Public grief

Bobby Robson tributes 1
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

I've been thinking long and hard over the weekend about what to write here. Nor especially on the topic of Bobby Robson, but more the way we choose to mark the passing of someone in the public eye these days.

I can't claim to be much of a football fan. Working right next door to the ground (hey, out fire assembly point is on the practice pitch) and listening to local radio a lot means I have picked up a fair bit of interest over the years though. OK, so the only times I have been inside Portman Road are for meetings and to see Bryan Adams back in 1992, but I certainly understand the esteem Sir Bobby was held in by the fans. In fact, when we were clearing out my father-in-law's house I was touched by one old boy I met in a charity shop who, on hearing we were up from Suffolk, took great pains to tell me he had been Robson's first games master and had taught him the basics of football.

What I don't understand is the compulsion to leave flowers or shirts (some purchased especially to do so) or other mementoes in a car park. OK, yes it is by his statue at the ground, but still. Why?

Surely the money could just be given to his charity and an entry be written in the book of condolences without the need to show others what you've done. Because I'm sure half of this is just so people can say they "were there" and gave something up in memory. I just don't understand that at all.

Likewise, why is Michael Jackson still all over the charts just because he has died? Did these people going out in their droves to the record shops not want to own that music when he was alive? Not much of a fan to only support a dead artist.

Maybe I'm just private with my emotions, but I recall people crying in the supermarket on the morning of Diana's death and getting in the way when I was after some cornflakes. Yes it is always sad when someone passes on, but it seems that these days everything has to be out in the open.

And it isn't as if nobody I really admire has met an untimely end either.

Just one of those things where we all have differences that keep the world interesting I guess. A few more shots if you click through to Flickr.

Liking London

Norman's Bridge
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Growing up a mere 25 minute train trip from King's Cross, and with grandparents and aunts within the outer metropolis it was perhaps inevitable that we would spend a fair amount of time in London as children. The fact that I still like to get down there as often as possible for a wander about, nose at the sights and poke around a museum is more a refelection on what the city has to offer than on upbringing though.

Dad always used to take a couple of days off every school holiday to take us down to one museum or another (most often the Science Museum, but we did branch out), and we also went in with the Grandparents from time to time. By sixth form I was an educational member of the Royal Geographical Society and used to go down with friends to lectures which then lead to hitting the shops or a meal afterwards, which was always great fun.

These days we tend to travel down by coach rather than driving to a relative and hopping on the underground or just taking a train. It may take a bit longer that way but it is half the price to get us into central London, gives just as long wandering about and the view is so much better. From the entry into Whitechappel and Stratford past the developing Olympic park there is always something that you just don't get to see from the train. I love cruising past landmarks such as the Bank of England or the Tower and feel set up for the day ahead.

This time we had two objectives in mind but stretched the day into three sections as neither of the first two provided as much entertainment value as we had hoped for.

After a brief squint at the Globe and a short walk along the river we hit our first proper stop at the Oxo Tower. I had only found out about the viewing gallery a couple of weeks ago and it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up on for free. The view from up there isn't as spectacular as some others along the Thames but then you can't help what gets built where. I always like to get an elevated perspective if at all possible - from ground level you don't always appreciate how close differnet parts of the city really are. Particularly if your navigation is done by the tube map rather than the real streets. The weather could have been a bit better - it was a tad overcast meaning my pictures aren't as bright as I would have liked, but still give a feeling of the sprawl stretching away from the river banks.

We didn't dwell in the wharf housing the tower as the design and designer shops were (a) mostly closed and (b) not really our scene, and moved swiftly along to stop two. This was the Garden Museum next to Lambeth Palace.

I'll be the first to admit I'm not much of a gardener, but I do appreciate the works of others in making their little patches of land into something special. The museum itself is housed in the former St Mary's church and was a bit of a let down. I don't object to paying to get into these places but when they have a cafe open to all I'd like to see a bit more effort to ensure that those ostennsibly just going in to eat do just that. In the garden and the exhibition areas there were more people not wearing the little "i've paid" stickers than those who had definitely contributed to the coffers. The garden and exhibition areas were also a bit smaller than expected so did not exactly fill up the entire afternoon we had set aside for them.

Depsite my non-expert status, even I have heard of the great plant discoverer John Tradescant and his son (also John) who happen to be buried within the garden. It was the re-discovery of their tomb that saved the church from demolition and led to the founding of the museum there back in the '70s so I do applaud the establishment in general. I was also thrilled to see the casket there of Captain Bligh of the Bounty (and indeed we passed his house later on) but slabs of stone were not what we went for. Somehow I would have expected the grounds of a garden museum to be a riot of colour and different blooms from around the world, but alas it all seemd a bit hemmed in. Understandable perhaps, given the surroundings of the big city, but still not what we were hoping for. Oh, and the cafe only dig vegetarian food so I suppresed my cravings for a big slab of meat to accompany my leek & fennel gratinade with some nice Suffolk Cider instead.

That left us with most of the afternoon still to fill. As it was only down the road we headed to the Imperial War Museum for a look around. As this is one of the national ventures subsidised to give free entry in recent years it wasn't an issue to only pop in for a couple of hours. I'd not been there since a History O-level field trip which must have been 21 years ago at least so there were plenty of changes from what I recalled.

We concentrated on the second world war and holocaust exhibits as these had the most direct bearing on our various relatives who had seen service. Very moving in parts and somewhere we will be going back to I am sure to catch up on some other exhibits.

So that was our day out, most enjoyable and looking forward to the next one. We are definitley down in October to see Sister Act but may just squeeze in another trip before then. Watch this space.

Seat of Power

Seat of Power
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Did the London day trip yesterday but haven't got time to write much now so a fuller report will come along over the weekend. I'll just say here that it was a south bank day and you can click through parliament for more pictures on flickr.

Oh, 14000+ steps recorded!

Not So Extreme

So yesterday saw Felixstowe's third Xtremefest over on the cliff top just along the road from us. A couple of my cousins and their offspring were up for the day so we all went along to watch people falling off their skateboards, climbing, judoing and so forth whilst being entertained by a number of up and coming local bands. It has to be said that it wasn't quite as interesting for the slightly older observer as last year - the mountain bike display team we saw twelve months ago didn't put in an appearance and we managed to miss the alternative demonstrations of martial arts and street dancing (possibly a blessing in disguise there of course). The wind was a bit fierce at times too, meaning that the water based activities were somewhat restricted.

Still, the music was pretty good at times, with Friendly Misunderstood Rabbits and Alex Body (as pictured) going down well in my ears and with those scattered in front of the stage. I picked up the second Soundwaves CD which features FMR along with nine others and follows on from the first compilation last year. It is great to see our local councils doing things like this to promote local young musicians rather than the usual ignoring of anything vaguely like "fun" for the youf!

It was also great to see the family on a happy occasion and without it being a party or anniversary or such like. Just everyone in the same place at the same time enjoying themselves.

The sounds of today

Don't let that Lastfm list over on the right lull you into a false sense of security about my musical tastes. That just happens to cover what has ended up on this PC through downloads and ripping of choice tracks to use on compilations or as ring tones or just to listen to while I'm up here. There are plenty of artists on the CD shelves not currently starring on this hard drive not to mention the drawers full of cassettes that still get the odd play and even the vinyl sat down to my left comes out once in a while (in fact the turntable has been quite busy of late as I've been sticking my old 12" singles onto the PC to then re-use as CDs). I'll come back to those some other time. Anyway, while I wouldn't go so far as to claim that the internet has revolutionised how I consume music, it has definitely had an impact in helping me find new artists as well as obtaining loads of bootleg concerts, unofficial mixes, mash-ups and the like. But I'm still one for a physical object.

I think I have conquered my past obsessive need to own every song released by certain artists with multiple format purchases of singles and albums (although knowing that there is a 1989 Dogs D'Amour B-side I'm still missing does nag at me in the wee small hours) but still have walls full of discs. It helps that the single has almost died off as a physical format of course, no temptation to wander off to the nearest record emporium every week to see what has come out, even if that does mean the supply of extra tracks to complement an album has gone too. I do still pop out once a week to look at the new albums of course, even if I then go home and order them online. Although not as often as I used to. If you'd told the 22 or 23 year old me that I'd be happy to wait for a new release until it came in the post (or even until the end of the month, or - shock horror - Christmas) I would probably have laughed in your face. With age comes patience and mortgage payments.

