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June 27, 2003
Pittock reunion 2003 Friday
On Friday the 27th of June we met early once again and took the coach on a trip to Castle Combe, the location of the film Dr Doolittle.
It was quite a walk from the coach park down to the village and was well worth it although the climb back up was certainly not for the unfit.
Unfortunatly we did not have time to sample the local brew in the White Hart, next time maybe!
We then moved on to Stourhead, passing through Laycock where they filmed the internal scenes of the refectory in Harry Potter, another National Trust property where we spent the afternoon wandering around the gardens in the pouring rain!
We all ended up in the spread Eagle pub, on the estate, and consumed a nice couple of pints and a late lunch.
In evening we had our farewell dinner and spent several hours in the bar reminiscing end talking about future Pittock reunions and started to devise plans for a new web site to keep us all in contact, more about that later.
Posted by Simon at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2003
Pittock reunion 2003 Thursday
On Thursday the 26th of June we all met early in the morning and boarded a coach that took us to Bristol to visit the SS Great Britain and its heritage centre.
The SS Great Britain was the world's first iron ship to cross an ocean and was
built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in an attempt to win the Royal mail service
across the Atlantic. We had a very good tour guide except that he kept mentioning the 19th of July as important date but I cannot remember why. Unfortunately we were not able to visit the Matthew, a sailing ship and she was out of harbour on her way back from Scotland.
We then took our coach towards the Mendip Hills to a small village called Litton, for a huge pub lunch at the Kings Arms.
Having the filled the various dodgy base with excess food, we then carried on towards Wells.
In Wells we visited the cathedral with its amazing Chapter house where the seniors of the Church used to gather on a daily basis to discuss matters and the running of the church and its lands.
Unfortunatly Cromwell's army smashed all the medieval stained glass that was there but the clear glass lets a stunning amount of light into the chamber.
We then had a guided tour around the Bishops Palace and gardens. On entering the Palace grounds they were surprised to see three teams of people playing croquet!
The grounds are extensive, walled and very beautiful.
We even visit the ponds where there are the four wells they give Wells its name.
Posted by Simon at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2003
Pittock reunion 2003 Wednesday
On Wednesday the 25th of June we gathered in a hotel reception for a stroll into the city where we met one of the Mayors volunteer guides. She took us on a two hour walk around Bath pointing out the various historic buildings, their famous architects, the Roman baths and places where Jane Austen had lived.
In the afternoon we had tickets for a tour on one of the open top buses which did a larger circuit of Bath than the walking tour having first enjoyed a superb lunch in one small local pubs called The Green Tree in Green Street, highly commended.
Paula and I had dinner at the Sally Lunns restaurant, the oldest building in Bath, in the evening with superb good British fair.
Posted by Simon at 08:19 AM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2003
Pittock reunion 2003 Bath
We amassed on Tuesday the 24th of June 2003 at 6.30pm for a buffet reception and get together at the Menzies Waterside Hotel in Bath. There were family members from afar away as Hawaii, the east and west coasts of the United States and several parts of England. Our common ancestary goes back hundreds of years and we the reunions have always occured every two years but the venue changes each these days rotating from the West coast of the USA to the East coast of the USA and then England.
Posted by Simon at 08:08 AM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2003
Phone and PDA convergence arrives at Cox hall
Just purchased a new Palm Tungsten W - that's the one with the phone built in! Fab piece of kit. I am writing this entry on the Palm right now and will be able to update the website from nearly anywhere in the world. Why? Because I can and because its there. This entry was brought to you from a Palm Tungsten via sync and broadband.
Posted by Simon at 08:00 AM | Comments (1)
June 19, 2003
The hat fish newspaper alarm clock game
Tonight Peter Block set us a task to make a game using a hat, a fish, a newspaper and an alarm clock. This is my attempt:
To begin
The players each take a page from the newspaper and highlight 10 words. The eldest then dons the hat and the alarm clock is set for 10 minutes.
Begin the game
The clock is started and the hatted player reads articles out loud from his newspaper. If one of the other players hears a word that is on his list he shouts 'kipper' picks up the fish and slaps the hatted player around the face twice with it.
The change
The slapping player marks the word off from his list, dons the hat to become the hatted player, announces "ahem" and begins to read aloud from his page of the newspaper until someone else hears a word they have... and so the game revolves.
The end of it
When the alarm goes off the player who is wearing the hat is announced the winner of the (DOT COM) contract.
At this point it is considered good manners to pack the items away and leave the premises in a manner fitting ones demeanor.
Posted by Simon at 11:59 AM | Comments (3)
June 18, 2003
Microsoft drops Explorer for Mac
Microsoft have announced that they will no longer develop new versions of their web browser Internet Explorer, for the Apple Mac. In some respects this is a pity as IE is a good browser on the Mac platform - however Apples own Safari browser - still in beta - is already a far better browser and is more standards compliant that IE and what we do need is a set of browsers across all platforms that follow the standards to the letter - not some bizarre interpretation of them.
