Life in the Bus Lane

For some reason I’ve gained a fly infestation over the last few days. I could understand it if they were congregating round the kitchen bin or the cat food, but for some unknown reason it’s the bathroom and bedroom windows which were affected. I think it started when I part-opened the bathroom window last week and left it, they obviously came in through there.

However a few quick sprays from a can on Rentokil fly killer, and I’ve got a dead-fly carpet which is soon cleared with the aid of the Dyson.

No doubt they’ll be back tomorrow.

It lasted three hours tonight. Time that could have been better spent playing GTA4, or contemplating my navel.

This looks lovely. I was almost tempted to cancel the order for the 69er until I looked at the price.

I worked my way thorough Episode IV tonight, and also had an online game with Steve for a short while using the Bluetooth headset which makes things a lot easier.

It’s GTA4 day tomorrow, hopefully mine will arrive in the post at some point during the day.

The Dualshock 3 controller and Bluetooth headset arrived for my PS3 on Friday. The controller makes games a lot more tactile, and the headset should make on-line gaming easier. It’s a bit tricky playing with a phone held in one hand.

Saturday was the scout St George’s Day activity day. I ended up doing traffic control and photography, and getting slightly sunburned in the unexpected sunshine. The only downside was that it completely screwed my back up.

Sunday was spent processing the photographs from Saturday, clearing space in the utility room for the next bike arrival, and then completing Episodes II and III on Lego Star Wars.

I had a quick test ride on a Trek 69er Singlespeed after work tonight. Despite only being a 17.5″ frame, having virtually no air in the forks, and having a bottom bracket fit only for the bin, it was very nice to ride up and down Walcot Street.

I also came away with a copy of Klunkerz on DVD which used up the last of my credit.

A long trek up to Kettering, a quick donning of my “Dukla Prague Away Kit” shirt, followed by a shorter trek up to Nottingham saw us emerge from the car park to see “Birkenhead Car and Van Hire” emblazoned on the side of the nearest van. This can only mean one thing, Half Man Half Biscuit must be playing nearby.

Support came from Calvin Party who were fairly uninspiring to be honest. Once they were finished we took position against the barrier in front of the stage to get in front of the rapidly increasing crowd.

Just after 9pm the main band strolled on stage and launched into the first of many songs, a few technical difficulties delayed parts of the evening but didn’t really spoil things. Firstly Ken (guitar) had problems with his FX pedals necessitating some reconfiguration, and later Neil (Bass) had to replace a problematic lead, at one point disappearing off stage leaving Nigel to keep us amused for a few minutes.

Setlist:

The Light at the End of the Tunnel (is the Light of an Oncoming Train)
Fuckin’ ‘ell it’s Fred Titmus
Restless Legs
Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo
Totnes Bickering Fair
Albert Hammond Bootleg
Running Order Squabble Fest
Deep House Victims Minibus Appeal
Outbreak of Vitus Gerulaitis
Blue Badge Abuser
Ballad of Climie Fisher (intro only, because only Nigel knew how to play it)
Used to be in Evil Gazebo
Vatican Broadside
We Built this Village on a Trad. Arr. Tune
Twenty-Four Hour Garage People (the Pringles cost £1.02 tonight)
National Shite Day
For What Is Chatteris?
Tending The Wrong Grave
Tonight Matthew I’m Going To Be With Jesus (complete with loud cheering from the crowd after the “Rock City, Notts” line)
Bad Losers On Yahoo Chess
Look Dad No Tunes
Everything’s AOR
The Trumpton Riots

Worried Man Blues
All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit
Joy Division Oven Gloves

Whilst I was up in Kettering with Steve, we took my new Pansh Blaze kite out to try it out. The wind was rumoured to be about 15mph, although seemed to pick up later on. Once we’d managed to set the kite up and adjusted the brake lines correctly both Steve and I gave it a good workout. The wind was strong enough to pull me across the field on several occasions.

Looks like there was a power cut here yesterday afternoon whilst I was in Kettering, and neither of the PCs came back up automatically.

Wychwood Circlemaster, it’s lovely. It came as part of a mixed case of 12 bottles of Wychwood beers I picked up in Sainsburys last weekend.

…and ordered Grand Theft Auto IV in advance of it’s release next week. Several people at work actually have the day booked off work so they can play it all day.

Steve and I did at least get an online game working, although it’s not much use until my Bluetooth headset turns up.

The RSPCA did their final cat visit this evening as well, Mulder and Scully behaved perfectly and even went up and asked to be stroked.

Yes, it’s Catherine Tate on Doctor Who again, bringing us some of the worst acting ever seen on television.

It’s viciously addictive. Shame Steve and I couldn’t get an online game going.

Wow.

Update: 6 hours playing in the end. Classes C and B are cleared, and I’ve started on class A. The on-line racing is kind of fun as well, I even managed to win one race.

I have seen the future and it is Blu, and so have ordered myself a Playstation 3. The imminent arrival of this necessitated some fairly major reorganising of the AV kit. I’ve retired the VHS machine and MD recorder, neither of which have been used for years, although I might reconnect the VHS at some point as I still have a few things on tape which aren’t available on DVD.

All being well City Link should arrive with a PS3 tomorrow morning, and the Postie should bring the HDMI cable and remote control. Cat5 and Optical cables are already in place awaiting the rest of the kit, and then I can spend the day playing Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

Update: I’ve just noticed that one of my favourite VHS tapes, Elvis Costello Live: A Case for Song is now available on DVD. All I need now is for The Dangerous Brothers to make it to DVD and I won’t need the player after all.

