Feels like Monday

Even though I was at work yesterday and therefore am not starting the week on Tuesday, it STILL feels like Monday today! Go figure.

Another journey blighted this morning by the bad manners of fellow travellers. First there was the man who didn't have any money on his Oyster, but ignored the bus driver calling him back to pay cash. Why should he get a free ride? Sadly the driver was not one of the sterner ones... I've come across some who would turn off their engine and refuse to move until the miscreant either paid a fare or left the bus! Then there were all the people at Green Park who decided to shove onto the train as soon as the doors opened instead of waiting for passengers to disembark. Sadly it is too early in the day for the platform staff to ask people to "let passengers off the train first". I don't understand why people can't have a few manners... it costs nothing!

I was getting my juice for breakfast this morning when I heard a hullabaloo from the other side of the back door. It was the feline equivalent of shouting. Molly telling me that she was hungry and would like breakfast now please. Why she couldn't have come in through the cat flap and told me this instead of insisting I open the back door I really don't know!

Total chaos in Charlton this morning as the Monday refuse collections (and the recycling collections) took place a day late. There was gridlock on Littleheath as there was the refuse lorry, the recycling lorry, the 486, the 53 and the 422 going one way and the 53 going the other... all trying to navigate the parked cars. They managed in the end... just in time for me to get on a bus and catch up with the two refuse lorries!

We cleaned out the Frog Pond at the weekend (again). The frogs certainly seem to approve! King Frog is back with a whole heap of family. There seem to be at least half a dozen in various shapes, sizes and colours who inhabit the pond. I went into the kitchen last night to find one of their number sitting in the middle of the floor contemplating me. So, I scooped him up and took him back to the pond... I then halted one of his brethren who was making his way to the kitchen and returned him also to the pond. I don't know why frogs like our kitchen so much, but we get a good few every summer who take a wrong turn at the back door and end up sitting on the carpet looking perplexed!

Journey home

It might be the most environmentally friendly way to travel, by bus, but I could do without all the other passengers!

Tonight there have been screaming children (old enough to have learnt better) and their screaming parents (definitely old enough to know better), people yet to discover anti-perspirant deoderant, and some of the worst dressed articles of humanity ever.

What is it about the British and summer clothes? Not a clue! Woman in boob-tube three sizes too small... Not a good look! Teens in skimpy vest tops which need on bra or at least a backless bra, certainly they do not need nearly the entire under garment on display! If you must show your bra girls, make sure it is pretty and lacy, not old grey and tired!

Busy night at the O2 again!

I am beginning to hate the O2!

I have been taking the same journey home from work pretty much continuously for the last six or seven years (with a few exceptions when I've been seconded to other sites etc.). I know where to stand on the platform at Green Park to make sure I get on the right doors, to make sure I am in the right bit of the carriage, to make sure I get off at the right spot when I get to North Greenwich... exactly opposite the up escalator. This even works when the train terminates at North Greenwich now, ever since they changed the polarity of the escalators on platforms 1 & 2!

However, recently I have discovered that there is an optimum time NOT to arrive at North Greenwich. This used to be at the peak rush hour which lasts until about 6:30. No longer. Not since the Dome. 7pm used to be pretty safe... quite quiet even. Not anymore. Now on platform three at the bottom of the escalator there are two platform staff and a length of tensa barrier... you now have to walk all the way to the end of the platform and round the tensa barrier to get to the escalator. I see what they are trying to do. I applaud their logic. What happens is that there is always a scrum at the bottom of the escalator as people try and filter into two lines. Well, one and a half really as most people prefer not to walk up. This leads to massive congestion. When it is busy, directing people along and back gives enough space for them to naturally filter into single file. However... not always are there TWO platform guards, sometimes only one. He then has to try and prevent people from ducking under the barrier and saving the walk... which he can't do as there is probably a good 20ft of barrier! This makes even worse chaos than the congestion which would have ensued at the bottom of the escalator!

In the long term I think it would be more cost effective to save the wages of the platform staff (and the cost of the barriers, which must need replacing quite often given the treatment they get) to put a more permanent solid solution in place. If a balustrade were erected with solid panels there would be no more ducking under, and everyone would soon get used to it and the exit from the platform would be as slick as ever!

I still hate the O2 though. All these concert goers are as bad as tourists on Piccadilly. My problem with both? They dawdle. They stop suddenly (so you walk into them). They hover in inappropriate places so that you can't get past them... and increasingly at North Greenwich they are loud and chaotic and everywhere! At that time of night all I want to do is get home after a long day... and I can't be doing with anything that makes that harder!

Talking of anti-social behaviour. The neighbours with the drums are still drumming. Pretty lucky that the weather has been so miserable so that neither our house or theirs needs the windows open. I can still hear them though sitting in my living room or bedroom with the windows shut! I feel that very soon I am going to have to write to them and ask them to soundproof their practice room or similar. When I get home after a 14 hour day the last thing that I want to hear is thud thud thud thud.

Trains, Busses and Taxis at the 02

Last night my journey home took me to North Greenwich later than usual. Considerably later than usual. Heading towards the end of the evening later than usual. I think it was probably sometime after 11pm, heading towards the last tubes etc. And, boy, was North Greenwich busy!

I quite often get a taxi back from North Greenwich if it is after 10pm. It gets a bit lonely and empty, and a girl on her own doesn't want to be standing around too much. Not so anymore. Chucking out time at the Dome (sorry, 02) leads to another wave of rush hour. Dissapointingly the licensed cab rank had a queue back to the station - probably around 30 people waiting. Fortunately I found a bus (even if it was the 422 rather than the 486) pretty quickly. So I saved myself a tenner and took the bus. For speed and comfort I'd rather have had the cab though!

