4.1.03

There's a new Blog to read ... click here to go there. I have to confess that I haven't checked for similar Blogs; but I have to say that this issue concerns me deeply and I will rant and rave at the people who are guilty of ruining our language. I will name and shame and when appropriate I will be contacting the transgressors to point out to them the errors of their ways. DW
SIM Card Saga ends! Dear reader, I took the SIM card problem by the scruff of the neck and solved it. I took my three year old Nokia 7110 to the O2 shop in Oxford and after having briefly outlined my plight, they told me I could upgrade my phone for free ... I did and came away with a brand new Samsung A300 phone and with nothing at all to pay. I got it home, put the SIM card in, charged the battery and bob's your uncle! I am now mobile again. Anybody want to call me? DW

3.1.03

Take a trip to the this part of the Environment Agency's web site and try to find out the link between the Gilbert & Sullivanesque Lord High castor canadensis and the Great Smog of Old London Town of 1952! Answers on a postcard!!! DW
I was going to go to Cambridge today to meet up with Andrew and Fran (son and daughter) but there are so many flood alerts on my proposed route that it could take took long, and be too dangerous, to travel. So, had to call off the trip. A pity as this self same trip was called off on Monday of this week too. I checked the Environment Agency's web site for details: click on the Latest News link for details. Yesterday evening, drove to Oxford along the A34 and as we were sliding up the slip road we were faced with a huge queue of cars, vans and lorries ... we found the road flooded for around 50 yards/metres less than half a mile along the road and the massive queue was due to motorists passing through the follow water with extreme care. To my gung ho mind, they were all a bit overly cautious, especially the lorries as the right hand lane was barely wet and the left hand lane was only covered with a few inches of water. Still, it goes to show that an apparently tiny problem can have major consequences for us all. The opposite carriageway was suffering the same fate and that traffic tailed back around two miles or more. Anyway, the problem took around 4 minutes to clear in the end. So that was alright then! DW
SIM Card Saga Continued ... I told you about my attempts at replacing my mobile phone SIM Card ... spookily vanished on my trip home from Bosnia: of course I didn't just LOSE it, someone from MI5 or MI6 STOLE it from me en route ... anyway, here's my latest update on that SAGA. The second SIM card arrived yesterday morning and full of enthusiasm I ripped open the envelope with contents spilling all over the office floor. Retrieved the SIM card, took out the SIM card with trembling hands and with great respect due only to a SIM card I fitted it in the phone hoping against hope that it would work without the need for any further itervention from yours truly ... FI ... that's Forget It in duncspeak! So, I went through the rigmorole of talking to O2 and here is a summary of what happened: 0830 called O2 and told them the SIM card had arrived they said I'd be activated in two hours ... 1300 still not activated so called O2 to be told I was pending but now I'm activated ... went out to Dorchester to look at the topography of the place and at 1630 when I still hadn't been activated I called O2: the lad was stumped until I told him that I was using an Orange pay as you go SIM card in the phone in the meantime ... well, that's your problem, isn't it? You NEED to call Orange to get an UNLOCKING CODE from them ... Called Orange: er, why did they ask you to call us? This is an O2 problem: he was friendly and helpful but couldn't solve my problem ... remember, my mobile will accept an Orange SIM card and Mrs W's O2 SIM card with no bother ... called O2 again and retold the SAGA ... I am activated, there is no other problem, the network is working. Rashly, I suggested that going to an O2 shop might be a good idea so they can see it face to face and physically help me: good idea, go to a shop, he opined! Can you tell me what time the Oxford O2 shop closes today ... put on hold while he found out that he couldn't tell me and that I should look in Yellow Pages ... Orange, Yellow ... what's next: purple with RAGE? ... consulted Yellow Pages but couldn't find O2 so looked at Thompson Local and found it: called with more nervous anticipation to be told that they were closing in five minutes at 1730 ... tried the SIM card in Mrs W's mobile AND IT WORKED ... dashed downstairs and put the thing into my mobile AND IT WORKED ... for two seconds and then collapsed again ... thought it was a dicky connection within the phone and stuffed a bit of paper between the SIM card and the battery ... FAILED ... Keep reading this SAGA ... beat's Monty Python's Njorl's Saga if you ask me. DW

