
Frost and Fog
Posted: Wed 20 December, 2006 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 3 Comments »Last night, I did the drive back from Poole to Attleborough. I left at 5, which was already a bad move – it took an hour just to get to the M27. Absolute nightmare.
Anyway, I got home at 9.30 in the end – so once things got going, I actually made exceptionally good time – the Laguna was an absolute joy to drive, and had some decent speed, which made the journey a lot easier as well.
What was surprising, though, even to a cynic such as myself, was how many drivers seemed to forget that
- they had fog lights on
- they had full-beam headlights on
and on a couple of memorable occasions - that they really should put their lights on once they’d left a services area.
Considering that the weather was foul – although I definitely now have no problems driving in fog – it was amazing to me just how many fucking idiots there are on the roads. I know it shouldn’t, but it did/does.
This morning it was the same thing – the entire drive was pretty much blanketed in fog, and in some areas ice/frost as well – and yet there were people (mainly in white cars/vans, which didn’t help) who didn’t even have lights on, so their vehicles just disappeared into the fog. Very scary.
All went well though, and that’s another set of ticks in the “Done That” list – but jesus, people scare me.
Driving
Posted: Tue 19 December, 2006 Filed under: Thoughts 1 Comment »It’s now about fifteen months since I passed my driving test – and that time’s flown.
Over the last three months (i.e. pretty much since I’d gone through the one year anniversary of passing) I’ve been able to hire cars, and I’ve done so three times.
When I passed – and even before then – I wanted to be able to just sit in any car, and drive it. Just check out where the relevant controls were, sit in it, and drive. I know people who can’t do it, or who will only drive a particular make/model of car, and I don’t want to be like that.
Over the last three months, I’ve had :
- A Peugeot 307
- A Ford Focus (new shape) with less than 100 miles on the clock when I got it
- a Renault Laguna estate
And in honesty, I’ve enjoyed playing in all of them. So far, the Laguna is far and away my favourite, but they’ve all been fun in their way, and learning the various idiosyncracies, systems and controls has been great.
So yes, I’m really quite pleased with myself.
Drive
Posted: Tue 19 December, 2006 Filed under: General, Travel Leave a comment »Well, the drive down to Poole actually went really smoothly. Met up with colleague in Cambridge at 9.30, and we were in Poole by midnight.
Of course, we then got lost, and couldn’t find the hotel.
So we actually got in to the hotel at 1am. Knackered.
Another of those things where I can sit back and say “Yeah, I did that, and managed it just fine”.
The training course went well too (well, the first day of it, anyway) and things seem like they’re coming together at last. Then a very pleasant evening in a fantastic little restaurant – a whole seven tables, in what could almost have been the front room of a house – that I’d just come across while wandering (sounds familiar from my Amsterdam trip last year!)
Of course, there’s now the drive back tonight….
That Festive Feeling – The Good
Posted: Mon 18 December, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Festering Season, Thoughts 3 Comments »In the post earlier this week about Christmas Parties, Gordon commented
I get you don’t like Xmas but it’s surely not healthy to be quite so vitriolic about it? Surely there is SOMETHING about this time of year you like?
And in fairness, yes, there are some things about this season I like. It’s just that none of them relate to the Festering Season. I love seeing the way the tree’s leaves change colours, even the sight of them blowing down and filling areas on the streets. I love the misty mornings, the views, the way everything appears different as the seasons change.
I don’t like the way the days get so much shorter, but at the same time I love the cooler temperatures, and still walk wherever I can in just shirtsleeves. I love sitting out in the local park at lunchtime, getting fresh air , even if there’s no-one else around, or most people are complaining that it’s bitterly cold. Hell, I’ve only really started wearing a coat in the last two weeks – and even that’s only because the wind at Attleborough station is bloody freezing at half seven in the morning.
So yes, there’s a lot I love.
The next post, though, may go some way to explaining the vitriol about it too…
That Festive Feeling – The Bad
Posted: Mon 18 December, 2006 Filed under: Cynicism, Festering Season, Thoughts 3 Comments »So yes, the bits I hate about the Festering Season.
