Things happened- The Boy got made redundant ! In his first ever job !
What a total pisser.
At least he had 10 months good experience, and we are getting him back in plenty of time to prepare for University. He was really enjoying living in Wales and working in a laboratory, I think after only a few days at home he is fed up. At least he put on the kitchen tap I bought.
Now in Southall, OK here, staying at the Indian hotel, just close by is the Punjabi Pub - The Glassy Junction. The beer is crap; lager lager and more lager. Food in the Indian hotel is too good, part of the hotel is what is maybe the best Indian restuarant in West London, the Mehfil. Mmmm, plus they sell Indian wine !

Sula Vineyards
The red is excellent, white is OK but a bit insipid for my greedy alcoholic tastes !
The project with the hoze company is rubbish as they want to run the fancy custom code under dot.net, and it don't work.
Next up, Aunty in Hull is being upgraded to the wizzo dot.net, that should be fun.
Anyhoo, no cycling, spent the last 2 weekends taking stuff back from Wales, the same for the next 2 weekends.
Off to the hotel for some Indian food and Indian wine. Yippee.

Reggae Reggae Reggae !
Where did those halcyon days of the 70s go with Doc Martens, Levis Sta Press and Crombies ?
Being trendy cost a lost less, simply a five bob check shirt from Nelson House. Where could we go wrong ? Being a 9 stone skinny teenager was where I went wrong, boots and braces were fine for a hard knock bruiser, but not so much for a wimpy aesthete !
What was I wearing in Summer of 1971 ? white Levis Sta Press, check shirt and braces, boots ? No I don't think so, Couldn't afford Doc Martens until I worked in the butchers in 1972, so what did I wear ?

Bleaklow
Back in the cold dark days of late January, I took a days holiday, and drove to a car park by Derwent Reservoir, parked and set off for a stroll to Bleaklow. Walked along following the Derwent, then up onto the frozen hills along to Swains Head,

then across the bloody hard up and down of peat groughs and patches of snow to Bleaklow Stones. Good fun.
Temperatures about -5, combined with a strong wind made the sweat on my hat freeze.
Saw a couple of white hares.


Then on the descent back to the Derwent Valley got careless and ended up following a valley North so had about 4 more miles to do back to the car, making the day about 15 miles aver the most challenging terrain I ever crossed, sort of like it though. Arrived back totally knackered.

It seems that a Nigerian couple that came here in the 1990s and got a free council house because they were migrants that then 3 years ago under the right to buy for council tennants bought their house at a discount and had a cash amount of many thou from the Govt and local council are now in arrears with the mortgage and are worried they might loose their house. Boo hoo hoo. And according to some lefty twat cunt, its Thatcher's fault for allowing council tennants to buy houses cheap.

The beach near LLanwit Major, S Wales. Somewhere I didn't expect to spend so much time. Its near where the boy is doing his gap year Year in Industry, he has saved a couple of thou, I have saved 4 thou, that will go soon in tutition fees.



The one remaining colliery in the Midlands, Daw Mill in March 2009.
Has a good few years (40 ?) reserves, and even changed the M6 by causing subsidence.
I even considered becoming a Geologist for the NCB once upon a time, a great career move that would have been.

Todays Monday, Mondays, oh I forget.
A little bit crappy as I'm working, on a day when everybody else is enjoying the Bank Holiday sun in what will be the hottest summer ever with temperatures often over 30 Celcius (copyright the Met Office).
Hold on, what is that outside ? Why its rain and cold. Ha.
Managed 20 measly miles last sunday afternoon. and thats it. Rally couldn't be bothered going out in the cold of a British Bank Holiday weekend. And did some stuff in the garden Saturday, yesterday Dad for dinner. And the thought of spending today talking to a Swiss bloke in India about paper folding machinery data sort of depressed me.
Good couple of days in Southall helping with making sugar puffs: The IT boss found free Progress code that could generate a pdf with lines, text, images and everything, tried it out and in a couple of hours had a pdf packing note with a Hony Monster image, brilliant !
Went into the warehouse to test the RDT programs, a small problem, but then they worked ! So until I decided I would be on call today, a good week. And tried a different meal on Wednesday, far too much to eat, felt totally stuffed, slept OK though but as usual the room was noisy.
Friday fianlly got the faulty trim fixed in the car.
Really raining now, so yah to cycling, I'll wait for the blistering hot weather.

Blimey.
First blog of 2009, 4 months into the year, lazy or what ?
The boy is happily ensconsed in Wales working in a testing laboratory of an automotive oil filter maker. Most automotive makers in the UK are shedding workers like mad, but not them, not yet. He has only maybe 4 more months there, then he is off to University.
A real university ! Not an ex Poly or Further education college or whatever they used to be. Not that Polytechnics were bad, they were good, no, they were excellent. Somewhere to get a part-academic, part-practical education, so why did they feel the need to pretend they are universities ? Oh, i see, the government want lots of people to have a university education. So lets make all places that educate over-eighteens into universities and let them grant degrees, job's a good 'un. So now we have thousands of university educated youngsters with degrees that are working as shop assistants and clerks. Excellent.
Job here is looking shakier than a very wobbly shaky thing. Clinging on, just about. 2 big projects finish in June, so afer that ?
Cycling - ha. Bought bits to build up a low-pro TT bike on my old Look frame, but so far only fitted the old Shimano c/s. did a couple of mtb rides over christmas, and one with the Boy last week.
Wieght - 91 Kg.
Probably as unfit as I have ever been in my life.
Plan is to ride more.
Worked in Basildon a few times, then a couple of days in Windsor and a lot of days in Southall at the sugar puff factory.

Oh no ! Global Warming for Charles Dickens !