My Blog
|
|
My Blog |
|
  Other feeds |
What's New |
Those of you who don't know me probably won't find my blog that interesting. However, do have a read, and feel free to comment.
This page has the blog entries sorted in chronological order, based on the dates that the entries refer to, which might not be the order that the blog entries were entered. The RSS feed lists entries in the order that they were entered. If you'd like to look at older blog entries, then feel free to search the archive.
Category: Diary. Posted: 2010-02-08 00:19:30 GMT.
I spent most of my day at home catching up with e-mail, uploading pictures to Flickr, uploading my blog, tidying at home, ironing while listening to Moneybox and The News Quiz, and watching more episodes of The Gadget Show. At about 8 o'clock, I went for a swim, which was the first time I'd left the house today. After swimming, I listened to Digital Planet while pottering around in the kitchen and the living room. I'm going to have to install iTunes on my multi-media centre (or should that be multi-media center?) again, so that I can listen to podcasts on my iPod. After watching the news, I carried on watching Would I Lie To You, even though I'd seen it before. I must have been feeling lazy, because I watched the first 10 minutes of Super Bowl Live!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[ 0 comments ] [ Permalink ] Bookmark with: 
Category: Diary. Posted: 2010-02-08 00:18:59 GMT.
I must have been knackered yesterday, because I woke up at 09:45. I had time for a quick cuppa while I checked my e-mail, before cycling to Tummies to meet Bird. As usual, she was looking gorgeous. The service was very slow, but we got served eventually. I went to Tesco on the way home to buy mince for this evening's curry and a few other things. After a quick cuppa, I walked up to The Harrow to buy some shoelaces and some shoe-horns, but the cobbler had closed his shop. So much for supporting a local business! As planned, Gimmer arrived at 16:30, ready to watch England beat Wales at Twickenham. He was very impressed with my coffee machine, and reckoned he might buy one. I put the curry on at half-time, so it was ready once the rugby had finished. After we finished the curry, I left Gimmer watching Boob Envy while I loaded the dishwasher. I was amused when, at 19:30, my multi-media centre stopped playing Boob Envy, and started recording from BBC1 (unfortunately, it records based on time, not based on a particular programme). I'd loaded the dishwasher by this point, so we went to the Toby for a few pints. I had Stella, but Gimmer had diet coke, because he was driving.
Back at home, I watched tonight's Casualty, and a few episodes of The Gadget Show, before going to bed at about 02:00. Annoyingly my bedroom PC had crashed, I'm really going to have to sort out the new PC.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[ 0 comments ] [ Permalink ] Bookmark with:
Category: Diary. Posted: 2010-02-08 00:17:37 GMT. Updated: 2010-02-08 23:51:00 GMT.
Back at home after work, I watched Panorama, listened to FrequencyCast Show 48 while tidying up in the kitchen, went for a swim, watched the 10 o'clock new news, watched the first half of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, and surfed t'internet in bed. I went to sleep at about 23:45.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[ 0 comments ] [ Permalink ] Bookmark with:
Category: News Sites. Posted: 2010-02-08 00:16:15 GMT.
It seems that somebody at the BBC has got a bit confused. The article refers to Windows NT 3.1, the caption underneath the picture refers to Windows 3.1, and the picture shows Windows 95.
Microsoft to patch 17-year-old computer bug
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[ 0 comments ] [ Permalink ] Bookmark with:
Category: Diary. Posted: 2010-02-08 00:14:34 GMT.
I went swimming straight after work, because Bird was coming round for dinner later. There were hoards of horrible little kids getting in my way. I'll certainly be going to the adults only session next time I go swimming on a Thursday! I didn't have much to do when I got back home, because I just warmed up last week's chilli. We also tried a few different coffees, to decide which type(s) to buy, because I would run out soon. Rather than meeting next Tuesday (when Bird would be busy), we arranged to have brunch at Tummies at 11:00 on Saturday.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[ 0 comments ] [ Permalink ] Bookmark with:
Category: Diary. Posted: 2010-02-08 00:13:17 GMT.
