…grayblog…

Month: December 2004

  • Mixed messages

    On the main church in Taormina, right at the top of the façade, there is a skull and crossbones. Catholic pirates?
    skull and crossbones on church in Taormina

  • World’s smallest post office

    Today I went to our local post office. I can’t say too much about it, as I’m still trying to live up to Hels’s ambition of keeping the location of the New House™ from being revealed on this site. But I can say that our local post office, a mere hundred yards from here, is open only two afternoons a week and has just one counter.
    I asked what services were available here – "Well, anything that involves posting letters really." What about parcels? "Oh yeh, I do parcels. But not special delivery ones. Just ordinary parcels." Tax discs? Passport forms? "Nope. Just letters. You’ll need to drive to the next village for that. And you need to get your post here an hour and a half before I shut, else it won’t go until the next time I’m open."
    I went on to say that I was concerned that such a local amenity might close from under-use, and that I’d try to use it for my business as much as I could. "Oh no, this won’t close. All the while I’m still alive and prepared to come here and do it, it’ll be here. That won’t be for a few years yet. What happens after that, well, that’s anyone’s guess."
    I like this place.

  • Knees up

    There is a party for UK webloggers in London this Saturday. I will be there. H may be there too, although she is off work sick today, so may not be.

  • WordPress bug

    There is a bug in versions of WordPress above 1.2 which could result in you or a user unintentionally (or intentionally) causing your site to crash. There is a simple fix here. I think it has been sufficiently well-publicised now that we need not be secretive about it – just tell any WP users that you know that they need to implement the fix as soon as possible.

  • Wireless print server

    I spent a bit of time looking around the web for a wireless print server yesterday. As I regularly use two different printers (a laser for bulk work, and a colour inkjet for printing plant pictures), I wanted a server that would drive them both. Only Belkin do one with this capability (every other server I looked at would support only one printer), but nearly every site I looked at was out of stock. I ended up at Transparent Communications of Aberdare, who offered the server at a reasonable price (more expensive than Amazon, about the same as Dabs) but actually had one in stock. It arrived this morning.
    I’ve just installed it. The driver version supplied on the CD failed to work, but it was quick and easy to get the latest version from the Belkin site, and I’m now up-and-running, printing documents from anywhere in the house. Or pub.
    Remarkably, this is classified as "work".

  • Nonsense

    Left-handers better in fights. I’m left-handed, and don’t mind admitting that I fight like a girl.

  • Downside

    I’ve found a downside to our new home. Whilst our neighbour’s dog’s kennel is well within range of my WiFi, he doesn’t seem to have appreciated the fact. Instead of spending his time looking at the latest doggy fashions on his pooch-friendly laptop, he sits barking. A lot.
    In all seriousness, his owners chain him to his kennel when they leave in the morning, and the poor little fella sits there barking for an hour or so until he settles down. I don’t think it’s very fair on the dog – his kennel doesn’t look overly warm or comfortable, and he’s on his own for a large part of the day.
    So, what should I do? Get some doggies treats to give to him to keep him quiet? Speak to the neighbours about it? Or call the RSPCA inspector out?

  • Home is where the blog is

    I’m sitting in our conservatory, happily blogging in a wireless stylee. I’ve not tested it yet, but I reckon I’ll be able to log into my wireless LAN in the pub. Then I’ll be really happy.
    Life is gradually settling down in Graybo Towers. We’ve repainted the lounge, stairway and both bedrooms. The house has been furnished cheaply but stylishly. The new sexy sofas have been ordered and will be delivered in the new year. We’ve got countless jobs still to do on our new home, but we’re getting there. We are both very tired, but we’ve been helped a lot by our family, and we finally managed to relax in our new home this evening – meatballs in tomato sauce, a bottle of Vinho Verde from our trip earlier this year to Lisboa and some lovely music – all by candlelight on our new table. All this coupled with waking up this morning to the view of the horses in the field across the road as well as the peace and solitude of our rural retreat. It feels like our home.

  • Happy birthday…

    …to Tim. [cough hack wheeze]ty three today.

  • Year of the blog

    Apparently.
    Of course, some of us have been doing this blog thing for quite a while now.