Guide dogs and escalators survey

Please take a look at this and fill it in. it will only take 30 seconds or so.

Escalators are a necessary evil
The pro-escalator school of thought takes the pragmatic view that, since escalators
are here to stay, and since it's not always practical or possible to have escalators
stopped or find a route that doesn't involve them, the only reasonable alternative
is to train dogs the safest way to jump on and off escalators. Guide dogs face danger
every day: crossing roads, boarding trains, navigating electric doors. This group
believes that the danger posed by escalators is not significant enough to preclude
their use.

General - Back from the Castle

It’s been a full and hard week at work this time even though I haven’t done extensive amounts of travelling. I’ve mainly been going around the London area apart from a trip I made to Wellingborough on Tuesday.
Some of the Epsom crew are off to the Hogs Back brewery this weekend for Steve’s birthday and I’m really looking forward to that though it has taken a good amount of organisation. I this week have also started to use the thameslinkhttp://www.thameslink.co.uk/ railway thus avoiding the underground a bit It makes life a little easier and I’m currently travelling from Elephant & Castle to Epsom using the same. Winamp is playing Del Amitri and it’s Friday!!!!!

Technology - Microsoft becomes Wembley Stadium sponsor | The Register

What Microsoft gets out of the agreement is the right to hold one event at the stadium
per year and a box for corporate hospitality."
Microsoft also gets the right to associate its name with Wembley. Since the stadium closed for redevelopment in 2000 a string of financial and political problems have
delayed its redevelopment. Any unwelcome associations between this and Redmond's
frequent difficulties in getting its software delivered on time were obviously not
enough to queer the deal.
The new Wembley, which will seat 90,000, and is promised to boast state-of-the-art
facilities, is due to open next year. It will employ 5,000 and is at the heart of
a major regeneration program for the London Borough of Brent called
Vision 2020.

Music- James Blunt Ipswich Regent 14 Oct

We arrived at the theatre in plenty of time for me to nock back a quick Newcastle Brown, or should that be Gateshead Brown? This also gave us time to check out the support act. Just to be blunt. The support act were shit I can’t remember their name and don’t want to. Simply badly placed, they sounded like a cross between the scaffold and pulp but just unfunny. I guess they could possibly be amusing if you’re at the Christmas bash in the oxford union yaaa boo pips or a farmers college or stoned up barn dance, but sir, not in Ipswich I say!! I really don’t know the audience they are aiming for and I don’t even think they’re quite sure. how they got a record contract is beyond me.

James Blunt was much better live than recorded. His band were competent and solid session instrumentalists. He really does have a good voice and some first-rate songs though some numbers can get a little samey. certainly live it’s much better than on the thinly produced record with a much fatter sound and the guitars up in the mix. I new what to expect from the Guardian review I noted earlier this week, and it was similar even down to the comments between tracks. I guess you can only do so much live though, and at the end of the day he doesn’t have the tune selection in order to jig the song choice around each night. He really didn’t try to get us involved which was a shame as it could have been so much better with more people standing.

The Ipswich Regent Theatre was as usual too hot and this put us all off a little as did the crowds lacklustre responsiveness to everything but the two singles that have done well in the charts, but we had a most enjoyable night all the same.
When the gig was over we strolled to a really quiet Chinese. This was no bad omen though as the food was excellent. We went for a meal for 4 and all courses were tasty. My only regret was that we didn’t take the left overs home with us, they were really that good.

The dog had been on the bed and had also chewed up a hanky when we got back, but we didn’t get chance to scold her.

Thanks to Colin Su and Clare for a lovely night.

General - coincidence or fate?

I’d just like to list my day of coincidences on Thursday as a reminder to myself.

1: I went to train a girl called Hanna Louise James

2: nothing too remarkable yet but Clare’s full name is Clare Louise Burman

3: they are Both the same age and live around 10 miles from each other

4: they are both losing sight in one way or another.

\5: Hanna’s dad is from Barnsley and mums family part Irish a little like mine and We’ve both ended up living in the south..

6: Hanna and I by coincidence and unknown to each other were going to the same blind in business meeting on that evening.