I hate the hypocrisy, the materialism of the entire season. I hate the obligations – or rather, the perceived and implied obligations- that befoul people when it comes to Christmas. I know I’m a cynic, and in many ways I’m also a hypocrite, because I do get things for the people who I want to buy for. What I don’t believe in is buying stuff for everyone I know, plus work-colleagues, plus others.
Over the years, I’ve seen probably way too much of the bad side of the Festering Season, and I can’t deny that it’s had a lingering effect on me. I spent eight years running pubs and hotels, and every Festering Season I’d see too many people who were either in fairly serious trouble because of their Christmas spending, or who were depressed because they didn’t have the people around them they wanted, or they hadn’t received the number of cards and/or presents that the media and marketers made out the should have. I saw too many of the negative sides, and not enough of the positives. And for New Year, too many hypocrites who would be professing Auld Lang Syne, and peace and goodwill to all people at midnight, followed ten minutes later by beating the shit out of each other.
Once I’d left that side of things, I spent the next few years working over Christmas in a variety of places – Samaritans, Soup Kitchens etc. Again, I saw the negative side of the Festering Season, with not a great deal of the positive. But at the same time, well, I believe that it’s not a bad way to handle Christmas, to be honest – while I’m not religious at all, and don’t celebrate that aspect of it, I do believe that actually it’s no bad thing to spend the time helping out those far worse off than oneself – and that in many ways, it’s possibly a more “Christian” way of working than most.
I haven’t done that for about four or five years now, but I do still find that my thoughts at this time of year still turn to the people who’re depressed by the season, and by the differences between how it’s portrayed to people, and how it is. I don’t know if that makes sense – it’s the difference between the way dramas on TV (whether soaps, American dramas, period pieces etc., or anything else) show it as being this time of plenty, of presents, family, money, food, and happiness while some people’s personal experiences show it as a time of penury, loneliness, solitude, hunger, and depression.
Personally, I’ve had a couple of close friends die around the Festering Season, which never helps much either. I don’t harp on about it – but it’s there, it’s n my mind on occasion during this time of year, and I can’t deny it.
So, yeah, all told, I’m really not a fan of the Festering Season…
B&Q – Comments and Feedback
Posted: Sun 17 December, 2006 Filed under: B&Q, Charm School, Customer Services 1 Comment »Back in February 2005, I wrote a very snarky post about B&Q‘s general inefficiency, incompetence, and piss-poor attitude.
It’s had a fair number of comments along the way, but yesterday, some charming person from B&Q dropped by to leave his thoughts.
Lovely…
Speedy Response
Posted: Sun 17 December, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services Leave a comment »On Tuesday, a poxy ticket machine ate my credit card at Cambridge rail station. In the run-up to the Festering Season I was emphatically not amused.
Anyway, I reported it on the lost/stolen line, so that the card was cancelled, and all that jazz.
Yesterday, a new one arrived – and they’d already sent through a reminder of PIN and so on, so all was cool.
And I have to admit, considering they must be chuffing busy at this time of year, I can’t help but be a bit impressed that it’s taken four days (I’ll exclude yesterday, as that was just delivery in the post) from reporting it lost to it being replaced.
Snooze
Posted: Sat 16 December, 2006 Filed under: Domestic 1 Comment »Herself is lying on the sofa, snoring
Hound is under the desk, snoring.
Psycho Cat is somewhere, asleep.
It must be Saturday afternoon.
Photographic Paraphenalia
Posted: Sat 16 December, 2006 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography Leave a comment »This week, I’ve sorted out the last semi-major purchase of photo gear this year. It’s already just over a year since I bought the EOS20D, and I’m still really pleased with it – although I’ve known there was extra stuff I needed to buy.
So this week I’ve been able to get the 100mm f2.8 Macro lens (which is bloody huge) plus lens hood, a Speedlite 580EX flashgun, and a small home-studio thing so I can start taking some specific photos of stuff that Herself has been working on – which will also be one of the websites for developing very soon now.
As such, I’ve now got pretty much all the stuff I want right now, and the set-up I’ve got is capable of wide-angle landscapes, macro, portrait, flash, and all the general types of photography I’m currently interested in.
