Andrew's journal

David and Melanie's Birthday

2006-05-01T21:53:57Z

I’ve finally got round to uploading my photos from David and Melanie’s birthday bash, last weekend. A ‘select’ few of us went to see the skiing video from La Plagne (or in my case, the skiing holiday that never was!) on David’s shiny new LCD HDTV (definitely next on my shopping list!). We then headed off to meet everyone else at the Pickeral’s beer garden, followed by food at La Margherita, and more drinks at the Sino Tap. I took my SLR to take some photos, which is good, as it involves no effort at all. I turned up at the beginning of the evening, a few people develop camera envy (namely Shazzie and Chris) and want to play. Hey presto! At the end of the evening you have a load of photos to put in an album. Great!

View photos

Deer in headlights

2006-04-26T23:34:52Z

New job: one month on. I figure I should be making more progress than I have so far.

Today seems to be a classic example of this. Been working on a project for just under a week now, only to find out today that:

I’ve been using the wrong dev environment
I’ve completely mis-interpreted the requirements
I didn’t realise that the deadline was today (probably yesterday by the time I post this)

In short: OH SHIT.

So, managed to completely rehash the project at break-neck speed to something which I think matches the requirements except I still don’t have a dev environment where I can accurately test it. Lots of people have given me plenty of advice and time on how to set this up, but I still don’t have something which works reliably. Some of this info seems conflicting. But is it really conflicting or is it simply that I don’t understand the info at some subtle level? I dunno.

And there in lies the rub: I DON’T KNOW. And considering I was hired into a relatively senior role, I figure I SHOULD KNOW BY NOW. If I was a graduate, I could forgive the deer in headlights look but someone with 7 years experience? Nah, that can’t be right. At my last place, I’d pretty much shipped a couple of customer demos and finished projects by this point.

I got about as far as I could this evening before realising i simply wasn’t going to hit the deadline so tomorrow will probably be a rescue job with the aid of several other people. All a bit embarrassing and crap on my part.

Suffice to say, I didn’t get home ‘til about 7:20 today. I’d already emailed ahead to Jan and Imi that morning to say that it was unlikely I’d make the orchestra rehearsal tonight (which I was feeling bad about letting everyone down as it was the final run though before a concert on Bank holiday Monday so I really should be there) but I managed to make it there half way though, just as they were rehearsing 76 Trombones, one trombone down.

Actually, I confess, by the time I got home I did toy with the idea of whether to still go to the rehearsal at all. I was tired and a bit dizzy (really should have got some lunch!) but I’m glad I went to the rehearsal anyway. If, for anything, just to chat with Sue and James who are both in new jobs as well, and to know that I’m not the only one feeling out of my depth and in need of a fifty-foot snorkel. I should be grateful, I’ve only got a new job to deal with, both of them have wedding/new job/new house to deal with which is bound to be a bit phasing.

Oh well, let’s see what tomorrow (now today) brings...

All clear

2006-04-12T12:14:04Z

I got the results back from the EEG and MRI scan at the weekend. Thankfully, everything's normal.

So where does that leave me? Well, it basically means:

I have a brain (which is useful)
There's no physical damage to it
There's no complications with my Addisons (i.e. Adrenoleukodystrophy)

So my seizure could be caused by something else, or it could be a freak, one-off thing. Hopefully it's the latter and therefore not epilepsy-related (one medical condition is enough thanks, two would be just plain greedy!).

The driving ban still stands but providing I behave myself and don't have any more funny turns on badminton courts, I'll be able to drive again by next January. In the meantime, I'm going to sell the car. I doubt I'll get much for a seven year-old Seat Ibiza but it's better than paying out insurance on car I can't drive.

Mini purchase

2006-04-02T16:03:37Z

UPS delivered my latest dent in my bank account this week: an Intel Core Duo Mac Mini. My aim is to use it as a media centre. Setting it up was pretty straight forward: Plugged the DVI out into the telly (via the Apple DVI-video adapter) and switched on the bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse. It paired the mouse and keyboard automatically and set the resolution to 800x600 which is about as good as you get with a CRT TV. My only niggle is that there’s a black border around the picture. Switching on overscan gets rid of the border but then the image bleeds off the sides and is too big. I’ve had no such troubles when plugging my Powerbook into the telly but my laptop has a dedicated s-video socket. So I’m inclined to think that either the Apple DVI-video adapter is just a bit crap or the Mini struggles to get the settings right when trying to probe the telly through the adapter. In the short term, I think I’m just going to have to live with this, unless anyone has any suggestions for a fix. In the long term (nah, definitely medium term) I think I’ll be looking to buy a LCD HDTV.

Front Row works pretty well although you have to do some faffing with the settings in the DVD player app to get it to output dolby digital surround sound. I’ve now copied across my iTunes and iPhoto collections from my laptop using Firewire although Front Row was able to stream these remotely from my laptop when they were shared across the network.

