Father's Day

So - to all the Dads out there... Happy Father's Day. I shall be driving down to see my pops later this morning. I had a terrible time trying to find a gift... you know how hard men are to buy for! In the end I decided to pop into Fortnum and Mason... which is just along Piccadilly from my office. I'd never been inside before - although I've often admired their window displays! It's quite a store. Very genteel... and such a gorgeous smell! If only it wasn't so expensive, I'd shop there more often!

Friday night saw a further quandary for me. It was time to open the new 'improved' box of Avonex (my MS DMD - that's disease modifying drug). I sat down to prepare the syringe as always, only to find that the replacement on the syringe for the small rubber cap was a large plastic scary looking thing... with no indication of what to do next! Luckily the good people of Biogen Idec run a 24 hour support line... so I had to have the embarrassing conversation starting with "I can't work out how to get the top off the syringe". In my defence... you wouldn't have guessed. You had to snap it off at a 90 degree angle... which you wouldn't guess, you'd never dream of taking such extreme action with a glass syringe! It was, as promised, easier to attach the needle - it did stay more firmly in place. Now I know what to do I'm sure it will make my life easier!

Saturday night is movie night. We started with "Hard Times"... I'm afraid I got bored after about half an hour of the Lovely Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez calling each other "dude" and "dog" and "homie" and generally behaving like reprobates. It may or may not have developed a plot after this point! I really have to stop choosing movies because I like the lead actor (same thing last weekend with the Charming Hugh Jackman and "The Fountain"). Not learning from my mistake, next up was "Deja Vu" with Denzel Washington (I like Denzel Washington). Not a bad movie (I suppose)... but I think it could have been so much more. The science part of the fiction was a bit questionable in it's logic... but then anything dealing with time and/or time travel always is. I actually gave up trying to work out the logic of it all - but I'm pretty certain that something somewhere didn't make sense! Probably worth watching though... as I enjoyed it well enough. Final movie up was "The Magnificent Seven" (quote Rich, I can't believe you've never seen "The Magnificent Seven"). Somehow it had permeated my consciousness as I instantly recognized the theme music! Again - I liked it well enough, although I'm not sure I'd ever watch it again. Spent a great deal of time trying to tie down the famous actors who I'd either never seen before or not seen looking so young. It was weird to see Robert Vaughan who I've been watching in "Hustle" looking so young, and yet, hardly changed (lucky man)! So - now I can name all the actors in "The Magnificent Seven" - you'll just have to take my word that I've not popped off to IMDB to look them up! Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson and Horst Buckholst. Apparently it is as essential as being able to name the seven dwarfs (Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc, Bashful and Sleepy) - although I read somewhere that those names were totally random and chosen from a short-list of about 50!!!

On my way home on Thursday night I stopped off to have a quick nose around Pensinsula Square. On my way into work (after going to site) I'd noticed some suits and cameras through the doors at the back of the tube station - the hoarding finally having been taken down. I vaguely wondered what was going on and though no more about it. However, on my way home in the Lite I read about the new square, bigger than Leicester Square (so they say), and thought I'd have a quick look. Very nice. It has a green wall down one side with water features (little waterfalls) built in... a great big sculpture made from stainless steel or similar... when I say sculpture, it is a long twisty post! Set into the paving are little quotes, all to do with time and stuff. I thought at first the line with the quotes was the meridian line (they are big on that in Greenwich) but then I noticed that there were loads, and decided that it was just art!

Lights Out London!

Here's another energy saving initiative - turn off all your non-essential lights and appliances for one hour (between 9 and 10pm) on the 21st June (the longest day). The aim is to save 750MWh of electricity in just one hour. Check out the website here.

Jubilee Line fails again

It's getting to be a habit! The Jubilee Line suspended itself yesterday afternoon from Canary Wharf to Stratford following a signal failure at North Greenwich. Again. It wouldn't be so irritating but that section of the line was shut over the weekend for planned engineering work. Obviously didn't do much good! This meant that I spent an extra however long in the office as there was no point trying to travel through the chaos. By the time I did leave there were only about 8-10 minutes between trains... which is about acceptable. You know that it was bad though, when they feel the need to put up posters the following morning apologising for the service!!!

More coffee please!

It took three minutes for my alarm clock to wake me up this morning!!! This would be bad enough... but Lumie has a light on it which is supposed to simulate sunrise and bring you gently to wakefullness. I can only assume that the stress of yesterday knocked me out good last night. Halfway down my first cup of coffee now and I almost feel human.

I'm going shopping later. I'm meeting up with my cousin (who I should see more often as she only lives a few miles away in Dulwich). We're going to Bluewater. Hope this isn't going to be too traumatic after the recent 'measuring shopping centres in Eastern Europe' disasters at work!

No post yet this morning... not sure that I'm due anything exciting anymore anyway since my lovely Beanie came from Abbey Bears in Cornwall. Very attractive little chaps they are too! :-)

Why I don't like Fridays

I know I'm weird. Most people love Fridays as they are the end of the week. I'm okay with the principle of them... it's just the execution that is always letting me down!

Reasons I don't like Friday - number 1
We are supposed to finish work at half past four on Friday. It NEVER happens. In fact, what usually happens is that Friday is the worst day of the week. Everything always goes wrong. Today I have spent in long (and often fruitless) telephone conversations trying to find out if anybody knows what is happening on my project (answer, no). Also, making a budget/cashflow according to a pro-forma which really isn't relevant to my project... and various other irritating little arisings... each of which must be somebody's fault, and I'm permanently worried that the somebody must be me. It almost makes me wish I hadn't given up smoking... not because I have any desire to smoke, but I remember the huge 'whoosh' of stress relief engendered by the act of smoking a cigarette!

Reasons I don't like Friday - number 2
Friday is injection day. I can't remember how much I've gone into this before... in 2002 I was diagnosed with relapsing/remitting MS (story for another day). After some years of mostly remitting and a healthy dose of denial I had a few relapses last year. My health professionals suggested that it was probably time for disease modifying drugs. I was historically terribly against this as I suffer from Belonephobia - that is a fear of needles. At the moment the drugs available in this country are all proteins, which means that they cannot be taken orally as the stomach acid would break them up. They must therefore be injected intra-muscularly or subcutaneously. Mine is intra-muscular as it lasts longer and you have to inject less often. Although I have gotten over feeling as if I'll faint and can manage perfectly well I still don't much like doing it... and it does cast a little shadow over Friday. Also, the side effects mean that quite often I either sleep badly on Friday or still feel a bit rubbish on Saturday morning.

Those are the only reasons I don't like Friday - but I think that they are enough.

Ladies who lunch

Today I met my friend and her daughter for lunch. Although her daughter was born at the end of last August our busy lives and living on opposite sides of the Thames means that this is the first time we've met since. We decided to go for lunch at a pavement cafe in Landsdowne Mews (where there are literally half a dozen to choose from). My new little friend was absolutely cute and charmed me and the waitress and the diners at the next table. My friend and I decided that a girl must get to know the important things in life... lunch with friends being one of them!

I discovered this morning that I've been wasting my money. Ever since they were introduced I've been buying a zone 1-3 oyster card. North Greenwich is on the border of zones 2 and 3 and can be in either zone depending on which way you are travelling. I alwasy figured I needed a three zone travel card to get me from my house (which is between Charlton and Woolwich mainline stations, both in zone 3) to North Greenwich. Apparently not. Apparently zones don't exist for busses and the whole of London is one big zone. Nice little saving every month - shame that I just bought a new travelcard!

Busy times

I have never been fond on Wednesday. Nearly but not quite heading towards being the end of the week!

I had a meeting in Holborn this morning, first thing. So, I thought, best go straight there and not to the office. Good plan, lousy execution. I made my usual mistake of mis-reading the tube map and thinking that Tottenham Court Road Station was in fact Holborn. Oops.

I decided to get a train to Charring Cross (following my mistaken belief that I could then go straight up the Northern Line to Holborn). I got a bus to the village planning on walking down Charlton Church Lane... but a 486 turned up, so I decided to get the bus instead! Of course, Charlton Church Lane after about 7am is always a bad idea. The bus sat and waited as a variety of cars and vans navigated the parked cars which line both sides of the road. Finally Parcelforce and another van decided that they might let the bus down. Shame that the cars behind those vans didn't. They all started trying to pass the vans... despite the second van driver sticking his arm out the window and waving the cars back! Made it to the bottom eventually and only just caught the 8 o'clock train to Charring X that I'd been aiming for! Got the tube, and realised at Leicester Square that I needed to change to the Piccadilly Line (which does go to Holborn). Hadn't banked on Holborn being so busy... took ages to get out of the station and only just made the meeting on time. I wasn't the only one though. One chap had walked from Waterloo because the queues for the buses were so immense, and the other was late as he'd been stopped by a police man for doing 38mph in a 30 zone. Know how he feels on that one. I got a speeding fine for doing 36mph in a 30. Bah. £60 fine and 3 points. Very annoying as the 3 points from a parking infraction had just cleared down!

There are still frogs all over our garden. Having graduated from being tadpoles they don't seem to be growing very fast! There are wriggling masses of tiny frogs everywhere!

The weather is a bit cooler today... for which I'm very glad. Our office traps the heat like you can't imagine... and by afternoon is unbearable on a hot day. Today it will probably only manage rather uncomfortable!

