The Guardian | Make way, lads

Good article about gender stereotyping at school and work

'happy? I'm a girly girl. I've got waist-length blond hair, a very large chest, which amuses the men on site, and a bright pink bedroom. I like getting dressed up. None of which stops me from spending nights laying thousands of charges in a 17-floor ice-cold tower block with no windows. Eventually I plan on settling down and having a family and that's probably not compatible with blowing up buildings. But for now, I love it."

Whisky tasting - Glenfarclas 105

Glenfarclass Cask Strength 105

This whisky is around 10 years old or maybe little younger and is a mix of sherry and bourbon wood. It’s been open for around 6 months now so I think it’s time to finish the small amount that is left in the bottle.

Nose: Burned Christmas pudding sweetness with surprisingly little prickle for the 60 percent alcohol. Wood comes through with time though and the alcohol smell gets stronger. Maybe a bit of chocolate too? Very sweet.. with water it all fragments a bit and isn’t as pleasant to me. Saying that after lots of water it’s a bit like the standard 10 year with maybe more sherry.

Pallet: thick coating, very sweet because of the sherry and smooth. You know it’s strong but it’s got less burn than one would expect. This really is special and tasty young whisky. With water it’s just more of the same goodness really with all the dark fruits of the sherry coming through. It can take a damned good volume of water too before it gets disjointed. At the optimum it’s like the ten but better with much more flavour and mouth feel. This would be around 46 for me.

Finnish: cake with serial. It sounds bloody nasty but it is really good. Warming would be an understatement. Sip it too fast and it ul snap ya head off.

Comments: Glenfarclas is a top draw malt. I have enjoyed the bottlings I have had the pleasure to drink and similarly this. You couldn’t give this to a whisky novice as it can be too strong but sipped with care this can last for ages, well it has me and is a treat each time. I’ll be ordering another for sure. It’s also good for watering depending on the mood. Did I mention the sweetness? More fun than the 15 year old I talked about in March I like them both.

Score 87%

General - back Home

My weekend in Ipswich went very well. I arrived in to London Liverpool Street with time to spare before the train so trotted through the crowds to the nearby Young’s pub for a squiz at the cask offerings. Those that grabbed my attention were the yummy Ramrod and the Special London Ale. I was unsure about having something as strong as the cask SLA, but common sense was less than provable and I had a pint of this rarely seen cask offering. It was that busy though that I couldn’t form a proper opinion, Hoppy and sweet was all I could get through the fag smoke. One to be sipped and enjoyed. I didn’t have time to sip though as my train would arrive soon.

Robin had guests so after chatting with them Clare and I ate a dodgy Chinese and sorted out her old laptop before watching some TV and going to bed


We had a lazy day on Saturday but that was welcome after the moving around I’ve been doing over the last few days. It really was the laziest kind that just regenerates a body.

Sunday saw us go with Clare’s mum and Colin to the SORREL HORSE Inn at Barham a small village on the outskirts of Ipswich. The Sunday roast beef was splendid. The pud took the crown for me though. It Would be bad form not to mention the near perfect apple sponge and custard. The apple slightly sharp sponge light and custard yummy. All that was missing was the burned bit of sponge around the edge. This was a big hit with Colin and I. I forgot how good home mad puddings can be. I enjoyed my beer especially the very drinkable Adnams Bitter.

I should really have gone back home that evening but I stayed on and had a good time with Clare. I've never been woken up quite like that before after a roast so really made the day. later we just enjoyed each others company until we hit the sack at around 12.

Monday was spent in London N7 doing PC training. I’m glad to be back home after the travelling though I’m not around for long as the Scotland travels are afoot and I then spend time in the good old north of England.

Whisky tasting - Duncan Taylor Auld Reekie

People in the know say this is Caol Ila. If it is it’s a good example. I’ve only had poor stuff thus far from that particular Islay distillery though I do have some bottles in stock to open later over the next few years.

This miniature bottle was a gift bestowed on me by Duncan Taylor for using my tasting notes without asking. GRIN never mind thanks for this dram guys. I slopped the miniature in to a tasting glass and thus spilled fourth the following crap.

