Irrelevant Picture

We've been away for a couple of days and today we drove back. The picture above has nothing to do with any of this. But I do rather like it.

I took the shot last week in London. When she gave me the key the girl at the check-in said "I've given you one of our nice rooms, with a great view". At the time I wondered if this was the best possible pitch she could have used as it might call into question other rooms in the place, but she wasn't wrong about the view. It will be even more interesting when they finish building whatever it is they're building.

Clifton and Balloons

Today we spent some time wandering around Clifton, which is a lovely place to be. I've always had fond memories of the place, what with it being where we had our wedding reception a remarkably long time ago.  This is the view of the Clifton Suspension Bridge from the Clifton Hotel terrace, which always brings back memories.

Just around the corner is Royal York Crescent, where number one wife used to live. Great place.

It just so happened that today was the start of the Bristol Balloon festival. We've tried to go and take a look before, but this time we satisfied ourselves with some long distance views over the city.

No More Sock Safaris

Now that we are starting to move things back into the bedroom things are returning to normal. It seems quite luxurious to be able to reach into a drawer and pull out a pair of socks, rather than going on a hunt around the house to find some.

Quick on the Drawer

I made nine drawers tonight. By the end I had a little production line where I worked on the same part of each drawer before moving on to the next one.

I've got one of the drawers slightly wrong, in that the drawer bottom (the thing you can see being slid into the drawer in the diagram) is the wrong way up. But at the moment I don't care that much. Because I've finished making drawers.

Coping with a Skewed Universe

Today I was fitting handles to doors. As you can see. Note that the handles line up exactly. Turns out that there are two ways you can make the door handles of your wardrobes line up.

1. Fit the handles in the centre of the door and then make the doors line up. (difficult to impossible outside of laboratory conditions)
2. Fit the doors and then put the handles in the place where they line up. (easy if you stick some tape across the gap and then use this to line the holes up).

I much prefer the second method. Experience has taught me that when you put big things into houses the concepts of "level" and "right angle" kind of go out of the window. This frequently means that you can't get furniture to line up with the floor and ceiling because they are already wrong at the start.

So you have to go for the solution that looks right. If you look very closely at the very top of our wardrobes you'll notice that the doors are very slightly out of alignment. But the handles are perfect, and those are the bits you focus on.

Drills that Hunt in Pairs

Went up town to buy some drills and bits and bobs today. It's the kind of thing you do when in the middle of a DIY project. Turns out that the drills I wanted were only sold in packs of two.

I've no idea why they don't just sell one on its own. I'm unlikely to break drills this size. Although I guess it is quite possible I could lose one.

Chipboard Superman

By day he is a meek mannered Computer Science Lecturer. But by night he picks up his electric screwdriver and assembles Ikea furniture.

Or at least he does until the bedroom is finished.

Press Reviews and Colds

I don't mind having a cold. It's the getting of it I don't like. For me there is a stage where your body knows that something is wrong and is trying to work out what is going on. Then the throat and the nose kick in to make it clear what is happening. But for me this is a good thing, it means that I can begin the process of getting better. 

Yesterday I was in stage one. Today I'm in stage 2. Of course, life being that it is, today was also when I had to go into town first thing to do a paper review thingy with Radio Humberside. It was great fun, and this time the picture that I took with the fat lens actually came out. 

Birthday Fun, Gadgets and Furniture

Had a great birthday. Got some gadgets, had nice food. Even found time to buy a bunch of furniture. So busy having a good time that I didn't get around to taking any photographs. 

Which has got to be a good thing. 

Thanks to everyone who sent me their best wishes. Much appreciated. 

Hymers School Summer Students Visit

We had some visitors today all the way from China. They are summer school students who are visiting Hymers College in Hull.  I did a talk about developing for the Arduino which was great fun (at least I enjoyed it) even though I managed to break one of my props half way through the session.

Thanks for coming folks, and I hope you enjoyed your visit to the university.

Back from our Holidays

Well, that's it for our US trip. We are now back in the UK and wondering what happened to the last three weeks. 

