On Wednesday evening, I managed to catch up with an old friend, who I probably haven’t seen for 10 years or so. We went out for an excellent curry, followed by a coffee back at his place and a chat about old times and what each of us has done since. Really good to see him.
This actually fits in with my memories of Brighton and Hove. When I lived here, I used to walk everywhere, and thought nothing of it. Since moving away, I tend to walk a lot less, which is a major contribution to my weight. The fact of the matter is, it is easy to walk in and around Brighton and Hove, because it is all connected up with interesting stuff – unless you go out of your way to go down back streets and residential, there are no boring walks in the town
Walking along the sea front yesterday, there is a bench every 50 yards or so. Strangely, this means I am less likely to stop and take a breather, as there is always another bench not far off. And – hey presto – before you know it, you are at your destination, and you realise you haven’t stopped after all.
However, I admit that I have felt it afterwards. Last night, I was planning to go to the Brighton board game group’s Tuesday session, but I got back to my room, and couldn’t summon the energy to go out again. Not wishing to completely do myself in, I took the car out this morning and went for a drive out to Rottingdean, where I had an excellent fish lunch (baked, not in batter!). I’m meeting an old friend for dinner tonight, so I am taking an hour or so in my room to chill out, and then I am going to go out and take the bus back into town for another walk around the North Laines before going out to Hove for a curry.
The following is about the practicalities of walking for someone of my size, and may be Too Much Information for some folk, so feel free to skip it.
I am glad I did, because it was no nearly so far as I thought it was. As I found myself approaching the London Road shops, I realised that I was quite hungry, and immediately thought “I wonder if Grubs are still there”.
Until I discovered that my Eee, which I was planning to use this week, had broken and wouldn’t boot. Handing it over to , he eventually diagnosed a file corruption problem – possibly caused by an unplanned loss of power. The solution was to reload the original OS from ROM, and then download and reinstall my various software updates.
I knew what it was, it was a telemarketer’s autodial, dialing my number, then dropping the line because there was no sales droid available to take up the call. I take a very dim view of this, as it wastes my time in the cause of saving them time.
So I was relatively prepared when the call finally came in.
However, I didn’t realise how accurately they had nailed it until I saw this comparison video on YouTube, which, if anything, makes the scene even funnier.
The appointment was made the week before last, for today at 9am. I wasn’t filled with confidence, as the young lady who called me back (who was not employed by Tescos, but by the local subcontractor) started by apologising as she had only just started working for her brother, and she was “a bit rubbish at it”.
I’ve now switched to their new Green Gas product. At the moment, there is very little green about it – it is conventional natural gas. However, as with their electricity, the aim is to use the revenue from selling gas to develop gas mills – anaerobic digesters to turn food, sewage and other organic waste into biogas – and steadily increase the proportion of green gas in the mix.
So it is all coming out. I had my first chap in to quote today, and it all went well. None of my bright ideas were shot down, and it all seems good. However, there was one question I wasn’t prepared for – how did I want the kitchen to look?
I know what I like, but I was so intent on working out the practicalities – how many units do we need, can we utilise that wasted corner, can we bung a worktop in the (little used) larder to house my kitchen gadgets – that I hadn’t actually specified things like colour and finish. Pretty important stuff.
Anyway, since that visit, 3 hours ago, I have been googling, and have come up with a style guide for the chap to quote against (and for the other companies). Then I thought I would post it here too.
What a decision – today the sky was without cloud. The first gamers arrived at 10am, with more arriving at 11am, and we played through to 1:30, by which time I had the BBQ going. We all ate far to much red meat (except for the vegetarian!), and then went back to play, just in time to hear the ice cream van. We all rushed out to great it, screaming like kids.
