Pagans...... Feh!
I was involved in a very animated discussion on a Pagan list relating to sexual mores, where it would appear that I was on the losing side. Now I don't mind losing a reasoned debate, because I've at least given the grey matter a good work out I'm had to find evidence to support my case and the same is true of the other person(s) involved. What I don't like is arguing against someone who has decided that I am wrong no matter what I say and will then take the very argument I used and quote it back at me as though it was their original thoughts. For example, if you say coal is black, these people will proceed to tell you how you are wrong, for what ever reason they come up with, you reply to their argument and get a scathing response along the lines of "you are so - stupid coal IS black". I sent a long email explaining my thoughs on the over reliance of penetrative sex and how this places too much pressure on people to "perform", I went on to explain that it is possible to have a fulfilling sex life without the need for penetrative sex by developing a fuller understanding of your partners needs and desires, and by using that knowledge even living hundreds of miles apart wouldn't detract from a full love life. I got a scathing reply from some woman who in telling me I was wrong proceeded to give me a lecture on how you can have "sex" with your partner 24/7 through email, text, phone calls etc and didn't I know the brain was the biggest sexual organ? I wondered if she had actually read my mail. I doubt it.
Of course, in the middle of this I decided to change my mailing list settings on the groups web page and I hit the wrong button unsubscribing, (doh!) and the list owner/moderator has publicised this to the whole list without any reference to me. So now I either look like a sore loser or a bimbo who can't operate a web browser without getting it wrong, whereas I was taking multi-tasking too far and got distracted by one job whilst doing another, resulting in them both going wrong.
Life.... Don't you just love it?
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
Monday, August 19, 2002
List of Lists
Okay I'm starting the list of lists here. There is a new link to the home page of one of the lists. Beyond_EM is I think one of my favourite lists, it is supposed to be about discussion of electronic music, but the list membership is very much a community so we end up discussing all sorts, (past discussions include cars, computers, Lord of the Rings, Charlotte Rampling, Charlotte Church etc). The noise to signal ratio is high but the noise is so entertaining we wouldn't do without it. There is also an associated chat channel on Undernet, where a few of us hang out on a Friday night.
You might find if you are lucky that you are chatting in a message thread with one of the many musicians there, but then there are so many musicians on the list it would be hard not to speak with them.
Okay I'm starting the list of lists here. There is a new link to the home page of one of the lists. Beyond_EM is I think one of my favourite lists, it is supposed to be about discussion of electronic music, but the list membership is very much a community so we end up discussing all sorts, (past discussions include cars, computers, Lord of the Rings, Charlotte Rampling, Charlotte Church etc). The noise to signal ratio is high but the noise is so entertaining we wouldn't do without it. There is also an associated chat channel on Undernet, where a few of us hang out on a Friday night.
You might find if you are lucky that you are chatting in a message thread with one of the many musicians there, but then there are so many musicians on the list it would be hard not to speak with them.
Ooo Errrr Missus
I subscribe to a lot of mailing lists. And I really do mean a LOT. At last count I think I was subbed to about 50 or so. Some of them you are lucky if you get a message once a month and at the other extreme there are some that have a couple of hundred messages a day, though the bulk of these messages are people "me too-ing". At some point I will list the lists so that the world can see just how sad I really am.
But I digress....
I received a mailshot from one of the mailing lists which turned out to be more entertaining than I though for a number of reasons.
First off, there is that well known children's hero Bob the Builder. Perhaps parents might want to take a closer look at the things the Bob is teaching their kids based on the evidence of this series of links. Maybe the local Child Protection Agency should be notified.
Whilst on the subject of innuendo there is a nice research paper on the distribution of the labial flap, though this is not to be confused with Jackie Stallone's study. (Yes, that is THE Jackie Stallone mother of Sylvester).
