Take a walk on the wild side

Whenever workload and weather permits I like to leave the office at lunchtime and take a walk. Sometimes this is a brisk walk around London's streets and other times a more leisurely stroll in the park.

The nearest park to my office is actually Green Park. Green Park is great if you just want to sit and enjoy the sunshine and read a book, but there isn't much to see, it is pretty much just grass and trees.

Walking through Green Park and across the Mall brings you to St James's Park; an altogether different proposition. Although there are neatly mown lawns and beautifully manicured flower beds the focal point of the park is the lake with attendant wildfowl; although wait a couple of weeks if you want the birds as the lake is currently undergoing maintenance.

As you walk down the path towards the lake more than likely you'll meet some squirrels. They are extremely tame, and if you have some nuts to offer them they will eat out of your hand!

At the lake you will find a variety of wildfowl and birds; pigeons, seagulls, ducks, geese, swans and even pelicans! Again most of these birds are extremely tame (especially the ducks and geese) and will definitely try and join you if you sit down for lunch!

The pelicans are quite stunning with their enormous beaks - and more than happy to pose for the tourists!

Occasional Tourist

New Occasional Tourist post now available.

Traffic jams and old friends

After reading a fellow local blogger's observations on the traffic chaos yesterday I really should have known better than to expect to get anywhere other than slowly today. I had quite a few errands to run this morning which were taking me all over my little corner of South East London. First stop Woolwich to go to the bank. This wasn't too bad for traffic, although there weren't many parking spots to be found. After the bank (no queue, somebody was smiling on me) I popped into game to see if there were any exciting new releases - and I stumbled upon "Sega Megadrive Ultimate Collection" for the Xbox 360. Forty odd games for the Megadrive lovingly gathered together. Sonic, Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 - plus Sonic 3D, Sonic Pinball and Dr Robotnik's Meanbean Machine. In addition to these was Ecco the Dolphin (still impossible) and a whole heap of new (new to me, anyway) titles.

Unfortunately the games had to wait as I still had places to be. Next stop the Post Office. Since the Post Office in Woolwich closed and re-opened as a franchise in WHSmith it has been inclined to queues. Today was no exception, I estimated (based on my experiences in the Post Office in Albemarle Street) that the wait would be around 30 mintues. Longer than I had left on my parking ticket. I decided to go to the Post Office in Charlton (which is the only other choice since the one in Charlton Village and the one towards the Barracks shut down). Managed to find a parking space in Floyd Road and (someone still smiling on me) no queue in the Post Office.

Next (and final) stop Asda for the week's grocery shopping. Oh dear. I could see the traffic chaos from Charlton Church Lane. Stationary traffic in Bugsby Way. Stationary traffic on the 'low road'. Resurfacing works between Makro and Asda on Bugsby Way, watermain works on the Antigallican junction. Carnage. I decided to go around the houses (following the 380 route) and come onto the Woolwich Road from Victoria Way. Bad mistake. Thames Water are digging up that road too! Eventually I got onto the Woolwich Road, went under the Woolwich Road flyover, past Sainsbury and came into Asda from that direction.

My shopping was a failure, as I managed to spend about £30 more than I planned (I can't quite understand how) so it is back to online delivery as even with the delivery charge I'd still have been £25 up!

Interestingly I was just looking to find if there was any route through the traffic chaos. I asked Multimap to find me 'Charlton, London' which it did... and told me that the nearest station was Charlton (true) and the nearest tube Pontoon Dock. Whilst technically this might be true it is missing several points. 1) Pontoon Dock is DLR not tube 2) there is the small matter of the River Thames between Charlton and Pontoon Dock and 3) if we are talking DLR then Woolwich is now open and is probably equidistant if not nearer than Pontoon Dock. I love online mapping services - they are so reliable. I've still never forgiven the occasion that I typed in a postcode and was sent to the wrong end of Grey's Inn Road (which is a VERY long road to be at the wrong end of).

Finally finished all my errands and got home to enjoy some quality time with Sonic and friends. I actually did have all the old Sonic games on my Gamecube - which I sold a while ago, and I was quite missing them. Acquaintance with the modern versions of Sonic and his friends hasn't made me any better at the old games though... all good fun, even so.

Draining the lake

This morning I walked through St James' Park on my way to work. I thought I'd go by the lake and see the ducks and swans and other wildfowl. The lake however is pretty much out of action. It is currently in the process of being drained (which apparently happens every 20 years or so) to be rid of silt and rubbish. Pipes and all sorts are now visible with only a tiny amount of water left right in the middle. A few bold birds are still swimming around (or in the case of one duck picking a path gingerly across an exposed pipe) - but not much wildlife to see.

Dissapointing for bird watching - but the worst thing of all is the smell, which is something like rock pools on the sea front, but worse!

Strange London moments

A well dressed man skateboarding down the middle of Dover Street in the evening rush hour . Well dressed, suit trousers, shiny shoes and overcoat. Very strange.

A large hound on the escalator behind me at Green Park going down to the Jubilee Line (all dogs must be carried!). I was about to turn around and slap the man who was taking liberties only to find an enthusiastic canine.

A good service

My patience was tried beyond endurance this evening as I reached North Greenwich and the tannoy announced "This is the Control Room at North Greenwich, a good service is operating on the Jubilee Line this evening". As I had spent fifteen minutes (two entire sudoku puzzles) sitting on an unmoving train at Bermondsey (yes, it is always Bermondsey) whilst the driver repeatly (and sincerely) apologised for the delays I really had to take issue with the "good service". I will accept "operating normally" because as far as I am concerned delays and disruption are normal; I will accept "no reported delays" because maybe nobody told them. I will not accept good service when the driver has admitted to "only one platform at Stratford" and "delays Westrbound which aren't helping".

In other news the whole of Greenwich seems to have become a no-go area for traffic with the closure of Blackheath hill. The 129 and 188 are reporting delays of 30 minutes at North Greenwich - which when you consider the journey from Greenwich to North Greenwich, well - you might as well walk.

Things to do and not to do

Being all negative we'll start with the things not to do. Don't take the A2 across Blackheath and onwards to Deptford. There are serious roadworks all the way from the bottom of the hill up across the Heath to the roundabout. These started on Sunday are due to last for two months. Given that the traffic along there is pretty bad at the best of times this is doing nothing to improve it if you're heading to London. If you're coming back the other way it is even worse because the road is closed altogether... goodness knows where the diversion takes you! I was all for blaming "improving London's Victorian mains" and Thames Water, but the signs up on the Heath would seem that it is actually TfL who are to blame.

Let's move on to things to do. Do visit Galaxy Zoo where you can help out the stargazers and classify some galaxies. If you've ever used Google Image Labeller it is like that but more interesting.