My next task will be to get the SlimServer software running on it so I can connect my Squeezebox to it. I’m currently having some problems with that as I get an error message appearing in System Preferences saying that the preference pane doesn’t work on this computer and I should contact the developer. Not sure if this is a x86 vs. PPC compatibility thing under Rosetta but considering the Slim Server is written in Perl I wouldn’t have thought this was an issue. As for the Squeezebox itself, I haven’t decided what to do with it. Having the Mac Mini in the lounge sort of negates the need to having a music player in there. Having said that, unless I can do some magic with Sailing Clicker and my bluetooth mobile I would have to resort to turning the telly on every time I want to select some music so maybe I’ll keep the squeezebox where it is. Alternatively, I could relocate the Squeezebox to my bedroom or the kitchen and pair it with a set of powered speakers as a second sound system. The latter might come in handy for any future BBQs at Heckford Heights. Ho hum, decisions, decisions...

Sue and James' wedding

2006-04-02T15:28:36Z

Last weekend I was up in Ayr (along with some of the CCO) for Sue and James’ wedding. Imi, Bryony, Sue Taylor, Louise, Evert, Crispin, Jan, Simon, Athena, Robin and I all stayed in the Arrandale Hotel for the weekend. Top marks to Athena for booking this hotel, the rooms were really nice, there was a bar with a good selection of single malts and they served great fried breakfasts every morning (including some really good black pudding!).

The wedding was at a local church in Ayr and it was only 10-15 minutes walk from our hotel.

After the wedding, we were all transported by coach up to Culzean castle for the reception. Everyone was led into the castle by a piper. The castle itself was really impressive boasting enough swords, guns and cannons to arm a small army. So, of course, Sue and James, had to cut the wedding cake with a large sword. The dinner was in the home farm in the castle grounds. After the meal there was a small band playing a mixture of ceilidh (sp?) dances and some more cheesy pop music. The ceilidh was good fun, but I draw the line at being anywhere near a dance floor when the band decides to play Lady In Red.

The next day, the clocks went forward and I think we were all definitely missing that one hour’s sleep. We had plenty of time to kill between checking out of the hotel rooms and catching the flight back to Stanstead. So we went for a very bracing walk along the coast. When we set off for our walk, we somehow managed to leave Evert behind in the hotel and didn’t realise he wasn’t there until we’d stopped at a cafe for a coffee. We tried phoning his mobile but that just went straight to mobile (he’d left it in Cambridge!). Eventually we ended up phoning the hotel and asking them whether they had a Dutchman in the lounge and could we possibly speak to him. I imagine the lady who ran the hotel probably thought we were bonkers.

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Last day

2006-03-27T10:30:49Z

Well today was my last day at Open Objects. I don’t think it’s quite hit home yet that I’m leaving at off to a new job. Maybe next week, after I come back from Sue and James’ wedding and I have time to reflect in my week off before I start at my new place it’ll sink in. At the moment it just feels like I’m off for a short holiday.

To be honest, there wasn’t much to do on my last day. I’d finished off all my project work and handed stuff over to other people earlier in the week. So it was a 2-pint lunch time down at the Wagon and Horses (cheers Gavin!). There’s only so much desk-tidying you can do (and this is probably the cleanest my desk has looked in three years!) so I headed off early at about 4pm. I’ll try and meet up with the guys next week one evening for a couple of beers and a curry. Failing that there’s always the beer festival. Suspect I’d have to book a day off work rather than the MD closing the office for the afternoon this time around!

All change

2006-03-20T11:40:59Z

The last month has been a bit manic, so I haven't blogged for awhile. I'm finally finding time to come up for air. Which is good, as I think I would have gone a bit mental otherwise. So in no particular order here's what I've been getting upto:

New job. After three years at Open Objects, I decided I wanted a change and handed in my notice. It's my last week this week and I start at my new job at Qualcomm next month. They did a little bit of a presentation down the pub on Friday and I got a leaving card and a portable DAB radio as a going-away prezzie. There'll be a lot of things I'll miss about Open Objects (working a place where the MD is prepared to close down the office in order to spend the afternoon at the beer festival, for one!) but the new place should present lots of new and interesting challenges. So far, all my work has been focused on web and UI on a PC so switching to the world of mobiles will broaden my horizons quite a bit.

EEG. Yep, in my on-going seizure saga, they stuck electrodes to my head with lots of 'orrible gluey stuff. They then monitored my brain while a nurse flashed (a light) at me and I did lots of heavy breathing. I have the MRI scan next week, hopefully they'll be able to show me I have a brain. I've been looking for it for ages

Holiday insurance claim. In another part of the seizure-saga, I've been chasing people for documentation so I can claim back my money for the skiing holiday I never had. The most time consuming of the lot, being chasing after doctors and receptionists who lose all your claim forms so you have to start again. Bless the NHS...

Car schinanigans. In the middle of all this, it was time for the car's annual MOT/service/renew insurance/ burn a hole in my wallet session. Accept, of course, I couldn't drive it. Managed to get the service to co-incide with a parental visit and my Dad drove it to the garage for a service. It's now sat in my garage, all MOTed and no where to go (sob!). The sensible thing to do now is sell it, bank whatever money I can get and, if I'm a good boy and don't have any more funny turns on badminton courts, maybe I can get a new one in a year's time.

Oh well, lots of fun stuff, still to come. I'm off to Scotland at the weekend for Sue and James' wedding. I've shelled out on a Pierre Cardin coat from Moss Bros to go over my suit. It's bloody freezing down here in Cambridge at the moment, so I figure Scotland is going to be positively baltic.

Beer and buns

2006-02-09T01:01:59Z

Last weekend, a few of us went to visit Sarah, Aids, Joe and Alice in Bath.

