Team Feast

IMAG0039
Originally uploaded by Gorse Fox.

GF is looking to a long night. Editing and word-smithing all day - but still a fair way from completion.

"Deliverance" proved to be a good choice for selecting dinner. An online menu gave us a choice of Indian, Chinese, Italian, and American cuisine. After an exchange of project funds a little man in a van fetched said meals from their nearby kitchen and delivered them to the door. The team took over one of the Starship training rooms and tucked in. (GF suspects tomorrow's student may not thank us).

Latest draft has just been released so we are diving back into the text.

Awaycation

Travel Agent phoned to say that all was now arranged - flights, hotels etc. and our trip is back on - just deferred by 7 days. This means that the Silver Vixen will miss the Malvern Quilt Show - but GF guesses that a trip to some of the Thai silk markets may ease the disappointment.

GF finished editing documents soon after midnight last night and was back at it early in the morning before catching the train back for more Text in the City. He suspects it'll be a long day today.

Go

So Gordon Brown has said that he is in politics to make a difference and if he isn't making a difference he'll go. Well the Gorse Fox would like to suggest that he's safer when he's not making a difference... considering the areas that he did effect:

• pensions
• gold reserves
• financial crisis

and a list as long as Peter Crouch's arm.

Staycation

Well, GF and the Silver Vixen heard - as expected - that they would not be travelling when planned. The airline said the flights would not be leaving but we could re-book. The travel agent was brilliant and just slipped the trip by 7 days. Managed to cancel Cousteau-cub's flights and hotel - and will need to rebook them for next week.

Ash

Well the ash cloud continues to disrupt the preparations and travel plans. GF is still not sure whether he and the Silver Vixen will be flying off to Thailand or not this week.The travel agent has assured the GF that they can re-arrange the trip or will refund the cost, but the airline should be contacted. The airline said to call back on Tuesday at 11:00. So everything is still up in the air (so to speak).

Busy day at work

Dyson

Thinking about all of the ash, the Gorse Fox wondered how long the cable was for his Dyson?

Mmm, maybe not.

So much to do

There is so much to do, and so little time.

• Check status of travel plans with travel agent
• Complete teleconferences this morning
• Finish some estimates for the client bid
• Finish documentation for client bid
• Plan work for the team whilst GF is away
• Pack (or not)
• Get currency (or not)
• Complete voting proxy
• Monitor Urban-cub's progress - at least she's out of hospital again as of late last night

But first... a cup of tea!

Conspiracy

There is a conspiracy afoot. This conspiracy is working against the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen, knowing they plan to visit South-East Asia in the near future:
They called an election. hoping we'd stay and vote. (Sorted - proxy voting forms)
The client moved the date for bid submission. (Sorted - except for i-dotting and t-crossing)
They blew up a volcano to ground all flight. (Still working on this one)
Urban-cub was taken into hospital. (Still working on this one, too)

Oh well, life was never meant to be easy!

Yes Ma'am

It was 06:30 as the taxi carrying the Gorse Fox swept towards Buckingham Palace. Should he stop in for breakfast or carry on to Starfleet. He decided that the ceremony that would probably accompany breakfast at the Palace would delay his busy day and opted for the Starfleet staff restaurant.

5000 up

A long day again - but a good one (because Spurs beat Arsenal last night). It waould be be nice to say something important and pithy in this 5,000th blog post. Unfortunately the day was consumed by work. Gorse Fox was at his desk soon after seven and has spent the day rying to finalise estimates, worked on documents, and generally kept his head down.

Finally getting away he headed back to Kensington and dived straight into Wagamama's for a repeat of last night's culinary delights.

I saw that Gordon "knows what needs to be done". That's excellent. Step down and disband the Labour Party.

GF notes the volcanic disruption to flights. He still has a few days for the winds to change before it become problematic!

Not Indian

The Gorse Fox had another interesting day - trying to complete ablutions, trying to get dressed, trying to get things out of the "wrong" pockets. Pharmaceutical preparations ingested with breakfast and lunch provided limited relief, but hopefully will allow a good night's sleep.

In the office the Gorse Fox had a number of meetings where the current project was reviewed at different levels and with different "lenses". Consumed a lot of time, but was useful.

At the end of the day GF headed back to Kensington and planned to eat at the Indian he had noticed yesterday. The establishment, however, was deserted and GF headed back towards Balans. In contrast they looked packed so GF decided to head back up the other way to Wagamama's. Even that looked like a poor choice at first as people were queuing outside, This turned out to be the outcome of the fire alarm going off. A few minutes later we were ushered in and all was well. Terriyaki beef and crispy squid was an excellent choice and may require a further sampling another night.

Back in the hotel it seems that several coachloads of a) Italian children and b) Italian near-corpses had been delivered. The former were running up and down the corridors and playing in the lifts; the latter were sitting in the lounges and bars staring at each other, waving their arms about, and shouting in Italian.

Gorse Fox retired to his room.

Jambalaya

The Gorse Fox used to visit High Street Kensington often as a youth. The advanatage of living in Cockfosters, at the time, was that tarvel was simple. Piccadilly Line would link hime to almost any part of London easily. Forty years on it is remarkable how little it has changed - obviously there are new shop fronts and new franchises - but essentially it has changed little. (Biba seems to have gone, as does the old market).

GF got off the tube, called the Silver Vixen and wandered along the Street looking for a suitable restaurant. He chose an establishment called Balans and boy did he strike lucky. It was a limited menu but covered most bases - for an omnivore such as the Gf it was a problem - too much choice. He plumped for the Jambalaya - chorizo, clams, squid, prawns, tomato, rice and so forth. Brilliant.

GF's shoulder is no better (thanks for asking) - but he has, under SV's instruction, got some paracetemol and ibrufen. Hopefully that will allow some more successful sleep tonight.

Saving grace

Ahh, Starfleet's staff restaurant sells Nurofen!

What a pain

The Gorse Fox seems to have wrenched a muscle or something in his upper arm. This was probably the outcome of wrestling laptop and suitcase around. The upshot of this appears to be:

• It hurts, and that prevents sleep.
• Last time he emptied his laptop bag he removed the emergency strip of ibrufen
• He doesn't pass any open pharmacy en route to the office
• He's tired, therefore likely to be less patient than usual
• He's proved that he is not ambidextrous as he found it difficult to manoeuvre the toothbrush or hairbrush with his left arm
• It's difficult to dry your back after a shower when you have no power in the reciprocating arm
• It's difficult to tie your tie
• Putting on a jacket is like a sketch by Emo Phillips

Pathetic really.

Manifestly mendacious

Laptop playing up. Relying on phone.

Gordon Brown has released his manifesto. It promises to rebuild the country. Two points:
1. Given that he has been at the heart of government that has got us into this mess, why does he think he can be believed.
2. Given that none of the promises of the last manifesto were fulfilled, why would any believe this one.

Reviewing

The Gorse Fox has been reviewing documents and editing text all morning. The material is coming together quite well but still needs a broader review. He suspects that the coming week will be frantic. He’s managed to get an hotel for the week but it is in Kensington so it will be a tube journey each day rather than a pleasant stroll along the Thames like last week.

It looks like a fabulous day outside. It is a shame to be swamped in work and not able to enjoy it.

Tried several times to call Cousteau-cub but failed miserably.

Prep

The planned trip to Thailand is not too far away now. With GF’s work commitment he has very limited time for preparation.So once back from Buckingham, GF spent some time reviewing various web deals and offers to see if they offered any benefits for the trip. He resisted.