2.1.03

At last something on British television worth watching! I'll be putting a review in my film review section shortly but Billy Elliot has been the highlight of my viewing since I got home on 20 Dec 2002. Set in the North East of England with the backdrop of the 1980s miners' strike this is the folksy tale of the young lad who trades boxing for ballet dancing. The characterisations are simple but good and include a dotty granny, working class hero type father and brother, both miners, and a sprinkling of others. The cross dressing friend will lead to a wry smile or two and Billy is pencilled in for stardom ... perhaps. A social story along the lines of Kes, another must read and must see story about working class Northern England, and Purely Belter, set in Newcastle upon Tyne, Billy Elliot gives us a view of life in a mining community: it shows us how "men" live their lives and parade their prejudices for everyone to see; it gives us tiny insights into the Miners' Strike and it gives us some idea of what it takes to succeed through hard work ... not the instant rubbish that we see these days when music groups have become "boy bands" and "girl bands" and naturally talented groups of people like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones can never come together again. I'm ranting! The postman just came: let's see what he has showered on us today! DW
Thought you might like to see some basketball tricks!

The mystery basketball player

Did he score or not?

The midrif of the basketball player revealed!
DW
I wasn't going to log on at all today but something cropped up! The new year's eve celebrations went well with lots of good food provided by Mrs W and we had a family supper prior to young Master W going out to a party. We ate again at midnight, different food, and opened a bottle of Gardet Champagne 1983, very nice. Master W called just after midnight to wish us HNY. Mrs W and I made out little speeches in which we expressed our wishes for the coming year. Pottered around a bit and heard some really loud fireworks exploding somewhere nearby. Gawped at the television for a while and managed to nod off in the chair at around 0130. Mrs W already in the boudoir getting ready to zzzz when I went up at 0200. I set the VCR to record an episode of Mrs W's favourite "slop" (soap opera!) that was due to start at 0230 ... for some reason it failed to record. Must look into it! In case I haven't made it abundantly clear yet, the choice of things to watch on the television this Christmas here in the UK has been the worst I have ever known. There has been hour after hour of garbage with only the merest hint of Christmas running through them. The other thread that has been apparent has been homsexuality. Sorry to appear homophobic but British television now is thriving on homosexual men who have come out and are keen to be seen in very high profile situations wearing gold clittery jackets, sporting that semi lisp that they feel they need to have and, of course, camping it up. Who falls for this rubbish? Let them be homosexual. Let them be successful. Let them be good at what they do. But let them leave their sexuality at home: we don't label everyone else as heterosexual and make a fuss of how they aren't homosexual ... says a lot about modern Britain, I think! Unusually controversial for me, that! DW

1.1.03

Happy New Year to Everyone on the planet. OK so not everyone on the planet will read this, but it's the thought that counts! DW
I went to Oxford today to buy a couple of books and then took a walk to take a few snaps. Here are two that aren't representative of the City of Dreaming Spires but they're interesting in their own way so what the heck ... happy new year!

Car in a car park in St Clements

Bike on the Iffley Road
Can't explain the car parking tickets in the car except that it could be a trick to confuse Traffic Wardens ... they either book him immediately or they say, "I can't be bothered sorting that lot out". If they book him and he has the right sticker ... As for the bike, I REALLY want to know how the wheels of bikes can get bent like this. Seriously, how do they get so bent when they have been chained to a railing or wall like this bike has? I've seen so many bikes in this condition and it's always puzzled me. Answers on a postcard! DW
Some good Blogs on the bloggingbrits ring and I recommend you take a look at a few of them ... surf around the links you'll find and you'll see a lot of what many people would like the Internet to be: a free for all of the good and interesting ... people to people communication of useful things, chatting, exchanging ideas and so on. Good stuff and I'm happy to be doing my bit. Just under three hours to a UK new year. DW