Finally there is news that THOMAS DOLBY (he of "Hyperactive" fame) is still alive and made one of his rare live appearances "hosting a 350 Euro-per-headseminar on COMPOSING POLYPHONIC RING TONES in Finland". Before you breath a collective sigh of relief, he's doing two sessions in London this week. There's more info here
I subscribe to a lot of mailing lists. And I really do mean a LOT. At last count I think I was subbed to about 50 or so. Some of them you are lucky if you get a message once a month and at the other extreme there are some that have a couple of hundred messages a day, though the bulk of these messages are people "me too-ing". At some point I will list the lists so that the world can see just how sad I really am.
But I digress....
I received a mailshot from one of the mailing lists which turned out to be more entertaining than I though for a number of reasons.
First off, there is that well known children's hero Bob the Builder. Perhaps parents might want to take a closer look at the things the Bob is teaching their kids based on the evidence of this series of links. Maybe the local Child Protection Agency should be notified.
Whilst on the subject of innuendo there is a nice research paper on the distribution of the labial flap, though this is not to be confused with Jackie Stallone's study. (Yes, that is THE Jackie Stallone mother of Sylvester).
Finally there is news that THOMAS DOLBY (he of "Hyperactive" fame) is still alive and made one of his rare live appearances "hosting a 350 Euro-per-headseminar on COMPOSING POLYPHONIC RING TONES in Finland". Before you breath a collective sigh of relief, he's doing two sessions in London this week. There's more info here
Charity Work
The lady that is the fundraising co-ordinator for the Charity we were helping last night is wonderful. She has more personality that half the comedians that were performing last night. On the two big shows the comedians forgot to mention that the charity was collecting so we got a really poor response to the buckets. However, at the other site, the comedian at the big show there has said that we should get somebody into the auditorium whilst he is on stage and he will "pass the bucket around for us". The guy actually approached us whilst we were outside and chatted saying what great work we were doing. Suddenly, I was no longer cold and wet, and my feet miraculously stopped aching, so never under estimate the power of a compliment.
The politics are still going on within the Order. There is so much "he said/she said" going around and no two tales are the same so it is impossible to know what is the truth, although everyone will tell you that they are telling the truth and everyone else is lying.
Oh well!
The lady that is the fundraising co-ordinator for the Charity we were helping last night is wonderful. She has more personality that half the comedians that were performing last night. On the two big shows the comedians forgot to mention that the charity was collecting so we got a really poor response to the buckets. However, at the other site, the comedian at the big show there has said that we should get somebody into the auditorium whilst he is on stage and he will "pass the bucket around for us". The guy actually approached us whilst we were outside and chatted saying what great work we were doing. Suddenly, I was no longer cold and wet, and my feet miraculously stopped aching, so never under estimate the power of a compliment.
The politics are still going on within the Order. There is so much "he said/she said" going around and no two tales are the same so it is impossible to know what is the truth, although everyone will tell you that they are telling the truth and everyone else is lying.
Oh well!
Sunday, August 18, 2002
Argggghhhhhhh
It's that time of year again. Edinburgh is full of tourists doing the festival, so there is lots of opportunities to shake buckets under their nose to get them to part with the money for a good cause. That the good cause is one of the local HIV/AIDS charities means that the bucket waiving is being done by the local order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. One of my friends is a Sister and as a result I tend to get roped in as a henchperson. Sometimes though the roping in as an ad hoc volunteer gets way out of hand and you are expected to take sides in the petty squabbles and power struggles that happen now and again.
And wouldn't you know it ust as we are heading towards World AIDS day, for which we have to source a huge number of condoms, dams, etc that we have to make up into safe sex packs it would appear that the squabbles are happening again.
The order has a new novice, who is not gay but is very heavily into the fetish scene and seems to want to use the order to get more gays to join fetish events. This novice is also so overbearing and bossy that I have expressed that I don't want to be at any of the event with him. The head sister has similar concerns, and doesn't want to loose me as a henchperson (because I'm more committed to the work than some of the nuns?), but my friend is on the side of the novice. I am trying to stay out of this but it was organised with the head sister that I would help with some bucket waving tonight and of course today my friend had a swipe at me over that. I think if this is going to get to the point were I'm being got at just for doing voluntary work I think that I should withdraw my goodwill.
Which as far as I see it leaves them with one real henchperson and henchperson who forgets he's henching and does other things whilst out with the nuns.
