Archive for September, 2008
Here I am on a Friday morning, the sun is beating down and I am unusually reluctant to join in the bright, cheery atmosphere that surrounds me. My mood, although stable, has been slightly melancholy over the past few weeks, no excitement or pangs of nostalgic euphoria, no frivolity or looking forward, just nothing. It maybe to my advantage if I use this period to make some big changes, I have already begun to set the wheels in motion, October I believe will be when I start to see the direction they are travelling.
September 26th, 2008
After yet another dissapointing telephone coversation with one of the Tiscali numpties, I’m told they can’t enter my bank details onto their system due to some kind of technical glitch, could I ring back the following day, after I had been on the phone to them for god knows how long. This isn’t the first failed attempt at getting them to bill me, it’s been going on now for 2 years!!! I also originally signed up for unlimited downloads and a while back I was sent a letter saying I was regarded as a “Heavy User” and could I not use the internet at peak times unless only for general browsing??? So after a month or so I receive another letter saying my bandwidth had been restricted at these times as I’d ignored their previous request. After receiving red letters from them about payments they were supposed to be taking from my bank and trying again and again to sort out a payment arrangement only to finally have my sevice suspended, I decided enough is enough, so I politely asked them for my MAC code and signed up with 02.
September 22nd, 2008
So I wake up in Wales this morning to a lovely sunny day and I pinch myself, no it’s reality all right. Chain’s wandering about somewhere in North Wales so I brought my 2M radio, I was meant to fit it in the car this week but I am still undecided about a mount for the antenna. With my old Dagenham Dustbin the choice was obvious, drill a bloody great hole in the roof! Job done, but the new car is quite clean and tidy and I don’t really want to be drilling holes in the bodywork, though it is still an option. The plan is to venture onto a hill somewhere, there’s one or two to choose from, and try to access a repeater near him, a technical challenge that I’m quite up for. As I don’t have an antenna fitted on the car I have brought with me my homemade J-pole (click diagram) that I built a couple of years ago and proves to perform quite well, plus I can just stick it in the ground. Until then I need to do some research on the local geography and find out which repeater it is that Chain can access so I can set up the CTCSS tones etc. I think a yagi (directional) antenna would be more appropriate for the situation but I don’t have one.
September 13th, 2008
Hmmm… Seems Tiscali have suspended my internet access, time for a new ISP me thinks! Will have to update this from work until then I guess. Anyway it’s POETS day and it 3pm so I’m sodding off home!!! Yay!
September 12th, 2008
After 3 reports that my blog contains a virus, I have removed what I believe to be the offending code so hopefully all is well. If there are any more occurrences, please let me know.
September 7th, 2008
A week off… Yes!!! Arranged to spend half of it in Wales like you do, Jade my daughter, was in Gloucester (North Nibbly) so I picked her up on Sunday and kept her all to myself… Looks like Greg and Clare’s house warming went off well and somehow Greg ended up with the keys to the local pub! Result!!! The weather wasn’t that pleasing but we ventured into Cardiff for some bowling and an Italian meal, very nice too. With everyone munching ice cream in Cardiff Bay I meandered towards a cash point to retrieve my share of the bill only to have the machine flash up “You Have Reached Your Withdrawal Limit Today!” But I hadn’t taken any money out since Friday, it is now Sunday. Alarm bells start to ring!!! I checked my balance and surely enough £800 odd pounds have been withdrawn… This is a feeling I do not like, I’m usually quite unceremonious about most issues I see other people get excited about, but if I could have got hold of the Wanker who stole my money, I would probably be behind bars right now. I’ve calmed somewhat since and Julie has loaned me enough to see me through until the fraud investigation is complete and my money is returned.
Tuesday I went shopping… this is with 4 Women… 3 of which teenage! Though slightly painful and being a little conscious of always ending up in the underwear section, I was reasonably content but had to rearrange the odd mannequin and try on a few hats/ear-rings/bras etc. for amusement.
All in all it went swimmingly well (literally) and it was nice to chill out, I believe Jade got on quite well with Danni and Tara and they seemed to have fun too which is a bonus.
Jade – Danni – Tara
In any case I am now back home with that over-whelming sense of pointlessness, so I’ve decided to sort through all my crap and flog some gear on Ebay for no other reason other than something to do, oh, and maybe make a few quid too 😉
September 4th, 2008
