Random drivel that issues from my fingers

9:24pm: I've been told by various people that skateboarding is not a crime.  There seems to be a lot of vested interests out there to propograte this myth. See 1, 2 and 3 etc. 

Well, I've just got conclusive evidence that it is.  Snapped saturday. 



I was amused.  But then, it's a Puritan town.  I suspect they frown on dancing, juggling, music, alcohol, smiling or any form of having a good time. 

He he, but just wait till I get a black powder licence, they'll make a great moving target and I'll be doing my bit for law and order (-; 

8:44pm: Random curious fact. Ears are apparently stretchable from the insides. I've been using inner ear headphones (shure e2c) for about 10 months during working hours so I can actually get some work done without the distracting babble of an open plan office. My ears have obviously grown as I've stepped up a size of silicone flange things. If I keep this up, I'll have immense ears like that stupid american mouse by the time I retire.

1:17pm: I'm so exhausted, I've got a cold living in my head and it's taking a real effort to string coherent sentences together. Although I'm heartened to learn I can still string and unstring the bow unaided (just) even in an enfeebled state with only a bit of faffing.
It's appalling feeling so tired after yesterday when I had loads of energy, I think they wanted me in work today but I wouldn't have been up to much apart from staring at the screen and blowing my nose which is of no use to anyone, instead I'm going to take a nap before one finds me.

Finally found 2 houses that I might want to buy, one of which features 90ft of garden, the other less but still has possibilities. With my knack of timing, this is bound to be perhaps the worst (fiscally imprudent at least, ooo I sounded like an economist there) time to buy houses, be warned.

9:59pm: It is every englishman's duty to bear deadly weaponry
Today I saw simonsatori who has enlisted in the army of George III to combat the continental menace of Napoleon comprehensively run away from the french. He was carrying the flag too. This was shortly before the British were firmly routed and then massacred to a man (although the deadness of some of the highlanders seemed dubious as a brisk breeze seemed to be provoking a bit of post death twitching in an effort to keep their skirts modest). Brave brave brave Sir Robin. Apparently he was killed yesterday but he's getting over it quite well.

I felt patriotic and that I too should do my bit for king and country and it wasn't hard for the dutch (curiously) to persuade me to buy a longbow. Curiously it is coloured, (stained black with some painted silver decoration) which I'm sure would cause GNAS to throw a right strop but it's very cute. Now all I need is a long garden but luckily I think I saw one of those for sale on the way home.

8:32pm: Ha! Ticket bastard after previously deciding that I liked Status Quo (and wanted to see them in southampton) for reasons best known to the evil daemons that lurk within (it's an evil and hideous lie I tell you) managed to get it spot on. Their mailshot (that I've not yet managed to unsubscribe from) was plugging Victory Pill in the subject line. I was very impressed as VP aren't really top billing yet. Although I *still* don't live in Southampton.

10:29pm: It's just bad and wrong. But funny.
I got a new telling bone.  Nokia are desperately adding features that are really useful. *cough*  It came with a cable that is bigger than the phone, one end however plugs into my 20" monitor. 



And when I stop laughing, I'm going to see if I can find the "make cup of tea" application. 

7:18pm: simonsatori there is hope for you yet.

1:31pm: Long shot but..

Does anyone know how to get to the front fog lights in a '99 d8 peugeot 406 coupe? One has gone and I was going to change the bulb. But Looking at the structure of the front end of the car, I'm wondering quite how much I have to remove, it's looking like most of the front of the car which is insane for a bulb. No obvious access via the wheel well, no access from above (I'm contemplating unbolting the normal light cluster but I think there is a metal section beneath that and the lights are beneath them) and underneath is a big rain deflection panel which is half the nosecone from what I can see. Coupled with a relative lack of owenership of suitable car dismantling spanners I might go shopping for some tools later...

On the plus side I did fix the cigarette lighter so I can have extended navigational domestics with an american persona called bonnie that refuses to accept that some roads are actually impassable.

10:25pm: Upon how I discovered Nestle was Swiss
I write this stuff then it languishes in a draft file on my desktop for ages...

The lovely larissa_00 went on adventures foreign and snowy and brought back from Switzerland some coffee beans from a local supermarket for me for which I'm very grateful. (-: The beans being of an unknown brand I mashed them up in the grinder and made some caffeinated beverage. Whilst consuming this beverage I was miles away checking my e-mail and was suddenly brought back to reality with a jolt. "Ewww I'm drinking nescafe?!! [Shock][Confusion][Horror!]". Now instant coffee is not allowed in the house (tm) for it is vile and evil and has no ritual. This coffee was most definitely not instant and upon inspection the beans are indeed genuine. So upon putting 2 and 2 together I have determined 1) The swiss have a peculiar taste in coffee 2) nescafe which I previously suspected didn't contain any actual coffee probably does (and is just a very strange blend with something peculiar in the roasting dept)[0]. 3) nestle is probably a swiss company. 4) The swiss are odd in the extreme!!

