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My Diary/Blog For the Month of December
2012 |
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| Sunday 30th December 2012 |
| 11:06 GMT It wasn't that cold, and it stayed dry on Friday night. Yesterday was rather gloomy for most of the time, and there were occasional splashes of rain. Once again the temperature was on the borders of getting chilly, and almost starting to get somewhere near slightly warm. This morning the sun came out for several hours, but it seems to be getting cloudy now. It is possible there could be more sunshine later, and that it will be accompanied by showers (or so The BBC reckon). The current temperature is just 8° C, and it could rise another degree by sunset. The most important news right now is that my internet connection is playing up. At approximately 8.30 yesterday morning there was a "brown out" that lasted half a second or so. My server rebooted, and somewhere in the wider world Vermin Media's equipment threw a wobbly. Their severely overloaded service status server admitted there had been a problem when I finally managed to connect to it, and initially they said it would be fixed by 4.30pm yesterday. They eventually revised that to 4.30pm tomorrow ! All day yesterday it was like being back on dial up internet with connection speeds often measured in bytes per minute (instead of second !), and when the wind was blowing in the right direction, as good as the very best 56K connection. Things seem a lot better this morning, but that might just be because not that many people were online on this Sunday morning. With the chance of nobody being able to connect to my server, I didn't bother to write anything new yesterday. The highlight of this whole holiday period, or in fact the only enjoyable thing for the holidays, was Chain's gig on Friday night. I really, really enjoyed myself. I enjoyed myself so much that I don't remember eating the kebab I bought on the way home from the Wetherspoons pub that Kevin and I went to after everybody had gone home from The Catford Ram :-)  Matt brought in one of his project aurora illuminated bass guitars for the gig - they are so groovy !  Chris giving it one of those special guitar player poses.  I have no idea who these two were, but they saw me taking pictures and insisted I took a picture of them !  Jo did a solo spot.  Matt, Kevin, Chris, and myself taken by Jo on my camera  Kevin taking liberties with Jo's knee during the after gig drink. I have to confess that I had a bit of a hangover yesterday morning. Funnily enough, after such a binge drinking session, it was not a bad one. The greater damage was probably done by spending so much time outside the pubs (and kebab shop). I woke up feeling quite chesty, and my head felt quite congested. I was still quite snotty when I woke up this morning, but it seems to be drying up now. Despite the hangover, the chesty cough, and the snotty nose, I had a brief spurt of activity yesterday morning. I washed my final unwashed sheet (except for the one currently on my bed). If I feel really motivated I might tackle the very last bit of overdue laundry today. It's a duvet cover, and unfortunately it's quite a thick one. It is going to need a lot of energy to manhandle it ! I spent the rest of yesterday being very lazy, keeping warm, and generally doing my best to recover from the previous night. The next thing I did of any significance was to order a Chinese takeaway. I ordered it online, and unfortunately it was during one of those periods when my internet connection was running really slowly ! What should have taken a few minutes stretched on for 20 minutes or more. Still, it got there in the end, and my meal was very enjoyable. While the meal was very enjoyable, it evidently contained a lot of salt and sugar which made me very thirsty. So during the night I was alternately waking up with a dry mouth and needing a drink, and then waking up againto take a pee. By this morning, several gallons later, I think my system was well flushed through. So yet another night when I got far less sleep than I feel I ought to have got. This morning, apart from waking up with my head all stuffed up, I don't actually feel too bad. I don't know how that would change once I stop doing sedentary stuff in my nice warm room. Maybe I'll find out later. It's gone midday now, and I feel I really ought to have my first shower in 36 hours, and put on some fresh, sweet smelling clothes (I stink right now !!). |
| Saturday 22nd December 2012 |
| 09:37 GMT The whole of yesterday morning was bright and sunny, and the sun did it's best to shine on into the afternoon, but the clouds had become too widespread for any sunshine in the last hour or two before sunset. The only problem was that the sun was so low in the south that it barely made it over the top of the buildings surrounding work, but a nice blue sky, and the tops of those building glowing in the sunlight was still a pleasure to see. This morning it is definitely all change. The sky is grey, and the rain is pouring down. It will probably be like this most of the day. The only saving grace is that it is currently 10° C, and it could climb by a couple of degrees by late afternoon. That's not exactly cold, although still a long way from warm. The big disappointment yesterday is that the world didn't end. Being an avid reader of Sci Fi books, I always wonder what a planet exploding would feel like. I mean, CGI effects are all very well, but there's nothing like being there to experience it to the full. Oh well, only a few million years to wait until the sun goes nova :-( It was very quiet at work yesterday. It's probably best not to say exactly how quiet it was, but it was a relief when the clock finally managed to creak it's way around to home time. I met up with Aleemah after work, and because I said I would find her something to eat I bought some stuff from Upper Crust on Waterloo station. I bought Aleemah a rather boring old egg and tomato baguette, but for myself I spotted something rather interesting. It was a hog roast baguette. I'm not sure if it was just pig, or if indeed it was wild boar. Some of the meat looked darker than pork, but that could have just been some sort of marinade. What I do know