What a set up!
It's that time of year again. Edinburgh is full of tourists doing the festival, so there is lots of opportunities to shake buckets under their nose to get them to part with the money for a good cause. That the good cause is one of the local HIV/AIDS charities means that the bucket waiving is being done by the local order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. One of my friends is a Sister and as a result I tend to get roped in as a henchperson. Sometimes though the roping in as an ad hoc volunteer gets way out of hand and you are expected to take sides in the petty squabbles and power struggles that happen now and again.
And wouldn't you know it ust as we are heading towards World AIDS day, for which we have to source a huge number of condoms, dams, etc that we have to make up into safe sex packs it would appear that the squabbles are happening again.
The order has a new novice, who is not gay but is very heavily into the fetish scene and seems to want to use the order to get more gays to join fetish events. This novice is also so overbearing and bossy that I have expressed that I don't want to be at any of the event with him. The head sister has similar concerns, and doesn't want to loose me as a henchperson (because I'm more committed to the work than some of the nuns?), but my friend is on the side of the novice. I am trying to stay out of this but it was organised with the head sister that I would help with some bucket waving tonight and of course today my friend had a swipe at me over that. I think if this is going to get to the point were I'm being got at just for doing voluntary work I think that I should withdraw my goodwill.
Which as far as I see it leaves them with one real henchperson and henchperson who forgets he's henching and does other things whilst out with the nuns.
What a set up!
Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Sanity Break
I'm having a brief break from updating this blog. The reasons are twofold.
Firstly, I want to take time to stand back and work out what I'm trying to do here. I started keeping a blog at a time when I wasn't exactly in the best frame of mind to do anything, and most of the posts are probably full of self indulgent whinging. Which, understandably, is not the image that I want to portray.
Secondly, I really have to get my web pages sorted out, which means I have to work out how to put stuff on the ISP's web server without the html being munged into FrontPage hell, and if it can't be done then I will need to find an alternate web server to host my site.
And then there are the niggly little problems with the workstation here at home that need to be sorted out, and I need to get proper backups done (backing up to the server may work but it isn't a good idea).
Back soon.
I'm having a brief break from updating this blog. The reasons are twofold.
Firstly, I want to take time to stand back and work out what I'm trying to do here. I started keeping a blog at a time when I wasn't exactly in the best frame of mind to do anything, and most of the posts are probably full of self indulgent whinging. Which, understandably, is not the image that I want to portray.
Secondly, I really have to get my web pages sorted out, which means I have to work out how to put stuff on the ISP's web server without the html being munged into FrontPage hell, and if it can't be done then I will need to find an alternate web server to host my site.
And then there are the niggly little problems with the workstation here at home that need to be sorted out, and I need to get proper backups done (backing up to the server may work but it isn't a good idea).
Back soon.
Murder in Mind
I have been given the job of transcribing some interviews for one of the senior lecturers, and the guy is driving me nuts. He has got this special equipment for putting the recording onto the computer and a footpedal for playback attaches via a USB port and the headset is pluged into the soundcard, but he comes over each day to take the stuff off me, as though I can't be trusted with it. This is on top of coming to see how I am getting on every hour or so, then whinging that it's going to take too long to do. I feel like telling him that if he left me the equipment so I could get on with the work as soon as I've got my coffee, and then stayed out of my hair all day it would be done a lot quicker, but I suspect I will get into trouble if I do that.
Of course, I could just kill him.
I have been given the job of transcribing some interviews for one of the senior lecturers, and the guy is driving me nuts. He has got this special equipment for putting the recording onto the computer and a footpedal for playback attaches via a USB port and the headset is pluged into the soundcard, but he comes over each day to take the stuff off me, as though I can't be trusted with it. This is on top of coming to see how I am getting on every hour or so, then whinging that it's going to take too long to do. I feel like telling him that if he left me the equipment so I could get on with the work as soon as I've got my coffee, and then stayed out of my hair all day it would be done a lot quicker, but I suspect I will get into trouble if I do that.
Of course, I could just kill him.
