A selection of minor side-comments and activities from today:
Final Chinese: While we will often go to the nearby Chinese restaurant for lunch, today was an emotional day as it represented our final visit (the office is moving - more on this later). This was an unplanned visit, but as I had neglected to pack a lunch (late leaving) I deemed that serendipity had ruled in my favour and so I joined the group heading out for lunch. No tears were shed but it was a close run thing.
One-off Quip: In response to a comment that the strategy for dealing with the increased radioactive leaks by smothering the entire place in concrete: "Well it worked well with Croydon". Always an easy target. Poor Croydon.
Detour Smugness: As traffic came to a crawl on my journey home, a police car came racing through and I could see where it stopped in the distance. Anticipating the crawl would become even slower, I managed to make it across all three lanes to the exit which I had fortunately come to a halt by. I figured that a longer route home would be quicker as I wouldn't expect to be moving too soon. About 40 minutes later - and despite an unplanned further detour by virtue of taking the wrong turning - I arrived back home, and at the same time heard on the radio that the A3 was closed northbound. Smugness level: significant.
Wednesday, September 04, 2013
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
Overdue Catching Up
Last week before we headed up to Chester I was idly searching for entertainment, and flicking through the available TV series on LoveFilm I made the fatally flawed decision to start catching up on new old Doctor Who episodes. I say new old because it is the earlier series of the reboot, so the seasons with the Ecclestone Doctor (of which I had seen one episode) and the seasons with Tennant as the Doctor (of which I had seen the third series with David Tennant, but not the first two).
Over the course of a few evenings I've now caught up to have watched the entirety of the first series and have only two episodes remaining in the second series (the first Tennant series). I now have only one series to watch to be properly caught up again.
Having watched these, I can now see what some commentators have said about the more childish nature of some of the Russell T Davies-written episodes. They seem a little too twee in parts - none more so than the ridiculous farts and other bodily noises of the Slitheen family which was encounted with Ecclestone as the Doctor. There are the odd moment which is deeper or shows a more nuanced Doctor, but it seems a little too adventure-friendly and does make me long for the deeper if more frustrating storyline arcs of the Moffat-era show with Matt Smith as the Doctor. At least there were no farting aliens.
Over the course of a few evenings I've now caught up to have watched the entirety of the first series and have only two episodes remaining in the second series (the first Tennant series). I now have only one series to watch to be properly caught up again.
Having watched these, I can now see what some commentators have said about the more childish nature of some of the Russell T Davies-written episodes. They seem a little too twee in parts - none more so than the ridiculous farts and other bodily noises of the Slitheen family which was encounted with Ecclestone as the Doctor. There are the odd moment which is deeper or shows a more nuanced Doctor, but it seems a little too adventure-friendly and does make me long for the deeper if more frustrating storyline arcs of the Moffat-era show with Matt Smith as the Doctor. At least there were no farting aliens.
Monday, September 02, 2013
Moral Dilemma
Today I was faced with a mild moral dilemma, the sought that cause liberally and socially-minded people such as myself to wring their hands at length. While at work, I was going to the toilet (I'll skip over the irrelevant details) when I noticed a £5 note on the floor that had likely fallen out of someone's pocket. Retrieving this, I was then faced with a quandry as to what to do.
Obviously, being merely a note it would be challenging to identify its previous owner. I could have sent out some form of communication to the building, but that would been as likely to lead to a false claimant as a genuine one. The sum itself was not substantial enough to be significant, but then I also felt that holding onto it myself was equally improper.
The solution quickly became obvious: while I could not return it, and did not want to keep it, tomorrow I will therefore purchase cakes for work with this discovered note, and so share the wealth amongst all.
Obviously, being merely a note it would be challenging to identify its previous owner. I could have sent out some form of communication to the building, but that would been as likely to lead to a false claimant as a genuine one. The sum itself was not substantial enough to be significant, but then I also felt that holding onto it myself was equally improper.
The solution quickly became obvious: while I could not return it, and did not want to keep it, tomorrow I will therefore purchase cakes for work with this discovered note, and so share the wealth amongst all.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
7000 Miles
So today I happened to mark off hitting the 7,000 mile mark in my car. I've not been tracking this particularly per se, but as I accidentally hit the reset trip computer button on the first day I bought it, and have had no reason to track a new trip since, it's been effectively counting my miles since I've owned the car.