was that it was rather delicious. Incase Aleemah preferred something fishy, I also bought a tuna and mayo baguette. She didn't, and so I ate it after the hog roast one. That might seem to be a terrible clash of flavours, and I certainly wouldn't like to mix them, but one after the other, maybe with a quick swig of diet cola between them, turned out fine. Having the two baguettes rather spolied my plans to get a takeaway in last night, but maybe I'll order one for tonight. There might possibly be a degree of contention about getting a takeaway tonight because I've been shopping, and bought some other stuff to lead me onto the path of temptation. There was nothing I desperately needed from Aldi this morning except for toilet paper, but I took the opportunity to bolster my stock of diet cola, and get far too many snack type stuff as well as somethings approaching the status of real food. With the temperature out of the chilly range it was almost a pleasure to walk to Aldi even in the pouring rain. I was fortunate that one of my plans didn't come to fruition. I went to bed and read until about 9.30pm, and slept well until 3am this morning. I needed the toilet, and as I walked there I stumbled in the dark, just very slightly, but enough to end up with my bare arm touching the freezing door of the upstairs back room, and the shock of that seemed to me fully wake me up. So I decided that I would get up for a while before getting back in bed, and sleeping again until mid morning if I could. I actually woke up again with some grey daylight peeping around the curtains at a little after 8am. So I was able to get to Aldi soon after they opened, and before the inevitable mad rush of xmas shoppers. Now I'm back from Aldi, and I've just about recovered from lugging back 6 litres of diet cola, a litre of bleach, 4 rolls of toilet paper, plus other stuff, I suppose my next task ought to be to do some laundry. After a week where I've not done any laundry in the evening, I do have rather a lot of laundry to do. Add on the bed linen that I recently changed to shirts and underwear, and it adds up enough to keep me busy for the next week ! I reported yesterday that the mouse bait I had put down had not been touched. It has now ! That's definite proof that I have a mouse in the kitchen, but there is even better proof than that. Yesterday evening I was just on the threshold of walking into the kitchen when I spotted movement. So I froze and watched carefully. In a few seconds a mouse appeared and stopped to look around before disappearing under the microwave oven. Now I have actually seen it properly, rather than just as a grey flash out of the corner of the eye, I feel a bit bad about attempting to poison it, but it has to go ! Hopefully it is just one mouse, and that this time the bait will work quickly (back in the spring I seemed to be getting through bags of the stuff with no apparent effect on the little critters). Here's another video I shot at
O'Neills on Saturday 15th.
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| Wednesday 19th December 2012 |
| 08:02 GMT There was a little bit of sunshine during yesterday morning, but otherwise the day was as expected - rather dull and grey. The temperature remained moderately cool, but may have been just a small bit slightly less cool in the afternoon. There seemed to be more water on my wheelie bin than could be accounted for by just condensation. So it might have rained during the night, but the roads were mostly dry when I set out to come to work this morning. It was only just over 4° C when I set out, and it was very noticeably cooler than yesterday morning. It's going to be a generally cooler day today, and a cloudy start is probably going to lead to some rain this afternoon. Sometimes things just don't go to plan, and sometimes what evolves is far better than the original plan. So it was last night. My original plan was to drop off a memory stick with photos and videos of Chain on it to Chris who I knew would be in The Catford Ram having a xmas dinner and party with his workmates. I didn't intend to gate crash his xmas party, and I intended to go straight to Tesco to buy some mouse bait. I didn't get the mouse bait in the end. As is often the case (except for here) most of the people at the party go home soon after the meal. So when I got to the pub I found Chris with just a few people, half of whom I knew, and most of the pub empty. I still intended to just drop off the memory stick, and go to Tesco, but Chris offered to buy me a drink, and twisted my arm until I accepted it ! I ended up staying for three pints, and had a good time. Staying for even the first beer lifted my mood considerably, but there was even better to come. While I was drinking with Chris I received a text message from the "management" of Chain - Jo ! She said she had tickets for myself and Kevin for the xmas eve gig, and as a thanks for all our help and support, the band would like to pay for a cab to take us home after the gig. I think I was a bit gobsmacked after that. It really is a strange thing this relationship I have with the band. They entertain me, buy me beers, allow me to practice my photography, and videography on them, and then thank me for doing it ! Going to see Chain, or The Bluesicians as they were then, out of pure curiosity because they were playing in my local nearly three years ago now, where, as far as I was concerned, no band had played before, was one of the better, maybe even best things I have done in my life. I really, really love those guys. After my three beers too much time had passed, and Tesco was closed when I went past. So I never got my mouse bait, and the mouse lives a little longer. I didn't see any sign of the mouse last night, but I think some congealed fat in the drip tray of my electric grill might have been nibbled at. This morning I might have seen something move out of the corner of my eye while putting my coat on in the back room. It might have just been an eyelash, or even a speck of dust floating by, but it probably was the mouse. I'm definitely going to need that bait soon (or traps, or a new cat !).  It's now only three days
until
the end of the world, and it is going to happen this time. The signs
are all there for those who see them.