Here's another thing to do. If you're using Firefox (and if you aren't, seriously, consider switching) install the excellent add-on Brief. It's an RSS reader integrated into your browser. There's a symbol on the status bar to let you know when new posts arrive; and a page for each feed - and providing the author has set their blog to allow it you get the whole feed there to read, without headers and other bits that slow down page loads. Anyone who follows lots of blogs or subscribes to lots of news feeds should consider this add-on essential.

What to do...

When we were kids my mum had a book called "What to do when there 's nothing to do". It was full of excellent ways to occupy children during school holidays and similar. This of course was back in the late 70's and early 80's before multi-channel TV, video recorders (way before DVD players), computer games and the internet. This was back in the days of three TV channels, books and toys. It was an excellent book - and many hours of fun were manufactured. It would help if somebody could do the same for me now.

Mondays are now the strangest day. I no longer work Fridays or Mondays, which essentially turns my weekend into four days. As I've been working at my mum's the last couple of Fridays they haven' t been a problem. Mondays for some reason I can't deal with. They aren't an extension of the weekend. I feel that I should be at work, and failing that, doing something. But what? A three day working week means a three day pay-packet so there isn't cash to spend. I could do the sort of things I do on a weekend (Xbox, internet, reading) but I've pretty much had my fill of that by Monday.

So, my plan is - sightseeing on a budget. An Oyster bus fare is only a pound a go, so that is a couple of quid travelling - and the whole of London at my feet.

Today I went to Canary Wharf. I still had a travel card to use from last week. Out of curiosity I decided to go to Woolwich and take the DLR. Beautiful new and shiny station (no rubbish, no vandalism, yet). Also no ticket office, and only one staff member. So when my Oyster decided not to work I was at a bit of a loss. The helpful guy on the ticket barrier suggested that I go to the mainline station and get a train. I explained that wouldn't take me where I wanted to go. I ended up having to buy a paper ticket (at a much greater expense than an Oyster ticket). Moral of the tale, don't rely on Woolwich DLR for your ticketing needs.

 

Shiny and new - Woolwich DLR

For my outing in Canary Wharf please visit the Occasional Tourist.

Photo of the Week (Number 4)

 

Elephant coming out of the wall in Waterloo Underground Station

Running out of spots

Last night I had to take my Betaferon injection, which I take every other day. The way that it works is that you rotate the injection sites to minimise skin reactions. That is the theory. However, increasingly over the last six months I've been getting really bad adverse reactions. It seems OK when I do the injection, and indeed for some days afterwards. The skin then turns purple, then white, then a scab develops. At this point I try to avoid using the site until it clears up. The problem is that can take up to six weeks, and now I'm running out of places that aren't affected. I had trouble on both arms before Christmas - and they've just about cleared up now. At the moment my right thigh is affected and my stomach on both sides. That is the worst, because it get's irritated constantly by the waistband of my clothes. So, I'm down from six available sites to just three.

My MS nurse gave me some alternate needle sizes to try out, the problem is that I can't detach the needle that comes with the medication. I've tried several times, and only managed to stab myself on one occasion! Time to speak to my MS nurse again.

What comes before Valentine's Day...?

At some point last night I realised that if Saturday was Valentine's day then the preceding day must be Friday the 13th.

I'm not generally superstitious. I don't throw salt over my shoulder when I upset the salt cellar (not that we have salt in our house anyway) and I have no problem with ladders. I don't have any problem with black cats (although I always thought they were lucky rather than unlucky). I do have two superstitions that I pay close attention to.

One is never to open an umbrella indoors. I did this once as a small child and the next thing that happened was a slipped and fell on a wet pavement and cut my wrist extremely badly missing my artery by millimetres. The origin of this superstition is quite interesting - umbrellas were originally used as protection not from the rain but from the sun, and to open one inside was considered an insult to the sun.

I digress. Friday the 13th is my other pet superstition. Reason being for this one, experience. Friday the 13th (I have found) is often a most unfortunate day. The funny thing is, I'm not superstitious about the number 13 at all. For seven years I lived at number 13; I don't mind the 13th floor (although most buildings seem not to have one!) - or even 13 at dinner (again, most other people do, and I've never actually sat down with 13 at dinner). It is only Friday the 13th I mind. It is called (according to the ever knowledgeable Wikipedia) paraskavedekatriaphobia which is clearly a very focused form of triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13). Why is Friday 13th unlucky. Nobody seems to agree. Recent years have seen the popularisation of the unlikely theory of the unfotunate Knights Templar being rounded up and arrested on Friday 13th. It seems unlikely as the notion of Friday the 13th didn't really become mainstreen until the late 19th or early 20th Century.

Whatever the reason, my Friday the 13th didn't go altogether well. My camera broke. Again. This is my camera that only came back from being repaired a year ago... died the same death as last time. When I rang up to find up how much it would cost to get fixed (because it is of course now out of warranty) I was told nearly £90 (flat rate charge for all repairs). I can buy a new camera for less, which is what I told the man on the phone, and indeed what I decided to do.


I reserved one online, waited the requisite half an hour and then went to fetch it. I paid for it and they went to find it, and I waited... and waited... and then waited some more. Eventually the manager came to tell me they couldn't find the camera. But I'd already paid for it I pointed out (very reasonably I thought given I'd been standing there for 15 minutes). Perhaps they could fetch one from another store and I could pick it up in the morning, the manager suggested. Not possible I told him, as I was to fetch my mother-in-law from hospital. I pointed out (still quite calmly considering) that the whole reason that I'd reserved it online was so that I would be sure that I would get the model that I wanted. The to-ing and fro-ing went on for some time. The cameras, were missing (presumed stolen) and the only option was to offer me an alternative for the same price, I was happy to go along with this subject to the proviso that the camera took AA batteries not a Li-Ion rechargeable. Stumbling block. Eventually I was offered the display model of the camera I had requested at a 10% discount.


We take several vital lessons from this debacle.
1) Just because you reserve it don't assume they have it - this goes from bitter experience in many stores
2) Don't take payment until you are sure you have the goods to sell
3) Offer the dispaly model first - not last!


I have my new camera - which cost a fraction of the cost of the old one (or the repair bill for the old one) and is actually better specs than its predecessor. All good in the end then.

Occasional Tourist

A new Occasional Tourist post is now available.

White out

Still snowing 

As the day of snow draws to a close those who did make it into work will now be worrying about how they are going to make it home again. London's buses are still mostly not running - the place to go for live news is TfL's website. Similarly you can also get network rail and tube news (I heard that South Eastern's website buckled under the strain this morning!). The tubes are similarly badly affected, with most of the grounds that run above ground part-suspended. Most train services still aren't operating either... my evening update from TfL has never been so long!


As snow continues to fall there isn't much hope for any improvement any time soon. Wrap up warm and stay indoors seems to be the order of the day!

Snow day

The heavy snowfall of yesterday evening continued over night. This morning some three (or more) inches of snow remained on the ground. Although weathermen have been predicting the heavy snow for about a week it has still caused chaos across London.

