Tuesday 31st July 2007
09:20 BST |
When I
opened the back door to let the cats out this morning there was an icy
blast that chilled me to the bone (or would have done if I had stood
there for more than a few moments). I have no idea what the air
temperature was, but it must have been very close to, or even in,
single figures. Since then the bright sunshine, shining down through
95% clear blues skies, has warmed the air a fair bit. It is now almost
perfect outside (for walking), and later today it will probably get
quite warm.Yesterday was pretty good too. A few times the sun was
hidden behind clouds, but overall it was a most pleasant sunny day.
After work I went to Victoria to have a drink with Aleemah,
her friend Melvin, and Jodie. I met Aleemah and Melvin inside Victoria
station, and we headed to The Willow Walk pub in nearby Wilton Way.
Melvin wanted to buy something from Argos, which is next door to the
pub, and Aleemah went with him. I went straight into the pub to wait
for them. I had only been sitting down for a few minutes, reading my
paper
when I was joined by Linda. You may ask who Linda is, and that would be
a very good question. Where she came from, where she went to are a
mystery to me, but I do know she could talk. I have dubbed her Miss
Verbal Diarrhoea 2007 in the picture on the left. She wasn't that bad
looking, and may have just been lonely, or something. Maybe I should
have chatted her up, but considering I doubt I could get a word in
edgewise, and she did mention a husband twice, it would probably have
been foolish to try.
I was almost saved by Jodie turning up. She was on her way to a
gig and knowing I was going to be drinking there, dropped in for a pint
on her way to North London (or somewhere). It was some time before
Aleemah and Melvin finished in Argos and came into the pub, but even
then Linda still stayed and tried to chat to me (but not me
exclusively). Eventually she went to "annoy" someone at the bar. Maybe
it was a real friend, or maybe it was a new friend. Who knows ?
While in the pub I had three delicious pints of Ringwood's "Forty
Niner" before I went to get my 18:19 train from platform 2 at Victoria.
My journey home was nice and smooth, and I was soon tackling a little
problem I had on my downstairs, backroom, Linux PC. That problem was
persuading a new installation of Thunderbird, the e-mail client, to use
my old mail folders and settings. I have had this fight several times
in the past, and every time I have managed to make it work, and
everytime I have no idea what that last important step was. I first
made it work transferring a copy of my mail folders to a Windows
machine. that allowed me to check my e-mail and stop panicking. Then I
managed to get it working on the Kubuntu Linux machine.
I think Kubuntu feels slightly sluggish compared to Suse Linux,
but overall I would recommend it to anyone - even to someone who has
never used Linux before. The installation is simple, and using it is
simple. There is probably no need for any average user to ever look
"under the bonnet" to see, for instance, the Linux bash prompt (command
line). Software installation is ridiculously easy - even for those
"dodgy" programs like DVD rippers that are never included in other
distributions. |
Monday 30th July 2007
06:53 BST |
I was
wrong about yesterday. The sun did come out later in the morning, and
it turned out to be a nice day. I wonder what the weather will be like
for today ? Right now the sky is blue, and the sun is shining.
According to the Firefox weather plug-in
it is now a mere 10° C, but it will rise to 20° C with sunshine
all day. It may not be exactly like summer, but I think I'll leave my
coat at home today.
Once again I have missed my train to work. This morning I blame
it on what I was doing last night, and the after effects this morning.
Last night I decided to change my Linux operating system on the
downstairs, back room, PC from Suse 10.2 to Kubuntu
7.0.4. On the whole, this upgrade (sidegrade ???) went well. There was
just one thing that caused me some problem, and still does. It happens
every time I change operating systems. The problem is trying to get the
old Thunderbird
mail folders to work with the changed version. In theory you just make
sure that your mail profile is in the right place. I have successfully
used this method to transfer my entire mail folders from a Linux PC to
a Windows PC. This time it is causing more grief than usual. I spent a
fair time mucking about with it last night, and too long this morning.
Tonight I will undoubtably spend even more time on the problem. I think
the first thing I do will be to burn my old mail files to a CD (or DVD
if they do not fit - my inboxes stretch back four years and have grown
rather large in that time !), and then copy them onto my iMac's
Thunderbird installation. I have done that before, and with luck it
will go OK this time. Once that is running I will be under less
pressure to get mail working on the new Kubuntu installation.
Kubuntu seems pretty good. The package manager (for installing
new software) seems to work well, but there is one thing I don't like
about it. You cannot log in as root (admin), and root's password is the
same as the first user. Not being able to login as root (who can
absolutely everything) may be a good safety feature, but sharing the
password with the first user seems a bit dangerous to me (although that
is the Mac OSX way of doing things). I have now changed that by going
onto the command line (like the DOS prompt in Windows) and using the
passwd command to change root's password.
It seem it is time to go and get my next train. Maybe I'll continue this geekery later. |
Sunday 29th July 2007
07:11 BST |
Sunday is not living up to it's name. There is no sun, just a totally
grey sky with rain. It looks set to be like this all day. Which is a
shame, but I wasn't planning to do anything, or go anywhere special. So
it is of little inconvenience. Yesterday was far better. All morning,
and into the afternoon, it was bright and sunny. As the afternoon wore
on the clouds did begin to gather, and by late evening it did start to
rain, and then it rained quite heavily for much of the night.
After
feeling pretty crappy for most of the week it was nice to feel almost
normal again yesterday. I was up in plenty of time to do some shopping
and some hoovering before meeting up with Aleemah at London Bridge
station. The original plan was to come straight back here, but as it
seemed such a nice day we had a quick wander around Greenwich first. We
didn't do much there, but I did by some herbal clove flavoured
cigarettes from the "hippy shop". These clove cigarettes don't have any
nicotine in them, so they are a bit of a novelty item, but they have an
interesting taste.
After we had looked around Greenwich we
caught a 199 bus back to Catford and visited the pie and mash shop. I
had a bacon and egg baguette, and Aleemah had pie, mash, and a very non
vegetarian looking gravy. Before coming back here to watch a DVD we
called in at a shoe shop where Aleemah bought some boots. Once back
home again we watched a film called Made In Britain about a very ugly,
and repulsive skinhead who went around creating mayhem. Fortunately the
film has a happy ending (but not for the skinhead !!).
I took Aleemah back to London Bridge on the 19:16 train (or was it the
19:46 ?). As we left here the sky began to look fairly threatening, but
it stayed dry until I was back in Catford half way between the station
and home. Even then there were only occasional spots of rain. I knew it
would be a gamble not taking a coat with me, but those few spots of
rain were not enough to worry about. Had I been out another fifteen
minutes I would have been glad to wear a coat. that was when the rain
really started, and by midnight it was heavy enough to wake me up. I
woke up several times in the night, and as far as I can recall it was
raining on every occasion.
I have several options to amuse
myself today. There are still a couple of articles in this weekends New
Scientist that I have yet to read, and I have quite a few episodes of
"Blakes 7" I can watch. I am half way through reading a novel by Harry
Harrison, and I still have the old Apple Performa 5200 computer partly
dismantled from several weeks ago waiting to be repaired. On my way
back from the station last night I salvaged a couple of sticks of 72
pin RAM from a PC that had been dumped in the road. Nothing else was
worth salvaging, and in fact I doubt I have any real use for these two
memory sticks, but they were there ready to be taken, so I took them. I
think they are only 8MB sticks, but I'd like to test them at some
point. So in theory I should not be bored today, but I expect I will be
at some point. I think the next thing I shall do is to go back to bed. |
Friday 27th July 2007
08:19 BST |
When I
left the house this morning the sky was totally free of clouds. There
was some light haze making the sky a little lighter blue than it could
have been, and in any summer, except this summer, you could have been
forgiven for thinking that it was the start of a gloriously hot summer
day. In fact the clouds are starting to gather already, and there could
be showers later. Hopefully those showers will be lighter than
yesterday as I left work. The rain was moderate while I walked to the
bus stop, and not too bad as I waited for the bus. By the time the bus
got to Clapham Junction it was as if the sky had cracked open. It
absolutely bucketed down !
