No Peace for the Wicked

A hotel room in Cambridge MA. It is 6.30 in the morning. Bad Man is stumbling around in his underwear and a T-shirt packing his suitcase.

Fish                 Badman, we need to talk.

Badman           Sure Amerigo, What’s up?

Fish                 Badman, this relationship is not working. To be honest, I feel used. You had me dragged from the Tank downstairs where I was happy with my fishy buddies and for the past week I have swam around this crappy bowl on my own and you have hardly spent 10 minutes in the room let alone had any quality time with me …..

Badman           But Amerigo …..

Fish                 Don’t you “But, Amerigo” me. You have treated me really badly and I want out of this relationship. You have treated me like crap and I’m telling you I want out of this. I spoke to Sebastian and he said you were a really nice guy but you are a shitty, uptight British idiot and I hope you get a cramped, window seat on a rammed flight that is delayed you ass hole.

That didn’t go very well at all did it? With retrospect I guess that I should have found time to visit the Mall and get Amerigo a gift at the very least. But, what do you buy a hotel fish? I suppose he might have liked some new plastic weed or could have got him a Castle. Mind you, he is very much a US Goldfish so he would probably have been happier with a little plastic Condo to swim in and out of. 

My Mom warned me about people like you !

  

As you may have guessed I have had a pretty intense week that didn’t leave much room for “me time”.  Working in the States means that my UK based team mates have a 5 hour advantage on me and they use that time well. They devote many hours to filling my in-box with as many emails as they possibly can. This means that my in-box is rammed even though I had diligently cleared it the day before.

The plan for this week is to have 4 days of sessions with our Client with the aim of honing our Proposal to a greater degree of relevance and accuracy. I need to keep on top of the information flows making sure that new data gets fed back to the UK and that UK questions get answered by the client or our US colleagues.

Needing to keep material moving has meant that most days have started with me checking my mail at around 6 in the morning and taking a couple of hours to get the priority stuff dealt with before getting breakfast and crossing the road to the Office. On Tuesday I woke at around 4.30 am due to Jet Lag and stupidly wandered over to my Laptop. I ended up having a chat with Golfy who has been ably “minding the shop” back in Blighty whilst I am infiltrating Corporate America.

The early start is a great way of keeping stuff moving back in the UK but it does result in a long working day. Each day has ended with a hour long Review and Highlights meeting that finishes around 7.30 pm but there have often been additional activities after that. To cut to the chase, I have rarely left the Office before 8 pm and then it has been a case of going straight to a restaurant for dinner and a couple of beers before returning to my room. I have then generally crashed immediately hence the issue with the Fish that is currently demanding relationship counselling.

So, there you have it, the pattern of the week has been 12 to 14 hours days of meetings and information management followed by a few hours of relative relaxation with my US workmates before retiring to partake of the intermittent sleep of the mildly jet-lagged.

I’m basically knackered and the flight home is once again rammed. I think wistfully back to my last trip when I had a row to myself and could stretch out. This time it will be a fitful doze in a Cattle Class seat.

I won’t really be able to kick back and relax on Saturday either as it is TP’s Rugby Tour and I will be driving him up to Newcastle under Lyme in Staffordshire within two or three hours of landing back in the UK.

With that thought at the forefront of my mind I had better sign off. I would like to be able to promise that normal service will be resumed next week but I am guessing that a series of Executive Reviews is likely to occupy most of my time

Wings & Carousels

So, here I am. 33,000‘ above the North Atlantic in a Boeing 757 that is absolutely rammed to the gills. I have been given a window seat and, it is fair to say, am not best impressed.

I am becoming somewhat claustrophobic as I get older and am feeling hemmed in by my laptop, the chap in front who has reclined his seat and my two travelling companions who I have to trouble every time I need to leave my seat. I used to enjoy the window seat but now I will happily let others take in the view and I will enjoy the comparative room and freedom of the aisle seats.