Rainy days and tube journeys

I had a very peculiar experience on the London Underground last week. I was travelling home after a long day travelling and quietly reading my book. The tube wasn't too busy as it was around 7pm. Now... if you have never travelled on the London Underground you probably don't know the rules. Oh yes, there are rules! The most important rule (probably the only rule really) is that you NEVER look at your fellow passengers, and you most certainly never talk to them... unless of course you are travelling with them... but if they are strangers, certainly no communication! That is the way it has always been. Pretty much this is what happens. Occasionally a few angry words will be exchanged on a very crowded tube, or somebody might request a discarded newspaper.

This makes what happened on Thursday night even more strange. So, there I was... quietly reading my book (chick lit I'm afraid) when the guy sitting next to me suddenly spoke to me.
"Excuse me," he said "could you tell me what this word means?" and he pointed to a word on the page of the book he was reading ameliorate it said.
"Improve," I said "make better" and I assumed that would be the end of the conversation, but no!
"Can you tell me the root of the word?" he asked. I apologised that I could not... and shortly after he got up and left the train at the next station. Very strange.
The only other spontaneous conversation that I have ever had on the Underground was late at night when a rather drunk man was moving around the carriage attempting to engage everyone reading books in conversation about the books they were reading!

My bus went on walkabout this morning. I'm not quite sure why. I'd got on the 422 as most of the roadworks which were causing chaos around the old hospital seem to be finished now. Also, the bus information system at the bus stop wasn't working... it was raining... who knows how long away the 486 might have been! So, we got to East Greenwich and the bus driver suddenly left his seat and went around the bus telling everyone that he was going 'the back way' and wouldn't be going via Tunnel Avenue, so get off here if that is where you wanted to go. And lo, the bus turned around the block behind East Greenwich Library and zoomed off past Sainsbury's and through the Peninsula. No idea why as I had my iPod on, so didn't here any radio chatter from bus driver control! It might have been bad traffic, when we crossed the Tunnel Approach at the Standard there was a queue that was dissapearing back to (and maybe beyond) Sun-in-Sands which is quite bad, even for that time of day!

I noticed as we were going past Sainsbury's that they are changing their opening times. I assume that there is some kind of refurbishment going on as the sign said something about "making your store better". No more 24 hour opening, I think it is 7am to 10pm or similar. Good thing, I say. I think that 24 hour supermarket opening is the most pointless thing ever. Number 1, they have licencing laws (none I have visited have taken advantage of the much touted 24 hour licencing). Number 2, there is never anything you want to buy on the shelves 'out of hours'. Number 3, there are hardly any tills open; indeed once at 4am in Asda (I was driving to work) I had to wait for someone to come and operate a single check-out!

A cheerful moment (in this endless rain that has constituted pretty much the whole of the last two months) came the other morning when I was opening my post. A very dull printed envelope, which had type that is similar to a new cheque book cover arrived for me. I opened it without much excitement only to find that one of my Premium Bonds had finally come up! Only the second time ever I've won a prize. Ever, I've had them since I was born! What are Premium Bonds? They are a very quaint way of 'saving' money. You buy bonds (currently between £100 and £30,000 I think) and these bonds are entered into a prize draw every month. That is that, in lieu of receiving interest. I think I have about £50 worth or something... and over the last 30-odd years they have won me £150. Pretty rubbish return really! You need to own a lot more to win prizes... my parents and grandmother quite often win.

I had a superb evening out last night. I met up with a bunch of friends from school, pretty much thanks to the wonder of FaceBook that we all go in touch after so many years (well for some of us)! We went to a pub 'near London Bridge'. Turned out in the even that it was nearer to Tower Bridge than to London Bridge, but there you go! Cracking evening out... makes me determinded to try and keep in better touch with all my friends. Should be easy really, what with the wonders of modern technology and all!

Seems that Summer is over

I'm sitting looking out of the window at people sucrrying around Mayfair under umbrellas. It is raining again. It rained yesterday too. In fact it rained althrough July and most of August so far (except for last week). Good old British Summer.

My office has been mad busy recently... so I've not had much time to think and to write. Not much of note has been happening.

Had a good movie night on Saturday. We started with "Perfect Stranger" starring Halle Berry and Bruce Willis. It was pretty good, especially as it had a very clever ending. I can't say more as it would spoil the movie if you haven't seen it... but totally worth watching.

We also watched "Number 23" with Jim Carrey. I've been waiting for ages to see it - and to be honest, I was a bit dissapointed. It wasn't a bad movie... but it wasn't anything special either... I was expecting more actual info on the conspiracy of "23" - but there you go.

We flooded out the Frog Pond at the weekend to try and improve the quality of water... it had got a bit green and toxic looking... by the time we were done you could see the ornament that had fallen in and settled on the bottom! The frogs seem to approve, as there are about 4 a night on average floating about. The toads still seem to prefer the ground level bird bath or the shrubbery though!

The latest exciting thing out of our office window is the Household Cavalry (or whoever they are in fancy uniforms) exercising their horses round Mayfair. They come up the road with police motorbikes in front and behind, and vanish off in the direction of Berkley Square. Somebody was rude enough to sound their horn at them the other day!

Delight of delights - the bus stops at North Greenwich have finally been re-organised. As of this week the 486 now leaves from the same stop as the 422 and 108. This leaves the scrum of the Thamesmead busses (472 and 161) to themselves, and means that I no longer have to hover between stops. Excellent!

Flying and other annoying things

So. My trip to Edinburgh this week. Everytime I haven't been on a plane for a while (which is pretty much every time I do fly, as I don't fly places much) I think that I must be mis-remembering how much I hate to fly. I think that it can't be as bad as I remember. But it always is. I hate flying. I am an extremely bad flier. Every pocket of turbulence... every change in tone of the engine has me convinced we are about to drop out of the sky. That is why I like a window seat... at least I can still see the ground is plenty distance away!

I flew BA from City Airport. Why schlep out to Gatwick or Heathrow when City is on your doorstep?! City Airport is great... nice and small and efficient. The plane going up took off on time and managed to arrive in Edinburgh early! Even though I've done the flight before it still freaks me out when, as you approach Edinburgh the plane flies out over the North Sea (presumably to get the angle right for landing at Edinburgh). I want to ask the pilot why we are going to Belgium?!