FA Cup Semi Final result will please the Cousteau-cub… though GF feels a sneaking sympathy for Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa given the way clear-cut refereeing decisions have changed the face of their big games of the season.

Spurs play the other semi tomorrow – let’s hope they have a good day. Somehow, GF thinks that Pompey may give a do or die performance as they are already relegated and fears a banana-skin.

Cluck

Despite not feeling well, the Urban-cub has left the nest to spend time with the Princess for her hen-do. Not sure it was a bright idea, but let’s hope she has good time.

GSL

That was a day!

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed out from our overnight sojourn in Buckingham. It was a glorious start to the day and traffic was light, at least until we arrived at the NEC. Once we had cleared the Hooray Henriettas going to the showjumping, we made our way onwards to the Gadget Show Live.

People were queuing for the shuttle buses by eschewing the free transport we walked from the car park to the exhibition halls.

The building had not long been open but was already thrumming with the rampant excitement of geeks and nerds - and the whiff of linament from the more mature visitors. On display in the halls was a wide selection of every gadgets and gizmos that you could wish to see. There was a supersonic car, there was a Formula One simulator, there were Power Tools, there were cameras, there were video cameras, there was every kind of laptop, netbook, notepad, and e-reader that you could wish to see.

Making our way around the show wheezy bitter and sad down each aisle to ensure that we did not miss any of the exhibits. Having said that we did skip the game zone, which was of no interest to the Gorse Fox.


Soon after lunch, we made our way to the auditorium. The live event was scheduled to begin at two o'clock. As the introductory music reached a crescendo, an 8'6" robot strolled onto the stage and introduced the presenters of the show; Jason Bradbury,Ortis Deeley, Suzi Perry, and John Bentley. There followed an hour and a quarter of entertainment featuring competitions, giveaways, amazing technology, gadget racing, and even dance. The Gadget Show Live was without any doubt well worth the entrance fee.

Leaving the auditorium, we returned to the exhibition halls. The initial crush had died away, and it was easier to examine interesting gadgets close-up. The gorse Fox returned to examine several cameras and several small net books, but in the end, he Resisted the temptation to part with any money.

The exhibition closed at 5:30 and we made our way back to the car park, fought our way out of the exhibition centre, and joined the Friday rush-hour on the M42. Within an hour we were back in Buckingham, quaffing a glass of cold white wine, and preparing to go out to dinner with the Silver Vixen's sister and partner.

Cheng-Du the Chinese restaurant in Buckingham, turned out to be an excellent choice, and we had a splendid evening. All in all, it was an excellent day.

Bucks

Very busy day at work... but had to get away early

Leaving a sickly Urban-cub in control, Silver Vixen and the Gorse Fox are heading up to the far North to stay in Buckingham tonight.

Domo Arigato

An early start saw the Gorse Fox walking along the Thames path towards the Starfleet offices. The day was busy with meetings, optimisation workshops, spreadsheets, more meetings and more spreadsheets.

At the end of the day the Gorse Fox snuck out as the clock was striking seven. Back along the Thames to the hotel and dropping his bag in his room he turned on his heels and looked for an eatery.

He chose Tsuru, a Japanese restuarant that he had noticed the previous night at the Bluefin Building. What an excellent choice this turned out to be. A prawn and scallop dish, a chicken tempura, and a chicken katsu curry. Oh yes, and a chocolate fudge brownie! Excellent - GF will definitely return when in the area.

Back in his room there's another hour or so of work to get done.

Update on Desire

A reader has asked how the Gorse Fox is finding his new phone. This is easy, it's either in his top pocket or by the bed.

As a device it is superb - the screen has exceptional (class-leading) clarity and the 1Ghz processor makes it a very snappy performer. There appears to be a limitless supply of apps from the "market" and so far the Gorse Fox has found apps to do almost everything he has wanted. There are a couple of things (TVCatchup for example) that are not yet available - but are scheduled for imminent release so it is no major issue. The integration with the various Google accounts and features is superb and it works as an extension of GF's Google environment - Contacts, Mail, Calendar etc...

Right or Left

The Gorse Fox had a busy day up at Starfleet's offices by the Thames. What with progress on his bid, he also had to review another bid which robbed the day of a couple of hours. That is something that will need writing up this evening.

He strolled along through Southwark to his hotel only to be told he had no reservation. With infinite patience he showed them the email confirming his reservation and explained that he had phoned on Sunday to cancel the first night of the 3 night stay. They had evidently not recorded this and marked him (and charged him) as a no show. GF said this is not an issue as long as they resolve the problem to his satisfaction. The approach paid off as they found him a room and said they would sort out the no-show charge.

With bags dumped in room he returned to reception. "Which way to a decent restaurant?" he asked. Turn right, then right again at the second set of light and there are several on the right, expained the receptionaist.

He set off. He dialled the Silver Vixen on his way and gave here a running commentary as he wandered the streets. What seemed like several miles later he looped back having not found any suitable establishments. On a hunch he set off again, this time turning left whenever the instruction said right. This proved to be the correct approach and he found himself by the Bluefin Building where he chose a Middle Eastern restaurant and enjoyed a Duck & Apricot Tagine with a nice glass of Rioja.

And Breathe

The Gorse Fox had a few pressing chores to complete this morning but once that was done and lunch (a thick lentil and bacon soup) consumed he whizzed round to the station to get his ticket for the week and then settled down with his PADI Open Water Diver manual and videos for an afternoon of study.

What was heartening was that most of the “science” was basic physics that he learned in school – the new stuff was more in the area of the equipment and how it is set up and used. However, it didn’t seem too complicated and he assumes that a lot of it is a matter of good practice, confidence, and inner calm. (And remembering not to breathe water).

Busy, but short week coming up.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everyone.

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen plan to meet up with Betty and Barney Rubble today. The forecast is a bit mixed, but the day has certainly started very brightly.

Amazed…

Though he really shouldn’t be.

The Gorse Fox went to Curry’s to look for a microSD card. They had them but for what he wanted they expected him to swap seventy-nine perfectly serviceable pounds of our national currency. This seemed unreasonable to the Gorse Fox.

Arriving home he checked online – same make, same model, same size, same specification – twenty-seven pounds. GF’s good friend Mr Amazon will now be sticking said device in a very small envelope and posting it.

Jobsworths

The Gorse Fox wishes to learn to scuba dive. Cousteau-cub has offered to tech him and to improve the experience she has suggested having a face mask made up to match the prescription for his glasses.

The Gorse Fox phoned the store where he got his glasses. Because it is more than 2 years since his last eye test they will not tell him his prescription. “We do not recommend that you have anything made to a prescription that is more than 2 years old” she quoted. Well, thank you for the recommendation.

The Gorse Fox requested the prescription be sent anyway. The young lady was not happy.

Not the Streetcar

The Gorse Fox has been happy with his mobile phone but the contract has now expired and so GF tootled back to the shop and negotiated an upgrade. Gorse Fox was keen not to be sucked in by the iPhone hyperbole and locked in to the closed world of Apple.

The trip was most advantageous. Exchanging 20 of Her Majesty’s finest pounds and signing a new contract for one third the value of the previous contract, GF left the shop clutching the new HTC Desire – an Android based phone.

When buying any new gadget there is a degree of set-up and familiarisation. The Gorse Fox found the set up  to be very straight-forward and spent much of the afternoon familiarising himself with its features and seeking useful Apps from the store.

GF had considered waiting and getting the same phone from Vodafone, but examining the offers left him in little doubt that T-mobile was the significantly better deal.

