Tooon-blooog

1st kyu

2010-12-06T10:20:00.013Z

They say a picture says more than a thousand words. So let's start with the pictures.

Graded for our third brown belts yesterday, and we both got them.

A HUGE thanks must, as always, go to our sensei Tony Grunwald. Without him we would never have reached this far! He is a great inspiration for us both and we are so lucky to be able to train for him. His expertise and passion for karate does rub off a little bit on us. Like he is sprinkling a bit of karate fairy dust over his students. :-)

This time we got our first "temporary grade", which means we have to refine some parts of our techniques and then show them again for the examiners board. Feels a bit like we have disappointed our sensei, but the head of SSKA was ever so nice about it (which was a bit of a surprise for us, really). "This is only a small remark to know what to improve for the black belt grading, so I don't have to fail you there on it" he said (or something very similar, I might have been a bit tired at the time.) A bit later when Clare asked a question about the brown and black belt training sessions, if we were allowed to join them with the "TG", he again said that this was not a big deal, it is like a question mark in the margin, nothing to worry too much about.
And I will take his word for it and be happy with my new belt!

I can live with the fact that I had a remark on my stances. I think I know what went wrong. Got a bad man-flu (Yes, a bad one, even! Imagine! ;-) ) and I was completely knackered half way through the grading and from there I _really_ focussed on hips and fingers. (Which I consider being my two weakest points right now) So my stances probably went out the door... Next time I will not have the flu and I will know to think a bit more about the stances. And I will have focussed a lot on that in training of course!

Clare got more or less the same remarks about stances and considering her broken foot that is something that will improve as the foot gets better. Considering that she had something going wrong in her back during warm up and couldn't get off the floor for ten minutes, she did bloody well I'd say! I am so proud of her!

So congratulations to us both, and I will be a bit proud and happy this week. Until the discomfort have left the body. The black, green and blue toe nail will probably take a bit longer to heal. Can't speak for Clare, but I can imagine her back will not be back to normal for a little longer than that. At least it takes the focus off the foot problem for now. :-)

After this week of being a bit happy and proud, the humble focus will be back on! First on improving the remarks, then on improving everything and learning a bit more. That is what it is all about, improving and bettering yourself.
There is a kata competition coming up in May. It is a little bit tempting to try and get a team together for the team kata. Clare and myself, plus a third person. Anyone interested?? :-)

And for the overseas people out there interested in what a 1st kyu belt looks like in SSKA, here it is - a brown belt with two white stripes:

How hard can it be to buy a treadmill online? Part 3

2010-11-29T16:19:00.005Z

So, after two failed attempts to get a treadmill on-line, what did we do next? Carried on on-line shopping? Well, yes and no.
We went to www.fitness-superstore.co.uk and looked around a bit.
Found a NordicTrack 2000 treadmill that seemed to fit us perfect: This one

And the company had a showroom in Northampton!
That's not too far away from us here.

So we went there one Sunday in the Transit van, and got a treadmill with us back home.
This treadmill was brand spanking new and if something goes wrong I can go back and shout directly at people. :-)
Now we' have had the treadmill for a while and it is running (!) just perfect.

So FINALLY we got us a bloody treadmill! ;-)

How hard can it be to buy a treadmill online? Part 2

2010-11-25T12:30:00.010Z

Yes, how hard WAS it really, to get a treadmill?

Well, this is the second instalment of the saga...

After the bad experience with the first try to buy one, we took a slightly different approach this time. We found what looked like a decent treadmill from a decent supplier. The price was not as good as the previous one, but this model we wanted now were out of stock in most places. But one supplier claimed to have them in stock: Ikonika Fitness http://www.ikonika.co.uk

Now they have completely revamped their web site, and now it is very clearly stated that their equipment is not brand new. But this was not the case when we looked on their web site in September.

Clare gave them a ring, to have a chat and see if they sounded serious and to make sure the treadmill was new and not used or an ex-display model. The nice man at the other end of the phone claimed to have the model in stock, that is was brand new and if we paid the same day, which was a Thursday, their designated delivery guy would deliver the treadmill on Monday. He even sent a payment request through Google checkout stating , and I quote: "Please find payment link for a New But Tatty Boxed York Aspire Treadmill to Include Delivery." So we decided to give it a go and I paid through Google checkout the very same day (30 September).

Monday came and went, and surprise surprise, no treadmill delivered!

On Tuesday I got an email saying "Your order has shipped", so I thought OK, they're running a bit behind. And I expected to have a delivery within a day, since they have their own delivery guy.

When I had heard nothing more one week after ordering, I sent them an email:

from Tony Andersson
to ikonikafitness@gmail.com
date 7 October 2010 13:06
subject Status please? Google order number: 454179411046879

Hi,

What is the status of this order please? (Google order number: 454179411046879)

My partner spoke to you on Thursday about ordering this treadmill and you said that if we ordered it that day it would go out on your delivery round on Monday. So we did order it (as per the order confirmation below). It is now Thursday and no treadmill in sight. So I start to wonder where it is and when it could be expected here...

Kind regards,

Tony

And the reply I got the next day;

from Lauren Varley
to Tony Andersson
date 8 October 2010 08:47
subject Re: Status please? Google order number: 454179411046879

Hi Tony

Firstly I must apologise as I thought I had sent you an update a few days ago as is my normal practise, but for some reason I cant find any email, so again sorry for that. Ok the courier Steve is collecting the York today to deliver over the weekend, he willcall you and arrange a more acrrate ETA to suit you. REgards

Yep, that's it. I have not changed the formatting or removed anything at the end of the email.
Not impressed to be honest. It is a "don't call us, we'll call you" answer, and there's no explanation whatsoever to why they (might) deliver the treadmill almost a week too late.

Had a call from the delivery guy on Friday evening, telling me he would be here at 10 am Sunday morning. And he actually showed up within 15 minutes of that time.

But what he delivered could in no way be considered as a "brand new treadmill". First of all, it came in a box for a completely different treadmill (a Reebok box and not a York), badly packed and partly assembled already. It looked just as it had been taken apart just enough to fit the box. It came with no manual, assembling instructions or any other paper work.

At this stage I was rather tired of this whole thing of trying to get a treadmill, so I left it a few days. But then I sent this email to Ikonika Fitness:

from Tony Andersson
to ikonikafitness@gmail.com
date 13 October 2010 14:15
subject Ref: Google order number: 454179411046879

Dear Sir / Madam,

It is with more than a little bit of irritation and a lot of disappointment that I have to write this letter to you.

On the 30th September I ordered and paid for a York Aspire treadmill after my partner, Clare, had spoken to a David at your company. She was checking that 1) The treadmill was in stock, and 2) It was brand new (more specifically that it was not a refurbished or ex-display model). David promised not only that the treadmill was in stock and brand new, he also assured Clare that if we ordered that day then it would be sent out for delivery the upcoming Monday, the 4th. After sending you an email at 13:06 Thursday the 7th your Lauren Varley replied on Friday that the treadmill would be delivered on Sunday the 10th almost a week after promised delivery date, with no further explanation than “I thought I’d told you”.

Now that I could live with, but when the treadmill arrived, it arrived badly packaged, in the wrong box (one for a Reebok treadmill) and now when I have tried to assemble the treadmill I can see it has got a lot of scratches and scuff marks on it including damage to one of the grip handles and was covered in filthy black dust. It also came with no instructions and half assembled. In fact it came with no paperwork at all, especially no warranty registration card from York!

So it is very obvious this is NOT a new treadmill, which is what we paid for and should have had delivered! After assembling the last bits of the treadmill (after downloading instructions from the Internet) and starting it up, there is a knocking noise coming from the engine part as well

I am absolutely not impressed!

Quoting from the Google payment request sent by your David:
-------------------------
Message from Ikonika Fitness :
Please find payment link for a New But Tatty Boxed York Aspire Treadmill to Include Delivery. Please return link if you wish to proceed or call if you need any questions answering. Regards David

Payment for:

York Aspire Treadmill Free Delivery

-------------------------

Since this is not the case at all I request that you either replace the treadmill with what we paid for e.g. a brand new fully working York Aspire treadmill, or you give us an immediate refund and come and pick up this piece of junk.

Regards,

Tony - having a really bad day

And the reply

From Lauren Varley
to Tony Andersson
date 13 October 2010 20:01
subject Re: Ref: Google order number: 454179411046879

Hi Tony

Just got your email and sorry your having a bad day, Can you kindly send a contact number and I will call you tomorrow to resolve this situation. Regards

And a call later I sent this

from Tony Andersson
to Lauren Varley
date 14 October 2010 16:06
subject Re: Ref: Google order number: 454179411046879

OK, now David has spoken to Clare, and I just tried to call him, with no luck. Left a voice mail and would appreciate if someone could give me a call. I am available this evening after 6pm on 0771 ********.

From my understanding after speaking to Clare, you are still claiming this old machine with a new mat and very visible traces of use in other places are a "new machine". I am not interested in having a discussion about swapping parts on the machine at all. It is not new and that's where the discussion ends as far as I am concerned... Will try and call again if I get some time in between meetings this afternoon. Otherwise I look forward to you calling me after 6pm.

Regards,

Tony

What David did over the phone was first to try and convince Clare the machine absolutely was brand new, and when that didn't work, he offered to send replacement parts for all the scuffed bits. And when _that_ didn't work, he refused to talk to her anymore. (Go Clare!) He then said he HAD to talk to me. But when I tried to call his mobile, he did not pick up. I left a voice mail, but he never returned the call. Ever... Maybe I wasn't too overly nice when I left the voice mail, but I wasn't rude either.

Instead I got this email:

from Lauren Varley
to Tony Andersson
date 14 October 2010 23:19

Ok not much more to say then please repack the item and I will arrange its collection. Once inspected we will refund in fiull. Regards

Then it actually didn't take too much hassle for arranging with the same delivery guy to come and pick the treadmill up, and the refund was made within a week.

One funny thing was that the delivery guy, Steve, asked why I returned it. And when I said "I ordered a new treadmill and this one is not new. I'm not paying a premium price for something second hand" he just said "Oh ,OK" like it was a rather common thing for him to hear.

Do you think I was picky? Well, you judge after looking at the pictures below... You can click on them to have a larger photo pop up. This is only a few of the markings on the machine, but I think this is enough to prove my point here. none of the markings you can see is dirt, they are all scratches and scuff marks, clearly from usage.

This last picture might need some explanation... The electric motor that is driving the running mat is mended with an Allen key! Clearly this is nothing done in the factory, where they would have the correct part to fit in between the wheel and the axle. This whole crap repair had the treadmill vibrating and making squeaking and knocking noises when switched on. This is absolutely not a new machine, and the sheer fact I could not find a serial number where it should be (according to the York web site) didn't really help either. I didn't trust Ikonika to honour any warranty repairs at all, and without a serial number I couldn't register the machine for the manufacturer warranty. (The treadmill itself came without any paper work, remember? So no warranty registration card.)

