Boxgrove

After Bignor, we headed on through the Downs, past Sutton, Barlavington and Duncton. We passed Fryan's Hangar and then dropped down into Boxgrove to see the old Priory.

The Priory had been extensive and the ruin was just an old guest house some 25 yards outside the original Priory buildings. On a bright winter's afternoon it shows up well against the blue sky and the rich pasture

The Church and a few walls are all that remain of the Priory itself. The Church exhibits some excellent old architectural flying buttresses on the south side, and as it is seen today is only abot half of its former size.

The ruins of the guest house are completely open for the public to wander around.


Inside the church there is a vaulted ceiling that would be at home in a major cathedral. The stained glass windows are also exceptional and include one to commemorate a US Airman who fought and died in WWII - very poignant and almost anachronistic in such an ancient building.

Bignor Hill

From Arundel we headed out into the Downs. The Silver Vixen had never seen the extensive Roman mosaics as Bignor. That, at least was the idea. It turned out, however that the exhibit doesn't open again unti March 1st.

Not to be thwarted, the Gorse Fox diverted and took the lane up the north flank of the Downs to the top of Bignor Down. This afforded exceptional views from Edburton / Fulking in the east across beyond Chichester in the west.

Arundel

We started the week with a trip to Arundel. The objective was to look in some of the galleries to see if there was a painting that GF found compelling and would make a lasting memory of the impending birthday.

Whilst we did wander around and poked our way through many windows and several galleries, there was little that had the compelling pull that demanded it be mounted on our wall. Arundel is always worth a brief trip... but it it is always brief and only extended by a trip to a tea shop, wine bar, or restaurant. In this case we stopped off at "Belinda's" for bowl of soup and cup of tea.

Mildly satisfactory

It has been a satisfactory day. A proper egg, bacon, and sausage breakfast set us up for the day.

Various bits of research have been done. Various bits of software downloaded and installed, and generally GF's computer centre is behaving well.

On top of this, the Forces of Evil were dismissed from the FA Cup yesterday, and Spurs have a replay coming up after today's gritty 0-0 with Stevenage. Not a pretty game, but functional.

Only dark spot was not being able to contact Cousteau-cub. Will have try again during the week.

Off

It is nice to be at the start of a week's vacation and not have to spend time working or thinking about computing.

So the Gorse Fox spent the day playing with Microsoft Access on his computer. Oh well!

S***ake

Well there is a turn up for the book.

The Gorse Fox capitulated and took his rash and his itching to see the doctor. The doctor looked at said rash, pushed, prodded  and fiddled. He scratched his head (metaphorically, not as a result of the itching!). "Well" said he, "I would like to bring in a colleague to look at this."

The Gorse Fox nodded assent, and the Doctor charged off down the corridor.

The Doctor returned with his colleague and the poked, prodded, and fiddled some more. "Have you been abroad?"

The Gorse Fox responded "No, but have been to Bristol". The first Doctor sucked at his teeth and said "That's awfully close to Wales, but probably not the cause".

"Have you eaten anything different this week?" asked Doctor2.

GF thought about it. "A Thai meal on Monday, and Caesar Salad on Tuesday and Wednesday".

A small light clicked on behind the eyes of Doctor2. "Were there any Shitake mushrooms?" Again, GF thought about it, and responded in the affirmative. The Thai salad of prawns and glass noodles also had shitake mushrooms (indeed that was one of the reasons he chose the dish.

"That's it" asserted Doctor2. "The good news is that you have flagellate dermatitis, and that comes from badly cooked Shitake mushrooms; the bad news is that it will itch like hell and won't go away quickly".

Well, the Gorse Fox was glad that he could provide them with a little puzzle to end their week - but wished that they could have come up with a more positive prognosis, i.e. the rash will disappear tonight, the itching will stop, and you'll lose 14lbs by Monday.

'twas not to be.

Itch

The Gorse Fox has broken out in a rash. It has picked sites in his hair, forehead, hands, arms, legs and feet. The itching is driving him to distraction.

His concern is not only that the rash will impair his natural good looks, but also that he doesn’t know the cause. He feels perfectly well in himself, so it is unlikely to be measles or shingles or any similar complaint. He has been in a different hotel so it could be a reaction to the soaps and shampoos (which would account for the spread).

Whatever it is he wishes it would stop! He feels like he has been rolling in nettles.

Nothing special

It has Been a fairly ordinary day. Nothing extraordinary other than a client PM telling Client management to "but out". The issue was that we had a bunch of techies trying to come up with the best solution to a problem.

Some PMs got involved and escalated a number of unclear vectors. As a result we spent two weeks faffing about trying to satisfy the PMs instead of solving the real problems.

During a call this afternoon on of the PMs started to ask questions. Client PM told him to shut up and leave
It to the techies. "if you hadn't got involved we wouldn't have wasted the the last two weeks". GF would love to have said that, but there are limits.

