BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, UK
This is the last blog I will write from the UK for about the next two weeks. Tomorrow morning I will be jetting off to San Francisco for a week or so for work. Even though I travel extensively in my profession, recently I have noticed myself getting a little anxious before heading off on a trip. It is not any fear of flying; I actually quite enjoy that part. It is more a sense that I have to leave everything here shipshape in case I don’t come back. It may sound corny, or even cliché but the events of 11th September 2001 have registered deep down with me. It is not significant, I don’t have nightmares or anything like that, but there is the faint sense of unease. As a result the excitement of any trip, even a holiday, is somehow corrupted, undermined, tarnished.

From one point of view I will be glad to leave the UK for a little while. The cold weather is persistent and our transportation system is in its normal state of disarray with the arrival of nearly four inches of snow on Wednesday. I have no time for those people who run around like headless chickens as soon as a little bit of icy weather comes along. We live in Northern Europe and it is winter. Given our latitude we are lucky we don’t get considerably more snow on a regular basis. It is only the gently warming North Atlantic Drift which bathes our shores that prevents us from entering severe winter conditions similar to that experienced in other countries.

I shan’t have time for a blog in the morning (unless I can find a wireless access point at the airport) so the next entry you will read will be posted from California.

Woke up, early, to snow. The village normally looks pretty in snow. I may venture out a bit later with my camera to capture a few images. However it is snowing right now – a bit of a blizzard actually – so I will have to wait until it subsides. It is wet, sloppy snow and so right now its covering is not that picturesque. I am sure the Inuit have a special name for this type of snow. They seem to have so many words for snow. My house, wearing its new Buttermilk coat, looks warm against the cold white of the landscape. Cars wearing their white toupees shush along the main road as they spray the rapidly melting ice onto the pavements, turning them a speckled grey.

Last night the Official Records Office opened, to public scrutiny, all the files concerning the abdication of King Edward and his marriage to Mrs Simpson. (aka the Duke and Duchess of Windsor). Journalists eager for a 60 year old scoop went trundling down there hoping to find some salacious titbit to print. The best they could come up with was that Wallis Simpson had been having an “affair” with a man to whom they refer to as a Car Dealer in an attempt to make it sound just the slightest bit seedy. As it happens the gentleman in question was the son of a Cleric and a retired Wing Commander from the RAF and so was of, presumably, good background and had once held pretty high office. That probably made him a more suitable suitor than your average Royal! What exactly is meant by the word “affair” is also open to much interpretation. Remember this was the 1930’s and in those days a shared cocktail at Claridges or a handshake which lasted a few seconds too long signalled the woman as nothing more than a shameless jezebel! What is interesting is the apparent size and detail of the Special Branch file which was compiled on Mrs Simpson, a divorcee New York socialite. It seems there are lots of other fascinating little details now available for all to see, but of course the lives of the “Windsors” life around that time has been well documented before in various novels and biographies, not least of which in the scandalous Palimpsest by Gore Vidal who spent time with Edward and Mrs. in Paris shortly after their "exile".

For those who absolutely love statistics, charts and other analytical stuff, you might like to take a look at the 2002 Year-End Google Zeitgeist. I am not sure what it proves, but it is awfully distracting!

Well I have been working so hard since the weekend I haven’t had time to update my Blog. I spent most of yesterday and today compiling and editing the industry newsletter we produce. It is a long job, but a labour of love to some extent. I really enjoy the creative process, and the resulting publication is read by well over 1000 people each month. It is the closest I get at the moment to being a published author. Of course I have this blog too, but as at the time of writing I have no proof that anyone other than myself has ever read these entries.

Anyhow, I have big plans for this blog which will transpire over the next week or so. I plan to have the transformation complete sometime by mid-February and once this is done, instead of dipping my toe in the blogging world (as I have been since November) I will wade in as make a bit of a splash. I guess the past couple of months has been a bit like a new magazine or newspaper preparing for launch. They produce a limited print run of the product for a couple of weeks prior to the actual first edition. The difference with my blog will be that the back copies will still be on display.

I had my house painted today! It has been looking shabby for the past year with the masonary paint not only stained, but in some places actually peeling off. It is a job I had been putting off, hoping someone would buy the house before it really needed doing. So in the end I decided that it may be a contributory factor to its not selling so I took the bull by the horns and got a quote from a local decorator before Christmas. He came to talk to me about it yesterday and we discussed colour matches. Because my cottage is a listed building I must keep the outside colour within strict limits of its current shade. I couldn’t, for example, decide to go from the current Buttermilk to bright pink (not that I would) or to the same deep russet shade as some of the cottages down in the valley. I was beavering away in my office when mid-morning they turned up with brushes, ladders, and pots of paint and seemed to work solidly right through the day. I made them a cup of tea at around 3pm and fed them with the last of the Christmas cake. They had finished the whole job by the time the sun went down and my cottage looks very smart indeed now.

