Sunday, March 31, 2002

 
How old am I getting?

I was chatting to a friends son who is in his early 20's and he wondered what the music was on the recent VW Gold diesel advert. It was Tubular Bells. He hadn't heard of it! Then again, it must be the best part of 25-30 years since it was released so I suppose it's possible he hasn't ever heard a snatch of it or at least known what it was, but boy, does that make me feel old.

Has anyone else noticed how young policemen are looking?

posted at 23:49.......link.......





 
Yet another report on the Queen Mum via Edith, through Vaughan.

posted at 23:38.......link.......





 
I live in Ealing, or at least about 2 miles towards the edge of the borough. It's very rare I ever go into the town itself as there's never any place to park, but today with everything closed I decided I could nip in and have a look round my old school which is in the centre. Found a parking bay, which wasn't difficult being Easter Sunday, and shot off and did what I wanted. When I came back I had a parking ticket!

Alright, I didn't check the parking restrictions but IT'S EASTER SUNDAY!!!! The only people working in Ealing today were the traffic wardens. And that just about sums up Ealing these days. It is now nigh on impossible to park in the borough without having some parking restriction. For over a mile radius from the centre there is pretty much totally controlled parking and to be quite honest, Ealing as a shopping centre isn't that great, so thanks but no thanks, my infrequent visits to town will reduce even further.

Oh, and just in case you find yourself there on Christmas Day, parking restricitions are still in force even then.

posted at 18:27.......link.......



Saturday, March 30, 2002

 
I was listening to a report on the Amanda Dowler disappearance which we're all following as Kev's daughter Kelly goes to the same school. In the report they mentioned that the Dowlers house is worth £450,000. Why did they mention that? It can't help the situation, in fact it potentially does the opposite. Anyone who lives in that neck of the woods knows that, o.k., that's a pretty nice house but it's by no means expensive, but for people who don't know what London house prices are like could lose sympathy with them, and if worse comes to worse and she's been abducted and is in a different part of the country there is always the possibility that someone may know something but decide they aren't going to come forward.

This sort of reporting is symptomatic of trying to follow a story at every opportunity when there isn't enough news to support it. Eventually the media casts around looking for filler and I just feel in this case they may do more harm than good.

posted at 23:20.......link.......





 
So, The Queen Mother has died. I think on balance I'm probably more pro than against her. She did have the bottle/sense to stick around in London during the war rather than to scuttle off to one of the countryside palaces and I know that many servicemen, even of the present generation rated her highly. I've seen her a few times in London, usually being driven out on the A4, no doubt on her way or way back to/from Windsor. I got to recognise her cars and number plates.

It will be interesting to see how big a show the funeral will be. It's fifty years since King George died, and obviously that was done "the proper way". Dianas death was never a big event in the Royal Family life, if you understand what I mean, so this is the chance to see if they go with lying in state, national day(s) of mourning, and if so to what degree or will it be kept quieter and dealt with in a more appropriate way for the 21st century. As a complete sucker for tradition I quite fancy a day of National Mourning but I suspect it won't happen.

In the end the one thing that's certain is The Queen isn't having a particularly good jubilee, firstly with the death of her sister and now her mother.

posted at 23:12.......link.......





 
So now I have a guestbook. Somebody go and sign it please, there's nothing sadder than a pathetically empty guestbook.

posted at 08:27.......link.......





 
Our next door neighbours have moved out. They rented that flat and the owner is auctioning it in the next couple of weeks. Linda would like to buy it and "knock through" so as to create one super-flat, but unless Messrs. Camelot decide to let us win the jackpot this week she's out of luck.

I wonder who will be moving in? Perhaps it's an age thing, but we just hope they're not too noisy.

posted at 08:04.......link.......





 
Yesterday I took my life in my hands and cleared out my garage. It's a difficult choice as to whether to call this action brave or foolhardy. I clear it our every couple of years or so and in the meantime just dump all the everyday junk of my life in there to get it out of the way.