Because this blog has as much regard for the proper order of things as a typical episode of Dr.  Who I'll be posting items from the past as I work my way through the pictures that I've taken, while updating on a day to day basis as well.

Open Day

We had a great open day today. The weather was wonderful and both audiences were great.

I took a bunch of pictures and I'm quite pleased with the way that they turned out.

International Driving Permit - Most Unimpressive

We're heading off on our holidays over the weekend, and in a change of style, I've hired a car. This is because one of the stops is Los Angeles, and apparently you can't get anywhere without wheels in that part of the world.

The travel guides reckon that an International Driving Permit is a useful thing to have in this situation, and since my driving licence is made of paper, very old and falling apart (in other words it has two things in common with me) I sent off for one to bolster my credentials behind the wheel. 

It arrived earlier this week. It is a paper document with a colour picture of me stuck inside. I reckon you could produce a reasonable facsimile of it with a colour printer and maybe ten minutes of effort.

I just hope the relevant authorities are more impressed with it than I am.  

Wardrobe Humour

When I was in the cub scouts, many years ago, we went camping. One of the challenges we had to complete was to "make a fire out of doors".

I've just taken a bunch of wardrobes to bits (with a lot of help from Ian) and I reckon I could do this really easily now.

Campus Sign Humour

We're having some work done on campus. I found this sign on one of the sites. I'm not sure if they are being funny or just wrong....

Old Typing Technology

This is my typewriter. I found it while preparing for some renovations chez Miles. I bought it when I was a student. I got it one summer and then taught myself to type using a book I borrowed from the local library. One of the best moves I ever made when I was younger.

It still works and I'm keeping it for when computers go out of fashion.....

An Unbelievable Gas Bill

I'm not sure what a naughty hacker could do with my gas meter number, but I'm taking no chances....

I got this thing through from the Gas Company asking me to read my meter. They keep sending meter readers round during working hours and finding that I'm not at home.

Who'd have thought?  It's almost as if I had a job that kept me out of the house during the week.

---

Anyhoo, I went into the garage and took a snap of the device.  I then copied the numbers into the web page and was promptly told that my numbers were unbelievable. There are two possible ways to interpret this:

• Our gas use has been so high that I've "wrapped round" the meter.
• Our gas use has been lower than expected because last year I bought a Nest heating controller. 

I really hope it is the latter.

eBay refunds in actually works shock horror

Campus looking good today

Some time back I bought something on eBay. It never arrived. I heard nothing. Very sad. I wore black for a few days.  As you do.

It wasn't a hugely expensive item, but it was irritating nonetheless. So I took up the matter using the eBay resolution centre. And the great news is that after pressing a bunch of buttons the eBay judgement computer (or whatever they use) has decided to give me my money back. Which is nice.

Just say No to Dragon City

Just a note to all those people on Facebook who think I might like to have a go at Dragon City.

No thanks. It doesn't sound very nice to be honest, and I'm pretty sure that it will be almost impossible to get fire insurance there. 

I am not always me

You know those scary moments that you have every now and then, when the world seems to wobble slightly on its axis and you fret that horrible things are happening that you are only just becoming aware of? 

Well, just had one of those. On Tuesday, just as I was limbering up to do my talk at the Institute of Physics, I got an email from booking.com congratulating me for making a booking I hadn't made. Oh dear.

I'm not that happy with Booking.com to be honest. Last year I used them to book a few days in a Swansea guest house. It was very nice and all, but the company is now convinced that Swansea is the only place I want to go in the world, and keep sending me what they think are enticing offers to stay in the area again. And they keep telling me that "I've unlocked another discount". I haven't. I've just not used the company for a while. And it is likely to stay that way.

Unlike someone with a similar name to mine, who has just made a booking using my email address. I got the "click here to confirm it is you" message (which conspicuously lacks anywhere you can click to confirm it isn't you). I sent an email off to customer support and got nothing back. Except more emails about few places that my namesake might like to visit. Near Swansea as it turns out.

I've just got an email from booking.com addressed to my namesake, asking me to rate my recent interaction with a customer support person. Oh well. That has to count as progress I suppose.