Embalming Fluid

This has been another strange day with chunks of time being consumed by trying to stabilize the Gorse Fox's email system which has been periodically locking up for the last 24 hours. He's had some very positive feedback on his "grilling" from last week - so he's fairly buoyant - but needs to look at a couple of areas before the next panel.

As he writes a coach is disgorging blue rinses at the front door of the hotel. The distant fragrance of embalming fluid is wafting through the open window.

Notes

The Gorse Fox has been frustrated by a problem on his laptop which has been playing silly games with his mail system. He needs to spend some time sorting this out...

Reviewing some forms today, used in disease assessment, the Gorse Fox had to smile when he saw a checklist:

• Inadequate drinker
• Wrong drinker position
• Insufficient lying area
  
• Aggression - fighting
• Tail biting
• Sexual activity

There were others too, but Gorse Fox couldn't help but wonder if this form could also be used in town centres during the evenings.

Curry

Well Monday, for the second week running, meant an early start and a dash across country to Worcester. Meetings punctuated the morning, but the afternoon was moderately clear and allowed some progress.

A curry seemed the ideal end to the day... so we did our best to empty the buffet.

Glades

There were little glades, openings and vistas opening up to the left and to the right.

It was a stunning place and must be spectacular in the autumn.

Roots

Like a clip from Lord of the Rings this part of the visit took us along the Rock Walk where tree roots seemed to flow all over and through the sandstone outcrops.

Blue

Some plants just beg to be photographed. The Gorse Fox loves the various shades of blue that this display through out to the passer-by.

Outcrops

Sandstone outcrops (of Ardingly Sandstone) poked out through the lush shrubs and trees. These proved to be even more interesting as our journey continued along the well marked paths.

Wakehurst Place

It was a bright but cool Sunday and it seemed like an ideal day to go visiting nature. And so, the Gorse Fox, Silver Vixen and her mother headed out to Wakehurst Place. It was over 200 acres of stunning woodlands, lakes and gardens.

4K Sunset

Some sunsets just have to be shared... and the Gorse Fox cannot think of a more appropriate 4,000th blog post than this.

Cocaine seizure

The Gorse Fox sees a headline on the BBC - "Mexican Navy Seizes 6 tonnes of Cocaine from makeshift sub in the Pacific"... whatever you point of view that is not to be sniffed at.

Avgas

Ahhh! The aroma of Avgas permeates the building as GF sits in Farnborough being buzzed by exhibitors from the famous Air Show!

Unfortunately he is in an inside office and can't actually see any of the displays.

Grill

The Gorse Fox had to get to one of the Starfleet offices this afternoon. He was there for a grilling to see if he was eligible to advance. Needless to say things conspired to make it challenging... the morning was busier than expected, but he did manage to grab some sandwiches that could be consumed on the move.

He drove back towards London and tucked in to his BLT... dripping fresh tomato down his clean white shirt (chosen especially for the event). An expletive may have escaped his lips soon after the tomato. He splashed water from his water bottle to see if he could wash it off - but it had found a comfortable spot and was not planning to budge.

He parked up at Starfleet and remembered he had a spare, clean shirt in his case - this was just the sort of emergency it was there for, so he stood in the middle of the car park and changed his shirt and tie before heading inside to meet the panel. Adrenaline was pumping and the Gorse Fox found that his mouth was dry (but supposes that's better than dribbling while you meet the great and good).

An hour later and a little shell-shocked he wandered out and assessed that as a first step - it seemed to go quite well, but there's plenty more hurdles to leap over the coming two months.

Sshh

The Silver Vixen has, apparently, lost her voice. Fortunately, when GF phoned, she was with Urban-cub so the phone call was still a bit one-sided but the opposite way to expected.

Malfunction

The presentation seemed to go well, but the Gorse Fox has made a note to self: "Check for wardrobe malfunctions before standing up in front of a room full of people" before retreating behind a chair which he nonchalantly played with throughout the presentation.

Care in the Community

The Gorse Fox has traversed the Midlands to help out a Project Management conference in Nottingham. Think of it as community service... or at least care in the community.

He held a roundtable/surgery this morning and this afternoon has to do a presentation - which should be fun (if only he could remember what he was going to say - he wrote the material several weeks ago and hasn't had a chance to go through and refresh his memory yet).

Blue rinses

It was hard to get back to work; particularly with a 5am start. GF managed to stay focussed though - with a new member joining the team today and the great news that the first part of the system is now running successfully at the pilot site.

GF arrived at the hotel. It was clear that Perry Mortem Tours were around. Two blue rinses were shuffling across the reception. They stopped and asked for directions to the bar, then shuffled on. A few minutes later, they returned, asking once more for directions to the bar. Deep Blue obliged and escorted them to the bar before returning to check-in. Dawn (on reception) explained they had been there for two days and still not mastered the geography of the hotel. Even though they had been directed to the end of the corridor and told to turn left, twice.

Winding up

We arrived home in the wee small hours and hit the sack. Sunday has been a matter of catching up with chores, work-related emails (so GF knows where he needs to be on Monday) and so forth.