I had a worthwhile day in Edinburgh... and then it was time to come home. I got to the airport well over an hour before my flight... so I made a few phonecalls and decided to have a glass of wine (well, why not). This turned out to be not such a good idea. I went off through Security when the sign direct "go to gate"... and sat and waited, and waited and waited. Turned out that the plane we were supposed to have had broken down (or whatever) so obviously they had unloaded all the luggage etc. and moved it to a new plane. Finally took off... only to discover about 10 minutes in that the ovens had broken down on the new plane and there was no food! Too awful. I was starving! To make up for this (and probably to make sure that nobody was with it enough to be annoyed) the cabin crew served up double portions from the bar (well the tin trolley that goes up and down the aisle). So... that was two mini-bottles of wine to add to the glass I'd already had. Made for a very pleasant flight, I must say. As we arrived in London we went round to the south and came in over central London. Normally I'd have been worrying that we were very low, why was it taking so long, why was it bumpy, why were the engines changing sound... but on this occasion my thoughts were limited to... oh look, there's the Gherkin, there's Tower 42... can I see my office, no too slow... oh, there's Piccadilly Circus.

My journey onward was sadly blighted by the Jubilee Line (suspended due to a fire alert at Bermondsey). If I had not been slightly drunk I would probably have thought to have gotten a cab instead of waiting for an indeterminate time at Canning Town!

The Jubilee Line struck again on Friday morning when, for several hours, it was suspended from Finchley Road to Waterloo due to a signal failure at North Greenwich. Fortunately I was at a site visit so nowhere near the tube until much later by which time the delays were only 'minor'. My journey was blighted by the M25... which was amazing as I wasn't even on the M25!!! Going down I had the usual chaos at Darenth Interchange (or whatever it calls itself) where you leave the A2 for the M25 or the Dartford Crossing (at that time of day, big queue for the crossing). I got to site and amusingly had to park 'on site'. This wouldn't be amazing unless you know that the site has no external area... which means that parking on site involves driving through the empty shopfronts (awaiting fitting) and parking in the ground floor of the building! Coming back I got stuck in traffic. I'd heard on the way down about an accident on the M25... two lorries - one had overturned and the other had shed it's load. Plasterboard all over the carriageway! This was still shutting the motorway at nearly lunchtime... and the queue at the Darenth Interchange was quite unreasonable and at least doubled the length of my journey.

I knew the morning must have been bad when I saw a sign at Green Park in the evening apologising for your Jubilee Line Service this morning. London Underground... can't live with it, can't go anywhere without it (or sometimes with it!).

Away Day

So tomorrow I'm off to Scotland. A 'wee visit' to Head Office (Edinburgh). Basically have to get up at the normal time to go and get a plane (happily from City Airport) which means I should get to the office in Scotland around 3 hours before my 2pm meeting. Then have a plane back around 7-something in the evening... back home in time for bed!!! Exhausting. Nice change of pace none-the-less (not withstanding horrid flights).

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss sustainability issues - which is quite ironic that I am, thefore, massively increasing my normal carbon footprint... what with the flying to Scotland and all!

Have had very little chance to do much but study sustainability this week. The office internet security system still has taken against Social Networking sites... which leaves me with pretty much blogging and email in my lunch break/evening tea break!

Good news for my evening journey home. The 486 is moving from bus stop A at North Greenwich Station to bus stop B. This means that instead of having to stand between the stops and decide which way to jump when the 422 or 486 turns up I can get either bus from the same place! It also means that all the ignorant travellers who wait for the 472 and 161 and then refuse to move out of the way of the queue when the 486 arrives instead can now just impede each other instead of users of the Bexleyheath bus! All good.

The tube hasn't been too terrible since I arrived back from holiday. I was surprised to find that the escalator refurbishment at Green Park up from the Jubilee Line to the middle concourse was complete. They'll probably start on another one soon though!

Argh! The spam!

Like a lot of people, I have several email accounts. Set up at different times for different purposes, and maintained because, well, sometimes it is useful to have different addresses for different things!

The email account that came attached to my domain name for a long time I used only for communication on my website and other website related matters. I never had a single spam email in all that time. Bear in mind that the domain name hasn't any catch-all forwarding, so in order to receive an email it MUST be addressed to that exact mail address.

For some reason, when I signed up to a certain social networking site I used that address. Since that time I appear to be receiving 3-5 spam emails a day!

Here's my proposal for a brave spam free world. When I press the "mark as spam" button, or the "block sender" button, or whichever a 'ping' should be sent to the ISP of the spammer. If enough complaints are received the ISP should then dump the spammer and refuse to supply them with a service.

I am heartily sick of unsoliticed email. My email addresses can't be picked up from my websites as they are written in via Javascipt which means that 'bots' don't pick them up. Therefore, anyone who has my email address for nefarious purposes has somehow obtained it from a supposedly reputable source. Hmm. Give it another 10 years and we'll have abandoned email for a system that works better!

Wet race at Nürburgring

Finally! The race I've been waiting for all season. The one where it rained. Although it would seem that there can be such a thing as too much rain.

The problem with F1 today is that (like a lot of sport) there are three levels... the really good, the truly awful and those who are in between. The gulf between them is pretty often insurmountable. Sometimes the races get a bit dull when the only people who do any overtaking are in the middle of the pack, and the only way the lead changes is by leap-frogging in the pit-stops or by accident. This is why I love races where it rains! It makes everything so much more unpredictable. So, I was delighted in the build up to the race when rain was forecast... imminently.

All the cars on the grid were sitting there with dry tyres on... the only car not on the grid was Spyker's Winkelhock, who was starting from the pit. It turned out that his car had wet tyres on... an unexpected advantage for the oragne team! It started raining on the first lap... by the second lap the track had turned into a river... all the driver were diving for the pits and for wet tyres - Raikonnen made for the pit, and then did a swift exit - it looked like he missed but Rich and I maintain that they were ready for Massa and told him to go round again.

