Whitebushes in spring

Matt Peskett's Birthday

Looks like we might have had a tiny bit of miscommuncation with the catering people, SIX TRAYS of sarnies have just arrived in our department (which works out at about 30 sarnies each)...just hope a lot of people come along! ;)

Port Joli, Nova Scotia, Canada

Where Andy lives...which he has described as "Paradise" (hard to disagree looking at that shot!)...more of his pictures here....(if you are interested)... ;)

Oh and here is 33 St Johns Road, circa 1955 (one of my targets)... ;)

Vampire Bride?

Honestly, I didn't muck about with this picture in photoshop, although I really hope someone did...(I snapped it from a page of a magazine that Flyingpops brought home last night)...first reaction?

Where the hell is my shotgun...?

Obviously spending too much time playing "vs undead" games on the xbox at the moment...but does that really look healthy or attractive to anyone?

With apologies to the young lady involved (if she ever reads this), of course, but the photographer could have asked her to pose in a slightly less hunched fashion, and perhaps advised her against the zombie-like hand alignment (just imagine the pose with her arms raised in front of her to shoulder height)...

Andy Dean - an Ex-Pat in Canada

The "power of the interweb" never ceases to amaze me...I had a comment left on a previous post from a chap called Andy Dean, an Englishman by birth (which occured at some point in 1931, making him about mmmf years old), a confectioner by trade, who decided to emigrate to Canada (sometime in 1957) for "purely economic reasons" asking me if I wouldn't mind (as he spotted that I hung out in the Earlswood area) getting in touch with him (and his wife Lelia, a nurse) to share a little of what has changed about the area in the last 50 years...(probably quite a lot)...

Of course, that was no problem, Andy...(even though you were cheeky about my nickname, heh... ;)

I have offered to go and shoot some pics of his old haunts - his old house in St Johns Road (should it still be standing), and what of the garden I can get access to, the factory he remembers which stood behind (should that still be there), the hospital where his wife used to work (which I happen to know is still standing, but is now luxury flats)...that kind of thing, and I thought I would post them here also (for our mutual amusement)... ;)

Just need some daylight now to go on a shooting expedition (the commute means I normally see Earlswood in dusk/darkness at the moment, which isn't great for shooting architechture)...

More on this when I have it... ;) Oh and Andy, if you have any pictures of what the place used to look like back when you lived there, I would be very interested to see... :)

Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Screen saver prank

Oh this is pretty funny...it makes it look like your PC has suffered the blue screen of death, even (if you choose the appropriate option) thrashing the hard disk light to make it look like it's in the middle of doing a kernel dump, then it pretends to restart the machine (and loops)...careful where you use it though, it's so convincing there have been reports of dopey IT staff re-imaging machines!

Download it here - Blue Screen of Death prank screensaver.

Coolest thing? It was written by Microsoft! <:0

Summer in the city - in March?

Well, looks like it's going to be another cracking day, not even half way through March and they are predicting 18 degrees today for London (according to the Metro that is 2.7 degrees hotter than average and even 1.35 degrees hotter than last year)...won't be long and I'll be able to dig the shorts out at this rate! ;)

First BBQ of the year (the standard measure of climate change in the Angel household) for 2005 was the 16th of May (the benchmark year), in 2006 it had slipped to the 29th of April, and honestly, had we not been out in the camper, I think in a sunny sheltered spot in the garden, I would have been content enough to eat outside...yesterday, in fact, on Box Hill, I clocked a group of 4 shirtless young lads lugging 2 cases of Carling with them, heading towards the viewing point, which is really very summery behaviour...it's quite scary though, if in the space of 3 years we have seen such a shrinking of the "BBQ gap" (or "Winter" as it is referred to in some circles), I'm not going to deliberately shrink it, and will wait until conditions are perfect, but right now it's looking like we might be able to shave at least another fortnight off... ;)

Oh, the picture, snapped that from the number 17 bus this morning (click that link if you want to see what the building normally looks like), it's 33 Holborn, or the Sainsbury's store support HQ, sporting a *huge* litho advertising this years Red Nose Day (which I am quite looking forward to), will have to donate some money, all we have done so far is to buy a foul smelling car air freshener ("ungodly fake vanilla stench" I believe it was called, although they obviously forgot to print that on the packet) which promptly got thrown into a sealed box in the back of the camper...better buy some ears or something... ;)

Box Hill avec été minuscule!

