Somewhat exhausted this morning. Late to bed with the referendum on telly and was woken up in the middle of the night by something outside. We found a metal ring in the drive this morning. No idea where it came from. Might take a look at the cctv later.
Somewhat disastrous referendum result this morning with the leave campaign winning by over a million votes. Kids are quite stressed about it too. I don’t really want to talk about it any more. I think we are doing the wrong thing and it will have long term consequences.
Good afternoon at the ITSPA council meeting yesterday followed by a couple of sherberts. Tube was rammed. In fact I couldn’t get near the tube so I caught an Uber (on x2.2 surge = £16 for two tube stops). Good job there were plenty of cars available.
Stopped by waitrose at Kings X to buy a couple of bottles of beer and a sandwich for the train. I realise they do food on the train but experience suggests it is better t osort yourself out. Waitrose shelves were totally devoid of anything that could remotely be described as a sandwich so I settled for bag of crisps.
Turns out I was given the run of the on board menu when I got on the train so had a chicken and bacon wrap, cheese sandwiches and the sausage roll again. And the bloke doled out liberal helpings of g&t to a win there really. Feels as if the on board fare is improving.
Bought John a suit this afternoon. He has his Y11 prom on wednesday night. Also Hannah’s graduation on Tuesday. We had lunch in the Sign Of The Fish near the bus station in Lincoln. It’s good but have to say not as good as The Burton Road Chippy. Fish was a little crumbly.
Off out tonight. Meeting Shannon to discuss Joefest Caribbean menu and then the lads are “celebrating” the Leave vote in the Strugs. I will be drowning my sorrows.
Featured image is the new railway bridge on Lincoln High Street. Looks as if it is ready to open. Could have done with it today as you will note from the flashing red lights and the barrier down.
It’s a blurry eyed Thursday morning. I am awake early and have come downstairs to do some writing and to make the tea. The news from Glasto is that the main public areas are all slurry but the central artist’s campsite is fine and Joe is encamped next to a mobile mast so has connectivity. He was online at 00.42 – probs quite early as festivals go. I imagine 🙂
It’s a dull morning out but not cold. In fact in London, whither I am bound today, it is looking like 23 degrees with thunderstorms this afternoon.
Today is the big referendum day. Boy am I glad. The campaign has been irritating to say the least. I’ve tried to switch off whenever possible but it has been difficult to avoid. At least there will be no campaigning today and by tomorrow morning we will know the result.
There is going to be a lot of brown stuff flying around tomorrow. This is much bigger than any general election.
My new glasses btw, Oakleys and similar frames to the pair I lost in Cumbria, have fantastic lenses in them. Much better than the previous set. I’d expect so at the price.
Booked a table at Las Iguanas at the quayside in Newcasssle. 7.30 pm Monday. Initially for five of us but Hannah’s pal Saskia is now coming so will have to ring up and amend. Tom’s train doesn’t get in from London until 11ish so he will miss that bit of the festivities.
More anon. I’m off to make the tea…
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Now on the train south from Newark. It’s a Lincoln to London ticket but didn’t have a very good connection – Lincoln to Newark Castle and walk the mile or so to Northgate. Anne took me straight to Newark Northgate in the first place. Now here’s the thing. A first class ticket on this train, because I left it late, was something line £96. The ticket actually cost me £36 because I booked it from Lincoln. The connections are so bad that nobody uses up the cheap advanced tickets. Yay.
I’ll tell you another trick. I looked at putting Joe on the insurance for one of the cars. They wouldn’t let him on the Citroen C4 because he is too young but were happy with having him on the Micra. The cost until the end of October is an additional £295.
Ok so now I also add Hannah as an option. Although she is away for most of August I figured it might not be much more expensive and worth doing. The quote actually dropped to £145!!! Obviously the calming influence of a slightly older sister:)
Someone behind me knocking back the free white wine on the train btw – obvs on a bit of a day out. Sounds like a maturish bloke.
Here’s another story for you. The food choice on this train includes cheese and chutney sandwiches and a sausage roll with some sort of designer brown sauce. I wasn’t allowed both so settled for the sausage roll which was excellent fair play. When the girl came around with the trolley I accepted a bit of cake and a banana. After she had gone a chap in the next set of seats brought me round his cheese sandwiches saying he had already eaten. Result again!