7: We were both travelling to Colchester/Ipswich on that same evening to go to our partner’s places.

8: When talking on the way home we had a conversation with a medical student next to us who happened to be called Hanna jade. Didn’t catch her second name.
She also had a Yorkshire connection, South Yorkshire even as she’d gone to Sheffield university. just thought the whole thing strange.

General - Losing it!

What a crap day.  As a result of my rush to get off the crowded train forgetfulness overcame me and I left an overnight holdall and wash bag ETC in the luggage rack.  I’ve called lost property and really don’t expect them to be of any use but you never know.  So it’s clothes shopping this weekend as I’m off to Clare’s later this evening. All I have apart from at home is what I’m sitting in.

I’m off to a Blind in Business Social with the girl I’ve ben training today.  I didn’t realise they new her and I only mentioned it to her because BIB called me.  It should be ok as she lives in Colchester on the way to Ipswich and I guess it could be an excellent networking opportunity as well as a time to natter           with friends.

I am sitting in Starbucks with a double  caffeine monster  at the moment and am about to check work mail.

L8R

Music - Freddie Mercury's Roller rolls onto eBay

The late Freddie Mercury's 1974 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow is being offered for sale
on
eBay
- complete with a man-sized box of tissues which the Queen singer's sister couldn't
bear to remove after his death in 1991.
As well as the Kleenex, the successful bidder will get an (presumably obsolete) car
phone, radio cassette player and new alarm system. The Roller has done just 5,000
miles since Freddie popped his clogs, making its last public appearance at the London
Premiere of
We Will Rock You.

Whisky tasting - Ardmore 11 yo: sig UCF, 46% £25.99

This is a whisky from a relatively unknown distillery who’s ownership appears to be in limbo at the moment. Allied distillers was sold to PERNOD Ricard and JBB brands and they are carving up the former allied malt portfolio. I just hope they don’t shut Ardmore down. Along with Glendronach, it is the heart of the Teacher’s blend and that unusual thing, a Smokey spay side whisky which is robust and I guess a throw back to the malts of old. and they are both fine malts. Plus it could put jobs at risk!!

Nose: hard fruits smoke and custard.

Pallet: peaty oily and spicy. Lots of smoke but gentle smoke. I don’t really get the fruit on the pallet but maybe suggestion of lots of malt and serial but not new make spirit.

Finish: smoky and fading spiciness. Long and a little bourbon.

Comments: the perfect autumn dram. A little fruit but smoke, serial harvest and wood.

Score: 83

Technology Blogger for Word

this post is simply a little test for the Blogger for word tool available from www.blogger.com

It looks pretty usable and handy and will make posting stuff quicker to my blog when I am on the move.

Guardian Unlimited | Arts reviews | James Blunt, Sage, Gateshead

Found this funny

A B-side, Sugar-Coated, is so obviously about drugs that perhaps the police
who raided Pete Doherty earlier this week may have another job. Blunt is clearly
peeved by his public image - "I'm the housewives favourite - here's another song
about drugs!" he says, introducing Out of My Mind. But he doesn't help himself with
his rigid formula, choreographed stagecraft and a speaking voice reminiscent of a
1950s public information announcer.
Still, even if it is middle-aged mums who are buying his album in truck-loads, tonight's
crowd seems to be made up of urban trendies and a surprising contingent of gay men.

Technology & Music - Trekker and James

I now have within my grubby little hands a Bluetooth Trekker running on the old HP 4150 PDA. I will be testing it out in Hull wile demming today. I’ll report on how it goes on the way back. The reduction in size and new speaker are most welcome.

I can’t wait to get home though it will be only for a day or so. I am going to see James Blunt with Clare this weekend and really am looking forward to seeing her.
More later.

General - a new PC and Barnsley Bitter

Dave came over on Friday and after meeting up in Leeds we had a few beers in the bars on the station then headed back to my parents in Goldthorpe on the train and walked to the house using the Brailenote GPS. after quick hellos the two of us went out again and ended the night with a Chinese.