It's nearly empty enough now to actually get the car into it, but only nearly. One of the problems is that there are still 8 large black plastic bags filled with non-recyclable plastic packaging. Linda rarely buys anything where the packaging isn't recyclable but occasionally there is no option. She is adamant that she will not allow it to go into a landfill site, so for the time being and until technology moves on, she is creating Britains first garagefill site!

posted at 08:01.......link.......



Friday, March 29, 2002

 
This weeks Friday Five.

1. If you could eat dinner with and "get to know" one famous person (living or dead), who would you choose?

The Dalai Lama. He exudes inner peace and I'm interested in how he has come to that state, whether it is purely through Buddhist principles or if he has always had that type of personality.

2. Has the death of a famous person ever had an effect on you? Who was it and how did you feel?

The death of Princess Diana. I wasn't a particularly big fan of hers but I turned on the television and saw the headlines and I can honestly say I was stunned. All I could do was watch news coverage that day and I could hardly bring myself to talk about it for days afterwards otherwise I'd get too emotional. I have no idea why it affected me that badly.

3. If you could BE a famous person for 24 hours, who would you choose?

I don't think there is anyone I really want to be. But if I do choose someone it will almost definitely be a spoting star or a musician. It's the lure of the money and the women! :)

4. Do people ever tell you that you look like someone famous? Who?

Quasimodo?

5. Have you ever met anyone famous?

Yes quite a few, it's one of the things about living in London or any big city I guess. No names, no packdrill.

posted at 08:10.......link.......





 
The latest on John is that the hospital pulled out of the operation. The surgeon involved thought it was too dangerous to perform, mainly due to complications caused by his weight. He goes to another hospital next Wednesday where they will give him an epidural to try and freeze the affected area which should give him pain relief for a month at a time. Not really a satisfactory way of dealing with this problem but does show that being overweight adds other complications to your life over and above the obvious ones.

posted at 00:12.......link.......





 
I'm afraid you'll have to wait another day or so just for the ink to dry on the paperwork before I talk about the new company, then all will be revealed.

I'm hoping to have a quieter weekend even though I'm working than how it's been for the last three days, it comes to something when there's not even time to blog!

posted at 00:09.......link.......



Wednesday, March 27, 2002

 
Medical Updates

John : John is being admitted to hospital later today and will have the operation on his spinal column tomorrow. He is likely to be in hospital for the best part of a week as far as I know followed by a few weeks recuperation.

My Cousin Mark : For those who don't know the background to this click here. The news on Mark's condition isn't good. He's still in hospital, and although out of his coma has suffered some quite severe brain damage. He presently only has the mental capabilities of a small child, (he's actually 19), and is unable to feed himself. He will be transferred eventually to a specialist unit at Chapel Allerton but he can't get a place at the moment as they are already full, so for the time being he just has to stay put, and although he is receiving the best care he can at present, he really needs to be at the specialist unit so they can assess him properly and work with him to try to recover some of his former skills and life.

More updates as and when, although with Mark we're in for very slow progress.

posted at 08:38.......link.......



Tuesday, March 26, 2002

 
I heard from our accountants earlier that the company name we wanted is free and therefore we are now buying a personalised number plate for the main "company" car and registering the domain name which is also free. As soon as we've bettened down the hatches I'll let you know what the company's called. I know you're not going to be holding your breath with anticipation, but in 5 years time when we've made our first few million, you'll be able to say you knew about it from day one.

posted at 16:46.......link.......





 
Following the walk round London on Sunday I have two more Mirror Project entries, here and here. posted at 09:00.......link.......





 
Why can there never be a happy medium when it comes to work. It's either no work at all or it just goes off the scale. It's the latter at the moment. I need it to be quiet to help get the new company up and running but it's all falling on Kevs shoulders at the moment, he doesn't mind but it can only be a matter of time before his family twig he's doing all the work. Assuming John is off for a few weeks, (no update yet), I'll be given the team to run. For the last few years I would have killed for the opportunity to prove I can do it to get a managers job but now I have no inclination to do it.

Oh well, we'll just see what happens, but it is quite stressful and didn't help last night when the best connection I could get online was 9kbps!!!!!!

posted at 08:58.......link.......