There is a mass exit at turn one as cars autoplane off the track... on after each other, almost in synchronised formation! Six cars go off all in all, it turns out that Hamilton keeps the engine going and gets lifted back onto the track under the "unsafe position" rule. I thought it was dubious a few years back when Shumacher used it... and this time I thought it was even more dubious, but rules are rules. Unsurprisingly this mass exodous from the track leads to the deployment of the safety car (which almost is hit by an auto-planing car itself). Winkelhock in the Spyker leads the race (to the audible disbelief of the commentary team). The torrential rain persists, and even less suprinsingly the race is red flagged after one lap behind the safety car. The pack lines up for a restart behind the safety car, and ITV take the chance to fit in as many advert breaks as possible whilst nothing much is happening.

In one of the advert breaks there was a very funny car advert by Mercedes featuring Hamilton, Alonso and Raikonnen... I found it on YouTube and it is totally worth watching for pure comedy value!

Twenty minutes after it stopped the race restarts (amongst not a little confusion). Hamilton who was a lap down after his spin off is allowed to overtake the pack under the safety car and un-lap himself. He might have made the points but before the end of the lap with the safety car he pits and goes for dry tyres... maybe a bit early it turns out.

The race starts again and the whole pack (well, most of them) pass Winkelhock. In the end his car conks out on lap 22. When interviewed he is delighted to have led his first Grand Prix, in his own country as well.

Despite the threat of further rain it doesn't really happen again... a bit of light rain about half a dozen laps before the end... but the race is pretty much done. Just before the end of the race Alonso passes Massa (which has been threatening for several laps) and wins the Grand Prix. What an exciting race it was with all that rain!

Harry Potter and the Noisy Neighbours.

It was a busy day yesterday. Somehow, the time, as usual, just went “poof”. Rich was off in the evening to go and see OMD as the Indigo2… part of my birthday present to him. He was thrilled, as somehow (by total fluke) I’d ended up getting him ‘VIP’ tickets… well – he ordered them himself… but that was all that was left. As I said… aren’t I nice?! So… I dropped him off at the Dome about quarter to eight and my nearly-mother-in-law and I went to Asda. Friday night shopping? Big mistake, huge! It was mental – reminded me totally of why I prefer to shop in Sainsbury’s. As we were going round the tannoy announced “The Harry Potter books have arrived in the store. They will be going on sale at 12:01 for the amazing price of £5”. Amazing price indeed. As far as I was aware the pre-order I’d paid £3 for a WH Smith was still going to cost me a further £7 or so. Bummer. Eventually we made it out of Asda. Just in time for me to get home… cook dinner, take my injection, wrap Rich’s birthday presents and wash up. By which time it was time to go and fetch Rich from the Dome. We popped into Sainsbury’s to pick up a few forgotten items… and then it was time to go and join the queue for Harry Potter. I decided to pick up my pre-sale (even though financially it would have made more sense to write off the £3 and buy it for a fiver in Asda). Good decision. We were about a dozen back in the queue at Smith’s which only went just past Boots at the shopping park… Asda’s came out of the store and round the side and then some. About 10 to 12 the manager came out the store to set out the procedure. “We have lots of books” he said “Enough to sell them to that queue when they run out over there”. About 2 minutes before the doors opened and we were allowed to pick up our books from the table and join the queue for the cash register… which started ringing at exactly 12:01. Finally – the long anticipated moment. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. All 607 pages! On the way out I noticed the balloons in the window… could I have one I asked the security guard… and started a trend! Wonder how many they had left this morning!?!

So by 12:15 we were home… Harry burning a hole in my bag. Rich was disappointed because the Red Sox game he’d been planning to watch had been bumped in favour of Barry Bonds and the chase for the home run record. Don’t know if he did it last night. Doubtful as I think he needed 3 to equal the record and four to beat it, from one game.

At 12:30 I finally settled down with my book. I’m not going to discuss anything of the book here… I’d hate to let anything slip to those who haven’t read it yet! Let’s just say than after an hour and a half I’d read 115 pages. An hour after that I’d read 220 pages. By 4:15 (when I decided to try and go to sleep) I’d reached page 286. After half an hour I gave up and went back downstairs to read, where I managed another five chapters before falling asleep with my face in the book!

Progress was slower today. I didn’t wake up until midday (oops), and then there was Rich’s birthday presents, and cake, and other celebratory things. I settled down to read again, only to be distracted beyond belief by our noisy neighbours (well, one set). Drums… and music. VERY loud. I rang the council to complain, who told me – if I gave them the number of the house they’d write a letter. Superb. Not actually do anything to stop the noise. In the end I shouted over the garden fence to them and asked if they could keep it down a little. Not 10 minutes later an apologetic young man was on the doorstep apologising. Lucky for him my nearly-mother-in-law answered (I had my foam earplugs back in and didn’t hear the door). I’d have given him a much harder time. Believe me, I shall take a note of their door number, and if they so much as think of doing it again I’ll be straight onto the useless Council.

Finally I got back to Harry. And by 5pm I’d reached page 607. The end… no more Harry. I’m not giving anything away if I say that the book was superb… action, adventure… beautifully spun tales. I think though, I wouldn’t let a child younger than about 12 or 13 read it… maybe older than that… maybe they should get ratings for books like they do in the Cinema?!

Now I’m sad… and I’m not really sure what to do. This happens every time I finish a book I’ve been looking forward to. It’s the problem of being able to read fast… you get to the end and find out what happens, but then there is no more book to read!

Lazy Days of Summer

After the excitement of Celebration Europe on Saturday things have been a bit quieter. Hard to top that one!

Tuesday was my 32nd Birthday (my, aren't I old). Had a superb day bumming around the house and playing the new PS2 games that Rich got me. The latest Harry Potter (Order of the Phoenix) - definitely the best yet... and the original Star Wars Lego game... a bit simpler than the sequel but just as much fun!

