Dun-billin'

When I'm not sitting blogging or surfing the net... when I'm not relaxing at home... in other words, when I'm working - I'm a quantity surveyor (QS).

Maybe you have never had anything to do with the construciton industry and maybe you have no idea what a QS does. Well, the clue is in the name... we're kind of like the accountants of the building industry. If you know what a QS is and does you can stop reading here and just give me your sympathy for my billing trials... otherwise, read on.

When a developer wants to construct a building he engages a Design Team - and Architect, a Structural Engineer, a Services Engineer and a QS. When the rest of the design team has finished designing it is our job to measure it up and tell them how much it is going to cost.

During the course of a project we monitor the costs against the original budget, sometimes we administer the contract, we advise how much the contractor should be paid and when the job is done we settle the final account.

The past six weeks we have been preparing a tender. This is the point where the client sends out the design to contractors and after a time they come back with their price to construct the project. A big part of a traditional tender is the billing. This is when the QS sits down with all the drawings and measures up the quantities to enable pricing.

The one we are doing at the moment is "without quantities" which means the contractors get a blank bill. The purpose of the exercise is firstly to interrogate the drawings and make sure that they can be priced, secondly to produce the blank bill and lastly to enable a pre-tender estimate to be completed (giving a benchmark against which to measure tenders).

The problem with billing is there are dozens (and dozens) of drawings, specifications and all sorts of other information that has to be taken on board. It takes several people a lot of time. Half an hour ago I finally finished my measurement (hurrah!). Sadly I'm not done yet as I still have to finish preparing the preliminaries document - this is the instructions that underpin the entire contract and it runs to well over a hundred pages.

Looks like my mountain isn't quite climbed!

I hate commuting (part 1,227)

The Jubilee Line was not at its best this morning, which is unfortunate as neither am I.

I'm working a rare 5 day week this week (and 3 days next week) to get a deadline met. I'm tired, stressed and more than a little bit grumpy.

I missed the excuse (sorry reason) that the severe delays were affecting the line as I had my iPhone playing music to me. It was obvious that the signs in the bus station warning of the delays were not idle threats as soon as I got to the platform - crowds that were four or five deep at each door.

Fortunately the train wasn't full so I managed to squeeze on. The fact that both my hands are holding crutches so I have on means of holding a rail didn't seem to bother my fellow commuters - I managed to jam myself into a corner to reduce the risk of falling over. Crutches aren't like stabilisers - they don't help you stay upright on a moving, lurching tube.


Off we trundled. At Canary Wharf a few people got off and an unfeasible amount packed on. Even more unlikely at Canada Water nobody got off and a suitcase and buggy decided to force themselves in (even though there really was no room). We stayed at each of the stations, gently broiling in the heat, for five or ten minutes each. Bermondsey (where trains are inclined to stop for unreasonable lengths of time even when there are no problems on the line) brought another long wait, and amazingly two more passengers into the already over-subscribed carriage. At least my fellow traveller who almost knocked me off my feet did put a hand out to steady me.

You get the picture. It was slow, it was hot, it was packed.

I realise that in the rush hour when the train is very busy it is difficult for people to give up their seats to those who need them. I couldn't have manoeuvred top a seat even if I had been offered one. What annoys me is that nobody even seems to think about it. Not only did nobody offer me a seat but at least half a dozen people nearly kicked my crutches out from under me. Luckily it was so jammed I couldn't ever have fallen over!

Skywatch Friday (31)

Pale moon rising

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Paper colours

Last weekend we went to my niece's christening. The wedding in the church immediately prior to the christening left these gorgeous paper lanterns dancing in the trees.

Summer afternoon in the garden

I'm not sure that it is actually 35 degrees in the garden this afternoon, that might just be because the wall the thermometer sits on is in the sun... it sure is hot out there though.

The birds aren't much in evidence (probably sitting in a nice cool and shady tree) but there a lot of insects about... especially the damselflies around the pond, the butterflies and the bumble-bees.

Bumble-bee

Damselflies

The Pond Fish

Mrs Frog

World Cup Football

I'm not a big fan of the World Cup. I'm not, in fact, a big fan of international football generally. I discovered football late in life... I was in my early twenties by the time I first saw a football match  as my family where far more interested in cricket and rugby when I was growing up. I was taken (by a boyfriend, of course) to see  Charlton play one dismal Saturday. We sat in the bottom of the East stand right on the pitch. Over the next few years I was taken to a fair number of matches and started to support Charlton. My early highlight was the famous play-off final in 1998 when Charlton prevailed over Sunderland to win promotion to the Premiership. This was the day before my University finals... but it didn't stop me attending the match! Eventually I got a season ticket which I kept for about a decade. There have been good times (promotion) and bad times (relegations); Charlton (and a mutual friend) even introduced me to my other half.