I suppose I should put away the laptop and give my self the illusion of some more space. I did try to complete some work and got as far as knocking up a spreadsheet for one of my colleagues but the environment is hardly conducive to doing anything more complicated than that.

How different this is to my last trip when, on both flights, I was the sole occupant of the row and was able to stretch out. On that trip I had the best of both worlds; plenty of room and the views from the window too.

I eventually arrived in Newark and, for once, was pleasantly surprised. Actually I was bloody amazed. Things were running like a Swiss watch and I was through immigration,  baggage reclaim, customs and the security checks for the internal flight in under 30 minutes. On the past two occasions these processes have taken 90 minutes or more so today was a welcome surprise after the cramped 7 and a half hour flight.

I arrived in Boston at around 4 in the afternoon and took a cab to the hotel. I checked in and ordered my fish*. Amerigo arrived some 40 minutes later and he is now happily doing circuits of his bowl as I write this entry.

I killed off threescore emails and then joined up with a few of my colleagues for a Chinese meal and learnt that when reading fortune cookies you have to add the words  "between the sheets" or  "in bed" after the fortune ....

... it really does give them a much needed lift.

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* My preferred hotel is pet friendly and will supply a goldfish for your room if requested. I do as I quite enjoy having the little fellow around.

Licking their wounds

Sunday started early as T&P was playing in the grudge match between his previous and current Rugby Clubs.

We were all out of the house by half past nine so that TP could train before the game. 30% and I did our own pre match warm up by taking T&M around the fields before the eleven o’clock kick off.

We hoped for a win and things looked good when TP’s team took an early 5 point lead with an unconverted try. Unfortunately they lost focus and the Visitors quickly equalised. Despite managing to keep on the pressure and keep the ball in the opponents half for an impressive amount of the game the Home team did not manage to increase their score.

Unfortunately the Opposition scored on two more occasions so the long hoped for win was not to be. TP’s team played really well and it was a close game. With a little more luck they could have got the win they deserved. As expected things did get a little heated at times and the Referee came close to putting one of the visitors in the Sin Bin for throwing a punch.

It will be the Autumn before they meet again if the rivals can still manage to pull a team together. One of the reasons we moved clubs, putting aside the conduct issue with one of the Coaches, was that they seemed to have problems pulling in sufficient lads to form a squad and that was apparent today when they arrived with no substitutes.

The rest of the day was pretty domestic. I had to pack for tomorrow’s trip to Boston and I also popped over to see my Dad. He is licking his wounds too as he took a tumble in the week and has a number of bumps and bruises and possibly a cracked rib. I was relieved to find that he was in good humour but is obviously in pain when he has to move. I gently chastised him for not paying a visit to his GP and urged him to do so if the pain doesn’t subside. I hope it is just bruising as I have cracked a few ribs of my own over the years and they are incredibly painful and take a long time to heal.

It will be an early night tonight as I have a five o’clock start to make a seven o’clock check-in at Birmingham airport.

Being Prepared ......

Andy & Steve have been booked in to take down our bedroom ceiling and re-plaster. They will be here for the week commencing 21st March.....

..... so this morning was spent dismantling our bed and moving it out on to the Landing ensuring that there was still space for Chippy Ian to work when he returns on Monday to finish the Linen Cupboard. It might seem that this is all a bit premature but I am away in Boston for the next week and return on Saturday 12th March just in time to accompany TP to the wilds of Staffordshire for his Rugby Tour.

The following week is likely to be filled with work activities so realistically it is best to get as much done up front.

After lunch 30% and I took T&M for a walk and then nipped in to town to drop some no longer needed items off at the Charity Shop, stock up with supplies and pick up some electrical components from the DIY store.

The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting out the light switch in our bedroom. For some strange reason this had been surface mounted with the cables run through plastic conduit. It was a fairly simple matter to re-route the cables and install a new box and switch such that it is neatly mounted flush with the wall and with the cables concealed from view. Andy & Steve will rectify the plasterwork when they arrive in a couple of weeks.