Drove off to Kent yesterday to see the folks (my Dad is just out of hospital). Managed to get into the house without any of the three dogs noticing... about which they were VERY embarassed, LOL! Had a nice time sitting in the garden... but managed to get sunburnt on my shoulder :-(

Was out in the garden last night... and I was delighted to see that King Frog is back in the Frog Pond. For those who don't know... he is a beautifully marked frog who spent most of last summer in the Frog Pond (sometimes with other frogs, mostly alone). He was there last night with Big Fat Toad. He seems to have learnt that our kitchen isn't a good home... about five times this summer already I've picked him up from inappropriate places and taken him back to the Frog Pond... now he has finally made his home there!

I was sitting at the computer earlier when I heard our cat in the hall. She'd woken up, it would appear, and finding nobody about had decided to sit in the middle of the hall and tell the world how hungry she was. Sitting at the foot of the stairs, miaowing very loudly! I figure her meaning was somewhere along the lines of "Feed me, feed me now"!

I've been gradually working my way down the list of "Things to do in my holiday" I made. I know what happens, usually, I spend two weeks sitting around reading and having fun... and don't get around to doing any of the things that I'm always thinking I'll get around to! One of the things on the list was "Spring Clean the Kitchen". This became a necessity when my nearly-mother-in-law bought me a new bin for my Birthday. Sounds an odd present? Not so much! 1) the bin is pink... I love things that are pink. 2) the bin is 'magic'. It opens when you wave your hand at it (except for Rich, it doesn't like him, and won't open!). It's like living with R2D2 as it makes cute little electronic noises as it works! However, the bin didn't really fit where the old bin went, so the entire kitchen was re-organised. And I threw away heaps of old rubbish... which was very theraputic. Things like... the old Dynamo machine which doesn't print... a panake pan which leaks all over the cooker if you use it... packet holders which are supposed to stick to the inside of the cupboard door (but don't)... a remote control holder (I don't know why we have so many)... etc. etc. The kitchen is still over-stuffed but now at least, mostly, with things that actually get used!

Holidays start with Celebration Europe

After finally finishing work at 9pm on Friday night I settled myself in for two whole weeks of R&R. Couldn't come soon enough!

My holidays kicked off in style as Rich and I were off to Celebration Europe at the ExCeL on Saturday. We bought the tickets so long ago that it was great to finally be on our way! Didn't pick up the tickets until Saturday morning... and was surprised to find that they weren't your average paper tickets but beautiful laminated passes designed to be worn around the neck (shame the lanyards came at an extra cost of £3)!

So. Off we went on the 486 to North Greenwich from where it was just a short ride to ExCeL. Not as short as I thought. Labouring under the delusion that we only needed to go to Canning Town I was surprised when we go there to have to go upstairs to catch the DLR to Custom House (for ExCeL). Now, if we knew then what we know now, we'd have stayed on one stop to Prince Regent!

We got off the DLR (with a LOT of other people) and went up to the ExCeL. All along the route there were Storm Troopers and assorted other Star Wars characters. It was great building the atmosphere! We arrived at the ExCeL to be shepherded along by the staff "If you've got tickets, straight through the building". Should have been suspicious. If you've never been to the ExCeL it is like most exhibition venues. There are the general public areas and the show halls (in this case several hangar sized areas which can be joined or separated as required). Celebration Europe seemed to be taking up areas on the South Side. We came in the front entrance (nearest to Custom House) and started walking.


The first thing I noticed, which was rather cool, was model of an X-wing!



We kept on walking - with no clear idea of where we were going. My big criticism of the event was generally - very badly signposted and organised. But more of that!

We walked the whole length of the concourse, and noticed that there was a queue down the South Side, so we aimed ourselves at finding that back of the queue. And then some! We saw the line go into a giant hangar area, where it went around all three sides! As we got towards the exit we heard a father say to his small son "We're nearly there", you wish! We got out the back of the building, and looked down at the car park... the queue snaked all the way around three sides and then doubled back on itself! So we walked to the end of the queue... from where we could see Prince Regent Station. If only we'd known!

I don't wear a watch but Rich tells me that we spent about an hour in the queue. Once again, badly organised. Storm Trooper clad marshals slowed the queue down as people took the opportunity to have their photos taken alongside them. I wanted to shout "There's plenty more inside".



This is the queue in the hangar... a lot of small children took advantage of the open space to hold light sabre fights or to skate around on Heelies!

Finally we came out of the hangar and back down the concourse, on the home stretch! The last few yards the organisers finally sought to marshal the queue by means of tensa barriers. And we were there, we went through the doors into a great dark area where there was suspended a model of the Death Star, with some atmospheric music.



Now you could choose to go left for the main area or right for autographs. Here as you dithered was Jabba the Hutt and his court watching you!





Inside it was clear that far too many tickets had been sold for each day, and that maybe, just maybe the event should have run for longer. A few general spaces weren't too bad... but the 'corridors' between the stalls were jammed with people, and it was barely possible to move.

Pretty early on we discounted queueing for the 'theatre' where stars of the movies (etc. etc.) were honoured guests. We felt we'd done enough standing in line.

One of the first displays we noticed was Lego. We're both Lego fans from childhood, and more recently from the PS2 game "Star Wars Lego II". They had a giant screen where kids (and probably adults) could play the game. We were more interested in the amazing models. Characters made out of bricks and whole cities! I was admiring particularly 'Yoda' and commenting on the skill as it had been built entirely from regular blocks (not using great big huge 'specials'). And it so happened that the guy who built it was standing nearby! He commented, yes, all from regular bricks... no going over to the dark side! It took 2500 bricks... the sign said 2501, but apparently he added the extra one as he didn't think anyone would believe the 2500!



I loved the little cityscapes as well. Not least because of they were populated with little Lego figures!





We had a good look up and down the merchandise stalls... selling everything from models to comics and quite a lot more besides! These were being looked over by a rather large AT-AT!



