Tank Mania - Nat and I Go Riding In Some APV's; N8/iPhone Satnavs Go Mental; Nobody in Work, Hasmuhk's Birthday;

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This morning Nat and I attended a session at TANK MANIA which was, I'm afraid to say give the cost, somewhat disappointing. Things didn't get off to the best of starts when we arrived at 9:45 (satnav went weird on route too*) and after a painful lorry ride and kitting out then waited until 11:45 in the blazing sun for things to get under way. I managed during that time to make a complete prat out of myself when I climbed a grassy bank to take a photo of the course and when arse over elbow on the way back down when my feet slipped out from under me on the wet turf. Came down hard on right elbow and felt it jar my bad shoulder. luckily no harm down apart from my bruised ego.
There were two problems; 1. Part of the course was still too water logged to use (the APV's [armoured personnel vehicles which is what we were actually going to ride in] were getting bogged down in the mud ... WTF ... Yo UK Army no going to war when it's raining then) so we were going to be limited to where we would be able to ride and 2. One of the vehicles developed a fault which meant that one group (OURS!!!) were going to spend a very uncomfortable time in the back of a military lorry being driven back and forth along a very bumpy track (five times in all).
All that said it was an eye opener and I certainly wouldn't envy 12 soldiers inside one of those things with the hatches down, no seat belts and very limited lighting traversing rough terrain for any length of time. We were stood with hatches up and the ride only just finished in time before Nat chucked his guts. Was touch and go for a minute after we disembarked.
We had two rides ... one on the open road and the other over the assault course. To be bluntly honest I wouldn't go again nor would I recommend it to anyone.

N8/iPhone SatNav

things weren't helped this am when we were on route to Tank mania when both the N8 and the iPhone seemed determined to take us home. Don't know what the hell was going on as I'd planned one route on Nokia maps and downloaded to N8 and the other on Google and downloaded to iPhone. Something was amiss and iphone kept saying compass needed re-orientating so GPS glitch? Eventually aborted routes and found location on map on N8 marked and did the Drive to Here option from currently location. After that it was perfect and guided us to the entrance of the very field we wanted. Twas most strange most strange indeed and I blame the wee pixies ... innit.

Eventually made it home for 2PM rather than 12PM so I shot off to bed to grab a few hours sleep before work tonight. When I arrived our seats were once again occupied by another team (this begins to wear) and while I was in loo Hasmukh called to say he's be late and was in charge tonight and that it was his birthday ... fuck I knew it was 14 August I just didn't realise that today is the 14th!!! Most of our team turned out to be off tonight for various reasons and we were left with just the six of us including Hasmukh. Lets hope it turned out to be a quiet night!!! 

Julie's Sixth Birthday Party

Tonight we went to Abbey Sports and Leisure Club to celebrate Julie B's 60th birthday.

PHOTOS TO UPLOAD

Olympics, Di, San Francisco, Nat Ski Trip, Enders Game, Nat Kndle, iPhone chrome Browser, Orange Wednesday App,

London 2012 continues

UK Medals

Well I’d suggest, a little tongue in cheek it’s true, that the BBC be renamed the BOBC because, since it began last week, they’ve broadcast nothing other than the Olympics and, if I’m being honest, their coverage has been and continues to be amazingly good. As the host nation we have to broadcast everything and the BBC has established an additional 21 channels on which to show everything (21 std and 21 hd). Sports I’ve never even heard of are being covered on either one channel or another and even I, Mr Hate Sports (your fault Dad) , am finding myself being, a little, swept along with it all … plus, for reasons unknown, Deb appears to have set Olympic TV coverage as our default viewing mode.  We are 11 days in and the UK (pop 70 million) is third in the medal table behind USA (pop 300 million) and China (pop 1,500 million) so Team GB  are punching well above their weight at present.

Day 11 of 17 – 20.47 China  31 19 14 = 64  ... USA    28 14 19 = 61 ... UK      18  11 11 = 40

GO TEAM GB GO!!!! OK that’s enough enthusiasm back to good old reliable cynicism.  Whether this will continue is moot L.

Di gets back from San Francisco:

My BFF in the States Dianne has returned, exhausted, from her san Francisco adventure. Apparently the place was fantastic (see photos below) but her kids were something of a pain at times. She finally understands why I said one of my lottery fantasies was travelling ALONE. I’ve got my high tech travel kit all planned out and should be online wherever I find myself and able to speak to whomever I please whenever I want BUT alone; able to chose exactly where it is I want to go. To be able to stop and drink a beer and read a book in a bar somewhere for as long as I want, never to be rushed elsewhere by someone else desires to see something else or be somewhere else now! No, No, No, at my pace at my convenience in my sweet time.