All buses have been withdrawn from service due to hazardous driving connections, so even if the rest of your transport is working, you can't get to it! South Eastern trains are also completely suspended (although apparently Southern and Great Western are managing to run a reduced service). City Airport and Heathrow are both shut, and Gatwick advises travellers to check before travelling (if you can get there, as the Gatwick Express is suspended).

I took a stroll around Charlton to enjoy the snow. My light-reacting glasses thought the sun was out the snow was so bright! The main road was like Marathon Sunday with no traffic about.

I enjoyed that special sound your feet make as you walk through undisturbed snow. I enjoyed the picture postcard effect in the parks. I was a little sad to see how few children seemed to be out and about enjoying the snow.

When we were kids if it snowed we'd be glued straight away to BBC Radio Kent to hear the closed school reports. It wasn't just a day off school we looked forward to, it was going out in the snow - sledging, making snowmen - all the fun you have until your hands and feet are frozen! We'd trudge quite a long way to find the barest of slopes where we could sledge. Maryon Wilson Park is full of steep inclines, just made for sledge runs - but few seemed to be taking advantage of it. If I still owned a sledge I'd have been there - mind you it took all my self-control (and the though of how cold and wet I'd get) to stop me from lying down and making snow angels!

Ladies and Gentlemen, an actual Christmas tree!

 

No buses, no cars, no people

Charlton Park, almost undisturbed

  

 More snow on the way?

Perfect for sledging?

 

Winter Wonderland

 

Oh so quiet

 

Sheep brave the weather!

 

Goats stay indoors!

Let it snow

The snow which has been falling since early evening has been settling, and is still falling. Several centimetres of snow now cover pretty much everything.

Garden in the snow (complete with snowflakes)

 

Heavily snow laden shrub (and more snowflakes)

 

Patio deep in snow

Front of the house, bright as day, deep in snow

Right now I can foresee unending chaos on public transport tomorrow morning (even though the snow has been predicted since the beginning of last week). Pretty glad I'm not working Mondays any more.

Occasional Tourist

New Occasional Tourist post; Oxford Street and Regent Street.

Green, Blue and now Black

One year on from Greenwich Council's new rubbish collecting initiative. The "GreenBlueBlack" system was introduced last February - and the last year has seen many examples of the system that doesn't really work (fellow local blogger Charlton Average documents the ups and downs of the new scheme in his area of the Borough).

The main problem with the scheme was that whether through ignorance or laziness a lot of residents simply didn't bother to sort their rubbish properly. This led to 'contaminated' bins not being collected. Although signs were put on bins (to the extent of screwing them to the lids) a significant proportion still failed to follow the system.

The system, for those who haven't come across one of my 'rubbish rants' before is simple. A weekly collection of two wheelie bins takes place. The blue bin is for 'dry recyclables' (paper, tin cans, glass, etc.) and the green bin is for garden and food waste. Simple. The very small amount of rubbish that doesn't fit either of these categories is collected fortnightly in a black sack. Here is the rub.

Number one - sometimes the blue bin requires a bit of work... out of date food has to be put in the green bin first and then the jar or tin washed out... containers must be rinsed (which can be done when you wash up).

Number two - what is left over has to be stored somewhere for a fortnight. We bought a small lockable bin from the Council for this - after all, our kitchen bin now takes recyclables and there isn't room in the kitchen for another bin!

 

Our lockable bin

The Council has got fed up with the constant chaos caused by incorrect rubbish sorting, and probably (to a lesser extent) the rubbish caused by black sacks (shredded by foxes, left out for weeks, etc.). They have brought in black wheelie bins to take the place of black sacks. Ostensibly due to reluctance of residents to use sacks, although my suspicion to ease the problem of contaminated bins. Let's face it, will the black bins be checked on the same basis as the other bins and not collected if they contain rubbish which should have been in the green or blue bin? Doubtful. This is the Council admitting the defeat of their system and saving face by claiming it is all for our benefit.

Blue for recyclables (see the recycle logo?!)

 

Green for food and garden waste (with helpful sticker)

Shiny new black bin (clearly stating its purpose!)

Even Google isn't immune

Yesterday I went to visit my parents. Whilst my Mum and I were out shopping my Dad was at home surfing the internet. When we got back my Dad reported that whilst searching all the sites he'd wanted to look at had been labelled "This site my harm your computer". So we went to the computer and repeated the search. Everything looked fine. My Dad thanked me for fixing it, and I pointed out that I hadn't done anything.

I thought no more about it, until I mentioned it to Rich in the evening. Yes, he'd read a story about some Google outage in the afternoon. A simple human error, apparently, blacklisted most of the internet - including Google's own pages!

Wet day in London

Funny how the London Underground positively cannot cope with bad weather. My journey to work was delayed so long this morning that not only did I finish reading the Metro, but I also managed to finish two Sudoko puzzles! It wasn't just me either. We had to visitors from our Scottish offices down today, and they both had complaints about the Jubilee Line too.

At lunchtime I went for another brisk walk around the environs of Mayfair and the West End (new Occasional Tourist posts are imminent!). Today I went to St James' Park, where I met a lovely lady feeding the squirrels (and the pigeons, and the great tits). Being extraordinarily well fed and therefore exceedingly tame the squirrels were running right up to her and taking the nuts from her hands! Worth the rain just for that spectacle!

My journey home was blighted again by delays (unspecified 'passenger action') and also by hoardes of young people whose volume control appeared stuck on extra loud on their way to see the 'Pussycat Dolls' at the O2. As I observed to Boss-two the other evening, whilst we were 16 once, I don't ever remember being that loud (and in my opinion rather badly behaved) on public transport. Hoping that was the last night of the Pussycat Dolls and that they will be replaced by something more sedate... Carmina Burana is up soon!

BBC in new row

The BBC finds itself in the spotlight (again) for all the wrong reasons (again). This time it is the refusal of the BBC to air the DEC's Gaza Crisis Appeal; a decision (incidentally) also taken by Sky.

The appeal has aired on all the other terrestrial channels (ITV, C4 and Five). The BBC has refused to air the appeal, citing impartiality as their reason. This decision has caused protests outside Broadcasting House, actors and directors refusing to ever work for the Corporation again and protesters burning their TV licences.

All of this has given the appeal far more exposure than it would ever have got if it had simply been aired on the BBC. Let's face it - most of us switch off after the show we watched finishes, or channel surf. Very few people (when nearly every TV now has more than the five terrestrial channels) sit and watch one channel for hours on end.

If the point of the appeal is to raise awareness and get charity donations. Well awareness raised. In the current climate I'm not sure that charity giving is quite what it once was anyway. And how many people are persuaded to give money by disaster appeals on TV anyway? Unless you have been living under a proverbial rock you cannot fail to be aware of what is going on in the Middle East. You're either planning on giving money to charities or you aren't.