We eventually found ourselves at the official shop. Area up for most critiscm? Quite likely. You were given an order form at the door... next you could stand in an enormous queue pay a cashier and finally pick up your items (a bit like Argos). What whereas at Argos you get a catalogue or even displays, here there was little option to see what you were buying. A few t-shirts on the walls and some display stands... once you were in the queue!!! We didn't buy anything (unsurprisingly)... apart from Rich did get the show guide and the exclusive figures, and we both got lanyards for our passes.

By now we'd pretty much seen it all and done it all! But there were a couple more bits to see. I liked particularly the R2-D2 entertainment unit...



Don't even want to think what you would pay for that!

Finally we saw an F1 car... quite cool, although a LOT smaller than I imagined! It was David Coulthard's Red Bull. As I said to Rich, Red Bull are never ones to shy from re-liverying their cars! Mind you can't totally blame them, as it was the same back when they were Jaguar I seem to recollect (something about diamonds in their nose-cones one time)...



All in all, we had a pretty fabulous day out! Exhausting, but well worth it.

Movies and Books and Games, oh my...

So. I've neglected my blog sadly for the last few days. No excuse really. I've been beyond mad busy at work (trying to get everything done before I go on leave, yay)... and the weekend I spent reading, watching TV and gaming when really I should have found five minutes to be blogging.

What's been going on with me then? Well, work has been work. I've haven't had to go on any site visits (always a good thing) or had to go to many meetings (also a good thing). I've had heaps to get done though... we've never been busier! I had quite an amusing meeting this morning. Smallest team meeting ever as it was just me, the Architect and the Contractors. Also shortest meeting ever. Meeting time increases exponentially with the number of attendees, or so it would appear. We were talking about the tenants in our retail scheme, and I commented that I'd never been to the store (sporting goods)... at which the Architect commented "I think that tells us a great deal about your lifestyle". I'd like to think that he was thinking that I'm so amazingly well-groomed and sophisticated that he couldn't imagine me in sportswear rather than I'm short, round and obviously don't exercise! I'm still arguing with the office computer system on pretty much a daily basis. None of the things that need fixing are getting fixed, and the email system still seems to disconnect at least once a day. Beyond irritating.

I managed to miss all the fun in London this weekend. Saturday, of course, was Live Earth. Whilst I am totally on board with the principles I don't really go much for the whole event thing. I stopped going to 'gigs' after I stopped being a student and nobody expected me to anymore (with the exception of Glastonbury in '95 and '97). I've never liked crowds, and I'm not much of a modern music fan... so I don't really get much out of going to see live music. I missed the best bits of Live Earth anyway... apparently there were some very funny interviews during the TV coverage. No matter. As long as it gets a message across (and apparently it will as information packs were being handed out) then that is all that matters.

On the other side of London the Tour de France was passing through. Question - surely it cannot be the Tour de FRANCE when it is not in France. Suggest that maybe just 'Le Tour' for these occaisions? Not that I have the least bit of interest in cycling... or the spectacle. Last time they came to the UK (probably about 10 years ago?) they went through Tunbridge Wells and past the building where I had my summer job. Whoosh. Blink and they were gone, just a big blur of colour really. Still, everyone I saw interviewed on TV seemed to have enjoyed their day... so that's all that matters.

Wimbledon managed to overcome the weather, and somehow finished on schedule. I did see about 10 minutes of the Women's Final (which looked a very one-sided affair) and did not bother to watch the Men's Final. Well, not wishing to state the obvious, but one or the other of them was going to win. Not from the point of view that with two players one must win, but more from the point of view that I think a lot of people would have said that before the tournament even started.

The only sporting event I did enjoy over the weekend was the British Grand Prix. Not a hugely exciting race; certainly the leaders spent most of the time leap-frogging each other during pit stops. I gave my driver of the day to Massa. He stalled on the grid on the parade lap and had to start from the pit.. but made his way all the way back through the pack to finish 5th, which is only one back from where he ought to have started!

Movie wise this weekend was a bit slow. Not enough from Blockbuster to keep us going. So, Saturday night we watched M Night Shyanalan's "Lady in the Water". We only wanted to watch it to find out what the "twist" was. All his movies have a "twist". Well, unless it was so obvious that I missed it... which is what happened with "The Village" where I could so see the twist coming that I took it for granted as part of the plot... well unless this was the case, no twist. The only selling point of the movie was a few lines of very amusing dialogue and some really quirky characters. The bit parts really made the movie. Apart from that, totally do not recommend. The story was slow moving, and at the end I was left with that "so what?" feeling. Never managed to feel engaged with any of the characters. I thought that the plot was weak... but, not too long a movie, so happy enough to watch it through to the end... and I'm not advserse to stopping a film if it bores me enough!

After that we watched StarWars in preparation for our trip to Celebration Europe at the ExCeL next weekend. Booked the tickets MONTHS ago, so it is really great that we're finally getting there! Quite weird to see the movie after having spent so much time recently playing StarWars Lego II! Talking of which, Rich has massively passed my achievements playing that. I'll have to give it some serious time when I'm on holiday next week!

Sunday morning I watched "The Queen". I quite enjoyed it. The acting was absolutely flawless, and the characterisations pretty good. The story was what it was... but that wasn't really the point I don't think.

Didn't really get much time to read. I've just started "Wicked" the story of the Wicked Witch of the West before she was the Witch. Only about a third of the way through so far, but really enjoying it. Have heaps of books to catch up with... including the Glass Books of the Dream Eaters which is too big and heavy to take to work! Still. Hopefully fine weather in the holidays and time to sit in the garden with a good book (and maybe a beer)!

Ah well. Tea break over... back to work, or I'll be here all night!

Nothing like a hot cup of tea... and random conversations

I've been severely caffeine deprived today. I had a meeting all morning... and as the two trainees were both out today (and indeed my assistant too) I had to get my own teas and coffees. So... following my own rules I used the caffetieres and the tea pot. Bad mistake. The tea pot doesn't make good tea. I gave up after one cup. But the meeting went on for over two hours. Gasping!