Nose: a little bitter, immediate smoke though. Damp bonfire leaves. Cracking not as complex as some versions of medicinal ardbeg/laphroaig & lagavulin.
I have to say that as soon as I took the cap off the bottle the smoke hit me. No I’m not copying the notes DT give it’s true. This does vanish over time but smoke is the dominant factor.

Palette: dry smoky and lots of charred wood. Very tasty. Not as oily as Laphroaig and consequently lighter, less sweet and much easier to drink while packing in stacks of smoky flavour as in some islayers.

Finnish long and smoky. I’m buying more of this. Ya can keep Laphroaig 10 and this will be my splashable smoky malt for everyday drinking so long as the big guys keep putting up prices. This is also at 46 an none chilfiltered so it’s got nothing taken out which always increases flavour. A winner.

Comments: Vatted, well maybe but who cares. It gives me 100 percent enjoyment maybe without the complexity of the peat hit I love in a package I can leave at my Gf’s place. At only £21.50 from one of my fave malt suppliers it’s an absolute bargain. BTW I carried this bottle around Ireland with me but was mainly too tired to drink it, but once or twice too drunk to risk imbibing the little beastie.


Score: 80, but because of the price 84!
L8R

General - Last night in Preston

I am still in Preston and going to Ipswich late this afternoon. Dave and I went to the 12 Bar last night and watched a short acoustic set that was in fact rather good. The bar has moved from it’s old position on Church Street and is now situated near the bus station. I can’t remember the street name as I didn’t have GPS on me but that’s life. Insidentaly the bus station is Europes second largest with 79 gates. The 12 Bar is still pretty good with live music every night, food until 11 and opening until 1.

We also hit the Blue Bell for pints of Samuel Smiths cask bitter at only £1.30 surely the cheapest pub in Preston?

It was then back to Lai Shan’s place for me to get some sleep and Dave to eat some of Lai’s casserole so a most satisfying night.

I have also had a bit of good news from Seann. I’m to become an uncle again and this time god farther.

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Whiskey tasting - Jamison's 12 year Reserve

Jamison’s 12 year old distillery reserve.

I purchased this at the distillery to save for ST Patrick’s day but Dave and I ended up cracking it open.

Nose: Sherry, spicy with a backdrop of soft grain. Sherry dominates this though. Left in the glass toffee comes through.

Pallet: big but inharmonious sherry with spiciness. Nothing offensive. Rather one dimensional. Doesn’t offend and offers a bit of ripe fruit. Smooth creamy.

Finish: spicy burning even at 40 ALC.

Comments. Not bad but for the price this doesn’t cut the mustard. It is rather nice and drinkable. A good attempt by the Irish.

Score: 61, but for the price 58 %.

Beer - New look and new target for Young's Bitter - 16 September 2005

The interesting piece is more to do with the new cask offerings all of which I will try before Christmas.

Other activity will see the launch of a
cask version of Young’s Special London Ale and a cask version of Young’s Old Nick
barley wine ale this month. Young’s Burton Ale, a 5.5 per cent strong ale originally
brewed in the 1960s, will make a return from October 10.
Annual favourite Young’s Winter Warmer will be available to pubs from October 24.

Technology - Apple declares war on Nigels | The Register

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music kiosk lumped Miles Davis in with gangsta rappers by preventing browsers from
seeing the full title of his 70s classic
Bitches Brew.
But there's good news if you're a pervert. You can proudly engrave your iPod with
the words "Paedophile" or "Nonce" - positive discrimination, perhaps? - while "Mofo",
"Bumwipe" and "Arse Candle" are also cheerfully accepted.'

General - Beer with Dave

I’m just going to rap up Ireland talk for the moment with a quick comment on the lack of biscuits in hotel rooms.

I love making tea and coffee in hotel rooms. It kind of makes me feel at home the hole preparation thing but the Irish experience was marred by the lack of something to dunk in my beverage of choice!!!

What’s going on with these people. Why not just a packet of custard creams or shortbreads. I mean, it’s not proper to have no crunchy confection or pastry with ya brew. Please sort it out!! This kind of uncivilised behaviour just wouldn’t be tolerated in England.

Sunday evening was spent driving through North Wales and breaking down just outside Preston. Luckily the RAC bloke manage to restart us and Alan gave me a lift to Williams towers my hostel for the next day or 3.