The hotel we stayed in was very good. It was right next to the station, it had two bars, and they serve black-pudding with the full English breakfast (what more could you ask for? -- top marks to Lynda for booking!).

Friday night we went round to Sarah and Aids for dinner and we had lots of beer, curry and pizza. Joe seemed pleased that Chef was there so he could talk about Star Wars and Alice seemed quite entertained with Lynda’s reading of Dora the Explorer. Later on, the ‘big kids’ got the scale-electric set out and more alcohol was consumed until the early hours of the morning. We got back to the hotel at about 1:30ish to find some bloke shutting up the bar muttering that he only cleaned the place and couldn’t serve any drinks to us. Ho hum. It was probably wise to retire for the night anyway.

Saturday: Mikey, Chef, Sarah and Aids went off climbing and the rest of us mooched round town for a bit. We’d done the whole touristy thing last time so we did a bit of shopping in the morning including a stop at Sally Lunn’s tea shop. I decided to pass on the buns this time, as they’re just darn sweet for my taste and I had demolished a full English only an hour or so before. That afternoon, we found the local Odeon and saw Munich. Very good film, but quite long. It’s quite graphic and violent in places but does hold a mirror up-to the Palestinian-Isreali conflict and how it’s de-humanised people on both sides. Worth seeing, but not if you want a brain-in-neutral, end of the week, happy Friday night.

That evening, Sarah booked us a table at a restaurant called The Carpenter & Walrus. They started off purely veggie apparently, but have expanded to include all organic food. The food was really nice, (is that because it’s sans chemicals?) and we were all pretty stuffed by the end of it. A few of us went onto a local pub/bar afterwards but through a combination of being tired and well fed, we struggled through our pints.

Sunday: Chris, Melanie, Chef and Mikey left after breakfast. Louise, David, Lynda and I hung around Bath until lunchtime to catch our train. I got back to Cambridge in time to head out to Teriyaki for Crispin’s birthday that evening. I tried some sushi for the first time and I think I rather like it, particularly if it has that spicy washabi horseradish stuff with it.

I took Monday off work as a ‘pseudo-Sunday’ to do shopping and other things.

The weekend in Bath was also the first outing for my new camera. I took a few photos, and Chris borrowed it for a few more. I think he maybe coming down with a touch of camera envy ;-)

View photos

Who's calling

2006-01-31T13:13:58Z

According to the Beeb, Tom Baker is to be the voice of BT's talking text service.

I predict a craze of texting quotes from Little Britain to friends will now sweep through the 'yuff' of the country in the next few months.

Of course, us more senior (and more geeky) citizens have a much larger library of quotes to call upon. Namely, 7 years worth from a popular British sci-fi TV programme. Oh and there was that episode of Blackadder, of course.... ;-)

Bye, bye 2006. Hello Year of the Dog

2006-01-30T10:39:27Z

It was Chinese New Year's Eve on Saturday so Athena organized a meal out for 11 of us at Shanghai on Burleigh Street. The restaurant is a bit eccentric, it's a French cafe downstairs serving pastries, coffee, etc and a chinese restaurant upstairs. Athena ordered all the food for us and rather than just having individual dishes we had a banquet of lots of dishes which we all tried a bit of. The food was really nice and a bit different from the usual things I end up ordering when going out for a chinese (I'd never normally order jellyfish for a start!).

After the meal we went on to The Free Press and tried to squeeze all 11 of us into the snug. According to the chalkboard, they've managed to squeeze 61 people in there (don't believe that myself). We set our own record, by drinking the most bottles of champagne (was it 4 or 5?) in the snug which has now been recorded for posterity on the board.

So, that's the Year of the Rooster gone, now starts the Year of the Dog. Given that 2006 has gone a bit crap recently (Getting fit at Badminton), I've decided I'm going to ignore it and use the Chinese calender instead. In which case I now have a brand new year and hopefully better fortune to look forward to. Hurrah!

Memoirs of a Geisha

2006-01-27T19:51:45Z

Went to see Memoirs of a Geisha with Melanie and Louise last night. Pretty good. Should probably win some awards for the cinematography. How do they walk in those shoes?

Give me feedback

2006-01-27T15:37:45Z

I haven't done a geeky, techy blog entry in a little while so if this is not your thing, you might want to skip on.

If you are into that then feel free to read on and see if you agree with my latest rant.

I've started to notice some "improvements" that designers have been making to various controls on every-day objects which seem to be sacrificing a very basic feature of any good UI design - feedback. A couple of examples:

Pedestrian crossings - There's a new set of lights on Victoria Avenue, Cambridge and they have a new way of activating the pedestrian crossing. Ever since I can remember, pedestrian crossing lights have worked the same way in the UK. You push a button, a WAIT sign lights up above the button and you wait a couple of minutes until the red man changes to green and the audible sound tells you it's safe to cross. So in-grained in my psyche is this routine, that I scarecly look at the button anymore. If I'm cycling along I can stop, reach out and feel and press the button without taking my eyes of what's going on around me. This is because pressing the button in and feeling it spring back has given me enough of a sensory clue that I've activated the lights. Imagine then my surprise when I tried this on the new lights on Victoria Avenue which have a touch-panel to activate them. I attempted pushing the thing a couple of times, meeting total resistance until I realised that a red ring around the touch panel was now glowing so I guess that means I'd activated it. Now, I'm lucky, I can see but how is someone who's blind or partially sighted supposed to cope? Am I missing something? How is this touch-panel nonsense better than a good old-fashioned button which has some real-world feedback?