Of course, the annoyance (that I noted to Chrissi yesterday evening) is that this counts for absolutely nothing. My insurance premiums and general competence of a driver are both judged on the amount of experience I have in years driving (i.e. what is now around nine months) and not on the actual amount I've covered. Were I to drive barely a mile - or not at all - over the course of the year, this would be rubber-stamped as a year's driving experience under my belt safely negotiated. As I'm driving slightly above-average this is more vexing.
There is of course a balance - a reason why insurance premiums are calculated on an annual mileage basis - which is that the more miles you do, the more you are on the road and so the more liable you are to be in an accident or incident. However, the point where more miles increase as opposed to decrease the risk is a lot further along the road than where I've gotten to so far!
Of course, the annoyance (that I noted to Chrissi yesterday evening) is that this counts for absolutely nothing. My insurance premiums and general competence of a driver are both judged on the amount of experience I have in years driving (i.e. what is now around nine months) and not on the actual amount I've covered. Were I to drive barely a mile - or not at all - over the course of the year, this would be rubber-stamped as a year's driving experience under my belt safely negotiated. As I'm driving slightly above-average this is more vexing.
There is of course a balance - a reason why insurance premiums are calculated on an annual mileage basis - which is that the more miles you do, the more you are on the road and so the more liable you are to be in an accident or incident. However, the point where more miles increase as opposed to decrease the risk is a lot further along the road than where I've gotten to so far!
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Daily Achievements
Today was a good day if only because it marked the halfway point of the week - this happening on the first day is very pleasing! As previously mentioned, we're away for the tail end of the week and with the bank holiday yesterday both Chrissi and I have only today and tomorrow in work.
In work isn't wholly accurate either - I have the morning working from home tomorrow awaiting the landlord who is coming round to inspect the various issues with the property. After a hiatus of around four months on his part it's about time - so I'll be tidying a little and preparing to demonstrate the various issues.
This evening's acheivement was that Chrissi and I again went swimming, which is almost becoming a regular Tuesday routine now. It was odd as I started to recognise fellow Tuesday evening swimmers in my lane - although as I obviously don't wear my glasses in the pool and am so incredibly short-sighted, I only know them by internal nicknames such as 'woman with pink swimming cap'. It could be someone entirely different with a matching pink swimming cap for all I know!
In work isn't wholly accurate either - I have the morning working from home tomorrow awaiting the landlord who is coming round to inspect the various issues with the property. After a hiatus of around four months on his part it's about time - so I'll be tidying a little and preparing to demonstrate the various issues.
This evening's acheivement was that Chrissi and I again went swimming, which is almost becoming a regular Tuesday routine now. It was odd as I started to recognise fellow Tuesday evening swimmers in my lane - although as I obviously don't wear my glasses in the pool and am so incredibly short-sighted, I only know them by internal nicknames such as 'woman with pink swimming cap'. It could be someone entirely different with a matching pink swimming cap for all I know!
Monday, August 26, 2013
Playlist Challenge II: Roads
This week's efforts in playlist composition (I'm thinking about making this a regular event, as long as I can think of enough options) comes from the more mundane theme of roads and road types. I'm not quite sure what made me settle on this theme, but noticing a common theme in 'things that are travelled along' used in song titles, I wanted to see how far I could get. I came up with the following, again sticking with my approach not to repeat a theme item across multiple songs:
U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name
Foo Fighters - Long Road to Ruin
Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
Goo Goo Dolls - Broadway
Tom Robinson - 2 4 6 8 Motorway
Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
Chuck Berry - Route 66
There are likely many bands whose name matches the theme - one that comes to mind from recently is The Streets - but the so-glaringly-obvious-it'd-be-a-crime-not-to-mention-it candidate for the album on the same topic is Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited.
I slightly cheated on this one by looking up the artists for a couple of the songs which I could remember but didn't know who they were by. I doubt anyone cares.