Cannot believe, when I was explaining this to her, how much detail I went into about how I’d be kitted out. Clothes, hat rucksack covered in solar cells, spare batteries sawn into clothing so walking power source. Clothes would actually plug into any available electric outlets in order to recharge batteries while solar cells would endeavour to replenish cells whilst on the move. Loose baggy ventilated Kevlar trousers which seal to super comfortable but water proof fire proof bite proof boots so allowing no creepy crawlies to climb up my inside leg measurement. Waterproof sealed cargo pockets for Kindle and ePad. In fact might be one piece overall style outfit. Again built in batteries and solar cells and built in cell phone and GPS with attached irremovable emergency interfaces so that, in extremis, I’m always able to find out where I am and able to tell someone. A little like those emergency watches that cost about $20,000 and which you get fined for miss using. Basic premise always wearing what one can’t risk losing. Would also make clothes look scruffy in order to blend in and not attract the attention of predators. The one piece could be designed to look like a shirt and pants but a one piece construction, especially if made of protective materials would provide more protection in accidents or dangerous situations. Coat would also be stab/bullet proof and my umbrella (attached to rucksack like the map man) would be one of those special fighting ones () that cost about £200. Wide brimmed sun hat would contain inner lining of Ribcap protection. My very own Earl Dummarest (Dumarest looks like a human wolf. And he wears nondescript, gray clothes, a tunic and pants with steel mesh buried in the fabric of the tunic.) travelling outfit for the modern day.

I’ve just realised Nat went to France skiing in January of this year and he’s still to tell me what he did while he was away … anything to avoid writing, and his friend Brandon still hasn’t remembered to give me a copy of his photos because Nat took about 20 photos, in total, of which over half are blurred (given he was using the Nokia 700 with EDF camera … which should make blurred pictures impossible … how he managed that is anybody’s guess). Not told me anything about holiday at all; think he told Deb but when I was working so asleep during the day. I must ask him before he forgets all about it. Talking of forgetting we must get old vidios transferred off tapes and onto disc and uploaded before they degrade (if haven’t already) beyond saving. These have all the early films of Nat and Hannah and a even some footage of my Daddy shortly before he died.

The other day I was trawling through and trying to organise the thousands of ebooks I have on the PC to see what else I’d like to put on my Kindle when my eye was drawn to some scifi novels written by Orson Scott Card … specifically a series The Ender Saga … an author whom I’ve never read. For whatever reason I decided to give them a try and upon investigation discovered the original novel Enders Game is quiet notorious given that it’s subject matter concerns training young children to become generals and that it’s recommended reading for US marines. It is rather good, so far, and so I passed my Kindle to Nat to check out a page as I thought he’d find it interesting. Well Lo and Behold I didn’t get it back. Yes Nat, the kindle hater, suddenly decided that he really liked this story and that perhaps he wouldn’t mind having a Kindle after all. Maybe get to put all those Warhammer 40,000 books on a Kindle for him plus the thousands of other I have.

I also put the chrome browser on the iPhone for Deb, this being the browser she says she prefers to use, but whether she’ll bother to learn how to use it is moot. Certainly next morning she seemed to go out of her way to not under stand how to use the Orange Wednesday App. Anyway enough for this entry will continue tomorrow. Want to experiment with Dragon dictation and blogger app on the iPhone because I’m seriously tempted to go the iPhone route when I get my next phone. Nokia camera’s still kick arse and I’ll keep the N8 on PAYG SIM if I don’t upgrade to their new 808 PureView but if that happens then the iPhone will become my communication device and the N8 will be for Photography and Music.

USA Trip, Redundancy, iPhone, Orange SIM card, Nat's Homework, Hannah Clingy, Sons of Anarchy Series 3 and Desk Move But I'm Not Told!

Woken by Deb with Good news bad news and for the life of me can’t remember what the good news was. Bad news???? That’s easy The Global payments redundancies are once more engaged and Deb and fellow appeal winners were advised today that once more they are going to have their employment terminated come Xmas. The sort of Good news (not THE Good News which I’ve still forgotten) is that by next week there will only be Deb and 3 others left on the team and as staff members threatened with redundancy they have first dibbs at any vacancies that come up elsewhere in the business. Either way this news didn’t swat her on the two decisions it appears she’s made for us (yes feel the sarcasm) regarding 1) The Allotment … it’s still going 2) Going to Florida next Summer … we’re still going … either out of income or funded out of redundancy because she’s desperate to have one last big foreign holiday before Nat reaches the age where he doesn’t want to come but would rather hang with his mates.

So I’m glad I got to have lots of input into those two decisions and now people will understand my general apathy as what’s the point of giving input if the decisions already made??? Life’s short enough as it is so why waste any more time involving your self in an exercise in futility???