How hard can it be to buy a treadmill online? Part 1

2010-11-01T16:14:00.012Z

Yes, how hard can it be??
Apparently extremely hard!
My first attempt started on the 29th of August this year, with me ordering a treadmill from http://www.fitnesstimes.co.uk
I ordered a Reebok Edge Treadmill - Model REE-11301 or REV-11301 for £299.99
As per usual for online shopping, I paid with my credit card at the time of placing the order online. And of course my card was immediately debited with that amount and £29.99 "delivery".
The first warning sign should have been that I received no order confirmation at all, only an email from the payment company stating they had debited my card with £329.98.
OK, I waited a bit, as the gullible person I am... No: "as the gullible person that I would like to be" is more appropriate. ;-)
But after over two weeks of complete silence I sent them this email:

To: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Subject: RE: Your Order at Euro Broker
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:29:11 +0100

Dear Sir / Madam,

Placed this order below on the 29th August with yourselves and have heard nothing since.
Could you please give me an update: What is happening with the order? Is there anything on my side I can do to help to expedite the delivery? It is after all almost three weeks since I placed the order and I have had no communications from yourselves, except for the first automated order response below. So I thought I'd ask.

Kind regards,

Tony Andersson

I then heard nothing at all for another two weeks, not a single reply to my email. Which then lead me to send this email to them. The second address is to Warren Hatton to whom the payment went to, according to the automated email I got from www.Moneybookers.com after the initial order.

To: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk, wwhatton@yahoo.co.uk
Date: 09/29/10 13:47
Subject: Please refund my order!

It is now a month since I ordered and paid for this item. I have still yet not heard anything from you, despite emailing you asking for an update. When phoning you on the 17th of this month you vaguely claimed the item was out of stock but would be in stock again within a week. That was almost two weeks ago, and no communication has been received from yourselves, ever actually. Not even an order confirmation or a delivery estimate. Let alone have I seen any treadmill.

I'll put this in simple words:
PLEASE REFUND MY ORDER IMMEDIATELY, or I have no other choice than to contact the credit card company and the police and file a claim against you for fraud. You cannot just take my money and then disappear. It's as simple as that.

Regards,

Tony Andersson

Apparently that's what I had to do. Threat with legal action. Because this time I got an answer:

Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 14:56:07 +0100
From: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Subject: Re: Please refund my order!

Good Afternoon Mr Andersson

Thank you for your email

I am sorry for the delay. Our last load came in on Thurs of last week and any outstanding orders are being checked prior to despatch

I am not sure the police would entertain such a civil matter, therefore I would advise not wasting their time

Upon receipt of cancellation, we have 30 days to issue a refund, however, I will cancel your order now for you, and send your refund for processing very shortly

We are sorry to hear of your disappointment

Kind Regards

Eurobroker

And here's the following correspondence, I don't think I have to comment very much... (Their email client is apparently set up for US date format, so don't be confused!)

To: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Date: 10/13/10 13:01
Subject: RE: Please refund my order!

I still have not received this refund! Please do this immediately or reply with a post address where I can send a registered letter to yourselves.

Regards,

Tony

Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:15:37 +0100
From: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Subject: Re[2]: Please refund my order!

Good Afternoon Tony

Thank you for your email

Cancellation of your order was received on 02/10/10, and will therefore be with you by 01/11/10, this complies with Trading Standard Regulations. We do however try to prcess these as early as possible

Contact details are available on our website www.fitnesstimes.co.uk

Kind Regards

Euro Broker

To: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Date: 10/13/10 13:29
Subject: RE: Re[2]: Please refund my order!

This is complete nonsense. I have tried to help you understand the Distance Selling Regulations before, but apparently completely failed. You have not fulfilled your part of the agreement and should therefore refund me IMMEDIATELY. Any 30 day excuse is only valid in case of a customer returns the purchased item, to give the merchant sufficient time to examine the returned item. This is not the case here so you can hold on to money you never should have had in the first place, since you could not deliver what was in your fulfilment. That is simply fraud and will be quoted so in my review of your "services" on Internet.

/ Tony

Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:40:45 +0100

To: silly_registrations@hotmail.com
From:  sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk

Subject: Re[4]: Please refund my order!

We are fully aware of the regulations, it is just unfortunate for yourself that we are only human and can't keep everyone happy all of the time, I do not know of a company that can!!!

As I stated in my last email, we have 30 days to issue a refund, we work closely with Trading Standards, but again, we do try to process these within this time frame. You are not our only customer, we do have hundreds and hundreds of other customers of whom are very happy with their purchases, and the service they receive from us. Like I said we are only human, and work very very hard to avoid such conversations

For this I can only apologise and process your refund as quickly as I possibly can

I will try to organise this by the close of business today, that's all I can do

If this is not sufficient, I am more than happy for you to speak with my Managing Director who may be able to help further

Regards

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:38:36 +0100
To: silly_registrations@hotmail.com
From: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Subject: Refund Processed

Good Afternoon Mr Andersson

Just to let you know I have received an urgent refund request, and I can confirm this will show in your account within 3 Working Days

This has been done via your original method of payment

Kindest Regards

Euro Broker

The refund then showed up the 22nd, six banking days after they claim they had refunded me. (It would not take more than two or three days for a refund to show up on my account, worst case scenario.)
If you wonder if I have left any names out, I haven't! Not a single email from Fitnesstimes / Euro broker was signed with a name. And also if you wonder about how "their hundreds and hundreds of happy customers" are creating so much work for their "returns department" I can't help you there. :-) Neither do I know how company that is registered as a sole trader can have a Managing Director, let alone a Managing Director for a specific department (which is what is implied in" to speak with my managing director"). But if that is what Mr Warren Hatton would like to be addressed when the lady (Possibly? Have no clue since no correspondence have been signed with a name or a reference) who can write emails is talking to him, that's between them...
And why or how they can "work close with Tradng Standards" I can only theorise about. The "Distance selling regulations" is a collection of regulations, published by the Office of fair trading. If they have to work closely with some governmental body to fulfil their obligations, something is very wrong. The alternative is that Fitnesstimes / Euro broker or the sole trader Warren Hatton is lying to me. And that wouldn't be a nice thing for me to assume, would it?
But as I said before, to take my money and then not respond to any communication until threatened with legal action and then further try to blatantly delay refunding my money is nothing short of a scam, if you ask me.

So, no, I would not do business with Fitnesstimes / Euro broker or the sole trader Warren Hatton again. In fact, I would recommend anyone who asks me, to steer clear of any fitness "supplier" in the vicinity of Doncaster...
Why that last brave statement about Doncaster? That you'll have to read about in the next instalment of this saga a bit later. I think this is enough aggravation for one day now.

New toy

2010-10-05T10:23:00.003+01:00

As of Sunday night I am the happy owner of a Vixen R130 Sf astronomy telescope. It is an early Christmas present from Clare and it is a rather impressive piece of kit. It is a Newtonian reflector at 130 mm / f5. Last couple of nights I've been looking at Jupiter, since it is in a very good position for looking at right now. And I have seen Uranus (careful now!) and it's moon Titan as well. It is really fascinating!
This is what the telescope looks like. The tripod stand is a proper astronomy model. Really sturdy and with screws to get the scope in to the last bit of the exact position. That is really really needed. Can't think what it would be without it! When looking at Jupiter (or any other object up there) you can almost see the movement caused by the rotation of the Earth. With the highest magnification eyepiece in it, I'd say any object is only visible for maybe 20 seconds before going out of sight and you have to readjust. Now this is done with a simple twist on the adjustment knob(-s) to move the telescope the little fraction of a degree it is needed to move. To even try and do this manually would be a really time consuming task. Just a little nudge will knock the telescope too much and the object would be most likely be out of sight. There is a little telescope attached to the big one, a "finder scope" which makes it much easier to do the initial aiming towards any object up there.

The thing is rather large, I'd say. :-)

Mirror mirror in the scope...

New camera

2010-07-28T13:56:00.004+01:00

Got myself a new camera yesterday. A Canon EOS 1000D. So far I am well impressed with it, and have taken close to 800 photos in one day. And my favourite picture until now, I think is this one...

Another big fat grading

2010-06-28T11:42:00.005+01:00

Yesterday, Sunday, we had a karate grading. Yes, "again" some of you might say. But that is how it is if you train often, hard and long hours ;-)
Despite the fact it was rather hot in the hall we were in, the grading went fairly OK. I felt I only made a few minor errors, the biggest one being me not remembering a couple of combinations in the line work. (I blame the heat!) This resulted in another clean pass, and another diploma:
And Clare got a similar one too. Congratulations Clare! Well done, especially with the broken toe and other ailments I know you struggle with. You are so tough! A lot tougher than I would be in the same situation.
I am a little bit proud over myself too, and a little bit surprised as well. But then again, if we looked at the "competition" there, IE the other people that were going for the same grade, I'd say Clare and I didn't do too bad. It is not completely unfair to say we were the only two there not messing up the Jiyu Ippon Kumite (one step semi-free sparring) badly. And I think we both were rather comfortable in the free sparring too...
All this we owe to our instructor. He is hard but fair. If he hadn't drilled us as much as he have done, we would probably have had a hard time. I think it is only fair to say that a grading session is no harder than any normal every day session with Sensei Grunwald. Once started, it feels like we are well prepared for anything that are thrown at us in the grading. (Before the grading I'm all nerves, of course.)

So a HUGE THANKS goes to Sensei Tony Grunwald, for his enthusiasm, knowledge, perseverance and the way he is pushing us towards higher achievements! It is an honour to be his student. There is always something interesting in his classes, a new challenge or an old technique to improve on.

Garden produce

2010-06-09T11:03:00.004+01:00

Last evening we enjoyed the first of our own garden produce for this year here. It is the radishes that has gone bonkers. They grow like it is the last thing they will ever do.

Quite a few! :-) And there is plenty more to come.
The two rows next to Kahuna is radishes:
No, Kahuna is the stone face to the RIGHT in the picture, nothing else.
The rest of the vegetables haven't grown as quickly as the radishes, but they are coming along nicely too.
As you can see, we are doing gardening in style, dressed up and with a beer.

Bike changes

2010-06-04T10:35:00.003+01:00

The garage here is now hosting just one MC. Both the big bikes have been sold. Clare's SV 1000S went first to a "local" guy, and then a few days later I sold my Aprilia to a German guy.
It was the right thing to do. We haven't really used the bikes at all since last Easter, and to keep them just for the sake of having a big bike any longer would just have been stubborn.

