More rain please, I'm saving water....

Over the summer months I have a number of hanging baskets & mangers full of plants to make a splash of colour on my red brick house. Watering these with a watering can or hose is a pain, so a few years ago I installed a watering system from Hozelock. Its very neat & saves me a huge amount of time & it also saves on water compared to watering with a hose. With the clear danger of a hosepipe ban in the UK this summer, I have invested in a rainwater saving tank & pump to run the watering system from. With the recent rainfall, its 700 litre capacity should be filling up nicely from the downpipes from my house roof.

Electrical storms

Have just witnessed the most fantastic electrical storm, only lasted 20 minutes or so, but it was stunning. The fork lightning was beautiful, the 2 inches of rain that fell in an hour washed the air clean & it smells fresh & clear again.

Reminded me of a brilliant storm I saw a few years back whilst on a plane back from Sydney to London, we skirted around it at dusk.

Not everyones cup of tea, but I like them. One day I'll work out how to photograph them & post some images.

Another day in the big smoke....

Occasionally I have to make a grand journey to London, normally for some meeting or other. In earlier days I spent a lot of time in London for both work & socialising & enjoyed every minute, but now I don't really like going too much. Its a normal, busy, smelly, violent, hustle & bustle capital city.

Today I had to go to Threadneedle Street, to the office of a competitor to my customer for a team meeting they were hosting (yes, they got to pitch to us all - yawn). Not a good way of selling the meeting to me, but no choice really. Looked at the map, not really one for the tube, but thought, lets take the tube for a change, London Waterloo, one stop on Waterloo & City Line & hey presto. Beats standing in the queue for a taxi for 20 minutes or walking for 35+ minutes in the drizzle. London Transport claimed on their website it would be a quick 4 minute hop?

I have to take my hat off to South Western Train & London Underground, it was clean, good value, on time, safe and not over crowded.

Have they changed their ways or something?

Maybe its something to do with the Olympic bid for 2012?

Lucky bar-steward tastes nectar.....

One lucky bar-steward at the very nice Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot has sold a most beautiful bottle of Whisky. He also got to taste it, as the purchaser offered him a dram - probably worth around £1,000!

Anyone that knows me knows that I like a drink, I normally have expensive tastes when it comes to Wine, Whisky & Cognac, but am not averse to cheaper wine & beer either.

I am lucky enough to taste gems from my collection of Macallan (30 yo is lovely), Highland Park (25 yo is smooth as silk), Glenfiddich (21 yo Havana Reserve goes with coffee & Davidoff Grand Cru no.2 very well), Ch. Lynch Bages (first ever good Bordeaux I tasted - a 1962!), Ch. Pichon Longueville, Taittinger (favourite NV) & Krug to name but a few on a regular basis, but rarely have I experienced anything quite fantastic as I imagine this would be.

However, I did once have a Remy Martin Louis XIII Cognac at a hotel in the Cotswolds, I even managed to get it on my expense account - it appeared as dinner for two!

BBC News Website report

Whisky bottle bought for £32,000

A hotel in England could have sold one of the world's most expensive bottles of whisky.

A businessman paid £32,000 for a rare Dalmore 62 Single Highland Malt Scotch Whisky, at the Pennyhill Park Hotel, Bagshot, Surrey, on 24 May.

Only 12 of the bottles were ever produced in 1943, and one was sold at auction in 2002 for just under £26,000.

The Surrey hotel said the man bought the whisky and drank almost all of it in one night with some friends.

General manager David Broadhead would not reveal the identity of the middle-aged buyer - thought to be from Berkshire - saying only that he was a regular hotel guest and a private collector of fine spirits.

"He's not a famous person, you wouldn't know him if you bumped into him in the street," said Mr Broadhead.

The Dalmore 62 is described as "a masterpiece forged from the Highlands of Scotland".

It was derived from four casks of single malt dating from 1868, 1876, 1926 and 1939.

The 12 bottles have their own hand-printed labels and bear unique names.

The one bought in Surrey was called Matheson, named after Alexander Matheson who was the owner of the Dalmore Estate.

One bottle has been kept by spirits company Whyte and Mackay while ten others are in private collections.

