While I was successful this morning with my main goal (to to the gym) and miserably unsuccessful with the others (go to the bank, get haircut), the fact that I was up early enough to go to the gym and still have time to do the rest of my tasks should I have the motivation to do so.
Being the thoughtful husband I am, I got up and dressed very quietly so as not to disturb Chrissi, who was still asleep. An hour or so later I learned that, thanks primarily to my consideration, Chrissi had nearly wet herself by not knowing where I was and thinking I was in the toilet rather than at the gym. The crossing of the legs apparantly continued for half an hour until the sound of the door went as I came home - which was a hint that I hadn't been in the bathroom all along.
No harm done, though. Chalk up another victory for bladder control.
Saturday, September 06, 2014
Thursday, September 04, 2014
But You're Treating Me Like An Adult!
There are some conversations during which you can't help having this little internal monologue, baffled that you're being treated like an adult. You know full well you shouldn't have this sort of responsibility or decision-making power, you're surely not old enough or serious enough to be talking properly about this sort of thing like - well, like a normal person.
Chrissi and I had one of these earlier in the year when we were handling the housebuying paperwork with the solicitors, and another previously with the bank when discussing mortgages. Throughout each of those conversations there was this incredulous disbelief that they're taking us seriously, which is clearly madness - it's us, how can we be talking about buying a house? In what sort of crazy world would they let us buy a house as if we knew what we were doing?!
Today there was another one of these conversations, as we were at the doctors discussing what we'd need to think about and what our options were if we were to consider trying for a baby at some point. I hasten to add that at the moment we have no idea if this is something we want or not, and it was with this intent that we wanted to understand all the considerations - but they took us seriously. As if we were the sort of people who might seriously talk about starting a family, which is clearly madness. Yet at no point during the appointment did the doctor turn to us, point and laugh and accuse us of taking the piss.
The whole experience was very surreal. Do you ever get to a point in your life where you actually feel that you are at the appropriate age to be doing something? Does the terrified bemusement that you're actually being taken seriously when you're trying to act like an adult ever recede?
Chrissi and I had one of these earlier in the year when we were handling the housebuying paperwork with the solicitors, and another previously with the bank when discussing mortgages. Throughout each of those conversations there was this incredulous disbelief that they're taking us seriously, which is clearly madness - it's us, how can we be talking about buying a house? In what sort of crazy world would they let us buy a house as if we knew what we were doing?!
Today there was another one of these conversations, as we were at the doctors discussing what we'd need to think about and what our options were if we were to consider trying for a baby at some point. I hasten to add that at the moment we have no idea if this is something we want or not, and it was with this intent that we wanted to understand all the considerations - but they took us seriously. As if we were the sort of people who might seriously talk about starting a family, which is clearly madness. Yet at no point during the appointment did the doctor turn to us, point and laugh and accuse us of taking the piss.
The whole experience was very surreal. Do you ever get to a point in your life where you actually feel that you are at the appropriate age to be doing something? Does the terrified bemusement that you're actually being taken seriously when you're trying to act like an adult ever recede?
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
Template Adjustments
One thing I've been doing with my free time at work recently has been learning a little more coding - there are several courses on CodeAcademy and while I've dabbled a little with Ruby and SQL, last week I was doing a combined course on HTML and CSS, the first of which I mostly understood but was useful to really get clear, and the latter of the two has always proved a mystery to me.
The result was that yesterday, when I looked at my blog and knew that there were a couple of features I'd never really liked but never quite worked out how to change, I realised I now probably was able to adjust it. This was somewhat true - I knew roughly what I was doing, but the difficulty of navigating a very concise template which wasn't filled with handy comments or pointers as to exactly what did what was slightly trickier to handle.
The eventual solution was a combination of handling the template code in one window while using firebug as my investigative aide to help pin down exactly which classes were causing the problems. The actual solution involved commenting out a couple of lines and changing some of the padding - but the net result should be a marginally cleaner layout, which has been long overdue.
The result was that yesterday, when I looked at my blog and knew that there were a couple of features I'd never really liked but never quite worked out how to change, I realised I now probably was able to adjust it. This was somewhat true - I knew roughly what I was doing, but the difficulty of navigating a very concise template which wasn't filled with handy comments or pointers as to exactly what did what was slightly trickier to handle.
The eventual solution was a combination of handling the template code in one window while using firebug as my investigative aide to help pin down exactly which classes were causing the problems. The actual solution involved commenting out a couple of lines and changing some of the padding - but the net result should be a marginally cleaner layout, which has been long overdue.
Monday, September 01, 2014
How Does This Work Again?