Clare have ordered a Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM -08 that we will pickup tomorrow, Saturday. Me, I will keep my DR-Z. So that is what we will be riding in the foreseeable future. Great fun, and more suitable for the roads around here.

Seem like I am carrying on downsizing my bikes here. It's probably spelt AGE. ;-) From the Hayabusa, to the slightly slower Aprilia and now to "only" a 400 cc supermoto. Or in the terms of top speed: From 200 mph to 175 mph to 100 mph... OK, the theoretical top speed of the DR-Z is calculated to 117 mph, but I doubt I dare to try that out. 105 on the speedo is fast enough on that little bike.

Ooops

2010-05-25T09:52:00.004+01:00

Where's my manners!? Should have updated about the test ride long time ago. :-)
The bike rides just as great as she's always done. We went down to Barnet, to Dudley's for a pancake on Saturday afternoon. Gorgeous weather and a nice ride. Clare on her SV 1000S and me on my RSV 1000R Factory (Yes, I have to win the letter race!) u it really pointed out hte fact that either I have gotten much older or the roads around here are just not good for large sports bikes. It was only on the slip road onto M25 (and on the actual M25...) it felt like the bike could be used even half decent. But then again, nowadays you'd probably get a jail sentence for stretching her legs. 100 mph / 160 km/h is nothing for the bike but means the world for the police apparently...

Bike fixed

2010-05-21T16:49:00.001+01:00

There we go, Lollie is mended again. New screen and repaired mirrors. Time for a test ride. The first since last Easter!

All is good

2010-05-19T10:00:00.001+01:00

It is ten o'clock and all is calm!

Workstation use

2010-05-18T19:02:00.003+01:00

Feels like I am really using my workstation here at the moment...

Dang!

2010-05-18T18:26:00.001+01:00

Darn it! Not good:

The latest garden works

2010-05-05T08:48:00.013+01:00

It all started here, with a an idea of a small Scandinavian end-of-April bonfire. We had bit of material for it: The tree stumps and other bushes and weeds we dug out over the Easter weekend. (No, the white bits are not for burning, they are just acting as rain cover.)

And it ended here, three days later. That is how long some of the tree stumps took to burn! OK, we had a bit of rain that slowed it down. Both evenings we thought that was it, that the fire was gone. But the next day when we went out and poked in the ashes we found it was still life in the fire and it started to catch on again. :-) So we took the opportunity to clean out a bit more in the garden every day.

Oh, and we raised the fence / wall a bit as well over the weekend. The old wall ends roughly where the current ground level is. We added two rows of sleepers so we can back fill up to the level of the rest of the lower gardens. If you look closely (or even click on the picture to enlarge it) you can see the pruned apple tree and Clare's fantastic work with the Godzilla hedge no-one has looked after properly since... ever! ;-) The net fence that is supposed to keep it upright has no posts holding it up (they are all broken due to the pressure from Mr Godzilla Hedge) so she propped it up with some old planks for now.

The raised wall as seen from the patio. Yes, we ran out of paint and sleepers over there. :-)

OK then! One more picture. Then you have to go to bed!

The hole after the huge tree in the front is filling in nicely now. It is just the outline around the turf that needs a bit more time to fill in. (Front left of the Citroen.) But we are getting there... Patience my dear Watson! Just have some patience! I know we have. No problems just sitting here watching the grass grow and the paint dry. With a glass of wine or a beer in our hands of course. :-)

Cat status

2010-05-05T08:35:00.004+01:00

I is owning the bed!

Clare got a black belt!

2010-04-21T14:43:00.001+01:00

Biiiig fat congratulations to Clare for passing her Tae Kwon Do black belt grading!
We are so proud of her, here!

Quiet?

2010-04-19T18:44:00.004+01:00

If things here goes all quiet, do not worry! That probably just because we are busy working hard outdoors. A lot of garden work to do and the weather has been (and are) gorgeous!
So I am just too busy to have the time and energy to blog anything at the moment. Good, innit?

It is good to have land!

2010-04-12T21:43:00.002+01:00

Went to see the neighbours in a matter of raising one of our borders a bit today. And we came back having more land than we had before! ;-)
They told us we got maybe another metre wide and 15 - 20 m long strip of land below our lower garden. We thought that was communal land and that it actually did belong to the council or village. But no, it is ours! Wohoo for more land!

Pictures from the weekend

2010-04-06T10:10:00.003+01:00

A bunch of photos from the excavation Easter can be seen here:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/tooony/MiniDiggerWeekend#
And a "listing" of what was actually done is here:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/tooony/TheResuiltOfEasterExcavation#

Digger mission #2

2010-04-04T10:51:00.003+01:00

Another tree stump bites the dust! Left a big crater that is now filled, but no pictures taken of that yet.

Digger mission 1

2010-04-02T01:03:00.002+01:00

One tree stump up, seven to go! ;-)

Something for the weekend, Sir?

2010-04-01T11:46:00.003+01:00

The Easter Bunny has already been in our garden!

No unhealthy chocolate eggs here, no. He lent us a mini digger for the weekend. :-)
With a decent set of buckets too:

New motherboard

2010-03-30T09:14:00.004+01:00

Upgraded my computer yesterday. Put a new motherboard in it, in order to be able to have more memory as well. All is well, except for the fact that the new motherboard did not fit in the case. :-(
So this is what it looks like right now:

The computer is working, but not in the case. I had to test it before ordering a new computer case...
And next time someone is talking about "thinking outside the box", I'll send them this picture.

Brown Belt Bubbles

2010-03-27T20:46:00.001Z

We are having brown belt bubbles here tonight. Two glasses!

Garden pictures

2010-03-26T11:04:00.003Z

Took a few pictures of the flowers in the garden today. Bonkers, I tell you!
You can see the pictures here.

Gradings coming up

2010-03-24T21:40:00.001Z

Fast approaching grading times here again. Wish us luck, but don't say break a leg. ;-)

Home

2010-03-18T16:15:00.003Z

And now we are back home again, after a lovely time in Ericeira! Thank you Sofia and Jochen for a wonderful event! The service and company were top notch! Could not have asked for any better!

Got a certificate that I have visited the west most point of continental Europe. :-)

Next trip

2010-03-11T11:07:00.002Z

After me doing a short trip to Sweden and Malmö earlier this week we are now off to Portugal tomorrow, for Sofia and Jochen's wedding. Looking forward to that!

It's a must

2010-03-01T18:51:00.002Z

When in Singapore... ;-)

For those of you who do not know: The drink "Singapore Sling" was invented at Raffles Hotel in Singapore. ;-D So I had to, of course, go there and have one. It cost me almost £15, but I just had to.

Back home

2010-03-01T10:28:00.004Z

And now I am back home again. In the land of rain and frost. It was 27°C in Singapore, all the time. :-) Here it varies between +10 and -3°C depending on what time of the day it is. And it will change with the seasons. That's not really the case with Singapore, being so close to the equator. From Wikipedia (who never is wrong!): "The lowest and highest temperatures recorded in its maritime history are 19.4°C (66.9°F) and 35.8°C (96.4°F) respectively"

I am here

2010-02-21T06:34:00.003Z

I am here!
But on the sixth floor. :-)

Dentist bill!

2010-02-19T17:16:00.003Z

Just got back from the dentist. Had an old filling that had fallen out and another one that probably been loose for quite a while, since the outer part of the tooth where it sat just fell off together with the actual filling one day. So after more than 25 years I finally had to go to the dentist again... That's what happens when you open too many beer bottles with your teeth! After 25 years they give up.

So I went to the dentist two weeks ago and he repaired the tooth with the missing outer bit at once. The other one ("just missing a filling") he wanted to put a crown on. Since he's the expert, who am I to argue. :-) My guess, before going, was that it would be the other way around: That the half missing tooth would require serious fixing and the one with just a missing filling would be a quick job. But apparently I was wrong. But to be honest, I am pleased it was fixable so he didn't have to pull any teeth out.

So now I got my first crown. Isn't that a sign of age? ;o) I am almost 44 don't you know!

The cost? £198 for it all. That is the most you have to pay for an NHS dentist fixing your teeth in one treatment here in the UK.
A routine check-up and a bit of a clean is £16.50. If you require a filling or a tooth pulled out it is £45.60. If you, like me, require a bit more fancy work, it is £198.
You only pay one charge for each course of treatment, so for example if you had a check-up, x-ray, teeth polish, a simple filling and a crown you would pay a total of £198 if it all occurred within a two month period. Smooth, innit?

The final word I got from the dentist was along the lines of "I hope you don't wait 25 years for the next check up now!" And my reply was in line with "Oh no! My girlfriend will drag me here again in six months time!"
Thank you for looking after me Clare! :o)

Fire place tested!

2010-02-02T13:33:00.005Z

Last night we lit up a fire in the fire place for the first time since we moved here in late July.
Found out there's no damper in the chimney to shut when the fire place is not in use, or forget to open when starting new fire... ;-) That's a bit odd to me. But maybe that is the standard here, not to have one.
Anyway, the fire went extremely well. We had an old bamboo wind chime that the previous owners had left here. That made excellent piece of firewood. I do not like wind chimes, why would you add more noise to your garden and annoy all the neighbours too? So burning it gave me great satisfaction.

Spring time in the garden?

2010-01-25T09:56:00.004Z

It seems like some bulbs in our garden are a bit eager on getting started!
It is still only a few degrees above freezing here, the snow has been gone for just over a week and there are a bunch of green things already shooting up from the ground. Just have a look:

Shoots in the back garden

...and shoots in front of the house.

As for what it is, I have no idea whatsoever. All I know is that we have a shed load of bulbs in the ground there... :-)

Buddleia "gone"

2010-01-19T10:52:00.008Z

Did a bit of pruning in the garden yesterday evening. Had to cut down the Buddleia to almost nothing. It looks like it had not been pruned properly before for a long time and then this hard winter broke it. The base had split and bits were rotten. So I had to cut it back really hard. With a bit of luck it will survive. ;-) If not, we have to get a new one.
A Buddleia will only flower on the new shoots from the same year, and it is the flowers that makes the bush beautiful and attractive. Its flowers attracts butterflies, so we want flowers, not shrubbery.
Now all that is left is to shred the branches I cut off, and then await the spring.

The root stump left.

Branches for shredding!