The sleeper arrived a bit early, but there was no point in getting off early, because the First Class Lounge at Euston doesn't open until 07:00 and I wanted to have a shower before work. I therefore sat in my cabin, and watched all the commuters arriving and bustling around. Having been on a train for the last 7 hours, it seemed remarkably quiet being on a stationary train. After a while, I got off the train. I wish I'd bought panniers with straps on, because it's quite difficult carrying two heavy panniers.
Apart from getting stuck in traffic on the Euston Underpass, getting a bit lost cycling to Paddington, and having to put up with some idiot not stopping at a zebra crossing, I had a fairly uneventful journey from Euston to Paddington. It was a fairly busy day catching up with things at work, but I got there eventually.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[ 0 comments ] [ Permalink ] Bookmark with:
Category: Diary. Posted: 2010-02-08 00:12:41 GMT. Updated: 2010-02-08 23:51:00 GMT.
When I checked into my cabin, the host told me what time I'd be getting breakfast, he didn't ask me what time I would like to have breakfast. He said he would bring it between 06:30 and 06:45. I got up at 06:30 and started looking for my T-shirt. The host brought my breakfast just as I was bending over wearing only a pair of pants. Still, at least it wasn't the sexy Christmas pants that Fiona had bought for me! That reminds me - I got funny looks when I got changed at Bird's Spa last Sunday, because I was wearing the Christmas pants.
The train wasn't due in until 07:30, so I had plenty of time to get ready and finishing preparing for my meeting. I went to the back of the train with my camera to get some good pictures, but, of course, there was nothing to see, because it was still dark outside. The train actually arrived ten minutes early, so I was one of the last people off the train. Knowing where it was this time, I went straight to the First Class Lounge to have a shower. Once I'd had my shower, I dropped my two panniers off at Left Luggage (after a very stringent search), and went back to the First Class Lounge to drink more tea, have a few biccies, check my home e-mail, check my work e-mail, surf t'internet, and watch BBCNews 24. Using Google Maps, I found out it was only a few miles to the office I was working in (I should have known that, having cycled there before), so could have walked it if I'd realised in time. Still, it was snowing, so maybe I wouldn't. As I walked out of the First Class Lounge, I asked the lady whether she knew where to go for a swim. She didn't, but said she'd find out for me. She said she'd leave a note with her colleague because she would finish at 1PM. Now that's what I call excellent service. With all my gimmering, I lost track of time, but got into a taxi at 08:40, so still arrived at the office on time.
There was a break during my meeting with our customer, so I went for a quick swim. There were three lanes (slow, medium and fast). I've only seen thee three lanes at the outdoor pool in Holborn, where the slow lane should have been renamed the stationary lane! I went into the slow lane in this pool expecting the same thing to happen, but found that I couldn't keep up, and one person even switched into the medium lane as soon as I started swimming! It didn't help that I got confused between clockwise and anti-clockwise when I turned around!
After the meeting, I considered walking into town, but caught the bus instead. It was the wrong time of day to catch a bus, with the bus being getting caught in the middle of a school snowball fight. In the centre of Aberdeen, a kind lady suggested walking through the shopping centre to get to the station, so that I wouldn't get wet. I walked past a mobile phone accessories stall, so thought I'd find out whether it sold replacement covers for a Nokia 6230. It did, but the bloke running the stall told me they cost £7.99. I was willing to pay up to a fiver to avoid having to gaffer tape my phone, but no more. I was surprised he didn't reduce his price when I said it was too expensive, but he didn't.
I went to the First Class Lounge. The lady from this morning had finished and her replacement knew nothing about her search for a swimming pool. I wasn't going to go for a second swim anyway, but I wanted to know for next time. I spent a bit of time surfing t'internet (including looking for swimming pools in Aberdeen), checking e-mail (work and home), drinking tea, and watching BBCNews24. Having enjoyed the East Coast First Class service when I caught the 18:15 last time I was in Aberdeen, I'd booked myself and my bike onto the 18:15 this time (although I didn't need the bike reservation). I still had time to waste, so went to potter around the shopping centre. I went into Clinton Cards and bought some thank-you cards, some moving house cards, and some Valentine's Day cards. I wrote my Valentine's Day cards in the shopping centre, and found a post box on the High Street (thanks to the totty with a dog for trying to direct me to W H Smiths).
