Asking for It

Face it, the Gorse Fox was asking for it. He had commented to his colleagues that Friday tends to be the worst day on the trains and that was why he tries to avoid travelling on Fridays.

He packed up his work things and headed out. Residual light glowed in the sky as he strode along the Southbank and crossed the Thames. He was soon at Victoria. There were people everywhere. A sinking feeling grumbled at the pit of the stomach. No trains were at their platforms. People were milling about waiting for direction. It turned out that there had been a faulty train at Clapham and all of the inbound trains were stuck behind it.

Actually GF and his fellow travellers were lucky. The first train in was theirs, and with a quick turn-around they were only running 20 minutes late. It could have been worse... but then he did tempt fate!

Slides

The afternoon was beginning to look like death by slides. Two hours into the review on 16 slides had been discussed there were 50 or so more to come. The Gorse Fox saw a spider trying to slash its wrists as the review drew on.

Actually, things sped up and we only over-ran by 1 hour. Things are looking positive for the client session next week. There are still some changes to make, but not too many.

Chill

There was a chill in the air as Gorse Fox left for work. The snow flurries of yesterday seemed to have stopped but the day felt colder. The train arrived and Gorse Fox checked the seat carefully - a lesson was imparted yesterday when GF found that he had been leaning against discarded chewing gum during the journey and his jacket was ruined. Today's seat selection had no such problem... and GF settled down to the journey.

A quiet day day in the office. Busy, but quiet.

Getting it Straight

A phone rang. A small gnome-like man stretched into his pocket and put the phone to the side of his head. A big tapered woolly hat covered his head but a gap formed in his hirsute face as he answered. He seemed uneasy. He muttered into the phone: "No, the mortuary department" and hung up. Fellow travellers decided to ignore him.

Another phone rang. A small dumpy woman clutched the phone to her head, she listened for a moment and responded: "It's too late now, I'm nearly at Waterloo. I'm early 'cos I rushed out the house, but I've left the straighteners on". She hung up. Fellow travellers chose to ignore her.

All life is there... but will her house be on her return?

Pun relief

Those who know the Gorse Fox are well aware that he takes an unhealthy pleasure in the exercise of the pun. He has woken today with a positive tidal wave of puns rattling round the empty spaces between his ears. In order to clear the mind he has decided that these should be shared.
The underlying meme is music and musicians with a maritime bent:

Artists

Britney Spearfish
Delaney and Bonita
Cliff Pilchard
Bruce Whelk
Hank Marlin
Sardine Martin
Jefferson Starfish
Spencer Davis Grouper
Eel-o
Sole to Sole
Jerry and the Placemakers
Freddie and the Breamers
Barracuda Streisand
M.C. Hammerhead
Def Leopard Shark
Salmon Dave
Jimmy Dorsal Orchestra
Astrud Gillberto
Carpers Bizarre
Cuttlefish Crew
Robert Crayfish
Pike and the Mechanics
Shoala Ama
Jarvis Cockle 

Music

A Whitebait Shade of Pale
Soul Porpoise
Whale My Guitar Gently Weeps
Shark the Herald Angel Sing
When a Manta Loves a Woman
Mackerel the Knife
All Cried Trout
Another Brick in the Walrus
I Can Seal for Miles and Miles
You Kipper Me Hangin' On

Feel free to add comments with further examples... only rule is that you can't use something that already features the theme (e.g. the tunes Dolphin Dance, and Trout, or the performers Seal or Fish)

Thank you for letting the Gorse Fox get that off his chest

Diminuendo

The day started bright and sunny, but by mid-morning the initial promise was diminishing. We now sit under a grey canopy looking out to sea, where it still appears to be bright.

A quiet day is planned in expectation of a busy week.

Checkout

The Silver Vixen's sister has checked out and headed home. Not before she had accompanied said vulpine beauty to Worthing and met with the coven, and strolled along the promenade. It was a shame to see her go. She has been great company and a its been a pleasure to have her around.

Not Covered

The Gorse Fox watched the local news.

The Silver Vixen and her sister had spent the day in Brighton. Brighton may be a famous party town, but GF was not sure it was quite ready for the two of them roaming the streets causing havoc and mayhem among the shop-keepers, pedestrians, visitors and other passers-by. There was no mention of their incursion on the local news. No news of the mobilisation of Police Community Support Reservists or the Territorial Care in the Community Regiment. GF can only assume that it was hushed up in order to prevent the spread of panic among the locals and of course to protect Brighton's reputation.

Not cynical

Interesting day today and the Gorse Fox started early with a drive up to the Heathrow area for a meeting. Roads were suitably quiet and the journey a pleasure. The subject of the day was professional people management and involved and interesting series of presentation, workshops and a motivational speaker.

It is easy for GF to be cynical about such sessions - but actually he quiet enjoyed it.

Traveller's breakfast

A young lady sat next to the Gorse Fox. The train was filling rapidly, but she managed to bag the prime position. She then proceeded to unbutton her coat, which she removed, and started to unwind her scarf. Note that GF did not refer to this as "take-off" but deliberately chose unwind. This scarf must have been wrapped around her neck four or five hundred times (this may be a slight exaggeration)... and GF was worrying that the removal may cause her head to roll off.
Once settled she opened the bag that she had slung onto the table (oblivious to the papers and devices that were already there). Almost climbing in, she delved into the deepest recesses of this reticule and slowly extracted one plastic container after another. Each was laid out on the table as the bag was stuffed behind the seat. Each was ceremoniously opened and one item of fruit removed and ingested from each container. The slurping noises woke several of the fellow commuters, but she continues to spray fruit juices over all and sundry. Then, sated, she recovered the bag and buried each container back within its confines ready to be retrieved again at lunchtime.

Conversations

The Gorse Fox stood by the door of the train from Clapham to Waterloo. A phone rang. A young woman selected the device from her bag, glanced at the screen and started to speak rapidly in Italian to he "Mama".... judging by the only word that made sense to the Gorse Fox's untrained ear.
The conversation continued and got ever more animated and loud. Suddenly the fellow traveller interspersed the flow of Italian with pure "Estuary English" containing several choice expletives as she declared that she would be late... and then switched back into Italian.

Busy

Busy morning. Looks as if one of the previous pieces of work is coming to an end due to budget constraints. Shame really, it was very interesting.
Current piece of work is building up steam, but is dependent on several external factors beyond our control.

Fine, no it's ok, he's fine

It was another productive day in London. The afternoon in particular was interesting with a workshop conducted by the Giant. As usual it was interesting getting his view of things and helping shape things for the project.