I’m off to listen to it on repeat until it’s time to go to bed.

I had my first appointment with the Physio this morning and somewhat unhelpfully my back wasn’t actually hurting. After running through a list of questions she got me to undress and tested the reflexes in my legs, finding them somewhat lacking. Then I had to bend in all sorts of unnatural directions while she felt my lower back, followed by having to lie face-down while she poked and prodded my lower spine, I suspect I enjoyed it slightly more than she did.

Apparentley there is some tightness in my lower back when bending backwards, so I’ve got a set of stretches to do to see if that helps, and if not I can self-refer myself for another appointment. If it starts playing up again she’ll try and fit me in that day if I ring and ask nicely.

I appear to have finally solved the creaking problem on the Ribble, it looks like removing the pedals, regreasing the threads, and refitting them has done the job leaving blissful silence on the ride into work this morning.

Another ride with Ian tonight, this time I was on my geared cross bike and he was on his new Surly Pacer. We headed out along the canal to Dundas again, but this time we both turned off into Monkton Combe and up Summer Lane. Summer Lane is a fairly steady climb of a mile or so, but one which kicks up a bit towards the end brining on a severer case of jelly legs as we turned off towards Shepherds Walk. I headed back down via Wellsway intending to race buses down the hill, but the buses and cars were all spoilsports and wouldn’t come out to play so I had a clear run back into town and home again.

Bladders aren’t meant to have nasty brown stains in them are they? I think mine is headed for the nearest bin.

In a mad fit of post-work workshop productivity the cross bike has been re-braked and tweaked in anticipation of a post-work ride on Wednesday, it just needs some wider bars now. Whilst I was waving allen keys about I had another go and de-creaking the Ribble. I removed, cleaned, greased, and reattached all the chainrings which didn’t help, so I then removed, greased, and refitted the pedals. If that doesn’t work I’m pretty much out of ideas.

You can now order CSI:Ambleside by Half Man Half Biscuit direct from Probe Plus for a tenner plus postage.

I didn’t think it was possible, but Catherine Tate was even worse this week. Well done BBC for ruining a once-good television series with one misjudged casting decision.

Due to my dodgy back I’m not actually camping at the Scout Skills Camp, choosing instead to sleep in a proper comfortable bed. Helpfully they also thought I was on holiday this weekend and not able to attend, so I’m not really needed.

I popped out this afternoon to give the Canon G9 a proper work out, and ended up leaving the 30D in the boot of the car untouched.

Whilst the 30D can take far superior photographs, in these conditions the G9 was the better camera to use. It fits in a pocket, and the resulting photographs are more than adequate for what I need.

No, it’s something even more implausible. Simon has apparently got a job!

I should probably wish him a happy birthday as well.

It’s Kelly’s last day before maternity leave today, so rather than head off to the pub and get drunk in front of her, we ordered burgers from Schwartz. Chaos ensued when the volunteer collectors returned with boxes of burgers, fries, and assorted drinks, and were promptly mobbed by hungry staff. I think everyone got their food, and no-one lost any limbs in the process.

The IT Service Desk hard at work.

We’ll still head to the pub and get drunk after work though.

I rode a mountain bike to work today instead of the Ribble road bike. It was my first time out on a mountain bike for about 8 months. After such a long gap, mtbs just feel weird. Heavy, too short, and hard to pedal, however it’s time to try and get used to it again.

O2 seem to think that 3G connections should be 128Kb/sec rather than the 384Kb/sec that everyone else understands. I wonder if I can cancel my contract because of this?

The Register: O2 says 128Kb/s is all its 3G customers need

It looks like Trek and Greg Lemond are splitting up and arguing about who gets to keep the dog. Shame really, my Trek/Lemond road bike is fantastic and of a type unlikely to be seen again.

More details: cyclingnews.com: Trek ends relationship with Greg LeMond

She’s ruined it.

I was amused to find that the volume control on BBC iPlayer goes all the way to eleven.

My Tivo decided not to change channel properly at 18:20 to record the start of the new series of Doctor Who, presumably a gnat farted nearby and deflected the infra-red beams away from the Sky digibox, I only noticed it had failed about 20 minutes later when I paused the DVD I was watching to check everything was recording properly. Several new swear words were invented when I was greeted by Harry Hill rather than David Tennant.

Fortunately I can now watch if on the laptop, and if it’s any good watch it again tomorrow night on the big telly.

2008-04-02 21:39:00 UNITED KINGDOM COVENTRY PF Arrival at Sorting Center
2008-04-02 21:39:00 UNITED KINGDOM COVENTRY PF Handed over to Customs

Update:
They’ve let it go again, probably with a hefty bill attached.

2008-04-03 13:14:00 UNITED KINGDOM COVENTRY PF Released from Customs

Don’t die of shock when I say this, but I went for a proper ride tonight. In to town on the Tricross to meet Ian, out along the canal to Dundas where Ian peeled off in the direction of home, and I headed on along to Avoncliff where I admired the sunset then turned round and rode back home again.

After 20 miles on a fixed gear bike my legs have turned to jelly and my toes are frozen. It’s ace.

According to Ofcom I’m an intellectual rejecter. Sounds about right.

There’s a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets

From National Shite Day by Half Man Half Biscuit.

Spacey to host ‘I am Keyser Soze’ on BBC1