I never wrote anything yesterday because I was feeling crap with
a capital C. It started on Wednesday night. I was feeling warm when I
went out to meet Kevin, Howard, and Iain for a pint on The Copperfield
pub. The change of usual venue was because we all wanted to go and see
(and photograph) a steam train going through Catford station at about
8.05 pm. I spent most of the time outside the pub in the smoking
marquee. This was partly so I could smoke, and partly because I found
the pub to be very uncomfortably warm. After taking our photos at the
station we were going to go back to our normal venue, The Catford Ram,
but I seemed to be feeling even hotter and more uncomfortable. So I
went back home.
At home I opened all the windows, and unbuttoned my shirt. The
draught felt quite chilly across my damp chest, but my face still
seemed to be burning. Eventually I went to bed, but could not come to a
compromise between trying to keep my cold to the touch torso warm, and
my burning face cool. I am not sure how I had arranged myself, and the
duvet, when I went to sleep, but I woke up feeling really rough. I went
to work OK, but for most of the day my neck and upper chest felt very
sore, and I generally felt weak and exhausted.
By the time I was ready to go home from work I was feeling a fair
bit better, and I went home via Victoria where I had a drink with
Aleemah. That was pleasant, but I once again felt very tired by the
time I got home again. At first I wasn't going to do any cooking.
I ate a packet of peanuts, and two bags of low fat crisps while
relaxing. After a bit I decided I did have the energy to do some
cooking and went out to the kitchen to see what was available. I had a
large portion of minced beef that had been sitting in the bottom of the
fridge for some time, and was up to it's use by date. So I decided I
ought to cook that, but that seemed rather more than I really desired.
So I put the mince in a casserole dish along with some onions,
tomatoes, herbs, etc. and put that in the oven to cook for use today.
With the mince looking after itself in the oven I found some jumbo
frankfurters that I cooked up with some sweetcorn on the hob. That made
for a nice "snack" as I watched The Avengers on BBC4. After The
Avengers had finished I went straight to bed, but it took until almost
10 pm before I was fully asleep despite feeling so tired.
Today I still don't feel my best, but at least I feel better than
yesterday. Tonight I will be fairly busy, or at least I should be. I
still have no checked the picture I took on Wednesday night. So I will
copy them from the camera to my PC. then I have some laundry I ought to
do. Most importantly though, I have the minced beef to look forward to.
After an hours cooking last night (in fact it would have continued to
cook after I turned the gas out and just left it in the heat of the
oven) It ought to be rather delicious when I reheat it tonight. I will
probably serve it with some pasta. There will be far more there than I
can eat tonight. So I can also look forward to finishing it off after
Aleemah goes home when she visits me tomorrow (she doesn't eat meat so
I can't offer her any). |
Wednesday 25th July 2007
08:27 BST |
Today is
not nearly as good as yesterday. At 4.55 am, when I woke up this
morning, the sky was reasonably clear, but some of the few clouds
visible were tinged with red. Since then the clouds have thickened,
although there are still breaks in the cloud. As I write this the sun
has found a way through the clouds and is shining for the first time
this morning. Later on I am expecting rain, and I have lost my courage
and worn a coat to work today.
I saw a very sad sight yesterday morning, and I have only just
remembered that I meant to mention it. Lying in the road, outside my
house, is a squashed packet of Benson & Hedges. It must have been
alive when it fell there as it's tobacco entrails are still in
evidence, sqashed out around it, even this morning. What a tragic waste
of tobacco life.
I managed to get to bed at 8.50 pm last night. I did not go sleep
straight away, but stayed up reading. I managed to read the first
chapter of a Harry Harrison book called "Homeworld" before the daylight
I was reading by faded out enough to make reading difficult. After that
I closed the curtains and was asleep in minutes. I didn't check the
time, but I would estimate I was asleep by about 9.20 pm. I guess I
managed around seven hours of sleep last night, and I think I feel the
better for it.
Tonight is probably pub night, but I will attempt to not stay
there late. If I leave at 9 pm I could still be in bed, fast asleep, by
10 pm, and then if I manage to sleep right through until my alarm wakes
me at 5.30 am I will have managed seven and a half hours sleep. It's
still a bit short of the magic eight hours, but should suffice during
these summer months.
I wonder if anybody has actually attempted to read the wap versions of my blog entries -
http://www.sunnyside.homelinux.org/wap
So far there have been no reports in my web server statistics of it,
but I have not delved too deeply to see what is in there. I did notice
that my initial tests using my own mobile phone are buried so deep in
the log file that they are hard to spot, and my analysis software only
displays the top xx of most statistics. Any mobile phone browsing is
probably so rare that it would just fall of the bottom of the charts.
So I guess I'll just have to search through the files manually. |
Tuesday 24th July 2007
08:13 BST |
This
morning is like a beautiful spring morning. There is a cool breeze and
bright sunshine. When I first woke up, at 4.35 am, there was more cloud
around, but as the morning has progressed a lot of that cloud has
dissipated. At Waterloo is was rather pleasant, standing in the
sunshine, smoking my mid journey fag outside the station. As I walked
from the bus stop at Wandsworth to work, I noticed that the whole of
the 50% of sky I could see was 99% blue. There were just one or two
little wispy clouds high up in the sky. It would be nice if it stayed
like this all day . In fact it would be very handy because I made the
bold decision not to wear a coat this morning.
Yesterday remained fairly dry, at least I never got more than the
lightest touch of rain while I was outside. I came home from work via
Tesco where I bought a couple of outrageous deserts to cheer me up
after the dull skies. I also bought my supplies of fruit for eating at
work. It would actually be quite good if I was able to just eat fruit
when I got home tonight. Those deserts I bought, and ate, last night,
had far too much sugar in them, and my blood sugar level is probably
rather high this morning. Having said that, I do feel far more lively
this morning compared to yesterday morning.
I attempted to get an early night in last night, and I was in bed
slightly early, but not as early as I probably should have been. I was
kept up while waiting for one of my PC's to finish what it was working
on. After getting up at 4.35 am, this morning, I could ideally have
attempted to get to sleep by about 8.30 pm last night, but then again,
I did not realise how early I would wake up this morning.
I don't know if I slept well or not last night. I certainly had
some spectacular dreams. One dream was about launching a space shuttle
from my back room. I was with someone doing some last minute work on
this space shuttle just minutes before it was due to take off. I
managed to finish what I was doing and got clear, but my co-worker was
slower and was still on the outside when it took off. I was sure he
would be killed, as no one could survive falling through the fiery
blast of the rocket engines. I was in my front room when it blasted
off, and the glare of the rocket exhaust lit up the room even though
the door was only open a crack. After it had taken off I inspected the
back room and saw that there was some minor damage to the ceiling (!),
but was not worried as I knew that NASA would pay for it to be
repaired. When I went back into the front room I noticed a pile of
bright orange sheeting in the corner. When I inspected it I found it
was a parachute and my co-worker had somehow managed to save himself
and was alive.
A second dream was rather interesting. I was in a car following a
van that delivered drinking water to work (which is a pure fiction),
and in front of that was another car being driven by (I think) my
friend Ivor. We were going down a dual carriageway very fast, and every
time the car in front of the van approached a speed camera it would
slow down, and then accelerate away again at full power. This caused
some wheel spin and a threw up some gravel and smoke from the tyres.
The dream itself, while exciting, was not the bit I found interesting
when I woke up. What stirred my interest was the flying gravel and
smoke. To produce that as a perfectly realistic visual effect on a PC
would take a lot of computing power , and could take hours, or even
days of computing time. It is sort of amazing to think that my brain
was "inventing" what seemed like a realistic image in real time. I'm
just so glad that my brain does not run Microsoft software !!
I have no idea what I will be doing tonight, but I have a funny feeling it will involve getting to sleep very early ! |
Monday 23rd July 2007
06:49 BST |
It is a
very dull morning. There has been some light drizzle earlier on, and I
expect that there will be more. This is a bit of a contrast compared to
yesterday. I can't recall if there was any rain yesterday, but if there
was it was very brief, and very light. Most of the day was fairly sunny
with lots of white fluffy clouds in the sky.
Yesterday did not turn out anything like I imagined. I spent
several hours doing maintenance on my server. There were many security
patches to install, and a few broken things that I fixed. For instance,
I now get all the mail for root forwarded to my e-mail address. That
has stopped working, for unknown reasons, quite a few months ago. The
most likely reason, although it is only a guess, is that some previous
security update had altered a configuration file, or maybe even altered
where the configuration file was stored. Whatever it actually was I
seem to have got it working again.