Gorse Fox was later leaving the office than planned, and fortunately his dash across town to Victoria was trouble-free and he got to the usual train just in time. (More successful than yesterday when the Gorse Fox was attacked by gravity on the steps of Embankment tube station. This involved catching a heel on a step, starting to fall and being driven downwards by the laptop bag over his shoulder. Other travellers parted and looked on in amazement as knee crunched against platform and GF managed to spring cat-like to his feet. He did feel foolish - but at least he wasn't hurt.)

The Silver Vixen's sister has come down to stay for a few days, which is nice.

What?

The Gorse Fox woke up to snow again. Only about a centimetre, but as it wasn't expected it came as a surprise. The train turned up on time, and best still it was warm. Back up in town GF had a good day by the Thames. Not much to report... so pass along now please.

Ex's

With all of the the recent commuting and travelling the Gorse Fox has built up quite a backlog of expenses. It took several hours this morning to go through and get them sorted, documented and claimed. Glad it's done, but surprised how long it actually took.

Better

That's better. The Gorse Fox managed to get through to Cousteau-cub. She was in a chatty mood and so the call went on for time, discussing different places to stay, different flight choices and so forth. Though she is obviously very busy, she's excited that we plan to go out and visit.

What GF didn't need to hear was that the water temperature today was 31C... meanwhile we still await the repair of our heating.

Sssh

Sssh...
It has been a quiet day and the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen have been staying near the fire.

• Attempts  were made to  contact Cousteau-cub ... but they failed
• Spurs tried to win at Birmingham... but they failed
• Gorse Fox meant to read some work papers... but failed

Here's to a more successful tomorrow

Chill

The phone rang - it was the heating engineer. The gas valve may take several days to come in and cost several hundred pounds by the time it is fitted. The good news, however, is that if doesn't arrive and get fitted today, they will bring round some heaters for us to use free of charge until they sort the problem out.

GF can't complain about the service

Not funny

The joke is wearing thin... the engineer failed to get the boiler working and has had to order a new valve. Slowly the temperature in the house is dropping... and the weather at the weekend is forecast to drop sub-zero again. Fortunately the log fire is roaring in the living room ... and the computers are giving off some heat in the study (and the immersion heater is giving us hot water).

Being helpful

Starfleet provide many tools to ensure that staff are well supported by processes, methods and techniques. Unfortunately they have a developed a new tools that supports this. The Gorse Fox is now nearing the end of his second day fighting with this tool.

Most of the first day was spent downloading it, because once the US comes online the network slows down noticeably... and there were many Gigabytes to retrieve.

Then it was a matter of uncompressing all of the component packages into a common directory. Then the install process begins and you realise that you have forgotten to UnZip a couple of components. You restart the process and it chugs away.

Finally it claims to be complete and asks if it should check for any updates. Answering yes added a further hour or two to the process.

Next, of course we have to add content to the tool so the Gorse Fox accesses the correct repositories in Starfleet. Unfortunately you can only consume 11 components at a time and each has to be packaged up, FTP'd, unzipped and imported. Not sure who dreamed this up, but GF would like to meet him on a dark night, in an alley, with a baseball bat.

Down South

The Gorse Fox was able to work from home today. This meant that he gained 5 hours and made the most of it by combining bits of the old project and bits of the current one.

The day was again punctuated with calls, one of which was with GF's new friends in China. It took a while to get to the bottom of the noun "youwent", but eventually the ageing brain found a vocabulary match with "event" and the discussion suddenly made sense.

GF has an spreadsheet challenge hanging over him this evening and suspects that he will be distracted until the challenge is complete.

Language

The Gorse Fox spent an hour or so on the phone to Starfleet's lab in China. This is likely to become a more regular occurrence. The problem is that it is evident that people in China are brought up using some local language and seem to have their own words for everything. Fortunately the chap that was speaking has made an effort to rearn rudimentary Engrish but speaks it with an barely penetrable accent and it did mean that the significant effort was required by the listener to match the sounds to words.

It would be so much easier if all the nations of the world would just standardize on English.

Underway

That's another week under way. The Gorse Fox was up early and rode the Southern Railway up to the metropolis and spent a pleasant few hours working by the Thames. The postponement that meant the Gorse Fox  didn't have to be in Birmingham meant that he was able to spend the day reviewing more background documents.

Virtual Travel

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen have been looking at options for a trip to Thailand to spend some time with Cousteau-cub. A particular 2-3 week period has been ear-marked, and flight options examined. Furthermore packages have been examined in the vicinity of Cousteau-cub's home. Emails have been sent and we now await her advice and guidance.

What would be ideal is a few days in Bangkok followed by a couple of weeks on Ko Lanta, but we'll have to see how things work out.

Family day

Well that was a pleasant day.

The Silver Vixen's mother, sister, niece & her partner braved the vagaries of the road network to visit us on the coast. Urban-cub had prepared the lunch on Friday evening so there was no rushing about. A most pleasing day that was enhanced by the whole-hearted involvement of all and sundry in various silly games on the Wii.

Garlic bread has left the Gorse Fox with slight indigestion, but nothing that a pot of yoghurt won't settle.

Home at last

Well that was a week.

The Gorse Fox and team have spent all week working long and hard to put together an outline solution for the client. On Monday next we should be in Birmingham presenting for 6 hours. In preparation we spent all morning going through the slides tweaking, changing, adding and tuning. Returning to the office we cracked on with the various actions so that we would be ready.

An email came in

It appears the client has not followed their own process correctly and eliminated two competitors that should have been included. The whole procedure is now on hold for a month.

The Gorse Fox was not impressed.

Heading home, the Gorse Fox was delighted to settle into his armchair surrounded by his loved ones.

Fate

To protect his anonymity the Gorse Fox will refer to the Partner on
his current project as The Gardener.

As a long day came to an end the Gardener made a call to his daughter.
He had decided that as his wife was away, they would eat out and she
should consult with her siblings to decide where. He put down the
phone and described the argument that was about to take place as the
children chose between between pizza, Chinese, and Indian.

The Gorse Fox assumes this was fate. He had only snacked at lunch time
and was getting peckish. The though of Indian food seemed to fill his
senses. He packed his bag, said his goodbyes and walked out. Five
minutes later he was in a local purveyor of fine Indian cuisine. He
took his seat and studied the menu. Seeing dishes he had never
previously heard of he tried a Xacuti Chicken. This was a good choice
- slightly peppery, slightly sour, and with a coconut-based sauce -
absolutely superb.

GF is now back in his hotel, settling in for a quiet evening.

--
Sent from my mobile device

All quiet

It has been a quiet day by the Thames. One of the realities of working
for Starfleet is the fact that deadlines are set for administrative
items which bear no regard for the day job. The Gorse Fox is having a
challenging week and to add spice to the mix he has to deliver the
appraisals (that were only signed off last week) this week or risk
losing payments for GF's trusty team. This has meant that the day has
been interrupted several times to fulfill these duties (as will
tomorrow).