Sparks

The day started bright, sunny, but cool. Gorse Fox checked out of the hotel and strolled along to Olympia station to pick up the tube. Now Olympia isn’t like most stations with train running every 3 or 4 minutes. It is on a branch line and only gets a train 3 or 4 times an hour. GF had evidently just missed one as he had long wait and was quite chilly by the time the train arrived.

Crossing the Thames over the footbridge running alongside Hungerford Bridge GF could help but admire the view of London in the early morning sunshine.

The day was interesting. Lots of serious writing and nearly five hours of estimating using some new estimating tools. What was nice was seeing the Chief Exec of Starfleet’s UK operation queuing in the coffee line for his own coffee, not once but twice during the day. What was better was that he recognised the Gorse Fox and stopped him as he walked by, shook his hand, and had a chat about old times… when we used to work together back in the mid-90s.

The offices were almost deserted by late afternoon. At 5 o’clock we had our usual end of day meeting. As it started the heavens opened, there was lightning, there was thunder and the Gorse Fox was not looking forward to his walk back to Embankment. Umbrella at the ready he slipped out of the Starfleet offices and splashed along the Southbank, crossed the River, and arrived at Embankment tube with his feet damp and his trousers soaked.

When he got to Victoria the Tube station was crawling with Police and cameramen to record a piece regarding the recent murder that was perpetrated at the station last week. Everyone was being filtered out through the small exit into Victoria Street. This was like emptying a sack of porridge through a syringe. GF was delighted to finally see daylight.

A couple of hours later GF arrived at Angmering. The Silver Vixen collected him from the station, and he was soon home. Urban-cub poured out a glass of wine as GF settled down to a plate of Sushi.

Tomorrow is a “Bank Holiday” so though it was a short week, work-wise, it was a good and hard week.

More

Today was more of the same. The Gorse Fox was at the Southbank office before eight and cracked on with the analysis, and the wordcraft. The morning went well but the afternoon was taken up with meetings. The Gorse Fox was also asked to pick up a technical review for another bid on the morrow.

Arriving back at Olympia GF crossed the road to the little Indian Restaurant where he ate a couple of weeks back. He assumes they are not too busy as he was greeted like an old friend even though there had only been one previous visit. As he sat, the only guest, the two waiters took it in turns to come and chat. They commented on how green Islamabad was, how prevalent Starfleet is in Pakistan and so forth. What really threw the Gorse Fox was the question "Are you from India?" Now GF does tend to pick up some colour in the sun, but it's the end of winter. He is at his palest. And whilst he can mimic many accents, he had been talking in his normal voice.

London

Another day in London saw the Gorse Fox at Starfleet's offices. Again, he forgot to request a receipt for his breakfast which was not a good start to the day. GF never claims expenses for which he does not have a receipt (consequently he would never make it as an MP).

It was a full day - meetings, calls, documents, and of course, spreadsheets. At the end of the day we had an executive pep talk. GF had to bite his tongue as said exec told the team how important this bid was and how significant it was to Starfleet's strategy. This is the exec who was so busy at the beginnining of the year that the team did not get access to the required resources when first needed.

The Team was also informed that a major review would be required. GF has been pointing this particular review as major milestone since day one. Evidently, however it came as a surprise to everyone else. The phrase "Voice crying the wilderness" springs to mind.

The team met for a beer after work in teh "All Bar One" near Waterloo. What was most impressive was the young lady taking orders - she seemed to be able to memorize 10-15 orders without writing them down. Stunning performance.

After the beer GF walked along past County Hall and stopped at a Japanese noodle bar called "Aji" for dinner. Very like Wagamama's it appealed to GF's taste buds. He had some chicken dumplings, and some chicken katsu curry with a glass of wine. Then back across the bridge and back to Olympia.

Bank

The Gorse Fox was not feeling at his best when the alarm went off. Discretion being the better part of valour dictated that he would deal with emails from home and take a later train once certain that he was ok. Needless to say, all was fine and GF found himself on a later train.

It was a busy day just because of the amount of catching up that was needed.

At the end of the day GF headed off to Kensington and his hotel. Though he stayed at the same establishment a couple of weeks back, he has been allocated a very different room this time... or is it just a wardrobe with a bed?

It took a while to decide on dinner. Given yesterday's discomfort something simple was called for. He checked the room service menu - and then decided to stroll along the road to Pizza Express where he could get a better pizza, a Caesar salad, and a glass of wine for less that the cost of just the pizza in the room. Pizza Express was in the shell of what had once been a bank. It was huge and according to the waiter would seat between 350 and 400 covers. Well tonight there were 5 tables in use, thre of which were solos like the GF. Despite this service was very slow, but the food was good.

Gusts

The Gorse Fox is suffering a degree of gastro-intestinal discomfort. This has been building throughout the afternoon. The Department for Energy and Climate has been in touch and asked about siting a wind farm just off the coast from here, but GF hopes this will not be necessary and things will settle over night.

How was your holiday?

The Gorse Fox was in a reflective mood. The week had been productive in that all of the decorating was complete, but frustrating in that he had  some 1-2-1 interviews with his corps from Starfleet, he has some online learning to complete (how to Design a Starship in a Team and conform to the Customary Value Method); and he had to provide some continued support support for the project.

As GF packs for the coming week’s sojourn in the London office he notes that Starship always seems to assume the first few months of the year are quiet and therefore loads its dedicated employees with mandatory e-learning, mandatory refreshers, mandatory “row harder” calls, mandatory pledges of allegiance (against which you will be measured), demands to know how to contact you over the Easter period, and expects that all vacation is cleared by 6th April. Then it gets twitchy when people start taking their vacation at “critical” times. It then asks caringly about “work-life balance”. This actually defined as “is there enough life left in you to work?”

Well there is in the Gorse Fox and having finished this morning’s e-Learning, he’s back at it tomorrow.

GF thinks it was a good job that he and the Silver Vixen are not in Tenerife as they normally would be at this time of year.

Election Pledges

The Gorse Fox notices that the BBC have reported “Gordon Brown reveals five key general election pledges”. The highlights seem to be:

1. Secure the recovery
2. Raise family living standards
3. Build a high tech economy
4. Protect frontline services
5. Strengthen fairness in the community

Well, well, well.

After 13 years of Labour we find pledges that imply that these items have not mattered before. The Gorse Fox would have thought that these were the very least that any government should do as a matter of course – not as promise for the future.

So what do these really boil down to?

1. Secure the recovery
   Boom and Bust comes to mind! Having presided over the catastrophic financial demise of the UK Economy – they would like the Gorse Fox to believe they are doing something clever to recover. This being the same group of individuals who sold the UK Gold Reserve at the bottom of the market, who dithered as the banks toppled, and who are incurring a £1.3Trillion national deficit.
   (Question: How stupid do you thing we are?)
2. Raise Family Living Standards
   This is apparently being done by raiding families’ private pensions (again), by raising fuel duty, by taxing holidays, by giving Council workers the rights to enter homes, by allowing HMRC to open your mail, by taxing houses based on the view or proximity to services, by taxing telephone lines… the list goes on and on
   (Question:  How stupid do you think we are?)
3. Build a High Tech Economy
   The Gorse Fox should hope so.
4. Protect Frontline Services
   The Gorse Fox wonders who they are being protected from. Then he remembers that whilst it makes sense to invest in such services as the Police, the Armed Forces, the Fire Brigade, the NHS and a few others – it is ridiculous that we invest in many of the stupid services foist upon us. He also remembers that the way the Government Departments are run means that there is no reward for saving money, only for spending all of your Budget. The only risk to frontline services is the Government machine itself.
   (Question: How stupid do you think we are?)
5. Strengthen Fairness in the Community
   Sounds good. This means that the Gorse Fox won’t have to pay for the indolent? This means that all communities will be equal under the law? This means that if a group build in open fields without planning permission they will be moved on and the fields reclaimed? This means that all traditional religious groups will be treated in a similar fashion? After 13 years of Labour none of that is happening now.
   (Question: How stupid do you think we are?)

