I am about to embark on migrating this blog from WordPress to Django-Mingus because I simply can’t stand the WordPress ‘Compose Post’ interface (if you can call it that). This exciting move comes less than two weeks after I spontaneously decided to ditch Habari after the lack of a functional ‘Auto-Save’ plugin caused me to lose 17 minutes work. You may say ‘I’m reading this in my preferred RSS reader so please don’t bother me with such minutiae’. ...

Accidentally. For the last two weeks, I have been savouring the joys of commuting into the City on South West Trains and the London underground network. Like most large, densely populated cities, Transport for London has introduced a Smart Card system, known as Oyster, which allows ticketless travel on trains, tubes and buses. Most modern cities in the developed world have similar smart card technology resulting in a faster, more efficient transport system with cheaper fares for passengers and reduced staffing costs at railway stations. ...

Tuesday 1 June Mr. Capello announces the final squad of 23 players for the World Cup. There was the odd surprise and some devastated players as we say a tearful farewell to Huddza, Johnno, the Scott-Meister, Les (Dawson), Dazza The Bender, Walcottza and the quiet one (I think his name was Leighton Baines). Saturday 5 June Rio and Heskey have a argument over Wii Tennis that carries over into a training match. After winning a defensive header, Rio tells Heskey ‘Dunno why you’re still here. I’ve scored more international goals than you.’ Heskey retaliates by sliding in by the corner flag and sitting on Rio’s left knee. ...

Hi Norman. You and I haven’t spoken before so please excuse the intrusion. However Sandstone Search & Selection are a specialist recruitment consultancy, focused on the Enterprise Software and Consulting markets. I’m keen to find out if you’re open minded about your career please let me know. Rupert Smithers-Jones Hi Rupert. Yes - I am pretty open minded about my career and would consider anything apart from pole dancing. Norman. ...

After weeks of anticipation, the day finally dawned - Thursday 6 May and The National’s concert at the Royal Albert Hall. I’ve been to the Albert Hall once before when I went to see Cirque de Soleil. On that occasion, I was wearing a jacket and tie (family birthday) and was perched precariously in the upper circle which gave me vertigo. I had some reservations about seeing a proper concert here and had disconcerting images of posh people in dinner jackets, sitting down, politely applauding an acoustic set. Anyway, I got the tube to High St. Kensington, stopped off at the Goat Tavern for a quick drink en route.and then made my way to the famous venue next to Imperial College. ...