Had a lovely evening last night - completely unplanned.
After springing an unexpected dinner on Alison on monday, she returned the favour last night. On returning from a staff meeting (around, well, 7pm) she rustled up a lovely cajun fish, with rice and stir fried veg. Followed by a bottle of wing and truely random conversation - the sort we excell at, moving from topic to topic. Then jumping back 4 threads and moving off in a completely different direction.
A classic example - from cornflakes to solar stills, in about 4 easy jumps. Completely logical, easy steps that you wouldn't blink at, leading us to MADNESS!
Talked till midnight, which made getting up at 5am for work a distinct challenge.
Will finish off the save the children post tomorrow...
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Another charity to stop supporting.
As many of you may have guessed, I'm not a great fan of charities.
I want to make my position clear first. Its not acts of charity, or small good works...even large ones.
Many charities do fine work. Small ones, big ones - St John Ambulance, the scouts, your local homeless shelter...there's hundreds doing very good work with little money. Pennies really, compared to other, bigger charities.
But what would take the govenment, or big organisations a fortune to achieve, they do with a shoestring - because they believe. Scratch a charity worker - a real one - and you find someone with faith, hope and dreams.
On the other hand, there are OTHER charities. I could name quiet a few - but I'm not going to. Lets talk about one. A charity that many would consider beyond reproach.
Save the children.
But before I condemn them, I want you to think about this article, posted below, and then tell me - why are they unsupportable?
I want to make my position clear first. Its not acts of charity, or small good works...even large ones.
Many charities do fine work. Small ones, big ones - St John Ambulance, the scouts, your local homeless shelter...there's hundreds doing very good work with little money. Pennies really, compared to other, bigger charities.
But what would take the govenment, or big organisations a fortune to achieve, they do with a shoestring - because they believe. Scratch a charity worker - a real one - and you find someone with faith, hope and dreams.
On the other hand, there are OTHER charities. I could name quiet a few - but I'm not going to. Lets talk about one. A charity that many would consider beyond reproach.
Save the children.
But before I condemn them, I want you to think about this article, posted below, and then tell me - why are they unsupportable?
LONDON (Reuters) - Gordon Browns across Britain are calling for leaders of rich nations to help African countries abolish healthcare fees when the G8 meets in Germany next month.
In a publicity stunt, charity Save the Children has dispatched a car to travel round the country and find 840 people with the same name as the next prime minister.
Save the Children is campaigning for the G8 to pay for the abolition of healthcare fees in Africa and hopes by getting all the Gordon Browns in Britain to sign up, it might influence the Brown in government.
Link
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Hot Fuzz
This week, Alison suggested we may want to go see the British film, Hot Fuzz.
Wanting to keep all my limbs attached and whole, I agreed.
I really can't recommend this film highly enough - funny in the way that Hollywood can never be. Parady beyond compare. Plot twists you;ll never believe.
And a main character who just wants to water his peace lilly, quietly.
Its quality - I'll be buying it. And you know what I'm like!
Wanting to keep all my limbs attached and whole, I agreed.
I really can't recommend this film highly enough - funny in the way that Hollywood can never be. Parady beyond compare. Plot twists you;ll never believe.
And a main character who just wants to water his peace lilly, quietly.
Its quality - I'll be buying it. And you know what I'm like!
Friday, May 25, 2007
More to life then...shoes?
Lots to blog about, so hope to post something daily for a while.
Now, old news. A few weeks ago, Ali and I bought some real trainers. I say trainers, I mean running shoes you can wear elsewhere. Definitly not cheap - only about half uk cost.
Now, why is this bloggable?
For the last 24 years or so, I've considered shoes and other footware a necessary evil. At most, I'd spend £20 on trainers, because...well...all you do is walk around in them. (And go exercising, and everything else..)
These, however, are different. Walking in them is a dream - compared to my boots (other footware of choice) I'm floating. Maybe 2 inches above the ground.
Light, airy, very cool in both the physical and fashion sense.
So I imagine my real point here is "You get what you pay for". Cheap shoes are fine...uf you don't want to Use them. Probably the same can be said for most things.
And when it comes to the gym (yep, I signed away my soul and joined one here) they make running a dream - though Alison has been less then pleased on occasion, mainly becaue I just keep running.
And running.
She'll finish then have to wait for me, then wait for me while I pull myself back together after running...
Now, old news. A few weeks ago, Ali and I bought some real trainers. I say trainers, I mean running shoes you can wear elsewhere. Definitly not cheap - only about half uk cost.
Now, why is this bloggable?