The furore over the logo for the 2012 Olympics continues. Goodness only knows who ever wanted London to have the Olympics. Most people that I know don't want them here. It just seems like more money in our taxes and more inconvenience. The logo is hilarious. It is supposed to be a 'graffiti' tag of '2012'. Doesn't look much like it to me... and ever since I've seen the comment in yesterday's Metro "What is Lisa Simpson doing to that man" I haven't been able to take it seriously. There were some quite reasonable alternatives published in the Lite last night... done in 10 minutes by members of the public for free - rather than in several months by professionals for £400,000!!!

World Environment Day

This Wednesday (6th June) is World Enivronment Day

Check out their website and see what you can do!

Summer is back!

Despite the threat of showers and cool weather May turned to June and Spring turned to Summer.

Yesterday I had to go to Lowestoft. Lowestoft is at the top of East Anglia and a good hundred and something miles from London. It is a good three hour journey too as there is no motorway, only A-roads to get there. Got all the way there, having stifled in my car with no air-conditioning... only to find out that the meeting had been cancelled, but nobody had bothered to let me know! Got some lunch and then drove all the way back again. Still stifling in my car with no air-conditioning. Got stuck in a traffic queue at the Dartford crossing, whereupon I nearly melted!!! Got home at 4pm... what a wasted day!

Rushed out first thing this morning to buy Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Have played a couple of hours worth until I got stuck. Knew I should have bought the walkthrough guide!

The garden is full of frogs again. Most of the babies have finally grown-out of being tadpoles and turned into tiny frogs. Really so small... about a centimeter long. It's like the time that Molly gave the carpet fleas. You thought the carpet was OK until you looked really close up and saw that it was hopping. That is our lawn. You don't realise that there are hundreds of baby frogs until you kneel down and take a close look and then realise that they are every where.

All the fish in the pond seem to be enjoying the summer weather... Jaws is followed around by an absolute shoal of little brown fish, medium sized brown fish and the three goldfish. The only one who doesn't seem to want to soak up the sun is Molly... being a black cat she gets too hot and would rather sleep in a bush!

Cabbies

Cabbies in London definitely have a reputation. Some good - most not so much. We're talking black cab drivers here... 'Hackney Carriages' as they are officially. The licensed Cabbies - the ones who take "The Knowledge". The Knowledge is cool - basically Cabbies are pretty much required to know EVERY street in London... and the best way from anywhere to anywhere. This makes them the choice way from A to B. It's the best way to get around after dark if you're a girl, that's for sure!

So. Last night, it was half past nine by the time I left the office... and past ten by the time I got to North Greenwich. Sod that, I thought. I'll get a Cab home. For the first time ever the Cab rank was empty. One was just leaving with a fare. Bummed. So I stood and waited. Another girl turned up... we made small talk. A cab arrived and I got in. Whereupon the Cabbie apologised for my wait (ah, bless). We trundled off and took the route which goes via the level crossing rather than through the bus lane (which I'm never convinced that they are allowed to do anyway). We got to the level crossing and the barrier was down. So we waited. For about 40p on the fare. Where upon the Cabbie switched off the meter! I always feel a bit embarrassed sitting here clocking up an extra £3, he told me. Eventually the gates went up and off we went. You should put the meter back on, I reminded him. But he didn't . So when we got to our destination (home at last) I actually gave him a tip... after all, he had saved me a few quid!

Where has all the news gone...

I didn't even bother to pick up a Metro (free newspaper) this morning. Reason: I know that Big Brother started on TV (again) last night - and therefore I held out very little hope of getting any real news at all. I caught my nearly-mother-in-law watching it on TV... when I asked her why she told me that she wanted to "see the people arriving". I asked why it mattered seeing as how they are just a bunch of nobodies after their 15 minutes of fame... As you might have guessed - I cannot stand that show. I find it drivel of the lowest order. I've probably mentioned before that I am utterly against all breeds of 'reality' TV and 'docusoaps'. I don't know why it's called 'reality' TV... the situations aren't very real - and I don't suppose that people would act the way that they do if there wasn't a TV camera trained on them. Bring back real TV. Bring back well written drama... comedy that makes you laugh... I'm still absolutlely certain that in the future social commentators will look back and wonder what an earth the people of the early 21st Century were on when they chose to watch TV!!!

I saw an interesting headline on the Evening Standard billboard - something about a Whitehall bid to block Beckham Knighthood. Would love to have read the whole story - but it appears to be an Evening Standard exclusive (no sign on the Internet) and I'm not buying the early edition of the Standard (or the late edition if it comes to that). I'm sure that I'll agree with the sentiment of whoever is trying to block this idea. Nonsense I think. I'm not sure that most people who receive honours really deserve them anymore - most were originally designed to recognize civilian valour after the 1914-18 war. I can't see that footballers, actors or musicians (save a few who have really done more than just entertain people) deserve that sort of recognition. This country have turned into fame junkies. The appetite for self-promotion and scandal is endless. All the free papers now have gossip sections (which I skip)... and even the news falls onto these stories.

This is a good thing about the ever customisable internet... you can fetch RSS feeds and so forth which cater to your appetite for news - and you can screen out the idle gossip!

OK. Rant over, climbing down off my soapbox now!

Last night's movie

Given that it was a Bank Holiday we took the opportunity to fit in an extra movie last night. Blockbuster had sent us the Ant Bully ages ago... but the mood hadn't taken us to watch it. Quite a fun movie. Once we got over the 'penny bet' on whether Zok the Ant was being voiced by Nicholas Cage... Rich was sure it was, I was adamant it wasn't. He was right.... so, he keeps the penny. The 'penny bet' is how we settle dispute. We have a penny in a frame (which came out of a cracker) and when we dispute anything we 'bet the penny'. It spends a lot of time with Rich. Anyhow... back to Ant Bully. Absolutely top quality animation, and a few witty one-liners. An all round good family type movie.

More rain...

It has finally, for the moment, stopped raining. Having rained most of yesterday and this morning. It is still grey, and unseasonably cold. Almost as if the weather, looking back at the unusually warm April decided, oops, missed the cold damp April... I'll just switch it with May then.

I've been having an excellent time with my PS2 this weekend. The postman finally bought my Lego Star Wars II on Saturday morning. I'd been feeling disappointed as the post had been and it hadn't arrived... but unusually for Saturday (and only about two hours later) second post arrived. Game is EXCELLENT. Has the "3+" rating, which is the level of difficulty I get on best with. Totally sticks to the story of the movies, and is just HEAPS of fun to play. Really recommend. I took a whole heap of old games back to Game on Saturday for trade-in. Got another £16 (which isn't bad for four games). Actually had seven to take back, but they don't trade in Gamecube anymore... so I'm selling them on eBay. Shall be spending the proceeds of the exchange next week buying the Tomb Raider Anniversary. Who says I play too many video games?!

Raining again

They were not joking when they said it would rain this weekend. Boy, is it raining! Raining some more... and then a bit more rain!

Cold and damp - typical Bank Holiday weather. Glad to know there are some things that global warming can't change!

Long weekend approaching

Delightfully when I go home tonight (which I'm hoping won't be too much of a crazy time) I won't have to come to work again until Wednesday. Hurrah! Bank Holiday Monday followed by day of leave to make up for having worked the last Bank Holiday. Busy times ahead though, with at least one meeting every week for about the next six weeks... and that is just the ones I know about!

I got home last night to find that my nearly-mother-in-law had been out shopping and had one of those "I saw this and thought of you" moments. She got me a rubber duck. A pink rubber duck, wearing a tiara, which apparently light up in the bath! We have a duck theme in our bathroom. We got some postcards ages ago with a variety of rubber ducks in various styles and colours. We had these blown up, laminated and fixed them to the back of the bathroom door (which was in a sorry state after a mirror fell down). We also have quite a lot of rubber ducks.. probably about 10 now! It's a whole 'theme' thing. I want to get these gel stickers I saw for windows, which, guess what, come in 'duck' style!

So... exciting things happening this weekend? Great amounts of sitting around and taking it easy are expected. Hopefully the weather forecasts will all be wrong and I can spend some time in the garden. Taking a trip to B&Q I think... and lunch at Nandos is also planned.

I was discussing the merits of Sat-Nav with my brother last night. He's had it in his car for a few year now... I'm thinking of getting it, due to recent getting lost on the M5 experiences and future planned trips all over and possible jobs up and down the country. My brother recommends it... unless you are driving in London. He says that he finds it very reliable.

Noticed an odd story... Trafalgar Square goes green. For reason or reasons not explained by the headline they turfed all over Trafalgar Square (temporarily). It did look exceedingly strange, that is all I can say!

Train trouble again

Another bad transport day yesterday. Yet another line side fire, so but the stations were closed (again) and all the trains were cancelled (again). The whole of south east London decided to come home via North Greenwich. Literally hundreds of people waiting for busses. Police controlling the hordes. Three busses, mostly taking me in the wrong direction and some walking I did get home. 2 hour after I left work. Apparently the lines are re-opened now, so things should be better this morning.

A day of radio

Yesterday I had to drive to Worcester again. Despite the huge amount of getting lost this had engendered the last time I did it... despite having vowed never again until my car got Sat Nav... I did anyway. Actually, not so bad this time. No getting lost (although missed my junction a couple of times). I spent the several hour journeys each way listening to the radio. As far as the reception would reach I tuned into BBC Radio London (sadly lose reception for that around Milton Keynes, wish the car had digital radio) and the rest of the time listening to BBC Radio 5. Yep, I love the BBC and total lack of commercials!