While I'm on a blogging surge*, I still can't quite remember how this blogging thing actually works. I was in a productive mood last weekend and so wrote a couple of posts, which as with the tried and trusted approach I set to appear throughout the week to create the illusion of activity.
Apart from one slight flaw in my plan - I forgot to actually publish them as scheduled posts. I simply prepared them, saved them as drafts and then abandoned them. It was only when logging in to write something today that I realised they had been entirely abandoned. So I published them, and we return to activity.
Apart from one slight flaw in my plan - I forgot to actually publish them as scheduled posts. I simply prepared them, saved them as drafts and then abandoned them. It was only when logging in to write something today that I realised they had been entirely abandoned. So I published them, and we return to activity.
* Yes, the now four posts within a little over a week does count as a surge.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Pleasing Symmetry, or, Coincidence
A couple of weeks back I got a new CD from Chrissi, Teenage Dirtbags 2 (which I feel is the sort of title which should have a tagline, perhaps along the lines of More Teenage, More Dirt, More Bags) - the imaginatively titled successor to the Teenage Dirtbags compilation from last year. This made it into my car this week and eventually the CD actually made it into the CD player. The result of which is that I've been humming several songs that have gotten slightly into my head throughout the day.
This evening at work we were watching a couple of films - apparantly my cinematic knowledge is fairly sparse and there are many films I have simply not seen. This week it was the turn of Back to the Future, followed by Back to the Future II (but not III as it was getting late). Having watched these, I got back to my car and was amused that on starting the car the aforementioned CD picked up where I had left it on track 4, which is Bowling For Soup's 1985. There's a pleasing symmetry about this.
This evening at work we were watching a couple of films - apparantly my cinematic knowledge is fairly sparse and there are many films I have simply not seen. This week it was the turn of Back to the Future, followed by Back to the Future II (but not III as it was getting late). Having watched these, I got back to my car and was amused that on starting the car the aforementioned CD picked up where I had left it on track 4, which is Bowling For Soup's 1985. There's a pleasing symmetry about this.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Musical Interlude
As this weekend was the August bank holiday - marking the Reading and Leeds festivals - I've been enjoying the various sets available on the BBC iPlayer as a magnificently lazy way of sampling live music without needing to actually summon the motivation to leave your house.
There were lots of great sets - Blink 182 were typically energetic, although it's worrying to think that some of their songs featured (a couple from Cheshire Cat, for example) were released nearly 20 years ago - meaning that probably many of those watching weren't even alive at the time. A worrying thought for a band you've grown up with! The 1975 looked particularly energetic, although didn't seem to play as long as some others, while another favourite of mine was the excellent set from Imagine Dragons. For both of these I'm looking forward to see what their second album is going to turn out like, having enjoyed their first offerings and heard some teasers in this.
There were lots of great sets - Blink 182 were typically energetic, although it's worrying to think that some of their songs featured (a couple from Cheshire Cat, for example) were released nearly 20 years ago - meaning that probably many of those watching weren't even alive at the time. A worrying thought for a band you've grown up with! The 1975 looked particularly energetic, although didn't seem to play as long as some others, while another favourite of mine was the excellent set from Imagine Dragons. For both of these I'm looking forward to see what their second album is going to turn out like, having enjoyed their first offerings and heard some teasers in this.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Six Months of Slacking
It may have escaped people's notice, but I've not been around here much recently. Clearly three posts this year has been a lethargic effort even by my own highly lackadaisical standards.
So what's happened this year? Well, I can cover it off quite quickly. We bought a house, we moved into the house, we've done the standard 'new house' stuff such as organising furniture, constructing IKEA puzzles, putting off decorating and taking advantage of the eternal DFS sale. On a work note I've been made redundant twice - admittedly the first time I was sent a lifeboat from a neighbouring sinking ship, but it's still twice - and have since found another job with longer term prospects of staying above the waterline.
There's been time for some travel and social activities too - we've spent a weekend in Frankfurt, an enjoyable week in Sweden split between Stockholm and our friends in northern Sweden, and to round things off we have a trip planned to Athens in September. Closer to home, we did the annual visit to Wimbledon (sunburn report: not excessive), hosted a July 4th barbeque (albeit not on July 4th), and watched the Farnborough Air Show from the comfort of our own garden.
So all these goings-on, and not a thing written about them. Clearly I have some catching up to do!
So what's happened this year? Well, I can cover it off quite quickly. We bought a house, we moved into the house, we've done the standard 'new house' stuff such as organising furniture, constructing IKEA puzzles, putting off decorating and taking advantage of the eternal DFS sale. On a work note I've been made redundant twice - admittedly the first time I was sent a lifeboat from a neighbouring sinking ship, but it's still twice - and have since found another job with longer term prospects of staying above the waterline.