Monday, August 12, 2002
Monday, Monday
I hate Mondays. Don't know why because the work on Monday is just the same as on any other day, except that there is usually less of it.
But today is a Monday I could really do without. I am supposed to be transcribing some interviews for one of the research fellows who was supposed to be here at 9:30 am. It's now 11:00 am and there is still no sign of him. On top of that I have a migrane, my vision is distorted and my balance is off kilter, even with the blind drawn my office is too bright and I've taken as much in the way of painkillers as I dare without talking to a doctor. All I really want to do is find a quiet corner where I can curl up and die.
*sobs*
I hate Mondays. Don't know why because the work on Monday is just the same as on any other day, except that there is usually less of it.
But today is a Monday I could really do without. I am supposed to be transcribing some interviews for one of the research fellows who was supposed to be here at 9:30 am. It's now 11:00 am and there is still no sign of him. On top of that I have a migrane, my vision is distorted and my balance is off kilter, even with the blind drawn my office is too bright and I've taken as much in the way of painkillers as I dare without talking to a doctor. All I really want to do is find a quiet corner where I can curl up and die.
*sobs*
Thursday, August 08, 2002
Big Birds of Prey
Macho Man was here again today. This time he had two birds of prey, the eagle and a falcon, and was posing in front of the trust headquarters again. I had to pass close by Macho Man when I went over for my mid morning coffee break and I don't know why he bothered. Okay from the back and from the distance he looked like a well build athletic type, but up close he was old, and had beer gut pouring over the top of the waistband of his jogging pants. Okay his shoulders and arms were well built as you would expect of someone who handles big birds, but the rest of him was a right old wreck. Butt ugly as well.
Any way the seagulls have the measure of him and his birds of prey, so it's Seagulls 2 Eagle 0
Hehehe
Macho Man was here again today. This time he had two birds of prey, the eagle and a falcon, and was posing in front of the trust headquarters again. I had to pass close by Macho Man when I went over for my mid morning coffee break and I don't know why he bothered. Okay from the back and from the distance he looked like a well build athletic type, but up close he was old, and had beer gut pouring over the top of the waistband of his jogging pants. Okay his shoulders and arms were well built as you would expect of someone who handles big birds, but the rest of him was a right old wreck. Butt ugly as well.
Any way the seagulls have the measure of him and his birds of prey, so it's Seagulls 2 Eagle 0
Hehehe
Wednesday, August 07, 2002
Seagulls 1 Eagle 0
The hospital that I am based at has now brought in a man with a BIG bird of prey (an eagle). The seagulls mobbed it, the eagle flew back to it's handler, who then proceeded to pose and posture with the bird on his arm.
I am absolutely disgusted with the health trust here. The seagull on the building opposite my office only "attacked" people when they got persistantly close to it's nest. Of course, the people it "attacked" most of all were the crowd of smokers who were constantly winding the poor thing up. So not content with killing themselves with their cancer sticks, they are trying to have the gulls killed as well.
Everytime something new is tried it just winds the gulls up and makes them "attack" more people. Then the increased gull "attacks" are an excuse to try something else.
Not to mention that the money spent on Macho Man and Big Bird would have best been spent on the patients.
This is from our local compassionate carers. At the moment I don't think I would trust them to care for a house brick.
Now I remember why I stopped working for the health service in the late 1980's, and it was upsetting to see that nothing has changed. Maybe I need to work elsewhere.
The hospital that I am based at has now brought in a man with a BIG bird of prey (an eagle). The seagulls mobbed it, the eagle flew back to it's handler, who then proceeded to pose and posture with the bird on his arm.
I am absolutely disgusted with the health trust here. The seagull on the building opposite my office only "attacked" people when they got persistantly close to it's nest. Of course, the people it "attacked" most of all were the crowd of smokers who were constantly winding the poor thing up. So not content with killing themselves with their cancer sticks, they are trying to have the gulls killed as well.
Everytime something new is tried it just winds the gulls up and makes them "attack" more people. Then the increased gull "attacks" are an excuse to try something else.
Not to mention that the money spent on Macho Man and Big Bird would have best been spent on the patients.
