The Duck Pond
Sunday, February 29, 2004
Dear TV Licencing
Thank you for your letter , reference 2600845138. Although I have a television I do not use it to watch or record broadcasts, only to watch DVDs and videos that I have bought. I know from previous correspondance with you that I do not need a licence for this.
I would like to point out that I dislike the mildly bullying tone of your letters and the implication that if I don’t have a TV licence then I must be breaking the law. I also resent having to spend my time and money having to tell you that I am not doing anything wrong.
O_|/ Now please fucking leave me alone *wuffles*.
Gawd I hate them. Completely outdated concept. BBC should go subscription or at least TVL should concede that there might be at least some people out there who actually don’t watch telly and stop persecuting and harrassing them. Alien notion as that may seem. Complete bunch of incompetent fuckwits.
Just seen Matt off after a splendid weekend. I walked about 16 miles, training for the moonwalk is well underway and I felt considerably in pain after today’s 9 miles which is very worrying if you consider the moonwalk is just under 3 times this! I'm really glad he managed to visit despite all the snow in Aber at the time.
I’ve started scuba diving. After a couple of months of procrastinating I finally dragged my backside down to the pool (getting a taxi here is a nightmare!) and did a “try dive” for a mere 20 quid. I loved every minute of it. I didn’t have a problem breathing under water as apparently many people do even though they’ve got a big tank of air on their back. I was quite calm and unruffled despite the pack being too big, meaning that it kept rolling me over. I was told that I was pretty good for a beginner which is encouraging because usually it takes me ages to pick up new things. Not much to the scuba diving though, it all seemed pretty easy to me. Not only is it fun but there are some simply super innuendos to be had:“You have to pay extra if you want fancy flaps”“Just blow on this to get the liquid out”
Ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Also before going in the water I was told “without this gadget here, the air in this tank would explode you!” which concerned me a little.
All the people I spoke to were so lovely too. I really had a great time. Sadly there’s no training courses for beginners until September so my timing’s pretty awful.
Work’s pissing me off a bit at the mo. Don’t really want to go into it though.
Last weekend I went to Twickers to see Dave and Asan and also Mark for a bit too. It was splendid fun and this should be repeated soon and often J I only intended to have one glass of white wine because of fatcamp but to my horror, wine was 4 quid a bottle in ‘Spoons so ended up drinking one bottle there (bloody irresponsible of ‘Spoons I say!) and then drinking red wine back at the iFlat which ended up all down my white top, very embarrassingly. Oops. Dave kindly washed it for me and I felt like I was in an advert the next day while I was admiring how no stains were left (hmm this is sounding a tad dodgy now).
Friday, February 20, 2004
Splendid evening out with colleagues yesterday resulting in a violent but thankfully brief hangover today. Found a few RAMMSTEIN fans because one of them had noticed me wearing a RAMMSTEIN t'shirt the other week and asked me about it. Was explaining to them what REIN RAUS was all about to the amusement of all. I really didn't intend to drink that much but beer kept mysteriously materialising in front of me and like a mug I kept drinking it. Somebody complemented me on my ludicrously expensive charm bracelet so hurrah, it's not gone unnoticed. I had an utterly splendid and, to make it even better, free curroi too. Mmmm curry. The whole night I only spent about 2.50 and got several beers, club entrance fee and the aforementioned curry. Yay for cheap nights out. It was not fun this morning trying not to be sick all over my boss when he was inspecting my code!
http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=81137.html behold my gran's neighbours. My gran is now living in fear because one of them attacked her in anger while their stuff was getting taken away. She's over 80 years old for fuck's sake. Not only do these people make everybody's life awkward by behaving in such a selfish and inconsiderate way, despite several warnings, but they actually have the utter cheek to get angry when people complain! What did they expect would happen? The warnings clearly weren't getting through to them. What else is interesting is that these people are apparently on benefits yet"In the first swoop, officers took a Playstation 2 games console and portable TV ... They then went back and grabbed ... three TVs, stereo speakers, amplifiers, a DVD player and another Playstation 2.".How the hell can they afford all that on benefits? Some people really are arseholes.
Speaking of which, my brother's car was broken into this week. I really, really hate thieves.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Went along with the whole valentines shennanigans this weekend and went to Avebury which was absolutely crawling with American tourists (and some british ones too!). I love the place though. Very pretty and mystical with lots of picturesque hills and all that. I don't think my navigating was too bad (who says girls can't read maps?) and Matt's driving was very impressive, especially around the horrors which are Newbury "roundabouts". We also had a peek at Silbury Hill which is a bit of a weird one but mildly annoying that you can't actually get anywhere near it although I can understand why. In the evening I cooked penne arrabiata (without tray) which didn't turn out too bad I thought. Also watched that terribly romantic film "Zoolander" and learned that there's more to life than being really, really, really, really, ridiculously good looking *pout*.
I also went to Donnington castle which is utterly tiny! It got me a bit interested in Newbury history though, especially as every time I was previously driven into Newbury I notice it says "you are now entering the historic (hysteric?) town of Newbury" and was vaguely interested in why it was so historic. Quite a big part in the parliamentary british wars in the (hmm I hate working this out... never sure if it goes backwards or forwards) 17th Century, I think.
Inter bloody City bloody Link are a bunch of crap and that's all I'm going to say on the matter.
Bah I had so much to write and can't think of one single sodding bit of it now. Bah damn bollocks buggery bananas. Well sod it then, I'm orf for a baaaarth (southern pronunciation to try to fit in).