Another thing I had a play with was to make a set of new pages
specifically for browsing on a mobile phone. There is a brief index
page, and I am currently thinking of just putting plain text versions
of the last five days of these diary entries. If you can afford the
extortionate rates of web access on your mobile phone you can check
http://www.sunnyside.homelinux.org/wap to see the index page and links
to the previous two entries in this diary (I say previous two entries
rather than the last two days because I didn't write anything on
Saturday). Depending on the mobile tariff you are on it may not cost
too much. On my pay-as-you-go Virgin phone it cost 6p to read the index
page, and the entry for yesterday. I suppose that is not too bad, but I
would not like to make a habit of it. I will probably add today's entry
(what you are reading right now) sometime tonight after I get in from
work.
I am obviously not at work yet, and in fact as I started to write
this I should have been half way to the station. Unfortunately it is
another of those mornings where everything is taking a little longer
than expected. If I did not have to shave, and if I had neglected to
wash my hair, I would have been ready to go out in plenty of time, but
my hair definitely needed a good shampoo, and it is too early in the
year to consider growing my beard back. So it looks like I will be
getting the 07:30 train - which I hate. It is always very crowded.
Now I am just left with a couple of questions. Who was the girl
in the light blue sweater, and the dark hair with a hint of a coppery
sheen to it, who appeared in my dreams last night ? Did I actually own,
or did I hire the double decker bus where I was hoping certain carnal
pleasures would eventually happen ? Sometimes dreams can be wonderful,
but wouldn't it be great if they came true. I am not worried about the
bus, but that girl, or more properly, woman (late thirties ?) was very,
very beautiful ! |
Sunday 22nd July 2007
07:53 BST |
This
morning the cloud has a few blue bits showing through, but none of
these has aligned with the sun, and it is rather gloomy outside. I
think we are going to see another heavy shower or two today. Perhaps it
will be like yesterday. Yesterday was actually mostly bright, but there
were two very heavy showers, and maybe a couple of lighter ones. It
seemed sufficiently dry for the couple of times I went out to meet
Aleemah at London Bridge, and to see her back at London Bridge after
she had spent the afternoon here, that I dared go out without a coat
on. Unfortunately I did get rained on as we walked from the high street
back to home. It was not very heavy rain, but for the few minutes I was
out in it my t-shirt did get pretty wet.
I met Aleemah a little earlier than planned at London Bridge,
although it was only ten minutes earlier. We still got the same train
back to Catford, but it did give us a little more time to enjoy a fag
outside the station. Once back in Catford we headed for the pie and
mash shop which now seems to be a standard feature when Aleemah comes
to visit me. It was half way through walking back from there that the
rain partially soaked my t-shirt. The main feature for the afternoon
was to watch the film "Trainspotting" that Aleemah had brought over on DVD.
Aleemah left half an hour earlier than usual, but that still
wasn't early enough for the four-trains-an-hour service to/from London
Bridge. With trains only every thirty minutes back to Catford from
London Bridge, and only a small window to say goodbye before
catching the next train home, I didn't have time to smoke a fag at
London Bridge. Prior to the smoking ban I would always have time for a
smoke on the platform, and it is such an ingrained habit that it is
really unpleasant for me to do the two way trip without a fag in the
middle. Like last week, I took a bit of nicotine gum to chew while
waiting for my train, and to chew on the train. It helps a bit, but it
is like being offered a stale cheese sandwich when you are starving and
really want a chicken tikka massala with all the trimmings.
I had a dream last night/this morning concerning Catford Bridge station.
I think it was inspired by what happened as I was about to get off the
train after seeing Allemah off at London Bridge last night. There was a
young woman who seemed almost oblivious to me trying to get off the
train. She practically bumped into me before she realised I was in the
way as I attempted to get off the train. In my dream the woman was
replaced by three schoolkids, all rather bizzarely wearing pin stripe
suits, who jumped onto the step outside the train doors while the train
was still stopping. They successfully hung on somehow, but for the last
couple of yards that the train travelled before coming to a stop, they
knocked down about four other people. The other peculiar thing was that
the station seemed to be "inside out". The tracks were on the outside
of the platforms leaving the area between the platforms as just rough
ground with grass, trees, and shrubs (very much like the trackside is
now since privatisation of the railways has killed any pride by the
gangs who used to maintain both the tracks and the trackside).
Upon waking up form the dream I started to think how Catford
Bridge station has changed since my earliest memories of it. The most
obvious change is that the siding have gone. These supported both a
coal merchant as well as general goods and a parcels office. On the up
platform (towards London) there used to be a signal box to control both
the through lines and the sidings. There was no footbridge over the
tracks, and this meant that both platforms had their own ticket
offices. The one on the up platform was the bigger ticket office, and
was manned throughout the day, while the office on the down platform
was much smaller and not always open. The up platform ticket office is
now closed off and all tickets are bought either from the quickfare
machine outside the station or the enlarged down platform ticket office
(whose opening hours have recently been reduced, and is often closed
even during those hours). As far as I can recall there was only a basic
gents toilet on the down platform, but the up platform could boast full
ladies and gents toilets, plus waiting rooms for both sexes. There was
also a small WH Smiths shop selling newspapers and magazines that had
counters on both the outside of the station and in the ticket office. I
cannot remember the exact layout of that WH Smiths, and as I try and
think about it I feel confused as to whether the second counter of WH
Smiths faced onto the road, or onto the platform. I do remember that
adjacent to the roadside entrance of the up platform ticket office was
the shop of the coal merchant who used to get his deliveries to the
sidings.
I don't know what I am going to do today. There is a microscopic
chance that I may be able to meet up with Dee for another drink. If the
day stays dry I might get out into the garden and do some clearance
work there. I might just stay in and read a book. I suspect the latter
option may be the one I will end up doing. |
Friday 20th July 2007
13:12 BST |
Today has
only just started ! All morning the sky was a dark grey colour
punctuated by occasional falls of drizzle. At midday we had a
torrential downpour with some nearby thunder and lightning. In the last
twenty minutes the sun has shone for the first time today. There is a
still a lot of cloud in the sky, but at least there is some blue
visible through the cracks. I am not terribly optimistic, but it is
possible that the rest of the day may be reasonable. At the very least
it won't be neccesary to turn on the light to see your way across the
room as it almost was a couple of hours ago.
Yesterday the weather was a lot kinder. I assume that much of the
morning was reasonably bright. I seemed to spend between about 8am to
11pm asleep ! When I went out to meet Dee there was no direct sunshine,
but it was fairly bright outside. By pure coincidence we met by one of
the cash machines in Catford, and once I had some cash in my wallet we
walked over the road to the London & Rye, the Catford Wetherspoons
pub. I was most pleased to see ashtrays on the tables outside the pub,
but less pleased to see all the tables in use. Fortunately within
minutes of sitting down inside the pub we were able to grab a new
vacated table outside. Dee is one of the truly wonderful people who
doesn't smoke herself, but strongly disagrees with the smoking ban. So
I was able to smoke away to my hearts content while enjoying some good
company, and good beer.
We stayed drinking in there for just about three hours. By which
time I considered I had drunk more than enough. When we left the pub we
had a quick trip around Tesco. I had drunk a little too much to
remember everything I had intended to buy, but not so drunk that I
bought stuff I didn't want. After the shopping I invited Dee back home,
but she declined and we went our own separate ways.
It was not long after getting home that my hangover started. It
wasn't terrible, but then again it was not pleasant. Once it had
subsided I felt hungry and decided to treat myself to some Thai food
from a local restaurant who had recently dropped an enticing menu
through my door. It was fairly expensive compared to chinese food, so I
did not order that much. It was still too much to eat at one sitting
though, and I left a substantial portion for breakfast. In fact I ate
some more of it when I woke up at 3am this morning. With no work today,
I didn't attempt to get back to sleep after waking up, but went
downstairs and played on the computer there. It was while I was waiting
for a download to finish that I fancied a snack. I was up for at least
two hours before going back to bed.