This is from our local compassionate carers. At the moment I don't think I would trust them to care for a house brick.
Now I remember why I stopped working for the health service in the late 1980's, and it was upsetting to see that nothing has changed. Maybe I need to work elsewhere.
Ouch!
Trawling through Ananova I came across this story.
I suspect it was a form of weird sexual experimentation, though you may have other ideas.
Trawling through Ananova I came across this story.
I suspect it was a form of weird sexual experimentation, though you may have other ideas.
The Seagull
I have spent the past couple of weeks watching the seagull chick on the roof of the building opposite and as it got older I was looking forward to watching it make it first attempts a flying. Well, it isn't going to happen now. Apparently at some point yesterday one of the adult seagulls attacked one of the hospital's car park attendants wounding his arm, so this morning a couple of men went onto the roof and removed the chick. Not in a carry cage so that it would be allowed to finish growing up and see the world - no, it was wrapped up in a blue plastic bin liner. The assumption is that one of the men strangled the chick. I was so angry and upset at this. Of course, the people from the other building keep saying "well it was a nuisance" and "what about the poor man it injured?". I have had to walk across the adult gull's territory several times each day - to get lunch, to get work from my boss and so on - and I have only been swooped on once.
The adult gull had a pattern to her behaviour, first she would give warning cries, then she would give a couple of high level swoops that didn't necessitate you to duck, if you didn't get out of the way she would try to shit on you, after that she would make several lower passes that you still didn't need to duck from and if you were still in a position she thought was threatening to the chick she would make the really low passes that you did need to duck from. A couple of times I saw it get worse than that, but in each case the person being attacked was moving back towards the nest and usually waving something at the bird and were basically winding it up. So in terms of this wounded car park attendant, I want to know What was he doing to the gull?
Of course, now we do not have just one seagull defending a nest, we have three or four other angry seagulls who are attacking everything in sight and no real reason to stop, when if the chick had been left alone the single adult would have started to chill in about 10 days or so when the youngster fledged.
If we show so little humanity to something as helpless as a chick, then what hope is there that we will be able to show humanity to other humans?
I have spent the past couple of weeks watching the seagull chick on the roof of the building opposite and as it got older I was looking forward to watching it make it first attempts a flying. Well, it isn't going to happen now. Apparently at some point yesterday one of the adult seagulls attacked one of the hospital's car park attendants wounding his arm, so this morning a couple of men went onto the roof and removed the chick. Not in a carry cage so that it would be allowed to finish growing up and see the world - no, it was wrapped up in a blue plastic bin liner. The assumption is that one of the men strangled the chick. I was so angry and upset at this. Of course, the people from the other building keep saying "well it was a nuisance" and "what about the poor man it injured?". I have had to walk across the adult gull's territory several times each day - to get lunch, to get work from my boss and so on - and I have only been swooped on once.
The adult gull had a pattern to her behaviour, first she would give warning cries, then she would give a couple of high level swoops that didn't necessitate you to duck, if you didn't get out of the way she would try to shit on you, after that she would make several lower passes that you still didn't need to duck from and if you were still in a position she thought was threatening to the chick she would make the really low passes that you did need to duck from. A couple of times I saw it get worse than that, but in each case the person being attacked was moving back towards the nest and usually waving something at the bird and were basically winding it up. So in terms of this wounded car park attendant, I want to know What was he doing to the gull?
Of course, now we do not have just one seagull defending a nest, we have three or four other angry seagulls who are attacking everything in sight and no real reason to stop, when if the chick had been left alone the single adult would have started to chill in about 10 days or so when the youngster fledged.
If we show so little humanity to something as helpless as a chick, then what hope is there that we will be able to show humanity to other humans?
Tuesday, August 06, 2002
Webmasters Apprentice
Well now that the computers are working with a degree of reliability I have to turn my hand to the task of updating my webpages. This is going to be a mammoth task because I have to re-write everything from scratch. To make things harder, the nice web publishing package that I originally used doesn't work on the OS I now use, besides which, despite making web publishing easy, it produced pages that are illegal under new UK legislation.