In the last couple of weeks signs have appeared on the cubicle doors of the gents toilets on platform B of Waterloo East station. The signs say "Push To Open". When doors like this need signs on them to tell people how to open them, then it is definitely time to erase this world, and start again from scratch. Wonko The Sane made a similar observation about toothpicks. Of course there could be a logical explanation for the signs. Maybe someone tried limbo dancing under the 6 inch gap at the bottom of the door, got stuck, and the railway was disrupted while the fire brigade was brought out to free him. Maybe someone fell while climbing over the top. The fact is, anyone who cannot operate a simple door should not be let out without a handler, or should throw themselves under a train, but no, the only real remedy is to nuke the world from orbit, and start all over again. Starting all over again is what I shall be doing after work tonight. I don't think I'll be lured into any pubs on the way, and I should be able to get the mouse bait from Tesco - assuming it's in stock. It might only be seasonally stocked, and the fact that winter is the most common time for mouse incursions will probably mean nothing to the bean counters who are doing an ever improving job at losing Tesco their customers (and share price). |
| Saturday 15th December 2012 |
| 16:32 GMT It is very possible that yesterday's temperature hit the promised 11, or even 12° C, but it most definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, did rain, and particularly in the afternoon it was a lot heavier than I expected. Nearly all the clouds dispersed during the night, and this morning was often very sunny, and a not too unreasonable 7° C to start with. There was one brief splash of rain this afternoon, but it seems dry now, and the temperature is currently 9° C. I was not that happy at work yesterday. During the morning we had a little mini "lecture" reminding us that the man from the ISO9001 registration board was coming to visit us next Wednesday, and could we please make sure we know all the protocols and stuff. Personally I prefer the Nuremberg defence that I am just following orders - even if time after time it has been shown to be no defence at all. Yet in many ways it is applicable to me. I, more than anyone else in the company, occupy a unique position, and very, very few of the documented procedures refer to the work I actually do. A lot of my work is one off stuff that I am requested to do by our development department. I don't personally order any parts that I use, although potentially I could I wanted to follow the tedious proceedure for doing so. For many projects I just scrounge around for parts, and if I can't find them I tell the development engineer what he's is going to have to get me to do whatever it is he wants me to do. So basically I do just follow orders. There is other ISO related stuff to do with health and safety, and the like that is relevant to me, but it's all just common sense, and I trust my common sense more than the convoluted protocol documents that I am supposed to know in case the man from ISO actually asks me a question. If it had been a nice warm sunny day, and I was feeling like I was brimming over with health, and maybe a few other things as well, I could have just dismissed the irritation of the mini lecture, and what is to come next Wednesday, but I loowed it to needle me. Not much, admittedly, but enough to swing my desire to not particpate in the free food and beer that was the xmas party from still undecided to not keen at all. I did get as far as looking at some of the bottled beers that were available, and a couple may have been acceptable, but I didn't feel in a beer drinking mood. Half an hour later I took another look at the room the party was in. I stood in there for 30 seconds, looked around, and found that I definitely had zero enthusiasm for it. It was about 2pm when I sneaked out the door, and headed for the station in the rain. If I had left 15 minutes earlier I could have got the new London Overground service from Clapham Junction to Peckham Rye, and then after a short wait, a train to Catford. Unfortunately the trains to Catford are only every 30 minutes, and the first service I could have got from Clapham Junction, which run every 15 minutes, would probably have left a 20 - 25 minute wait for a Catford Train at Peckham Rye station. I didn't fancy such a long wait so I decided to go the usual route via Waterloo. As it turned out that was probably a huge mistake. I arrived at Waterloo East a few minutes before the next Catford Bridge boud train was due to depart from Waterloo East - which is a nearly three times as long as few minutes away ! With no chance at all of getting to the platform on time I elected to stand outside in the rain smoking to pass some of the 30 minute wait for the next train. Standing in the rain suited my mood at the time, but the novelty soon wore off ! I passed through the barriers into Waterloo East station with the displays outside saying the next Catford Bridge train was 10 minutes away, and on time. Five minutes later, when I arrived on the platform the displays said the train was now delayed. That is often a euphemism for cancelled, but not this time........well not exactly this time, but as good as. 24 minutes later the train arrived, but the platform displays said it would run fast from London Bridge to Elmers End - 4 stops past catford. There were no announcements to confirm this on the platform, nor on the train itself when I decided to get on it anyway. I was wondering if I would enjoy a high speed run all the way from London Bridge to Elmers End as a sort of joy ride. At another time I would definitely have done so, but I seemed very short of joy, and got off the train again at London Bridge. Some announcement that was probably about the train was made at London Bridge, as the train was entering the platform, but it was unintelligable from inside the train. With that train running 24 minutes late it was only a 6 minute wait for the next service, and fortunately that was on time. Whether the first train did, or did not stop at Catford Bridge is something I'll probably never know. What I did know was that I felt cold and tired when I finally got home, and all the damp air while I waited in the rain had started me coughing again. Some hot food warmed me up, and the cough stopped again. I can't remember what time it was I got home, but it was still just about light. So maybe it was before 4pm, but not by that much. So much for leaving work early ! I fully intended to drink an excess of scotch last night, but all I had was one quick swig out of the bottle upon arriving home. Instead I