Sunday, March 24, 2002

 
Wasn't today wonderful! It seems ages since we had a really sunny day. I met up with Tricia, (Australian friend), and we walked from her flat in Waterloo, out on the South Bank, across The "Wobbly" Bridge, past The Tower of London all the way out to Wapping and The Prospect of Whitby. If you were a river pirate in the 16th century this would have been your local! Afterwards we walked back again via St Katherines Dock, over Tower Bridge and back on the South Bank to Waterloo.

I have no idea how far it was, a good five or six miles, although my feet tell me it was probably nearer a hundred at least! It was wonderful, it's something I always think I might do but of course, living in London you never really get round to it. Tricia being here is good because she really uses the city rather than just lives in it, so even though I've lived in London for 40 of my 45 years there are still things I've never done and this was one crossed off the list.

posted at 19:42.......link.......





 
The other day I mentioned about my boss having caused himself an injury turning over in bed, what I haven't mentioned since is how ill he actually is. The vertebrae which have been pushed out of alignment are actually pressing on his spinal cord. This is also causing a major amout of pain, and relief from that pain is proving difficult. John is really overweight, around the mid 20's stone mark, and normal painkillers in normal doses just don't work, but even large amounts of the usual drugs aren't working so for the last few days he has been on morphine. Tomorrow he goes to see a specialist who will, even though they don't want to operate because of his present weight, almost definitely decide that this is what must happen as one false move could cause injury to his spine and paralysis.

The situation is made worse because Johns partner, Marie, lost her father a week ago. Tomorrow is the funeral but she will be with John, so if anyone could just send the odd positive thought or prayer tomorrow I'm sure they'll be better for it, even if they don't know.

posted at 19:30.......link.......



Friday, March 22, 2002

 
Well, there's been a bit of tinkering, and a few new links to my ever increasing blog reading list, but not as much achieved as I'd hoped. Still, what's new there! What I really want to do is to find a way of tidying up all the graphic links. I've got ideas but not the time, never mind, it'll happen eventually.

posted at 19:51.......link.......





 
For those who are into The Mirror Project, The Human Clockis a "same but different" type of a site.

posted at 12:48.......link.......





 
and My Magic Fairy Name via Daisy.

Dewdrop Silverweb


Behaviour:
A protector from evil demons and a poisoner of werewolves.

Seen When:
Only in the mist of an early morning.

Habitat:
In forests of oak and lime.

No, doesn't sound right. I don't think I'll take up the post of Fairy in situ.

posted at 12:33.......link.......





 
......but before I do anything else! Links via Bingobowden

My pirate name is: Mad Davy Kidd
My Rock Star name is: Muzzy Skins
My Viking Name is: Dagfari The Berserk
My Hobbit Name is: Drogo Loamsdown of Deephallow
My Evangelist Name is: Deacon Royle E. Looper
My Porn Star Name is: Quincey Slams
My Superhero Name is: The Perfectly Normal Pencil Demon!
My New American Name is: Daniel Brock

posted at 10:02.......link.......





 
Hmmmm. One of my jobs today needs to be a bit of a tidying up of my navbar. it's looking a bit bitty.

posted at 08:43.......link.......





 
O.K. I've finally succumbed and here are my Friday Five.

1. What is your favourite time of year?

It's a very specific day. It moves from year to year but is in Autumn. It's the first day when it's brilliantly sunny outside but the overnight temperature has plummeted and you can see your breath. It's a throwback to when I used to commute and I'd get really hot on the Tube and then come up above ground and it would be so cold and refreshing.

2. What is it about your favorite season that, well, makes it your favorite season?

I think my favourite season is probably winter. I like the cold, the bleakness of landscapes, snow although we rarely get it here in London and the quality of winter sunlight. The only bit I don't like is days when it rains although they have been surprisingly few over the last few years.

3. What is your least favorite time of year? Why?

Summer. Hot, sticky, can't sleep, bad temper.

4. Do you do anything to celebrate or recognize the changing of seasons?

Not really, I tend never to realise on which day it happens, but on those days when it is brought to my attention I suppose you could say I offer up a prayer to Gaia, (Goddess of the Earth) and to Pan, (God of Nature) thanking them for the continued use and protection of Earth. A bit "New Agey" I agree, but my grandfather was a druid so perhaps I've just got a little bit of that in me.