It gave me a lot to think about, especially as several shows I heard were phone in type shows.

Number One: MP Margaret Hodge and her comments about housing. We all know that there is a housing shortage... especially in London where the average house prices are about £400k now. Mrs Hodge expressed her opinion that migrant workers were possibly being housed in preference to families who had lived in her borough for generations... actually, I'm not even sure that was her point... her point was more to do with the entitlement that these families might feel (having paid council tax, income tax, etc. etc.) It was a bit unfortunate that at one point she did refer to "my white families" which I think made most of us stop taking her seriously! Of course Mayor Ken came straight back saying what nonsense she was talking, how such things would never happen (blah blah usual Red Ken la-la land). A variety of callers called the show, one from a housing association saying that housing is allocated strictly on need criteria, but he though it should be done on how long you have waited... one lady who is 50 and has been waiting for council housing since she was 16... some from people who have 'seen it happen' (and they have seen all sorts happen)... personally, knowing London the way I do... I'm sure the housing system isn't the way that it should be, or that most of us would like it to be, and that there is probably a huge variety of how it works (or doesn't work) from one borough to the next. One caller said that when she called the housing deptartment she was asked which country she'd come from and when she said the UK she'd been told "no chance"! At the end of the day I do believe that having paid taxes and taxes for years and generations should entitle you to something from the Government (not just housing here and not just talking with regards to how long you have lived in the UK)... the problem here is that the Government just don't seem to have a clue... they are more interested in fighting wars and so forth than worrying about the gradual decline/decay of the fabric of this country.

Number Two: yellow ribbon campaign (etc.) for missing Madeline. Unfortunately I lost my reception before the phone in got around to talking about this... or maybe they were having to much fun Margaret Hodge bashing?! The question was, are you wearing a yellow ribbon? Personally, no. I never wear badges, ribbons or what-have-you unless I have a personal reason to. There are just too many now. Ostentatious grief the radio presenter called it. It is, isn't it. People seem to be saying, I care more than you. I'm sure everyone hopes the little girl gets found safe and well. But even so... really, you can't give to every charity, can't wear every ribbon. So I drew a line. I donate money regularly to my chosen charities... I'll sponsor friends and colleagues who ask me, but that is that. I might, however, give some money to help restore the Cutty Sark - that is after all just down the road from me and as Prince Philip said yesterday it's a "bloody shame".

Number three - dates on food in supermarkets. The BBC are horrified as some undercover 'sting' of theirs showed that supermarkets occaisonally have questionable pracitices with regards to sell by dates on food. Really? They just found this out? Don't they go shopping. I have to throw away stuff all the time as it hasn't lasted to it's best before date. I did like the lady who phoned in to reiterate the difference between 'best before' and 'use by'. As my Dad always said to us when we were kids 'best before, not poisonous after'. Use by apparently though does mean just that, as it is to do with bacteria etc. which could be inside the food. There you go.

There was a great deal more of interest I heard especially radio presenters mangling russian names in the Polonium 210 story... however, if I don't get a shift on now I'll be late for work!!!

Another weekend been and gone

So. Before we know where we are the weekend has been and gone. Good weekend this one, though.

Started promptly as I had to get tothe Doctor to pick up a prescription, so I left work at half past four on Friday (yes, we really are supposed to finish work at half past four on Fridays!). This meant that I got home by about 6 o'clock. I was at a complete loss what to do so early in the evening. In the end I opted for doing three month's worth of ironing whilst watching a videotape of the Last Detective. So that was good news for my wardrobe. All the clothes I own (except the ones I wore on Friday) are ironed again. Hurrah!

Saturday I didn't do so much. For some reason taking my Meds earlier in the evening meant that instead of sleeping through until morning I woke up around 3am feeling the side effects. So... I got up. Fed the cat, who was loitering with intent... and decided to try to write a CSS page for my website. I thought that it was supposed to be easy... two hours later I was still trying. And trying. I got there in the end though!

Next on my list was 'popping' out for a wee bit of shopping. This was quite pleasant as it seemed that the world and his dog were off watching the FA Cup final and not clogging up the streets of the Greenwich Peninsula. Got some superb pink plastic clogs in Asda... £5 a pair, so I got two pairs!

I decided to do some weeding... the recent rain had turned our garden path into a real haven for weeds. I don't generally go a bundle on weeding... but it is very satisfying when you can really see the difference you have made!

Saturday night is movie night. First up was Headspace... which proved, in my opinion, to be a) rather dull and b) reasonably inexplicable. It lasted about 20 minutes. Next up was Borat. I didn't have high hopes, despite the reviews which all rated it as hilarious. I find Ali G funny, but not usually the Borat sections. To give kudos - there were some very funny bits... and overall the movie pretty much provided what you expected. Gave up movies after this and watched DVDs of TV shows.

Sunday saw me back with the webpage and doing more weeding. Didn't get up until really late (around quarter to 12) so didn't get too much done really. Thought about doing some work I'd brought home, but decided that I'd get into work early instead.

Which brings us to today! Did get into work early... managed to avoid any traffic chaos incurred by the Cutty Sark being on fire.

I got an excellent email at the weekend. It came from a chap claiming to be a Nigerian football player and wanting a recommendation for a try-out here in the UK. Why?! Why would anyone think that a random email address picked out from goodness only knows where could be of any help?! And if it was not genuine, what on earth do they hope to gain from such a spam?! The internet is a strange and alarming place these days... I look with nostalgia to when there was so much less, for want of a better word, nonsense out in Cyberspace!

Busy Days

It's been a bit busy this last week. 12 hour days (and the rest) have been the norm. However the project that was consuming my time appears to be done now - and hopefully I can get back to all the other projects I have been so neglecting!

Wednesday was the worst... I got to work at about a quarter to seven in the morning and left about 8 in the evening... and then only got three hours sleep going into Thursday! Needless to say, last night I went to bed at half eight and got a good eight hours!

Spring/Summer has returned to London again today. The miserable rain that has blighted us since last week seems to have given us a temporary reprieve. Back to rather a lot of fashion nightmares then!

There is an amazing fashion right now for tailored shorts. Usually cut just above the knee. there are very few body types that suit this garment, and certainly not most of those that wear them! Ladies, don't do it... especially not with tights!!!

Last night the Jubilee Line was suffering from a 'good service'. Whatever! The train that I got on was stopped several times down the line to "regulate the service". The driver told us that he was running a couple of minutes fast. At Canada Water we stopped again because apparently we were still running a minute ahead of schedule... there was a pause and then the driver added "they're determined I'll be late by the time I get to Stratford"!

The exciting event of the week was getting tickets to go and see the Giants play the Dolphins. Tickets finally went on sale for the NFL match at Wembley in October. After the announcement of the game you visited a website to register your interest in purchasing tickets. The opportunity to purchase tickets was then allocated by ballot. Apparently within 72 hours of the original announcement over half a million people had registered! The first 40,000 tickets went on sale on Wednesday and sold out in 90 minutes!!! Let's hope that the Giants are going to beat the Dolphins then!!!

My arm is almost recovered from being butchered by the phlebotomist on Monday. The bruise is now an interesting yellow/green colour... still quite sore though! I forgot to mention earlier one of the conversations I had with the Nurse on Monday. We have a variety of topics which are regularly discussed... including the "are you planning to have children" conversation. The reason for this is because if you get pregnant you have to stop taking the DMDs (disease modifying drugs). I told her, as I always do, not now... not anytime soon... quite possibly not ever. To which she replied if I was going to then I probably would want to hurry up as I was getting a bit old... and only realistically had five years left to have kids. Way to make a girl feel young and lovely!

Working from home...

Yesterday I was working from home. I had an appointment with the MS Nurse in the middle of the morning (which usually involves a lot of waiting around) and also had to take my mother-in-law to hospital for her operation and pick her up again later - all in all working at home seemed the way to go.

However, nobody told my computer to co-operate. I have a wee office (well it's a desk) in the bedroom... with a printer, scanner, etc. etc. Currently they are attached to the old desktop. Some days the old PC works... other days it doesn't. Yesterday it didn't. I gave up in the end and got out the laptop... which is highly irritating as the touch-pad won't disable and I keep accidentally moving the cursor whilst I am typing. Sometime soon the desktop is getting rebuilt and hopefully his neurosis will be cured.

Vile weather yesterday - but I decided to walk to the hospital anyway as it is only half a mile and makes me feel quite virtuous! Got there five minutes before my appointment... unfortunately the entire neurology department appeared to be running with huge delays... and I was seen over half an hour late. Next it was off to the testing to get my blood tests done. Very dispirited to see number 450-something being called when I was number 496! Spent another half an hour sitting there. As usual the phlebotomist couldn't find the vein and butchered my arm which is now a) bruised and b) sore.

To add to the sore arm I managed to drop the external hard drive on my toe in the afternoon, which has severely damaged my poor little pinkie!!!

As usual the office had some kind of computer crisis whilst I wasn't there... this involved several panicked phone-calls and emails back and forward. Found a work-around in the end, but really do need to get the rest of my colleagues trained up. Didn't matter yesterday as I was working, but they would have rung me at home for that if I had been sick or on leave! I cannot be the only one who can work the advanced functions of the software packages.