A spokeswoman for Whyte and Mackay said she believed the Matheson was the first Dalmore 62 to have been opened and tasted by its owner.

Pennyhill Park acquired it from The Whisky Exchange for £31,000, meaning its sale made the hotel a net profit of £700.

Mr Broadhead said it was bought to add to the hotel's range of fine spirits and he had never expected it to be sold.

The sale happened late in the evening in the hotel's Ascot Bar and the businessman was with around five friends.

"He's got the bottle and he's got the presentation case of course, so at least it's on his shelf as a memento," said Mr Broadhead.

The bar manager - who negotiated the £32,000 price tag - was lucky enough to be offered a glass and told Mr Broadhead it was the "most beautiful thing" he had ever tasted.

Richard Paterson, master blender at the Dalmore Distillery in Ross-shire, Scotland, said he was glad somebody else had experienced the taste of the 62. Paterson said the Dalmore 62 should be enjoyed with Rwandan, Nicaraguan or Colombian coffee, 86% cocoa-fat chocolate and a particular brand of cigar.

He would encourage the other owners to sip and savour theirs as well.

Link to BBC article

Attention all Bloggers, have you registered?

Extract from BBC News report.....

Chinese bloggers posting their thoughts via Microsoft's net service face restrictions on what they can write.

Weblog entries on some parts of Microsoft's MSN site in China using words such as "freedom", "democracy" and "demonstration" are being blocked.

China recently introduced stringent regulations that require all blog owners to register their web journal with the state by 30 June.

The regulations require the writer of a blog to identify themselves to the authorities.

According to Reporters Without Borders, China is using a system called Night Crawler to patrol web journals and make sure that only registered blogs are published. Unregistered blogs will be shut down.

All I can say is thank f*ck that I don't don't use such words on my website!

I appear to be an emotional fuck wit....

I have been subjected to many slurs & bad mouthing over the years, but a recent comment here about my inability to comment on my "feelings" has struck a chord.

I appear to be an emotional fuck wit!

I have confessed to being so on may an occasion over the years, mainly to get away from various commitments with females, but to have it inferred to me on a blog is a first.

Never mind, I think they confuse me with someone that gives a shit, at least I am a happy emotional fuck wit!

Another gadget!

I have over the last few years had an interest in that very British subject - the weather. See earlier post Feb 21st 2005.

I have several Oregon Scientific Weather monitors, but have today gone for the Full Monty version - the Oregon Scientific Professional Weather Station with wind meter, barometer, hygrometer, rain measure, thermometer to name but a few.

All sorts of data can be shared via the software that comes with it, see the Wellesbourne Airfield website for an example.

See here for full details from Oregon Scientific.

Update : all installed & running, wind meter is set on top of flagpole (yes, I have a flagpole!), the whole thing will link to PC via RS232 cable & I will try to make Andover weather reports available to the world via my website! I know how to spoil my readers & viewers!

Updated update : the flagpole wasn't good enough, the wind swirled & generally gave insufficient reading for the device. So tommorrow an Aerial & Antenna contractor is visiting to put the anemometer (wind meter to you and me) on the pole to which my TV Aerial is fitted, on my chimney stack, about 20 metres up(hence the contractor, I'm not going 20 metres up a ladder!) I have made the necessary brackets, so should be a quick visit. Solar power & wireless technology means it should be up there for a while without any maintenance - fingers crossed.

Another long weekend....

Made longer by a few things.... Saturday during the day I start to jet wash the patio, big patio, long job, so decide to do it over a couple of days, then Saturday late PM the drains (luckily the kitchen sink & garden hose drain, nothing worse!) block up! So on a Bank Holiday weekend should I call out Dyno-Rod & get charged £400? No, on Sunday AM I go out & buy my own set of shiney drain rods, then go back & buy another set because the first set wouldn't reach the blockage, all sorted in 4 hours on Sunday morning - ah what fun.

Sunday PM & Monday continue to jet wash the patio & teak oil the garden furniture, all finished by 7:00pm, time to have dinner & retire to bed for a short working week. Most people appear to be on leave this week, so will try to have a quiet one.

An enormous sense of dread....