5. What's your favorite thing to do outside?

The biggest thing for me is driving. Can you be outside if you're in a car? Then again can you drive if your indoors? Driving is my means of escape, from places, people, situations, and stress. I'll drive around aimlessly just for the pleasure of it and the things I see from my little mobile box. As an outdoor activity, then the pursuit of the moment is geocaching

posted at 08:34.......link.......



Thursday, March 21, 2002

 
Yesterday was a bit manic but part of it was filled with Kev and I seeing our accountant. He has given us the all clear about how we set up the company and so, later today, we will instruct them to draw up the papers and apply to Companies House for the registration of our new venture. It will take 7-10 days to process but we're pretty confident of getting the name we want, and then that will be it, we'll be joined at the legal hip as directors.

We have a company car put aside for business use and I discovered that the personalised number plate for the company name is still available. Kev is going to want it! To be fair, it will be just short of £1000 which is probably worth the money, but I'll try to restrain him from breaking out the credit cards. If Andie finds out she'll have more than his guts for garters, more like another part of his anatomy being used for earrings!

posted at 08:28.......link.......





 
So, did anyone watch "It's A Cows Life" on Channel 4 last night. For those who didn't it followed a calf from it's birth through to it's death in an abbatoir and subsequent processing. What was so good about it was the commentary by "the storyteller". It was like a Grimms Fairytale, with lines like. "This is Lulu, she's a new born calf, soon she'll be a bigger calf, then a cow, then hamburgers, offal, roast beef".

Watching the abbatoir scenes didn't bother me, I know how the meat on my plate gets there. Linda couldn't watch but being vegetarian she's exempt, but she was pleased the programme was on because she is of the opinion that she doesn't mind others eating meat as long as they know what's involved.

So did you see it? And did you feel any twinges of guilt/sadness/anguish?

posted at 08:24.......link.......



Tuesday, March 19, 2002

 
If you think you sometimes sleep a bit funny in bed and wake up with a cricked neck you'll perhaps sympathise with my boss John, who, over the weekend, turned over in bed and crushed 3 vertebrae in his neck, trapped a nerve and dislocated his shoulder! To say he's in a bit of pain would perhaps be an understatement as now he's on strong pain killers he says it's only excruciating.

I don't know what he was dreaming about but it must have been damned energetic!

posted at 08:20.......link.......





 
I haven't done any research on this yet but I'm sure there is a phenomena where certain people either store, process or dispense electrical charges from themselves. Any electric household items tend to react badly to them, such as toasters will just "pop-up" if they get too close and radios suffer interference. I'm beginning to think Kev suffers with this as whenever he has a new car within hours, if not minutes, the timing of the engine goes out. As most modern cars have electronic computer controlled timing this would account for his handy knack of "breking" them the moment he gets them. He now has a 100% record for his last three cars!

posted at 08:20.......link.......



Monday, March 18, 2002

 
This is quite a good return on an investment. We can't quite match it but when my Dad sold our house in the 1970's he got about 150 times the amount he'd paid 15 years earlier.

posted at 01:03.......link.......





 
I'm feeling disconcerted, confused, not certain I'm seeing any situation clearly and for the first time in ages felt stressed. It's mainly ongoing Kev vs his family stuff but also the team have become mine to look after suddenly as my boss John has got to go to hospital tomorrow. He has, not a slipped disc in his neck but something similar, but at 4:00 a.m. yesterday morning it "went". The doctors want him to have x-rays immediately as they fear it is too near to causing spinal injury. This would be bad enough for him if it wasn't for the fact that the woman he lives withs father died on Friday night suddenly. Talk about it never rains but it pours!

posted at 00:58.......link.......



Saturday, March 16, 2002

 
A word of advice for anyone who's planning to have a nervous breakdown. Please be aware that all your family will think they have a right to control your life from that time on. The basic idea being if you've screwed up to the point of breakdown you shouldn't be trusted to do anything ever again.

I say no more!

posted at 18:12.......link.......