The problem is that there are members of the electorate that will be suckered… as they were 5 years ago. As long as people vote GF shouldn’t care – but he does begin to wonder if there should be some form of eligibility test before you get a voting form.

Sshhh

Do not disturb.

The Gorse Fox is having a quiet day. The sun is pouring warmth from the bright blue skies, Spring has definitely started (with the gentle warble of motorised lawn mowers filling the air yesterday,  though obviously not today on The Gorse), the decorating is about done, a radiator cover is on order for delivery on Monday, and Spurs have just won 2-0 against Portsmouth, whilst the Forces of Darkness were held to 1-1 draw by a late goal at Birmingham.

The Silver Vixen has been pottering – checking old paint cans, clearing up behind GF, and even checking round the flower beds and pots.

GF had to review some local plans for the Parish Council – nothing too controversial – but no doubt some will not see it that way. There’s certainly plenty of precedent for the changes being sought.

GF needs to start psych’ing himself up for the coming week of work… but can’t even psych himself up to do that.

Alchemy

The paint that Gorse Fox has used to decorate the downstairs bathroom has obviously been mixed by some alchemist or wizard. Perhaps the Gorse Fox should explain.

The walls were blue. They were to be changed to “cappuccino”. The paint was from an old tin found at the back of the workshop and was quite rusty on the outside. Once open and thoroughly stirred it appeared like any other paint. When on the brush or roller however it seemed to slide across the surface to be painted rather than adhere. More worryingly though, it seemed to be transparent – the underlying blue clearly showed through whilst the paint was drying.

Where the alchemy came in was the drying process… at the end of which it had pulled its little molecules together and clearly left a very good finish that had become both opaque and the requisite colour.

All of the major painting is now complete – though there are some smaller bits to do still. Overall, very pleasing.

The Gorse Fox sees that the railways plan to strike. Following on from the BA strike, and the wildcat strikes at Royal Mail, it's nice to be in dying days of a Labour government.

But then the Gorse Fox should never underestimate the stupidity of the voting public... that, after all is why we are where we are!

Torquemada

The Gorse |Fox took his feet along to the chiropodist. The problems mentioned a few days ago under the heading "Spinning" seem to have settled, but GF decided to get an SME involved. As he removed his socks she opened a box full of instruments that would have made Torquemada a happy man. All she needed was a brazier and a rack to complete the set.

Thirty minutes later GF leapt to his feet, performed a fandango and sprung from the room. He had escaped and the ministrations of the inquisitor had proved both painless and successful in that his feet felt significantly more comfortable than they had for quite a while.

Man-flu

The Gorse Fox had a rare opportunity to visit the Doctor. He needs to get a form signed to state that he is fit to scuba dive on the forthcoming trip.

Now He observes that the media make a great song and dance regarding “man flu” and the inability of men to stand up to minor ailments. The GF would merely observe that of the 14 people in the Doctors’ waiting room – only 2 were male and one of those was the Gorse Fox with his form.

Watching paint dry

The Gorse Fox has had another successful day. Up and about early, he masked the walls and edges of the carpet and went mad with a roller and the gloss paint. Now many purists eschew the use of paint rollers. The Gorse Fox however, is a great proponent of their use and the speed at which huge areas can be quickly covered. The particular paint used today has a six-hour drying time. This meant that once finished, GF was able to twiddle his thumbs play on his computer and conduct some personnel reviews whilst watching paint dry.

Taking six hours as a guideline, rather than deadline Gorse Fox launched himself once more at the walls. The second coat went on much more quickly deft strokes, sweeps and dabs rapidly achieving the finish, that was planned.

It’s only me…

The Gorse Fox has developed a habit. It was probably acquired from Urban-cub. You see, every time she tries to leave the house she ends up returning for some forgotten item.

When the Gorse Fox is doing DIY or decorating he lays out (at least in his mind) all of the items that will be necessary and then gets going. At this point he discovers that something is missing, has run out, or is insufficient. He duly puts on his jacket and heads to the DIY store to purchase, replenish or replace said item. As he waves goodbye to the person on the checkout he call a hearty “See you later”.

You may think this is a friendly affectation, but no. Years of experience have taught the Gorse Fox that a single trip to the DIY store is never enough and that if he goes there at all, there is bound to be at least one subsequent visit. Today proved this point yet again. In fact, to be honest, if the Silver Vixen had not needed to get something he would have ended up making three trips… fortunately because she was out GF was able to phone and request that she collect the missing “roller for painting behind the radiator”. (Incidentally, he also knows that he will find the old one when he finishes later this week).

A Splash of Colour

The first day of vacation started at a leisurely pace with tea, muesli and the papers. Then a wander through some emails and some time updating a spreadsheet before the paint brush leapt into GF’s hand.

Masking up and cutting in took a few minutes before it was time to grab the ladders and staging get everything set up ready to spin the rollers. Silver Vixen helped out with small landing at the top the stairs. By mid-afternoon the walls were done and GF & SV were clearing up.

A good day

Hello, hello…

The Gorse Fox managed to get through to Cousteau-cub on the phone. It is clear that she is as excited about the impending visit as are the Silver Vixen and Gorse Fox. It was an opportunity to discuss some of the more practical issues:

“What about taxis from the hotel your place?” asked the Gorse Fox. There was a brief pause as she went on to explain “Taxis aren’t quite what you would expect – they tend to be pickups with a bench on the back or even motor bikes with a platform for the passenger”. The Gorse Fox observed that he used to ride a motor-bike but though he passed his test he never bothered having it recorded on his license. Cousteau-cub responded “License? you see 8 year olds driving motor-bike here with their families on the back”.

Looks like this trip is going to be an eye-opener.

Easy like Sunday morning

Yesterday's decorating went well - there were no untoward incidents involving gravity and hard surface and the paint seems to have covered well and looks good. GF has spent the morning working on a spreadsheet that he will send to his colleagues for their delectation and edification during the coming week.

Silver Vixen is feeling a little under the weather today, so GF will have to ensure he does not cause too much of
a disturbance when he starts throwing paint up and down the walls again

Spinning

The Gorse Fox thoroughly enjoyed last night's Sports Relief telethon. In particular, with the segment featuring Smithy winning BBC Sports Personality Manager of the Year award was exceptional. A great moment in comedy. Despite the humour, it was a rousing call to arms for our politicians and our sports people and will surely be cited as a great motivational speech.

Over the next few days the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen have plans to complete various decorative projects within the house. He does however still have some outstanding items of work to complete so that his team can ensure there are no loose ends during his vacation. The Gorse Fox is feeling a little sorry for himself this morning. Over the years he has had recurring problems with his big toes. This morning he is feeling considerable discomfort from the big toe on his right foot.Typically, this sort of discomfort culminates in the removal of a toenail. Each previous time this has been done he has been assured the nail would not regrow and will be well. Each previous time, however, the nail has regrown and each time the problem has recurred. This is all very fine but with a trip to Thailand planned, the last thing GF wants is a problem that will prevent free movement or potentially swimming.

Spurs have a difficult game today against Stoke City. With eight first-team players injured their depleted squad will have to work very hard for three points.

Not quite

The theory is that we have arrived at the weekend. For the Gorse Fox, however, it hasn’t quite worked out like that. With a week’s vacation coming up he still has to write a hand-over to the team, complete a mandatory Starfleet course which won’t load on the computer, and finish some documents that are needed for review on Tuesday.