Dave and I spent yesterday drinking around Preston. Firstly in the Plungington hotel talking to Tony, Dave with Guinness cold and me pints of Gennings Crag Rat and Ruddles county bitter. Tony of the Stanley Arms has taken this pub on and is in the process of turning it around. We had good steaks and were joined by Donna, Olive and Jaid. The new pub German Shepherd called Darcy also came over for a snuffle. She is extremely friendly to people and other 4 legged doggy style animals. The dogs enjoyed running around with her and playing on the green at the back of the pub.

We then went over to Lai Shans for a natter.

The evening was spent firstly in the New Britannia with a filthy pint of Irish Swill from northern Ireland called Molly Malone’s. It wasn’t kept badly, it was just like a heavier version of Pedigree though a beer neither of us like too well.

Moving on to the Fox and Grapes I enjoyed several pints of Butcombe Gold and Everards Equinox which were good. We then fell in to conversation with the bubbly and friendly long haired blonde Sonya from the Black Horse. The 3 of us made way too much noise and had a great time. She had to get home to daughter and husband, but Dave and I took a stroll with her mum Kim to the Black Horse to enjoy their offerings.

I selected a pint of very well kept Robinson’s Double Hop. We then rather drunkenly were helped to a cab and went home for Pizza and a whisky or two wile watching Withnail and I.

Whisky - Jamisons Dublin Tour

The old John Jamison distillery on Bow street was a pleasant way to spend Sunday before the show. The tour of the distillery was very touristy and the video a little cheesy but I enjoyed it all the same.

Everything is cut down to a small size so that it can be viewed in a manageable area so really a museum rather than a distillery making grog. I purchased a bottle of Jamison 12 year reserve that is only available from the distillery and one or two other knickknacks.



While their I enjoyed a tasting of 3 Irish low end whiskeys a scotch Johnny Walker Red and Jim Beam cheep label. The Jamison’s was clearly the best out of these 5 but the tiny plastic shot cups made it hard to tell. Plus I have the end of a cold going on.

I’d better go now and see punters as the show is still on.
L8R

BBC NEWS | UK | Real ale drinkers 'on the rise'

"Beers with aroma and flavour are back in vogue and smaller breweries are rushing to meet the clamour from consumers."

General - Dublin nights

Bit of a longish post this one.
I wanted to post something each day of the Irish trip but because of drunkenness and just plane laziness and tiredness I haven’t bothered.

The NCBI through a party for us at a bar called Chief O’Neal’s on Friday evening and most of the attending companies came. The food was splendid, particularly the chicken and we all partook and enjoyed the NCBIs generosity.

I talked to Stuart Lawler who informed me that he had been told about my blog by a mutual friend and had spent his lunch time reading it. LOL, mad bloke. I’m sure I could have thought of better things to do over lunch. It then turned out that most of NCBI new about this blog even the chief exec!!! They are planning on using blogs within the organisation so I will keep a look out for that. Do visit Stuarts webpage.
After feeding time we all pretty damned stuffed made our way up some steps in to a bar area. I have to say that the pub is massive with many such areas so we really had that particular one to ourselves. Our hosts had put on some live trad Irish music and Dolphin Dave enjoyed a little dance with a member of NCBI staff. Our Maestro from Optelec stole the limelight for a few minutes with a popular and rousing performed queen hit which had everyone singing along. In fact video footage of both these events exists so I will try and get hold of it to post. The only less than good part of the evening was the extremely dodgy Guinness in the pub. I don’t know what they did to it, but I still managed more than I should have.

The night was over at the venue so us vendors swayed through Dublin’s lively entertaining and alcohol fuelled streets tripping over American tourists and eventually found ourselves in my favourite Irish pub so far the Porter house. I had a good few pints of Rasslers stout a splendidly hopped concoction which really has to be tried. It’s packed with flavour and an acquired taste but marvellous.

Brewery description: ‘Wrasslers 4X Stout.
Alcohol by volume: 5%
Grain: Pale Malt, Crystal Malt, Wheat Malt, Flaked Barley, Roast Barley, Roast
Malt.
Hops: Galena, Nugget, East Kent Goldings.
Made to a recipe originally brewed by Deasy's at West Cork in the early 1900's.
This was Michael Collins' favourite tipple - a stout like your grandfather used
to drink. A fine fullsome stout, full in every way, a pungent aroma of kettle hops.
A generous quantity of roast grain for flavour, bitter with flaked barley producing
that body.’