There's been time for some travel and social activities too - we've spent a weekend in Frankfurt, an enjoyable week in Sweden split between Stockholm and our friends in northern Sweden, and to round things off we have a trip planned to Athens in September. Closer to home, we did the annual visit to Wimbledon (sunburn report: not excessive), hosted a July 4th barbeque (albeit not on July 4th), and watched the Farnborough Air Show from the comfort of our own garden.
So all these goings-on, and not a thing written about them. Clearly I have some catching up to do!
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Relative Timing
As you know I like to ponder on some of the messages and what they actually mean - particularly in mediums such as advertising and how facts can be twisted and presented with such stark differences. A conversation on the radio prompted me to think of this again. For example, which of these sounds more likely to happen: (1) something happens to an American on average once every ten years, or (2) every second the same thing happens to an American.
The answer is - perhaps surprisingly - exactly the same. With a current USA population of 313.9 million, and a total of 31.5 million seconds in a year something that (cue Daily Mail style capital letter alarmist headlines) AFFECTS ONE AMERICAN EVERY SECOND ... is the exact same as something that only happens to an American on average once every ten years. Something that happens (cue headlines again) AFFECTS ONE AMERICAN EVERY TEN SECONDS? Happens once in one hundred years.
Basically, we're not very good at handling large numbers. And we can't compare between big and small numbers - so tend to think something happening over a small period MUST be big over a large period.
The answer is - perhaps surprisingly - exactly the same. With a current USA population of 313.9 million, and a total of 31.5 million seconds in a year something that (cue Daily Mail style capital letter alarmist headlines) AFFECTS ONE AMERICAN EVERY SECOND ... is the exact same as something that only happens to an American on average once every ten years. Something that happens (cue headlines again) AFFECTS ONE AMERICAN EVERY TEN SECONDS? Happens once in one hundred years.
Basically, we're not very good at handling large numbers. And we can't compare between big and small numbers - so tend to think something happening over a small period MUST be big over a large period.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Self-Tribute
I'm not usually a huge fan of excessively self-referential songs or videos - they usually fall on that fine line between smugness and egotism which isn't exactly appealing. However, I've been enjoying The Killers' latest video for one of their new songs, Just Another Girl, from whatever it is their greatest hits album is called.
As opposed to coming across as brash, it felt more of a reminisence, re-covering their previous videos from the past decade. Even as someone who is fairly agnostic on The Killers - they make decent tunes but can be a bit annoying at the same time - I could pick out several song references, such as the red costume from Spaceman, the wedding scene from When You Were Young, the dancing Japanese man in red from Read My Mind, the bird prop from Human and the slightly more obvious direct video insert of Bones as well as the opening montage of clips from All These Things That I Have Done, Human, When You Were Young, Runaways and Mr Brightside. There are probably more in there that I don't recognise by simply not knowing their songs or videos that well, but it's well put together. In other words, it seemed like a nod to their past songs on a sign-off note, which is actually rather well done.
For completeness I should probably link to the video itself - it can be found here.
As opposed to coming across as brash, it felt more of a reminisence, re-covering their previous videos from the past decade. Even as someone who is fairly agnostic on The Killers - they make decent tunes but can be a bit annoying at the same time - I could pick out several song references, such as the red costume from Spaceman, the wedding scene from When You Were Young, the dancing Japanese man in red from Read My Mind, the bird prop from Human and the slightly more obvious direct video insert of Bones as well as the opening montage of clips from All These Things That I Have Done, Human, When You Were Young, Runaways and Mr Brightside. There are probably more in there that I don't recognise by simply not knowing their songs or videos that well, but it's well put together. In other words, it seemed like a nod to their past songs on a sign-off note, which is actually rather well done.
For completeness I should probably link to the video itself - it can be found here.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Octuple Century
I was going to cover many things today - the film we saw yesterday, the restaurants that were selfishly fully booked and with ridiculous waiting times, the imminent house move - but today is a milestone blog, and milestone blogs dictate a full post reserved for them exclusively. It's just how it's done.
So this post, marking my 800th blog post, is on its own a tribute to my own blogging. And how I've done so 800 times over the last 8-and-a-bit years.
So this post, marking my 800th blog post, is on its own a tribute to my own blogging. And how I've done so 800 times over the last 8-and-a-bit years.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Everything's Changing
One of the things that's hard to measure is whether your tolerance is increasing, or whether what you're trying to tolerate is actually becoming more tolerant.