As we get further south it is looking a little misty out there. They’re expecting temperatures of 23 degrees and thunderstorms in London so I’ve brought my waterproof jacket. Some of the fields are also beginning to turn yellow. It won’t be long before the harvest is upon us. We have already passed the longest day so the Summer days are starting to ebb away.
Just heard the guard talking to the steward, saying that the driver is going too fast. He is in a hurry to get home and the train is shaking too much. I was just thinking that funnily enough. Typing was getting harder. The guard said he was going to have a word…
Sitting here listening to some saxophone practice. The steady timekeeping tap of the right foot. The conservatory doors are open into the garden. It is a beautiful day out there. The birds are happy.
We are waiting for Joe to be picked up to head down to Glastonbury. He is all packed up. Rehearsals finished last night and the band was exhausted but happy enough with progress I think. They are onstage at 5.45 on Saturday.
There have been warnings from the festival organisers not to arrive too early due to the wet state of some of the site. It was ever thus for Glasto. There is a backup plan. The Cooksons live nearby and they are already stopping with them on Friday, the day before they play.
It’s a big adventure and we are all excited.
There is also other top news – Hannah got a 2.1 degree at Durham. I’m hugely proud of her and am glowing as I write this.
The drive was finally finished today with a delivery of gravel for the old gravelly bit. We can now drive the cars back in and are somewhat poorer as a result. Looks good though and has been worth it.
Anne and Julie went to the Lincolnshire Show and John has popped round to Matt Ward’s for a celebratory end of exams BBQ.
I’ve been working but it has been pleasant doing so in the conservatory. Anne is now out at her book club. Thassit for today.
Thanks to Alex Dalton for the featured image that I nicked from his timeline without permission but I’m sure it will be ok.
Gotta say Dublin was great. Even in the airport as I leave and where I’m tapping in these words the experience has been good. The wifi was easy to get on – none of this registration and login rubbish. Ping time is 4ms. Only 2 megs down but that is fine. 65 megs up btw!!!
Dropped Hannah off at Terminal 1 and breezed into T2. The queue for check in was massive but you know what? It wasn’t my check in area. It was for folk traveling to the good old US of A. By the looks of it. At my check in there was no queue. Yay.
It feels a bit odd leaving what is unquestionably the world class city that is Dublin to go to, of all places, Doncaster. Only the airport but still Doncaster:). Looking forward to going home now. It’s the last day of John’s GCSE exams and we are off out to Tito’s for a celebratory meal.
Stunning evening last night. Started off after the conference in a private bar at the Vintage Cocktail Club. The door was very anonymous. You had to know it was there. V cool. Had numerous cocktails before heading over the road to some crappy tourist joint to watch the Wales v Russia game. Didn’t stay long. The Guinness was the worst I’ve had and I wasn’t made to feel welcome by the waitress who wanted me to order food. Wales were winning 2 – 0 at half time so Hannah and I set off to find 777, a supercool Mexican restaurant.
We sat at the bar drinking Margaritas and eating tortilla chips and salsa. I had chilli ribs for a main. Tom Bird joined us for a beer and we then found another pub with a singer and reasonable Guinness and where we were joined by Mark Fordyce. Home midnight ish and up before 6.30. Hotel stung me for 90 Euros to change the room to a twin from a double but hey… I won’t be booking through amoma.com again.
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20 thousand feet up
the noise of the aircraft is the same as silence. It pervades and masks.
there is plenty of room up here. not only are there no other aircraft around but I have a pod of four seats to myself. exit row.
enjoy the sunshine because it is cloudy down there. the car will whisk me home
I am excited to be going home. John’s last day of exams. no more GCSEs. he has worked hard. I am impressed and proud of the effort he has put in. now his rewards begin
it’s also Joe’s last day before he goes to Glastonbury. This is exciting in the extreme. The big stage. He has been rehearsing with the Pylons at Bridge Farm for the last few days. “The Bridge Farm sessions” 🙂
Looks as if the clouds are edging closer. A gradual descent. Down into Doncaster – a novel of high adventure set in a post industrial setting. Where Jason meets Chelsea.