U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name
Foo Fighters - Long Road to Ruin
Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
Goo Goo Dolls - Broadway
Tom Robinson - 2 4 6 8 Motorway
Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
Chuck Berry - Route 66
There are likely many bands whose name matches the theme - one that comes to mind from recently is The Streets - but the so-glaringly-obvious-it'd-be-a-crime-not-to-mention-it candidate for the album on the same topic is Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited.
I slightly cheated on this one by looking up the artists for a couple of the songs which I could remember but didn't know who they were by. I doubt anyone cares.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Long-Delayed Recap
In late May, the week before Chrissi and I saw Green Day play a stadium gig at the Emirates, I suggested that my busy routine would prevent me from blogging about it at the time and I also unerringly forecasted that my promises to return to the subject and recap later would all come to naught.
However, last night / early this morning I was watching some of the highlights from the Reading festival (courtesy of the BBC iPlayer which I cannot commend enough for this service) which featured Green Day's main stage set from the opening night. This reminded me that I had intended at some point to post some detail myself on when we saw them live back in June. So today's blog was born.
The Support While we just caught the tail end of All Time Low (sounded decent, haven't heard anything else of them besides this to judge them on) the great thing about the stadium gig is that you had a much better calibre of support acts. The main support act was Kaiser Chiefs, who were excellent in (1) going to their most well-known back catalogue and (2) despite being a major band themselves, being fully aware they were in a support capacity and not thanking the crowd for coming to see them!
The Lead-in As opposed to the typical long (im)patient build-up and sudden appearance, we were treated to two songs played through the PA - the first being Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody (and the sight of a crowd of 60-80,000 all singing along is quite amazing - not sure many other songs could get that reaction either), and the second being The Ramones' Blitzkrieg Bop. This is a song that they often will use themselves when playing live, and watching a pink rabbit costumed person stumble around the stage to the song was the focus for the entry of the main act.
The Opening Song Inspired by conversations with Ollie and Chris the previous week at the Muse gig, Chrissi and I had been trying to do our best to predict the opening and closing songs, with minimal success. While we both got half points as I plumped for American Idiot (used as first song in the encore) and Chrissi opted for Know Your Enemy (second song), we both entirely missed the obvious choice - the tour being called the 99 Revolutions tour should have been a clue that the song of the same name would be the first track played. There were enough clues around us in merchandise and clothing to this as well!
The Setlist As you'd expect for a band with their impressive back catalogue, and with a near-on-three hour set to fill, they pulled out all the stops and near all the classics. If you cheat slightly and count Welcome to Paradise (which appears on both the Kerplunk! and Dookie albums) for the former, then you had at least one song from each of their 11 albums - including plucking the excellent Going to Pasalaqua from their 39/Smooth LP. They didn't dwell on the new albums too much, nor ignore them entirely - striking a nice balance between the two.
Lesser-played songs that made an appearance included Sassafras Roots, which has always been a favourite of mine (and sounds superb live), and King For A Day which true to form featured all three members of the band donning drag. The iconic American Idiot track Jesus of Suburbia was played and is definitely even better live - the separate solos really stand out. One song - the only one that I really missed - notable by its absence was Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life), but enough of the great tracks were played to make it worthwhile.
The Show One thing about watching Green Day - and it was particularly in contrast having seen Muse the previous week - was the sheer element of showmanship about this gig. Billy Joe Armstrong is a great frontman with huge energy, and you felt a participant rather than a spectator, there was constant interaction and conversation with the crowd. You were at a concert rather than watching a live play-through. While the repeated hey-hos did get a little wearing, the times they just paused songs midway through to do something different or have a bit of a chat, then carry on from where they'd left off was great.
I'm not sure if it was the best gig I've been to - it's harder to compare to some of those I saw many years ago when I first started to see bands live - but it's definitely got to be up there as a strong contender.
However, last night / early this morning I was watching some of the highlights from the Reading festival (courtesy of the BBC iPlayer which I cannot commend enough for this service) which featured Green Day's main stage set from the opening night. This reminded me that I had intended at some point to post some detail myself on when we saw them live back in June. So today's blog was born.
The Support While we just caught the tail end of All Time Low (sounded decent, haven't heard anything else of them besides this to judge them on) the great thing about the stadium gig is that you had a much better calibre of support acts. The main support act was Kaiser Chiefs, who were excellent in (1) going to their most well-known back catalogue and (2) despite being a major band themselves, being fully aware they were in a support capacity and not thanking the crowd for coming to see them!