I also found myself talking to Suzanne from Degarmo a crazy Australian girl who loved Guinness and black, put the beer back like it was going out of style and had a good punch on her. We all had a good few pints to be honest and everyone got on really well. It was a really cracking night.

Saturdays show was amazingly busy. I did too many GPS walks to count and they went without a hitch. After working we went to the Porter House to have a pint or 3 with Derry and Martha Lawler who were fantastic company as always. I really did have a good time with them and have preliminary plans to go out to Bray on the Irish coast a week or two before Christmas with Clare along this time for the trip. It’s good actually because Clare and I can do some Christmas shopping in Dublin at the same time. It was actually Derry who told the NCBI about my blog so a link to his webpage is in order in this corner of cyber space. BTW Derry, you really should get Martha a My Reader. GRIN

Alan and I left them and went to the Hard rock in town and James got us all lunch which was unexpected and really kind. I had the ultimate burger which came in a Guinness bread bun, it was very tasty. The degarmo crew went over to a comedy night, but I stayed with the rest and we hit Messrs Maguire for a pint or two more then drove back to the hotel.

That about raps up the last day or so. I’d better get packed up now and find out what’s happening today apart from the show. Alan and I have tentative plans to pay homage in that Irish cathedral known as the Jamison’s distillery.

General - Tara's Tower

Today has been spent carrying out various visits around Dublin and yesterday night in the uneasy confines of the Tara Towers hotel in the outer city. It’s nothing special but who cares. At least we have a permanent base to stay now for the next two nights. The name Tara Towers reminds me of a kind of 80s adult starlet style thingy but that’s ok with me.

Wifi is available in Tara’s tower, but only down in the bar and lobby, so I’m typing this in the bar, pint of Guinness at the ready and awaiting Alan before we go out with the rest of the companies on this tour to a bar in Smithfield.

Interestingly enough a wedding party is going on and as typical with many of these things a big argument has taken place. Yes the cops came, and yes Alan and I walked strait through it as we came back from our last afternoon appointment. This particular argument was in Gaelic though.

Ok, off to use the Wifi for a bit and enjoy my pint after all it’s Friday!!

General - Going Mental in Sligo

Today Humanware are doing the show in the clarion Hotel Sligo, kind of handy as we are staying in the same place which makes life simpler and cutsw down a little on traveling. Unfortunately I have no WIFI access though I’m sure the hotel should possess such a facility as it’s only been operational for 4 months. It really is huge with long corridors and high ceilings. Definitely a bit of the one flew over the cuckoo’s nest vibe going on once you know what the place used to be. I’m in the east wing apparently. Alan thought on entry to the grounds that the place looked like a castle. Before the extensive building enjoyed its present occupation it was a mental hospital. The area in which the hotel is now situated is actually called ‘mental hospital road’. Once again reinforcing the Irish knack for originality, though I guess us Brits can be much the same.

I am actually now in one of the deluxe suites of rooms offered as is Alan. Don’t ask how we pulled this off for we have no idea apart from the hotel is rather full so maybe a room shortage exists. This suite of rooms is around 3 times larger than my flat so I’m rattling around a little. It has the one problematic quirk of not giving me any kind of phone access on the mobile no doubt because of the thick stone walls of which the structure is constructed. I’ve just found what appears to be a network point though so a lesson has been learned. Always take a length of cable when travelling!!

We arrived just before 11 last night our journey extended by an hour by a fantastic supper stop half way along the drive the Cajon salmon my choice. We had enough energy to get in a quick pint of Guinness at the hotel bar then called it a night.

Our work here starts late at around 2 mmm this afternoon but we have appointments to keep before that so it’s time to sign off.

General - Galway

Same story as yesterday really. We had a very long show lasting from 12 to half 7 then were packed up and out by8. making our way to Galway we had a pretty good journey. We did make a stop around half 9 to get some very yummy food from a bar with my selection being chicken curry, a pint of Murphy’s and one of Smethics Irish Ale.