UK&Ireland Peering Forum in Dublin this morning. Follows on from a terrific, if wet, day out with Hannah yesterday. The Trinity City Hotel is very central and we could walk everywhere.
We started with a stroll around Trinity College which was close to the hotel. There was a huge queue to get into the library and to see the Book of Kells so we didn’t. There is an option to queue jump by booking online. Unfortunately there was no open internet access and wasn’t sufficiently bothered about it to go elsewhere and find it.
Worth observing that the place was heaving with tourists. You wonder how students get any work done.
Following Trinity College we wandered around and found ourselves at Dublin Castle. At midday bought tickets for the one o’clock guided tour so we had a little time to kill. Chester Beatty library nearby was closed until 1pm. No good. The Terrace Cafe did the job especially as it had wifi which allowed us to catch up and to contact Mara from LinkedIn who we were meeting later that afternoon.
The tour was interesting both for the historical stuff but we also learnt that the Irish national emblem, the harp did not have an easy initial “life”. When they decided to adopt the harp as a national emblem they found that it had already been claimed as a trademark by the Guinness company. They got around the problem by turning the harp around and making one effectively a mirror image of the other.
Late lunch in Falafel and Kebab.
Met Mara and Barry O’Donovan in a pub called Slattery’s which was near The Old Spot, our final destination for the day and also near Lansdowne road, fwiw. The rest of the party, Andy, Will, Mark, Rich et al finally found us having gone to the wrong Slattery’s. The Old Spot was good – Oysters, chilli prawns and ribeye.
The Peering Forum has filled up nicely since I started writing. They have an interesting selection of juices at the refreshment stand. Carrot, kale, apple, beetroot and so on. Nobody seemed to be taking them and there was one fluorescent green looking bottle that had been sampled and left. I don’t think that network engineers are into healthy options:)
Image courtesy of Barry O’Donovan taken in a pub toilet somewhere in Dublin. He thought it would make the good basis of a blog post. Not sure I can think of anything to write that would be appropriate, especially considering it is a Sunday and I am in Dublin.
Barry needs to be careful whipping out his camera in mens toilets. People might get the wrong idea. Don’t worry though. I’m sure Barry is ok. Probably…
Perhaps readers can think of something amusing to say about this photo?
I will mention that we have a neighbour who is a condom salesman. Sells to the NHS etc. I was once round his house returning a wheelbarrow (fwiw) and found him rummaging around in his cellar which was accessible from the driveway down the side. I went in and found an Aladdin’s cave of condom samples. Every shape and colour you could imagine. Walked away with a carrier bag full. Fwiw.
Had a great night out last night with Barry O’Donovan, Andy Davidson and Hannah. Barry took us around a few choice establishments: Mulligans, Sweetmans (where we had food), The Dawson Lounge (“is this the smallest pub in the world” I doubt it), Riley’s where there was a guitarist and The Gingerbread Man which is the place you can find the Taoiseach at around 10pm of a weekday night.
Today we are meeting Marijana from LinkedIn who lives in Dublin. Going to do some sightseeing with her and then meet the Peering Forum folk for dinner this evening. I think it might rain but shorts and t shirt will be fine.
V comfortable bedroom. Booked a twin so that Hannah could come along without it costing any extra. The hotel, Trinity City, is in the same building as the main fire station in central Dublin. All good stuff in case of an emergency:) I’m quite looking forward to an easy going breakfast.
Lovely photo of Anne and Shannon at the Pylons gig at the West end Tap last night. Looks like we missed a great night but can’t do it all I guess. Also took loads of pics out abd about last night, Will have to see if any are suitable for publication 🙂
Been packing to go to Dublin. Not much packing involved. A few t shirts and the shorts I am wearing. I’ve taken an executive decision that it is the height of summer and that’s all I’m going to need. Of course I have a jumper and a waterproof as well.
