The Sigmonster cometh.....

..... done deal. On the way next week is a Sigmonster.

EF600mm has gone - not different enough to lighter EF500mm and the 1Ds Mk III had to go - it's a terrible camera - replaced with a 1D Mk III which will be happier stablemate to existing 1D Mk III.

free email.....

..... then outage.

It appears I have been receiving a free email service from my provider for a while now - I didn't realise this until my email stopped working overnight when they did a bit of an upgrade, so a quick online chat to Customer Support (where they very strangely asked for my credit card details in a web based online help chat session - they assured me it was quite secure - I declined!) the problem was fixed.

Of course there was a knock on effect to my Blackberry and email client from the Dark Side - as the email provider has changed password policy my numerical string password wasn't acceptable, so I had to change to a more complex one containing upper and lower case characters and at least 5 numerical characters!?

The upgrade by the service provider includes spam filters so good that very little is getting through..... sadly thats very little email at all is getting through.

UPDATE 29/06 : Further interupted service today, the upgrade appears to have had some effect on the ability of the email servers to stay up for any period of time. Fingers crossed they sort their lives out before I name and shame them...

UPDATE 07/07 : no email getting through since last week, I can mail out, but zero coming in. I've been onto Register.com support again & again - they are utterly crap and full of empty promises of it being fixed "tomorrow", "soon" and "in hours" - no-one will call me back despite numerous requests for someone to do so. They have several tag lines which are really quite wrong "Experience the difference great service can make" not with this lot & "Don't just make a website - make an impact" in my experience a detremental one.....

Rearrange the following - Insult....

.... Injury, Add to.... I wrote about Audi in May and how they wanted £837.20 to replace my cambelt "One of the hardest working components of the engine...." - oh set my mind off and scare me into replacing a part that doesn't present any symptoms why not!

Well, on the way to a meeting yesterday the car suspension started knocking on the front right whenever I went over anything like an uneven road surface. I took it into Audi on the way home and left it with them to investigate.

At least it is a problem that has presented itself and actually has a symptom, rather than the spectre of the unknown as with the cambelt.

Luckily it appears to be a control arm & rubber bush, so relatively cheap. I thought whilst the car is in I may as well have the cambelt done as well, get the whole lot done and dusted - then they tell me "we recommend that when you get the cambelt done that you replace the water pump at the same time as the renewal of the cambelt can put a strain on an old water pump..." - another £250 please!

Looks like the beer budget for the summer has just been blown away by Audi.

24/06 UPDATE : Picked up car today, and not as bad as I thought it might have been, in the end they didn't replace water pump and a few F.O.C. items appeared on bill, so a few beers can be had this summer! I will also probably be able to afford the Audi wheel that has appeared on ebay to replace the one I buckled earlier in the year! Hopefully getting car back to 100% as I want it.

ISIHAC - It's back!

Long awaited, with some feelings that it wouldn't be anything like as good as when Humph was at the helm. With Stephen Fry as guest chairman, it was no suprise that Samantha was otherwise occupied, so the rippling (if not somewhat effeminate perhaps?) Sven was sat on Mr Fry's left hand keeping score.

Overall very good, with the same writing team still in place, with quite a few laugh out loud moments in the 30 minute programme. I did miss the dead-pan delivery of Humph though.

My wheel man.....

.... has been.

A little bubble of corrosion on the two rear wheels and a small kerb mark (unusually for me) on the front left wheel on the Audi have been fixed by my wheel man.

He was gainfully employed all day on mine and my neighbours cars, restoring the alloys back to perfection. The cars always look so much better when the wheels are 100%. If you live in north Hampshire - I can highly recommend him.

Not quite as good as Springwatch footage....

.... but it will do as a start for me.

Seen over the airfield at Thruxton today, one of three Red Kite's in the summer sunshine, hunting on the abundant dead rabbit population, it was a nice sight to behold.