Looking to tomorrow TP has a rugby match against his old team and it will be something of a grudge match. Lets hope his team play as well as they did last week as it would be especially good to beat the old side.

Most of today was spent tying up as many loose ends as possible and getting my ducks in a row as I am crossing the pond on Monday.

I think you will find that I have just called a Full House on Management Bull Shit Bingo!

In reality I managed to tie my shoes to the chair leg and the ducks are hung in a very crooked line with the one at the front looking like it has just taken the contents of both barrels of a 12-Bore up it's chuff.

Fortunately Frolleague Golfy has climbed on board to assist over the next week or so and will be there with Tape and Spirit Level to ensure that the Ducks would pass Hilda Ogden's* inspection. I have made this reference to Coronation Street as Golfy makes no secret of his fanatasicm and I need to keep him on-side.

They still look wonky to me.

The next couple of weeks are going to be a bit manic with a high likelihood of veering right in to the shit at the back end. Ah well, its only 14 days, I may need to make some arcane sacrifice to curry favour with the Gods.

As the day length increases in line with my workload I have been walking T&M later in the afternoon. The recent high pressure has meant that the days are cold but the skies are clearer and this evening I had a lovely walk. I had timed it perfectly ....

...... actually this should have read "luckily" and the sun was setting over the hill behind the Church as we wandered back in to the village. There were no clouds and I was treated to a fantastic couple of minutes as I paused to watch the Sun merge with and then drop below the horizon. That means that the Sun is officially over the yard arm and I can open a bottle of wine. Mind you five o'clock is a bit early perhaps I'll shift another few emails first.

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* I am aware that Hilda was better known from a Decor perspective for her "muriel" but apparently she also had ducks.

Don't tell 30%

I had to host a Review in Farnborough today.

Home to Office is 120 miles, Journey in; 2 hours and 20 minutes, journey home; 2 hours 20 minutes including a 15 minute stop for a conference call. Both journeys involved the M25 during rush hour, several country lanes, a very busy M40 and Farnborough town centre.

30%'s car seems to be performing very well and picks up nicely when the traffic clears!

Picture Post. No. 5

Forgive me,  but my day has been e-mails followed by calls "ad-infinitum". I have made great progress but not one iota of that will be of interest to you.

I have therefore picked out this one from the archives as today's entry. This is a shot of Half Dome taken in Yosemite National Park in the Summer of 2006.

The view from the car park !

Yosemite is an incredible place with an awe inspiring scale to someone used to UK Geographical dimensions. Half Dome is so high that climbers actually "camp out" on that sheer face when they make an ascent with ropes. Apparently they haul up a narrow collapsible platform to sleep on held to the face by camming devices or whatever it is those head cases use.

It is truly beautiful and amazing that the Sequoia National Park is only a few miles away and equally wondrous.

It's not good news ...

A few weeks ago I had minor moan about my Wellies. They were less than 12 months old and the heel was already so worn down that the internal cavity was just visible......

..... well, on a recent walk I noticed a cool feeling in the region of my toes, Hmm, I thought and wandered on. The cool feeling took on an element of dampness and then, as time progressed, a hint of definitely soggy.

I arrived home to find one foot as dry as bone and the other "not".

Like any caring Wellington owner I took them in to an Emergency Cobbler but the  prognosis was grim. "It's not good news ...." he said "... and such a young pair too, barely in to their stride". I surreptitious wiped a tear from my eye and stifled a sniff. "Is there anything you can do?" I asked, knowing the answer already. "The best thing we can do is put them out of their misery. Don't worry it will be painless, a swift hobnail driven in to nervous system and it will be all over"

It was nice that he sugar coated it. I wouldn't have wanted the grim details. I left them there to be euthanised and will pick them up later on. I'm not sure whether to go with a simple burial in the garden or a cremation although I guessing that the Environmental Health will have a go about me casting my Argylls on to a funeral pyre.

