Well it's like...

It was 04:20. The alarm went off, and Gorse Fox's heart rate was measured in "k". The Silver Vixen groaned. She had to get up. She was going to Heathrow to meet Cousteau-cub returning from Thailand.

Ever supportive, GF launched himself from bed and got the day under-way by making some tea. SV was still trying to raise herself. GF thought some encouraging words might help:

"Think of it like going on holiday(*), but without the hassle of security checks." he said optimistically.

"And without the holiday" she moaned back

Hey ho!



(*)that's the only reason that we would normally rise at this time

Photos

The Silver Vixen has selected a photo album for one of the victims of our Santa-run. This is a lovely thoughtful gift... but she has left (to disport herself on the floor of the gym) and given the Gorse Fox the task of selecting some suitable photos with which to adorn said album.

Not an easy choice, given that in one library alone GF has in excess of 10,000 photos. Anyhow, selection has been narrowed down:

• Jermaine Defoe's goal against Charlton
• A pink mini.
  
  
• Arsene Wenger's reaction to Alan Pardew when Arsenal lost to West Ham
• Dawn French dressed as Vicki Pollard's mum.
• A piece of seaweed.
• The remains of a hedge after major surgerywith a chain-saw.

GF chuckles to himself... and bets she was expecting photos from the wedding!



Technorati Tags: Whimsy

Just searching

Recent searches that have brought visitors to the Gorse Fox include:

• Tutorial - suitcase packing
• Speed cameras Membury
• Camellia underplanting
• Siamese steam radiator valve
• Face painting fox
• Wiki the Worzels
• Piercing
• Worzels
• Homes for sale
• IEFBR14
• Global warming cows

Is it more worrying that people seek this information, or that Google directs them to the Gorse Fox.

Christmas cards

The annual ceremony of "The preparation of Christmas cards" is today. Gorse Fox will, reverently, reveal the blessed list of those who did or didn't and those who should or shouldn't. This will be handed over to the Silver Vixen for a brief reading, and, chances are, a homily on why the list should be revered.

Cards will be selected, and written with time-honoured ritual (and a pen) and records will be kept - as they always have been. Cheery notes will be added for those who are rarely seen. Photos will be slipped between the covers of the lucky few. Even envelope sizes will be recorded, so that appropriate printing can be achieved.

Let it begin.





Technorati Tags: Christmas Cards

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Christmas cheer

The Silver Vixen has loaded up the panniers on her broomstick and swept into Worthing to join with her coven for their Christmas Party.
Gorse Fox is not privvy to the intended goings-on but imagines a huge bubbling cauldron of noxious liquid (they will claim to be tea), cakes decorated in strange patterns, biscuits being snaffled by black cats, and a good natured exchange of gossip and spells. Later, when enough tea has been drunk, he expects they will get rowdy and gathering fistfuls of mistletoe sweep towards the town centre, hovering over the shoppers' car park looking for likely victims. Traffic cones will be replaced by black hats, and a plague of newts with white sticks will shuffle along the seafront.
[File under: Diary]

Well that's that

Having read all the background material and decided that most of the bugs that have been reported do not affect the Gorse Fox, he decided to switch. He pressed the button, read the terms and conditions and got ready for a long wait.
A second or two later he was informed he cannot switch at this time becuse one of his blogs cannot be converted ay present. As this blog has well over 2000 entries, he assumes this one is the culprit and that he can stand-down for now.

[File under: Blogger]

Caution

Gorse Fox's blog host has requested that he switch to the newer version of the code... He is wary, but will give it a try. Please accept apologies in advance in case things go a bit pear-shaped whilst things are switched.

(He has backed up the entire blog first!)
[File under: Blogger]

Admin

Why is it that the admin burden seems to escalate in direct proportion to how busy you are?

As an example, and obvious to regular readers, GF is frantically busy at the offices of the Esteemed Client, he has had numerous year-end appraisals to write... and some colleague in Starfleet has decided that everyone in the company has to complete a 3-hour on-line course by the end of the year.

• Are thse people safe to be let out alone?
• Do they need help with feeding? or
• is it just that the the administerium has so little to do in the run up to year-end that they invent new things to keep them busy?

Appraisals, again

Well Gorse Fox has split the day between preparing a briefing and finishing the outstanding appraisals he had to write. He is proud to say that he has managed to use the word "psychotic" twice in these reviews and also managed to insult several people's dress sense. Job well done!

Acronym assault

The all day meeting was held off-site. Gorse Fox was able to walk there from his hotel, so was able to have a leisurely start to the day. There was much to cover, and it was evident it would be a busy day. By late morning GF was under severe acronym assault (and he throught it was unique to IT).

There's little doubt this will need support from HR. We need to involve EOs, HEOs, VOs and Techs to represent the DOs as they towards OMCs. CPD will need to be involved because it may impact the LDCCs and involves the RRMs, though DOMs shouldn't be affected.
A BTM could oversee the changes with an OIM (possibly an HEO) on the ground support by EOs. In turn they could be backfilled by AOs or AAs.

