Uk

less is more

‘Would you like any cashback today at all, Sir ?’

‘Oh yeah. That would be handy. £50 - thanks.’

‘Oh I’m awfully sorry. I haven’t got enough money in the till to give you £50, Sir.’

‘Oh OK - how about £30 then ?’

[Looks dolefully into depths of till] ‘Hmm - not really. That would leave me a little short of cash.’

‘Can you manage £20 ?’

‘Yeah, yeah. £20. I can give you £20.’

hostelries in West Bromwich

Days Inn Hotel. No restaurant service ‘because it is Christmas’. No cooked breakfast ‘because it is Christmas’. No Sky Sports which is normally available but has been withdrawn ‘because it is Christmas’. Boddingtons is available despite the proximity of ‘Christmas’ at a very reasonable 2.95 GBP for a pint.

The Marksman hostelry, a mere half a mile away, but a little more earthy, has Sky Sports at every booth and on big screens and sells Stella Artois for 2.20 GBP per pint.

UK edging towards 1984

Just got my car a shiny, new MOT certificate as an early Christmas present. The MOT certificate is a pre-requisite for renewing the tax disc which expires at the end of the month.

The format of the MOT test certificate has changed and all MOT’s will be recorded on a computer system at the Vehicle and Operator Agency (VOSA).

This means that you can now apply for your road tax online as VOSA can also verify that the vehicle is insured using another computer system.

so farewell then, Pete and Geoff

Not many things make me laugh out loud.

Pete Mitchell and Geoff Lloyd on the Virgin Radio breakfast show were very funny.

Now they are leaving. Time to burn a few more CD’s for the tedious journey into work.

circular discussions

Just bought 30 second class stamps and sent a parcel recorded delivery in the Post Office. The stamps cost £6.30 and the recorded delivery costs £2.25.

‘That will be £8.55, please Sir’.

I hand over a 20 pound note. The lady gives me £8.55 in change, asks me to put the parcel in Santa’s overflowing grey sack and prepares for the next customer.

‘Sorry but I thought you said it was £8.55’

thoughts on digital radio

Two things that are not immediately obvious about digital radio.

1. Not all DAB stations are national. You may be able to listen to Capital Radio in Brisbane over the Internet but you can’t listen to Capital Radio on a digital radio in Inverness. This is because ’local’ radio stations are still subject to UK broadcasting regulations which means they must remain local, even with DAB. Consequently, the range of radio stations available on DAB isn’t (quite) as wide ranging as you might expect.
2. The sound quality of FM radio is better than DAB. Tune the same radio station in on FM and DAB, turn up the volume and toggle between the two. The difference is quite marked. I used to think my ears? wouldn’t be able to distinguish between an expensive Bang & Oulfsen system costing 2,000 GBP and an Alba record player. I was wrong.

probably the best phish in the world

A few months ago, I was shocked and amazed to receive an email from Friends Reunited entitled ‘Janet Oldsgate has sent you a private message’.

God, I was so excited, I could hardly contain myself. The adrenaline started flowing, I broke out in a hot sweat and clicked through like I had never clicked through before.

Oh no. What is my darned password for Friends Reunited ? I looked it up on the Palm - nothing. I looked in Thunderbird under ‘Infrequently used Web sites’ - nothing. I tried a couple of the usual suspects but no joy. Then I remembered the password was in fact, ‘JOldsgate73!’. This password was a deliberate and incredibly secure choice to prevent a repeat of the unfortunate incident when my wife hacked my Friends Reunited account and modified my ‘Profile’ in an oh so amusing and hilarious fashion. My, how we laughed.

Guinness brewery tour

Scobleizer’s trip to the Guinness brewery reminds me of a similar visit I enjoyed many years ago with a few friends.

After enduring the 45 minute tour of the Dublin brewery, we finally settled back to enjoy the free samples which were willingly dispensed in 1/2 pint glasses of sheer perfection.

After a while (seven halves), I sensed the barmaid was about to ask ‘Shouldn’t you lads be moving on now ?’ but one of our party got in first with ‘Have you not got any pint glasses back there ?’

my personal pensions crisis

Last week, I initiated the transfer of the last of my pension funds into my Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). This should be a relatively straightforward transfer of the Protected Rights element of a former pension plan. The first step was a response from the pension company receiving the funds. They need me to fill in a form explicitly stating that I did not request any financial advice about this transfer to guard them against mis-selling claims.

Resurrection of a gadget

I used to have a Psion 5. This was a neat little personal organiser in a clam shell case with a mini QWERTY style keyboard. The Psion even had a port of the ‘vi’ editor available. However, after the novelty wore off, I didn’t use it much other than a few short-lived pointless games and as a glorified address book when sending out my Christmas cards.

Years later, I worked with some young, trendy individuals who wore Diesel trousers who taunted me as they all gradually acquired new, shiny Palm PDA’s. Of course, I simply couldn’t face them with my aged Psion so I went out and bought a Palm Vx.