This sounds like a deep and meaningful point but I say this, of course, thinking about music. I was listening to the radio on the way into work yesterday - as I usually do, but this came about yesterday hence the focus - and realised that the Keane song I was listening to was actually rather good, and that was the second time recently I'd thought that. I've always associated Keane with depressive dirge, a similar vein to classic Coldplay where nothing should be upbeat on pain of pain, and moaning melancholy was the favoured note.
Now this means one of two things; either (1) I've mellowed significantly, which is always a possibility, or (2) the more unlikely option that Keane have actually cheered up. I'm not sure which is scarier. I've linked the two songs beneath - have a listen, let me know if it's just me.
Keane - Higher Than The Sun
Keane - Won't Be Broken
Is it really just me?
This sounds like a deep and meaningful point but I say this, of course, thinking about music. I was listening to the radio on the way into work yesterday - as I usually do, but this came about yesterday hence the focus - and realised that the Keane song I was listening to was actually rather good, and that was the second time recently I'd thought that. I've always associated Keane with depressive dirge, a similar vein to classic Coldplay where nothing should be upbeat on pain of pain, and moaning melancholy was the favoured note.
Now this means one of two things; either (1) I've mellowed significantly, which is always a possibility, or (2) the more unlikely option that Keane have actually cheered up. I'm not sure which is scarier. I've linked the two songs beneath - have a listen, let me know if it's just me.
Keane - Higher Than The Sun
Keane - Won't Be Broken
Is it really just me?
Friday, January 24, 2014
Electrical Choices
This morning I had a ridiculous journey to work - my car was being particularly tempremental, but in new and unusual ways.
I was leaving slightly late, but while it started without issue - and went around the two right turns at the foot of the road without issue - when I went to turn right into the main road, I realised I'd utterly lost my power steering. This had happened once before, and I was hopeful that it would clear up. As I was in traffic queueing up to the roundabout, I was able to turn off the engine and turn it on again - that age-old solution - in the hope that this would do the trick.
It did! While I was greeted with an ominous beeping upon reengaging the ignition, when I got to the roundabout I was able to steer around it without incident. I was able to proceed happily on my way. Except as I came off the roundabout and glanced down at my speedometer, it was still registering 0. I was definitely not doing 0. Hoping this was a minor glitch, I continued - I had little choice but to do so at that point - and navigated the car carefully for the next 6-7 miles. It is surprising how much you need to look at your speedometer, and changing gear by ear was trickier than I'd realised. Judging speed by how fast other cars are going and what gear you're in equally so.
Unsurprisingly, when I came to a point where I could turn off I decided to stop for petrol. This allowed me the option to turn off the engine, leave it for five minutes to get out of its sulk (ten minutes when you include walking slowly around the shop), and hopefully it would be behaving better on my return.
It wasn't. Admittedly I could register speed again, but the steering had disappeared to compensate. Following the best example of parents everywhere, I pulled over to the side by the garage and sat down for a stern 'we're not going anywhere until you behave yourself' lecture. After a fifteen minute wait, I decided to give it a go again. The steering was sulky but almost could be persuaded to work; the speedometer was fully engaged. I made it to work without incident.
The evening home my drive was fine. Whatever funk it was in had cleared up. I have no idea quite what it was or for that matter wasn't doing, but I have booked a long-overdue service for Wednesday. This should hopefully soothe it back to full health.
I was leaving slightly late, but while it started without issue - and went around the two right turns at the foot of the road without issue - when I went to turn right into the main road, I realised I'd utterly lost my power steering. This had happened once before, and I was hopeful that it would clear up. As I was in traffic queueing up to the roundabout, I was able to turn off the engine and turn it on again - that age-old solution - in the hope that this would do the trick.
It did! While I was greeted with an ominous beeping upon reengaging the ignition, when I got to the roundabout I was able to steer around it without incident. I was able to proceed happily on my way. Except as I came off the roundabout and glanced down at my speedometer, it was still registering 0. I was definitely not doing 0. Hoping this was a minor glitch, I continued - I had little choice but to do so at that point - and navigated the car carefully for the next 6-7 miles. It is surprising how much you need to look at your speedometer, and changing gear by ear was trickier than I'd realised. Judging speed by how fast other cars are going and what gear you're in equally so.
Unsurprisingly, when I came to a point where I could turn off I decided to stop for petrol. This allowed me the option to turn off the engine, leave it for five minutes to get out of its sulk (ten minutes when you include walking slowly around the shop), and hopefully it would be behaving better on my return.
It wasn't. Admittedly I could register speed again, but the steering had disappeared to compensate. Following the best example of parents everywhere, I pulled over to the side by the garage and sat down for a stern 'we're not going anywhere until you behave yourself' lecture. After a fifteen minute wait, I decided to give it a go again. The steering was sulky but almost could be persuaded to work; the speedometer was fully engaged. I made it to work without incident.
