Obviously

Today, being Hallowe'en is obviously one of the busiest days of the year for the Silver Vixen and her coven. Appropriately they have had an Open Day at the local centre - though they had the advantage they didn't have to do anything out of the ordinary in terms of dressing up. Their normal wear for these occasions was more than adequate.

Money

The Gorse Fox used to manage his personal finances with Quicken... until the Y2K changes and their eventaul withdrawal for UK finances. He then converted to MS Money which he found counter intuitive (little joke there for the cognoscenti) and at times obtuse. Now MS have said they are withdrawing support from 2011 - and GF is having major difficulties moving his existing data to his new computer.

In fact it is these migration difficulties that are the primary frustration that makes him think that this could well be the time to convert to a new personal finance manager suite. Well it would if there was an obvious alternative! GF has spent the last few hours looking at various programs but does not feel an overwhelming gravitational pull to any of them. He has now spent 15 minutes on the whiteboard and sketched out a data model and set of functional requirements and is trying to resist the urge to write one from scratch... or even to create a spreadsheet solution.

Tragedy?

The Gorse Fox notices the headline "Coyotes Kill Canadian Folk Singer".

Whilst not underestimating the sorrow this must bring on her family, he would observe that some forms of music should be limited to small groups of consenting adults - far from the tender ears of other human beings and wildlife. Folk music, Country music, and C&W music all fall into this category. He would assert that had these coyotes not taken matters into their own hands jaws, a call to the Canadian RSPCA or Humane Society would have been warranted.

He suspects the real tragedy here is that in this day and age, Folk, Country and C&W music are still practised and not consigned to the pages of history - like other medieval forms of torture.

AGM

Well the Gorse Fox should report back on last night's AGM. He would report that the expectation of fireworks was not realised and at best it may be considered that the masterful eloquence of the chairman headed off the crisis and left us with a (thankfully) damp squib.
The Gorse Fox was immensely pleased that the re-election of Directors saw no change in the current Board. They work so hard on our behalf and get little thanks for their efforts so it was good that the majority recognised this and voted them back in.

Hail to the Chief

The EU - whose accounts have not been ratified for years and seems to be riddled with dubious practices and expenses has been told by Gordon Brown (one of our parliamentarians who has had trouble with expenses) has that Tony Blair (who's idea of the truth is whatever the audience want to hear) would make and ideal President.

Well lets just say they all deserve each other...

The problem is we don't deserve them... why should we be punished.

Disconcert

The Gorse Fox was somewhat disconcerted as he walked into his meeting. There was nobody in attendance that he had ever met before. Despite this one Starfleet member said, as he shook hands,  "Ahh, the Gorse Fox!". That's not what it says on the id badge he wears, and he thought he travelled incognito (or sometimes by train)... but he he was recognised. Evidently infamy spreads like H1N1.

Lakes

The Gorse Fox finds himself in offices overlooking a wildlife reserve and some lakes. Most scenic. (He was also delighted that the journey was so trouble-free given that it involved a long section of M25).

Smack down

The Gorse Fox attended a seminar at Starfleet's headquarters. The subject was the proposed changes to the pension scheme and the meeting was intriguing, following the pattern of so many similar sessions:

• Attendees spread themselves out across the auditorium
• The presentation started and question were asked. The people at the back asked for the questions to repeated as they couldn't hear - good practise for the presenters, but they kept forgetting. The people at the back kept complaining, but were evidently unable to move forward to an empty seat closer. (The room was only half full).
• Every statement made was forensically examined and attempts were made to pick holes with hypothetical cases and situations. (It reminded the Gorse Fox of sitting in class watching the clever boys trying to catch out the teacher). There was a degree of satisfaction when they failed to find a case that hadn't been thought through already.
• The meeting over ran

But unlike most meetings - no mobile phones interrupted and nobody was tapping away at their laptops. The Gorse Fox would guess that people were actually interested in their pension provision. He expects to see a lot of very good colleagues leaving over the next few months.

Teleport or avatar

The Gorse Fox wishes that someone would hurry up and develop a teleporter. He has spent several hours on a teleconference which linked him in with a workshop being conducted in West London. It soon became clear that those present were spread out and would walk as far away from the phone as possible whenever they had something to say... the whole call seemed like a series of mutterings with occasional bursts of lucidity (mmm, sounds a bit like the Gorse Fox himself). A teleporter would have been useful, enabling him to dissociate his atoms and reassemble them in the workshop - or better still have a virtual holographic presence that could attend on GF's behalf and bring back the significant notes, actions, and messages.