[0] It somehow seems like a waste!

10:16pm: It's been a while. So what have I done? I have been away and seen things you people wouldn't believe. Rutger Hauer on fire off the shoulder of Orion... Well actually no, I've not seen bladerunner again, not for many a moon. I'm still being a bit crap on the moving picture front. But I have seen ancient clocks, tall towers, many many musicians strutting their funky stuff, some good, some less so, but music is just /so/ good. A former employer masquerading as a slovakian arts collective, people old and new. I have taken another victory pill, seen the children of neil but not of neal (Hi Neal). I have been de-dreaded and re-experienced the joys of showers (they are **so** good but I miss my un-hair). I have read lots but still have a huge unread stack. I have been stripping down my life to bare essentials and shall be being strict and dispose of stuff that I don't use (anyone want to buy a paraglider?) and soon I shall be inventing a new one faster, leaner, cooler and more exciting than the old one (life that is, not paraglider).

8:37pm: darthstoo Look at this.... You know you want one.

10:37pm: Hoping it doesn't run in the family
My dear Mummikinz[0] has, after much talking and confusion but with lots of encouragement finally bought herself a wood lathe[1]. Huzzah! Because sticking bits of sharp metal into rapidly rotating lumps of wood can be dangerous, you need to keep your chisels as sharp as possible so they keep doing what they are supposed to be doing and don't come flying back towards you... [2] So in order to do that you sharpen them on a grinding wheel that you mount on your lathe. Well, her grinding wheel turned up today and she's *already* hurt herself. Opening the packet with a pair of scissors...

I truly worry!

[0] Yes I do call her Mummikinz because it amuses both of us.
[1] I'm rather excited about having a go as well and I'm sure a 'turning' posse could be formed if anyone else is interested.
[2] Apparently all the wood turners she has met have got 'interesting' scars to show...

2:55pm: Well, I'm getting sick of deleting comments from anonymous fervent admirers of the drivel that pours out my fingers in this space. I've never considered myself in need of Viagra or a variety of other products to enhance my sex life, so comments are going to registered users only. And this should realistically affect no one.

Comment spam - it's so appalling that I can't believe that it is at all successful. Maybe I should leave some pseudo spam with my own contact details to see if there are any muppets out there who are actually serious enough to try and buy some viagra... I'm presuming that its part of a government programme to weed out the stupidest members of society, the "viagra" that the "spammers" sell is just rat poison. They are the ones putting arsenic in the pages of the tabloid papers too. (-;

10:46pm: Punky rockabilly cruchy guitar goodness.
I love the m25. I love a heavy clutch and a heavy handbrake. I love lorry drivers that overturn their articulated wagons just to cause me trouble. Grrrr. A toddle to winchester on sunday had an extra hour and a half of being thankful for the cd player, and cursing of lorries. New blue car (called Emily[1] by the way) is a lot of fun at a fractional mach number on a motorway, or swallowing country lanes for breakfast, but significantly less fun inching down one lane wide country roads[0] trying to escape the carnage of the broken motorway. Along with about 30,000 other drivers (mostly in BMW SUVs) also with the same algorithm in their talking boxes.
But to Winchester we went. We had food, met new and interesting people, I got to see the cathedral (albeit exceptionally briefly and at night) and was then told that the shiny tower in front of it was an interactive artwork that you can sms instructions to. Probably a good job we were in a hurry because between us we had far too many good ideas about confusing it. (-; A Royalist stronghold as it turns out. We approve.
Devlish Presley were full of energy, to the extent that my ears are still ringing. And the supporting torpedos were pretty good too. An ace bassist, although playing a sinister bass which is just wrong. Then again they must have met up at a sinister guitar club or something as one of the other guitarists was playing a backwards guitar.
We never did understand the somewhat inebriated norwegians who were trying to tell us about [music?/festival?/signing bands?/dancing?] but they didn't start a fight and so it was all alright.
Tired now. Much too much work to be tackled and no sleeping allowed till it's all finished )-:

[0] Which I think must have been a practical joke shipped over from the isle of man, I'm not sure what they were doing in londonish.
[1] Although she should probably be spelt Emilie, being somewhat French. I must ask her why her window controls require an upward push to make them go down and a downward push to make them go up but that's far beyond my feeble grasp of the language.