Some more cat pictures

2009-11-20T13:20:00.005Z

Since I haven't published any pictures of Lily for a while, I thought I'd better do so now. Here's three new ones, fresh from the camera:-

Shed pictures

2009-11-06T12:04:00.002Z

Just took a few pictures of the new garden shed here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/tooony/GardenShed
The shed measures 180 * 210 cm so it is just big enough for storing our garden tools and equipment there. Barbecue, mower, shredder, chain saw, loppers, shears, hedge trimmer, spades, pots, wheel barrow... It can all go out of the garage now!
There is more work to be done on the base under the shed, to have it look pretty. And maybe I'll build a more permanent roof on the fire wood storage. The green color blends in quite well with the surroundings. Well with the hedge behind really. And it is a quite similar in tone to the green paint we put on the lower boundary wall some time ago.

The Rayburn is OUT

2009-11-03T14:22:00.002Z

Yesterday I got some help from Ove to take outthe old Rayburn boiler stove (yes, I made that word up) and I took a few pictures of it. They can be found in my Picasa album here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tooony/RayBurnRemoval

Sorry Lily!

2009-10-12T09:49:00.005+01:00

Late Friday night we discovered that Lily had a severe amount of blood in her urine. (So that's why she's been urinating everywhere). First thing Saturday morning Clare called the vets and they gave us an appointment within a couple of hours. Guess if we felt bad for telling her off for urinating in the wrong places. We now realised she was quite ill, and she had tried to "tell" us that! Terribly sorry for being so stupid Lily!
The trip to the veterinary clinic went better than expected, not too much protesting from the little lady cat. The vet gave her an examination and took an urine sample (yes, he made her wee) and found out she had cystitis (inflammation of the urinary bladder and surroundings). Apparently this is stress related, so he asked what might have caused it. Where should we start? New house; a lot of commotion when we had the central heating system changed; constantly moving, unpacking and sorting things here; new garden; a peacock that stares at her through the windows; neighbouring cats doing the same or even come to "meet and greet" her when she's been outside. Maybe not the best environment for a scared little nervous cat. So in consultation with the veterinary doctor we have now decided Lily should become a house cat and not go out at all (at least not until much later. We'll see how things are next summer).

So is she well now then? Yes! The doctor gave her two injections. One with antibiotics that should specifically target the cystitis and another one to ease the stress, irritation and pain until the antibiotics had done it's job. We took the cat home and she was like new again as soon as we came home! Tired of course, from all the stress of not being well, but she looked well relaxed.

For a cat who do not appreciate being handled or transported, she did really well during this whole adventure, and when we came back home again it was like it never happened. No sulking, no hiding, just a lot of fuss and purring. Modern medicine is amazing!

Cat news

2009-10-09T09:02:00.004+01:00

Lily had a first, last night. For the first time in her five years as a cat, she went to her toilet whilst we were standing in the same room, not far away. She has not "gone" there before with less than being alone in the room. Both me and Clare were REALLY excited! We were standing there, not daring to move or make a sound whilst she was on her toilet, like really silly parents.
Now we just have to figure out how to stop her from pissing left right and centre in the new house... :-P

Two new certificates

2009-10-04T18:28:00.006+01:00

We are now proud keepers of two more certificates! :-)

And new belts!

Had our 4th kuy grading today, and we both passed.
Happy smiling faces here (albeit a bit tired)! Might celebrate with a curry tonight.

Hovering TV??

2009-09-30T00:35:00.005+01:00

Look! Is the TV hovering in free air?

No, it just got a new bracket fitted!

Nice isn't it?
You can pull it out over 70 cm from the wall.

Useful label printer

2009-09-29T10:00:00.004+01:00

Just filled out a feedback form for the job with fitting the new central heating system here. British Gas have given me a box measuring 180 * 50 mm to do so. Good thing I have a label printer! :-) With my handwriting, nothing sensible could go in that box and still be readable to the human eye. So I printed out a label and put it on there instead. This is what we wrote:

All people I have been in contact with from British Gas have acted really professionally. Especially the installers! They carried out their work quiet (-ish) and were extremely polite at all times. Same goes for pre-sales and surveyance: Professional, polite and knew their job. Extra plus for the fact that they all came with the relevant tools for the job. Which is not always the case with workmen nowadays. The disturbance of our every day life was really kept to a minimum for a big job like this. Finally, two minor points: The room thermostat was not fitted straight (by the electrician) and the circulation pump could have been placed in a location where the sound from it did not get amplified by the beams it is on now. A wall mount on the gable of the house next to the boiler would probably have made for a quieter operation (But maybe by design that was not possible?). We wanted to have the boiler in the loft to keep the noise to a minimum, and now we can really hear the circulation pump in the bedroom and bathroom. But apart from that; a top job that gets 9 points out of 10!

New diploma

2009-09-23T14:35:00.005+01:00

Yep, passed yet another Tae Kwon Do grading here. Am a little bit proud, but just a little.
Will be much more proud and happy if / when I pass my next karate grading

Sunny flowers

2009-09-22T11:39:00.003+01:00

Since I am already publishing pictures, here's another one...

The view from my desk right now. :-) Three BIG and very yellow sun flowers.

A small computer problem

2009-09-22T11:24:00.006+01:00

One unforeseen problem with my home automation system here turned out to be the size of the computer. The CCTV card is a normal height PCI card, and that is too big for the computer box...

Looks like I have to spend some time in the workshop to rebuild the top cover. :-)

But on the other hand, there's a LOT of space for the hard drive...
It is TINY! My mobile (Nokia N95) looks gigantic next to it.

Window view

2009-09-17T14:15:00.003+01:00

View from my "office" window right now...

When customer services DO work

2009-09-17T09:15:00.005+01:00

After my big fat complaint about O2's customer service (that actually turned out OK in the end, after me having had a shouting match) I better publish my latest, very pleasant, experience in customer support too. I think lthe emails are self explanatory. Let me just say I am well impressed and a happy customer still!

My first email to Domia support yesterday at 16:33:

Hi,

Am trying to activate / register my newly purchased Harmony 2007 software here, but I am getting an error saying I am not using the right name and / or e-mail when entering the serial number into the installation dialogue. The program is telling me you got other credentials in your database. This is probably because I did a quick test install on a virtual machine here when I first got the software. And then I entered some random information, not any of my real e-mail addresses. (Didn't know the software would go online without any further confirmation from me at that point!) So now when I have set up my real home automation server, I cannot install the software other than in trial
mode. This regardless the fact I unregistered the software on the test machine (and therefore lost the dummy data I had put in there) :-(

Could you please assist with getting your database record for me correct, so I can install the software?

Name: Tony Andersson
Email: ################
License key: #################

The CD was bought from #################### on the 29/8/2009

Kind regards,

Tony Andersson

Reply from Domia at 17:03:

Hi Tony,

Seeing as you asked so nicely - all done.

I've cleared the registration details for the serial number, so you can now re-activate it with valid credentials.

Kind regards,

Rob

My reply back, minutes later:

Lovely jubbly Rob! :-) Worked like a charm.
Many thanks for the quick reply and fix.

Cheers,

Tony

And Rob's reply:

:-) Happy to help.

R.

I wish all customer services were like that! Completely painless and really swift!

Loft boarded!

2009-09-14T00:21:00.004+01:00

Finally the loft is boarded!
First a view as we climb up the ladder...

And another one (Facing west)

Turnng east, this is what i loooks like.
View from the eastern wall, facing west.

And from the western wall, facing east then!
I guess one of the advantages with a bungalow is the loft space. We got loads!
Each of the floor boards are 1200 * 330 mm. You count them and do the maths...

Last chance for Open Office here

2009-09-11T09:04:00.005+01:00

Downloading the latest version of Open Office here. Have been trying it out over the last year and I am underwhelmed. The amount of functions are fine, the interoperability with other formats are also "OK" for my use. But the fact that the different applications crashes on a regular basis is not! That is one thing I just can't work around. I can't trust a software that after an upgrade no longer can open documents created by the earlier version. Instead the application crashes every time I try and open certain documents...
As I write this I am downloading the latest version of Open Office and will give it a last chance to excel. (No pun intended! ;o)
If this version doesn't work better I have to go back to the commercial alternative. Unfortunately...

Update: The latest version of Open Office can't even go through the installation process here on my computer. It claims to have insufficient privileges to access the install directory. That is the same installation directory the very same installation program just created by itself...
Had to reinstall the previous version (to repair the damage), then uninstall it completely. THEN after that I could install the latest version. Not a very clear upgrade path if you ask me.

Domo Arigato Grunwald Sensei

2009-08-20T09:17:00.007+01:00

Last nights karate session was a bit of a surprise. (I'm still excited!)
Not that our normal training sessions are anything but brilliant every time, but this time sensei Tony had a surprise up his sleeve. He had managed to get sensei David Hooper to come and visit us and give us a training session! Even though the session as such was less physical intense than our normal sessions and sensei Hooper telling us to "slow down" and "relax" over and over again, I think we all worked as hard as ever. It is interesting how someone can have you feel so utterly crap in your execution of the karate-do, just by showing you in a mild manner how things should be performed. And I am sure sensei Hooper have a similar feeling when he does his training at his "home dojo", the JKA world centre in Tokyo, where he can practise for some of the greatest (now living) Japanese masters of Shotokan karate.

For those of you not being familiar with sensei Hooper: He moved to Japan when he was 19 to study karate and have been there for most of his grown up life. Read more here: http://www.burleighskc.com/bywayofintroduction.html a rather fascinating story.

This "surprise treat" is way up there together with the sessions I had with Assai shihan and Kato shihan maybe twenty years ago...
This time around the Japanese visitor was nicer in his judgement. Assai was not so nice to the Nordic karate collective, he told us all how important hip movement and basic stances were and how utterly crap everybody there were on that. Hooper pointed out the importance of the very basics, but didn't tell us how bad we were. Maybe he was jut being polite? I am sure sensei Tony will have some more feedback from him for us on the next session. :-)
Quite interesting the way sensei Hooper explained how your back leg should be bent in zenkutzu dachi and the similarities between zenkutzu dachi hanmi and kiba dachi. Probably very basic knowledge, but a new one to me! Also the way to turn on your heels in certain positions. That one will take quite some practise to even starting to look (and feel) right. Another good point is the importance of using your reaction arm properly when performing a technique. (What's the Japanese term for "reaction arm"?) This is beeing told over and over again, but it is always good to see a demonstration of the difference. The demonstration reminded me a bit of Bruce Lee's legendary Kung Fu six inch punch. And even if I can understand what is said, it will take years and years of practise to get it even near right.

Again: Domo arigato Grunwald sensei! And Domo arigato Hooper sensei of course!
Thanks Tony for giving us this fantastic opportunity on a normal Wednesday session! (I'm running out of exclamation marks now)

Garden produce

2009-08-18T09:56:00.003+01:00

We have had our first set of garden produce here. On Sunday we picked about a litre of French beans and two potatoes. :-) The potatoes was an accident. They came up when we were clearing out all the weed around the different plants.