SA girl made some tea around three... and I was going to do some, but the phone kept ringing and I'm the only one who's ever after picking the damn thing up. So, when Geordie boy got back from his meeting and made tea just now I practically downed the cup in one! I do like my tea so hot that it practically burns your tongue!

Just looking out of the window... the weather looks really dismal. It has come over very dull and grey, and so dark it is almost twilight. Another downpour looks imminent!

SA girl just asked Geordie boy if he could "do her a favour". His response was "Everyone wants me to do them favours, favours for free... Architects, Project Managers..."

Downpour is even more imminent... thunder just rumbled.

SA girl just asked my assistant to put a sticker on the office camera so she would know which way is up in future. This followed several moments of confusion as they tried to work out the orientation of photos taken on site this morning... I think they must have been close up details of bits of building taken out of context. Maybe we could use them in a "what is this" competition.

Lightning now flashing about... still no rain!

Tea break must be nearly over, I've practically run out of tea to drink.

What peculiar weather, it looks like Autumn out there! I really hope that it clears up soon... as I want to enjoy the garden during my two weeks off... I may have to buy a gazebo to go in the garden, just in case!

Ah, here comes the rain. Doesn't look that heavy though (famous last words).

So... counting down to Harry Potter now. Shall be going to fetch my copy at midnight into the 21st. Rich is delighted as that is the night before his birthday... but mollified by the fact that we can come home and he can watch the Red Sox... and he will just have been to OMD at the Dome. Not much to complain about then. I shall be feverishly reading to try and beat the BBC's blogging reveiwer to the end of the book. Failed two years ago when I fell asleep with my face in the book!

OK. spoke too soon. It is bucketing it down now! The streets have practically emptied. Kudos the the 'my weather' widget on my iGoogle. It was showing a thunder logo several hours ago... and I thought that it was mad. I should clearly know better.

I read a letter (I forget where, in some newspaper or something) debating the existence of global warming... given that the June just finished was the wettest on record. Hmm. One of the first things I learned in 'science' was "hot air rises, cools, condenses, and down comes the rain". Isn't it funny how you remember things like that. I went to a very traditional primary school where we learnt things. Quite often by recitation. I can still recite the 9 planets of the solar system (oops, I mean 8 - sorry Pluto) in order from the sun... I can still recite the kings and queens of England (with reasonable accuracy) up until the present date. I can spell (mostly) and use grammar and punctuation (which is more than my youngest trainee can). Forgot what started me on my mini-rant, but I'll stop now. Tea is definitely open... getting back to my steelwork.

Busy times at my desk... and not yet raining!

Absolutely shocking... it isn't raining! At this rate they might just finish Wimbledon in two weeks. Although, I'm not sure I care particuarly. Tennis isn't what it used to be... having seen bits and pieces (when it hasn't been raining) I'm lucky if I find 5 seconds exciting in a set (let alone a game).

Much more exciting was the Grand Prix de France yesterday. Probably the last one to be run at Magny-Cours (what will they complain about all year if they can't complain about going there?). The race was quite exciting... there were even a few bits of overtaking! The promised rain never came, but you can't have everything. I'm always fond of a bit of rain... always messes up game plans and tyre strategies and forces teams to think on their feet... also tends to cause a few shunts.

My desk is now half an inch deep in paper. Trying to clear one job off the desk before the next one arrives (not very successfully) and have taken to shoving piles of paper into the filing trays without much order or structure. The filing trays aren't appreciating this treatment... there are some ominous looking cracks developing on some of them (what do you expect when three cost £1.65?!). Mind you, that is how I keep such a tidy desk... the bottom tray has jobs from about 8 months ago that I still haven't got around to filing!

As if that wasn't enough of a pain BOTH the junior juniors have gone off to college, and won't be back until Thursday. This pretty much leaves me answering the phone as my assistant's english isn't really up to it yet. Every time I just get into something... the phone rings. Bah! In addition (as if that wasn't all enough) the flipping server is on the blink again. Keeps disconnecting from the Exchange mailboxes. It requires either the router or firewall to be unplugged (it doesn't seem to be fussy as to which one it is)... but that does mean me jumping up and down and running to the patch cabinet every time that it happens.

It must be Monday. I never did like Mondays.

Lost in the datastream...

It's always been hard to find what you are looking for on the internet. That is because there is no definitive list of what is out there... and nobody know exactly how many pages there are, what they cover, who owns them, who writes them... etc. etc.

It's even harder to keep up these days as the internet evolves, practically exponentially (or so it seems). Just when you think that you've joined all the sites you ought to have joined and signed up to the latest trend you find that, actually, it is already so yesterday!

Before I start writing everyday I always check out any new blogs listed on the front page of Blogger as 'Blogs of Note'. Usually I then scroll back through recent entries to see if I've found a blog to read regularly. Today I was reading Unit Structures which had a very interesting article titled "In-between Places". I had thought I was quite cutting edge recently signing up to Facebook (and earlier in the year MySpace) and assumed that I had now covered all the sites for social identity (etc.) on the Internet (having also had brief acquaintance with digg, del.icio.us and technorati). Wrong! There are more of them out there... so many more. I am now feeling very lost on the Internet again... I feel that they should bring back the 'Information Superhighway' as I think I'm a rabbit stuck in the middle!

Apparently now the thing is not to Blog... but to Micro-blog or Tumblelog. No!!! No more... I shan't have time to stop soon, if I have to visit all these different places. I think, for now, I'm sticking with what I've got. The idea of these other Blog type things is to be shorter, briefer and more relevant (?!). You can text... you can share photos, links, etc. etc. Basically they want to turn everything into a 'stream of consciousness' type experience. Please, no. I never was one for that type of writing, even in literature... and certainly not all over the Internet.

Already the internet is barely recongnizable from the way it was when I was first on line (some dozen years ago)... and I'm wondering what the internet will be like when I come back to read this post a dozen years down the line!

No smoking please...