I could try editing the web pages that have already published, but my ISP have this habit of changing the html tags into Front Page tags, so it is easier to start again from the beginning.
So for the next week or so I will be working with index cards to set up my basic structure and getting to grips with how to translate my ideas into an electronic format. Whilst relearning how to write proper, compliant html, that will allow more than one browser to view the pages.
There may be something to see next week, but please don't hold your breath.
Well now that the computers are working with a degree of reliability I have to turn my hand to the task of updating my webpages. This is going to be a mammoth task because I have to re-write everything from scratch. To make things harder, the nice web publishing package that I originally used doesn't work on the OS I now use, besides which, despite making web publishing easy, it produced pages that are illegal under new UK legislation.
I could try editing the web pages that have already published, but my ISP have this habit of changing the html tags into Front Page tags, so it is easier to start again from the beginning.
So for the next week or so I will be working with index cards to set up my basic structure and getting to grips with how to translate my ideas into an electronic format. Whilst relearning how to write proper, compliant html, that will allow more than one browser to view the pages.
There may be something to see next week, but please don't hold your breath.
The Birds
Today was a first. The seagull attacked me. Having been watching it's modus operandi for over a week I wasn't particularly bothered, just keep an eye on where it is and if it decides to shit on you, move out of the way - fast!
The thing is I was right at the other end of the car park when it decided it didn't like me. This is well away from the area it usually gets sensitive about. It's really spectacular watching a large bird, like a gull, in a head on power glide, and to have it pass over your head, so close that you can hear the feathers rustling, but I think I would have rather not have experienced it first thing in the morning, whilst still half asleep.
Still I only have to pass that way about a dozen more times today, so I will no doubt get used to the sight.
Today was a first. The seagull attacked me. Having been watching it's modus operandi for over a week I wasn't particularly bothered, just keep an eye on where it is and if it decides to shit on you, move out of the way - fast!
The thing is I was right at the other end of the car park when it decided it didn't like me. This is well away from the area it usually gets sensitive about. It's really spectacular watching a large bird, like a gull, in a head on power glide, and to have it pass over your head, so close that you can hear the feathers rustling, but I think I would have rather not have experienced it first thing in the morning, whilst still half asleep.
Still I only have to pass that way about a dozen more times today, so I will no doubt get used to the sight.
Monday, August 05, 2002
Talking of Wealth
I spent some time browsing through the web and came across this little gem of a site http://humanforsale.com.
I'm actually worth $1,755,064.00. Hmmmmm....... Better not let my partner find out or he might get ideas.
I spent some time browsing through the web and came across this little gem of a site http://humanforsale.com.
I'm actually worth $1,755,064.00. Hmmmmm....... Better not let my partner find out or he might get ideas.
Commonwealth or Just Plain Common
So the Commonwealth Games have finished. I shouldn't be cynical, after all I do not match the abilities of any of the athletes that competed, so irrespective of where they finished, they are each and every one of them worthy in their own way of my respect.
However, today on the news I seem to have been bombarded by Manchester City Councillors and associated PR people telling us that this is only one facet of Manchester and that people will have loved their time in the City so much that it is likely that they will return again and again. All this is because Manchester is (allegedly) a live, vibrant and happening place, with lots to see and do.
Huh?????
Is this the same Manchester that I lived in for 5 years? The same Manchester that I was visiting a couple of weekends ago?
I assume it must be because the place I was visiting was filled with people wearing "official" games t-shirts, and there were posters showing the sports all over the place, so I know I was in the same city as the games. It's just the vibrant and happening bit I don't get. You see the Manchester I was visiting is dying on it's feet. The main shopping mall (The Arndale Centre) while trying to promote itself as a high class place to shop is half empty and the shops that are there are little more than glorified market stalls. Even the Warner Brothers store is the clearance branch. Everywhere you go in the city centre there are shops boarded up, and being left to fall in the disrepair and dereliction. One of the main (high quality) department stores has closed completely and its premises have now been taken over by T.K.Maxx and Primark who are the bargin basement end of retail. The centre is being developed with modern blocks of luxury flats that most Mancunians cannot afford. Did I say dying?