Hmmm, came across the following quote while looking for something altogether different.

“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervour, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.”
William Shakespeare - Julius Caesar

Wise words are timeless.

Well, I awoke early this morning and went for my cycle ride. I have just noticed it is getting lighter earlier and darker later. Last night there was still daylight in the sky at 17:45! A fabulous morning although my hands got rather cold while cycling because I couldn’t find my gloves.

On returning I was putting my bike away and I noticed that the first bulbs of spring are just beginning to push their fresh green tips through the dark damp soil of my garden so at least my postage stamp of a flower bed will have some colour other than brown before too long.

Just got back from an evening drink with Teddy. He is looking well, despite the fact that he spent the whole weekend clubbing in London! His professor was over from the USA and as well as seeing the sights of London, Teddy showed him some nightlife!

On the drive over to Oxford there was a spectacular sunset. It was so beautiful and I didn’t have any of my cameras with me! When will I learn?

As well as catching up on news, one of the other reasons for getting together was to exchange Christmas gifts – just over a month late. Teddy has given me a fantastic pen and PDA stylus. It is from the Italian design house Campo Marzio Roma and it is the Celluloid Duplex Pen. I am really very surprised and flattered that he would buy me such a beautiful gift.

I went along to the concert last night and arrived just as The Polyphonic Spree was going on stage. The set was excellent and, although their sound was lost in the cavern that is Wembley Arena, they managed to get the audience of dedicated rock fans dancing and cheering along with them. I would guess they were on stage for about 45 minutes and their final number was one I hadn’t heard and was in three movements. I am thoroughly glad I went. There was a short interval before the next band, The Datuns, came onstage. During that time I took a call from Andre who was in Holland Park in London having some photos taken for his portfolio. As we hung-up he and the photographer were just about to break into an area of the park so they could get some more pictures done. I went back into the auditorium just as the Datsuns were starting up. Heavy pounding, driving rock with a screamed vocal. I sat there thinking “this isn’t my kind of music”. It was going to be another hour before Supergrass, the headlining act were due to be onstage and as I listened to the music echoing around the arena I found myself thinking “This isn't my type of music, why am I still here? I could be home having a cup of tea and watching a video within an hour.” I blame the venue in part. I have long held the belief that Wembley Arena has all the intimacy of a very large aircraft hanger and last night that is exactly how it looked to me. I was home by 10:15 and in bed by 11pm. I think I must be getting old!

I woke up this morning at 9am and flicked on the TV. Tony Blair was being interviewed by David Frost and the master interviewer was mining pure gold from the discussion. His silky questioning style lulled our Prime Minister into a line of responses which were very much less supportive of President Bush’s war at all costs message. I wonder if that will lead to an awkward silence or two when President and PM meet later this week in Washington DC. I did find it curious in the extreme that Tony Blair was in London and not at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

Regular readers of my Blog (are there even irregular readers?) will remember that I undertook a fairly fruitless search for one of the new Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) set-top boxes back in November. The BBC has been pushing the move to Digital reception using the Freeview brand. I had tried on and off ever since but to no avail, and then, while I was in London the other day I happened into one of the shops on Tottenham Court Road where they sold me a Hauppauge DEC1000t. This nifty little device is the smallest one on the market and I now have it sat on top of my TV and I am enjoying 30+ channels of digital content whereas I only had five before. It cost me only £99 and seems to have all the features of all the larger and more expensive devices. If you are looking for a Freeview Box then I can thoroughly recommend this unit.

Whilst we are on the topic of things digital, I received in my email box some potentially good news with regards to being able to get ADSL service here in the wilds of the Buckinghamshire countryside. Apparently BT are lowering the customer levels required for upgrading an exchange to ADSL. The maximum demand trigger level for 388 exchanges has been slashed, in one case from 750 to 200. It seems that BT are also to set trigger levels for the first time at 87 exchanges. Work to provide ADSL will start immediately at 22 of these because the level of registration required has already been met as a result of the new, lower targets. A quick check on the BT web page for my exchange shows that there are 145 people registered at my exchange. I saw a new link on the site saying “View the level of demand at those exchanges where a trigger level has been set”. Well of course I followed it but was disappointed to be presented (almost immediately) with a screen saying “We are very sorry but we are experiencing technical problems with our site at the moment.” This appeared all too quickly, like it was the page that is supposed to appear, and so I wonder if it isn’t just a ploy. Lets be charitable for the moment and say that it isn’t, and lets also assume that our trigger level is also 200 registrants. Now all we need to do is persuade another 55 people in the area to register and we ought to be in with a chance. Time for action! I will plan while I am away and deploy as soon as I am back.