ended up drowning my sorrows with an extra meal. When I got home I cobbled together a meal made out of a few odds and ends in the fridge. Later in the evening I microwave "baked" a couple of smallish baking potatoes which I had with cheese and chilli sauce. By 8.30pm I was in bed, but I read until gone 9pm before falling asleep very soon after turning out the light. I seemed to sleep well until 2.30am when I woke from an interesting dream that I wanted to record here, but I seem to have forgotten most of it now. I remember being in some sort of classroom, or school, and the lady teacher asking why I bothered being their if I didn't want to participate in the class. I also remember someone else asking why I didn't take part in the art section. To which I remember replying something like "why bother, I can't even draw a straight line that anyone would recognise". It seemed a clever, if not quite credible answer in the dream, but it was the answer I gave to the teacher that I was most proud of. The teacher was no one I could put a name to, but with the class being assorted adults, she was probably my friend Patricia wearing a different face. Patricia was one of my teachers on one of the 97% useless courses that The Job Centre would send people to to (allegedly) improve their job seeking skills. That was way back in 2004. My reply to this teacher would probably impress any lothario. It certainly impressed me, and it would be nice to be able to use it more often. I simply said the reason I was still there was because she was beautiful ! I didn't seem to be able to get back to sleep again at first, so I got up and checked my email, plus a few blogs and stuff on the internet. It might have been two hours later that I got back in bed and slept fitfully until almost 8am. I was evidenly feeling reasonably OK because on of the first things I did was to do some laundry. Once that was done I made two shopping trips. The first was to Aldi, and the second was to the 99p shop. It was lucky that I had bought some laundry detergent from Aldi because the 99p shop had shelves full of fabric conditioners, but no detergent at all ! Anyway, between the two lots of shopping I have probably got enough snacks and other unhealthy stuff to see me right through xmas - if I don't get carried away eating them. If I went on a vegetarian diet I probably have enough proper food to last me a similar length of time, but sometime during the week I'll probably buy some meat products. It seems I spent much of this afternoon on the phone to a mate of mine. It was he who rang me, and I can't remember why now, but most of the call was about nostalgic stuff from years ago when life was far more fun. Now I find that time is running away from me, and very soon now I must get under the shower and prepare to go out. Tonight I really am going to go out and see Chain playing in O'neils in Bromley, and tonight I will finally get to test my new camera ! |
| Friday 14th December 2012 |
| 08:21 GMT It was most definitely cold yesterday. During the morning it didn't feel that bad, but later on in the afternoon the breeze got a bit stronger, and that made it feel more chilly. There were a few sunny intervals yesterday, but no significant amounts of sunshine. This morning started off looking quite damp after some rain during the night, but it was very slightly less cold. With luck the temperature will hit 11 or 12° C in the early afternoon, but the price to pay for that is that the sky is looking almost dark grey now, and more rain will be falling later this morning, and possibly lighter rain this afternoon. On my way home from work I used up the last of my recent Tesco clubcard vouchers. Last nights one was for "triple points". I didn't spend that much so it was a sort of waste of a voucher, but I think I'll gain by more wisely spending my money in Aldi. I did pick up a couple of bargains while in Tesco. They had a lot of ready cooked hot chicken reduced to half price to clear the shelves for the night, and I grabbed some assorted flavoures thighs and wings. Although I didn't spend much, I still seemed to end up with three bags of shopping, and they were quite heavy to lug to my next destination - the pub. They seemed even heavier when I lugged them from the pub to home ! Now I'm not sure why that should be. I made a point of not drinking much, although with Kevin there I was enticed to have an extra double scotch before leaving after just two pints. I arrived home just before 7pm, and in time to eat the hot chicken I bought (which needed reheating in the microwave after all that time) while watching an episode of Futurama. I ate a couple of other things beside the chicken, but it was still a relatively light dinner for a change. Once Futurama finished I turned off everything downstairs, and went upstairs to wash my hair. I then did some stuff on my PC until my hair was almost dry. Ideally it would have been completely dry, but it was only mildly damp in place when I got into bed. I think that was about 8.30pm. After that things get confusing. I have this idea in the back of my mind that I couldn't get to sleep, and yet I can't remember actually being awake for long. I do remember waking up a few times, and I definitely woke up around 4.30am. Now that's one of those awkward times to wake up - just half an hour earlier than my alarm would have woken me anyway. In theory I could have got an extra 30 minutes sleep, or I could accept the inevitable and get up. I actually compromised by turning on the light, but allowing myself 5 minutes to fall asleep before just lying there for another 5 minutes to try and get the hang of being awake again. I felt so much better after the extra sleep that I got the previous night that I wish I could have got to bed earlier last night, but waking up early suggests I have had plenty of sleep......or at least it should do. I quite fancy going back to bed now, but that is tricky to do while 6 or 7 miles away from my bed. I did feel OK this morning, and I guess I still do now once I subract the discomfort of wearing my too tight red jeans. I thought that as it was the xmas party here at work this afternoon, I would sort of dress up. I am wondering if that was a mistake now. I have to confess it is a little uncomfortable sitting here with those jeans cutting me in two. Although in some respects it is the tightness around the legs that I dislike most - but only when I try to bend my knees ! Now two things are possible later. I had it in mind that I would sneak out very early once the party starts, but now I've got this crazy idea that I might feel sociable this afternoon. It seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened before. Apologies for my server being