Back at the station, I collected my panniers, and went back to the First Class Lounge to have a shave, a shower, and some more tea. There was no information about my 18:15 train until about 18:00, when the display said that it had been replaced by a bus service! The bloke at the desk said that there were signalling problems at Montrose. I had two choices - get on the bus, or wait and hope that I could get a train later. I decided to get on the bus. It was a good job I didn't have the bike with me. Every seat on the bus was full, and the bus had to stop twice during the journey so that the drunks drinking Stella at the back of the bus could wee. Every time the bus door opened, it took several tries for it to close again. It was only supposed to stop at Dundee and Edinburgh Waverley, but, as well as the wee stops, he stopped at Edinburgh Haymarket too. The whole point of the bus was to connect with the 21:00 York train, but the bus arrived at 21:03. I'd have had a proper rant if I'd wanted that train.
It turned out that the signalling problems were only on northbound trains, and that the 18:15 had been delayed on its journey north. It wasn't actually cancelled, and left about an hour late. If I'd known this, I would have waited at Aberdeen, and travelled in the First Class carriage of a train drinking tea, surfing t'internet, and updating my blog. Instead, I got crammed onto a bus (although the lady sitting next to me was very nice to talk to).
At Edinburgh station, I checked that the signalling problems wouldn't affect the sleeper, but the bloke I asked didn't know. I therefore went in search of a curry house. I walked past the Light of Bengal Bay of Bengal that I went to before, but couldn't find another Indian restaurant, so went back to that. There was a large group in there, but there were a few tables free. I couldn't remember what I ordered last time, but I was sure that there was something I didn't really like about the restaurant. All I could remember from last time was that there was totty eating on her own. I saw mattar panneer on the menu, but it was a main course and made with chick peas. I thought it was worth asking if they would do it as a side dish and with green peas. The waiter said they couldn't do it as a side dish, so I didn't even bother about asking for green peas. Maybe that's what I didn't like before. Also he didn't pour my beer when brought it to me. Still, according to the window, it was established in 1978, so it can't be too bad.
[2010/02/02 22:15 - the service has been pretty slow, but that's to be expected when there are two big groups in, but a bloke in the large group reckons he knows where the red light district in every town is!]
[2010/02/02 22:17 my food's arrived, and the bloke said that one of the red-light district hotels is called The Swallow Hotel, that made me smile]
The food was OK, but it was a bit difficult ordering another beer. Once I'd finished my food, the owner came over (I assumed he was the owner because he looked scruffy) and asked if the food was OK. Despite the lack of mattar panneer, I was happy with the food, so I said it was. He then offered me a complementary drink to celebrate their 30 years in business, so I asked for a Bailey's. The waiter then offered complementary drinks to the large party. It took a while for them to decide, but one bloke kept on asking for a port, despite the waiter saying they had none left. The waiter eventually found a bottle with enough for a single glass in it. The manager then brought my Bailey's to my table, and suddenly "port boy" and several others decided they wanted Bailey's. I then asked the manager about the 30 year birthday celebrations, and he admitted they'd been celebrating for the last two years. I'll have to have a read of my blog to see if I had a complementary drink when I ate there before.
After leaving, I went into the Malt Tap for a pint of 80 Schilling, but was told it had just closed for the evening. I hadn't realised it was 22:50, but I also didn't realise that Scottish pubs observed licensing laws! The barman and a bloke propping up the bar suggested some alternative pubs, including a few by the station next to a little-known side-entrance. I considered going in for a pint, but thought that I'd find out what platform the sleeper would be leaving from. It was already "ready for boarding", so I got on. I asked for breakfast at 06:00 because the train got in at 06:40, but changed it to 06:15, because I remembered that the First Class Lounge doesn't open until 07:00. I packed all my stuff into the two panniers, and then went to the bar.