This whole furore is yet more complaints on something which really doesn't merit the amount of attention that it is generating. Yes, the BBC is publicly funded, so yes Licence payers have a right to not like how the BBC does (or does not) spend their Licence Fee. But you can't please all of the people all of the time. I'd rather the BBC didn't spend my Licence Fee paying Jonathan Ross's inflated salary - but I haven't burnt my TV Licence in protest.

And it isn't like the BBC are ignoring the situation - far from it. They report the entire story in a very straightforward manner on their website - and also give the web address and telephone number of the DEC whose appeal they are refusing to broadcast. How's that for unbiased!

Technobabble (again)

Idle curiosity moved me to attempt to use the Windows Media Centre connection on my Xbox 360. Unusually I approached this endeavour with optimism, after all - I'd set the Xbox up to use the wireless connection and the internet, so surely this was just a formality? Just because it's all made by Microsoft doesn't mean it is going to be easy.

After clicking through the screens on the Xbox it gave me a security code. Simple, I thought. I went to the laptop and started up Windows Media Centre. Sure enough, going through the "add an extender" it asked for the code. Looking good. Next it tells me that I'm not using Windows Firewall. True enough. I'm using Comodo. I need to configure the firewall it would appear. No problem. I go to the internet page. It walks you through various Windows products, and at the bottom of the page lists the port settings you will need if you are using an alternate product.

I open up Comodo. Can't find the port settings ANYWHERE. I turn to the internet for help. No help is to be found. Correction. Lots of help is to be found for older versions of Comodo... but none for version 3. I am now starting to get frustrated. Windows Media Centre won't play with me and I'm pretty certain that the firewall is the problem. I can imagine the page I'd like - but I can't find it in the firewall.

So. Here's what I do... I open Comodo (for the eleventh time) and click the "Firewall" shield at the top, then under "Common Tasks" I click on "Define a new trusted application" and I add Windows Media Centre whose path is C:\Windows\ehome\ehshell.exe and go through the list on the setup webpage.

I try again and nothing happens. Thinking to solve all my problems I decide to close Thunderbird and Firefox and then close the damn firewall. I close the first two, but before I get to the firewall I notice that Windows Media Centre is now going through all the steps to set up the Extender (to connect the Xbox). Does it take time? Were there too many demands on the ports? Who knows? Now it works though!

The most comforting thing of all is - there is nothing else the Xbox can interface with. No more of these endless quests!

It's official (more gloomy financial news)

Headline news today, it's official... the UK is in a recession. Who knew? Wait a minute... just about everyone. OK, we'll let them off in as much as a recession is officially defined as two successive quarters of negative growth, and obviously you can't definitely say that until the end of the second quarter - but even so... could they sound a little less surprised about it?

Headline on the Evening Standard billboard at lunch time "Brown: I didn't see crisis coming". Really? I'd hope not, otherwise I'd be adding a few other derogatory adjectives in addition to the ones I've already utilised (those being useless, hopeless and others of that vein). If he'd seen it coming then I think his lack of action could only be labelled criminal. The question is  how could the man who is Prime Minister (and was formerly Chancellor of the Exchequer) not have seen it coming?!

In other news famous 'bail-out' bank Northern Rock awards bonuses to staff. They've not finished paying back all the money the Government leant them yet. How dare they give out bonuses. I don't care what excuse they give. There is none. Whilst the rest of the country deal with pay cuts, no bonuses and worse still job losses how can staff at one of the several institutions who helped precipitate this crisis possibly be rewarded.

Inauguration

Today, at last is the day. Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. The Fourth Estate of the 51st State were quite calm about it today - I suppose it is tomorrow that they will really go to town. There is no doubt that it is historic, monumentous and various other hyperbole - but at the end of the day, it isn't our head of state.

Despite what the local news would have you believe. Watching BBC Breakfast this morning I was bemused to find that the lead story on the local news was the imminent happenings in Washington. The tenuous link that lots of Londoners were flying out for the event. Never mind actual news in London (like Boris threatening court proceedings over Heathrow's runway three).

Last word on Mr President - I'm delighted that he upholds the strong tradition of farmers, military and the legal profession by being a law lecturer!

Here we go again

es>en Google

That

Today the Government announces yet another 'rescue' package. What is announces to is billions (yes, billions) more pounds of tax payers money being tipped into the seemingly bottomless pit that is the UK economy. This time the measures will let banks 'insure' against expected bad debts, give the Bank of England the opportunity to buy stakes in companies across all sectors of the economy, give Northern Rock (already the beneficiary of one of these rescue packages) more time to repay their loans and finally allow the Government to increase their stake in RBS by another 12%.

The idea is that if the banks want to insure against the bad debts they have to make legally binding commitments to start lending money again. Let's hope it works shall we, and let's not worry just now about balancing the books down the line.

The problem, at the end of the day, I'm afraid must come in part (a large part) from the consumer society in which we live and the 'must have' attitudes that are so common nowadays. Why are there bad debts? Setting aside the problems which have arisen in the current financial climate, why were there the original bad debts (which pretty much started this whole mess)? Because people borrowed money that they couldn't afford to repay.

I've been watching a series on the BBC called 'Around the World in 80 Faiths'. An Anglican Vicar is travelling the world and 'taking the religious temperature of the planet'. We've done 30 of 80 so far. It has been quite interesting. What struck me particularly this week was at the end of the programme he visited some Kalahari bushmen. I watched them going about their daily lives (women picking leaves and berries and men hunting) as they had done for thousands of years. I wondered if their lives were any less enriched lacking as they did the modern appliances we all take for granted. Probably not, was the conclusion that I came to - as most of the things that they don't have they probably aren't even aware are missing from their lives.

That is the problem with consumerism. If you know it is out there then you have to have it, don't you?

Can't do anything because it's a virus

Last weekend I got a cold. Odds on it was going to happen. Rich had a cold over Christmas, back at work most of the office seemed to have a cold. Germs were bound to infect me sooner or later. It started out quite harmless, mostly sniffles and sneezes and a bit of a tickly cough. It then descended into the worst sort of cold, the type where you have a deep chesty cough and a throat that feels like you must have swallowed tennis balls. By Friday I was beginning to feel quite unwell. The constant coughing is tiring, and the bad throat means that simple things like talking and eating are really too much.

I rang the duty doctor on Friday afternoon and described my symptoms (after the chest infection last year I was worried about a recurrence). He told me I simply had a virus and that there was really nothing to be done. He suggested steam inhalation or over the counter medicines. So, I clarified, what you are telling me is to go boil my head? That made the doctor chuckle, although I was a bit miffed that I wasn't getting any real help.

Rich and I went out after I got in from work on Friday to pick up some new china (our old stuff had about five pieces that weren't chipped) and then I went to bed... and slept through until Saturday morning. I spent all of Saturday in bed, still feeling rubbish. The myriad of over the counter remedies do seem to have had some effect though. The chestiness of the cough, and the persistence seems to be fading. The sore throat is still sore though although the tennis balls have shrunk to golf balls. When we get to marbles I'll be happier.