Which is why I am now listening to a CD I just burnt of The Future, The Past & The Present Tension - the new album from Mark Vidler aka Go Home Productions which is now available as a free download from his site. I first encountered GHP via the mash-up scene (and have several mini-discs featuring his past output, including longer mixes as well as loads of cut & paste stuff) but this is "proper" original music and I'm liking it a lot. Lots of real instruments with smaples and other stuff laced throughout. Well worth the effort of clicking on a download link and then bunging onto a shiny disc. I'm not sure really who to compare him to in terms of style - a bit of Lemon Jelly perhaps, with a smattering of indie guitar and a love of the Beatles. That doesn't really help I'm sure, but as you can find out for free don't let my feeble attempts at categorization put you off.

I have also downloaded a couple of discs worth of stuff from Soundhog tonight for future listening pleasure. Another one I found through mash-ups who has branched out into longer mix sets (which have had radio play) and remixes etc. And while I am recommending music from the interweb you could also try Paul Thorpe in his Braces Tower guise for some fun electronica.

Obligatory anniversary post

So today is the 40th anniversary of Mr Armstrong taking his small step onto the moon and I am quite surprised to note that none of the blogs I regularly read have mentioned it at all. Perhaps I'm the only space freak out there (can't quite believe that) or perhaps everyone else had more thrilling things to write about. After all, it was fourty years ago and who cares these days? Well, I do.

Although I didn't come along until 1971 and the last few gasps of the Apollo programme, I have always been fascinated by the idea of getting off this rock. I'm told that almost as soon as we could walk, my friend Rebecca and I were bouncing up and down the lounge in slow motion imitation of the moonwalkers. So either they were repeating the footage quite a lot or we were pretty precocious in the mobility stakes.

Having read a fair bit on the subject in recent years (particularly since visiting Houston in 2006) I am still staggered by the effort put into the whole space programme and how well they did. The fact that NASA didn't lose any astronauts in flight until the Challenger explosion is just incredible when you think how many people get killed by their work in other fields with a much lower percieved risk. I can also appreciate that the shuttle has done a good job of helping learn the science and medical stuff etc for long term future of space travel, even if mucking about in low earth orbit is one hell of a come-down compared to shooting for the moon. I'd still give my left leg for a ride up out of the atmosphere, that's for sure. Maybe Virgin Galactic will get their act together soon enough for me to try it (if I win the lottery) but I'd rather be up there for my job than as a tourist. And given that we have had British astronauts I might just have made it if I'd put my mind to it 25 years or so ago and applied myself to the right kind of studies. We will never know.

Still, I am lapping up all the documentaries and stuff the BBC have been putting out over the last few weeks. I've seen some of the footage so many times I can follow bits of debris and know where they will fall during a lift off, but it still stirs the emotions. And the fact that stuff I haven't seen before is also cropping up is just fantastic. I could sit and watch that for hours. Even the larking about with blobs of water in zero g (OK, microgravity if you want to get technical) is worth watching to remind ourselves of the possibilities of getting out there.

We are having a day trip to London next week and I might just have to find half an hour or so to pop into the Science Museum to stare at their battered old command module for a bit. It may only have been from the dress rehersal, but it did go to the moon and back, which is pretty impressive for any man-made object.

And Did Those Feet

Well, my feet anyway.

According to my phone I have now recorded over one million steps this year. OK, so if I was managing my 10,000 a day this milestone would have been passed over a month or so ago, but I still think it's worth noting for posterior. Or posterity!

It reckons that's over 500 miles too, which is not bad going if you ask me.

And now the sun is shining so time to add a few more to the total.

Things I Haven't Done Yet This Summer

Number 1: taken my top off in public

I know I need to loose a bit of weight meaning I have a bit too much belly and budding moobs and am pale of skin, so I keep it all covered up so as not to make people feel ill if they glance my way. Now all I need is to persuade most of the other men in Suffolk to do the same.

The face of Essex?

The face of Essex?
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Another day at a Country show on Saturday, this time the Tendring Hundred one. A really good day out, much better weather than the Suffolk Show although there were a couple of very short sharp showers.

We met up with friends, got to see the whole selection of stalls, animals, arena events etc, ate some great food and generally relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.

And yet despite being on my feet nearly all day I only managed to get 5714 steps recorded! I guess there must have been too much shuffling between stalls and not enough striding about. My average has been rubbish recently, with the 4-week dropping from over 8000 to about 6500. Must try to fit some more wandering in, but who knows how and when.

Faster than the rest

OK, so I've finished another book and want to share the joy. In this case, as the picture may just hint at, it is Mallard by Don Hale.

Not just a simple tale of the loco itself and the attaining of the world steam speed record, but a detailed look at the work of Sir Nigel Gresley and the development of his pacific engines. I've always had a soft spot for Mallard and the A4s (I took the photo above back in 2002 before digital so apologies for the quality of the scan) and this was a lovely nostalgic wallow of a read. Not overly technical, but with enough detail to keep the bits of my brain that worry about that sort of thing amused.

A real story of triumph against the odds in some places and also, when placed against the backdrop of the political tensions building in the late '30s, a good stab of patriotism there too without being overt. My only complaint with the book (other than it not being about five times longer!) is the lack of pictures. There are some, but it could use being a fully-illustrated edition. Still, there's always the internet to plug the gaps.

Interestingly, Don Hale was also the subject of a dramatised version of his struggle to win freedom for a wrongly imprisoned man - In Denial Of Freedom - and played by Stephen Tompkinson. We enjoyed that despite the review there!

The Years Of Rice And Salt

Review: Kim Stanley Robinson - The Years Of Rice And Salt

I'll be the first to admit I struggled with this book. Not sure if it
wasn't quite what I was expecting, or if the musings on religion were a bit more than I wanted but some days I found it hard to get through more than a couple of pages. But, I did enjoy it in the end and find the concept to be superb.

As the cover blurb says, imagine a world without Europe. Not
physically of course, just with all those Europeans killed off by the
plague and the rest of the world left to develop without them. What we end up with is a series of connected stories covering over a thousand years of alternate history. Robinson weaves an immense tapestry but focuses on the minor details and everyday lives of those involved. Some the great and the good, others simple village folk but all aspects of the same group of souls undergoing constant re-incarnations. Taken as a whole, they tell a tell of staggering scope, but each individual tale drags you in to a new aspect of the world each of which could probably have been sustained over a longer stand-alone tale. I particularly enjoyed the Alchemist of Sammarkand and think I may well seek out some more Arabian-set fiction in the future.

There are many small insights into the world of the story and the real world scattered through the book. One (which of course I can't find now in order to quote it!) deals with history and what does and doesn't get recorded. The theme there is that only the bigger picture survives, with the mundanity of real life lost in the mists. The book is only a few years old, but that made me wonder if the same thing would apply with millions of people adding their daily doings to the web in blogs.

I don't pretend to have understood all of the deeper passages, particularly on the meanings of religion and philosophy but I will read it again one of these years and maybe I'll have increased my knowledge through other sources by then.

The question that must be answered

Who is Virgilio Anderson?

Summer Burn 2009

Summer Burn 2009
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

So it is Summer Burn time again. For those of you who don't know about this then sorry, you've missed out for another year but keep your eyes peeled at www.funjunkie.co.uk for next year. I also organise a copycat burn at the Llamasoft forum (www.yakyak.org) bringing together a few more people in search of a bit of music-sharing fun. You are too late to jon that one as well, but again it should be back next year.

Anyway, I thought I'd put some waffle on here about my choice of music for this year in case anyone who has received a copy of my selections wants a bit more information or anyone else is just interested.


Disc The First

1 - introduction. Edited down from the welcome message on the NME Cure cover versions CD issued back in February. Robert Smith himself invites us to listen on.

2 - Jerry Keller - Here Comes Summer. I know nothing about Keller, but have this on a rock 'n' roll compilation set and it made a suitable summery start to proceedings.

3 - EMF - Long Summer Days. From the album Schubert Dip. One of my favourite bands it wasn't hip to like when I was at college due to their perceived one-hit wonder status and the ubiquity of Unbelievable. Many people are still surprised to learn they managed three albums before splitting.