down during Wednesday night, and some of yesterday morning. At approximately 7pm on Wednesday night I had a brown out that was totally unrelated to the "brown outs" my body was suffering from during Wednesday. If I had not gone to bed so extra early I might have corrected matters before they were noticed, but I was just dropping off to sleep when I heard my fan heater momentarily slow down. It puzzled me as to what had happened. I wasn't even sure if it had really happened, or if it was just an effect of slipping into sleep that I had not noticed before. It must have been a deep dip in the mains voltage because it was enough to reboot the little PC that is supposed to be my temporary server, but has been doing the job for so long, and so well that I probably ought to make a couple of minor changes (like putting the extra hard disk inside instead of sitting next to it on the table), and make it a permanent job. It is because it is supposed to be temporary solution that the hard disk that has all my web pages on it, and the USB memory stick that is serving as a back up drive, are only mounted as removable drives, and have to be mounted manually after every boot. Mounting those drives over a remote connection from work taxed my memory and ingenuity a lot, but I managed it in the end, and everything should have been back to normal by about 9am yesterday. |
| Thursday 13th December 2012 |
| 08:24 GMT Apart from the perishing cold, it wasn't so bad a day yesterday. It stayed dry, and there was some sunshine. It did get very cold overnight, and there is another thick frost this morning. Now the sun is up, although not yet actually visible, I can see lots of blue sky through my office window. The wet weather that is coming in from the west has not arrived yet, and may only arrive tomorrow. That leaves today being dry and bright, but the temperature is only forecast to reach 2° C, and that will only be for an hour or two in the early afternoon. I don't really know what it was I ate that gave me an upset stomach yesterday. Maybe it was one of the Ken Hom Chinese meals I had, or maybe it was something else entirely, but it did a really good job at upsetting my lower digestive proccesses. After all the visits to the toilet I made before arriving at work I have to add at least two more while at work (maybe 3). Plus another visit to the gents at Waterloo station, an almost too late visit to my own toilet when I got home, and then twice more after that. I reckon I am pretty empty this morning ! I could have done better when choosing my dinner last night. On the other hand I could have done far, far worse ! I opted for some grilled steak with a baked sweet potato and some baked tomatoes - baked by microwave if such a thing is possible. I did slightly mar any healthy aspects of the meal by adding several slices of cheddar cheese. In my defence, it was allegedly low fat (and partly tasteless) cheddar cheese. It was one of the smallest dinners I've had for some time. Fortunately it didn't seem to add to my discomfort - most of which was a feeling of tenderness (or overworked muscles) below the stomach (those peristaltic muscles must have been working overtime yesterday !). In some respects I didn't feel that much discomfort in the evening, and it was more like an overall tiredness. So I went to bed extra early last night. I was in bed, and asleep not very long after 7pm last night. I woke very few times in the night, and probably got over 9 hours sleep. I feel a lot better for it, but I think if I had the option to do it, I could have stayed in bed, and got even more sleep this morning. Tonight I will be in bed a fair bit later I suspect. I think I'm going to pop into Tesco and get some baking potatoes (and probably other stuff too), and after that I'll pop into The Catford Ram for a pint or two. I hope to be away from there fairly early because I want to wash my hair tonight. It's our company Xmas party tomorrow, and although I will probably feel grumpy and sneak away very early, I feel I should look reasonable for the occasion. |
| Wednesday 12th December 2012 |
| 08:13 GMT The sky stayed clear for a lot longer than I assumed it would, and that meant the bright sunshine continued virtually right up to sunset. All that sunshine did nothing for the temperature though. It was still perishing cold at sun set. This morning the forecast was for freezing fog. I haven't seen any fog, but it is definitely misty, and it is definitely freezing ! My outside thermometer said 0.2° C, and there was a thick frost on the cars as I walked to the station, and it is still there now. It should stay dry today, but may be overcast a lot of the time. The fun starts tomorrow when we could get some sleet and snow ! It was nice being lazy yesterday. Some of the time I was just laying on my bed with the bright sunshine pouring through the window, but I wasn't lazy all day. There were three different things I did that were hardly that taxing, but were more than doing nothing. I washed one shirt, and a pair of lounge pants. I gathered up all my loose pay slips, all three years of them, and put them in order with earlier ones in a loose leaf binder. The last thing I did was to resurect what used to be my main PC before I found it was more comortable to work upstairs in my bedroom. The PC in my bedroom is also a bit faster than the one in the cold and uncomfortable downstairs back room. The initial problem with it was that I had tried to do an operating system upgrade, and it had failed. Subsequently a second fault occured that I only found and diagnosed yesterday. The power supply brick for the monitor had failed. It produced enough power for the standby light, but everytime the monitor tried to come on the voltage just collapsed. Luckily I had a spare power brick for the monitor, and that restored that back to normal operation. Getting the rest of the PC working was just a matter of deleting the old operating system, and installing the new from fresh. At least that's how it should have worked, but I forgot a tiny little point. In my home directory there are a lot of hidden files, and many contain configuration details for the desktop. The operating system was Linux Mint, and originally it used the Gnome desktop. I now prefer the XFCE desktop because it is easier to customise it to look like Windows 2000 - which I think was one of the best desktop designs ever ! What I should have done was to delete all those hidden files that refered to the old Gnome desktop because now, when the PC starts up I get a load of error messages saying it can't load the Gnome desktop. It was a while before I twigged what the error messages meant. I could have deleted those hidden files to stop the messages, and