Indicator stalks - Probably one of the simplest parts of a car's UI. Push the stick down, you're turning left, push up you're turning right. Once you've completed the manouvre the stick will either spring back automatically to the middle OFF position or you can knock it back manually. Simple. Well, it appears the folks over at General Motors have found a way to "improve" things. My brother's company car is a Vauxhall Vectra and the indicator stalk works a bit different. You push the stick down or up to signal but rather than staying put it springs back to the OFF position. The only clue you have that the indicators are now active is the flashing arrow on the dashboard. You can hardly hear the audible 'tick' either (either the bi-metallic strip has been replaced with a digital sample or the cabin sound proofing is just too good!). The auto-cancel feature is now governed by electronics rather than the mechanics of the steering wheel and again the only indication that the indicator has been cancelled is that the green arrow stops flashing on the dash. Gone is the re-assuring noise you hear on mechanical stalks as the spring back to OFF. It strikes me as just a little bit scary that you have to take your eyes off the road and look at the dash in order to know whether you've successfully activated the indicators or not. In addition, to cancel the indicator manually, you have to push the stick in the opposite direction. So to cancel a left indicator, indicate right, to cancel a right indicator, indicate left. Bonkers or what? Apart from just being counter-intuitive it also places a greater reliance on the driver to 'remember' the indicators current mode. It's therefore of no surprise that my brother says he frequently ends up triggering the indicator in the wrong direction and confusing the hell out of anybody around him.

It strikes me we are in danger of losing some of the feedback we get when we swap out analogue devices for digital equivalents. Making technology more 'clever' through the use of electronics does improve things in many cases (e.g. EPG-driven recordings in Sky+ or TiVo versus clock-based in VCRs) but in this new digital world I still want buttons I can press, knobs I can twiddle (expecting innuendo in the replies to this post anytime now), and levers and sticks that move and stay where I put them.

By way of a positive ending to this post, I cite my new Nikon D50 SLR (and most digital SLRs thankfully!) as an example of good design. Both it and my old Minolta Dimage Compact have a zoom lens. To zoom or go wide on my Minolta I have to hold rotate and hold a dial in one direction or another (ie it's a rocker switch which some designer has decided looks much nicer as a dial). After a noticeable delay, the electronics will work out that they should be moving the lens and the motor will kick in. By which time, the subject has probably moved out of shot and I've missed the photo opportunity. On my Nikon, I rotate the ring on the lens to zoom or go wide. Simple. Instant feedback. More of this please.

Back to work

2006-01-20T13:33:07Z

Well after a couple of days at the Cottenham Convalescence Home (aka Chris and Melanie's), I'm back in work today. Feel fine, as if nothing's happened. I've now just got to deal with the fall out of the events on Tuesday night.

I'm getting over the loss of the skiing holiday. I'm sure there'll be others. I now just have the faff of gathering together the documentation from Ryain Air, my GP, the apartment where I would have been staying and the airport transfer in order to claim back on my travel insurance. Although my insurance company has said they'll dispatch the claim form right away there's little I can do with it until after everyone's come back from the holiday next Saturday (28th) as Ryanair won't send anything out until I've been declared a "no show" for both my outgoing and return flights.

However, the biggest kick in the pants is that because I had a seizure I'm not allowed to drive and will need to hand in my license to the DVLA. If it turns out to be a one off and I have a clean bill of health for a year then I can re-apply to get it back. At this stage, of course, I don't know what's wrong with me. Was it just a one off freak thing or is this more an ongoing medical condition? The hospital is going to arrange for me to have a brain scan and EEG so I'll just have to see what comes of that. In the meantime, I'll just have to notify the DVLA that the car is off the road until I can decide whether I want to store it in the garage for a year or sell it. I guess I'm going to be doing a lot more cycling this year and, living in Cambridge, I can think of far worse places to be stuck without a car. I'm sure I'll manage.

Hmm, not the best start to 2006. Here's hoping the rest of it turns out much better.

Getting fit at Badminton

2006-01-18T17:11:48Z

Well last night turned out be a bit of an event. Went to badminton as normal. I’d played three games and felt fine but during my fourth game I was having trouble focusing on the shuttle and the lights seemed to be flickering. Next thing I know I’m in the back of an ambulance, apparently I’d had some sort of fit or seizure. Chris waiting around with me in A & E whilst they ran lots of tests. Everything normal it seems, but they want to refer me to a clinic specialising in this sort of thing tomorrow. Am feeling fine now, however the doctors were pretty insistent that I not be left on my own. So Chris and Melanie have been absolute stars and let me stay around theirs for a couple of days. The real bummer in all of this is that the doctors don’t want me flying just yet, so I’ll have to drop out my skiing holiday. :-(

I suppose sooner or later it’d be my turn. Each year, there’s usually one member of our ski group who has an accident or develops some sort of ailment before we go. Trust me to do it in spectacular style! I think I would have just settled for a cold, though. Oh well.