 
I watched Late Night Poker on Channel 4. The players do have some great nicknames, last night we had Joe "The Elegance" Beavors and Robert "Le Dangereux" Cohen. There are others including "The Pink Lady" who, suprise surprise, dresses all in pink.

I should like a nickname like that for when we go to the casino. Following my post the other day perhaps I could be Dave "The Bodyguard" Sheriton but then again I might also be Dave "The slightly overweight and somewhat greying" Sheriton. Not really quite as snappy is it!

posted at 08:36.......link.......





 
Next up on the viewing list was Dead Ringers. This has been a consistently funny programme on the radio and I was worried that it wouldn't cross over onto t.v. but I needn't have worrried. Even Linda laughed out loud at quite a lot of it and that takes a really good comedy programme to do that.

posted at 08:35.......link.......





 
An interesting nights telly last night. On Rogue Traders on BBC1 they were having a pop at the double glazing industry. That's prettty fair, there is a lot of stuff goes on in the DG industry that needs to be exposed. I like to think of myself as ethical, [there are some of us! :) ]. In fact I put myself into conflict with the company sometimes because I won't play silly buggers with my potential customers as they sometimes want.

However, I'm wandering off the point I wanted to make. A phrase that came up a few times was "buyers are liars". The presenter had a problem with this and took it that the company doesn't care about it's customers. Whilst that term is used cynically by some salesman and often used to justify their own action in "revenge", I do have to partially agree with the boss of a company who said that buyers aren't all perfect either. Most of the people I go see will lie to me. When it comes to the end of the meeting they will tell me they will "let me know". Both of us know that's not the case unless they want to go ahead. Very occasionally someone will ring to say they've gone elsewhere but most of the time they won't bother. That's fine, it's no big deal, and it's said as much as a social nicety than with any intent to actually do it. It's also said because for most of those people they already know they aren't going to buy from me but for the best of reasons haven't the heart to say that to my face. They shouldn't worry, I'd much rather know. One of the downsides of selling the way I do and giving people a chance to think it over is I spend time wondering if they've made their mind up and if I know straight away it's a "no" then that's one I can cross off my mental list. There are times when a customer will lie about facts, sometimes blatantly, which after 10 years in this game I can pick up easily, again, it doesn't bother me, sometimes it helps because depending on what they say it gives me a chance to know there is no sale their and I can stop wasting both our times. Not for me the art of spending 6 hours in someones house to wear them down for a sale.

If this comes across as cynical and that you would never "lie", think how often you go into a shop and when asked if you need help you say "no, I'm only looking" even though you probably are there to buy something.

Oh, and if any sales peple are reading this and think, "well I bet you're no good", I am in the top 10% of our companies reps. Treat potential customers with respect and in general they'll return the compliment.

posted at 08:32.......link.......



Friday, March 15, 2002

 
Up until now I'd not been one to jump on the bandwagon of slagging off Freeserves service, but for the last few days it's been a mixture of not getting anything but the engaged tone, or if I'm lucky enough to connect, having a dreadful connection that drops off after a few muntes, or runs so slowly I disconnect in frustration.

If this continues I might start believing it's all a plot to force people on to broadband as well.

Oh, and then to add insult to injury, Pro Blogger sem to have had some sort of problem. Or was it just the connection again, who knows.

posted at 08:29.......link.......



Thursday, March 14, 2002

 
Kev can never do things by half. I've mentioned we were looking at getting him a new car, well, he's bought two! A Ford Granada Scorpio Cosworth and a Toyota Estima. And all for £8K!

The scorpio is a car he's been after for years and the estima is fully loaded with electrics coming from Japan with a hot/cold box for storing food and drink and even electric curtains! I'm glad he's got them because he does have rotten luck when buying cars but my gut feeling is this was the right purchase. I hope I'm proved right.

posted at 22:23.......link.......



Wednesday, March 13, 2002

 
I went to Heathrow to meet dad and my step mum on their way out to Cyprus to see my stepsister and husband. This might be their last trip out their as Andy, (stepbro), is being posted again soon. This absence means I get their car for a fortnight and it's brand new! Hurrah! The best bit about it is the radio controls are on the steering column. Not a big thing but for some reason it seems like an incrdible luxury and when I give the car back I'm going to miss it. Imagine, I'll have to reach all the way to my radio to press a button. I wonder if I can count that as part of my increased exercise?

posted at 22:24.......link.......