then got on with customising the desktop, but I was beginning to feel very chilly in that back room. Apart from the error messages the PC otherwise was fully working, and I could get access to some of my old files. That was good enough for me last night, and once that stage was reached I shut everything down and went back into the warm front room. I think yesterday was the second time I tried a couple of Tesco's Ken Hom Chinese ready meals, but the first time since getting a microwave cooker. They come in a microwave proof plastic container that is very similar to how many takeaways package their food. I'm not sure why I bought them because I had a vague recollection that they weren't very nice, but maybe I had some sort of stupid idea that cooking/re-heating them in a microwave might make some sort of miraculous difference. Of course it didn't, and I can now say for definite that those meals are rubbish. In fact the black bean and noodle one is close on to being nasty ! I really must be firm with myself, and make sure I never buy any of them ever again. Those meals, which are very small meals by the way, try to emulate what might come from a Chinese takeaway. They only partly succede in two ways, although one way is probably my imagination. The first way is the similar packaging, and the second is in causing stomach upsets. I don't know about other areas of the country, or even about other areas of London, but the food hygiene inspectors have mostly put paid to dodgy takeaways in my vicinity. So it is very rare to get a stomach upset from a takeaway, but maybe not from a Ken Hom meal from Tesco. It is unlikely it was one of those meals, even the nasty tasting one, that gave me an upset stomach this morning, but I most definitely did have an upset stomach ! I woke at about 2.30am with a very tender feeling stomach. A visit to a very cold toilet seemed to do the trick, but after getting up at 5am I had to make several more trips to the toilet before I could leave for work. It wasn't over even then. On the way to work I called in to the toilets at Waterloo East station, Waterloo mainline station, and also, horror of horrors, the toilets at Clapham Junction. On 2 out of 3 occassions it was just wind, and I am still passing wind occasionally even as I write this. It's just my contribution to global warming ! |
| Monday 10th December 2012 |
| 08:01 GMT It seemed to stay very cool at a little under 9° C up until I went to sleep last night. Overnight the temperature dropped, but considering it was so clear this morning, it was not as far as I would have thought. There was no frost, and my thermometer said it was 3.8° C when I left to come to work. The air is fairly still outside, and it's didn't feel as chilly as it might have done. It's forecast to stay dry today, and occasionally the sun could peep out from behind milky white clouds, but the temperature is not forecast to rise by more than a degree or two today. One interesting aspect of this morning's clear sky was the view of the moon. It was clearly visible, and was a sharp looking crescent in the eastern sky this morning. Being to the east meant that the part in shadow that is usually not visible was being lit up by earthshine, and although too dim to easily see any detail in it, it was plainly obvious. It's by no means a rare event, it's actually probably very common, but it's not often noticed. It would have been interesting to see what my new camera would have made of it, but I didn't have it with me, nor a tripod, which I think would have been needed to get a sharp picture if the camera could find focus. The only thing of note I did yesterday evening was to find a mouse in the living room. Fortunately it was not a real mouse, but one of Smudge's old toy mice. It has been under the TV stand, and I think I possibly dislodged it while pulling cables around while investigating the intermittent internet connection I was suffering from in the first half of yesterday. On the subject of mice, I forgot to metion a discovery I made on Saturday. At the corner of the fireplace there was a very small, but very neat rectangular hole going down below the floorboards. It was so neat, particularly on the edge of the carpet, that it almost looked like it had been cut with a knife. The hole itself was maybe an inch and a quarter long, and half an inch wide - easily big enough for a mouse to get through. I can remember hearing noises from that general area years ago, and before Smudge died he was often interested in that area too. I don't know how long the hole had been there. It was in a dim corner, but it was very obvious once seen. I have seen no evidence of mice in the house since last summer, and now I have sealed that hole off, I hope I won't be seeing any this winter either. I didn't expect to feel quite as good as I do this morning - I don't actually feel good as such, but then again I don't feel bad either. What I do feel very slightly right now, but felt a lot worse as I lay awake in bed last night, is a sort of crossover between depression and frustration. There is probably a special word for it, but I have no idea what it may be. All I know is that depression does not really cover it because there is no element of despair in this feeling. On the contrary, it includes a measure of hope. On the face of it, it is the fairly well known Seasonally Affected Disorder, but I don't like to do things by the book, so I've added my unique touches to it. It is the frustration of not having more get up and go on these short cold days that is the root cause of my depression-like feeling. For six days of the week it doesn't really matter that much, but I am annoyed that I missed the gig on Saturday night because I just couldn't seem to physically and mentally prepare myself to go out for the evening. I am also annoyed that I am eating too much, and putting on weight that is going to be a real bugger to shift once the longer and warmer days come around again. Well it's only eleven days now until this world ends and the better one starts. Maybe then, perhaps by next May, I'll have reduced my eating enough to drop a trouser size. We can all dream now and then :-) |
| Saturday 8th December 2012 |