Snap purchase

2006-01-17T14:13:24Z

I've been comptemplating this for a little while now, but on Sunday I finally gave in. I made a big dent in my Christmas bonus and purchased a Digital SLR. It's a Nikon D50. I've only had my current camera (a Minolta Dimage compact) for a couple of years now but I confess I've found it a bit limiting in some ways. It's fine for general outdoor stuff but I was particularly disappointed with the photos from inside many of the buildings in Rome and also Pézenas and Grotte de Demoiselle when I visited the South of France. It also drains AA batteries like there's no tomorrow.

So I got the SLR in Jessops on a January sale along with a new 1GB SD card, a bag and the kit lens. The shop's just phoned me to say the UV filter I ordered has arrived so I'll try and pick that up tomorrow or later this week. I don't see this as replacement to my compact. I'll still use the Minolta when it's not convenient to lug a whole load of gear around but at least now I've got something which has a bit more flexibility then a bog-standard point-and-shoot. Haven't decided whether I'll take my new toy on my skiing holiday next week. It'd be nice to get some good photos, it's just whether I'm confident going down slopes with it in my ruck-sack given my current level of ski expertise.

Piss up in a brewery

2006-01-17T13:51:58Z

Last weekend turned out to be quite a boozy one. On Friday I went with a load of other folks from the orchestra on a tour of Milton Brewery. Crispin organzied the event, proving that he could indeed organize a piss up in a brewery and on Friday 13th as well.

Beer: Excellent
Brewery tour: Short (more time for drinking)
Food: Ok but nothing special (what more can you say about a load of sausage rolls and pasties from Tesco)
Toilet arrangements: You'll wish you were at Glastonbury

On Saturday, I went with Chris, David and Louise to see Brokeback Mountain at the Arts cinema. We then went to Charlie Chan's for food afterwards and managed a pretty hefty bill with three bottles of wine. Afterwards, Chris and I stopped off at the Portland Arms for a pint. Ah, the wonders of 'continental opening hours'.

Film: Fairly good
Food: Excellent

Dressing up

2006-01-09T23:30:59Z

I went to Jan’s 40th birthday party at the weekend. Invite stated “dress up or dress down” so after ringing ‘round to find out what the other blokes were doing in the orchestra, I opted for the popular consensus and dug out my DJ. I thought I’d pull out all the stops and actually wear a shirt with cufflinks, etc so I dug out my dress shirt only to find my neck has expanded and I couldn’t button the collar up. Hmm, methinks I’m getting old. So I had to do a quick dash to Moss Bros in town and get a new shirt.

The invite also stated “bring your dancing shoes” and indeed there was much dancing. The party was at Queens’ College Bar and Jan hired a dance band to play charlestons, foxtrots, and lots of other ballroomy type music. When not hiding behind the camera (which I tried to do a lot), yours truly did indeed get dragged up onto the dance floor. Being the modern, up-to-date, 21st century guy that I am (don’t all laugh at once!) I tended to let my partners lead which, while it’s dramatic break with convention, is much better than me standing on their toes.

Hmm, I think it’s supposed to be quick, quick, slow, or something like that. Oh what the heck, I’m a trombonist. I don’t do rhythm I just make a loud noise at the back.

Cue photos

Christmas and New Year

2006-01-02T16:24:30Z

Well, I had a fairly busy Christmas hols but it was nice not to have to work for awhile. I spent Christmas with my parents and met up with an old school friend while I was back up in Liverpool. Mum and Dad bought me a new watch which was a combined Christmas/30th birthday present. My old Seiko analogue/digital finally gave up the ghost back in January last year and while I’ve been surviving using my mobile as a timepiece, it’s not the same nor as practical so I really missed having a watch. I did think about getting another Seiko (my last one lasted over 20 years) but none of the current models appealed. So I’ve now got a Tissot Navigator. Functionally it’s got everything my old Seiko had (alarm/chrono/timer/analogue and digital display) but it’s also got a proper perpetual calendar and it’s DST-aware so no faffing when the clocks go forward or back or there’s a leap year. For added geek-appeal it can switch time-zones and all the functions are accessed by touch screen. Yes, it’s supposed to be just a watch but I am really a sucker for those sort of features and the touch screen technology is quite a usability improvement over buttons.

After Christmas, the drive back to Cambridge proved to be a bit of a pain. Weather was foggy but visibility was still ok. Unfortunately, the car’s front washer jets blocked up (annoying but not serious) and the engine changed tone half way down the journey and it now sounds like a noisy tractor. I popped the bonnet and listened to the engine and it sounds fine, however there’s fumes coming out of the rear side of the car so I think it’s the exhaust that’s buggered. Whilst, the car still drives ok and I got back to Cambridge without any hassle I plan on getting it into garage ASAP.

Back in Cambridge, a few of us went round to Chris and Melanie’s for dinner and tried out various DVD games, like Now That’s What I Call Music and QI. We split into two teams for the Now Music Quiz. I was on Chris’ team but despite his knowledge of all things indie we lost out to Lynda and co. who obviously knew far more about Atomic Kitten, etc.

Next evening, we went out for a meal at Potters on Quayside. It’s a fairly newish place so Lynda suggested we give it a try. Apart from one other table we were the only people in the restaurant. But then Cambridge town centre was fairly quiet as I guess not many people bother going out in between Christmas and New Year. Still the food was pretty good, there’s a mixture of pastas, pizzas, steaks, mexican stir fries, veggie and random meat and two veg meals - so something for everyone.