This is partly influenced by the fact that I am flying Stobart Air (by Aer Lingus) whose hand carry allowance is 7kg. Who needs more? There is risk here. No socks or long trousers but hey…
So this morning is a case of milling around the house waiting for the taxi to pick me up at 12.30. Can one person mill around? I have a taxi because the return cost of a taxi to Doncaster Robin hood Airport was roughly the same as parking plus the petrol for me driving both ways. Seemed a no brainer to me. Far more relaxing anyway.
Hannah is meeting me in Dublin. I changed my room to a twin so that she could come along. At least I called the hotel to do so. Initially I rang the website I had used to book the room. Amoma.com. Never ‘eard of them. They wanted £30 to make the change – outrageous. I Won’t be using them again. Instead I called the hotel and was put through to an agent “somewhere”. They informed the hotel of my request – gawd knows if they will have it sorted. Will have to see when I get there. (sorted now fair play – we have a double and a single).
Han seems to have had a good short break in the Isle of Man. The Creek for lunch on day one and the Boatyard on day two. Can’t be bad. Rang dad and he is now settled in for a day of rugby – Wales v All Blacks, Engand v Wallabies and SA v Ireland (I think). Wales losing. New Zealand bench is too strong.
Refilled the bird feeder this morning. Good to know the small birds are getting their seed. It’s squirrel proof, hopefully. They are a real nuisance.
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Arrived at Robin Hood Airport at 13.30. Checkin didn’t open until 14.00 and even then not. The password had changed on the checkin system and the girl had to go away and find the new one. Then She couldn’t log me in and then allocated me a seat other than the one I’d paid for/had preassigned. Then took 40 mins to get through security and I had to ditch the little bit of toothpaste I had left – wasn’t worth paying £1 for a clear plastic bag!
Off to pick Joe up this morning. First year at Newcastle all done. Taking the bike rack. Seemed a bit of a waste of time taking the bike in the first place as I think he’s only used it once or twice. Ah well.
Hannah is in the Isle of Man and Tom will be waking up in my prepaid Doubletree executive king sized room in Islington having inherited from me after my meeting was cancelled. It’s a busy old family life.
John has his penultimate exam today. I’m proud of the effort he’s put in. Last exam is on Tuesday and the three of us will be off out to celebrate. Nobody else around. Joe will be out at the Daltons rehearsing for Glasto.
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Joe seems basically the last to leave Newcastle. Certainly his flat emptied at least a week ago. He had an Underlined gig last night at the Medics’ Ball. Wasn’t onstage until 11pm and got home at 2am so somewhat knackered this morning.
Long day having set off around 9. Got back to Lincoln at around 5.30 and went for a swift un in the West End Tap before heading home. The Pylons have a gig there tomorrow night which unfortunately I will miss due to being in Dublin.
Joe has headed straight out after dinner to a Pylons rehearsal at the Daltons’.
Good kip last night and up and at it ready to go for a swim. The builders are already out front finishing off the edging to the drive and I have a few minutes before I need to set off. Fwiw I’ve moved the large pan of chili con carne into the garage fridge.
I was told at the pool that I had a very poor breastroke technique. I know this. It’s why I’m the slowest swimmer in the pool. I’ll see what I might do to improve on this as it will serve me well.
Picked the lads up from Jazz Vehicle last night and it was notably still light at 9.15pm. We are already at the height of the summer. A depressing thought each year. Weather is typical height of British summer weather. Dull and drizzly. Hopefully the rain will stay off for the Wales England match as we are planning on watching it in the Strugglers beer garden.
Anne is off for a spa day today and is taking the ipad with her to make sure of being able to watch the game. Hopefully they have wifi there.
So I’ll be doing some work this morning but not a sausage after lunch. Lunch is home made pea and ham soup using a knuckle that I bought in Waitrose the other day. I keep my eyes open for these knuckles as they make a great base for a soup. Not often I get the timing right.
The edging for the drive has been finished and they are now leaving the cement to set. Hard core is going down today. Soon be finished.
Hannah is now on her way to the Isle of Man. Tadcu is planning on lunch in the creek with her followed by a bit of a shop on the way home. She messaged us from LCY airport saying it was very busy but she had found a quiet spot with free wifi. Welcome to the glamorous world of international travel.
The bookies btw have England at 6-1 to win and Wales at 12-1. It has to be worth a tenner on Wales.