I've picked up some other teams along the way... my other half is Scottish and supports Celtic so I support Livingston to keep him company.

This love of football has never managed to transfer to the global stage. I just can't get excited about the World Cup... in fact the more the papers tell me I should care... the more media frenzy there is... the less I care if England win. 

So we came to last weekend. England managed to limp through the first round into the group of sixteen where they were to face fierce rivals Germany. I was at work on Sunday so I didn't see the game, but along with a couple of other colleagues, we followed on the internet as England struggled and eventually failed.

And so the recriminations began. It is the Manager's fault, it is the over-paid footballers' fault, it has to be somebody's fault. At the end of the day the English might have 'invented' football (well, codified the rules at least) but on an international stage they just never manage to perform. 

The strangest about the game last weekend during which a goal was not given to England, even though replays show the ball crossed the line... there was a similar controversy over Hurst's goal in 1966 which won England their only world cup... which digital technology shows didn't cross the line - what goes around comes around, I guess.

Skywatch Friday (30)

Last Rays of the Day

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More experiments with light and glass

Some time ago a sunset inspired me to play with light and glass. A beautiful sunny afternoon yesterday inspired some more shots of light caught by the crystals.

Alpine garden

Our garden is mostly shrubs... what with the bugs that eat things and the wildlife that digs things up small plants don't fare very well.

One exception is rockery type plants... low level plants that go for maximum coverage. My alpine garden has been establishing itself for several years in a stony bit of soil where the patio, lawn and rockery meet.

This year, for the first time, everything has flowered.

Next generation ladybugs!

Regular readers will know that every winter the ladybug population of SE7 moves into my bedroom for the duration of the cold weather.

This afternoon in the garden I came across some fierce looking black and orange bugs... a veritable plague of them - and after half an hour of scouring the internet it turns out that they are the larvae of the Multicoloured Asian Lady Beetle.

I guess I'll be throwing him out of my bedroom window next spring!

London (1927)

London as it was... the most amazing thing is that apart from the buses and the cars... it really hasn't changed that much in 83 years!

All change...

If you're reading this from an RSS reader you won't realise it but we've had a face-lift!

It all started when I wanted to edit one of the widgets I'd added and couldn't find it... at this point I discovered that Blogger's design area had evolved since last I'd seen it. I couldn't help but play with it... and gave the blog a whole new look.

Then I had to make a new banner as Blogger and I had a fight about sizes and screen space - and as usual I couldn't find the artwork for the old banner.

I've also added a few extra tabs (just under the banner) including an 'About Me' page and a much expanded and improved blog-roll.

Why I'm backing the foxes

If it there is one thing the newspapers leap upon it is a terrible tragedy with a villainous scapegoat. There has been so much to keep them going as we enter the so-called 'silly-season' where the press are left with nothing to occupy them as Parliament goes on recess.

First there was the BP oil disaster (post of scapegoat unfilled), then there was the Cumbria shootings (scapegoat identified and knee-jerk calls for gun control outlined) and the latest story the two babies attacked by a fox.

It isn't that these aren't awful stories, they are... these sorts of tragedies need press coverage. The problem is the immediate need of the press to find someone to blame and before being in possession of full facts start putting forwards solutions (sensible or otherwise). A little restraint and measure is needed in the reporting by the press and the reactions from, well, just about everybody.

This fox attack, for example. Even the press was hard-pushed to find many other examples of such a thing, two I think they managed. It is rare. So rare that after initially reported it turns out to be something else. Foxes are shy and timid animals.

I know because as long as I have lived at my present address (in the suburbs of London) I have shared my garden with foxes. A family of foxes, in fact. They enjoy playing in the garden at dusk and after dark; and raiding bin bags foolishly not put in bins. When they see a person though they freeze... and won't tolerate less than a good few feet between you and them. Startle them and they vanish.

Now Boris is calling for a cull of urban foxes. Please don't! These creatures have been forced into their urban habitats as they countryside homes are destroyed as hedges are ripped out and copses and similar destroyed.