We celebrated New Year with a party round at Bov and Chrissie’s. As always, they put on a great spread of food (so much that they were struggling to get it all on the table!) and there was a big selection of drinks. Learning my lesson from last time, I restricted myself to one type of poison this time and felt so much the better for it the day after. Lots of people were wondering around with cameras including David, Chris and myself.

Today, I made use of the January sales and some Christmas/Birthday money from my grandparents to get myself a new ski jacket and gloves. Our usual group is off to La Plagne in France in a few weeks time so I wanted to replace my old jacket which is falling to bits.

And tomorrow? Back to work. Ho hum, all good things come to an end...

Blog Apathy

2005-12-18T14:24:05Z

I have of late been rather lazy with my blog and I have been nagged that I haven’t submitted anything since blogging my holiday in Rome. It’s not so much that there hasn’t been much going on it’s just that I’ve not really had the time or inclination to sit down in front of the computer and write about it.

So what have I been up to? Well, about a week after coming back from Rome, I was invited along to Miranda’s 30th birthday party. A few other folks from the orchestra (Tricia and Evert) went along too. The big dilemma for me was that it was fancy dress and working out what to wear (theme was Somebody Famous). Having tried the joke shop in town, which was just stuffed full of Halloween stuff at that time of year, I stumbled upon a shop called Wardrobe on Cromwell Road which has practically every outfit you could thing of. I eventually settled upon Al Capone as I didn’t think that required too much faffing. Anyway, embarrassing photos are available on Joe and Miranda’s site.

Speaking of 30th birthdays, I turned 30 myself on 24th November. The folks in work were very nice and got my a Wallace and Grommit cake with a birthday candle that played Happy Birthday. Awww. On the Saturday, I organized a meal out at Mai Thai (formerly down as Hobbs Pavilion). There was a pretty good turn out, 14 in all, and the food was excellent, a vast improvement on the last Hobbs incarnation -- long may the current one continue. The next day, I went round to Jan’s as Athena had offered to cook for us while we discuss the series of charity concerts we’re organizing next year (watch this space!). I just thought we’d discuss our plans over lunch and that would be it, but Athena, Jan, Imi and Tricia surprised me with another birthday cake and champagne cocktails. I was told I was getting a blonde for my birthday, it in fact turned out to be a Barbie birthday cake with an epitaph to my younger days.

So after having a double birthday party weekend, I then ended up getting flu and spending the week off work. Before you ask it really was flu and not a huge hangover. I’d got over the worst of it by next weekend, just in time for the trip to the Greene King brewery in Bury St. Edmunds with Alf, Chris and the rest of the Convergys gang. It was a pretty good day, and continued with more drinking at the Portland Arms afterwards. Consequently, I didn’t see much of Sunday. I did bring back a jar of Old Speckled Hen chutney which works quite well in cheese and ham sarnies.

The Thursday after that was the work’s Christmas Party. We went to Huntingdon Races and it was just as good as last year. As before, the company gave us £20 to bet on the gee-gees. I didn’t do so well this year, but I walked away with £10 more in my pocket so that’s something.

The Exsquiddy Christmas Party happened last week (see David and Lynda’s sites for photos, my camera was being it’s usual temperamental self), and as per last year we went to Old Faithful (aka La Margherita) for a meal. Apart from the usual suspects it was good to catch up with one or two ex-Tarantella folks that I don’t see that often these days. After the meal we went to the Sino Tap for a couple of drinks and then Chef and I went back to Toby’s place and worked our way through spirits and coffee until 4.

The next day, I had a rehearsal for the The Carlton Combo. If there’s one sure fire way to kill or cure a hangover it’s having to play a trombone the next day. This is a carol concert/sing-along that happens every year in the Carlton Arms. A few of us from orchestra get together to accompany the regulars as they belt out some carols over a couple of pints. Don’t worry, it’s all in a good cause (Age Concern) and the orchestra gets free mulled wine afterwards.

Shopping

2005-10-10T00:09:41Z

We decided to use our last day for a bit of shopping. We head down the streets were all the famous designer label shops are located and bump into Bov, Chrissie and her Dad in Prada.

After trudging round Armani, Guicci and Burberry, Louise and I got bored and went off to do some wine shopping instead. One shop had very scary prices for wine and some bottles had no price tags at all. But after a bit more hunting I managed to pick up a couple of bottles for myself and my parents, a 7-year old bottle of balsamic for me and some biscotti for my Nans and the folks back in work. We grabbed another slice of pizza al taglio for lunch before heading back to the apartment for a lazy afternoon.

For our last meal we head back to Colin and Emily. Based on my recommendation, we manage to practically eat the restaurant out of zabaoine.

Vatican Museum

2005-10-09T23:52:19Z

Woke up to find Chris and Melanie were up with the larks and had gone off to do their own thing.

The rest of us decide to head over to Nero’s Golden Palace. We manage to book ourselves onto the same guided tour as Bov, Chrissie and her Dad.

A text from Chris and Melanie indicates that they’ve gone to do the Vatican Museum. So figuring this’ll be the only opportunity to see the Sistine Chapel ourselves, Chef, David, Rob, Louise and I catch the metro over to the Vatican and grab a slice of pizza al taglio for lunch on the way.

