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.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
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.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Landmarks
So I asked Chrissi on Sunday, "I presume we're not planning to do anything particular on Tuesday?" to which she responded with a baffled "Why would be doing anything on Tuesday?"
Having duly banked my credit for (a) remembering and (b) for one-upmanship as she had not remembered, we didn't do anything after all. However, it is still worth noting that today marks us being together for ten years. I'd call that a landmark worth commemorating if not necessarily celebrating (particularly as we have a wedding anniversary to mark in exactly a month's time!).
Having duly banked my credit for (a) remembering and (b) for one-upmanship as she had not remembered, we didn't do anything after all. However, it is still worth noting that today marks us being together for ten years. I'd call that a landmark worth commemorating if not necessarily celebrating (particularly as we have a wedding anniversary to mark in exactly a month's time!).
Monday, September 09, 2013
Well Known
So today was the first day at the new office in Reading, and this was marked by our new co-residents in the building (HR and Finance) welcoming us with cake. I'm sure this was (a) not necessarily pure generousity but had been arranged on our behalf by the management that had moved us here and (b) entirely planned based on the knowledge of our fondness for cake, chocolates, baked goods and general sweet things. There were carrot, chocolate and lemon flavour cakes offered - I only sampled the carrot cake, but that was good.
The main inconvenience of the move, the increased journey was definitely exacerbated today by the fact that I wasn't fully familiar with all the routes, shortcuts and sneaky ways around the worst of the traffic that need to be followed to make any journey bearable. As a result I managed to get stuck in four separate traffic jams - two on the way in, two on the way back, and three of them due to roadworks that I simply didn't know about to be able to avoid (the fourth being simply good ol' M25 congestion). Tomorrow should be at least a smoother journey as I'm at least aware of what I'm facing!
The main inconvenience of the move, the increased journey was definitely exacerbated today by the fact that I wasn't fully familiar with all the routes, shortcuts and sneaky ways around the worst of the traffic that need to be followed to make any journey bearable. As a result I managed to get stuck in four separate traffic jams - two on the way in, two on the way back, and three of them due to roadworks that I simply didn't know about to be able to avoid (the fourth being simply good ol' M25 congestion). Tomorrow should be at least a smoother journey as I'm at least aware of what I'm facing!
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