Most of Saturday was spent trying to fix the home PC which wouldn’t let us create network connections. we both became frustrated with this task so in the end I decided to buy them a new box. The old one was very slow and I thought that a new one would be a cracking Christmas present. I ended up going with Dell as they were the cheapest and I got a 3 gig system with 512 ram and an 80 gig HD DVDR ETC all in and delivered for just under 300 sods.

Saturday evening was spent in a club in a nearby village called barmborough drinking copious amounts of Barnsley Bitter from the Acorn brewery Wombwell, Barnsley. What a pint. The verdict from Dave and I was roast flavour and amazing. Low strength but fantastic. I think Seann and I are popping in tonight.

Sunday saw a quiet day with Dave and I recovering from the exertions of the evening before. Notable events include the bingo caller from the club of the previous evening bringing back the phone I left in his car and the fantastic lunch we had with the family.

We went over to Seann’s that evening and had a beer and curry while watching DVDs and a bit of UK gold so a good evening.

Thomas is coming on in leaps and bounds and has pretty good speech and is all over the place. It’s fantastic.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | White House denies Bush God claim

Goodness, this makes me afraid, no I'm not shocked.
"President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would
tell me, George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan. And I did, and then
God would tell me, George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq... And I did.
"'And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, Go get the Palestinians their
state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East. And
by God I'm gonna do it.'"
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who attended the meeting in June 2003 too, also
appears on the documentary series to recount how Mr Bush told him: "I have a moral
and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state."
The TV series charts recent attempts to bring peace to the Middle East, from former
US President Bill Clinton's peace talks in 1999-2000 to Israel's withdrawal from
the Gaza Strip this year.

General - Goldthorpe and tired

This post finds me in Goldthorpe writing in my old bedroom. Things are much the same around the place and Jaid was also glad to be back. I guess I’ll be terrorised by Thomas tomorrow after my work in Leeds and chat with some of our clients.

I was so tired when I got off the train and went firstly to Seann’s house that I couldn’t drink my beer or eat my Dragon House Chinese. I nearly had the shakes. I guess this could be from lots of travelling and lack of sleep lately.

Karen has asked me if I would like to go the funeral so I’ve gladly accepted. It will be hard for the both of us and I’m maybes still not sure if it’s the right thing to do but it will be hopefully a healing thing to do. We haven’t seen each other nearly 6 years now.

Dave may come over this weekend. It would be nice to have him hear for a few days and an excuse to explore some new hostelries.

General - Inverness Trekking

Yesterday evening the train promptly arrived in Inverness at the stated 7:35 and I was met by my client who escorted me to the boarding house. This turned out to be a friendly little establishment on Old Edinburgh road called Bray Head. After feeding Jaid we went to a bar and had a pint of heavy. The music was a little loud for an empty pub so we headed to another place and enjoyed haggis neaps and tatties with two pints of Dark Island beer from Orkney. It is a fine chocolaty and creamy stout on hand pump. The food was good and nicely spiced and whisky was the digestive. I really enjoyed the Johnny Walker Black, a pleasant enough blend but made better by the location and the company coupled with the food.

We went back to my digs and had a dram of the Auld Blended 35 whisky I’ve written up notes for in previous posts.

The next day we had a leisurely start and I did some indoor general training on Trekker and Maestro before we cadged a lift to the town of Dingwall for the proper GPS stuff. This was rather successful and I was relieved it went well as this is the first GPS training I’ve done.

A short excursion was made within the touristy Inverness city centre to call at the whisky shop which was vastly over priced before I left for the train. We also passed a dodgy piping busker as we walked in to the main square which was ear splitting but kind of amusing

The train appears to be quiet apart from European tourists buying the overpriced grog from the trolley. Winamp is randomly playing the first-rate Highway9album ‘What In Samhill’. It’s been out for a few years now and is simply an amalgamation of Eagles Bruce S and Bon Jovi. The Scottish trip was a huge success for me on all levels and the sun is Shinning. Roll ever forward to Doncaster!!

General - Glasgow Kerrie and Monty

I am travelling up to Inverness after a rollercoaster few days sitting in first on a noisy ScotRail train.. The tea and shortbread is welcome as we literally have had no time to eat today!! Meeting Kerrie after all these years was so good. Her bloke Monty is a really nice guy, good job because I’d have hated not approving!! I hope to get together with them sometime and have Clare along.