In a shock move today, the weather actually decided to be rather good, so we got up (a bit late), packed up Colin the camper and headed up to Box Hill -

- dodging suicidal joggers, cyclists (both motorised and not), ramblers (with rucksacks/walking sticks/flasks of weak lemon squash/waterproof jackets and bobble hats a-plenty, despite the clement conditions), found a nice parking space, scored a free ticket (just as I was cursing not quite having enough change for the three quid parking fee, result!) -

- it was even nice enough to have an ice cream (and it wasn't just us being brave, it had a *constant* queue all the time we were there), well I say ice cream, I actually had an orange ice lolly, but same difference -

- then we took a short walk to the viewing point -

- which was quite busy, had a wait for a good few minutes to get a clear-ish shot -

- down to towards Dorking town, then, back to the camper where we watched the 5th episode of season 1 of Prison Break (still very exciting ;) on the Shinco and then while Flyingpops had a snooze I watched a bit of "Flags of our Fathers" which is actually rather good (which I wasn't expecting based on the reviews! ;)

The rest of the day was spent with Flyingpops' family (celebrating her Grandpop's birthday and watching England win at the rugby)...back home now, just about to run my bath, really fancy a good long soak tonight... ;)

Update - bath lasted the duration of the new episodes of South Park and Lost (thank you Shinco-san)...so about an hour and a half, now that's a good soak... ;)

Spring flowers in Surrey

Pentonville Road closed - Accident

The train got me in to Kings Cross Thameslink quite early today (despite being late to leave Redhill by a few minues), my ticket wouldn't work in the barrier for some strange reason, meaning I had to queue up to get it checked in the procession of people either being issued fines, charged extensions or holding/dragging massive suitcases which gave me a minute or two peering out the window in boredom...then it struck me...the road was empty...bit odd...got out and the flashing lights hit me like a brick, the road was closed (shades of 7/7 reared up in my mind, so I grabbed my phone, only camera with me, and took a few snaps as I followed the trail of police cars to the source of the emergency)...

I passed 5 or 6 police cars blocking the road and offices directing traffic away from the Pentonville road -

- which was startling in it's appearance, not crammed with rush hour traffic -

- as I got nearer (I could see 8 or 10 police vehicles and a load of police tape just up the hill) I started hearing people talking about helicopters, and just then a Virgin air ambulance shot up from behind a building to my right, the rotor sound was obviously baffled until it came into direct line of sight to me and headed at speed northwards...

My curious nature got me in trouble this time, and I saw something I really didn't want to, it was a battered, dusty ten wheeled truck, the kind used to move tons of hardcore around for building sites, behind it in the road a tangle of metal with a bent bike wheel sticking out of it at a strange angle (could have been one or two bikes, it was impossible to tell it was so crushed)...and just being covered with a silver sheet was the totally mangled body of a young girl (no more than 10 or 12)..."Rosie" I gathered from the wails of her school friends as they clung to each other in confusion, desperation, devastation and horror...

I staggered away, my sense of reality robbed from me just as a member of the family was jogging, still perhaps none the wiser, up the road towards the police yelling out "I'm here, I'm family, now what's happened?"...

Can't make any judgement, as I don't know all the facts (just what I saw) but regardless - Sleep tight little one... :(

Sony Mavica MVC-CD500 C13 Error

I hate to say this, but I think my beloved Mavica might be on the way out... :(

5 times over the weekend, on a succession of 3rd party CD-RW disks, I took a couple of snaps and then the "write" LED on the side of the CD drive just stayed static red for about 5 minutes (leaving the lens exposed) while it tried to recover the data...(sometimes losing a few photos in the process)...

I've dug out my two aged official Sony CD-RWs, dusted them off and formatted them, but haven't really had a chance to try them out in anger yet, I'm hoping (against much hope), that it's the batch of unofficial disks that are at fault (but for 3 disks to fail at the same time does seem a tad unlikely)...