Yes they are pests sometimes - the ones that live in our garden are in disgrace for their enthusiastic excavation of my flower box; they are also beautiful and elegant creatures.

Tube strike dates announced

Photo credit: hotblack from morguefile.com

There will be not one but two tube strikes over the next month as RMT announce the dates for the strikes.

Each will be a 48hr strike starting at 19:00 BST - the first will take place on 23rd June and the second on 7th July.

The extent of the disruption isn't yet known - but if previous industrial action is anything to go by it will be fairly horrendous trying to use the tubes on those days.

The Northern, Piccadilly and Jubilee Lines (those formerly operated by Tube Lines) are expected to be worst hit.

The first date also coincides with England's final World Cup group match against Slovenia.. although that will be over by 7pm.

Free ice cream

Photo credit: kevinrosseel

from morguefile.com

Bing have an ice cream van out and about in London this summer offering demonstrations of the search engine and free ice lolly's. See a map here.

Let's hope the weather co-operates and it is an ice-cream summer!

More tube strikes

Travelling around London in the summer months is never a happy experience. 

 

If you're on the buses then you face sweltering with insufficient ventilation as sun pours in through the windows whilst you get stuck in traffic.

If you're on foot then you have to battle the tourist laden streets.

If you're on the tube then apparently you might as well give up now. RMT voted this morning with an overwhelming 90% in favour to go on strike this summer. The options of walking or taking a bus are about to get more popular.

The date (and the extent) of the strike have yet to be announced, but anyone who remembers last June's walkouts will be aiming to make sure that they don't need to be in the office on strike days!

Occasional Tourist

New post about London's Elephant Parade.

Skywatch Friday (29)

Stormy weather

 

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Lost "The End" (warning contains spoilers)

After six seasons Lost finally drew to a close - first on the East Coast in the US and then around the world as simultaneous broadcasts took place... starting with a slightly worrying technical fault!

The most disappointing aspect (apart from all the questions that remained unanswered) was that there was no hard and fast solution to hang your hat on. Rich and I watched the whole six years together, but at the end of the final episode had initially very different ideas of what it was all about.

We're used to the writers playing fast and loose with time on Lost - first there were flashbacks, then flash-forwards and finally the flash-sideways. The first two were great - we learned about the characters and saw what was to come for them... the flash-sideways was slightly harder to fathom. What was the deal with the alternate universe?

Well it seems that it was some sort of muster point for the characters of Lost to rediscover each other after they died - as Christian Sheppard says to Jack (isn't he dead? yes, apparently he is!) "Everyone dies sometime, kiddo. Some of them before you, some of them long after you". This line I take as evidence that this interpretation is the correct one - that and Jack's insistence that "whatever happened, happened".,

It was quite touching as all the characters found each other again - the joy on Hurley's face when he went to fetch Charlie was lovely... as were all the romantic reunions.

So, pretty much everyone got their happy ending. A few burning questions were answered; the mother of Jack's creepy kid was Juliet... Rose, Bernard and Vincent were still alive and well and leaving their peaceful existence in their castaway hut... actually, that's about it.

Many things went unanswered... details about the Dharma Initiative, fertility problems on the island, where the others came from... actually just about every major and minor mystery left unresolved.

I love that everyone  got their happy ending, but I hate that so much was left unresolved. I don't like the whole "open to interpretation" vibe of the finale. I want concrete answers.

One of the alternative interpretations I have come across is that everyone died on the crash of Oceanic 815 - so it doesn't matter that pretty much nothing after makes sense. This is a theory I can't subscribe to. That would be worse than Patrick Duffy appearing in the shower in 'Dallas'. There we only wasted a season... this would be six years!

So - take from it what you will. After six years and 100+ episodes I was massively disappointed. I wanted to know who put the four toed statue there, how the journal from the Black Rock came to get off the island for Widmore to buy at the auction, who was dropping the food parcels on the island... and a whole heap more besides.

All the complaints aside though there were some truly excellent moments and some superb lines:

• Hurley says about Jacob "He's worse than Yoda"
• Locke's disappointment when he finds out that Jack is Jacob's successor "You're sort of the obvious choice don't you think?" - thousands of heads nodded in agreement.

So we say goodbye to the island and along with Desmond say "I'll see ya in another life, brother".

Google does Pacman

Google are celebrating the 30th birthday of Pacman... with a playable Google Doodle. Head over to Google's home page and click"insert coin".