Locality

As has happened for several weeks now, Gorse Fox has spent Tuesday at a different site. This week it really could not have been more convenient - being next door to the hotel where GF is staying. This meant a fairly relaxed start to day, and a hotel breakfast (a rare treat, when it contains a compote of fruits of the forest and a bucket of plain yoghurt).

The day was quite successful despite a few tantrums from various people in all-day workshop. GF had to intervene several times to get the meeting back on track, and to calm things down. Despite all of this, it was an immensely productive day... and GF was able to stroll back to the hotel for his end-of-day conference calls, and to write up his notes.

##

Half term

Oh yes. It is half term. GF is no longer interested in such events on his own or the cubs' behalf. However he loves the fact that the roads are much quieter and his journey is much more relaxed.

Work was interesting as GF worked his way through his to do list and then found he had a new batch of tasks coming in. Oh well, 'twas always the way.

Thinking of Cousteau-cub he headed out for some Thai food.

Prep

Sunday has been quiet. The morning was taken up with reading the papers, doing some ironing, and catching up on some reading on the Internet. Starfleet insists that all staff annually recertification that they will adhere to their code of ethics. Today, GF had to follow the online course, take the tests along the way, and complete the certification. Now this is done GF must avoid killing Romulans again for another year.

The times they are a changing

And so we learn that Councils can no longer say prayers before a Council meeting – a practice that has been in place since the reign of Elizabeth I. A Christian couple were prosecuted for denying a bed to a gay couple in their B&B because it was against their religious convictions. TV and the media continue to sneer at religion and the liberal elite and chattering classes ridicule people who believe in God. (At least they do if it is a Judeo-Christian god, if the belief is Islamic – then cowardice prevents them from saying a word).

Meanwhile, “reality TV” glorifies the baser aspects of society and programmes such as Eastenders portray a way of life that includes violence, adultery and infidelity of all kinds, dishonesty, and general bad behaviour as if they are the norm.

Recent surveys have shown that people are more dishonest and the cult of the Celebrity leads people to follow the strangest of role models.

As we plunge headlong into a sewer of moral turpitude, who is standing up for those who believe, for those that are faithful, and for those who are honest? Clearly not our political classes and evidently not the religious establishment.

Maybe the sign at Heathrow will be vandalised soon and say “Welcome to Sodom and Gomorrah”

Ordure, ordure

The battle of wits continues and and there is a number of tests under way examining the aerodynamic properties of ordure. The Gorse Fox has picked up the task or air traffic control for these tests over the next week.

At least he was working from home during day – having dropped the car at the garage for some new tyres. He would guess that 22,000 miles on a set isn’t too bad, considering the size and weight of the vehicle… but at nearly £300 per tyre, it is an expense he could afford not to have. Serendipitously he received a rebate from one of his credit cards which went a long way towards counter-balancing the bill.

We decided to reduce the asking price for the house. Within 30 minutes that agents were back on the phone to say that there was a couple waiting outside to view the property. A few moments of panic ensued and then we let them in. They were a waste of space. Just tyre kickers with no intention to buy.

That's a nice change

Various events conspired to demand a change to the normal Thursday schedule. One was an important teleconference scheduled for late afternoon. This meant that the Gorse Fox would either have to stay in Bristol until it was complete, or head home early and take the call at home. Given the option of not getting home till 2100, or heading back at lunchtime, the Gorse Fox decided on an early exit and was home, logged on and feeling smug by 1430. This is a working practise that bears further thought!

Other than that we had an interesting start to the day where GF had to join his senior colleagues in reviewing and  answering a difficult email from a supplier. The wording was such that it could be interpreted as a fuse for some forthcoming fireworks. Handled with customary delicacy and plain mathematics GF suspects this will now go away, but it had some fairly bizarre assertions regarding expected performance. As GF explained, it was like working out the travel time from Bristol to Worcester by measuring how long it took to drive round the M25 in rush hour. Gorse Fox is of the view that if you plan to have a battle of wits, you should at least come armed.

Strange times

So we see the Italian manager of England sacked for standing up for the principle of "innocent until proven guilty", whereas the English FA are far more attuned to lynch mob rule. We also see that a true man of honour would have stepped down as England Captain and not put his manager in that position... But then who ever associated the epithet "man of honour" with the ex-England team captain?

Only Capello comes out of this with his head held high.

Problem now is who will follow him, and the Gorse Fox fears it may be 'arry, and Spurs do not want to lose him.

Result

The day was spent in the Starfleet offices in Bristol. This meant a leisurely start and a quiet walk to work. Then after a client presentation and several impromptu meetings GF called it a day and headed back to the hotel.

There, GF was delighted to find that the Marriott had a reception for regular visitors. GF was greeted by the manager and offered wine and access to the hot finger buffet. Always happy in such circumstances, GF set about eating hot fingers. In the end it was pointless going out to eat, he was satisfied.