Hey ho though, that camera has been quite literally half way around the world with me in the last year, so I wouldn't be too suprised if I've just worn it out, but I'll let you know how I get on...I might just need to buy some more official Sony disks, but the guy in Jessops (very friendly chap) said that Sony have stopped making them, I have found them online to buy, and it seems he is right, but they are £25 a pop (which isn't funny)...oh, I also asked the guy how much a repair for the camera would be (if it does turn out to be broken) and he told me £175...so I don't think that would really be worth it...(I'll just use this as an excuse to go for an upgrade to a nice Canon EOS or perhaps a Nikon D50)... ;)

Update - it seems to be working okay with the old disks, so, if you are having a similar problem, buy some new, branded Sony Media, format it and have another go (might save you the price of a new camera)...

Update update - Even one of the Sony disks screwed up today, got 31 pics out of 66 at full res (so a lot better than the third party ones), but still, Houston, we have a problem... :(

Dislocated Patella - my last couple of days

A picture for you...in words rather than pixels...

We went down to the coast on the weekend on a mission to score an awning for the camper, being new at this kind of thing we enlisted the help of Flyingpops' mum, she even kindly volunteered to drive, but by the time we had got down there, bought the thing (£50 bargain) , stopped for a quick (rain-soaked) lunch at a garden centre, and got back to Surrey (for me to be dropped off at Vodqueen and Al's) I was seriously limping... :(

Having been cramped up in back of the car for a couple of hours, having really no idea I had put myself into such a terrible position (joints felt slightly stressed, but just thought I should put up with the pain), by the time I had struggled (slightly embarrassed at my lack of mobility) along the flooded path and then into the various painful prone positions required to change CD/DVD drives over configuring VQ/AL's new machine, my knee was swollen to a very nasty degree...
We came home, and gritting my teeth somehow managed to cook dinner and then collapsed onto the sofa in absolute agony...as I fell into my final state of rest, my knee made the most horrible popping/cracking sound (causing Flyingpops to say "Ew!")...

2am I awoke in a similar state, sleep quite impossible, tossing and turning until my thrashing finally awoke Flyingpops (with a groan from her, then a freaked out exclamation, followed by a sleepy elbow into my face, *ouch*) who's (zombie-like bumping-into-walls) rescue mission (once semi-awake) to find some anti-inflammatory drugs succeeded in getting me back into a state of unconsciousness after about 90 minutes...

She dropped me at East Surrey Hospital first thing in the morning (stressed to the hilt, late for her train)...not that she was to know, but it was going to be a long way to hobble from the bus stop where I was dropped to where I (finally) found rest...

I checked in, on my own, (just before 8am), knowing the routine by now, despite the pain - smiling, hopeful of attention (although of course smiling only as often as I felt appropriate) at the lady sat (also alone) behind the bullet proof glass who was both obviously ignoring me and my attempts at eye contact and also ignoring the grating, shrill ring tone of the handset immediately to her right (it must come with practice)...

Ten minutes later (now wincing with pain, eyes watering and smile fading fast) amazingly the receptionist's attention managed to slip from whatever was so interesting about the end of her fingers, to the person stood right in front of her, my details entered, then, into the machine, I was told to report to "the main department"...Hmmm, not been there before...

Two blagged security doors of hobbling along later I was stuck, leant up against a wall, unable to get any further...I stood, exhausted and direction-less next to a swipe card machine and unyielding portal, with a leering sign just beyond hinting that I had at least got near "Childrens A&E"...

The nurse (that eventually materialised from behind) let me though (only about 8 minutes later) giving me a very suspicious look, but directed me finally, to where I should have been ushered initially...it must be noted, at this stage, that none of this misdirection was my fault, there were simply no signs indicating which way I should have gone to get to "the main department"...when I weaved my way between patient after unconcious patient on hospital trolleys, plugged with drips parked along the corridor (making me feel like I really was in completely the wrong place, not being half as poorly as they obviously were) and finally found what looked like the bridge of the starship Enterprise (many monitors all showing vital signs or other intreging readouts) and handed over my form, I was shown to a chair (phew) and then was completely ignored for the next 30 minutes...at this stage I was joined by a man with a bandaged hand (called "Cook") who politely enquired how long I had been waiting. I told him. We wait for another 20 minutes (overhearing a nurse telling one of the patients with a drip "Well, I would go private personally") before being told that we should go back to the entrance and wait at the walk in centre...great...so back I hobble, having the same problem with the doors and lack of signage, sit back where I checked in after re-annoucing my presence to the receptionist and waited some more. Another 20 minutes go by and then "Mr Cook" was called for! >:(