Seems I was somewhat unobservant this am Two items of post, one a letter, labelled Orange, I so thought it was the new SIM, and one not. Opened what I though was the SIM only to discover that it was a letter from Orange confirming the setting up of the direct debit for the new mobile contract but no SIM. Didn’t open the other, thought it was from eBay, only to find out when I woke it was the envelope, devoid of any Orange ID, containing the expected SIM. No time that evening to transfer so that’ll be first thing to do tomorrow after I wipe iPhone and get SIM from N82 and transfer SIM card contact details into iPhone memory.

This morning, before I went to bed, Nat promised solemnly to do the first of his holiday homework before he went out to Jacob’s house. He wasn’t back when I got up but it didn’t appear he had done it so there’s another empty promise. I tried telling Deb years ago that if we didn’t MAKE them do some things then they would never ever learn to make themselves do them. It would seem that the chickens are now coming home to roost. Nat knows he can get away with making promises he had not intention of keeping because there are never any consequences for failure to do so. The blog issue a few years ago (I wanted hem to write 200 words every day in order to become keyboard literate and unafraid of writing … this was reduced and reduced eventually to 50 words a day which he never did … 2 years thrown away never to be recovered … EVER) is a perfect example and proves that there’s absolutely no point in my pushing the issue because the more I do the more Deb will resist (even when she knows I’m right she’ll still dig in her heels out of sheer bloody mindedness and some strange desire to do the opposite to anything I suggest no matter what it might be … Look at the Bill Bryson Book “A Short History of Everything”. I’m intrigued to see how she will turn this into my fault when it really comes to a head and bites her in the arse but rest assured somehow it will be … IT ALWAYS IS!!! You think she was the one that had spent her life trying to make up for the damage the dyspraxia caused me but funnily enough it was me and I do know what the fuck I’m talking about.

Added to this Hannah again had to try and be the centre of attention whilst we were eating and ended up clinging to Deb despite repeated requests to stop because she was hurting her. Needless to say, when I tried to explain to her that she couldn’t just climb all over people and to please stop constantly trying to hog the limelight she responded with the usual tears and took no notice whatsoever.

Oh, finally got to watch the first episode of series three of Sons of Anarchy this morning, missed but the last two of series two this time because Nat watched them all while I was in bed, and it was pretty damned good. I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.

Tonight was another perfect example of being kept out of the loop; when I got to work this evening I logged on, at our normal bank, and was ready to take calls when a few of the team appeared and asked me why I was sat there when, apparently, we were told this morning that we would be moving desks this evening … I can definitely confirm the following … no fucker bothered to tell me!!!

It’s now 03.46 and I’ve been sat at this desk since 20:00 last night and so far haven’t moved or even been to the loo. In another 16 minutes that will mean I’ve sat here unrelieved for a whole 8 hours … I think that must be a record and I’ve been drinking coffee and eating curry. Feeling a vague urge to pee but no more than that and that’s exacerbated because I’m writing about my situation. Therefore it might be a good idea to change the subject and see was toss I can write in order to crack the thousand word barrier tonight. Gosh it looks as if I’, only twenty-five or so words short of target already so no need to waffle tonight is there? Oh Maybe There Is!

Thoughts on Blogging; Iphone or Nokia 808 PureView: Eating My Words; Goodbye Millfield; Goodbye Brockington; Prize Giving Let Down; Summer Weather; Allotment; Olympic Games London; Di in San Francisco

It would seem that like many I’m not up to maintaining a daily blog. Since May of last year (2011) thinks have been very intermittent so from now on I’m going to blog when I get the chance and try and include anything I can think of, of significance, that’s happened since the last one.  Having got my hands on an iPhone 3GS (thank you Sandy Bush) I’m going to try and u8se that to mobile blog and make more regular entries. The only problem with that idea is that I have told Deb that she can have the phone. I find myself in the position of having to eat my words; having soundly criticised the i[phone for it’s walled garden and espoused the freedom of Symbian I’m finding that I can do things on it (like mobile blogging) that are impossible on the N8. So much so that I’m seriously thinking about getting an iPhone when I’m due to upgrade and keeping the N8 for it’s camera rather than going for the outstanding camera on the new Nokia 808 PureView.

Anyway what’s happened recently; Nat and Hannah both finished their time at their respective schools this year. Finally Hannah left Millfield Primary, ending an unbroken continuous relationship since 2000. Nat started nursery there age three and stayed until July 2009. Hannah did the same three years later and I’ve been a governor there for 5 yrs (never done what I’d have liked to have and been involved as much as I should have because of hip operations and working nights). My tenure ends next month and that will be that; a chapter ended for ever unless the kids remain here and my grandchildren one day attend. Amazingly we have lived in this area since 1884 and I never even knew the school was there until after Nat was born in 1997 and it’s within walking distance!!! What’s even more difficult to credit is that Nat’s three years at Brockington are over. It seems like he started there only the other day; where the heck has the time gone. Come August he’s away to start at Lutterworth College and Hannah takes his place at Brockington. Before you know it he’ll be doing A Levels and she’ll be done at Brockington too. Both years ended on a bit of a downer; there were prize giving ceremonies at both schools and neither Nat nor Hannah were noted for their contributions to their respective schools. Given how much they have both participated in school activities I have to say that left a sour taste in my mouth and I think upset them both too. Well I know for a fact that Hannah was devastated given she’d just carried the end of year play and whilst he didn’t say so I think Nat felt very much the same.