GF hasn't the remotest clue what was being said, but there was a lot of nodding around the room.

[File under: Diary]

A day in Reading

Gorse Fox has spent the day in Reading, again. It is becoming an unwelcome habit. Today involved a serious exercise on the cutting edge of post-it note technology. GF's excitement could hardly be contained as he used hexagonal post-its in green, blue, orange, and yellow. GF has a certain anarchic streak in him, and sometimes used the wrong colour post-it, deliberately. He's sure there'll be hell to pay when they find out!!!

Leaving the meeting GF joined members of the executive board of the Esteemed Client. Together we clustered on the platform as they debated the expected location of the First Class carriage. The train, however, second guessed them and it tickled the GF to see them all running to the other end of train as it stopped at the platform. Oh yes, it was standing room only.

Standing between the seats in First Class allows the trained people-watcher to peer over people's shoulder and see what they are reading or what they are doing on their laptops... One gent was preparing a slide presentation with one sliide entitled: Methodological pluralism. GF has no idea what it is... And judging by how long the chap stared at a nearly empty screen, neither does he.

Appraisals

It is annual appraisal time. Starfleet operates a policy of 360 degree feedback. This means that the victim submits the names of colleagues, peers, team leaders, and clients who they have worked with during the year, and these people are sent a series of questions regarding the victim's performance throughout the year. Gorse Fox is busy writing his responses for several of his team. Phrases that he has no need to exercise (so far) include:

• Suffers delusions of adequacy
• Would start an argument in an empty room
• Psychotic
• Requires help in distinguishing Articulatio Cubiti from Gluteus Maximus
• His intellectual equals include John Prescott and algae.
• He has the morals of the current government (or a pack of hyenas)

In praise of

GF stayed in a Travelodge last night. He has stayed in several of these in the past and generally found the experience to be aweful. Most seem to smell strange, need maintenance, offer nothing, and are generally miserable to be in. Worcester's travelodge, however, was bright, clean, airy, the rooms were excellent (if a little cramped), and the staff was cheery and helpful. It won't rise to the top of the list, but it will certainly be an acceptable substitute for the future.

Driven

Gorse Fox was just passing Newbury as dawn broke this morning. An all-day workshop in Worcester dragged him from his bed at some uneartly hour and sent him charging across the country.



Workshop was, surprisingly, good and much was achieved (honest).

Nutty Cousin

GF has had an email from Nutty Cousin. She now has a Skype account... so Gorse Fox has dusted off his rarely used account, fired up the latest software, checked the webcam and prepared himself to communicate with the Commonwealth.





Technorati Tags: Skype

No Shame

Gorse Fox watched the football last evening. Several comments come to mind:

• Have Man Utd. got no shame? How can they lionise the blatant cheating of Christiano Ronaldo? GF suggests that he may be biggest cheat in the Premiership.
  
  
• Have Spurs got no fight? How can they let that French team win 3-0... which brings us to
  
  
• Has the referee got no glasses? - He missed one blatant penalty for the Forces of Darkness, then gave two non-penalties, and missed the offside nature of the goal?

Does this all matter? No. But, video replay as used in cricket and rugby would solve a lot of these problems and the continued resistance by the clubs and FA must be viewed with a degree of cynicism.







Technorati Tags: Football

Wow

That was a storm.



The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen were kept awake throughout much of the night by the storm that battered the coast. The wind howled and the whole house vibrated as gusts slammed into the fabric of building. Rain clattered against the windows like handfuls of gravel. Now, the wind has dropped and the rain has cleared, but more storms are forecast for tonight.

Stuff

The Silver Vixen is away with her coven, sewing. Gorse Fox has decided, therefore, to dedicate this Saturday to stuff. Nothing big, nothing earth-shattering (probably just as well, really), just stuff.

• Sorting out some photos
• Creating some DVDs
• Helping The Bishop out with his printer

Just stuff.

Car Theft

Government car motoring theft continues with the idea that it will cost £1.28 per mile to drive. They call this road usage charging. (A tax for using the roads that you pay for with road tax, and already pay to use through your fuel duty). This will, of course, increase other taxes also. For example, GF travels 140 miles to get to a government location... (so that's £179.20 GF will have to charge them) and because all of the government contractors will have to charge their travelling expenses back, GF wonders where that money will come from. Any guesses?

Not much here...

Rain lashed the South Coast last night, driven by strong southerly winds. Tucked up warm in bed, listening to the banshee wail of the wind and the crackle of the rain as it pelted the windows was, somehow, cosy.
Much of the day has been spent on the phone. Friday is slowly morphing intp phoneday as each week the proportion of the day that can be dedicated to creative work gets ever less. After packing in for the day, the Gorse Fox played some more with the "ProShow Gold" software that he used last weekend to create DVD slideshows. Finding new tricks, he has played around with the photos from the recent holdiday and ended up with a pleasing show. It's now time to start catching up on all of the blogs that he has missed this week.