Good news is that the new firewall is being installed next week. Time will tell - but hopefully that will sort out some of the server's neuroses. How many neurotic computers do I know?!

The mysterious case of the missing key...

Something very strange happened in our office. Between one of the trainees getting files from the basement store last night and the Partner going down to get files this morning the key was lost. The trainee maintained that he had returned the key to the key cabinet. The Partner questioned that if this was the case, where was the *bleep* key? The floor was searched... the fire extinguishers were moved... the box of files from last night was emptied. No key. Trainee is singularly unapologetic and maintains a defensive posture of "I put the key back". The Partner is annoyed because a) the key is gone and b) the spare key which was requested was never cut.

I embark on a quest for a locksmith. The first call quotes me £145. No thanks! The next call is down to £90. I take a reference, it might just have to be. The final call is £65 (plus VAT) and any parking fees and congestion charge. They will come before 1 o'clock. All is saved.

The locksmith duly arrives. He makes a wasted trip to our floor, I meet him and take him to the basement. We then return to the ground floor so he can go to his van to fetch tools. Is it right, he asks me, that he can park on a yellow line for 20 minutes 'loading'. I am forced to admit I have no idea as I rarely drive in Central London. I tell him that it is best not to risk it as the parking wardens in Westminster are very enthusiastic and dedicated in their work, and indeed, there is one just coming now. Locksmith sensibly asks the warden and the warden concurs that he will not get a ticket.

We return to the basement, angle-grinder in tow. Sparks fly, quite literally. The lock is cut from the door. All this takes about 30 seconds. Crisis averted.

The story behind the traffic chaos on Wednesday night turned out to be a shead load in the Tunnel. Some asbestos fell of the back of a lorry (quite literally) and the tunnel was closed until the next morning for decontamination. Oh dear.

Very bad travel day

There were a lot of things wrong with yesterday. Not least the bit where it was nearly 8 o'clock by the time I was leaving the office.

The worst bit of all was the decision by transport in the south east of London to TOTALLY mess with me on my way home.

Exhibit 1 - Jubilee Line. When I arrived at Green Park the Jubilee Line was admitting to 'minor delays'. I was sceptical to whether or not they even knew what had caused the delays as there were different stories on the boards at platform and ticket hall and yet another story from the PA man. I had to wait 7 minutes until a train, which I squeezed onto as the next advertised train was another 7 minutes after that! We stopped and started and generally bumbled down the line to North Greenwich.

Exhibit 2 - Blackwall Tunnel. When I arrived at North Greenwich the PA man was advising of delays to ALL bus routes to and from North Greenwich station. He added to this the recommendation that customers seek alternative routes. There is a problem with that statement. If ALL the bus routes are delayed then the only alternative route is to hop back on the tube. The problem with that is that North Greenwich is in the middle of two stations which are on the OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER! Canning Town (and indeed West Ham and Stratford), on the north side of the Thames. Canary Wharf, also on the north side. If you want to go all the way back to Canada Water that is on the south side... but then you still have to get all the way back to Greenwich and then to Charlton!!!

So. I decided that I had better get on the 472 which had just drawn up as I couldn't see any other buses at all waiting at the stand. The 472 takes me as far as the 'low' road (Woolwich Road) and from thence I have to walk. I got off the bus (a stop early as it turned out) and walked home... which means going up the hill by the park and then all along my road (which is VERY long).

I couldn't even go shopping as planned as the tunnel problems had gridlocked the entire Greenwich peninsula and there was no way I was going to sit in traffic for half an hour just to get to the supermarket!

Crawled out of bed this morning exhausted after the exertions of yesterday. Got to work reasonably early to find that I wasn't the only one stressed out by their current workload as the Geordie and the South African were both already there!

Can't wait for the weekend really... although have a rather unbelievable (and some might say impossible) amount to accomplish before then!!!

Conference Calling

So, this morning we had a conference call. Not a few people sitting around a table with another distant person on speaker phone, but a real live conference call where you dialled in from different places. Managed to gather 3 lawyers (my boss was rubbing his finger and thumb together making the internationally recognized gesture for money when they all introduced themselves!), 3 clients, an architect and the two of us from this office. Gosh, what fun that was... just like a meeting but accomplishing even less (who thought that was possible)!

My other boss was making porridge for his breakfast this morning. He's got these little sachets where you just add water and stick it in the microwave... so I referenced him at one point as "Goldilocks over there". Ah, we did all chuckle!

Completely overslept this morning... but amazingly still managed to make it into work within 70 minutes of having got out of bed! Wish that could happen more often - all the buses and tubes arrived when they ought to, and there was no waiting around.

Now it's nearly Wednesday!

Good grief... where has the week gone already. Today just went **whoosh**. Good thing is that my estimate went out a day early. Bad thing is that the Contract Documents STILL aren't done. Ah well. When there is so much to do, something has to give!

I have to share my bizarre travel story from Friday night. I was on the tube heading towards home - quite late as it goes, about 8pm. The driver came on to make an announcement just as we were getting towards Canary Wharf... "If there are the parents of a little lost six year old boy on this train, and they have finally remembered to come back and get him, he is being cared for by station staff". Finally... my very own strange tube announcement! Bizarre though. How can anybody lose a child at an underground station and then not go straight back on the next train?!

I managed to delightfully managed my objective of not leaving the house all weekend. Not exactly sure what I DID do, but anyhow! After going to work yesterday I'm looking forward to an extra day on the next Bank Holiday!!!

There has been nothing but talk of football in this office today. It's the first time we've all been here since the weekend. The Man U fan has been smug about Man U winning the Premiership (so annoying)... and there has been a lot of attempts to tease me about Charlton and their relegation. Stunningly missing the point that I have been telling them all since last August that Charlton were getting relegated. Bizarre conversation at the moment... I missed the beginning, but our boss just said "Same as Gary Neville, he'll never be compared to Pele either". Would love to know how the conversation started! Conversation has now fallen to whether the Man U fan would choose Roy Keane or George Best if he could only have one or the other. He is trying to get out of answering the question. South African girl just contributed with "I thought he died". Scottish boss complained "You are just trying to ruin it for us".

Other Scottish boss has just re-appeared from making a conference call. We were a bit worried about him earlier as there was a large crash from the conference room... we thought that maybe he had fallen off his chair!

The conversation about "the best football player who ever lived" is still continuing. We haven't come to a conclusion. The Man U fan is still trying to insist that it is a contemporary english player (preferably someone who does now or once did play for Man U). Apparently we are leaning towards Pele (Geordie and Scottish Bosses). Man U fan is after Beckham.

I just pointed out that the whole conversation is completely ridiculous. The comparision in any sport over time negates direct comparison as the game evolves and develops. Pele didn't play the same game that is being played now.

Have to stop typing now. Somebody left the window open and my fingers have gone blue!

Well who knew!

My phone will talk to my blog! Not that it will be easy now that I don't have a slide out keyboard. Sorry in advance for any oddness with the predictive text!

Had to go to work today, even though it is a bank holiday! Had rashly promised lots me stuff for Wednesday forgetting it was a holiday. It is amazing how much you get done when the phone doesn't keep ringing!

Jubilee line reached a new low this morning when the trains seemed to be going backwards! First it was 4 minutes to wait, then 7!

This has taken half my bus journey to write, so maybe more later.

Note to self: purchase bluetooth keyboard!

This is not a bendy bus...

Yesterday morning the bus was very full. I was later than normal, and it was obviously a while since there had been a bus. I found a nice little spot by the doors, which is a good place on modern busses as not too many people can fit in there and the doors slide instead of opening inwards. Anyway, off we went - and due to the crowded nature of the bus (which included people standing on the stairs) the driver decided not to take on any passengers. Of course, sometimes he had to stop to let some off. Solution of the crowds at the bus stops. Pile in the back doors! For amusement value (if not for getting where you are going value) it is always more fun if the driver throws a strop at this point and refuses to go any further until the illegal entrants get off again. Unfortunately yesterday's driver seemed quite happy to let all these people (who didn't pay any fare) get on. It's not a bendy bus! There are no card validators. Travel for free? Result.

This morning's bus journey was even worse. I thought that as it was about 5 to 6 the 422 might be a safe route as there would be no frustrated tunnel traffic. Unfortunately the lights by the old hospital seemed to have gone on the blink. The three way junction only allows traffic from one way at a time at the moment (actually, if the road by the hospital isn't closed its a four way junction!). We sat and waited through two phases... but the lights never turned green. In the end a frustrated motorist jumped the queue, which meant that all the traffic decides to jump the lights... until it gets to someone so far by that they don't realise the lights are stuck. Thirty minutes on the Woowich Road this morning.

I have a theory about the Blackwall Tunnel and the cancellation of the tidal flow. A while ago Greenwich Council were petitioning for the congestion charge to be extended South Eastwards. There was going to be referrendums or something. They wanted to include the Tunnel in this extension of the zone. Funny how this desire should coincide with the cancellation of the tidal flow (which we all know causes jams) should happen just now, and thus demonstrate how bad the congestion in that area is!!!

After two months of inactivity work has finally started in the car park at North Greenwich. Presumably because the Dome (sorry, of course I mean the O2) is opening soon. This is not the only work going on at North Greenwich. Very irritatingly the up escalator at the rear of the train on the Eastbound platform has been taken out of service for refurbishment. This means that unless the train terminates at North Greenwich and comes in on the middle platform... getting on at the back of the train (which is always less crowded) now necessitates a long walk to the escalator at the front of the train and then a long walk back to the ticket barriers at the ticket hall level! Fortunately the refurbishment works can't be that extensive as the escalator is supposed to be back in service by the end of May.