Why is it that some days you can't sleep because of an enormous sense that something is going to go so very badly wrong? Work or personal life, not sure. It rarely happens to me (ever the optimist!?) but last night I could barely settle into my comfortable bed to sleep (as normally happens without any issue). Nothing bad happened today at all, infact it was quite a productive normal day without any issue that I couldn't deal with with - which is the norm.

Will have to wait & see what tommorrow brings. Weird.

Update: Well, I'm still here a few days after my sense of foreboding. Don't know what that was all about.

Been away.... time to catch up

I have been on a week of leave from work & thought it better to reflect rather than get over excited like my earlier post entitled "Wahoooooooo - its Friday, and I'm now on holiday...."

Had a good week off, went to France, had some lovely food, brought back a load of food, wine, beer & booze that I'll cook & enjoy over the next couple of weeks or so (longer for the alcohol - honest). Asparagus, Prawns, Mussels, Champagne to name but a few. Had the mussels last night - lovely!! Tommorrow I will cook an Asparagus & Cheese tart that I saw in The Sunday Times Magazine a few weeks ago.

Am off to Salisbury tommorrow to have a go at contact lenses at the best opticians in the world (see earlier post) & take a recent addition to my collection of Browning shotguns to Greenfields gunsmiths for a few modifications. A 16 bore Browning 325 Grade 6 that kicks like a mule as its too short in the stock for me, so am having a Kick-Eeze pad put on that will take it to 15" & having the horrible polyurethane stock taken back down & oiled properly. Am going to Greenfields first as my normal Gunsmith fell through his roof two weeks ago & will be out of action for a few months. When Greenfields have done I will take it to him to get the stock reshaped & re-chequered & a silver insert put in the stock to match my others.

Had some news that a friend of mine has just lost his entire hard disk drive - nothing backed up at all. I created a database for him 7 years ago & he has lost the lot - I am inclined to say what a twat, but am feeling charitable. Anyone know any good data recovery services near Birmingham?

People analysis....

At my customer today I met a guy, well actually he is a shrink. He is flown all over the world at great expense by his employer (my customer) to meet & analyse the senior management of the businesses. He reports back & holds sessions where the management are gathered together to discuss each others failings & bad points - how therapeutic!?

He was introduced to me as he had a question about my car parked outside (he has a BMW 7 Series & is looking to change it for an Audi A8 - apparently!?). I did think for a nanosecond about going down the path that I have such a large car because it's really just an extension of my penis etc etc, but thought better of it. So I just answered normally & gave my opinion on what a nice car it is. It still feels like I was being analysed & measured by him though, I really wonder sometimes & I don't understand some people when they just don't stop work mode.

Where in the world....

Carl Tylers blog had this link, it replicates a map of the world on my study wall with little dots all over it to represent places I have been. Strangely it comes out at 40 countries or 17%, the same as Carl & clearly still loads to see then!



Give it a try create your own visited country map

It's my birthday & I'll garden if I want to....

Yes, it's my birthday today (38 honest!), it's that one day in the year when you can do as you please as its the anniversary of your birth. So what did I do? Got up at 7:30 took a load of stuff to the tip, got a paper, had some breakfast & spent the day working in the garden! Not my idea of a day to remember, but at least the gardens look 100% now.

The best eye test, ever!

I had today the best experience of a process that I usually hate, an eye test. I dislike it because it probably means great expense & investment in new glasses, sunglasses, shooting\squash glasses which adds up to a pretty penny. You are also subjected to a bloke pushing his face around yours with a small bright torch beaming away in your eyes!

All of that happened, but the prescription hadn't changed so no new glasses required.

I did however ask that my current glasses be adjusted and that the pads be replaced. I was passed on to the sexiest Opticians Assistant ever who had the most fantastic cleavage on public show. After she had replaced the parts, then pushed & pulled the frames & placed them on me she asked me to follow her hand around with my eyes to see if she had adjusted the glasses correctly, where do you look!? She didn't seem to mind & made light of it, brilliant.

If Heineken were Opticians, they would come 2nd place to these. Memory Opticians

A good day & a bad day in IBM

I went to the IBM Business Partner Community Conference today in sunny Bedfont, an excellent event with hundreds of IBM Business Partners attending. Bumped into loads of people that I work with & know of old from my years at Lotus\IBM. An excellent networking day with loads of information shared, sadly the email suffered & I have come back to 65 to get through!