GF still has a significant number of slides to prepare and whilst he
will do some more reading tonight the slides will have to wait for
tomorrow.

The small but cozy wine bar next door to the hotel provided a welcome
plate of risotto and a fine glass of wine to round off the day.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Tilting

After a good night's sleep the Gorse Fox followed the maps on his
phone to get to Waterloo and head underground towards Euston. This
station is becoming increasingly familiar. Settling down he got a
large cup of coffee and some breakfast whilst waiting for the train to
the bleak northern wastes of Birmingham.

The Pendolino is a most comfortable of trains as it whizzes across the
country and leans into the curves in order to maintain speed. This can
be a little disconcerting as you do not feel the lean, but suddenly
you find yourself looking out the window at a canal that appears to be
running up hill.

At Birmingham we met up with another colleague who joined us from
Wigan. A brief sojourn at Pizza Express for a briefing and then the
taxi took us to the western edge of the city to visit the client's
control centre.

The visit went without incident and revealed a number of interesting
facts and features that we will hjave to consider in our solution. The
tour wasn't as long as expected and we were able to get back and pick
up an earlier train than planned, and by five-thirty we were back in
London.

As the Gorse Fox went to step onto the tube a young girl stood by the
train shaking. He asked if everything was ok and she explained she had
never been on the tube by herself before and wasn't sure whether this
train went to Waterloo. The Gorse Fox explained that was where he was
headed and she should get on. She stood on the train clearly petrified
and confused by the fact that different stations had the platform on
different sides of the train. Taking pity on he GF lead her off the
train at Waterloo and up to the mainline railway station before
wishing her a safe journey and heading back towards the hotel.

He stopped at M&S Food with the aim of picking up a salad for supper.
It was an absolute zoo in there and when he saw the size of the queue
he decided to skip the whole idea.

Unwilling to give the hotel's restaurant another chance after last
night's debacle the Gorse Fox went next door to a wine bar where he
enjoyed a plate of pasta and a small beer before returning to his room
to watch the football.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Pizza, fail!

The Gorse Fox is having a quiet evening at his hotel. His cold is
being suppressed by over-the-counter drugs, but he still feels a bit
distant.

Not really feeling like going out, he ordered pizza from the hotel. In
his experience it is difficult to create a bad pizza. The restaurant
in the hotel have obviously excelled themselves and somehow done the
impossible and created a lousy pizza. The Gorse Fox would be furious
if he could actually be bothered.

Tomorrow requires another trip to Birmingham, but not an early start.
#

--
Sent from my mobile device

Stupid Pills

Have just received the following in an email from Old Father Time - not sure of the original author, but acknowledgements to whoever compiled this originall:

IDIOT SIGHTING #1

My daughter and I went through the McDonald's take-out window and I gave the clerk a £5 note. Our total was £4.20, so I also handed her a  twenty pence piece.

She said, 'You gave me too much money.' I said, 'Yes I know, but this way you can just give me £1 back.'

She sighed and went to get the manager who asked me to repeat my request.  I did so, and he handed me back the 20 pence and said 'We're sorry but they could not do that kind of thing.'

The clerk then proceeded to give me back 80 pence in change.

Lesson: Do not confuse the clerks at MacD's.

IDIOT SIGHTING #2

We had to have the garage door repaired. The GARADOR repairman told us that one of our problems was that we did not have a 'large' enough motor on the opener.

I thought for a minute, and said that we had the largest one GARADOR  made at  that time, a 1/2 horsepower.

He shook his head and said, 'Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower.'

I responded that 1/2 was larger than 1/4 and he said, 'NOOO, it's not. Four is larger than two..'

We haven't used Garador repair since. Happened in Moor Park, Nr Watford UK

IDIOT SIGHTING #3

I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbour call the Highways Department to request the removal of the DEER CROSSING sign on our road.

The reason: 'Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don't think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore.'

Story from Potters Bar , Herts, UK

IDIOT SIGHTING #4

My daughter went to a local Kentucky Fried and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for 'minimal lettuce.'

He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg lettuce.

From South Oxhey Herts , UK

IDIOT SIGHTING #5

I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, 'Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?'

To which I replied, 'If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?'

He smiled knowingly and nodded, That's why we ask..'

Happened Luton Airport ... UK

IDIOT SIGHTING #6

The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged colleague.

She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, 'What on earth are blind people doing driving?!'

She is a Local County Council employee in Harrow , Middlesex , UK

IDIOT SIGHTING #7

When my husband and I arrived at our local Ford dealer to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it.

We went to the  service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the drivers  side door.

As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked.

'Hey,' I announced to the Fitter/Mechanic, 'its open!' His reply, 'I know. I already did that side.'

This was at the Ford dealership in St Albans, Hertfordshire UK

STAY ALERT!

 They walk among us... and the scary part is that is they have the RIGHT TO VOTE! (The Gorse Fox would guess that's exactly how we got our current Government)

Blast

The Gorse Fox is now in the full flood of a cold. This is not convenient considering the week ahead.

Welcome Noah

The Gorse Fox would like to congratulate young Matt and Katie on the birth of Noah Alfie at 12:57 this morning.

Appraisal

The Silver Vixen has met up with other member of her coven and they are flying in formation towards Farnham where they will terrorise the locals with their low-level acrobatics as they swoop in to the local fabric exhibition. Urban-cub is helping Loopy-Lou move flat... and so the Gorse Fox is left to his own devices.

Unfortunately his own devices are work. Today will be spent writing up and formalising the appraisals begun in December. Starfleet has now signed off the assessments and the Gorse Fox is commanded to divulge the assessments to his team.

He suspects that this will be a slow exercise as he is fighting off a cold and his head feels as if filled with cotton-wool.

Brown out

GoBro's vision for the country:

A fair society is one where everyone who works hard and plays by the rules has a chance to fulfil their dreams whether that's owning a bigger house, taking a holiday abroad, buying a new car or starting a small business.

Now let's just parse this statement:

• A fair society is one where everyone who works hard and plays by the rules...
  Ok... so you must WORK and follow the rules that the Government makes
• ...has a chance to fulfil their dreams whether that's owning a bigger house,...
  but if it is a bigger house that hasn't already been allocated to people who aren't working, then the Government will charge you Stamp Duty for buying it and charge your children inheritance tax when you die if you leave it to them; if you improve it they will charge you extra council tax, if it has good view or is near a good school you will have to pay extra council tax.
• ...taking a holiday abroad,...
  but the Government doesn't want us to fly because of the carbon footprint it leaves and any money you spend will not go to the UK Exchequer
• ...buying a new car...
  but that's fine as long as you pay the Carbon-tax for buying new, VAT, Road Tax and then don't use any petrol or diesel because the Government is part of the UN sponsored carbon trading scam. If you decide to use petrol or diesel remember that more than 60% of the pump price goes straight to the Exchequer
• ...or starting a small business.
  but do not forget to pay business rate on your premises and register with the tax man for VAT.