GF will have to grab some time slots over the weekend to complete this lot.

What was nice today was the opportunity to catch up with an old friend  - albeit on the phone – but it was still good to hear what he had been up to and how he could help the project GF is involved with.

Chatting

The Gorse Fox, finally got home after three or four days in London. The Silver Vixen was kind enough to meet him at the station. A plate of sushi and a glass of wine seemed the perfect welcome home. The software Which he had been waiting had arrived in his absence.

This will be the first thing he would do when he logs on in the morning. Hopefully, this will be a useful addition to his arsenal of software and will help him in the task of writing the various response documents that will be required over the next few weeks.
This blog entry has been dictated using Dragon NaturallySpeaking and so far it seems to be quite a useful tool.

No Photos

Hordes of squealing girls are queued up outside the office window. Paparazzi are patrolling. The Gorse Fox tried to sneak in without causing a fuss, but was obviously spotted. He supposes he'll have to lie low for a while until they disperse(*).

(*) There is the off-chance that they are here to see someone in the TV studios next door.

Bento

It had been a good day. GF had better journey on the tube and a lovely walk across the river and along the Southbank to Starfleet's office. A breakfast muffin ensured fuel was on board ready for the day's rigours.

Meetings, calls, documents and questions filled the day and progress, though slow, was steady. One of the partnerships was confirmed, another seems to be moving towards a satisfactory conclusion. Some potential collaborators were also lining up to help.

Other platoons within Starfleet were falling into line and things have a chance of getting back onto track.

At the end of the day our team decided to find a restaurant and eat together rather than splitting up and each eating alone like three "Billy no mates". We headed along the river, crossed the Thames and the Strand and headed up to the edge of Leicester Square. There, on a corner, was an inauspicious little establishment called Tokyo Diner. It served bento, sushi and sashimi.

The Gorse Fox got lost in the menu and found it hard to decide what to try. So much sounded and looked so good. Eventually he plumped for the Chicked Teriyaki Bento (in the photo) and some squid nigiri (sushi) and prawn nigiri all washed down with some sake. It may have been a funny little place, but there is no doubt it was excellent and will certainly receive many return visits.

It didn't take too long to get back to the hotel and touch base with the Silver Vixen... but it will be nice to head home tomorrow after work.

Lassis

It has been an interesting day at Starfleet. The day started with a naff journey on the tube that  made the Gorse Fox thankful that he doesn't rely on the District Line from West London every day.

In the office we had a review with several Starfleet Admirals and Chief Engineers where we were asked to explain what we were up to with this long-term bid. This enabled them to stroke their chins sagely, to nod knowingly, and to cast their pearls of wisdom upon use. We respectfully hung on their every word and will of course fulfil their every whim.

GF also had an opportunity to interview two of his new staff for the first time today. Both seem like good chaps.
Have to talk to the other two new boys tomorrow.

Leaving work he headed back for the tube. Again it was unpleasant - and Earl's Court was an absolute zoo as the normal crush of commuters was augmented by Chelsea supporters en route for a game. Arriving in Olympia GF headed straight for a restaurant for a pleasant curry and a glass of lassis before heading back to the hotel.

That's Better

We had a meeting at the end of the day. It went on until 1900... but that's the way it is at Starfleet occasionally. This was a quarterly meeting, but to be fair it was quite interesting. The Gorse Fox headed across the river to Embankment arriving just in time to find that trains were temporarily suspended due to "passenger action" at Temple. This was not the end to the day's travel that had been planned. Eventually, just as GF was about to execute Plan B the announcement came that the trains were back on the move, but the first train was being taken out of service.

GF let several trains go by - it would be unseemly for a man of his demeanour and dignity to be seen forcing his way onto a crowded train.

Boarding a quiet train GF headed for Earls Court where he changed for Olympia and then wandered along to the hotel. It was too late to go back out for a meal so he settled for room service. Unlike the Marriott, the Hilton had BT Openzone which meant GF had decent internet access.

Smile - for goodness sake!

The Gorse Fox was thinking as he sat in the Starfleet restaurant, watching the Thames as tourist boats made the most of the glorious spring sunshine and pottered up and down river. Strafleet's facility is an anonymous building that would look at home in a remote communist-era city in the far reaches of the old USSR. Brutalist and charm-free.

This got him thinking about the restaurant itself. Expensive (13p for 4 fl oz of hot water) with diminishing portion sizes and staffed by people who would clearly prefer to do anything rather than serve, smile, or interact in anyway with their customers. With the exception of one or two individual they are as humourless as quick-set concrete.

Mothers’ Day

Should be a lot to say, but it’s late and the Gorse Fox has an early start. Quick summary:

• Try to call Cousteau-cub
• Flowers and card;
• Try to call Cousteau-cub
• Drive to Buckingham (Try to call Cousteau-cub during journey)
• Try to call Cousteau-cub
• Pick up Silver Vixen’s Mum
• Try to call Cousteau-cub
• Go to Silver Vixen’s sister
• Try to call Cousteau-cub
• Give up and book holiday anyway
• Have lunch
• Talk a lot
• Drive home
• Email Cousteau-cub
• Tweet M4tt
• Get bags ready for the morning
• Write blog entry
• Go to bed

Good night

Heroes

Many people have their historical heroes; Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Churchill, Max Planck, Leonardo Da Vinci, Cavendish, Einstein, Feynman, Boyle, Homer Simpson. The Gorse Fox has, however, just crossed Isaac Newton off his list.

Perhaps he should explain.

If it had not been for Isaac Newton, when the Gorse Fox tried to descend the ladder in the stairwell that he was painting, gravity would not had flung him in a downwards trajectory across the stairs. Without Newton’s damned gravity he would have just floated above the paint tray and the stair rail and neither would have been impact points on his arms and legs.

Blast you, Isaac Newton.

What Service

Now, should that title end with and exclamation mark or a question mark?

The Gorse Fox ordered some software last weekend from Nuance. He wanted the packaged product, not the downloadable image.

On Tuesday he received the confirmation that it had been sent from the distribution centre in Ireland. By Friday though, there was still no sight of it so he phoned to enquire on its whereabouts. It turns out that because he had not asked for Express Service the package could take 10-21 days to arrive. For it to take that long, he assumes it is being hand carried by a delivery agent who is walking from Dublin to West Sussex to ensure the package doesn’t get lost – and if this is the case then he is impressed by the personal service he is receiving. If however, it is not being hand carried by a specially selected personal delivery agent – then, in this day and age, the service is pants!

New codes

GF now has his own QR code for the blog. If you are not familiar with these codes, they are a bit like barcodes. This QR code can be read by many of the more modern phones and actually gives the web address of this blog.

HMRC

The Gorse Fox is always concerned when he gets an envelope from HMRC (IRS for our American readers). Such an envelope usually means that Her Majesty’s Government has found yet another way inventive way to relieve him of his hard earned money. An envelope had dropped through the letter box whilst the Gorse Fox was up in town this week. With a degree of trepidation he opened it only to find that HMRC had assessed that they owed GF some money.
The Gorse Fox danced round the kitchen with the elegance of gout-ridden walrus. There’s a holiday in Thailand to pay for! He returned to the envelope – how much was the rebate?
Ah. £5.30 – probably wasn’t going to make a significant dent in the overall financial position. Evidently this some is so significant to National Debt however, that HMRC couldn’t be bother to reimburse it.