This morning I was up as usual at 5.30 am to feed the cats, but
after an hours, or so, I went back to bed, and did not finally get up,
washed, and dressed until gone 10 am. Since then I have done very
little. I had my breakfast of cold rice with hot and spicy fish sauce
poured on it (the last of the Thai takeaway), and fixed the dripping
tap in the kitchen. Other than that I have either spent my time on the
computer, or indulged in some reading. There was a vague plan to go
over to Dulwich to have a drink with Ivor and Iain at lunchtime, but
with a thunderstorm raging nearby, and rain falling like Niagara Falls
at the time I would have been leaving here, I decided to be a coward
and stay at home as a dry coward instead of a wet hero !
For the rest of the day I don't know what to do. I have recently
had some lunch and so have another snooze soon. After that, one thing I
could do is some housework to make the place look a bit tidier if
Aleemah visits tomorrow. |
Thursday 19th July 2007
06:49 BST |
The day
has started just fine. Maybe half the sky is covered by thin clouds,
but the rest of the sky is blue. It is quite chilly this morning, but I
expect it will soon warm up. Yesterday was remarkably similar to the
day before. Even down to the heavy shower sometime between midday and 1
pm. By 2 pm the sun was feeling remarkably hot, although the air
temperature remained merely warm. I will be quite happy if today
follows the pattern of the last two days.
The seminar I wrote about yesterday actually happened at 3 pm,
and in consequence I did not get away from work until five or ten
minutes past four. Knowing that I had no chance of catching my 16:31
train at Waterloo East, I took it easy as I made my way from work to
Waterloo. I managed to get the fast train from Clapham Junction, which
is something I haven't managed to do since the smoking ban came into
force. That made a nice change. At Waterloo I had plenty of time to
spare for a fag. In fact I had time for two, but only had the one. It
seems some production company had been filming some scenes for the TV
series "Spooks" shortly before I arrived at Waterloo. As I smoked my
fag I watched them packing their gear away.
I got my phone call to say we were drinking in The Ram rather
late last night. It was sometime after 7.30 pm (when we usually meet),
and I was close to start cooking some pasta extravaganza for my dinner.
Fortunately I had not started that, nor had I eaten too much to enjoy a
few beers. Initially I met Iain and Howard in the pub, but Kevin, with
his badly bruised and battered arm, turned up shortly afterwards.
For most of the time we were in the pub there were only 11
customers in there (including ourselves). Out of those 11 I noticed
that at least 4 of us were smokers and popped outside for a smoke from
time to time. What a way to enjoy an evening ! It may have been as late
as 9.30pm when another small crowd of 5 or 6 people came in, but the
pub was exceptionally quiet since the smoking ban.
Today (and tomorrow) I am taking some of my holiday allocation. I
fancied a couple of days off despite not having anything specific to
do. Since asking for the time off I have managed to plan something for
today. I am meeting up with Dee for a couple of drinks this afternoon.
We are meeting at 2 pm, and I hope that the midday rain shower will
have done it's stuff and leave us with a sunny afternoon. (Of course
that is midday at Wandsworth. I have no idea what time it has been
raining in Catford for the previous two days).
Although I am up at my normal time for a work day, I will soon
luxuriate in being able to go back to bed again. It is possible that I
will sleep for another hour or two, or it is equally possible that I
will only be able to doze off for a short snooze. It doesn't really
matter. The only thing I plan to do before meeting Dee is to do a bit
of shopping (and then try not to eat it until after I have been for my
drink). Anything else I may do before, or after, the drink, will be
purely spur of the moment. |
Wednesday 18th July 2007
08:15 BST |
I have a
strong feeling that today will be similar to yesterday. There was no
overnight rain, but the day started fairly bright. It has clouded over
a bit now, but the cloud will hopefully break up again soon. Yesterday
there was only one downpour of rain, and that was sometime between
midday and 1pm. I was quite surprised when I went out for a fag and saw
that everywhere was wet and glistening. This morning is far more humid
than how I recall yesterday morning. Whether that will have any effect
on the overall weather today is something I can't even begin to guess
at. So I am mainly relying on the fact that in general, today's weather
will be the same as yesterday. In which case I neededn't worry about
not bringing a coat to work again.
Nothing much happened last night. I didn't even get arrested (yet
!) for publishing the plans for a rocket that advanced terrorists could
use to attack the houses of parliament with (scroll down to below
yesterday's first entry). Not only did nothing happen last night, but
nothing happened in the afternoon. The seminar I was due to attend was
postponed until 11am today. This morning I found that it will include
power point presentations - ugh !
Tonight is traditionally drinking night with Kevin and/or Iain
(and sometimes even Howard). I'm not sure if any drinking will be going
on, but I find myself facing a dilemma. I am taking a day off work
tomorrow and could stay late at the pub, but with no smoking in there I
do not want to spend that much time in there. I don't quite know how I
will resolve that conflict yet. |
Tuesday 17th July 2007
08:14 BST |
After
overnight rain, the clouds have thinned out, and there have been lots
of sunny intervals. The forecast is for some thundery showers around
lunchtime, but I am relying on the sun coming out again at 4pm when it
is time for me to go home from work. Once again I taken the risk of not
bringing a coat to work. I got away with it yesterday, and I hope I can
repeat it again today. It certainly made going home a lot more pleasant
yesterday.
As well as overnight rain, the humidity and temperature fell to
quite low values. I have no idea what the lowest temperature was, but I
woke up in the night feeling very cold. I had been sleeping with no
covers on, but even when it was coldest it felt too warm with the duvet
on. Eventually I did the usual compromise and left a leg, and both
arms, outside the duvet and got back to sleep that way.
My disturbed sleep seemed to produce some interesting dreams.
Unfortunately I can only remember a few brief snatches of three dreams.
In one dream I was with my friend Ivor, and we were talking about the
state of modern music. At one point, to illustrate a point, Ivor sang a
couple of lines of an old classic song. I cannot ever recall Ivor
singing before, but if he could sing that well in real life he is in
the wrong job. Annoyingly, I cannot remember what it was he sang. One
brief snatch of another dream was of me clearing a blockage in my
toilet using a cricket bat. It seemed to work quite well !
The last dream was quite complicated and the details have almost
evaporated now. I seem to recall getting quite annoyed because my
brother was attempting to shrink the size of my bathroom. For some
reason he considered it to be a waste of space. I am not sure how he
was attempting to shrink it because he didn't seem to be doing anything
to the walls, but just moving furniture around. I think he was making
comparisons to the remarkably compact bathroom (maybe shower room would
be more exact) that he had in a modern built house he once lived in.
For some now unknown reason, my friend Kevin also appeared in this
dream. I can't really remember any more than that apart from getting
really annoyed as I attempted to wash my hair.
This afternoon I am attending a seminar given by Dr Paul Jones
about one of our new products here at work. It sounds very grand, but
it will only be a chat around a table in the meeting room. Or at least
that is what I believe it will be. Hopefully it will finish on time, or
I will be getting away from work late............although, come to
think of it, it may be better if it does over run a bit. If it finishes
on time I will probably have to rush like mad to get my early train
from Waterloo East station. It is a long wait for the next one, and
with no smoking allowed on the platform it will be nightmarish to wait
around. On the other hand, if I left work, say, 10 minutes late, I
could have a fag outside Clapham Junction station, and have time for a
fag, or two, at Waterloo before a casual stroll over to Waterloo East,
carefully timed to minimise the waiting for the late train from
there. |
Tuesday 17th July 2007
18:35 BST |
| I've just
read that a man has been arrested on terrorism charges for attempting
to bring plans for a rocket into the country. I am still hoping that
some bunch of loony terrorists will blow up all those responsible for
the smoking ban. So I am going to help them by publishing some plans
for a rocket myself :- Diagram 1 : Diagram 2 |
Monday 16th July 2007
08:23 BST |
This
morning it is very humid, and I feel bad. A little brightness did peep
through the clouds earlier this morning, but it is now very grey
outside, and it feels like it is brewing up for a storm.
Saturday was fairly bright and cheerful, and I think it stayed
dry all day. Sunday started OK, but the storm clouds gathered and we
had an almighty downpour during the afternoon. It may be just me, but
it seemed as if the humidity, that normally feels like it goes down
after a good storm, did not stay down for too long. By night time it
was feeling very close again, and during the night it felt quite
oppressive.
There is not much to say about either Saturday, or Sunday. On Saturday Aleemah came over and we watched series one of "The Young Ones" which she had bought on DVD. On Sunday I did very little apart from eat and watch some ancient black and white TV recordings.