Urban-cub phoned to say the apartment above hers has obviously had a major leak and it has caused some serious damage to her newly decorated bathroom. She is not a happy bunny.

Cousteau-cub has dropped her phone in the boat and whilst the SIM seems to work, the phone is broken, so we've had to rely on email contact this week.

Frantic week coming up by the look of it, (Worcester, Nottingham, Worcester, London, & Farnborough) so entries may be short. Silver Vixen is bringing her mother down to stay for a while also so things will be fairly abnormal at home also.

Sunset Flight

We sat "people watching" in the airport. The Gorse Fox mulled over the sights that befell him and couldn't help but pick out the British travellers from all the rest. Easy to spot: a) clutching a drink; b) clutching duty free bottles and cigarettes; c) loud; d) shell suit, tracksuit or similarly inappropriate attire.

A "yoof" headed towards GF. He was dressed like Axl Rose of "Guns 'n' Roses" - black knee-length shorts over big boots, black t-shirt, bandanna on his head, and various facial piercings. He opened his mouth a cried over GF's head "Mummy, can I have my pocket money now?" - it made the evening!!!

The flight was uneventful but the sunset was cool.

Travel back

The alarm went off early, there was last minute packing, cleaning, and checking to do. All things clear and under control we locked up and left.

We had a day to fill and there sights to see. We headed east from Nerja, passed Almunecar and on to Salobrena. The trusty SatNav got us there (though it's difficult to miss - a huge limestone outcrop with a Moorish castle in the middle of a flat coastal plain).

We climbed to the castle and up to the ramparts, the headed part way down to visit the Paseo del Flores. The view were superb, and the town almost deserted, which made exploration more fun.

From Salobrena we headed back west, stopping at the hypermarket at Velez-Malaga for some lunch and shopping. Lunch was taken in a typical local restaurant called California Grill!!! It was certainly true to its name... With a salad starter needing a forklift truck and two waitresses to deliver it.

From there we diverted north to see Lake Vinuela but it was seriously depleted since our last trip.

Finally we headed for the airport to sit and wait patiently for our flight and watch the riff-raff queueing for theirs!

Salobrena

The huge outcrop on which perches the old Moorish castle (once used by the Nasrids from Granada as a summer palace) has some huge cracks and faults. Repairs are being done to the castle, but one has to suspect that the cliff itself is that major risk.

Cotton wool

The last full day at the villa broke with the Gorse Fox thinking of his team back in Worcester. This weekend they are taking the first pilot site into production... So GF sent them a 'good luck' message.

The villa was bathed in bright sunshine and nestled under a startlingly blue sky. GF settled down with his coffee and a book. A few minutes later he looked up to see what looked like a giant roll of cotton wool rolling up the valley from the coast.

Visibility dropped to about 30 metres and the temperature followed. The cloud rolled on and within half an hour it had gone and the temperature started to climb towards the mid 30s.

Urban-cub wanted a last day by the pool, so with the exception of a quick trip to replenish supplies we had a very lazy day.

Sierra de Tejeda

Nothing

The 'interesting' plumbing risk became the 'critical' plumbing issue and required a call to the rep, a chat with the owner (Sebastian) and another chat with a plumber. The first was easy as the rep came from Burgess Hill, the latter were more challenging as they involved Spaniards who, strangely, spoke Spanish. The Gorse Fox's Spanish is only marginally better than his Urdu... Which made the whole event challenging. However, no complaints - the problem was resolved.

A Stephen King-like mist appeared mid morning across the town of Nerja. We were spared in the hills above, but it was quite eerie. No screams were heard so we assume it was benign. We stayed put at the villa making the most of the clear, hot day.

Another BBQ topped it off with chicken, ribs, eggs, huge prawns, potato, peppers, bacon and mushrooms. A soupcon of wine may also have been involved.

Frigiliana

The morning was warm, humid, but a little overcast. After the excitement of breakfast we got everything ready and headed out and up into Frigiliana. This is one of the best preserved Moorish villages in Al Andalus. The inhabitants are obviously immensely proud of their village's heritage and take immense care that new developments fit with the old village.

From there we headed across the mountains beyond Frigiliana towards Torrox and then on to Competa to lay the ghost of our last trip.

The Gorse Fox should explain. About 5 years ago we visited the region, went to Competa, but got a little lost in the narrow side streets. Finding the way blocked GF took a side turn and then another and found himself in a dead end with no room to turn. The next 15 to 20 minutes were very uncomfortable as GF tried to manoeuvre the car back round the corner and up the hill. The smell was foul... And some could be attributed to the red hot and smoking clutch plate. Eventually we escaped but were so irritated by the experience that we high-tailed it out of town.

Today we found a car park, and headed up to the Plaza de Alijara... But were, frankly, underwhelmed. We headed back for a stop at the supermercado and then back to the villa.

Another BBQ, this featuring several racks of ribs seemed like a good end to the day, and as we finished clearing away Urban-cub struck up a conversation with the owner (who has a small stable below the villa). She and the Silver Vixen went down to see the horses and his doves. Struggling with the language there was a lot of laughter and arm waving as it became clear that one of the horses was pregnant, and the doves were well cared for, and one of the chickens had just laid an egg... Which he immediately gave to Urban-cub.