For the last 24 years or so, I've considered shoes and other footware a necessary evil. At most, I'd spend £20 on trainers, because...well...all you do is walk around in them. (And go exercising, and everything else..)
These, however, are different. Walking in them is a dream - compared to my boots (other footware of choice) I'm floating. Maybe 2 inches above the ground.
Light, airy, very cool in both the physical and fashion sense.
So I imagine my real point here is "You get what you pay for". Cheap shoes are fine...uf you don't want to Use them. Probably the same can be said for most things.
And when it comes to the gym (yep, I signed away my soul and joined one here) they make running a dream - though Alison has been less then pleased on occasion, mainly becaue I just keep running.
And running.
She'll finish then have to wait for me, then wait for me while I pull myself back together after running...
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Status update
Because I don't have anywhere nearly enough phone time to call everyone I need to, here's whats up.
Well, we've moved. Was a bit of a challenge, and the jury is still out on whether the building is better. However, it has some very distinct upsides.
For a start, its a 35 minute walk to work - more or less. Rather then a 30 minute walk to the bus stop to catch the bus to get there.
And second, we've got our own cable package. Which means we're paying much less then we were, because there's no upstairs with a hugely expensive, call the world for free telephone package - which we can't use.
Thirdly, upstairs can't be creditbly compared with Rottweilers. For example, on the monday night, Richard and I got back from Banff. Alison goes up to find out whats happening, and there is a complete change of face. From "You've got to be out on sunday" to "Do you want to come up and have a beer".
No, really.
Even rottweilers arn't that bad.
Lets see...am now on a stable shift pattern - with a catch. I start at 6am 3 days a week. And for those who doubt me, have a little faith. Upside is I tend to finish at 2pm :)
More updates later....last nights doctor who just finished...aquiring...so am slightly distracted....
Well, we've moved. Was a bit of a challenge, and the jury is still out on whether the building is better. However, it has some very distinct upsides.
For a start, its a 35 minute walk to work - more or less. Rather then a 30 minute walk to the bus stop to catch the bus to get there.
And second, we've got our own cable package. Which means we're paying much less then we were, because there's no upstairs with a hugely expensive, call the world for free telephone package - which we can't use.
Thirdly, upstairs can't be creditbly compared with Rottweilers. For example, on the monday night, Richard and I got back from Banff. Alison goes up to find out whats happening, and there is a complete change of face. From "You've got to be out on sunday" to "Do you want to come up and have a beer".
No, really.
Even rottweilers arn't that bad.
Lets see...am now on a stable shift pattern - with a catch. I start at 6am 3 days a week. And for those who doubt me, have a little faith. Upside is I tend to finish at 2pm :)
More updates later....last nights doctor who just finished...aquiring...so am slightly distracted....
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Types of friends
Please note, this was written on the 7th - and stored till I had net access again. (Online or flatline).
While chatting today with a girl - aka Bella, below - we eventualy showed each other our respective blogs, facebooks and the like. This led to that old blog entry on hugs in public.
She objected to the limited rules I proposed - saying that one of her friends hugged her. A little more questioning revealed that he was infact her best friend's boyfriend.
My description of "So he's safe, owned and harmless" was denied, briefly. Till she admited that this might be true. We then sidetracked onto types of friends - but we couldn't make a very long list.
-People from work
-People you've dated
-Friends (of other friends)
Anyone have any suggestions?
While chatting today with a girl - aka Bella, below - we eventualy showed each other our respective blogs, facebooks and the like. This led to that old blog entry on hugs in public.
She objected to the limited rules I proposed - saying that one of her friends hugged her. A little more questioning revealed that he was infact her best friend's boyfriend.
My description of "So he's safe, owned and harmless" was denied, briefly. Till she admited that this might be true. We then sidetracked onto types of friends - but we couldn't make a very long list.
-People from work
-People you've dated
-Friends (of other friends)
Anyone have any suggestions?
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Meeting the neighbours
Well, some news.
Richard turned up, as planed (+/- a slight detour...). In the end, we drove down to Banff - the rocky mountains. Well, hills. Don't let the the Canadians know they're not hills....
Certainly a long drive here. A 200km detour because of 25km of road being closed...
Anyway, we're staying in the hostel there for a few days, till we get back and have to move everything to the new place. Its a nice enough place - we're sharing the room with two people. The first is....lets call her Belle. A lovely, pretty Canadian girl (Mother, NO!) who's cheerfully, talkative - in all, a pleasure. She's even letting me borrow her laptop :D
I wonder if we can take her home...
The other....is American. Thirty plus, and also talkative. Something of an environmentalist, with Views, Issues and determined to share them. The only catch is me.
