Saturday, May 30, 2009

Big bird....

... well birds actually. About 6 or 7 of these gulls (I think they are probably Herring Gulls) were circling over the house today.

After a bit of reading, it seems that it's not unusual to see them inland, they are Ominivorous - aka a scavenger. Acording to the RSPB website they are to be seen inland all year round "especially at rubbish tips, playing fields and reservoir roosts" As they were circling as high as they were, about 800ft or more, it was probably all of the above.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

The Hanging Baskets.....

.... of Hampshire have arrived.

The annual splurge on hanging baskets from Choice Plants at Romsey has resulted in them arriving today, instant gardening!

They are looking quite good already with the early heatwave, much better than last year when they were knocked about by the rain within days of being put up. Here's hoping for a good display of summer colour for 4 or so months.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

One of those days....

.... a good day, but a long day. Sadly the M3 wasn't at it's best this afternoon, just when I thought I would get away at a reasonable hour and a quick zip down the motorway [it's half term and things are normally quiet on the roads] an accident closed 2 lanes of the M3 near Fleet services, so the journey home was slow, long and arduous.

Stayed awake just long enough to see the disappointing football match, then retired to bed.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

A day of plotting and planning.....

... back to work, and a day of plotting & planning was had at my office in Basingstoke with a colleague and Industry Expert. A load of good work was completed, but a load more to be done. I let the train take the strain today as I couldn't be bothered to fight for a parking space - they have closed the top floor of the car park as it has concrete rot!?

Came home and did a couple of conference calls that could end up with some decent business as a result and then at 5:00 a local colleague suggested via Sametime that a stroll to the local pub for a beer was in order - who am I to say no? So at 6.02 we converged on the Southampton Arms and I partook of a couple of pints of Irish export. Nice end to a good day.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Troglodytes troglodytes....

.... also known as the Wren. After a better night sleep, I awoke at 6:00 and decided that although it was overcast, it was probably still worthwhile heading for the lakes early to see what wildlife was out & about.

No Kingfisher, but an unusual number of Mute Swan, Mallard Ducks with loads of ducklings, plus the Great Crested Grebe pair - feeding their ever growing youngsters. [How does such a small bird eat such large fish?] A very noisy, but unseen Warbler, Chaffinch and finally this Wren and a youngster flitting about.

Came home at 8:00 for coffee, toast & honey then went to local council tip, sorry Amenity Waste Recycling Centre! to get rid of defunct patio table, then Thruxton to deliver (now redundant, but intact) garden benchs, plus deliver ebay sale to collecting buyer from Plymouth and pick up some cash!

Yet more jet washing of patio was done (nearly finished) and the day was rounded off with yet another Harvey Wallbanger made with Absolut Citron Vodka, then rare fillet of beef Teriyaki & green salad washed down with some very nice La Montesa.

Back to work tommorrow, ho hum.... but luckily only a 4 day week - hurrah!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Happy, Sunny day....

... slept very badly last night, so planned early start didn't happen, ended up spending the majority of the day in the garden power washing the patio (and then re-pointing the cement where I washed it away!), hid from midday sun by watching F1 Monaco GP, deciding to condemn the patio table & chairs when they fell apart as I moved them, mowing lawn and watching bird life in garden.

Finished the day with a couple of Harvey Wallbangers in the evening sun.

Ended the evening listening to newly acquired Gary Numan CD's - mostly live stuff from recent tours such as Replicas Live, Fragment, Telekon Live and the interview series Replicant 1 + 2.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

If they are good enough....

..... to be selected to act as personal protection for a member of the Royal family serving for 10 weeks in Afghanistan, then it's only right that we recognise the entire Regiment as brave as any other soldier that has served in our armed forces and let them live here.

Justice at last for a group of people that has served my country for two centuries.

My father served with some Ghurka's in Malaya, he always told me they were truely fearless fighters who would take no prisoners in combat.

Hat's off to Joanna Lumley, clearly motivated by her family connections, it's good to see people power work for a change.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Talk to Kevin....

.... it's better than being put on hold by a Customer Services Advisor.

I have for years subscribed to Virgin Media Broadband\Telephone\TV services, initially it was ntl: who provided the service, but then Virgin came along and rebranded the services they acquired from Telewest, ntl: and others.

The actual service of broadband\TV\phone is great, very little if any downtime, but their customer service if you have a query is awful.

A couple of things of late have annoyed me, an example being a telesales call to my Virgin phone line offering me a great deal if I took up Virgin TV & phone services to go along with my existing Virgin Broadband service. When I told the caller they were calling me on my Virgin provided phone line and I was sitting in front of my TV watching Sky Sports via my Virgin provided TV services they were somewhat perplexed, needless to say my complaint that they were incompetent idiots fell on deaf and unconcerned ears.