So, the new smoking ban or "England goes smoke free" approaches. The papers have been full of articles on "how to quit" and new signs and butt bins (and even 'smoking shelters') are in evidence everywhere. I don't suppose that it will make much difference to my life... I stopped smoking about 3 and half years ago... and never looked back. Like a lot of reformed smokers I am now extremely intolerant of others smoking. However, I don't frequent a lot of places where people do smoke. The pub we go to if we go out is a Weatherspoon's which has always had a no smoking section. I can imagine, however, that (for example) the concourse at football matches will be much improved without the nicotine smog hanging over it!

London is in semi-chaos again today after the discovery of a car bomb outside a nightclub in the early hours of the morning. The situation was dealt with by the police and the bomb didn't explode... however, Haymarket (which basically links Westminster with Central London) is closed, buses are on diversion and Piccadilly Circus tube is shut. All that said... there is no to Mayfair or the Jubilee Line. If my boss hadn't happened to mention it this morning in the kitchen, I probably wouldn't have known.

I was off for a site visit again yesterday (sunny Kent this time). As always I listened to BBC London's morning phone in. Yesterday the discussion was about parking attendant (after a parking attendant had been attacked the day before after issuing a ticket and ended up critically ill in hospital). The airwaves were fairly jammed with tales of woe (and some of them were terribly sad involving sick children and dying parents)... but for every tale of woe and unjust ticket there are equal amounts of people who park where they want and run the risk - but will still complain when they get a ticket. At the end of the day, parking attendants are just people doing there job like anyone else. And like anyone else, they have good days... they have bad days.. and they make mistakes. I once got a parking ticket, I had stopped where I ought not - so I held up my hands and said "It's a fair cop, guv".

Looking out the office window the other afternoon (trying to see what was causing the cacophony of car horns) I saw a very amusing van, with a sign printed on the roof "Don't look down on me. I'm just a delivery van." Kind of defeats the point of being memorable as I couldn't see the side of the van to see which company it belonged to!

There is no post today as the Royal Mail are gone on strike - I believe it is over the 2.5% pay offer. I get confused when there are them and the Underground always threatening to go on strike. I have trouble remembering why and for what they are striking. In addition to this the Royal Mail also wants to stop delivering on a Saturday. Apparently most of Europe doesn't have Saturday deliveries. I find this hard to believe, and may now have to research the rest of the world to find out how common/unusual a Saturday delivery really is.

The office was highly amused by the news that the Spice Girls are getting back together. I saw a picture in the paper this morning... and I have to say apart from Victoria they were all looking every inch of their 30 years and being mothers... absolutely crying out for a 'before' and 'after' shot.

My family did their own version of that once. It was very alarming. It was the occasion of my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary. A photograph had been taken 10 years previously at the time of their 40th wedding anniversary, a family grouping of my grandparents, my mother, my uncle, my brother, my two cousins and me. This photograph was re-created - identical positioning, even down to my youngest cousin (now about 14) having to hold the small orange wheelbarrow that he had played with as a four year old!

Hopefully the weather will cheer up a bit now, just in time for the weekend!

Now I've heard it all!

The weather hasn't been too bad here today... bit of rain on and off, nothing to major. It's hard to remember that there are flood warnings and all sorts over the rest of the country.

At some point this afternoon we noticed in the office that we weren't getting any email. People were expecting stuff, but nothing was arriving. We experimented using webmail addresses to send ourselves email... and nothing did arrive! But yet, when we sent ourselves email out - there it is in our webmail in-boxes.

So. I rang our IT guy. He confirmed that, yes indeed, there was no incoming email. The given reason. Adverse weather conditions. Truly! It had knocked out the incoming servers (some how)... and the back up servers... so. Here we sit. Very quiet. No incoming email!

Office gossip and traumas

Yesterday our front door broke. It wouldn't be so bad but it is practically brand new!!! We didn't actually realise that it was broken for a while - but a big meeting was happening in the Board Room and attendees kept appearing in reception without the intercom having rung. Eventually we decided that it might be a good idea to go downstairs and find out what was going on. This is what... the bolt that is operated by the push button ("press here to exit") had stopped springing back up and was stuck in the down position... this meant that the door, instead of shutting was bouncing off the bolt and the frame was blocked so the door couldn't shut. When I pressed the button the bolt did go back up... and the door shut, but the bolt then didn't fall back down again! Had to phone up the management to tell them (this was before the trip downstairs) they were laissez-faire about the whole thing and said someone might "get out today". After the revelations of the bolt, our conclusion being drawn that the building was effectively no longer secure - another call was placed to the agent... stating the urgency of the problem. Due credit... three (really, three?!) engineers did arrive and fix the door.

So - this morning the door is fixed. However now the LIFT is broken. It was working when I arrived at 20 past 6 but by the time that the SA girl arrived at a quarter before seven it was no longer functioning. How do we know this? Our lift has very peculiar symptons when it is broken. It goes to the fifth floor (top floor) and stays there. No amount of button pressing either within the car or from the landings will get it to move. During my investigations of the lift I met the office manager from the floor below. She hit upon the bright idea of using the emergency phone to summon the lift people. The emergency phone doesn't work. I joked that maybe it was cut off because the landlord's agent hadn't paid the bill. Not such a joke given recent issues with the electricity bill for the basement! So - not sure what the status of the lift is... and if I even want to use it right now. If I got stuck in there it could be a long time before I got out!!!

The office is a wealth of partner's today. The senior partner is here... the partner who was abroad is back, and the partner who is always here, is, well, here! In fact... everyone is here today. Had a funny five moments with the youngest trainee earlier. He had a drawing whose stated scale was 1:1000 (not a scale on most rulers in the office)... and actually turned out to be 1:2000. So... he measured at 1:100, multiplied by ten and then by 2. It was pointed out that it might have been quicker to merely work at 1:200 and multiply by 10. But the answer is right, he said. Ah, but the Partner said, if you'd been measuring lengths and areas you might have muddled your coefficients... and there lies the way to madness and wrong answers.