Yes, on reflection, the Gorse Fox can quite clearly see why that is GoBro's vision.

A Target

Also courtesy of the BBC (and the Daily Mail) we learn that "Gordon Brown Targets Middle-class Voters in Speech". Well he's been targetting middle-class voters for the last 12 years - draining them of the pensions, and their disposable income in order to prop-up his execrable policies and fatuous commitments.

Anyway he tells us that he will create: "more middle class jobs than ever before"  Well of course he will - where else is he going to find the funds to fill in the black-hole he has created in the economy. It reminds the Gorse Fox of "The Matrix" where the human beings are just fuel to a larger entity - well so are the middle-classes to Labour - nothing but fuel to be derided, despised, and exploited.

Success Rate

The Gorse Fox notes from the BBC that:

The Met Office admits its annual global mean forecast predicted temperatures higher than actual temperatures for nine years out of the last 10.

That seems like the sort of success rate that should attract extra funding! He also notes that apparently:

Professor Watson said the warming bias....  should not affect trust in the Met Office's climate projections, which are based on a different methodology.

Well that's all right because the Gorse Fox already distrusts it, so it saves time.

Travellin' Man

Well the Gorse Fox has spent the day sitting inside metal tubes that have hurled him around or under the country in varying levels of comfort. Leaving home soon after seven he made his way to the start point and began the first leg towards Victoria, then diving underground he found his way to Euston where he had a seat booked on a train bound for Birmingham. The journey ran smoothly and to time. The GF was surprised at how much snow there was north of London.

Meeting up with colleagues in a Pizza Hut we exchanged data and polished the presentation that we planned to use for the afternoon session. A new colleague joined the burgeoning team - he could prove to be a big asset as he can actually distinguish between a a large muscle mass at the base to the spine and a hinged joint in the arm. A welcome addition to the team. As we planned, out of politeness, we also consumed copious amounts of pizza and salad before taking the short taxi ride to the client's meeting.

The meeting ran gratifyingly smoothly and to time. This meant there was a chance GF would get to the 17:30 train home. However, the partner decided that we should debrief first. So we all traipsed into a side office and stood with out briefs round our ankles and discussed the previous three hours. Birmingham's traffic was, by now, in full flood and any chance of getting to the station quickly was but a pipe dream. It was 18:10 before GF managed to force his way onto the London-bound train - it was shorter than the normal configuration and this meant that it was fairly well crammed. GF was lucky and found a seat.

Needless to say the way the times worked out the Gorse Fox arrived at Victoria 2 minutes after his train left. This was not too much of a problem, however, as it allowed time for a stop at "Wasabi" for some Chicken Terriyaki and noodles. Finally boarding the southbound train, GF sat listening to his iPod whilst watch three chaps across the aisle demolish a full bottle of Gordon's gin and several tonics on the route to the coast.

It was a couple of minutes after ten before GF got home. It had been a tiring day, but Silver Vixen and Urban-cub were still amusing themselves on the Wii when he slumped into the armchair.

Head down

Gorse Fox is keeping his head down preparing for tomorrow's meeting in Birmingham.

Yesterday finished in some style with the Southern railway deciding they couldn't be bothered to split the train at Haywards Heath and therefore forcing half the commuters (including the Gorse Fox) to get off and wait for a Brighton train and there change once more to get a Portsmouth train in order to get to our intended destinations. A further three hours of his finite allocation of lifespan consumed by travel.

It seemed very dark this morning when the Gorse Fox's internal alarm went off. At first he doubted he had read the watch-face correctly, but need not have worried. Ablutions complete he headed to a) make the tea and b) start up the computers in time for his 08:00 call with one of Starfleet's China laboratories. (He should point out that this is a laboratory in China as opposed to one that is elsewhere research ceramics).

Brm, brm

Yesterday's trip to Birmingham went off without incident. The Gorse Fox must commend Virgin trains for the comfort and speed of their service. It's strange how, having not been to Birmingham for probably 20-25 years, the Gorse Fox finds he has to be back there this Friday - twice in a week. You can imagine that the pleasure of leaving Birmingham at 17:30 on a Friday afternoon fills him with happy thoughts. Not!

Not sure if it this morning's fall of snow or the fact that he was travelling early-ish, but GF was delighted to find the tube was almost deserted and therefore had a comfortable and easy trip from the hotel in Euston down to the office.

Just checking

The whole point of staying overnight near Euston Station was that the
Gorse Fox could have a good night's sleep and did not need to get up
in the middle of the night to find his way to Birmingham. It was
therefore a most unwelcome moment when, at 4 o'clock this morning the
hotel fire alarm went off. Only for about 30 seconds but it was loud
enough that corpses in the local cemetary sat up. Settling back down
the Gorse Fox drifted back towards a gentle slumber. The alarm went
off once more. Only about 10 seconds this time... but the damage was
done. Gorse Fox was awake... and that's how it has stayed.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Best laid plans

The Gorse Fox had planned carefully and brought his T-mobile USB
internet key with him to provide some quiet browsing during the
evening. Unfortunately nothing works quite as planned. It is many
months since he last used the key and it is the first time it has been
used on his work laptop. This meant that he didn't have any saved
settings to use... and unfortunately had forgotten any setup
instructions. As a result it sitting uselessly on the side of the
laptop whilst the Gorse Fox resorts to his portable keyboard and his
smart phone. (Oh yes... you can trust the Gorse Fox to have both belt
and braces - and even some string in case bothe fail)
#

--
Sent from my mobile device

Town

The Gorse Fox headed up to town. A small suitcase was clutched in addition to his usual laptop. This proved to be troublesome as the trains were packed and manoeuvring through the throng was challenging. He arrived safely if somewhat later than expected.

Had a chance to catch up with Deep Blue today, which was nice. Am hoping to drag him into current project - but looks like the GF may have fight on his hands.

Of cars.

RAV4 battery recharged and GF has taken it out for a run. Would guess that leaving it totally untouched for nearly 4 weeks in such cold weather was a bit much for the battery. All is now well and the Silver Vixen can be mobile if she so wishes.

Trying to work out logistics for the coming week. Will get Urban-cub to act as chauffeuse for trips to and from local station so that GF's car does not have to sit idle in the car park for several days.

