Spent the a week in Edinburgh. On Thursday had an evening in Whistle Binkies where I managed to watch three bands play. Managed to get some photographs of them as well. The bands of course were all rock bands and played some excellent music. music.[jalbum_iframe_album:http://www.blasdale.com/pictures/2008/WhistleBinkies/index.html,100%,600px]
Steve
Man of leisure.
The first grass cut of the year
Today was fabulous. Dry, and the temperature rose to 21C. The hottest day of the year. What was more remarkable the day was a Saturday. Alas the forecast for Sunday is rain, can’t be having too much of a good thing can we?
There was quite a drying breeze, so out with the lawn mower and I performed the first cut of the year. Also did a little bit of strimming, cutting down the butterfly habitat, otherwise know as stinging nettles. Took a look at the graveyard, will have to put the brush cutter on. Seems some 60 little saplings have grown up over winter, and they are already too tough for a nylon cord strimmer.
The six sheep in the field were unhappy with me. I built a lovely big fire from all the small bits of wood from the willow trees I cut down earlier in the year. The sheep migrated to the furthest corner of the field where they have stayed all afternoon.
Now the evening has started, it’s a well earned Gin and Tonic after the day’s hard labours. While drinking my G&T and with the aid of Google I reckon I have the solution to my mobile phone problem. I have a Nokia 6151, it’s a 3G handset. Alas it always tries to locate a 3G transmitter in preference to stronger 2G transmitters. It often can at home connect to a 3G transmitter, but the signal is so weak, I can’t make sensible phone calls. When it connects to a 2G transmitter there is no problem with the phone call. So I had this ridiculous problem that phone calls upstairs never worked when it connects to 3G, but down tairs they work when it cannot find the weak 3G signal, so has to use the strong 2G signal. Friday was a trial, I would receive a call when I was working at home. I would answer, the call would break up and disconnect. Downstairs I would go, place the phone on the floor to hasten the switch over to 2G, once in 2G mode I would pick the phone up and make the call hoping it would not go back to 3G.
There was not option to force the phone to use 2G in the settings. You can force 3G, or select a setting where it will use with 3G or 2G. It always though prefers to use 3G.
The solution I read on a search of Google and implemented was to turn off automatic connection to the the service provider, and to use manual connection. With manual connection you can then select the 2G service, ignoring the 3G service. I wonder if I will get problems when I go to other areas of the country. Only time will tell. What worries me slightly is my phone is from 3, and don’t they have some roaming agreements with other services providers where they have not got their own transmitters. Maybe I will end up selecting the 2G service at home, and then re-enable automatic selection when I leave home.
Entity Beans
Oh woe is me! I had to update an Entity Bean in some Java code. Must be several years since I have done that. Last time was when I used Visual Age for Java. So now not only was I adding a new property to an entity bean, but I had to learn the tooling in Websphere Application Developer. I made absolutely sure I had a backup of my workspace before starting on this endeavour. Ah well it all went without hitch.
Out celebrating this success, and saw a band play at Whistle Binkies. Paranoid Monkeys are an experimental indie band. When they were playing it was actually quite good for a free band in a pub. The talk overs between the songs was a little odd. Extracts from Radio talks in the 50s and 60s about the atomic bomb and what you should do when it exploded. Well they were tongue in cheek, so I suppose were modern.
Whenever I phoned Rosemary I was told to ring back. She seemed to be entertaining friends until late at night.
The olde reekie
This is my second week in Edinburgh. Last week I was here for four days, and this week it is a full week. It’s back almost to the old days, no rain, or at least when I am out walking there is no rain.
So what have I been doing, not a lot really, just working and going out in the evening for a meal. Last week at the Radisson Hotel I forgot to sign my bar/food bill. The next day I remembered and found the waitress. She said no problem, we put it on your room, I know your name, you won’t be able to get away with that.
This week as I had one meal in the hotel, she asked if I would be signing the bill tonight. I visited the Mai Thai for one meal. Had the spicy, hot duck. As usual very good. Last night I ate at the Mussel and Steak. Had a nice steak. Not quite as good as usual and was to my taste a tad over cooked.