The bad thing is I've got to go to site this week, which is a whole day out and a 300 mile round trip. The good thing is that it is only two weeks until my part-time hours start. Whatever I manage to find for the other two days is unlikely to be as stressful as what fills them at the moment. Hopefully I can make ends meet for the first month or so and just take some R&R and get back on an even keel again. The horrible cold doesn't seem to have done much for my MS as I feel suspicious beginnings of a relapse. Nothing too disabling (fortunately) just the old numb fingers and toes, which is annoying more than anything. Hasn't happened in a long while, but that is what happens when the immune system gets run down.

In a massive hole

This morning Gordon Brown was giving a speech promising help for the unemployed. Employers, he said, would be given £2,500 for every person they trained who had been out of work for six months. Other measures such as 'extensive' job interview training were also announced.

I think that Gordon is missing the point. He can offer employers any incentive he likes to employ people, but if the jobs aren't there then they simply can't . I mean, what is £2,500 - a salary for four to six weeks?

More and more retailers are going under every day. Only this weekend I went to The Pier's website to find that they (amongst so many others) have gone into administration.

It isn't just retail either. Where I'm sitting (in construction) things are just as grim. The phone hardly rings and nearly every job I work on has now gone on 'hiatus' for an unspecified (and possibly indefinite) period.

The Government's repeated attempts to 'kick start' the economy by repeatedly lowering interest rates seems to have little effect - 3.5% since last October. Banks still aren't lending money - to each other, to business or to personal customers. Already at a record low everyone is wondering how much lower they can go... will they get to 0% - will that help at all? I saw a great quote in the letters page of a newspaper the other night; attributed to Albert Einstein "The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over, and then expecting different results". Kind of sums up the Government right now.

All that is happening is that some (not by any means all) mortgage lenders pass on some of the cuts, and most people put the savings aside for a rainy day... after all, who knows if they'll still have a job in a few months from now. Add to that that the self same lenders are equally fast to pass on the full cuts to their savers - meaning that all the 'high interest' accounts now count for very little. In addition although house prices are dropping now isn't the time to try and get on the ladder as some banks/lenders now require a 40%+ deposit.

All these incentives (rate cuts, VAT cuts, money hand outs) will have to be paid for eventually. The good times won't seem so good when we're all taxed to the eyeballs.


The first rule of holes (I was always told) is don't dig deeper. Will someone please take away Gordon's shovel?

Strange Saturday

Saturday didn't have the best start when I woke up in the wee small hours suffering from side effects from my injection. This seems to happen more the later I take it in the evening, maybe because I also go to bed later and am not so deeply asleep.

Friday night itself was pretty good. After getting in from work I watched the BCS College Bowl final which was my favourite team the Florida Gators playing Oklahoma. I'd (not very surprisinsgly) managed to avoid the score all day - so could watch the game as live. Fantastically my Gators won - and although the first half had been a bit dull the second half was excellent football. Well down coach Meyer, Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators!

So after waking up at the crack of dawn and spending a large part of the morning playing Fable II and pottering on the internet I had plans for the afternoon. These involved further interactions with the internet and some baking.

The internet was scuppered as Virgin had an area wide fault affecting the whole of SE7. No broadband and no TV. I could only keep my fingers crossed that they would fix it fast as if an Engineer was going to be needed he wouldn't arrive until Monday night! Happily around 5:30 (too late for my afternoon) it was fixed.

So my alternate activity was baking. Let it be said I'm not known for baking. I've made bread and cakes that wouldn't rise, cakes where I've forgotten the sugar, and at  best cakes with lurid icing. This time I set my sights lower. Peanut butter cookies. And, to my huge surprise they were quite successful. They looked like cookies, they smelt like cookies and they even tasted like cookies. I have finally found my baking niche.

Favicons

There are some things about my web-browsing experience on which I am not willing to compromise. Favicons are one of these things. Quite uncommon when I first came across them (several years ago) they are now extremely common place, and indeed it is more unusual to find a site without than a site with.

My difficulty has been two fold. First my Firefox (both browser and bookmarks toolbar) suddenly stopped picking up Favicons. I assumed that this must be some incompatibility with some of the (many) add-ons that I have. So I started uninstalling the ones that I never use. No help. I spent around an hour searching the web. No help. I did however see a reference to the about:config page ("Beware, here be dragons" as Firefox will tell you). So I typed about:config into my browser bar and up came the page. I typed 'favicon' into the filter, and, lo, results. First listed browser.chrome.favicons - set to 'False'. Double click to change to 'True' and the Favicons are back! Easy when you know how.

My second Favicon related issue has yet to be solved. Blogger have vanished my custom icons. This blog had one (I never got around to it with my other blog) - and they're gone. I'd thought that maybe the Firefox fix would bring them back, but no. All the suggested solutions on the web of moving the code to just before the </head> tag have been tried and failed. Keeping on searching then.

During all this web browsing I discovered something very interesting. Google have a new Favicon. For some time you would get a different Google Favicon depending on where in the world you were. For example ".com" gave you the 'big G' and ".co.uk" gave you the 'little g'. Now regardless of where you start you get a new (and extremely colourful) Favicon.


The Big G


The Little G


The New G

Some people might say that I've got too much time on my hands!

Other movies

I realise that I've been terribly r emiss in reviewing the movies that I have seen over the last six months or so. For more movie reviews check out my Living Social movie catalogue.

Movie night at last

The relentless pace of TV having dried up somewhat over Christmas we found ourselves we no back-log of unwatched viewing and therefore the opportunity to watch some movies.

First up was 'Journey to Middle Earth'. What a truly terrible movie. It is very rare that a film has absolutely no redeeming features, but this was one of those occasions. The 'V' after the title when you look it up on IMDB reveals that it is a straight to video release. Neither Rich nor I could remember adding it to our list, we eventually concluded it must have got added by accident instead of Brendan Fraser's 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' (which is happily coming for this weekend). So the sneaky movie people got their wish - it can be no coincidence that this appeared at exactly the same time as the other similarly titled (and hopefully) much better film.

Where to start with what was wrong. The terrible CGI dinosaurs (yes, dinosaurs, don't get me started). The mysterious (and never explained) natural lighting however many thousand kilometres down. The inexplicably entirely female squadron of soldiers. The fact that the soldiers couldn't be less soldier like (they run around in vest tops with their hair lose and pretty perfect make-up). The entirely rubbish shots in the 'Deep Digger' craft. The universally attrocious acting or the fact that before the end credits they had the absolute cheek to state "based on the book by Jules Verne". More like based on the crib notes of somebody who never read the book and fell asleep in the 1960s movie. I will save you time. Do not watch this movie, it gets a zero star rating from me.