The evening home my drive was fine. Whatever funk it was in had cleared up. I have no idea quite what it was or for that matter wasn't doing, but I have booked a long-overdue service for Wednesday. This should hopefully soothe it back to full health.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Best Use Yet For Incognito Mode
Among the many other signs of ageing, one of them must be the increasing frequency with which bands from your childhood spring up on shows such as Never Mind The Buzzcocks as the 'remember these from so long ago that noone actually remembers, and can you even recognise one of them now?' ... rounds. This week it was one of the girls from B*witched (yes, that asterisk is important, and I have no idea (1) why and (2) why I remember that keenly).
After the short snippet had given me a bit of an earworm, I did search for the video on my phone - here if you want to inflict it upon yourself by the way - before immediately realising that I've now cursed myself to have random Irish 90s cheese-kiddie-pop acts appearing in all my search options and adverts for the next few months.
It was worth it though. I'd forgotten how bad the video was - the entire premise seemingly sold on a 'just dance, girls, and we'll CGI in a load more people doing the exact same dance on either side later so it doesn't look too silly' basis, when the budget ran out and they decided to just go with the four of them in a field, doing their very best to prove the theory that just because four people are doing the same synchronised movement it doesn't stop it from looking total bollocks. It's an unstable field, too - occasionally the entire ground tilts and the girls roll off into the fiery pit beneath. That, or it's some terrible camerawork - it really could be either. The dramatic masterpiece of the video - and my particular highlight - is, however, the dramatic zooming out at the 19 second mark when the treehouse is revealed to be ... right next to them!
But! Don't let my justified mockery of the terrible video distract you from how bad the lyrics are. Bragging about a house with windows and doors? Call me old fashioned if you must, but a house without windows and doors isn't a house. It's a box. Or a bunker. Either way, not a selling point. The worst part is that listening through the entire song, that's actually the lyrical highlight. Not to mention the fantastic random pieces of dialogue interspersed throughout, which in no way at all utterly stereotype Irish people, speech or cliches.
This entertaining and distracting diatribe aside - nothing like being topical by cynically tearing down a 15 year old pop video - does lead me to believe that I have inadvertently discovered the best use yet for the Incognito mode in browsers: watching embarrassing old pop videos, while still avoiding it cropping up to humiliate you in later searches or histories. To prove the point I followed this up by watching the linked video for Mmmbop, by Hanson; and yet Google is none the wiser ...
After the short snippet had given me a bit of an earworm, I did search for the video on my phone - here if you want to inflict it upon yourself by the way - before immediately realising that I've now cursed myself to have random Irish 90s cheese-kiddie-pop acts appearing in all my search options and adverts for the next few months.
It was worth it though. I'd forgotten how bad the video was - the entire premise seemingly sold on a 'just dance, girls, and we'll CGI in a load more people doing the exact same dance on either side later so it doesn't look too silly' basis, when the budget ran out and they decided to just go with the four of them in a field, doing their very best to prove the theory that just because four people are doing the same synchronised movement it doesn't stop it from looking total bollocks. It's an unstable field, too - occasionally the entire ground tilts and the girls roll off into the fiery pit beneath. That, or it's some terrible camerawork - it really could be either. The dramatic masterpiece of the video - and my particular highlight - is, however, the dramatic zooming out at the 19 second mark when the treehouse is revealed to be ... right next to them!
But! Don't let my justified mockery of the terrible video distract you from how bad the lyrics are. Bragging about a house with windows and doors? Call me old fashioned if you must, but a house without windows and doors isn't a house. It's a box. Or a bunker. Either way, not a selling point. The worst part is that listening through the entire song, that's actually the lyrical highlight. Not to mention the fantastic random pieces of dialogue interspersed throughout, which in no way at all utterly stereotype Irish people, speech or cliches.
This entertaining and distracting diatribe aside - nothing like being topical by cynically tearing down a 15 year old pop video - does lead me to believe that I have inadvertently discovered the best use yet for the Incognito mode in browsers: watching embarrassing old pop videos, while still avoiding it cropping up to humiliate you in later searches or histories. To prove the point I followed this up by watching the linked video for Mmmbop, by Hanson; and yet Google is none the wiser ...
Sunday, November 17, 2013
A Drive Home, Or, Why Navigating From Terminal 4 Is Like Using A Compass At The North Pole
This evening I took my cousin Armaan to the airport to allow him to fly on to India for the next leg of his holiday. He was departing from Heathrow Terminal 4, an unusual choice (although I will concede not one of his own choosing) and one that is not quite as straightforward to get to - in fact, we managed to miss a quite well hidden sign on our way in and ended up doing an entire lap of the airport before we arrived at our destination.