Now back blogging on a normal PC for a while but it was an interesting experiment to use the xda. It just proves that using that I can Blog from just about anywhere where I can get a GPRS signal.

So, no blog for a couple of days and lots to catch up with. I am going to have to do this in a few chunks so there will be several update blogs today and tomorrow and we should be all up to date by Monday!

First more news on Dad. I drove him yesterday to the Harley Street Clinic in London where they performed an Angiogram. The procedure didn’t take too long and the good news is that his condition can be treated with a prescription of drugs. So, not exactly an “all clear” but much better than it could have been. We didn’t get back from London unit about 7:30pm and so I missed my gym session. Will have to make up for that on Sunday!

I decided not to set my alarm this morning and woke up at 09:30. Wow I was refreshed. I didn’t manage to get a bike ride in this morning but felt a lot better for the rest. Today was my last Saturday before the San Francisco trip so I spent the day doing lots of chores. I also had some people come to view the house this afternoon so I have been running around getting it tidy.

Tonight I am going to see Polyphonic Spree at Wembley. They are supporting Supergrass. In fact I should start getting ready now.

This is my first Blog using the xda. Currently sitting in my comfortable office at home, and connecting to the internet using the ISDN link in my office rather than the GPRS link native to the device. I am also using the new fold-away keyboard.

Well, first the good news. Dad is out of hospital and has an appointment with Angie O’Gram, the smiling Irish Heartthrob this Friday. It is amazing the effect that waving a BUPA card in an NHS hospital can have. I have to take Dad and Mum by car to Harley Street in London on Friday by 10am. The procedure will take a couple of hours but there is prep and recovery time so I will collect them again around 4pm. Meanwhile Dad is on extremely light duties indeed. He is only permitted to go up and down stairs once a day – so that means bedtime and morning. He is also not walking the dog or anything like that.

Last night I went to the network meeting at Century, a private club in London. About 200 people showed up and it was an interesting evening with a rich diversity of professional folk there. Traded a few business cards but don't think I will follow up on many.

It is a beautiful sunny day today. I have to go to a meeting at 4pm – think I will take the Z3!

Am I the only one who has noticed this? I have just been listening to the lunchtime news and when talking about Saddam Hussain, Tony Blair and George W Bush saying subtly different things by using different tenses. Tony says “If Saddam Hussain creates weapons of mass destruction..” George W is saying “Saddam Hussain has created weapons of mass destruction.” Now this can mean one of three things. 1) George knows something Tony doesn’t; 2) George is somewhat extrapolating suspicion into evidence to meet his own ends; 3) One or both of them should think more before they speak. I am not a subscriber to the conspiracy theory and favour the SNAFU theory. Methinks that option three is the most likely – how about you?

Not much to report at the moment, except that I am nose to the grindstone. I am trying to get everything done for work in the ever decreasing time available to me.

I missed my morning cycle ride today as I was waiting for the call from Mum or Dad to let me know what is going on. It didn’t come till 10:30 by which time it was raining again.

I had a confirmation today that I have been successful in getting into the e-networking meeting tomorrow night at Century. Sounds like it should be a good evening, although with 250 folk turning up it might be a bit of a crush. I have a phone call at 4pm till about 5pm and so will jump straight on a train after that.

Chatted to Allan today – he is a bit low and looking for someone to talk to. Why is it that I become everyone’s Agony Uncle? I really don’t mind but it just seems to work that way. Anyhow I told him I can’t arrange a drink with him until I know what is going on at the Hospital.

Here is an interesting situation. It appears that Dad will probably need to have an Angiogram. This cannot be done at Stoke Mandeville so instead he may need to be transferred, either to the Churchill in Oxford, or *gasp* Hammersmith! The problem is, there is a waiting list for inpatients is about 2 weeks for either hospital and in order to qualify he must remain in a hospital until that date, whether it is medically necessary or not. If he were to be discharged, he would then be on the outpatients list and that is about a 6 month wait! So let me get this right – if you stay in hospital, occupying a valuable bed, and depriving someone else of it, you get preferential treatment. If you free up the bed, allowing the NHS to make better use of its facilities you are made to wait for longer. Something is surely wrong in the administration of our Health Service. I have advised Dad and Mum to go Private on their BUPA plan, it will cover this procedure. The transfer from NHS to Private brings with it a new set of problems and hurdles – however these must be easier to deal with for Mum and Dad than the prospect of him sitting bored and frustrated in a hospital bed for the next two weeks.

A call from Mum at the hospital confirms that Dad will be in overnight and may come out tomorrow. He has done his treadmill tests and expects the results first thing in the morning when his consultant, Dr. Durkin, does his rounds.

So looks like this evening will be spent at the hospital again. I was planning to go to the gym but never mind. Just time now to get an early dinner and head over.