After this we had 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall'. I approached this with some trepidation as I am not a Russell Brand fan (in fact, I'm whatever the opposite of a fan is). He did well though. Pretty much playing himself - but that was what the part called for. Do watch this movie... although probably not if you are easily offended as the language is blue and the sex is gratutious.  The music was written and performed by the main actor. It was generally well acted, and the music was superb - Rich and I agreed that we would like to go and see Peter's puppet-vampire musical... and Rich doesn't much like musicals and I don't much like puppets. I give this one six out of ten.

Just weather

Last night it snowed. Not a heavy snowfall (not in South East London, anyway) but enough to leave a dusting on cars, buildings and 'untreated surfaces'. It really was only a dusting though – the snow on the tops of walls and cars was so minor that it couldn't even have been measured in inches.

Notwithstanding, I did not trust that this would not be sufficient to throw London's transport into chaos; especially the Underground which doesn't need much encouragement… power supply problems or frozen points perhaps?

I decided to get a bus to work. I left Charlton at 7:15am and three buses later was at my desk by 8:25am. Unprecedented. The current fledgling flu (severe cold) epidemic coupled with the fact that a large amount of people seem to be taking an extra week off after Christmas and concluded by the fact that it was extremely cold this morning seems to mean that less people than normal are out on public transport. I'm not complaining.

There are things about which I will complain, however. Buses. I got on a 53 (double decker) to Whitehall and then a 159 (double decker) to Piccadilly Circus – both freezing. Bendy buses may not be designed for London's street layout and cause traffic queues, they may encourage fare dodging due to the multiple entrances – but one thing in their favour… at least they are warm. The last leg of my journey from Piccadilly Circus to Green Park (yes, I am that lazy – but it was very cold) on the 38 (bendy bus) was toasty.

I thought I'd be a bit warmer once I got to the office. Sadly mistaken. The central boiler plant appeared to have broken down. Although there was water in the radiators there was no heat being radiated. Out came the fan heaters and everybody's emergency cardigans! It took until early afternoon before heat was restored – what a day to pick for it!

Xbox obsession

I have spent an extremely large part of this weekend playing Fable II on my Xbox 360. Regular readers will recollect that my original Xbox was bought (at a time when I already owned a PS1, PS2 and Gamecube) in order to play the original Fable (only available on Xbox). Fable was the first console game that I ever finished (much to my eternal delight), so I was understandably excited when I found out earlier this year that Fable II was in the pipeline.

It was a foregone conclusion that Fable II would be amongst my Christmas presents - and although other games were received it has been the run-away winner in terms of gaming hours expended. It is the kind of game that has something for everybody. At a simple level it is almost a shooter, there are a lot of monsters to kill. But there are quests and side-stories and back-stories. There are things to collect (keys, treasure etc.) and there are mini-quests to complete. You can dress your character, change their appearance, buy a home and have a family. I particularly like the fact that although there are ultimate goals to the game you are under no pressure to complete these, and can pretty much wander around doing as you please. I also like the fact that the gaming atmosphere is extremely non-punitative. If you die all you lose is any uncollected experience, you stand up and carry on at the moment (in the middle of a battle) that you stopped at. It also lets you save at any time unlike earlier role-playing action/adventures - Tomb Raider and Spyro spring to mind - which have pre-determined save points.

The other great thing about Fable (and probably Fable II) is that once you achieve the objectives you can carry on playing the game and living in Albion, which (let's face it) is pretty much where I've been living this weekend.

Occasional Tourist

Two new posts are available at the Occasional Tourist - Whitehall and Westminster.

New Year

Happy New Year to one and all.

Time for making resolutions? Not for me. As a child I used to make resolutions along the lines of "don't fight with my brother" and "do my home work on time" or "don't argue with my parents". As I got older they became more directed - things like "go on a diet", "go to the gym" or "quit smoking". What do all of these have in common? Generally I'd have failed in my endeavours by the middle of January.

Now I figure if I'm going to do something I'll do it - 1st January and New Year notwithstanding. So this year I didn't make any resolutions... we'll just take it one day at a time.

The saddest sight, one glorious Christmas tree out with the trash

Technobabble

Today has turned into 'one of those days'. I had a plan... and the plan has gone awry - fairly predictably.

I got up this morning and took myself down to Woolwich. My plan was two-fold; pay cheques into the bank and buy a wireless adapter for the Xbox 360. The queues in the bank were horrendous... and I decided that I would use the quick deposit point. Great idea, except not a single pen in the entire bank was working, what nonsense! I had to walk to WHSmith, buy a pen, and walk back to the bank. I then I had to walk back up to game to purchase my wireless adapter (and a game) and return home.

I set about the next part of my plan with trepidation. I have (on one previous occasion) managed to connect my Xbox 360 to the outside world. This was the second attempt (the first failing as it wouldn't connect via Windows Vista Home Basic, which didn't have the right 'file sharing' facilities). You think it will all be simple as it is all Microsoft. I wasn't feeling quite so optimistic this time, I knew it wouldn't be simple. And I was right - but for all the wrong reasons.

The instructions seemed comprehensive but that is only because they are provided in ten languages. They are actually brief and not very helpful. I plugged into the router and went into the settings. Everything seemed to go smoothly... the Xbox connected to the network... only it didn't. The Xbox Live Test Settings failed. Network not connected. Useless error code X 8000-0011. What does it mean?! Nothing anywhere.

So I decided to call Xbox Support. They are usually very helpful and even better supply a free-phone number. We went through my problem (twice) and carried out the steps I had already carried out myself. What we wanted (apparently) was the 'security key'. Apparently this required me to call Virgin (internet provider).

I called Virgin. Also happily a free-phone number. I ask them for the security key. They ask me for the make of my router. Belkin I say. They can't help, only Belkin can. I ask if this is the security password I use to connect my laptop to the router... I'm told it is - as we shall later see  there is actually some confusion on this matter. The best thing about calling Virgin is that before they put you on hold they give you five choices of music to listen to whilst on hold! Cute, or worrying (that they think you will be on hold that long).

I call Xbox again. We go through the whole set up again, the assistant assures me that the security key is apparently something different from the password. I really do need to speak to Belkin.

So - eventually I find a phone number on Belkin's website (after two sets of gibberish code). I call the number. It tells me that there are a high volume of calls and hangs up on me. Twice. Now I'm getting annoyed. The third time it doesn't hang up on me but puts me eternally on hold. Fortunately one of the recorded announcements gives me a web address for live support. I hang up on the helpline (which isn't a free call number) and go to the chat.

I am connected to the live chat for twenty minutes, the representative introduces themselves twice and keeps asking me 'Are you there' (four times)... before terminating the session. The next two attempts failed to connect... and then I'm back with the same agent. Time expended on this exercise... 30 minutes with no solution. Why can't this sort of thing be simple. Why can't they send a leaflet in the box so that in the likely event you'll need this information it can easily be found!

I have (generally) no faith in these processes. The last time I used an online chat with HP they concluded that my problem was Windows Vista and 'just one of those things'. That was my scanner that wouldn't work, which randomly started working again the following day.

