If you can't stand the heat ...

... get out of the bus! It is really quite bizarre, we reach the point in the year when everyone is bundled up in warm clothes and is choosing to squash themselves into any available public transport to avoid the elements and they crank up the heating!

Really, just think about it, it doesn't make sense: everyone is already dressed for being outside, they have already walked to and stood at the bus stop, they could quite comfortably manage exactly the same temperature inside the bus without feeling cold.

On top of that lots of bodies crammed together in a small space, all of which are, essentially at 37 degrees C means that there is a pretty large temperature differential between out and in anyway!

While I'm sure those in control of public transport think that it is logical to put heating on in winter it doesn't actually make and sense and just leads to a rather uncomfortable environment.

Sorry, rather petty rant there

Sunday

It's getting a bit late now and I have a load of junk on my bed in a semi-unpacked state that I need to move before I can get the sleep I desperately need (the adrenalin is wearing off now and I just need to have some rest before work tomorrow). So this may be quick!

So, got up, breakfast (at the same Italian restaurant as Friday night - food good both times), then saying goodbye to Deborah at the tube. Really was a fun weekend, thank you so much to her for that.

Anyway, finished the packing, the ridiculously heavy, suitcase and thought I'd check the train times as I was meant to be getting to London Marylebone for ther 14:50 train to Birmingham and then change there (after walking to a different station) to get to Manchester. Anyway, I had to leave the hotel at 12:00 so I thought I'd look for an earlier train and try and avoid all the walking. Turns out there was one in about 20mins from Kings Cross!

Got to the station as quickly as I could with my arm feeling like it was being wrenched out of it's socket (really need to learn to travel lighter) and dashed to the platform after a bit of indecision about whether I should check with information if I could get on this train. There was a rail-type-looking person at the top of the platform so I asked him instead. Yes, my "Any Permitted" route ticket would be fine on this National Express train, no problem. Great!

Actually not great.

As it turns out my ticket wasn't valid on that route - apparently "Any Permitted" doesn't really convey enough information. It might be more accurate to say "Only the one we booked for you and don't dare try and make *your* life easier by getting inventive and trying to find the quickest way home".

The guard on the train explained that National Express wouldn't get any money for the ticket I had so it wasn't valid. But, I explained, I'd been told it was and that I wouldn't have got on the train if someone had said no. This didn't seem to sway the guard who pointed out that my ticket was cheaper than a valid one on this route and that I needed to pay £70! Said I wasn't going to do that so that meant he took my name, address, and other details and gave me an "unpaid fares notice" - their version of an ASBO I guess!

I have 7 days to appeal this which is exactly what I'm going to do. I don't mind paying (well maybe not £70) if I make a mistake but I did ask someone if my ticket was okay and was told it was, what else could I do!

Anyway, got to Doncaster where I needed to change train to get to Manchester. Ironically the guard on this train had no problem with my ticket at all - seemingly if you can magically get that far "Doncaster to Piccadilly" is part of the set of "Any Permitted" routes from London to Manchester!

Managed to get a fairly quick connection from Manchester to Chorley and then a swift taxi ride and I was finally back home.

Just in the interests of balance I'm clearly not a happy bunny when it comes to National Express and will post updates on here regarding this mess, but I think it's fair to give credit to companies when they do good things as well as when they are a pain in the neck.

So a few nice words about O2: I was due an upgrade today (contract runs out in March but as a long-standing customer I can a chance of a newer phone a few months early). I had whinged a bit and threatened to leave about a month ago (just impatient for a new phone), but in the end I was told I might get some discounts if I stayed. Too be honest I've never had any problems with O2 (or when they were called Cellnet) and it's probably a case of "better the devil you know".

Anyway, phoned today, explained all this and asked what they could do. So, by Wednesday (hopefully - postage permitting) I will have a nice new C902 (Titanium - James Bond style, think that theme will be getting deleted though) and 30% discount on my line rental. How happy am I :D

A horrible way to sober up

Well, actually I did sober up over the course of the day anyway though I still feel very tired (no, I don't want sympathy, it was self-inflicted drunkeness!)

I had to tell my wife that I will not be going to Vancouver now, the project is cutting back and there is essentially no budget for myself and several other people. This, in a work sense, isn't too surprising or worrying, given the point in the project lifecycle it's understandable that they would do this.

However, my wife was not happy about this at all and essentially she still wants me out of the house by the 26th April (when I was meant to be flying out to Canada) and it's entirely my problem where I stay etc. She suggested the friend C had mentioned who had a house she was trying to sell but I don't think I would get in there given the very small amount of money I can afford for rent.

My wife suggested that we sell the house then which I said was a crazy idea as the market is terrible at the moment and things just aren't moving so we would likely get nowhere near the value of the house in the event that it did actually go. This would ultimately mean we'd all suffer as we wouldn't be able to buy new accommodation!