Oh yes

Just tasted a slice or two from first home-made wholemeal loaf... very successful. Very more-ish.

Domestic responsibilities

The Gorse Fox cleared the accumulated snow from the RAV4 - some shopping was needed. Unfortunately the cold weather had reduced the effectiveness of the battery and it was not man enough to fire the beast into life. That will have to wait for now.

The Passat fired up on the first attempt and after 5 minutes the snow was cleared and the Gorse Fox headed to Sainsbury's. On arrival it became immediately clear that it was bedlam. Every twit who had no experience or ability of driving in the snow had clustered into the car park and sat there in panic hoping a car parking space would come to them.

Inside the store things were no much better. Families had taken their children there with their dolls prams to block the aisles whilst the shouted at them. More mature folk had gone mob handed so they could support each other against the ravages of gravity and ice combined... and wandered aimlessly round looking bemused. What fun the traditional shopping experience can be. (Don't even ask about checkout lane discipline, conveyor loading, or packing!!!)

Home once more the Gorse Fox examined the manual that accompanied the new Bread Maker (which arrived mid week) and carefully measured out various staples: yeast, strong flour, sugar, salt, butter and water. A few moments later the appropriate buttons were pressed and, with luck, we shall have our first home -baked loaf of bread in a few hours time.

Something fishy

The Gorse Fox has just received the following email:

From the Desk of
The Inspector General of Police
Mr. Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo
Phone: 234 812 077 7786
Email: police_forcehq@live.com

Attn: ATM card Beneficiary.

Dear Sir,

This is to inform you that we have been given the instruction to dispatch your ATM card to your address from the Police Head Quarters here in Lagos Nigeria. Because of the recent scam problems experienced by foreign beneficiaries of funds, all ATM card issued by the authorized paying Bank which is the Union Bank of Nigeria PLC has been submitted to this office ready for dispatch.

You are advised to provide the following information for dispatch,

1. Your Full names
2. your full billing address
3. your direct phone number

Regards,
Inspector General of Police
Mr. Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo
Phone: 234 812 077 7786

The Gorse Fox wonders just how stupid you have to be to fall for a note like this when a) you don't know anyone in Nigeria; b) you don't have dealings with any banks in Nigeria; c) you notice that the email address is at "live.com"

End of the week

Friday. A simple word, but it carries so much promise.

The day lived up to its promise. It was great fun and very busy. Gorse Fox was busy reading through specs and documents and presentations trying to elicit sufficient information to start to crafting a solution for his new putative client.

He also had a career chat with a young (-ish) colleague - hopefully helping him decide a little on his future.

Evening was spent playing Frisbee golf on the Wii with Urban-cub.

Mmmm - a good day

Overall it was good day:

• Work was busy but went well
• The Gorse Fox could work at home so didn't get troubled by the weather
• Someone go the Wii working once the disk was removed from the DVD player and installed in the Wii console.
• Jonathan Ross is leaving the BBC
• The BBC are looking into accusations of bias in their scientific reporting

Yep... a good day.

Crisp

The heavy snow clouds of yesterday are gone this morning. The sky is crisp and clear and the stars have that shimmer and twinkle that seems to be unique to really cold, clear weather. The Gorse Fox has not ventured out, but the computer tells him that it is -7C at present.

Discretion being the better part of valour, Gorse Fox will again work from home rather than venture to London - particularly as tomorrow's course has been cancelled removing the necessity of being there overnight tonight.

Snow

The Gorse Fox woke to find a thick covering of snow being added to as he watched. This exceptionally mild winter forecast by the Met Office (using their climate models) is redefining the meaning of exceptionally mild. The Gorse Fox has decided to work from home rather than fight his way back up to London.

London

The day started early with a trip on the Southern Railway up to London. The train was surprisingly quiet but the journey was soon over and the Gorse Fox was soon settling in to the offices by the Thames.

It turned out to be a very busy day - meetings, calls from the last project, more meetings, and more calls. It was lateer than planned before the Gorse Fox got away, but a short stroll along the Thames and charge across the River took him to the Underground Railway in order to head back to Victoria in order to catch the train back to the south coast.

Not a stunning day, but interesting

Bang

The working week/year certainly started with a bang. The Gorse Fox has been hard at it now for 13 straight hours... and suspects he has another hour to go. The Silver Vixen and Urban-cub are at the health club so GF can work on without offending anyone.

Early start tomorrow for trip to Starfleet's Thames-side offices.

Winding up

The Gorse Fox has had a good day winding himself back up ready for work. This has meant that he has spent most of the day in the study reading through and summarising the Requirements Definition for his new client. This took longer than expected and ended up with reams and reams of notes.

Lunchtime saw the regular attempt to contact Cousteau-cub... but as she had left her charger on Phi-Phi we had to call her partner Jon. This went surprisingly well - though there was some lag on the line making conversation a little difficult.

Un-decs

It seemed like the ideal time to pack up the Christmas decorations... it may not be the 12th day of Christmas but it was close enough. After 27-30 years we decided that our tree should be replaced so that will head to the dump. It only took an hour or two and everything was packed away and stored for next Christmas.

Once that was done, Gorse Fox decided it was time to get the Tax Return out of the way. As usual this was an immensely painful affair - not difficult, just painful watching so much get poured into the black-hole that is this Governments extravagance and debts.

3D

Having crossed to the country estate of Betty and Barney Rubble we had a refreshing tea before heading off to the moving picture palace in the nearby metropolis of Basingstoke. There we settled down with our special glasses to watch the 3D version of Avatar. Gorse Fox was a little apprehensive about how the 3D effect would pan out over a 3 hour film... but it was done very well and added to the film rather than overcoming it.

The film itself was an adequate story pitting the rapacious industrialist against the gentle nature-aware indigenous occupants of a distant planet. The Gorse Fox won't spoil the story - but he would comment that it was fairly predictable - though this was not detrimental to the overall enjoyment.

Leaving Basingstoke we picked up some fine Indian food and then spent a silly evening playing games on Barney's Wii.

After seeing in the New Year and calling Urban-cub we had what seemed like a short night's sleep we were soon enjoying scrambled eggs with smoked salmon.

North West

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen will be heading north-west to join Betty and Barney Rubble to see in the New Year. Plans include a visit to the moving picture palace to see Avatar 3D before returning to their country pile for the festivities.

Meanwhile GF has taken a call regarding the new project and is set up, it would appear, for a busy year ahead with a very large deal to be won. Next year will evidently start with a rush of activity; there'll be no easing one's way into this one.

Life in the Fast Lane

As 2009 splutters and coughs to an asthmatic close the Gorse Fox has been living life in the fast lane with a trip to Sainsbury's to replenish supplies and a trip to the BP filling station to get some diesel. Sometimes the excitement is hard to contain.