After polite 'Gracias' and 'Buenos tardes' they left and returned up to the villa where Urban-cub, in her excitement, dropped and broke the egg as she tried to show it to the Gorse Fox!!!

Hazy days

Quiet of the late afternoon... Haze blurring the mountains.

Haze

It was another frantic day for the Gorse Fox, Silver Vixen, and Urban Cub. Should we visit Frigiliana, should we stay by the pool. Should we sit on the verada or the patio. Is it time for a beer. Or should we drink some some wine? The decisions were endless Relaxing can be so tiring!.

A slight haze has formed over the mountains to nort and east of us. It's still well into th 30's and beautifully peaceful... Though the plumbing is providing some interesting challenges.

Another BBQ is planned for tonight.

Sundown

Sun finally dropped away behind the mountains to the wewt.

BBQ

32C and cloudless... Perfect again. A trip to the Supermercado saw the fridge replenished with steak, chicken, and all of the trimmings for a BBQ.

Quiet afternoon with the books and the occasional dip in the pool.

As the sun started to drop the Gorse Fox fired up the charcoal. Soon after as the charcoal turned white and the meat hit the grill, the wine bottle opened as if by magic. Some salad and patatas bravas came together as if by magic... And we had a fine meal as the sun dropped lower in the sky and picked out the peaks of the Sierra de Tejeda.

Evening in Nerja

We tootled down to Nerja for supper. The trusty Sat Nav took us straight to the parking garage that GF had remembered from his last trip. Strolling to Balcon de Europa we people-watched before heading for a fine meal overlooking the Med.

Strolling back through th4 streets full of families out for their evening constitutional. Perfect day (except for the sore feet)

Feet

The Gorse Fox is paranoid about sunburn - particularly on his feet. With this in mind he spent the day coweringbin the shade with a Book...moving every now and then as the sun moved round.

Evidently he was not quick enough as waves of heat emanate from his feet!

Balcon de Europa

Balcon de Europa
Originally uploaded by Gorse Fox.

The game commences

So the trip started with a leisurely drive to Gatwick and dropping the car at Valet Parking. What a simple and convenient way to sort out parking!

The flight was unremarkable despite being seated midst a hen party... Who were remarkably well behaved and could give hen partys a bad name.

GF brought the Sat Nav which provided trouble-free instructions to firstly the hypermarket for supplies and then on to the villa.

U-c was very excited when she saw it and GF is worried about how she'll be prised away next weekend. A dip in the pool seemed the perfect aperitif before supper which was taken on the patio as the sun slid slowly to its nightly resting place.

Poolside

The Gorse Fox, Silver Vixen and Urban-cub have found a pleasant little spot to spend a few days. The villa is small but very nice and the patio and pool afford a lovely view over the mountains.

Schadenfreude

Or however one spells it... the early morning rain and wind made the thought of Spain somehow sweeter

Pack

It's time that the Gorse Fox stopped work and started to prepare for a brief break from the rigours of the laptop. Blogging may be a little sparse over the next few days, but GF promises to retro-blog to catch up when he gets time.

Migrating Auntie

Oh dear... Auntie is back in play and consuming chunks of the Gorse Fox's time.

Merlot

The fist bottle of Merlot was criminally smooth last night. Gorse Fox evaluated it and decided it was probably an anomaly. The Don had not commented so checking a second bottle (in the interest of scientific research) he proved the "anomaly" hypothesis to be wrong.

Change

There feels like change is in the air. Dark clouds are gathering in the west. The Gorse Fox looks forward to a few days in Spain.

Greenpeace

It is a sorry state of affairs when GF finds himself nodding in agreement with Greenpeace. According to the BBC:

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said the plan to bring in higher taxes on cars which people have already bought "gives green taxes a bad name".

Sun and travel

The sun blasted across the south and middle of England as GF cruised across to Worcester. The diesel engine is beginning to loosen up and he achieved 49mpg over the journey which in the current climate of high fuel prices and legalised theft by tax is very satisfying.

The day was spent looking through the work that needs to be achieved over the next 6 weeks... and putting together some slides for a forthcoming grilling by Starfleet.

SV has been preparing for tomorrow's craft fair so GF is looking forward to hearing how things went.

Just plans

Most of the day has ben spent working through the work that is planned for the next 6 weeks - what has to be done, who will do it, whether there is sufficient time, and whether the required resources are available.

Frustrating stuff, but had to be done.

Silver Vixen has finished another of her creations and it looks really good. GF will be taking photos for the archive tonight. (Of the bag).

More Garden Pictures

A few more pictures from the Sherfield-on-Loddon garden

Gardens

The Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox were again visiting Betty and Barney Rubble.

Lunch was enjoyed at the Jekyll & Hyde on the Reading Road. A wonderful chicken and bacon salad to start and then a rack of excellent ribs (though not quite as tender as GF likes).

From there we stopped off at another house exhibiting under the National Garden Scheme. This one at Sherfield-on-Loddon was about one third of an acre and subdivided into a number of smaller garden "rooms".