4 - The Prodigy - Omen. From this year's superb Invaders Must Die set. Thought this was the best track on the album when I first heard it, and still hold that opinion.

5 - how deep. Dialogue from The Abyss.

6 - Metallica - Cyanide. First track I heard a snippet of from Death Magnetic and it stuck in my brain and wouldn't go away. Particularly attracted to the little bass noodles. Plus this came to me last year around the time my uncle comitted suicide and just resonated lyrically as well.

7 - Heaven & Hell - Rock & Roll Angel. Dio era Sabbath reform, find new name, release killer album. Had to have something on here.

8 - Iron Maiden - Can I Play With Madness. From Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son - reminds me of summer 1988 when it was first released and now of this year in the live version on Flight 666 soundtrack.

9 - Salty Dog - Lonesome Fool. I like a bit on banjo from time to time. From the album Every Dog Has Its Day.

10 - corsets. Angela Rippon helps us to shape up and dance.

11 - Muse - Man Of Mystery. They compiled a cover disc for the NME last year and recorded this Shadows cover especially for it. I like the original but also this verison, and it was time for an instrumental.

12 - Altered Images - I Could Be Happy. Was obsessed by Claire Grogan when I was younger so here's one of her best moments. From Pinky Blue.

13 - Living Colour - Type. 1991, end of the second year at College and I was bribed with a CD to get my hair cut and try to find a summer job. Time's Up was the CD and the summer job at Argos eventually lead to me meeting MrsB so in the end it was worth the sacrifice of a few inches of hair.

14 - The Monkees - Last Train To Clarksville. They may have been manufactured, and not written or even performed most of their hits, but some times the Monkees just can't be topped.

15 - Izzy Stradlin - Surf Roach. From the album 117 degrees, which is perfect for a warm summer afternoon when there's nothing else to do but sit back and play some tunes. Always was my favourite member of Guns N' Roses too.

16 - Monsterworks - Leaving Home. Found these guys on the interweb, not too keen on the vocals but this is a good interlude.

17 - Goat - Everybody Wants To Be There. Another band from my college days that disappeared without a trace. Still enjoy a spin of Medication Time every now and then though.

18 - Bomb The Bass - Liquid Metal (Fantastic 4 Mix). Tim Simenon helped me realise that dance music was not all rubbish. Original version can be found on Unknown Territories but this was a B-side.

19 - Pop Will Eat Itself - PWEIzation. B-side to Karmadrome, and I think it was also on the Very Metal Noise Pollution ep. Part of the Stourbridge trio also featuring Ned's Atomic Dustbin and The Wonder Stuff. Takes me back to Rock City in Nottingham.

20 - Unmen - Also With You. From an issue of Volume. Never found anything else by them, but I do like this.

21 - scruffy looking. I stole this snippet from the Radio Gnome Premix on the Gong rarities CD, no idea where they got it from though.

22 - Levellers - Burn America Burn. To be found on Letters From The Underground, I could listen to something by the Levellers every day and not get tired of them.

23 - Chumbawamba - Add Me. Taken from The Boy Bands Have Won, the Chumblies respond to Facebook and its ilk.

24 - Fleet Foxes - In The Hot, Hot Rays. Biggest find of last year for me, this comes from their debut ep sold at early gigs and, er, lurking on the magical electric intermaweb if you look hard enough. A nice summery tune to end this disc with.

25 - eod1. The end!


Disc The Second

1 - sagging bottoms. Some more sound advice from Angela.

2 - Whapweasel - Aren’t Crisps Brilliant? From a Rock & Reel cover disc, I know nothing more but like it.

3 - The Zutons - Valerie. Because, quite frankly, the original deserves to be heard more than the Amy Winehouse version.

4 - Chumbawamba - All Fur Coat And No Knickers. Another quick visit to the Boy Bands...

5 - Daevid Allen - Captain Shaw & Mr. Gilbert. A brief interlude of silliness before we get back to music.

6 - Angel Brothers - Django. Another Rock & Reel cover disc tune I like.

7 - The Dogs D’Amour - Drunk Like Me. From the Errol Flynn album.

8 - The Cure - Friday I’m In Love. One of those bands where I like everything I've ever heard, but never got round to investigating them properly hence at present I only own the greatest hits album. One of these days I'll invest in the whole set though, I'm sure.

9 - Johnny Marr & Billy Duffy - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. Taken from the NME Ruby Trax compilation which is well worth seeking out if you can find a copy second hand. Loads of great cover versions on there.

10 - Black Grape - Kelly’s Heroes. I never really got into the Happy Mondays, but Shaun Ryder's second project and I get on quite well. This one's from It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah!

11 - The Police - Canary In A Coalmine. A bit of light-heartedness from Zenyatta Mondatta. The band I am most likely to return to if I can't decide what to listen to when staring at the wall of CDs.

12 - Jem - I Want You To... From second album Down To Earth, which quite caught me by surprise when I saw it in the shops as I assumed she was doomed to just releasing the one.

13 - Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly - In Between Days. From the NME Cure covers compilation that also provided the introduction. I'm probably far too old to be a fan of Get Cape... but I was intrigued by the name, took a chance of the first album and really found something I like. A
great mix of acoustic guitars and technology.

14 - real men. Dialogue from Torchwood Series One episode Out Of Time.

15 - New Order - Regret. See The Cure above!

16 - Chumbawamba - The Ogre. A final trip to meet the Boy Bands.

17 - Gong - Clarence In Wonderland. This comes from their Peel sessions disc and features Kevin Ayers on vocals.

18 - the world. Dialogue from Dr Who (new) Series Two episode Love & Monsters.

19 - The Prodigy - Omen Reprise. See above - they were very helpful in providing this on the album so I could re-visit the theme here!

20 - The Human League - Tell Me When (Mix 1). My favourite band to come from Sheffield, you can find the original verison on Octopus.

21 - snowball artists. Dialogue from Ghostbuster. Who you gonna call?

22 - The Wildhearts - Vanilla Radio. Single Version, also to be found on The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed.

23 - Steve Hillage - Still Golden. From And Not Or. A sequencing cock-up here, this should have been track 25 but I didn't notice until I'd burnt the discs. Feel free to programme the CD player to make it appear in the right place.

24 - Bananarama - Venus. A feel good single, despite the Stock Aitken Waterman influence I do liek this a lot.

25 - this is an oldie. Dialogue from Back To The Future. As above, this should be swapped with Steve Hillage.

26 - Sarabeth Tucek - Good Night. The closer comes from the Mojo White Album covered set. I like to end these things with something gentle, and this is it.

Hope that tickles your tastebuds.

Im memory

Well, yesterday was the funeral of Peter Fuller, colleague and friend who will be sorely missed by all of us who knew him. Very much a larger than life character who brought a genuine spark of life to the office. Definitely the person I made the most effort to keep up to date with when we got reshuffled last year and ended up at the other end of the building with a couple of doors between us. Always keen to help and go out of his way to make sure things went smoothly or you got the information you needed. Whenever the call went out for volunteers to man stalls at events or go out and wave leaflets at people Peter was always there, and had a great affinity with the travelling public, despite coming late to public transport as a way of life. He was very much the life and soul of social events too, and more than once it was his presence that persuaded me to show my face at functions I would otherwised have cried off from. Unfortunately the love of the good life was what undid him in the end, with his liver not being able to take the strain any longer.

We mustered 15 people for the service, which I think was pretty good - although there were a few notable exceptions of people I thought would have been there. Still, Peter's wife and family bore up incredibly well all things considered and were glad to see so many of us. In fact we were even photographed, which was a bit odd but if it makes Moreen happy to have images of us celebrating Peter's life then that's fine by me. Mr Fuller had certainly packed a lot into his 64 years and if someone is able to stand up and say that much about me when my time comes then I reckon I still won't have lived half as full a life.

Thinking about things, this is the first "death in service" I've experienced and hopefully there won't be too many more over the rest of my working life. Former colleagues have passed on after retirement, or after I've moved jobs but I've not been through the trauma of losing someone this way before. Very strange to pass his desk now and know someone else will be filling it soon, and we can't call up for advice like you would someone who has just retired or gone elsewhere.

Here's one for you, Mr Fuller. Be at peace.