Sunday was a gardening day. Partly because the weather was nice, but mainly because Clare's parents came and helped us with telling what is what in the garden. :-) Very much appreciated! So we were digging and cutting away most of the afternoon.

Managed to try out the local pub; Rose and Crown¹, for lunch though. They serve traditional "home cooked" English food and it went down well with the visitors. :-)

---
¹ Yes "Rose and Crown". No definite article apparently. So not "The Rose & Crown"

Good morning Wingrave

2009-08-04T12:05:00.003+01:00

The very first morning in the new house, this is the first thing I see in the living room (OK, technically outside the living room , but still...) when getting out of bed.

They are B I G, and they do have rather sharp beaks, they do those peafowls.

It sure woke me up if nothing else...

Stare off

2009-08-04T12:01:00.001+01:00

A picture says more than a thousand words...

Lily and Mr P are having a stare off.

Today's rant: Sky quality control

2009-08-04T09:34:00.003+01:00

We had our Sky satellite dish fitted and installed on Saturday at lunch time, and at midnight the very same day (or should that be midnight Sunday? Anyway, twelve hours later it was) the box reported "no satellite signal". Tried the usual restart, but no luck. Had a look at the cable connections at the back of the box, with no luck there either.
This is the third installation we have, due to house moves, and at ALL three occasions the installation has failed in just days. One or possibly two installations failing I could have had written off as bad luck, but three. No, it is very likely to be crap quality control (call it low quality component or sub standard installations, it is all something that SkyQA should have picked up).
Clare called customer services on Sunday and they couldn't have an engineer here until Tuesday afternoon. Bummer. But the engineer himself called last night and checked if he could come here first thing in the morning. Not a problem for us at all! Well, actually he said "Oh, I have you down here as a morning job". More about that bit later, now let's carry on with the technical problem. So they guy came here at 8 am, had a look at the box and said that is was probably too old for the latest software. Told him I was not happy for him to give us a new box at all. This one do have a proven track record, after the tinkering I've done with it. Before that we had gone through five or six boxes (can't remember, one loses count after a while). So this box got himself an upgraded power supply and a bigger hard drive just after the warranty had run out. I briefly put the original hard drive into a computer here, but took it out again after just a minute due to the noise and vibrations it made. It would have killed the computer with the vibrations in no time at all! Which, again, shows on a lack of quality control... So after being a bit insistent, he went on to checking the signal from the satellite dish instead. At this point he had already carried a new box in to the living room here, still in it's box though. Possibly because of me being there saying that I really don't want a new box if it is not needed over and over again. And guess what?! No signal received from the dish! He then changed the microwave receiver head on the dish, and things started to work as normal again. With the old box.
So the head failed after only twelve hours of service. Not good in my opinion!

The engineer (who is most likely to NOT have an degree in engineering) that came around this time was a sub-contractor and he was in a hurry to get on his way to the next job. He did walk in and out of the house with his shoes on and uncovered even though it was raining outside and we do have cream carpets. On top of that he left the door open every time he went in or out, even though I went and shut them behind him numerous times. (Don't want the cat to go outdoors just yet!) To add to that he asked me if I had a ladder he could use, even though he had at least two ladders himself, on the van. And he left the old faulty microwave head here for me to dispose of.
At least this sub-contractor called before showing up, as they should. The first one we had booked for Wednesday just showed up here without confirming at all with us, and then he called Clare and had a go at her for not being here sitting and waiting for him to just show up. When you book an engineer you are told they will call you and confirm at least one hour before showing up. Which that one didn't do at all. He then went on to be very rude on the phone and told here "Listen sweetie, this is my last job for the day, and I am not hanging around for 20 minutes waiting for you to come home". We were in Bicester at the time (at Jocke and Caz's, trying to get two fat Luton vans and a car over to here), so we couldn't do better than that. So after a rather long and animated conversation he just pissed off. Clare then talked to Sky customer service, who called him. And at that point he told Sky he had another job scheduled so he could not wait. This all smells of bullshit if you ask me.

Wonder if they are called sub-contractors because they do deliver a sub-standard service? :-P What really annoys me is that there is no clear way to file a complaint about the service delivered by people like that. There is a "compliments" number, to call if you are extremely happy with the service. But nothing if you are not. I'd like to think this is not just me being old and grumpy, I'd like to think have described very substantial facts behind my complaints.
This seems to be a recurring theme... Every time we have had a proper Sky engineer visiting, the service has been really good. But I can't recall a single sub-contractor that have done a decent job. I might be unfair here, surely there are good subs out there. But in general they seem to be rude, lazy thugs that are only interested in getting you down as a done job so they can get paid for it. If they do actually carry out the job is less important. And it seems like the communication of what job to do when is not working properly. This is not the first time we have an Sky sub-contractor showing up at the wrong time. Which makes it even more important for them to call first.

And if I am unfair, that's OK. This is my personal blog. And as such, it is my opinions aired here. :oP

M + 5

2009-08-03T14:40:00.002+01:00

Five days after the move and we still haven't unpacked everything. ;o)
But we do have some wild life here. Every day (so far) we've had a peacock in the garden in the early morning. First morning he scared the living day light out of me. You don't expect a peacock lying on your doorstep outside the glass patio doors when you get up in the morning. They are quite big birds, and the beak looks sharp...
I will upload a picture or two here, when we got broadband installed again. (Now I am using a mobile 3G "modem".)

The house is great and huge, all three of us are almost getting lost indoors. :-)
Kitchen is almost "unpacked" and we have sorted out the beer fridge. :o)

M minus 0

2009-07-29T09:06:00.000+01:00

Today is moving day, wohooo! That means no Internet connection for a good few days though. :-(
We have most of the stuff already packed in the vans here, just the computer and other minor bits to go.

So so long and thanks for all the fish, Bicester. Wingrave, here we come! (Wonder if there is a Lingrave too. It is bound to be!)

Huge thanks to Jocke and Caz for helping us with carrying a lot of stuff yesterday!

Excel password "protected"? Not really.

2009-07-27T17:14:00.008+01:00

Just got a new template for my monthly activity report made in Excel (this is version 11 or something like that). The administrator who creates / changes the templates will not give up the idea that she have to password protect certain parts of the sheet. This means I should not be able to have it auto filled with the normality just by adding my own formulas for it. IE, I'd like the activity report to, by default, be filled out with the normal hours I am doing. I only want to have to fill in any deviation from that. So if I have a day off for vacation, I should just have to fill that out, and the cell with my normal working activity should then show nothing, If I have half a day off, the other half should show up as the normal default activity. This is rather simple in to achieve in Excel as you might know. But only if you are allowed to change things. ;-)

So what to do? Well, since Excel comes with VBA a small simple script can sort this out for you.
(Here I had an example script published, but realised it might not be such a good idea to do so. So I removed it again. Ooops!)
It is a matter of minutes to crack most passwords with just a bit of VBA code. That is a bit crap IMHO. A lot of people probably think their spread sheets are fairly secure with a password...

Move minus two days

2009-07-27T08:35:00.003+01:00

The house move is closing in! Only two more days to go before the big move is going to happen.
This weekend has been spent mainly on packing stuff. We have almost run out of boxes now. The garage and the kitchen is packed, and almost everything else we don't need during the next two days. Only thing left is the loft, which we will tackle this evening. And a few other smaller bits 'n' pieces...
Oh, we actually managed to do some fun stuff as well during the weekend. The usual karate session on Saturday morning was a good one, even though it was on the tougher side, even for a session with Sensei Tony (no, not me silly, our instructor). Today it is Monday and my legs are still in pain.
On Saturday evening we went to the pictures. We saw the latest movie about him that there boy of a Potter. Not bad at all, I'd say! It came as a surprise for Clare that one of the lead characters died at the end though, since she hasn't read any of the books. I don't know if it just me, but it felt like the movie was not as dark as the book, when it comes to all the evil stuff that went on in the world of wizardry and magic?

Big fat house move

2009-07-21T10:36:00.002+01:00

As you might, or might not, know we are in the process of moving houses. Today the contracts for both the sale and the purchase has been exchanged and a moving date agreed ("completion date"). So next Wednesday, the 29th we will move to Wingrave

Let the packing an preparation begin!

Congrats bro'!

2009-07-01T10:49:00.003+01:00

Many congratulations to my brother Kenneth, who just met his first objective for moving to a bit of a "healthier life style". He lost 16 kg (2st 7 lbs). That's rather impressive!!

Many congratulations from all of us here.

2009-06-29T13:47:00.001+01:00

Finally we have got a bit of a summer weather here. We can see over 30°C in the shadow here already. Niiice. :-D

Lily is on Twitter

2009-06-26T09:16:00.004+01:00

http://twitter.com/lily_the_cat

She just felt the urge to update the Wide Wide World on her innermost thoughts and whereabouts. :-)
(And, no her dad is NOT planning to set up a script that creates new activities out of a dictionary. "I am sleeping" "Thinking of the table" "Going to the food bowl" and such, no not at all!)

Look what we got today!

2009-06-21T15:43:00.004+01:00

Congratulations Clare!!

Today's cat update

2009-06-19T10:37:00.002+01:00

Back by popular demand: A cat update!
Lily has been celebrating the Swedish midsummer this morning, and this is the state she's in now. Like a true Swede! She is making her dad proud. :-D

Finally, the last email from O2 (I hope!)

2009-06-18T14:50:00.003+01:00

From: mycare (mycare@o2mail.co.uk)
Sent: 18 June 2009 12:21:22
To: Tony Andersson

Hello Tony

Thanks for your email about your number transfer issues.
I tried to call you this morning to go through your questions but the call remained unanswered.
The original email you sent requesting a PAC code should have referred you to Pay Monthly customer service as it's they who should have supplied the PAC code to enable you to transfer the contract number.
It appears as though an incorrect assumption was made and that your number was being transferred, from Pay & Go to Pay Monthly when this clearly wasn't the case. The reason you've lost service twice is because your mobile number was transferred in error.
The temporary number was transferred incorrectly to your Pay Monthly SIM card. This was then corrected, resulting in your second loss of service, whilst your Pay Monthly number was correctly transferred to your Pay & Go SIM card.
Under normal circumstances you would be advised of the approximate transfer times and expected loss of service before they occurred. The credit balance which appeared to be 64p, was transferred as a credit to the Pay Monthly account along with your mobile number. This amount will now be deducted from the final bill.
With regard to your Pay Monthly bill, as I don't have access to adjust this, I've added a goodwill credit to your Pay & Go account. The additional amount on your Pay Monthly bill will equate to around £2.33.
I've added a £20 credit to your Pay & Go account. This is to cover the additional amount which you will be charged on your final bill, the 64p outstanding balance and in addition, a goodwill credit to the account to cover the poor experience and additional loss of service which you've had to endure.
I can assure you Tony, that this isn't the standard of service we strive to provide and that queries are generally dealt with quickly and efficiently. Your initial emails were clear but appear to have been misunderstood. I don't feel, having read through your previous emails, that much could have been done to make the request any clearer.
To complete the set up of your account Tony, you're also entitled to a free allowance, there are a number of allowances available and all can be found via the link below:
http://www.o2.co.uk/explore/tariffs/paygo
You can have one of these active on your account at any time and all can be selected by texting a keyword to a shortcode number, this information is included within the tariff information on the above page.
Once again, please accept my apologies in relation to your experience to date. I hope that this email answers your questions and brings to an end any inconvenience you may have experienced to date.
Don't forget, for us to answer your query faster, please provide your mobile number, two numbers that you call or send text messages to regularly and the date, amount and method of your last Top-Up, every time you email us.

