Category: diary

All cold and wet outside, this is no fun at all. A few weeks ago it seemed like we were in for the longest and hottest of all summers, now those thoughts are relegated to thoughts of should I have waterproofs or an umbrella in my bag (it has been so grotty I’ve gone for both thus far this week).

Had a good trip to Birmingham on Saturday night, whilst mrsfb went off to visit a friend in Woking, I went out with some mates up there, and spent a very pleasant evening talking boys rubbish and drinking beer, whilst a pirate wandered around the pub. No, we didn’t figure out what they were for either.

I’ve been trying out the streaming tv program by Joost. Rather nice. Looks very good as you navigate through it, and the actual quality of the video, and of how well it streams is great. Content is maybe a little sparse on the ground at the moment, but they are supposed to have signed up some quite major companies recently, and it is still in beta, so there may well yet be more to come. Only downsides are that there isn’t a version in Linux yet, and some of the menus were a bit weird, I would be told that a channel wasn’t available, but then if I drilled down I could happily watch programmes listed in the channel. Watched some old America motor racing (IRL) that was great fun.

Good rest, not achieved too much in the past few days, caught up on a few things like reading a Valentino Rossi autobiography, just generally took it all very easy. Had my Xbox 360 break (booooooo) which I’m not happy about, and got a new phone (a Nokia 6300) which I am rather happy about, especially as I can now hook it up to Linux machines and get pictures off it, which is great for me (it was one of the last things I still had to do in Windows). This is a very good thing.

Looks like I shall be off for a little trip to see friends in Birmingham on Saturday, which will be fun, never really been out there before. I’ve mainly been passing through whenever I’ve been there. Can’t wait!

My last day in work for six whole days today. Can’t wait for a nice little break. We have a few plans, hoping to try going to a couple of different places, and possibly take the odd photograph or two. Nothing too extravegant or massive, just lots of nice little things hopefully. We’re thinking of a little cycle ride up to the Perch, and possibly a trip out to see some comedy on Sunday. Keeps us busy!

Spoke to my niece last night, who is not that long out of hospital after some problems with her diabetes. Happy to say she sounds fit as ever, although bored with not doing much for a couple of weeks. And starting to enjoy the xbox I gave her too. Just nice to hear she is peachy again.

What if the motion of passing cars powered wind turbines? That is the question posted by Joe of Arizona State University in his article on Parasitic Catalysts.  (Article found via post on Makezine). I just love the idea behind this, converting from a “negative” energy into a positive.

I’m a little disappointed in myself today. It is in part because it is not a bank holiday, but I had intended last year to get today off as holiday. I wanted to go to Magdelen Bridge for dawn to watch the students jumping off the bridge. Not for sheer interest, no, I noted last year that pictures of students trying to hurt themselves to honour tradition were getting in the national papers. If I got the spot I wanted, given my camera as well, I could have had a chance of getting a really good shot of someone discovering how shallow it is there. Damn my lack of motivation.

Setting myself up for a fall here I’m sure, but I am planning on trying to write a proper post every day in May. Also have a lot of work to do in moving this blog (and others) to a new host, so should be keeping quite busy this month.

Didn’t get up to that much really. We had a couple of friends over for dinner on Friday (if I say so myself, I make a cracking lasagne. Fresh pasta sheets are my secret), which ended in a marathon Singstar session, with a little Guitar Hero II thrown in. Saturday was a bit hazy in the morning, but we eventually pulled ourselves together, and had a walk over to South Park. When we got there, I regretted a bit not planning more, as it was gorgeous, and I could have happily sat out there for a while, but we didn’t have any books or toys other than my camera, and more importantly, hats or suncream. I would have frazzled rather quickly, so we settled instead for a couple of beers in The Star (one of the few untouched indie pubs of the Cowley Road. As an aside, I notice that Brickworks (which isn’t indie really, but is odd in an interesting way, a bit like a posh band on 4AD or something) is now open again, so I must go back there. One of my favourite bars on the basis it is odd, interesting and random, to the extent that you get random DJs there, parts of the pub (or indeed the whole pub) closed and opened on a whim, and even on one memorable occasion a barwoman declaring “We don’t serve wine here”, which was odd as I could see a bottle behind her at the time. Still, I don’t like to argue. I like oddness like that, and in general it is a fun place for a quiet drink.

We are now planning for our extended 12″ Bank Holiday weekend, where we have Friday – Tuesday off. Hoping for a couple of trips out and a cycle ride, more news as we get it.