Random updates

Just some bits that need to get out of my head...

So the BBC Springwatch is nearly over for another year (just some round up shows and the web stuff). I have really enjoyed watching it this year. Lots of wonderful shots of nature at its best. And even better, Tawny has watched it too. I've never known her take an interest in the TV before, but she has paid close attention, tried to grab at the birds on screen and generally sat right in front of the telly every night. Almost as interesting to watch her as the show.

Apart from the occasional torrential downpour and thunder storm, the weather seems to be finally picking up now, which is nice. Unfortunately it also means the start of the really unsuitable clothes season in Ipswich. While we seem to see someone wearing shorts whenever we go out, whatever time of year, the legs of the world are now coming out to play. And some of them really ought not. Never mind the expansive bellys and other bits and bobs that get revealed to all and sundry by summer clothes. I know I am no oil painting and could lose a pound or two, but I do try to keep the unsightly bits hidden away. Do these people not have mirrors? I'll admit that some of the ladies do suit the summer, but for the majority - put it away, please!

Still, the weather has meant I've been able to get out and about with some walking. Over the last seven days I've managed 69,392 steps - which is a whisker over 9916 per day so almost at the magic 10,000. OK, so those seven include two under 7k and two over 13k but on average things are looking up. The four week rolling average is now at 7865 and the overall has reached 7088 (grand total up to today of 744,247). I might have to start doing some other exercise as well soon in order to start the arduous task of shrinking my stomach. Maybe I'll even eat better one of these years as well...

And finally for today, why do people insist on pushing buttons that are already pushed? Pedestrian crossings, lifts - the button to cross or for the ground floor is already pushed and lit up, yet new comers still insist on giving it another push. It won't speed things up! SIlly fools.

That nasty vet...

Upside Down
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Had to take our Tawny for her annual booster today. She absolutely hates going to the vet and yet they never have anything but praise for her. A struggle to get her in the basket, and then she cries the entire way there (and back again) but is as meek as anything when on the table.

She must be at least 13 years old now (we've had her for 12, and they thought she was a year or so when we got her and brother Barney RIP) and doesn't exactly get much exercise any more but is apparently in great shape for her age. Which was nice to hear. I dread the day when we have to say farewell as I can't imagine life without her around, even if she does get the claws out too often!

Splash! Drip, drip, drip...

So there I am, packing up to leave work tonight, waiting for the PC to shut down etc I grabbed my mug in haste, only to shower my lap and chair with unexpectedly undrunk water. You'd think I'd remember whether I'd finished or not. Luckily it was still quite sunny, so by the time my bus turned up it no longer looked like I'd wet myself on the way. But the ride down in the lift and walk to the bus stop was just a tad embarrassing.

Mind you, that wasn't the dampest I've left the building, having once fallen in the water feature in the cafeteria. That was a real day to forget, and yet somehow I haven't managed to. I have also been soaked by a truck driving through a passing puddle whilst changing a timetable by the roadside. Hopefully that makes my three work-related drenchings and I can live out the rest of my Council life in comfortable dryness.

A Grand Day Out

Massey
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Hit the Suffolk show today (more pictures on Flickr if you click through from this).

Didn't get enough time with the beasties, and the weather could have been better but still a good day out. Always fun to see the farmers trying to look smart, the country/horsey types in their matching tweeds and the girls who think they are posh in head to toe Joules clobber. And there are precious few other places to get a glimpse of the hats that come out for this sort of thing. Do these people not look in a mirror at all?

12,000+ steps around the show ground is not to be sneezed at, and any excuse for some fresh local food makes the day a good one.

Thought some of the judges comments in the flower show were a bit harsh, and tended to miss the point on some of the displays (like complaining there was too much top heaviness on an arrangement that was obviously meant to be a hat on a pole). Mind you, what I know about floral design could be written on the back of a postage stamp.

Hopefully they will have better weather laid on for us next year.

A thousand years of peace

Apart from the continuity issue (see below) the other thing that bugs me a bit about fantasy fiction is the passage of time. Vast amounts of time.

Take David Eddings' Belgariad/Mallorean saga for instance - we have a central character over 7,000 years old and others who have been around almost as long. In Terry Brook's Shanarra series we have over 500 years between events with, again, thousands of years of history going on in the background. And yet everyone is still living in "medieaval" times. This goes for most of the epic sagas out there on the shelves.

Does no-one in fantasy land ever watch their kettle boiling and have a James Watt moment (yes I know that's probably apocryphal, but you know what I mean)? Do the people who build the sophisticated locks for city gates, construct the siege engines, forge the weapons and armour never tinker with clockwork or wonder how the transport system could be improved?

When you look at how life on Earth has changed over just the last 1000 years, it seems odd to me that people we are supposed to believe to be as intelligent as ourselves would not have come up with a few of the innovations we've seen over that period. Sometimes you get pseudo-explanations such as magical accidents making events repeat themselves rather than progress, or evil wizards stamping out change, but still. It doesn't stop me devouring trilogies by the truckload but at the back of my mind I'm always wondering how life would be better if the hero had a jeep or even a bike at his disposal for those long quests in search of enlightenment or a magical wotsit.

Yawn...

Is there anything in this life more satisfying than a Saturday afternoon snooze on a sunlit sofa?

Or, where did the last two hours go?

In the way

I was going to write something deep and meaningful tonight, but I'm just getting too much "help" from tawny here.

Another time maybe.

Now wash your hands

Now that the media has found other things to talk about (hoorah for MP's expenses) it seems that we are now "officially" worried about Swine Flu. Not only has our governement issue leaflet plopped onto the doormat today, but notices have appeared in the toliets at work telling us how to wash our hands. While part of me is appalled that we need to have such basic information pointed out in a poster over the sink, I also have to admit how much we really need them.

The number of times I wander into a cubicle to find it unflushed. I really don't want to see other people's bodily wastes thank you very much. So if they can't even be bothered to dispose of the evidence I doubt very much that they are washing their hands either. And I thought we only employed adults.

Still, I am sure they are all better than this guy!

So, I like birds

Just been watching this Crow in our garden. We have two bird baths and it has been picking up bits of bread from the lawn, soaking them in one or the other while having a drink, then taking the bread off somewhere else. Whether to eat or feed to another bird (probably a bit early for babies I believe) is hard to tell. We seem to have two crows hanging around at the moment so quite likely we might get some babies on the lawn at some point in the year.

Never been a die-hard bird spotter, but do enjoy watching them flutter around the garden. We have a resident Robin as well as the regularly visiting sparrows, wrens, blackbirds, pigeons, collared doves, great/coal/blue tits, starlings and assorted gulls. I have also seen a heron, green woodpecker, jay and one or two others flash through on occasion.

Last Sunday we started the day with a visit to the Trimley Marshes nature reserve - just up the road but we'd never been before and I could defnitiely get more active in the bird watching field after that. Somehow the setting (and good weather) fitted perfectly with my mood to make a bunch of ducks, geese, gulls etc the best show on earth. Was particularly taken by the Avocets and Great Crested Grebes.

Of course now I want a better camera with lots of zoomability...

Continuity and Conformity

Now just take a look at those books there. 8 volumes by David Wingrove making up his Chung Kuo series. All those paperbacks are UK first editions, so you'd think they might all look somewhat similar. But no, someone from the publisher's marketing department decided to change the design twice during the initial publication of the series so I get a mixed looking shelf.

While that is slightly annoying to the pedants out there I'm more concerned about what goes between the covers than what's on them. Not in the case of this series actually (it just made a nice picture to illustrate the point) but of fantasy and science fiction series in general.

When watching a tv series you kind of expect things to alter between episodes as there are generally a whole raft of writers each tackling their own episodes. They all get written in parallel without the benefit of seeing what has come before so mistakes slip in. What bugs me though is when things change between books in a series with only one author.

I'm not just talking minor changes either - the odd spelling change to a character name I can forgive - but wholescale re-writing of history. I'm currently listening to Terry Brooks' Shanarra series and there are numerous examples where he changed the history of the four lands in writing the prequel - which was the eighth book to come out. Fandom has the name Retroactive Continuity for this and I'm not keen on the concept. If you've established a coherent world I do think you should stick with it no matter where in that world's timeline you are working. OK, so it may mean having to reign in some of the wilder imaginings but at then the author also has the challenge of keeping the suspension of disbelief going.