The Vatican Museum was absolutely stuffed with artwork. There’s so much of it that it’s a bit like trying to listen to a million pieces of music all at once. You can’t really appreciate any individual work as it’s drowned out with all the rest. There were also gift shops on practically every corner of the museum as we went round. All a bit too commercial for my liking. The grand finale was of course the Sistine Chapel. You’re asked not to use cameras and to remain quiet but there’s so many people in there it’s practically impossible to maintain such a rule. As the noise level grew, guards at the front of the chapel would go “Ssshh!” followed by loud speakers blasting out in different languages reminders about keeping quiet. A bit self defeating.

For our evening meal, Chef wanted to try out a Tuscan restaurant where all the Italian politicians hang out apparently. It was very posh and with the exception of Rob I think we were all looking a bit underdressed. There was a man on the next table with a very formidable moustache who was giving us a Paddington Stare all evening. To be honest, given the price, I didn’t really think much of the food. It was ok but nothing amazing. Give me Colin and Emily any day. With that in mind we dropped in there on the way back and booked a table for our last night out tomorrow.

Back at the apartment, we realise Rob must have had a bit to drink as he's walking around with a pair of pants on his head shouting "Moustache Man!". David manages to put him to bed eventually.

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Villa Borghese

2005-10-09T23:06:49Z

Lazy day to today. We all got up much later.

Trundled around the Borghese Gardens and the Art Gallery which amongst many things contains Bernini’s David and lots of artwork by Raphael and Titian. No photos allowed though and we had to hand over all bags, mobiles and cameras before we were allowed in. Outside the gallery there was a film crew setting up. No celebrities we’d recognise but then we don’t get to see much Italian television (and what we get on the box in the apartment seems to be mostly game-shows).

After a late lunch (better spaghetti amatriciana this time) we headed back to the apartment and generally lazed about reading.

Evening meal was at The Naturist, a veggie restaurant (except it served it fish in the evenings, so maybe that’s pescatarian rather than vegetarian cuisine). The restaurant was located at the top of a flight of stairs in what looked like somebody’s apartment. We were one of the first people there but the waitress was friendly enough and showed us to our table. She admitted she couldn’t speak English very well so seemed quite chuffed with even my faltering attempts at Italian. Had courgette ravioli in a pesto sauce for primo, fish in a tomato and caper sauce for secondo and ginger ice cream for dolce. Very nice. We managed to work our way through a few organic wines as well.

Headed back to the apartment and played cards. Although whatever card-sharp skills I’d had in Agde have now deserted me. Guess that was a fluke.

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St Peter's and The Spanish Steps

2005-10-09T16:56:54Z

We decided to visit The Vatican today. So it was jeans rather than shorts. Rob manages us to out dress us all. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting with The Vatican. It’s technically a separate country so I thought maybe you needed passports and the like. But nope, you simply step through the arches and a metal detector (which has only appeared recently, post 9/11 apparently) and you’re in. St Peter’s Square is pretty impressive. The sheer scale of it is pretty hard to take in. Slap bang in the middle of it is an Egyptian Obelisk, they seem to pop up in the most random places in Rome.

The queue to climb to the top of the Basilica was long but it was moving fairly quickly. When we eventually got inside you had a choice of entrance fee, paying a little extra to take the lift half way. Chef was feeling athletic so opted for the senza l’ascensore option but the rest of us were being sensible and paid the couple of extra Euros for the lift. I think we were very wise, as it was one heck of a climb up the stairs from the lift to the the top.

As you step out of the lift you walk onto the the gallery running around the inside of the dome and you get a fantastic view looking down into the Basilica.

After some photos we began the climb up the steps to the top. En route, Melanie was complemented on her English accent by a couple of Americans. As we’re climbing the way the stairs ascend changes and you get a real sense that you’re scaling the dome. The view from the top was pretty breath-taking (both in terms of being knackered after the climb and the scenery!) and you get a good view of the surrounding city.

After we climbed down again, we went inside the Basilica which is equally impressive on the inside. Having done St. Peter’s we went off to find somewhere for lunch. By the time they finished serving us and getting the bill, it was too late to queue up for the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Guess we’ll do Vatican Part 2 another day.

We headed back to the apartment, via the gelateria we visited the other night to have ice cream and see if they still had Chef’s guide book. Ice cream was good but sadly BBC Get By in Italian doesn’t feature any phrases on how to ask for lost guide books and the waiter thought we wanted directions to the tourist office. Back at the apartment, I wrote my postcards while the lights flickered. Could be a poltergeist but I think it’s more likely to be some dodgy Italian electrical wiring. Outside, there is much fuss on the streets below as some Persons of Importance drive by in a motor cavalcade. The traffic police block up the roads and there’s lots of horns beeping and locals getting very animated behind the wheels of their cars. All very entertaining.

That evening, we finally made it to the trattoria mentioned in Chef’s book and it was open this time! It’s called Colline Emiliane (we’ll just call it Colin and Emily) and the food was probably the best I’ve had on the holiday so far. Having hiked up St. Peter’s I was feeling pretty hungry so went for all four courses. I had some really good proscuitto and salami for antipasto, a melt-in-the-mouth tagliatelle con porcini made with home-made pasta and porcini mushrooms for primo, a roasted veal joint with the nicest sauce and mash potato for secondo and zabaoine for dolce. Despite the fact that Chris says it looks like Angel Delight, Zabaione is far, far superior. It has alcohol in it for a start ;-)

After dinner, we headed back to the apartment. Chris (now coffee-powered), Chef, David and I took a couple of bottles of wine and headed out to the Spanish Steps. This is where the youth of Rome hang out apparently, getting very drunk and urinating over the side of the steps. Tut-tut, disgraceful behaviour! Back in Blightly, we’d have given them an ASBO by now. Having worked our way through one bottle of open wine we discovered we’d forgotten a cork screw. Chef went off to ask some Americans for a ‘screw but with no success. Chris had more luck and managed to get it open with some inventive use of his tripod.