While working today I have been listening to Classic FM. Some lovely music which really suited my mood. I wish I could also get JazzFM on DAB, that would be great. Alas it is broadcast from a London multiplex and so although I can just about pick it up the signal is intermittent. Looks like I will have to wait till I move before I can get lots more stations.

The news this evening reports that 31,000 British troops are being sent to the Gulf in preparation for possible action against Iraq. This was announced in the House of Commons this afternoon by Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon. The deployment, which represents nearly a quarter of the entire UK Army fighting force, will include 120 Challenger tanks and 150 Warrior armoured personnel carriers. As if to comfort us all Mr Hoon said that the UN weapons inspectors did not need to find a "smoking gun" to trigger war.

…and with that, I am off to eat.

An early start as I had to give Mum a wake-up call to be sure she made her Doctor’s appointment on time. Dad is normally up with the lark so she doesn’t normally have to worry. When I called at 7:30am she was already up and getting ready.

Mum called me as I was writing the above and she said that Dad called her this morning. He has seen the Doctor and is now out of bed, walking around, and sitting the chair beside his bed. He will have some tests on a treadmill, this should be today, unless there are a lot of booking for the equipment in which case it could be tomorrow. Either way, if the tests show clear then he should be allowed home later the same day once the Doctor has developed a treatment programme for him. I know he will appreciate being at home as he hates being in hospital. Out problem is going to be getting him to take it easy, although I think that this little warning might finally bring to him the reality that he needs to slow down, take less on, and get less stressed about stuff that is not really very important anyway. Mum is visiting with Dad this morning and well let me know after lunch on whether and where I should plan visiting him this evening.

I have lots to do today and will launch into it with great relish, if only to stop myself from worrying about Dad.

Got back from the hospital pretty late last night but cooked a meal of roast stuffed pigeon (yummy!) I called Olajide, who is due to fly back to New York tomorrow morning, and wished a safe flight home. I was told to expect a call to report safe arrival so that will probably come in late this evening. I also took calls from Teddy and Sarongrat, the latter of whom I had forgotten to tell what was going on. Both were concerned and Teddy in particular, being medically trained, was a comfort to talk to. After dinner and feeling knackered I watched a recorded Midsomer Murder and went to bed.

I had to be up relatively early this morning as Mum was leaving for the hospital by 10:30am. An early phone call to Dad revealed that he still had not heard the results of the blood-tests which were taken yesterday, and there were no medical staff on duty on Sunday to give him a considered opinion. He also awoke with a chest pain at 4am which was calmed with medicine and 2 hours on the oxygen mask.

Mum left for the hospital on time and while she was gone I did some more on setting up the computer, prepared the lunch and walked Ben. We went round Wades Park and the sun was quite warm on the back of my neck – a sign that spring might be on the way. I also recorded a mini-disc for Dad so we could take him some discs to listen to so he wouldn’t be bored. During the morning I took phone calls from concerned neighbours but was not able to give them much in the way of information.

We went back to the hospital after lunch and visited for a couple of hours. They keep hospitals so warm that I was beginning to feel sleepy almost as soon as I took my coat of and sat down. We are still none the wiser as to exactly what is wrong with Dad but he was going to ask the nurse next time she took his blood pressure and temperature reading.

It is strange how the artificial environment of a hospital ward can completely stilt any form of conversation. Normally we can rabbit on for hours about all sorts of stuff, catching up on all the news, but today we seemed to sit in silence, often searching for something interesting to talk about. I came away at about 4:30pm to get something to eat, and check on a few things. I will return this evening around about 7:15pm and spend another hour there. I feel I need another early night.

I can see this is going to be a busy week. If they don’t let Dad out of hospital I shall either be walking the dog or visiting him as well as all the other stuff I normally try to fit into a working week. We are also effectively moving into the final week before the San Francisco conference and so it is a race to the line to get everything complete. As a result my Blogging might be a bit erratic.

After a couple of hectic days, and a night clubbing with Ed and Allan last night, I decided to have a long lie in this morning and catch up on some lost sleep. The best laid plans of mine and men are all doomed to failure and I was awoken at 09:45 (6 hours after I went to bed!) by a call from my mother telling me not to worry but that Dad had been taken to Stoke Mandeville Hospital for tests because he had woken up with a chest pain which had become worse while he was out walking Ben. Suddenly, no matter how tired, I was suddenly wide awake. I agreed with Mum that I would stay put till lunchtime and then drive over to theirs to let the dog out, while she would go to the hospital to be with Dad.

I hastily sent a few texts to cancel some appointments and let folk know that my diary was a likely to be little awry for at least the next 48 hours. Only Teddy came back with something understanding.

Soon after, as I was making breakfast of Oatso Simple and a turkey steak, I had a call from my estate agent telling me they had someone in the office interested to see the house. I made arrangements for them to come at 2pm, accompanied by someone from Murray's. I then set about tidying the whole house, which took my mind off things for a little while.