The only example I approve of is RetCon - the memory loss drug in Torchwood which at least makes a joke of the whole thing.

I'll talk about another pet hate of mine in fantasy literature another time (not one that stops me readingit though!)...

Felixstowe Run 2009

Cluster
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Another good day at the seaside with old vehicles.

Pictures now going up on Flickr so click through to see more.

Steppin' Out (not with Joe Jackson)

Although it is generally recommended, there is some debate in medical circles about the benefits or not of walking 10,000 steps a day. Whatever the truth, it is at least a target to aim for. And we all like those, don't we?

I have only managed 10k a handful of times so far in 2009 but I hit my new high point for the year so far yesterday, with 14,644 clocked up on the pedometer built into my phone. And as that only records distances of 8 steps or more, and it was on charge during the evening, I'm guessing I actually beat the 15,000 mark. The 8 step thing is a problem when going for a big target as it means a lot of steps just don't get counted. Mooching slowly round shops or museums, only moving a few steps from shelf to shelf or between paintings doesn't add to the total even though the steps themselves are still taken. Still, they say you should only really count brisk walking when counting for health reasons.

We have been measuring our steps here for a good four or five years now, on and off. I have had free pedometers from Kellogs cereals and also a work and local paper-sponsored plan to collect enough steps to walk to the moon (which I don't think got more than halfway there before the colective will vanished). Neither of those lasted more than a few months of active use before being conveniently forgotten about. Plus the clicking used to drive me up the wall.

For the last year though, I have had this mobile phone with pedometer software that doesn't click for every step I take. It has certainly kept me motivated to try and aim for the 10k as being a proper mobile I do actually have it with me all the time. I confess I do get a bit fed-up sometimes when I can't get close to my target though. When the weather conspires agianst me, or meetings run into the lunchtime period I will be lucky to make 4,000 on a work day and most of those come from the walk to and from the bus stop. A wet weekend can be even worse at maybe only 2 or 3,000.

Since Christmas (when it went away for a replacement screen due to an unfortunate car park incident) the phone reckons my average daily wandering is 7131 but as it only retains the daily totals for four weeks I am not sure if that is an overall or rolling average. Mind you, the "advanced" results page gives me a total of 414,401 steps and a daily average of 6578 so I'm more than happy to stick with the higher figure to boost my ego! Hopefully I can get to the million step mark without breaking another handset.

And you never know, I might eveb manage to lose a few pounds into the bargain.

Fangs a lot!

Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.

Anyway, what we have here is my first book blog since the resurrection, so it seems appropriate to delve into the world of the undead. Sundays With Vlad by Paul Bibeau is an entertaining look at how Dracula, his real life counterpart and vampire culture in general has entered into the world we inhabit.

To get the negative vibes out of the way first, I was disappointed that in a book marketed as Travel we don't get to visit either London or Whitby, where several of the major plot points of Stoker's novel take place. I can forgive Bibeau for not venturing to Exeter, home of the Harkers, but it would have been interesting to compare the church at Whitby with the castles of Transylvania. And there are still plenty of dark and forbidding alleys in London which evoke the feel of the period and can indeed have you imagining vampires lurking around the corner amongst men in stovepipe hats and ragamuffin urchins.

The places we do get to see, however are vividly described and Bibeau gives a very good sense of the history which pervades into modern attitudes, even given the inevitable changes wrought to the scene over the centuries. I was particularly taken with the section looking at carnival attractions, haunted houses and the like in a decaying American seaside resort. So much of that could equally apply to much of the British coast.

Delving into the sub-cultures who have adopted the traits of the vampire (from role playing games to political hopefuls to the inevitable goths) we see a bunch of people who fervently believe in the powers or attributes of the creature of the night and yet try to integrate with society at large rather than just walling themselves off in a crypt or hiding in the darkness. We also get lots of small asides and vignettes such as the fancy dress store trying to keep up with demand for vampire costumes in the run-up to Halloween and the reactions of "normal" guests sharing a hotel with a vampire convention.

I came away thoroughly entranced by the subject, and with knowledge on facets of Vampire lore I'f never considered before. Recommended.

Not a diary

Just thought I'd mention, should anyone wonder, that I've not brought this back in order to keep it up as a diary as happened in the past. That was never my intention last time and somehow it slipped into a list of things I'd been up to rather than a place to get my thoughts down in words.

So don't expect daily posts and details of what we had for tea - unless it was something worth writing about of course! I do intend to go back to talking about the books I read, music I listen to and so forth though in amongst more discursive posts.

To that end, right now I have stuck Media Player on a random trawl through the music on the hard drive and so far have experienced:

808 State - Timebomb (Fon Mix)

Interference - Overload (Live)

Back To The Planet - Teenage Turtles (Extended Version)

A snippet of an interview between Jeremy from the Levellers and Simon Munnery, and

Hot Chocolate - Are You Getting Enough Happiness.

Which goes to prove something about which CDs I've ripped but quite what I'm not sure!

Tonight I have also listened to the latest Collings and Herrin Podcast (I get them here, but you can also find them on iTunes) as created by Andrew Collins and Richard Herring. For now suffice it to say that I enjoy them terribly and that Mr C's three volumes of memoirs are some of my favourite books and will probably get their own post at some point. Give the podcast a go if you can spare one hour, six minutes and thirty six second smetime.

Things to read

So, why have I decided to come back into the blogsphere just now?

Well, I've spent the last five years reading other people's words after getting fed up with trying to think of my own. Gradually the need to waffle on again has overtaken me and adding the occasional comment to the other blogs I read hasn't fulfilled that need, so here I am having a go a the real thing for myself once more. Hopefully someone, somewhere will get some enjoyment out of reading this along the line.

Some of those other blogs have been talking about magazines recently (see for example David Hepworth and five-centres) and that got me thinking about the ones I have pored my way through over the years.

There were always magazines in the house when I was growing up. Mum favoured My Weekly and Family Circle while Dad was a subscriber to National Geographic and also had some relating to his job as an Electrical Engineer. There were also two others we had all the time, but I'll come back to those later.

When we first got our ZX81 (and probably beforehand during the decision making) the Computer Magazine made it into our lives. Sinclair User was the first, to be followed in time and as the computer changed by Your Spectrum/Your Sinclair, Crash, Computer & Video Games, ST Format, Edge, Mean Machines, Mega, Games TM and Retro Gamer. I have subscribed to some of these over the years, and bought others off the shelf religiously every month but now find I read no computer or gaming magazines at all.

Music mags had a stronger hold on me, with Q, Kerrang, Raw Power, Sounds, NME, Mojo, Vox, Classic Rock, Rock & Reel and even Lime Lizard holding my weekly or monthly affections from time to time. But, as with the computer ones, I have stopped buying music magazines at present. I will still dip in when there is something particularly tasty on the cover or something I want to hear on a covermount CD but there is just too much out there and not enough time to consume it for me to be a regular reader right now.

So what do I still get month in, month out? Well, just SFX and Death Ray (and that one is a bi-monthly publication anyway). I've been buying SFX since the first issue and just can't seem to stop. Same with Death Ray. Even if I do only read half of most issues these days. Too many articles on films and tv shows I'm just not interested in, but enough wheat within the chaff to keep me going.

And then there's the Radio Times. This, along with the TV Times up until the listings market got de-regulated and we onlyhad to get one, has been the staple magazine of my entire life. I cannot remember a time when Tuesday evening wasn't spent ploughing through the listings to see what we might want to watch next week. The arrival of the Christmas double-issue, presaaged by a couple of weeks of early publications, is still one of the highlights of the year. Even if the amount I actually choose to sit down and watch shrinks on an almost daily basis, knowing what I have to choose from (or choose to avoid) is one of those things I just have to work out. Every Tuesday.

Daf2
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Just testing the photo uploading tool from Flickr before I get back into the full swing of this blogging lark...

Gosh doesn't time fly.

Normal (whatever that is) service to be resumed shortly...

Back at the keys again. Friday's visits went pretty well and while we haven't had any feedback from the operators yet the impression on the day was good so we are hopeful. Then Friday night was the wedding...