Kind regards

Grant
Team EC2
O2 Customer Service

2009-06-17T12:44:00.003+01:00

And this is my reply to Susan in O2 customer services (as in my previous posting here) then...

For the attention of :-

Susan
Team EC2
O2 Customer Service

Hi Susan,

Thanks for your nice reply. I can confirm that I now finally got the correct number activated on the correct SIM card.
Sorry for missing your call, didn't know which SIM card to use in the phone I am carrying with me, since the deactivation (twice now) of the SIM have come completely without any previous notice. Also I do think it is better to have this conversation in writing, for anby possible further references.

From my point of view there's a still two outstanding issues (and a little bit of a complaints) that need to be addressed:-

1) I did exactly as instructed in order to cancel my pay monthly contract on the day it ran out. Now all the problems from your side (as in O2, not you personally obviously) have delayed this with a week. I would like to have it confirmed that this extra time will not be billed to me.

2) My balance from my Pay as you go card seems to have disappeared. The balance is showing £0.00 now.

And possibly this could be considered as an addressable issue too:-

3) On two occasions my active SIM card has just been deactivated when the currently active number on that SIM was transferred to another SIM card. I had no notice at all before this happened, neither as a confirmation about an upcoming transfer of my number nor as a text message. So twice I have been left with a useless mobile in my pocket. Not the best of practices. I do appreciate that this might be because of the previous problems you had. Now I am just lucky that there were no emergencies during this transition. Twice lucky even...

Finally, I would like to take the opportunity to ask if there is anything I can do to improve my communication with O2 customer services. Was there anything unclear in any of my emails to you? My request for a simple (in my mind) number transfer seems to have been misunderstood, or not understood at all, not once or twice, but three times. It would be in my interest to understand if there's anything I could have done from my side that could have avoided this whole issue.

Again, thanks for your help Susan, and sorry if I sounded a bit harsh in my earlier email. But it is rather frustrating to try and communicate with people that do not want to help, when contacting customer services. Over and over again...

Kind regards,

Tony

Email from O2 (and not a monkey this time)

2009-06-17T12:08:00.002+01:00

Just received an email from O2 (see below). This is a reply to my email sent to O2 complaints department. But the from address and reply to address are the normal "customer services". I sent this email to complaintreviewservice@o2.com and complaints@o2mail.co.uk. This I know since the subject line is the one of that email and not the one going to the customer services team.
So the matter is almost resolved now, one week after my first email and a lot of rather frustrating communications back and forth.
Only outstanding issue now is my balance on the Pay as you go SIM. It's not there...
Oh, and the small matter that they just swapped numbers and SIMs around without any notice that they were about to cancel the services on one of the SIM cards. So I had to find that out myself. My apologies to anyone who might have tried to contact me over the last couple of days.
OK, the email from O2 then...

O2: Transfer of number (KMM417442479V56350L0KM)?
From: mycare (mycare@o2mail.co.uk)
Sent: 17 June 2009 11:55:05
To: Tony Andersson

Hello Tony

Thanks for your email and I'm sorry to hear you've been unhappy with our service.
I tried to call you this morning to discuss this with you, but you were unavailable to take my call.
At O2, we always try to give our customers the best service possible. However, sometimes, things still go wrong.
When someone complains, it gives us a chance to put things right and improve our service in the future.
If you're unhappy with our service and would like an impartial review, please write to:

O2 Complaint Review Service
PO Box 116
Leeds
LS11 5DS

Make sure you include the following:
- your name and address
- your mobile number
- a different contact number for us to call you on
- what you'd like us to do to put things right.

If there's anything else I can help with, let me know.
I'm also delighted to tell you that your number 07964 *** *** has now successfully been transferred to SIM Serial Number ******************.
I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you Tony. Thank you for taking the time to email us, if there is anything else we can do for you, please don't hesitate to email us.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
For further details about O2, please visit our fantastic online Help Centre at:
http://www.o2.co.uk/help
Don't forget, for us to answer your query faster, please provide your mobile number, two numbers that you call or send text messages to regularly and the date, amount and method of your last Top-Up, every time you email us.

Kind regards

Susan
Team EC2
O2 Customer Service

Congratulations Clare

2009-06-17T08:19:00.005+01:00

Congratulations to Clare for passing her first kup grading in Tae Kwon Do!
Black belt in four months then? That's what the instructor said! :-D

And a little congrats to me too maybe, for passing my fifth kup grading...

Monkeys! I apologise!

2009-06-16T12:01:00.005+01:00

I take back what I wrote in my previous post. A monkey would have done a better job than the useless muppets at O2 support. Now they have indeed transferred my numbers around. The WRONG WAY! Disabling my every day used mobile number and transferred my not so used Pay as you go number onto my monthly contract. So I had to send them another mail (edited to protect my privacy here)...

From:	Tony Andersson
Sent:	16 June 2009 11:58:53
To:	mycare@o2mail.co.uk

And now you have managed to disable the number I wanted to transfer!
Without any notice whatsoever to me you have disabled the number I wanted to have transferred and moved the temporary number from my Pay & Go sim card to the old sim card. The completely wrong way around!
You mixed the two numbers up.

You guys are just unbelievable...

I want to have this matter escalated to your senior management please. This is wholly unacceptable. I expect a phone call from senior management, telling me this has all been sorted ASAP!

I want the number 07964 xxx xxx transferred to the SIM with serial 8944 1100 6406 8861 xxxx xxx nothing else.
This is EXACTLY what I now have stated at least three times, and still you can't get it right.

/ Tony

Am I talking to a monkey?

2009-06-15T08:26:00.004+01:00

Email sent to O2 customer service (for those f you who not know, a PAC is a Port Authorisation Code, a simple code you get from your current mobile operator so you can take your number with to another operator or SIM card):-

RE: Contact O2 (KMM406186923V38004L0KM)‏
From: Tony Andersson
Sent: 10 June 2009 11:11:06
To: mycarewebform@o2mail.co.uk
Dear Sir / Madam,

As per below, could you please provide me with a PAC so I can transfer my mobile number to a Pay & Go SIM at the end of my contract the 13th of this month.

Mobile number: ***********
Name: Tony Andersson
Address:
***********
***********
***********

Kind regards,

Tony

> Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 16:58:33 +0100
> To: silly_registrations@hotmail.com
> Subject: Re: Contact O2 (KMM406186923V38004L0KM)
> From: mycarewebform@o2mail.co.uk
>
> Good Evening Tony
>
> Thanks for emailing us to transfer your phone number 07964 700 334 to a Pay & Go account.
>
> Your 12 month contract started on 13 June 2008 and it'll end on 13 June 2009 (not 14 June 2009).
>
> Tony, you'll need a PAC (Port Authorisation Code) code to transfer your existing phone number to a Pay & Go account. When you've used your PAC code and your phone number has been successfully transferred to your Pay & Go account, your Pay Monthly account will be automatically disconnected.
>
> If you disconnect your contract before 13 June 2009, you'll be charged for the remaining amount of your line rental up to the end of your contract. This is the reason you'll need to email us requesting for a PAC on or after 10 June 2009 to avoid paying any cancellation charges. We'll then generate a PAC code for you.
>
> Tony, you'll also need a Pay & Go SIM card to transfer your Pay Monthly phone number to our Pay & Go services. Please call our sales team on 08702 257 879 to order a Pay & Go SIM card. They're available:
>
> - Monday to Friday between 8:30am and 9pm
> - Saturday and Sunday between 10am and 6pm.
>
> If you call from an O2 Pay Monthly mobile phone, it'll be free of charge.
>
> Please make sure you've your credit or debit card to hand when ordering.
>
> The PAC code remains valid for 30 days. If the PAC code isn't used within 30 days, your account will remain open and you'll continue to be charged your usual monthly tariff.
>
> When you've received your PAC code and Pay & Go SIM card, please email us with the following information:
>
> your name
> phone number
> Pay & Go phone number
> Pay & Go SIM Serial Number (it'll be at the back of the SIM card and starts with 89441100)
> your PAC code.
>
> When we've received this information, we'll arrange for your Pay Monthly phone number to be transferred to your Pay & Go SIM card.
>
> I hope I've explained this clearly for you.
>
> For more information on your account and our products please check our website on:
>
> http://www.o2.co.uk/
>
> Have a nice day.

And then their reply:-

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:08:52 +0100
To: *****************_
Subject: O2 keep my number (KMM415948483V37301L0KM)
From: mycarewebform@o2mail.co.uk

Hello Tony,

Thank you for your request to transfer your mobile number on to our Pay as you Go service.

You can keep your current mobile number by either purchasing a new SIM card or a combined mobile phone and SIM card package.

You can place your order by visiting our Online shop or you can contact our sales team by dialling 08702 257 879.

They're available Monday to Friday between 08:30am and 09:00pm and on Saturday and Sunday between 10:00am and 06:00pm. Calls are charged at 20p/min.

To visit our online shop, please click on the link below:
http://shop.o2.co.uk/shop/

After you place your order, youll receive the new mobile number and the new SIM card number. At this stage, please send us an email with the following information:

A] The PAC number: Will be generated by us at the time of transfer
B] Your original mobile number that you wish to keep: ********
C] The mobile number on the Pay as you Go phone or SIM pack: Awaiting
D] The SIM serial number on the new SIM card, this usually begins with 8944 1100....: Awaiting

Once we receive this information, we can arrange for your mobile number to be transferred to our Pay as you Go service.

When your mobile number gets transferred to Pay as you Go SIM card, your existing contract will be cancelled automatically.

If you should have any further questions, please visit our online Help Centre at:

http://www.o2.co.uk/help

Important - When you email us please provide: your date of birth, postcode and mobile number as it helps us answer your query faster.