I just don’t want to think about just how much it’s all cost, or what the value of the gear is!
Animal Warfare
Posted: Fri 15 December, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Domestic Leave a comment »An email just received from Herself…
“Our stupid hound disturbed the cat having a number 2 in his litter tray. He runs out and promptly poos in her basket!!! Now that is what I call karma!! The cat is snickering, the dog is beside herself and the washing machine is busy!!!!”
Sometimes you just can’t make it up…
Collecting Stuff
Posted: Fri 15 December, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Festering Season Leave a comment »About a month ago, I ordered something for Herself’s Christmas. Because I didn’t know how long it’d take to appear or where we’d be living at the time, and because the company offered it, I used Royal Mail’s Local Collect® service, which means that the package gets delivered to a local post office of your choice, from where you can collect it. Bloody brilliant – makes life a lot easier than wondering where something’s going to arrive, or when – I can just pick it up on the way to/from work.
Which is what I did this morning. Only, well, it looks like perhaps the actual Post Office people didn’t know what the service was. Or even the meaning of the word “service”.
They tried telling me that I’d used the service incorrectly, and that they’d have been perfectly within their rights to send the parcel back.
At lunchtime, I’ll be dropping in a printout of this page which may help explain it to them.
Oddbins Response
Posted: Fri 15 December, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Getting Organised 2 Comments »Blimey, they got back to me last night…
Yes, I agree it’s a pretty appalling time for our website to have problems.
We hope that they should be sorted out later on today, but I can totally appreciate the fact that that’s a bit too late!
If you decide you want to you could call us on 0800 328 2323 and we can place the order over the phone.
If you mention that you’ve been having problems online we will endeavor to get the order out for delivery before Christmas.
So – fairly impressive all told. But they still lost my business…
Ordering Stuff
Posted: Thu 14 December, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Festering Season, Thoughts Leave a comment »Despite not being a fan of the Festering Season (a revelation rapidly filed under “Sherlock, Shit, No”) I do still do an amount of present purchasing for others.
In this case, I was trying to order something that my father would like, and so went to Oddbins as they’ve been useful in previous years. This time? A good selection, but can I get it delivered? Can I chuff-as-like. Each time I try, I get thrown out with an error.
So it’s off to email customer services…
I have repeatedly tried ordering from your website, and have failed each time when I try to add a delivery address to my account.
The process throws out an error, telling me to contact the webmaster. Unfortunately, Oddbins has managed to not have a contact
for the webmaster on the site, so this’ll have to do.
Anyway, because of these problems, and the complete refusal on the part of Oddbins to guarantee delivery by Christmas, you’ve now lost the custom. Admittedly it was only £40, but all the same, that £40 has now gone to another supplier.
In the run-up to Christmas, I’d recommend fixing the website problems ASAP – it happens any time I try to add a new delivery address (whether to my address book, or just for this one delivery)
Which I think is pretty helpful, all things considered.
It remains to be seen what the response from Oddbins will be…
Christmas Parties
Posted: Wed 13 December, 2006 Filed under: Festering Season, Work-related 5 Comments »At work, there’ve been three christmas party type things, and so far, I’m quite proud to say that I’ve managed to avoid them all.
On the first one, I had an interview, and thus couldn’t make it. On the second, I was just too late for a ticket. (i.e. an email got sent out saying ‘all tickets have been sold’, and I made a comment about “Damn I was just going to get one”) For the third, I got the date wrong, and ended up having something else booked in the same time-slot. Whether I would’ve turned up even if I had got the date correct, well, that’s open to discussion. (Anyone voting ‘probably not’ would most likely win a prize)
And now there’s only a week left of work, and I think I’ve dodged the bullet yet again.
In fact, I’ve only ever attended two works christmas parties, and one of those was forced upon me. Then again, I just spent that evening drinking outrageous amounts, and woke up the next morning still pissed.