So, I think I'll stay in the office for a while until my wife has had chance to calm down.

Vanouver bound?

It's looking likely that I'm going to get a load more work over in Vancouver this year. This is a good thing for several reasons, most of which are practical and logical:

• I'll be out of the house and this will help my wife
  
• I'll be able to save some money up for finding a place to move into when I'm back
• I'll be billable at work which is important at a time after we had redundancies

Of course all these practical reasons might not outweigh the fact that I'll be away from my son and I feel bad about that (see previous post "I want you stay with me Daddy") and do wonder how being apart (with the current atmosphere) will affect him.

Also, is it really a good idea to be running away like this?

I do have mixed feelings about it all now when it may be happening, I guess the best I can do is reason that there isn't much choice given the projects available where I work, and make the best of keeping in touch with him and spending serious quality time when I get back.

This may not be such a good thing ...

A really quick post about what happened on Tuesday:

• Annual review - apparently I'm a "nice" and approachable person but need to try harder on the leadership skills (fair point). Thankfully "nice" is enough to get me a good pay-rise so I have, until inflation and my spending kicks in, extra money per month which may help with moving out
• It is now possible that I could have another 6-9months in Vancouver. This is good from a financial point of view (if I can control my spending), it also gets me out of the house and gives my wife space, and of course it means Fiona has free reign and will be getting out and about even more (hopefully)

More money is undeniably a good thing ... not sure about more travel

"Made here!"

"Freshness", "Quality", "Choice" the video proclaims while showing things like

• Peppers being thrown into clear water
• Ham being sliced from a joint of meat
• Salads items (still glistening from a quick dip in the water) being tossed/chopped/prepared
• Posh jam tarlets being prepared and cooked
  
• etc ...

First off, I wish they'd give me the nice LCD monitors from the food court in T2 at Manchester airport, I can think of much more useful things to be doing with them than running this pretty amateur, and frankly pointless video!

Second, I'd like to know how where all the nice lettuce was when they made the rather costly Tuna baggette that I ate. Okay, we're not talking the manky brown lettuce here, but what I got certainly wasn't as as full of life as I'd hoped having being rammed into the tiny baggette to hide the pitiful amount of tuna!

"Quality" - interesting term that, will have to look it up but I'm sure I've seen a definition before where you can refer to anything having "quality" or "qualities", i.e. characteristics. So for the tuna, it had an almost non-existant quality about it!

"Choice" .... at this point I had to smile to myself. There is really little choice; there are no other eatery places around in T2 (well okay, WHSmiths have a few bits and pieces but not much - the one after security is good but the little one before is a bit limited) so you're kinda stuck with the "Food Village". The selection there is pretty limited as well - didn't see an awful lot of veggies (not that this bothers me) and the sandwiches were pretty uninspiring.

I mean, call be a snob (a fair accusation actually) but I'm kinda comparing to M&S here - now they have a pretty good "choice" in terms of food, even for a picky eater like me (can't stand cucumber, tomato, avacado or similar and I can *still* find nice things to eat).

So, in a literal sense, yes "choice", but not much.

But* that's okay really, it's what you expect from a UK airport, train station, or service station; low quality, limited choice, and astronomical prices. What's ironic is the little video campaign trying to convince you otherwise!

[ * So what's the actual problem with starting a sentence with "But"? Must look that up as well]

Hell is ...

• Being away from home again? Well, not fun, but hopefully the last bit of work travel this year and the destination is fun (Vancouver) so I'm sure I can grin and bear it ... oh, and all the nice clothes I bought and didn't have space to pack should (hopefully) be waiting for me in the suitcase I left at the hotel, so something to look forward to!
  
• Having to go down to the airport on a Saturday for a business flight? Well, maybe but my choice so can't really complain and it means a better working week with (hopefully) a little less jet-lag.
  
• Having your flight delayed by 12hours! Due to technical issues with the plane ... requiring a part from Paris no less, or so the nice, friendly Zoom rep told me when I asked whether "1300 delayed to 0130" was just a typo. Well, the way I look at it is that delays and such are fine if the journey itself is safe and uneventful! I'm just happy to arrive safely at my destination!
• Having a room in the Radisson hotel and a meal provided, all paid for by Zoom ... well not had the meal yet but so far Zoom have been fantastic in putting all this on for us (I'm sure they had to but still, it's quite nice).

So what is hell? Hell is getting into your nice room, looking in the lovingly polished, bright, clear, and well lit mirror in the bathroom and realising that your skin looks terrible and you're frankly a mess and all those moisturisers are all packed about in the checked luggage!

Hmmm, I think I may do a quick experiment with the moisturizing affects of hand & nail stuff once I've had a shower and freshened up!