On the journey up, the woman serving in the buffet car asked if I wanted to start a tab, so I asked the bloke whether he minded me starting a tab. He replied, "I don't, but I will". Not wanting to correct his English, I thanked him. He seemed happy enough to run tabs for his mates who came in later on, but made a big point of thanking the man sitting opposite me for paying for his drink! I was also amused by a conversation that he had with somebody who came up and asked for a take-away tea:
Him: Are you in the seats or in the sleeper?
Customer: Neither, I'm the driver.
I then supped a few Stellas while updating my blog. It was a bit difficult to concentrate because there were two blokes talking relatively loudly complaining about EasyJet. Well, if EasyJet is so bad, then don't fly with it. It's quite simple.
[2010/02/02 23:41 - The train's just left. I'll have another Stella and write up last week's blog while putting up with the two blokes, who've now moved on to criticising Germans and Islam].
[2010/02/02 23:43 - I'm not sure, but it might be John Humphrys sitting in front of me. Shouldn't he be presenting the Radio 4 breakfast programme tomorrow? Second thoughts, I think he presents PM, which I doubt is a breakfast programme].
[2010/02/03 0:07 - they gone onto comparing the McCanns with PADI diving. I think it's time to call it a night!]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[ 0 comments ] [ Permalink ] Bookmark with:
Category: Diary. Posted: 2010-02-08 00:11:00 GMT. Updated: 2010-02-08 23:51:00 GMT.
I had a terrible night's sleep last night, but at least a lack of sleep last night would hopefully mean a good night's kip on the sleeper. I knew it was going to be snowy and icy in Aberdeen, so I'd decided to leave my bike at Euston. When I got up in the night for a jimmy, it seemed white through the frosted bathroom window and when I opened my bedroom curtains in the morning, I saw a light covering of snow. Before going to bed, I'd squeezed everything I wanted into one pannier, but decided that if it was snowing in Slough, I'd need a bit more warmth, a spare pair of shoes, and a spare pair of trousers in Aberdeen, so filled up my second pannier quite easily.
Not sure being sure what the pavements would be like, I cycled on the roads, which took much longer, because I got caught in traffic. I just don't understand how people travel by car in the rush hour. When I agreed to a meeting on 2nd February, I didn't really think it through. The first working day of the month is always busy, but I had to get everything finished, and leave on time. OK, I could have left late and not seen Sarah, but, rightly so, I would have got a lot of jip if I'd have done that. I was impressed how much more efficient I could be if I really tried. I probably haven't got enough energy to be that efficient every day (a bit like the UK being on bikini alert all the time), but it's a nice thought.
Anyway, I left work at about 17:15, intending to catch the 17:42 (as I'd discovered last Tuesday, there isn't a 17:25 that I can rush to catch). I decided to use the main entrance to platform one, instead of the side entrance to platform five that I normally use. I'd already collected my tickets (on 19th January it took about 5 minutes to print out all of my tickets), so only had to catch the train. I got my ticket out, the ticket bloke laughed, and said "Don't forget your lights". Thinking "why do people always say unfunny things and then expect everybody else to laugh", I smiled, and said "OK". He let me through the barrier, and then asked me to turn my lights off because it annoys the drivers. If he'd said this in the first place, I wouldn't have had to pretend to be amused (and I now know why I was asked to turn my lights off when I went to see Fiona before Christmas 2008).
As I got onto the platform, I saw the late-running 17:15 leave at 17:30. I looked at the display, and saw that the 17:40 was due to leave at ....... delayed. The ticket bloke was of no use at all, so I waited at the bottom of the stairs to find out which train to catch. A much more useful bloke came up and asked me where I was going to. I told him, and he said to run to platform 3 to get the 17:40 which was arriving in about a minute. Running up and down stairs carrying a bike with two panniers was amusing, but I got to the end of the platform just as the train arrived. Unfortunately, the gimmer of a train driver didn't stop far enough forward, so we couldn't get our bikes into the guard's van, so had to put them in the main part of the train. Having being been sitting down all day, and knowing I'd be on a train all night, I walked and stood all the way to Paddington.