The particular black and white TV was some old episodes of "Danger Man".
It was fascinating to watch how the series developed over the
years. I watched five assorted episodes, some from the first
series of 30 minute shows, and some from the later series of 60 minute
shows. there are lots of trivia about the Danger Man series in the link
I have provided, but I want to comment on the feel of the shows.
Despite being made over 40 years ago they are still entertaining. They
have a simplicity in style that strips away any crap and just leaves a
story to be told. I believe they were made to a very strict budget,
despite many apparently overseas locations, but the production is still
tight enough that the focus is still on the story. They make many
modern TV shows look very cluttered, and maybe this is why modern TV is
so unmemorable.
I don't know if it was something in particular that I ate
yesterday, or maybe it was just a combination of a lot of things, but I
woke up at 2am believing I was about to throw up. I didn't, but I did
have to visit the toilet quite a few times for the 30 minutes I was
awake with stomach ache in the middle of the night. A few indigestion
tablets may have helped as well, During the whole sorry episode I was
sweating most profusely. Eventually I felt stable enough to lie down,
and was soon asleep again. It carried on, including the sweats, when I
woke up this morning. I felt pretty rotten as I came to work, and I
still feel pretty lousy even now. The nausea seems to have gone, but I
do ache a bit here and there. Still, I seem to be improving, and
hopefully I will be "firing on all cylinders" when I go home tonight. I
was too hot and sweaty to wear a coat this morning, so I am keeping my
fingers crossed that any thunderstorms we get today are not between 4
and 5pm ! |
Friday 13th July 2007
08:30 BST |
The curse
of Friday the thirteenth may have already struck ! I was a little slow
finishing my fag outside Waterloo station this morning and missed my
train by mere seconds. The curse was that the next train was cancelled.
Fortunately the train after that, a mere twelve minutes after the train
I originally wanted, was running OK, and I was not too late getting to
work.
The weather this morning is very overcast, and it feels quite
humid. Apparently it may brighten up later this afternoon. Last night
felt very humid. I went home via Tesco's and then struggled to carry
four heavy bags of shopping home. I was already feeling quite warm and
sticky after getting off the train, but by the time I had got my four
heavy bags of shopping home I was dripping. It took some time to cool
down again, and even then there was a certain closeness to the air that
has persisted through to this morning.
I didn't do, or achieve, anything of note last night, but I did eat a very traditional English dinner. It was pease pudding and faggots.
Although traditional, the variety I had was hardly the same as my
childhood memories. The tinned pease pudding (branded Foresight) is
homogenised to the point of just being a thick paste, and has no
texture at all. The faggots, as noted in the wikipedia article,
bear no resemblance to the traditional recipe. Nevertheless it was a
pleasant change. I am tempted to try and seek out some alternative
makes of both pease pudding and faggots. As a child there was an
excellent butchers shop in the middle of the high street who used to
sell ready to eat hot pease pudding and faggots. That was really tasty.
The pease pudding had an almost nutty texture, and the faggots were
made with real meat and offal (and probably a few dead flies as well).
They had, from memory, quite a coarse texture, and were definitely
chewy. The "Mr Brains" faggots I ate last night were almost certainly
made from "mechanically recovered" meat, and were almost just a very
stiff paste.
Tonight I am torn between some large German (but made in France)
Frankfurters, or some pasta based dish. Both have their attractions. If
I have the Frankfurters I could easily believe they were saveloys
, and I would serve them with more pease pudding - which is also a
favoured combination from my childhood (and available from the same
butchers mentioned earlier). We used to eat healthily in those days !!! |
Thursday 12th July 2007
08:21 BST |
Upon
arrival in Wandsworth this morning, I was assaulted by a fine, misty,
rain. It was dull and gloomy from the moment I woke up, and there seems
little prospect of the weather improving. I woke up, or was helped to
wake up by Nelly, at 04:50 this morning. This was rather earlier than I
would have liked, especially after getting to bed later than I would
have liked, but once awake I find it difficult to get back to sleep
knowing I will have to wake up again in thirty minutes. So this morning
I am feeling sort of rough.
I feel rough in all sorts of ways. I am obviously tired from lack
of sleep, but as well as that I seem to have developed a bit of a
smokers cough since the smoking ban came into force. I try and smoke as
many fags as I can, but inevitably there are times when I am forced to
miss out on a few vital fags. It
seems almost certain that this malicious, and evil, government planned
the wet weather we are having to coincide with the smoking ban. They
know that some smokers have bad chests, and by forcing us out into the
rain to smoke they know that it will help kill off the dissidents
without raise to much of a fuss. Fortunately I know (the voices in my
head told me) that this present corrupt and uncaring government will
soon be overthrown by super genetically enhanced dinosaurs grown in
vats in alien spacecraft. So this winter will see the return of indoor
smoking, and everybody will be saved. (Written in green ink in the
traditional style of conspiracy theorists - allegedly).
Last night I met Aleemah at
Victoria for a quick drink. We found a pub outside the station called
The Willow Walk (or something very similar). It did not have a beer
garden so we had to go outside to smoke. To my surprise it was Aleemah
who went out for a smoke first. She had not had a fag since lunchtime
whereas I popped outside for a fag as soon as I got off the train. The
pub itself was a Wetherspoons pub, and had quite a range of ales
available. I tried three different ales that I was unfamiliar with. The
first, whose name I forget, was rather dry tasting, and not very
enjoyable. The second was Arundle's Castle ale. It was rather
delicious. Sadly, the third ale, "The Battle Of Humber Bridge" ale was
almost, but not quite, nasty. Towards the bottom of the glass it seemed
to get a little better. So maybe some of the nastiness was just the
transition from the rather pleasant beer number two.
We left the pub in time for me to catch the 18:19 train, and that
connected very nicely with a Catford bound train at Peckham Rye
station. One of the handy things about the pub we were in was that it
is just across the road from a side entrance to the station that leads
straight to the ticket barriers for platform two (where my train left
from). Dodging the traffic on the road seemed far easier than dodging
the crowds while trying to cross half the station concourse from the
Wetherspoons pub on the station, or even more crowds when crossing the
full width of the station concourse from the other pub we used in the
station shopping area. If only I could enjoy a fag with my beer I would
say that this new pub was almost like a gift from heaven. As it is,
it's not too bad provided that in future visits we can get a table
conveniently near the door like last night. |
Wednesday 11th July 2007
06:47 BST |
It is a
grey miserable start to the day. It is dry, with no hint of rain, but
no hint of sunshine either. It is becoming very obvious that the days
are getting shorter too. I woke up at just gone 4am and had to turn on
some lights, when I went for a pee, to avoid stepping on Nelly who I
could hear, but not see. It is a reminder that the next stop is autumn,
and that winter will not be far behind that. Will August herald summer,
or did we have summer back in April or May ?
After waking up so early this morning, I went back to sleep and
did not wake again until very shortly before my alarm went off. This
did not give me much time to shower, shave, and
wash my hair. By the time I was dressed and ready to go out, it
was already too late to catch my train without rushing. So I will get
the next train. I don't like having to get the 07:30 train. It is
always jam packed, and there is only a small chance of getting a seat
after a few people have got off at Lewisham. If I am very lucky there
will be sufficient people taking holidays, or using alternative modes
of transport (because of the smoking ban), and it may be less crushed
than usual, but that is being very optimistic.
I managed to get home in the dry yesterday. In fact after I wrote
those few lines yesterday morning the sun did break through, and much
of the day was not too bad. I can't actually recall there being any
rain yesterday.
My one achievement last night was to upgrade the RAM in my old
iMac computer. It was definitely struggling on a mere 160MB of ram. I
am not sure what the requirements for Apple's OSX 10.3 are, but 160MB
must have been right on the limit. It now has a full 256MB of RAM , and
is now noticably faster in operation. It's not too bad for a machine
running a 233MHz processor. Fitting the new RAM was a bit of a
struggle. I was already familiar with how to take the logic unit out
from under the monitor section, and that in itself is an awkward job. I
then had to dig even deeper to find the second RAM slot which is hidden
under the processor board. My next computer task is to do something to
the ancient Apple Performa 5200 that is still sitting partially
dismantled in my living room. It won't be tonight though, as I am
meeting Aleemah for our first post smoking ban drink. Somehow we have
to find a new pub in the Victoria area that either has a dedicated
smoking area (beer garden, or something similar) or has easy access to
the road outside. |
Tuesday 10th July 2007
08:16 BST |
| I had
high hopes that today would turn out nice. There seemed to be clear
skies when I woke up, and the sun was already starting to shine. Since
then it has got quite cloudy, and some of the clouds are very dark in
colour. It looks quite possible that, yet again, it will rain today. I
just hope I don't get soaked on my home again. |
Monday 9th July 2007
19:29 BST |
Most
of today has been good. I woke up to sunshine, and much of the day has
been sunny. What was not so good was that there was a thunderstorm
shortly before I was due to leave work for home. The worst of it had
passed over by the time I left, but it was still raining heavily as I
walked to the bus stop. I got saturated waiting in the rain for a bus.