This, however, was (a) forgiveable, (b) understandable considering the hidden nature of the sign and (c) nothing compared to my efforts on the way home.
For those unaware, this is the rough journey I should take home:
However, I decided to do things ... a little differently. I set off like this, following the signs to both the A30 to Staines and to M25:
Reaching the roundabout I had no choice but to go straight on, as far as I thought - I knew the roundabout but didn't usually come at it from that angle, but all was, as far as I thought, well. I opted not to go onto the M25 and took the "easier route" continuing on the A30 - it took me round a bit of a loop as I went under the M25:
At this point I missed the exit the first time round and so went for a second circumnavigation ofthe roundabout to add a bit of slapstick to the utter farce that my journey was rapidly becoming. I managed to leave the roundabout slightly better at the second attempt, still faithfully following the signs for the A30 to Staines, now going in the other direction:
Continuing to loyally follow the signs for the A30 to Staines, I persisted onwards with retracing my steps - a fact I was at this point completely oblivious to:
And not long after - fifteen minutes after I was here the first time - I returned to the Crooked Billet roundabout, this time from the direction I should have been, and managed to go back where I thought I was going the first time (and a review of the Streetview on Google Maps shows me that I could easily have turned here at my first visit):
Proceeding at a leisurely pace now once again comfortable with where I was, I rejoined the original route after a detour of a mere 20 minutes:
From here the journey was fairly routine - but to illustrate the utterly ridiculous journey I made, this was my route in full. Sadly, the zoom doesn't show up the ridiculous amount of time I spent driving in circles:
This is why people shouldn't fly from Terminal 4.
This, however, was (a) forgiveable, (b) understandable considering the hidden nature of the sign and (c) nothing compared to my efforts on the way home.
For those unaware, this is the rough journey I should take home:
However, I decided to do things ... a little differently. I set off like this, following the signs to both the A30 to Staines and to M25:
Reaching the roundabout I had no choice but to go straight on, as far as I thought - I knew the roundabout but didn't usually come at it from that angle, but all was, as far as I thought, well. I opted not to go onto the M25 and took the "easier route" continuing on the A30 - it took me round a bit of a loop as I went under the M25:
At this point I missed the exit the first time round and so went for a second circumnavigation ofthe roundabout to add a bit of slapstick to the utter farce that my journey was rapidly becoming. I managed to leave the roundabout slightly better at the second attempt, still faithfully following the signs for the A30 to Staines, now going in the other direction:
Continuing to loyally follow the signs for the A30 to Staines, I persisted onwards with retracing my steps - a fact I was at this point completely oblivious to:
And not long after - fifteen minutes after I was here the first time - I returned to the Crooked Billet roundabout, this time from the direction I should have been, and managed to go back where I thought I was going the first time (and a review of the Streetview on Google Maps shows me that I could easily have turned here at my first visit):
Proceeding at a leisurely pace now once again comfortable with where I was, I rejoined the original route after a detour of a mere 20 minutes:
From here the journey was fairly routine - but to illustrate the utterly ridiculous journey I made, this was my route in full. Sadly, the zoom doesn't show up the ridiculous amount of time I spent driving in circles:
This is why people shouldn't fly from Terminal 4.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Warning: Creativity At Work
A short update tonight, because Chrissi and I have been busy. Busy doing what, you ask?
We've been baking a pirate ship cake!
Words cannot describe the awesomeness. It took me about two hours, perhaps more, to build a mast and get it to hold together. But I managed it in the end. Chrissi managed the hard part of baking the cake - I simply added decorations for guns and bowspits and the eventually-completed mast - bedecked, of course, with the Jolly Roger. A good night's work.
We've been baking a pirate ship cake!
Words cannot describe the awesomeness. It took me about two hours, perhaps more, to build a mast and get it to hold together. But I managed it in the end. Chrissi managed the hard part of baking the cake - I simply added decorations for guns and bowspits and the eventually-completed mast - bedecked, of course, with the Jolly Roger. A good night's work.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Knocking And Letterboxes Are Beyond Us
One of the benefits of working at home yesterday was that I was in to collect the Amazon delivery. Well, it didn't help as they still didn't bother to knock or post it through the letterbox and just propped it up against the bin - fortunately I was going out for a breath of fresh air and noticed it, bringing it inside before the sudden downpour a few minutes later.