Today tipped me over the edge when I got some mail shots from Virgin offering all sorts of services, sadly to an address in my name, but next door. When I called the Customer Services (haha!) Centre to rectify the address issue (which I thought I had done 5 years ago after many, many attempts) they too were incompetent idiots who put me on hold for minutes at a time, then tried telling me that they were clearly providing the services I pay for to 2 different addresses and that was quite OK.... I got bored after 35 minutes and hung up.

So I decided to call the man who signed the mail shots - Mr Kevin Elliott - MD of Customer Service for Virgin Media on the main switchboard. Now you may think this was a pointless and probably fruitless course of action, surely the MD of Customer Service wouldn't take the call of a mere customer.... well, you are right he didn't. But the switchboard is clearly so well prepared for such calls that I got put through to the UK Executive Group Complaints Dept. where they take ownership of the issue. I actually had a phone conversation with someone who understood what I was talking about, agreed there was a problem, empathised and explained what they were going to do about it.

So my advice, don't bother calling Customer Services, just try calling Kevin - 01256 752000.

19/05 UPDATE : Virgin Media called me back today - twice! To tell me they had fixed the billing\address problems and wanted to give me a discount as I now qualified for a combined tariff! hmmm something I tried last year, but failed miserably at doing, so Virgin have back dated the discount and given me a mega saving on Broadband - more than 50%. They even then gave me a BIG discount on a V+ box as a gesture of goodwill, and agreed an installation date there & then. Amazing difference between calling the normal Customer Services line that should have dealt with my problems and short circuiting the normal channels by calling Kevin directly - even if I didn't get to talk to him.

So, in summary the bog standard Customer Support of Virgin Media sucks, the UK managed Customer Complaint section of Virgin Media are very, very good. So good in fact that they have kept me as a customer, something that wasn't on the cards 24 hours ago. Given my latterly positive statements, I hope they let me off for using their logo!?

Vorsprung Highway Robbery....

... by Audi.

In the post today, a card from Audi UK. Not "Dear Mr Rice as a valued customer we would like to invite you to dinner with Elle McPherson......." instead it just said "Time for a cambelt change on your Audi A8"

Having then read the advice on the Audi UK website "The cambelt is one of the hardest working components in an engine. It should be replaced in good time to avoid damage to the engine. Please refer to your Audi Dealer for guidance."

So I duly call up my local trusty dealer (Dick Turpin Audi) where they merrily advise me that it will set me back £837.20! The thud that Dick heard was me falling on the floor, luckily I fell on my back, that way at least he couldn't come round and take advantage and bugger me at the same time! This could be my last Audi, well maybe an R8 could be tolerated!

Dodging the showers for a walk.....

.... I went to the local nature reserve again this evening and spotted a couple of Buzzard's scouting the area from on high.

Luckily the EF500mm & EF1.4x converter were attached to the EOS 1DIII, so I managed to get this shot, even though they were quite a way above my head.

Not a lot else around, but it's very windy, and a bit colder than expected, so maybe everything (apart from the rabbits!) are in hiding.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Some people have the ugliest kids.....

.... if you compare the beautiful Cygnet I photographed last year to this young Coot photographed today, there really is no contest in the beautiful baby stakes!

Still, it at least it's Mum loves him!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Monday, May 11, 2009

Haven't been to the lake for a while....

..... and how things have changed.

Everything is overgrown (apart from the foliage that has been hacked back), new benches everywhere and little animals have been produced.

Including this clutch of Great Crested Grebes, on the (very choppy) lake this evening.

Monday, May 04, 2009

Smell the flowers.....

... they, like us are only here for a short while.

The Yellow Azalea in my garden is just about coming to the end of it's flowering season.

It smells amazing, particularly in the late afternoon\early evening. During the month of April it's something I try & do every day - go and have a sniff, it's free, and it's wonderful.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Sick....

... still ill, with an ailment the likes I have never had before, never hope to have again (but the re-occurance within 90 days rate is high) and the effects of are grim, painful and generally unpleasant. Have been signed off work for 2 weeks, with another week more than likely.

I have been stuck in front of TV & PC, so I can tell you most of the snooker news and that my helicopter database is 100% up to date. I have pottered in the garden when feeling slightly better (albeit for very short periods of time), taken more paracetamol than is good for me plus a cocktail of various Dr's prescribed medications that I hope never to take again!

I have sort of managed not to fall into the trap of online retail therapy, more through feeling like crap than anything else, but a long desired sniper scope from Blackpool Air Rifles did arrive on the doorstep last week, it is made by Edgar Brothers who made my first parallax scope the 5-20x50 which has been a workhorse since purchase. So I'm now looking at increasing the arsenal with one of the following... a brown laminate stocked Air Arms S510 or a Theoben Rapid Mk II FT but if I can find a mint Theoben Rapid Mk I 17/17 FT with adjustable stock (if you have one for sale and you are in the south of UK, contact me!) I could have yet another expensive dilemma!