30.12.02

I have decided to archive this Blog on a weekly rather than monthly basis from now on. One of today's big decisions and it makes me feel better anyway! DW
My laptop has a major problem that includes the system using 100% of the CPU all of the time the computer is switched on. The quick start buttons on the machine have also become disabled and whenever I press them I get a message from Internet Explorer advising me that downloading files can be dangerous ... including these that are being downloaded from my own C: drive! So I am currently using a very inefficient Pentium 4 laptop! I did a system restore back to 26 December and that cured the problem; and then undid it and will restore back to 27 December ... I'm curious to know what caused this problem. I have been fully virus protected and did a complete check yesterday then I uninstalled that anti virus software and installed and ran another anti virus package ... both came out clean. I just installed Windows XP Service Pack 1, by the way, if that strikes a chord with anyone experiencing similar problems! DW
The spider died! After my post of 28 Dec I decided to check out our arachnid friend only to find s/he was lifeless. I then decided to try to take a picture of it and it twitched a bit ... how does one force feed a spider, though? Took some snaps that didn't turn out that well and the spider stopped moving. Can anyone throw any light on why it decided to live in the middle of the ceiling? How many spiders have such a death wish? Do spiders simply set up their web or living space and then wait and wait or do they normally move on to search for food after a while? DW

29.12.02

I am appalled at the way that British television in particular, and the news media in general, are ruining the English language for British people. I will rant on this topic from time to time and might even open up a new section on my site to deal with it. I'm not expecting everyone to speak the Queen's English; but I am expecting people with influence to respect our language. DW
We've hit the big time! I told you yesterday that I'd applied to joing the bloggingbrits blogging ring ... subject to a small coding indiscretion by yours truly being corrected, I'm in! I've corrected it. Take a look at my new boss's own blog, though, to see the praise being heaped onto these humble shoulders. OK, I can't wait, this is part of what the boss has said: Time for ... a new Aortal site ... Duncan's Diurnal Diatribe A very funny chap who's also an accountant. Not that I've got anything against accountants, you understand ... Heck, just go and read the blog. It's good That appraisal can be found by clicking here. Well done DW! No idea what an Aortal site is? Neither had I until I clicked here. Looks like a good idea to me, especially since they are supporting the way that I work on the Web. DW
We bought some new cushions at the shops, then! That means we've got rid of those annoying "throws" that have adorned our settees for the last year and a half or so. DW
As you were on the SIM card issue ... it didn't work! Got the SIM card, called the O2 help line to get the usual friendly service with only one "yer wot" and was told to leave it for half an hour and then just get chatting. I left it for over an hour and then tried just to get chatting: no network coverage ... impetuous little me, I thought and waiting a while longer. After a while longer I tried again and still no network coverage. I called the help line and explained the prob: the young lady was fine until it came to trying to talk to the O2 network people when she got bored with waiting in a queue on my behalf so after three minutes or so she put me in the queue and said bye. The young lad in the network system was a tad brusque for me and couldn't find a problem so he said he'd investigate and all me back in five. He did call, after about ten, and told me that everything was clear on my account, with the network and so on so my problem was probably due to a duff SIM card and I need to call the help line again. Called the help line and the new young lady was a bit slow on the typing front so I had to repeat my saga. I told her I needed a new SIM card from her and she asked me if I realise that it would cost me £10 ... I told her that I'd already paid £10 for the SIM card that doesn't work and any new ones would be replacements for that ... I hope she understood that and doesn't start me off on an argument trail that will end up with stacks of frustration. Otherwise it's raining here today. DW
I lost my mobile phone SIM card as I travelled back home: goodness knows where but there you are. Good news, for the sake of a tenner I got a new one and cancelled the old. So, if you find my SIM card it's no good to you! Survived this afternoon's shopping: bit of food then cushions, decorative dishes for nuts, dried fruit and the like and a fitted sheet for a single bed!! DW
I've set up a link to Blogging Brits for some reason: see what comes of it! I took a look at a few of the sites on this ring and some of them are very learned sites indeed ... fawn ... respect ... cringe Let's see what comes of it all. DW