Telegraph states the obvious

The headline in the linked story "Modern man had sex with Neanderthals" explains so much. It would appear that there must still be plenty of opportunity judging by some the sights that are seen on Friday nights around the country.

Battle Lines

This week sees the AGM for the owners of the Estate.

It is clear that battle lines are being drawn. Cheerleaders(*) for one faction turned up at the door checking the level of support that could be expected. The Gorse Fox answered truthfully that he felt fairly neutral on the subject. He expects, however, that this is going to be a fractious debate on Thursday - should we declare independence, build a wall and become a protectorate with biometric access controls(**) through electronic gates, or just carry on as we are with security guards?

(*) no pom-poms or batons were involved in this exchange.
(**) ok, the walls, the protectorate and the biometrics were an exaggeration

Leaves

The advantage of working at home is that you can be on hand to deal with any minor domestic emergencies. The call went up from the kitchen "The sink isn't emptying".

A cursory examination led the Gorse Fox outside where it was clear that the drain wasn't emptying either. A few minutes digging about with a long stick showed some improvement. It was not however the cure.

Opening the inspection hatch showed the problem to be further "downstream". Out came the stick again. A great wedge of leaves was dragged from the end of the pipe and within a second or two the problem cleared.

Emergency over, crisis averted.

Hyperbole

As the Gorse Fox prepares for another scintillating week he reflected on the news reports of previous few days. It occurs to him that if we are to believe what we read (which we perhaps we shouldn't) people have lost their sense of proportion. It would appear that in the papers:

• Irritation regarding some event or action is designated ANGER or occasionally OUTRAGE
• Disagreement over a principle is always FURY
• A difference of opinion among colleagues is a REVOLT
• The imposition of a regulation is a CRACK DOWN
• A few letters of complaint make an OUTCRY or STORM
• Speaking in public against some person or organisation is an ATTACK
• Embarrassment over some misdemeanour or peccadillo is SHAME
• Mild surprise is obviously described as SHOCK
• A change of mind is an HUMILIATING U-TURN

Makes you wonder how people survive with such extreme emotions being vented all the time. The Gorse Fox would love to read a headline: "Opposition Expresses Irritation at the Government's Stance".

Fall back

The Gorse Fox had trouble making use of the extra hour afforded by the overnight (ridiculous) clock change. He's not good at staying in bed and needs to get up as soon as he wakes.

The morning was spent doing Parish Council stuff - reading planning applications and preparing the answers from our questionnaires for printing. It was a lazy day with bits of admin, some football, and some cooking. Unfortunately the clock change did change GFs perception of time and by the time he remembered to call Cousteau-cub it was too late. She is now seven hours ahead and a call at 16:30 our time would not be appreciated on Koh Lanta.

Venta Bulgarum

Rain washed the southern counties as the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed westwards. Traffic was slow, and the journey round the Noviomagus Reginorum was intolerable. The 90 minutes the Gorse Fox had allowed to get to Venta was evidently going to be insufficient. He was just considering suggesting a call when the phone rang. It was the Silver Vixen's sister and her cohort. They we having equal trouble in traffic around Bicester and it was evident we would arrive late.

In the scheme of things GF and the SV arrived first and made our way to the courtyard cafe behind the Tourist Information office. It was clear they were having a bad day. Whilst awaiting our coffee two or three people returned to the counter to complain... thoughts of having lunch there were quickly dispelled. The Buckingham cohort arrived and after a brief conversation we decided to eat first in the hope that the weather would break. We selected a Chinese on the roundabout by the King Alfred statue. It was empty and easily accommodated the rag tag party. The food was adequate but not great - but at least the company was fun.

Leaving there we strolled up the High Street for some window shopping. The Gorse Fox remained outside as there were various sorties into one shop or other. GF was more intrigued watching Hermiones, Jocastas, Jameses, Charleses, and Henrys as they wandered back and forth discussing the relative merits of Winchester fashion (tweed or twill and brogues).

