Monthly Archives: November 2006

One step towards civilisation

22112006.jpgOne of the things we knew we had to do with the house was redo the kitchen, and as a part of that, we were going to find room for a washing machine.

Circumstances change, and we’re not going to be able to redo the kitchen as soon as we had hoped. P can’t live without a washing machine (I quite like my weekly frequent trips to the laundrette – they give me a chance to read trashy fiction)

So, we’re trying to install a washing machine in a former downstairs loo cupboard. When the loo was removed, all the plumbing and electrics were too, so we’ve had to put in new sockets and new water pipes and new waste water pipes.

23112006(001).jpgToday, the plumber who drilled holes through the brick warned us that the bricks are not in terribly good condition, and even suggested we get the surveyor back to advise. They shatter when drilled, which apparently bricks shouldn’t do, and the mortar is missing, and they don’t appear to be supporting any weight.

So, now, although we finally have pipes and power, we need get the structural issues looked at before we can actually put a washing machine in. Bah.

Nick Clarke

Was driving into work during You and Yours, and was very saddened when I heard the news of Nick Clarke‘s death on WATO. You always know something significant has happened when they announce at the top of the programme that it’s a special extended edition. I really didn’t expect the news they gave, but after all Clarke’s years on WATO it was a fitting tribute to dedicate much of the bulletin to him.

There are now two reasons we won’t hear this again:

“This is the World at One – forty minutes of news and comment with Nick Clarke.”

One of them is Nick Clarke’s death. The other is the schedule change which means WATO is now only 30 minutes.

That blinking cursor! (or caret and stick)

For some reason for the last few days, I’ve had a blinking cursor in my Firefox windows, which makes scrolling a pain in the neck and sometimes gets pages stuck.

Apparently this is called caret browsing and can be switched on and off using F7.  It’s there to make selecting text using the keyboard much easier.

Thanks very much for beyond-teck for solving the mystery for me.

Yay for Radio 4

The Now Show is back tonight – well, now!  6.30pm on Fridays and 12.30pm on Saturdays.
With any luck, they’ll still be podcasting it too, because in the office, I can get only get Long Wave tonight.

If the Now Show wasn’t enough, ISIHAC is back too, 6.30pm on Mondays and repeated 12noon on Sunday.  If you miss it, you can Listen Again.

But you won’t be able to listen again to Desert Island Discs – for licence reasons, that’s only available at 11.15am on Sunday and 9am next Friday – when Stephen King is on. I hope he has more interesting choices than the guy who was on this morning, who had really boring choices.

TWATBILI

On UMRA, we have an acryonym – That Was A Typo But I Like It.

I rather like the Elecrotal Comission.  Almost enough to register the domain.

Paul Keetch to retire

Can’t help notice Paul Keetch, the Lib Dem MP for the city where I went to school, is to retire.

Hem, hem, should I get my candidate approval papers in?

Course not. I’ve worked for MPs and why anyone ever wants to be one is totally beyond me. Yeah, you get the deference, the salary and somewhere to hang your swordlight sabre. But you also get the casework, the responsibility, the travelling, having to front a campaign that costs tens of thousands, having to raise tens of thousands, having to think/say something about every issue.

I can’t even really offer much help to any of my party friends thinking of putting themselves forward for Hereford [1] – although I know the city reasonably well, it wasn’t until I left the county that I started getting into politics, so I don’t really know the local party in Hereford, or any of the councillors.

[1] Specially not you, J, you carpet bagger.

Soldiers

Soliders don’t earn very much.

American satirical cartoons The Simpsons and Family Guy have both recently run episodes about US Army recruitment.

The Simpsons included a reference to recruits’ salaries, so I Googled it.

American soldiers start at $15,282, whilst in the UK, they get £12,128.

Well, it’s more than minimum wage.  In both cases, it seems like your money goes up quite fast with continued service and promotion. But it ain’t much when you consider what we ask them to do.

I’m too fat, too gay and too asthmatic to serve.