The house moderately tidy, and looking infinitely better after a vacuum, I threw a few things into my bag and headed off.

Mum was at home when I arrived there to let Ben out, and so she was able to fill me in on the details. Initial tests have shown nothing conclusive and a blood test, which wont be complete till tomorrow, will make the difference between him coming home tomorrow, or needing to stay in for 5 days for observation. Mum expressed to me how busy Dad has been this week, and how he is finding it tiresome and less and less rewarding to do his illustrated talks. He will probably now give these up. I wonder if I should take over the mantle. After all it was me that started the merry caper in the first place with my ballooning talks which Dad started to do for me when I was travelling a lot.

It is currently mid-afternoon and I am due to lock up Mylor and go over to the hospital at 5pm to give Mum some relief from sitting in A&E with Dad (the hospital has no vacant ward beds!) As my washing has just finished I will pack up now and head off.

I have been doing a bit more digging into the Office of Information Awareness that I wrote about on Saturday. This new federal agency deliberately chose the motto "knowledge is power" an epithet first coined by Francis Bacon. Let us not forget it was Bacon who also wrote of his deductive reasoning method Novum Organum that is was "a light that would eventually disclose and bring into sight all that is most hidden and secret in the universe."

The biggest problem with the criticism of the Total Information Awareness system is that it's too short-sighted. It's focused on what the Poindexters of the world can do with current database and information-mining technology. That includes weaving together strands of data from various sources--such as travel, credit card, bank, electronic road-toll and driver's license databases--with the stated purpose of identifying terrorists before they strike.

For a hint at what the future might bring, it's worth reviewing some of the projects already under way at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is the parent agency for the Information Awareness Office. Combine that information with the technology trends toward smaller sensors, cheaper hardware and ubiquitous wireless networks, and the possibilities are immensely disquieting. We could face the emergence of unblinking electronic eyes that record where we are and what we do, whenever we interact.

Poindexter's office has an entire project area called Human ID at a Distance that's spending millions on researching biometric technologies, including face recognition and "gait performance" detection.

In 1998, DARPA began funding a project to create spy bots that can fly day and night and that use infrared and video sensors. These spy bots, being designed by Lockheed Martin and code-named MicroStar, will have a six-inch wingspan, weigh only 86 grams and cost about $10,000--an affordable price point for surveilling Americans from above.

Well at least the people of America have some new participation sports to enjoy. Spy Bot shooting could be great fun and I bet the little blighters whiz about quite fast. Sign of a real marksman if you can hit one on the wing.

Meanwhile here in London we have no reason to feel sorry for our American cousins. I saw last night on Newsnight that the GLA are in the final stages of assembling a complete camera network to log car number plates entering the centre of London, ostensibly in order to levy a Congestion Charge which comes into effect in 5 weeks time. That adds to the almost total coverage of CCTV cameras the MET has of the City of London and the West End. The back end of this CCTV network is already equipped with face-recognition software that identifies "known" pedestrians against their line-up photo on file. A complex, multi-million pound system which is thwarted by sunglasses and a baseball cap - and you thought it was just a fashion? And if you want to avoid the congestion charge, rumour has it that hairspray and cling film applied to the front number plate can be most efficacious.

Oh - and remember Francis Bacon? He also said "The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall."

Perhaps Poindexter's choice of a motto was more prophetic than he realises.

Whilst searching for something else altogether today, I came across an article on the web all about the Novel “The Lovely Bones” I had read in November. The article is the story of the story, how the book became a number one best seller, and also includes analysis of Seybold’s writing style. I thoroughly recommend reading it. Here it is.

Super busy day today, lots of conference stuff and editing of technical documents. This evening was the gym and I also dropped the replacement PC over to Mum and Dads. It worked - Yay! Now all we need to do is to get the old one picked up and the PC company to finally ship the copy of Office XP I ordered.

Today I paid alot of money out towards meeting one of my ambitions. You may remember I mentioned this a few days back. Well I am now committed to this one in March, but I am still not telling what it is, you will just have to wait and see.

AM PM
I am so tired tonight I can barely keep my eyes open to type this blog entry. Can’t think why because I had an early night last night and I slept in till 10:30am today. I finally awoke to a sunny but bitterly cold day. I think last night was a real freezer as there was still a thick hoar frost on everything when I looked out of the window – to the point where I couldn’t tell if it was snow or frost. This evening, following the arrival of heavy clouds from the North East, the temperature has soared to a balmy 6 degrees Celsius and is forecast to get as high as 8 degrees by Tuesday.