Home

After a couple of days away the Gorse Fox has finally got home. GF got to Victoria to find that his train wasn’t waiting for him. There seemed to be a deal of confusion and congestion. Usually four coaches are waiting for eight more to be coupled at platform 19. Tonight it didn’t work like that and eight coaches were eventually delivered to platform 17 and Southern Railway eschewed the other four. At two thirds of its normal length the train was going to be very full. Gorse Fox was lucky. He got a seat and plugged his ipod into his ears and settled down for the journey.
A plate of sushi and a glass of wine seems like a suitable end to the day.

Wind down

It has been a busy but good day. The Gorse Fox obviously skipped breakfast at the Marriott and headed to the office where for a mere £1.85 he had a super breakfast. The morning was taken up with meetings but the afternoon was fairly productive. Glad that the iPod was in the pocket as the area where the team is based is shared with some very noisy sales people.

The afternoon was interrupted by an email plea from a distant family member. Gorse Fox was suspicious and cross checked with Facebook and Twitter and in the end concluded that her account had been hacked and there was no panic and no need to change the evening's plans.

Plans may actually be a rather grand word for the evening. Back at the hotel GF phoned the Silver Vixen and then decided that he would order room service and have a quiet evening in preparation for tomorrow's workshops.

It was a busy day in the office but GF managed to get away at a sensible time. The Bakerloo Line dived below the Thames and carried him north and west to Kilburn Park. The hotel was only a five minute walk and the reception staff seemed pleased to greet him. As he checked in he asked about breakfast - this was apparently an extra £16 per ight so he decided that as he had not recently won the lottery it was poor value for money and he would forego the delights of the Marriott's restaurant. The persistent receptionist said that he would throw in WiFi access on top of breakfast for £30. Again the Gorse Fox respectfully declined.

Having dropped his bags in the room he phoned the Silver Vixen to check on what was going on in Sussex. She's had a successful day and enjoyed her first meeting of the coven at their new location.

He headed back out the room and made his way to a nearby Indian Restaurant. When he arrived at Meghani one table was already occupied but the restaurant was othewise empty. He settled down in the corner and ordered a mixture of dishes whilst watching the world pass by. Sitting at the other table were four haircuts that haven't been seen in England since 1973. He became aware of the chatter and realised that the other diners were English and Italian and kept switching back and forth between the two languages. "Last time we wer here Gianni was so drunk he ordered loads of dishes for us and then got up and went home leaving us to eat it all and pay the bill". (Evidently they know how to enjoy themselves).

An elderly lady, obviously a regular, walked in and on being greeted explained that she had had a dreadful day and they were lucky she was there. Her young companion arrived and before his coat had been removed she had thrust a sheet of paper into his hands and bemoaned here dreadful day. As the conversation emerged it was clear that she had been trying to learn a piece of music - and failed. He muttered words of comfort and explained that he waited "until I can feel the melody in every sinew of my being". A fleeting urge to slap was quickly suppressed. Obviously they live right on the edge this close to St John's Wood!

Further diners arrived and before long all but one of the tables was occupied. A foursome arrived and were shown the table next to the Gorse Fox. They sat and began to chat - in French. The restarant was full. It was good, and it was obviously cosmopolitan. The Gorse Fox commented as paid the bill, but the proprietor explained it was like that every night.

The Gorse Fox headed back to the hotel. How can a hotel not have free WiFi in the rooms in this day and age? and how can there not be a shaver socket in the bathroom (for electric toothbrush charger)?

Full

It's funny how you make a few tentative plans and then find that London is full, and the plans need to change. Starfleet have a system for booking approved hotels (The Gorse Fox thinks they are a sort of grown-up version of approved schools). He planned to stay in London on Tuesday and Wednesday but then when the Starfleet system was accessed there were virtually no rooms available at any hotels within easy walking distance of the tube.

GF then tried Laterooms... but nothing appropriate was available (i.e. not too cheap and not too expensive).

Trying again just now, however, the Starfleet system threw up some new choices and lo! GF now has accommodation planned.

Decorating

Yesterday’s effort paid off and by the end of the day the hallway had been redecorated. “Overtly Olive|” didn’t sound promising and GF was sceptical right up until it was finished – but now acknowledges that it looks really good. There’s still a bit of touching up to finish and a length of dado to be replaced – but essentially it’s done.

This has brought the stairwell into sharp focus. This is an item that we have not attempted since moving in. It will take a great deal of effort, a head for heights, and nifty colour scheme and some inventive solutions to solve some of the “anomalies” in the plaster and the junctions where the stairs meet the walls.

Oh yes… and GF needs to spend some time finalizing arrangements for a trip to Thailand!

Ugh

The Gorse Fox has started to do some DIY. He has now understood why certain things have to be stored at certain temperatures…

He went into the garage to get some Polyfilla and massages the tubes as usual to make sure the content was malleable. In the cold of the winter the plastic tube had perished and the act of massaging the tube caused it to fall apart leaving the Gorse Fox with his hands covered in moist, quick drying filler.

Cleaned up, he headed back to Focus and bought this fresh replacement.

Now, where was he?

Mischief

The Silver Vixen is off with her coven to visit an event in nearby Selsey. The Urban-cub is out until Sunday. The Gorse Fox can get up to mischief as he is on his own.

Fade to Black

Today is Starfleet’s day of ignominy. Promises and contracts amounted to nothing. Over the last few months they reset the clock on the crystals and today the bright blue crystals that have shone in the palms of so many colleagues for so many years will fade to black and they will be vapourized or maybe escape from the dome. Master Inventors, Distinguished Engineers, loyal foot soldiers all sacrificed for the sake of shareholders and globalisation.

The Gorse Fox wishes his departing friends and colleagues all the best for the future. He hopes they find happiness and contentment and assumes they will delight in the relief of escaping from the incessant pressure of the past.

Good Day

The Gorse Fox concludes it has been a good day.  The trains ran on time and a number of things came together – a gap analysis, an outline for a response document, a workshop outline.

He acknowledges that sounds boring… but that’s the nature GF’s work.

On Time

The Southern Railway were most apologetic. A line-side fire near London Bridge was causing serious disruption and delays. Resigning himself to a long journey the Gorse Fox settled down with his iPod.

Bizarrely the journey turned out to be trouble-free and GF arrived on time. No doubt he would suffer on the return journey – particularly as there is and England football game on TV.

Again, he was wrong. Everything ran to time… and he just got home in time for kick-off.

GF suspects this will luck will be balanced out in the near future.

Buzz

Google has a new feature called Buzz. It’s been available for a couple of weeks now… and GF has been using it. It allows the Buzzer to send messages and receive messages a bit like Twitter but embedded within Google Mail.

GF has now extended this to use a layer on his Google Maps. This allows him to send Buzz messages on the move and also to see what is going on nearby. Seems like a neat feature and the Gorse Fox thinks it is much better than Twitter.

Has anyone?

As the Gorse Fox returned home from a day in London the train lurched along track and the guard announced: “Has anyone left their pink bicycle in carriage number 6? There appears to be a bike here with no owner”. The Gorse Fox checked his pockets – not, it wasn’t his.

Now he may be getting old and a tad forgetful, but is sure he’d remember if he had a bike with him. He fears therefore for the state of mind of the owner of said velocipede – particularly when they realise they have left the train and they are pedalling home on thin air.

It’s Alive I Tell You

The Gorse Fox has just received an email confirming that an application has gone into production over the weekend. This was an application we conceived at various meetings and workshops in Warwick some 18 months back. It was a difficult gestation as many people needed to accept a change in mindset in order to allow things to move forward. Many aspects of the concept were quite innovative (or revolutionary). Along the way there were a number of organisational and cultural problems to address – but the team succeeded and now it is “all systems go”.

