Thursday, November 12, 2009
I'm still here
Hi there people, (I know some do still visit)....
The main reason for the lack of posts recently is that my wife & I spent a month on holiday on trains around Europe... we posted regular updates about it, but did not want to make them publicly available as we didn't want all and sundry to know that our abode was devoid of residence for the period. It was an absolutely awesome holiday, and now that we're back you're welcome to go read it. I've added a link in the side bar, or you can just click here.
Other stuff I've done includes playing a part in a pilot episode of a drama with a uni-friend of mine who wants to work in the profession, and also I've been dining with Joanna Lumley.
On a more techie note, I'm currently re-writing the sport prediction code (see World Cup and Euro 2008 links) to be a lot more durable, expandable and to use a proper database, instead of text files everywhere. It's proving to be a lot of fun and I hope to have it ready in time for the 6 nations. All will be welcome and encouraged to sign up :)
Hi there people, (I know some do still visit)....
The main reason for the lack of posts recently is that my wife & I spent a month on holiday on trains around Europe... we posted regular updates about it, but did not want to make them publicly available as we didn't want all and sundry to know that our abode was devoid of residence for the period. It was an absolutely awesome holiday, and now that we're back you're welcome to go read it. I've added a link in the side bar, or you can just click here.
Other stuff I've done includes playing a part in a pilot episode of a drama with a uni-friend of mine who wants to work in the profession, and also I've been dining with Joanna Lumley.
On a more techie note, I'm currently re-writing the sport prediction code (see World Cup and Euro 2008 links) to be a lot more durable, expandable and to use a proper database, instead of text files everywhere. It's proving to be a lot of fun and I hope to have it ready in time for the 6 nations. All will be welcome and encouraged to sign up :)
Friday, July 18, 2008
In training...
My wife and I are doing an epic amount of time on the train in the coming weeks - in fact we are spending 5 weekends in a row on the train, over 24 hours, covering about 1500 miles in the process. It's a good job we like trains. If you know me at all you probably know I like getting cheap train tickets in advance, and this is no exception, and it is probably the greatest number of train tickets I have ever had in my possession at any one time. So I got them all out and took a picture...
Bon voyage to us, and may our delays be few. At least the weather seems like it's going to be alright - our most delayed train journey came last year as we left an hour earlier than planned, arrived over 2 hours late and went a completely different route to the one planned, as it happened to be the wettest day of the century so far... surely nothing that bad can happen again? Never mind if it does, for we shall just smile, have a hug and thanks God for the many, many blessings he has bestowed on us :)
My wife and I are doing an epic amount of time on the train in the coming weeks - in fact we are spending 5 weekends in a row on the train, over 24 hours, covering about 1500 miles in the process. It's a good job we like trains. If you know me at all you probably know I like getting cheap train tickets in advance, and this is no exception, and it is probably the greatest number of train tickets I have ever had in my possession at any one time. So I got them all out and took a picture...
Bon voyage to us, and may our delays be few. At least the weather seems like it's going to be alright - our most delayed train journey came last year as we left an hour earlier than planned, arrived over 2 hours late and went a completely different route to the one planned, as it happened to be the wettest day of the century so far... surely nothing that bad can happen again? Never mind if it does, for we shall just smile, have a hug and thanks God for the many, many blessings he has bestowed on us :)
Labels: holiday, trains, wedding
Friday, April 11, 2008
Paris Holiday
Sooo my darling and I have just come back from 5 days in Paris. We had a wonderful time. I'll spare you the details - we did most of the touristy stuff, and found a couple of lovely restaurants thanks to the Lonely Planet guide (this one and this one).
We did have somewhat of a lucky break on our journey out. We were travelling on the fantastic eurostar, leaving at 12:30pm. There were some sort of technical problems in the channel tunnel, which meant there were trains due to leave at approx 10:30am and 11:30am that only left at around 12:20pm. So at 12:25pm, we were pretty much all on our train, when an announcement comes over the station tannoy system - "Attention, attention. This is an emergency. Please leave the station by the nearest available exit. This is not a drill." This message was repeated an awful lot. But the train manager told us to stay where we were and that we would be leaving shortly, which we did at about 12:35pm. I guess they decided that the quickest way out of the station for us, was by train, especially for the people way down the platform on the 17th and 18th carriage (they'd've had to walk a very long way to get out of the station). It turns out there was a suspect package (note the incorrect information about the station being evacuated at midday - it definitely was nearer 12:25pm) and the station was closed for two hours after it. In the end we arrived at Paris about 25 minutes late - most definitely a lucky escape considering the large delays if we were on an earlier - or worse, a later train.
This hasn't put me off my preference for trains rather than planes if it is feasible though; indeed I do intend to make a post about that at some point in the future.
We took a lot of photos so I'm uploading them in two batches. The first batch is up now, and, in a benjaminalexander.co.uk first, a couple of videos - all located via the usual link on the left. Also I've started getting through the backlog from the second half of last year. Enjoy!
Sooo my darling and I have just come back from 5 days in Paris. We had a wonderful time. I'll spare you the details - we did most of the touristy stuff, and found a couple of lovely restaurants thanks to the Lonely Planet guide (this one and this one).