 
Today I had one of my infrequent haircuts. I tend to have it done every four months or so which means it goes from quite long back to what Kev calls my Bodyguard look. It does look better short these days. Since the grey hair took a strong hold, when it gets too long it tends to make me look older rather than younger and quite honestly I'm beginning to need all the help I can get in that department.

posted at 22:17.......link.......



Tuesday, March 12, 2002

 
The results have arrived for my coronary risk assessment from last week. Other than the "need to lose weight/need to do more exercise" note that I was expecting everything else came up fine. Most pleasing was that there is no sign of diabetes, something my dad has. They reckon anything less that a 15% risk in the next 10 years is good and my results show 5.2% so hopefully that's one thing I can cross of the list of things to worry about medically, he says tempting fate.

posted at 08:43.......link.......



Monday, March 11, 2002

 
I have my own laptop back! It is like welcoming home a friend who has been on his travles and you're inordinately pleased to have him home. I have too much of a relationship with this machine I feel! So now I'm back with a slow clunky old connection which takes too long to load and I don't care. I've got all my own links back and odd little programmes that I've missed.

In addition to getting it back fixed, i.e. I can now see the screen, (in fact it's blinding with it's luminosity), the guy who released it to me realised it had not been converted to FAT32 when the last upgrade happened. I know it's something to do with compression but nothing else about it other than I have acquired an extra 500mb of hard disk space which on a 1.6gb disk is damn good going. He's hurtled towards the top of my Christmas card list believe me!

posted at 19:29.......link.......



Sunday, March 10, 2002

 
Linda was watching "Goodnight Mr Tom" on television earlier this evening. There were a couple of things I noticed. Firstly, John Thaws character got to look after the boy because he convinced "the authorities" that he loved the boy, a declaration by a 60 something single old man which is now more likely to earn you a prison sentence than a custody order. Times have changed.

The other thing was that the young boy in a different scene was wearing a balaclava. You don't see kids wearing those anymore! I had one when I was young, actually I had more than one. They were all knitted by my mum, and they were all itchy. That's what mothers did in my day, none of this going to work stuff, they stayed at home and knitted embarrasing woolly headgear for their sons to wear to keep their ears warm in inclement weather. The one I rememeber best was blue, it matched a jumper she had also knit. I don't know whether it was always meant to be a two piece outfit or whether it was just using up the leftover wool, but I was fully co-ordinated when the weather dropped towards freezing point. It would itch the most aroung the throat area and to this day I have trouble with anything that touches that part of my neck, it itches, and wearing a polo neck shirt is pretty much a non-starter.

Even to this day my mum will occasionally knit me a new ill-fitting jumper and it's one of the many ways she continues to "take care of me". So for all you younger mothers out there looking forward to the day when your kids are grown up and you don't have to worry about them anymore, forget it, it's a lifetime job, and the sooner you learn to knit, for those who can't, the sooner you can get on with it.

posted at 21:57.......link.......





 
My head is full. Completely. Met up quickly with Kev at lunchtime and he's the same. We are producing ideas for our new business quicker than a tapping tap dancer on a hot floor with nails poking through. Neither of us can turn our brains off. I realise that all this work talk does not an interesting blog make, so I'll try to limit it, but you'll have to forgive me whilst we go through the excitement barrier. I promise, I promise, I promise, I'll try to get a life soon.

posted at 18:38.......link.......





 
Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers out there, including my Mummy in St Albans.

posted at 18:33.......link.......





 
I e-mailed Kev a spreadsheet on Friday and went across to his house yesterday to show him how to use the form contained. It wouldn't open properly and I swear for about 15 seconds I sat there and thought no problem, I'll copy it from my machine to his by CTRL+C and CTRL+V"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

posted at 09:33.......link.......