Another blast from the past has just completed our comment book. Ashley Pickering, used to work for Walker, and here I am still working for a continuation of the same company.
Broken down Car
It took several days to recover from the food poisoning, even on Friday and Saturday I declined going to the pub to have anything to drink. Really only recovered for Sunday when we met Richard and Celia for lunch at Banbury, where we ate Sunday lunch of roasted cow.
My poor car broke down on Saturday, the battery decided not to work. We had visited Ladymead Joinery to advise on their hardware and network. I also took a few pictures of the new machinery in operation. Came to leave and the battery was dead, nothing. No lights had been left on. Had a jump start from Tony and bought a new battery from Halfords.
Moorhen
Rosemary has reported that my weeding of the pond has caused disruption in Moorhen World. The weeding from the pond is still on the bank, (allowing the pond life which was removed to wander back into the water at their leisure). Alas they are too near the bank, and the increase in height compounded by the slippery mud has made it difficult for the moorhen to get out of the pond. Rosemary was attracted to this plight by considerable squawking and splashing as the moorhen tried to surmount the bank side. Why it didn’t try an easier route is anyone’s guess.
No food reviews for Wednesday
Disaster has struck. Part way through Wednesday I started to feel a little unwell. I managed to struggle on through the day feeling shivery and cold. Straight back to the hotel and into bed. Soon up to be very sick. That brought me some relief. I really think it must have been the Razor Clams.
So no food this evening, just tried to sleep and drink small sips of water.
The next day I had a meeting with a Life Assurance Company. They were going to take me out for lunch at All Bar One. This I declined, eating only [half] a small sandwich at lunch.
Back to the Petit Paris
The day started bright and sunny. It ended in drizzle, though I managed to miss it. Had a quick drink with some colleagues from the bank, before making my way back to the hotel and supper.
Ate at the Petit Paris. The waiter spotted me through the window and beckoned me in. He thought he had not seen me for seven months. I am sure I have eaten there more recently.
Ate a lamb shank, salad and a pitcher of red wine.
Razor clams
Up at 05.45 to catch the 7.00 flight from Luton to Edinburgh. I had expected to be kept awake during the night by the storm, or my active thoughts which always occur when I am leaving early. Nope. Had a good night, and woke just before the alarm.
No storm, but it had just started to rain. Luton was fine, though the queues at the security have grown since the summer rush. Must be enforced holidays during the slack period.
Boarded the plane on time, but we sat and sat for ages without moving. The pilot eventually said they were having trouble calibrating the inertial navigation system because of the turbulence rocking the aircraft. They would have to taxi to another area, and then try to re-calibrate. So off he went to near the runway, and parked facing the wind. Another 10 minutes and we were ready, so off we went. The flight, what storm?, it was quite calm, and of course landing up north was pretty quiet as well. The only event I noticed was the very high cloud top. It was ages before we broke through the cloud, and even then we were only just above the top of the storm clouds.
Edinburgh is like Aylesbury; in a construction boom. Grassmarket, where I am staying at the Apex, is totally a building site. Princes Street is a work in progress with new gas mains, water mains and the tram going in. Saint Andrews Square garden was closed all last year for the reconstruction of the garden, it is still closed, but now the road is being dug up for the gas mains.
Had lunch with Mary in a caff near the bus station. Great meeting up with her again.
Ate at the Mussel and Steak. Had the mussel pot for mains, and razor clams for starters. Interesting things, razor clams. Very firm meat, tasting of the sea. Unusual and an experience. Might have something different to eat next time though.
Pond weeding
Did a bit of weeding of the pond on Sunday. Removed the floating island of waterlily and various other plants including a bramble. Trimmed back the shallow water plants which were creating their own rafts.
Had to do some wading to achieve this. Remembered to remove my mobile phone from my jeans before I started, but alas left my credit cards and notes in my pocket. Ah well, they dried out and the cards, of course, still work.
Replanted a bit of the waterlily back into the depths, so hopefully it will live and show as some nice flowers this year.
Now looking forward to the storm predicted to break during the night.