thread I'm sat at Heathrow airport after an adequate night at a hotel
Waiting for the 7:30 flight to Helsinki. I've got a couple of days poking round one of our data centres ahead of me.

Bit tired after the drive down and early start, compounded by a hectic weekend visit to Norfolk due to my elderly aunt not having been heard from in a couple of days. She had collapsed in bed (possibly a stroke) but was still alive. In hospital now and remarkably improving so fingers crossed.

I spent most of the day cleaning her house - as she's a bit if a hoarder and chain smokes, so it was all a bit grim.

How's your weekend been?
permalink Eurostar to Paris yesterday.
Talking at a conference later in the week.

Which is generally “fine” but I am not well. So I’m grumpy.
permalink I'm also grumpy
'cause for some reason Firefox decided it wouldn't let me log in here due to me only having a temporary exception to requiring HTTPS; I didn't, they have changed how their exceptions work so they made it temporary but didn't tell me. helpful fuckers; without that exception, I have to assume that they just weren't sending my password or accepting the cookie that was due in exchange for it. working now though
permalink I hope you don't get the shits on the way back
it was ok, managed to get out for a nice bike ride and then a few pre-birthday beers on saturday. re-seeded the patchy grass in the back garden yesterday.

I also bought the original Lego Star Wars games in the Steam sale so played them, they are good.

Can't get going this morning
permalink we went to john lewis and spent what felt like an eternity* choosing a new duvet cover
then went to the pub.

so pretty good all in all.


*was probably 20 minutes.
permalink We had a weekend up in the big smoke
Which was fun, although a bit knackered before it started. Saw Teenage Fanclub on Friday night, which was blooming marvellous. Then various bits of nice hiking/running and good food/beer.

Could have done without the flight home on Sun evening being 90 minutes late though.
permalink Saturday, splendid. Lovely weather,
washing on the line, much tidying of cabin.
Sunday, build a TrueNAS server for backing up my network while the rain shitted down outside.

Today my Dad died. RIP mate, thanks for making me who I am :3
permalink Just saw that, so sorry mate
you have my deepest condolences. Sadly I know very much how this feels
permalink ach
Sorry dude
permalink so sorry to hear this
..
permalink Sorry sah.
Just been through it, as you know.

Shout if you need an ear.
permalink ah, sorry to hear that
.
permalink i had a quiet weekend
which was welcome after the paris stuff and then last weekend when i went to see the same band three (five, sort of) times in a weekend in London
permalink Happy birthday alistair!
*sudden paranoia about spelling*
thread A pew I was standing on
tipped over. Fortunately I avoided landing on the wood with lots of nails sticking out of it, but I'm now quite sore.

Top tip: if you put a pew in your garden check it's properly levelled and not at risk of tipping.
permalink Steve Hartley died
Happy birthday Neon Blue.
permalink The air ambulance went over exceedingly low on Friday,
evidently landing somewhere nearby.

I found out today it was out because a friend's son (late teens/20) stepped in front of a train. He didn't make it.
permalink I am not a coastguard any more.
I think i want to do something similar - maybe Ambulances?
permalink don't step in front of an ambulance
stepping in front of air ambulances isn't so bad as it's easier for them to avoid you

sorry, it's just the way you worded your question after CJ's post made it very ambiguous... I would say it's worth looking into, and your background should help at least partly. so many of the ambulance staff I meet nowadays seem to be paramedics with the extra medical training, not sure what you've had or what's needed
permalink Not sure they take volunteers,
You'd need a degree to be a paramedic (though you could do an apprenticeship degree).
permalink I reckon I can get the degree paid for whilst I work
I am pretty awesome.

It will pay terribly whilst I study though, I imagine?
permalink It'll depend on the Trust but yes, it's an apprenticeship.
And then it'll pay a reasonable salary of band 5 or 6 - around £30k - £40k.
permalink Fuck!
I am not sure I can survive on that.
permalink #1percentproblems
.
permalink The jobbing actor?
He seems still to be with us. Did you perchance mean Steve Harley?

Also, I am not sure I like the way you suggested that it was a birthday present for NB
permalink it's my birthday next week
I wonder which 70s musical star he'll off for me.
permalink Indeed
Maybe Alvin Stardust?
permalink Bit late mate,
Mr Jewry shuffled off this mortal a year or two back.
permalink Did he?
I clearly have not been paying attention.

How about Gary Glitter? Nobody would object to that one
permalink you should get a small step ladder
you have done you health and safety training haven't you?
permalink I still haven't seen the top of the shed
I might go lean out of an upstairs window.
permalink I didn't fall out of the window.
The flashing tape hasn't adhered to the brick wall.
permalink Did you say
coo! phew! pew!

when you stood up?
permalink Pew! Pew!
*reaches for the lasers*

Safe as fuck
thread Do. Two days in Utrecht for work… Tues/weds.
Tuesday night I get food poisoning from the hotel risotto. Thanks.