At the end of the day, my attitude in general amounts to “I don’t like you fuckers when I’m working with you, so why the hell would I want to socialise with you outside work?” Which never seems to go down all that well, but does have the (sole) virtue of being true…
Bloody Expensive
Posted: Wed 13 December, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Geeky 1 Comment »Having lost it yesterday, and having absolutely no idea where the spare one is since we moved (it’s in a box…) I had to nip out at lunchtime today and buy a set of spare stylii for the XDA.
£10 for three ?!?
Fucking hell. Still, that’ll teach me for losing the bugger. Ah well.
Festering
Posted: Wed 13 December, 2006 Filed under: Festering Season, Getting Organised, Weirdness 1 Comment »Amazingly, I’m quite organised this year. I’ve managed to organise pretty much all the necessary presents by today, and while there’s one that still needs to be collected from where I’ve had it delivered, and I still need to figure out what my bloody parents want, other than that I’m done.
Other than the outstanding parental stuff, I’ve just ordered the last present that needs delivering. So all told, it’s pretty organised at the moment – all very scary.
Now, who have I forgotten?
Ad Break
Posted: Tue 12 December, 2006 Filed under: Cynicism, Festering Season 1 Comment »
- Currys Electrical
- Perfume
- Someone’s Greatest Hits Album
- Tesco Mobile
- Ferrero Rocher
- Another Perfume
- A ‘best of ’06’ album
- Another perfume
I guess Christmas must be just round the corner…
Preparation
Posted: Mon 11 December, 2006 Filed under: D4D™, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »Today, work is notably dull, with very little going on at all.
So I’m spending the day being productive, but in a d4d™ way, rather than a “proper job” way.
As such, I’m stripping out all the old shit, tags, formatting etc. from the old sections of D4D™ (i.e. rants, thoughts, and quite possibly even photos, if the day doesn’t get busier), leaving myself with just some raw content to play with.
Why? Because I’m thinking that D4D™ really should get a revamp/redesign in the new year, and this scut-work crud is the bit where I fell over last time, and just couldn’t be arsed with it any more. So this time I’m spending some time beforehand, laying down the groundwork, and hopefully that means that any redesign project should be a lot less effort than it would otherwise be.
Resolutions – One Month In
Posted: Mon 11 December, 2006 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »On my birthday, I set up a new list of resolutions, which I wanted to work on. One month on, how’s it going?
Actually – not bad at all. There’s been a couple of new additions to the lists as well, as things progress, but yes, so far, it’s all looking a bit promising. Most unnatural…
- Photography
Get a Macro Lens- Get a Wide-Angle Lens
Finish the Portfolio website– it’s pretty much done, except for uploading the portfolio photos- Sell/Publish some stuff
- Join a local club
- New : Get a decent flash
- Writing
- Finish at least one piece of writing – working on it
- When a piece is finished submit it to the right people
- Just see how things go
- Write more on d4d™? Maybe.
- Work / Websites
- Keep on going with Where’s Good
- Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head
- Work (as always) on smaller sites, and do as many as possible
- Sort out permanent job for the first part of ’07 while we’re house-buying etc.
- Redesign d4d™? It’s about time…
- New :
Merge lots of accounts into one, and onto one server– all the main ones done, couple of others still waiting - New : Start getting better at invoicing for work done – certainly started off OK on that one – time will tell
- Education
Sign up with Open University– initially for a refresher course, and work from there- Look at an official course/qualification in Photography?
- Other
Restart the Archery once we’ve moved– booked, but not attended yetComplete the move to Norfolk–first a rental, then the house-buying
Chilly
Posted: Mon 11 December, 2006 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Travel 6 Comments »Look, dear, if you’re really cold enough to be wearing a big long fluffy scarf, and Ugg® boots, don’t you think it might help to not be wearing a top that’s leaving your belly and both shoulders bare, and no jacket?
After all, how shall I put this delicately, it does make you look like a bit of a fuckwit.
Audrey
Posted: Sun 10 December, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Domestic Leave a comment »We’ve spent the morning sorting the house out a bit more, the afternoon taking Hound over to Wels-next-the-Sea, we’re now back, it’s pissing it down with rain, and “Little Shop of Horrors” is on TV.
It’s been a good day.