So I wait, find and read a terminally dull magazine called "Kent Life" (from cover to cover) and 40 minutes later Mr Cook comes back out, smiles and waves (git) and I am called in...My examination takes 90 seconds (but hurts a lot), I am told that it's most likely soft tissue damage again caused by a dislocation of my patella, but it might be a fracture, so I need an X-Ray (oh no!), I get placed into a wheelchair and then dumped into the corridor to await a porter. Feeling rather like a parcel awaiting collection I twiddle my thumbs for 15 minutes or so, toy with the idea of using my good leg to propel myself backwards to the X-Ray department and actually have an experimental poke or two, but just manage to face myself into the wall, when a nurse comes round the corner and says "Lets just whisk you up there, if you wait for a porter you'll be here all day" (Yes!)...

So I get to the X-Ray department (she had to drag me backwards because one of the wheels was faulty) and being one of the wheeled wounded (rather than the walking wounded) has a distinct advantage, I skipped the queue, just joining the 6 other people in wheelchairs, a meer 1 hour's wait and I am irradiated, we collect the prints (not sure this was really the best use of the nurses time, but at least I had someone to talk to), and back to see the doctor, who pronounces me just to have soft tissue damage (hurrah!) and the nasty noise on Sunday was my patella popping back into place most likely, binds me up, orders me onto pain killers and 3 days total rest (which I have just concluded), and packs me out the door, ready to process the next case...

You have just got to love the NHS...anyway, all better now, swelling gone down and knee now bearing weight again...I'm going to go to my GP though, at some stage to get it checked out properly and take some advice as to how I can look after it, my mobility is rather important to me...

Science versus Nature

Spotted just up the Caledonian Road the other day, a really rather "out of the ordinary" (position-wise) poster site ad for one of our competitors...made even more amusingly strange with the addition of the blue mushroom motif (lovingly daubed by one of the local Islington spray artists) in respect...

One would have to take a minute or two, to question the motive of the ad planner that decided on this particular spot, the rest of the local audience probably being quite as appreciative of the subject matter as the mushroom commentator... ;)

Total Lunar Eclipse

Happening right now, don't miss it! ;)

Update - Damn thing keeps on moving, had to reposition the tripod every 10 minutes or so! Don't normally spend this much time staring at the moon...it's interesting though, it spent about 20 minutes looking like a cue-ball, then it went really red and looked really 3D, it's funny the moon normally looks quite flat, like a disc cut out stuck on the curtain of the sky... ;)

DIY - Welding new step into T25 Camper van

Today we had our welding appointment at the RANS household, arranged with Vodqueen and Al to fix where the step on the drivers side has rusted away (rather badly, as you can see, so badly, in fact that we have spent all the time up until now clambering in and out of the van by the passenger door) -

- lacking tools (as well as the skills and knowledge) we yielded to Al's expert assistance, who used a hammer to remove all the rusty bits, then clipped some plate to the perfect shape -

- which I helped to hold in place (as/when necessary) -

- while Al welded it into place (took just over an hour in the end, including filling the little holes)-

- had a few little fires in the coating of the underside as we went along, but they weren't anywhere near the fuel lines/tank, so we just blew them out once the metal cooled down (bit scary though!) -

- and here we see the weld finished -

- then just a lick of white Hammerite and the mat went back into place, perfect!

You might also notice the pink patch just below the throttle pedal, this was another little hole, but just below it was the speedo cable, so we couldn't weld anywhere near it, so the pink stuff was a glass fibre mixture which plugged that perfectly (after brushing vigorously with a wire brush to clean it up... ;)

Video - Skydiver survives 12000ft fall - with no parachute!

This is going to be all over the internet in about 10 nanoseconds time, so I thought I had better mention it quick... ;)

It's horrifying to watch, it takes a long time to fall 2.2 miles (about 2 minutes in fact)...but somehow, against all odds, he survives...! All filmed from his helmet camera...

Find the video here and the associated article (which you should probably read first) here...

Gotta love those (intended) last words "Oh s***, I'm dead...Bye!!!!"