They say two out of three aint bad .....

...... but I'm not sure that I wholeheartedly agree.

My Day went like this. Pretty much the first activity after seeing TP off to school was to drop the Defender over at the workshop - CHECK.

Then back home to receive Chippy Ian so that he could make start on the Landing cupboards - CHECK

The make a few work calls to ensure that the rest of the week goes in the right direction rather than veering off course like a riderless bike - CHECK

So that's it, my day is set up and I should be able to enjoy my day off work. 30% had a day off too so we took T&M for a walk before returning to keep Ian filled with tea and perform other domestic odds and ends - I got to wax TP's bathroom door - the fun just never ends....

...... and so we get to the point where we appraise the day's activities and that is where the title of this entry gets a modicum of relevance. Ian has made a great start. The Linen Cupboard will be brilliant giving us some much needed storage on the open Landing  but without impacting the space to any great degree. He should only need a couple more days to complete the carcassing and make to two pairs of doors. Win number 1.

The work calls all seemed to go smoothly and I am therefore claiming that as Win number 2 although I am sure to regret this smugness by about Wednesday when it all goes tits up.

So that leaves the Defender and I am sure that you are ahead of me here .....

..... The Stage 1 tune has not happened. I was hoping to be razzing around the lanes in a truck with a lot more oomph but that was not what happened. The ECU upgrade is pretty straightforward process. The mechanic procures the remap software, a one use item, and installs it on the ECU. The fact that the remap software is a single use item ensures that the Software House gets paid for every remap. They have a variety of control methods and it appears that, for whatever reason, this remap cannot be applied to the Defender due to a software glitch - FUCKING PROGRAMMERS - Mark has therefore paid for an upgrade that will not apply and I am sat here without a car until some geek pulls his finger out and stops playing World of Warcraft long enough to do what he should have done right in the first place. I am mildly irritated by this but am sure it will be sorted in the next day or so.

Star Performance

And so Sunday starts.

For me waking on Sunday morning is like when you are driving the car and don't depress the clutch far enough. That grinding of gears that makes the mechanically sympathetic wince is a bit like the start of a Sunday. You wake, the mental gears grind and you wince knowing that Monday is a whole lot nearer. But then you need to press the pedal down and enjoy what you've got left. Theoretically I have a day off tomorrow but I seem to need to do an hour of work here and there throughout the extended weekend to keep the various balls in the air.

Anyway, enough of that and let's turn to Andy Parsons or, as the Daily Mail described him "... a surprisingly well informed Green Grocer". Like many I came across Andy as a regular on the BBC show Mock The Week. I thought he had something but 30% was not so sure so the Jury was split as we took up front row seats at Warwick Arts Centre last night.

Andy closing his set

He was really good. A pretty straightforward set delivered in a mildly disgruntled way and spiced with plenty of sarcasm and irony. 30% was won over by his well paced stream of on-target gags.

Now I appreciate that you may be thinking that I say "go see him/her" after all of the stand-up gigs so for fair measure I had better point out that I have seen some absolute Turkeys in my time.  Andy was definitely great but I would never pay good money to see Stewart Lee after he bombed at Warwick about 18 months ago. I enjoyed Reg D Hunter's flashes of genius but he was pretty pissed/stoned and for much of the set was a little off key. Canadian One-liner king Stewart Francis is great but he has very limited range of material and if you have seen much of him on TV you will have seen his set already.

Anyway, give Andy a go. The Gruntled Tour is running through to May according to his website and learn how to avoid looking shit on Mock The Week...

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Other Stuff:

It is Sunday and TP is in the house. This means that Rugby is the principal morning activity. We arrived early so he could train and took T&M for a walk before the eleven o'clock kick off. As we took up position on the touch line the heavens opened and poured a steady rain on the proceedings only stopping a few minutes before the full time whistle blew.  The weather didn't affect TP's team and they put in a competent performance and the game ended in a deserved win. TP seemed to have had a pretty steady game playing out on the wing. He made some cracking tackles and had two or three serious attempts at taking the ball to the try line. I was really pleased at how he had played and it appeared that I was not the only one.....

