Month: October 2000

celebration 1:
it’s officially autumn, which I love. the leaves have done some major falling overnight, and the colours are fantastic. now we can look forward to crisp sunny mornings – definitely the best hangover cure in the world.

celebration 2:
today is exactly eight months since my first date with AW. we’re both happy smiley people. ahhh….bless.

celebration 3:
connex have lost the southcentral rail franchise to govia, operator of thames trains and thameslink. not sure if this is entirely good, and i think that connex get blamed for an awful lot that is not entirely their fault. i think the more important factor is the new strategic rail authority, which is a regulator with teeth at last. the new franchise imposes much stricter conditions than the old one, and i think that will have a greater impact on rail services than who actually operates them.
look out for a nice messy divorce as govia attempt to negotiate an early end to connex’s existing contract. govia say they want to get in within a year, but the connex franchise still has 30 months to run.
and don’t expect anything to change quickly. govia say that they will not replace the slam-door trains until 2005, whereas connex had said they would introduce new stock from next year.

TPL:
a measly 21 points this week. total now 231.

back from holiday….
and yes, it was great, thanks!

highlights:
– it’s a long way from Cherbourg to Treguier
– going back to the chateau was brilliant – spoilt rotten, which was lovely.
– Morlaix, Granville (haute ville), Saint Malo (intra muros) and Dinan are all super places
– Breton Gateaux consumption should be mandatory
– you can’t buy fuel on a Sunday unless you have a French credit card (see below)
– it’s a long way from Treguier to Cherbourg
– ginger nuts really do prevent seasickness

I have got some piccies, but they are still in the camera – I’ll try and come up with an excuse to use the rest of the film soon, and get a few on here so you can see them. (Yes, if I had a digital camera, I wouldn’t have that problem – I know!)

Amusing petrol story in France:
on Sunday, we were driving about (as you do). Noticed fuel guage in red quartile. Also noticed that most petrol stations closed. Found some labelled “24/24” and went in. Totally unstaffed, you have to shove your credit card into the pump. And soon we discovered that you need a French credit card to make them work. This left us with a problem – miles from the chateau, with not-many-miles-worth of fuel to get us there. So we end up in Lannion, in a 24 hour service station, on a deserted road, waiting for a French person to come in, in the vague hope that with our very bad French, we can persuade him/her to let us use their card in exchange for cash.
No, I didn’t rate our chances either.
Anyway, after about 15 mniutes, a car pulls up. This guy gets out, and AW (with immense bravery) explains to him what our problem is. He agrees to help (phew) and looks in his car for his card. Which he can’t find. Great. Turns out he is meeting his “friend” in the petrol station, and says we can use his friend’s card. About five minutes later, his friend arrives. Now, I’m not one to cast aspertions (sp?), but would you arrange to meet a female friend (if you were a bloke) in a deserted service station in the middle of Sunday night? no, you wouldn’t. unless you had something to hide of course.
So whilst they were getting on with their extra-marital shenanigans, we got 200F worth of petrol, gave hearty thanks, and made a quiet exit. Tres amusant, mes amis.

Anyway, regardless of all that, we had a brilliant time, and shall be heading back in the spring for a few days – probably a bit longer next time so that we can really wind down.
And if you want to do what we did, here are some handy weblinks:
– P&O Ferries
– Chateau de Kermezen (enter “kermezen” as your search string)
– Treguier

The ferry crossing on the way back was really quite rough, although far from stormy. No hurling here though, thanks to Ginger Nuts! (can’t believe that there is no McVities website – unless I’m looking in the wrong place. The United Biscuits one is dull and doesn’t have any product info).

Other news: Connex South Central lose franchise – more on that tomorrow.

links are now “teal” as opposed to old “orange” which I was getting bored with. It was also too bright and didn’t really fit in with the “Grayblog” image (the name is a bit of a pun, and those who truly know who I am will get it – it is *not* an American spelling of grey!).

far more exciting than that – in less than 13 hours, I’ll be on holiday! whoopee! off to Brittany again to stay at Chateau de Kermezen once more. really looking forward to it, although not so sure about the crossing, as the sea state is described as “moderate to rough”. I’ve checked out the pharmacy for seasick pills, but they all cause drowsiness, which is no good as I will be driving too. Interestingly, the pharmacist recommended eating ginger – and everyone else I speak to says the same thing. So, on their recommendation, I’ve purchased a pack of ginger biscuits. Can’t say that I’m convinced myself. I’d rather fly, but AW is terrified of flying, something which I hope over the next few years I can help her get over.

right – work to do, then home to pack.

I’m having a bad hair day. By that, I mean my hair looks bad. No amount of wetting, combing, gentle persuasion or loud cursing will do anything – it just sticks straight up. Whilst this provides a source of mirth for others, I find it downright irritating. Suggestions?