First time either of us had been to the football club here in Felixstowe. Quite a nice little clubhouse with a splendidly cheap bar (not that I over indulged on one pint, but I did buy some for other people...). Bride and Groom were great, the company was pretty good (even if I still couldn't bring myself to do too much conversationing - I will get the confidence one day), the music was good (first time I've seen a DJ at a function playing music from a PC) and overall it was quite fun. Joan danced her feet off and I stood by and did my best to mingle.

Most of the weekend was spent blitzing the house and garden but we also had Alexander to stop over on Saturday night, which was a laugh.

And not much more to add really. Joan is over the road at a Body Shop party and I'm debating whether to do any ironing or just go wandering around the web for an hour or so...

Much as I enjoy the chance to get away from the office with all the interruptions, phones ringing and so forth and much as i enjoy learning new stuff I can categorically state that today was a pain in the backside and an almost total waste of time. We were out (at the Novotel again! Slightly better lunch than last week but still nothing startling) for the second phase of training on the mPLAN software that is supposed to revolutionise our lives if we ever get a working version. But of course the data still isn't ready to go in to it (and won't be until September or Christmas depending upon who's estimate you believe) and even the chap from the firm who wrote it didn't seem to know what parts he was trying to demonstrate were intended to do. Really fills you with confidence that does. Plus with the first session a couple of months ago now the morning was further wasted in going back over what we covered then, with the afternoon deviating from plan when we started picking holes in things and wanting more detailled explanations than were probably expected. I think we were all pretty fed up by the end of the day (especially when the expected 1615 finish turned in to a 1730 one).

Must think positively about what it will do if we ever get to use it.

Add to that the late finish meaning I wasn't able to get back to Felixstowe in time to pick Joan up from work (and the message I left her got garbled so she stood around for 20 minutes waiting for me in vain) and I was not a happy bunny. Especially as she is now out at a hen party for someone who works with Helen (the wedding is on Friday and we should be at the reception later in the evening - depending upon what time they get finished at Argos as it is Catalogue launch time again). Would have been nice to unwind with her company tonight but I shall just have to do the best I can alone.

So, what else has been going on? Well, as mentioned Joan was working all weekend so I didn't really stray very far from the ironing and shopping and stuff. And then more sorting of timetables and so forth at work. Chris and I had our first operator negotiations meeting for all the new timetables on Monday, but I'm not sure if we have any feedback from it yet. I think they were pretty receptive but we shall have to wait and see. Of course there could be stuff in the in-box that arrived while we were out getting frustrated today... We are out again on Friday so hopefully some good results from those. Thrills galore with the ususal mix of emails and stuff otherwise.

Saturday also saw the last page being turned on Harry Potter 5. I definitely enjoyed it, and less of a cliff-hanger than the end of the last one, but I still want JK to get the rest of the series written please. Wasn't all that impressed with the much vaunted tragic death either - both in the way it was engineered and how the aftermath was handled. Or indeed the actual event. OK, I know the series is intended for children but I think a bit more drama could have been put into that scene. Last night saw the close of another book read since Saturday - a collection of questions and answers from the Last Word column in New Scientist magazine. Things like Why is the sky blue? (Because of the way light is scattered by the atmosphere) and Why doesn't superglue stick to the inside of the tube? (It needs damp to set). Interesting stuff in the main and looking forward to the second volume I also got at the same time.

Have now started on Sprout Mask Replica by highly recomended teller of tall tales Robert Rankin. It has been a good few years since I last read any of his stuff and I've kind of missed him. Very strange stories mixing the mundane with the ridiculous - every day meeting elements of the fantastic and science fiction but not really categorisable with anything else I've ever read. Good stuff though and I really must get round to picking up all the books he's written since I last bought one...

Been a busy week these last few days (does that make sense?). Tuesday afternoon I was back across town to the old dingy St Edmund House for a briefing from our graduate trainee Mark on how his review of what we do is going. In the presence of our Assistant Director, Director and Portfolio Holding Councillor (as well as Ian and Mitchell with Charles and Derek and Julian to back us up). I actually found it quite useful - and not just in terms of finding out what he is up to - lots of stuff I've never really thought about before taking this new job. (I wonder how long I can continue to think of this as the new job...). We also gave an update on what we are doing
with the PSA area routes which seemed to go down well.

After that we all (well, us from the group, not the bigwigs) went over to the bar for a swift half. So that was the first time I'd been over there since the move as well. Also called in to say hello to Richard and was reminded again how pleased I am with Endeavour House despite the minor niggles. However, all was not joy and happiness. While I was over there Mum & Dad's cat got hit by a car and there was nothing the vet could do. Really sad as he was great fun.

Wednesday was a presentation skills course which was held at the Novotel in town. It was pretty good as courses go, but where we should have got:

• Strategies for designing effective presentations
• Defining clear objectives
• Gauging different audiences
• Proper preparation
• What technology to use and back up equipment
• Clarity of information
• Hints & tips for presentations (body language, appropriate eye contact)

The session is designed to be interactive and fun. You will work in groups to design a short presentation and also have an opportunity to practice delivering it in a supportive environment.

What we actually had was a load of stuff about using Power Point. Not exactly what it said on the tin. And standards of lunch have also gone downhill since I was last at the Novotel (only one vegetable on offer - and that Broccoli!) although the mid-morning bacon rolls were up to scratch.
There was also a pretty good mix of people on the course from across the council (although biased towards Education) so we got a variety of topics covered and things talked about. Although they all managed to find a word or two of praise for Park & Ride.

Yesterday I was again out of the office - in a minibus with Charles doing route timing runs. One of mine/Chris's for the PSA area and one of his for his Lowestoft changes. Not a bad little run out in the ocuntry really. Most of our guessed times proved to be spot on the mark so just some minor tinkering to do. If only the weather had been a bit better and lunch in Yarmouth hadn't been so grotty (I should have suggested we find somewhere other than ASDA to go but you can't win them all - especially when Charles is involved).

Today back to a zillion emails and phone calls so will be glad to leave here soon for a night of relaxation and watching someone else get kicked out of the Big Brother house.

So here I am sat at my new desk. I wonder if I can get round the whole allocation of the group before we move to another building. Can't say I have noticed any improved group dynamics resulting from this revised seating today, but we will all be keeping a weather eye on things.

Good weekend, which was nice. Worked away at home on Saturday - and also finished the Dam Busters. Comments from previous days still apply! Then as it was released to the paperback preferring hordes I popped in to Smiths on my way to collect Joan and obtained the 5th in the series Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Enjoying it just as much as the first four thus far.

Sunday we went to the market and for the first time in ages I actually got something other than fruit, veg and bird food. OK, so only a book but one I've been considering anyway for £5 less than the price on the back. More details when I come to read it. Then a bit of shopping and a lazy afternoon followed by relaxed evening. Waking The Dead has returned for a new series and we are pleased.

Today has been fine for me, but frustrating for Joan as there seem to be loads of internal squabbles going on in the shop right now. Feel very sorry for her but not sure what I can do to help. Oh well, four weeks from now we will be in the mountains so hopefully able to forget things for a bit.

Looks like I will be moving desks again on Monday (well, I might start now actually). Seems that the arrangement of Community Transport and Network teams on our block of desks isn't to everyone's liking so it's musical chairs again to try and appease some of the moaners. So just when I had got used to a right hand desk I get to go back to a left hooker. Not 100% pleased as it means giving up being able to hide behind a cupboard (which has also proved useful for sticking information on out of the way) but I will just have to cope with that. Also a bit dubious about my new desk neighbour but that's life. Will just have to arrange things so I work at home more if required.

Not much else to record today. Still reading the Dam Busters and appreciative even more of what they went through in the cause of defending the country and so forth. Really don't know if I could have met the challenges the same way. No plans for the weekend so will just see what occurs.

As that lot ws uploading the phone rang - it was the courts over the road. Seems someone used Park & Ride to get to court this afternoon and has now been sent to prison. So they wanted to work out how to get his car home again... Foolish person!

Well, we are now on our third new Dyson in as many weeks. Having phoned the firm up and played it down the line to them they agreed it was something that was in need of an engineer visit or replacement so after booking the former Joan obtained the latter from Marion (well, it does still come in the old 30 day replacement window with Argos anyway despite being a replacement already) so I then had to cancel the visit. Hopefully nothing else will go wrong or we will just get a refund and be done with it. Mind you, I'm not sure what we would get in exchange as I have no desire to return to the days of emptying bags after cleaning a carpet or two, and when the thing works it does a great job.