The Lead-in As opposed to the typical long (im)patient build-up and sudden appearance, we were treated to two songs played through the PA - the first being Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody (and the sight of a crowd of 60-80,000 all singing along is quite amazing - not sure many other songs could get that reaction either), and the second being The Ramones' Blitzkrieg Bop. This is a song that they often will use themselves when playing live, and watching a pink rabbit costumed person stumble around the stage to the song was the focus for the entry of the main act.
The Opening Song Inspired by conversations with Ollie and Chris the previous week at the Muse gig, Chrissi and I had been trying to do our best to predict the opening and closing songs, with minimal success. While we both got half points as I plumped for American Idiot (used as first song in the encore) and Chrissi opted for Know Your Enemy (second song), we both entirely missed the obvious choice - the tour being called the 99 Revolutions tour should have been a clue that the song of the same name would be the first track played. There were enough clues around us in merchandise and clothing to this as well!
The Setlist As you'd expect for a band with their impressive back catalogue, and with a near-on-three hour set to fill, they pulled out all the stops and near all the classics. If you cheat slightly and count Welcome to Paradise (which appears on both the Kerplunk! and Dookie albums) for the former, then you had at least one song from each of their 11 albums - including plucking the excellent Going to Pasalaqua from their 39/Smooth LP. They didn't dwell on the new albums too much, nor ignore them entirely - striking a nice balance between the two.
Lesser-played songs that made an appearance included Sassafras Roots, which has always been a favourite of mine (and sounds superb live), and King For A Day which true to form featured all three members of the band donning drag. The iconic American Idiot track Jesus of Suburbia was played and is definitely even better live - the separate solos really stand out. One song - the only one that I really missed - notable by its absence was Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life), but enough of the great tracks were played to make it worthwhile.
The Show One thing about watching Green Day - and it was particularly in contrast having seen Muse the previous week - was the sheer element of showmanship about this gig. Billy Joe Armstrong is a great frontman with huge energy, and you felt a participant rather than a spectator, there was constant interaction and conversation with the crowd. You were at a concert rather than watching a live play-through. While the repeated hey-hos did get a little wearing, the times they just paused songs midway through to do something different or have a bit of a chat, then carry on from where they'd left off was great.
I'm not sure if it was the best gig I've been to - it's harder to compare to some of those I saw many years ago when I first started to see bands live - but it's definitely got to be up there as a strong contender.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Source Of Easy Amusement
This week I've had a source of constant amusement at work with a mondegreen that I picked up on Monday and have entertained myself with by repeating whenever it still fits.
On Monday, while showing around a new person our receptionist - who while being very nice is grounded in a different reality to this one - was right behind me asking about the location of the new starter's manager with the question "Where's Si gone?" My immediate response (and one I'm rather proud of on a mere three hours sleep) was "Vietnam". This exchange in itself, besides highlighting my on-the-ball wit, was not particularly worth highlighting - but her reaction, to ask in puzzlement "Why is Si in Vietnam?" with a baffled face as the Si gone / Saigon reference completely missed her was wonderful.
This being done, the phrase was repeated a few times during the week, with multiple chuckles. I think even today she still was utterly unaware of the double meaning of what she was saying and why people found it funny.
Well, you've got to find some way to entertain yourself at work, haven't you?
On Monday, while showing around a new person our receptionist - who while being very nice is grounded in a different reality to this one - was right behind me asking about the location of the new starter's manager with the question "Where's Si gone?" My immediate response (and one I'm rather proud of on a mere three hours sleep) was "Vietnam". This exchange in itself, besides highlighting my on-the-ball wit, was not particularly worth highlighting - but her reaction, to ask in puzzlement "Why is Si in Vietnam?" with a baffled face as the Si gone / Saigon reference completely missed her was wonderful.
This being done, the phrase was repeated a few times during the week, with multiple chuckles. I think even today she still was utterly unaware of the double meaning of what she was saying and why people found it funny.
Well, you've got to find some way to entertain yourself at work, haven't you?
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