Gorse Fox may have left the honoured client last May, but he is still keenly interested in their progress and delighted by this milestone.

Con-Air

The Gorse Fox has, over the years, managed to accumulate what was once a significant number or BA Airmiles. Chunks of these were commuted into flights for Cousteau-cub in the past, but there was still a residual balance. BA threatened that if they were not used in some way they would be lost – today.

Now over the years GF has on numerous occasions tried to spend these pseudo-Airmiles but never been able to get flights that came close to his requirements. He could fly out when he wanted but not return for 3 weeks (or whatever).

Today he decided that he would find something. Anything. As a result he and the Silver Vixen now have tickets for a trip to Pisa in September. Needless to say the whole process is a bit of a con. Having told you that the journey will cost 15,000 airmiles (an actual journey of 992 miles each way)… they then manage to charge you a further £75+ each for surcharges, taxes etc. (Why the hell don’t they get absorbed by the airmiles).

We now have to consider where to stay whilst there, but that can wait for another day.

Pleasant Evening

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed north to the heathen wastes of Surrey. There just across the county border from Blessed Sussex nestled the village of Chiddingfold where we had arranged to meet with the Gorse Fox’s sister and her husband.
Our last such meeting was at The Swan, but this has now gone into administration. Shame as the food was excellent the night we went there (even if the proprietor was a little bizarre).

With the Swan no longer available, this time we met at The Crown. It is a 17th Century Inn and meets every pre-conception of such an establishment – wonky timbers, friendly atmosphere, panelled rooms and generally a welcoming atmosphere. The service was excellent but not intrusive and food was exceptional.
We had a lovely evening and resolved to return.
Gorse Fox noticed as he drove back home that down near the sea we have some daffodils in bloom. Spring can’t be far away.

Vroom with a View

With a view to starting the selection of a new car the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen went along to a local purveyor of fine vehicles in order to take a test drive. We made ourselves comfortable and started on a pleasant drive through the nearby countryside. There was no doubt that the car was a superb item of teutonic engineering, but whether it was worth the money being asked is another question.

We then stopped off at the dealer where the Gorse Fox has bought his last three cars. We examined (though did not drive) the model that appeals most GF. Again, clearly a fine example of teutonic engineering, appealing to the eye and quite tempting. A test drive will be arranged and we shall see how things progress.

The Gorse Fox can feel a spreadsheet coming on!

Tour

After our free breakfast (courtesy of last night’s result and the pledge of the fine young manager at the Palm Hotel) we headed back to White Hart Lane for the scheduled tour.
It was good to be greeted by a couple of youngsters who would be our guides but who were so evidently completely consumed by their love of The Club and its history.


The Gorse Fox was caught on camera with this bust of the great Bill Nicholson. Bill was famous as one of the greatest managers in the game and introduced the mode of pass and play that makes the current game.
The tour was excellent. It took us through Press Area, the Sponsorship areas, the private boxes, and the Directors’ area.


We then moved on into the changing rooms where GF managed to get caught on camera again sitting where his heroes prepare for the game.
The tour lasted for about two hours and was a superb end to a terrific 24 hours.

Result

We made our way from the hotel to the tube station and from there down to Euston where we had a bite to eat.

The Victoria line then took us to Seven Sisters and we walked along the High Road towards White Hart Lane Stadium. It was already getting busy and we had to queue for a while to pick up the tickets. Making our way into the stands we checked out the allocated seat and realised that we had chosen well, with seats in line with the half way line and an excellent view across all of the pitch.

This was the view as the teams prepared for kick-off.

All in all it was a really good game with a Spurs win of 4-0.

After the game we returned to the tube and made our way back to Golders Green where we managed to pick up a taxi back to the hotel.

Shame

The Gorse Fox’s comments about the weather obviously shamed it into moving to where it belongs. The clouds broke and the sun came out – all was as it should be.

Now having made our way to North London, we have travelled through several downpours (in the lesser counties) and whilst it is dry at present, it is looking a bit threatening.

Manager at the hotel turns out to be a Spurs fan and promised us free breakfast if Spurs win tonight! That’s service.

Ark

Rain fell through the night. It fell in prodigious quantities. A neighbour, who keeps a boat in her front garden, was concerned by the pairs of animals that seemed to be sheltering by her wall. Now, rain is not unheard of in these parts, but the Gorse Fox would like to remind you that this is Sussex, and rain is meant to be a refreshing shower – a mere spritz – not a Biblical downpour. If you want Biblical downpours then Manchester or Wales should be the destination of choice.

Now, off to the garage to see if the Gorse Fox can find a tape measure that is marked in cubits.

Video killed the radio star

The Gorse Fox gave up with Windows Live Movie Maker. He concluded that you can only delete a scene so many times before it becomes evident the software is poking fun at you. He looked around for alternatives. He tried Corel (who now own Ulead – whose Video software he used to like) but whatever they have done to the software makes it almost unusable because it is so slow. In the end the Gorse Fox plumped for Cyberlink’s PowerDirector.

This has proved to be most successful – it is easy to use, fast, and has a pleasingly intuitive interface. So far it has allowed the Gorse Fox to edit and render 19 videos of about 30 minutes a piece.

His dear friend Mr Amazon has also contributed to the week with an Audio-USB cable that will allow him to capture old cassette tapes into a digital format. Most cassettes were ditched many years back, but there are several audio-books on cassette that it would be more convenient to have in a format that could be enjoyed on the iPod.

Eh?

Northern Burmese province of Kachin(g)

(Probably where the cash registers are made)

Solidarity

The Gorse Fox learns from the BBC that the Chie Execs of Lloyds Bank has decided not to take his £2m+ bonus this year. This follows yesterday’s similar announcement by the Chief Exec of Royal Bank of Scotland and a couple of execs from Barclays.

The Gorse Fox has decided that in a show of solidarity he will not take a £2m bonus either.

Oi

That is not the sort of weather that was ordered. The rain seemed incessant, was blowing in huge gusts, and was cold. In the end the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed out into the elements (in the car) and wandered around the shops and then moved on to look around the vehicles at the local car dealerships. GF was disappointed by the Lexus – good looking car, lots of gadgets, but no boot to speak of. Certainly we would have significant problems getting luggage to the airport if we planned to travel with more than an envelope each.

Smiles

The Gorse Fox is very happy this morning. He has tickets for the football on Wednesday, a booked tour of White Hart Lane on Thursday and tickets for the Gadget Show Live for April. What a start to the day!

Porridge

The pitch at Wigan looked like p0rridge… but Spurs did the business and ended up 0-3 winners (even though the first goal was offside). Good workmanlike performance from both sides.

Live Movie Maker

The Gorse Fox started off being quite impressed with WLMM… but the more he has used it the more it has started to irritate. The biggest problem seems to be the edit function which seems to display one set of results (as you want them) but when the final movie is compiled the results seems different and sequences that you thought you had removed turn up again as if by magic. One particular sequence has been removed 4 times now and each time it seems to reappear in the final version.

Cousteau-cub

Cousteau-cub phoned this morning. Tomorrow is the Gorse Fox’s birthday and she was keen to make contact before he got too involved in ticker-tape parades, civic receptions and so forth. She was in Phuket with a friend who was about to give birth… and had taken a few minutes out to call.

It was lovely to talk to her and she sounds well and thrilled about our planned trip.

DVD

The Gorse Fox has continued the experimental mood of yesterday. The Silver Vixen has recorded several thousand “Quilting” programmes on Sky+ and using the copy feature and the new gizmo (technical term) he has started to rip them into computer files.