A mystery is sweeping London at the moment. Strange graffiti has been appearing all over the city which says simply "Brooke Shields Alphabet". Nobody knows who is doing it, why the are doing it or what (if anything) it is for! It has even got its own website! Alphabet of Brooke Shields. Rather unexcited by the whole thing as a) I think graffiti is pointless (and hard to spell!) and b) either it is some rubbish marketing campaign or it means totally nothing... but I had to mention it as it is the talk of the town at the moment!

I read in the gossip page of the Metro yesterday morning that Mel B is distressed that the wrangling with ex- Eddie Murphy and the paternity issues have been aired "so publicly". If that is the case then she would be best to stop going on TV and giving interviews or hanging around celebrity night spots and stay at home where the public can't see her!

Last night our office went out on the town. Welcoming our newest member of staff from South Africa amongst other things. After a weeks worth of debate on pricey Mayfair restaurants we ended up in Pizza Express. And there we stayed. Long after the pizza had been eaten. The wine kept on coming... until we finished their stock of a particular white wine and had to find an alternative. Eventually they called time and so we had to leave. We were walking back through Bruton Place when we noticed a plaque on the wall which said "press here" so we did... and it opened a cunningly disguised door!!! Some night club or something no doubt... we were rather surprised, to say the least. We all scattered off in various directions for the tube, and made our ways home. There were a few sore heads this morning!

I got up at 5am. Not because I had any particular desire to get to the office... but because our cat, who had been sleeping behind the bedroom door (why?) decided to jump onto my feet. I thought about going back to sleep, but I could feel her staring at me, so I got up!

Looking forward to the weekend. Not a long one for me as I've to work on Monday... but I'll have a nice Saturday/Sunday. It is my aim to not leave the house for the entire weekend if it can be helped.

All work and no play...

...new levels of busy-ness have been reached. Now I know why it is called business (ha ha!). I'm busy than a busy thing, as my friend Kim would say. In fact, so busy, I forgot to get lunch today until about 4pm. I thought that I was hungry!!!

More indecipherable cyrillic writing (really must at least learn the alphabet)... contract documents... estimates, estimates, and even more estimates. Oh, all good fun!

On a sad note, our goldfish Toby died, after a short illness. Poor Toby. Not really a goldfish, rather a shubunkin.

Here si the story of our fish tank. Once upon a time, we decided to get a fish tank. We went of to the pet shop and bought a 'starter' tank and two goldfish - CJ and Danny.

The catalyst for the purchase of the fish tank was watching the West Wing. In the West Wing, journalist Danny trying to impress White House Press Officer CJ (that's Claudia Jean) asks one of her colleagues what she likes. "Goldfish" is the reply. So, Danny buys CJ and goldfish. However, it wasn't the fish that was meant but the Goldfish Crackers!!! However, the fish stays with CJ until the end of West Wing at the seventh season. So, obviously CJ and Danny were named for those two characters. Well. CJ and Danny grew (alarmingly) and soon we decided that they needed a bigger tank.

So we got a bigger tank. Then we decided that they were probably lonely. So Toby, Sam and Nemo arrived. They were shubunkin. Toby and Sam flourished. Nemo, not so much. Nemo had a dodgy fin (hence the name, originally he was called Leo - Toby, Sam and Leo are further West Wing characters). Nemo died at a young age, and was buried in the garden. So for a while, they were four again.

Then we decided that some further companions were called for (aparently goldfish live in shoals and thus should be kept in odd numbers). Cue the arrival of Donna, Gail and Inky. (I decided that there should be more 'girl' fish - not that we have learned to accurately determine the gender of our goldfish). Donna is another West Wing character, Gail was the name of the goldfish in West Wing that started it all and Inky was named as he had black marking rather like inkspots all over his body. Sadly, one by one these fish also all died. Leaving the four alone again.

I declined for some time to purchase further fish on the basis that they kept dying. However, Rich maintained that the tank needed more fish - so eventually we went back to the pet shop and brought home Charlie, Abby and Jed. Charlie and Abby are tiny goldfish (they're a bit bigger now, but put them next to CJ and they are still very small). Jed was a shubunkin. That's right. Was. He died less than a week after we took him home. This time we took our deceased fish back to the store to get a replacement (yes, fish come with a guarantee). Welcome T'ealc. I decided no more West Wing characters (Jed is the President in the West Wing, Abby his wife and Charlie another character). I decided we should name our fish after a different TV show... why not Stargate SG-1!

So - for a month or so, all was fine. Then Toby began acting odd - his tail looked ragged, he looked thin, obviously he was not well. We'd seen it too often before. Fortunately his illness didn't last too long, and he died in the castle where the fish hide out sometimes. For a couple of days we thought that Sam was sick too - but it seems that he was mourning his friend, as reports from the fish tank today say he is back to his old self!

So that is the story of our fish!

Expanding horizons...

The wonderful world of the internet! There are so many sites out there... I feel quite like I'm in space - space is very large (according to the late great Douglas Adams: 'Space,' it says 'is big. Really big. You wouldn't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it a long way down the road to the chemists but that just peanuts to space. Listen...' and so on.) Well - that is how I feel about the internet! I just keep on finding new sites! (It is my evening tea break in the office, when I stop work for 15 minutes or so and randomly roam the Web!)

Dreary Day

Today was never going to go well. I woke up unrealistically early (2am) with a headache. So, I went downstairs to get paracetemol. Unfotunately in the dark I picked up ibuprofen instead. Unfortunately because I am allergic to ibuprofen. Fortunately I noticed after taking one (the tablet was smoother and rounder the paracetemol). A very unpleasant few hours followed, my allergic reaction is similar to asthma... I did try and go back to bed, but gave up around 5am. So - eventually I decided to go to work. I forgot (again) that the 422 is still 'out of bounds'. The abandonment of the Blackwall Tunnel tidal-flow has had an extremely negative impact on the 422 route. Less so than previously as they have built some kind of bus lane... but still a good extra 20 minutes on the journey. Note to self: no 422 in the mornings!!!

Got to work to face what turned out to be a day of recalcitrant computers. My computer is the best in the office. Dual core processor, etc. etc. But the amount of things that I tried to have it do at once crashed it several times. I spent a very tedious morning attempting to translate drawings which were variously in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish... none of which, needless to say, I speak.

Summer has definitely come to London. I went for a little work along Albemarle Street at lunchtime. Not really sunny enough as the road is too narrow and the buildings too tall to let much sun down!

The new bed is continuing to prove value for money. The extra space means that I no longer nearly fall out of bed several times a night... however my Lumie seems to be having some sort of electrical problems, it randomly keeps switching itself off... which is no good for an alarm clock!!!

Building the Bed!

Ikea delivered the bed in the end yesterday. Unfortunately our delivery slot was "between 4 and 7". Still, that gave plenty of time to dismantle the old bed, re-arrange some furniture and hoover the carpet. Building the bed took quite a while... It had a lot of screws and dowels, and it was all quite complicated! But, finally, the room was back together, and all the junk stored under the bed was back in place. Hurrah!!! The matress is a bit firmer than the old one, but this seems to be a good thing, as for the first time in ages I woke up not feeling stiff and old!

Molly is enjoying summer, and has taken to sitting in my chair on the deck. She does this all of her own accord, as a) its a comfy place for a cat to sit and b) it provides an excellent view of the whole garden.


Molly in her chair.

Rich told me that the picture I posted of Jaws yeserday did not fully illustrate his enormous size, so here is a photo of him with a regular sized goldfish.

New Bed

So, after seven years our cheap Ikea bed is pretty much ready to retire. When we bought it we got the cheapest frame in the store and the cheapest matress to go with it. The matress got replaced about three or four years ago by a slightly more expensive one (not from Ikea) which has now pretty much also had it. So, this meant we needed to take a trip to Ikea. Rich had to come with me as I told him I wouldn't be able to manage the bed boxes by myself (and I was right!). So, I managed to leave work early-ish on Friday (it was half five, which isn't bad as we are supposed to finish at half four on Fridays). Off we went to Ikea. We found the bed department, and found the bed that I had picked out in the catalogue (that's right, Rich didn't get any choice) and of course you have to go to the desk to get a print out of the bits that you need. Which we did. We got into the market hall to pick out an undersheet (which you have to get as Ikea beds aren't the same size as anybody else's beds!) before I realised that the display model which we had the parts for wasn't the actual size that we wanted. D'oh! Back to beds to do the order over. Lucky that a different assistant was at the desk!

Then off to the warehouse to collect the parts. Which was fine until we got to the matress pad which was "temporarily oversold" (why can't they just say "out of stock"?) and then, even worse, the matress was out of stock too! Trauma. Ikea charge for delivery, so I didn't really want to go back another time for the matress, so we ended up getting the most expensive matress that Ikea do! I suppose it will be worth it in the long run!

Had an amusing experience on the way home from work on Friday. I still had my stick as my legs were still a bit wobbly, and I was standing on the tube which was really crowded, and nobody was offering me a seat (my pet peeve, not being offered a seat on public transport when I'm out with my walking stick). Anyhow. This woman got on the stop after me, and shoved past (almost knocking me over, but hey) and positioned herself right in the alley so she'd get a seat if anyone got off. Which they did at the next stop, and she raced for that seat! Anyway, I got a seat a couple of stops later, so that was fine. But I noticed that when she got off (same stop as me) her backside was covered in chewing gum which somebody had left on the seat that she was so determined to get. Karma? I think so!