I may not have done physics at uni, but I know a little. Enough to debate the issues - and drag in facts and figures. You know me. Imagine :)
Richard turned up, as planed (+/- a slight detour...). In the end, we drove down to Banff - the rocky mountains. Well, hills. Don't let the the Canadians know they're not hills....
Certainly a long drive here. A 200km detour because of 25km of road being closed...
Anyway, we're staying in the hostel there for a few days, till we get back and have to move everything to the new place. Its a nice enough place - we're sharing the room with two people. The first is....lets call her Belle. A lovely, pretty Canadian girl (Mother, NO!) who's cheerfully, talkative - in all, a pleasure. She's even letting me borrow her laptop :D
I wonder if we can take her home...
The other....is American. Thirty plus, and also talkative. Something of an environmentalist, with Views, Issues and determined to share them. The only catch is me.
I may not have done physics at uni, but I know a little. Enough to debate the issues - and drag in facts and figures. You know me. Imagine :)
Friday, May 4, 2007
Bread and circus
Two things for people today.
The first is bread. No, really. Bread.
In England, bread is a savoury foodstuff, that can be cooked in a variaty of ways. Toast it, make it into puddings...the list goes on. The important point is that most bread is, if not sour, certainly not filled with sugar.
In Canada...well, its slightly different. The local white bread is full of sugar. It's so sweet that you can toast it and eat it on its own. Throw in rasins and you'd have a good snack type dessert. You can even buy rasin bread in the supermarket!
Its got to the point where we've started buying "sour dough" bread from the local baker. The down side is it tastes lovely. And it gets eaten in days. Sometimes, hours.
And now the circus.
As I type, the local elections in England, the scottish and welsh assemblies are being counted. Power is changing hands, from one group to another. But this isn't the general election.
In three weeks the media will have moved on. Lets be honest - by next weeks end the local elections will be old news. The local govenment and town councils control a huge amount of the UKs spending - but no one seems to care.
Unlike the house of commons, there is no great payoff for being a councilor. But these are the people that control your planning permission, regulate your rubbish collection and determine who goes to which schools.
And did you vote?
The first is bread. No, really. Bread.
In England, bread is a savoury foodstuff, that can be cooked in a variaty of ways. Toast it, make it into puddings...the list goes on. The important point is that most bread is, if not sour, certainly not filled with sugar.
In Canada...well, its slightly different. The local white bread is full of sugar. It's so sweet that you can toast it and eat it on its own. Throw in rasins and you'd have a good snack type dessert. You can even buy rasin bread in the supermarket!
Its got to the point where we've started buying "sour dough" bread from the local baker. The down side is it tastes lovely. And it gets eaten in days. Sometimes, hours.
And now the circus.
As I type, the local elections in England, the scottish and welsh assemblies are being counted. Power is changing hands, from one group to another. But this isn't the general election.
In three weeks the media will have moved on. Lets be honest - by next weeks end the local elections will be old news. The local govenment and town councils control a huge amount of the UKs spending - but no one seems to care.
Unlike the house of commons, there is no great payoff for being a councilor. But these are the people that control your planning permission, regulate your rubbish collection and determine who goes to which schools.
And did you vote?
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
I am not an angry person
I'm not angry. I can't stay angry with someone for more than an hour or two. I've never got the knack.
So little in the way of grudges or unpleasantness - unless the people involved make a prolonged attempt to annoy me. Six moths of annoyance starts to make me angry.
In four days, since Alison went back to the UK for a few days, them upstairs have made me angry. I know Ali and I are moving out...but shouldn't you atleast be civil?
For example, I lost net access for over an hour, as they faffed about installing a new wireless router. How they can afford it, I don't know. (More on this in a few days). But do they ask the one person they know who actualy has worked with wireless? Do they even know how to install it?
Of course not.
The result is a setup that can be hijacked from the far side of the world. All you need is their IP address. They didn't even put a password on it.
Would it be wrong to disable it?
So little in the way of grudges or unpleasantness - unless the people involved make a prolonged attempt to annoy me. Six moths of annoyance starts to make me angry.
In four days, since Alison went back to the UK for a few days, them upstairs have made me angry. I know Ali and I are moving out...but shouldn't you atleast be civil?
For example, I lost net access for over an hour, as they faffed about installing a new wireless router. How they can afford it, I don't know. (More on this in a few days). But do they ask the one person they know who actualy has worked with wireless? Do they even know how to install it?
Of course not.
The result is a setup that can be hijacked from the far side of the world. All you need is their IP address. They didn't even put a password on it.
Would it be wrong to disable it?
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