Far be it

In fact very far be it from the Gorse Fox to defend members of this corrupt, vexatious government, but the Gorse Fox foes think this nonsense over Wendy Alexander resigning is wrong.
If she checked with Holyrood officials regarding the donations and they said the need not be declared, and if the Scottish parliamentary standards commissioner said they should be treated as gifts... then it is not she who should resign but rather the Scottish parliamentary standards commissioner and the Holyrood officials who gave the incorrect advice.

Hoops

The Gorse Fox continues to jump through the various hoops and leap the various hurdles that are set by Starfleet. He has spent another full day working on his case, working on his presentation, and generally word smithing.

Meanwhile, in the next room the Silver Vixen has been sewing to prepare some new chenille so that another bag can be completed.

It seems a shame to spend the whole day inside when the weather has looked so good, but time is conspiring against us.

Nice quote

"Being trampled on by a startled hippo is not a dignified way to die"

Stephen Fry

Archives

The Gorse Fox is not feeling particularly inspired this evening so he thought a rifle through the archives would be interesting...

It wasn't.

What he did find, however, was that 25 years ago today he was starting his first day's work in Long Beach whilst evaluating some software for British Aerospace.

Woke up at 6:30 after a very good night’s sleep. I put on my trunks and headed for the pool, but on arrival saw that it doesn’t open until 9 o’clock, similarly the Jacuzzi so I went back to my room and showered.

It was obviously a good start to several week's of intense research! Looking back on it, possibly the most significant entry for the day was:

...decided to stroll across the road to the shopping mall to get something to eat. When we got there we decided to try the “Shuma” Japanese restaurant. We went to the Tepan room where we all sat around a steel griddle and had the meal of our choice cooked right in front of us.

Yes, the Gorse Fox's first time in a Japanese Restaurant - and whilst he rarely gets the opportunity to repeat the experience he would still rate it as his favourite style of food.

And going back even further, thirty-five years ago today the Gorse Fox was packing his stuff ready to move into our first house.

Guest Walk

The Gorse Fox has not published a walk for a while. However he was sent this link which he includes as a "guest walk". He hopes you have a head for heights!

Comparisons

Showered and ready to greet the day, the Gorse Fox went down to breakfast. settling at a table he realised that behind him was table occupied by a select group of crusties. Their conversation of last night (probably about their grandchildren) had dried up and this morning there was blow by blow analysis of the State funerals they had witnessed.

Now there's a top ten list that would be worth collating.

Smile

This made the Gorse Fox smile. he was walking towards the restaurant yesterday evening and was confronted by these vans...

Three said "Give Blood", and behind them was one saying "Free Home delivery".

A whimsical juxtaposition if ever there was one

Barely Contained

The Gorse Fox submits the earlier blog post as evidence of the level of excitement that has filled Tuesday.

We discussed tact. One colleague explained he was ina shop with his wife at the weekend and was the victim of abuse when he answered "Does my bum look big in this?" with "No, it's the cream cakes that does that". Some people can be so unreasonable.

Brackets

The Gorse Fox has lost a left-bracket key on his laptop... it's just lying on its back sulking, leaving exposed the intimate components of the keyboard.
Time catches up with everything.

Meeting

Not a typical Monday. A meeting had been set in Reading that (whilst interesting) was an irritating diversion from the design work that GF has been doing. He had to duck out at 15:00 for a telecon... which he took in the car and then headed across to Worcester as it seemed daft to drive home then drive back at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

It was a quiet evening in Worcester as GF was the only person out and about. The question was Tapas or Pizza? The answer was settled when GF found the Tapas restaurant closed. Pzza demolished he was back in his room by 20:00.

The hotel is fully of sherry swigging lavendar spritzing blue-hairs tonight... and though the Gorse Fox has a nice room, he doesn't have WiFi access from this part of the building.

Hotair

The Register offers an early review of "Without the hot air" by Professor David J C MacKay of the Cambridge University Physics Department.

Looks good so far. No hype, just numbers and calculations. Oh yes and on the subject of hot air

if we covered the windiest 10 per cent of the country with windmills, we might be able to generate half of the energy used by driving a car 50 km per day each.

Oh, so what do we need then?

The windmills required … are fifty times the entire wind hardware of Denmark; seven times all the windfarms of Germany; and double the entire fleet of all wind turbines in the world.

What about solar energy then? Er no, he's analyzed that too:

All in all, according to MacKay, if you like solar it probably makes more sense to put the panels in North Africa and bring the power to the UK over efficient high-voltage DC lines.

He reviews a number of different options and plans but the one that caught the Gorse Fox's eye was this:

MacKay made no effort to cost plan G, but he offers maps and figures indicating the staggering scale of the engineering. Britain would be literally covered with — and girdled by — massive wind farms, tidal barriers and wave barrages, and every sizeable body of water in the land would rise and fall to the strange new tides of the national grid. We would have literally rebuilt the British Isles as a single mighty renewable generator, pouring concrete and erecting steel on a scale so far matched only by human habitation — industrialising the land and sea in a way that would make intensive agribusiness look like a wildlife refuge. And still we’d be importing power.