We did have somewhat of a lucky break on our journey out. We were travelling on the fantastic eurostar, leaving at 12:30pm. There were some sort of technical problems in the channel tunnel, which meant there were trains due to leave at approx 10:30am and 11:30am that only left at around 12:20pm. So at 12:25pm, we were pretty much all on our train, when an announcement comes over the station tannoy system - "Attention, attention. This is an emergency. Please leave the station by the nearest available exit. This is not a drill." This message was repeated an awful lot. But the train manager told us to stay where we were and that we would be leaving shortly, which we did at about 12:35pm. I guess they decided that the quickest way out of the station for us, was by train, especially for the people way down the platform on the 17th and 18th carriage (they'd've had to walk a very long way to get out of the station). It turns out there was a suspect package (note the incorrect information about the station being evacuated at midday - it definitely was nearer 12:25pm) and the station was closed for two hours after it. In the end we arrived at Paris about 25 minutes late - most definitely a lucky escape considering the large delays if we were on an earlier - or worse, a later train.
This hasn't put me off my preference for trains rather than planes if it is feasible though; indeed I do intend to make a post about that at some point in the future.
We took a lot of photos so I'm uploading them in two batches. The first batch is up now, and, in a benjaminalexander.co.uk first, a couple of videos - all located via the usual link on the left. Also I've started getting through the backlog from the second half of last year. Enjoy!
Labels: eurostar, holiday, Paris, trains
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Yeovil
So last weekend, my wife & I went to Yeovil, as part of her mission to complete the 92, and also to celebrate her birthday. A few amusing things happened...
I should have a huge load of photos from last summer up to the Yeovil trip uploaded by the end of the month - I know there's a demand for them. Over Christmas & New Year quite a few people came up to me and said |"hey why haven't you updated your website for a while?!" - it seems I have a reasonably-sized silent audience!
So last weekend, my wife & I went to Yeovil, as part of her mission to complete the 92, and also to celebrate her birthday. A few amusing things happened...
- One of our trains on the way down was late, so we missed a connection and were facing a 2 hour wait, so the customer service manager at Bath station gave us a bit of paper entitling us to a free taxi ride to our destination, which was 1 and a quarter hours away... very nice!
- We couldn't get into the 10pin bowling centre at Yeovil because we were asked for ID - OK so I had just shaved but I really don't look like I could be possibly be 17! I was amused at the whole incident.
- In our hotel bathroom, both of the taps said "hot" (although one was hot and one was cold, so that was alright)
- The match was a fairly boring 0-0 but we had fun anyhow
I should have a huge load of photos from last summer up to the Yeovil trip uploaded by the end of the month - I know there's a demand for them. Over Christmas & New Year quite a few people came up to me and said |"hey why haven't you updated your website for a while?!" - it seems I have a reasonably-sized silent audience!
Labels: 92 Club, holiday, ID, Taxi, Yeovil
Monday, May 14, 2007
Dublin holiday & cast removed
Hi... here's the rest of my "recent news update" as promised in my last post! Photos of the Dublin holiday, our boat race trip and other stuff from April are available now via the link on the left.
Firstly a bit of waffle about my recent holiday. We went in mid-April for a week to Dublin. We went via train/ferry, which is a better option than flying because a) cheaper, b) more convenient (less legs of the journey), c) less environmentally damaging, d) we like trains, and e) only an hour or two longer than flying when it all is added up. Anyhow, the journey went fine. A slight concern I had was the metal screw in my arm setting off the metal detector at the ferry port (Holyhead), but when I told the security guy and showed him my scar he laughed and waved me around. On the way back I did set it off, I was asked to empty my pockets which I did but I still set it off, then he just let me through. I do think they will be stricter at airports though, I wouldn't be suprised if I got body-searched or something...
The holiday itself was very nice & relaxing, which was just what was needed especially for my wife, who was quite worn out after looking after her invalid husband in the months since my operation. Our hotel room was HUGE and had a 4-poster bed, and wasn't that expensive (£65-£70 a night for B&B for us both). We didn't really do anything exciting. We went to a castle (but didn't go in it), walked around a beach just north of Dublin, went shopping (but didn't buy much), saw The Book of Kells, went on a bus tour and went to Belfast for a day. We had arranged to meet up with two friends in Belfast, but somehow we told them both Monday, but in our heads we had said Tuesday, even though clearly we DID tell them Monday (emails and such prove this)... so anyway net result was they both spent an hour waiting at the coach station for us on the Monday, and we spent an hour waiting for them on the Tuesday!! Doh. Nevertheless, we had a good time in Belfast, following the plan given to us by one of our friends. We went on the bus tour, had lunch in town, browsed some shops, went to the W5 and had food before heading back to Dublin. The W5 centre was an interactive sciencey kind of place, but there were very few kids around that are normally swarming around everything, so my wife & I ran around like little kids instead and had a really fun time in a slightly childish manner :)
The other highlight was seeing 2 Gaelic Football games at Croke Park. They were the two semi-finals of the league, the prestige of which could be roughly approximated to the Carling Cup in English football. There were about 26,000 people watching it in one of the biggest stadiums in Europe (85,000 I think) - but there was still a good astmosphere and the tickets were relatively cheap -especially when you consider we saw two games! It was very enjoyable and the teams we picked to win both won - Mayo (as they have a cool name) and Donegal (the team they were playing aginst had a stylised modern crest which we disapproved of).