Our office is going to be like a ghost-town on Monday. The two partners are both out - one on holiday, one on a course. One other colleague is on leave... me and my assistant are out at a meeting all morning... it will be quiet.

I was very happy to see yesterday that the tadpoles in our garden pond are really getting big and fat now! Soon they will be turning into tiny frogs! I saw a big frog in the 'frog pond' last night. The frog pond is a small pond away from the fish pond which gets totally colonised by frogs and toads in the summer. I do like frogs, and we sure have a lot of them every year!

Here are some photos of the wildlife in my garden!



This is Jaws. He's the biggest fish in our fish pond!



This is King Frog. He was the biggest, most colourful, and most photographed frog in the frog pond last year!



This is one of the baby foxes, taken a few years ago now, so he's probably one of the grown up foxes now!

Another one bites the dust!

Happy to say that is another week done with! It's all been quite busy. Was very happy to discover this afternoon that my client doesn't want the cost until Tuesday morning... which give the outstanding prices time to come back. Good stuff.

My boss just raced off to get to the airport... happy to report to us that the Jubilee Line wasn't reporting any delays. So, that means he has jinxed it for the rest of us!!!

I'm off too in a moment. Rich and I are going to Ikea to get a new bed. The bed we have now came from Ikea about 6 and a half years ago. It was the cheapest that could be got. It is now starting to show it's age... every time I get in or out of bed there are most alarming creaking noises! It's like sleeping on a 15th Century ship with all the creaking timber!

The strangeset thing. I laddered my tights this morning, so had to pop out to Boots at lunchtime to get some more. The cardboard insert which the tights wrap around in the packet had INSTRUCTIONS for putting on a pair of tights. What is the world coming to!

Looking forward to a fairly quiet weekend this weekend. No football to go to... as Charlton are playing away to Blackburn. I feel guilty for not going as over 6,000 people are... the club are laying on free/subsidised travel. They had better win, that is all I can say!

Talking about rubbish sport... the Yankees are languishing at the bottom of the AL East, after failing to score against Toronto last night. I always maintain that April doesn't matter, and it is where you are in October that counts... but it sill sucks that the table is upside down!

Everything normal

The Google crisis is over! Hurrah! At 8:30 this morning my personalised home page returned to its former glory. All is right with the internet.

And apparently now we are all going out for beer (well not beer for me as I don't drink on Friday).

Disaster!

My personalised Google homepage has vanished! Totally disasterous... I practically run my internet day with it, and now it is all gone.

Have to go now and research the possible fixes!

Phew!

Nothing is working today.

I overslept this morning (most unfortunately as I wanted to get to the office extra early). Reason - my alarm clock failed to go off. Not that I snoozed it, you can't do that with my Lumie alarm clock. Just failed to go off. I actually managed to get to work within an hour of having got out of bed (unbelievable!).

Now two of the computers aren't working. In a most suspicious manner. They log on (just about) and they can see the network drives - but (big but) they have no connection beyond that. No email, no internet. If you 'ping' the router you get 4 lost packets. Why? All the other computers (seven of them) are working. Impossible. Can't fix them... which is even more annoying!

The senior partner is visiting today, which necessitates a big tidy up. We suddenly realised that the two uplighters in reception were out and reception was shrouded in gloom. I was turning off the power at the plug whilst my colleague changed the bulb. I had to make the obvious joke "How many QS's does it take to change a lightbulb?"

I read in the Metro this morning that there are £65million of lost pennies floating around the country (this is since the penny was introduced in 1971). Enough to circle the earth four times... several thousand elephants worth. Apparently the English are too embarrassed to stop and pick them up if they see them in the street... I'm not, finders keepers... and on the basis of this, I could soon be a millionaire!!!

On my favourite topic of TfL... they are about to begin refurbishment of the Jubilee Line escalators at Green Park. I'm sure that this will cause chaos. There will be no 'down' to the Jubilee line in the mornings and the only interchange will be via the hefty hike that is the Piccadilly Line interchange. Ah well. It shouldn't affect me, so that's fine.

The endless billing is almost at an end. I have just about finished (I hope). However, the back-log of neglected jobs that has stacked up in the meantime is quite terrifying!!! Roll on May Day Bank Holiday!

Another Monday

I had meant to get to work really early this morning. Having given up and gone home on Friday night without having finished what I needed to do I really needed the early start. The Jubilee Line, however, had other ideas! Although the PA system at North Greenwich claimed a good service was operating I got down to the platform to find a total scrum... the first train hardly let on any passengers at all, it was already so full. Fortunately I managed to squeeze onto the next one.It was nearly 10 to 8 by the time I arrived at the office, which was not nearly as early as I had planned. Then, of course, I had to go out to a meeting. As usual I forgot that Holborn can be reached directly from Green Park on the Piccadilly line. As usual I took the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus and changed for the Central Line. Bad idea in morning rush hour. Lucky I had left plenty of time. Managed not to make the same mistake coming back!!!

The meeting went on for two hours, which meant it was lunchtime (pretty much) by the time I got back here. Oh dear. Half the day gone already, and I have accomplished nothing!!!

On a more positive note, the marathon inspired me so much yesterday that I have decided that I would like to run the marathon. (Pause for everyone who has ever met me to fall about laughing). I'm quite serious in this aspiration, and I think that I could do it too! Notwithstanding the occasion at school where we were taking a mandatory test in our PE (Phys.Ed.) class... I was walking around the running track (I seem to recollect that we were required to complete 800m) and the teacher asked me in exasperation if I ever ran "Only if I'm about to miss a bus" I replied. Still, with the right food and the right training I think that I could become a runner!

My cat Molly continues are feud with the neighbouring cats. She chased her arch-rival the black and white cat out of the garden yesterday evening. This would have been more impressive if the cat hadn't been practically out of the garden already at the time!!! She spent the rest of the evening sitting on a large pile of dirt keeping an eye over her domain!

Anyhow. Apparently lunch is over before it is begun today, as I'm getting pressured for all sorts of figures on all sorts of jobs (none of which I have).

Marathon passed

Just over an hour later the runners have passed. We're just after the two mile marker, so some of them are already getting quite tired! A big well done to all the runners - to all the Bens, Lucies, Tims, Julies and all the others whose names I never saw. Nearly everybody seemed to be running for something. I saw at least 20 people running for the MS Society (go guys!) and heaps of other charities too. We had Wombles, Star Wars, Elvis, several Rhinos, and goodness knows what else. One of my favourite moments was two ladies who passed us just after a chap in an ostrich suit, overhead to say "that ostrich has passed us three times now"!

Now we wait for the roads to re-open!!!

Welcome to Marathon

It's the 22nd April which means that it is the London Marathon. Every year we have to make sure we aren't doing anything this Sunday as our house is marooned in an island surrounded by Marathon routes. You cannot get out in any direction until around lunchtime. I shall be off outside soon to watch as the main race has just started up on Blackheath. More later!

Long Journey

So, yesterday was my monthly visit to Worcester. For various reasons (none of them very exciting) I decided that I would drive instead of getting the train. In retrospect this was an extremely stupid idea. Having previously established that my geography sucks, and having only recently discovered where on the map Worcester is, I had to completely rely on the AA route-finder to get me there. Apart from various traffic jams the journey didn't go too badly. Until I got lost on the M42. The directions told me to take junction 4A sign-posted M5... I passed junction 5, then junction 4 and then junction 3A.... so I turned round and went back. Still no 4A... so I turned back around and kept on going towards Birmingham (having previously established that Worcester is near Birmingham). Junction 3, Junction 2, Junction 1 - oh dear, I'm thinking I'm lost. And then, out of nowhere, Junction 4A. How?! Why?!

Coming back was even worse. I got lost in a series of mini-roundabouts and ended up on the M5 heading to Bristol! Ended up going cross country to Cheltenham and Oxford before eventually coming South on the M4... which lands me on TOTALLY the wrong side of London at M25 Jct17!!! It would have been quickest to go counter-clockwise home, but the traffic dissuaded me from this course of action... so I decided to re-trace my morning route back to the M11 and junction 27. Until the traffic reports started telling me about accidents and long delays from Jct29. I stopped at South Mimms (where I had, coincidentally filled up with fuel that morning) and rang my Dad to ask for advice! He said to go South on the A1 and go either through London or round the North Circular. I never found the North Circular, but I do know my way around London (the only place where I DO have a sense of direction!)... so at 8pm I was one block from my office and I finally headed home down the 53 bus route!!! I'm not taking any more journeys into the unknown unless I get Sat-Nav. The stress is just too great!

The avoidance of Junction 27 turned out to be a good thing... they had to shut the motorway from 27 in both directions as there was a horse got loose! The mind boggles.

For those people who don't live in London (or even England) - a word about the M25. The M25 is a motorway which encircles London (apart from a small gap on the East side for the Thames crossing of the Dartford Tunnel and the QE2 bridge. The road is 117 miles long, has 31 junctions and took 9 years to construct (in sections). It is the butt of many jokes, as traffic is extremely congested around much of the motorway (despite numerous widening efforts, and variable speed limits, etc.). My favourite M25 tale is from a book called "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman where the M25 is formed in a demonic sigil and traffic on the motorway "acts like water on a prayer wheel". That would explain a great deal!