That’s the reality of the Greenpeace plan for the UK, in hard numbers. You can see why MacKay is worried about their response.

Garden melee

What the photos don't reveal is that degree of popularity afforded to the gardens. They were absolutely heaving with people, and each of the photos was the result of immense patience or sheer luck finding a nanosecond when nobody was pushing through or blocking the view.

In summary several of the gardens were very nice but most were fairly average, and the whole event was rather spoiled by its own success and the number of visitors that were milling around and queuing for garden after garden.

Quirky

An article in The Times recently began: " Hidden in the seaside town of Worthing, behind a busy high street, is an easily missed gem. Ambrose Place, a beautiful row of white, balconied Regency terraced houses, is known locally for two things: it is where Harold Pinter wrote The Homecoming and it is home to a group of people who, for 25 years, have opened their gardens to the public, as part of the National Gardens Scheme."

Ambrose Place is a wonderful Regency terrace with long narrow north-facing courtyard gardens. Normally you would expect the a north facing garden to be cold, but here on the coast the protection that the terrace provides from the strong sea-born wind has allowed some nice gardens to evolve.

But then you see a feature such as this and realize maybe they are cold after all.

NGS

It was a bright, though very breezy day down on the coast.

The morning was dedicated to catching up on some coding chores and helping the Silver Vixen select a paper bag supplier (GF assumes they will arrive in a paper bag).

In the afternoon we headed for Worthing to some gardens that had been opened under the National Garden Scheme.

What's your name?

We sat on the train and as it pulled away from East Croydon station a huge pair of eyes came and squatted on the seat opposite the Gorse Fox.

They blinked and peered round.

"What's your name?" asked the eyes and then one by one he pointed at each person nearby and asked their name. He shuffled and tried to climb on the seat, but settled back down.

"Have you got Spiderman?" asked the eyes? and again one by one he repeated the question to each of us. The lady next to the Gorse Fox was called Jo apparently, and she didn't have Spiderman. She did however have a cup of tea.

"Is that a cup of tea?" asked the eyes. She confirmed that it was. "I like tea" said the eyes, "do you mind if I join you?"

And so the questioning continued for the following 90 minutes until the 4 year old owner clambered off the train at Worthing with his mother, baby sister and 7 year old brother (who'd bee sitting in the next bank of seats).

Passport

The Urban-cub needed a new passport. She phoned and made an appointment to get it seen to at the Passport Office in London today. What would she need?

• The current passport
• A form of picture id
• Proof of residence (e.g two utility bills) etc.

What about a photo? she asked. She was assured this wasn't necessary if her appearance hadn't changed.

The Gorse Fox accompanied her arriving at the Passport Office 20 minutes or so before the appointment. (It's such a good idea to have timed appointments).

"Good morning, I have an appointment at 1:15, is there somewhere I can fill in the form, or do I do that during the appointment?" seemed like a polite query to open proceedings.

"Over there" came the reply and so we stood (there were no chairs) by a 3 in shelf trying to fill in an A4 application form.

Having filled it in we went back and asked where to go, and were told that U-c had to go up by herself. GF explained he would be paying for it, so where should he pay?

"Go and get the cash from Victoria Station" he was told and ushered to the door with U-C. GF has learnt over the years that it is pointless arguing with jobsworths and it was very clear that this part of the Passport Office was inhabited solely by jobsworths.

As he made his way to the station he mulled over the fact that he was actually paying for the Home Office and its staff and it was clear they had no idea how to deal with the public (their employers). Needless to say he had to queue at the ATM but was soon back at the door with Urban-cub, and still early for the interview.

As she moved forward GF was blocked off and told he had to wait, but when he went to wait at the area marked "Meeting and Greeting". The jobsworth bore down on him. Apparently the sign is irrelevant, the Gorse Fox was not allowed to remain in the building. By this point GF was barely maintaining his equanimity and walked out without comment.

remember the Gorse Fox say what a good idea the appointments are? Well forget it - there were loads of people with the same time slot so U-c had to wait further until being seen.

"Where's you photo?" she was asked. She patiently explained the instructions she had been given last weekend and was told "You need a photo, there's a machine downstairs". Now U-c was getting cross, but maintained her civility and asked if she could get change for a £5 note. "No, we don't give change" a woman nearby (almost in tears from her encounter) came to U-c's aid. As Urban-cub walked down the stairs a couple of staff called out sarcastically "Missed your appointment?" she asked them what business it was of theirs and carried on to get the photo.

Over an hour after she went up she finally emerged. The pent up fury was clear... and shared. She commented, through gritted teeth, about the disgusting way in which people were treated and how rude the staff were. GF couldn't bring himself to discuss it.

It was the most disgraceful display of the utter disdain with which certain parts of government treat perfectly innocent and civil members of the public.

Pensions Adviser

The Gorse Fox notes a quote from Dr Ros Altman, former pensions adviser to No. 10: "Our state pension is a national disgrace. It is the lowest in the developed world. We cannot continue to treat old people this way"

Why did this stand out? Well the Gorse Fox had just read a letter from someone saying his pension had increased 25% over the last 10 years at a time when his Council Tax has increased 95%.