Sarah had got a two-for-one voucher for EAT near Warren Street, so had suggested that we meet there. I got as far as Great Portland Street and realised that I was at the Euston Underpass. I didn't use the underpass, and called Sarah. She said that I was about a minute away, so I cycled for another minute and saw Warren Street. She waited while I locked up my bike, and we went to find the ASK 103 near Warren Street (OK, I got confused, it wasn't EAT).
After asking several people, and walking for ages, we eventually stumbled upon it. I had assumed that Sarah would have sorted out directions, but I was obviously wrong! Anyway, as always, she was looking gorgeous. We didn't have long before her evening class started, but it was better than no time at all. The food was pretty good. I liked the risotto (I'd need to check my Scillies trip report to find out the correct spelling), but didn't like the salad. Maybe we shouldn't have shared. I was amused to find a bloke sleeping in the downstairs part of the restaurant when I went the toilet (which, like last week, smelt surprisingly nice) and had a really nice time with Sarah.
I'd hoped that we'd have time for a quick pint at the pub opposite, but that didn't happen. We were going to have coffee before leaving, but Sarah had to get the dessert menu herself, and the waiter never bothered taking our dessert order, so we didn't have a coffee, and he wouldn't have got a tip if it wasn't for Sarah.
Sarah didn't have time to wait for me to gimmer around unlocking my bike, so we said goodbye, and I took ages unlocking my bike. It wasn't far to Euston station, but I was worried when I arrived, because it looked as if the two-storey bike-rack had taken over the station. Fortunately, I found a small standard bike-rack and used that. The Caledonian Sleeper was still "being prepared", so I went to get some cash out of the HSBC cash machine (it's a good job I did, because I only had two quid and that wouldn't have bought much Stella on the journey to Aberdeen). I selected £30, only to be told that it only dispensed £20 notes. SO WHY DID IT OFFER ME £30 IN THE FIRST PLACE?
The train was still "being prepared", so I went for a pint in the pub on the station, and noticed that it also does two for one food, so maybe we should try there next time because there's also a fair selection of bitter. I read The Star while drinking my beer. I don't know why people really buy and read that thing every day, but at least I now know what Jedward look like (it turns out that they're two people, not one person). Once I'd finished my pint (and finished perving at the actress who was sitting next to me), the train had been prepared, so I went to get onto it. I had to go via W H Smiths to buy a pen because I'd forgotten to bring one from the office.
As I was walking along the platform (the 21:16 Caledonian Sleeper is a long train!), I thought that I should have brought my bike, if only to carry the panniers. I got to coach B eventually, and got shown to my cabin. I unpacked a few things, so that I could take a small bag to my meeting and drop the panniers off at left luggage (I'd checked on Network Rail's website and there is one at Aberdeen station). I then went to the buffet car to have a bite to eat (the food at ASK obviously wasn't enough) and a couple of Stellas. I ordered a Stella, and then sat down. As I was taking my jacket off, a short, balding, bloke squeezed past me. I thought I knew him, but then realised that it was Ian Hislop, so I'd just seen him on the TV before.
I had a "Wexford Ploughman's Sandwich" and two cans of Stella while updating my blog. Just in case you're interested, Ian Hislop ordered a cheese burger and a Stella. He then walked back up to the "kitchen", and said "What else have you got?". He then had a cheese plate, washed down with a half bottle of red wine.
[2010/02/01 22:10] I'm going back to my cabin now, Mr Hislop might have more food and wine, because he's still in the buffet car and chatting on his phone. If only it was a mobile free carriage and I could tell him off!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[ 0 comments ] [ Permalink ] Bookmark with:
Previous blog - Plans to Halve Smokers in 10 Years (2010-02-01)
|
|
Created on: 30 Mar 2006. Modified on: 08 Feb 2010. | Valid HTML 4.01 Valid CSS |