It was pointed out to me that the email subscribe function was not working. Indeed it was not, and cannot have worked for well over a year.
Should all be fixed now, so hoping to see lots of subscriptions to the mail list now.
P&A or Plough and Anchor Resturant
Due to circumstances, like the fridge not working we were destined for supper at the P&A. Yes, as soon as Rosemary came home on the Monday, she asked why was the fridge not working. Didn’t you notice it was 20 Celsius inside the fridge and what about that horrible smell. I said no, and then related my coffee saga. So out with most of the contents.
So to the P&A for a few beers, and then a trial of their new menu. We have not eaten at the P&A since the new lower cost menu has been in place. We went for the standard menu and had a starter and the main course. Rosemary enjoyed her Thai fish cakes, while I ate some mussels. The mussels and the sauce where definitely up in the much better than average ratings. The sauce had a hint of chili, but was also a creamy sauce. Um it was very yummy. Much better than the Edinburgh Mussel and Steak on the Grass Market.
Main course we both had the same, BBQ ribs. I had been tempted by the pasta dishes. The BBQ ribs are the P&A signature dish, and they are massive. The meat fell of the bones, was a massive amount, very filling and very enjoyable. Yep I reckon the P&A is back on track.
The weekend without Rosemary
Rosemary was away for the weekend. She went away on some girly get together with her mates from school. This left me to my own devices. Alas the sun did not shine much, and there was definite rain during the days, the net result was no lawn mowing and much time spent on the PC upstairs. I turned all my CDs into MP3s. Yes yet again. There had been some problems with the previous rips of the Rammstein albums. Must check the new rips are better.
Had a cup of Cappuccino on Sunday morning, was slightly impressed by the solidness of the froth I produced. It was almost the constituency of expanded polystyrene when it floated on the coffee. Next coffee I approached the milk with a little more trepidation. Decided the milk was off, put it back in the fridge as it was a long way before its expiry date. I was sure Rosemary would want to take in back to Tesco and claim her refund.
Saturday evening was in the pub with George and Annie. Sunday late evening was in the pub on my own with the fabulous staff. The Georgian girl was finding it hard, stuck out in the sticks, no transport, living on the premises.
Whistle Binkies
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]
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.
A day in London & a night in “The Mousetrap”
On Friday morning, after gasping at the price of rail tickets and underground tickets (& giving up trying to work out cheap deals) we arrive in London. We go first via a walk along by the Thames to The Tate Modern and admire their crack (https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/salcedo-shibboleth-ii-p20335). We decide on an early lunch in the museum Café 2 where we, from indoors, smugly watch everyone walking around outside getting sodden. They have amazingly tall metal vases topped off with Singapore orchids on the bar, which look very classy. We have fried broad beans and bread with olive oil as snackrell-type starters and I opt for a quiche while Steve opts for a mezze plate for mains.
Then to our Radisson hotel near the BM. This strikes me as disappointing; I know it’s London but why can’t it be a larger, nicer room for all those points? And the lift is so slow, too, and the breakfast not included but £16 each extra.
Amazingly, Steve has spotted a Jessops nearby and we end up in there and he gets a discount off a Tamron 18-250 lens and is exceedingly smug and announces he can sell two of his existing ones.
We visit the close-by British Museum and admire the wonderful hall, which always impresses. We have cake & tea and watch the visitors. But we are here To See Things not just Eat Things, so we visit the Lewis chessmen (having seen the Edinburgh based ones we feel we should complete the set) and I end up drooling over the jewellery. However, one piece of pure Victoriana is so frightful it makes me squeak out loud – a necklace made of the mounted heads of hummingbirds.
In the evening we finally see “The Mousetrap” in a minute theatre with many empty seats near us (which was just as well cos I swapped at the interval so I could see the whole of the stage). Very mannered and of its times and I guessed The Murderer, but an experience.
For some reason, as we walk back, Steve wants more food, so we eat in an Italian place (although The Ivy was opposite!) and both decided we cook better than at home, but the staff are more pleasant.
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.