The bounty it contained was four CDs and one DVD - the CDs being Jake Bugg's self-titled album, an album similarly and imaginatively named after themselves by The 1975, Imagine Dragons' debut album which with astonishing creativity they managed to think of a separate name for, Night Visions, and the compilation mentioned last weekend, Teenage Dirtbags. The DVD was the magnificent full collection of Thunderbirds, which is one to add to my growing stash of TV series as I see them on special offer at various times.
I've not really listened to any of the albums fully enough yet to give a proper opinion on them, but the compilation album has made its way to my car where it is now the soundtrack to my drive to and from work. This makes my trip considerably more pleasant (although today it was much nicer anyway as the traffic didn't seem quite so bad). I may swap to disc 2 tomorrow - watch this space for more such crucial updates.
The bounty it contained was four CDs and one DVD - the CDs being Jake Bugg's self-titled album, an album similarly and imaginatively named after themselves by The 1975, Imagine Dragons' debut album which with astonishing creativity they managed to think of a separate name for, Night Visions, and the compilation mentioned last weekend, Teenage Dirtbags. The DVD was the magnificent full collection of Thunderbirds, which is one to add to my growing stash of TV series as I see them on special offer at various times.
I've not really listened to any of the albums fully enough yet to give a proper opinion on them, but the compilation album has made its way to my car where it is now the soundtrack to my drive to and from work. This makes my trip considerably more pleasant (although today it was much nicer anyway as the traffic didn't seem quite so bad). I may swap to disc 2 tomorrow - watch this space for more such crucial updates.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Car Foibles
It is additionally frustrating on a day where I had been ready for work keen and early for any day, let alone Monday, to be then hamstrung by car problems once more. The consequence of a cold night and a sulking battery meant that while I was awake and ready to head to work, my car was of a different opinion. Fortunately I had my laptop still with me from working at Wimbledon on Friday, so it meant an unplanned day of working from home.
On returning to the house I called our breakdown cover to get someone out to at least give it a short sharp shock awake - and not long after (only about twenty minutes), someone arrived. Which is where the comedy of the morning starts.
As the car was parked down the street, I had to rush outside quickly to intercept the van, point out where the car was and the like. This was done, my battery was jumped, the car turned on, and I was advised to give it 25 minutes to charge up. As my phone had been left on the kitchen table I entertained myself by reading the car manual and staring out of the window, idly wondering why I hadn't seen Chrissi go past me yet on her way to work.
After giving my car the 25 minutes running to recharge the battery (and a couple of extra minutes for good measure), I left my car and started to walk back up the road to the house. In doing so I met Chrissi who was heading down the road and rather relieved to see me. Apparantly in my haste to catch the breakdown man I had allegedly left the door slightly ajar (the door is also in the sulking club and sometimes doesn't close properly when you think you have closed it). Coming down to the door not closed, my phone on the table, my laptop on and me nowhere to be seen, Chrissi was puzzled. Wondering if I had popped to the shops, had gone somewhere else or simply been stolen, she waited a little while as she didn't know if I had my keys with me. I understand that she was going to see if my car was around when I passed her in the street. Relieved, she headed off to work, I returned to the house.
This entertainment over with, I resumed the day and continued to work from home (by the time the car was running it would've been far too late to head into work), although I did take the car on a short drive at lunchtime to make it less moody for tomorrow - we can but hope!
On returning to the house I called our breakdown cover to get someone out to at least give it a short sharp shock awake - and not long after (only about twenty minutes), someone arrived. Which is where the comedy of the morning starts.
As the car was parked down the street, I had to rush outside quickly to intercept the van, point out where the car was and the like. This was done, my battery was jumped, the car turned on, and I was advised to give it 25 minutes to charge up. As my phone had been left on the kitchen table I entertained myself by reading the car manual and staring out of the window, idly wondering why I hadn't seen Chrissi go past me yet on her way to work.
After giving my car the 25 minutes running to recharge the battery (and a couple of extra minutes for good measure), I left my car and started to walk back up the road to the house. In doing so I met Chrissi who was heading down the road and rather relieved to see me. Apparantly in my haste to catch the breakdown man I had allegedly left the door slightly ajar (the door is also in the sulking club and sometimes doesn't close properly when you think you have closed it). Coming down to the door not closed, my phone on the table, my laptop on and me nowhere to be seen, Chrissi was puzzled. Wondering if I had popped to the shops, had gone somewhere else or simply been stolen, she waited a little while as she didn't know if I had my keys with me. I understand that she was going to see if my car was around when I passed her in the street. Relieved, she headed off to work, I returned to the house.
This entertainment over with, I resumed the day and continued to work from home (by the time the car was running it would've been far too late to head into work), although I did take the car on a short drive at lunchtime to make it less moody for tomorrow - we can but hope!