2:02am: The inimitable Ladytron and some band called Nine Inch Nails.
Well it was interesting. Ladytron seem to have grown. A drummer included amongst the live line up and there were at least 6 of them on stage. Extra keyboard layers adding really nicely to their harsh electronic sound. The bulgarian lady can't sing though, well not in tune, I can only presume that the monitors were unwell. This spoiled things a bit but she only sings for a few songs anyway. The audience being mostly there for NiN though and it showed. Well NiN have a lot of noise and energy and have are very used to the big stage. Professional and accomplished (well apart from the guitarist being a total gratuitous feedback tart and then smashing up an amp and guitar at the end, oh how seventies!!) their songs are sometimes overwhelmingly powerful and sometimes, well. Crap[0]. My memory of NiN is that about the time that half the audience were born (I felt so old) they released Pretty Hate Machine and that rocked. You can't argue with head like a hole. Then they faffed around in the musical wilderness for about 15 years and on the way did a variety of bitty EPs and things the sum total of which were a couple of good tracks on, then their last album which I find fairly bland (it's obviously a relative term for an industrial metal album) and that's about it. Without paying much attention, looks like Mister Reznor had his hair cut off since I last noticed (err that would be '91), a shame, he looked good with long hair.
I noted that drinks in the brixton academy were even more expensive than in california which shocked me. There were still quite a lot of people propping the bars up though so the venue won't be going out of business any time soon.

[0] Judging by the reaction of the audience around me I think it's just me being an old fart.

4:12pm: The Long Blondes are saying Siouxsie with a sort of modern take on retro slant to me. Anyone else? Seen 'em? Are they any good live?

8:49pm: The goggle box ate my brain. (Then it choked to death. It wasn't pretty. Nor was the gogglebox)
I'm getting a bit crap at this. Moving pictures that is. It all started back in 1983 when I was given one of those home computer things. A Sinclair ZX Spectrum 16k in case you are wondering. And that's probably got far too much to do with what I am today. But I digress. The spectrum plugged into a tv and I soon realised that playing games and learning to program were far more interesting than watching neighbours of an evening. Then, later on I headed off to university and as a poor student, tvs were luxury items and I didn't see the need. Then lodging in an attic at my first job, again I saw no need, later settling down with H on the Isle of Man, she was another TV-less individual and we were quite happy in our own way (before the malady of Manannan's Isle really struck) listening to Radio 4 and playing with the cats. Then H's mother heard of our situation, misunderstood, imagined it to be a Catastrophe, although coincidentally that was the name of a small tabby and white cat we'd got from the shelter, and sent us a tv and video through the post. Very sweet, but misguided. We then found our lives changing. The gogglebox went on in the evening and then late at night we'd realise that we'd watched yet another documentary about sharks (there is at least one on every night on the "discovery" channel but there is only about enough footage for 2 complete 40 minute ish documentaries they just resplice it all together and put a different voice over on top), 3 lots of news, some sitcom that wasn't very funny etc. Life felt really flat and free time evaporated and then it all imploded as we split up but that's yet another story. Suffice to say that I ended up with the TV, which I think is still in a garage, it's that important. Actually a CRT getting slightly damp... it'll never work again. The point of this long and meandering tale is that I've basically not seen a lot of moving pictures in the last 15 years or so. All those iconic films that you are assumed to have seen, all that popular culture that just drifts on by. I'm not sure that it's a totally bad thing, but I've probably missed out on some good stuff too.
My thought is that I should be more selective as to what I watch but I'm so unused to watching tv it's really weird, I find it hard to concentrate on it (not enough information quickly enough) and I've noticed that I'm no longer desensitised to hyper-real hollywood style ultra violence or their favourite "lay it on with spades" emotional thing. Anyway, the point being that seeing as I've not been to a cinema since err I was in San Francisco last and people pushed dvds into my hands about this time last year and said "you *must* watch this" and I err haven't gotten around to it, cough cough, watching about one moving picture thing a month currently (curiously with the exception of music videos) because watching things doesn't occur to me. I'm going to make an effort. Now because I haven't seen all of those iconic films and shows and things. What have I missed? Have they invented 3d tv yet? Are we living in a world dominated by network television, ala Max Headroom?
I'll see if I can mark this entry sticky or memorable or something and if you think of something I should watch, post it in here and I'll see what I can do. I also give you full permission to hassle me about getting around to watching things, not that I think that would stop you. Not that it *should* stop you.

12:37am: Happy Birthday 68style!

May your birthday be full of thousands of miles of highway and unusual and impractical cars!

6:01pm: Cthuloid squid caught.
Spare dreads and haribo combine to make something sinister. Something familiar. Something I caught crawling across my floor.



Weird thing is, it's strangely familiar...

5:15pm: Tech alert! SSL cert.
I'm configuring my mac mini as a personal mail server (it's postfix underneath). I'm in the market for a certificate to slap on it to facilitate SSL funky goodness. I'm interested in cheap or free and "trusted" by the majority of mail clients out there in order to reduce parental unit support calls. If the certificate could be persuaded to support web as well that would also be good for my paranoia. Any recommendations of cheap providers?