....... he appeared from the changing room, clutching a hot dog in one hand and the man of the match award in the other. I am indeed a proud Dad.

The rest of the day has been spent clearing the landing in preparation for Chippy Ian who will be turning up tomorrow morning to make a start on the Linen Cupboard.

The Wanderer Returns

TP has returned from his Austrian tour intact with tales of his skiing expertise. He has had a fantastic time and took to skiing like the proverbial duck to water. He has never skied before but was moved up a class after the first 10 minutes when he had already mastered the snow plough and basic turns.

It seems that he has progressed incredibly well and quickly caught up with his friends that had previous skiing experience. He must have been pretty handy as he showed us a video he had shot whilst skiing a red run - pretty impressive for only a few days of practice.

He arrived home yesterday afternoon absolutely shattered after a 20 hour coach Journey and has spent much of his time sleeping since. He was alert enough to notice that he was now sleeping in his new bedroom and that 30% and I had installed a new wardrobe and supplied some very funky bed linen to go with his chosen colour scheme of Taxi Yellow and Orange.

His skiing exploits have prompted 30% to consider a winter holiday next year and I was surprisingly asked for my views on a Winter holiday.....

.... I agreed that the Seychelles or the Maldives would be nice in February 2012. Ouch! Apparently that was not what 30% meant.

Today the plan was to take T&M for an early walk, pop in to Tesco and then have lunch at a local pub. This would leave the afternoon free for an hour or so of work in front of the Rugby  followed by a kip and then over to Warwick Arts Centre to see Andy Parsons do a stand-up set this evening.

This is all running to schedule but I would like to make one announcement to the absolute cock that gesticulated aggressively at 30% and me while we were taking T&M for a walk. This Bell End* saw Marauder crouch to do her business and then we walked on. The blind git assumed that she had taken a dump and that we were ignorant dog owners that were just going to leave it there. In response, I do clear up my dog's shit but if he had been slightly more observant he would have noticed that a) Marauder is a Bitch and b) she was taking a pee.

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* aka the pretentious old prat who puts on a shonky Scots accent to address the haggis on Burns Night. I may take the opportunity to correct him when I next see him.

Swings & Roundabouts

Work has been a real grind today; lengthy calls, numerous emails and a momentary clearing of the fog to see a really crappy three weeks ahead. Ah well ,at least it was forward movement today albeit not very far.

I am also becoming very cynical about people saying they will do something. I now regard that as complete and utter bullshit until they send an email saying that they have completed the task.

But enough of that, Hopefully I have done enough that will allow me to take Monday off as a day's holiday with only a couple of hours effort required tomorrow to keep work crawling along like the first proto-amphibian that hauled it's slimy bulk out of a Devonian sea 400 million years ago or thereabouts. Yep, Dante's might think it is racehorse fast but the previous sentence is a far more realistic view.

Right, back to Monday. On Monday I had planned to take the Defender in to the workshop to have Alpine windows fitted in to the roof as part of it's civilisation. At present it has a van body and there are a few tweaks needed to make the back more passenger friendly. The great thing about Defenders is that they are easily altered and the plan was to simply remove sections of the roof and insert the aforementioned windows.

This was before the mechanic got cold feet and called. He advised that my Defender has the new smooth roof and he was therefore concerned that inserting the windows would increase flexing in the roof and could lead to leaky windows or them simply dropping out. He advised that similar "factory" roofs with alpine windows have a lip around the aperture to prevent flexing. Bugger, I thought.

It's an impression, not a Technical Drawing

"Don't worry" he advised "I can get you a replacement roof with the windows already fitted from a Dismantler and bolt it on". "As for your current roof" he continued "I'll buy that off you as I am always doing conversions". I probably need to point out that the Defender is one step away from a Mechano car and is incredibly easy to reconfigure from Estate, to Pick-up to Van. All it takes is a few bolts and usually WD40 and and Elastoplast. .......