But I was kind of right about Sunday - all we really did was go to Sainsburys and Makro to pick up a few odds and ends and didn't get a lot more than that acheived. We did have lunch at (no longer "Fatty") Arbuckles as it was conveniently located on our route. Quite tasty and they have had a repaint since we last went, but they have also changed menus and so forth and not the same as it used to be. I guess we will still go there occasionally (it must be about once a year or so) but won't be rushing back in a hurry. Mind you, we could have been put off slightly by the incredible number of screaming kids dotted around the dining area. Another reason I am so glad we have no offspring - I couldn't be doing with all the hassle frankly! Still, they do at least have variable portion sizes on the menu so we were able to go with small meals and actually finish them for a change. So many places these days seem to serve vast amounts that the wastage factors are ridiculous. I don't mind paying for what I eat, but object to a huge portion costing more then being wasted.

Yesterday and today spent getting to grips with my target of writing a procedures manual for the team. I should probably be doing things with the PSA area timetables but as Chris is off and has left no instructions I don't know where he is at with them. OK, so I could phone him at home, but I prefer not to. If nothing else it might encourage him to phone me at home on my days off, which I'm not at all in favour of.

New detective series starting tonight (55 Degrees North) set in Newcastle so I expect we will give that a try and hope it doesn't get Joan too homesick. And best of the current crime bunch Waking The Dead returns next week for a new series. Looking forward to that a lot.

And finally, finished The Gun Seller yesterday. Not much to say really, the plot all came to a nice end that was reasonably well paced but it hasn't left me wanting to know what happened next to the protagonists. Have now returned to the truth with the second Paul Brickhill world war two book in my collection - The Dam Busters. Again, one I've read before (and also seen the film a few times) so familiar ground but good stuff anyway. Am now in slight shock at realising it must be a year since I read the Great Escape but never mind, time flies and there's nothing we can do to stop it. This one is just as meticulous in searching out the facts and just as enjoyable to re-read.

I dunno, you spend the best part of a Metallica CD humming and ha-ing over what to write and completely forget to mention what you did last night. Yup, we went to the production of Camelot referred to on Tuesday. Apart from it being in a tent (with very squeaky frame making a lot of racket in the high winds) rather than strictly outdoors it was very good indeed. Not seen the film or a previous production so it was all new to me too. I do enjoy a bit of live theatre from time to time, and the amateur groups round here all do a stonkingly good job. Plus we won two prizes in the raffle!

Saturday's not what it used to be, so goes the Kingmaker song, and I'm inclined to agree. I seem to recall back in the dim and distant past that Saturdays were to be treasured as the first day of two away from work but it never seems to feel like that any more. If Joan is at work then I crack on with housework (and yet all my efforts never seem to make a difference - I may iron for hours but the pile never seems to go down or get rid of several sacks full of rubbish but there is always more to be found) and if she is off then the chances are we just work together. Or go shopping. Neither of which options seems to leave much room for the realxing, going out or having fun I'm sure weekends are supposed to consist of. We shall have to see what happens tomorrow, but I bet both shops and cleaning will be involved at some point. Possibly in an interconnected manner of course - especially if Joan agrees with my diagnosis that the new Dyson is making a strange racket as that may end up going back for another replacement. Makes me mad the way new things just don't work properly. Anyway, back to nicer things.

The trip to Rome seems to have been really good. OK, so Joan came back with some terrible blisters and a bit put off by the way some of her fellow travellers were a bit full of themselves but otherwise she had a really good time. Saw the Colliseum, Vatican and a bunch of other top sights, had some nice food and lots of sunshine. So that was good.

Wednesday we had a lazy day - went in to town and had lunch at The Office which opened around Christmas and we have been meaning to try it ever since. Very nice (we both had savoury pancakes) even if the portions were just too vast. Not a lot else doing though - just got her pictures done (and also the last few from Switzerland which were also in the camera - the perils of going digital meaning we have only used 1 normal film in a year!). Then another two days of work before today.

I did manage to finish A Short History... on Wednesday too. Really enjoyed it and I think I will have to go deeper in on some of the topics covered again at some point. Which may be helped by having re-joined the book club of course as at least now I might get to hear about some of the interesting science or engineering or historical books that I would otherwise miss. Never enough time to browse for them properly in the real or virtual worlds so a gentle reminder every month or so is nice. Am now about half way through The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie which I confess I only bought because it was cheap and I like Hugh's comedy work on the screen. Turns out to be quite good but not laugh out loud funny as implied by the quotes on the cover. Sort of spy thriller but based on an accidental involvement with the plot rather than a career spy. If that makes sense. Not going to become my favourite book but also not likely to never be read again...

Once again I wonder, where has the time gone? As I write this Joan is somewhere in the air between Rome and here having had a really good time as far as I can tell from a handful of text messages. She got picked up OK at 3 on Sunday morning and was there by 9.30. Really can't wait to get home tonight and hear all about it (not sure who will get home first as yet). So what have I been doing in the interim? Not much other than work to be truthful.

In fact I started early on the work front by coming in on Saturday for a change. Done it once or twice in the past when deadlines have loomed but don't intend to make a habit of it. However, I really needed to spend some uninterrupted time with Chris working on timetables and this seemed the best way to acheive that. Plus it means I get to take tomorrow off to spend with Joan without using up any of my accumulated flexi-time. Which is nice.

Sunday I just pottered about the house and got through some of the backlog of ironing (thrills!) before going round to Ma & Pa's for dinner. Wasn't intending to go round and act all helpless with Joan away, but they insisted so who am I to turn down a free meal! Dad was actually out most of the time I was there (he is stage-managing a production of Camelot due to take place at Landguard Fort later this week and is heavily into getting things to work at the moment) so only three of us anyway.

Then back to work yesterday with more tinkering with timetables and so forth. This afternoon we have a feedback visit from the firm who did the timetable distribution for us. They were a bit put out by some of the work last week when I spoke to them on the phone, but hopefully they will have calmed down a bit now and be OK to continue with the work. Fingers crossed and all that as I don't want it back again!

So England are out of the reckoning for Euro 2004. Another tournament, another defeat from a penalty shoot-out. Not the best way to be knocked out of a championship (is there a good way?) and another cause of trouble and fighting on the streets. Times like this I really hate the way people react and behave. Idiots, the lot of them.

Staying on a down note, we had a letter from Supreme on Wednesday telling us they were cancelling the Austria trip through lack of demand (so even fewer people than we went to Switzerland with last year must have booked up). Naturally we were a bit upset by this as we were really looking forward to it - new country to visit and all that. Still, they offered us a bit of a discount on anything else that was running which meant we were able to plump for our original second choice previously rejected for being a bit more than we wanted to pay:

The Glacier Express - The Jura, Montreux, Swiss Alps, the Rhine Falls and much more

Day one - leave home and travel cross channel and through France to spend the night in Dijon. So probably mustard for tea!

Day two - in to Switzerland via Lake Geneva, Montreaux and the Rhone Valley. Arrive in Brig where we spend a couple of nights.

Day three - "a trip to beautiful, traffic-free Zermatt affords views of the Matterhorn and the possibility of a mountain train to the Gornergrat."

Day four - "Glacier Express journey is a day of amazing scenery from Brig to St Moritz. During the 71/2 hour panoramic journey, it has been calculated that you will cross 291 bridges and travel through 91 tunnels." We then spend the next two nights just down the road from St. Moritz at Bivio.

Day five - more spectacular views when we go to the Maloja Pass and Pontresina and also into St. Moritz.

Day six - Homeward route via Zurich, Shaffhausen falls on the Rhine and through part of the Black Forest and the last night in Saarbrucken.

Day seven - all the rest of the way home.

So we will get to sleep (in beds as well as on the coach - neither of us manage to get through a whole journey without dropping off at some point) in France, Switzerland and Germany. And depending upon the route they take from Saarbrucken to Calais may get to touch on Luxembourg and Belgium as well. As we had wanted to go back to Switzerland this will be a worthy replacement to the Austria choice I think. And Charles is really jealous as we will be doing bits of Swiss Railways he hasn't managed yet. Hee hee. Being largely in the south of Switzerland it should be a bit warmer than last year (and August rather than September should help too).