Engrish Snow Globe

Yes, got a bit of Engrish to share with the world!! Spotted at colleague KP's desk, this "Snow Dome" (made in Hong Kong) showing Las Vegas has the following features advertised proudly on the back of the box (which she kept for exactly that reason), it is -

• Decorative
• Non-useful
• Non-functional

So glad they cleared that up...bet the package design department went home that night confident of a job well done... ;)

Silly Search Terms #8

So, time for another batch of the more "interesting" search terms people have entered into Google/Yahoo/et al, and *somehow* ended up on one of my blog postings...caught some really odd ones this time -

"gay sauna in east croydon" - Sorry, no idea! Never even been to a sauna!
"torquay housewife pics" - Only pics I got of Torquay are of Kents Cavern, oh and Bygones...no housewives though, sorry... ;)
"the events that lead to a lorry crashing on the m25" - I didn't do it! I wasn't anywhere near it!
"BBQ DUCK RECIEPT" - hmm, on that note I must finish doing my expenses from New York...
"crystal meth unconciousness" - Urm...can you be unconcious when on crystal meth?
"grandmothers with genital warts" - Who on earth entered this?? And why?? DEVIANT!!
"Trinidad and tobago Hospital Physician Directory 2006-07" - this keeps coming up! I don't know anything about Trinidad and Tobago (wish I had never mentioned it)!
"How to install a fence that isn't a straight line" - Someone trying to be funny? ;)

Previous entries can be found here (if this kind of thing interests you)...

McDonalds Fries and Ranch Dressing - Taste test

Well, I bought back a bottle of Ranch dressing (specifically - "Hidden Valley - The Original Ranch Dressing") from a little supermarket lurking in the Financial district in New York on the recommendation of Renemy, yesterday I finally managed to remember to put it in my bag so we could all taste what the fuss was about...I took a quick trip to the nearest McDonalds (just down York Way) to score some freshly cooked French fries and we were all set...

Renemy chopped up some disposable cups to hold the dipping sauce, and I made sure they gave me some BBQ sauce tubs to counterpoint the Ranch (if needs be, as it looked like it might be sour), and it certainly did seem to benefit from it - Ranch is a little on the creamy side with a hint of onion and a gentle hit of garlic, making it very reminiscent of Ceaser salad dressing, it even almost manages to trick your taste buds into thinking there is cheese present, which there isn't...an interesting dip, but not sufficiently different to have developed itself as a unique dressing when facing up against the similarly styled Aioli-like options that have been omnipresent in the UK thanks to our proximity to France...

Still, if you can find some it's great for dipping fries/chips, and would be just outstanding for dipping pizza crusts (if you didn't want to smell too much of garlic in the morning)...and with the addition of some crumbled blue cheese we have the beginnings of an excellent dip for BBQ chicken wings...it's good stuff..! ;)

Xbox 360 - Oblivion - Easy way to max out Stealth

Okay, this is how to max out your stealth, the easy way... ;)

Go and find the location that your girlfriend/sister/mother/hippy friend keep their hair bands (you'll want a thin one, the kind used to hold a simple pony-tail in place), here is where I knew to find one (tut)...

Speed travel to the Imperial City Merchant's quarter and find the stunningly imaginatively named "Merchants Inn" (walk up the stairs ahead of you, turn left and it's the first tavern on the right), then simply push in the left thumb stick to start sneaking, loop the hair band around the left thumb stick and pull it towards the bottom left controller handle, again looping it around (like so) -

- your character will sneak into the corner and onto a box, but you will notice that instead of movement stopping, the camera will continue to bob (indicating motion), but all the time staying stuck in the corner of the bar...this is perfect, make sure the sneak eye indicator in the centre of the screen is pale (indicating you are hidden, if not, take your characters shoes off and try again)...then just watch for a minute or two, just to make sure your character stays in the corner of the bar (bobbing up and down and hidden), then turn off the TV (gasp!), and go out and enjoy the *real* world for a few hours (take your PSP in case of withdrawal symptoms ;) and when you return (might need to do this a couple of times as the "Journeyman", "Expert" and "Master" announce screens will pause the game, but depending on your skill when you start) - 100 sneak will be yours... ;)

One small caveat here though, if you are playing any class with Sneak as a major skill, don't do this, seriously consider making a custom character class (with all the other skills you fancy, but omitting Sneak), when I got around to sleeping on my initial character I shot up about 10 levels in one go, but still armed with terrible weapons and armour and got my arse kicked (prompting me to have to start all over again)...