 
This story doesn't surprise me. I heard about it on Radio 5 on Saturday morning when the presenters were running through the questions that were asked. The "highest mountain in the U.K." question had possible answers including Cerne Abbas. The presenters then started asking between themselves whether any of them had heard of Cerne Abbas and they hadn't. I would suggest that in future, before they poke fun at others lack of knowledge they at least make sure they know of what they are talking about. :)

posted at 09:24.......link.......



Saturday, March 09, 2002

 
I've signed up for Blogger Pro. I can't promise it will do anything for the content or the frequency of my posts but if the extra few quid help keep everything running smoothly then It's money well spent.

posted at 20:16.......link.......





 
I've noticed that we do have some odd things in our sitting room.

• Our old washing machine and tumble drier, stacked one upon the other, topped with a thin wooden pallet and the packaging our new ones turned up in almost 12 months ago.


• The kettle. Why is it in here? Why does it not return to the kitchen? Is there some sort of migration for electrical goods affecting our flat?


• Two giant rolls of Christmas wrapping paper. Not put away yet or early for next year, maybe even both.


• An oscillating fan lying dormant, waiting for the weather to warm up so it can spring into action, although not before it's dusted otherwise it will cause a sandstorm.


• An empty biscuit tin, the contents of which were finished about a month ago.


• A large box stuffed full of packaging for the food that Linda has eaten over the last year or so. Eventually she will punch it into her food diary, which she keeps having been told that she should by her homeopath. Nobody has ever asked to look at it but Linda keeps going with it just in case they do. She stopped seeing the homeopath nine months ago.

Do you have anything in your lounge/sitting room that shouldn't be there, or are you all normal sane people out there?

posted at 08:34.......link.......



Friday, March 08, 2002

 
Hurrah, had a phone call earlier to say my laptop is ready for collection so I'll get that back on Monday. I'll miss the faster web connection but it still doesn't make up for not having my own machine. I will have to upgrade it anyway soon as it's so old and slow, rather like it's owner I hear you say, but until then I shall tend it lovingly, or at least until the first blue screen of death and then I'll give it what for!

posted at 18:11.......link.......





 
Well, by no means can I say I've caught up with all the work, but I have broken the back of it so that's enough of all this efficiency stuff, it really isn't me.

posted at 18:08.......link.......



Wednesday, March 06, 2002

 
Sorry for the lack of posts. I've got too much work on, nothing interesting is happening, nor have I time to follow much news etc, and I still haven't got my own laptop back which is still fazing me a bit. I'm sure normal service will be resumed in the near future. Friday's my bet.

posted at 20:16.......link.......





 
So Kev and I went to GLASSEX at the N.E.C. I won't bore you with the details as four hours of fun in the wonderful world of windows is hardly going to float your boats, but if was damn fine if you're in the industry.

Perhaps the most important thing about the day was this was the first day Kev started to see a way forward with work since his breakdown. Before it all happened we had the initial parts of our new company set up. We are going to get back into it. Woohoo!

posted at 00:23.......link.......



Monday, March 04, 2002

 
Hurrah, the water's back.

posted at 00:48.......link.......



Sunday, March 03, 2002

 
Well, it's great fun round here today. Our mains water supply has been off since the early hours of the morning. I didn't know until I got in this evening and found none of the taps working. Never mind, the Dunkirk Spirit has set in, we're attacking the Germans and taking to small boats! Not really, but we hold the water tank for two of the other flats and we are trying to co-ordinate our water usage until it's all back to normal. I'm having to drink bottled water, eugh. I much prefer the tap stuff even if it is full of chemicals. As I drink about a gallon a day at home if not more, this is a bit of a bind. However, no matter how many hours it is missing it will come back. It is giving me a chance to reflect on how many people in the rest of the world never have the luxury of losing a water supply.

posted at 19:03.......link.......





 
I swear, if he so much as mentions insurance claim forms I won't be responsible for my actions. (Anyone who's seen or heard J.C.s act in the last 25 years will know what I mean.)

posted at 09:21.......link.......





 
This is hardly news. It would of been more of a shock having knocked around with "the beautiful people" if she hadn't.

posted at 09:18.......link.......