...... The numbers all stacked up. The additional cost of the full roof was easily offset by the price the Mechanic would pay for the current one and the reduced time required to fit a roof as opposed to the modification of the existing lid. In other words it was pretty much cost neutral.

The only fly in the ointment was that this was not going to happen on Monday as a roof still needed to be located. I had a flash of genius .....

...... "Ah" I said "so you now have a spare few hours on Monday". "Yes" Mark, the mechanic agreed. "OK, how about still having her in and giving her a Stage 1 ECU remap then?" I suggested. Mark laughed and agreed. So, now the Defender is going to have her BHP and Torque adjusted to a slightly more aggressive level which should make her slightly more civilised at Traffic Lights and Junctions. RESULT!

Ploughing a 10 acre field with a Merry Tiller

That is how the yesterday finished.

First things first lets have a quick recap of the day. To be fair most of it went very well. The sun came out. For the first time this week it was a pleasure to wander round the lanes with T&M, hat off, coat open - steady now - and feeling the sun and breeze on my face.

On the work front, most of the stuff I needed to do went well and it was only the final job that has been somewhat problematic. Fortunately there are other ways of achieving the goal so it will not weigh heavy on my conscience if I don't get it done.

The job, yes, I was getting to that, I have an enormous model that covers the entire planet and this model has been developed in a Lamborghini* of a tool. To continue the automotive analogy, realistically I could do with a Ford equivalent because the tool is way too sophisticated for much all of the stuff I will ever do with it.

The tool itself consumes huge amounts of memory and processing power on my laptop so when asked to divide a global model up in to Geographic chunks it simply sulked. It didn't crash or anything like that it sat there looking like it was doing something but was actually achieving nothing. To be honest I think the damned laptop put 1% of its processing powers in to showing me an animated graphic of an egg timer and spent the other 99% of its capabilities looking at high res images of computer chips on the internet - Dirty little sod!

 Hence I felt that I was attempting a job with a tool that was seriously inadequate. I'm guessing that a large chunk of today will be spent doing the same

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* as in it is very powerful, never works properly and the instructions are in Italian

Glass half empty

Yesterday was one of those days when everything I touched seemed to turn to shit......

.... I needed to print out a couple of hard copies and, due to a complete melt down of the OS on the home PC, needed to install the home printer to my work laptop. "Ah" you say, "that should be pretty straightforward" and I would agree. All I should have needed to do is bung in the CD, click Yes and I Agree at the appropriate points and watch an animated file fly from one folder to another.

My hardware, however, had other ideas and it required three attempts and a re-boot before the printer appeared in the printer list and that pretty much set the scene for the rest of the day.

Every time I tried to do something I was either interrupted or required to complete a number of pre-requisites before I could do what needed to be done. The net result was a somewhat jaded individual.

From this morning's viewpoint I know that I actually did quite well. I got a project review arranged for next week. I got clarity on how to run that review thanks to Golfy. I also managed to coax the home PC in to life with a bit of patience, a straightened paper clip and a massive pile of data CDs so there is no need to go out and procure a new PC for TP to do his homework on.

So, all in all, it was reasonably successful - it just felt like a crappy day.

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Other Stuff:
Marauder's Kennel Club Registration document finally arrived. It has taken the best part of a year to acquire this piece of paper as the Breeder decided that Marauder should be registered with an clause preventing any of her progeny from being registered. Even though we have no plans to breed from M we were quite miffed at this and requested its removal. Although the Breeder was willing to do so it has taken many letters and 'phone calls to get it sorted due to the fact that the Kennel Club point blank refused to liaise with the Breeder. This is in spite of the Breeder being quite happy for them to do so.

There is, of course,  a footnote because it is Marauder. Typically her poncy registered name is misspelt but, after dealing with the KC, I'm not going to go through the rigmarole of a name change.