After the holiday we had 3 days at home before going back to work, which was also nice and relaxing. One of those days was Game Day 2007, when we had some friends around and played board games all day long, which was fun as always.
*****
And now, the latest news about my arm. The cast was removed and I now have a removable splint - hurrah! I'm supposed to take it off 4 times a day and do some simple exercises to build up the non-existant stength in my wrist - I do this and sometimes take it off on other occasions, as it gets quite icky and sweaty in there. In August I will have another X-ray which will probably result in the splint coming off too, hurrah!
I have been left with an impressive scar, and for some reason accelerated hair growth in my wrist area - it's quite freaky actually. Rather than me explain it, you can see for yourselves.
Hi... here's the rest of my "recent news update" as promised in my last post! Photos of the Dublin holiday, our boat race trip and other stuff from April are available now via the link on the left.
Firstly a bit of waffle about my recent holiday. We went in mid-April for a week to Dublin. We went via train/ferry, which is a better option than flying because a) cheaper, b) more convenient (less legs of the journey), c) less environmentally damaging, d) we like trains, and e) only an hour or two longer than flying when it all is added up. Anyhow, the journey went fine. A slight concern I had was the metal screw in my arm setting off the metal detector at the ferry port (Holyhead), but when I told the security guy and showed him my scar he laughed and waved me around. On the way back I did set it off, I was asked to empty my pockets which I did but I still set it off, then he just let me through. I do think they will be stricter at airports though, I wouldn't be suprised if I got body-searched or something...
The holiday itself was very nice & relaxing, which was just what was needed especially for my wife, who was quite worn out after looking after her invalid husband in the months since my operation. Our hotel room was HUGE and had a 4-poster bed, and wasn't that expensive (£65-£70 a night for B&B for us both). We didn't really do anything exciting. We went to a castle (but didn't go in it), walked around a beach just north of Dublin, went shopping (but didn't buy much), saw The Book of Kells, went on a bus tour and went to Belfast for a day. We had arranged to meet up with two friends in Belfast, but somehow we told them both Monday, but in our heads we had said Tuesday, even though clearly we DID tell them Monday (emails and such prove this)... so anyway net result was they both spent an hour waiting at the coach station for us on the Monday, and we spent an hour waiting for them on the Tuesday!! Doh. Nevertheless, we had a good time in Belfast, following the plan given to us by one of our friends. We went on the bus tour, had lunch in town, browsed some shops, went to the W5 and had food before heading back to Dublin. The W5 centre was an interactive sciencey kind of place, but there were very few kids around that are normally swarming around everything, so my wife & I ran around like little kids instead and had a really fun time in a slightly childish manner :)
The other highlight was seeing 2 Gaelic Football games at Croke Park. They were the two semi-finals of the league, the prestige of which could be roughly approximated to the Carling Cup in English football. There were about 26,000 people watching it in one of the biggest stadiums in Europe (85,000 I think) - but there was still a good astmosphere and the tickets were relatively cheap -especially when you consider we saw two games! It was very enjoyable and the teams we picked to win both won - Mayo (as they have a cool name) and Donegal (the team they were playing aginst had a stylised modern crest which we disapproved of).
After the holiday we had 3 days at home before going back to work, which was also nice and relaxing. One of those days was Game Day 2007, when we had some friends around and played board games all day long, which was fun as always.
*****
And now, the latest news about my arm. The cast was removed and I now have a removable splint - hurrah! I'm supposed to take it off 4 times a day and do some simple exercises to build up the non-existant stength in my wrist - I do this and sometimes take it off on other occasions, as it gets quite icky and sweaty in there. In August I will have another X-ray which will probably result in the splint coming off too, hurrah!
I have been left with an impressive scar, and for some reason accelerated hair growth in my wrist area - it's quite freaky actually. Rather than me explain it, you can see for yourselves.
Labels: Belfast, cast, Croke Park, Dublin, ferry, holiday, operation, scar
Monday, April 16, 2007
Dublin update
Hey there... just a quick post from a Dublin internet cafe letting you know that Rebecca & I are having an enjoyable restful time in Dublin. We saw 2 Gaelic football matches at Croke Park yesterday which was great fun, and tomorrow we are visiting friends in Belfast. And our hotel room has a 4-poster bed. Such luxury!
Hey there... just a quick post from a Dublin internet cafe letting you know that Rebecca & I are having an enjoyable restful time in Dublin. We saw 2 Gaelic football matches at Croke Park yesterday which was great fun, and tomorrow we are visiting friends in Belfast. And our hotel room has a 4-poster bed. Such luxury!
Labels: Belfast, Croke Park, Dublin, holiday