My cold is slightly better today, but I think the chances of shaking it completely before boarding the ferry tomorrow night are slim. guh. At least I have the prospect of a weekend in Brittany to look forward to – assuming I’m not violently seasick on the ferry. The weather forecast I heard yesterday was not inspiring.

I’m perturbed. According to RW, your youth runs out when you are thirty. This gives me little more than six months of youth left to mis-spend. But then I guess the world looks that way when you are 25.
Actually, now I am 29 [nearly 30], I’ve come to the conclusion that mis-spendable youth comes in two varieties – that which exists between years 0 and 18 or 21, and that which occurs after you are 31. 29 is the least youthful age of all, and yet all my 31+ friends seem to mis-spend as much of their time as they possibly can. I also think the capacity for mis-spending increases with wealth, and how many 21 – 29 year olds do you know with enough money to seriously mis-spend their time?

of course, my feeling of youthfulness is probably related to my health. As I now have a headache in addition to the sore throat *and* it’s raining **and** I have to go to college tonight ***and*** I have no food in the house, I’m feeling particularly unyouthful!

TPL score: 32, taking total to 210. Could do better, especially in defence.

Feeling guilty about not including links for Leila and Andrea Parker yesterday, so here goes:
Leila at XL Recordings
Andrea Parker at Studio K7

happy now?

no, my cold isn’t any better. thanks for asking. goodness, anyone reading this blog would think I’m some poor weakling, always ill.

Weekend update:

Friday – yet another beer session in W2. the world *and* it’s wife were present, which is nice.
Saturday – work. dull. did lecture to Hardy Plant Society and was thus lauded as the new Messiah by yet another bunch of old dears. Doing it again tonight in Old Dear Central (a.k.a. West Wittering).
Sunday – went shopping in Southampton at the new West Quay Shopping Centre thingy which was pretty interesting. Went with AW and SJP, so inevitably there was much clothes looking-at. I went and hid in Tower Records for a while and succumbed to the new Leila album and also the Andrea Parker DJ-Kicks thing. I would add some links, but hey, I’m feeling lazy and I have a sore throat, and if you like music and you like the web, you know where to look. Haven’t had enough time to make a decision about the Leila album, although initial reactions are *mostly* favourable. The Andrea Parker jobby is, of course, fine in extremis. Surprised myself by limiting purchase to just two CDs, although shocked at extortionate Tower prices. Will stick to cd-zone in future. or the labels.

right – slides to prepare to amaze more old bids.

thanks to RW I have been foolish enough to submit myself to humiliation on the “Am I Hot Or Not??” website. You can look at my likeness displayed there, and watch as people consistently vote me as “not”.
i’m not yet sure what value this adds to society, but it is suitably silly. or depressing. not sure which.

news review: (Ananova is my favourite web news provider)
middle east:
about as much chance of lasting peace there, as there is in northern ireland. i think that there is a group of people in each place who are so entrenched in their viewpoints that they can not possibly consider a compromise, as, to them, compromise = selling out.
the trouble with the middle east is that any disturbances there have wider implications for the rest of the world. already saddam hussein is moving his troops, and there have been two terrorist acts in yemen. the price of crude oil has shot up overnight, and the dow and ftse are falling fast.
so whist it may not seem to be that important to our daily lives in cosy southern england, it will in the long term have a direct impact on us – some analysts are even muttering that it might trigger global recession.
the first “great war” of the new millennium? let’s hope not.

flooding in sussex:
well, I can’t remember it being as wet as this at any time since january 1988, when it rained for a month without ceasing. the fields here are waterlogged, and many roads are flooded. at least we haven’t had it as bad here this time – uckfield and that area seem to have taken the brunt. in 1993, it was barnham and chichester that got it – 63 homes flooded out in barnham, and a goodly number of homes and businesses in the eastern end of chichester, both places hit by that lovely mixture of storm water and raw sewage. not nice.
we desperately need dry weather – this has the makings of one of the wettest years since records began.

my college tutorial didn’t go too badly last night. thankfully, i had time yesterday to grab some relevant stuff off the web, and so was able to blag my way through with some sensible sounding answers. of course, it might be useful if i did a bit more work in time for the exams in the first week of december.

yesterday’s other discovery was webcams – i mean, i knew about them already, but i hadn’t been to any of the big sites before. yesterday i took a butchers at jennicam – i didn’t realise quite how sordid these things were! i mean, there are pictures of her shagging and everything. now, i’m not a total prude, but i’m not sure i’d be too happy if AW installed a camera over the bed so that all and sundry could have a peep at us getting it away (i’m less sure that anyone would want to look!).

but then, now that you’ve seen a picture of us, you might not agree!

incidentally, no TPL score this week, as no matches played at the weekend due to the farce at Wembley.
nooooooooo! stoppit! I’m **not** interested in football! really! it was a lapse! I’m sorry!