Ok, that’s enough innuendo for now.

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The Pantheon and Piazza Navona

2005-10-09T15:45:59Z

We started this morning off in cheery fashion by visiting a crypt and a very creepy one at that. They’ve made artwork and chandeliers out of the bones. Certainly the most inventive recycling schemes I seen for awhile.

A bit more awe-inspiring was The Pantheon. With it’s big hole in the middle of the dome it must look quite impressive when it rains. Having done that, there were lots more statues to look at including Bernini’s Elephant and several spectacular water fountains in Piazza Navona.

The traffic fumes were making me feel a bit grim so I went for a lie down in the apartment in the afternoon. Felt a bit better by the evening so we made a second attempt to find the trattoria listed in Chef’s Top 10 book (which he now thinks he’s lost in that gelateria last night). We find it this time but it’s closed tonight. We try one of the other trattorias further down the road. It’s very crowded, full of very animated waiters darting about, in short very Italian. In contrast to the first night, the service is very fast. Perhaps a little too fast, it’s seems like they want to get as many people in and out of their place as they can in one night. Still, had a good spaghetti puttanesca and a much better take on saltimbocca alla romana.

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Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum

2005-10-09T15:15:48Z

Pretty busy day to day. We decided to visit the Colosseum and the Forum today. En route, we stop by the Trevi Fountain which is absolutely seething with tourists. Lots of people want to have their photos taken at the fountain, no doubt lobbing a Euro or two over the shoulder so they can visit again. For added effect you can have your photo taken with a centurion although the fags and the coca-cola T-shirt somewhat detract from the effect.

With the colosseum in sight, I get accosted by an old woman and some small children begging for money. She was waving a piece of cardboard in front of her which was a bit strange but then I realise it’s to obscure what her kids are up to as I feel someone going for my wallet in my pocket. Fortunately, I managed to grab it and pull away in time. They pull the same trick on Chris but on discovering he has no money promptly hand his wallet back to him.

Outside the colosseum, it’s heaving with people and there are long queues. There’s lots of so-called tour guides touting for business. I make the mistake of saying “No thankyou” to one and that’s enough for him to buzzing round us for awhile. He gives up after awhile when we continue to ignore him and we eventually make it inside the Colosseum.

Colosseum is pretty good but it’s not a patch on the one we saw at Nîmes, which is a more complete example. Sadly, the Roman one is buried under lots of scaffolding.

For lunch we’re practically pulled off the streets by the very enthusiastic owner of a pizzeria. He heartily recommends an antipasto della casa for us to share and it’s pizzas all round for main course. The antipasto is pretty interesting, a range of bruschetta with olive paste and deep fried vegetables (at least I think they were vegetables). The pizzas are true Roman ones, thin and crispy almost like pancakes. None of that Deep Pan Stuffed Crust nonsense here.

After lunch we trek round the Forum before deciding that our feet have had enough for the day and we head back to the apartment. On the way back the heavens open so we take shelter inside the Roman equivalent of Borders. We grab a coffee in the coffee shop inside. Rob, bless him, hasn’t realised that not all coffee shops function like a branch of Starbucks and attempts to order a latte with a twist of vanilla and all sorts of other add-ons with it. The waiter looks increasingly baffled as I attempt to translate. Sadly, BBC Get By in Italian only covers expressos and cappuccinos. Eventually, something turns up - a glass of warm milk. Note to self: it’s caffè latte, not just latte.

For our evening meal, we try to find a trattoria recommended in Chef’s Top 10 guide book. We couldn’t find it but hit upon La Scala which is pretty good. Very nice steak with peppercorn sauce and a fantastic desert which is translated on the menu as GrandMother Cake. No, not made with 100% real grandmothers but a sort of apple tart with pine nuts in the mix. Very nice. I decide to follow it up with a caffè corretto (expresso with grappa) and Chris follows suit. He seems less convinced about the combination of caffeine and alcohol but is still nonetheless very excited about discovering caffeine as a new drug and that it allows him to stay awake longer and drink more. Hmmm....

After dinner, Chef wants to check out Via Veneto which is where all the posh people and celebrities go to eat. His “shortcut” takes us through some badly lit streets past a couple of strip joints and I distinctly heard some bloke in the street talking about puttanas. Not tonight thanks.

When we find it, Via Veneto is full of expensive restaurants. Very much up Chef’s street then. Most of them have their tables inside glass houses on the street. Presumably, as a celeb you can dine in one of these goldfish bowls while Joe Public gawks at you eating your over-priced pasta. However, it’s Sunday today, so most places are closed, not a celeb in sight.

Back at the apartment, the effects of Chris’ new found drug of choice are kicking in and we wants to continue drinking. Chris, Chef, David and I head out to find somewhere that’s still serving booze. The restaurant downstairs isn’t having any but we find a gelateria that’s open and between us order a bizarre mixture of beer and ice cream. Nice.

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