The end of the day was a tad uncomfortable with the public announcement that IBM is to make 13,000 staff redundant in Europe, with probably quite a few in the UK and Paris EMEA HQ.

Why do people do it?

I travelled to central London yesterday, I took the train. Once in a while is bad enough, but 5 days a week!? How\why do people suffer the cattle in a lorry conditions & rip off prices for the pleasure? I know the answer to my question is probably "because they have to".

I had a 2pm meeting, so took the 12:04 from Andover, it was OK, not too many people, got a seat with a table & did an hour of work on my laptop. Journey back was the 18:20, managed to get a seat in the door lobby area, it was smelly & baking hot, packed full of rude & dumb people, they all got off at Woking & Basingstoke! Mega headache upon return meant early to bed.

Mayday means fete!

The Mayday fete at Hurstbourne Priors has been a fixture in my diary for a few years now, not for the fete itself, but for the Clay Pidgeon Shoot in the next field held to raise money for something or other.

It's only a small venue, it is quite good fun watching the locals have a go, mixing with the "ringers" who travel around winning the cash pool every year. Then there is the even more interesting sight watching a cross section of society from Gamekeepers to Gentry, Professional to Thug, Window Fitter to Plumber, Bankrobbers & others (I see myself in the "others" section by the way!) shoot with varying degrees of ability & I have to say it - safety. Some of the gun handling skills were terrible, CPSA safety course & CPSA membership for insurance should be mandatory for anyone wanting to shoot in a competition - only my opinion.

I only shot one round, with a 20 bore, I scored 31 ex 40, so not bad, but no prize. The winner shot 4 rounds & scored 39 ex 40.

Customer service....

No, not a gripe or tale of woe. A true story of good customer service, no - two of them!!!!

Saturday - went shopping in the retail mecca that is Salisbury (on my own) I had a lad thing to pick up that I had ordered from Greenfields (Gunsmiths) & wanted to go to MotaMan for some Autoglym (they stock the entire range of commercial stuff). I wandered into the Vodafone Store with a general enquiry about getting a 2nd SIM for my car. Something I had been told by other Vodafone stores as being a bit difficult & not something they really recommended. The Sales Assistant in Salisbury just got on & did it, no bitching, no fussing, no moaning or groaning when he was hanging on the phone to Vodafone HQ trying to sort it out - he just did what I knew was possible. He didn't even charge me, quite the contrary, he found a better tarrif for me whilst I was there!

Friday\Monday - with new car purchase I had to change insurance for it, with the added complication of transferring my cherished plate I needed dual cover for a couple of days whilst the Audi dealership did its stuff. Jason at A-Plan Insurance brokers in Alton (who I have never met, but have spoken to on a few occasions) again, just sorted it. No fuss, no charge, just happy to help & clearly wants to retain my business.

Check out the Hall of Fame for more.

Once again....

I find myself posting a comment about not posting comments enough! [Not that I think anyone reads this crap]

I have been subjected to a couple of reviews at work of late, numbers, numbers & numbers again, then review plans to get the numbers! Seems my numbers don't match their numbers, so the number I have must be wrong. Hence the lack of posts here - sorry, whoever you are.

Time for a new car....

I have over the last couple of weeks had a few issues with my car.

It's a nice car, I like it a lot, but two weeks ago it needed 2 new tyres coming in at £560 in total, last week it cost £550 to get serviced & they also told me it needed new brake discs & pads all round, coming to a projected cost of £720!!

I set my man at Audi Basingstoke a challenge on colour, mileage, price, finance & interior spec etc. He came through meeting all of my criteria without even a blink or "we can't possibly do it for that price" crap that all previous salesmen have come up with, so I signed on the dotted line today for one of these......



An Audi A8 4.2 Quattro Tiptronic in Silver with black leather, less expensive tyres on it and it even comes with a service contract thrown in, so no servicing costs for 3 years! Should be with me by end of the month.

I have been looking at updating it for a while, but these costs have spurred me onto doing it sooner rather than later. I told the service dept not to book me in for the brakes to be done, their sales team will be picking up the cost, not me!