The Gorse Fox is staying clear of the Silver Vixen at this moment as she has discovered the boxing feature on the Wii and is now in training for a few rounds with Joe Calzaghe.

Playing a round

The Gorse Fox is not one to exert too much time on the links... and given today's weather a few rounds of Wii Frisbee Golf with the Silver Vixen seemed like a much more sensible idea.

The Urban-cub returned to work first thing. Rain poured down along the coast and it remained dark and grey enough that we had to keep the lights on much of the day.

Family

Yesterday's outing to see the latest adventures of Mr Sherlock Holmes and his trusted companion Dr Watson was a most pleasant affair. There was little traffic to delay our journey and we settled into the commodious seats in plenty of time for the show. The show itself was a ripping yarn displaying the talents of such actors as Mr Robert Downey Jr. (an American gentleman) and Mr Jude Law (a fine English Thespian). The story itself strayed from the canon of adventures first recorded by Mr Arthur Conan Doyle, but this did not detract from the experience.

One the striking features of the moving picture show was the depiction of Victorian London. The Gorse Fox found this very credible - particularly some of the scenes that showed the docks. The Gorse Fox remembers the areas around the docks - with the huge warehouses, alleys, and narrow streets. It had a menace and imparted a sense of foreboding about it even when he was young. What it must have been like when Her Britannic Majesty, Queen Victoria was on the throne, can only be imagined.

Today is an altogether different affair which sees us headed across the wastelands of Surrey to the dense metropolitan areas of Berkshire in order to spend some time with the Gorse Fox's sister and her family.

221b

The Gorse Fox, whilst in search of the great literary classics (see yesterday's homage to education: St Trinian's) has decided that today should feature the great sleuth of 221b Baker Street and proposes a trip to the moving picture theatre to see a depiction of the latest escapades of Mr Sherlock Holmes.

BMI

The Gorse Fox, Silver Vixen and Urban-cub have had a quiet day being bullied by Wii Fit Plus. This electronic dominatrix has insulted, cajoled, and teased as we tried one workout after another.

After the torture was complete we settled down in front of one of the great classics. A Christmas Carol? No. Miracle on 34th Street? No. In fact it was St Trinian's!

Complete

Possibly the greatest machine on the planet is the telecommunications network. This allowed the Gorse Fox, Silver Vixen and Urban-cub to connect to Cousteau-cub on an Island in the Andaman Sea. Somehow Christmas was finally complete... whilst the family was not physically together we had at least had a chance to chat.

Crisis averted

Cistern now functioning correctly.

Central heating boiler opened, examined, poked, twisted, turned, and prodded. Pilot light re-ignited. Heating now working again.

Happy Christmas... oh no!

With a monotonous regularity domestic disasters seem to befall the household at Christmas time. A couple of years back it was the TV, last year the central heating failed and the drains backed up... so it was with a degree of trepidation that the Gorse Fox rose from his bed this morning.

He was right to have worried - the cistern in the loo is overflowing and the central heating has, once more, packed up.

Merry Christmas one and all!

Scraping by

The Gorse Fox notes that the Disney chief exec, Robert Iger,  is having to get by on a 28% reduction in his compensation - leaving a meagre $23M to get by on.

You have to wonder how some people manage?

Log on/off

The problem with the delivery of a 2000 metric tonnes(*) of logs for the fire is the sheer effort required to move them from the driveway round to the back of the house and to stack them neatly where they will be sheltered from the rain. This pleasure has occupied the last two lunch hours as the Gorse Fox traipsed back and forth with logs in hand neatly creating 5 stack of logs about 10 metres high and 50 metres long(**). Fortunately Urban-cub finished work early today and helped out with the last few tonnes.

(*) This may be a slight exaggeration.
(**) This may also have been exaggerated to some small degree

Ping

"Ping" went the laptop. The Gorse Fox received an alert from a colleague and after a 10 minute follow-up call the Gorse Fox suddenly had an avalanche of documents to read and a team to help put together and a solution to dream up for a client who is expecting to spend over £100m for this.

As you will understand - this has therefore not been a gentle wind down into Christmas, but a frantic attempt to try and understand the 70+ documents that have been released.

All very exciting and it looks like a busy year coming up.

Unprecedented

The Gorse Fox would like to bring the following to your attention (sent to him by email):

US Weather Bureau Report

The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consul Ifft, at Bergen, Norway. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers, he declared, all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met with as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes. Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared. Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts, which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds.

Oh yes, did he mention that this was published on 2nd November 1922 and was apparently reported by AP and the Washington Post.

Gravity

Late in the afternoon there was knock on the door. By this point in the day it was dark and the temperature was dropping once more. "Logs" said the visitor. We had been waiting a couple of weeks but the time had arrived and nestling in the back of tipper truck was a full load of logs. Cars were moved and few moments later the back of the truck was lifting and gravity took over.

We have discussed before the fact that gravity can be a bit of a devil. When it came to the logs it was benign... when, however, it was the Urban-cub carrying her fresh chilli con carne across the light beige carpet it takes on a certain malevolence. Only time will tell whether chilli and beige are sufficiently close on the colour wheel not to matter.

Slush

The temperature rose overnight and by mid-morning it was raining along the south coast. The snow slowly disappeared and a degree of normality returned. (Meanwhile there were reports of significant snowfall near Basingstoke - and traffic reports were dire).

The Gorse Fox had a Council planning meeting early in the evening, but it was soon finished and GF could return to peace and quiet of home.

and Even

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed out into the cold. Thick ice replaced yesterday's tire tracks, vestiges of snow crunched beneath our boots as we trudged to the car and headed out onto the Queen's highways.  As we headed west we soon passed the snow line and continued on past Chichester and into Hampshire. Before long we reached the home of our elderly friends Betty and Barney Rubble where we spent a pleasant few hours and had a satisfying meal at a local hostelry. The hostelry was hampered by its lack of efficient heating in the restaurant area so this merry bunch of chums made a hasty exit as soon as the repast was complete and coin of the realm had changed hands.

Due to the inclemency of the weather we chose to leave before the sun dropped below the horizon and made our way back to the coast.

Soon after our return the phone rang and Beloved Aunt was at the other end, calling from the colonies. It was lovely to hear from her and catch up with all of the news from our distant cousins

Summing up COP15

A commenter on the Telegraph blog summed up the bun-fight as:

"Something that was never going to happen because it does not need to happen hasn’t happened. What a surprise."

Let us just remind ourselves that these eco-warriors have burnt the equivalent of 41,000 tonnes of CO2 at the conference - more than the whole country of Malawi.