The first night in Glasgow we went to a bar called the phoenix at which we hoped to find some snap. They had decided not to serve however so after a quick IPA we went to the Weatherspoons instead. Monty and I drove Kerry mad with Tech talk and we had a quiet night. Monday saw Lucy and I around the capital and Glasgow and in the evening Monty Kerry and I went to an Italian called prompto something or other and then to the station bar next door to their house for a few beers. On Tuesday Glasgow was our stomping ground all day and in the evening HumanWare went out with my hosts and an old friend from college called Alan. It was fun catching up and he ended up rather pissed and was funny as hell. I also met Lucy’s guy John who entertained us with jokes in the drum and Monkey.
I think Kerrie just about fell in love with Jaid too!!!

After returning to my digs I had a beer, put Alan in to a taxi and drank my first whisky in Scotland. They didn’t know what it was but I’m sure it was GlenMoray.

I’ll arrive in Inverness just after half 7 and am going out with the gentleman I’m to train tomorrow. He’s a whisky fan so I don’t fancy my chances of staying completely sober tonight.

Sadly Karen A’s mum passed away a day or so ago. I new her for many years and while we had our moments I thought much about her and I’ll never forget the fantastic times she helped create for me as a teenager with Karen. One nice thing to happen is Karen and I are now talking with each other as friends. I’ve wanted this for years and am over the moon that she’s come round.

R I P

General - Traveling to Scotland

My plans for a quiet night in with some tasty malts didn’t come off thanks to Andrew. I invited him over for a quick beer and he came furnished with a splendid home made cottage pie. He then confirmed his interest in my 6600 and told me that he would have to pop out for some cash. I thinking this was harmless enough agreed to accompany him for 1 beer on the way to the ATM. We went to a pub I’d never been in called the White Horse it served a passable pint of Young’s bitter and also London Pride. They say on the board outside that they have a new restaurant and serve excellent food. I will have to try this boast out for size. After this refreshment we walked over to the Amarto and I had a cracking pint of Harvey’s bitter. Then to the Ladas, the Young’s Special was my undoing a very good pint or was it 4 or 5 umm can’t remember. It really was a good night but I felt it first thing today.

I managed to get packed and to the train though, and its amazing how quiet the underground is on a Sunday. Like a ghost town at times. I’m now in first class on a GNER mallard travelling to Newcastle at which point I’ll have to change to get to Glasgow. I’ve ordered a breakfast beget and am listening to a mixture of quiet stuff because of the dull thump in my head. At the moment the excellent Anna Nalic is playing thanks to Win amp. \I really enjoy the travelling sometimes. I’m not sure about how we access the WIFI on these Mallards. Hope this can be worked out before the journeys end.

General - Dull satterday Afternoon

A productive but dull Saturday. I’ve pulled out my Iriver h140 and formatted the drive and refreshed the contents, booked our brewery trip to Hogs Back and paid for that. started packing, done some washing and defrosted the fridge. Also slotted in an e-mail to Cathies cars in Epsom for a quote on a 16 person bus for the above trip.

Time to stick stuff in the dryer and get a cool glass of Riggwelter.
I’ve also tried with little success to unlock my old Nokia 6600 mobile which I’m going to sell. Aah, guess it ul have to be doctored by the dodgy geezer on Epsom Market.

General - Pre Scotland

Seann and Isabel are coming over on the 28th of this month and bringing the little un and of course I am looking forward to that greatly. Next week will be spent mainly in Scotland and Thursday in particular in the Highlands and Inverness. I’ve purchased all the tickets and have a lot of travelling to do over the next two weeks. A pre-Scotland malt tasting should be a fun way to wile away tonight as I have opened two particularly interesting bottles. More later.

Technology - A head-to-head look at how 13 antivirus solutions stack up

It is also worth noting that the last few
big viruses that disabled other antivirus software products did not disable NOD32.
This is an outstanding product, probably the best. These guys are definitely not
marketing their product enough, as they are the most decorated antivirus software
out there.