Well there’s one thing we can say about this year and that’s that we’re never going to forget this “summer” as we have had record rainfall for the last four months and we have been deluged. One upshot of this is that we have been plagued with calls from the mad woman who now runs the allotment to come up to the site and clear the over grown areas. She doesn’t appear to comprehend that we aren’t retired and that if when we are available it’s pissing down there’s not a lot we can do about it. Deb has gotten so sick of her that we’ve decide to call it quits and give up the plot. Pencilled in for next weekend, weather permitting, is taking down the shed and moving it to our back garden to replace our old one that’s falling apart.

Well the Olympics have finally begun, again time wise can’t believe it’s already eight years since they announced that London had won and the 7/7 bombings the next day. Fuck it’s true as you get older the time just seems to pass more and more quickly … indeed life is short!!! Anyway, enough of that maudlin talk, the opening ceremony was spectacular. As someone with no interest in the whole event I was hooked and enjoyed it immensely. I’ve even watched some of the events since which is unheard of for me. Mr Doyle did the country proud and correctly guessed that tyhere was no way we were able to match the Chinese for the size of the opening ceremony so went in a totally different direction and made it into a lesson of British history instead. That works superbly and the icing on the cake was redesigning the flame and getting it lit by new up and coming athletes rather than by a famous personality. The flame itself is undoubtedly a work of art and took the whole World by surprise if the news reporta are to be believed.

I watched the cycling road race yesterday afternoon and was engrossed it was fascinating to listen to the experts explain the various team tactics and how team riders supported fellow team members. It didn’t work out as planned for the UK (big medal hopes in that one) when two made a break and managed to hold it to the line (think the UK hope finished 29^th) but even so learned an interesting new word Peloton  … The peloton (from French, meaning little ball or platoon and related to the English word pellet), field, bunch or pack is the main group of riders in a road bicycle race.

Additionally I’ve watched some of the rowing, the male gymnastics and a little bit of beach volleyball. Now there’s a let down. On Baywatch all the players of such games were enormously breasted young ladies in very revealing bikinis whereas the professionals were flat-chested to a “Man”. I now regret subscribing the Beach Volley Ball Porn Channel cos doesn’t appear that I’m gonna get a right eyeful after all!!!

WhatsApp link on phone to Di and Pervy pals is being flooded with pictures as Di shares her San Francisco adventures with us. I’m glad she’s having a great time with her kids but gotta admit I’m as jealous as hell because Frisco is one of the US cities I’ve always wanted to visit. On the upside not checked the Lottery tickets yet and if I do scoop the £105 million jackpot I think I can safely say it’ll be on the cards asap.

Oh well, seems I’ve passed the 1000 word barrier so may as well call it quits for tonight. Must establish the habit of doing this regularly again and that will definitely be a factor in my decision of whether or not to go the iPhone route next time.

Photo upload test from iPhone

Test dragon dictation

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane quick brown crop jumped over the lazy dog Hannah won't shut up when you're recording and now we're trying to record over the noise of the Olympics and Hannah and making noises and Debra recording I wonder will you understand me Dragon dictation on that clever today we're commenting on the economic situation of the new role how will it affect the London Olympics and the gymnast was walking off in the blue leotard he looks quite old are speaking Spanish Spanish team is Italian but you can't tell because they all look so much the same

New iPhone Test

listen to ‘New iPhone Test’ on Audioboo

First iPhone blog

Just downloaded the blogger app for the iPhone and giving it a quick run through to se how it performs. Very impressed with the iPhone keypad which is everything I'd heard it was and which is currently correcting my errors as I am typing this. So far it has correctly amended every typo and makes mobile blogging simple. Will have to download twitter and see how it does with that so far I'm blown away

Finishing School Finally

OMG it's finally happened. After an association of twelve years hannah has left Millifield primary schoola dnwe no longer have any conncection. Similarly as she's about to move on to Brockington Nat spent his last day there today.

Hannah's last School Play at Millfield: The Secrets of Azure

Phone test

listen to ‘Phone test’ on Audioboo

Final test Upload from PC

listen to ‘Final test Upload from PC’ on Audioboo

test 2

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Just a Test

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Harry Potter World

Harry Potter World