Crisp

The overnight temperature remained sub-zero but there was no further snowfall here by the coast. The Gorse Fox had to take Urban-cub to the railway station so spent an inordinate amount of time clearing the frozen snow from his car windows. Never mind, the CO2 from the exhaust will help warm things up a bit ! The side roads were treacherous with huge sheets of black ice, but once on the primary roads it was fairly clear.

According to the forecast it's unlikely to rise above -3C today and drop to -7C overnight (though a Finnish friend revealed it was -24C in Oulu yesterday). At least it's bright and sunny.

GF was delighted that Copenhagen ended up as a damp squib. Unfortunately there are now so many vested interests that the chance of real open debate on the differences between correlation, cause, measurements, adjustments, and fraud are unlikely to take place.

Glaciation

After yesterday evening's lovely evening with Madam Chairman and the Councillors (no, not a popular beat combo) we made our way home through light snow. This morning we woke up to about 3in of the white stuff covering everything and more still falling. Within an hour or so the leaden clouds had disappeared and normal service was resumed with wall to wall sunshine - though it remained bitterly cold. The snow became crisp and refused to melt and as the sun went down the temperature followed.

The Silver Vixen had to go out during the day and GF was pleased that she has a RAV4 to negotiate the back roads (though the main roads are clear).

Climate and Causality

As the Gorse Fox was answering some emails for Starfleet he was struck by a thought. We are told by "true believers" that despite the temperature going down for the last 9 years the last decade is one of the warmest on record. Much of this warming is blamed on CO2 because they couldn't account for any other reason.

The Gorse Fox thinks he has the answer... the Labour Party has been in Government now since 1997. Coincidence? He thinks not! Twelve years... to destroy the planet. This means that despite his reservations GF has to conclude that it is man-made.

Interglacial

The coast has just emerged into an interglacial period, the sky has cleared and the sun is shining

Spirit

Madam Chairman has invited us all to a little Christmas soiree. That should be a bit of fun... and it will be nice to meet the other Councillors outside of our formal duties.

Irony

As the climate continues to warm the snow has started falling over the south coast.

HRH

The Gorse Fox was delighted to hear yesterday's comments from Prince Charles on Climate Change... if ever anything was going to convince the Gorse Fox he is right to be sceptical - it is HRH taking the opposing the view.

Returns

The Gorse Fox had to head to one of Starfleet's country houses for a meeting. It was time to compare his staff assessments with those of other teams... and make sure we were fair and consistent. The meeting was long, and the Gorse Fox's assessments went well.

Leaving the country house GF stopped off at a gadget shop to return a power-pack that he didn't need. He timed this to perfection following a chap  into "Customer Services" who clutched a large plastic bag. Arriving at the counter first he emptied the contents of the bag on the counter. The ink cartridges formed a small avalanche as the chap pulled out a sheaf of receipts and asked for a refund. This meant that the assistant had to work through the avalanche cartridge by cartridge checking them off against the receipts. As the Gorse Fox's beard started to grow longer, and his patience got shorter he watched the glacial progress as they were sorted and checked. Eventually it was over and GF got to return his power-pack... a process that only took about 60 seconds.

Stopping by Starfleet HQ he returned last year's laptop and grabbed some lunch before heading back to his study.

Balanced BBC

The Gorse Fox had to write a note of complaint to the BBC over a lopsided report on "The One Show". He has no doubt the comment will be moderated out (i.e. not published) so in essence this was the draft... (though the final version was a bit longer but he forgot to copy it before hitting send).

What a travesty. How can the One Show give such a one-sided poorly researched piece on Climate Change. Ben Goldacre should be ashamed of his position. I don't know any climate "deniers".

I do, however, know a lot of sceptics. They have a perfectly valid right to question why $42 Trillion dollars (yes that is the estimated cost) is being wagered on a scientific hypothesis that is not proven nor "settled". Even one of the coordinating lead authors of the IPCC report has said "In the Fourth Assessment, the summary was quietly replaced several months after it was first published because some scientists who were involved complained of misrepresentation." I do notice that as more and more sceptics are examining the science and finding flaws in the data gathering, in the data, in the mathematics and in the shoddy and dishonest way in which it has been published that the "True believers" are becoming more and more vituperous, and unable to backup their position with reliable facts.

There are significant lists of scientists who refute the infantile claims made by Ben Goldacre, and it was a shame that the BBC were too cowardly, or too wedded to their biased position to allow the other side of the debate to be voiced.

Games

According to the BBC web site today there is a new arcade game that is proving immensely popular... "Whack a banker"...

With news that a March election may be in the offing, the Gorse Fox wondered if this was a spoonerism for Labour's election slogan?

MAD - Mob Affective Disorder

In a superb piece today entitled "Beyond Debate?" we see this question raised by Martin Cohen

Is belief in global-warming science another example of the "madness of crowds"? That strange but powerful social phenomenon, first described by Charles Mackay in 1841, turns a widely shared prejudice into an irresistible "authority". Could it indeed represent the final triumph of irrationality? After all, how rational is it to pass laws banning one kind of light bulb (and insisting on their replacement by ones filled with poisonous mercury vapour) in order to "save electricity", while ploughing money into schemes to run cars on ... electricity? How rational is it to pay the Russians once for fossil fuels, and a second time for permission (via carbon credits) to burn them (see box page 36)? And how rational is it to suppose that the effects of increased CO2 in the atmosphere take between 200 and 1,000 years to be felt, but that solutions can take effect almost instantaneously?

The Gorse Fox suggests that he is right on the money and that what we are seeing is a form of mob hysteria.

Age gap

The Gorse Fox got a call from the Silver Vixen. "I've got a problem with the laptop, can you help?".

The Gorse Fox leapt to his feet and headed into her study. He looked at the screen an immediately saw the problem. This would be easy to fix, he thought. It wasn't quite that easy though. The cursor was not responding to the Gorse Fox's administrations.

It was at that point that the Silver Vixen pointed out that GF was clutching her spectacles case, not the mouse!

It is clear that time is catching up!

Coercion

As the climate debate starts to get down and dirty we find that 1700 scientists have agreed to sign a statement defending the “professional integrity” of global warming research, according to The Times.
It then goes on to admit:

One scientist said that he felt under pressure to sign the circular or risk losing work. The Met Office admitted that many of the signatories did not work on climate change.

We will soon see this 1700 number quoted without clarification - though the 3000+ scientists who signed the opposing view last year are always questioned as to their "climate" credentials.

And we also find that in Australia, one sceptical newspaper reporter's kids have been targeted with mail villifying their dad.

What really troubles the Gorse Fox is that this is only necessary because there is doubt and these tactics are reminiscent of schoolchildren having tantrums because some disagrees with them.

Loose change

45Trillion dollars.