Caution !

This Journal entry contains brief nudity and adult themes and may be upsetting for younger viewers.

Let me set the scene. It is half past ten and I have retired to bed to watch the News. 30% has wandered downstairs "au naturelle" for some undisclosed reason.

Whilst watching the news I pondered that being a Dictator must be really hard work if, in the past 40 years, Colonel Gaddafi couldn't find the time to promote himself further up the army ranking system. Whilst musing on how much time suppressing political opposition takes up I heard 30% shouting at Tyson downstairs. This is unusual as 30%'s general conversation with Tyson goes along the lines of "Who's my best girl".

The shouting continued so I hauled my arse out of bed - look away now, really there is nothing for you to see here - and stumbled down the stairs.

In the Hall I find Eddy, Tyson, Marauder and a half naked 30% all scurrying round excitedly. I make discrete enquiries and am advised that Tyson has just eaten a live mouse. I am suitably shocked at this and say "good, saves me catching the bugger" and am about to retire to bed when I am instructed to check Tyson's jaws ......

..... I assume for shreds of mouse stuck between the teeth - so difficult to remove, and who wants mouse breath next morning?

While I am doing this 30% kindly locates the still living mouse scampering round the floor. There follows an amusing naked romp involving the removal of dogs and cat, gathering of boxes and capture of misplaced rodent vermin.

I really need to talk to both the sodding cat and Tyson. They need to be taught not to play with their food as the end result is that I missed the weather and I do so like to comment on what Shefali Oza wears on the Midlands Weather forecast. Christ that woman needs a new wardrobe and don't get me started on Genelle Aldred!

Hedgerow Salad

The weather today is miserable. It is cool. It is damp. It is grey and dreary. It is not even worthy of being called weather. It is sort of what you would imagine would happen if someone switched off the weather or it defaulted to a limp home mode. I don't like it when it is like this. I would rather that it was pissing down with rain or hurling hail down on the ground than this insipid, damp, lack of meteorological action. I suppose I just like "weather with balls;" pouring rain, blazing sun, a gale anything but this.

Work has been similarly insipid. Nothing significant to do, just lots of irritating things that need to be kicked off or completed before the chaos starts in a week or so. I'll be back out in Boston in a couple of weeks time trying to get sufficient information so that our fag packet number is good enough to put in a contract.*

This afternoon I reluctantly grabbed coat, hat and the usual dog walking ephemera and set off with T&M round the Three Miler. I enjoy the walk and the opportunity to get away from the desk but the weather hardly made it the most enjoyable of rambles. T&M, of course, thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it and now have a new delicacy to add to their foraged snacks. For the past few weeks they have had pretty poor fare and have been subsisting on the odd road apple that they come across. There was a week of bounty when one of the local farmers was muck spreading and the roads were littered with extract of cow shed. The dogs were as happy as pigs in shit that week. That was pretty much how they smelt that week too.

This week however the Goosegrass (Galium aparine) has started to shoot and T&M absolutely love it. They charge from patch to patch nibbling away and seem to select it in preference to the other greenery. I noticed this last year too. I can only encourage them as the damned stuff will be a nightmare later on when it starts to seed and their coats are filled with the wretched stuff.

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* ooh look, Gloucester Old Spots coming in low from the South West. Their hams look beautiful silhouetted against the setting sun

Other stuff:
Chippy Ian rang back with the quotes and they are pretty close to what I had estimated. He has been booked for next Monday to start on the first of the jobs, the floor to ceiling linen cupboard on the Landing.

From Lazy to Bone Idle

With TP away falling down hills in Austria there is no Rugby training or games to fit in to my Sunday morning.

As a consequence no alarms were set and 30% and I further practice the art of the line-in. Eventually caffeine withdrawal got the better of 30% and she was first out of bed. I was roused with a double espresso at an especially civilised 9.15. The icing on the cake was that she had also let out the chickens so there was nothing to drag me from my pit.