After a thoroughly unpleasant night with hardly any sleep and lots of time in the bathroom, I hot up, feeling awful, and had to check out, go to a meeting, climb the steps of a 100m high medieval tower, demonstrate some equipment, discuss details with an architect, climb down, do another 2 meetings, get the train to Schiphol, and fly to London City.

All without shitting myself.
permalink I was working in Mumbai once and Bad Things happened downstairs.
The flight back was horrific.

I lost over a stone in weight from that particular bout of food poisoning.
permalink I obtained a fine case of amoebic dysentry in Pakistan
Which started to kick in on the Karachi-Dubai flight, but really made its presence known on the Dubai-LHR leg. I have never been so happy to be in business class (on PIA), as there were only about 10 of us, and 5 toilets. Also lost about 10kg over the next week of shitting through a needle and not being able to eat. Best diet ever!
permalink The last time I had proper full-on food poisoning was years ago…
… in Beijing. It hit me in the hotel about midnight. I had to check out at 6am to taxi to the airport then fly to London. Horrific day. So glad I was in Business on BA… the crew were very kind.
permalink I was going to mention
that :D
permalink Yeah, I suspect business on BA better than PIA
but given I felt like I was dying, the lack of booze was fine. They were also really nice, and even got a doctor who was also in business to check me over (mostly to make sure it wasn't a burst appendix, I reckon)

The taxi ride from Heathrow back to Cambridge, at about 5pm on a Friday evening was pretty nerve wracking too. Although lets just say I was pretty empty at that point!
permalink I got food poisoning at Centerparcs in Thetford
less glamorous, but at least it was only a 45 minute drive home
permalink I imagine Centerparcs in Thetford
being just as dodgy as eating out in Quetta
permalink that's a real shame as utrecht is lovely
inext time you go i have some recommendations.. including avoiding hotel food.

was it the crowne plaza or hampton by hilton?
permalink Utrecht is gorgeous.
But it’s hard to get dinner after 8.30pm on a Tuesday in March! Kitchens all close early. Hence the hotel food.

It was The Court which I think is an indie. Quite nice except for the food poisoning and that classic pet hate - power sockets in stupid places.
permalink I don't know where to start on that.
In case I forget. De rat is a great pub... Maybe one of the greats

Brothers in brew has fed me a few times out of hours.

Hotels. The Hampton by Hilton is hard to beat and the new moxy is likely dependable.

.
permalink I did some acting with Ewen MacIntosh once
and he was lovely. I only just found out he has died, and I am sad.
permalink I don't really know who he is
but it's good that he was nice, always pays to be nice.
permalink This is not news
but I have woken up VERY grumpy today.
permalink me too
And struggling with a Citrix virtual desktop hasn't cheered me up.
permalink help me out here
if I had a meeting on Thursday and someone asked me to "move it forward" would you think that:

a) that meeting should happen before Thursday, or
b) at some point after Thursday.

?
permalink I would say before Thursday,
but this is a very common linguistic difference between peoples - like does "next Wednesday" refer to the upcoming Wednesday (13th) or the one next week (20th)?
permalink next Wednesday to me would be the 20th
Wednesday 13th is just Wednesday
permalink Oxt Wednesday
http://oxtweekend.com/
permalink that's just making it even more confusing
!
permalink I would say a) for most people
but b) if it's a visiting time-traveller
permalink Before.
.
permalink "move it back" would definitely mean postpone it
So before Thursday.

The correct answer is "Sure, when's best for you?"
permalink Before thurs.
I had this conversation on friday with cow-orkers. The this/next day is all over the place though. For me, next thurs is the 21st.
permalink Next thursday *is* the 21st
I get around the confusion by employing 'Thursday week'.
permalink oh no
That fucks with the Americans, like fortnight.
permalink I don't see
a problem with this XD
permalink Indeed
Sounds ideal to me.
permalink "Do you mean bi-weekly?"
.
permalink I work with clever people
But the amount of times I've had to explain what quarterly is...
permalink mind you
most of them have got PhDs and struggle with how percentages work.
permalink Bi-weekly?
Someone who fancies both weekdays AND weekends?
permalink The one that amazes me is their complete lack of comprehension when I say
Half four.

They assume I mean 'half of four' and thus 1530.

Tabling something too. And double-fisting.
permalink it's that not a euro thing though?
It's definitely something we have with the Germans.
permalink It is specifically a German thing
auf Deutsch, half four is half to four, not half past four. But why the Septics would think that way, who knows.