Saturday, March 02, 2002

 
Had lunch with Linda today down at Clements. It was sort of an anniversary meal as we've been together 21 years on Monday. All jokes about lifesentences and being out by now have already been done, mainly by me. The food there is really good, which is rather a compliment from a non-vegetarian, as I normally find it just isn't "right". Hard to explain, it's not just that there's no meat, but, I don't know. Anyway, if you need a vegetarian restaurant and you're in Surrey then try them out.

posted at 17:13.......link.......





 
Is everyone else as fed up as me with the recipients of The Brits, Baftas, Grammys and The Oscars all being "humbled" by the experience of receiving the award. That would be opposed to what? If receiving a lump of glass and/or metal for being able to sing nice or playact is humbling then your usual state of mind must be incredibly egotistical. What would be humbling is if the recipient received an award from, say, the wife of a New York fireman who gave his life on Sept. 11th so that they might reflect on just how important it is that they release another film in which they pull funny faces or, shoot the bad guys. Alternatively perhaps the musicians could collect their prize from a Central American family in their home, where, the family would no doubt split what little food they have for the next meal with their guest because they believe in hospitaity to strangers, whilst the musician could reflect that what they demand in riders for their concerts would probably keep this family in food for a month.

I'm not against awards, most companies and organisations have them, why, even we have The Bloggies, but at least let people be realistic about what receiving an award from others in your industry is really about and stop disappearing up your own arses. I also get pissed off with the arrogance of some groups when they collect their awards but at least you can't accuse them of being hypocritical!

posted at 09:23.......link.......





 
Signed up with blogsnob, partly to gain traffic and partly to see if there isn't a hidden gem of a weblog that I really want to know about.

posted at 09:10.......link.......



Friday, March 01, 2002

 
Earlier, I was lounging in the bath, doing my all too accurate impersonation of a hippo wallowing, when into my head popped the Ogo Pogo song. It was sung to me when I was very young by my Great Aunt Hilda. It was an old music hall song and went thus;

I'm looking for the Ogo Pogo,
The funny little Ogo Pogo,
His mother was an earwig, his father was a snail,
I want to put a little bit of salt on his tail.
I'm looking for the Ogo Pogo, when he's playing his old banjo.
The Lord Mayor of London,
The Lord Mayor of London,
The Lord Mayor of London wants to put him in The Lord Mayors Show.

We use to have the sheet music as well, the picture on the front being a multi-legged slug like creature, although somewhat attractive, playing a banjo whilst in the background The Lord Mayors coach follows on. A picture may well paint a thousand words but in this case succintly summed up the song in a single graphic.

I had hoped to find a sound link so you might hear the tune as well which contributes greatly to the enjoyment but alas a search found nothing. Out of interest though it did pull up this link. It contains a corrupted version of the Ogo Pogo song which was adapted to fit the local legend.

Let the Ogo Pogo song be a warning of what might come to you in the night if you do read the Building Regs just that bit too much!

posted at 21:09.......link.......





 
There can be few better cures for insomnia than a nightly perusal of the full set of Building Regulations for the United Kingdom. For the last couple of days I've been ploughing my way through the text of The Building Regulations 2000 Ed.2002 Approved Document L1 (England and Wales) : Conservation of Fuel and Power. Boy, do the government know how to issue sexy titles! It deals with the targets set by the governments commitment to the Kyoto Agreement.

One of the most important things to come of this, is that replacement windows are going to have to comply with higher standards for insulation. Many of the companies in the double glazing industry who operate on the edge will, after an initial flurry of fraudulent cases, disappear and bring about a bit of a general tidy up. We will not be affected overly by these changes as our PVCu products already comply and a slight adjustment to our aluminum range bring them into line as well. The latter adjustment being something that we have the technology to do but to my knowledge no other U.K. based company has. This will either lead to a monopoly for us, or more likely, a very few players who will have to import the stock.

Our industry has a bad reputation and most of the time it is well deserved so if this does rid us of some of the cowboys then a couple of nights of reading is a small price to pay. Oh, and if you have any questions on the aforementioned document then, at least for the time being, I reckon there's a good chance I'll know the answer! Now onto reading the fine details of the wonderfully named "Fenestration Self Assessment scheme" (FENSA).

posted at 20:57.......link.......