The place gets a bit congested sometimes, not with aircraft but with a huge number of raptors like the Red Kite & Buzzards galore.

I will re-visit and take a more prepared approach to photographing them soon.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

Noisy....

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.

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.

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!

Just when I think....

... I have all the gear and no idea!

But I suppose he is at least making a living from photography, which is more than I am.

I have over the years wondered about doing some press\pap work. I watched the TV programme on Big Pictures headed by Darryn Lyons. I saw the mostly feckless camera weilding ex lorry drivers snapping away at celebs at various locations - most memorable was when Madonna jogged past the pap's van with her bodyguards on a road less than a mile away from her (now ex) residence Ashcombe House. The pap's initially couldn't even find the house and weren't ready - the bodyguards came back and offered for Madonna et al to run past them when they were ready with camera's in hand! Whilst I realise it isn't an easy job, a lot of it is based on tip off's and there is a huge amount of rivalry and mis-trust between them, can it really be that hard to do? Sadly, I don't think I've got the balls to give it a go.

THE lens - part II.....

.... about a year or so ago I wrote about the Sigma 200-500mm f2.8 lens.

I knew at the time that Canon had made to special order a fixed focal 1200mm f5.6 lens, but it was so rare that I didn't mention it. I never thought that one would come onto the market, but it did - B&H Photo Video of New York had one last year, the price tag - a cool $99,000 - believe it or not, it sold pretty quickly.

Never again did I think I would see another one available.... but yet again B&H Photo Video have one for sale, this time it's $120,000! It's an amazing lens weighing in at 36lbs, it's 3 feet long. With the current exchange rate and import tax to the UK it would set me back £95,000, I'm not sure if there is one of these in the UK yet - I can but dream!

As usual a brilliant review can be found at The Digital Picture.com website, looks like B&H got Bryan Carnathan to come and have a day with the lens, a video review is here.

Blackberry market dominance....

.... not sure what the big numbers are, but in my mobile phone selection I have become a Blackberry convert. For years and years I was a Nokia fan, they did everything I wanted, the menu structure was familiar, the car kits were good, the battery life was excellent and they were mostly bullet proof.

But, a couple of years ago I was offered a Blackberry Curve as an upgrade on my Vodafone account and I took it, worked out well as it did loads of things that I wanted to do really well (like personal email), the qwerty keyboard was fabulous and little things like the camera\storage were also very useful and useable.

I was then given a Blackberry Pearl with my work contract - crap, big step backwards, shared character non-qwerty keyboard, no email integration (my employer wants me to pay £20 a month for the priveledge of getting work email on my Blackberry - so no thanks!)

With my personal Vodafone contract I have now got a Blackberry Bold, even better than the Curve, and a lot better than the Storm that they sent in error first (and have yet to pick up after a week or so!)

All I have to now is find a good quality 3.5mm over the ear headset - seems more difficult than I imagined!

Some idea's are simple.....

..... and it seems others are making a living from it.

I have said for most of my life "do the small things really well and build success"... reading an ex-colleague [Tony Cocks] blog at Stuff-O-rama it sounds like Seth Godin has similar ideas... "The future is about doing small things really well and growing from there"

Maybe I should become a life coach\mentor\agent of change? Sadly I don't have the mental capability to carry it off and make a few simple lines of knowledge, experience and wisdom into a book or 2 hour presentation. But the basic principles are there - keep things small, simple, easy to understand and then execute - it should then work.

Sick, but still laughing.....

.... didn't get to see Barry Cryer last night as I have been off work all week, I really didn't feel up to going out at all. So have spent some of the week finding and listening to ISIHAC downloads from iTunes, some of which I had bought on cassette for the car 10+ years ago when I spent a huge amount of time driving around the UK demonstrating Lotus SmartSuite.

To me they are hugely funny, and the one-liners are brilliant. I have to assume that parts of the show were written well beforehand, but hope that some were genuinely off the cuff lines from very funny people like Willie Rushton, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden & Barry Cryer.