Had a great day out in London yesterday. A very successful workshop on telecoms fraud followed by a few beers and a curry with Colin Duffy and Dave Dadds. It was raining in town but cleared up in time for us to go out on the rooftop balcony for the drinks.
Not much else to report from yesterday other than perhaps the fact that I brought a smile to the face of the on train chef by complimenting him on his breakfast. Did the same with woman walking towards the tube in St Pancras. I was singing to myself and she turned around and smiled. It’s nice to bring a little bit of sunshine into people’s lives.
Taxi was late picking me up from Newark Northgate. There wasn’t a connecting train for the 20.35 out of King’s Cross. The A46 was closed for refurbishment. Seems like they have to do this more frequently than they might like.
This morning I’ve woken up to a bit of progress on the drive. The engineering bricks have started to down for the edging. It’s a great skill. The drive is a fair expanse and has to be level or at least a smooth progression.
I also woke up to a lack of milk for breakfast so strolled down to Tesco for some supplies. Bought a wodge of reduced priced bacon from the deli counter for John and croissants for Hannah. She leaves us again today for the next lot of travels. London today to see her new employer Colt Telecom. The Isle of Man follows this and then she is joining me in Dublin for the UK & Ireland Peering Forum.
Taking her to the station for a 12.34 train.
Lunch today btw consisted of the remains of a pork pie and a nice bit of brie with brown bread coleslaw and baby beetroot.
Saw a male blackbird sharing a worm with the female in the back garden today. Suspect she was taking it back to the nest to feed the chicks.
Spin to Waitrose to buy ingredients for chili con carne. Bumped into Rod Whiting and Matts Nilsson. Then to school to pick up John and Matty after their science exam. Now that I’m home there is thunder and heavy rain sending a shudder through my shoulders. V relaxing sat in the conservatory listening to the rain on the roof and the sound of a practising saxophone.
Cooked the chilli – made a double sized batch so that we can stick some in the freezer. This was largely because I didn’t read the instructions and bought too much stuff but hey…
Up early to catch the 07.30. Not a bad kip. Usually when I set the alarm I’m awake every hour or so during the night. Probs only a couple of times this time. Snapchat from Joe at 00.25 still in the pub suggesting that he should be in bed as he has a big NUJO gig tonight.
Sat on the train waiting to depart (and thence breakfast). Wifi 0.93Mbps down, 0.98Mbps up, ping 101ms. I should get my 4G dongle out. It’s very quiet here in first class. Probably very quiet up the back too. This is not one of the new liveried trains. Looks like it’s on hire from East Midlands Trains. I guess they have to do that whilst switching the Virgin Trains in and out for refurb.
The trains recently changed their breakfast menu. Not much difference really – swapped egg flan out for a fried egg, added black pud instead of potato fritter (or whatever it was called) and a single flat field mushroom instead of multiple smaller ones. Designed by “award winning chef James Martin” and inspired by traditional flavours:)
Lincoln station is about to undergo a refurbishment as well as the trains. Scaffolding all over the place. Roof must have been on the verge of collapse. Someone committed suicide up there recently. Lots of cops and management types milling around the platform. It’s a somewhat dismal day. Not wet in Lincoln although the forecast for London is rain.
The trolley has just been to take my order for brekkie. The lady was from Dublin – I mentioned I was off there on Saturday. Could hardly understand a word she say so just nodded and asked if I could have another piece of bacon instead of the black pudding. She said she would ask though the chef is a miserable one today! 🙂 I’ll let you know…
Now racing through the back alleys of Lincoln. Industrial estates and unused land waiting to be built on. Hartsholme Park & Whisby Nature Reserve. Time for another walk there perhaps the next weekend I’m in Lincoln.
The Euro 2016 sweepstake is going well. I’m joint first with about 4 others having guessed the outcome of 7 out of 10 games. Mostly random guesses not knowing who was favourite. A combination of established names and personal bias.
This is the greenest time of year. Just passed a field of poppies where the dots of red provide a lovely contrast.