The hotel was pleasant overlooking Galway bay and today was spent working from early on. We’re just about to end a packed show, so I’d better go.

L8R

BBC NEWS | Technology | Portal bid drives eBay Skype deal

The marriage of eBay and Skype. I mentioned something about Skype possibly been up for ` grabs a wile ago.

General - A Night in Clare

The start of another day and I find myself in County Clare. Actually just over the boarder from Limerick but it’s still Clare.

We have some appointments first thing, and this afternoon we will be in Limerick.

Yesterday’s show was quiet but the Ashes win put everyone in a good mood and we hope for a bigger turn out today

Likewise the evening meal was nice, I had Cod with a mozzarella and tomatoes topping, spuds and vegetables all washed down with a couple pints of Guinness.


For the first time last night I heard Irish Gaelic spoken in casual conversation. That was great and a little surprising but also fantastic.

Time for tea now and for me to get sorted.

L8R
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General - Cork

Alan and myself met up in Warrington around 12 yesterday and drove the 2 hours or so to the port. After grabbing a bit of lunch we boarded the Jonathan Swift and sailed to Dublin bay.

We travel club class, and for the extra 10 quid we got good value. As much tea coffee and wine as you wanted, plus muffins and other snacks. The leather reclining chares were also great for sleeping in as I can attest.

We got back in the car and drove through Dublin and noticed that the all Ireland Hurling final had just ended with Cork winning by 5 points against Galway. This meant some rather interesting exchanges on the streets of Dublin well audible in the car through the windows and our way to Cork marked by cars with victorious fans.

It took us around 4 hours to drive to Cork and the Silver Springs Moran Hotel
It was also getting late so we checked in and went to the lounge bar for some supper. My seafood chowder was tasty and went down a treat.

We also tried the two local brews Beamish and Murphy’s both of which were very tasty with the Beamish being my fave.

Incidentally Beamish Stout is the only Irish stout brewed exclusively in Ireland for one consistent
quality and taste. Established in 1792, Beamish & Crawford is the oldest brewery
in Ireland.

I have also found out that Cork is the European Capital of Culture 2005.

I’m now going to get some breakfast and prepare the GPS for my demos.

Music - Nickel Creek gig ST James's Church 9 Sep 2005

What a perfect night. Clare turned up at around 4 with sandwiches and after a SPOT of INTENSE mastication we listened to some BBC7. just before we set off to the gig a massive deluge of rain hit, but luckily apart from big puddles we missed it.

The Journey to watch Nickel Creek at ST James’s Church was uneventful, and the beautiful old attraction easy to find. Remarkably Clare and I managed to get there with no assistance!!

Finding the building and also the underground hot, we purchased bottles of water to drink during the gig. I was gagging for a frosty cold pint, but this wasn’t happening, I guess because it was taking place in the church.

The band were excellent. After playing stuff from the new CD ‘Why Should the fire die’ they went in to songs from the two older albums. They really are phenomenally talented musically but also have a good time on stage. They did a good two hour show in all, and the banter with the crowd just added to it. They appeared interested in London and took the piss out of the BBC show ‘The Office’ and each other. I’ll go again if they come back as it was so enthralling watching a fully acoustic band with such amazing chops. I also kind of liked the girl in the trio, Sara Watkins. Nice

It’s hard to describe Nickel Creaks style, but imagine if you will some folk, rock/progressive arrangements played with acoustic base, guitar, violin and mandolin with top class harmony when called for and also played quite aggressively. In fact I was taken aback with the ferocity of the performance, really something special. They can also sound delicate and beautiful, I wouldn’t say angelic because that’s not the point in most of the material. The band are in their early 20s so have a long career ahead of them.

I think Clare was unsure about the band, but she had a really good night by all accounts so a convert. Also check out the UK WebPages for Nickel Creek.

We arrived back in to Epsom in time for a curry at the Savar Balti House on waterloo road which was really delicious. I went for chicken tikka Buna with Chapatti and some papadoms. The ice cold Bangla beer was also welcome.

Finishing back at mine we watched a 1980s Brit film set on the home front in WWII called ‘Hope and Glory’ it’s a good watch and was enjoyable with an ale or 2 it was late when we went to bed after talking and such for a while. It’s safe to say that we both enjoyed a really pleasurable evening.