| 17:23 GMT Yesterday was often bright and sunny, but very cold - particularly during the morning when there was a really icy feeling wind blowing. The wind dropped in the afternoon, and that made it feel a bit better. There seemed to be less wind today, and maybe a little more sunshine, but otherwise it was quite similar to yesterday. It's currently 4.6° C on my outside thermometer, and if the sky stays as clear as it was before the sun went down, it's going to be an extra cold morning tomorrow. It was very quiet at work yesterday afternoon. I had finished all the work I could, and with no one around to suddenly make demands on me I slipped out the door 15 minutes earlier than usual. It was nice getting out of work and into the fresh air early, but ultimately it did me no good. Such is the timing of the trains from Waterloo East to Catford Bridge that I still ended up getting my usual train home. I felt quite tired when I got in, and I was really looking forward to getting some dinner cooked, and then slumping in front of the TV for a bit. Sandwiched between several very unhealthy snacks and dessert, I had a very healthy sort of dinner. It was grilled steak with salad. On a summers day it would possibly have been quite sufficient, but on a cold, short winters day I couldn't resist the other crap I had before and after it. The steak, which was looking quite brown rather than an unhealthy pink, and came from the reduced price shelves at tesco, was, as I guessed it might be, rather good, and probably didn't deserve to be so diluted by all the salad I had with it. I did want to get a bit more laundry done last night, but in the end I just could not be bothered. After watching the news I stayed downstairs and watched another hour of TV before going up to my bedroom. I spent a little while on my PC before getting into bed a little before 9pm. I think I may have actually been asleep by 9pm, but a phone call a few seconds later woke me up again. I slept well until sometime around 4am when I seemed unable to get back to sleep again. I came quite close to getting up at 4am, and I did spend almost an hour out of bed before I thought it was all a bit silly, and made an effort to get back to sleep until it was daylight outside. That seemed to work, but I woke up feeling groggier than when I had woken up earlier. I had Aleemah visiting me this morning, and it took quite a lot of effort to force myself into doing some housework before she arrived. It worked though, or at least it partly worked becuase for the first time in too long I even managed to do some hoovering ! Aleemah brough round the DVD version of some seasonal 6 part kids story called "The Box Of Delights". I didn't really expect to enjoy it, and worse than that, I expected to hate it, but I think I can grudgingly confess that it wasn't that bad, and was almost enjoyable in parts. The major trouble with it was that it was 6 half episodes, and that adds up to three hours of solid watching - a little bit much for one sitting of something that wasn't really gripping. After Aleemah had gone home again I rustled up some dinner, cheap and cheerful smoked gammon steaks, and watched some TV. That just about brings things up to date. Now I am sitting here writing this, and feeling warm and cosy, and also still rather full of dinner, and that leads to a dilemna. Tonight I hould be going to see Chain play at The British Oak pub in Blackheath, and where I can give my brand new camera it's baptism of fire, and yet I don't really feel like going out tonight. It leaves me in a bit of a quandary. It is possible that any minute now I will get a text message offering me a lift to the pub. That would certainly make it easy to get there, and the chances are I could also get a lift back to Catford again, but I'm not sure if even that is enough to tempt me to go out. I feel like I would be letting the band down in some way if I didn't go, plus I would be missing out on good beer ! As I finished that last sentence the text message with the offer of a lift just came through, and I've turned it down. So I'll probably have an early (for a Saturday night) night, tonight. |
| Sunday 2nd December 2012 |
| 10:27 GMT It was a very cold night last night. I think there was already frost on some cars when I went out at 7.30pm, but at midnight there was definitely a thick frost on all the car roofs. Just as the sky was beginning to brighten I noted a reading of 0.2° C on my outside thermometer. It is now 1.5° C, and with the sun shining brilliantly in a clear blue sky I'm sure it will rise a few more degrees, but it is still going to be a bloody cold day ! Tomorrow could be much worse - it is forecast to rain in the morning, but at least the temperature will rise to an almost useless 10° C. It's worth remembering that my outside thermometer is sitting outside the window of the upstairs back bedroom. At ground level, further away from the house, maybe out on the pavement, it will be a good few degrees cooler than the readings I quote. Something strange happened yesterday. I wrote a blog that I must have forgotten to save to the "today" page, but fortunately it does appear in the compilation for December. Maybe it was because I was in a rush to get out to go and see Chain playing in The Chatterton Arms pub in Bromley. I wasn't too happy about going out in the freezing cold, and I wasn't too happy about missing my bus by mere seconds, but eventually I got there a lot later than I had intended. It was good to get back into the warm, and good to get to somewhere with just about serviceable toilets. A combination of the cold, and eating lentils did make my bus ride a little uncomfortable (possibly for nearby passengers as well at one point !). To settle things down I had a double scotch as soon as I got there, and that helped a lot. Many pints of Guinness helped too, but didn't really insulate me from the cold when I left to go home again. The say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and after missing the last 3 or 4 gigs, it was wonderful to see another one. Chain, with Guy Harris on drums, and Dave Etheridge on bass for last nights gig, seemed to play really well last night. One song really standed out. It was their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain". It must be tricky to play, and doesn't always come out perfect, but last night it sounded better than perfection.  Here's Dave, maker of
Mad-Ass chilli sauces, with his bass guitar.
As requested, he brought along the chilli sauces I had asked for, and that saved me another trip to Croydon.  Jo in mid pluck (if you'll excuse the expression !)  Chris probably playing a power chord or something. After a great evening,
and
with many pints of Guinness in me, it was time to leave. In theory, all
that booze should have left me feeling numb enough to want to stay
extra late, and do a bit of roadie work, but in practice I was still
feeling a bit delicate. So I said my goodbyes, and departed before all
the gear was knocked down. My luck with the buses, or maybe lack of
luck, continued, and I missed another bus by 30 seconds or so. Luckily
another bus turned up a lot quicker than I anticipated, maybe just 10
minutes later, and didn't hang about on it's way to Catford.