My bus was late coming, but the driver did his best to get to Clapham
Junction in the shortest time possible. This meant travelling at speed
through some of the roadside puddles sending plumes of water onto the
pavement. I was not in a position to see the aftermath of this, but I
am sure a few people got soaked.
By the time I got to Clapham Junction it was too late to get a
very early train, and so I did not have enough time to grab a smoke
outside Waterloo station, before getting my early train from Waterloo
East. It was a relief to get off the train at Catford and light up a
fag. It was the first one I had smoked since leaving work an hour
previously. Prior to the smoking ban I may well have had a fag at
Clapham Junction, and at Waterloo East.
Sunday was a fairly warm and dry day, but apart from a visit to
Tesco, I did not take advantage of it. While in Tesco I treated myself
to a Bluetooth
USB adapter. I haven't checked the price for a comparable unit
elsewhere, but I suspect the Tesco price of nearly £15 was
excessive. However it was easy to set up, and it makes transferring the
odd photo from my mobile phone to a PC a simple affair. Playing with
that used up some time yesterday, but a lot of the day I just spent
reading. It was late in the afternoon, virtually early evening, when I
finally decided to have a look at my old Mac Performa 5200 (that I
mentioned on Saturday). When I first switched it on it was rather dead,
but replacing the motherboard back up battery brought it back to life.
It still has the fault on the built in monitor where the picture is
about two thirds the correct size. So I set about opening it up to see
if I could identify the part that I believe to be faulty. I think I
found it, but stripping it down to the point where I could try a
replacement was too tricky when I felt tired and hot. So I had a play
with the software on it. I couldn't remember what worked, and what
didn't work on it, but I found that the web browser worked OK, and I
was surprised that I could mount a network drive on it. That allowed me
to attempt to install a piece of software that is supposed to give full
connectivity to a Windows based network. Unfortunately the installer
seemed to be corrupted in some way, and refused to install. Now I have
discovered how to mount a network drive by alternative means it is less
useful that I have it installed.
Playing with that Mac kept me up later than was really a good
idea. So this morning I felt like I was lacking in sleep when I went to
work. In act I feel rather tired now and tonight I will make an extra
effort to get to bed earlier than usual.
I was in work about ten minute late after diverting to the petrol
station near the railway station where I used both the cash machine and
their toilet. It was not being late that stopped me writing this
morning, but the Bluetooth dongle. I thought it would be most useful to
be able to transfer pictures from my mobile phone to the computer at
work. There have been a few, admittedly rare, occasions when I have
taken a picture on the way to work and wanted to include it on these
pages. So I wnt through the installation procedure and then had a fight
getting it to work. At first I thought it was because I have set myself
to be a normal user on my work Windows XP machine, and I lacked
permissions to use the device. It was a little later I realised that in
fact I had been insering the dongle before starting the control
program. Starting the program first cured my problems.
A little later, just out of curiosity, I tried plugging the
dongle into a Linux machine at work. It was running Open Suse 10.2 (the
same as I run here on the machine downstairs) and I was rather
delighted when it just recognised it and was ready to connect to my
phone with no fuss at all. With just a few clicks I
transferred a couple of pictures from my phone to the PC. It was
actually far better than the Windows way of doing things. I have often
found that USB things on a Linux box are sometimes very haphazard, but
the Bluetooth dongle was absolutely perfect !
|
Saturday 7th July 2007
08:24 BST |
It is almost unbelievable, but this morning there is hardly a cloud in
the sky. It looks as if it could be a bright and shiny day. It is still
fairly cool outside, but if the sky stays clear it could get quite warm
later on. I ought to take advantage of it if it does warm up, but how ?
I don't really fancy going out by myself, but if I go out shopping a
bit later, and notice an empty table out front of the Catford
Wetherspoons, maybe I could grab a beer and do a bit of reading. That
could be quite tempting, assuming that smoking is permitted on those
outside tables, because it would be another minor victory against the
smoking ban.
Yesterday there were more policemen guarding the entrance to
Waterloo to keep out rampaging smokers. They are pictured on the
left just hanging around looking rather bored and choking on the stench
from the coffee shop just inside the entrance.
It is high time something was done about the stench of coffee coming
from that shop, and all the coffee drinkers outside it. I find it most
offensive to have to pass through that stench as I go for my morning,
or evening, fag.
I remembered to take a picture of the smoking arena yesterday.
There were not many people smoking there when I took the picture, but I
have seen as many as twenty people there on some occasions. Of course
people only stay there while they smoke so it gives no indication of
the amount of people who want to smoke at the station. I have no idea
what the poster from the God botherers is all about. The first time I
noticed it was when I looked at the picture I had taken. I think I'll
take it as God approving of smoking.
I cooked an experimental dinner last night. I was using up some
left over stuff and cooked spaghetti and pasta shells with Spanish
chorizo sausage. The idea of using both spaghetti and pasta shells was
a bit novel, but seemed to work, and has used up two nearly finished
packets that were lurking in my cupboard. I also added some sweetcorn,
sieved tomato, and hot pepper sauce. It made for a rather large dinner,
and rather tasty dinner. I didn't manage to finish it all, and
consigned the rest of it to the dustbin.
I don't know if it was all that pasta, but I had an extremely
erotic dream last night. Nothing actually happened, but it was full of
erotic promises. It was far too complicated to remember, let alone
describe, but it only featured two other characters besides myself. The
first, and the object of my desires was by name, my cousin, but by
appearance some unknown, but incredibly attractive woman. The second
character, once again more by name than appearance, was my younger
sister whose presence got in the way of any actual erotic deeds. I just
hope that dream can resume tonight from where it left off this morning
when it seemed that I was going to get a chance to be alone with the
stunning beauty who was the object of my desires.
I have already suggested I may try and grab a beer while I am out
shopping, but for the rest of the day I have only one advance idea of
how I might spend some of the day. I think I might, if I can untangle
it from a pile of junk, repair my old Mac computer. It is a really
crappy computer. Allegedly one of the worst that Apple ever made. Like
the later iMac's it is an all-in-one design with the monitor sitting
above the logic unit in the same case. It is the monitor that has
developed the fault, and I think it is a simple fault. The big problem
is actually dismantling it to get at the circuit board inside. That
will be a nightmare, and it is one reason why I have put off doing it
for maybe the best part of a year or more. Should I ever manage to
repair it I have found some software for it that should give it fully
connectivity to my Windows/Linux network. For information, the computer
is a Performa 5200 that runs Mac operating system 8.6. |
Friday 6th July 2007
07:11 BST |
The 06:56
train from Catford Bridge to Charing Cross has been cancelled this
morning (not that I found out before getting to the station) and so I
have a few minutes to describe this morning weather before I go back
out to try and get on the 07:30 train.
It is very overcast this morning, but surprisingly humid. Despite
it not being actually hot, I feel quite warm and almost uncomfortable.
I seem to recall seeing that today's temperature will reach, or exceed,
22° C, but there will still be many opportunities for it to rain.
That's all I have time to write now, but I'll carry on writing when I get to work.
(Continued - 08:57)
After a pretty horrible journey, I am now at work. Not only was
the 06:56 train cancelled, but the 07:43 train was cancelled as well.
This meant that those who I would often see on the platform when the
07:30 departs, waiting for the 07:43 (which is a Cannon Street bound
train), also bundled on the 07:30 as well. This made for a very,very,
very, packed train. It was a massive relief to get off at Waterloo East
and join my friends in the smoking arena outside the centre entrance of
Waterloo main line station.