We continued but it was soon clear that certain unnamed members of the party were already craving their next fix of tea. Rolling round by the Cathedral we stopped in their courtyard cafe for tea. Before we knew it our time was expiring at the car parks and it was time to say goodbye and get back on the road

Stone Age

It's been a strange week.

This is the week where we have heard more about the explosive growth of the world population and the challenge of feeding them... and that same week where the liberal elite have railed against GM crops and from their comfy homes near Waitrose would happily condemn the poor of the world to starvation rather than allow "scientists" to improve yields, improve disease resistance, and improve drought tolerance through genetic engineering.

This is the week where there was furore over the BBC (of whom the Gorse Fox is no fan) giving an elected politician a seat on "Question Time" and whilst our soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan to bring democracy and free speech - there were demonstrations and attempts to prevent him speaking here. The Gorse Fox utterly and unequivocally condemns what Nick Griffin stands for - but he has the right to his perverse opinion and he was elected based on that opinion. This peculiar exercise is in danger of turning him from a pariah to a victim.

This was a week where Starfleet is encouraging us all to improve our "Market Value Skills" and giving us a list of courses that may help. This is also a week when they have cancelled all training for the 4th quarter.

This is a week when Starfleet is talking about diversity and complaining there are insufficient numbers of women in top jobs. This is also the week they admit that only 9% of applicants are women, and and we have an 18% attrition rate among female staff.

This a week when Windows 7 is launched. This is also the wek the Gorse Fox finally feels he has got to grips with Vista, and it isn't that bad.

This is a week when satire could write itself.

ASA

Gorse Fox just lost it. He remembered a TV advert that he saw on Tuesday, and he lost it. He decided to write to the Advertising Standards Authority...

The advert was from Action on CO2

The Advert shows an adult reading a bedtime story to a young girl. The story is written as a frightening fairy story and talks of huge floods and destruction and boldly claims that "scientists" believe etc... 

I would assert that at best "some" scientists believe that human produced CO2 is contributing to global warming. Similarly there are many scientists that don't agree... and recently it has been shown that the data upon which much of this supposition is based has been shown to be fraudulent.

A34

The Gorse Fox had a meeting in Warwick. He likes Warwick, but from home it is an unpleasant drive invoolving the A27, M27, M3, A34 and M40 and given that the meeting was scheduled for midday, meant leaving home at the peak of the rush hour.

The journey was made bearable by the company of the Silver Vixen who GF would drop off at Bicester for some shopping - other than that it was a catalogue of roadworks, tailbacks, and trucks playing leapfrog. Depsite everything SV was dropped off in time, and GF arrived at Starfleet's Warwick facility in plenty of time for the meeting.

Whilst there he bumped into several old friends - each seriously shafted by the pension changes (each being a few years younger than GF). It is a sorry state of affairs when the promises made, and repeated year after year are suddenly turned to dust and the future you had planned is ripped away in the name of credit crunch, of affordability, and of "good business sense". The Gorse Fox should point out that Starfleet is still making significant amounts of money and is significantly out-performing the market and the industry. GF feels so sorry for these colleagues and is thankful that because of his age he is not so badly affected. Evidently all of the trite phrases regarding ethics and moral responsibility don't apply to the company's treatment of the staff on their expectations of the staff.

The meeting went well and GF was back on the road by mid-afternoon. The Silver Vixen was collected and we headed home. Nearly seven hours in the car, all told, for a 2 hour meeting.

Working at home tomorrow. Not expecting too much traffic in the kitchen or the hall on the way to the study.

Text

The Gorse Fox knows that the youngsters (anyone less than 40) have the art of sending text messages from mobile phones down to a fine art. Human evolution will probably develop another mutation over the next few generations with even longer and stronger thumbs and the inability of the mouth to form vowel sounds. It is with this in mind that GF noticed the efforts to which the Silver Vixen was going in order to respond to a text message.

Ripping off his disguise in a handy phone booth he swooped to her aid and set up her Skype account to handle external calls and collaterally SMS messages. It always seems so much easier to type on a real keyboard than fiddle about with a mobile phone for text applications.

Pottering

A quiet day of pottering through reviews and software catalogues looking for the best solution for the bid... meanwhile waiting to hear about another chunk of work whilst trying not to get committed to anything long-term in the interim.

GF ordered Windows 7 today. It comes a free upgrade to his new PC, so he put the request in and it should be dispatched on or after 22/10.