Technology - Window-Eyes 5.5 Beta 1 Officialy Released

and it's well worth the upgrade just for the extra speed and stability.

Technology - New Bluetooth Trekker

Just a bit of info for those interested in the Trekker from the product manager Lucia. This was posted to the Trekker Yahoo group.

Hello Jaynie and all,We are on the final run for the Trekker Bluetooth system. The new GPS systemwill be shipping with an autonomous GPS, a speaker, a carrying case for thePDA, an optional support strap and a storage pouch.The wireless GPS receiver has its own rechargeable battery and a carryingcase that can be clipped to a piece of cloth or other convenient place. Thesystem will be shipping with the RoyalTec BlueGPS Mini RBT 1000 ST receiver.This receiver has demonstrated an outstanding performance with Trekker(acquisition time, sensitivity and precision) in all the navigation modesand is easy to operate. It has an ON/OFF switch, 10 hours of autonomy and isWAAS/EGNOS enabled.The speaker is provided with a clip and is connected to the PDA through theaudio cable. It has its own rechargeable battery and 8 hours of autonomy.We will provide a leather case for the PDA, similar to the one we have inMaestro. The case can be fixed though a clip or a ring. The PDA will layhead-down to facilitate the access to the button commands while on the move.The case has also a protective cover.Those of you preferring the one piece concept can use the strap providedwith the package. It has handles to fix in the GPS and the speaker and ahook to hang the PDA if desired.We will provide also an AC adapter with 3 plugs to charge all the devices atthe same time.The Bluetooth GPS technology is advancing rapidly both in performance andprecision. We are keen to offer to our users the ability to try the mostadvanced receivers available and a way to test the ones that can better fita particular need or behave more appropriately in certain geographicalsituation. Trekker has been tested extensively with the RoyalTec GPS, thisis why this unit is shipped with Trekker. However, we will include a listof other compatible receivers, including some based on the very recent SiRFStar III chipset. We do not guarantee the performance of those alternateGPS receivers with Trekker but you will be able to experiment with them.We will confirm the availability dates by the end of next week.

General - tripping around the Celtic Fringe

Within my grubby clutches now is the time table for my Irish trip so thought I’d post it here in case anyone is around and wants to come over for a chat. We have appointments also before the start of the exhibitions, but I’m not telling. If I did, we would have to kill you and all that. Though not on the list, we are going to make it over to Belfast on our day off. Well, I guess it isn’t a day off, but I’ve got a very enthusiastic boss. Energetic bloke who’s love for work is infectious. No I’m not creeping, you ask anyone in the company about him, they’ll say the same, especially when it comes up to yearly contract renewal time.

Jaid won’t be accompanying me. She’s staying with Donna W a friend for ten days. The mutt can have a well deserved bit of a break with her an she will just love playing with Donna’s pooch Olive. They get on so well.

The ferry is booked as follows:

Sunday 11th, depart Holyhead 14.50 hrs / arrive Dublin 16.40

Sunday 18th, depart Dublin 17.30 hrs / arrive Holyhead 19.19

Cork - Monday 12th September
Times: 12.00pm - 6.00pm
Venue: SilverSpring Moran Hotel, Tivoli, Cork

Limerick - Tuesday 13th September
Times: 12.00pm - 7.00pm
Venue: South Court Hotel, Raheen Roundabout, Raheen, Limerick

Galway - Wednesday 14th September
Times: 2.00pm - 7.00pm
Venue: Galway Bay Hotel, Conference & Leisure Centre, Salthill, Galway

Sligo - Thursday 15th September
Times: 2.00pm - 7.00pm
Venue: Clarion Hotel, Ballinode, Sligo

Dublin - Saturday 17th September
Times: 11.00am – 4.00pm
Sunday 18th September
Times: 2.00pm - 6.00pm
Venue: NCBI Dublin (head office), Training Centre, Whitworth Road,
Drumcondra, Dublin 9

A plan of campaign has also been worked out for Lucy and I to go and conker parts of Glasgow and Edinburgh with the finest VI technology in the world, but once again, I’m not posting. The thought of so many readers on the death list would b too much. More nearer the time. Incidentally I’m looking forward to Scotland so much. I’ve got the pleasure of staying with an old friend called Kerrie and her BF for a few days. I can’t wait. I met her around 12 years ago on a holiday and we’ve been in and out of touch ever since.