Whoever wrote Humph's lines is\was a genius - I have a sneaky suspicion it may have been Barry Cryer. Some gems can be found here.

The last word has to be the closing line of Humphrey Lyttelton on his last ISIHAC show......... "And so as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it's the end of the show..."

Upcoming cultural events....

.... I have seen a couple of upcoming cultural events that I am considering. It's a while since I have been to see anything live, but these might just get me out & about.

April 17th - Barry Cryer at the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke

May 17th - I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue hosted by Jack Dee at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton - as I write I find it's already too late as the show is SOLD OUT [so I may have to trek to London to see Stephen Fry host it, but will probably find that that is SOLD OUT as well]

July 27th - Gary Numan at the City Hall, Salisbury

Canon admit problem, but they are going to fix it......

Canon have admitted to a problem with their flagship EOS 1Ds Mk III camera, even beyond the initial problems of the sub mirror fix for the 1D Mk III this appears to be a major problem for some users - me included.

I have to confess, I have never been 100% happy with the 1Ds Mk III since I bought one. All of the images were soft, was it me not using the camera properly or was it worth considering sending my lenses in for service and re-calibration at huge expense. Ongoing tests with the same lenses and other bodies such as a 5D & 40D (which I know how to use v well) infuriated me as they were nearly always better and the 40D outperformed both "higher end" bodies.

It wasn't until I tried the same setup of lenses & 1.4x extender with an EOS 1D Mk III that I realised how bad the 1Ds Mk III really was, at about the same time I got an email from Canon offering free collection, repair & delivery back to me of the camera to fix a couple of things - soft focus being one of them - see here for more details.

So, hats off to Canon for addressing the problem, they picked it up yesterday and I look forward to it coming back to me before Easter to try out and finally be happy with it.

UPDATE : arrived back on 9th, so a very quick turnaround - thankyou Canon. Very nice letter, thanking for me for my commitment to Canon products... lets see what the weekend tests bring.

Big Brother has started....

.......at last! As of today European ISP's will start capturing and then store the url's their customers visit as part of an EU security directive.

The BBC reports "All ISPs in the European Union will have to store the records for a year. An EU directive which requires telecoms firms to hold on to telephone records for 12 months is already in force.

The data stored does not include the content of e-mails and websites, nor a recording of a net phone call, but is used to determine connections between individuals.

Authorities can get access to the stored records with a warrant. "

Long overdue IMHO, activists and terrorists have been technology users for a long time, it's about time the bat was put in the other hand to uncover those who appear to be regular people going about their daily business as something else.

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.

Spring chores.....

Lawn cut (twice), gutters cleared & cleaned, ponds drained, cleaned and refilled, garage doors washed & polished, plants re-potted, broken pots replaced, plants in border dug out & repositioned, plus visits to tip.... a busy weekend it was.

Still more to do, hope long weekend brings nice weather.

Mauled by a fox?

A swan at the local lakes appeared to have had a worse night than me. I didn't sleep well, hence the early visit to the lakes, but the swan appeared to have been mauled by something - at first I assumed a dog off the lead, but given the feathers and blood everywhere behind a fence & away from public access, I can only assume it was a fox, or there is a remote chance of a mink.

RSPCA were called and it has been taken to a swan sanctuary for some treatment and rehab. much to the annoyance of it's mate. I hope they are reunited soon.

Gone fishing.....

.... the last day of my week off, and I chose to go to Rooksbury Mill Lakes wildlife reserve again, this time more to see.

Kingfisher was out at his usual spot at 4:30 on the dot, sadly the perch has a twig obscuring the bird from the most convenient vantage point, so another will have to be found.

On the lake, a Great Crested Grebe has returned for the spring & summer seasons, today it was tucking into Perch and baby Pike!

Something good.....

.... or something bad is going to happen, which will it be?