I met Sarongrat for lunch today. We were supposed to be going Japanese at Edamame in Holywell Street but we got there to find they are closed till the end of the month. The owners keep going back to Japan during the University breaks because it seems they make all their money during the three 8 week terms a year. We went instead to the NextDoor, the new Young’s pub and eaterie which is in the old Blackwells Music building. They have done a sympathetic conversion from bookshop to pub. I had Pan Fried Calf’s Liver and Sarongrat had Pan Fried Chicken. Both were delicious. My only complaint is that the wait staff were not English and didn’t seem to be very adept at the language. I had to give my order three times and finally point at the menu to be understood. After lunch we went to Borders. S wanted to read (but not buy!) the latest National Enquirer and I wanted to check out the CD department to see if I could buy the previous Lemon Jelly album. No joy in getting this, but I did find the newly published paperback of Snow Garden by Christopher Rice. Another book to add to the ever growing pile. We then went back to S’s place and lounged around. Left there at about 7pm.

When I got home I found two AmTrack failed delivery cards on my doormat. The second said that my package had been left with a neighbour. I went to collect it and found it was the PC. This is damned annoying because it was due to be delivered tomorrow, and the driver is supposed to be taking the other faulty one back with him. Never mind. I am a bit concerned about the condition in which the box was delivered and when I opened it I could distinctly hear the sound of something rattling around inside the PC casing. I don’t know if it has been dropped or what but I will have to give this new PC a damn good test before I accept it.

Well that’s all the news that is fit to print today. As Zeberdee used to say, “Time for Bed”.

The much delayed and twice re-arranged dinner with Olajide finally happened, albeit late in the day. It was a tale of missed trains and other annoying delays which meant we didn’t start dinner until nearly 10pm! My salmon starters went down well, and the Rack Of Lamb in Spiced Berry Sauce was, even if I say it myself, cooked to perfection. After the main course (by which time we had downed a bottle of red wine between us) we took a break while I cleared the table and did some quick washing up. Then I served small slices of the Fig and Almond Tart with single cream. Very enjoyable! We finished the meal with tea. Then we just talked for hours – until well past 3am. It was an interesting and enlightening discussion and I learned much about myself and how others see me. In this case Olajide who was being more direct and constructively critical than anyone I have ever met. This has given me much cause for thought in the next few days while I assimilate all the input. In case it sounds like a one way process, it wasn’t in the least. I returned the compliment!

My plans for the business trip to San Francisco are coming together now, although the conference attendance is still a tad weak. Much marketing is now in train to get as many people there as possible. Another disappointment is two of my potential speakers have had to decline so I am looking for replacements. Anyhow with flights and hotels booked (well for the first week anyway) I can now relax on the logistics front.

I have been in touch with Sarah quite a bit later as we are planning to meet up the weekend following the San Francisco conference. I am to fly down to Phoenix on the Friday evening to meet with her and we will stay in the city until Monday lunchtime when I will return home via San Francisco. It is going to be most odd seeing her again after so many months. I know her travelling will have changed her but I wonder if we will have the same chemistry now her horizons have been sufficiently broadened and she has had to be self sufficient for the first time in her life (a bit late at 32). Coincidentally I happened to be at a business appointment which meant I was going to be passing right by her parents house yesterday evening and so I stopped in and delivered all the bits and pieces which I have been storing as they arrived over the weeks and months. I finally got rid of all the photo processing envelopes which has opened up a huge space on my office floor. They are in fine fettle and it seems they have taken the opportunity to redecorate most of the house in their daughters extended absence. Heather also shared with me that the past 11 months have been the first time her and Tony have been alone in 36 years. I believe there will be a significant period of adjustment following for all parties Sarah’s return. I wonder how Sarah will adjust to being in one place – and a place not under her control after being the mistress of her own destiny, timetable, and environment for what, by then, will be a year. For Tony and Heather will they find the return to the nest of one of their hatchlings a disturbance? Will they try and shoo her out? Hmmm I will watch this little situation with a little more than the usual anthropological interest.

Well I went into Oxford today with every intention of purchasing a TV. Mark from the shop had called this morning to let me know they had one in, and advise me they could demo it to me today. I got to the shop less than three hours after he called (not bad for customer responsiveness I thought) and had the demo. I was just about to flash my plastic when he told me that “this one sold this morning but we can get you one in on two week order”. Well in two weeks time I will be on my way to San Francisco and not wishing to leave a brand new TV unwatched. I can also shift the payment into another calendar month if I delay so I told him I will place the order when I return. (Secretly I shall probably visit another shop an but one there – South Molton Street in London for example where I shall be next Wednesday. As they say in TV-land – “Stay Tuned”

Today came the news that the Ark Royal had set sail, ostensibly to take part in “joint exercises in Malaysia” but equipped with full battle provisions for a six month voyage. My guessing, and certainly the interpretation of the news media, is that she is bound for the Gulf. It is set to be the biggest naval deployment for two decades. The scenes of mothers and babies dutifully fluttering their cheap plastic Union Jacks were aired on every news report harking back to that previous deployment to the Falklands when the sense of patriotism was at least warranted as “our brave boys” headed off to defend the rights of British dependents. In the Gulf we are there to protect the oil rights of some rich American businessmen, the current incumbent of the White House and his father, amongst them.