The patient is dead and the corpse is beginning to smell.
So the Commonwealth Games have finished. I shouldn't be cynical, after all I do not match the abilities of any of the athletes that competed, so irrespective of where they finished, they are each and every one of them worthy in their own way of my respect.
However, today on the news I seem to have been bombarded by Manchester City Councillors and associated PR people telling us that this is only one facet of Manchester and that people will have loved their time in the City so much that it is likely that they will return again and again. All this is because Manchester is (allegedly) a live, vibrant and happening place, with lots to see and do.
Huh?????
Is this the same Manchester that I lived in for 5 years? The same Manchester that I was visiting a couple of weekends ago?
I assume it must be because the place I was visiting was filled with people wearing "official" games t-shirts, and there were posters showing the sports all over the place, so I know I was in the same city as the games. It's just the vibrant and happening bit I don't get. You see the Manchester I was visiting is dying on it's feet. The main shopping mall (The Arndale Centre) while trying to promote itself as a high class place to shop is half empty and the shops that are there are little more than glorified market stalls. Even the Warner Brothers store is the clearance branch. Everywhere you go in the city centre there are shops boarded up, and being left to fall in the disrepair and dereliction. One of the main (high quality) department stores has closed completely and its premises have now been taken over by T.K.Maxx and Primark who are the bargin basement end of retail. The centre is being developed with modern blocks of luxury flats that most Mancunians cannot afford. Did I say dying?
The patient is dead and the corpse is beginning to smell.
Virgin on the Ridiculous
I travel to Manchester a fair bit. This necessitates the use of Virgin Trains. Definately not one of life's little pleasures.
Way back in May I travelled to Mancester for two consecutive weekends and I was delayed on the return journey by over an hour each weekend. I, of course, put in my claim for compensation from the rail company, which arrived today in the form of travel vouchers to a value of £4.00. I was going to call from work to find out where they got their figure from, but when I went to Waverley Station to ask the Virgin staff there for the number I was told that there wasn't a customer service call centre and there was no telephone number for customers to contact head office. When I arrived home and looked at the letter there is, naturally, a number to call.
To give credit where it is due the girl on the other end of the phone was polite, friendly and helpful. She took the information needed to find my complaint and said that she could see straight away that it had been assessed incorrectly. She noted that my name had been input into the system incorrectly and corrected it. She listened to my rant about the inadequacies of Virgin's West Coast service, and she apologised and said that despite their efforts to run the service on-time they were clearly failing. When I said that I was contemplating using a longer route to avoid using Virgin she sounded genuinely upset. At least I will wait and see what happens with the complaint from here on, before making drastic changes to my travel plans.
I travel to Manchester a fair bit. This necessitates the use of Virgin Trains. Definately not one of life's little pleasures.
Way back in May I travelled to Mancester for two consecutive weekends and I was delayed on the return journey by over an hour each weekend. I, of course, put in my claim for compensation from the rail company, which arrived today in the form of travel vouchers to a value of £4.00. I was going to call from work to find out where they got their figure from, but when I went to Waverley Station to ask the Virgin staff there for the number I was told that there wasn't a customer service call centre and there was no telephone number for customers to contact head office. When I arrived home and looked at the letter there is, naturally, a number to call.
To give credit where it is due the girl on the other end of the phone was polite, friendly and helpful. She took the information needed to find my complaint and said that she could see straight away that it had been assessed incorrectly. She noted that my name had been input into the system incorrectly and corrected it. She listened to my rant about the inadequacies of Virgin's West Coast service, and she apologised and said that despite their efforts to run the service on-time they were clearly failing. When I said that I was contemplating using a longer route to avoid using Virgin she sounded genuinely upset. At least I will wait and see what happens with the complaint from here on, before making drastic changes to my travel plans.
Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy
I had forgotten how much hard work it is being a witch, not to mention how humiliating it can be at times.