Is this light emerging from the cloud in a god like ray? Or is it a dark cloud of gloom descending upon us?

I suppose we will just have to wait & see.

If I read my Horoscope (which I used to do every day, but really never believed any of it and have now given up wasting the time reading them) then something good is about to happen....

Solace......

..... in a tree.

Seems the only place this Heron could find peace and quiet away from the dog walkers and kids on bikes at the weekend at Rooksbury Mill Lakes was in this tree.

Not the best light, but I thought a nice silhouette would be interesting.

Canon 1Ds Mk III + EF600mm f4 + EF1.4x Extender.

Old kit for new....

I have traded in a load [and I do mean a lot!] of old\not used that often kit to acquire one of these.... a Canon EF600mm f4 L IS USM lens. So gone are the old EOS digital bodies that I couldn't bare to trade in for crap money in the past on smaller items, gone are the TS-E lenses, the EF180mm macro lens and the very old EOS 5 film bodies and associated flash units.

Once again I have assured myself that if turns out to be too heavy to lug around [it weighs in at 11.8 lbs!] or I find I don't put it to good use often enough it can be sold for very good money. I have done the usual refurb with Canon paint to cover up the inevitable chips, so it looks like new again. I will endeavour to find a manual on ebay, it will then be complete & as new, probably making it worth quite a bit more that I paid for it.

So far I have found it to be an exceptional piece of kit, it does weigh a lot more than the EF500mm, but with the 1.4x Extender attached the EF600mm comes in at fully functioning autofocus 840mm f5.6 on a 1Ds Mk III or close to 1100mm on an EOS 40D.

The new weapon of choice.....

Having re-kindled my liking for shooting air weapons, I have recently acquired a Weihrauch HW100KS.

Weihrauch made my 2nd ever air weapon at the age of 16 (less said about the 1st - an Anshutz the better) a Weihrauch HW35E in .22 calibre. It was an absolute mega weapon, and like so many things from the past, I should never have traded it in for something less memorable.

So, the new PCP HW100KS is the latest in technology, being the carbine version it is smaller, shorter and lighter, also as it's a Sporter version, it looks fairly normal versus the thumbhole stocked version.

Results are very good, very accurate and almost silent in operation thanks to it's amazing standard fit sound moderator and pretty near silent trigger and action. So far Mr Squirrel has been targetted very successfully, and with the lighter evenings on the way, I might even undertake some rabbit control.

Harking back to my fondness of the HW35E, I might even start a crusade to find a decent one 2nd hand for my mini collection.

UPDATE : The Weihrauch doesn't hold it's charge very well, filling it to 200 bar, it then levels out at 150 bar pretty quickly, and then drops off. It performs fine, but for a lesser number of shots than I would like. So I am now looking at the regulator upgrade from Ben Taylor & Son in which he replaces the whole workings that are under pressure with his own. The results are a massive increase in full power shots per charge - the downside is that it costs £300 making the gun a substantial investment!

Spring has sprung......

At Rooksbury Mill Nature Reserve late this afternoon I caught up with a Kingfisher, not ideal as the branches were in the way quite a bit, but at least I now know the patch.

I will take some time off work and sit down in a hide and see if I can get some better shots.

Currently negotiating on a Canon EF600mm lens, so will be able to get even closer.

Fighting Moorhens.....

I never knew that such a small bird had such huge feet\claws and that they fought like demons!?

As usual this looks like 2 males fighting over a female, same old story as most animals of this green and pleasant earth.

Not as sharp as I would like, but still a useful capture of the behaviour.

Con of the Year... again

Once again the High Street has thrown up a complete marketing con for Valentine's Day.

Wine Rack\Threshers\Victoria Wine group have released a voucher offering "40% Off All Champagne and Sparkling wine from 4th-14th February".