On similar lines last night I heard publicly for the first time about the Office of Information Awareness which has been established in the USA. I had got wind of this happening when I attended the CTO Forum in Washington DC last November. It is part of the new Department of Homeland Security and the OIA is under the command of General Poindexter who, let us not forget, is a convicted felon, having taken the rap on behalf of President Regan (already then showing the first signs of senile dementia) for the Iran/Contra deal. So a publicly recognised crook is in charge of the Office and a budget reported to be $150m. The responsibility of this office and its Thought Police is too snoop on US citizens every communication and record odd behaviour to sense patterns which would seem to indicate membership of a terrorist cell or other antisocial intention. While I agree that their (previously abysmal) security needed enhancing to prevent a reoccurrence of the events of September 11th 2001, I wonder if such Orwellian measurers are strictly necessary. So much for the land of the free! The poor old USA is rapidly showing every paranoid behaviour and implementing similar population control measures the people of this magnificent country used accuse the USSR of using to subjugate its people. If the Iron Curtain were to be raised again today, which side would be the freer and which side would people want to be on?

Its getting late and after a couple of recent late nights and early mornings it is time to hit the hay.

Well Christmas may be over but the winter just arrived. SNOW! Now, admittedly not a ton of it where I live but parts of London have had the most snow in years. The village looks quite pretty with just a light dusting. Sadly I don’t think it will last too long as the weather will be warming up from tomorrow. Another sign that Christmas must be over is I saw the first sign heralding spring today. What is it you may be wondering, is it a bird, is it an insect, has the sun started rising in a different place? No! It is far more reliable than any of those seasonal indicators. For today my television screen showed the first Cadburys Cream Egg advert of the spring. Just as Christmas starts in September in the retail calendar, so does Easter start as soon as the January sales have finished.

How do you eat yours?

So I have spent much of the day working again, same as for the past two days. We are trying to get people to come to the meeting in San Francisco and arrange flights and other logistics. At least I have the flights sorted out now. As I had quite an effort to send about 250 emailed invitations I decided to unplug the laptop from the office and sit in front of the fire for the afternoon while I did them. Although the snow was falling outside I was toasty warm.

I was expecting to be spending much of the afternoon and evening with Olajide but despite my leaving messages, sending Texts and even calling friends I could still not find any trace. At first I was understanding, then a bit annoyed, and finally began to get quite worried. I finally got a text at 19:50 this evening saying “I will call you in a moment.” One hour later the phone rang. Profuse apologies and I made my feelings known but in the end it looks like we will spend tomorrow evening together after all. Just as well considering that I have already baked the pudding and got all the food back out of the freezer after the last cancellation!

Had I known this evening wasn’t going to happen I would have gone along to the Wi-Fi meetup in London. I had put this off knowing Olajide would be coming here. So I ended up doing neither.

While I was waiting for time to pass this evening I fired up one of my old laptops and have installed Wavefinder software on it so it is now acting as my digital radio. It works far better to have Wavefinder installed on a dedicated PC, and at least it doesn’t keep crashing all the time. Only trouble is I have now completely run out of electrical sockets in the office.

I have been listening to a couple more of the CDs I bought on the weekend. The first is A Secret History by the Divine Comedy. Lots of witty and tuneful songs from Neil Hannon. I knew I had not heard this album before but I suddenly found myself humming along with once of the tunes. The song is called Songs of Love, and the melody was so familiar but I just couldn’t place it. Then suddenly I realised it was the theme tune for Father Ted!



The other CD I listened to was 10 by Banco di Giaia. A ten year retrospective on two CDs. I have long enjoyed BdG’s music and so this album is a real treat for me. I think it will get lots of play on my CD player, especially in the car. It is good driving music.

Early start tomorrow, off to London.

Its been a busy couple of days, hence no post yesterday and only a brief one today. The trouble is I have been working so hard I haven’t had time for blogging. Will update again in a few hours.

I am absolutely livid! I have just returned from London. I arrived at the networking meeting venue to find it in darkness. Clearly there is no networking reception there tonight. What a waste of three hours. There was not only nobody there, but there was no notice or anything indicating an alternative venue or a reason for cancellation. I have just checked the website again and clear as day it says Sunday 5th at 5:30pm to 10:30pm. I am NOT in a good mood.

Oh well, at least I have given the Z3 another run. I am now going to get back to the editing job I have been working on for the past few days and see if I can get a concerted couple of hours done before I go to bed. (Remembering my New Year Resolution of in bed by 11pm Sunday – Thursday.)