Kind regards,

Santosh Vairal
Mobile Number Porting Team
O2 Customer Service

And me again:-

Dear Sir / Madam,

I did not ask to transfer my number to a new Pay & Go SIM. I asked for a PAC.
That is why I wrote "As per below, could you please provide me with a PAC so I can transfer my mobile number to a Pay & Go SIM at the end of my contract the 13th of this month."

But, I can provide you the details asked, so you can transfer my number directly to the new SIM:-

A] The PAC number: Will be generated by us at the time of transfer
B] Your original mobile number that you wish to keep: ************
C] The mobile number on the Pay as you Go phone or SIM pack: ****************
D] The SIM serial number on the new SIM card: ********************

Looking forward to your swift action and reply,

Kind regards,

Tony

To which I get the following reply:-

Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:59:30 +0100
To: ********************
Subject: Re: (KMM416880753V18873L0KM)
From: mycare@o2mail.co.uk

Hello Tony

This is in reference to your email about the PAC.

Firstly, I'd like to inform you that a PAC (Port Authorisation Code) is must to transfer the phone number.

With PAC code, you can either transfer your number to our Pay & Go plan or to any other network.

I'm sorry but it isn't clear from your email whether you want to transfer your number or not.

Please reply to this email with the details of your concern and we'll then help you further.

If you want to talk to us related with this matter, please call us on 08706 003 009 free of charge from your phone. We're open:

- Monday to Friday between 8am and 9pm
- Saturday and Sunday between 8am and 8pm.

I hope you'll find this information useful.

Kind Regards

Bhupendra Rawat
O2 Customer Service

I just sent this now :-

This is not the fourth email where I am asking you to send me a PAC code, so that I can transfer my number to a pay as you go SIM that I already have sent you the details for. Don't you have any CRM tool at all?
How hard is it to understand the sentence "As per below, could you please provide me with a PAC so I can transfer my mobile number to a Pay & Go SIM at the end of my contract the 13th of this month."
I have now requested this three times with no action from your side. If you do not understand, please feel free to ask your line manager.

I repeat: PLEASE SEND ME A PAC CODE NOW.
And again: I WANT A PAC CODE.
And third time lucky: PLEASE SEND ME A PAC CODE SO I CAN MOVE MY NUMBER!

Kind regards,

Tony

Next birthday

2009-06-12T11:16:00.003+01:00

Happy birthday Stefan, even though it was yesterday!

Tomorrow we're going to the next of all the 40th birthday parties this year. Going to celebrate the birthday boy Stefan at his place.

The yay is back up again (yay++)

2009-06-09T15:52:00.003+01:00

Have just had it confirmed the doc will honour his previous offer (and then some) and are happy to step in as the buyer for Clare's house. So the chain is mended again and our house move is back on it's way! WOOHOO! (For now anyway. :-P )

A little bit less yay (or: 'yay-- ' for you geeks)

2009-06-09T10:03:00.004+01:00

Latest news about the house moving is now that the buyer of the house here has lost his buyer. So the man with the hat have had to withdraw from buying this house. :-(
That means our purchase of the next house is in danger (we can't buy a new house without selling this one first, can we? We're talking of hundreds of thousands of pounds after all.) and then the vendors of that house might be in danger of loosing their deal on their next house, and so on... Not the most fun of situations I've been in.

Fall back is to see if the Doc, who lost the bidding war on the goal line, is still interested in buying this house. First indications are that he is. Which is a big yay in the middle of all this malarky.

As much as I don't like it, I must say that out estate agent have been really really efficient and good here. As soon as the man with the funny hat told them he had to withdraw, they contacted Clare, put the house back in their window and took off the "sold" sign online. They also contacted the Doc as soon as they had the go for that from Clare, and they have now (a few business hours later) come back with an first answer that they are still interested.

Ladies and gentlemen hold your noses (or thumbs if you're Swedish)...

Very much YAY!

2009-06-03T18:08:00.002+01:00

Now the next link in the house moving chain has fallen into place. The vendors of the house we have put an offer on have as of this afternoon accepted our offer!
Wohoooo!
I think it is time for a bottle of something nice tonight after training...

And the picture to prove it

2009-06-02T11:53:00.004+01:00

Going first...

2009-05-29T16:05:00.003+01:00

Going second...
Going third!

Sold to the man in the corner with the funny hat (is he a man of the cloth?).

This house is now sold. Or at least Clare has accepted an offer on it, so now it is just a matter of getting the paperwork sorted out and hope that everything goes smoothly.

Parking wars, part 3

2009-05-22T17:44:00.003+01:00

Not much new about this.
I still haven't moved our vehicle fleet out of the way, but it seems like the offenders have stopped parking even near our house. Don't think we have seen any of their cars in front of the Citroen (who is parked in front of our house) for during this entire week.

Now, when should I move our vehicles off the street and back to their proper place in front of our garage? One more week? One month? You tell me!

Parking wars, part 2

2009-05-12T16:52:00.003+01:00

This afternoon a view never seen before in human history appeared in the back yard.

One of the worst "parking offenders" made it a first and parked in front of their own garage, instead of in front of someone else's house!

Good little Tubbie!

Not sure if the simple fact that there were nowhere else close enough for him to park had anything to do with it...

And whilst I am writing this, another silvery clad offender came in and turned around, realising they were out of parking spaces there. Judging by the revs when he had to leave again, I don't think he was completely satisfied with the situation.

Did I mention that we are going to have a look at a new house this weekend? ;-)

Parking wars, part 1

2009-05-11T14:41:00.003+01:00

The parking wars has begun. We got ONE house on the street that just cannot get their head around how to park their vehicles in a considerate manner. When they don't take up two spaces with one vehicle, they park in front of the houses here that usually do have their own cars parked in front of their houses. Most of the time they do both.
It is not like there's no spaces for them to park their cars in, no they just don't care about anyone else living on the street.
So after a weekend with two badly parked cars in front of our house from Friday evening to Monday morning, again, I have finally had it. It is not illegal to park your car on the street, not at all. But it is rather egoistic and inconsiderate to just dump your car wherever you feel like, when you know there's other free spaces not very far away.
So, since it is not illegal at all, Ive now claimed the space on the street with two of our not so frequently used vehicles. One in front of our house, one in front of the inconsiderate neighbours.
This means Clare have to park in front of the garage. But at least she'll have a space to park in when she comes home from work every day.

If they then decide to park in front of our garage (which is private property), I might have Jocke to come around with his Espace and park behind that car.
Like me, Jocke is not using his vehicle very often.

How long should I leave them do you think? A week? Two? And more importantly, how long will it take until the offenders come here to complain themselves? :-D

Am I getting old? Maybe... But I do enjoy it!

Home sweet home

2009-05-01T08:38:00.001+01:00

After four exciting, interesting and nice days in Malmö, I am now back home again. Feels good! :o)

Going, going, gone!

2009-04-26T21:18:00.001+01:00

I am going to be in Malmö next week, so I will probably not be availabe on-line at all. :-P

Home sweet home

2009-04-15T10:58:00.002+01:00

We're back from Germany after a fun filled Easter. The last couple of months has been hectic like crazy, and the last days before going abroad we really bad for it.
Hopefully life will be a bit calmer from now on (except from going to Sweden next weekend maybe), so I c an try and catch up with things that should have been dealt with long time ago.

I think a few thanks here are deserved by some very special people!

First of all to Clare: Thanks for putting out with me and always being supportive in whatever I come up with! I am very lucky to have a girlfriend that share my enthusiasm for just DOING things. Thank you!
Then, in no specific order, except alphabetically:-
Thanks Caz for helping out with sourcing parts for my broken vehicles and sometimes even drag them across half of western Europe for me! Thanks also for putting some elbow grease in for getting the old van through its MOT. You rock!
Thanks Jocke for also being a part of the solution team with Caz :-), and for a lot of hands on work, lending me tools and bits. Most appreciated!
Thanks to Jochen and Sofia, for inviting us to stay at theirs for Easter and for lovely cooking & company and sharing local knowledge. The walk to Kesselschen was great, and so was the cooking! We both had a wonderful and relaxing stay!

Now there's just a house to sell, and another one to buy and renovate... ;-) Oh, and an Italian bike to sell... And a garage to clear out, and... Oh, never mind. At least _I_ don't have to focus on getting myself a black belt in the same time.

Board

2009-03-30T15:26:00.003+01:00

A board appeared outside here today...

Dig THIS

2009-03-03T11:24:00.004Z

On Sunday Clare got some driving instructions. But not for any old vehicle...

Yes, that's right! a huge excavator!
Despite what it looks like on the photo, she is not being snogged by Stefan. He is just showing her around in the cockpit. There's levers, switches, dials and all sorts to keep track of!

After the instructions, she had a real go at digging into the frozen snow. And she did really good for a first-timer.

True story! Digger Doory in action!
There's a movie of her digging as well, should you be interested. :-)

OK, I have to admit that I had a go too...

Great fun I must say! It takes a while to get your head around what lever to pull what way to get the right movement och the arm, but I can see that it wouldn't take too long to get the hang of it.

I hope the neighbours saw us and wondered what we were doing, more exactly. "They are just moving snow from one pile to another, and then back again??"

Great fun! Thank you very much Stefan for letting us have a go! Much appreciated.

First Clare had a go at the snow blower, just before Christmas, and now this. What can I top that with next time we go abroad?? Well, at least Clare can't say I don't take her places with new experiences... ;-)

Bike p0rn

2009-02-23T11:25:00.003Z

A packet from US arrived in the mail here today:

It's a jetting kit for my DR-Z 400 SM.
It comes with a choice of four main jets, which is really decent. I hope there will be one that suit my setup and bike. It also comes with a set of new screws for the float bowl, since the originals apparently are made of a very soft metal and are likely to break when trying to unscrew them. And on top of that, there's two different needles, with different profiles. So I can either get it really wrong or just about right. :-)

But the most important bit is that the kit comes with a sticker. That one alone will make the bike go at least 5 mph faster!

Recommendation sticker

2009-02-19T08:45:00.004Z

This little sticker made me smile this morning...

It is very British and polite. Instead of the usual "WARNING you MUST read the manual before use!!! (Or you'll die and burn in hell for all eternity, and then some)" it just points out the fact that it is generally a good idea to familiarise yourself with the product by checking out the quick start guide first. I like that! It sounds so much nicer. But it would probably not work in the US, someone would sue the manufacturer for not having a huge sticker telling the the aerials are not rectal probes. Or was that a bit unfair?

The sticker was located on the bag surrounding my new 802.11n Draft 2 MIMO WiFi router.