Sadly for them, all the comparisons I have done with other wine retaillers works out with them being considerably more expensive from the start - and even with the 40% deducted, only slightly cheaper in some cases. If you are wanting a dozen or more bottles I suggest Virgin Wines in most examples.

Example 1 - Taittinger Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £36.99 less 40% = £22.19
Sainsbury's = £31.99
Virgin Wines = £21.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 2 - Moet et Chandon Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £38.99 less 40% = £23.39
Sainsbury's = £25.84
Tesco = £25.84
Virgin Wines = £21.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 3 - Veuve Clicquot Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £44.99 less 40% = £26.99
Sainsbury's = £29.73
Tesco = £29.73
Virgin Wines = £25.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 4 - Bollinger Special Cuvee NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £47.99 less 40% = £28.79
Tesco = £33.98
Sainsbury's = £33.98
Virgin Wines = £29.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 5 - Lanson Black Label Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £29.99 less 40% = £17.99
Tesco = £25.90
Sainsbury's = £25.90
Virgin Wines = £18.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Everything stops.....

... a little bit of snow, and everything stops.

But in some cases, it also allows for some photography trials.

Bench in garden covered in 4 inches of snow.

A good day....

... arrive at train station, no queue at Coffee shop - order coffee. Go to ticket office - no queue - get ticket. Back to pick up coffee - no queue. Walk to platform - empty & devoid of usual fuckwits who think they own the train everyone else travels on as well. Get seat on train with table - do loads of work on laptop for full journey time! Walk to office at Southbank - easily find hotdesk available [not normal] - sign on, log in and do a load of work. Mid morning coffee with ex-colleague - find out useful information. Back to desk - load more work. Have lunch with colleague, chew the fat, get some useful information, back to desk - load more work. Have tea with new colleague - get useful information, back to desk - load more work. Annual review with manager at 4pm - good result - another year of gainful employment. Walk to station, get train within 5 minutes and home for a Horse Feathers and lovely dinner of lamb casserole with some great red wine. Heaven! If only all days were as easy as this.

There are some advantages....

... to working in central London sometimes.

I took this last week when I was in the central London office, there are some stunning views from a few of the conference rooms - this is one.

Working for a living.....

... sadly involves driving to places and meeting people. It's not I don't like meeting people, it's just a great number of them seem to be on the motorway at the same time getting to the same sort of places.

I drove to IBM Bedfont Lakes four times this week for meetings, the journey of 60 miles takes about 50 minutes on a clear run, unfortunately most of the mornings this week it took close on 90 minutes, the evening runs home took just over 60 minutes. So thats 10 hours spent driving in my car so far this week just getting to and from work.

I won't be driving anywhere tommorrow, but I will be undertaking a similar journey on Saturday when I take my brother to Heathrow on the first leg of his journey to live in Australia full time.

Hoarfrost....

I think most of the southern UK was subjected to a bit of fog and frost last night, resulting in a Hoarfrost, which in some locations looked spectacular.

I drove to Basingstoke first thing to pick up a few bits & pieces and on the way there I saw some fantastic frosty scenes, on the way back I drove back through Longparish and again saw some quite beautiful views.

I stopped off at a spot by the River Test I thought might be looking like a winter wonderland, it was good, but probably because of the proximity to the river, it wasn't as great as I had hoped.

Although it's still lingering on late into the afternoon, looking at the weather forecast, it could all be gone by tommorrow.

New birds in garden.....

The New Year has brought a couple of new birds into the garden, the first to sit still long enough for me to snap it was this Blackcap pictured right.

The other new species seen over the last week or so is the Redwing - same family as, but slightly different to a Song Thrush and a fleeting glimpse of a Bearded Tit

Love it or hate it things......

Whilst in Holland & Barrett yesterday I found some lovely liquorice comfits, there were some samples available which I gladly tucked in to, much to my surprise the shop assistant and my shopping companion both said they couldn't stand the stuff! So I had their share as well.

