No adventures

Is anyone still reading this? In the unlikely event that you are, you may be interested to know what's been going on with us lately.

It turns out that London isn't quite as interesting as the French Alps for providing me with things to write about. Sure, i could rabbit on about how much i detest the daily commute and how, based on my extensive knowledge of three cities on the planet, London excels and surpasses all the competition in the "unfriendliness" category. i could probably fill several (dull) books on "things that happened on my way to work" but i really couldn't be bothered.

So the good news is that my new job is totally awesome. i should have moved years and years ago. It turns out that i really had no idea how to code. It's great to be learning again.

On the subject of my commute (which we weren't) i recently invested in a Brompton (the S2L in bright orange) which has revolutionised my trip to work. Not only has it cut my trip time by 10 minutes each way, i no longer have to park at the station and the tube is the thing of the past for me. Hurray for youDevise and the Cycle-Scheme.

So apparently the snow is awesome so far. We're going to Val d'Isere on the 10th of January and then the Portes du Soleil on the 17th. Two weeks of skiing with the Vallee Blanche planned for changeover day. i'm sure you know this, but We. Cannot. Wait.

Visitors

Paul and Lesley are visiting the United Kingdom this week.  Britain put on its best display of weather just for them.  This is the view of Dover taken from the top of the Keep at Dover Castle yesterday.

Not to be deterred, after seeing the Castle we headed off to the White Cliffs where the elements continued in their balmy crazy-English-summer way.  Here we are pictured fighting off the onset of hypothermia.

Finally, having not had enough of British culture (i use the word lightly) we were dragged (against our will) to a nightclub in London called Tiger-Tiger.  It was entertaining.

Determination

This photo was taken on the 31st of July 2008.

i think we may just about qualify for the stiff upper lip now.

The End was Nigh

Today (now yesterday) was my last day at Postilion. i thought i'd write a piece on my time at Postilion, my contribution, what i learned, and how i grew an matured as an individual.

Then i realised what a stupid idea that would be.

So instead i'll show you in a more visually practical way how i changed through my career at Postilion. This is what i looked like when i started there 7 years ago:

Are you wondering how i fit all the necessary pipes, tubes, and organs into that spindly little neck?

Disturbing isn't it? Perhaps i should have put a disclaimer at the top of this post and recommended the optional but advisable use of motion-discomfort-bags.

Actually, it's only disturbing if you see what i look like today. Here's a photo of me taken shortly before our ski-trip last year. Note pale, almost translucent complexion and official London boring hair-cut.

This is what i look like today(ish). This was taken in Cape Town shortly before our return to the UK and work.

i don't know what you think but i think that the above look like three totally different people. All gorgeous, obviously, but like distant cousins of one another. Which one is better? YOU decide! i'm thinking the relaxed five-months-in-the-Alps looks is the best.

i really am quite rubbish at this blogging thing. This started off as a nostalgic reflection on my time at Postilion and as ended up as a sickening and slightly disturbing study of me through the ages.

A lack of snow and pipe-smoking buddies has left me scrambling for topics. If i had any readers, i'm sure they'd be changing channels right about now.

Hot

It is hot.  Hottest day of the year today.  Possibly the hottest day i've ever had in the UK.  Yes, we're nearly into double-figures.  This weekend Natalie and i went up to Sheffington (actually Worksop) to visit Casey (a Dalmation, in fact, the best Dalmation in the world) and Jester (similarly, the best Jack Russell terrier in the world).  My parents and sisters were there too so that was convenient.

By the way, this is the infamous deck that we installed.  It's in front of the infamous conservatory we built.

We had supper at Wagamama where i gorged myself on the Edimame and Katsu curry and played a lot of Settlers of Catan (not at Wagamama) which Father annoyingly won twice.  Good thing he didn't gloat about it.  Continuously.

Wagamama.  That's us in the distance at the end of the table.

As usual the accommodation with the Parental Units was fabulous and relaxing. 