Is it Wednesday already? Bloody hell, I’ve gone a bit without writing then. Not been up to a lot, Saturday we went into Reading, Mrsfb managed a successful shopping trip with some nice clothes, I only wanted to go to one shop (Muji) and got there to find it had closed down, so I was slightly less successful. Then onto a mates house for the first BBQ of the year. Going to have to dust mine down soon, well I will at least when we get the lovely sunny weather back.

Other than that, not up to a lot at the moment. Am reading up a little on PHP (which is what this site is built in) so I understand it better, both for here and for work, as I’ve got a couple of small projects which use it now. Also do intend to make some changes to the blog, mainly moving it to a new host. Might try and do some of the groundwork for that shortly.

We’ve got a reasonably chilled weekend planned, friends over on Friday night, then maybe a film on Saturday. All good. And hopefully might get to talk to my sister who is over here briefly.

Well despite my best efforts this hasn’t disappeared off the face of the earth, so I guess I better write something. Well, a good weekend in the main. Firstly got our tickets for this year’s Truck Festival, which we don’t know the line-up for yet, but we do know we’ll have a few friends going, it looks like it will probably be hot and sunny, and I’m going to camp for the first time this millennium. Well as long as I buy our tent first.

Friday I met up with a few friends from Mansfield and Birmingham, after they’d been to see a gig at the Zodiac, we had a few pints then headed back to play Singstar and Buzz until very late indeed. Saturday I managed to get up at a not unreasonable hour, and we had a relaxed shopping trip into town. Mrsfb treated me to the latest Piers Morgan book, which by now I’ve already read, such is its enticing wealth of gossip and celebrity nonsense. We met a couple of friends in the pub to watch the Grand National (none of us won a penny I’m afraid), then made the most of the gorgeous weather to stay out drinking in the sunshine for a while. We went home for dinner, and then that is when the evening started getting weird.

Probably about 8pm, I heard a vague noise outside that might have been someone knocking on the door, so I pulled back the curtain at the front to check. And found four policemen standing outside staring at me. Which I wasn’t quite expecting. They also looked pretty serious. When I spoke to them, they informed me they’d had a phone call from someone who was threatening to kill themselves, and who had given our address. Which was quite the thing to take in. I pointed out that it wasn’t us, and the policeman that came in to talk to us wanted to make sure, which is fair enough. I showed him around the house so he could see in each room that there wasn’t anyone there, and he phoned the number they had been given just to check it didn’t ring. After he was happy with that, he thanked us and went on their way. I have to say, when I’ve dealt with the Police here in Oxford, they’ve been brilliant, really friendly and caring in the right sort of ways.

So we settled back down, but about 50 minutes later, there was another knock at the door. I could see a flashing blue light through the front door, so I guessed what might be going on. I found an ambulance man and woman on my doorstep, looking very concerned. Same deal again. Having explained to them what was going on, I called the police to see if they knew what was going on. They explained that they had a tape of a phone call, from an obviously somewhat disturbed and slightly incomprehensible person, and as best they could make out the address was ours. And about 50 minutes later again, we had another house call from a paramedic. He explained the chap was still calling, and they still had to check as it was the best lead they had. And that was our Saturday evening. Most disturbing, no idea why our address kept coming up, but from what the police said they didn’t seem to think it was just a prank call. We haven’t had anything since, but that really set me on edge, shook us up a bit. I’m hoping they decided to start tracing the calls and track him down that way, as it would seem the person really didn’t know where they were. There’s nothing on the local news sites, so I just hope they’re okay. And that this is just a strange co-incidence thing.

I’ve also had a new email about P Wyndham Little, which if you don’t know about I’ll explain in another post shortly, but that only adds to my general sense of weirdness at the moment.

Quick word of warning, I’m making an adjustment to the settings of the website, so if this disappears for a bit, it is my fault.

Ha, a little dash of colour on the site now, am thinking about colour schemes, interested what people think about this as a base to start from? Certainly better than the default colours I think, but you may not agree. And hello to people reading this in a news reader, in which case come over to the site and see what you think.

Little break away from blogging, have had a lengthy break over easter. Didn’t do as much as we wanted, as mrsfb was a bit ill (all better now). Still did get to see her folks for a couple of days, which was very pleasent, and then relaxed the rest of the time. I got Guitar Hero II, which I love, and she can’t stop laughing at me when I play as “apparently” I rockgurn when I play guitar. I don’t know, I can’t see me. Great game though. Does hurt to play somewhat mind, not used to it.