Eventually after 40 minutes Belkin manage to direct me to the page on the routers own IP where the security key is listed. The security key IS the same as the password. My network is WPA-PSK and PSK stands for 'pre-shared key'. It turns out the only problem I've got in connecting my Xbox wireless adapter is that a) I've muddled the pass-key and typed it in wrong and b) the Xbox doesn't tell me this but just pretends to be connected.

This is not the first time I've wasted a lot of time looking for the routers own IP page... I had the same thing when I was setting up my parents' wireless network for them. Seriously, why isn't the IP address printed in HUGE letters on the box or something?

After all that I'm connected. The Xbox updates itself (again) to a very fancy new dashboard and all is well. Yes, it is great when it works... it is just making it work that is the problem.

Night time

I've had a few interesting night time photos recently.



This first was taken a couple of nights before Christmas in the car park at Sainsbury's on the Greenwich Peninsula. In the distance is One Canada Square at Canary Wharf, with a sci-fi like could over the top of the building. This is caused by the light pollution which is catching the exhaust from the HVAC (heating, ventialation and air-conditioning).



This photograph was taken from my bedroom window on Boxing Day. Just visible above the tree line is an extremely bright celestial body, which research indicates is probably venus. For a good five minutes I thought it was an aeroplane before I finally determined that it wasn't actually moving!

It is amazing what you see if you just look up!

Retail madness

One of my Christmas presents was the much awaited and much anticipated 'Fable II' for the Xbox 360. 'Fable' was the reason I bought my Xbox 360 and remains to this day one of the very few games I have completed 100%. In amongst all the things about the game they do advertise the one thing that they don't advertise is that you need 10MB of memory to save the game. My Xbox 360 only came with a 10MB hard drive! I've rather got out of the habit in recent years of worrying about memory requirements (or blocks as they always used to be back in the day). I don't think that it is something I have even though about since the days of my PS1 and the Gamecube.

This necessitated a trip out to the shops to buy a memory unit. I decided on Bexleyheath, as my favourite trousers had expired and I needed to visit Evans and/or M&S. The best laid plans...

Upon arrival in Bexleyheath I was horrified to discover that 'The Mall' and associated car park were not offering free parking! Next top Game, no memory units for the Xbox 360. On to Argos, don't even gave the in the catalogue. On to Woolworths - rubber-neckking at the train-wreck; many signs from the ceiling 'Closing Down all stock must go' and 'Total Liquidation, Final Clearance'. The store was decimated with practically nothing at all on the shelves. Bye bye Woolies. On to WH Smith (running out of possibilities now). Total failure. The first floor which used to house the DVDs and video games as with the Woolwich branch has turned 50% into the post office. In a very bad temper I eschew the clothes shop (I won't find anything in this mood anyway) and grudingly part with 70p for the parking.

Next stop is the 'Low Road' in New Charlton and the Stone Lodge Retail Park. This, I have decided, should be a good bet as there is PC World and Curry's to choose from. Major mistake. Huge. There is also Halfords, Carpet Right, Harveys and MFI (although I didn't see if MFI were still open or not). The car park was stationary. Parking on pavements and all sorts. The overflow car park was being blocked by two attendents. Now this was realy stupid. They'd blocked off one access to it and had two staff blocking the other. Surely they ought just have let people drive around it and employed the two staff clamping the miscreants! Luckily as I was about to give up and leave I found a space.

PC World failed me, and I was about to give up in Curry's when I noticed the memory cards behind the tills. A (relatively) short queue and I was back to the car to get on home. Getting out of the car park was almost as bad as getting in.

I don't think the whole experience was helped by Charlton playing at home today... hampered by no service on the Jubilee Line and 'alternate' services on the main line trains. More than the usual amount of people have driven to the game judging from the cars abandoned throughout Charlton!

I'm now adding Boxing Day to my list of days on which one should never (ever) indulge in any retail activity... unless it is online!

Things I love and hate about Christmas

Last night I had to brave the supermarket for the big Christmas shop. Big shop, only because I don't intend to be visiting the shops again until next year and the shopping won't be delivered until next Tuesday.

First stop Sainsbury's to spend my Nectar points that I'd been saving all year. The great thing is that now you can collect them from shopping online and all sorts of places as well as Sainsbury's I had LOADS of points. Enough that the shopping came to 23p after points! It is a good thing I'd only gone to Sainsbury's for the drinks and sweets - the store looked as though a plauge of locusts had just been through. I didn't feel much optimism for Asda.

Asda looked like a Saturday afternoon. The aisles were so full that you could hardly move, but apart from the decimated freezer department the shelves were fully stocked. A few hours later would have benefitted the shopping experience however - manners were certainly not in evidence from fellow shoppers, and I was barged several times by trolleys.  I'll be black and blue this morning. Bad manners and bad tempers were very obvious, and the festive spirit was sadly lacking. Happily I came away with nearly my entire list.

If Christmas shopping is the thing that I hate most about Christmas then Christmas decorations are the thing that I love most. I noticed last night that the area around Charlton has had a sudden explosion of festivity. Clearly most people work on the same basis as my parents when I was growing up that the week before Christmas is the time to decorate. Not true in my house. We love our Christmas decorations and like them up for as long as possible. This means that they generally go up at the beginning of Novemeber, pretty much as soon as Halloween is over. In the case of a well preserved pumpkin it might end up with a Santa's hat! Tinsel, lights, trees, snowglobes, you name it - we've got it. Santa's grotto has nothing on my living room!

All downhill to Christmas

The amount of Londoners who have started their Christmas break already has had a noticeable impact on public transport. The buses and Jubilee Line were extremely quiet this morning, leading me to wonder momentarily if I was in fact mistakenly taking myself off to work on a Saturday.

The office is also winding down for Christmas. The usual pre-Christmas panic doesn't seem to have materialised this year. Maybe it is the effect of the economic slow-down? Usually, despite the fact that everyone has known it is coming since the previous year the Christmas shut-down seems to take us by surprise... but this year has been very calm and organised. I'm not complaining... although I suppose there is still tomorrow morning for it all to go pear-shaped, so I shouldn't count my chickens. Tomorrow we're having a tidy-up of the office - clearing the decks for 2009.

Tonight it is time for the annual ordeal of the Christmas food shop. Apart from my flying early morning visit to B&Q and Sainsbury's on Saturday I actually managed to keep to my 'no shopping the weekend before Christmas' rule. Sadly the food shopping has to be done. I can't rely on the delivery service to bring meat and vegetables which conform to the dates on which I want to use them, so I have no alternative but to go and choose them myself.

My solution to the overcrowded stores full of panic shoppers (honestly, the stores are barely shut for two days) is to go late at night. They may be halfway through shelf-stacking but at least it is (relatively) quiet. It's late night shopping or run the gauntlet on Christmas Eve, which I have done in the past, and I'm definitely not doing that ever again!