Oh yes and the latest estimate from experts is that Gordon Brown's raid on our pension schemes has so far cost us £100Bn.

Gadgets

Google have just release a neat little gadget for the iGoogle interface that allows the Gorse Fox to blog directly from his search page. He likes that.

What?

The Gorse Fox is sometimes surprised by our civic leaders. He discovers that this surprise should take on a global context, reading:

Officials in the US state of Massachusetts are investigating how 17 teenage girls from the same school have become pregnant.

Surely they know?

Stuff the flux capacitor...

... and forget the dilithium crystals.

Mother Superior phoned and during the conversation revealed that one of the highlights of last weekend's dress rehearsal for the roll out of the new and complex IT system we've been designing and building was passing the mission control centre and overhearing the delivery manager instruct the remote operations team:

"It's time to load the pineapple".

The Gorse Fox won't spoil things by explaining further.

MS Dinosaurs

There are some quotes that Gorse Fox cannot resist repeating for his valued readers. Today sees a discussion in Information Week on the hook up between IBM and Google

With these two behemoths uniting to take the next evolutionary step in IT, it's not hard to see who gets left out in the cold, a dinosaur awaiting the nuclear winter of cloud computing: Microsoft.

You have no idea what a heart-warming thought that is.

More totty

The Gorse Fox notes that Mellors has arrived with his Totty again.

Organisation over Arrogance

The Gorse Fox got back to Sussex in time to see the football. The beauty of this summer's tournament is that England aren't there. This means that GF can watch the games without any emotional attachment to his own team. He can just enjoy the sport.

Germany were playing Portugal. Germany are beginning to gel, and their organisation and work ethic are beginning to tell. Portugal have been fooled by their own hype and swagger about the field believing that it is their divine right to win.

Well they didn't, and GF is delighted.

Commission

Gorse Fox is very proud of the Silver Vixen. A lady called to see her and not only bought some of her bags, but also commissioned further examples.

Flames in June

A strange evening.

It started in Spur 0.

Well actually it remained in Spur 0. The Mexican had laid on a BBQ and though GF had known nothing about it, Andrea sent him through to participate as soon as he arrived. It was splendid evening.... and the Mexican did us proud.

Perhaps the oddest moment came when we witnessed the first stages of an arranged marriage with the Mexican's daughter being linked with Deep Blue on the assumption that once she was old enough to marry, he'd be dead and could leave her his fortune.

It's amazing the extents to which we will go to keep a client happy.

Worcester

Walking back from the cricket ground into Worcester.

Unusual suspects

Some of the the strange denizens of a cricket a cricket ground. Just as denizens of the deep seem to thrive in water, these seemed to thrive on liquid also and this was evident from the concerns rasied in the bar that they may run dry.

It is Cricket

It was a quintessentially English event. The cricket ground was packed and the crowd enjoyed the spectacle of Worcestershire taking on Warwickshire.

Over twenty of us sat in the Cathedral Block watching the game unfold and heckling each noteworthy event on the field or in the crowd.

There was an announcement asking the crowd to stay off the pitch during the break - this caused a stir as the Mexican offered:

"Oi, Danny de Vito, I'll help you over the boundary rope at the end of the game, if you like"

The banter continued throughout the evening... and a thoroughly good time was had by all.

Stumped

The roads were remarkably quiet; GF wondered if it was related to the fuel constraints caused by the tanker drivers' strike.

The day has been busy as the GF continues to write up the design work that he has been involved with over the past few weeks. He also had the opportunity to meet up with a colleague he hadn't seen for many years, which was very nice.

After work today there are plans to go and watch the cricket. This should be fun as there are about 25 of us going. There's no sign of steel drums, rattles, or flares so far... but who knows what'll happen later.

Conundrum

Starfleet seem to be moving dates for various HR-related activities, so

If "A" has a pre-req of "B"
and "A" is rescheduled to occur before "B"
then can "A" occur, or does it mean the Gorse Fox's participation in "A" has to defer 12 months.

If "A" does occur with the assumption of "B",
and "A" requires the presence of GF in "C" when GF is actually in "N",
then will a telephone call provide sufficient presence?

or is GF stuffed?

Dress Rehearsal

We were all very excited. This weekend saw the first dress rehearsal for the first release of the project. All went exceedingly well, and most of the steps finished earlier than expected. The Gorse Fox is immensely pleased with the team involved.

Spotted Cow

The Gorse Fox was taken out to lunch for Father's Day. Urban-cub joined us and we headed to the local pub, The Spotted Cow, which was doing a roaring trade. Despite how busy they were, service was good and the food was excellent.

During the afternoon GF spent some time looking for a suitable, but short holiday that he could book. The problem with online holiday selection is the sheer degree of choice that's available and it is easy to become stressed wondering if you really achieved the best deal available.

Cousteau-cub phoned from Thailand to send wishes to GF. All in all... a damed fine day.