The eight or so hours I spent in the car did give me ample opportunity to listen to talk radio, which amused me for some time. I like BBC Radio London (until I get out of range) and then BBC Radio Five. However, I was pretty fed up with the day's news by the time I got home last night!

It's quiet in the office today as the Partners are off at head office for the "Partners Meeting" and the rest of us are frantically trying to get our Bill completed. I guess you have to be careful what you wish for... a while back I expressed the view that "we never go to measure anything properly any more" and then this billing lands in our office which wants to be measured to SMM7. As I observed to the office at large, I'd been done by now if it wasn't for SMM7!!!

For those who don't know (and probably don't care either) SMM7 is the Standard Method of Measurement (Seventh Edition). It is the rules followed for the measurement of construction works. The theory being that if you measure to SMM7 everybody knows exactly what is included and how. Sadly it requires large amounts of co-ordinated information from the design team - which you rarely get!

Now I've finished boring everybody, I'm getting back to work.

Internet and WILFING

I first got to know the internet 13 years ago... back in 1994 when I first started at University. Before that I don't think that I even knew such a thing existed! I took to it like a duck to water.

The first computer we ever had was an Atari. Not so much a computer as a glorified games console. There was a slot in the keyboard to place cartridges (which they had just stopped selling when we bought the computer) and no hard disc drive... the computer used a tape drive! The Atari didn't last long, due to extremely limited functionality, although I did get my first taste of programming. Next machine was before Windows even existed! It was billed as "IBM compatible" and ran an OS which looked like Windows but was called GEM. The entire contents of that computer would have fitted into half a modern day directory!

There were a series of further similar machines... sometimes bought new and sometimes inherited from my Grandfather, who was by far the most computer literate member of our family!!!

Computers barely registered at school. There was a 'computer room' which had a total of about a dozen machines (not even enough to take a class) which we used mostly to play text adventures in our lunch breaks. Does anyone even play text adventures anymore?!

So - fast foward to University. My first (and as it turned out only) year at RHUL... beautiful campus University with pretty much 24-hour access to the computer centre. Oh the times I had! My friends would often call me an anorak... the hours I'd spend wandering the net, or talking to people via Telnet. Do people even use Telnet anymore?!

Its hard to believe that the sophisticated Internet of today is the same place. The browser crashes that would plague any session... the painfully slow download times, and images that 'dithered'.

What made me think of it was visiting the webpages of my Alma Maters (I went to Greenwich after RHUL). Amazing compared to how I remembered them (although not surpristing in the 10 or so years that has passed)!

My favourite thing about the internet, though, is the random browsing... or surfing if you will. I like to follow links after links until you forgot where you were going or why you had come in the first place! I thought I was the only one, but not, apparently, as I read in the paper the other day it is called WILFING.... "What was I Looking For?"!

Mind the Gap

Nope, not talking about the London Underground... its the Generation Gap that is worrying me today. I have noticed recently that the thing that seems to most characterize the difference between my parent's generation and my own is mobile phones (technology in general, but most noticably mobile phones).

Most of my friends are never without their mobile phone... they certainly NEVER switch them off. I have noticed that my mother never switches hers on! She will turn it on to make a call and then switch it back off again. Hardly the point! The most annoying thing of all is that she doesn't even have voicemail... so you can't leave a message to let her know that you called. *sigh*

So, absolutely nothing exciting has been happening to me. Too busy frantically working away to get much else done. This is a shame, as Spring has arrived in London. The parks will be full of new life... probably baby animals as well as the sprouting trees! I'm sure that the urban-foxes that live in our garden will be expanding their family again soon. I went out onto the deck the other night to find a fox sitting by the fish pond... not at all startled to see me. Probably trying to figure out how to catch fish through the netting!

I did hear a most alarming news report the other evening on the local radio. Westminster City Council are fed up with all the rubbish casued by the free evening papers... and are going to ban them if they don't clean up their act. This would be very sad as they amuse me all the way home, and mean that I don't have to spend 50p on the Evening Standard! I keep meaning to write to the letters page in the London Lite (which is from the same people who bring you the Metro every morning) and tell them that they should make their distributors stay out later. If you are late leaving and there are any distrubtors left they are always from the London Paper. Missed opportunity Lite guys! I don't like the London Paper as much as it has peculiar font, and the ink comes off on your fingers!

It's all about manners

There are many things in life which annoy me (ask anyone who knows me!). I have come to the conclusion that a lot of them are simply down to bad manners.

Example 1: I went to Sainsbury's last night as the meat I had for dinner had gone off, and I really (really) wanted lamb for tea. So I decided to 'pop' to the Supermarket and at the same time do the weekly shop (as I know that work this week will be beyond mental). It was quite busy (at around 8:45pm) and there were a few people queueing at each check out. I joined one that appeared to have a reasonably competent operator and people without too much shopping... and whilst we queued the girl who was one from the front wandered off. The customer being served paid for her shopping and left, and the checkout came to a halt as the owner of the next goods had, simply, vanished. She evetually reappeared (with the bottle of mouthwash she had clearly forgotten)... but not a single apology to the two people (not very patiently) waiting in the queue. Absolute bad manners to a) walk off in the first place and b) fail to apologise.

Example 2: This morning on the way to work I was confronted by yet more examples of this complete and utter disregard for anyone else. Having finally managed to navigate the East Greenwich Roadworks on the bus we turned into the road running down towards the tunnel approach only to find it chock-full of traffic - obviously some problem in the tunnel was backing up the traffic. First instance of lack of manners, the van who pulled into the bus lane as he was obviously far too important to queue... not so bad as it didn't really affect anybody (except him if he gets a £60 fine for contravening the bus lane, ha ha!). Next instance - not observing the box junction. I don't know if these are a global phenomenon in case they are not here is how it works... a box is painted on the road, hatched in yellow. The rule is that you do not enter the box unless your exit is clear. This is designed to keep traffic flowing at jucntions (generally signal controlled). There are several of these are around the slip road onto the tunnel approach... if they are not observed the traffic basically gridlocks, as nobody can move when the lights are green as they are blocked by traffic from the phase that has just turned red! The traffic, of course, stopped. Bah!

Example 3: the whole of London's commuting population which refuses (despite years and years of public service tannoy annoucements) to let customers off the train first! It is such a fight every morning!

Well, that is my whinge for the day. Got back to work this morning after my long weekend to find my desk was refreshingly as tidy as I had left it. Futher, no urgent items requiring my attention had come to light, so I only have the impossibly long 'to do' list from last week, instead of the extend version!

HTML Hell and so on

The advent of our new computer has brought many trials and tribulations... not least of which is the demise of FrontPage. I've been using FrontPage to do my web pages since I started with programming, pretty much. It had just the right balance of WYSISYG and html. Sadly FrontPage was discontinued in 2003. That didn't matter until now... however, our new "Student and Home" version of Office 2007 is the most basic you can get (also by several hundred pounds the cheapest) but there is only Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Nothing for making webpages. So we went in search of new programmes on Download.com. Filtered by licence (free) and OS (Vista) there wasn't much choice... and certainly nothing with the functionality I require. So... I've had to bite the bullet and use Dreamweaver, which has been sitting untouched on our computer since we got it several years ago. Cannot complain about any lack of functionality, however, it sure is intimidating. I guess I'll get there in the end though!

Just waiting for the Grand Prix now (only about four hours away) - and then I think it will back to my games consoles... have been playing the Da Vinci code this week after nearly a years break!!!

Theee Yankees Wiiin!

After 13 innings of play the Yankees win... Giambi homer in the top of the 13th! Way to go! No pitchers left now... but anyway!

It's outta here!

Top of the 13th homerun Giambi!!!

Bad Baseball

Uh-oh. 11th inning. Yankees are out of pichers. Mo is pitching a non-save... as there is nobody else. Go to get this game over, even if we lose!

Hurrah for Firefox

Eventually found the link for Game Day Audio - and of course Firefox knows the log-in. So... top of the 10th... bases loaded (they walked Abreu) and Alex is up to bat. And guess what... he's either villan or hero. Not the hero so much right now. Bases loaded and he pops out. Bah! Off to the bottom of the 10th... not sure my nerves can take it! And, uh-oh, Farnsworth is pitching. Off to get a coffee or tea to steady my nerves

Silly AM

Wow! It's been a long time since I've been on the Net at this time of night (morning)!!! Usually if I wake up in the middle of the night I turn over and go back to sleep... or maybe read a book until I fall asleep with my head in the pages!

Yesterday we went to a wedding (in Ipswich). It was a civil ceremony... can you believe the first time I've ever been to a wedding that wasn't in a church! Decided for me that I do want to get married in church... it just doesn't seem right not having the words of the service! But, I guess if you sang in a church choir (as I did) and went to several weddings a Saturday through the summer (as I did) that probably would be the case. It was a really nice day... it was Rich's friends getting married... but I get on well with all his mates, and it was really fun to catch up.

The downside was that it was a nearly two hour drive each way between London and Ipswich... so by the time we got home (about half seven) I was exhausted and had to go to bed. It's the only aspect of having MS that I don't seem to be able to get by, and doesn't seem to be helped by any medication - doing something really simple for more time than is normal REALLY wipes me out... usually it is travelling... especially if I'm driving! The problem is, unless I'm actually feeling unwell, I just can't sleep for more than around seven hours at a go anymore! So, having gone to bed at half eight last night I woke up again around three! And here we are, wandering the web in the small wee hours!