Another garden emergency

I got out of bed on Saturday morning and drew the curtains only to look out of the window and see the heron standing in the pond. Trying, once again, to help himself to his own private all-you-can-eat buffet.

I speedily departed for B&Q to purchase more pond netting. The pond netting gets taken up in the Autumn as when the leaves fall on it they weigh down the netting and then when the pond ices over the netting gets stuck in the ice. Trees have shed their leaves now (pretty much) so the new netting should be safe until we have to take it up in Spring to avoid frog-spawn disasters.

The pond is now safe and the buffet is closed. The heron will have to find his food somewhere else.

Whilst we were in the garden we were visited by several beautiful white doves, who sat on the edge of the roof and watched us for a while before flying off.

Hall of mirrors

For a (very) long time they have been doing construction works just off Piccadilly. They knocked down a rather ugly old office building in order to construct a shiny new office block. We've watched (and sometimes felt the vibrations) as they completed the groundworks and basement, and now they are constructing the frame (today there were three concrete mixers queued up along the road at one point waiting to pupmp their concrete).

The strange thing is that the site hoardings have been given a facelift. Hoardings are usually painted (at best) and sometimes covered with name boards of various consultants for the scheme; sometimes even an artist's rendition of the finished scheme. These take hoardings to a whole new level. Mirrored hoardings.

 

 

Working Hours

So, the great debate has ignited once again over the UK's opt-out from the EU Working Time Directive.  This debate has rumbled on and off since the UK first negotiated exemption from the Directive back in 1993.

Advocates call for the abolition of the opt-out to end the UK's 'long hours culture' and those opposed say that business and commerce require the opt-out in order to remain competitive. Another argument at the moment is that 'people need the hours' in the current economic climate. Not to worry on that score. Even if the UK loses the opt-out changes would take three years to come into effect. A lot of workers don't get paid overtime anyway - so for them it would be a step in the right direction for the work-life balance.

I've signed the opt-out of the Directive at every job that I've had, it has come as part of my Contract - and let's face it a 48 hour week still gives you five days of nearly 10 hours. Plenty enough time to spend chained to your desk.

My favourite article connected to this story was a picture on the BBC website.

At the end of the week

This week has absolutely flown by! The week began with a trip to the hospital to see my MS nurse. Just a regular check-up which was augmented by my complaints of continuing bad skin reactions to the injection (now affecting both arms). She suggested trying different size needles, and gave me a whole heap to take away and try - which might have worked if I had been able to get the attached needle of the contraption that comes with the syringe! The nurse was followed by the obligatory trip to the blood test department, and the expected hour and something wait. Most annoying was that I had forgotten my wallet and therefore couldn't even get a coffee whilst I waited!

Whilst I was out of the office the contractors came and re-lamped the room. Over the past few months more and more tubes had failed around the room until about a third of them were out. I couldn't quite get over the brightness and the lightness of the re-lamped office.

Thursday brought the office Christmas party. Due to the credit-crunch this was much scaled back from previous years. Having been given a budget per head Reluctant Bachelor organised lunch for us at a well-known pub chain. The best thing about the meal was probably the free crackers. The food was inedible, the wine mediocre, the staff indifferent  and the whole place extremely cold (constantly open door and air conditioning (?!)). The crackers were a huge hit, a mini-water pistol amused some of my younger colleagues throughout lunch as they took turns filling it with the tap water provided and squirting it at each other! After lunch we moved on to another well-known pub chain where we had more drinks, including the now traditional and always ill-advised sambuccas (eugh!). 

This morning there were a few sore heads around the office (OK, actually everyone except me). My plan of sticking to wine all afternoon and evening served me better than those who mixed the grape and grain or ventured onto the spirits!

This afternoon I was back at the hospital for my appointment with Women's Services and the ultrasound. Not the sort of ultrasound that you see on TV it has to be said... rather more invasive and painful. I treated myself to coffee and a doughnut afterwards, forgetting the food in the cafe at the hospital is at best indifferent. I then got on the wrong shuttle bus from the hospital to the bus-on-diversion bus stops and ended up on a magical mystery tour round the back of Shooters Hill before ending up back at the bus stop I required.

Looking forward now to a quiet weekend, and readying myself for next week!

One of those weeks

Yesterday morning I woke up to find that my back had seized up. I'd gone to bed on Thursday night with a hot-water bottle as it was feeling a little stiff, but come Friday morning it was pure agony. The muscles somewhere up near my shoulder blade seemed to be affected and moving just slightly the wrong caused huge pain. I decided to go to work on the basis that moving around might ease things. This proved not to be the case, and the angle of my desk, the computer, everything was not conducive to my pain. My boss agreed that I could work from home, and I set up an office in bed and managed to get into a position that at least wasn't too painful.

In the afternoon I took myself off to the Doctor, who agreed that there was some muscular problem, but didn't elaborate as to what and why. Recommended heat and painkillers. Advice I was happy to follow.

This morning I woke up to find that although still feeling a bit stiff and sore the pain has more or less abated. Thus, as with all inexplicable short term problems I am inclined to wonder if it is yet another random MS problem? Luckily I'm seeing my Nurse on Monday, so I'll ask her.

An odd thing that happened. I was following the 'heat' advice given by the Doctor late yesterday afternoon and taking a bath when all the lights went out. Happens sometimes in our Victorian house when a fuse overloads... but it wasn't just us, but streets as far as I could see! I have very poor night vision, and for a minute I just sat in the bath in the dark (never occurred to me to turn on the battery operated lights around the mirror). I then went onto the landing, which was quite bizarre as my eyes hadn't adjusted and I could see nothing! Rich was walking around with a torch, and opened the front door to confirm that the street was in darkness. I was about to start lighting candles when suddenly all the lights came back on again. Five minute power cut!

TfL SNAFU (2)

We have a rule in our office, never travel anywhere with Boss-one as all forms of transport hate him and if it can go wrong it will. We could have guessed, therefore, yesterday afternoon that he was back in the country and trying to use the Jubilee Line as a signal failure at Bond Street suspended and delayed it during the afternoon.

Holding out faint hope that it might be running better by the time I left the office at six I was dismayed to find that a further signal failure at London Bridge had once again suspended the line. Options for travel home without the Jubilee Line are many and varied - although some involve a train fare (as my travel card only goes to zone 2 and most of the rail stations are zone 3) and others involve multiple changes to the DLR which still only leaves you in Greenwich. Bus it was then.

This morning I had cause to go to Bank station. This can be accomplished either by changing from the Jubilee Line at London Bridge for the Northern Line or Waterloo for the Waterloo and City Line. As the latter was suspended this morning my choice was made for me. Oh, the horror of the Northern Line (Bank branch) at London Bridge. The platform was so crowded that people were backed up into the central concourse. I decided to go South to Borough and come back, but even then it took two trains before I could squeeze on. They don't call it the Misery Line for nothing!