That's the UN estimate of how much agreement at Copenhage will cost. Just thought you should know...

Teaching

There is a rolling headline on the BBC today "Some state schools in England use underhand tactics to attract the most desirable pupils"... the Gorse Fox wondered what these might be: limousines to and from school, designer uniforms, school trips to the Bahamas.

Or maybe just teaching well and imposing some discipline!

Symphonic

The Gorse Fox has spent much of the day transferring some of his Excel skills to Symphony. This has not been without its little challenges but everything seems ok at present.

The nice man from DHL turned up mid-afternoon. The Gorse Fox is always impressed by the way these big delivery organisations work. He saw the records showing the pick-up from the warehouse, the transfer to the main distribution warehouse, the subsequent transfer to Brighton depot... and knew it was en route by the local delivery agent.

It reminds him that on TV last night they had a clip that showed how Ocado manage their distribution. Most impressive.

Freedom of Speech - cyber warfare

The Gorse Fox has always been troubled by the bad manners of people who shout down people who are giving their opinion (however daft). he sees that as bullying.

Over the weekend he was enjoying an online debate regarding Climate Change. There was a good exchange of views and it remained polite, reasoned and informed. Suddenly we saw retrospective edits being made, links and clips being vandalised, and non-standard views being clobbered. Another participant caught someone in the act and they exchanged messages. It would appear that the vandal has been paid to vandalise and "Waves" that discuss AGW until Copenhagen is finished.

Somehow this seems so appropriate - at a time when the leaked emails show the attempts made to suppress contrary views and data - we find a paid effort to suppress contrary views and data.

Dimanche

Another pleasant day... nothing too stressful. The Gorse Fox did manage to get through to Cousteau-cub on the phone. Things are obviously getting busy there (in fact tomorrow she has 3 separate dives scheduled). We have also been talking of going out to see her, so started to look for flight costs to get an idea what we need to save.

GF also played around with his WAMP setup, and in a stroke of genius managed to lock his phpMyAdmin out of the underlying mySql database... that'll be something to sort out during the week.

Gordon Brown and Climategate

It is funny to see that it is reported "Gordon Brown: [believes] climate-change sceptics are 'flat-earthers'. What a relief. He's been so right about everything else, after all!!!

In praise of our Government (?)

In praise of our Government.

Or, what has New Labour done for us.

• Robbed the UK of its private pensions by raiding the pension schemes - whilst maintaining the pension scheme for MPs
• Lied to us over Weapons of Mass Destruction
• Sent our armed forces into Iraq after being informed it had no legal basis
• Hounded Dr. Kelly to his death because he would not follow the party line on Weapons of Mass Destruction
• Sent the armed forces into Iraq and Afghanistan, but forgot to equip them
• Brought us Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman, the Dark Lord Mandelson, Alastair Campbell, and John Prescott
• Sold our gold reserves at the bottom of the market
• Presided over the massive recession and drove the country into debt that will last a generation to pay for it 
• Gave away our sovereignty as of 1st December 2009 when the Lisbon Treaty came into force
• Made the President of Europe our head of state
• Put our Prime Minister in a position where he is now obliged to promote the aims and objectives of the European Union over and above those of the United Kingdom
• Gave control of our financial institutions to (French) EU Regulators.
• Signed up to the Human Rights act without realising the real beneficiaries are solicitors and criminals
• Promised a referendum on the EU Constitution then reneged when it was renamed
• Neutered the House of Lords so there are no checks and balances on their legislation
• Disenfranchised thousands of children from university places by setting quotas that selected candidates based on background not education
• Charged students for the University education that previous generations had for free and thus plunged them into years of debt
• Set up secret "courts" to dispose of the assets of elderly patients
• Imposed unelected regional assemblies, after a referendum on the subject voted against them
• Presided over a greater erosion of the UK's Industrial Base than any previous Government (yes even more than Mrs Thatcher's).

And they created a country where:

• A country where you can be followed home and reported to social services for chastising your child in public.
• You are watched by CCTV cameras everywhere you go
• You can be prosecuted for speaking freely
• Council snoopers can wander round your house
• You can be taxed for improving your house without any warrant or judicial intervention
• You can be taxed for you view
• The Civil Service are rewarded for spending their annual budget - not saving it.
• Political correctness forms a destructive cancer at the heart of our society:

Political Correctness (def.) - a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.
(with acknowledgements to the original author - whoever that was)

• The police can take your DNA for any reason (even a simple traffic stop) and store it for up to 6 years even if you are entirely innocent of any wrong-doing.
• If you ever see a child (or expect that you might see a child - even in the distance) you must have criminal checks.
• You get Government TV adverts about reducing CO2 presented as a series of facts - which are unproven

But hey, don't forget:

• You can sue other people for your own stupidity or clumsiness
• You can be given a flat or house for getting pregnant
• There's no need to work for a living
• You can suppress scientific opinion with libel laws

Just Waving

Another day of calls and reviews. Nothing too riveting.

What has been interesting though is the ongoing debate on climate change that has been going on across a number of web sites and Google Wave. GF has participated in the Wave discussion "Climategate - REFUSE TO BE FOOLED!-" - trying to bring a little sense and critical thinking to the process. Always amusing to see the polarisation of views.

Shredder

As Starfleet prepares to shred lose many of its more experienced designers and architects due to its treachery over pensions, the Gorse Fox has spent much of today looking at the new crop. These individuals need to be nurtured, encouraged, guided and seeded into the opportunities that help them grow their experience. It's been good hearing about these rising stars... but the Gorse Fox is concerned that we have a few rocky months ahead.

You may wonder if the Gorse Fox is one of those about to jump ship. Well, the answer is no. There's still too many problems that he wants to go out and solve, and he still wakes up every morning relishing the challenges the day will bring.

More smelling salts please

News at Ten have finally reacted to "Climategate" and started to report (several days behind the curve) on what's going on. Obviously the noise from the blogs around the world, the number of written comments, and the upswelling of comments from politicians around the world made the BBC increasingly isolated in ignoring the incident.

Please pass the smelling salts, the Gorse Fox feels quite faint!

Work

Busy day today. Project work, appraisals, telecons etc. Not much to see here.

Bring the Smelling Salts

BBC News has just admitted that 55% of people do not believe in Anthropogenic causes of Global Warming (or at least that it is not proven). They didn't give that any air time... but they have at least admitted it.

Gravity

The Gorse Fox has said it before - Gravity can be a bit of a bugger. The Silver Vixen went out to do some Christmas Shopping and whilst she was out she was attacked by gravity,. There she was walking past "Past Times" when gravity charged out of the pavement and mugged her. She has come home, having twisted her ankle, after succumbing to the attack.