L8r

General - a technology filled day

For some reason I woke early today and am happy outside on the bench near my gaff. For posterity it is necessary to recall the events of yesterday not that they are overly interesting, but because it turned out to be a satisfying day.

Wellingborough being my destination for the day and the dogs behaviour impeccable I enjoyed the train journey and because of problems on the underground ended up in just before 11:30 AM. Work in the office went well with some new firmware having loaded on my demo stock of Brailliant displays and finally getting the 6630 I snagged from Orange because of the demise of Wildfire sent off for it’s Talks installation. My training with our training manager went very well, and then I sorted out a few phone calls, had some splendid cups of tea and went back home. Time on the train was spent productively answering e-mails rather than reading mindless gable about technology or beer or whisky or music or novels!! After swiftly reaching London and having no problems on the Victoria Line I ended up on the train back to Epsom sitting next to a rather grumpy girl so thought I’d have a play with my new Holux GPS receiver and the BraileNote PK. To my delight it worked nicely on the train, losing signal occasionally, but giving a good indication of my position, speed, direction of travel points of interest and so on. It even announced my arrival in Epsom station just as we were sliding on to the platform.

On returning home I found a BBQ in progress in our block as AFBP were having some kind of conference, so I availed myself of the plentiful food and a few beers and went back to my flat around half 9 to check mail.

So nothing really remarkable, but sometimes days can just be enjoyable without the wow factor. Oh, I had one blot on the day which I can’t mentioned, and I hope to sort that out this afternoon in North London.

General - Mutterings

The last week has been top really. I spent it with Clare and we had a quiet and more than agreeable time. I was knackered some nights from work as I have found myself travelling quite a bit, but even so we have both enjoyed it. We spent too much on eating out really, but after all the Italians, Indians and oriental food we both have to save a bit of cash. I did cook two roasts however and they were both pretty good as far as it goes. The only downers on the weekend were a scratch on the new sofa from the dog jumping for a toy; Not too worried about this though as I have purchased insurance and they’re coming out this week to sort it, and the shit food in Epsom’s Wetherspoon.

I find myself contemplating a week on the road and after this a day in Preston before the trip over to Ireland. We’re covering lots of towns, so I’ll be blogging about it as I go.


I have to try and sort out my Nickel Creak tickets that still haven’t arrived. If they don’t we won’t be going to the gig and I’ll be getting a refund. I’m working away tomorrow though so hope I can find time.
Stratford is my place of rest at the mo. I’ve just had an appointment in Colchester and am killing a bit of time with work E-Mail before my journey to Lime house on the Docklands Light Railway. Colchester station actually have some free wifi in the cafeteria, so I used this until my train arrived.

I don’t think the intended trip to the Old Stagecoach Inn is going to happen because of lack of interest, but the planned jaunt to the Hogs Back Brewery in Tongham is shaping up great guns.

I’m a bit tired now and only Monday. I just want to get my appointment done and get home.

Sendero Group GPS Blog

Sendero Group: "BrailleNote"

This is a pretty cool blog showing what can happen when blind people get hold of and use GPS technology on the Braillenote product line. it's interesting even if you don't use the Braillenote but are interested in what can be done with GPS systems.

icSouthlondon - Better without chemicals says real ale brewer

This is Dave Roberts landlord of the Rising Sun, my local down the road.

'He believes peaceful co-existence with the surrounding pretty conservation area is because he bans mass-produced fast-tracked beers. It's these, he says, which produce so many "drunks behaving badly" at closing time. On tap instead are Surrey Bitter, Progress, Talisman, Crusader and Excalibur ales and at Christmas a special Pudding Beer - all made by David at his own Pilgrim Brewery in Reigate. Others made by fellow members of the Independent Brewers Association and foreign
small brewers are also available.
But you can't buy Guinness in the smoking free, comfortably worn wood and potted geraniums chic atmosphere of this cosy local; instead David stocks stout from a neighbour of the company's vast Dublin plant.'