It got me thinking to things that most people have an immediate love\hate reaction to..... Marmite, liquorice, port wine, red cabbage, liver, garlic, Guinness, aniseed - I like them all.

New Year outlook.......

My brother departed back to Manchester today, but he will return in 2 weeks for another stay of a week here before travelling to Australia for his new life adventure, hopefully he will settle in Sydney. It's a nice place to visit - and he has an apartment in Manly [pictured right], which is a super place to relax and spend time in. It's a 30 minute ferry ride to central Sydney which can be seen in the background of the photo.

Not sure what 2009 will bring overall, I am sure the economic downturn will play it's part and if you listen to the scaremongering, harbingers of doom (the media), then the next 12-18 months are going to be tough.

New Year resolutions include - not listening to the scaremongering, harbingers of doom -particularly Breakfast News programmes. Take more photo's. Blog more. Get on my bike more. De-clutter the house.... I'm sure more will be added.

If I don't post beforehand.... Happy new year reader.

Festive outlook...

My brother arrived on Sunday from Manchester for what will probably be his last Christmas with whats left of the family as he moves out to Australia in January. Various visitations have been made whilst he is here by people that he wouldn't normally see for years at a stretch - cousins, uncles and friends etc., so I think it's been quite a good couple of days for him so far.

All shopping completed, including a mega find - Chambord Liqueur at of all places... Asda! So Champagne (Sainsbury's Vintage Cava) Cocktails made with sugar lump and a dash of Chambord topped with bubbly have been the order of the day for the last few....

My brother and I played the "spot the best looking checkout girl" in Asda & Sainsbury's today - we both swore blind that we had found the bestest looking one!

Glazed Gammon, Mince Pies and now Christmas Cake have all been homemade, ready for consumption over the next week or so. Oh, and work is all done and dusted, with numbers looking suprisingly good given the global credit issues.

Reality check......

Whilst eating breakfast, I have just seen piece on GMTV that has moved me to post this.....

I don't normally fall for the usual GMTV sob story, but this wasn't pitched as a sob story. Melissa Huggins is a 27 year old school teacher from Staines who is suffering from a brain tumor for the 2nd time in 3 years. She was very articulate and put across her plight calmly and concisely, and even made use of the airtime to explain that the UK doesn't have the £100 million equipment that can treat her and a growing number of children with this form of tumor. (yes you read it right! Come on Abramovich, Branson, Mittal, Green, Ecclestone, Rausing, Ratcliffe and Reuben - get your wallets out!)

Having read the more complete story on her website I have decided to contribute what I normally spend on frivolous bits of paper known as Christmas cards to her fighting fund for treatment in the USA. Not a great deal of money in the scheme of things, just £100, but if a couple of dozen of people in a similiar situation to me made the same commitment, it would make a world of difference to a worthwhile cause.

I wish her well.

20/12 UPDATE : I have heard from a source that the fund had tipped over the £100K mark, and that the US hospital had accepted her and given her a place as soon as the money was confirmed. All of which is excellent news and provides a path to the most suitable and effective treatment, on what is the continued long and arduous journey of recovery.

Prikka-Strip

Now installed on my fence, a good number of metre's of Prikka-Strip. A triple row of 15mm high solid polypropylene cones, and as I found out when installing them, they do really hurt when they get you! Luckily, I managed to get the more visually acceptable brown version.

Yet again, in the course of protecting my own property I am obliged by law to put up sign saying "WARNING : these premises are protected by an anti-intruder device. Personal injury may result from unauthorised access" The only exception to this covering of my own backside legally is if a kid decides to try and hop over my fence and injures themselves, I could end up in court for failing to provide a duty of care to the trespasser!? Well it beats shooting them and getting a criminal record! (that was a joke of course!)

Next in line is an upgrade of the security lights all round the property. Although still working well, they are now 10 years old, and probably in need of an replacement by now anyway. I have also ordered a load more Prikka-Strip from Screwfix to get my neighbours fence covered as well.