In turn he has used Windows Live Movie Maker to edit the trash off the front and back – and remove the ads from the middle. Now a DVD is being encoded, and soon we will give it a try to see if it has worked.

Floods

What dreadful scenes of the floods and mudslides in Funchal, Madeira.

Experimenting

The Gorse Fox has had a very successful day of experimenting. If this entry shows up it has continued as “Windows Live Writer” ha correctly connected to the blog.

Other experiments have involved view some new cars and installing an Hauppauge TV control for Silver Vixen’s laptop. This in turn has allowed him to extract programmes off his Sky+ box and copy them to and view them from the computer.

Full

Another full, fruitful and satisfying day spent working from home. In the run-up to a week's vacation Gorse Fox had plenty to do and had trouble squeezing it in to the allotted time. The usual calls, messages and email interrupted the general progress and in some cases diverted the effort. All was done, eventually.

The Silver Vixen was  eager to get some sewing done, but her day was also interrupted by various calls and distractions. (The most important of these was the on-line booking of tickets to see Spurs replay against Bolton in the FA Cup next Wednesday... seem to have selected good tickets and the Gorse Fox is very excited). It was late afternoon before she finally managed to sit down at the sewing machine.

Today would have been the 108th Birthday of the Gorse Fox's grandfather. A great man, still sorely missed.

It has been quiet. The Gorse Fox was working from home - that meant that he could get under way soon after seven this morning and he had a most productive time. There was a (virtual) pile of documents to read and absorb, teleconferences to attend, and design decisions to be discussed. In the meantime, gently music wafted from the computer to smooth the alpha waves (or whatever).

A small cloud crossed the horizon at one point as a colleague announced that he had sent the slides to the client. "What, you mean a PDF?" checked the Gorse Fox. There was long pause. "Ooops" came the response "I sent the Powerpoint. Have I done any damage?" The Gorse Fox racked his brains and then read quickly through the notes behind the slide concluding that no real damage was done, but a few minor indiscretions - perhaps.

The afternoon settled back into document reading and document creation. Progress is being made - though GF needs to spend some time on analysing the workload for the next few weeks. That can wait until tomorrow.

Strange

A busy day in the office which was rounded off nicely with a a sociable pint of foaming ale in a nearby hostelry.

Quote of the day (which was actually from last night at the restaurant)...

Two elderly gentlemen talking about their lives and how it was over 40 years since they'd met. The started to talk about acquaintances: "I don't want this to sound malicious, but you know that he's paedophile?"

Brain went into meltdown at that point.

Ahhhh

It was a very successful day in Birmingham and the last minute refinements (over breakfast) went well and we were generally very satisfied as we left the offices and strolled back through the streets and made our way to the station for the journey south.

The Gorse Fox is becoming accustomed to the business of the trains but was lucky enough to find a seat. The traveller next to him was in a chatty mood and spent the whole journey talking about his Cash Converters franchise, Leeds United, cricket and goodness knows what else. It certainly made the journey whizz by.

It was thrashing down with rain as GF left Euston and headed to his hotel in Tottenham Court Road. At first things did not bode well as they were clearly struggling to find a room. After a few minutes, however, the duty manager managed to find a very nice room up near the top of the old building. Once GF had touched base with the Silver Vixen he headed back out into the rain to try and find a restaurant that specialised in fine Indian dining. After a bit of hunting about and walking some 30 minutes or so he found a nice restaurant behind the hotel. The food was excellent and it would certainly be worth a further visit in the future

Back in the hotel GF tried to use the free WiFi, but found it terribly slow - hence this blog entry being sent via Gmail rather than entered directly.

OMG

You have heard of that sinking feeling? That moment of panic, that visceral lurch that turns your stomach to a heaving mess?

It was a few minutes before nine as we arrived at Euston. We were aiming for the 21:03 train to Birmingham but had to buy our tickets. We headed for the ticket machines and started the transactions. GF was impressed that for less than 42 of Her Britannic Majesty's finest pounds he could pick up a return. As he squirreled the tickets away he and his colleagues headed across the concourse to where we had spied an ATM. Queuing in an orderly fashion we watched as the seconds ticked by and the queue moved inexorably onwards. GF glanced down. There was his roller-bag, but where was his laptop in its new super-secure case?

It was at this point he realised that a) he had left it by the ticket machines; b) what that sinking feeling really feels like; c) blind panic.

He charged back across the concourse but of course the bag had gone. He asked a nearby staff member and he said it had been collected and taken to left-luggage... so GF charged on round the corner. He ran into the office only to be told it was the wrong office and to continue round the corner. On he went. Rounding the corner he entered left luggage and saw the chap just about to sign his bag into oblivion. A few pleasanteries and copious thanks were bestowed on all and GF was re-united with his bag. By now
things were pretty tight so he ran like a madman back to his colleagues, retrieved his roller-bag and they headed for the train.

The ATM could wait.

By 2300 GF was tucked up in the Holiday Inn at Bhm... reflecting on what a lucky escape he had.

Change of Plan

It is funny how the best laid plans change. Gorse Fox had, well in advance, booked an hotel in London for tonight. This to allow him an early start on the train to Birmingham.

Oh no, no, no.

Plans have changed, hotel rooms have now been block booked in Birmingham and we are heading up there by train later this evening if we ever stop changing the slide deck and ever get it printed. One suspect that food and sleep may not be on the agenda the way things are going.

Pad Thai Wii

Betty and Barney Rubble knocked at the door when GF was in the middle of exploring some pipelines technology - not that he has a particular reason to use it at present... but often finds reasons why it is the perfect solution to a niggling problem on the PC.

Now GF should explain that Betty and Barney's arrival was expected... we had arranged to spend the day together and enjoy a lunch at our favourite local Thai restaurant. After gorging on noodles and chillies, basil and prawns we finally left (before being thrown out for overstaying our welcome). Back at home the Wii was fired up and the rest of the afternoon was spent showing just how stupid adults can look once engrossed in silly games.

Now to get ready and pack bags for the upcoming working week,

Gum - Plan B

The chewing gum stuck to the sleeve of GF's jacket has not disappeared spontaneously. Wisdom of the ancients tells us that putting it in the freezer will allow it to be chipped off. This, however, assumes there is sufficient room in the freezer for said jacket.

Plan B was called for. This involved a visit to the the local of emporium of Messrs Marks and his partner Spencer. Whilst the choice was not extensive, it was sufficient for GF's humble needs.

Back home the Urban-cub was having trouble with her laptop - it won't switch on. GF fiddled and it flashed briefly into life before collapsing again. This looks terminal... so he spent some time looking for suitable alternatives (which have to wait until she can afford the replacement). The disk will have to be retrieved from the laptop-corpse as she had not been backing up her photos (despite everything her father has taught her).

Thrashing

Urban-cub given a sound thrashing at Wii Frisbee Golf. (Revenge for last week)

Regeneration

Mmm. The Register is reporting that Starfleet may be vaporising some more staff... yet there doesn't seem to be whisper of it internally. Apparently the consultation period is about to start, so it sounds true. GF is just surprised that he hadn't heard anything - maybe it's not relevant to his division!

Slasher

The Gorse Fox received a new laptop bag today. Sounds a bit boring, but actually some of its features are quite good. It has wire mesh sandwiched in the fabric and carrying straps to stop it being slashed. It also has a high-tech padlock and zip cable to allow the zips to be secured in place and the bag secured to some fixed item (such as a radiator).

Now this may seem overkill - but GF has several colleagues that have had laptops stolen (in their bags) whilst in public places. For the sake of the £10 investment this seems like a fair preventative insurance.