Year: 2010

March 15, 2010
Those of you who know me personally will know that over the last 10 years I have had a serious weight problem.
A couple of years ago, I attacked this with a sensible (but not brutal) diet and exercise regime. Things went fairly well, and I started shedding the weight.
However, I have only just faced up to the fact that last year, when I was living in London and visiting mum in hospital, the diet went right out of the window – that is now over 9 months ago, and I still haven’t got back into my good habits. Although I keep resolving to start again, I haven’t put in the effort.

March 13, 2010
As it has been blogged by , I guess it is now ok to reveal that I have been asked to be the International Guest at Consonance 2011, the San Francisco Bay Area filk convention.

I’ve been sitting on the news for a month, and fit to burst. Needless to say, I am thrilled to bits.

March 5, 2010
I saw Avatar on Tuesday, to get me out of a cold house.

I enjoyed the movie, but mostly because of the 3D, which I admit was very good. I thought the story was pretty thin and predictable, the characters stereotypes and I became irritated by the preachy nature of the script, which I felt was kind of insulting to the viewer – it was hard to miss the environmental message in the story, so I thought it was totally unnecessary to go on about it in the dialog as well.

March 3, 2010
So here I am, once again in a warm house. My new boiler is working away in the loft, and my kitchen now has a empty wall that will eventually take 3 more much needed cupboards.

It wasn’t just a case of the old boiler taking up a bit of space on the wall – the boxing in of the pipes either side of it took up almost the entire wall, except for about 2 feet of shelves in a corner. With that all ripped out, the free space looks quite remarkable, although I now have to have my kitchen ceiling patched for the second time in just 12 months!

March 2, 2010
When Skins first appeared on TV, I ignored it, figuring it to be a trashy teenie drama that I wouldn’t be interested in.

Then, because of a friend staying with me at the time, I happened to catch the last two episodes of series 2, and I actually quite liked it.

March 2, 2010
When Skins first appeared on TV, I ignored it, figuring it to be a trashy teenie drama that I wouldn’t be interested in.
Then, because of a friend staying with me at the time, I happened to catch the last two episodes of series 2, and I actually quite liked it.
So, a few years later, now, I noticed that all 4 series (series 4 is part the way through) are now available on the web with 4OD (4 on demand), so I thought I would see what I missed.

March 2, 2010
I’m having a new boiler fitted, and although the work is going well, it meant I was without central heating and hot water overnight.

This was not a great problem, as I have a gas fire in the lounge (although it is soon to be removed), and no lack of small electric fires/radiators in the house; and my shower – which I prefer to baths – is electric.

March 1, 2010
March 1, 2010
February 14, 2010
February 14, 2010
From GCHQ’s careers website, read by Jeremy Hardy:

“GCHQ is heavily dependent on its use of technology in order to execute its vital intelligence mission. An increasingly rapidly changing digital world demands a furious pace of innovation in our technical systems. We achieve this with the support of modern technologies, the right skills and an appetite to learn. Please submit a CV in Word format – please note at present we do not have the software to read Word 2007 documents.”

February 13, 2010
Because I have been poorly, I never did get round to making the rye starter I intended to. From my original starter, I have made 3 loaves of bread, with the folllowing results:

1) Traditional circular Sourdough, baked on a metal tray. This was made before I took ill. A decent effort – although it didn’t rise as much as I had wished for, it had a pleasant taste and texture, and got quickly eaten.