In terms of hard work it is the usual round of organising things for the latest festival. Lughnasadh (pronounced Loo-nah-sah) is the "festival of harvest, a time to acknowledge the fruits and labours of summer and the sacrifices to be made in order to survive the coming winter. Traditionally the character of John Barleycorn is sacrificed symbolising the harvest but from his death comes the gift of food that enables life to continue through the long winter months."* So I have to get my altar organised for the festival time on Thursday. At least it's at a decent time so I will manage to have a good night sleep afterwards.
Now for the humiliating bit. The end of last week saw torrential rain in Edinburgh, combined with severe thunder storms. By severe, I mean there was a whole area of Edinburgh that lost power, unfortunately the part where I work - at a hospital! During one of the lulls in the storms I went over to the main building, but on my way out I noticed that a poor bee was on the hedge by the door and so wet that it wings were sticking to its body. Depite the rain having stopped it was being dripped on from the overhang of the guttering. So I went back into my office got my scissors, cut the length of twig it was sitting on and found it a nice sheltered place where it would get sunlight and a slight breeze to warm and dry it, but still protected if it started to rain again. Of course, just as I am fixing the twig in it's new location one of the doctors comes up to me and asks me what I am doing. The look on his face when told him suggested that he thought I was ever so slightly mad. I'd like to think it was what any witch would do.
* Quoted from the Beltane Fire Society website at http://www.bfs.samhuinn.org
I had forgotten how much hard work it is being a witch, not to mention how humiliating it can be at times.
In terms of hard work it is the usual round of organising things for the latest festival. Lughnasadh (pronounced Loo-nah-sah) is the "festival of harvest, a time to acknowledge the fruits and labours of summer and the sacrifices to be made in order to survive the coming winter. Traditionally the character of John Barleycorn is sacrificed symbolising the harvest but from his death comes the gift of food that enables life to continue through the long winter months."* So I have to get my altar organised for the festival time on Thursday. At least it's at a decent time so I will manage to have a good night sleep afterwards.
Now for the humiliating bit. The end of last week saw torrential rain in Edinburgh, combined with severe thunder storms. By severe, I mean there was a whole area of Edinburgh that lost power, unfortunately the part where I work - at a hospital! During one of the lulls in the storms I went over to the main building, but on my way out I noticed that a poor bee was on the hedge by the door and so wet that it wings were sticking to its body. Depite the rain having stopped it was being dripped on from the overhang of the guttering. So I went back into my office got my scissors, cut the length of twig it was sitting on and found it a nice sheltered place where it would get sunlight and a slight breeze to warm and dry it, but still protected if it started to rain again. Of course, just as I am fixing the twig in it's new location one of the doctors comes up to me and asks me what I am doing. The look on his face when told him suggested that he thought I was ever so slightly mad. I'd like to think it was what any witch would do.
* Quoted from the Beltane Fire Society website at http://www.bfs.samhuinn.org
The Continuing Saga of the Computers
It would appear that the nice chap from the IT department has fixed the iMac. I say fixed but in reality I mean it is only crashing once or twice a day as opposed to once or twice per hour. But it is a start and at least now I am able to get some work done.
Things are looking up with the home machine too. I am almost back to a having a working system. There are a few glitches (the workstation seems to think that the CD-Rom drive is the CD-Rewriter and vice versa) but these will slowly be fixed. The main thing is that generally speaking I do all the tasks that I need to do without the machine grumbling, going slow and falling over. Plus the scsi DAT drive that hasn't worked for over six months is now running fine and dandy. So now I can do "proper" backups rather than burn onto CD-R.
Things are indeed looking up.
It would appear that the nice chap from the IT department has fixed the iMac. I say fixed but in reality I mean it is only crashing once or twice a day as opposed to once or twice per hour. But it is a start and at least now I am able to get some work done.
Things are looking up with the home machine too. I am almost back to a having a working system. There are a few glitches (the workstation seems to think that the CD-Rom drive is the CD-Rewriter and vice versa) but these will slowly be fixed. The main thing is that generally speaking I do all the tasks that I need to do without the machine grumbling, going slow and falling over. Plus the scsi DAT drive that hasn't worked for over six months is now running fine and dandy. So now I can do "proper" backups rather than burn onto CD-R.
Things are indeed looking up.
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