Two days of work left and just 5 days until the Mallons (that's Elvish for "friend") and Grapendaals (that's not Dutch for "friend").  Just need to install the blackout blinds in Paul and Lesley's room now since they require absolute blackness for sleeping and i don't think they'll appreciate that it starts to get light here at about 3:30am.  Don't ask how i know this.

Casey, reading food.

Limiting Factors

Well it seems that there are actually a few people reading this page.  i think it's safe to say i get the hint.  So here goes.

Natalie and i at Wagamama in Sheffield for Nicola's birthday.

It's weird how little things prevent you from doing the things you want to do.  When i was out in the Alps, whenever i saw something unusual, i'd note it down mentally as the title for that night's blog.  And eventually, i was looking out specifically for things to write about.  Weird how there's been so much going on back home, yet i don't take the time to write about it.

i blame this on our IXUS75.  It's got 915 photos on it which means we can't take any more.  Ok, so upload them to the PC, and carry on.  Ah, but i can't do that because the home PC doesn't have the right Canon download software on it.  Ok, so install it.  But i can't find the CD that came with the camera.  And that's pretty much where it stops.  Too many steps to get right before i see a result.

So anyway, tonight i officially got my act together, installed the right Canon software after downloading it, downloaded the latest version of LiveWriter, uploaded the latest photos from the IXUS, and here i sit.  Writing.  Writing about writing.  Exciting isn't it.

Me and my mentally- and physically- and attractively-challenged friend Paul from the Care center.  It's good to help those less fortunate than yourself.  It's just a pity the sunglasses don't obscure more of his face.

Right so, what's going on.  Well, i'm leaving Postilion Ltd next Tuesday.  On Thursday Natalie and i have got a kite-surfing lesson on Hayling Island (about an hour from our house).  The following Monday we've got a motorcycle lesson at Dunsfold airfield (yes, the home of Top Gear, the greatest programme ever made).  Parents and concerned friends and relatives can rest assured that this lesson is taking place completely off road to fulfil a purely selfish desire on my part to do something i've always wanted to do.  Yes, i know motorcycles are dangerous.  Don't leave a comment!

Now that i think about it, Father, i might try smoking my pipe while riding the bike.  That has a nice ring to it.

Next Friday Paul and Lesley arrive from Greece, and the following Wednesday we're off to Wales with them.

Then the following Monday i start work with a cool software company in central London called youDevise.  They write web-delivered decision-making software for financial services sector.  They've got about 32 staff in total and all in all seem like a very nice (and extremely smart) group of people.  i'd say i'm nervous about starting there, but that doesn't even come close to explaining it.  i'm not looking forward to the commute.  Then again, i expect neither is anyone else.

So you didn't miss an awful lot.  i went to a bunch of job interviews, dealt with pushy IT recruiters, bought us a 2.4m Radsail 4-line kite for practicing for kite-surfing, went cable wake-boarding (more accurately called cable face-planting), again, to practice for kite-surfing, we built a deck outside on which to enjoy these long summer evenings, and generally missed the mountains in a "pining for the fjords" sort of way.

Me making a mess of our messy garden.  It doesn't matter though because i get to use big heavy power tools.

In other news i installed Ubuntu yesterday and now am wondering where i've been all these years.  i got a fully functional development machine running Eclipse, Java 6, mySql, and Hibernate in about 30 minutes.  Oh, and did i mention it was all free?  And this is from someone who hasn't booted a UNIX-based system in many years.  i'd like to congratulate the marketing team at Microsoft for hiding from the world just how simple software can be. 

i feel like a salmon who's just spent a good chunk of it's life-span swimming upstream and is now becoming truly fearful of those stories about bears.

A New Dawn

It's 11:28am my time, but that's close enough to dawn for me. A few people have asked me (ok, no one did, but it sounds better to have a blog if you think other people actually want you to write it) to carry on from our last set of adventures and since we're planning on being London-bound for the next while at least, i thought it would be appropriate to start a new blog, considering that we haven't had many recent Alp-based adventures.

Assuming i actually keep this up, which, let's face it, is unlikely, hopefully certain individual's morning coffee rituals can be re-instated.

Probably there will be fewer photos of snow.