Mind you, we're talking about a whole nation confused by the 24h clock. Although, to be fair, NZ isn't much better on that front
permalink After fifteen years
I still have no idea what my mother in law means by "quarter of four"
permalink Other than the obvious
"one"?
permalink I never read the famous 5 books as a child,
I'm really quite enjoying reading them to my kids.

Any recommendations on what to read when we finish these?

Edit: Thanks all. I've discovered eBooks and audiobooks via the library. They're non-DRM downloads and you're politely asked to delete them once your borrowing period is up.
permalink Secret Seven?
The Gay Dolphin Adventure (yes really).

Not at all related except that it's old, I love the Little White Horse.
permalink I'll need something before we start secret seven
or I'll just get confused. I've not heard of hte little white horse, I'll take a look. Thanks.
permalink don't know how old they are
but get them on Earthsea as early as possible, none of that Potter shite
permalink 5 and 7
7 is already in the second Potter book.
permalink I also recommend
the Comic Strip adaption. It stays very faithful to the original material
permalink o_0
.
permalink You could always go for Blyton's other book series about 5 investigators:
The Five Find-Outers

All the books are titled "The Mystery of the..."
permalink thanks
..
permalink my child is a big fan of Big Nate and also the Tom Gates books
Isadora Moon is good too. There's tonnes of Wimpy Kid books too, they're alright.

Avoid Potter, they're just too long if they don't get into them. David Walliams are shit.
permalink 7 is reading potter on her own
and has read a few Walliams as we get them handed down. She much prefers jacquiline wilson.
permalink I don't understand how David Walliams ever got published
My kids hav been gifted some of his books and they're just utter garbage. It's clear he's not writing these for the kids, they're just a lazy cash grab. I stongly suspect that the only people buying them are elderly aunts, getting them as gifts for kids and they never read them themselves.

His whole approach seems to be that he half remembers someone describing a roald Dahl book to him and his illustrator has a style like a Lidl Quentin Blake.
permalink We listened to the BFG on audiobook the other month.
Narrated by Walliams. Every character sounded like his Little Britain characters.
permalink Also,
he's a twat (according to a friend who knows him)
permalink also
[[alleged] [redacted]
permalink I was a secret seven boy, rather than famous 5
but Mallory Towers is ripping.
permalink I struggle enough with voices in famous 5, the additional two might kill me off.
I completely lost Sooty's voice from Smuggler's Top last night.
permalink Then go for Mallory Towers
I am sure your Darryl Rivers voice is divine.
permalink Nemesis reopens next month!
I wonder how quickly I can get my 7yo up to 140cm...
permalink Platform
crocs.
permalink Where is the birthday boy?
He has children older than mine were when he first stayed at mine, which is just weird.
permalink it was my mate's birthday yesterday
he's in chicago.

My birthday is tomorrow. I am pretty sure I don't have any kids.
permalink Not with that attitude
no.
thread on teams meetings
I find myself clicking the mute button.. but then thinking.. "no the other mute one.. where I don't hear them... "

Which is rather defeating the point of being in the meeting.. and I'm fine with this.
permalink I'm on a meeting call
I'm sure it started at 3pm, we got an hour in and I looked at my watch and it wasn't even half 1. Can you be so bored you go back in time?
permalink Yes. It's the secret of everlasting life
and explains why nobody bothers with it.
permalink Because I'm fully remote I *only* interact with people I work with in meetings.
Which is weird. I'm hoping none of us do corporate-speak outside of meetings.

That said, I did go to an in-person event once and someone said "he _does_ have legs!" when I walked in.
permalink I remember being quite shocked
at how tall one of my team was when I saw him in person the first time
permalink I hope they sang that ZZ Top style
"he's got legs..."
permalink got a filling done yesterday
Dentist is a rather brusque indian lady. Dental nurse is young new lass. Dentist asks nurse to mix amalgam, she mixes wrong type. Dentist snaps at nurse. Nurse starts crying. Dentist apologises and tells her to pull it together, they've got a patient present. I'm stuck in the middle, mouth agape, in a stony silence punctuated by sniffling.

True by Spandau Ballet comes on the radio
permalink Lovely detail at the end
I like this.
thread did you know that
Jeff "War of the Worlds" Wayne, also wrote the theme tune to ITV's Big Match amongst other things.

why yes, I am round the mother in law's and we're watching ITV4
permalink Well. There you go.
I still have the double vinyl that was a must-have when I was 10.
permalink Ooooooooo
Rah
permalink Ooooooooh
Arrrrr

/Wurzels
permalink Just a little bit.
Ooh Arr!

A little bit more.
permalink *snort*
 
permalink It is real.
LOOK!
permalink Hahahaha!
Splendid.