Breakfast came with an extra slice of bacon. Result:) Only problem was a tiny drip of mushroom juice or simlar onto my shirt. Wiped this with my red paper napkin and the shirt now has a red stain on it! Have to wait until we leave Newark Northgate to nip to the loo and see if I can clean it up a bit. I’m terrible with this sort of thing. V messy eater, no matter how hard I try.
I can now hear someone else on the phone. I mean someone at the other end. Bloke got on at Newark. Just stood up to look. He is holding the earpiece away from his ear slightly so that we can all hear. Can’t be bothered to let you know what’s being discussed. Sales numbers. “Need to get some definitives as to where we are.” “You know he can be a bit of a martyr. Do you think they will renew our contract?”. There you go I’ve told you. “Buy us some time. Let’s have another look at it. I’ve been in this situation too many times. Get the contract signed and we can work it through with IT.” It’s Mike we are talking about. Just need to find out who the companies are now. I’ll hold off going to clean up my shirt until the conversation is over. “Get me the heads up on it. I can’t afford a half a million pound hole in SCA. Not with 8 days left. Let’s help him with it”.
Back at my seat having successfully cleaned up the splodge. He is now talking to Steve, the owner of the company. Discussing Mike. Everyone has a back to protect.
It’s going to be a tedious train journey if he is going to go on like this all the way to London. I’ll have to put my earphones on which is my normal recourse in this situation. Not sure I want music at this time of the morning though. Today programme maybe except every other word will be “referendum”.
This is not the smoothest of trains. He’s stopped thank gawd.
The boys are meeting in the Strugglers on Thursday to watch Wales v England. I’m sure they will put it England v Wales. I’ll be the only Welshman there. Problem is the game is at 1.30. Lunchtime. It’s going to be messy. I have Wales down for a win. Obvs.
He’s on again. “I’ve made a commitment to my boss to get the information. I’ve had this bollocks from Steve this morning.” Now there’s a Stuart involved. “I want an absolute confirmation of what finance are saying”.
The corporate world eh? I can imagine that the buyer is stringing them along. Applying the pressure. He’s asked a second time for a bottle of still water. “I’ll be coming through in a minute love with the trolley”. That’s telling him. She’s busy collecting plates.
I note they are continuing to let you access YouTube videos on the train satellite link. Whilst this is good in another sense it isn’t because it will chew up the meagre available bandwidth.
Morning after the street party and the lads are busy digging up our drive. We are having it block paved and they are going down an impressive distance. Cars are parked on the roadside verges in both directions.
Joe working away in the office here with me. John has gone to the library to revise and Hannah has Sarah Ward in the kitchen planning their month in Italy in August. Anne is out at Monday group and she also hears kids read at Eastgate school.
I’m in London tomorrow. I have organised a trefor.net Telecoms Fraud Workshop at Gamma’s offices next to the Gherkin. We have 27 people signed up for it. Should be a good afternoon.
A somewhat eclectic running order for the Los Trios Davies gig at the Curle Ave street party
basin st blues
sunny side of the street
california dreaming
country roads
killing me softly
lazy river
as time goes by
chatanooga choo choo
bare necessities
underneath the arches
king of the road
Georgia
don’t get around much anymore
kansas city
It’s basically stuff that I can play. Doesn’t necessarily help Joe and John as they need Bb sheet music and mine is all in C but we will get by somehow and they can play some additional stuff that is more up their street.
Last night Wales won and England drew their matches in Group B of the European football tournament. Obviously I’m pleased as Wales are now top of the group. This is tinged with an element of disappointment as I had England down for a win in the sweepstake. Ah well:) Funny to hear the pundits after the match. “Lots of positives to take away from this match”. Basically England never seem to cut it on the international stage. They have lots of good players but never seem to be able to put it together as a team.
Stubbed my left little toe this morning when I got up to make the tea and it started to bleed. Had to put a sock on to avoid getting blood on the carpet. Doh.
Anne told me this morning about yesterday’s flash floods in Welton when she was dropping Hannah off at Rachel Ram’s house for a party. The rain was so heavy that it broke their gazebo!
Initial load packed into car now – gazebo, camping chairs and table etc. Now just waiting for Waitrose to open for me to source fresh bread and a few other bits and bobs to finish off the food shop.