I had the day off work on Friday (and again on Monday). Long weekend for wedding recovery, and also leave to use up! I decided to go get my hair done on Friday. I've found more than a few grey hairs over the last few weeks, and got totally paranoid about it! I decided that grey would show less with blonde hair than brown, so my hair changed colour again!

The Yankees are still playing baseball, as we speak. Extra innings (again) - tied at three and just started into the top of the tenth. If I knew how it worked I'd listen to it on the radio - must pay more attention! Still - have got CBSs Game Centre which is something. It is quite confusing though, as whatever NASN are showing is still in the Eight inning!! Could be good. Jorge and Jeter are on base and Abreu is up to bat - c'mon! Throwing error by the A's - but who cares. As long as we don't lose and land bottom of the AL East! Enough from Abreu get Jorge home should be enough... but if Jeter gets home too that should win the game. Here's hoping!

What a lot of noise

It's got to that time of year, already, where the central heating in the building isn't turned off even though the weather is quite mild. Even with all the radiators in the office switched off it is still far too hot! This means having the windows open in order that we don't melt... not the day for it today. At least two buildings in the street are undergoing renovation work at the moment, one of which currently has a very efficient human chain removing the rubbish to the lorry parked outside (hope they've got a permit for that otherwise the parking warden will be there momentarily). In addition to the demolishing, drilling, banging and disposing racket going on there was some sort of demonstration going on. Could just see some people with loudspeakers when I leaned out the window... couldn't really hear what they were shouting about as the loudspeakers were distorting their message! I think that they were outside one of the (many) airlines in Mayfair. They kept it up for a good half hour before they eventually stopped. Presumably the Police finally moved them on! I'm all for free speech... but not a top volume outside my office!!!

We've just been having discussion in our office of the London Transport system. The newest member of staff is from South Africa, and finds the whole London experience quite different. Today's question was (after a long debate about the best way to get to Regent's Park) - do they ever turn the heating off in the Underground? Oh yes, we assured her, when it gets to about June I'm sure they'll get around to it!

I was interested to read an article in the newspapers this week about a survey taken of Londoners seven months after the 7/7 bombings. 11% of respondents were 'substantially stressed' and 43% thought that their lives were in danger. I was pleased to find out that I wasn't the only one. It took me a year after the events before I could manage to get on the underground again. Even now, I don't think I'll ever be entirely comfortable with the underground again.

Conversation in the office has now moved on to the cost of socks! We were discussing the price of the shops in Mayfair and the fact that you could buy a pair of socks in Prada (or Gucci, or one of those) for £30. The South-African pointed out that she bought 6 pairs in the supermarket for £2 - and that they would probably last longer! I agreed with her. I pointed out if you spent £30 on a pair of socks you'd probably only be able to afford one pair, which you'd then have to wash every day... and they would soon wear out. I've found with clothes, unlike with moisturiser, that cost doesn't always equate to quality!!!

So, I have to go back to report compilation - having finished writing the thing I've now got to copy letters and so forth to go into seven appendices, in three copies... I'm not even thinking about how much paper that is!!! Oh yes, and my futile efforts to cross things off my 'to do' list. I write one at the beginning of every week.. I used to do one every day - but I kept finding entries which said "see Monday" so I decided that one a week would probably suffice. Does that mean I never get anything done?!

Nothing much on TV tonight until Desperate Housewives at 11pm. Oh well. I'd tell you how good Life on Mars was, but you might not have watched it last night and might be saving your videotape for tonight, so I'll save that for another day!

It's not really Monday

The worst thing in the world is going back to work after the Bank Holiday. Especially the Easter Holiday when it's twice as long! The only good thing is that it is one day nearer to the end of the week. Two days for me as I've Friday off... we're off to a wedding on Saturday (not ours!).

The morning has been most traumatic. My inbox was full of email that needed dealing with... my Monday (read Tuesday) morning to-do list was about three times as long as normal. I practised my excellent organisational skills by dealing with the items that I could actually finish and tick-off the list. Thus by-passing the usual procrastination and actually getting things done!!! Unprecedented.

I was very upset last night that when it came to watching the taped TV there was no Numb3rs. ITV ditched it in honour of the Bank Holiday! Bah! However, another superb episode of Prison Break (with a toally rocking ending) and of course Heroes did go a long way to making up for it.

Not that I watch too much TV (well, it has been said) but tonight is the series finale of Life on Mars (series finale... forever finale). Truly superb. It was quite funny at lunch with my friends yesterday, we were discussing pregnancy scans and whether our parents had undergone such technology - and my friend Rich and I both simultaneously referenced last week's episode where the girl is having a scan and saying that she's one of the first in Manchester to have one. Thus, we came to the conclusion, depending on how modern the hospitals were our parents might have had such things - as we know Life on Mars is 1973! Yes, I know, it's only fiction... but we reckon they must be a bit historically accurate, eh?!

Ok. 2 o'clock already. Back to work!

It's been a while

It's been a while since last I was here. My friends (hi guys) were giving me heaps for being so remiss today! Work has been crazy (poor excuse, but true) and then our computer died. RIP 'Harry'. Yep, all computers in our house have names. Sensible names. The first computer was called 'Sammy' as it had a Samsung monitor. Then came 'LT' who is a lap-top (geddit, Lap Top!) - then was 'Harry' who was a Hewlett Packard... 'HP' - Harry Potter... sad, I know. The new computer is called 'Q' as it is a Compaq... which ends with 'Q'. Invention ran out.

Anyhow. Back to the computer which died. He had a critical CPU failure, and rather than replacing the CPU and other associated bits we just got a new computer. Big time upgrade. More memory, more RAM, better processor (Dual Core - wow!). However, the new computer had to be set up etc. etc. which I leave to Rich as he is much better than these things than me! All running smoothly now. Extremely traumatic though as the new computer runs Windows Vista and Office 07. Going to take some getting used to - I may need to find a support group! LOL!

So - Bank Holiday weekend. What a relief. I really needed the break. Friday was devoted to shopping. I got up early to go the supermarket - and finally decided to eschew Asda in favour of Sainsbury. My long held belief was that Sainsbury added 30% to my bill. Not true - in fact some things are cheaper than Asda! Asda and I have been falling out for some time now... mostly because I go late in the evening (this will be an upcoming test for Sainsbury) and the shelves are always empty. What is the point in being open 24/7 if you have nothing to sell! Also my meat kept going off... and other minor but sustained annoyances (ceasing to stock lines I buy was another big one). So I decided to defect. Sainsbury's is a pleasure. The award winning Greenwich Peninsular store. Very 'Eco-friendly'. Wider aisles (emptier of people)... fully stocked shelves... we'll have to see if it is as good when it isn't 8am on Good Friday!

Had a few other errands to run... including the purchase of the ill-fated water-cooler, which after flushing through yada-yada-yada then leaked... right above the power cable. Deadly. So that went back to the shop! Did get a new electric toothbrush with my Boots points though (I love getting Boots points, they stock up so easily) - got it home to discover it wanted a shaver-plug... which our Victorian house doesn't have! Now need an adaptor. Even more annoying there was a picture on the side of the box showing that it needed a shaver plug, and I just didn't notice! Friday evening we went to the pub up the Village to watch the football. Was hoping for a nice Charlton thrashing of Man City - sadly managed only a draw - which is better than a defeat I suppose.

So that was Friday. Saturday morning was more shopping and the afternoon I spent some quality time with my Xbox. Finished off the last Spyro game and moved back to Sonic Heroes... which for some reason I find very difficult. Was surprised to note that the only games that I have finished are on the Xbox... which is my newest console!!! Fable (the reason I bought the Xbox), Tomb Raider (the last one) and Spyro. Went back to playing the Da Vinci code... which I then remembered why I hadn't touched it in nearly a year. Way too hard! I only like the games that are for "3+".

Sunday just vanished in a puff of smoke... although I didn't get up until gone 11! We watched to Grand Prix on tape... started exciting - but rather dropped off. Was very dissapointed that the promised rain did not materialise!!! Got an early night as was strangely tired after doing nothing all day!

Today I went down to Kent to see some friends (big wave to the Tonbridge Posse, I know you are reading... I dedicate this blog to you!). We had a very nice lunch in an Italian restaurant and as I nod to my diet I managed not to order a pizza, yay me! Lunch was over all to soon... and I decided to drop by my folks on the way home as I was almost passing. Mum was visiting Dad in the hopsital, but Granny and my uncle were there. Granny opened the door and stared at me for a few seconds before her brain connected and realised it was me! I guess you had to be there.

Massive traffic issues coming home. Doubled the time of the journey and got back too late to make it to the ground for kick-off (was too hungry anyway). So - that is my Bank Holiday. I'm depressed to go back to work now, as I gave in to curiosity and had to see what emails I had gotten at work over the last four days... depressingly far too many that need action for my liking. Only got three days this week as well, as another long weekend next week to allow for the ensuing exhaustion of having to drive to Ipswich for a wedding!

Well - back to the TV and my extremely comy sofa now. Just tried out my nearly-mother-in-laws new exercise machine and managed half a kilometer (how far is that in real distance) before sliding off in a sweaty heap! Time to enjoy the last few hours of this holiday weekend!