A thought occurred to me this morning. Out of all the people I
know, the very few who have some form of allergy, or asthma, all had
non-smoking parents. This reinforces my theory that smoke is good for
you. It is pretty obvious when you come to think about it. Had
man not discovered fire and smoke we would all still be living in
trees. Now I am sure that many people think living in trees would be a
good idea until you take away their iPods and cellphones. Even radical
vegetarians and militant tree huggers need mobile phones to co-ordinate
their save the planet demonstrations. Now, as for asthma and allergies,
it is best to think that the human body is like a car. You can buy an
off the shelf car and it will take you to and from the shops with
little trouble. The human body works OK by itself, and comes with some
standard protection features, but like a car will only go properly when
you add a stereo and go faster stripes, the human body needs smoke to
protect it from the onslought of things like pollens, tofu and soya
beans. |
Thursday 5th July 2007
08:12 BST |
Like
yesterday, it was fairly bright earlier this morning, although maybe
not as sunny. Since then there have been a few sunny spells, but the
sky remains cloudy. I think the best we can hope for is for today to be
as good as yesterday when there were many sunny periods, but not enough
to generate any real heat. It has been mild recently, but for the most
part it has not been hot enough for wearing a jacket, needed for the
rain, to be uncomfortable.
I am beginning to find parts of this smoking ban amusing. It has
cheered me up a lot. I will never, ever approve of it though, and still
consider it to be cruel and unusual punishment. I liken it to having a
tooth removed. With time you gradually learn to eat normally despite
the gap in your teeth, but I doubt anyone who has such a gap could
honestly say it would not be better to have that tooth still in place.
Last night was amusing in a very ironic sort of way. I went to
the pub to meet Kevin and Iain. Howard was supposed to be there, but
never materialised before I left for home. The pub was practically
empty. My guess this morning is that there were no more than a dozen
people in there (including myself). So much for all the demented
shouters who couldn't possibly go to a pub while it was smoky, but now
don't seem to want to go anyway. Despite all my fears it was no so bad
going to a no smoking pub. I was only there for 45 minutes, and nipping
outside for a fag three times was no bother at all :-) To help the
process I decided to forego beer for a couple of double
scotch-on-the-rocks. That pub is going to go bust soon, and another
icon of the English way of life will die unmourned except by the few.
I think I am beginning to enjoy one small part of the smoking
ban. I could not help but smiling as I joined the smokers ghetto
outside the centre entrance to Waterloo mainline station. It is a shame
that more conversations are not struck up there. If we were not quite
so insular it could conjure up the same sort of spirit that became so
famous during the blitz on London during the Second World War. A group
of ordinary people standing up to the nazis who would try and take away
our freedoms. Standing proud and determined to not let the oppressors
get their own way. We will fight then in the streets and in our homes.
We will never surrender. Though it may come as a great cost to our
personal liberties we will ultimately prevail, or die trying.
Now you may say I am becoming obsessive about his smoking ban,
and you would be wrong. I am becoming obsessive about being obsessive
about the smoking ban. Some would say let it rest, but I want to
mention a precedent for obsessive behaviour. We are fast
approaching the 40th anniversary of one of the first bits of 20th
century legislation that seriously went against the people's will, and
by analogy took away some of our freedoms. That legislation was the
1967 "Marine Etc. Broadcasting Offences act. This outlawed the offshore
pirate radio stations that had brought such joy to the population of
Britain. They were closed down simply because the government of the day
were terrified of anything they had no control over. The official
reasons of radio interference, copyright breaches, and similar
stuff was 99.9% a pure smokescreen. To this day many are still obsessed
with the closing of those offshore radio stations, and are determined
to keep the memory alive. There is more to being an anarchist than
throwing petrol bombs. The fight is in the mind. It is one place that
totalitarian governments can't easily get to. Keep on thinking free
! |
Wednesday 4th July 2007
06:51 BST |
I woke
up
to sunshine with a lot of blue in the sky, but like the few previous
days, the sky is gradually becoming greyer and greyer. More rain is
probably on it's way. Last night, soon after I got home from work, the
skies opened up and the rain fell in buckets.During the very heaviest
downpour the rain turned to hail for a minute or so. There was some
thunder and lightning too, but I don't think that came within a mile or
two of me.
It seems that the stress of the last couple of days has triggered
off my irritable bowel syndrome again. Either that or it is just some
of the crap I have eaten these last couple of nights. It doesn't feel
too bad at the moment, but I was feeling very uncomfortable at the time
I should have gone to get my train. I hope I'll be OK for the next
train in just under 30 minutes time.
One thing I have noticed this week is that the trains seem to be
less heavily packed than usual. At Waterloo East station there also
seems to be a phenomena where the platforms seem quiet until a few
moments before the train arrives. The lack of the usual crush on the
trains might be explained by smokers seeking different ways to travel,
or maybe, and perhaps more likely, it's just people away for summer
holidays. The quietness on the platforms is possibly because commuters
are choosing to stay outside the station smoking until the last minute.
One thing is for sure. People are not staying away because of a couple
of botched terror attacks that owed more to Hollywood special effects
than any real threat of an explosion.
My plans for SMASH (see yesterday) have been altered. It seems
people are even unhappy about blowing up trees and shrubs. So I am
devoting my resources to "transporter" technology and aim to teleport
certain institutions into the heart of the sun. I seem to be having
problems getting the electricity companies to lay on the 42 Terrawatt
supplies I need for my early experiments.
I must thank Tom from Texas for his letter of support/sympathy.
"I've been reading your blog off and
on for some time now, and I just wanted to thank you. It's been
interesting to read about the life of someone in Britain whose
circumstances are somewhat similar to mine. (I'm 52 and live by myself)
Reading you latest posts, you seem to be having a great deal of trouble
with the smoking ban. As a pipe smoker myself, I have considerable
simpathy for you. Have you tried chewing tobacco? It takes some getting
used to - don't swallow your spit! - and it has some other drawbacks,
but my father-in-law many years ago completely quit smoking and used
this as a substitute. He worked in a chemical plant that made a
precursor to synthetic rubber and could not smoke there.
Good Luck! "
Many thanks Tom, and enjoy your July 4th celebrations. |
Wednesday 4th July 2007
18:08 BST |
 I'm back home again, stuffed full of dinner, and enjoying my second large glass of Scotch whisky.
Pictured on the left are five British Transport policemen, and/or
community support workers guarding one of the entrances to Waterloo
main line station against smokers. (One is hidden behind the passer by,
but you can make out the coppers big feet behind him). On the one hand
this does seem to be overkill, but on the other hand nicotine
withdrawal symptoms can make people pretty aggressive.
Tonight I should be in the pub drinking with Kevin, Iain, and
Howard who is making a rare visit to the pub. I have said I will pop
in, but I am none too enthusiastic about it. For a start my dinner has
left little room for beer. More importantly I know I will not enjoy it.
I could nip out for fags every so often, but the atmosphere will be
killed stone dead. I have no idea what will actually happen when I get
there, but I am imagining that I will go in, say hi, down a small
scotch, and then walk out again. I am not going to be very popular
doing this, but being a smoker means coming to terms with being the
scum of the universe. For the more radical anti-smokers I am down at
the level reserved for smelly tramps and terrorists. |
Tuesday 3rd July 2007
08:12 BST |
Well,
here we are again. Battling to survive in an increasingly hostile
world. The day started bright again, but it is clouding over very
rapidly. heavy rain is forecast for this afternoon. It really matches
my black mood.
My journey into work was mostly uneventful, but a very small
positive point about the smoking ban has revealed itself. At Waterloo I
had my smoke outside the station, as will be the norm until I am sacked
from work, and it was the first time that I have had a good look at the
main entrance of Waterloo Station, and the memorials to those railway
employees who fell in the war defending the freedoms and liberties of
the English way of life. How those heroes must be spinning in their
graves now they know it was all in vain, and that the smoking gestapo
now rule the country with a rod of iron.
I think I am going to start a terrorist organisation. I know they
are not very popular now, but the timing of the smoking ban was not my
choice. I am going to call it SMASH ( Society for Militant and Annoyed
Smoking Heroes). People get terribly upset when they get blown up so I
propose we blow up trees, and maybe the odd shrub. Daffodils can look
pretty smug sometimes, too. |
Monday 2nd July 2007
06:49 BST |
An hour
ago it was bright and sunny, but now the clouds are gathering for
another grey day with the potential for thunderstorms. It seems wrong
that I should have to wear my coat to work in July. Fortunately the
tennis championships at Wimbledon should soon be over, and the Gods
will smile again. I don't actually know when the tennis at
Wimbledon actually finishes, but it can't be long now.