The rest of the day involved me putting considerable effort in to "pottering". I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I have finally reached a pottering age but have also discovered that it is a euphemism for doing sod all but looking incredibly busy at the same time. This is therefore an art worth perfecting.

This evening saw a trip over to Warwick Arts Centre to see Radio 4's "I'm sorry I haven't a clue" stalwart Jeremy Hardy live on stage. He was dry, sharp and very witty with a stream of slightly edgy left wing intellectual conciousness that was very entertaining. It was difficult to pick out any material as a highlight but he was in the middle of a Middle Aged rant about Americanism where he came up with .....

......  "It's not I'm Good, it's Mustn't Grumble" . As it says "You probably had to be there"

Lazy Day

30% and I have had a very easy time of it today. We lay in until gone nine and, after a leisurely breakfast, popped in to Worcester for a wander round the shops. The weather today has been miserable which means that the sanding of doors in TP's recently decorated room is still on hold.

Perhaps it is for the best as we have both had a manic week so a lazy day is just what the Doctor ordered.

A welcome interruption at lunchtime was a text from TP to let us know that he had arrived in Austria.

The afternoon saw me drag a basket of logs in from the pile and take T&M out for a walk. The log burner was coaxed in to life on my return and I found that The Dam Busters was showing on HD so my afternoon was sorted.

The Mad Bat & Dickie are popping round this evening for a few drinks and a catch up. The Mad Bat's has had a particularly harrowing time recently so, understandably, it has been a good while since we last met up. It will be great to see them both and relax and chat in front of the fire.

Phew, I think I got away with it.

Today was deadline day at work. All week I have been updating numbers that needed to be passed to my American colleagues this evening. It was debatable whether I needed to have these numbers approved or not but, being the "new guy" I thought I had better get a Green Light.

I had a brief approval call and despite understandable concerns was allowed to proceed. This should be a cause for celebration but the further we progress the more the common concern is that it will end in tears. That is what can happen when Big Guns say "make it so".

Away from work my Dad popped round for coffee this morning and we spent half an hour catching up on each other's News. He asked if I was still writing the Blog and mentioned a tale that I might like to jot down. It concerns my Grandfather and Dad felt that it would sit well in the Journal.......

When my Dad was a boy the family home was very close to the local railway stations, note Stations plural it was GWR and LMS in those days. Instead of buying coal by the sack from the local Coal Merchant, Grand Dad would take his pick-up truck down to the Goods Yard and buy his coal loose there.  It was all above board and the process was that the pick-up would be weighed empty at the Goods Yard weighbridge. It would then be filled with coal and weighed again. A quick subtraction and Grand Dad was billed for the load of coal.....

.... "OK" I hear you saying "but it isn't the most interesting of tales". And I would agree if it wasn't for the fact that in those days the family dog was an enormous Springer Spaniel called Sam. Sam was massive for his breed and was probably about half a hundredweight if he was weighed. I appreciate that that is in "old money" and it translates to 56 lbs or about 25 Kilos in more modern coinage. Dad and Sam used to accompany Grand Dad when he used to buy coal but only Dad and Grand Dad used to get out of the truck when it was first weighed. This meant that the "empty weight" included 25 lbs of dog.

When the loaded truck was weighed everyone including Sam got out and Grand Father got 25 lbs of coal for nothing.

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 Other Stuff:
TP set off for his skiing trip to Austria today. as I look at the Dishwasher and the pile of recycling that needs taking out I think "God I miss him already"

Cold Cuts for Supper ?

Yesterday I was having a status review when I was asked to comment on a candidate's suitability for a role. It was all very off hand and an informal request.

I thought back fondly to when this candidate used to be a Task Manager for me and replied rather formally "I didn't feel able to comment on their suitability for the role". The Reviewer laughed and commented that I need not say any more.

As I said in the title, I think it is cold cuts for supper.