Had a great time last night. Finally met up with Jide and the crew in Barbella in Crouch End. Had a snack and a few drinks and then suddenly, as the publicised Salsa night clearly wasn’t going to happen (it appears the management had decided not to bother on the first weekend after the New Year), they decided they wanted to go to a club. Not what I had expected or planned at all as I had driven in with the Z3 instead of the Frontera. As a result two of them travelled to Central London by public transport, and I drove taking Jo in my car. Jo is a professional voice coach and trains an operatic style called Bel-Canto. Students are mainly dedicated amateurs. On the journey into London we had this really interesting discussion and as I was pointing out the buildings of Regent Street as being part of George’s Grand Design, Jo suddenly started talking about Ruskin and how a society needs cultural stabilising influences like a highly cultured and influential monarch to ensure that beauty and vision is not crowded out by the lust for mammon. [Note to self, get hold of some Ruskin and read it before March]. After trying to get into a couple of clubs we ended up going to a bar/club called Freedom. A really mixed crowd and some great music. I think I will go there again, it has a great vibe and I would say most of the clientele were young professional – like me! We finally left the club at about 3am which meant I was not home until gone 4, and in bed at about 04:45.

Considering the night before, I had an early start today at 10:30am when I arose. The Z3 had looked really mucky last night. I think the lockup garage is not as clean as I first thought and the car had lots of water drips on it, the drips having carried drips of the corrugated roof leaving smudges on the bodywork. So by 10:45 I was carrying buckets of hot water round the corner to the lockup and washing the entire car. It did look smart once I had finished.

Today is the 40th Birthday of one of my old school chums. David and I were best of friends throughout secondary school although our lives have taken a very different course since leaving Misbourne. It was good to see him again though at his surprise birthday party which was held in a function room of a local pub. We only spent a little time talking as there were about 50 of his friends there and he needed to circulate. He has really changed. At 40 his home life is almost everything mine isn’t; married, (twice) a father (once) he has lots of friends and drinks well! He has also put on a lot of weight since I last saw him. Where I have a six-pack he has a party seven!

David’s 40th Birthday gave me pause for thought. We were in the same year at school and so, yes, my 40th is rapidly approaching. I have been giving it some thought and reflecting on my first 40 years. There are a few things I would have done differently but generally, until a couple of weeks ago I was very satisfied and happy with what I have done. Then, over the Christmas period, the BBC started showing a series of programmes called “I Love the 80s”. They are supposed to be nostalgic reviews of the decade, aimed mainly I suspect at those who were young in those days. Now, given that this period covers my late teens and early twenties you would expect that I would spend the entire 10 programmes remembering the things they were showing, and getting those feint feelings of days gone by. However I was left with the horrible feeling that I barely recognised or experienced many of the things which the programme makers chose to highlight. The entire Rave scene passed me by. I never read “The Face” the supposed bible of style. I didn’t remember at least 50% of the bands they were showing, and all the stuff about the Yuppies and 80s excess was just a memory of something I had heard about. At the end of the last programme I wasn’t so much left with a warm feeling that comes from looking at an old family album, but a hollow feeling of what the hell had I been doing while all the rest of the people my age were out there mixing it up and having a good time? The answer – I was working for the underpaid Civil Service, and playing in various orchestras most nights of the week to make ends meet. Perhaps this latent feeling of a perversely misspent youth (spent being mature, productive and industrious instead of youthful, exuberant and spontaneous, is the reason that I have spent the past two years in a kind of adultescene – making up for what I missed when I was younger before I look to old and ridiculous. Today’s birthday party has stiffened my resolve to make the most of this final 6 months of my 30s and make real all those remaining dreams that I have been harbouring. I am not going to record them here – that would be no fun at all – but I will report on them as soon as I have completed each one. Stay tuned!

Returning home from the party this afternoon I noticed that my garden is confused. It is the middle of winter – we had frost today – and yet I have a fuchsia still in bloom, the pansies are out, as are the primulas, and my clematis has started to bud before I have had a chance to cut it back - meanwhile the bulbs have yet to put in an appearance. This reminds me, I really must spend a day (hopefully a warmer one than today) working in the garden to get it ready for the spring. On second thoughts I might just get a man in to do it and pay him – at least that person would know what they are doing.

The sun is going down as I write. I have a bit more work to do this afternoon and then, as there is nothing on the telly tonight (post Christmas lull before the new season starts) I am going to go to a singles networking evening. It seems strange that they hold these on a Sunday evening but I guess it is one of those times when most single professionals have free. I am going with no expectations whatsoever, and open (but never empty) mind. I don’t intend to be back late. You know the phrase – if I am not in bed by 10pm I am going home! (^_^).

What a beautiful morning. I was up and out by 9am for my morning cycle ride. The sun was just breaking through the last vestiges of high cirrus clouds as I topped the hill. Looking back I