Right now I should be on the platform at Catford Bridge station
about to get my train to work. Instead I am still at home. I would
imagine that it is the depression brought about by the smoking ban that
is causing me to operate in slow motion. I was awake in plenty of time
to get ready to go to work, but the minutes seem to be slipping by
unnoticed. Yesterday must have been the same. The day passed quickly
and easily, and yet I have nothing to show for all that time, and it
was just wasted. Maybe I am now a candidate for the "funny farm" (where at least smoking is still permitted, or so I am lead to believe).
I had been hoping that there would be a lot of stories in the
press, and on the TV news, about the results of the smoking ban. Sadly
any interesting news has been overshadowed by news about terrorism. I
suppose it is interesting when something blows up, but the news sources
do labour the point a bit much. It is as if they are doing the
terrorists work for them. These silly people, the terrorists, who have
so little faith in their own God that they feel him to be so impotent
that they have to do his work for him. So why praise a lazy sod who
can't lift a finger to do anything for himself. So the news media,
aided and abetted, or maybe even lead by the government, stirs up a big
hysteria about it all when in fact terrorism impacts on such a tiny
minority of the countries population as to be statisticly
insignificant. The smoking ban, on the other hand, directly impacts on
the mental health, and general wellbeing, of a very large proportion of
the population, and more time should be spent by the Media on analysing
the problems this is now causing.
If the world was just and fair then deaths, and accidents,
related to the smoking ban should be tabulated in the same negative way
that they are for alcohol. If you nick yourself shaving after drinking
it is recorded as an alcohol related injury, but I am sure that if you
jump under a train as a result of the smoking ban it will simply be
recorded as depression with no mention of the stress brought about by a
shortage of vital nicotine in the body. It is truly an unfair world, or
maybe that should be an unfair country. Maybe we have gone beyond the
nightmare that is 1984. In that dystopian vision you could still
recover with a subsidised glass of Victory gin, and a Victory
cigarette, in a state run pub after visiting room 101. Now the whole
country is room 101 where our worst fears are now a reality. It's about
time these bloody fags killed me as they are advertised to do. |
Monday 2nd July 2007
18:49 BST |
It's been
a hell of a day. It started with the journey into work. Although I
smoked as many fags as I wanted, there was a feeling of oppression in
the air. Some timid people were worried about terrorism, while I was
worried about being stuck on a platform waiting for a late train and
not being able to smoke. Terrorism is just a flash in the pan, possibly
hyped up by the state to deflect coverage of the smoking ban, while the
smoking ban will affect our lives today, tomorrow and forever.
When I got to work I felt extremely depressed. I really just
wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep until it was time to endure the
nightmare journey home. To add to my depression it seems that the
owners of the site seem hell bent on banning smoking even in the car
park where lorries and cars, belching noxious and dangerous fumes and
smoke are allowed to operate. I can see a showdown coming, and I know I
will be the loser and soon be back on the dole again.
My journey home from work felt like a nightmare. I went through
Clapham Junction station scowling and looking round like a hunted
animal despite not actually smoking. Normally I would avoid
confrontation, but at that time I could easily have turned on anyone
who irritated me. It was such a relief to get off at Catford Bridge
station and have a fag. As soon as I was indoors, even before feeding
the cats, I poured the last of my whisky into a glass and downed the
lot. I followed that up a bit later with a large glass of Jim Beam
bourbon. I would be very surprised if I didn't buy another litre of
scotch from Tesco's on my way home tomorrow night.
It seems a grand irony that the smoking ban, that is supposed to
promote health, is having a very opposite effect on my health. I am
steadily smoking more and more fags, and starting down the road to
alcoholism. So my physical health will soon start to decline rapidly,
and my mental health is such that I would probably be declared
approaching psychotic. Another irony is that mental health has long
been an excuse of totalitarian governments for removing dissidents, and
here I am playing right into their hands. Perhaps in my case their
"concern" will be closer to genuine rather than trumped up.
Tomorrow I really don't want to go to work, but I have to. I
cannot afford to do anything that may impact on my wages. With
unemployment looming I have to maximise my income and reduce
expenditure to the minimum. It sounds stupid then that I would
willingly waste money on even more fags and more booze, but these are
the crutches that help mentally sidestep the misery of life in nanny
state England. |
Sunday 1st July 2007
13:22 BST |
The
weather today is far better than yesterday when it either rained or
just drizzled the whole day. So far today there have been many sunny
spells, although there have been a few splashes of rain from time to
time. It does seem to be getting a lot cloudier now, and maybe some
more persistent rain is on it's way. It is also quite windy, and that
would mean that it could be really unpleasant out if it does rain.
Fortunately I have been out all I need to ( a shopping trip to Tesco),
and will be staying in for the rest of the day.
Yesterday was not as exciting as it was supposed to be. I had
planned a trip out to visit The Spa Valley Railway. As it turned out
there were two very good reasons why I didn't. The first, and most
obvious was the awful weather. The second was not obvious to me at all
until I checked the railways web site. It seems that yesterday was
"childrens day" on the railway, and the thought of mingling with
thousands of screaming kids was less appealing to me than a day trip
through time to visit Ypres in 1915 ! So I stayed with some
company and we watched a couple of films, and I demonstrated my skill
as a chef by cooking spinach pasta with tuna steak I was delighted to
receive a good deal of praise for my efforts.
I was reading some pages of the BBC's teletext service this
morning, and came across a quote from our new Prime Minister, Gordon
Brown, about terrorism and stuff. I cannot remember the exact reported
words, but it was something to the effect that he was not going to let
terrorists, and others, interfere with the British way of life, and
Britains heritage. I was left wondering just what his idea of the
British way of life is. Quite apart from the increasing hordes of
immigrants from war torn countries who seem to think the answer to any
minor disagreement is to answer with knives or bullets because that is
all they know, there is the increasing militarisation of the police,
and ever restrictive curbs on our long cherished freedoms. Today
another freedom has been taken from us, and another chunk of the heart
of the traditional British way of life ripped from the sad remains of
this once proud country. For the alleged sake of a microscopically
small amount of people, whose lives might be shortened by a few months,
or days (mostly trumpet players in smoky jazz clubs), a tradition
stretching back hundreds of years has been trampled on by the jack
boots of a vicious minority. From 06:00 BST today it is no longer
permissible to enjoy the company of friends with a cigarette and a
drink in any place else except a private house. Apparently this may
save a few lives, but at what cost ? Whatever the cost actually is, and
I doubt it can ever be calculated, it will be truly massive, probably
more massive that the cost of another war in a distant land that no one
gives a damn about. Some people will choose to give up smoking. With
the tax paid on cigarettes these days it could easily bankrupt the
treasury if too many people make this choice. Then there is the cost in
combating mental health problems. It will drive some to suicide,
and probably trigger violent episodes in others. In less severe cases
it will stretch the already inadequate mental healthcare services to
beyond breaking point as they dole out anti-depressants and nicotine
replacement therapies out by the bucket load.
I am already severely depressed about the smoking ban. Were it
not necessary to go to work, to earn the cash to buy fags, I feel as if
I could easily become agoraphobic. If I could drive, or better still,
fly a plane, I would be tempted to become a suicide bomber taking out
some anti smoking commissars as I explode 24 cylinders of propane
strapped to my gut. Unfortunately I can't drive, and I can't fly a
plane, and it seem very unlikely that I could pedal a push bike at
100mph through the gates of The Houses of Parliament. It would also
seem unlikely those kind policemen in Blakes Seven federation style
military fatigues on the gates at the Houses Of Parliament would open
the gates for me to cycle in on my suicide bike.
Ideally I want an advance alien spaceship called The Liberator,
and six other freedom loving companions to take on the evil overlords
of The National health service and strike a blow in support of our
hero, Sir Walter Raleigh.
Back in reality I think I might pop out to the shops while they are
still open, and pick up a copy of do-it-yourself Voodoo, and start
making wax models of leading anti smoking bastards. |
