Things are picking up

Workwise, that is.  I am getting busy and actually, I rather like it.

As this is my last day before a week off, I am in close-down mode.  That means as many small loose threads as possible being closed, and any larger pieces that will overrun being put in good shape for some kind of handover.  Standard process, you need to appear to the outside world like the cover and handover is seamless, but those of us on the inside know that in truth there is always issues in any handover, and no-one can really fully pickup another person's work.  Having said that, we will try.

I am really looking forward to the week away.  I will get some fishing in - always a pleasure - and we will of course spend some time together as a family, and will be visiting some interesting places.

I am on a conference call just now with some, let's call him Steve, and it turns out that Steve and his wife are taking their newish caravan and their very new Q5 to a site just north of York.  It seems almost inevitable that we will bump in to each other at some stage.


We had some problem with LO's car in the week, when a load of hair started hanging out of the exhaust.  At first we thought it was a covert Barbie mission gone wrong, but it turns out to be the damping material, horse hair often, for the exhaust silencer.  It is now at the garage, and bits have failed, and the garage is putting it right, for a price that is not too bad considering the age of the old girl, and the fact that the exhaust has been sounding a bit throaty for a while.
This means that LO has my car, which means all the carefully crafted plans for me to get the top box fitted and the car partially packed have gone south, meaning that this evening will be exceedingly busy.

Yesterday afternoon, there was some extreme weather, and at one point there was an almighty lightening crack, so load and intense I thought one of our ceiling lights had spectacularly exploded. It turns out, when I did the school run, that it hit a local house, about 200m from my home office.  Not a great picture, but you can see where it hit the chimney, which presumably had a TV aerial attached until don't-know-how-many-thousands-of-volts decided to use it to get to earth.  I imagine that the occupants of the house, if they were present, had a much bigger shock than I did. This house is across the green from Maggot 2's school, and it was the talk of the school most of the afternoon apparently.

Other than that, all is good.  Have a great weekend, and speak in a week or two (depending on whether I am able and willing to blog remotely).

Smashed

I broke the screen on my iPhone yesterday.  Damned nuisance.  Having Googled how to fit them, and then where to buy replacements, I was put off by the fact that for every item on eBay, there was a "this is not a genuine screen, do not trade with this seller" type comments, so I opted for a service that does it for me, with genuine parts (so they say) and a guarantee for half a year or so.  Being a trusting soul, I sent it yesterday and should get it back Wed/Thurs.

So, I am without a phone, which is proving most disagreeable, but very quiet.  Luckily I can access my mobile voicemail from my work laptop, and have been able to change it to not accepting messages.  Better to turn away the relative who wants to give me $5m than get loads of urgent messages from people who do not know I cannot hear them.

There seems to be something on the horizon...

... and I think it is the weekend.

I wish I had a bit more to tell you, but things are work are steady, although there was a note advertising some new Cloud roles in which I have, obviously, expressed an interest.  This achieves two things:

• It gives my management an indication that maybe I want something else
• it spreads my options on the next move.

Without casting aspersion..., ah, dammit but I have to cast a few to give the message.  Our management is not great.  I believe they are very busy, fair enough, but they are also not the right people to be in their role, in my opinion, and this manifests itself by everything seeming to go off half-cock.  This time, they send a note, but have no information on the roles.  Nice.  So I have currently expressed an general interest in something of which I know nothing.

This weekend, with the weather looking pretty good, I shall be doing some DIY and so DIN*, and we are planning a day out Sunday, to where we know not, but somewhere outside and fun.

I hope you all have a great weekend, speak next week.

===========================
* do-in' nuthin

Mid week, who'd have thought it - A correction

I would like to issue a small correction to my previous blog, since a casual reader may be getting my maggots mixed up.

Please note that maggots with a capital "M" are my offspring, and maggots with a small "m" are the little white (or pink or red) things that wriggle around and are loved by nearly every fish.  Both wriggle, both can turn a bit grotty if constrained in too small a space, so the main difference is the size of hook needed for each type.

Also, in response to The Gorse Fox's comment on passports being required for York, all I can say is now now, let's not believe everything that UKIP are telling us about them Yorkshire folk, coming down here, tekking our jobs.

Mid week, who'd have thought it

We are off to Yorkshire in ten days time, and need to start planning the packing of items.  This trip is sans 'van, staying in a static 'van, but we want to take our topper foam, which is bulky, so I have invested in roof bars for the X1, very nice quality at a reasonable price, so we can take the top box.

There is also a fishing lake at the site so my preparation also includes rod licence and various baits.  It is mainly carp, tench and perch, so while the Maggots may enjoy the easy sport of perch on worm, I am after the carp and tench, so have hemp seed, soft pellets, luncheon meat, bread and sweetcorn (also got a bit of strawberry flavouring with which to experiment), and am also contemplating a few maggots just in case.  I am on strict time-limit instructions, so will be doing early mornings, which suits me, and the fish, just fine.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Oh how I have missed Friday.

This Friday finds me with not a lot of interesting stuff to report, so I am going to have to revert to the boring stuff.

This weekend I would like to start repairing my render cracks.  This may be scuppered by a couple of events:

1. The weather does not look great.  It is dry in the day, but wet early and from the evening Saturday, and most of Sunday.  I will read up on the dos and don'ts, but fear that render, even fast-drying render, may need more than 5 hours to cure.
2. On Sunday, there is a street party in our road (if that is not mixing up our concourses).  This is for many a source of sharing joy.  It is fair to say that the Scobi household is made of sterner, and dare I say it bah-humbuggy, stuff.  This is not our idea of fun, but what to do.  Our cars will be blocked on the drive until 10pm, unless we move it, in which case we are all but ostracised from our own house by our meanness.  What a dilemma.  

Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary is likely to happen, so I wish you a fun-filled and exciting weekend, and speak next week.

Friday is a wonderful day to have in the calendar

Phew.  What a week.

Not really, all much the same as last week.  Some stuff was done, some issues resolved, some more problems arrived.  Work is not that busy, and so home has been taking some of my time.  I am planning the repairs to the exterior render, with the help of Uncle Google, and I think I have it fairly clear in my mind.

I have also been making inquiries on the t'internet with some companies that offer the "never paint again" type services that can repair render and paint it with a flexible, water-permeable but waterproof (never worked that one out, but everyone says it so it must be true) and made of a substance that never needs painting again.  I have just come off the phone from the MD of one such company, following up on my submitted inquiry.  He said that he used the treatment on his own business premises, and it is still looking good after 28 years.  It is just the cost that needs some consideration.

We are off the Stonehenge this weekend in the 'van with A&E.  The weather is looking good, at least not wet, and the site seems to be of the natural variety, allowing open fires, and being self-confessed VW lovers.  Hmmm.

Have a great weekend, and speak next week.