Fingers are crossed that it all goes to plan now (they did say this one was nearly full - and yet we still have seats near the front of the coach...).

Been very quiet in here today. Only a couple of people in per team - but just when I thought that might give me the chance to catch up on stuff there have still been loads of minor interuptions to the flow of work. Must disconnect the phone system!

Really enjoying A Short History... - very good accessible style and all the info is just going in nicely. OK, so I am familiar with a lot of it from just general reading and education but very good nonetheless. Although I have been surprised by just how much I have retained from Physics and Chemistry lessons 15-20 odd years ago. I have also been surprised by quite how much of what we know about the world and universe etc was only discovered very recently. You always assume the stuff you get taught at school has been known for years and endlessly debated at higher levels before it gets down to mere kids books, but actually it seems to have been amazingly fresh as I was learning in the 70s and 80s. Also staggered somewhat by just how few people have been involved in some of the major discoveries etc - the same names keep cropping up time and again. Not always good of course, it seems CFCs were invented by the same guy who had already invented putting lead in petrol.

Oh well, weekend beckons, Joan off to Rome and me wondering what to do with myself...

Something I failed to mention last week was both David from the Community Transport Team and Tracy from the Admin/Data team leaving. So that's four people left the group since we moved across town here to Endeavour House. Admittedly neither of them left because of the move but it has got to start looking suspicious to those higher up than us if anyone else goes in the near future (David has gone to National Express and Tracy just fancied a break). Not that I think anyone else is planning it just now. OK, so there are always rumblings of change afoot (like, Gary keeps threatening to go off and drive trains but never seems to put it into action) and I would of course tell them exactly where they could stick their targets if we were to win big on the lottery; but the chances of that are so astronomically slim...

Still, there have been a few enquiries already about our still-vacant post (the third one doing the same as Me and Charles) so hopefully we will get someone in there before the end of the summer.

Joan is now getting nicely excited for the Rome trip at the weekend. I'm still wishing I could go with her but hoping she has a good time in equal measure. She thinks she will get on with everyone OK (and they are only there for two nights after all) and the weather looks like it will have picked up again by then so fingers are crossed.

Today I have had the thrill of a lunch-meeting with East Babergh councillors. Only a couple of them turned up (I think there are only four anyway) and they were late. I think we answered a few questions OK but most of it was irrelevent. Also inedible - but I'd planned for that and had proper lunch before going!

Late start for me today (like, 12 noon arrival in the office) as I was at the dentist this morning. Saw both Kirstie for a scrape and poke about and Mr Norfolk for the usual everything looks fine but we'll take some X-rays to be certain about the bone loss. So I was fine but he is leaving. The swine. He's been there the longest of any dentist we have seen in Felixstowe and will be sorely missed. OK, so he has inflicted a reasonable amount of pain and suffering on us all but generally we have pretty healthy mouths as a result. The big problem now is that there is a real shortage of dentists doing NHS work at the moment and thus no guarantee that they will get anyone decent to replace him. Or indeed anyone at all. At least we will still be registered with the practice as no-one seems to be taking on patients anywhere at the moment and we can't afford to start going private for everything. But it would all appear to be down to many of the same reasons that Joan didn't go for the job there she could have walked in to with her eyes shut. That is the practice boss being a pain in the backside to work for. Oh well, we shall just have to see how things turn out.

Not much else to say today (I am working on thrilling procedures for how to do my job). We did watch a bit of the football last night (the European Championships are on right now and England are through to the quarter finals) but haven't looked at Wimbledon as yet this year. Maybe later in the week I will throw in a round up of recent films we have watched...

And another weekend has been and gone in a good way leaving us gloomy on Monday. I had hoped we might go out one day with Joan being off but it was not to be. Saturday we had to wait in for the Sky bloke as we weren't getting all the channels we were paying for. Turned out we needed a new LNB (whatever that is - the knobbly bit on the pole sticking out of the dish) so that was £65 as we didn't take out the extended guarantee. Grrrr. Spent the afternoon moving pictures and furniture around, drilling holes to do so where appropriate then running in to Argos for some new shelves which ended up in the dining room. Going to run out of wallspace soon!

Still, the room looks a bit better with the DVDs moved off the book shelves and the books rearranged slightly (and now I have room for expansion of the collection again, which is nice. Especially having just re-joined a book club). Then the Dyson died while we were tidying up so that had to be replaced on Sunday morning. And that ended up being two trips to Argos as the first one we got had a split hose. I don't know, Joan gets a weekend off and I spend more time in her shop than I would if she was working.

Yesterday being Father's Day we had Dad along for lunch (and Mum and Richard, but you know what I mean). Very tasty and convivial and all that. And Joan got through the day OK without too much thought of her Dad bringing her down, which was good. OK, so things will focus more on what would have been his birthday at the end of the month, but then she is off to Rome around then so that should help too.

Today I have just been getting on with stuff when the computer has been co-operative!

Finished the Dragon saga over the weekend. Had forgotten the ending so that was nice to come back to (even if a shocking number of the people I'd got to like over the 6 books ended up dead). Not sure how they would do it as the span of years is quite a lot for an actor to convey, but I'd love to see a series of films (or perhaps a TV miniseries) based on them. If they were done as well as Lord Of The Rings of course. Have now started A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson which appears to do exactly what it says on the cover. He's someone people have recommended to me over the years but I've not got round to reading as yet. So I thought this would be a good place to start rather than the travel books to see if I like his style (plus it was only a pound when I re-joined the club!). Interesting and good stuff so far. More expense to follow when I catch up with the rest of his stuff then!

As written yesterday but not posted... And at last that is over. Seems we did rather well in carrying people - all three sites were full and there was a lot of patience shown by the people wanting to get home. The First started trickling out of the ground at 1045 and the last were dropped off at the car park just after midnight. We reckon P&R shifted about 6,000 of the 23,000 in attendance which is not bad all things considered. Just have to wait now and see if we get any complaints in (1 so far, it being an hour since I started writing this. But we did all we could, had up to 20 buses running around etc etc etc). Now I just have to find a way of getting shot of seven boxes of unused leaflets...

Yesterday I was on a disability awareness course. I'm not sure how it really related to public transport specifically but it was still interesting and useful in a general awareness of the issue kind of way. And it was nice to get away from the phone for a day. Of course I did still pop in to the office to check messages and the like after it finished (so still got a couple of calls in then as well) but nothing too strenuous.

Otherwise work has been lots of timetable playing for the area we are reviewing.
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Not much to add to that today as yet. Grandma is up for the week with Ma & Pa so they all came round last night for a chat. She is much better than last time she was here but still not 100%. That's the one thing I am not looking forward to more than any other as the years pass by. Slower recovery times.

Oh, but I cannot wait for Wednesday to come and go. At least then I might get a rest from phone calls asking if we are doing special P&R services for the Elton John concert. OK, so then there will be calls about all the other concerts coming up but we might just get a day's breather if luck holds out. It doesn't seem to matter what I do to get the information out there, people still insist on calling instead. Even the ones who have found a leaflet call to see if it is correct. Fair does my head in. At least I am out of the office all day on Wednesday on a disability awareness course so won't have the biggest rush of questions.

Weekend was tolerable in the main. Weather was great but Joan was at work both days so I can't say I enjoyed it all that much. Lots of reading, ironing, shopping, sitting in the sun, putting up new trellis in the garden and stuff like that while she was out. Yesterday was Alexander's 18th Birthday (kind of scary) so we went up there for dinner and to dish out the presents. A good time was had by all, although Bhupen had to dash off after we'd been there an hour or so to go to work. Which is one of the things that has put me off ever changing to that job no matter how good the wages are. Unpredictable hours and night-shifts are not my cup of tea.

One thing I didn't do over the weekend though was to watch the Grand Prix. From Canada, which meant it was on while we were up at the birthday bash. But, no surprises, Michael S won. So I'm not too stressed at missing it.

Today back at the old grindstone. Having been away at conference for three days at the end of last week (and off again today) Chris did of course come in on Saturday. But only a few emails and not the ones I was expecting so perhaps I managed to get everything right last week! And so far we have two bids received for my first tender effort... Roll on Thursday when we can open them.