I wanted some hot food when I got home, and one idea was to put some food in the microwave, but the instant gratification of the chicken shop put paid to that idea :-) Once I was sitting down with my hot food, and with the TV on, I felt slightly drunk for the first time. I found one of the channels was showing the X Files movie - I Want To Believe. I used to watch The X Files when I could, but I can't say I was a fan of the TV series. Some episiodes were good, and some were bad, even boring. I'm not sure about the movie. If I was sober it might have been better or worse, and if I was even drunker it might also have been better or worse. Mostly it was just something to watch last night, but Billy Connolly's acting was rather noteworthy for being very good in it. I watched it to the end even though I was falling asleep at the end. I think it was gone 2am when I got to bed, and unsurprisingly I fell asleep almost instantly. I slept well, but woke up far too early after only about 5 hours sleep. Fortunately there should be plenty of opportunities to get more sleep today. I might even lay on my bed after I've finished writing, listen to the radio, and possibly fall asleep. I'm still suffering from a slightly tender stomach, and a sore back this morning. Neither is particularly painful, but like an old wound they gently remind you not to do anything to make things worse. So I don't fancy lugging any heavy shopping back from the supermarket. Although there are a few things I want, there is nothing I actually need. So I don't have to go out, and if I don't have to go out then I have no need to get up properly. Maybe I'll wrap a wet flannel around my face, but I don't think I'm going to bother showering today - unless some hitherto unforeseen opportunity arises. Although it seems in direct contradiction to my desire to take things easy today, I really ought to steel myself to get some laundry done today. Like the shopping situation, there is nothing that needs to be washed today, but it would be better if I didn't let it accumulate - particularly in these short winter days when I don't feel like doing anything when I get home from work in darkness. Apart from the laundry I reckon I should rejoice in being a complete lazy slob today - after all, it's what God wants on a Sunday (at least according to the God botherers who seem to delight in breaking the sabbath by bothering people as well as God on Sundays). |
| Saturday 1st December 2012 |
| 18:04 GMT There was some sunshine yesterday, but it was still a very chilly day with the temperature staying below 6° C all day. Today saw a little less sunshine, but still quite similar to yesterday except there was at least one brief very light shower of rain. The lowest temperature I saw on my thermometer today was 0.9° C just before sunrise, and the highest was around 5° C. Currently it is a rather chilly 3.8° C. I felt quite odd yesterday, and I'm not entirely sure why. On the whole, yesterday was not a good day, but it had it's moments. The worst thing was that I had what I can only describe as abdominal pain. I think it was a combination of mild stomach ache, mild back ache, and probably a few internal organs complaining about the weather or something. The main good moment was leaving work early in sunshine - even if it was weak and watery sunshine. I was so keen to get out into that sunshine that my patience ran out waiting for my new camera to be delivered. Now I will have to wait until I am back at work on Monday to get my impatient little hands on it. So I set out empty handed to go home via Croydon, and it was there that I was disappointed again - the Mad-Ass stall at Surrey Street market was not there again. The disappointment with that was multiplied by the fact that I had endured an uncomfortable journey feeling like a visit to the toilet would have been nice. Fortunately at the end of Surrey Street there is a Wetherspoons pub, and I popped in there for a double scotch, and the use of their toilet. I think the double scotch did more for my guts than the visit to the toilet did. I left there feeling a bit better in some respects, but still wishing I was at home having a lay down in the warm. My journey home was made far worse in some ways by someone eating chicken and chips on the tram. It smelled so nice that I was almost drooling. When I got back to Catford, at around 2.30pm, I could resist the temptation of buying some chicken and chips for myself. I bought far too much, and I ended up eating it all. Feeling rather stuffed I went up and lay on my bed. I don't think I fell asleep, but I might have done. After a couple of hours I felt so much better. I treated my chicken and chips as my dinner for the day, but I did have a light supper early in the evening. After that I felt quite good for the rest of the evening. So goos that I neglected to get to bed until after midnight ! I slept quite well last night, and fortunately I managed to stay sleeping for a couple of hours after the time I normally wake up. It wasn't quite enough, but sufficient for now. Waking so late didn't give me much time to do much this morning, but I managed to do a bit of superficial tidying up before Aleemah came to visit me. She brought the DVD of a movie called Ted for us to watch. I was rather dubious about it at first, but it turned out to be quite entertaining. I'm sure it was probably inspired by the rather good, and British movie, Paul. This afternoon I've been quite lazy. There is stuff I could have done, and maybe should have done, but essentially I've done nothing. Right now, apart from writing this, I am getting into the right mood to go out to a gig for the first time in weeks. I must admit that I am not keen going out into the cold and dark, but I know this is going to be one of those occasions where once I am there I will definitely enjoy myself. If that isn't good enough then there is another imperative. I emailed Dave from Mad-Ass, who will be playing bass tonight, and he will be taking some chilli sauces to the gig for me. Yesterday morning, while I was waiting for the hours to pass before I could leave work, I took a picture on my phone of the wintery scene in the yard at work. Most of it looks rather dull, but note the blue sky, and the splash of sunshine to the top of the building on the right.  |