32K - Impressive

Reading continues and we see that there are 32,000 deniers - That’s the number of scientists who are outraged by the Kyoto Protocol’s corruption of science.

Is this enough to establish that the science is not settled on global warming?

Quote

Gorse Fox has been catching up on some reading whilst keeping one eye on the football. He saw the following quote:

Don't go trying to confuse global warmers with facts, they're irrelevant. Al Gore has made a movie, for gods sake.

It made him chuckle.

Just Say No or Yes

The EU Constitution was defeated in referendums in France and Holland three years ago.

So they tinkered with the words, changed the spacing between the lines and changed the typeface. This new version was called the Lisbon Treaty. This was signed by the Heads of State of the member countries... though the dithering coward that sits in No. 10 slithered in later in the day to put his signature on the document and tried to avoid the photo opportunity.

This Lisbon Treaty (EU Constitution) has to be ratified by all the member nations. Only Ireland was democratic enough to allow its citizens to vote in a referendum. The snivelling weasels that run the UK, having promised a referendum on the Constitution, reneged on their promise (but for anyone living in the UK for that last 10 years, why would you have believed a word they had said any way?).

The Irish said NO.

The 27-nation EU requires all its members to ratify the treaty, so our snivelling boy Milliband says the UK will press ahead with ratification - meaning there will be a vote in Parliament and the rest of us can get stuffed. In the true style of the EU, the French (who lost 4-1 to Holland) & Germans (who lost 2-1 to Croatia) have urged the EU to press ahead with the project. This implies a change in the rules to accommodate and ignore the defeat.

GF expects there will be a bit of a re-write (a comma will be moved, and some capitalisation changed) and the Irish will be asked to vote again and get it right this time. No doubt some huge EU subsidy will be contingent on them behaving... and we in the UK still won't get a say because the UK Government, an Executive Agency of the EU, daren't ask the question for fear of upsetting their masters in Brussels.

The Gorse Fox has his own views on whether the Treaty (Constitution) should be ratified or not - these views aren't relevant - what is relevant is that the electorate should be given a say, as they were promised. Then they can say Yes or No.

Whew

The Netherlands have just beaten the French 4-1 ... what a game!

Staff

The Gorse Fox notices, as he peers out across the grounds, that Mellors has brought his totty with him.
GF makes note to self, "keep key to potting shed hidden".

Plans again

Heading back across country, the Gorse Fox had to be back in time for the Council meeting. This is always a rush - the three hour drive, bolting down supper whilst finishing his reading of Council papers - then back out the door.

Yesterday saw members of the public attend the Council for the first time in ages. They had a grievance in respect of a particular set of plans that we were to debate. It seems that for the second time these plans include a fraudulent letter purporting to document support from a neighbour, that the neighbour knew nothing about.

Gorse Fox finally got home to stay soon after nine... it had been a long day, and he was probably not the best company for the rest of the evening as he vegetated in front of the TV and wrapped himself round a small glass of wine.

Just another day

Quote of the day came from Mother Superior, She was giving the team a pep talk and saying thank you for all of the hard work. She commented on how long a few of us had been involved and were "jointly involved in the conception of Sam"(*).

Well this week's theme at Spur 0 is, apparently, music and take-away pizza. So the Gorse Fox is imagining that big Stu is sitting there strumming on his pizza with a pepperoni plectrum whilst munching on his guitar.

Meanwhile GF and 20 odd colleagues have just been out for a curry - on return from the restaurant he wandered into the hotel and headed for his room. In the library sat a cluster of 8 or 9 of the folk from Perry Mortem Tours. They were sitting around a tray of tea... asleep(**).

(*)GF would point out that Sam is the name of the computer system.
(**) At least, GF hopes they were only asleep.

Tuesday - it must be Worcester

Well the brilliant sunny day that the Gorse Fox left as drove to the Midlands did eventually catch up with him.

Like most days, it's been busy - and is far from over yet. As usual it is a matter of juggling several competing and mutually exclusive requirements. GF has left the office early in oder to settle in to his hotel before getting on with some further work and participating in some riveting teleconferences.

A large coach is pulling up outside - it looks like Perry Mortem Tours have just arrived. The corridors will be infused with the scent of lavender and formaldehyde.

Oh dear!

Sometimes you suspect that life may be perverse.

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen had noticed that some of the double-glazed units had blown or were a bit iffy (i.e. there seemed to be a slight haze within the units in question). We contacted our friendly local supplier who immediately responded by ordering replacements (thus honouring their warranty without question).

About 10 days ago the phone rang - it was the trust local supplier trying to arrange to come and fit the replacements. All was arranged.

He then phoned back - could he leave it for a week or so? He had just dropped the unit for the patio door.

Ooops.

At 08:01 this morning he called. Could he come and fit the replacement units today? Gorse Fox assured him that he would be around and yes he could.

At 12:15 the friendly soul arrived. All was well? Not exactly - he'd left one of the units back at the depot!

He replaced the couple of units he had with hime, and will be back tomorrow with the other. (Or so we were assured).

Pardon?