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Playlist Challenge III: Nationalities
Again nothing inspired this in particular, besides the random thought of a song and then the increasing extension of the theme to see how far I could go with it. Usual rules apply, cannot repeat theme items (particularly as some nationalities, such as 'American', are repeated many times over!):
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - American Girl
The Beatles - Norwegian Wood
The Vapors - Turning Japanese
The Bangles - Walk Like An Egyptian
Maximo Park - Russian Literature
Sting - Englishman in New York
Cold War Kids - Mexican Dogs
There are probably many more I've missed as well - I tried to identify songs by mentally walking around the globe from country to country and identify songs on that basis, although I don't think I added a huge number that way!
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - American Girl
The Beatles - Norwegian Wood
The Vapors - Turning Japanese
The Bangles - Walk Like An Egyptian
Maximo Park - Russian Literature
Sting - Englishman in New York
Cold War Kids - Mexican Dogs
There are probably many more I've missed as well - I tried to identify songs by mentally walking around the globe from country to country and identify songs on that basis, although I don't think I added a huge number that way!
Friday, September 13, 2013
Repeat Trips
Today marked the second day in succession when I headed to Raynes Park. Yesterday's trip was motivated by poker, and due to bad traffic avoiding an accident, and then planning a shorter route but then losing my route twice (and effectively bypassing my shortcuts in the process) I arrived considerably later than planned! Having arrived this much later I made a strong effort to stay in as long as possible to make my trip worthwhile - not only because I wanted to do well, but a quick blowout would have made the long journey even more ridiculous!
Today I was in Wimbledon for work, and as it had been mentioned yesterday that folks were going out for drinks tonight I thought I would gatecrash and invite myself along - as I was located so close! In the end, for bonus irony it ended up that people headed into Wimbledon after a couple of hours so I returned home at that point (as did Chrissi, who had joined me after a kind-hearted invite only because she thought it was my way of sneaking a lift home despite my driving in the first place). A good evening to catch up with people and good to see some less-frequent faces, but I can also increasingly tell I've been gone for nigh on two years and there has been turnover in those who are there.
Today I was in Wimbledon for work, and as it had been mentioned yesterday that folks were going out for drinks tonight I thought I would gatecrash and invite myself along - as I was located so close! In the end, for bonus irony it ended up that people headed into Wimbledon after a couple of hours so I returned home at that point (as did Chrissi, who had joined me after a kind-hearted invite only because she thought it was my way of sneaking a lift home despite my driving in the first place). A good evening to catch up with people and good to see some less-frequent faces, but I can also increasingly tell I've been gone for nigh on two years and there has been turnover in those who are there.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Learning the Routes
Over the past three days I've experimented with at least five different routes over the six trips to and from work, with varying degrees of success. I've definitely ruled out a couple and am increasingly coming to terms with the realisation that I will have to face the M25 in rush hour twice a day.
One thing that is a positive is that I do have flexibility in terms of timing as to precisely when I leave and arrive at work (providing I am at least working my core hours and do all my hours I am due to work within the day!). It means that even once I settle on a likely route I then have the entertaining variety of changing my departure time to try and find the optimal point for both leaving and departing. It's a balancing act, as the earlier I leave the better my traffic is on the way in, but the more I hit rush hour on the way home instead.
For the moment I'm getting by with a grudging tolerance of this. Tomorrow I'm due to leave earlier so as to get there in plenty of time so I can leave early in the evening - all with the aim of making it back to Raynes Park in time for poker around 6:30ish. It's going to be a little ambitious but should be achieveable, although as I write this I recall that I haven't actually filled up my tank tonight, which I should have done, and as I've likely not got enough for a full trip this would be sensible to attend to prior to departure.
So an even earlier alarm time it is.
One thing that is a positive is that I do have flexibility in terms of timing as to precisely when I leave and arrive at work (providing I am at least working my core hours and do all my hours I am due to work within the day!). It means that even once I settle on a likely route I then have the entertaining variety of changing my departure time to try and find the optimal point for both leaving and departing. It's a balancing act, as the earlier I leave the better my traffic is on the way in, but the more I hit rush hour on the way home instead.
For the moment I'm getting by with a grudging tolerance of this. Tomorrow I'm due to leave earlier so as to get there in plenty of time so I can leave early in the evening - all with the aim of making it back to Raynes Park in time for poker around 6:30ish. It's going to be a little ambitious but should be achieveable, although as I write this I recall that I haven't actually filled up my tank tonight, which I should have done, and as I've likely not got enough for a full trip this would be sensible to attend to prior to departure.
So an even earlier alarm time it is.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