Flying

2009-02-16T08:14:00.005Z

Went out flying on Saturday. A friend got a microlight and ha asked if I'd like to come flying. Silly question! Of course I'd like to! :-)
A microlight is not much more than a kite with an engine (and a lot of gadgetry that makes life easy when flying.) This particular model was equipped with an engine from Rotax (same company that made the engine for my Aprilia and certain BMW bike models).
The engine is hugely over-sized for this type of aircraft. 100 bhp is more than a lot of small "normal" aircrafts.

Take off was a hoot! It felt like the plane took off in no space at all. And the engine didn't sound the least bothered with the quick ascent. I was really surprised with the smoothness of the ride. Compared to commercial flights, the whole experience were very smooth. This model of microlight got a top speed of 120 mph (190 kph) and the most economical speed is around 80 mph. We went for a tour over Bicester and then further to another airport, where we stopped for a cup of tea. :-) Then we went back home again, all in all a trip of maybe 1.5 hours...
It was great fun, to say the least! Thanks a lot Barry!

If you think this is a toy, think again. The English channel is just 1.5 hours away, and the crossing itself takes about 13 minutes. Barry and Deborah goes abroad quite a lot in the microlight. They've been to Prague and are going to South of France every year. :-)

Clare, can I have one for my birthday, please? ;-)

Someone's birthday cake

2009-02-12T12:55:00.002Z

This is a birthday cake, yes it is. :-)

Weekend trip

2009-02-09T14:58:00.010Z

So we went to Scotland for the weekend.
It was a bit snowy on the higher altitudes. Like here on 1500 feet:-

Yes, that would be the Scottish border then.

The little BMW did quite well, we got there and back on roughly £60 in fuel. That is a rather decent trip cost if you ask me.

The 120d posing just on the Scottish side of the border.

The fuel consumption is really good, if you consider where we went. We went from here, to Leicester, to pick up a Yoshi full system for Johan's TL 1000 R. Then from there to Carlisle to the hotel where we stayed over the night. In the morning, we went across the UK to the east coast and Newcastle upon Tyne, to see the Angel of the North. But she were having her beauty sleep, so we were not allowed anywhere near her.

The Angel of the North, closed of for refurbishment

And then we headed off to Edinburgh.

Yet another piper

And there, in Edinburgh, there were no snow at all. Funny, innit? ;-)

A nice little trip of about 450 miles. And that just to get there. :-)

The trip back home we did in one go though. Took a bit over 6 hours, even though we had a bit of a snow falling between Manchester and Birmingham. It is really useful with a GPS (or two, as in our case) to see that the slowdown from normal motorway speed down to 60 mph doesn't really loose you much time. Even though the snow was rather severe on some parts and we slowed down to 40 for quite some time, the estimated arrival time (ETA) didn't change even ten minutes. Without that on your GPS, it is easy to get stressed and think that you are losing a lot more time.

Talking of GPS - On more than one occasion, we had to decide what GPS to follow, since they routed us completely different ways. I think we need to get in a third one, for a second opinion. :-) Or if we get a whole farm, we can go on the majority vote. :-) We got two Nokia N95 here, with built in GPS. So we could load them up with different GPS software too. And I got a spare bluetooth GPS receiver I could use with another laptop or hand held device as well... Just imagine the noise if you took a wrong turn... "Recalculating" and "Do a U turn" from everywhere, over and over again. My old Co-pilot software is really nice on that. It is beeping once to let you know you have taken a wrong turn, that's all. The recalculation is done quietly.

Boiler fix

2009-02-03T14:03:00.002Z

Almost a week ago now, we had the boiler repaired here. It is a Potterton boiler, and they come with a faulty design (Just Google "Potterton boiler problems"). The repair bill usually ends in the region of £350 - £400 since the whole electrical circuit board has to be changed. The board itself cost £250 for a replacement board and then there's labour on top of that.
Due to the cost and the frustration with the fact that this is a faulty design that the manufacturer should take responsibility for (as pointed out on the BBC TV programme Watchdog), we have postponed this repair for a while.
But now it is done and we have had no boiler failures since. Before we had to restart the boiler up to twenty times per day but with periods when the boiler worked just fine for a week or two.

Clare found out a priority call out service with British gas, where they charge £2 per month (one year contract) and a one off fixed fee for each fault of £120-something. So for a total sum ending under £150 Clare got the boiler fitted with a new circuit board that costs £250 plus labour.
That is very well done Clare! Yay for you! :-)
The engineer who visited said "Sometimes I think we run a bloody charity"... :-D
When I explained the problem for him he just went out to his van and got a new circuit board and swapped them. No fault finding, no further investigations. That says a lot about how common this problem is. Just the fact that he had a spare board in his van says it all if you ask me.

SNOW

2009-02-02T10:48:00.002Z

We got a bit of snow here today. Apparently it has blown in from Russia overnight and it is expected to continue over the the day and most likely create a bit of chaos here.
This is what it looks like in out garden at the moment...

Home. sweet home

2009-01-27T08:31:00.003Z

I'm back home!
Finally, after six days in Disneyland for adults, I am back in my sweet home. Sitting here with a nice cup of coffee and are listening to BBC Radio 2 and their silly jokes, where they actually are talking, not shouting obscenities about filing a personal bankruptcy.
Back to the sensible land, where people are nice and the weather is crap. Where people do have a subtle sense of humour and understand the importance of proper queueing and personal space.
Where "excuse me" does have a meaning and are used when trying to squeeze past a crowded space (not just bumping in to people like a bunch of cows).
Back here, where the food don't contain huge amounts of sugar, salt and E-numbers (oh, well... At least it doesn't taste of just that.)
Here, where people do have at least a little bit of control over their vehicles whilst driving on public roads.
Public roads that are kept at a fairly decent standard. Back here where things do have detail, not just are of huge size (buildings, people, clothes, cars... You name it! Quality before quantity, thanks.)
Back here where you can order a sandwich for lunch and that in less than ten minutes of questions about choices and extras. If I order a tuna sandwich I don't want crisps, soup and all sorts to replace half the sandwich. If I want that, I'll order half a sandwich, a packet of crisps and a bowl of soup. If it is tomato soup I want, I order that. And if I want my soup in a cup instead, I'll order that.There is no need for the poor clerk behind the counter to ASK about all that, when I simply order a sandwich... Don't assume I am stupid and can't tell what I want. That is not service, it is just annoying. (Based on a true story!)
I'm back here where not even the police have guns.
Here, where you don't have tip everyone and this dog for doing their job.

Simply put: Back HOME! Thank you all for England, and God save the Queen!

No temperature

2009-01-23T01:43:00.002Z

It seems like the gremlins are playing at home when I am not there.
The computer that provides the temperature readings (here to the right) died this morning. Or at least it blew the fuse it is connected to. So we all have to live without the Bicester temperature until (at least) Monday.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Cable missing

2009-01-21T15:22:00.003Z

Arrived here in Las Vegas yesterday afternoon (local time) after a 10 hours flight.
In the evening we had a welcome party in the "Zoo" part of the hotel. Watched dolphins, white lions, white tigers, white alpacas (llamas), a puma, some leopards and a little six week old leopard cub playing around on a larger model of a cat climbing toy.
Unfortunately Im didn't bring the right cable to connect the camera to my computer, so there will be no pictures published whilst I'm here.

And I think it is a bit cheap of them to not afford full-coloured animals, but only black and white. ;-)

LV minus four days

2009-01-16T09:01:00.002Z

Now it is four days until I have to go to Las Vegas for a kick off with the company I work for...

The supercat!

2009-01-13T12:29:00.002Z

Don't you have to love a face like this?

Picture taken with Clare's mobile, hence the slightly lower quality picture.

The garden at -5°C

2009-01-09T10:28:00.002Z

COLD innit?!

Sky box upgraded!

2009-01-08T10:12:00.002Z

After doing a bit of research and thinking (yes, actually) I decided to try and sort out the reliability issues with our satellite receiver here. We got a box here at home that can receive content in High Definition and also store / record / pause the content. So it got a bit of hardware technology and software inside. It is know that the reliability on those boxes aren't the best though. During the first year of usage I think we have had no less than four boxes replaced under warranty, so the current one is the fifth box here. Not a brilliant track record. One or possibly two box replacements during the first year would have been acceptable. But four replacements do indicate there's a problem with the boxes...
So what to do, now when the warranty has expired? Well, either cancel the service and keep the box (since it is our's now anyway) or try and fix the problem myself. And if you know me at all, you know that I went for option 2 without any consideration or hesitation. :-)
After doing a bit of reading up on the subject I found that it seems to be a problem with cheap ("too cheap" I should say) components in the power supply unit on the box. This causes "ripple" (unwanted noise in the power feed to the box) that will give a lot of unwanted issues with everything else in the box. Luckily I found a capacitor upgrade kit at SatCure (here) for £11. The kit contains 15 capacitors, which is all the big capacitors in the PSU. So, I ordered a kit and it was delivered the next day. Excellent service! The printed instructions that came with the kit weren't too brilliant, but since I already got an email from the company with a link to the instructions and pictures, no sweat there.
After an hour or so (yes, I am not up to speed on soldering) I've replaced all 15 capacitors. This is the old, now released crew:-

After a bit of inspection I even found one "blown" capacitor:-

The shiny top bit there should NOT have the brown material on top. That is the electrolyte innards on their way out. So I think it was a Good Thing™ that I went for this upgrade right now.
The initial tests showed that everything was working just fine after the upgrade, now only time will tell if the reliability has improved or not. The box used to go down maybe once a week before, and fail the odd recording maybe once or twice a month. I am hoping this will go away now, but only time can tell. :-)

Since I had the box open and disassembled, I thought I'd upgrade the hard drive too. :-) After the recent computer upgrade, I had a spare 500 GB drive lying around. So I replaced the standard 300 GB drive with this, using Copy+ to transfer the content over. The transfer took about an hour to do, with both drives connected to my PC. Very easy program to use, Copy+. Highly recommended for anyone doing the same thing. You can find it here.

So did we get any more space for recordings then?
Since roughly 140GB is used by the system, the actual space on the original disk for own recordings were 160 GB, and with the new disk we now got 360 GB to ourselves instead. That is more than double the earlier space. I'd estimate the space to hold almost 100 hours of high definition recordings, or 300 (maybe even 400) hours of standard definition recordings.
One side effect of this (after a quick first test) seems to be that the fast forwarding in 30 times actually is close to 30 times normal speed. This could be down do disk speed. (Could also be down to the fact that the box was just restarted; the file system on the drive was rearranged (defragmented) by Copy+ and / or the fact that the power supply now deliver the proper power to the system. I'm just hoping this will keep up.

Are you still reading? No, didn't think so. :-D