This little glass water feature caught the Gorse Fox's eye. The water tinkled gently from one level to the next in a musical but restful rythm.

It was at this point that GF became aware of the announcement over the Tannoy. "The flowers in the Chapel are being auctioned off to benefit the Alzheimer's Society".

"That's nice" he thought, realising that there had been various announcements going on all afternoon that he had not really taken interest in.

A few moments later the Tannoy crackled into life again: "The flowers in the Chapel are being auctioned off to benefit the Alzheimer's Society".

"They obviously want a good turn out" he thought; but then when the announcement was made a further 4 or 5 times he became suspicious that it was more to do with the symptoms than the auction.

Being Green

In the words of the great Kermit, "It's hard being green". Maybe that's so, but this clump of grasses certainly made a magnificent effort.

Gorse Fox wasn't really sure what to expect. Being a Garden Show he was sort of surprised when there were no show gardens. Indeed reallt it was one huge outdoor market selling flowers, shrubs, garden ornaments, garden tools, crafts, comestibles and preserves.

Despite the lack of show gardens, there were some wonderful plants on display.

Stansted Park

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen pottered across country, through Chichester, East Ashling and Funtingdon and joined the acres of cars that were filling the Stansted House car park. Despite the thousands of cars that were there Betty and Barney Rubble actually pulled into the car park immediately behind us.

Once through the gates we joined the people milling around the various stands and displays in glorious summer sunshne.

Summer

Garden shows are a feature of the English Summer. The sun is beating down across the south of England and we are preparing to head to Stansted Park for their annual show. The plan is to meet up with Betty and Barney Rubble when we get there, so it should be a nice afternoon.

Tap, tap

The Silver Vixen is again sharing a spell with her coven and leaving the Gorse Fox to get up to his own mischief. The reality of his mischief is, however, work. They have moved the dates of some of Starfleet's internal processes and this has meant that GF has spent the last 5 hours hammering away at his laptop.

There's lucky

The doorbell rang. It was Mellors. He had completed his chores in the garden and was expecting payment. The Gorse Fox handed over a few sovereigns and wished him a fine week-end.

Mellors turned, "I'm going to have a woman next week".(*)

The Gorse Fox said that would be nice for him, it's good to plan ahead, and closed the door.

(*) Silver Vixen later explained that he was getting an assistant who would be working with him next week.

Extraodinary talent

As promised, the Gorse Fox can reveal the live recordings of Worcester's answer to Glastonbury.


Questions are already being asked:

• Why is Deep Blue sitting on The Abbot's knee?
• Were royalties paid to the Eagles?
• Will Hotel California sue?
• Which other festivals will they be playing?
• Is it true they are opening for Kaiser Chiefs this summer?
• Where was Simon Cowell?

From our Entertainment Correspondant

Last night's curry was a pleasant affair and introduced a new member to the team. The real excitement (it is reported) however, started after the meal when returning to Spur 0 turned into a karaoke and talent night. The Gorse Fox has been given video evidence of the event (as he was not there)... and is considering publication on YouTube.

Fair

Well it sounds as if the Craft Fair was interesting... lots of interest, several discussions, several requests and a follow-on engagement

Crafty

The Silver Vixen is presenting at a Craft Fair today. This is the first time she has done such an event, and so it's all quite exciting - Unfortunately GF is in Warwick so unable to go an help or support.

Signs

There were signs on all of the tables - the Gorse Fox was at table 18. He walked past the various groups to get his lunch and noticed a table with the sign in small text "RNIB"... nobody was there.

Spray

As the rain poured down across the south and central swathe of England the Gorse Fox mused that a motor-boat may be a more appropriate form of transport, as he made his way to Warwick once more. He seems to remember from "The Cruel Sea" talk of the Kent Clearview Screen providing the crew on the bridge a clear view ahead despite the pounding waves... that would indeed have been handy this morning as waves of spray battered the car on the way north. On the bright side, however, there was no sign of icebergs or torpedoes.

Drawing conclusions

The Gorse Fox seems to have spent most of the day drawing. Albeit with fancy drawing software, but still drawing. There are some things that are still easier to visualize in a picture than on a precedence-sequenced table. The trouble is that the next task will be to try and turn it into a plan which means stooping to the baser arts.

Wry smile

The Gorse Fox allowed himself a wry smile as he read the Regional Housing Plan it talks of the Governments targets of reducing fuel poverty by 2010...

Excuse me!

When over 50% of the cost of fuel is tax(*) - just who do you think is the biggest cause of fuel poverty?

(*)OK, the Gorse Fox admits that this is only true for petroleum based fuels, but it was only a wry smile.

Quangos

The Gorse Fox has been doing his civic duty reviewing papers, plans, and strategies for the Parish Council. As usual this has thrown up the odd anomaly here, or irritation there... but the most noticeable was the increasing power and influence of the QUANGO know as the South East Regional Assembly. This organisation is an unelected body imposed on the region by the execrable Prescott when he lost the referendum on the establishment of a Regional Assembly for the North-east. In their normal arrogant way the Labour government didn't like that answer the voters gave - so in a Mugabe styled huff Prescott imposed his will anyway.