Monday, February 09, 2004
Oh fuck it all. I don't care any more.
Saturday, February 07, 2004
I've just walked 9 miles with a small backpack. Thus begins my training and boy do I need a lot of it because I hurt. I earned several points too so I shouldn't go over for today. \o/
** fatcamp news **
Ruined it already, went over points yesterday by munting loads of cheese and then going out and drinking various alcoholic beverages and then coming back with the munchies and munting loads more cheese. I've totted this up and not counting the -3.5 points I had yesterday I have 4 points for the remainder of the day! That's about a light meal's worth.
I have noticed a difference though. I'm sure my norks are smaller and although that might not seem much of a good thing to some people, I'm pretty happy about it because big norks can get pretty uncomfortable, they also tend to get in my face and suffocate me while doing various yoga poses. You can see the headline now. "Woman Tragically Suffocated by her own Chest". It's also annoying how they're constantly getting confused with mountains.
Watched Bulletproof Monk last night after the pub. What a silly film with no sense to it whatsoever. Then we mirthed at Back to the Future II with its incredibly 80's style "future".
Right, today is my first "proper" day of training for the moonwalk.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
I saw some ducks fighting this morning, something I've never seen before. Like yesterday it was almost unbearably cute (everything that ducks do is cute). 2 ducks were really going at each other while a group of other ducks seemed to be egging them on. There were a few swans smirking in the background. It was like school or something.
** fatcamp news - bet you've missed this, haven't you? **
Yes I've joined fatcamp once again to try to get rid of this pesky stone I want to lose but can't seem to shake. I'm only about 4 pounds over a healthy weight so hopefully I shall get rid of that soon. I'm not actually *going* to fatcamp however, that would cost far too much money that I'm not prepared to spend. Instead I have bought the complete set of books (from the Pure Points system but I can't see it being much different from the new one and if it does the job I don't give a monkey's*, quite frankly) on ebay for a snip of what I'd pay if I was at meetings and each Monday morning I shall be weighing myself and emailing the results to Matt. Matt is currently practicing his patronisation and blustering skills as at the moment he is not a very likely fatcamp leader.
According to my teh 1337 pedometer, I only walk 1.3 miles to work whereas I was told it was 2 miles! This puts a bit of a dampener on my training schedule as I'll have to increase it a bit more. Also I'm not doing quite as much exercise as I thought i was doing. I shall try the slighly longer route that I was taking when the canal path was closed and see what the damage is there (I estimate about 1.5 miles). I'll also measure the map too as there's a slight possibility that the pedometer is telling me porkies. I do apologise though matt, it turns out I'm not walking more than you after all.
* It's the chinese year of the Monkey. Hurray!
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Wanker's Corner Saloon & Cafe. Oh my. By the writing on one of the t-shirts "Grab your nuts at Wanker's Corner" or something like that, I would say they're wise to what it means but even so!
Ducks are so cool. I was walking to work along the canal this morning when I saw one jump from the side of the canal into the water. It then kept ducking (pardon the pun) its head into the water, then taking it out and wiggling its arse so that the water would run along its back. It was all indescribably cute and comical.
Was feeling crap at work the other day because I thought this project I've been given was too hard for me. I still have a hard time thinking of myself as a competent and advanced programmer sometimes. Like Friday where I was reading up about JNI and it said at the top "For experienced programmers only" and I instantly excluded myself from that in my mind. Reading through, however, I found it reassuringly easy. I just need more confidence and not keep thinking that I'm still that scared first year who didn't understand and had trouble keeping up with everything.
Sunday, February 01, 2004
My brother and girlfriend visited this weekend. They got stranded in London on the Friday as they got into Newbury early and decided to go and visit the capital by train and return early evening to see me after I finished work. The ticket guy didn't bother telling them they couldn't use their ticket between 4 and 7. They arrived in Newbury a bit after 8 but it was almost 9 by the time they managed to find my house (Newbury roads are a bit of a maze if you're not used to them).
We probably would have had a good time if it hadn't rained all the sodding time. We went to Reading and Oxford but it was too cold to do much and most of the time was spent trying to decide if anyone wanted to do any shopping. Reading was packed though and eventually we got pissed off trying to fight our way through everyone. Oxford was nice but crap for parking and we didn't have much time to look around. I'll definitely have to drag another visitor there at some point.
We went to Basingstoke Cinema last night to see Scary Movie 3. I think the critics slated it etc. etc. but I actually thought it was good. Incredibly entertaining stuff, even though I hadn't seen 2 of the main films it was taking the piss out of; 8 Mile and Ring, I knew enough about both films to still be able to get a lot of the jokes and anyone with any imagination can easily fill in the blanks. I also now feel like I don't have to see Ring because my brother said it was practically the same but without the funny bits, Eminem jibes and the Signs stuff. I'm sure it's not everyone's cup of tea but if you like silly stuff and liked the first one then I'd recommend it highly.
Travelling back in the dark we noticed that several cars going the other way were flashing us. Paranoidly we pulled over and checked that the lights were working etc. and all seemed fine. A bit puzzled, we reasoned that the only other thing it could be is some kind of accident or something on the road ahead so we proceeded somewhat cautiously. It was a good thing too because we passed a "Police Slow" sign and then instantly afterwards, giving absolutely no time to slow down at all, loomed a huge tree blown across the road.