11:24am: Penknives
There must be a secret world inhabited by lost penknives. I'd managed to lose all the penknives I owned by xmas time and the concept of a replacement was a nice easy present concept for my parental units to handle so I got another one for xmas. And of course I made the obvious comment at the time "you realise that if you did buy me a penknife my old one would turn up". Well it just did, admittedly 2 months later than expected. And I found another one fairly recently which only leaves two of mine hiding somewhere in hyperspace (or more likely in my flat). So. Why are they like this? What do they do when they aren't in this reality? Meet up and have a beer?

I don't know, I'll go off and whittle some wood and look for horses who need things removing from their hooves.

12:28am: Tonight's entertainment was seeing Symbo who absolutely rock and bounce with energy and presence. Now how come they haven't got a record deal? And to all of you that didn't make it [pulls face, sticks tongue out and blows raspberry].

12:00am: New car.
I got myself a new box on wheels and she's lovely, just what I wanted. The confusion of my last public post was all to do with a missing 7. We checked and checked and read back the details from form to car and back again, but we were obviously looking for a significantly different number and somehow managed to miss a seven, but computers don't miss sevens, no matter how much I train them. This was eventually figured out. Now curiously enough, the chap selling it turned out to be a traffic cop. Now if he'd mentioned this at the time we first met him, I'd have been completely happy...

So, now owning a car for once that isn't small, cheap to fix, practical and dull, all the young ladies out there will assume that I have inadequacies in the pants department and am needing to compensate. Oh well. That's how it works isn't it?

As I'm a bit of an anti-photographer, namely I take appalling photographs enthusiastically. I shall have to try some car porn shots (was thinking more top gear than minimally clad beautiful women draped all over but if you are a minimally clad beautiful woman wanting to drape yourself over a car, err...!). Maybe some I'll try seriously too. Thoughts?

In other news British Rail is rubbish. I don't care if they are pretending to be publicly financed private semi-autonomous cooperatives mandated under a public finance initiative (or some long winded meaninglesss description) the trains over here are crap and reading station Although, paddington station was a new one on me, I love the large brooding gothic space, that dark arched ceiling with uplights, the newer details, the massive wrought style ironwork at the end and the tent fabric for a false roof etc, it's a great first step to something interesting, but why oh why do they fill it with so much diesel smoke, a hole in the roof would be a good start... Although some slowly rotating massive fans with lights behind to cast interesting shadows would also fit very very well.

1:13am: Shiny toy...but paperwork broken.
I tried to buy a car today. It was pretty. It matched my 'hair' (and I'm obviously turning into a right vain tart! (-; )
Mechanically it was sound, it ran well and there was nothing we could identify that suggested that I shouldn't buy it. There was documentation, the number on the documentation matched the numbers in the engine. The HPI computer system however suggested that the VRM didn't match the VIN. After much headscratching about wtf the VR(oo)M was (it means number plate). So, best guess was that the car had been nicked and a number plate from an innocent car of the same model and colour has been duplicated and the documentation forged along with the engine numbers. At least that's our most likely take until the hpi people get back to me. Has anyone been here and do they know this situation? Is there a reasonable solution to this, such that it's actually alright and only looks a bit dodgy? Or do I have grounds of suspicion such that as a good little citizen I should go and report[1] my suspicions to the nearest policeman and get them to rush down in helicopters and arrest everyone in sight?[0] Or what? [2]

In other news. I've already found another one of the same colour and shape in Dudley, less miles but more money, although if it speaks with the local accent, it won't be a match made in heaven.

[0] My understanding of the policing in this country is that if you aren't a T-word then they aren't that interested because you only cause them paperwork and probably cost the state more money in wasted police time than the value in removing the corruption from the system.
[1] Will the hpi thingy have already spoken to the dvla thingy and there already be armed police deployed?
[2] The most frustrating thing is that I can forsee the hpi people saying "we can't advise you for legal reasons or tell you anything else" but ... don't buy it. And I just *want* to *know* what the real story of the car is and what will happen to it (sat in a police pound of other sad, unloved and unclaimed cars rusting away )-: )

7:07pm: Variance
Well, it's interesting looking "a bit rock" and "somewhat alternative". At least more than usual. It's been a while and I've never had anything quite as striking as dreads before, always being more of a fringe long haired alternative (when I had some decent hair). The poorly disguised staring and people refusing to make eye contact amuse, then again, I do (obviously) worship devils and eat small children[0] so perhaps it's better to avoid me than to talk. Some nylon in my hair and refusal to wear anonymous clothes from Next isn't really that big a deal is it? I'm not even particularly extreme in my appearance, but not that I care, I like it, I however, am *very* amused[1].

[0] Especially the noisy ones. Although the smaller ones are fascinated by the blue in my hair.
[1] But that as you know isn't usually hard to achieve.