On the Mac we still have the choice of running Netscape, iCab, Safari, Mozilla and of course the mighty Opera but the reality for PC users is that IE will become even more integrated with the operating system and this will mean more dominance for IE which then causes problems such as helping to spread virus's quickly due to commonly found code and common system builds.
I like to see a large diverse range of browsers but as a site designer I also want to see them all following the same CSS standards so that I don't have to fix browser bugs with page code.
Posted by Simon at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2003
U turn as Head of parking gets towed out
The front page of the Croydon Advertiser carried a fascinating story on Friday. "Head of parking goes as council slashes charges".
My immediate thought was hurrah! But on reading the story it appears that "Parking Manager of the Year" Roger Woodward has been made a fall guy for the councils controversial parking policy. Apparently the official line is that he has taken early retirement but considering it is suggested that he was at odds with other officers over the charging policy and was unhappy with the original levels it may be that a silent supporter of our campaign has been forced into retirement.
Heads should roll for the whole parking policy debacle, and I am sure they will at the next council elections when we, the residents, get to have our say on how well we think the elected members of Croydon Council have done their job. Policies should be thought through and all the risks assessed before implementation. If they are not, and I really have to assume that these steps were neglected else god help us all, serious economic repercussions can occur in Croydon's business communities as we are now witnessing, and the lifestyle quality of the residents can be greatly diminished.
If forcing out Roger Woodward is meant to appease the growing mob of Croydon discontents then again I think that once again the Councillors may well have wrongly read the mood. As residents we don't mind U-turns if they make things right - we are just exceptionally annoyed that the policy was introduced in the first place.
Posted by Simon at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)
Yobs set ferret alight
Local headlines sometimes just unintentionally make you laugh! Naturally I feel sorry for the ferret in the story. Spotted on the Croydon Advertiser web site: ic Croydon - Yobs set ferret alight
Posted by Simon at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2003
The Ying and Yang of commuting
I had a very bizarre trip into work today.
I got a seat on the train and the heating was off (and the lady next to me was slim so I had plenty of room on the seat).
Nobody walked in front/across me (so I didn't have to interrupt my leisurely stroll).
I didn't have to queue at the ticket barriers (and I always get the person with the duff ticket in front of me).
I had a large gap in front of me on all 6 escalators I travel on (I don't care much to be looking at someone�s dandruff or getting a face full of last nights boozy wind!).
I didn�t have to queue to get on the tube (it can often be a bun fight) and the carriage was nearly empty (which was nice).
Compare this journey with last weeks and there is definitely a ying and yang of commuting. You can�t say commuting is always dull and repetitive!
Then again I may be losing it...
Posted by Simon at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2003
Radiohead TV goes live
Radiohead TV has gone live at last with what may prove to be a very interesting web experiment. I liked the test card with the real cheesey music. Excellent stuff!
Posted by Simon at 12:46 PM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2003
Moveable Type 2.64
Just upgraded the content management system to Movable Type 2.64. This entry is more of a check to ensure all is ok than a real blog entry. :)
Posted by Simon at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2003
Commuting
The last couple of weeks have been almost enjoyable on the trains. I have been able to step onto the train and get a seat with my next door neighbor Griff and there has not been anyone standing in the carridge. The tube has been frequent and uncrowded. Altogether making a near enjoyable journey into work.
This week everything has gone bonkers. People are crowding on the platform at my station, getting irritable with each other and I can't get a seat on the train because people are pushing past me to get on before everyone has got off and I end up having to stand up for the whole journey. The tube has been packed and I usually have to wait in the crush to get a following train as the first one is always full. People are pushing and shoving and generally being very rude stepping in front of me while I make my way from Londn Bridge platforms down to the Tube. All in all not a plesant experience and it certainly does not put me in a good frame of mind.
What is going on? I will tell you. Half term is over. Those parents who took a holiday with thier kids are now back at work. In best statiticians style I have therefore come to the conclusion that the majority of people that I come accross on my commute that are pushy, selfish and get in my way with no manners and little regard for others, are actually parents. Is it any wonder kids are not brought up well these days? Just look at the coaching stock they have come from. Comments always welcome.
Posted by Simon at 03:12 AM | Comments (0)
Oren Daniel Litchtenstein
Our friend Claire had a baby boy this morning - congrats to Claire Ami and little Oren Daniel. Blue eyes black hair and Ami's ears... :)
Born June 2nd at 11:29pm, weighing 8lbs 5.5
Images of little Oren at Claires site
Posted by Simon at 02:49 AM | Comments (0)